In the eyes of the Seventh Overlord, psionic development had already reached its limit. One could not influence one's own spiritual projection, let alone interfere with another's.
Beyond this, all that remained was a matter of time: whoever lived longer, and whose projection expanded at a slightly faster rate, would ultimately hold the authority to dictate the far future.
By that measure, no civilization could hope to rival the spacefaring undead.
For immortality alone was enough to outlast any species of flesh and blood.
Even if they could not win for now, the space undead could always retreat into their pyramid-tombs, hide in some remote corner of the cosmos, and slumber in unison—until their projections had naturally surpassed those of their enemies. Then they would rise again, to crush them in decisive battle.
And yet, Roya had burst abruptly into the Overlord's vision—rising from a nondescript resource star, emerging from obscurity!
In their very first clash, he had already displayed a terrifying potential—enough to overturn the Fearless Dynasty's dominion.
"He… he can actually pry subspace energy from another's spiritual projection?!"
The Seventh Overlord's entire mind was consumed by this revelation, one that shattered all his understanding.
It was obvious that the scarlet subspace energy Roya wielded could not possibly have originated from his own projection.
The aura did not match at all.
"How… how did he do it?!"
He forgot entirely the life-or-death urgency of expelling this rampaging energy, and instead was lost in utter shock.
Roya—had shattered that pane of glass before the Silent King himself!
Impossible!
Is this unknown god's chosen really this monstrous?!
Did this not mean that within subspace, aside from the domains of the Chaos Four, Roya could act as he pleased?
Others toiled endlessly, waiting countless ages for their projections to accumulate—and yet Roya, with a wave of his hand, could rip them away, and even turn them into weapons against their owners in the material world?!
Was there no justice left in the cosmos?!
Boom!
From the insignia upon the Overlord's brow, an overwhelming psionic force erupted—deathfire searing his body inside and out.
The Silent King, in his slumber, had intervened across the void!
He dispersed the subspace energy on the brink of exploding within the Seventh Overlord, sparing him from annihilation in both body and soul.
"Hm? It can be done like that?"
Roya had been watching the results of his counterattack closely. After all, subspace energy and spiritual projections were still new to him, demanding caution.
This strike had been not only retaliation against the Overlord, but also a test upon that towering scarlet projection within subspace.
That the Overlord had proved completely incapable of resistance surprised Roya at first—but upon reflection, it was only natural.
The limit of what one could pry from subspace was also the limit of what one could withstand. If struck beyond that, death was inevitable.
What did intrigue him was the insignia's timely rescue.
"So, the core server in sleep mode can still automatically run antivirus and maintenance for its lower servers? Interesting."
Roya had already deduced that the civilization of the space undead operated like a massive server network.
The being hidden within the Overlord's brow insignia was the central core server.
All data and ultimate authority were housed within that central server.
Each Overlord was a subordinate server, responsible for managing key data exchanges and relaying orders from the core, while routine exchanges were handled directly between subordinate servers and terminals, lightening the core's burden.
As for the vast undead legions, they were the terminals—executing the commands issued by the two levels of servers above.
Elite units such as the Necron Guards were terminals equipped with additional drives, allowing them to develop and store personalized operating systems of their own.
Should such a system become sufficiently refined, the Silent King would not hesitate to elevate them into subordinate servers.
Within such a framework, the Silent King's intervention for the Seventh Overlord was nothing more than the core server performing antivirus and maintenance for a lower server.
Roya waited a moment longer. When the scarlet mountain within subspace remained unresponsive, as if unaware of his probing, he finally relaxed.
Then, with a thought, he pried at its edge again.
The first time, he had been cautious—drawing down only a wisp of mountain wind.
But now, he unleashed himself fully.
With brute force, he tore loose a boulder the size of a standard chamber.
Under his guidance, it rumbled and crashed down into the material world—smashing straight into the Seventh Overlord's body.
A supernova erupted within him!
The dreadful fate of a star at the very end of its life—detonation at its fullest, unleashing more energy in an instant than it had radiated throughout its entire existence!
"A stellar peak! How… how is this possible?!"
The Seventh Overlord, whose consciousness had only just recovered, was plunged into utter despair.
For this level of subspace eruption was already comparable to the Silent King himself, before his slumber!
Unless the Silent King had somehow broken through in his sleep—or his projection had suddenly grown immensely—then even he would not be able to block this strike!
"Damn it! He's no chosen one at all… he is the new god himself!"
The revelation struck the Overlord—too late.
Supernova force rampaged through his being, merciless and unstoppable.
In but an instant, it shattered his indestructible bio-metal body down to its most basic particles.
And his consciousness, too, flickered out with the green flames in his eye sockets—never to ignite again.
The Fearless Dynasty's seventh server cluster had gone offline!
Though his clash with the Silent King was brief, Roya had still seized fragments of information.
He glimpsed, in the lifeless void of the cosmos, three pyramids of perfect tetrahedral shape, bound at strange angles into a vast tomb.
Yes—that was his first impression of the great warship: a tomb.
And the being long hidden within the Overlord's brow insignia lay dormant within that tomb, awaiting the moment to rise again.
One glance was enough for Roya to decide: that tomb was his next target.
For within it slumbered the eternal nemesis of all flesh and blood life in the galaxy!
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