"No, no, it shouldn't be like this."
"How shouldn't it be?"
The Queen of Blades retreated as the Lord of Change advanced.
"You and the Swarm are truly laughable."
To the Lord of Change, the Queen of Blades' psionic power was collapsing and contracting due to a mental breakdown. However, the Overmind had issued a new command.
"Catch him alive. Do not let him escape under any circumstances."
Upon hearing the order, the Queen of Blades suddenly stopped retreating. Though her hands still covered her face, the Lord of Change sensed something amiss—her psionic power had become exceptionally stable at that moment, as if time itself had frozen.
When she removed her hands, a beautiful yet cruel smirk appeared on her face.
"Fooled you."
"!!!"
The Lord of Change's feathers stood on end instantly. At that moment, he glimpsed a future more terrifying than death. He spread his wings to take flight, preparing to flee the zone blocked off by the Queen of Blades.
"Trying to run? You're not the only one with wings."
The Queen of Blades slammed her foot against the ground, soaring upward like an arrow released from a bow string, catching up to the Lord of Change.
The moment she landed on his head, her bone wings pierced downward like sharp talons, blinding both of his eyes.
"Ah!"
The Lord of Change shrieked in agony, his body plunging uncontrollably toward the ground. Before he could hit the dirt, the tentacles of a Viper wrapped tightly around his body.
"Hold him fast."
"Release me!"
An explosion of psionic energy erupted from the Lord of Change, nearly snapping the Viper's tentacles. A single Viper was actually unable to restrain him, but there was more than one Viper present.
The tentacles of several more Vipers followed in rapid succession, wrapping around his body and binding the newly freed Greater Demon like a caterpillar. This time, he was utterly powerless to break free.
The battle ended so quickly that it was hard to tell if the Lord of Change was too useless, or if the Queen of Blades was just too powerful.
Regardless, the second Greater Demon was caught. Next up were the Great Unclean One and the Bloodthirster, the two least likely to run.
The Great Unclean One couldn't run—Nurgle's forces were always the slowest demons—while the pride of the Bloodthirster wouldn't allow him to flee.
"Alright, the remaining two will be much simpler."
The Overmind repeated its old trick, quickly producing another wave of massive units like Ultralisks and Brutalisk, and then...
"Charge! Charge! Charge!"
No micro-management was needed. It was a direct F2 all-army select, followed by an A-move. No tactics, no coordination required. Under the absolute crushing weight of the Swarm's quality and quantity, the demons on this planet were nothing to fear.
The Queen of Blades tracked down the Great Unclean One. By this time, after numerous battles with Nurgle's forces, the Swarm had long since developed an immunity to ordinary Nurgle plagues.
Nurgle's demons could only engage the Swarm in a direct, brutal melee—the most savage kind of hack-and-slash battle. Most embarrassingly, the raw stats of Nurgle's demons could no longer suppress the Swarm.
The current fully-upgraded Zerglings were far different from what they used to be. Initially, a Nurgle demon could slaughter Zerglings like a dynasty warrior; a Plaguebearer would feel ashamed to call himself a tough Nurgle demon if he didn't kill at least a hundred Zerglings.
Now? Now, killing thirty made him an elite demon. Ordinary Nurgle demons were torn to shreds the very instant they made contact with the Zergling tide, and those that fought slightly better were overwhelmed and killed after taking down a dozen.
Performance like this was basically as ridiculous as a Chaos Cultist solo-killing a Space Marine.
"Nurgle is truly foolish."
Even the Overmind wanted to complain about these Nurgle demons.
Since the plague is ineffective against the Swarm, why not use it to buff yourselves? Grow a few more arms or heads, enhance your muscles, thicken your armor, or even vomit acid and shoot bone spikes. Instead, they only thought about debuffing the Swarm.
Abathur had already gained plenty of experience fighting Nurgle demons. Even if Nurgle modified the plague, the Swarm could adapt to the new strain within a single day.
Unless the plague took an idealistic, conceptual route—a pure Warp-energy plague devoid of any microbes or fungi. As long as a single microorganism existed within it, the Swarm could adapt.
Before long, the Great Unclean One was completely surrounded by the Swarm. Ultralisks closed in on him. Even though he was doubly empowered by Warp energy and human souls, the Great Unclean One was still pinned against a castle wall by the Ultralisks, unable to move.
"Don't touch my body, insects!"
The Great Unclean One plunged his hand into an Ultralisk's head, and the unlucky beast rapidly turned to ash like decaying wood. However, a second Ultralisk immediately stepped up to fill the gap.
"I know you're here, you twisted hybrid of Eldar and Zerg!"
While fighting the Ultralisks, the Great Unclean One remained wary of the Queen of Blades.
"Oh?"
The Queen of Blades ceased hiding her presence. Floating in midair, she looked straight into the Great Unclean One's eyes.
"You were watching while I fought the other demons?"
"Hehehehe."
The Great Unclean One sneered, wriggling maggots spilling from his mouth.
"I know what you did. You are powerful, and you can defeat me, but you will never achieve true victory."
"You all love giving long speeches. As for me, I prefer direct action!"
The Queen of Blades gathered psionic energy in her hands, blasting it forward like lightning. The Great Unclean One raised his massive Plague Sword to block, barely withstanding the terrifying blast.
However, a neighboring Ultralisk lunged forward, swinging its massive Kaiser Blades right at him.
There was no need to worry about killing him with a single blow; if a Great Unclean One could be killed in one hit, he wouldn't be a Great Unclean One.
Sure enough, after being slashed by the giant blade, a deep wound exposing his internal organs opened across his body. Yet, he didn't care in the slightest, and the wound healed at a pace visible to the naked eye.
His regeneration speed was actually faster than the Ultralisk's attack speed.
"Hehe, I told you, you cannot kill me. In this sea of souls filled with spiritual energy, I am invincible."
"When did I ever say I was going to kill you?"
The Great Unclean One looked confused, but at that exact moment, over a dozen more tentacles shot out from the darkness, wrapping around his body.
"?"
The venom of the Constrictors was injected into his body, but the Great Unclean One merely scoffed.
"Who do you think I am?!"
He could not be restrained at all. Even when the tentacles were pulled taut, they failed to restrict his movements, and the injected venom completely failed to anesthetize him.
"I am a child of the Grandfather. This venom means nothing to me, and these fleshly bodies are fragile before me. I am the manifestation of eternal life, the immortal son of a god."
"Too many words."
The Queen of Blades naturally knew this Great Unclean One wouldn't be so easy to capture; the Constrictors were proving to be nearly useless.
She would have to take action herself.
Bringing her hands together, a pure cage formed of psionic energy instantly trapped the Great Unclean One within.
"Now, why don't you try breaking out of this?"