37 Cheating the Game
Atep along with the rest of the legion under him who no longer had a C'tan to directly command them, now stood on the barren surface of this planet in a full formation to directly welcome Arlow as their commander. It had only been a few short hours since he met the Lord of Incensia as he exited the cathedral they were exploring in the abyss. At first, he was incredibly hostile against all the incoming Necrons alongside him, but that changed after a few minutes and a short talk.
Imagine his surprise, when the Lord of Incensia sent him unmistakable C'tan command codes, immediately becoming a direct replacement for their C'tan god that went insane so many years ago. These command codes would not normally be recognized as highly in the way as they were to his specific legion. After all, every Necron legion had their C'tan master set as the highest authority, if another C'tan ever came along and decided to command their legions, there would be problems.
It only worked so smoothly as it had, because the current legion under Atep did not have a C'tan set as the highest authority, instead, they were loosely controlled by the C'tan collective. It worked out so well, that Atep calculated the odds of this being deliberate on Arlow's part to meet their legion specifically, and the odds came back that this being the case was quite high.
Since then, he has kept a watchful eye on his new master. Learning, waiting, and watching. He gathered the advance troops in orbit that were all under his command, and had the major commanding persons appear on the surface of this planet. And now, he had finally arrived.
...
Arlow stepped lightly on the quantum-matter 'stairs' he had made out of the psychic fog. Perhaps the most notable property of this denser psionic substance he called Incensia, was its high stability in maintaining quantum matter. The energies of the Immaterium would make producing stable quantum matter difficult to maintain, especially so inside the Materium. However, the Incensia was a strange substance that permeated through both dimensions of the Immaterium and the Materium naturally, causing a variety of different aspects to appear when manipulating it.
As Arlow walked upwards to reach the top of the 'Abyss' on self-made stairs, the stairs formed under his gigantic feet did not look like solid matter. It looked like glowing white pure energies made of erratic lightning bolts overlapped over each other. As if he was standing on white lightning bolts, locked in stasis.
*Step* *Step* *Step*
Finally, his upper body peaked out from the crevice that threatened to split the planet and he was able to see the gathered Necrons awaiting him. In his eyes, the lines of causality showed him the history of each of them one by one as easily as breathing. He stepped off his makeshift stairs and onto the planet's bare surface.
"Greetings Incensian Lord," Atep bowed his head along with the rest of the higher leaders in greeting.
"Greetings," Arlow nodded back to them all.
"I'm sure there is much you wish to discuss," Arlow said, knowing what to expect.
Arlow had discovered a while back that being able to see the 'lines of causality' was not only superior to the Immaterium in viewing history but also in future prediction. To put it simply, while Arlow was inside the universe he caused, even by accident, to create. The future was no longer just 'predictable' to him, he was already living in the future up to a year ahead of time. This was a step beyond predicting the future through the Immaterium, instead, he was already experiencing the future a year ahead of time.
He would rarely be surprised from now on, as most if not all beings live in a single moment in time, but he was living within a years buffer of time. No matter what predictions were made or attempts against him, his enemies were destined to hear the words 'You're finally done?' from Arlow's mouth when they finished their preparations.
It would be better to think of it like a chessboard between two opponents. One move a turn for each player would be the normal rules by which a person can play the game. Unless that person is Arlow in this universe, in which case he can play 5 moves a turn. He is simply not the opponent of anyone, he's cheating.
"The strategy you have proposed is sufficient, but it requires a level of command that I find concerning," Atep spoke his concerns.
"The star gods were not organized in the beginning, but since their united front against the Old Ones it will be much harder to break them apart." Atep continued.
"And what about this Blackstone site's duties?" Arlow asked, guiding the conversation.
Atep was silent as he ran some calculations.
"We can prepare an ambush for the incoming supporting legion and their C'tan," Atep spoke his thoughts while observing Arlow.
"Yes," Arlow affirmed the suggestion.
Most of the C'tan were deployed strategically throughout the universe for different purposes. Some of them were defending the Blackstone Obelisk locations from any counter-attacks of the Old Ones, while others were sent to target different locations to divert attention or achieve other minor goals. Arlow planned to mop up the C'tan armies one by one, obliterating the C'tan invaders from the void, and replacing the legion's commander with himself afterward. Slowly enveloping the C'tan from all sides with their armies, until they are wiped out.
Normally, this would be nearly impossible to do. Considering some of the tools that the C'tans have under their belt and their supporting Necron armies. He would need to be wary of time-disassociated assassinations, predictions on the top of predictions into the future, and many other things.
After all, if we were to use the chess metaphor again; the Old Ones have only a few pieces remaining, while the C'tan are about the win, meanwhile all Arlow has is a single Knight piece. Too bad for the other players, he is already taking their most valuable pieces and adding them to his side while he was still chatting with Atep.
=======
Author's Note:
Felt under the weather, sorry for the delay.
More chapters on my pat reon:
pat reon/ MatheuDeWitt
