The Lord of Change thought he could see the bigger picture.
However, Tzeentch's malicious sense of humor always tends to manifest at times like this. Right when you need that future-predicting ability the most, it invariably fails at the critical moment or guides you toward the wrong outcome.
The Lord of Change really should have run away at this point.
But he didn't.
Well, then he wasn't leaving.
The Lord of Change seemed to be using human souls to perform some kind of Warp ritual, as the Warp density in his area was a whole level higher than in other regions.
The area Slaanesh had occupied previously didn't have anywhere near this level of Warp concentration.
But that didn't matter. We StarCraft II players can always overcome any difficulty, including high ping.
Furthermore, Zerg Swarm units with powerful independent operational capabilities like the Queen of Blades would not be affected by Warp density; only the Overmind's micromanagement would be impaired.
"Execute my will, my daughter."
"Yes, Overmind."
The Queen of Blades was already prepared. This time, she used psionic teleportation to blink herself directly into the area near the Lord of Change.
Such an obvious surge of psionic energy was instantly detected by the Lord of Change, but he was already unable to leave. As a former member of the Eldar, the Queen of Blades could likewise channel the Warp energy in this area.
She locked down the Warp region, making it impossible for the Lord of Change to teleport away without breaking the seal.
"Someone is here."
The Lord of Change appeared utterly astonished when he sensed that massive wave of psionic energy.
"A massive and twisted power, resembling the Eldar... Who are you?"
"What, can your ever-changing psionic power no longer see the future? You poor little thing."
When the Queen of Blades appeared within the Lord of Change's line of sight, her terrifying psionic energy felt as though it was about to swallow him whole.
"You—I know you. You scum of the Swarm."
Provoked by these words, the Queen of Blades was just about to strike when she was stopped by the Overmind.
"Wait, let him talk a bit more."
The Overmind felt that this Lord of Change was beginning to understand the true nature of the Zerg Swarm, and that he had very likely been involved in the previous psionic emitter incident.
"Scum? Laughable. Then why do you fear scum, you miserable little blue bird?"
Insulted, anger welled up inside the Lord of Change, but he managed to suppress his emotions.
"How dare a twisted creation like you—neither bug nor Eldar—speak to me like this?! Do you even know who I am?!"
"If you have the guts, say your true name and see if I don't kill you, little bird."
The Lord of Change didn't dare to strike first. In a direct fight, he was absolutely no match for the Queen of Blades, so he could only try to use verbal insults to weaken her resolve to fight.
"You think you are powerful? You and your kind are nothing more than pawns in the hands of the Architect of Fate. Do you think we don't know about the relationship between your species and those humans?"
Oh ho, he actually does know about the Terran Confederacy!
"Those humans..." The Queen of Blades put on a look of surprise. "Jim."
The Queen of Blades didn't know the name of a single human from the Terran Confederacy. She wasn't Kerrigan—remember, she wasn't Kerrigan, she was a Queen of Blades formed from the fusion of Eldar and Zerg.
As for the name Jim, she had learned it from the Overmind. If you're going to put on a show, you have to make it look realistic.
Seeing the Queen of Blades' mental resolve waver, the Lord of Change immediately pressed his advantage.
"Those humans are studying the Swarm. They hold the secrets to your evolution. And you, pathetic bugs, you blindly assimilate everything and consume all life, yet you can be influenced by pheromones and turned into our tools."
Pheromones could indeed influence the behavior of feral Zerg, but under a command unit of the Overlord tier, they wouldn't follow pheromones; they would follow the Hive Mind.
"No."
The Queen of Blades took a step back, feigning panic as she said, "We are not your tools. We are the Swarm. The Swarm is unstoppable."
"Oh, really? What noble race do you think you are? The bugs of an entire planet can't even compare to a small detachment of Protoss in the Warp. Have you ever seen your Swarm being slaughtered?"
The Lord of Change took a step forward. At the same time, scenes of Protoss and Zerg locked in combat manifested around him, but the background was a Warp rift. It looked like a battle taking place inside the Warp.
The Zerg's method of fighting lacked any logic, consisting entirely of mindless charging—most likely a feral Zerg brood.
"Your Swarm will even be captured by those Protoss and used as pathetic test subjects!"
Some Zerg were imprisoned by the Protoss as specimens? This actually catches the Overmind by surprise.
They didn't kill them all? They kept some? Is this Protoss transmigrator... studying the Zerg? No, he doesn't need to study the Zerg.
If this transmigrator was a StarCraft II player, he would have memorized all that basic Zerg data by heart. Why would he need to study them?
"Or rather, is he not studying the Zerg?"
The Overmind fell silent for a few seconds.
"Hybrids?!"
This Protoss transmigrator wants to research Hybrids? Holy hell, he's ruthless. It's one thing for an completely amoral entity like the Overmind to research them, but this Protoss transmigrator wants to do it too?
Don't tell me he transmigrated into Aldaris (the Conclave Judicator from StarCraft I).
"Get more information out of him regarding the Terrans."
"How could you possibly know that those human devices work against the Swarm?"
"How could I know? Heh, their research into you is practically unconcealed. Have you not seen those AI machines that look exactly like you?"
The more the Lord of Change spoke, the more animated he became, even bursting into laughter to mock the Queen of Blades.
"You are nothing but a clown. Not only do they mimic you, but they can also control you and suppress you. Your flesh is a joke before their technology."
Stetmann's Mecha Swarm? Oh, that thing was purely the result of a game designer getting completely high on Terrazine.
The mechanical biomimetic Swarm, according to the lore, was a fully automated robotic army created by Stetmann while he was high on Terrazine, having somehow communed with a mysterious entity.
Because they were fully automated machines, they could produce forces without any human intervention. Yet, their appearance was identical to the Zerg, and even their unit roles were similar.
To be honest, that level of technology was not something humans should possess; it was purely a mechanical version of the Zerg Swarm.
As for "control" and "suppress," he was referring to two other Terran psionic technologies. One was the Hive Mind Emulator, which had already been mentioned, and the other was the Psi Disrupter. Both of these could interfere with the Zerg Hive Mind.
However, these were all black technologies obtained by reverse-engineering Xel'Naga artifacts; humans couldn't have built them on their own.
Aside from those, there was also a major weapon of mass destruction: the Psi Destroyer. This thing was completely absurd. It could inflict damage on all Swarm units within its range that possessed a Hive Mind connection. Over time, even Ultralisks and the Queen of Blades would die from it.
This Lord of Change—I must capture him. And I need him alive.
The Overmind wanted every single piece of data inside that bird's head.