The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Hearing SoshJan's answer, Talos smiled slightly.

"The word 'deception' is well-used and accurate. Otherwise, how could Xerxes have rashly used a power of unknown origin? And how could he have continued to develop it afterward, to the point where it became uncontrollable?"

"Then who has such motives and abilities, and what kind of intentions are involved?"

"That's hard to say. Ruinous Powers? Asuryan? Or perhaps the Necrons."

Talos straightened up and looked at SoshJan.

"Do you remember what you told me about the Venomthorn and the Mindshackle Scarabs?"

"Of course. You have such a guess too?"

"Tell me yours."

"When I spoke to Veronica about this, she mentioned the Necrons, specifically the Silent King era. There was a leadership council called the Triarch, and after the ancient War in Heaven ended, the surviving Triarch dissolved the council and left its race to seek redemption. Since the Necrons were transformed from flesh to metal, the only path to redemption is to transform back into flesh. Our analysis suggests that the Necrons wouldn't be foolish enough to choose their past, frail forms after painstakingly restoring their flesh. They would first seek sufficiently powerful specimens, such as those powerful enough to isolate themselves from the Warp and manipulate its power. Then, they would reshape their race based on this template, and the only thing that meets this series of criteria is Gray Matter."

Talos nodded.

"That's similar to what I thought. Although I don't know their story, considering it from the perspective of a soulless machine race, the best way to restore vitality and development potential is to regain flesh and soul. You see, many of the things Xerxes created have a very distinct Necron style, which shows that at least for a period of time, a Necron was 'teaching' him knowledge or technology. Moreover, it wouldn't be an ordinary high-ranking Necron member, otherwise it wouldn't have moved a primarch like Xerxes. It might even possess a distinct personality, incredible wisdom and knowledge, and the eloquence to persuade Xerxes. I don't think there are many Necrons like that."

SoshJan frowned.

"But the Necrons and the Eldar are mortal enemies. Their war has lasted for countless years. How could they place their hopes of resurrection on the means of an Eldar god?"

"That's hard to say, but why do you think the Necrons and the Eldar are mortal enemies?"

"Because-"

After Talos said this, SoshJan realized that things might not be so "logical." The Eldar, as a servant race fighting for the Old Ones, their primary motivation for war with the Necrons must have come from the Old Ones. After the Old Ones were destroyed, the main conflicts between the two sides were only past hatred and the struggle for galactic hegemony. The Necrons' slumber clearly meant that they had temporarily abandoned the pursuit of galactic hegemony. From this point of view, after the War in Heaven, there seemed to be no fundamental conflict of interest between the two.

If it were in Xerxes' era, the Eldar had experienced the Fall, and obviously were not qualified to pursue galactic hegemony for the time being. The third party, mankind, became the hegemon of the galaxy, so even the last bit of conflict of interest between the Eldar and the Necrons disappeared.

Perhaps racial hatred and prejudice still existed, but that would only appear when neither side had a supreme leader, and the races fought each other due to past hatred and prejudice. Once both sides had a supreme leader, then the premise of their decisions would be based on interests.

It is still unclear what Asuryan wants to do, but it should be related to the revival of the Eldar race.

And what the surviving Triarch of the Necrons wants to do, at least according to Veronica, is to revive their own race.

Because they have both lost galactic hegemony, the revival of the two races does not seem to be in direct conflict, at least not for a long time. On the contrary, they may face the same obstacle—

The Imperium of Man.

Or, can we add another?

Such as the Ruinous Powers.

Having similar goals, having the same obstacles, and not having major conflicts of interest in the short term—

"Hiss, Talos, you've given me a terrible vision of the future."

Talos just shrugged.

"I just simply said what I just thought."

"You're right, the Eldar and the Necrons may not be mortal enemies now, but this makes me even more worried. If Gray Matter is a scheme orchestrated by Asuryan and the Necrons, I feel like I've become an accomplice?"

"What does it have to do with you? Besides, this is just speculation. Even if these two families really had united, would they be able to trust each other without reservation? Impossible. Not to mention two races, even two business people will be wary of their partners and make their own backup plans and arrangements. If the Necrons really trusted Gray Matter so much, they wouldn't have created the Venomthorn. What's more, our Lord of Mankind isn't really just sitting on the throne doing nothing, right? Being in this great game, what you have to do is stabilize yourself and keep yourself in the active position. As for the others, let them fight."

"Then do you think the Aleksey family was also involved in this great game very early on?"

"Do you think so?"

"Otherwise, things are too coincidental. The Aleksey family is a descendant of Ulanor, and the people of Ulanor just happened to have adjusted their genes in order to break the reproductive isolation with the Eldar. Then Xerxes was forced to rely on the power of Gray Matter, but Gray Matter itself must be completely controlled by a mixed-blood with Eldar blood. Just at this time, my ancestor Kairo happened to meet Xerxes, and the two became acquainted. Later, Kairo's son Dunan successfully gave birth to a mixed-blood Orodo with an Eldar woman, and this Orodo is the ancestor of my bloodline. This one is even more important. I just said that he racked his brains to overthrow the empire, and the seven great hatreds were engraved on the monument waiting for future generations to see. But before he took over Gray Matter, Xerxes died, and then he also died soon after, and everything he prepared didn't even have time to play a role. Do you think this is also a coincidence? Even the Aleksey family, which has gradually become thin over the past ten thousand years, being able to continue is quite an incredible thing, until I became a Space Marine and implanted Gray Matter. One coincidence may be a coincidence, but countless coincidences, then there must be some inevitability in it."

"Then what kind of power do you think could have been manipulating your family's destiny from the era of the Ulanor people?"

"I don't know, but those who have this ability are nothing more than the Emperor, Asuryan, the Necrons, and the Ruinous Powers, but the Emperor has no motivation to do so."

"If I'm not mistaken, your biggest suspect is the Eldar god Asuryan."