Because the star had been forcibly stimulated, a helium flash had occurred.
As a result, the star, which had originally seemed to be entering old age, suddenly expanded to more than a hundred times its original size, forming a red giant.
Because of that, the four closest planets had already been swallowed.
And at this moment, another planet was being dragged toward it.
At most, in another hour, it would reach the Roche limit.
The so-called Roche limit was the distance at which a celestial body's own gravity, pulling inward, equaled the tidal force exerted on it by another nearby celestial body, pulling outward.
When the distance between two celestial bodies became smaller than the Roche limit, the smaller body would shatter under the effect of tidal forces.
Between the star and that planet floated a vast number of objects.
They were countless fragments. Some were scraps of flesh, mainly pieces of Tyranid bodies.
Some were metal wreckage, fragments of metal warships.
The remains of both sides were tangled together, and because of the star's gravity, they were being pulled toward the red giant ahead of the planet.
A closer look revealed that some were still alive and still fighting.
As they fought, they gradually fell into the ocean of flame.
On the planet's surface, the fighting was also extremely fierce. Tyranids and T'au Empire forces were exchanging fire.
A careful look showed that it was not only the T'au Empire present. There were also a small number of Imperial forces.
Among them, a squad of Astartes was installing something in one location.
"How much longer?"
"I don't know."
"What do you mean, you don't know?"
"If the blueskins can hurry up and kill those things, I guarantee I can lock down the location in one minute!"
The Astartes operating the equipment replied in irritation.
"Blueskins" referred to the T'au. At present, several large Tyranid bioships had thrust enormous tentacles into the planet, trying to accelerate the planet's plunge into the star.
The consequence of that would likely cause the star system's gravity to fluctuate violently again. Then the Tyranids would accelerate the pulling of whatever was on the other side of the wormhole.
Yes. Pulling it over.
They could roughly confirm that there was something extremely massive on the other side. Its own sliding speed was relatively slow, so the Tyranids had sent even larger Narvhal bio-ships here to widen and enlarge the wormhole. They had also fired gravitational lines to stick to that vast object somewhere in distant space, accelerating its slide into this star system.
Thus, one of the first forces to arrive here, an Astartes squad belonging to the Lamenters Chapter, immediately prepared to detonate the planet.
Before it was dragged into the star, they would shatter it further into a large number of fragments, thereby reducing the gravitational effect.
However, the Tyranids' interference made the demolition far from smooth.
It was not as simple as firing a cyclonic torpedo directly into the planet's interior and detonating it. In the past, that method had only been used to destroy a planet and exterminate the life upon it. As for exactly how the planet exploded, that had not mattered.
But now, they needed to find the perfect blast point and make the planet break apart as thoroughly as possible.
Yet because the large Tyranid bioships were interfering with the planet, the ideal blast point kept changing.
After all, as the planet itself approached the star, the best blast point would shift with the changing gravity.
On top of that, the planet itself was being tampered with by the Tyranids and spinning chaotically, making it even more troublesome to determine the perfect point for demolition.
"What were those blue pigs thinking, triggering the star's helium flash? They've only accelerated the bugs' widening operation."
Another Astartes from the Lamenters Chapter said angrily.
"You can't entirely blame them. Before this, no one expected these bugs to be different this time."
Someone sighed as he said that.
While they spoke, the weapons in their hands never stopped roaring, holding back the Tyranids trying to interfere.
Suddenly, a piece of equipment issued a warning of abnormal spatial gravity fluctuation. Something was about to emerge from the Warp.
The next second, an Imperial Lunar-class cruiser suddenly appeared, half of its hull embedded inside a Tyranid warship.
Rumble!
The ground-shaking roar came from far away.
Observation showed that the ground in that direction had exploded.
When the image from that area was transmitted over, they saw the wreckage of a Lunar-class cruiser.
It looked extremely strange, as though the Lunar-class cruiser had been buried underground there and then detonated.
The truth was that because the Tyranids' Shadow in the Warp had shrouded the star system, Warp travel had become extremely difficult.
The Imperial fleet dispatched here could only roughly determine the region, then break directly out of the Warp. Whether they were lucky enough to emerge into realspace within this star system was a matter of chance.
And even if they were lucky enough to enter the system, dangers like this could occur. For example, half a warship might emerge into realspace while the other half remained in the Warp.
Another possibility was that although the entire ship emerged, it appeared directly beneath a planet's surface.
The result was essentially the same as crashing straight into the planet.
However, the explosion had not completely destroyed the strength of that Lunar-class warship. Several Shark assault boats shot into the air like rockets, plunging toward the Tyranid bioship.
Hm?
The Lunar-class cruiser embedded in the Tyranid warship suddenly fired a drop pod toward their position as well. Clearly, it had observed that the pressure here was too great, with more and more Tyranids pressing in, and had sent forces to help share the burden.
After the drop pod slammed into the ground, the figures of their comrades entered their retinas. They were brothers from the Salamanders Chapter.
Along with their firepower projection, a large swarm of Tyranids was cleared out in an instant.
"How many came, brother?"
"Just as you see now. Only these two ships successfully landed here. As for the rest, I don't know whether they also entered other areas of this star system and simply cannot be contacted for now, or whether they were lost elsewhere."
"May the Emperor protect them. Hopefully they're only temporarily out of contact and are clearing bugs somewhere in this system."
"Speaking of which, is that the newest model of power armor you're wearing?"
"It doesn't look thick, but its firepower is stronger than that of an entire squad of Terminators."
The Lamenters could not help envying the Salamanders' equipment.
They had the same number of warriors, but the Salamanders' firepower was at least five times stronger.
"Captain, it's locked!"
A sudden voice cut in. At the same time, they felt the ground tremble faintly.
The device had been activated. The cyclonic torpedo had been fired beneath the planet's surface.
Then it was time to retreat.
When they broke free from the planet's gravity and reached an altitude of five hundred kilometers above the surface, the planet suddenly trembled violently.
The next second, it shook even harder. Then, on the side facing the star, the surface rapidly cracked, like a red-hot glass ball splashed with water. Dense fractures spread across the ground.
The instant it reached a critical point, it truly shattered.
"Captain, Mr. Lance!"
Ever since they had successfully entered this star system, Rawls had been continuously calling through a communication device.
The Archmagos had instructed them to look for that man the moment they arrived, because he might still be here.
However, after entering this system, there had been no response to the call.
It might have been because of interference. Or perhaps the other party was not in this star system. But Rawls had not stopped calling.
Now, the connection suddenly went through, and he immediately linked the line to the captain.
As the captain spoke with the other party, Rawls did not know what they were discussing. But judging from the captain's reaction, that person might truly have a way to deal with this crisis.
(End of Chapter)
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