Before Mephiston unleashed his wide-scale psychic ritual.
A fleet of over a hundred warships appeared. A force of this magnitude was clearly not here for a friendly exchange. Yuki observed the Imperial Navy vessels; they were evidently reinforcements for Dante, though they had arrived late.
"Eleven, take a portion of the fleet and attack from the flank. I'll lead the frontal assault to drive them away from the planet."
In the world of Warhammer, complex strategy wasn't always a necessity. Yuki utilized this simple pincer movement, paired with the boundless numbers of the Tyranid swarm. That was enough.
Yuki personally joined a boarding party, entering one of the battleships. As he strode through the wide corridors, he noticed something unusual. Why were there signs of Chaos in these lower decks?
Considering that almost anything could exist within the vast internal spaces of an Imperial warship, Yuki felt a twinge of unease. Damn it, this is a Blood Angels vessel. How could they allow such things to manifest on their own ship?
Yuki prepared to leave immediately, but the sound of weeping caught his attention.
"I don't want to die... let me live, let me live, I'll pay any price—"
"Tch, this kind of prayer."
Mold and fungi were spreading frantically across the steel hull. The metal itself seemed to possess life, squirming and twisting. The various odors emanating from the rot were so potent they caused Yuki's cells to begin dying on contact. Moments later, Yuki barely adapted to the toxins, and the mortal crew members who had been praying earlier emerged.
They had become Poxwalkers—mindless, yet eternally "alive."
"Disgusting. I didn't expect to run into Nurgle Daemons here."
Yuki prepared to depart. This ship no longer required his attention; left alone, it would be consumed and destroyed by Nurgle's influence. As he turned to leave, a heavy, wet thud echoed behind him.
"You aren't afraid of my viruses? You don't look human."
Yuki looked back at the corridor, which had been instantly covered in a green... well, something that looked like thick slurry. Several Death Guard Marines appeared, their bodies fused into their power armor.
Yuki wondered if the effect of the Shadow in the Warp had been weakened. How could a simple ritual by mortals summon these guys here?
"You... appear to be a Tyranid? A miracle of life indeed. No wonder Grandfather sent us over." The Death Guard spoke, approaching step by step.
Yuki tried to avoid an unnecessary fight. "We don't need to do this. What do you think?"
"No, it is very necessary."
"In that case—"
In a flash, Yuki punched a massive hole through one of the Death Guard, but such a wound meant nothing to them. The body began to heal at a visible rate. Every cell and every bacterium in the creature's body possessed its own agency; they lived together within the Death Guard, forming one "great" collective life.
Yuki shook his hand violently, struggling to fling off the disgusting slime.
"Heeheehee... such attacks don't work on us."
"I figured." Yuki opened his mimicry-chant organs and asked, "How about this then?"
A psychic shockwave took effect. One Death Guard vanished instantly, his body shattered by the resonance of Warp energy. The countless lives dwelling within him perished simultaneously.
"What?"
The Death Guard were genuinely shocked. Yuki smirked and unleashed another psychic blast. Against Warp-tainted creatures, psychic power was the most effective tool. The Death Guard recovered from their initial surprise and launched an attack.
Their bullets were alive. Even if they couldn't penetrate Yuki's carapace, they would cling to it and begin to corrode it. It was revolting—countless maggots squirming on his skin, trying to burrow into his body.
Yuki used to think Nurgle was almost "cute" in a weird way, but after witnessing his power firsthand, he only wanted to personally burn down Nurgle's Garden. After exerting considerable effort to slay these Death Guard, Yuki fled the battleship as if escaping a plague.
The other Tyranid organisms also withdrew. To them, eating anything associated with Nurgle was no different from eating filth.
Yuki looked back; more than half of the battleship had been corrupted by Nurgle's power. The hulls twisted, Nurglings began to manifest, and more Death Guard legionnaires appeared. Though Yuki was annoyed, he didn't mind too much. His primary goal was to prevent these fleets from interfering with the battle at Gehenna Hive.
Just as he prepared to leave, he noticed the corrupted warships aggregating as if they had a collective consciousness. Dozens of ships fused together, becoming a massive, living mass of steel. In the center of this mass, Nurgle's power created a swamp-like entity.
Sensing trouble, Yuki immediately ordered the Hive Fleet to attack, only to collide head-on with a Death Guard fleet emerging from the rot.
"I'm seriously done with this. What is going on?"
The Imperial Navy had already begun to retreat, and the remaining ships on the battlefield were seeking opportunities to withdraw. One or two ships wouldn't hinder Yuno's attack on Gehenna, so Yuki concentrated the Tyranid fleet to halt the Death Guard invasion.
Honestly, the Death Guard were a headache. Khorne followers just wanted to kill until everything was dead. Slaanesh followers were preoccupied with their own depravities and weren't that interested in expansion. As for Tzeentch... there wasn't much to say.
But Nurgle was different. Once his viruses spread, they could affect billions or even trillions of people across multiple sectors. Most importantly, the damage he dealt to biomass was far greater than the other three Chaos Gods.
Yuki decided he wanted a piece of the Death Guard too. Once again, space was filled with the roar of cannons.
During the fierce battle, Yuki noticed a strange red light sweep across the planet's surface.
"Was that psychic power?"
Eleven replied, "Yes. And likely no ordinary psychic power."
Yuki took a moment to investigate the effect of the spell. "Time stasis... Hiss. Eleven, can you do that?"
"With the help of the Great Narrative Network, perhaps. But such a wide-scale effect is very difficult."
Will Yuno be okay? Yuki linked with Yuno.
"What is it?"
"Are you okay on your end?"
"Me? I'm just about to go play with this 'Lord of Darkness' who cast this super-spell."
"Did you kill Dante?"
"Left it to War. She should be able to handle him."
Yuki felt a sense of foreboding. First, Mephiston's super-spell, then a nonsensical Death Guard invasion. Yuki felt that, once again, they probably weren't going to be able to kill Dante.