203: Chapter 23 The Cold Observer Retreats

But at the very moment the twelve Sources of order prepared to initiate a Causality Warp, that patch of void solidified.

It wasn't a metaphor; it was a real, absolute, and irresistible solidification. All ships, all weapons, and all energy flows were forcibly locked into an unalterable state at that instant.

Then, that ripple appeared.

It wasn't the blankness encountered during the battle with Nurgle, but a more fundamental, ancient, and indifferent existence. It had no form, no boundaries, and no observable attributes; it simply existed there, and its mere presence forced the physical laws of the entire star sector to submit.

the cold observer.

This time, it did not hide. It revealed itself.

It was not to make an enemy of the Human Federation, nor to help Slaanesh. Its target was the war itself that had just occurred—one capable of rewriting the rules of the universe—the existence of those twelve Sources of order, the Causality Weapons they used, and the hunt they were conducting against the Chaos Gods.

In the Human Federation's understanding, the essence of the cold observer was that of a supervisor of the universe's underlying laws. Its duty was to ensure that the operation of all existence conformed to a certain unalterable initial setting. Any anomaly exceeding the scope of these settings—whether the excessive expansion of the Chaos Gods or the Human Federation's wanton rewriting of laws—would be marked by it and calibrated at the appropriate time.

And at this moment, the Human Federation had just used Causality Weapons to defeat a Chaos God. This deep manipulation of laws had already touched its calibration threshold.

It had come to correct it.

A ripple diffused from that void existence, targeting the twelve Sources of order. It wasn't an attack; it was a definition. Wherever that ripple passed, the Causality Weapons of the Sources of order would be permanently sealed, their law manipulation capabilities would be downgraded to ordinary material attacks, and they would be calibrated from Law-Modification Terminals back into ordinary warships.

Lei Huan's pupils suddenly constricted.

“All ships, Void Barrier, limit overload! Causality Disruptor, full-band activation! Star God Law Shield, maximum power!”

The twelve Sources of order simultaneously unleashed all their defensive power. The dark gray force fields of the Void Barriers, the colorless ripples of the Causality Disruptors, and the iridescent glow of the Star God Law Shields intertwined into an ultimate defensive line capable of blocking any attack.

But the cold observer's ripple was not an attack; it was a rule.

It ignored defenses, ignored shields, and ignored all human resistance. It simply defined the laws that patch of space should follow, and its definition stood above all creations of human technology.

The first layer of defense, the Void Barrier, was penetrated as if it didn't exist before that ripple.

The second layer of defense, the causality interference field of the Causality Disruptor that had once left the Chaos Gods helpless, was ignored like a child's graffiti before the cold observer's laws.

The third layer of defense, the Star God Law Shield, powered by the star god forces from the dawn of the universe, finally produced a faint resistance against that ripple. The star gods and the cold observer were essentially of the same origin, both stemming from the universe's most primitive law fragments. Their confrontation was no longer a clash of technologies, but a gambit between laws.

The ripple stalled on the star god shield for zero point three seconds.

But those zero point three seconds were enough.

Because within those zero point three seconds, Han Zhe's voice reached the bridge of every Source of Order via the adjudicator's ultimate encrypted channel: “Initiate Forbidden Protocol: Final Insurance. Target: the cold observer. Attack method: Law Mirror.”

Law Mirror was the craziest, most forbidden, and never-before-tested ultimate weapon developed by the Human Federation after fully digesting the three major technologies.

It wasn't an attack, a defense, or anything that could be categorized; it was replication.

With star god fragmentss as its core, Causality Weapons as its skeleton, Psionic Weaving as its flesh, and zero-point energy as its power, it captured the instantaneous state of a target's existence and then created an identical law mirror at another coordinate.

This mirror was not a mere copy, but another truly existing individual possessing identical law authority.

If successful, the cold observer would face another version of itself.

During the zero point three seconds the ripple stalled on the star god shield, the twelve Sources of order simultaneously initiated the Law Mirroring Protocol. They poured all their energy, computing power, and star god fragments reserves into a single replication command that condensed the essence of all the Human Federation's technology.

That command was fired at the cold observer.

Then the universe went silent. In that moment beyond any linguistic description, the cold observer felt the absurdity of its own existence being replicated. Its law core produced a ripple akin to confusion for the first time, because in its logic, the possibility of being replicated did not exist; it was unique, absolute, and irreplicable.

But the Human Federation's technology forced it to face another version of itself.

That law mirror rapidly took shape in the cold void—equally ancient, equally indifferent, and equally possessing the authority to calibrate everything. Once formed, the first thing it saw was the original version attempting to calibrate the Human Federation fleet.

Two cold observers stared at each other in that void.

In the next second, they simultaneously made the same decision: to attack each other.

Because their existential logic dictated that any redundant existence not conforming to the initial settings must be calibrated. And at this moment, the other was that redundancy.

Two law ripples collided in the void. There were no explosions, no energy releases, only the physical constants of that space being repeatedly torn, repaired, and torn again by two contradictory definitions. Starlight was forcibly rewritten into radio waves upon reaching that area, the gravitational fields of asteroids were stretched into singularities, and the flow of time formed an incomprehensible waterfall at the boundary between the two observers.

This battle of laws lasted for nine seconds.

After nine seconds, the forcibly replicated law mirror began to disintegrate due to insufficient energy, lacking a continuous supply of star god fragmentss.

But its mission was complete. Within those nine seconds, the Human Federation fleet had initiated its long-prepared retreat protocol. Taking advantage of the moment the two cold observers were entangled with each other, the twelve Sources of order initiated a Causality Warp and jumped back into the depths of the Sea of Order.

By the time the original cold observer finally destroyed the disintegrating mirror and re-locked onto the Human Federation fleet, its targets had already vanished into the domain of order, heavily shielded by three hundred Nullifier nodes.

It attempted to pursue, only to find that the Void Barrier network of the Sea of Order had been overloaded to its limit by the Human Federation during those nine seconds. That ultimate defensive line, supported by Necron Phases, Aeldari Weaving, and Causality Anchoring, although unable to block its laws, was enough to make it recalculate the cost of an attack.

It calculated for zero point seven seconds, and then it retreated.

It wasn't a failure, but a choice. The battle with Nurgle had already consumed part of its essence, and the confrontation with the Human Federation made it realize that this civilization had developed technology capable of threatening it. Continued entanglement could lead to unpredictable consequences.

Its retreat was like a shadow that had never existed, dissipating into the depths of the Extragalactic Systems.

Keystone-1 Command

“Slaanesh has escaped; the tracking signal vanished on the outskirts of the Heart of Silence.” Lei Huan's voice carried fatigue and resentment. “Loss assessment: Our original capture plan failed; we only defeated the Slaanesh Legion, while the main body escaped. the cold observer was repelled but not heavily damaged.”

“Gain assessment:” The Chief Technologist's voice followed. “This battle validated the design philosophy of the Source of Order class, confirmed the effectiveness of Causality Weapons against Chaos entities, and provided first-hand combat data on the cold observer and its original form. In particular, the success of the Law Mirroring Protocol proves we possess the deterrent capability to force the cold observer to retreat.”

Han Zhe fell silent for a long time after hearing the report.

“Slaanesh has fled, destination unknown,” he spoke slowly. “He will seek new sources of power in the Extragalactic Systems, perhaps allying with other ancient beings or hibernating for ten thousand years in his weakened state. Regardless, he remains a threat.”

“the cold observer was repelled, but its calibration threshold has lowered. Next time, it won't give us nine seconds.”

“We must be faster.”

He stood up and walked to the star map. On the map, the Human Federation's territory already covered most of the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy. Closing the Eye of Terror completely was only a matter of time, and the colonial network in the Extragalactic Systems was growing denser by the day.

But his gaze looked past all this, toward that deeper, more unknown darkness.

“Slaanesh fled into the Extragalactic, where other beings yet undiscovered by us reside. the cold observer remains in the shadows, waiting for the next opportunity to strike. And beyond all this, the true cause of the Great Collapse mentioned in the golden age documents has yet to be fully deciphered. The warning of STC-Omega still echoes.”

“The Human Federation's road is still long.”

He turned to face everyone in the Command Center:

“orders:”

“One: Establish the Extragalactic Hunt Task Force, commanded by Lei Huan, to track Slaanesh's escape trajectory.”

“Two: Launch a comprehensive upgrade project for law shields, with the goal of giving every Void Barrier the ability to resist the cold observer's law attacks within a hundred years.”

“Three: Accelerate the research into the truth behind the Great Collapse, with the adjudicator having full responsibility, regardless of the cost.”

“Four: Prepare for the Final Purification.”

“Final Purification?”

“Close the entire Eye of Terror, purge all Chaos remnants within the galaxy, and erase all Traitor Primarchs, Fallen Warbands, and Daemon Worlds alike.”

Then, Han Zhe's gaze became like ten-thousand-year-old ice:

Build a Wall of Order on the boundary between the galaxy and the Extragalactic that no existence can cross, making the Human Federation's territory the strongest fortress in the universe.

“Let those beings still peeking at us from the darkness—whether they are gods, laws, or something we have yet to understand—know one thing: humanity is no longer the prey.”