This time, absorbing the C'tan shard went smoothly. It was the third time. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Rhodes was now very experienced.
He had Mefilas and Tartarus move the giant C'tan near a red giant star.
Then he let his cosmic beasts begin devouring. After absorbing the fragment, they could immediately feed on the red giant's energy.
Rhodes also realized that main-sequence stars weren't ideal—their energy was too compressed. Forcing absorption caused indigestion in the beasts.
Red giants, though, were at life's end, hugely expanded, with diffuse surface energy—perfect for the cosmic beasts to absorb.
The C'tan's power turned into pure cosmic energy, devoured by the beasts.
Beast Queen Zoiger gulped down the power. Born of darkness herself, she finally had a chance to reach her master's level (her previous master being the dark god Gatanothor).
"You damned mortal! How dare you deceive and toy with a god! You'll pay for this!" the C'tan shard roared in fury as its energy was drained.
These mortals—how dare they harm a god, a true god!
"Your time is over. You're the past. Accept your fate," Rhodes snorted.
From the moment he absorbed the first C'tan shard, all the C'tans were doomed.
These cosmic rule gods were nothing good. On the contrary, destroying them was good for the universe.
The fragment raged and cursed as its essence was devoured and it realized it would cease to exist.
It began to show terror. Even as a fragment, it inherited body memories and divinity. If it died, the main body couldn't return. Missing a fragment, its power would be incomplete.
"No—don't hurt me! I can give you endless knowledge! We C'tans control cosmic physical laws. Do you need FTL engines? Space-folding tech? I have it all! Free me and I'll give it to you!" the fragment begged Rhodes.
"I liked your arrogant attitude before. Could you go back to that?" Rhodes replied.
FTL engines—he already had those, and the empire was about to mass-produce them. Soon all imperial warships and merchantmen would have FTL, making sub-1000-light-year journeys easy.
As for warp jumps, Rhodes had that too—on the mighty Imperator-class Titan. Human science just couldn't copy it yet.
So, what the C'tans had was priceless to other civilizations, but worthless to Rhodes.
The only thing worth taking was their cosmic energy.
"I represent the highest law of this universe. If you kill me, the laws here will be incomplete.
The Necrons dare not kill us, as it would destabilize reality and let those damn warp creatures invade.
The warp beings are the true evil! We destroyed the Old Ones because they cooperated with the warp.
Kill us and you help the Old Ones—you're aiding the warp's invasion!" the C'tan protested.
"Don't worry about the warp, old fossil. You've been sealed for ages, and nothing's happened to the universe," Rhodes said, ordering his beasts to devour faster.
As for Chaos gods, he'd defeat them in time—he didn't need the help of these failed gods.
In its final moments, the fragment hurled curses at Rhodes until it was completely consumed.
After the cosmic beasts absorbed the fragment, their energy levels transformed, and they gained the ability to devour stars.
Next, Rhodes sped up the star system's time flow, spending ten days to accelerate time by ten thousand times, letting the beasts consume the red giant's energy, leaving a black stellar core, which Rhodes collected.
The beasts all grew in size, reaching about a kilometer.
The biggest change was to the Beast Queen, who grew to over 3,000 meters, her energy several times greater. Now she was truly a queen; before, she was just a child.
"Great master! I can now hatch ten small Zoiger a day, each 5 meters long, with an 8-meter wingspan—twice as strong as before!" the Beast Queen happily reported.
She could produce more, and stronger, offspring.
"Excellent! Next, produce two powerful children for my two subordinates. Take your time and energy to make them as strong as possible," Rhodes ordered.
They'd been with him the longest; he didn't want to give them ordinary Zoiger.
"In a month, I can produce two purple ones, each 10 meters long, 16-meter wingspan, with one-tenth the power of a regular cosmic beast. That's my limit," the Beast Queen replied.
"No problem, start the process!" Rhodes said.
After dealing with the Necron Overlord and the C'tan, Rhodes returned to his territory and met with the Blood Angels, who'd been there for half a month, unaware of what had happened.
They didn't care about the Necron Overlord's defeat—after all, the empire's attitude toward xenos was always the same: evil xenos must be destroyed.
Rhodes then entered the warp and spoke with Sanguinius about what had happened.
"Won't this make the Necrons hostile? Will they declare war on the Imperium?" Sanguinius asked.
"If I didn't do this, would they not go to war? Don't be naive, Sanguinius. Ten thousand years ago, only Trazyn the Infinite awoke.
Now, all the Necron dynasties are reviving. As the rightful overlords of the Milky Way, we're their first target.
They're determined to reclaim their lost glory and territory. There's an irreconcilable conflict between us; a war is inevitable.
They aren't the fallen Eldar—they're a soon-to-awaken, former galactic overlord," Rhodes replied.
No matter what, the Necrons had to be wiped out. As for the Necrontyr, Rhodes would arrange for them to survive in another galaxy, like Andromeda.
With Necron and Rhodes's tech, migration was easy. He'd corrupt some Necrons from within; the rest he and the Emperor would destroy.
It was a trial for humanity. To be galactic overlords, they had to challenge and defeat the former overlords.
"I understand, but are we really ready?" Sanguinius asked.
The Imperium was advancing quickly, but they still needed time to mass-produce FTL engines, new Titans, superhuman drugs for the Guard, and more—to reach full power.
"We're not ready. But do you think the Necrons are? They haven't fully awakened, and their dynasties are divided.
Even if the Silent King wants revenge, he'll need decades, maybe centuries, to prepare!
Don't worry—I have a plan. When I return to Holy Terra, I'll launch the Indomitable Crusade, reclaim all lost Imperial worlds, and even border worlds.
When that's done, we'll prepare for total war with the Necrons," Rhodes said.
"I understand, Rhodes. I'll support you with all my strength," Sanguinius nodded.
…
On Ultramar's 500 worlds, Leandros, once a chaplain of the Ultramarines, knelt before a strange being.
"It's all a lie. The so-called Codex Astartes is a scam. Our gene-father betrayed us, lied to me, and lied to my faith," Leandros said.
He'd given everything for the Codex, only to be told by his primarch that it was worth less than toilet paper. His faith had collapsed.