Stoic fired without a moment's pause. He was in peak condition; the relentless battle against the swarm had pushed him into his finest hour.
"What do we do? Our firepower isn't enough to kill this monster!"
"Keep up the suppression! All I know is that if we stop for a single second, he'll leap out and tear us to shreds!"
"What a cursed mess."
The Iron Warriors advanced slowly, passing through paths riddled with bullet holes and corpses, continuing to pour fire onto Yuki. Stoic watched as the soldiers of the False Emperor were slaughtered by those grotesque Tyranid elite units.
"Is there any way to save them? We might need mortal assistance if we are to leave this place."
"Stoic, your foresight always manages to surprise me. We have already embraced the certainty of our deaths."
"Dying might not be so bad. It's not like being sent here was our choice anyway."
Seeing his brothers already speaking as if reciting their last wills while they fought, Stoic fell into a rare silence.
"Reloading! And that monster seems to have grown used to the fire."
"I'm out too. Let's charge them in melee together."
Yuki had already stood up, wading through the hail of fire. Stoic understood their fate.
"My thanks to you all. Ever since we survived the Daemon Womb together, we have fought as one. It is a distinct honor to stand with you today."
"Stop talking like those lapdogs of the False Emperor. We are Iron Warriors."
The Iron Warriors raised their melee weapons and met the mutated Yuki head-on.
"Iron within, Iron without!"
In the world of Warhammer, every story and every life can come to an abrupt halt. Their ambitions and their secrets would vanish forever into the void. Yuki knew that such a fate might one day be his own; he had long been prepared, just like the men he had just killed.
Hylia fell completely under the grasp of the Hive.
The grain that couldn't be shipped, the crops left unharvested, and every living creature that met a gruesome end here were processed by Rippers and reclamation pools into biomass. The biomass of an agri-world was of a different quality; the Aether Fleet replenished its massive forces in a remarkably short time.
Yuno personally presided over the total extraction of Hylia. Sometimes, Tyranids leave some life behind on consumed planets to allow the ecology to slowly recover. Hylia was not one of those cases.
In just a few days, specialized Tyranid flora had overgrown the surface, relentlessly siphoning nutrients from the soil and even the planetary crust. Watching a flock of Gargoyles soar through the sky, Yuki felt a sense of satisfaction. The planet had finally returned to its "original beauty."
"Not bad, right?" Yuno came to Yuki's side, looking triumphant. "Sometimes I like to stand on the surface of a world I've conquered and watch how I eat it. Green jungles, surviving insects, and Tyranid units everywhere—it's such a beautiful ecology."
Yuki sighed. "Yes. Even the air has taken on a hint of fragrance. This scent... it actually feels somewhat familiar." He gently pulled Yuno into his arms. "It's the smell of your hair."
"Cunning!"
As they shared a tender moment, Yuno's expression suddenly shifted.
"What's wrong?"
"Yuki, I've been feeling strange lately."
"Pregnant?"
Rarely, Yuno did not respond to Yuki's humor. "No. I mean... my existence might take on a form you won't be able to understand."
"What do you mean?"
"I am a product of a collective subconscious. Theoretically, I shouldn't have a concept of 'Self.' But because of you, I became 'Me.' And because of that, I might become more than one 'Me.'"
"Aren't all Tyranid units technically you?"
"Yes, but I mean... just think of it as a split personality. Except my split won't divide my character. It's more like... Tomie."
"Huh? Won't that cause the Hive to fracture?"
Yuno gave a weary smile. "No. They will be beneath me. But their love for you might be different from mine. I'm more worried that you will change because of it..."
"Are you worrying about me? Yuno, I love you, and only you."
"No, never mind. Yuki, once you truly face it, you'll understand what I mean."
The strange conversation ended there. Yuki briefly pondered the future, feeling a slight envy for the brainless Tyranids who only needed to feed and then die.
The lushness on Hylia's surface didn't last long. Once the flora had absorbed every nutrient from the planet, the Tyranids consumed them as well, turning the entire world into a dead rock. The Norn Queens birthed more units and biological warships, including the gargantuan creatures that had briefly hidden in the atmosphere.
The Aether Fleet returned to space.
"Yuki, what are you looking at?" Yuno asked.
"When I was sifting through the memories in the Hive Mind, I saw the memories of those Kriegers. Their last memory before death was me reading the scriptures to them." Yuki looked at Yuno. "I think, one day in the future, I will miss the short days we spent on this planet."
Yuno gave a gentle smile. "Yes. We certainly did it quite a few times during this period."
Yuki smiled as well and kissed Yuno's forehead. "Yeah. We'll have to keep opening 'card games' in all sorts of places from now on."
Beneath them, Hylia grew smaller and smaller. The Aether Fleet had a clear objective: to "repay" Huron.
...
The battle between the Imperial Navy and the Red Corsairs remained undecided, but the scales of victory were clearly tipping toward Huron. This would be another win among his many triumphs. He looked down upon his enemies, contemplating how to manage this agri-world.
The vast quantities of grain could resupply his mortal troops and weaken the Imperium's logistics. He could even sacrifice the prisoners to Chaos to gain blessings. He had already notified the Night Lords commander, who excelled at such matters. However, the Iron Warriors had also come to inquire about the unit they had sent. Huron assumed they were dead and knew he would eventually have to give an account.
He was deep in thought until a few days later, when he observed Hylia from a distance and noticed something wrong.
"The surface of this planet... why is it changing faster than Chaos corruption?"
"Why did it suddenly turn lush green, only to become a dead world now?"