A golden spark suddenly erupted from Szarekh's still-incomplete body.
Szarekh's logic engine stuttered for a moment, then he suddenly realized that this spark resembled the one used by the human woman named Joan.
How could it have chased him all the way here?
Before the Phaeron could react, the golden flame suddenly intensified, becoming more rapid, instantly engulfing Szarekh's leg, which had not yet been fully reconstructed by the living metal, and then, in the blink of an eye, consumed half of Szarekh's body.
"Son of a The Deceiver!"
Szarekh cursed, and before he could even struggle, the golden inferno violently transformed into a wave, instantly engulfing Szarekh's still-incomplete new body, burning it to ashes.
A dark green light flickered, and Szarekh's memories and will were once again uploaded into the Necrons memory crystal.
The resurrection protocol began rapid reconstruction; living metal in the tomb complex, manipulated by the Tech-priests, started to assemble Szarekh's new body.
Under the instructions left by Szarekh, his logic brain, thought engine, and memory storage devices were first constructed, allowing him to temporarily regain basic thinking capabilities.
A metal head hung suspended in the Necron tomb complex, held aloft by various tubes and wires.
"Necron profanity! Necron noble profanity! Necron slave profanity! Necron courtly refined profanity! Eldar profanity! Old One profanity!"
With only a head, completely reliant on external tubes to supply coolant and energy, Szarekh utilized his knowledge reserves, unleashing various forms of profanity to curse humans and the wisp of golden flame that had suddenly appeared.
How could these damned humans attack him from such a distance?
Had the location of his tomb ship been exposed? Impossible!
If he were any other creature, Szarekh might suspect that the flame had somehow clung to his body, soul, consciousness, memories, or something else and followed him.
But he was a Necrons!
As an Phaeron of the Nihilakh Dynasty, well-versed in history, various treasures, and technology, Szarekh's knowledge reserves were no less than those of Trazyn, who was theoretically his subordinate Overlord.
He understood the essence of the so-called resurrection protocol.
The resurrection protocol essentially copied all memories of a Necrons at the moment of its death, uploaded them into a Necrons memory crystal, and then reconstructed a new will, injecting it into a new body.
This was like a ship that was constantly being repaired; if all its components were replaced with new ones, and even its crew were merely clones of the original crew, was it still the original ship?
Many Overlords and Overlords were too lazy to ponder such questions, but Szarekh's Nihilakh Dynasty had always pursued isolationism, rarely intervening in Necrons wars over the long millennia, so a bored Szarekh often contemplated these issues.
His conclusion was this:
Just as Necronss were never the Necrontyr of old, Necronss resurrected through the resurrection protocol were not the same Necrons as before, but merely a new entity with past memories.
The current Szarekh, the Szarekh who had just been burned to death, and the Szarekh who had died earlier beneath the Blackstone Pylon, were all distinct individuals.
How could different individuals be targeted by that golden flame?
Szarekh's logic engine consequently generated a series of error messages; reality and his logic showed a clear discrepancy.
Just then, in the tomb complex not far from Szarekh, a sharp, cacophonous metallic roar erupted.
The sound was so terrifying, like the agonizing wail of someone dying.
The last time Szarekh heard such a dreadful sound was when he, as a Necrontyr, entered the bio-transference furnace...
A heavy thud of footsteps echoed, and a tall Necron Overlord strode into the tomb complex.
His gaze quickly swept over Szarekh's recently incinerated body; several dark green flames flickered in his empty eye sockets, seemingly expressing shock and bewilderment, yet also a hint of joy.
You're celebrating too soon, Kryptek.
Szarekh thought calmly, then called out: "Kryptek, my son, tell me what happened!"
The Necrons called Kryptek's body twitched, and he turned his head to look at Szarekh.
"Father!" Kryptek noticed that Szarekh had revived in yet another body, and the flames in his eye sockets flickered, seemingly with some disappointment.
Kryptek was a prince of the Nihilakh Dynasty, the son of Overlord Szarekh. Or rather, the two Necrontyr who were melted down to become Szarekh and Kryptek were father and son.
If there had been no bio-transference, or if bio-transference had occurred later, the outcome would likely have been Szarekh's early death and Kryptek's ascension as Phaeron.
But fate is always so cruel; bio-transference granted the Necrons endless lifespans. Szarekh could eternally sit on the throne of the Phaeron, while Kryptek could only remain a prince.
Kryptek was generally loyal to Szarekh, but with the passage of long years, Kryptek inevitably grew weary of his position and entertained thoughts of advancement.
After all, how could there be a Crown Prince of the galaxy for sixty million years?
How could Kryptek not harbor resentment in his heart?
However, this son of Szarekh placed excessive importance on noble honor.
He actually wasn't without means to stage a coup and eliminate Szarekh.
He could completely destroy the Necron memory crystal, disrupt the resurrection protocol, and engage in a life-or-death struggle between father and son with Szarekh.
Szarekh could certainly be overthrown, and Kryptek could also fail, but at least it would add some excitement and fun to these boring sixty million years.
"Father, several Lords and Overlords were engulfed by mysteriously appearing golden flames and utterly perished," Kryptek said, bowing slightly.
Utterly perished. Szarekh paused for a moment, slowly processing the phrase.
"The memory crystals were damaged?" Szarekh asked in a lowered voice.
Had humans truly found his flagship and already invaded it?
"No, they weren't." Kryptek shook his head: "The memory crystals are functioning well; they just died inexplicably."
"Consumed by flames, no consciousness remained, no memories uploaded, completely and utterly dead."
"Even previously backed-up memories vanished… as if they were also burned away by an invisible fire."
Golden flames…
Szarekh's thoughts stalled for a moment; wasn't that exactly what happened to him?
Why, why did those Lords and Phaerons utterly perish, but Szarekh could still be reborn through the resurrection protocol?
What was the reason? Was it just because he was the Phaeron?
Or was it…
Szarekh's Necron body actually felt a slight chill.
This was like a warning, a hint, silently telling Szarekh that the Necron resurrection protocol was not truly eternal.
Humans, or rather, Saint Doraemon, could even utterly kill a Necron without destroying the resurrection protocol…
Conversely, if one could utterly kill, could one also utterly revive?
Szarekh recalled the scene he had witnessed: Saint Doraemon merely extended a hand and the human woman named Joan was revived.
"Also… Trazyn just sent a batch of his collections, claiming they were a gift from Saint Doraemon to you." Kryptek waved his hand, and dark green light screens appeared before Szarekh's head, displaying the list of collections Trazyn had sent.
Szarekh gazed at them for a moment, unable to tear his eyes away.
The items on the list were all first-rate rare artifacts, considered top-tier even in his own treasury. Many were recreations of important historical moments of extinct races, including even an Eldar World-Soul…
That bastard Trazyn truly had collected many treasures over the years.
"Trazyn also invited us to participate in the so-called 'Alliance of Twenty-Two Overlords to Punish the Rebel Silent King.' Should we return the gifts?" Kryptek asked.
Szarekh looked at Kryptek with slight displeasure.
Though his son valued noble honor, he didn't understand true noble etiquette.
If Trazyn had so thoughtfully sent gifts, wouldn't returning them hurt Trazyn's feelings?
These were gifts, gifts from Trazyn, the Nihilakh Phaeron, to him, the Phaeron of the Nihilakh Dynasty, not a reward for betraying the Silent King!
To take it a step further, even if this was meant to bribe Szarekh,
Couldn't Szarekh claim: these collections were originally stolen by Trazyn from his treasury?
Given Trazyn's reputation, no one would question such a statement.
Kryptek looked at Szarekh, seemingly instantly understanding his father's meaning: "Refuse, but don't return the gifts?"
"Refuse… Why the rush to refuse?" Szarekh hung his empty head: "Let me think…"
Szarekh was still a bit hesitant.
There were two main reasons: one, Szarekh still harbored a slight wariness towards so-called gods, which was a secondary reason.
The other main reason was that the Silent King hadn't paid him the final installment yet!
What if he defected now and the Silent King didn't pay him the balance?
"There's another matter."
"Just before Trazyn sent the gifts, the Silent King declared that we failed to complete his commission and refused to pay the final installment."
Kryptek said, looking at his father Szarekh.
"…" A smile, almost sweet, appeared on Szarekh's lips.
"That son of a The Deceiver, the Silent King, is too cruel to the Necrons."
Szarekh said in a tone so calm it was terrifying:
"Anrakyr was right; he truly is a villain and must be severely punished!"
"Alliance? Count me in!"
Kryptek bowed, about to turn and inform Trazyn of Szarekh's decision.
"Wait." But Szarekh suddenly called out to Kryptek: "I suddenly want a new look."
Kryptek turned back, confused, looking at his father: "A new look?"
"Go find a human skull and have the Tech-priests sculpt my head to look exactly like a human skull."
"Remember, exactly alike!"
Facing his son's confused and bewildered expression, Szarekh grinned:
"Haven't you noticed how beautiful human skulls are?"
"Huh?"