The clone of the Ancient One bowed like an actor taking a final curtain call. She gently touched her left shoulder with one hand, slightly bent forward, and nodded.
At the same time, the dozen or so peak enhanced warriors who were still barely hanging on were swiftly sliced into countless pieces by the power of spatial magic and completely perished as she smiled and saluted.
The clone also disappeared from the Arena of the Gods.
All returned to silence.
No more deafening battle cries or explosions of magic.
Whether Eldar, Drukhari, or members of the Steel Legion, all stood stunned, staring at the scene before them!
The ten-minute basic tutorial had ended, and the Ancient One had only just begun to take things seriously.
The once grand and imposing enemy force was reduced to ashes in an instant.
Those beings, once thought invincible and expected to dominate the galaxy thanks to possessing peak enhanced bodies, were now scattered chunks across the arena.
Vect and Malys's augmented forms appeared intact, but they were already soulless shells.
Such overwhelming strength and power struck fear and awe into everyone, even just from watching at a distance.
"This… is it over?"
Celestine stared blankly at the black ash scattered across the Arena of the Gods.
There was no imagined hard-fought battle, no thrilling struggle between life and death.
It was just a simple magic show.
And the enemy gone?
That Cegorach, deemed the greatest threat to the entire galaxy, and Vect, the ancient tyrant of Commorragh, just like that… Died without a sound?
"Pretty much. Just need to clean up any possible contingency plans they left behind."
Kei smiled lightly and raised his hand toward the arena, drawing a massive magical space portal shimmering with golden sparks.
A unique energy radiation derived from warp energy flowed out from the magic portal.
Many individuals with Aeldari genetics on-site visibly changed their expressions.
On the other side of the portal stood the pinnacle of the ancient Aeldari civilization's intelligence, the Webway Core, like a cosmic network tree standing tall in the void, stretching out countless intricate branches.
At the ends of those branches, the Dimensional Aperture floated quietly in space, absorbing the energy flowing from the Webway Core.
"The Heart of the Webway, the Core Network, and the Dimensional Aperture, are you worried they might've backed up their data?"
Yvraine immediately understood the implication behind Kei's words.
The Heart of the Webway was a kind of artificially created warp radiation, also the energy source powering the Core Network, one of the most advanced energy sources in the known galaxy.
The Core Network not only managed the webway portals across space, it was also the terminal server of all Aeldari genetics!
Originally, the Core Network had always been in the hands of the Craftworld Farseers; even the Drukhari didn't know its exact location.
But now, it was clear that Cegorach had discovered the location of the Core Network, and had connected it to the Dimensional Aperture!
In the known galaxy, methods of resurrection are not lacking, like the Drukhari's soul-parasitic resurrection technique.
By linking the Dimensional Aperture to the Core Network, Cegorach could very well transmit the data of himself, Vect, and Malys to most regions across the known galaxy.
If they had prepared the proper methods in advance, then they might very well be resurrected before long.
"Wait, wasn't that black smoke just now their souls getting burned up? They can still revive even if their souls are gone?"
Sicarius looked dumbfounded, pointing at the magic portal before him.
He was still relatively inexperienced, not yet fully seasoned.
Whether in knowledge or experience, he was far behind the Eldar and Drukhari who were supported by advanced psychic networks.
He couldn't quite understand: if the soul had already been burned to ash, how could someone still be revived?
"That's a bit complicated to explain,"
Kei flicked his fingers, injecting a bit of psychic data into Sicarius's mind.
At the same time, he raised his right hand toward the Core Network and the Dimensional Aperture in front of him, using his Labyrinthian Circuit to invade the Dimensional Aperture's data!
The Dimensional Aperture's computational speed was vastly superior to all other psychic networks in the Warhammer Universe.
But it couldn't compare to Kei's Labyrinthian Circuit!
Under this crushingly superior processing power and more advanced algorithms, it took him less than ten seconds to locate the backup data of Cegorach, Vect, and Malys!
While also checking for any redundant multi-location backups,
He simultaneously traced the ultimate destinations of this data through the Core Network's pathways.
"Captain? What did the dimensional lord just say?" Yarrick nudged Sicarius in the shoulder and asked in a low voice.
The rest of the Steel Legion perked up their ears when they saw this.
"Soul-parasitic resurrection tech… essence data decomposition and reconstruction…"
Sicarius scratched his head and gave a rough summary of the information Kei had just transmitted to him.
Soul-resurrection technology was one product of Aeldari engineering. It could fully back up a being's essence data, and by converting memory, thoughts, and more into information, a person could be revived by implanting that data into another biological form.
Of course, the premise for this kind of resurrection was that the soul's genetic information remained intact and had not been annihilated or broken down.
In cases like Vect and Malys, where their souls had been struck out of their bodies and obliterated,
Even if a person is resurrected with the exact same behavior patterns and memories, in essence, they were no longer the same person.
As for essence data decomposition and reconstruction, that referred to Cegorach's warp form.
His warp body, essentially, was a construct formed from reality laws and soul fragments, deconstructed and reassembled through data.
In this case,
His data backups were more like fragments of a soul, sliced off and preserved in advance.
"Emperor's throne… that hard to kill?!"
Voss gaped in disbelief.
As someone from Terra, this was the first time he'd even heard of such outrageous technology!
---
[Ultimate boss killed.]
[Important boss killed.]
[Important antagonist character killed.]
[Destruction of Commorragh and the Great Game.]
[Original worldline collapsed and overturned.]
[Obtained:
- 3 trait duplication
- 4 trait extraction
- 1 trait conversion card (gold)
- 2 Demon God's Proxy slot
- 1 color trait extraction
- 2 gifting opportunity
- 1 trait downgrading
- 1 trait reset
- 1 trait removal]
[Achievement unlocked: "Cleansing the Galaxy" for purging and eliminating leaders of known galaxy's extreme civilizations.]
[Worldline reconstruction time extended.]
[Obtained:
- Ferry Bandit (Green)]
[Original worldline's trajectory disintegrated and is being reconstructed. Difficulty of obtaining further rewards significantly increased before reconstruction completes.]
[Estimated reconstruction time: 9,364 days 23 hours 59 minutes.]
Ferry Bandit (Green): Carries souls across life and death in times of crisis, ferrying and ambushing travelers on the path to the underworld. Increases resistance to powers of the Warp's Darkness, the Daemons of Chaos, the Mysteries of the Beyond, and the Call of Reincarnation. Can search and capture souls across realms, and return them to the living.
[Ferry Bandit (Green):
Carries souls across life and death in times of crisis, ferrying and ambushing travelers on the path to the underworld. Increases resistance to powers of the Warp's Darkness, the Daemons of Chaos, the Mysteries of the Beyond, and the Call of Reincarnation. Can search and capture souls across realms, and return them to the living.]
---
This trait…
Just as Kei deleted and obliterated all backup data of Cegorach and the others, a string of system notifications echoed in his mind.
Upon seeing the hidden achievement reward, a special trait, his first reaction was that it seemed completely useless. After all, if he wanted to revive someone now, he had countless ways to do so.
But after a moment's thought, he realized the deeper implications.
The Darkness of the Warp, the Daemons of Chaos, the Mysteries of the Other Shore, and the Summons of Reincarnation, these represented the most primal forces of dimensions like the Immaterium, the Realm of Chaos, and the Underworld.
In every reality, the cycle of reincarnation of souls was one of the fundamental systems of existence.
Improving resistance to those forces… Did this trait ultimately lead to mastery over Death itself, or would it pit him against Death?