It was exactly as the Overmind thought.
The entire planet was being dragged into the Immaterium. Without a doubt, the Chaos Gods intended to pull this world into the Warp, and Tzeentch had likely exerted his personal influence this time.
For a Chaos God, achieving something like this was not difficult. However, the Ruinous Powers usually held themselves aloof and rarely intervened directly.
This intervention indicated that the Chaos Gods' tolerance for the Zerg Swarm had grown incredibly low.
Or perhaps, their tolerance for the Protoss had worn thin, and they were willing to kill off the Protoss at any cost. They didn't know that the Zerg Swarm and the Protoss were aware of each other, and they wanted to use the Swarm to do their dirty work.
Unfortunately, the Overmind already knew that the Swarm would lose connection upon entering the Warp, giving the Chaos Gods no such opportunity.
By the time the planet was completely swallowed by the Warp rift, only thirty percent of the Swarm's forces remained on the surface. These surviving troops consisted entirely of Zerglings and Roaches, with only a handful of Ultralisks.
If that Protoss transmigrator still managed to lose this fight, it would be an absolute embarrassment. Even an Ultralisk couldn't beat a squad of Zealots, and certain Templars could solo an Ultralisk.
Could he really lose? If he did, as StarCraft II players, we'd tell him to just leave the group chat.
"The last time my planet was swallowed by the Warp, it might have been for this exact reason—trying to use the Swarm against the Protoss. It looks like I need to resolve this issue of the Warp severing our connection as soon as possible."
Disconnection had always been an issue for the StarCraft II Swarm. After the Overmind died in StarCraft I, the Swarm never fully restored its collective consciousness. Neither the Queen of Blades, the New Overmind, nor the later Primal Zerg version of the Queen of Blades were enough to completely rule the entire Swarm.
A disconnected Swarm was easily influenced by Psi Emitters, Psi Disruptors, Psi Suppressors, and Mock Mind Controllers—an entire array of weapons designed to target the Zerg Hive Mind.
"No way. I got completely disgusted by the Chaos Gods this time. I need to find a planet occupied by Chaos Cultists specifically to give those gods a taste of their own medicine."
Among the numerous infested planets, worlds harboring Chaos Cultists were inevitable.
The Overmind prepared to catch the demons like rats in a jar.
"Let me see the star map..."
The Overmind was now fully in Paradox player mode. Don't talk to him about efficiency; he just wanted to toy with the demons until they died. Don't worry about how he'd do it—it would definitely disgust the Chaos Gods.
As it happened, this region of the Segmentum Pacificus in the western galaxy lacked almost everything except an abundance of Chaos Cultists.
"Like this, like this, and then like that... OK. You motherf**king Chaos Gods, just you wait for me."
The Overmind did not share this plan with anyone; neither the Cerebrates nor the Queens knew about it. The Swarm appeared to be assimilating and conquering other planets normally, just as before.
But this time, the Overmind deliberately spared far more infected victims. Like a flock of sheep driven by sheepdogs, they were unknowingly funneled onto a Hive World with a population exceeding fifty billion.
Looking at the star map, one would notice that the Swarm was deliberately bypassing this planet, surrounding it and its neighbors, and slowly driving the inhabitants of the surrounding worlds onto this Hive World.
For a time, a massive influx of refugees crammed into every corner of the planet's Hives, pushing the population toward one hundred billion.
All of this proceeded in absolute silence. Once the Overmind observed through the eyes of the infected that the planet's streets were entirely packed with refugees, he officially initiated the plan.
[Sacrifice this planet.]
The hundred billion people on this world would become the Overmind's sacrificial offering to the demons. And then, the Overmind would capture a Greater Demon alive.
You like scheming against me, right? Then I'll let you scheme to your heart's content.
The sacrifice began.
The Overmind began deploying Changelings to the planet's surface. Once these Changelings infiltrated the cities, they used their own methods to blend into the ranks of the Chaos Cultists.
This densely populated Hive World held at least a dozen cults, both large and small. The smaller ones were easily infiltrated, but the largest was a Slaanesh cult. This particular Chaos cult was somewhat difficult to penetrate, as its members consisted of minor nobles and local officials.
But it didn't matter. The Overmind directly used words or resources to entice and instigate the Chaos Cultists of the smaller sects into beginning their sacrifices.
Initially, the sacrificial rituals were minor, capable only of summoning low-level daemons like Nurglings and Tzeentch Tzaangors. These small-scale sacrifices required few offerings—often just a few individuals or a dozen people were enough to complete the summoning.
However, as the Warp density across the entire planet began to rise and the number of daemons increased, the scale of the sacrifices grew larger and larger.
The Overmind even controlled the Changelings to actively initiate sacrifices involving over a hundred people. Sacrifices of this magnitude began to summon packs of Bloodletters and Exalted Bloodletters.
By this point, the entire planet had plunged into chaos.
Yes, yes, exactly like that. Give me more demons.
Meanwhile, the Overmind began massing the Zerg Swarm fleet, preparing to give the demons a massive surprise.
The cities grew increasingly chaotic. Some daemons began actively hunting and harvesting mortal souls, causing the Warp density to spike once more. The daemons and cultists piled the corpses of the sacrifices high, constructing massive Warp gates.
By now, the planet's Planetary Defence Forces (PDF) no longer had the spare strength to deal with these Warp gates. The riots between the refugees and local residents alone kept them entirely overwhelmed.
Although the planet's Inquisitor and the stationed Astra Militarum sensed that something was amiss, they could not halt such a chaotic tide when facing the ever-growing numbers of daemons, even if they intervened.
Yes, ah, yes, exactly like that.
The Overmind watched the transformation of the entire planet from a god-like perspective.
His mountain-of-flesh body virtually leapt with joy, his sickly yellow, cyclopean eye flashing with excitement.
The more demons that come, the better. The more Greater Demons that come, the better. Get ready for dinner!
And the catalyst that slammed the start button for this gluttonous feast was one of the Overmind's early spoils of war: a group of Eldar who had been captured and kept as test subjects under Abathur's care.
The kind without Soul Stones.
After these Eldar were discovered by the local PDF, they were sent to the Governor's palace. That very night, accompanied by a brilliant beam of Warp light capable of illuminating the entire planet, a Keeper of Secrets was the first to manifest on this world.
The inhabitants of the entire planet could hear the giggling of the Greater Demon of Slaanesh as it greedily devoured the souls of the Eldar, offering them up to its master.
Next to arrive was a Bloodthirster. It stepped out from a Warp gate in the Underhive, surrounded by what was already a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood—the Throne of Skulls that Khorne loved most.
Hordes of Khornate Bloodletters sprinted out from beside the Bloodthirster's feet. Just like the Daemonettes of Slaanesh, they hungered to harvest skulls for their god.
"Only two?"
How could there be only two?
Just as the Overmind thought only two Greater Demons would show up, the expanding victories of the Slaaneshi and Khornate daemons began to gradually affect the mutants in the Underhive.
Finally, amid the chanting of seven Nurglings, a Great Unclean One also descended from a summoning ritual.