The Silent King knew well: the Tyranid swarm was a race driven solely by hunger and evolution.
Even though their leader, the Hive Mind, was an ultimate being beyond the material realm, this did nothing to diminish the lesser swarms' constant slavery to their urge to devour and evolve.
Indeed, even the Hive Mind itself did not suppress this instinct—at times it seemed to relish it.
And now, after this long voyage, the Silent King had sensed something clearly: the immense psionic energy within his new body had thinned his link to the Hive Mind to the edge of severance.
At this threshold, he could not only command this splinter fleet entirely through his own will, but also obscure himself, limiting the Hive Mind's awareness of his actions.
Even if the Hive Mind realized something was amiss and chose to descend, it would take time to arrive.
And that window was enough for the Silent King to drive the fleet against Roya and complete the kill.
"If I can strike Roya down before the Hive Mind descends, and detonate my soul afterwards…!"
"Even if I can't defeat him outright, a timely self-detonation will still free me from the Hive Mind's control!"
"The strength packed within this vessel—once unleashed—would annihilate an entire star system. Nothing alive would survive."
"Roya, this time you will surely die!"
Overcome with feverish ecstasy at the thought, the Silent King could restrain himself no longer.
His thick arms flailed wildly within the command hive, carving through the living walls as his psionics thundered the highest level of battle-order through the fleet:
"Attack! Devour that fleet! Leave not a single scrap!"
The Tyranids' terrible hunger erupted like wildfire under his psychic lash.
Three hive ships aligned into a triangular formation. Across their titanic hulls, tens of thousands of grotesque maws unfurled.
From them spewed a choking gray-black miasma. In an instant, it spread outward, blanketing a region vast enough to veil a tenth of the system.
The Silent King's heart leapt with savage joy.
"The Shadow in the Warp?! I never expected such a weapon of terror aboard mere splinter hive-ships!"
"Roya, Roya… this time you are truly finished!"
"Let's see if your so-called blessing of life can save you from the Tyranids!"
Out in the silent void, Roya was immersed in parsing the mysteries of faith's power when he suddenly jolted awake, pulled from his trance.
For he had sensed it—the raw, primordial hunger of slaughter, racing straight for him at full speed.
"An ambush? Here of all places?!"
Roya froze for only a breath before realization struck.
"Up ahead lies Oceanus Star. I cannot allow this battle to spill onto a defenseless world! I'll have to draw them away first!"
At his thought, his psychic will swept over the fleet.
All ten colossal ships pivoted in unison, their velocity surging from sevenfold lightspeed to a blistering fifteenfold, veering sharply out of Oceanus Star's system.
Behind him, the hive fleet's shadow unfurled in pursuit.
The Silent King grinned at the accelerating quarry.
"Run? How long can you keep that up?"
"These hive ships swim the void like fish in water, consuming almost nothing. If you burn yourself out running, Roya, you'll die like a fool!"
As Roya reached the system's edge, he felt it—an alien shadow stalking him.
That unnatural darkness.
He had glimpsed it briefly before and dismissed it as some rare, if natural, cosmic phenomenon.
But now, with the shadow bearing down at tremendous speed, Roya knew the truth: the devouring hunger he sensed emanated from within it.
"Their speed… at least eightfold lightspeed! But I can only sustain this burst for three systems' distance at most. They'll catch me sooner or later."
"Good… the neighboring system is barren, unformed—no life yet born. Perfect. I'll end this intruder there."
Abruptly, the ten supply-laden vessels halted at the appointed coordinates.
Roya stepped from his command chamber, psychic wards blazing to their fullest as he stood proud against the onrushing shadow.
In the next breath, the darkness swallowed half a system, engulfing Roya within.
At once, his spiritual senses seized up, as though a massive hand had clenched tight around them, stifling his every motion.
Then, a familiar psychic voice slammed against his defenses, dripping with mockery.
"It has been some time, Roya. And yet, your strength has grown again. How delightful."
Roya's brow furrowed. He spat the name:
"The Silent King?!"
He had foreseen that the Silent King might one day resurrect from one of his planted soul-seeds.
But so soon? And with psionic strength not only restored, but vastly greater than before—even stronger than on the day he self-detonated?!
"Yes, Roya! We meet again!"
The Silent King's voice seethed with lunatic glee and unshakable confidence, the hunger of vengeance burning through every word.
But now, knowing his foe, Roya steadied himself at once.
His mind raced.
"This shadow—that is his trump card! It binds my psionics, severs the link between matter and the warp, denies me access to its currents. Even my bond to my true self is interfered with—I cannot respond swiftly."
"In this state, his usable psionic strength is at least thirty times greater than mine!"
"A direct clash is suicide. I'll have to outwit him."
"No… this power is not his own. If he truly held this strength, he would've used it before. This energy belongs to another."
"That means his control over it will be clumsy and incomplete."
"And there—that is the gap. His grip over his borrowed power will falter where mine over my own remains absolute."
"The difference in control… that will decide this battle."
In the space of a thought, Roya had already devised the only path to victory.