The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Officer! Detecting intense psychic energy signals!"

"What?"

Bahram immediately brought up the detection panel display. A line of red text flowed like a waterfall, and a vortex-shaped symbol appeared at the edge of the tactical display.

"Is that a warp jump..."

The communications officer screamed the next second.

"An unknown number of objects are emerging from the warp into realspace! What is that!"

"Give me specifics!"

The scan results came back quickly, projecting a unique shape onto the tactical display, resembling a bust wearing a crown, but with a long 'horn' on top and a ring of spikes behind it.

Soon, further results shocked everyone, causing an uproar on the bridge.

"Eldar! It's Eldar!"

"Eldar?"

Bahram saw the blurred image transmitted. The size of this construct was astonishing, yet it possessed a distinct Aeldari style, surrounded by many fish-like ships bearing the Eldar's iconic solar sails.

"Why would they appear..."

Glancing at the sudden appearance of the Eldar fleet and mysterious construct, Talos raised an eyebrow, a faint smile appearing on his lips, and said slowly:

"Nothing strange about it. The Eldar act in mysterious ways. But they probably aren't here for us."

"Ah? It can't be—"

Suddenly, alarms blared on the bridge.

"Detecting an unknown energy source... it's erupting!"

"Collecting energy frequency."

"Activating electronic defenses."

Bahram noticed that the ring behind the giant construct began to rotate, emitting a dim light.

"What is it going to do?"

Seconds later, the spikes on the ring extended simultaneously.

On the battlefield, a Harpy charging towards a human ship suddenly convulsed, then twisted, its three-lobed maw biting down hard on a small Bio-ship swimming nearby, shaking it violently as if seizing prey, liquid spurting out. The Bio-ship twitched and struggled, but was still bitten in two. But then a shot of acid hit the Harpy, and then a prehensile tentacle wrapped around its tail, dragging it into another large mouth.

For a time, many Tyranid Bio-ships began to fight each other.

However, the Tyranids were ultimately vast in number, and only a portion were affected. But this immediately provoked a reaction from the Hive Mind, because it was even more serious than directly harming it, akin to seizing control of the Hive Mind. Thus, a large number of Bio-ships immediately changed direction and charged towards the appearing Aeldari ships.

"What kind of method is this?"

The changes in the Hive Fleet were quickly received on the bridge as well. Bahram stared dumbfounded at the bizarre scene of Bio-ships killing each other in the image, not noticing Talos's thoughtful expression not far away.

"Now is a good opportunity!"

Suddenly, Bahram's excited voice caught Talos's attention, and the former looked at him.

"The Eldar have drawn the Hive's fire and interfered with its gestalt command network. If we concentrate our forces to attack the Hive Ship at this time—"

"When faced with such a powerful enemy, do you think the Hive Mind will change its thinking?"

Talos said, pointing to the tactical display.

"Their movement speed has slowed down, and some Hive Ships are hidden very deep. Kayan's psychic power is not enough to eliminate such serious interference. If the Tyranids set up a false signal source, what will you do? Think again."

Bahram frowned, looking at the constantly changing tactical display.

"That's right, some Hive Ships are hidden too deep... Wait, if the Eldar interfere with the Hive's gestalt command network, doesn't that mean it becomes more dependent on the forward command nodes? If we destroy those command nodes, will it become even more chaotic?"

When he looked at Talos, the latter simply smiled at him.

"Your decision. You are the commander."

Bahram made a final decision, pointing to the Hive Ship closest to Vestro IV.

"Seize the opportunity to destroy it first! Eternal Loyalty changes course. Soul Without Restraint and Intangible Fear act as escort ships, forming an attack formation, with Storm serving as the temporary flagship. Send word to Fourth Company Captain, let him temporarily take over fleet command."

Soon the Imperial fleet began to change. The decapitation fleet, led by the Eternal Loyalty, began to break away from the convoy, while the Serpent King continued to output lance fire as fire support, clearing the way.

Perhaps to counter the psychic interference from the Bonesinger's Saint Crown, that Hive Ship had placed itself in a very forward position, maintaining the Hive Fleet's attack on the planet. When three ships stabbed towards it like daggers, its reaction was to summon Bio-ships to resist.

"Course change, 211, concentrate right-side firepower."

Bahram still intended to exploit the Tyranids' weakness of being severely affected by inertia when turning, using small-angle, rapid shifts to force them to turn at large angles, thereby gaining a speed advantage.

After all emotions faded, he began to get used to commanding the ship, like commanding his own arm.

The three ships circled from the left to the lower right of the Hive Ship at an extremely fast speed. The escort ships also turned, but their turning speed was significantly reduced. Then a series of lasers and shells passed through the void, hitting the flesh of the Bio-ships, creating a field of death.

"Rift Cannon is warming up!"

One important factor for Bahram's decapitation strike was the Eternal Loyalty's hidden main gun. The other two ships accelerated forward on the left and right, using firepower to form an interception zone.

At this time, the Hive Ship also began to counterattack, projecting a large number of plasma and Bio-torpedoes. Some of the attacks hit the void shields, causing the bridge to flicker.

"Void shield power is rapidly decreasing! It has dropped to 63%!"

"Aim at the target!"

"Void shield power is reduced to the critical value!"

With a bang, the bridge shook violently.

"Forward deck C area is pierced!"

"Warm-up complete!"

"Fire!"

Accompanied by the flash of the Eternal Loyalty's bow, countless glittering spots instantly appeared on the Hive Ship, and then its body suddenly collapsed inward, leaving only a small black ball in the blink of an eye, along with crackling purple lightning.

Bahram took a deep breath and looked at the observation lens. Through the cracks in reality, he could feel countless venomous eyes burning.

Not only the Hive Ship, but also its surrounding escort ships continued to implode. Under the traction of the warp, their shapes were completely distorted. When the miniature warp gate passed through the veil between the two worlds, everything within hundreds of kilometers was swept into the howling vortex.

Losing the forward Hive Ship, the surrounding Bio-ships were immediately thrown into chaos, either killing each other or running around. At least tens of thousands of Tyranid Bio-ships would not be able to join the attack on Vestro IV. The Tyranid ships that had attacked the Eternal Loyalty were also gone. Bahram breathed a sigh of relief.