The moment Yuki returned to the battleship and stepped out of the interceptor, a figure rushed toward him and threw her arms around him.
"Stop it, I've still got fluid from the flyer all over me. It's dirty."
Yuno, however, refused to let go. "No! I missed you."
"I was only gone for a little while."
"But I couldn't talk to you. I can't get used to living like that anymore. Don't go too far from me..."
It was the first time Yuki had seen Yuno exhibit such a massive emotional fluctuation. Her body was trembling slightly. What else could he say? He gently stroked her hair and said softly, "Where else would I go? Yuno, you know better than anyone that I will only stay by your side."
"Make a promise!"
"You're acting like a child." Yuki hooked his pinky finger with hers. "I will always stay with Yuno."
Only then did Yuno break into her usual smile. It was a smile Yuki was willing to give everything for.
"Thank you."
"What did you say?"
"I love you."
Eleven felt like she shouldn't be there. She looked around at these "Angels" shaped like the God-Emperor, feeling oddly moved, but... something felt a bit off. She figured the Boss and Yuno were probably about to do the things they did every single day.
Sure enough, Eleven saw Yuki carry Yuno directly through the passage opened by the bio-ship, likely heading straight back to the bedroom. These situations always made Eleven a bit embarrassed. Once, she had gone looking for Yuki and accidentally walked in on... well, how should she describe it? Oh, right.
The Sun Never Sets.
"The Boss and Miss Yuno really have a great relationship." That was the only sentiment she could manage.
...
"The World Engine? We actually ran into that troublesome thing."
Afterward, Yuki told Yuno about his discovery.
"Yeah. And there's zero benefit to taking it down." Yuno suddenly propped herself up, sliding over to lie on top of Yuki. "What do you plan to do?"
"Can we just run? We'll move a bit further away before activating the Narvhal."
"Don't you want to see how the humans destroy the World Engine?"
"To be honest, not really. It's the same old routine: boarding actions and melta charges. Besides, the forces they sent are tiny. Typical GW 'magic math' at work."
"But it might be different this time. Maybe since you've arrived, the timeline has changed?"
Yuki thought about it seriously before answering. "It's better if this kind of timeline doesn't change. The destruction of the World Engine is a good thing for us, too." He reached out to hold Yuno's back; the sensation was incredible. "However, if you want to see the spectacle, we'll head over and take a look. We might even be able to pick up some 'takeout' while we're at it."
...
The Aether Fleet did not launch an attack, but the Shadow in the Warp brought by their arrival inevitably interfered with local psychic communications. The humans, however, did not notice the Tyranids. They attributed the psychic anomalies to the technological interference of the Necrons.
After all, the Necrons were perfectly capable of doing that.
Fifteen Chapters and a considerable portion of the Imperial Navy were engaged in the battle. Yuki counted the Space Marine Chapters one by one, but the number of naval warships was far too high to keep track of.
The battle between humanity and the World Engine was fierce. Drop pods and torpedoes could not penetrate its powerful void shields, and teleportation beams could not lock onto the interior of the massive vessel. The Imperial task force attempted twelve times to overwhelm it through pure courage and firepower, resulting in a string of crippled or destroyed starships and millions of casualties.
The World Engine had destroyed a third of the entire Imperial Navy battleship fleet. Yuki felt his skin crawl just watching it.
"If we rammed it with our current fleet, do you think we could take it down?"
Yuno was holding a bag of potato chips. The bag was a Tyranid organism; the chips were organic constructs. The bag squirmed; the chips did not.
"If the opponent were biological, we'd have a high chance of winning. After all, I'm famous for endurance and regeneration. But against Necrons? Hmph. That race deserves to be extinct." Yuno still hadn't forgotten Szarekh. "Especially that guy, the Silent King. I bet he's already trying to consolidate the entire Necron race. Just thinking about fighting them in the future gives me a headache."
"It's not like you couldn't beat them, right?"
"It's not a question of whether I can win; it's just that they're disgusting. They're on the same base level of grossness as Chaos. At least Chaos has a tiny bit of Warp-matter; the Necrons have literally nothing left."
Yuki shrugged. "Can't be helped. We use Hive Fleet Kronos specifically to fight Chaos, and they almost starve to death. If we used a fleet specifically to fight Necrons, the thought is just hilarious."
Yuno poked Yuki. "Don't laugh. If you keep laughing, I'll deploy you to fight the Necrons."
"Would you have the heart to do that?"
"If the Necrons break you, I'll go kick their tombs over and then piece you back together."
"So you don't care about 'attrition' when it comes to me?"
"When it concerns you, I don't do much thinking."
Every human assault had failed. The massive shields generated by the Necron constructs were nearly indestructible. Yuki knew what was coming next. The Astral Knights, a successor Chapter of the Imperial Fists, would sacrifice their flagship to ram the World Engine, forcing a breach to the surface. Over seven hundred Space Marines would fight a bloody battle and eventually, at the cost of total sacrifice, blow up the command complex to disable the shields and weapon systems.
It was actually quite humorous. With the Necrons' level of technology, they still had a design where a single point of failure could bring down the whole system? If it were Yuki, he would have distributed the World Engine's cores and set up multiple backup command posts.
Ultimately, the entire war followed the "Nottingham town enterprise" formula for a stage play.
The Imperium encounters a powerful foe. The Imperium is overmatched. The Imperium is driven back. The Imperium delivers a victory speech.
Sure enough, Yuki saw a massive warship charge toward the World Engine with suicidal resolve under the cover of its comrades. A brilliant spark ignited in the void. A crack appeared in the World Engine's indestructible shield, and a large number of Space Marines surged inside to be met by an endless tide of Necron warriors.
The Astartes faced death with stoic resolve—another heroic legend in the making.
Yuno ate her chips as she watched the events unfold. She had only heard of this; watching it in person was quite a show. When Yuki reached out to grab a snack, only the squirming bag wrapped around his hand.
Yuno had finished all the chips.
He knew it was time. He smiled and pulled Yuno up.
"Come on, Yuno. Let's go pick up some 'snacks' of our own."