"What in the absolute—what the hell is going on here?"
Hopper stared at everything before her eyes, a look of utter bewilderment written across her face.
To secure the backing of the Ecclesiarchy and the other Holy Orders, Hopper had submitted comprehensive reports detailing her past miracles. She had also pulled quite a few strings, utilizing the connections she had forged over the years with various Chapter Masters and influential figures.
Ultimately, the high-ranking leadership of the Ecclesiarchy finally bore witness to Hopper's logic-defying track record—including, but not limited to, surviving the absolute consumption of a Tyranid vanguard and hunting xenos for decades completely unscathed. Furthermore, she was capable of solo-killing a Tyranid Lictor while clad in nothing more than basic Battle Sister power armor.
This level of martial prowess, which comfortably eclipsed that of the vast majority of Adeptus Astartes and even a significant number of Chapter Masters, immediately prompted the Ecclesiarchy's high command to decree that Hopper was a true, living Saint.
Once the High Lords of Terra ratified the decree, the subsequent logistical mobilization became exceptionally straightforward. Armed with the title of Living Saint, countless Battle Sister Orders answered her rallying cry.
"For the Emperor! For Saint Hopper! For the eradication of all mankind's foes!"
Zealots, Death Cultists, and even scores of Battle Sisters severed ties with their original Orders just to join the ranks of the Order of the Bloody Rose. The material reinforcement dispatched by the Ecclesiarchy was far more formidable than anything provided by the Adeptus Administratum or the Departmento Munitorum.
Furthermore, upon learning that Hopper intended to launch a grand crusade to chastise the Tyranids—specifically targeting Hive Fleet Aether-Kronos—Dante and Marneus Calgar threw their considerable support behind her cause as well.
Thus, within a few short years, Hopper managed to assemble a massive crusade force bolstered by dozens of preceptories, several Space Marine Chapters, and reinforcement contingents from both the Deathwatch and the Black Templars. Following the divine guidance of the God-Emperor, this immense armada slowly breached the borders of the former heretical domains, pushing into the star sectors flanking Prospero.
Yet, starting from an indeterminable point in time, Hopper had been plagued by an exceptionally jarring sensation.
It felt exactly as though everything was repeating itself.
The feeling was remarkably subtle; whenever Hopper received a fresh tactical report, she couldn't shake the eerie conviction that the exact same data had already been presented to her long ago.
"According to the latest reports from the Astra Militarum, the hive fleet's ultimate trajectory points directly toward Prospero."
As Hopper listened, an absurd premonition flared within her mind: Her very next sentence will be, 'The tactical landscape there is highly volatile. To minimize casualties, we should dispatch the Emperor's Angels to execute a preliminary reconnaissance first.'
A split second later, the words spilled from her subordinate's mouth: "The tactical landscape there is highly volatile. To minimize casualties, we should dispatch the Emperor's Angels to execute a preliminary reconnaissance first."
Hopper knitted her brows tightly. This sensation was far too bizarre.
Concluding her daily administrative duties, Hopper retired to her quarters and drifted off into a deep slumber.
"What in the absolute—what the hell is going on here?"
Hopper stared at everything before her eyes, a look of utter bewilderment written across her face.
To secure the backing of the Ecclesiarchy and the other Holy Orders, Hopper had submitted comprehensive reports detailing her past miracles. She had also pulled quite a few strings, utilizing the connections she had forged over the years with various Chapter Masters and influential figures.
No, wait!
Hopper suddenly realized with a jolt that her entire form was radiating a brilliant, golden aura. Without a shred of hesitation, she sprinted straight out of her quarters and into her tactical command office.
Snatching up the stellar charts, she verified her current coordinates—
The attending sister who had stepped forward to deliver the briefing was visibly startled by her frantic entry, but she quickly resumed her report anyway.
"According to the latest reports from the Astra Militarum, the hive fleet's ultimate trajectory points directly toward Prospero."
"Shut up!" Hopper roared, her voice thunderous.
How many times had this exact sequence unfolded? How long had the enemy's mockery and illusions been ensnaring them, and exactly how much time had truly elapsed in the material universe outside?
The sister stared back in complete astonishment. Hopper immediately barked out an order: "Summon every single individual gifted with psychic capabilities to this chamber immediately! We must ascertain exactly what kind of anomaly we are dealing with!"
Hopper's hands trembled uncontrollably. Was her current self merely a minor plot point trapped within an endless, looping cycle? Just how many times had this exact scene played out?
"Dammit, we are trapped! We have absolutely endured this exact sequence an countless number of times already!"
Confronted with the Living Saint's bizarre, frantic claims, a high-ranking gathering assembled: the Master of the local Astropathic Choir, the Librarians of several Space Marine Chapters, and a veteran battle-brother from the Deathwatch. The latter was not a formal Librarian, but he possessed distinct psychic capabilities—a quirk tied to the Deathwatch's specialized organizational structure.
An Emperor's Champion of the Black Templars stood among them as well.
"Living Saint, this claim is highly unusual," a Librarian noted. "Our armada only translated into this system two days ago, and our operations have proceeded without a single tactical anomaly."
"This sorcery is exceptionally potent," Hopper countered. "Every single one of us has been blinded to it. Had the God-Emperor not granted me a sudden flash of divine revelation, I would have remained entirely oblivious to the trap as well."
"Is there any tangible evidence?"
Scott, the Deathwatch battle-brother, answered on Hopper's behalf: "If we follow the Living Saint's assessment, this sorcery is meticulously flawless. It actively denies our cognitive faculties the ability to perceive the loops. Naturally, there would be no tangible evidence left behind."
"My thanks, Scott," Hopper said.
"But our vox-channels with the Astra Militarum forces in the neighboring star sectors are completely functional," a Chapter Librarian pressed. "If a chronological anomaly had compromised our fleet, the external commands would have noted the desynchronization."
Hopper shook her head grimly. "I am terrified that the absolute perimeter of this sorcery vastly exceeds our calculations."
"Uh... so, this is a direct revelation from the Emperor?"
Hopper could clearly sense that a significant portion of the officers didn't truly believe her words. However, because she was a Living Saint whose decrees carried the absolute authority of the Emperor, none dared to openly voice their skepticism.
"I have perceived it as well," the Black Templars' Emperor's Champion spoke up.
He was the solitary warrior permitted to attend this high-level council while bearing a drawn weapon. The Black Sword resting in his grasp served as the literal manifestation of his status as the Emperor's chosen vessel.
"Prior to our crusade's deployment, the God-Emperor granted me a vision. I beheld an Ouroboros—a serpent devouring its own tail. I imagine that vision reflects our current predicament perfectly. Immediately following that image, a sea of adversaries blotted out the cosmos, and the specific foe He commanded me to execute rests entrenched right amidst them."
Scott of the Deathwatch interjected: "But who among us can verify that we haven't already conducted this exact debate countless times before? We lack the means to even calculate the duration of a single chronological cycle."
"Perhaps we can evaluate this from a different tactical angle," another Librarian suggested. "By all accounts of sorcerous logic, this spell should have kept us permanently blinded. The fact that we have successfully perceived the anomaly indicates that the structure of the illusion has sustained a critical fracture."
Hopper turned her gaze upon the assembled Astropaths and Librarians. "Can you collaborate to forge a massive psychic barrier—one powerful enough to isolate a pocket of space completely from the external universe?"
"Halt."
War issued a command to freeze the swarm's advance.
Stretching out across the void directly ahead of the hive fleet, an exceptionally bizarre, shifting aurora of kaleidoscopic light rose like an endless, towering wall dividing the cosmos. One didn't need sensor arrays to realize this was the work of immense psychic sorcery.
"What's the tactical assessment?"
"It bears all the hallmarks of a localized trick woven from the raw power of the Immaterium," Eleven analyzed. "Our sensor organisms cannot penetrate the barrier to ascertain the conditions within. However, it does not appear to possess offensive, destructive properties. Our immediate priority is to calculate the absolute grid perimeter of this shroud."
The data transmitted back from the vanguard scouting organisms was far from encouraging.
The shifting aurora effectively blanketed several entire star sectors. At this point, even a simpleton could deduce that this was absolutely no minor spell; it was an undertaking that required an entity of Primarch-level magnitude bolstered by a massive collective of specialized sorcerers to manifest.
"Could this be the handiwork of the Thousand Sons?"
"A sorcery of this absolute scale must possess a dedicated psychic anchor matrix stationed well outside the spell's active perimeter."
"What leads you to deduce that the core matrix rests outside the barrier?"
"If the anchor matrix were positioned within the active zone, its own reality-warping feedback would have compromised its ability to maintain absolute control over Lady Yuno. To achieve an effect capable of suppressing her consciousness, the spell must execute a chronological or spatial rewrite of local reality. To safeguard the anchor from the volatile shifts in physical laws, the core matrix must logically be insulated outside the target zone."
"Why couldn't they simply carve out an insulated, unaffected pocket of space directly within the active perimeter?"
"To anchor a stable pocket of that nature within a volatile distortion field would require the coordinated intervention of all four Chaos Gods simultaneously. Since the tactical parameters are set, let us pivot our focus to sweeping the flanking star sectors first."