This ti, absorbing the C'tan shard went smoothly. It was the third ti. As the saying goes, practice makes perfect. Rhodes was now very experienced.
He had filas and Tartarus move the giant C'tan near a red giant star.
Then he let his cosmic beasts begin devouring. After absorbing the fragnt, they could imdiately 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 ti is over. You're the past. Accept your fate," Rhodes snorted.
From the mont he absorbed the first C'tan shard, all the C'tans were dood.
These cosmic rule gods were nothing good. On the contrary, destroying them was good for the universe.
The fragnt raged and cursed as its essence was devoured and it realized it would cease to exist.
It began to show terror. Even as a fragnt, it inherited body mories and divinity. If it died, the main body couldn't return. Missing a fragnt, its power would be incomplete.
"No—don't hurt ! 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 and I'll give it to you!" the fragnt 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 rchantn 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 , 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 ti—he didn't need the help of these failed gods.
In its final monts, the fragnt hurled curses at Rhodes until it was completely consud.
After the cosmic beasts absorbed the fragnt, their energy levels transford, and they gained the ability to devour stars.
Next, Rhodes sped up the star system's ti flow, spending ten days to accelerate ti by ten thousand tis, letting the beasts consu the red giant's energy, leaving a black stellar core, which Rhodes collected.
The beasts all grew in size, reaching about a kiloter.
The biggest change was to the Beast Queen, who grew to over 3,000 ters, her energy several tis 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 ters long, with an 8-ter 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 ti 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 ters long, 16-ter 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 t 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 sa: 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, forr 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 Androda.
With Necron and Rhodes's tech, migration was easy. He'd corrupt so 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 forr overlords.
"I understand, but are we really ready?" Sanguinius asked.
The Imperium was advancing quickly, but they still needed ti 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 , 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.
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