Trazyn was completely stunned. Where on earth did this guy come from? Looking at Adam, who stepped out of the Tomb Gate with a faint smile, Trazyn looked as if he had seen a ghost, his metal face contorted in shock.
Adam was quite satisfied with this reaction. His thoughts drifted back to his recent experiences. Since Sanguinius's resurrection, the tasks he had to handle were piled as high as a mountain. First, he had to lead Dante in making a public announcement, then summon all the Blood Angels' Successor Chapters from across the galaxy to Baal to declare that their Genetic Father had returned.
Once things were settled on Baal, Sanguinius would immediately depart for Terra to have an audience with the Emperor. This was a necessary move, but for the restless Adam, it was far too boring. The Great Angel's speeches were stirring, and the scenes of Blood Angels weeping were moving, but seeing it once was enough. Seeing it repeatedly lost its charm. Adam was never one for repetition.
Thus, he began to push forward his own plan with great interest. To achieve his goal of closing the Eye of Terror, help from the Necrons was indispensable. Not only did Adam send a group of Prometheus researchers to the ruins beneath Cadia, but he also naturally sought out true experts for technical support. For instance, a certain Necron Overlord.
With a little help from the "Yellow Skin," he easily located the other party's specific coordinates.
"So, this is your Solemnace Museum?" Adam rubbed his chin, casually stepping through the gate and scanning his surroundings. From his expression, the place clearly did not disappoint him.
Trazyn's taste was indeed excellent. Every detail of this museum revealed a sophistication that spanned millennia. Countless lost totemic patterns were carved into the blackstone dome, and the faint glow of stasis fields shimmered in the air, freezing precious artifacts in the river of time. Every exhibit was meticulously arranged—the angle of the lights, the tone of the background, even the temperature and humidity were adjusted to perfection.
Adam then shifted his gaze toward the museum curator. "How have you been? It's been a long time. Aren't you going to give me a tour?"
His tone was relaxed, as if he were just an old friend dropping by for a visit, rather than an uninvited guest who had just blown up the front gate and destroyed numerous precious exhibits.
Trazyn didn't answer. Only one thought occupied his mind. Run!
A direct confrontation was impossible. This guy could solo a C'tan shard before; his current power level was beyond anything Trazyn could handle. He had to leave this place first. In that split second, it was the only decision he could make.
Trazyn remained silent, solely activating his consciousness transfer protocol to move into a backup body at a secret location deep within the museum. His consciousness signal turned into encrypted quantum pulses, transmitting rapidly along the Necron-specific hyperspace channels—
Unfortunately, he couldn't do it. Or rather, he failed countless times. Every time Trazyn opened his eyes, he found his consciousness still trapped within this body. It was as if an invisible hand was holding his consciousness firmly inside this shell, refusing him any chance of escape.
Cold sweat—or the mechanical equivalent—poured down Trazyn's frame as he stared at Adam's mocking expression.
"What, are you still thinking about running away from me?" Adam tilted his head. "That truly is a daydream."
"Dammit!" Trazyn hissed, the green light in his eyes flickering. He couldn't hesitate any longer. Although the transfer failed, he had other trump cards. He wasn't a warrior; he was a collector. And he had one final card to play.
"Sannet, save me!" Trazyn's voice exploded through the communication network, directly awakening a long-treasured asset. A C'tan shard sealed deep within the museum.
Instantly, a red flash streaked across the hall. Adam smiled and looked up as a roaring crimson flame appeared before his eyes. The flame seemed alive, carrying world-ending energy as it tumbled, roared, and expanded in the air, scorching the surrounding blackstone walls until they began to melt.
Its body was composed of pure crimson energy, every inch radiating heat capable of vaporizing all matter instantly. Its eyes were like two dying suns, flashing with destruction and madness. Powerful energy waves rippled outward like a tide, sweeping those artifacts that had survived the bell's destruction into a new vortex of ruin.
"A C'tan shard, Nyadra'zatha the Burning One?" Recognizing the intruder, Adam didn't panic. He calmly raised his hand.
Reality Warping, initiate.
To everyone present, the world blurred. The sensation was hard to describe—as if someone had rewritten the "source code" of the entire world in an instant and then quickly restored it. Everything happened in a heartbeat, so fast that even Trazyn's sensors couldn't capture any anomaly.
But the result was obvious. The destructive energy waves in the air vanished. Everything returned to peace. It was as if none of it had ever happened.
Adam stepped forward and gently caught the object falling from the air—an apple. It was red, round, and slightly warm to the touch. Adam took a bite, the juice splashing in his mouth as he chewed noisily.
"What in the Warp?" Trazyn's voice carried a bewilderment he had never felt before. His sensors adjusted frantically, trying to find any shred of evidence on a physical level that this was an "illusion." However, there was nothing. The C'tan shard was gone. It had turned from a mass of all-consuming energy into an ordinary apple.
"What? That's impossible!" Trazyn's voice carried a tremor that bordered on a total breakdown. As a collector who had lived for tens of millions of years and seen it all—the creations of the Old Ones, the fall of the Aeldari, the rise of humanity, the invasions of Chaos—this was simply unscientific. Trazyn couldn't even find the right words to describe it.
"Now, can we talk?" Adam smiled calmly.
Silence.
"...We can." Finally, Trazyn nodded reluctantly.
Thinking about it calmly, he had nowhere to go. Even if he were to die, he couldn't abandon the historical artifacts he had spent so much time painstakingly collecting. Solemnace was his base, his gallery, and ultimately, his greatest weakness. Trazyn had lost count of the times he had suffered because of this. When facing his rival, Orikan the Diviner, he was often lured away or distracted by similar tactics.
And this time, the opponent Trazyn faced was clearly ten thousand times more terrifying than Orikan.
"Fine, let's talk," Trazyn said, spreading his hands in a gesture of resignation.
"Don't worry, Trazyn. I have no interest in most of your collection right now." Adam took another bite of the apple, speaking thoughtfully. "I just need a small favor."
"A favor?" Trazyn sneered. Even in this desperate situation where he was the fish on the chopping block, he wouldn't bow his head easily. He had to get in a few sarcastic remarks. Submission was impossible; being stubborn was his nature.
"Oh, a favor?" Trazyn spread his hands, his tone full of mockery. "I never imagined an existence like you would actually need help. I know you, Adam. You've blended in well with those humans on Terra. With such power, you actually insist on treating yourself as a human, becoming the so-called Omnissiah, slaying the Void Dragon... and now? Coming to my territory and breaking my things. You won't even call me 'The Infinite'."
Adam bit into the apple again, the crunching sound echoing as juice splattered. He completely ignored Trazyn's theatrical speech, his eyebrows not even twitching. "Don't you want to hear about the reward?"
"Reward? What reward?" Trazyn's words stopped abruptly. He narrowed his eyes. A reward? I'll see if there's anything that can move me...
Adam didn't answer directly. He simply pointed to a figure standing nearby who had been silently watching the scene. Sutton. The former Necron cryptek, now a... certain human, stood there looking slightly awkward.
From the outside, he looked like an ordinary human. But Trazyn knew things were not that simple. Sutton raised a hand in greeting. "Trazyn, long time no see."
Trazyn: "..."
Silence. A long silence. An absurd and unbelievable guess surged into his mind, but he instinctively denied it—it was too ridiculous, completely illogical! But then he thought of the unfortunate C'tan shard that had been twisted into an apple, and Trazyn believed it a little more.
"Sutton? Is it really you?" he blurted out, staring straight at the cryptek he had seen less than a year ago. When he had fled previously, he had left this guy behind, thinking he was long dead. He had mourned for a moment and then forgotten about it. To think...
"You're not dead?" Trazyn's gaze fell on Sutton, his expression becoming increasingly strange. "You've... turned into a human?"
Wait, no. He silently activated his scanning devices, and data began to pour in. Then, Trazyn felt as if his consciousness core had been struck by lightning.
"Impossible," Trazyn blurted out, his voice carrying a rare loss of composure. "This is... a soul?!"
Wait, it was more than that. What terrified him even more was that, according to the analysis of his detection devices, every detail of this soul seemed to be the original version, perfectly matching Sutton. This was...
"Creation," Trazyn murmured to himself, his voice trembling. "You... created the original soul?"
"Exactly." Adam swallowed the last bite of the apple and casually tossed the core into an unknown Warp rift. He walked a few steps forward, coming to stand before Trazyn, leaning in slightly toward the Necron Overlord. Adam's tone was low, eroding the other's logic like a demon's whisper.
"The real thing. Although it's not the exact one devoured in ancient times, the details are identical. I used reality warping to reshape the soul of the past. It's not an exaggeration to say I've given him a new life. So?" He paused, emphasizing his words. "As long as you agree to this small favor, this is your reward."
A fierce battle raged within Trazyn's mind. Is this how you test a Necron? What Necron could withstand such a test?
"I agree!" Trazyn's face changed faster than flipping a book. He grabbed Adam's hand, his gaze burning. "Tell me, what do you need me to do?"
"My, why the sudden change from arrogance to humility?" Adam laughed, gripping Trazyn's hand and throwing out an old Terran joke.
Trazyn's own eccentric hobby was searching through lost historical civilizations for obscure references and then displaying them like treasures, speaking of cultures that even the descendants of those civilizations didn't know. This condescending cultural showing was one of his few pleasures. But now, Adam had countered him in the same way.
Clearly, this move made him very uncomfortable.
"Hahahaha..." Trazyn laughed awkwardly, his voice dry, like two rusted metal plates rubbing together.
"Alright, jokes aside." Adam's expression turned serious as he got to the point. "The favor I need is very simple. I'll be direct—the underground ruins of Cadia. My goal is to close the Eye of Terror."
He looked at Trazyn and smiled. "How about it? A simple little favor, right?"
Trazyn silently shrank his neck. You call this simple? Closing the Eye of Terror. That was the largest rift between the Warp and reality, the primary channel for Chaos forces to invade the material universe, and the Four Gods' strongest fortress in the real world. Trazyn could already imagine how much power the Four Gods would pour into that place if they knew of this move. It would be one of the most brutal wars the galaxy had seen since the War in Heaven.
"If I want to back out now... is it too late?"
"You can try." Adam's smile was warm and kind.
"...Tell me, what do you need me to do?" After hesitating, Trazyn sighed, his tone filled with a sense of resignation. "Let's get this straight, I'm just an ordinary Necron Overlord. I don't have great power. It's useless to expect me to contribute much force."
"Don't worry, I won't send you to your death." Adam patted his shoulder. "I just need your knowledge, and nothing more."