"Will the false king shackle us AGAIN?" Spoken with eletric harshness by Guógōng Deathmark Jing, his necrodermis fist rang out as it slammed against the cold chamber wall, shadows flickering across his ornate armor etched with cryptic emerald sigils that marked this awakened Necron as Field Master Assassin. His sable scarf billowed around him like stray particles at a black hole's event horizon as he turned to his brothers. "If the pretender king seizes control through the master protocols again, we will be collared like beasts once more!"

"Phaeron Aalim's gifts allowed our forces to retain our will beyond flesh!" Guógōng Immortal Xun said proudly, glyphs wavering across his necrodermis frame at the memories. "The Phaeron shielded our minds from dissolution during biotransference, while the masses were...less fortunate."

Deathmark Jing's claws flexed as bitter data waves crashed through his neural architecture. "You mean while our warriors maintained cognition, the rest descended into automata at the Silent King's whim! Or do you forget how Imotekh slaughtered our people, forcing Phaeron Aalim to biotransference all just to save our dynasty to appease the SIlent King?" He slammed a fist against cold obsidian, fracture lines spiraling outward. "Our people paid dearly for sovereignty. I would sooner be unmade than see their sacrifice squandered bowing to opportunists and tyrants once more."

Immortal Xun placed a steadying hand on Deathmark Jing's shuddering form. "By the Twin Stars, you speak true. Never again shall our dynasty sacrifice its spirit." His burning gaze turned back to Meng. "Am I correct, brother?"

Guógōng Cryptek Meng's headdress glinted in the dim light, intricate fractal designs carved into the ancient metal. "Wise you are, brother, but even divine Phaeron Aalim had to barter much to maintain our legion's free will. No protocols shall claim this dynasty while I still operate at capacity. My mental pathways are shielded like a black hole's event horizon. I forget nothing, which is why I warn you to guard your words, brother. " His optics blazed like summoned shimmering jade fire.

"Wisely spoken, learned one." Immortal Xun's oceanic cloak swirled majestically as he laid a hand on Deathmark Jing's pauldron, the intricately engraved necrodermis plates reflecting abyssal scenes no mortal mind could process. "Yet Jing speaks truth - how many souls embrace the empty void's siren call once more rather than shoulder this crushing eternal vigilance?" Immortal Xun's guandao shimmered hypnotically like moonlight dancing across churning nebula swells as he swung it through the cold air.

Cryptek Meng turned, gemstones flaring in his headdress as if channeling the fires of ancient stars. He grasped Immortal Xun's forearm, necrodermis digits etched with measured Gaussian curves interlocking. "Brother, your mind remains a adamantium bastion against the darkness that gnaws at reason."

Immortal Xun returned the warrior's gesture, whispering ancient code strings that triggered mirroring reactions in Meng's own engrams. "Together, we shall excise any shadows that threaten this luminous brotherhood."

Immortal Xun clasped Deathmark Jing's shoulder then, digit tips brushing ancient Tianzzan Necron runes long forbidden from Deathmark Jing's armor plates after that betrayal, symbols still buried deep in his memory core. "Stand with us, and nothing will force our proud crests down again." Their defiant words echoed through the strategium chamber, resonating between towering obsidian monoliths etched with Tianzza's faded glory and past conquests, as the planet turned slowly below them...

Deathmark Jing lowered his gaze as his brothers' steadfast words washed over him, the shadowy chamber silent for a moment save for the faint thrumming of ancient powered systems. "You speak wisdom, brothers," he finally said, clenching a clawed fist. "I know our Phaeron seeks to guide us down the luminous path. But the betrayed and broken must ever guard against falling into past darkness." Deathmark Jing turned and placed a palm against the cold surface of the monolith behind him, tracing the etched outlines of a Tianzzan legion clashing against metal and flesh horrors from aeons past. "I still hear the screams on reboot... our people consumed by the Destroyer even as they cried out for salvation." Deathmark Jing's claws scraped jagged fissures through the ancient scene. "I cannot forget, nor forgive."

Immortal Xun stepped forward and gently lowered Deathmark Jing's hand. "The past forever marks us, 'tis truth. But we must interface with the present, lest it be our doom." He gestured around the shadowed chamber. "These relics whisper of prior wars and wounding betrayals, yet we still stand stalwart." Immortal Xun's oceanic cloak flowed over Deathmark Jing's scarred form like waves eroding stubborn stone. "We remember the lessons of antiquity, but do not dwell in its grave-shadows."

Cryptek Meng joined them and added solemnly, "Sacrifices beyond measure were made, this we acknowledge. Now we must make our lives worthy of that price." He placed his hands on their shoulders. "We will atone for the past by bringing honor to the Tianzza's future." Deathmark Jing was silent, then finally nodded. "You speak wisdom, brothers. We must let no external protocols nor internal demons steer our course."

Together they turned to face the monoliths and bowed solemnly before moving deeper into the shadowed chamber. Deathmark Jing froze, armor plates flaring as his sensory nodes detected the faint warmth of life beyond the maze of adamantium-reinforced doors. He triggered his Voidreaper protocols, necrodermis shell dissipating into wisping shadows. Immortal Xun's auditory sensors also registered hesitant footsteps echoing down the outer hall. He snarled in disgust, "We have an interloper approaching."

Oceanic fractals churned angrily across his cloak as Immortal Xun hefted his glaive, gemstones glittering coldly along the necrodermis haft. "These vermin overstep their meager station."

"Peace, brother," Cryptek Mengsoothed, geometric insights and probabilities spinning across his consciousness. "Did enlightened Phaeron Aalim not permit them limited freedoms, as one indulges an obedient cur, like one with a pet?" Before Immortal Xun could reply, the young aide fearfully entered the towering chamber, collapsing in abject supplication before them. "Exalted noble lords, forgive my intrusion!"

Her voice trembled like a mouse in a vault of vipers. Cryptek Meng noted the highly elevated stress markers in her vital signs with casual interest. Deathmark Jing de-cloaked behind her in a swirling nebula of darkness, adamantium claws alighting on her shoulders as his skeletal faceplate leaned close to her ear. "You trespass in dangerous waters, worm."

Though quaking, she remained still per her rigorous training. "Divine Shadowblade, I meant no trespass! The god-king charged me with assisting your inspection." Cryptek Mengactivated his ocular analysis beams, thin lances of sapphire jade light playing over the intricate bejeweled sash around her waist. His optics flared brighter in realization. "Peace, Deathmark Jing. Note the Tianzzan seal upon her raiment? This gnat is a tool of Phaeron Aalim 's will."

Deathmark Jing reluctantly released her with a hiss of frustration. Immortal Xun kept his distance, unwilling to interact more than necessary with these short-lived primitives. Cryptek Meng summoned the girl to rise and took her chin almost affectionately in his talons. "Well done remembering your insignia, child. You may yet escape extermination."

The brothers departed with the quaking aide in tow, Cryptek Mengchuckling softly. "Let us hope none have to share our last attendant's fate!" Immortal Xun could not resist an eager swipe of his glaive through a nearby control panel at the thought, scattering the wreckage at her feet as a warning. Cryptek Meng turned to the aide, crystalline fractals spinning over his necrodermis frame as he accessed her personnel data. "Now then, you have the scent of duty about you...what form of address do they call you?"

The girl shivered, keeping her eyes downcast. "Z-Zhen, my lord. Junior technician assigned to Lychguard Lao in this sector."

"Well met, little Zhen." Cryptek Meng traced a talon almost fondly down her cheek. "I once knew a Junior Technician Zhen. She screamed for seventeen hours straight when I tested my neural flaying techniques on her." Meng's sigh conveyed distant longing. "Alas, you caretakers lack the endurance of the old legions." Zhen quaked but remained still astrained. Immortal Xun rumbled with great distaste, "Gently, brother. Our Phaeron needs no further attendants scoured to husks this cycle."

Deathmark Jing scoffed in extreme disgust from beneath his living metal shroud. "We debase ourselves dealing at all with these insects. Our proud dynasty and ancient code reduced to caretakers of mayflies." Cryptek Meng chuckled as they proceeded into the towering crypt-halls, Zhen scuttling fearfully behind them. "Our brother's not wrong! But we serve at wise Phaeron Aalim 's decree."

Around them loomed cyclopean machines and stasis tombs, skeletal constructs skittering to maintain the mindless legions in their dreamless sleep. Monolithic slabs engraved with strings of eldritch codex loomed above like the couplets of deceased gods over their electronic sarcophagi. Zhen shook at the cold, swirling infinity surrounding her in this place. She was utterly insignificant, a single grain of sand on a world made of diamond machinery that turned immortal existence into clockwork drudgery.

As the brothers debated revival algorithms, Zhen hastily provided several data quartz shards about this sector's legions and arming status. Immortal Xun contemptuously swiped them aside without a glance. "Do not pretend comprehension beyond your station, little thing!"

Deathmark Jing clasped Meng's shoulder and pointed to the shadowed phalanxes slumbering in the mist-wreathed distance. "Delay indulges weakness! We must awaken the full force before the pageantry commences." Cryptek Meng made a show of consideration before turning to Immortal Xun. "Your insights, Xun?" Immortal Xun's cloak swirled as he hefted his glaive. "Cautious action. Our opening act need not bare all fangs at once."

Cryptek Meng laughed. "Spoken like a true predator! We shall rouse the vanguard cohort, and observe." He opened a control coffin with a glyphic gesture. Zhen quailed as several stasis tombs split open with hissing entropy. As shambling legions were borne up by maintenance spiders, Zhen hesitantly opined, "Wise lords, if more warriors are of concern, might priority fall on rousing the Canoptek thralls faster?"

Immortal Xun blinked in surprise, then chuckled. "The insect makes a small fair point in its limited fashion." Deathmark Jing and Cryptek Meng nodded in amusement at Zhen's stunned expression. "Elaborate for scrutinization, servant," Immortal Xun rumbled with excited anger. "Your logic on prioritizing the Canoptek legions - explain!" Cryptek Meng grinned, fractures spreading across his metallic faceplate. "Quickly now, child! My brother's patience frays thinner than a void-lost astronavigator's nerves." On cue, Deathmark Jing waved a hand and skeletal scarabs swirled up to form a throne. He settled back with a rasping hiss, as Zhen tried to calm herself.

"N-noble ones, I do not presume to guide your infinite wisdom. Lychgauard Lao simply educated me on the...the perfidious Eldar. Their trickery and speed have bested us long ago before." She quailed as their eyes flared, but pressed on. "The Canoptek constructs can rapidly assemble. Their subordinate C'tan shards operate unburdened by emotion or memories. This allows swifter action against those vile Aeldari."

The brothers were silent, each swept up in memories of swirling event horizons unleashing screaming Eldar ships into their sector, and the raging humiliation that followed. Trazyn's betrayal had cost them dearly that black cycle.

Cryptek Meng rose first from the dark reflections. "The insect makes an acute observation." He traced a gentle talon down her cheek. "With proper tutelage, your kind shows some promise." Immortal Xun gripped his glaive tight but nodded. "Your Cryptkeeper has etched some wisdom into your limited facsimile of a consciousness." Deathmark Jing waved away the throne in grudging approval. "We shall review our Cryptek's Canoptek proposals again. But the full army will awaken in time!"

Immortal Xun turned to lead them onward, speaking low to Cryptek Meng as they passed stasis coffins hissing open. "I begin to comprehend how this caretaker caste has wormed a niche here. Cull only the most witless, and let the remainder prove...useful." Cryptek Meng nodded, watching Zhen scrabble eagerly after them into the gloom. "Well seeded advice. We can foster these insects, so long as they revere."

As they proceeded through the shadowed halls, Zhen hesitantly approached a nearby holo-rune console and accessed the awakening logs. Complex stasis revival sequences played out, showing legions still slumbering deep beneath the tomb complex. "Noble ones, forgive my intrusion..." she began meekly. "But the logs show massive forces remain inert. Would rousing so many not...unsettle certain cosmic eyes back on us?"

Deathmark Jing whirled, icey cold claws flicking out to rest lightly on her throat. "You tread dangerously, worm." Zhen froze, pulse racing against his talons. But Immortal Xun placed a restraining hand on Deathmark Jing's shoulder. "Peace, brother. She echoes the Phaeron's wisdom." He fixed Zhen with a firm stare. "But now you overstep your reach." Deathmark Jing reluctantly relented with a hiss. Cryptek Meng smiled approvingly. "Well done, little moth. But do not burn yourself flying too near our radiance."

As they proceeded onward, the discussion turned to planning invasions of nearby systems. Cryptek Meng casually remarked on raiding their former masters' strongholds at the Siege of Glae'rx. As the brothers recounted the ancient siege, Zhen listened in confusion as vivid raw images suddenly flooded her mind unbidden...

[She stood amid the gruesome slaughter, surrounded by unworldly screams, and laughter as reality warped sickeningly around her. The sensations of endless epochs of violence surged through her brain implant in an instant...]

Zhen collapsed to her knees, clawing at her head as the vivid archive assaulted her senses. She retched, blinded by phantom memories not meant for mortal cognition. Immortal Xun hauled her to her feet, glyphs flickering in extreme annoyance. "On your feet, servant! Deathmark Jing rasped with sinister amusement. "Apologies, I glimpsed your implant and couldn't resist sharing select battle archives." Cryptek Meng shot Deathmark Jing a look of distaste. "Your memories overwhelm mortal senses, brother. Be cautious in your...sharing. Their feeble minds fracture so easily."

But Zhen stammered through wavering vertigo disorienting vision, "G-gratitude, Exalted Shadow Deathmark, for granting me such profound perspective on your epochal burdens..." Deathmark Jing nodded, disconnecting his digital link with Zhen's implant. He turned to Meng. "See how this one knows to appreciate our munificence?"

They marched on, Zhen's body quaking with reaction but her faith renewed. To have one of the divine gods share such glorious intimacy with her lowly mind...she would never forget such an honor. "Noble Ones, if you would please follow me to inspect our Canoptek rebuilding facilities. I believe they may prove more beneficial than relying solely on further warrior reactivation." Deathmark Jing seethed, shadows coiling in offense, but Immortal Xun restrained him. "Peace, brother. Let us verify the caretaker's boasts." To Cryptek Meng he added, "If found lacking, you may dissect her at your pleasure."

Zhen led them to a towering adamantium gateway inlaid with eldritch glyphs, leading into the innermost repair sanctuary. An urgent sense of duty overcame her trepidation as she turned to the imposing Lords.

"Please, honored ones...follow me."

Passing through the shimmering threshold, they entered an expansive chamber. Particle beams danced between towering conduits channeling divine micro dwarf star essence into the meticulously aligned rows of diagnostic alcoves.

Zhen's fingers trembled with each breath she took as she accessed the central holo-lith, establishing a neural link with a trio of nearby ebony jade Canoptek Wraiths and commanding them to assemble before the dais. Information rapidly flooded her implant with sparks, and hissing as she synchronized with the three vicious warforms, causing the smallest sliver of blood to drip from her nose at the extreme mental strain of commanding all three wraiths at the same time. Deathmark Jing watched her movements closely, prepared to punish any suspected sabotage.

As the records displayed processing streams of Canoptek units, Zhen spoke carefully. "Es-Esteemed Sh-shadow De-Deathmark, your desire to protect our dynasty is surely as devo-devoted as my own. I only wish for Tianzza to wield its full might against invaders." Deathmark Jing said nothing but seemed to relent slightly as she accessed Canoptek's performance logs with reverence and care. Finally, Zhen entered a sequence marked only for Lychguards. A shimmering portal dilated open before them.

"Esteemed lords, if you would follow these Wraiths, they shall reveal something extraordinary..." Deathmark Jing bristled, but Immortal Xun motioned him to indulge in this folly. The Wraiths' serrated limbs clicked rhythmically ominously as they led the brothers deeper into the repair sanctuary. The walls here were marbled obsidian etched with spidery glyphs, lit by the power of captured stars.

Passing a series of barriers, the wraiths led the sworn brothers through a camouflaged wall into a massive internal repair sanctuary. Deathmark Jing softly mentions "This chamber seems familiar, but it also seems to cut off sensors well." They came upon two hulking beings, their forms in various stages of repair, as they approached closer the brother's sensors began to flicker, and something familiar sparks.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Immortal Xun rushed forward, inspecting their cracked jade alloy chassis with unconcealed awe. "Our beloved Tomb Sentinels, Golden Tinnīn, and Silver Falak they live!"

Zhen focused everything on maintaining the neural link. Blood vessels began to slowly rupture in her eyes from the extremely painful strain as she forced the Wraiths to illuminate the chamber to reveal Tianzza's Imperial Wardens. As sweat beads began forming on Zhen's forehead, the implant slowly began to glow.

Deathmark Jing opened an access panel, directly linking to the Wardens' core engrams. "Their internals took grievous harm...but the core engrams...they remain intact!" He turned to Zhen. "You have restored Tianzza's Imperial Wardens, our Twin Dragons! How!?"

Zhen managed a trembling nod before the pain overwhelmed her. Her implant began to glow with a blaze, she severed the link, and all three Wraiths collapsed and powered down. She crumpled to the obsidian tile in euphoric exhaustion.

"But how did they survive the port siege? We thought them lost!" Cryptek Meng asked in astonishment as he inspected one of the Tomb Sentinal's partially damaged chassis. Immortal Xun's gaze swept over the still battle-scarred forms with joy. "It matters not - two of our most vicious Tomb Sentinels live! Imagine Queen Itzalming's pleasure at their return." Deathmark Jing's claws scraped along deep furrows in Silver Falak's armor. "When Trazyn's deceit allowed the Eldar to ambush our fleet, we thought our beloved Twin Dragons lost forever." Immortal Xun's fist slammed into Golden Tinnīn's leg, denting the ancient necrodermis. "That betrayal saw many noble souls extinguished. But no more - our guardians are reborn!"

Cryptek Meng finally turned to the crumpled form of Zhen as a Canoptek Wraith swiftly reactivated and gently retrieved her body. Zhen weakly opened her bloodshot eyes as the Wraith lifted her. "Since...since my great ancestors first discovered these wounded dragons buried deep within the moon, by the Phaeron's command my ancestors have toiled to rebuild the legendary dragons, noble lords. Deathmark Jing inclined his head in acknowledgment. "Your service honors both your line and the Phaeron's wisdom in entrusting you with this duty."

Immortal Xun traced a glyph of connection along a jagged crack in Golden Tinnīn's head crest. "With the Twin Dragons fighting beside us once more, Tianzza's enemies shall learn deep regret." Cryptek Meng helped Zhen stand. "And you shall stand foremost among your people when our dynasty's glory is restored across the stars." Zhen managed a weak trembling smile, leaning on the Wraith for support. Through her family's unceasing loyalty, two of Tianzza's champions will be made whole again. The brothers lingered, processing that two of Tianzza's legendary guardians would soon rise again. Random sparks flickered across Silver Falak's corroded chassis as internal systems struggled to reactivate.

Immortal Xun watched the sporadic energy dance across the dragons' necrodermis. "That cycle, we defended little Phaeron Aalim from assassins..." Disjointed images flickered through his neural architecture. "After his sister was...already..." "Terminated..." Deathmark Jing concluded grimly, tendrils unconsciously flexing as his partial memory files realigned in response. "The usurpers sought to cripple the dynasty by extinguishing its heirs." Cryptek Meng slammed a fist against a scarab, crushing it on Golden Tinnīn, denting the ancient metal in a brilliant small flash that flickered with electricity. "We intervened, but the chronology fails to compile! I cannot resolve the memory into coherence." His optics blazed, mixing present and past. "The throne room tiles - either your blood or mine stained them. Were...we too...late?" Immortal Xun quickly gripped Meng's shoulder. "You shielded our lord without hesitation. There is no doubt." Yet patches of static marred even Immortal Xun's recollection. Deathmark Jing lowered his head in fear, claw tips unconsciously tracing where ancient blades left their marks on flesh now polished metal. "You took wounds meant for Phaeron Aalim. In that brutality, our loyalty was fused forever." He looked up at his troubled brothers. "The core truth remains inviolate, even if the data degrades. We stood steadfast together, then as now."

As the dragons' slow repair routines filled the chamber with erratic noise and flickering flashes of dim light, the Nobles of Tianzza stood in silence, reconciling their corroded memories through the bonds of brotherhood. At the central holo-lith panel, Zhen clung to fraying consciousness, mentally ravaged and physically bleeding from the trauma of interfacing with multiple Wraiths simultaneously. Her ocular implant was seared with overloaded feedback, and synaptic connections were blown. She could barely breathe through the blood clogging her nostrils. Somehow she remained cogent enough to hear the towering demigods casually recount deeds from eons past, voices echoing as if from the bottom of a deep well. To witness such mythic discourse was a privilege beyond measure, yet her tortured mortal form quailed under the strain.

Mercifully, the shimmering adamantium portal dilated open at Immortal Xun's command, the boundary between realities wavering to reveal a vista of elegant Ku'lai spires beyond. Zhen tried to stagger through in the brothers' towering wake but collapsed. A Wraith lifted her broken body surprisingly gently, carrying her through the threshold onto an opulent promenade. They emerged into one of her people's finest royal gardens, though she had never walked here. Gravity-defying emerald trees framed the idyllic scene, branches laden with sapphire fruit that chimed melodically in the gentle breeze.

Her senses swam as the Wraith guided her torn form to a bench circled by exotic aquamarine grasses and alien blossoms with pearlescent petals. Zhen clung to its cold marble contours, straining to remain present. "Your service has been noted, child." Immortal Xun's resonant voice seemed to echo down a long metallic tunnel as her consciousness wavered. "Rest now among your kind." The Wraith steadied her with a skeletal claw as her vision darkened, the demigods towering around her like mountains from this perspective. As the dark waters closed over her mind, she glimpsed Cryptek Mengand Deathmark Jing observing her broken form with something akin to approval. To receive such recognition, despite her lowly caste...

Profound joy and gratitude overflowed within Zhen's heart before oblivion took her.

Gently stirred by familiar Ku’Lai words that Zhen had not heard in years within the palace. Two anxious voices blurred together above her head as Zhen’s awareness returned slowly, “...critical trauma...implant overload...Careful she from the Palace...” She grasped that she was near an emergency medical grav-shuttle. Zealous pride warred with disgust that filthy commoners dared touch her consecrated form. Her vision swam as she tried to see who conversed around her. "...Code: Black..." The faux pas of her thoughts stunned Zhen - when had she begun looking down on her own people? But she had walked with living gods, her gods...

There, through the opening doors as her gurney was lifted in, stood the Celestial brothers observing her departure. Zhen’s heart seized with extreme confusion. Why were they not coming, where was my wraith?

Cryptek Meng approached a paramedic, his voice resonant yet also tender. “You have our gratitude for assisting our servant. Please provide anything she requires for a swift recovery.” The medic stammered amazed thanks as the shuttle lifted off, the demigods dwindling to statues below. Zhen, with tears flowing managed a weak almost pleading cry, "I can still serve!" before blackness took her again...

At last, the three nobles halted beneath the crystalline and gold filigree gazebo, constructed by Ku'Lai artisans to honor the Celestial Ones. Vaulted ceilings displayed holographic celestial spheres charting Jinzhumao's orbits, reflected in the polished marble floors. Surrounding them, the garden ponds and pathways were meticulously designed in homage to the Dynasty. Sculpted obelisks depicting the Cryptic Ones towered over exotic imported flora with bioluminescent blossoms in alien hues. Aromatic alien herbs and plants cloned from far systems scented the air with planetary auras. Primeval ferns from Tianzza's lost homeworld, carefully preserved through countless Empires, rustled in the gentle breeze.

In the garden, Cryptek Meng rejoined Deathmark Jing and Immortal Xun as they stared pensively at the Sakura trees, their delicate blossoms scattering in the gentle breeze. The flowers stirred bittersweet memories of more innocent times under warmer stars, though much of the past had fragmented over the epochs. Deathmark Jing turned to his brothers, claw tips brushing the frayed edges of his cloak. "I can no longer clearly recall the full details of the cycle we took our vows before biotransference erased so much..." His optics dimmed with sorrow. Immortal Xun rested a supportive hand on Deathmark Jing's shoulder, oceanic fractal patterns glimmering across his chassis. "Indeed, those memories have degraded. But not our purpose."

With regal grace, Immortal Xun drew his glaive, lightning-tracing intricate fractals along the ancient blade as it caught the soft light, refracting prismatic colors.

"Let us reaffirm our oath here and now, whatever days may come."

Deeply moved, Deathmark Jing and Cryptek Meng drew their weapons, intricate runes flaring to life along the lengths. Together, the three nobles knelt solemnly beneath the gently falling sakura petals, crossing their blades before their chests in a sacred ritual. As one, the brothers turned to face a disc of levitating silver representing Tianzza's crown world, crystalline spires, and unknown constellations revolving through its volume. Their forms were framed against the living fresco, and statues from myth come to life. Solemnly, they lifted their weapons in unison, intricate glyphs burning with emerald flame along the empowered blades. The air hummed with gathering energy at the ritual commencement. Deathmark Jing was first, claws tight around his great Synaptic Disintegrator as he intoned the musical syllables of the oath in the holy language. His voice echoed through the still gardens with undying loyalty. Immortal Xun answered the call, lightning dancing along his half-forgotten guandao as his own vows built upon Deathmark Jing's. His rich voice resonated with steadfast purpose. When Meng's turn came, the gems circling his synth-quartz staff burned with the brilliance of kindled suns. His lyrics evoked countless shared glories on distant shores of time.

Together, their resonant voices became a machinery hymn woven into a singular epic chord that thrummed in the soul. The branches bowed gently in reverence. The symphony soared, binding them beyond time and flesh with loyalty beyond mortality, bonds deeper than blood, and brotherhood across all ages. Their shared history was carved into the stars themselves. The ritual reached its crescendo, then gently faded. They knelt with weapons crossed before the Tianzzan projection, greater than the sum of their Immortal Xun parts. They would cleave to their oaths until time itself stilled.