Warhammer: Empire Reboot

The prophecy of the prophets, the limitations of distance, the support of intelligence, and the constraints imposed by other fronts all seem to make sense.

The chieftains of Saim-Han all remained indifferent after hearing this.

Horace crossed his arms and stared at the ground from head to toe. Kerahm leaned against a clan pillar, his lips pursed in a downward smirk.

The female clan leader, who had lost two members of her clan in the battle, didn't even glance at the delegation.

Salosin remained silent for a few seconds.

“I have heard your explanation.”

The old patriarch was very polite: "Saim-Han thanks Aletok for his intelligence support and understands that each Ark has its own difficulties."

That's all the polite talk.

"Fortunately, the Dark Side Masters of the Human Empire arrived in time to provide assistance. Otherwise, you wouldn't be an envoy today, but a corpse-collecting team."

Usvi's prophet responded first: "Sarosin, we have heard of human intervention. The 'external force' indicated by the Path of Destiny does indeed point towards the dark side of the Empire. But..."

“We have also seen the danger of that human. Lawson is warlike and domineering. He has established a military kingdom in the shadows of the Empire that is almost independent of the Imperial system. This power is unrestrained. He can save you today, but he may use the same power to suppress you tomorrow.”

Bil-Tan's Swordwind Lord went straight to the point: "That human warlord couldn't have been without a purpose. He must have attached conditions to saving Saim-Han. What did you give him?"

Salosin glanced at Horace.

Horace nodded slightly.

“We have established an alliance with Lawson.”

"As part of the alliance, we shared with him information about network routes within the dark side of the Empire," Salosin said.

There was a moment of silence in the Starfire Royal Court.

The four delegations reacted almost simultaneously.

Usvi's prophetic staff slammed heavily on the spirit bone ground: "You gave the Web Path information to humanity?"

The old patriarch of Iyanden slowly shook his head, a look of disappointment on his face.

The Bladewind Lord of Bil-Tan stood up abruptly.

"The Net Way is the common heritage of the Eldar!"

His voice echoed in the Hall of Bones: "Every network route is related to the safety of all Arks! What right do you Saim-Han have to give away what belongs to the entire Eldar to a human warlord?"

Usvi's prophet followed up: "The secrecy of the Webpaths is the Eldar's last strategic depth. Once humans control the Webpath routes, they can enter the Webpaths at any time and from any entrance, and our ability to use the Webpaths to avoid Chaos, evacuate the battlefield, and relocate our people will be greatly diminished."

"You are betraying the future of the Eldar."

Salosin listened to all the accusations while leaning on his staff.

He then explained, based on Lawson's theory, that "the Way of the Net is a legacy left by the ancient sages."

"The Eldar have lived in the Webpath for tens of millions of years and used it for tens of millions of years. But have we ever maintained it? The chaos within the Webpath has become increasingly polluted. The Dark Eldar have established hundreds and thousands of illegal outposts within it, and many branch paths have collapsed or been corrupted by the warp. We have used it for tens of millions of years and turned the Webpath into what it is now."

He looked at the four messengers.

“Losen’s technical team is capable of monitoring network anomalies and identifying traces of chaos contamination and Dark Eldar modifications. Having him on board might…”

“Perhaps what?” the Bladewind Lord of Bil-Tan interrupted him: “Let a human guard our gate?”

"At least this human has come."

Salosin shook his head regretfully: "And my friends, you did not come."

The Swordwind Lord's mouth closed.

Usvi's prophet broke the silence: "Sarosin, I understand the choice you made in this crisis. But the common interests of the Eldar outweigh the plight of any single Ark. If Saim-Han insists on sharing the Webpath information with that human, then don't blame us for..."

What will happen to you?

The sound came from the direction of the gate of the Starfire Royal Court.

Everyone turned their heads.

Lawson strode in.

He was followed by Er Gou, San Gou, and six Mastiff guards.

Ilancia walked to the side of the guard formation. Half a step behind, Salasien Thousand Strings followed lightly in the form of a humanoid woman, her purple robe leaving a thin trail on the spirit bone ground.

All four delegations' eyes fell on Lawson at the same time.

The first reaction was from the Bladewind Lord of Bil-Tan.

"This is the Eldar's highest council. Human warlords are not qualified to set foot here."

The chieftains of Saim-Han stood up at the same time.

The clan chiefs under each clan pillar all stood up and faced Lawson.

Salosin's attitude was clear: "This is the Starfire Royal Court of Saim-Han. Losen is Saim-Han's most distinguished guest. He is more qualified to stand here than anyone else present."

The twelve clan chiefs simultaneously stood up to greet a human.

The expressions of all four delegations changed.

The impact of this image is greater than any words can express.

The high-ranking clan chiefs of Saim-Han didn't even stand up when the four Ark messengers arrived, but now they've collectively risen for a human. This shows that Saim-Han is already demonstrating its stance through its actions.

Usvi's prophet slowly said, "Sarosin, think it through. Do you intend to sever ties with the other Eldar arks?"

Salosin leaned on his staff and looked at him.

"Whether to sever ties or not is your choice," the old patriarch said in a flat voice. "It's not up to us."

Bil-Tan's Swordwind Lord turned to Lawson.

"Human. I warn you, the Web Path is Eldar territory. If your army enters the Web Path without authorization, all Arks will consider it an act of invasion."

Lawson took two seconds to sized up the Swordwind Lord: his spiritbone armor, medals, longsword, and warrior's stance.

Bil-Tan's style was belligerent, direct, like a sword without a sheath.

“The online path…” Lawson chuckled softly, “I’m definitely going to get in.”

"If you're not satisfied, the four of you can declare war on me."

The Starfire Royal Court was extremely quiet.

"To be honest, I have quite a few enemies right now."

Lawson counted on his fingers: "The Four Chaos Gods, the remnants of Abaddon's Black Legion, the Creators' Alliance of Vashtor, the Necromancers, the Dark Eldar, the Orcs..."

He looked at the four messengers.

“I wouldn’t mind having a few more Eldar Arks on the list.”

He lowered his hand.

"I'm determined to enter the online world. Why don't you think it over now and decide whether you want to start a war?"

Representatives from the four delegations exchanged glances.

Usvi's prophets were calculating Losen's military strength, and Usvi's prophetic group discovered that they needed to break the Path of Destiny in order to find a chance of victory.

The old chieftain of Iyanden was calculating the losses. Iyanden was near death, his people were too few, and while the ghost warriors were powerful, replenishing them was extremely difficult. To wage war against Lawson would be tantamount to suicide.

Aletok's commander was calculating intelligence; his network of rangers had gathered a vast amount of information about Lawson, and every faction that went to war with him ended up worse off than before the war began.

Bil-Tan's Bladewind Lord is the one the four people most want to fight.

His hand gripped the hilt of the sword for five seconds, then he let go.

Because he remembered something: the entire fleet of Bil-Tan combined didn't have as much firepower as the two Ominous Arks.

The prophet of Usvi offered them a way out: "This matter is of great importance, and we need to return to our respective Starfire Courts to discuss it."

"We reserve our objection to the Saim-Han sharing of network information until a final decision is made."

Lawson seemed to have anticipated their reaction.

He said with a half-smile, "Just a heads-up."

"Chaos was able to find Saim-Han's Ark this time, do you think you won't be able to find your own?"

The expressions of the four envoys tensed up simultaneously.

"Today, Saim-Han is besieged by six ominous arks."

Lawson spread his hands: "Tomorrow it might be Usvi, Iyanden, Aletok, or Bil-Tan. Then who will you go looking for to rescue them?"

"Good luck to you."

Lord Bladewind of Bil-Tan glared at Lawson before turning and heading toward the gate.

He wanted to leave a harsh remark, but his mouth opened briefly and then closed again.

The four delegations departed from the Starfire Royal Court.

The hall was silent for a few seconds.

The chieftains of Saim-Han did not look well.

The fact that things have escalated to this point with the Four Arks is not an outcome anyone wanted to see.

Although the Eldar Arks have their own conflicts, they at least maintain a loose alliance framework when facing external threats.

Now the framework has cracks.

Kelach muttered a curse under his breath.

Salosin sat back in the chief seat, his staff resting horizontally on his knees. He had made the choice; there was no point in regretting it.

Lawson glanced at the expressions on the faces of the clan leaders.

Don't overthink it.

"The attitude of the Four Arks is what it should be. You can't change them, and they can't change you."

He walked up to the star map and said, “You did the right thing. Your greatest responsibility is to ensure the continuation of your people. Everything else is secondary.”

He brought up projections of three planets on the star map, the same three he had shown the clan leaders before.

"Your new home has been arranged. The foundation sequence of the three hive cities has been completed with the residential area renovation. The air purification, water treatment and psionic shielding systems adapted for Eldar are all in place. From the hive cities to the Ark, it's just a step away."

He looked at Salosin: "Come with me and take a look?"