"You've finally returned."
The first tendril of the Hive Mind's consciousness descended, catching the Silent King utterly off guard.
Only then did he realize: the Hive Mind had long since discovered the spirit seed he had planted here. In fact, it had deliberately promoted that lowly Hive Warrior into the position of Hive Lord—solely so it could constantly monitor him and immediately detect his return!
The more he thought about it, the more terrified he became. He even began to suspect that the reason he had awakened here, in this seed on the farthest reaches of the void, might not have been chance at all, but the Hive Mind's deliberate manipulation.
And with the Hive Mind's unfathomable power, such a possibility was far from impossible.
The Silent King forced himself to steady his heart, replying with utmost deference:
"Great Hive Mind, what commands do you bestow upon me?"
A ripple of amusement swept through the Hive Mind's consciousness.
"When you first trespassed into my domain, you were not so humble."
The Silent King dared not betray even the faintest emotion. He only answered:
"Forgive my ignorance in those days. I now know well that before the great Hive Mind, all must remain forever humble."
The Hive Mind seemed pleased by his flattery, and did not mock him further. Instead, it spoke plainly:
"This small hive fleet, I have prepared especially for you. Lead them back to the galaxy. Find this one called Roya."
The Silent King's heart surged with dread. It was clear that the Hive Mind had, by means utterly beyond his comprehension or perception, already rifled through his memories—and from them, had developed a keen interest in Roya!
After tens of thousands of years, to once again taste the bitter humiliation of being seized and toyed with, utterly defenseless… For the Silent King, long accustomed to the exalted dignity of the Holy King, it was unbearable.
Yet the Hive Mind's terror surpassed even the crushing oppression he had once felt from the Star Gods. Not for a moment did he dare harbor a single thought of resistance.
He hurriedly replied:
"As you command, great Hive Mind!"
The Hive Mind, evidently intent upon Roya, added another warning:
"Be careful. Do not draw the attention of those Chaos Aggregates. I am not yet prepared to wage war upon them."
"Remember—your task is only to locate Roya and provide me his position. Do you understand?"
The Silent King froze for a moment, then understood. The so-called "Chaos Aggregates" could only be the Four Chaos Gods, whom all sapient life dreaded.
For the Hive Mind to avoid open conflict with the Chaos Gods, yet still dispatch even a small hive fleet to pursue Roya, spoke volumes about the attraction Roya held for it.
As he pondered this, a sudden surge of immensely powerful, unfathomably strange psychic force flooded into the Hive Lord's body his spirit now inhabited.
Almost at once, the Silent King realized he could wield this power freely. Not only for attack and defense, but also to command and control every Tyranid unit in the entire fleet.
And this energy—it was stellar in magnitude. Though still weaker than drawing directly from the Warp, its peculiarity lay in its effect: once unleashed, it generated a strange shadow that completely blocked the transmission of Warp energy within its veil.
Thus, all spirits under that shadow could only clash using their own psychic reserves and strength—cut off from drawing upon Warp projections.
In such a battlefield, psychic power of stellar magnitude was invincible!
In all his tens of millennia of cultivation, the Silent King had never seen a spirit amass its own innate psychic power to the level of a star's eruption.
Not even the purely spiritual Star Gods had ever reached such terrifying heights.
And yet, from being exposed and defeated by Roya's hand, to suddenly gaining a new, even more formidable strength—rising again to the peak of power—the Silent King felt not a shred of joy.
If the Hive Mind could so casually infuse him with such might, then what level of power did it itself command?
The taste of being so easily controlled was vile indeed…
After issuing its orders, the Hive Mind abruptly withdrew, no longer directly watching the small fleet.
But the Silent King dared not grow complacent.
He knew full well: from this moment onward, he must guard his every thought, never allowing a single improper impulse.
The Hive Mind had not departed—it had merely fallen into an inactive state within the fleet. Any disturbance within its bounds still lay fully within its perception.
In other words, if the Silent King dared to defy it, he would be instantly beset by the frenzy of the entire fleet. Even his Hive Lord vessel would almost certainly self-detonate on the spot!
For a long time he remained motionless, until at last he grew accustomed to his alien Tyranid form and the suppression of his thoughts.
Only then did he come to understand the truth of his new body: though its carapace was as strong as top-tier bio-metal, beneath it there were no muscles, no circulatory systems. Merely hollow bone, forming a closed circuit of energy.
In other words, every Tyranid husk was no more than a living warframe. And all warframes had only a single pilot: the Hive Mind.
"This entire species… is nothing more than its tool for plundering the energy of the material universe!"
A chill surged through the Silent King. He dared not dwell on it further.
Suppressing his thoughts, he roused the cycling energy within his vessel, bringing the fleet under his control.
Through the hive ships' feedback he locked onto his coordinates, adjusted course, and set a swift heading for the distant galaxy.
The three hive warships glided like colossal squids through water, their bodies pulsing as they leapt to speeds tens of times faster than light, cutting across the boundless void.
Aboard the Hades, within the command throne, Roya sat absorbed in refining the spoils of the battle in the desolate starfield.
The refined, masterless Warp energies left by the Silent King's self-detonation, and the collective will of the Fearless Ones—now once more scattered and frenzied without their target—both urgently needed purification.
The best fate for these powers, of course, was to be refined into potential points, then distributed to his Fortitude and Perception.
He was deep in concentration when suddenly, a surge of frantic psychic transmission burst from the Warp, pouring straight into the throne beneath him!
In an instant, the entire command bridge was awash in a terrible blood-red glow.