Since the defensive positions were so hard to crack, how could the Queen of Blades not make her appearance?
As soon as this unique individual—half-human, half-Zerg—emerged, the Aeldari warriors felt their psychic senses screaming in warning. In the command hall, Melina sensed that anomaly from afar.
†What is this feeling of unease?†
"Farseer! Several Tyranid bio-ships have breached the interior of the dome!"
"What?"
Simultaneously, in another dome of the Craftworld, two bio-ships bristling with barbed claws slammed into the structure. A massive number of Tyranid organisms surged out of the vessels, initiating their slaughter.
Too many. There were enemies everywhere.
This sensation only heightened Melina's growing anxiety. At the same time, the Tyranids' "Shadow in the Warp" began to trigger a throbbing headache. As the most powerful psyker on the Craftworld, she was the first to feel its suffocating effects.
On the other side, the Queen of Blades remained largely unaffected, though her psychic output dipped slightly.
Those bugs that don't belong to the Overmind... their shadow is interfering with my psionics.
But it was only an interference. The hive command remained stable, proving that the Shadow in the Warp could not sever the Zerg Swarm's link to the Hive Mind.
†Last time I saw these bugs, I had to run. This time, I'm going to have a proper fight with them.†
The Overmind was rubbing his hands in anticipation. He was fully prepared this time. More Zerg forces were massing at the Webway gates across various planets, ready to reinforce at a moment's notice. Against the Tyranids, there were no tricks—only a brutal contest of strength.
The Queen of Blades took the lead, shattering the defensive line of the Third Dome. The area fell completely. The remaining Aeldari forces split into small cells, beginning a guerrilla war in the streets and across the rooftops. However, wherever the Queen of Blades arrived, the local defenders were inevitably annihilated in short order.
It was only a matter of time before the entire Third Dome was occupied.
However, the Third Dome was adjacent to the sector held by the Tyranids. While pursuing Aeldari survivors, the Zerg Swarm entered the transitional corridors between the domes. There, they collided head-on with a Tyranid swarm that was busy hunting a squad of Aeldari Rangers.
Then, that squad of Aeldari, who believed they had been driven to their deaths, witnessed the most incomprehensible scene of their lives.
Zerglings and Termagants lunged at each other. Claws met fangs. Both swarms tore into one another with a savagery that far surpassed anything the Aeldari had ever imagined. This wasn't a war; it was a primitive, visceral struggle for dominance.
Initially, the Zerglings suppressed the Termagants—individual Zerg units possessed higher combat specs. But once the Tyranid Hormagaunt swarms reached the combat zone, the Zerglings began to be pushed back.
Sensing the clash with the Tyranids, Hydralisks and Roaches began to push aggressively into the combat zone. On the Tyranid side, Tyranid Warriors—serving as lower-level synaptic nodes—also joined the fray.
The corridor was too narrow to accommodate an Ultralisk, yet it turned into a literal meat grinder. The Aeldari units, taking advantage of the chaos, huddled in corners and managed to survive by sheer luck.
They watched as Termagants gnawed on Zergling corpses, only to be pinned to the walls by Hydralisk spines. Then, a four-armed Tyranid Warrior charged through the Zergling tide, cleaving a Hydralisk in two with its bone swords. Moments later, that same Warrior was split apart by the bone-claws of a dying Hydralisk.
To be honest, seeing a Hydralisk and a Tyranid Warrior standing together made them look like family—especially their head structures. Unfortunately, both sides were locked in a fight to the death. Every unit was a fearless engine of the Swarm, and every strike was aimed at a lethal vital point.
Reports reached Melina immediately.
"You're saying the swarms are fighting each other?"
"Yes, Farseer. But I believe they are two distinct populations. The swarm in the Third Dome is a different faction, or perhaps an entirely different species."
Hearing this, Melina's despairing heart felt a spark of renewed hope.
We can still win! If this is the case, we can still win!
"Order an immediate withdrawal from those two dome sectors! Set up our defenses at the corridor entrances. Have the frigates open a gap toward the Third Dome—let the Tyranid boarding torpedoes and escorts land directly into the Zerg-occupied zone!"
Melina then looked at the report concerning the new Zerg units. That twenty-meter-tall behemoth was going to be difficult to deal with. But the biggest concern was the being capable of killing a Farseer. That slain Farseer was her junior, and she knew her strength was not something easily overcome.
The leader of that swarm might be right here.
If the Overmind knew what she was thinking, he would definitely say:
†"Yeah, sure, she's the leader. Just don't come looking for me. Keep your Craftworld far away from me; I'm 'ship-weak' and prefer to stay behind the scenes."†
Jokes aside, the Overmind preferred being the mastermind in the shadows, lest the Four—no, Five—Gods start targeting him all day long.
Melina pondered further and added, "Deploy the Titan and armored units to the defensive lines! Do not let them breach the other domes! Eliminate any possibility of our defense being broken!"
Melina herself prepared to head to the front lines, but for now, she needed to direct the naval battle. Once the space combat stabilized, she would take up her Singing Spear and join the fray.
"Elyssa!"
"I am here, Farseer."
A female Autarch reported for duty in the command hall. "What are your orders?"
Autarchs were the master tacticians of the Aeldari, commanding their large-scale military operations. "Go to the front and organize the defense. Report any anomalies immediately."
"Understood, my Lady."
Elyssa left the hall and sped toward the battlefield on a Skyrunner. Before she even arrived, her high-altitude perspective and keen vision allowed her to witness the slaughter between the Zerg and the Tyranids.
It looked like two tides of different colors crashing into each other. The far ends were distinct, but the overlapping zone was a chaotic blur of combat. Low-level units from both sides slaughtered each other relentlessly. Mid-level command units joined in occasionally, but the high-level combatants of both sides seemed to have a tacit agreement to stay back for now.
Both sides were slowly raising the stakes rather than throwing everything in at once to crush the opponent.
"The galaxy has gone mad," Elyssa sighed. The Aeldari were split in two, humanity was split in two, and now even the bugs were split in two.
She should indeed be sighing, because soon, even a "pseudo-gestalt" race like the Necrons would find themselves split in two.
Elyssa stopped observing. That wasn't her job. She leaped from her Skyrunner, landing at the defensive line, and commanded the wavering Aeldari soldiers: "I am Elyssa, the Autarch sent by Lady Melina. Do not fear the enemy. Organize the defense! The Titans and armored units will be here shortly!"