40 Thousand Reasons - Chapter 221

As we approached planet Vitria, we passed by thousands of wrecks of Navy warships, floating dead in space, many of them engulfed in Tyranid ooze and ichor, and sporting deep scars and gouges from gigantic claws or teeth. It was as if a blender had caught this Battlefleet and spat it out devoid of any life.

And as it happens, it was all my fault. I have been victorious, and possibly too much so.

The Tyranid Hive Mind was adaptable, and the lessons of its defeats were imparted instantly over stellar distances, such that other Hive Fleets did better, next time.

On the glass planet, a single Hive City still held, with less than 300 Guard Regiments still alive and defending the walls. The capital city of Silica had tall walls made of obsidian, and the ground was also hardened glass, the result of a solar flare that transformed this world from a deadly desert Death World with murderous feline predators into a Civilized World on a sterile planet made of glass.

And in front of the armored gate, a giant Tyranid Titan was battling Brother Semnai for sport, smacking him around with ease. I’ve heard of the Tyranid Swarmlord, the response of the Hive Mind to dangerous individuals or species.

The immortal beast, armored and armed with four indestructible bone sabers that could cut through metal or force fields with equal ease.

Well, Semnai wasn’t the commander of this warzone for his gentle smile. This guy had been in the Deathwatch for a few centuries, and he was now equipped with some of the best equipment available to humanity in this era. I know, because I made sure of this.

Power armor of Master-class design, plated over with blackstone and diamondoid chitin from other Tyranid Titan shells, atomantic shielding and a Rosarius faith shield, plus a Null Wand to keep Warp shenanigans away.

The Null Wand was also the single reason why Semnai was still alive, as the Swarmlord’s psychic disruption field over its Bonesword dissipated harmlessly, in proximity with the nullifying wand.

“Having fun again, Brother Semnai?” I asked him via the Sounding Board.

“Grrr. We’re losing badly, my lord. And this damned beast is too strong!” he exclaimed as he vanished from an incoming attack and arrive beside me.

I tested the Tyranid boss gently with the tesseract, only to find it covered by a protective psychic screen that prevented its capture. Damn it! I hated when my cheats stopped working.

Anyways, I had my own boss to send. A second later, a Psi-Titan appeared in front of the Hive City gates, already glowing from the faith powers of Sister Stern. Albesalom should be enough to deal with this monster.

Elsewhere in the system, my fleet was already engaging the Tyranid Hive Fleet from behind, scoring hundreds of bioship kills every second.

Semnai groaned in a tired voice and sat beside me on the plasteel dais, to watch the boss duel on the big screen. “I can’t believe I’m still alive. This creature is possibly as strong as Primarch, or a Greater Demon.” the Lamenter lamented in a lamenting tone.

I glanced towards my Brother Captain for a second, then return to the task of rescuing the remaining humans from the infested planet.

“The creature was toying with you, Brother. The Hive Mind has sent it to oppose me, after all.” I explained in a level voice, already considering a dozen scenarios in mind.

Humanity has suffered horrific loses at Vitria, and Silica City was probably left standing as a message to me, or the Emperor. Possibly both.

Its hunger will not be denied, and killed swarm creatures were simply disposable and expendable. In fact, there would have been little reason to assault a vitrified world, devoid of any life except humans. That showed that humanity itself was the target, and possibly the object lesson of this strike.

“You’re saying, the Swarmlord could have won at any time, my lord?” Captain Chyron wondered from my other side.

A strike/slash combo from the sword-wielding Tyranid proved my point, as the Psi-Titan was bashed back and crashed into the Hive City gates.

The Destroyer fired back, first a Death Pulse with merely splashed the chitin armor of the bio-titan, then a black beam from its Sinistrum Anima weapon, which burned away half of the Swarmlord. However, the Tyranid boss didn’t die, and just stood still as its flesh regenerated as super speed.

In a minute, the Swarmlord recovered and screeched a loud psychic shout of defiance.

“Wait! Don’t fire again, it just wants to adapt to the psycannon.” I urged the Blank Princeps as I retrieved Sister Ordela and rose to my feet.

“Lord Pef?” the Silent Sister asked with a wondering voice while examining the holoscreen.

“I want a bonesword like that.” I explained while mounting my helmet on.

The bridge of the Black Lament fell silent at my ludicrous claim, but I simply transported myself and Pariah Ordela directly on Vitria, and on the spiky neck of the Tyranid Swarmlord.

The shock of losing contact with the Hive Mind, due to the Omega-minus level Null aura of Ordela only incapacitated the creature for a second, but it was enough. I simply struck the beast with my Necron control rod then teleported away, leaving the mind shackles to dive and infect the Tyranid Boss from the inside. Filaments of exotic Necron scarabs and living rock wires spread inside the bio-titan, stealing away its independence and self-control.

A few seconds later, the psychic shield also dropped and the Swarmlord vanished inside my tesseract, to be fully converted into a loyal xeno auxiliary leader.

Inside the Silica City I began depositing a few million Orks, and let them enjoy their last hours of freedom, and pillaging the ruins of this former human world.

“Glassy bits? They cut good! Bugs all around, with big spike things!” the Orks commented among them, as they began to arm and armor themselves with looted equipment left behind by the Vitrian_Dragoons, the local Guard regiment.

Devoid of the wise leadership of their Swarmlord, the Tyranids rushed towards the scent of life and blood of the Orks, and soon enough flak batteries and lascannons from the wall defenses began firing torrents of dakka at the incoming bugs.

Billions upon billions of deformed bio-organisms descended onto Vitria, while I gathered the surviving Navy and other ships in the system beside my fleet.

Techpriests and techmarines, as well as engineers and other adepts began emergency repairs for the more salvageable ships, while the more damaged ones were collected in my tesseract labyrinth as prize derelicts.

Out of the nine Navy Battlefleets, totaling an impressive 83 battleships and thousands of smaller vessels when they arrived, barely 30 battleships were still combat capable, while a dozen were only worth the adamantium of their hulls by now.

While waiting for the Tyranids to throw themselves into the glass trap, and the Orks to enjoy a last gud fight, I began scrolling through the combat logs of the damaged ships, to find out how things got so bad.

Some inevitable incompetence from the Navy Admirals and Captains was understandable, while poor maintenance and weaker weaponry were inherent conditions for any Navy ship.

Still, humanity had lost about 70 percent of its naval and ground forces in this battle, and all of this in only two and half weeks, until I managed to eliminate the Satys tendril and make my way to Vitria.

Of course, some units got away somewhat better, the Sisters of Battle and the Inquisitorial Storm Troopers had barely lost a quarter of their numbers, while the Lancefire Knights and the Lamenter Aspirants took slightly less than 20 percent losses.

That meant 19 Knights, many of them my brothers and sisters in flesh, will never get to meet Justine after she returned to life. From the 800 dead Aspirants, almost 100 were my own sons, who made the final sacrifice for a better tomorrow.

I wasn’t happy at all. Victory still felt like ash in my mouth, even as the Exterminatus torpedo engulfed Vitria and glassed the place once again, lighting up a giant funeral pyre for my children and a trillion of my enemies in my wake.

My fleet departed for Hive World Asphodex, in the Cryptus System. Crossing through the Tyranid Silence was hard on everyone in the fleet, if for different reasons.

Thirty billion people awaited death or salvation on that world, not only from the third Tyranid tendril, but also from the Necrons sleeping under the surface.

I sat in my room with a grim heart, when Sister Magda_Grace entered, her entire body glowing with inner light. I know Sister Darcy asked her to console me, but I wasn’t in need for an intervention.

“Lord Lancefire, do not lose faith!” she urged me while drawing my amasec bottle away.

Canis sniffed at the intruder for a second, then lowered his head on my shoulder again.

I just sighed and took out a fresh bottle from my dimensional storehouse. “Just…don’t talk, Lady Grace. My faith is not getting smaller, I just need to arrange the memories of my dead relatives in my mind. And I’m sure your Order lost plenty of Sisters on Vitria as well.” I muttered in a grim voice, then gulped the bitter amasec to keep company with the bitter taste in my mouth.

The valiant Canoness sighed softly, then drank a bit from her own bottle.

As my fleet sped silently through the void for the next battle, me and the new guest drank our sorrow away, in silence.