Tarkus’s voice was as cold as if he were reading a sentence.
“Tell her the deal is off.” “We’re not here to be hired thugs; we’re here to prevent a murder.” “Send a thunderhawk to pick us up.” Alex stood in the rain, glancing at the Banshee corpse at his feet, suddenly feeling that this thing wasn’t beautiful at all.
Leading the bugs to someone else’s doorstep…
how disgusting, Xenos.
Alex slung the melta carbine back over his shoulder, his expression turning exceptionally grim.
He looked up at the sky, which was obscured by dark clouds.
Above those dark clouds, a biological fleet capable of devouring stars was opening its bloody maw, following the guidance of the beacon.
— Doomsday.
Strategic Deck.
The holographic projection table emitted an overburdened hum.
The grayish-black planet that originally represented Meridian was now being swallowed by a massive red shadow.
That wasn’t the atmosphere; hundreds of millions of biological signals filled the low-Earth orbit, densely packed into a mass of clotted blood.
“Scanning array restored.” Matellus’s fingers tapped rapidly on the runes, his servo-arm clutching a smoking data cable.
“The previous readings were faked.
The Eldar used some kind of psionic resonance to deceive us.” “How is that possible?” Thaddeus stared at the suffocating star map.
“When we scanned it, there was clearly nothing there.” “That’s an Eldar trick.” Cyrus stepped out from the shadows.
The captured spirit stone was in a shielding container at his waist, its surface covered in sealing runes.
“They didn’t just shield themselves; they also conveniently helped the Tyranids hide their tracks.
We didn’t see them until the Tyranid Swarm put its teeth to the planet’s neck.” The Shadow in the Warp that appears when the Tyranid Swarm approaches causes interference with psionic casting.
Alex stood to the side, staring at the red shadow.
His scalp tingled.
“Commander!
We’ve received an urgent communication from Meridian!” “It’s Administrator Derosa.” The screen lit up.
This time, it was no longer a tidy office, and there was no arrogant posture.
Derosa’s hair was disheveled, and her meticulous administrative uniform was covered in dust and bloodstains.
The background behind her was no longer a filing cabinet, but a shattered floor-to-ceiling window.
Outside the window— The sky of Meridian had turned a purplish-red.
Countless spore pods fell, dragging long trails behind them.
The distant Underhive was burning.
The air-raid sirens wailed shrilly like a death rattle.
“…Warriors of the Blood Ravens.” Derosa’s voice trembled.
She tried her best to remain calm, but the panic in her eyes couldn’t be hidden.
“If you can hear this…
we need support.
Immediately.” “The Tyranid Swarm has broken through the atmosphere.
The anti-air network was paralyzed in advance by the Eldar, and they…
they’re treating this planet like a dining room!” Avitus sneered, about to mock her with a few words about “rules,” but was stopped by Tarkus raising his hand.
“Where is Vandis?” Tarkus’s voice was calm as he asked the most critical question.
“At a time like this, as the Planetary Governor, he should be in the command center.” Derosa bit her lip as if it were hard to say.
Seeing this, after exchanging a look with the young warrior Thaddeus, Alex pointed his thumb at himself, meaning he had won the bet.
“You mean he ran away, right?” Derosa’s voice dropped even lower.
“The Governor is continuing to command from the rear.
He isn’t cowardly; it’s just that the rear needs…” There was silence on the communication channel.
The expressions of the Astartes didn’t change, but that silent contempt was more piercing than any insult.
“But I’m still here.” Derosa suddenly looked up, a flash of determination in her eyes.
“I’m still here.
Meridian has not fallen.
I need you…
we need the Angels.” Tarkus was silent for two seconds, then nodded.
“Hold your ground, Adjutant.
Reinforcements will arrive immediately.” — The thunderhawk dove straight from the communication tower toward the source of the beacon.
The Spiral Spire.
That was the core of the entire conspiracy—the transmission point for the Eldar’s psionic beacon.
When Alex followed the Astartes out of the hatch, he felt as if he were walking into a bizarre nightmare.
Reality was distorted here.
The Eldar’s psionic storm tore the surrounding buildings into anti-gravity fragments.
Purple lightning leaped wildly in the void.
Rubble and steel beams floated in mid-air, as if held up by some invisible force.
In the center of the storm stood a tall female figure.
Farseer Idranel.
She wore ornate wraithbone robes and held a witchblade shimmering with starlight.
Behind her was a slowly closing Webway gate—light swirling, looking like a rift to another dimension.
“For Ulthwé.
For the ark’s eternity.” Idranel’s voice didn’t travel through the air but rang directly in everyone’s minds.
The voice was full of high-and-mighty pity, as if mourning the dying.
“Your sacrifice is necessary, Mon-Kai.” “Your nonsense is too much, witch!” Avitus pulled the trigger, and heavy bolter rounds sprayed like rain.
But Idranel just waved her hand lightly.
Vroom—!
A visible psionic ripple rippled through the air.
The bolter rounds flying at supersonic speeds hit an invisible wall three meters away from her and exploded violently.
Fire swallowed her figure.
But when the dust settled—there wasn’t even a single wrinkle on her robes.
“An energy shield?” Alex narrowed his eyes.
He raised the melta carbine in his hand and adjusted the power to maximum.
Sizzle—!
A high-energy laser beam instantly pierced the air.
This time, Idranel didn’t take it head-on.
She seemed to have predicted Alex’s shooting timing long ago, her body sliding half a meter to the left, defying physical inertia.
The laser beam grazed her wraithbone helmet, singeing a lock of her silver hair.
“A primitive weapon.” She commented coldly, her gaze sweeping over Alex as if looking at a monkey that had suddenly learned to breathe fire.
Battle erupted.
Idranel’s figure flickered on the battlefield.
She could predict the future—whenever Thaddeus’s Chainsword was about to strike her, she could always elegantly step aside half a second in advance; whenever Tarkus’s Bolter sealed her retreat, she could use a psionic storm to blast an opening.
The floating rubble became weapons under her will, smashing into the Astartes like cannonballs.
Alex clearly predicted her landing point, but she acted as if she had known all along, changing direction in mid-air by stepping on a floating stone.
Predicting her prediction?
How many layers deep does this go?
“Concentrate fire!
Break her focus!” Avitus, Thaddeus, Cyrus, plus Alex.
The crossfire from four directions finally put pressure on Idranel.
Her energy shield began to flicker, and her steps were no longer so composed, each movement draining her energy.
But clearly, she didn’t intend to fight to the death.
“Foolish creatures.” Idranel retreated to the Webway gate.
She looked at the struggling group of humans, mockery showing in her eyes.
“Do you think you’ll survive just because you’ve repelled the Tyranid Swarm?” Her body began to turn transparent, her outline gradually merging into the gate of light.
“After you’ve been burned to ashes…
perhaps I will sing a dirge for you.” Vroom—!
The gate of light closed, and the Eldar Farseer disappeared.
All that remained were shell casings all over the ground, charred stone slabs, and that classic, cryptic nonsense.
“Wait.” Cyrus stepped out from behind cover, his brow furrowed.
“What did she just say?
Burned to ashes?” “Probably just talking tough?
Like ‘I’m going to burn you to ashes’ or something?” “No.” Tarkus dismissed Alex’s guess.
He looked at the war-torn city and the spore pods still falling from the sky.
“The Tyranids don’t burn.” “They devour, they digest, they turn all organic matter into acid and biomass.
They leave behind only bare rock—never ashes.” “Ashes imply burning.” Avitus added.
Alex looked at the serious expressions on these red cans.
His heart skipped a beat.
An ominous premonition crawled up his spine.
In this universe…
who else is a master out there?
“And If you’re enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!”