Inside the Tyranid Hive Ship, within the Biomass Pool region.
After the Savior arrived here, the nearby firepower became even more intense. The warriors fought as if they had stacked up a frenzy buff, growing more ferocious and accelerating the extermination of the Tyranids.
Before long, the chaos of the battlefield gradually subsided, and the Chapter Masters regrouped around the Savior.
"What a miracle of evolution…"
Eden's gaze drifted across the inner sanctum of the void beast. The fleshy chamber resembled a colossal cavern, filled with an array of vibrant, purple-toned, fleshy "plants."
Beneath the shadows of these "plant" jungles were many smaller lifeforms—not war-beasts, nor laborers, but part of this strange, beautiful ecosystem. They infused this dark, eerie space with a trace of vitality.
Of course, there were also plenty of signs of bio-engineering here.
Eden approached the now-dry biomass pool at the center of the chamber—a core structure of flesh, genetically engineered to continuously supply the swarm with biomass.
Suddenly, a small, half-meter-long, isopod-like worker bug crawled out from the ruins of the biomass pool.
Click!
A Thunder Guard's bolter snapped up at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, but Eden's hand shot out faster, pressing it down.
"This little guy isn't aggressive—no threat."
He stopped the Thunder Guard, gently catching the struggling worker bug as it flailed its flippers in midair. Eden lightly stroked it, then flicked it with a finger.
Even so, the creature didn't show any aggression, nor did it radiate any hostility.
It was clearly a very docile being.
Eden mused, "Who would've thought that the cold, fearsome Tyranid swarm that terrifies the galaxy would have such harmless members in its hierarchy…"
Perhaps the Tyranid species, or rather this entire biological technology, wasn't inherently bloodthirsty or aggressive.
These creatures were more like a blank slate, forcibly molded by the Gestalt network. What they became—or were shaped into—was entirely dictated by the higher lifeform controlling the network.
As Eden contemplated this, he felt a strong desire in his heart.
He wanted this Hive Ship. He wanted this rare and precious bio-technology.
For the Savior's domain, this was a monumental breakthrough in bioengineering, capable of spawning countless new research projects and industry sectors.
In the future, he would cultivate gentler Tyranids—creatures capable of serving more roles beyond just war-beasts.
To help humanity.
Of course, the galaxy had not yet reached true peace, and humanity had not yet achieved full prosperity.
War-beasts were still indispensable.
Eden intended to breed even stronger, more terrifying swarms.
He would make the other Tyranid fleets that dared devour humanity understand what a true Tyranid tide looked like—to instill fear in all of humanity's enemies, to make the stars themselves tremble!
This was necessary.
The future enemies of the galaxy were unimaginably dangerous. No amount of strength was ever enough—especially when the Great Devourer might eventually arrive.
In such perilous times, any possible power or technology had to be assimilated.
Humanity needed to explore the optimal path forward.
Whether it was technological frenzy, mechanical ascension, genetic enhancement, or even harnessing the powers of the Warp—every possibility had to be tested to find the true future of humanity.
For now, Eden's strategy was to advance on all fronts, developing multi-disciplinary fusion, merging the advantages of every field.
After all, single-path development always had its weaknesses.
But no matter what, he wanted humanity to retain as much of its physical purity as possible—not to go overboard.
Otherwise, turning into something like the Eldar or the Necrons... that would be a dead end. The entire species would lose its potential for further evolution.
As Eden pondered, the small worker bug struggled slightly, breaking his train of thought.
He let go, watching as the tiny creature floated back toward the biomass pool, seemingly trying to resume its work.
"…Huh. This little one's something special."
Eden fixed his gaze on the small bug, feeling it was unique.
This biomass pool was already destroyed. The other worker bugs, driven by instinct, had all fled, scattered and hidden.
Only this one persisted, still following the genetic imprint in its memory, continuing its futile efforts.
What spirit was this?
It was practically a born-to-work bug!
No doubt about it—this was a rare talent. Eden had to protect it and nurture it well.
He would give it every opportunity to evolve.
Eden instructed the Bio-Savant to safeguard this special worker bug, ensuring it survived the war.
It would become a key component of future Tyranid breeding projects.
As he prepared to lead the Chapter Masters out of the area, he paused after a few steps and returned.
He figured he'd better give the little one a name—otherwise, he might forget.
Looking at the small worker bug, Eden's mind sparked with inspiration: "Little one, from now on, your name is Abathur."
This name embodied his expectations for the small worker bug.
Completely unaware of all this, the little bug continued to circle the biomass pool, attempting to carry on its work.
…
Boom boom boom—
The Savior's army was locked in fierce combat with the Tyranid swarm.
Now, the battle had spread into every corner of the void beast's interior. The warriors pressed forward, wiping out every last threat.
Hiss!
A menacing Lictor assassin pounced from the shadows, its razor-sharp, venom-laced chitin blades stabbing fiercely.
But its attack never landed.
In midair, a massive hand caught the lunging Tyranid beast with pinpoint precision.
"Have we located the Hive Mind core yet?"
Eden asked casually as he squeezed the trigger on his legendary weapon, the Arbiter combi-bolter, turning the Lictor's head into a mess of pulped flesh.
He fired and advanced, precisely eliminating every threatening xenos in his path.
Around him, the Chapter Masters and their honor guards cleared out the surrounding Tyranid forces, swiftly and effectively cutting through the enemy ranks and leaving behind a trail of alien corpses.
They were deep into the hive now, hunting down the Hive Mind's core.
"Savior, I've found a new path—very likely leading straight to the alien lair's heart!"
A War Angel tech-marine, working at the center of the squad, called out after identifying new traces.
"Then that's where we'll go!"
Eden stomped on a Tyrant Guard's skull, yanked his power sword free from its body, and shook the blood clean.
More Tyranid swarms surged in from the distance, like wave after wave of a black tide.
"Come on, you damn bugs!"
Without hesitation, he leapt high into the air and slammed down into the swarm.
Boom—
Eden's towering, dark figure crashed down, sending shockwaves through the horde. The impact liquefied the nearby Tyranids, their flesh and gore splattering in all directions.
But the swarm kept coming.
He ignited his disintegration field, his power sword cleaving through any Tyranid that dared approach, reducing them to scattered, broken corpses.
The sheer thrill of such a brutal melee filled him with excitement.
The Tyranids fell like wheat before a scythe—row after row, cut down without mercy.
Today, the Savior fought as a close-quarters juggernaut, exuding raw ferocity.
He was going full Tyranid Reaper mode, swimming in the sea of xenos, slaughtering without restraint!
As the carnage continued, Eden noticed a strange phenomenon: the more he killed, the stronger he felt.
He could sense it—this surge of power was coming from the Warp. Clearly, it was a gift from a certain Chaos God.
"…No way, even this earns me a reward? The Blood God is really this generous?!"
Even as he tore through the swarm, Eden pondered, slipping into a state of battle flow.
He began to understand why so many fierce warriors fell into Chaos and pledged themselves to the Blood God—Khorne. The feeling of combat was… exhilarating.
Khorne truly lived up to his title as the top patron of ferocious warriors.
He was generous—whether the battle was big or small, no matter who the opponent was.
As long as the fighting was intense enough, Khorne would bestow power. No loyalty required, no race restrictions—even enemies received his blessings.
But only those with sharp psy-senses or those deeply corrupted could perceive the Blood God's gifts.
Still, Eden found it odd. Khorne's indiscriminate generosity didn't make sense.
After all, no one would just give away power for free.
The answer was obvious: Khorne taxed his blessings. Every war in realspace and the Warp fed the Blood God power.
He took a slice of that power, handing back a portion to those who could generate more bloodshed—an investment to keep them fighting, earning him even more slaughter energy.
The power was born of the warriors themselves.
Khorne merely skimmed a cut, repackaging it as a gift.
"So basically, Khorne leeches off the power we create, gets stronger, then tosses us a little scrap to keep going, and I'm supposed to be grateful?"
Eden's expression twisted at the realization. "That's like the middleman eating steak while I sip the soup. Damn, what a scam."
With that in mind, his bloodlust waned slightly. It felt foolish to keep killing just to fuel Khorne's power.
He dialed down the intensity of his combat, staying below the threshold that would trigger Khorne's blessings.
Soon, the last of the local swarm was butchered.
Eden then retreated to the rear lines, using long-range weapons to pick off special targets.
After a while of careful observation…
He realized the Tyranid swarm was much weaker than expected, with hardly any high-threat units remaining.
Then it clicked.
This was thanks to his old brother-in-arms, Ka'Bandha, who had already gone on a rampage here earlier, tearing through the Tyranid defenses and demolishing much of the bio-architecture.
That guy had hit the place so hard, there wasn't much left to fight.
Following the trail of destruction, Eden could see the remains of many Tyranid bioweapons, all shattered beyond repair by the daemon's assault.
Of course, Ka'Bandha's attack patterns were a bit… chaotic. It looked like he'd just gone berserk inside the void beast, slashing in random directions and looping around repeatedly.
How did Eden know?
Because he was literally following Ka'Bandha's trail of devastation—fighting through where his brother had already blazed a path, which made it much easier and avoided dense defensive lines.
No matter what, that daemon—the Warp's Number One Ron Enthusiast and the Supreme Bloodthirster—had done him a massive favor.
A wave of warmth filled Eden's heart. He felt their bond deeply. A brother was a brother, even if he wasn't here right now.
His voice and face lingered in Eden's mind.
He let out a soft sigh.
Where was that guy now? Was he still alive? Or had he been dragged off by Khorne for a brutal beating because of the sheer carnage he'd unleashed?
Eden could only hope Ka'Bandha was safe. The Imperium couldn't afford to lose him.
Just this one sweep against the Leviathan Hive Fleet had likely saved countless human lives.
That was immeasurable merit.
As the Savior, the Devourer, he needed Ka'Bandha's existence.
The Savior couldn't lose the Supreme Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha—just like the West couldn't lose Jerusalem.
After clearing this section of the swarm, Eden and the Chapter Masters found the right path.
It had to lead to the Hive Mind's core.
Because he could already smell the alluring scent of that ancient soul.
…
Core Chamber.
Dozens of Zoanthrope nodes were processing at lightning speed, with crackling arcs of electricity filling nearly a third of the space.
This signified that the Hive Mind was running its cognitive processes at full capacity.
"Savior…"
The ancient Tyranid organism's eyes flashed with hatred.
It knew the presence was drawing closer—closer with every breath—and there was nowhere left to run.
Dense, fleshy conduits tightly tethered this ancient Hive Mind's body to the Hive Ship itself, making it impossible for it to escape or leave this biological fortress.
The Hive Mind fully understood: it was trapped in a desperate situation.
But it refused to simply await death—it chose to fight back.
The Zoanthrope array was compiling all known information on the Savior: rare and ancient technologies, psychic knowledge, Warp applications… as well as details on the Savior's forces, command structure, and weaknesses.
This ancient Hive intelligence intended to broadcast this data, sharing it with every Tyranid swarm and any potential enemies of the Savior.
It hoped that, by acquiring this information, other Tyranid swarms would gain further evolutionary advantages.
Gurgle gurgle—
The fleshy conduits connected to the Hive Mind's body continued pumping it with bio-energy, granting it greater power for the fight ahead.
Though the odds were slim, it was no feeble creature. Even if it were to fail, it would ensure the Savior paid a bitter price!
BOOM—
The core chamber's fleshy walls were breached, and the massive form of a Tyrant Guard collapsed inside.
That had been the Hive Mind's final guardian.
"Old beast, I've finally found you!"
Eden stepped into the vast chamber, eyes locking onto the Hive Mind, which floated in the distance, encased in a spore sac.
He was a bit surprised.
This highest-tier Tyranid organism looked somewhat frail. Its massive head sat atop a body barely two meters long—aged and withered.
Even so, he didn't let his guard down.
Eden chose to observe for a moment, while Thunder Guard Commander Carter, Dante, the Chapter Masters, and Librarians quickly moved into the chamber.
The warriors didn't rush in recklessly. They unleashed a storm of ranged firepower instead.
Heavy bolters, meltaguns, grav-guns, plasma annihilators… their barrage rained down on the Hive Mind like a torrential storm, the blinding flashes illuminating the dark chamber.
"Savior… you underestimate me!"
Before the smoke cleared, the Hive Mind's voice erupted in a furious roar. At the same time, dark purple arcs of psychic energy burst forth.
The Zoanthrope array grew even more frenzied, generating a denser field of energy to feed the ancient Hive Mind's psychic powers.
BOOM—
A visible shockwave blasted outward.
The warriors braced themselves, holding their ground to avoid being thrown back.
But then—
The force changed. A sudden suction tugged at them, throwing the squad off balance.
CRASH!
A third wave struck—an immense, crushing weight from above.
The psychic pressure hit like a ton of bricks, forcing Dante and the others to their knees. Many were crushed under the sheer weight, their armor groaning and fracturing under the stress.
The Librarians tried to counteract it with their own psychic abilities but suffered backlash instead, their minds reeling in agony.
They were utterly powerless against this shadow-like, terrifying psychic force.
Indeed, as the master of the Tyranid swarm—a pinnacle lifeform of the galaxy—the Hive Mind wielded unfathomable power.
Even a Primarch would struggle to defeat it!
So why did it fear the Savior so deeply? Because, in the Hive Mind's own threat-assessment matrix…
The Savior ranked above a Primarch. Far above the Ultramarines' Primarch.
The Hive Mind's hate-filled, blood-red compound eyes locked onto the Savior, growing colder.
Had it not been for that daemon beast wiping out most of its elite guards, and the rest being lost in the Battle of Baal's central region…
The Hive Mind's psychic might, combined with its specialized units, would have slaughtered these warriors long ago.
Still, even in this state, it could kill most of them by its own power!
Under the crushing psychic pressure…
The warriors struggled—some kneeling, some standing—resisting with all their strength, armor groaning under the strain, cracks beginning to spiderweb across their plates.
Carter gritted his teeth, lifting his bolter for one more shot, blasting a Zoanthrope node and killing it.
But the effort shattered his bolter to pieces.
"Xenos… die…"
Dante dug his sword into the ground, forcing himself upright, trying to approach the Hive Mind.
Crack!
The pressure intensified. Dante's visor cracked, his bloodshot eye glowing crimson.
Such was the terror of the Hive Mind's psychic power. He could go no further.
The warriors were on the brink of collapse.
"You underestimate the swarm! You cannot resist its power!"
The Hive Mind's voice hissed in mockery, locking its blood-red eyes on Eden.
It knew its strength would eventually run dry, and that the Savior's army could send in reinforcements endlessly.
Its defeat was inevitable.
But even so, it could deliver one final blow.
It would make the Savior watch helplessly as his finest warriors fell, one by one.
If the Savior dared step into its domain—he would die as well!
"You're right. I can't resist this psychic power…"
Eden took a deep breath, as if preparing himself, and then—without hesitation—stepped into the chamber.
The Hive Mind's psychic force was overwhelming. His own psychic strength was nowhere near enough to resist. And his armor? A close-quarters variant, lacking any psychic shielding.
But that was his advantage!
"No… no! You can't—how dare you come in here?!"
The Hive Mind's eyes bulged in terror, its shriek rising to a fever pitch.
It understood the Savior's nature.
If he dared to step in—he must have had a surefire plan.
But the ancient Hive Mind couldn't comprehend what kind of power could resist its psychic assault.
The dark purple ripples of psychic pressure formed a dense sphere, radiating crushing gravity.
The Hive Mind watched in disbelief as the Savior walked into the heart of the storm.
The next moment—
The ripples warped, compressing away from him, forming a humanoid outline around his body. The edges of the sphere eroded, as if dissolving away.
The psychic energy… was avoiding the Savior.
Or rather, the Savior was repelling it!
Faint golden runes etched into the blackstone-heavy armor glowed softly, a subtle mechanical hum emanating from within.
The rare blackstone artifact activated, rendering Eden into an Untouchable—an anti-psyker, like the Sisters of Silence.
This blackstone technology's prototype had come from the Daemon Research Institute's sage, Mao.
He had originally created a "Silent Collar"—a nearly useless trinket that drew ridicule from his peers.
But Eden had seen the potential and refused to scrap the project. Instead, he dramatically increased funding and kept it alive for decades.
Years of massive investment paid off.
With the rapid advancement of blackstone technology and this concept's refinement, the project finally bore fruit.
Mao combined the two technologies and created equipment capable of simulating an Untouchable's ability.
The cost was astronomical—but the practicality? Unmatched.
And now, it worked—right here, on the battlefield.
"How… how can you have such an ability?! You're not an anti-psyker lifeform!"
The Hive Mind grasped the implications, its disbelief turning to sheer panic.
It ramped up its psychic output, the golden rune-skulls on Eden's armor creaking under the strain—but they held firm, repelling the Hive Mind's energy.
All it could do was watch, helpless, as the Savior strode closer—step by step.
"Stop—!"
The Hive Mind was utterly terrified, scrambling to find some countermeasure.
But it was too late.
Eden surged forward, closing the distance to the ancient, monstrous bug. His hand shot out—clamping down on its throat, grasping its destiny in his grasp.
Instantly, the psychic energy dissipated. The pressure on the warriors lifted.
Eden's arm was like a steel vice, locking the Hive Mind in place, lifting it into the air. Their gazes met in midair.
At this moment, this ancient Hive intelligence—this devourer of countless lives—struggled like a helpless larva.
It had no power left to resist.
The Savior's eyes were void of warmth, his voice like an icy wind from the depths of the tundra—cold, cutting, and absolute:
"You have only one choice. Submit—or die."
(End of Chapter)
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