"Hold the line! Let the Necrons keep pressing their advance; they are vastly more proficient at dismantling psychic sorceries than we are."
War's directive was crystal clear, and Eleven understood it instantly. She too could distinctly perceive that her own warp output was being systematically dampened in tandem with the relentless encroachment of the Necron forces.
Both Lucius and Ahriman quickly recognized the shift in the tactical paradigm.
Ahriman immediately enveloped his physical form in a dense shroud of psychic energy, vanishing from the coordinate a heartbeat later. Lucius attempted to execute his own tactical retreat, but Eleven was already upon him, tracking his movements step for step.
"Magnus! The Necrons are actively dismantling the ritual arrays you engineered!" Fulgrim roared, refusing to pass up an opportunity to mock his brother. "As profane and foolish as this spell of yours may be, it absolutely cannot be permitted to shatter at this juncture!"
He sneered openly at the Crimson King. "Is this the level of deference your own gene-sons afford you now? Magnus, your current predicament appears to be even more pathetic than it was in the old days."
"This is hardly the appropriate window to debate the nuances of filial respect, Fulgrim!" Magnus countered sharply. "Have you ever actually engaged the Necrons in open warfare?"
"Those mindless machines? Naturally, I have never deigned to trade blows with them."
"Then hold your tongue! You must lock down the Silent King yourself, Fulgrim. We possess absolutely no leverage to dictate which faction he will choose to incinerate first."
"Do you truly believe you possess the authority to command me?"
Amidst the growing maelstrom, the Silent King finally made his move.
A blinding beam of absolute light cut cleanly through the fabric of space, its hyper-concentrated thermal energy instantly vaporizing the surrounding Rubric Marines. Magnus violently swept his staff forward, channeling a massive partition of psychic energy just in time to absorb the devastating shockwave directly before his frame.
"Come on!"
War launched herself back into the meat-grinder.
The Tyranid Swarm had effectively established an unspoken, de facto alliance with the Necrons to systematically crush the forces of Chaos—and within the isolated pocket dimension bound by the chronological spell, the tactical landscape was finally shifting toward a breakthrough.
"How much time has elapsed on the outside?" Yuki asked, keeping his focus steady.
Yuno sampled the background synapse network to gauge the chronological markers. "Approximately half a month has transacted."
Yuki directed his gaze toward the sweeping expanse of the galaxy visible beyond the viewing port. "It appears the battlefield outside has indeed sustained a monumental disruption."
The temporal shackles binding the fleet were visibly beginning to slacken. Yuki could distinctly sense the geometry of space fracturing; at this rate, even if they remained completely passive, the architecture of this time-loop sorcery would eventually unravel under external pressure.
But Yuki had absolutely no intention of sitting idly by.
"Let's do this. Let's test its structural integrity."
Yuki extended his hand toward Yuno. She offered a soft smile, seamlessly lacing her fingers with his. Positioned directly behind them, Plague could only let out a frantic, desperate wail: "Slow down! Wait for me!"
The stranded hive fleet began to systematically withdraw its scattered psychic consciousness, funneling the raw energy back into the primary core of the synapse network. As the collective weight of the Hive Mind fermented and amplified within the web, its psychic manifestation grew so remarkably dense and potent that it practically threatened to materialize as a physical entity within realspace.
"The underlying mechanics of this spell rely on isolating and severing a vast coordinate grid from the material universe, subsequently overwriting the localized chronological laws," Yuki analyzed. "An enterprise of this scale invariably required the direct intervention of the Chaos Gods themselves. We will most likely have to confront their manifestations when we breach the perimeter."
"Why should I harbor an ounce of trepidation when you are standing right by my side?" Yuno replied, a faint, subtle crimson flush coloring her cheeks. "That is a definitive reality."
"Unified One! You must guarantee my protection as well! If you harbor no intention of shielding me, then simply consume my essence back into the matrix! I refuse to be slaughtered by those profane aberrations!"
Plague was rapidly hitting her threshold. The immense psychological weight she inherited from the swarm's raw survival instincts subjected her to an absolute, unyielding state of terror. For a rare moment, Yuno injected a trace of genuine gentleness into her tone.
"This acute terror is merely a consequence of you being isolated within this restricted perimeter, anchored exclusively to this fraction of our forces. The moment we breach this prison and re-establish a connection with the grand fleets, the sheer volume of the synapse web will comfortably dilute and alleviate your torment."
"Is that... is that truly the case?"
Looking upon the pitiful state of the newly manifested node, Yuki offered a reassuring nod. "Of course. There is no need for you to worry."
The tactical brief had concluded, and the absolute, razor-sharp will of Yuno's consciousness finally unveiled its full brilliance.
Locking her gaze onto a seemingly vacant coordinate in the void of space, she unleashed an unprecedented, earth-shattering explosion of psychic power.
Theoretically speaking, any entity trapped within the localized parameters of a spell of this caliber should have found resistance completely impossible. In practice, however, the shifting variables on the active battlefield had multiplied to a degree that Tzeentch's sorcerers could no longer comfortably control.
The ritual arrays maintained by the Thousand Sons were currently sustaining a synchronized, heavy bombardment from multiple galactic factions simultaneously. The blackstone obelisks deployed by the Necrons and the overwhelming pressure of the Shadow in the Warp generated by the active Tyranid splinters had thoroughly compromised the structural foundations of the sorcery.
The moment a solitary fracture manifested in the architectural matrix of the spell, Yuno pinpointed the vulnerability and drove her collective weight forward to shatter it entirely.
Snap!
A sharp, echoing crack resonated across the sector. Yuki watched as the localized universe appeared to literally shatter like glass. The pristine, pitch-black void of space fractured into an infinite web of stark white fissures, each radiating a bizarre, unsettling luminescence.
A fraction of a second later, the geometry of space underwent a violent, anomalous distortion, collapsing into a massive black-and-white maelstrom. The rhythmic rotation of the vortex exerted a powerful, almost hypnotic allure, silently beckoning an observer to step into its depths—even as raw, logical instinct screamed a warning to Yuki that the threshold was exceptionally perilous.
"Let's move."
"Move?" Yuki blinked.
Yuno glanced back, looking somewhat surprised by his hesitation. "Precisely. Those are the primary psychic conduits anchoring this localized pocket of space. We must venture directly into the network to systematically dismantle them from within."
Staring into the swirling mass—which bore a striking resemblance to a miniature Eye of Terror— Yuki cast his hesitation aside. So long as Yuno was anchoring the advance, what variable out there could possibly warrant concern?
Plague, however, was genuinely terrified of stepping into the breach.
She remained rooted to the spot, trembling violently as she shrank away from the vortex. Yuno fixed her with a firm look and commanded: "Plague. March."
Shaking like a reed, Plague managed to force herself upright and offered a frantic, submissive nod.
"Imposing as always," Yuki amusedly remarked.
"You jest," Yuno replied smoothly, redirecting her focus back to the swirling abyss.
"So, how exactly do we navigate our crossing?" Yuki inquired.
"We walk."
Walk?
Yuki took an experimental step forward, discovering to his surprise that his footing stabilized seamlessly upon the fractured space itself, while the perimeter of the vortex visibly rushed closer to meet him.
"The distance appears immense to mortal senses, but in terms of structural geometry, it is remarkably close. This is merely the shadow of the Immaterium bleeding into the material universe."
Wasting no more time on speculation, Yuki launched himself directly into the heart of the great maelstrom. Yuno instantly seized Plague by the arm, dragging her along as she plunged into the breach.
"Gyaaaaaaaah!"
Plague's frantic shrieks echoed continuously across the duration of their descent. Looking upon her node with a mixture of exasperation and disappointment, Yuno huffed, "You are fundamentally a split component of my own consciousness; how can you possibly exhibit such an embarrassing lack of fortitude?"
Plague whimpered, tears streaming down her undamaged profile. "You deliberately concentrated the exact behavioral traits you despised and offloaded them entirely into my matrix, and now you presume to lecture me for manifesting them?"
Yuno found herself temporarily caught without a counter-argument. Before the dynamic could deteriorate further, Yuki abruptly cut into the conversation: "Heads up! We have entities materializing directly in the path ahead!"
Yuno instantly primed her systems for an immediate engagement. Yet, the faction materializing before the trio within the conduit was neither a Chaos God's manifestation, nor a horde of warp daemons, nor a squad of Chaos Space Marines.
It was a contingent of humans.
Spearheading the vanguard was a Battle Sister clad in standard power armor. Flanking her rear were several Librarians, accompanied by an Emperor's Champion of the Black Templars tightly gripping a black blade.
"Hopper? That woman is still drawing breath?"
"Of all your old acquaintances, she is invariably the most thoroughly tiresome," Yuno remarked coldly.
At that exact moment, Sister Superior Hopper registered the presence of the three silhouettes approaching from the far distance. An absolute tide of pure fury instantly consumed her mind; she tightened her grip on her power sword, preparing to launch a direct assault, only for the Emperor's Champion to smoothly extend his arm to block her path.
"Negative. Those are not the adversaries we seek. The divine visions granted to me by the Emperor do not designate them as our objective."
"Are you losing your senses?!" Hopper hissed. "Those two are the high commanders governing the core of Hive Fleet Aether! They have systematically slaughtered an unquantifiable multitude of mankind! Are you truly certain your visions haven't been compromised?"
Scott of the Deathwatch stepped forward, deliberately inserting his armored frame between the Emperor's Champion and Hopper to de-escalate the tension.
"Compose yourself, Sister. Is our primary objective not to secure an extraction route from this prison? Our prior strategic analysis already established that this chronological loop is explicitly the handiwork of Chaos. It would be tactically sound to utilize these two xenos assets to engineer our escape."
Hopper maintained a death glare directed squarely at the trio as they closed the distance. Before she could voice a response, Yuki's voice smoothly bridged the gap between the two groups.
"The immediate tactical situation is exceptionally critical. How about we systematically liquidate the forces of Chaos before we resume our mutual blood feud, Sister Superior Hopper?"