The void on the periphery of the Baal System had long since turned into a boiling crucible.
The Imperial Navy's massive fleet, comprised of Gothic-class and Mars-class Battleships, Lunar-class Cruisers, Grand Cruisers, and countless Frigates and small Destroyers, was engaged in a desperate war of attrition against the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan.
Lances volleyed and macrocannons roared.
The Imperial fleet formation spat forth devastating beams and shells. The scorching lance beams tore through the darkness while massive explosions erupted upon the thick chitinous carapaces of the bio-ships, spraying foul ichor and shattered tissue into the void.
The main batteries of a Gothic-class Battleship opened full fire. Several thick lance beams accurately struck a whale-like Tyranid bio-ship, melting several gaping, burning holes through its flank.
The Tyranid retaliation was equally lethal. The Hive Fleet spewed dense clusters of bio-spore torpedoes like living missiles. Once they struck the hull, they frantically burrowed in and released corrosive acids.
Even more terrifying were the massive Bio-Cannons on the prows of the bio-ships. They fired viscous spore masses wrapped in psychic lightning. Upon impact, these caused not only physical explosions but also unleashed corrosive psychic shockwaves that paralyzed shields and disrupted human command systems.
The Lunar-class Cruiser was struck by several spore masses. The bridge area was instantly enveloped in purplish-black psychic lightning. Internal communication channels filled with agonized screams and static, and the ship tumbled uncontrollably, turning into scrap metal in the void within moments.
Sanguinius calmly observed the battle from within his own Battle Barge.
Although contact had only just been made, the Tyranids' ferocious combat capabilities and terrifying fighting style made his heart pound.
He asked himself honestly, even for the Imperium of ten thousand years ago, facing this terrifying force without a combatant of Axis's level would have meant falling into a disadvantage.
According to Dante, this was merely the tip of the iceberg of the Tyranid swarm, perhaps just the vanguard. The threat of the Tyranids was even greater than that of the Chaos fleets.
A vast number of Imperial Frigates and Destroyers weaved around the capital ships like a swarm of bees. They used las-batteries and torpedoes to attack the approaching small Tyranid escort bio-ships.
They used their fragile hulls to block fatal bio-acids, buying space for the larger warships to unleash their firepower.
Imperial ships were constantly turned into debris amidst brilliant or eerie explosions. Burning wreckage and silently floating corpses drifted through the cold void.
The sailors and officers of the Navy composed a dirge with the collision of steel and flesh in their mortal bodies, dying only to secure a sliver of hope and to lay down their lives for the great Primarch.
The movements of the entire fleet revolved around one core objective: to screen the unremarkable Battle Barge carrying the Primarch Sanguinius.
It was not a capital ship and lacked powerful broadsides, but its hull carried the hope of the entire Baal system.
The Imperial fleet commander had only one order. At all costs, they were to carve a relatively safe path for the great Primarch toward the nearest Tyranid Hive Ship.
They were also to attract its attention, specifically disrupting the Hive Ship's powerful psychic perception and dense bio-ship defense grid.
Seeing the mortal naval crewmen heroically going to their deaths, Sanguinius sighed. If that fellow Axis were here, none of this trouble would be necessary.
They would simply need to sit in the ship, quietly sipping wine, and watch Axis slaughter the entire Tyranid fleet. Every attack Axis made far exceeded lance strikes and macrocannons.
He could even destroy a Tyranid Hive Ship with a single blast of energy.
Inside the Battle Barge, the atmosphere was solemn and sacred.
Three thousand Terminator veterans and four thousand Battle Sisters stood at attention, their heavy armor reflecting the cold light of the dim lamps.
Faint golden halos flowed over them, the power of the Holy Light granted by Sanguinius resonating silently.
Sanguinius stood at the forefront with his eyes closed in concentration. His golden wings were slightly folded, and his body radiated gentle yet powerful psychic waves.
"Father, the Shadow in the Warp casts a heavy curtain over the target Hive Ship. We have used our utmost strength to draw its attention, but we can only buy you a moment of opportunity." Mephiston, on the planet's surface, sent a psychic message to Sanguinius.
"A moment is enough. You have done well. Leave the rest to me." Sanguinius's voice was calm and filled with power.
"The warriors of the Imperial Navy are using their lives to buy us this momentary window. They have drawn the swarm's fire and senses, creating a sliver of opportunity in the target ship's defenses. Now is the time!"
He suddenly spread his arms. The golden wings behind him fully unfurled in an instant, erupting with blinding brilliance.
Majestic psychic energy, mixed with pure Holy Light, surged out like a golden tide centered on him, instantly filling the entire chamber.
The decapitation strike was ready to begin. Sanguinius used his power to divide the 3,000 Terminators and 4,000 Battle Sisters into thirty squads.
Each squad consisted of over 120 Battle Sisters and 100 Terminators, with every team responsible for attacking one Hive Ship.
Sanguinius would use his own power to teleport them onto the Hive Ships and protect them with his formidable psychic might.
He himself would appear randomly within one of the teams, and if his spirit sensed trouble in any squad, he could immediately use psychic teleportation to provide support.
The power of a Warp entity was truly abnormal. Although situated in the material universe, within the bounds of a star system, Sanguinius could teleport at will without expending any significant energy.
Just as the Imperial Navy fleet launched a suicide charge with a Cruiser to distract the target mother ship's massive escort screen, a powerful psychic pulse rippled out. The thirty boarding parties launched their collective attack.
Psychic light flickered as Sanguinius precisely delivered all thirty boarding squads onto the enemy Hive Ships with his immense power.
When the boots of the Space Marines and Battle Sisters stepped onto "solid ground" once more, they were already deep within the nightmare-like internal passageways of the Tyranid Hive Ships, composed of living tissue.
The interior of the Hive Ship was filled with a suffocating stench and sharp, pungent odors. There was no oxygen, but the boarding forces wore power armor equipped with life-support systems, so breathing was not an issue.
The roar of the Imperial Navy's gunfire and ship explosions was completely cut off. In its place rose the hair-raising screeches of the Tyranid brood and the viscous sounds of squirming biological tissue from all directions.
"Target confirmed! Core chamber direction! Kill through them!" Sanguinius's voice boomed like thunder, instantly dispelling the disorientation of teleportation and the shadow of the Hive Mind. The Blade of Encarmine unsheathed, and golden light illuminated the filthy passage once more. The boarding bloodbath had officially begun!
The Space Marines clad in Terminator armor took the front line as a bulwark of steel, charging into the Tyranid swarm.
"For the Emperor! For Sanguinius!" Chainswords collided with the chitinous bio-weapons of the Hive Guard.
Hundreds of Battle Sisters followed behind the Space Marines carrying large quantities of melta-bombs. They raised their bolt rifles and opened fire on the Tyranid Hive Guard.
Massive numbers of Hive Guards rushed out from the interior while a terrifying psychic storm assaulted the boarding party members.
When the Tyranids rampaged across the universe, they had encountered boarding actions in other galaxies before and naturally possessed a response protocol.
Any enemy daring to break into the Hive Ship would usually have their brains instantly destroyed by the Norn Queen's terrifying psychic storm. Ordinary life forms could not survive here.
But this time, the Tyranid Hive Norn Queen found that her proud psychic abilities and her unfailing psychic storm failed to kill these lesser creatures.
The food for the swarm had actually withstood her attack. The Norn Queen could sense a golden psychic power, an energy that made even her tremble with fear, protecting these warriors.
This power naturally belonged to Sanguinius.
Almost simultaneously, battle erupted on thirty different fronts. The roar of bolters, the whine of chainswords, the howl of flamers, the fanatical battle hymns of the Sororitas, and the piercing shrieks of the Tyranids converged into a bloody symphony that spanned the void.
Near the core chamber of the mother ship where Sanguinius had personally descended, he transformed into a golden storm of destruction. Every swing of his Blade of Encarmine vaporized swathes of the swarm, carving a bloody path for his squad.
In front of the powerful Primarch, the Hive Guards were as brittle as paper. The Space Marines and Battle Sisters only needed to follow their great Primarch forward.
A team led by a Primarch was a completely different concept from one without.
It was akin to the difference between a group of people struggling to clear a difficult raid and a group being carried by an overpowered master, where the followers merely had to stand back and win.
The squad led by Chapter Master Dante breached the bio-chamber passage of a Hive Ship. Terminators formed a steel wall, withstanding the charges of several Hive Tyrants, their bolters and power fists smashing dents into the heavy chitinous armor.
Within the mother ship containing Canoness Christina, the Battle Sisters displayed jaw-dropping fanaticism and precision.
Under the cover of Terminators, they purged the passages with fire, used heavy bolters to precisely eliminate key synapse creatures and Norn Queen guards, and sang hymns high enough to form an effective psychic barrier that interfered with the coordination of the lesser gaunts.
Meanwhile, inside the other twenty-six Hive Ships, similarly tragic battles were unfolding.
Some squads encountered unprecedented horrors and fell into bitter struggles. Others had excellent teleportation coordinates and advanced rapidly toward the core. Still others were cut off and surrounded by the surging tide of xenos, losing members with every passing second.
Sanguinius observed all of this through the Warp.
"This is the place," he said calmly. "Sisters, plant the melta-bombs."
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