Even without the Overmind, the world of Warhammer is just that cruel.
The Overmind had already integrated well into this world. Once the city walls were breached, the planet's defensive forces were no longer able to stop the Swarm. Even with only basic Zerglings and Roaches—and few Hydralisks to speak of—it was still enough to cause a typical agricultural world to fall.
Simultaneously, the Overmind had the Infestors take control of as many Chaos Cultists as possible, specifically those in command positions. The answers to the mysteries in his heart gradually began to piece together.
Indeed, the people on this planet were undoubtedly from the Terran Confederacy. There was no question about it.
However, they had defected to Chaos.
"Shit, aren't the troops of that fellow Terran transmigrator supposed to have locked loyalty?"
For a time, the Overmind had worried that the Zerg might produce units that defected to Chaos. Later, he realized this was redundant; all low-level Swarm units have locked loyalty. They don't even have a loyalty stat, so there's no such thing as "declining loyalty."
It was even more impossible for Swarm command units to rebel. Whether it was a Cerebrate or a Queen, the Overmind could end their lives with a single thought. To make a Zerg unit rebel, one would have to use physical means to take over its nervous system—such as Nurgle using a plague parasite or the Zerg-controlling devices from old Terran Confederacy tech. Against that kind of control, it doesn't matter who you are.
The situation of the Protoss transmigrator was unclear, but so far, the Overmind hadn't seen any Protoss units among the ranks of Chaos, so their loyalty was likely locked as well.
But this Terran brother... he's a bit too much of a letdown, isn't he?
"I was wondering why I didn't see any Widow Mines, Spider Mines, or Raven-type drone units. Good grief, turns out these cultists are all traitors."
The Overmind felt much more at ease now; as long as this wasn't some elaborate scheme by Tzeentch, he was fine. Humans defecting to Chaos—how rare is that? It's not like the native Warhammer universe is any different. If you lined up ten people in this universe and shot them all, only five would be loyal; the rest would have deserved it.
"Almost at the Psionic Emitter."
The Swarm advanced like a hot knife through butter, encountering virtually no powerful resistance. Their objective was clear: the source of the Psionic Emitter's signal. It was a grand castle located at the very center of the city.
The castle's defenses were decent. A dense web of firepower managed to suppress the Zerglings for a moment, preventing a frontal breakthrough. However, once the slower Roaches arrived, the combined force of Roaches and Zerglings pushed through the machine-gun fire and breached the building.
The brutal fighting inside the structure began quickly and ended just as fast. The Zerglings smashed open the doors, finally coming face-to-face with the Psionic Emitter.
The Overmind had imagined many possibilities: perhaps a Lord of Change would be waiting for him; perhaps there would be Chaos Space Marines of Tzeentch; perhaps a Chaos Cultist leader would laugh and claim "everything is going according to plan."
But the Overmind saw nothing of the sort. He saw only the Psionic Emitter—roughly half the size of a person—humming away, constantly broadcasting psionic signals to the outside world.
"What's going on? What's the deal?"
Where was the conspiracy? Where were the tricks? Where was the "all according to plan"? Since when were the cultists under Tzeentch so pathetic that they didn't even have a plan? They just let him fight his way right to the Emitter?
Doubts—too many doubts filled the Overmind's heart. This was not a good sign.
If the Overmind were human, the confusion in his heart would be enough to lure him into Tzeentch's grasp. Having doubts leads to a desire for answers, and in the Warhammer universe, the lust for knowledge is one of the primary reasons people end up dead.
That was exactly the situation the Overmind found himself in. There were so many questions that even an existence with such vast mental power couldn't think of an answer. No schemes or tricks are often more terrifying than a place crawling with them.
"Whatever. Destroy the Psionic Emitter first."
The Zerglings quickly tore the device to shreds. No one would have guessed that such a small mechanical device could drive the Zerg into such a frenzy. Only the Overmind knew that the existence of this thing was a mockery of the Swarm by the fallen Xel'naga. To the Xel'naga, a Swarm without an Overmind was merely a tool.
He always felt the inclusion of the Xel'naga was a bit of a blunder that diminished the Swarm's prestige. Though, thinking that way wasn't entirely correct, because Xel'naga technology was, in a sense, truly ridiculous. If nothing else, if the Xel'naga artifact known as the Keystone appeared in the Warhammer universe, the Emperor of Mankind would probably stand up from his Golden Throne just to go grab it.
Just as the Overmind thought the matter was settled, a mutation occurred.
In an instant, the sky shifted abruptly from deep blue to a brilliant pinkish-blue. A surge of Warp energy appeared out of nowhere, enveloping the planet. In the sky, a Warp rift large enough to swallow the planet expanded before the Overmind's eyes.
Wait—now this makes sense!
Seeing the Warp rift, the Overmind didn't get nervous; instead, he breathed a sigh of relief. Luring the Swarm here and then opening a Warp rift to cause trouble—now that was a standard operation.
The Warp rift was so massive it could swallow the entire planet, but through the rift, the Overmind saw a different scene.
It was the Protoss!!!
The Protoss fleet was engaged in battle with a fleet of Chaos Space Marines. Although the Protoss forces were only a third of the size of the Chaos fleet, they maintained a stable battle line.
"Holy shit, Protoss?"
The Overmind was stunned once again. The Protoss were actually holding their own against Chaos inside the Warp?
Actually, it was the other way around. Chaos was struggling to hold off the Protoss inside the Warp. The current Protoss could beat the forces of the four Chaos Gods black and blue. Greater Daemons, who could be the final bosses of other stories, were treated as mere elite squad leaders here—some couldn't even survive a few rounds of fire from an Immortal's main cannons.
"Then what does Tzeentch mean by opening a Warp rift? Wait... wait a minute!"
The Overmind seemed to realize something.
"Retreat! All units, retreat!"
A "drive the wolf to swallow the tiger" ploy. Since when did Tzeentch start reading the Art of War?
The Swarm immediately began retreating toward the Webway gate, but the speed of a single gate wasn't enough. The Overmind decisively issued a new command.
"Immediately attack the nearest unit to you, friend or foe!"
The Swarm began to "infight," looking very much like the Primal Zerg devouring one another. But this was the best way. The Overmind had realized Tzeentch's intention.
Tzeentch wanted to use the Swarm against the Protoss. The Swarm currently had no Warp resistance; if they entered the Warp, they would lose their connection to the hive mind. A disconnected Swarm follows its instincts to attack everything around it—and destroying the Protoss was an instinct hard-coded into the Zerg during Amon's modifications.
The Overmind could not let him have his way. This method of fratricide would rapidly reduce the Swarm's numbers, preventing them from causing major trouble for that Protoss transmigrator.
"We can't fight. If I get into a fight with that Protoss transmigrator, there's no telling who would end up dead."
The Overmind remembered clearly: that Protoss transmigrator had the Golden Armada!