Something was wrong. This was absolutely, fundamentally wrong.
The Hive Mind began to deliberate.
The void of space was currently... far too quiet.
This silence wasn't literal—it wasn't that the fleets had ceased fire or stopped moving. At this very moment, the prey's fleet was still adhering to its original tactics, maintaining a fierce suppressive fire. Volley after volley of plasma and railgun rounds slammed into the Tyranid Hive Fleet, attempting to inflict casualties and delay the inevitable advance.
However, as the distance between the two sides steadily closed, the Hive Mind had already begun to pinpoint the cloaked positions of the prey. Under the saturation of bio-plasma counterattacks, the enemy could no longer maintain their stealth with ease; one after another, they erupted into fireballs within the vacuum.
But this "silence" was an anomaly.
The Hive Fleet was on the verge of closing to a lethal distance, where it could easily annihilate this foolhardy prey. Everything was going so smoothly that it felt unnerving.
The previous battles had proven that these creatures were not easy pickings. They were ruthless, cunning, and perfectly willing to "pull stunts" to win. The fallen Devourer-class cruiser was the ultimate testament to that. They would never simply sit and wait for death.
Therefore, the Hive Mind reached a simple conclusion:
The one about to struggle like a candle flickering in the wind wasn't the prey—it was the Hive itself!
As a gestalt consciousness, the Hive Mind reacted instantly. The psychic sensory arrays of every bio-ship were pushed to their maximum capacity. They stopped focusing solely on the fleet in front of them and instead radiated outward in all directions, scanning obsessively.
The smaller escort frigates began to adjust their spacing and formations, firing bio-plasma into the surrounding emptiness in an attempt to conduct reconnaissance by fire.
Just as the Hive Mind suspected, an anomaly appeared.
Boom!
As a stray bio-plasma bolt struck something invisible, a sudden signal flared up on the fleet's sensory array.
The Hive Mind reacted in a heartbeat. That signal source had somehow snuck close, sailing almost parallel to the Hive Fleet. It was slowly accelerating, weaving through the gaps in the bio-fleet's formation.
How is that possible?!
"Alright, I suppose that's enough," Adam thought, shaking his head slightly with a hint of dissatisfaction.
After successfully acquiring stealth technology from the Tau, Adam had immediately put it to use. Following specialized modifications by the Necron Canoptek Scarabs, the ship now possessed cloaking capabilities comparable to Tau starships.
However, this stealth had its limits. Once the enemy became alert, sneaking any closer would be impossible.
In that case, let's begin.
Let the Tyranid fleet burn!
In the next moment, as fleeting as a dream or a bubble, the Hive Mind watched as the unknown ship accelerated with incredible speed, vanishing from its original position instantly.
The Morning Wood reappeared "face-to-face" with the Hive Fleet—specifically near the densest cluster of ships where the fleet had recently split.
During this maneuver, the ship moved like a casual stroll through a garden, nimbly dodging a massive barrage of incoming bio-plasma and boarding spores. It leveled its massive, elongated main cannon directly at the heart of the fleet.
That was precisely where the Tyranid Hive Ship lay, surrounded by its protective escort fleet!
Oh no!
Before the Hive Mind could even process the threat, Adam calmly gave the order: "Main cannon, fire!"
Nova Cannon, activate!
Inside that gargantuan main battery, the gravitational field accelerators roared to life, capturing a heavy macro-shell and propelling it at an impossible velocity.
The shell cleared the barrel. In a fraction of a second over a negligible distance, this terrifying projectile accelerated to near-light speed!
This was the legendary weapon of the Imperium of Man—the Nova Cannon.
A weapon of such devastating power is typically only found on cruiser-class starships or higher. Its kill zone is large enough to cause catastrophic destruction across thousands of kilometers of space. Any enemy of humanity would tremble before its wrath. The energy required to fire it alone is often enough to momentarily drain an entire ship's power reserves.
But thanks to the tireless research of the Prometheus Lab scientists and the integration of diverse xenos technologies, the drawbacks had been perfected. What was unleashed now was a destructive force that surpassed even a standard Nova Cannon.
In a literal heartbeat, the fifty-meter diameter macro-shell crossed the void and reached its predetermined destination, where it abruptly disintegrated.
What manifested from that shell was not the standard gravity waves or plasma found in a conventional Nova warhead.
It was... a deep, black rift, like a tear in the very veil of the physical universe.
A miniature black hole.
Like a pitch-black eye opening in the void, it swept over everything in an instant under the horrified or fanatical gazes of every intelligent life form watching.
Terrifying gravitational forces descended. The small bio-ships guarding the Tyranid Hive Ship emitted overwhelmed wails of structural failure. Amidst this astronomical anomaly, they vanished instantly.
Time seemed to stretch for an eternity, yet it was only a flash.
The deep, dark void suddenly dissipated, replaced by a rising sun in the vacuum of space. A mass of high-density matter, rapidly compressed, erupted in a blinding flash of light, spreading in all directions like a supernova.
Of course, whether it was a pity or simply expected, there was nothing left in the surrounding space for this energy to consume.
Watching this brilliant result, Adam frowned slightly.
"How should I put this... it's 'acceptable,' I guess."
After all, this was the main gun of a ship named the Morning Wood. Even if it fell slightly short of the original "Three Goddesses of Fate" main cannon (insert 'finger-pinching galaxy' meme here), it shouldn't lose face.
On the other side, the Hive Mind "smiled" with a sense of grim resignation.
No, seriously, brother...
If you had this kind of weapon, why didn't you say so earlier?
The scene before it felt like some "dead memories" were coming back to haunt it.
A century ago, during the Battle of Macragge, an Emperor-class battleship sacrificed itself, diving like a magnetic rod into the heart of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Its overloaded Warp engines created a massive Warp rift that swallowed a vast portion of the Tyranid fleet, helping the Imperium turn the tide of the war.
The present moment was exactly like that past moment.
Getting blasted by a void rift before splitting the fleet, and now, after splitting and fleeing to this remote corner of the galaxy, getting blasted by a void rift again.
Doesn't that mean I ran away for nothing?!
However, just as the Hive Mind began preparing to use its remaining fleet to launch a counterattack before a second main cannon shot could fire, it saw that the enemy ship did not continue firing black holes.
Instead, it launched a series of boarding torpedoes, which cut through the vast void and lunged directly toward the Tyranid Hive Ship.
What is this now?
The Hive Mind was momentarily stunned. What was the enemy trying to do?
Furthermore, as it sensed an incredibly powerful psychic resonance emanating from one of those boarding torpedoes—and watched its point-defense fire pass through it like a stone sinking into the ocean—its sense of foreboding grew stronger.
Don't you dare come over here!