"So, how is our old partner doing now?"
"Old. The God-Emperor didn't bestow His blessing upon her. It's truly terrifying... honestly speaking, I'm in my sixties now too."
"That's barely anything. You still have countless birthdays to celebrate in the future."
"How come I've never seen you throw me a birthday party?"
"Do you even remember your birthday?"
Yuki was left tongue-tied. After so many years of navigating through the void of space without an accurate calendar, it was indeed impossible to keep track of a birthday. Besides, life was comfortable enough right now that celebrating a birthday didn't really matter anymore.
"By the way, can you still connect to the internet from my old world? I've rewatched the anime and re-read the novels I downloaded countless times by now."
"Can't connect anymore. Connecting before was pure luck. I had no choice but to disconnect to find you, and after that, it never reconnected."
Then there really was no helping it. Yuki could only make do with the anime he already had.
Consuming planets that possessed little to no resistance didn't require their personal intervention at all. Even Eleven could simply stay in her room and meditate. Without even Space Marines present, the only force in this system capable of posing any threat to the Hive Fleet was the Order of the Bloody Rose.
Even so, that would require those Battle Sisters to suddenly receive a massive surge of the God-Emperor's blessing—like a whole company of Living Saints suddenly manifesting out of nowhere, breaching the vacuum of space with their bare bodies to board the Hive Ships, tracking down Yuki, and piercing him clean through with a sword through a combination of overwhelming luck and divine favor.
Aside from that, Yuki couldn't see any other possible path to victory for them.
The actual state of the war reflected this reality perfectly.
Yuki summoned the star map. Looking at the battlefield status display, the Battle Sisters' warships were resisting desperately, but the sheer quantity of the Tyranids was simply too overwhelming to hold back.
"At this rate, that woman named Hopper probably won't survive."
"I gave her a chance."
"Do you truly believe she can't kill you?"
Yuki replied, "She naturally cannot kill me. What can kill me is the power of the God-Emperor of Mankind. Is that not the case? Even if this physical vessel of mine is destroyed, you would still preserve me, wouldn't you?"
"That is indeed true."
Hopper was exhausted.
It was entirely natural; she had been fighting the Tyranids for twelve consecutive days, during which her total sleep time did not exceed thirty-six hours. Aside from her faith in the God-Emperor sustaining her will to fight on, there was one other crucial factor driving her: hatred.
She hated Yuki. She refused to trust anything about him. Unless Yuki died by her own hand, Hopper would absolutely never believe he was truly gone.
She revved her chainsword. The planet Atlan was already being devoured by the Swarm. Just like all the other planets targeted by the Tyranids before, she had precious little time left to ponder what Steph's final fate would be.
Steph might have chosen to don her armor once more to engage the Swarm in one ultimate, definitive deathmatch, or she might have quietly waited for her final end before the sacred effigy of the Emperor. Whichever it was, Yuki believed Steph would choose the most correct path.
"God-Emperor above, we will surely offer the finest slaughter in Your name."
Hopper's eyes were bloodshot with fury. She could not fall back. The number of her Battle Sisters was dwindling, and the ammunition for her weapons was running low; she only utilized her ranged weapons during the most critical moments.
Even so, under the ferocious onslaught of the Hive Fleet, the Battle Sisters' defensive lines continued to fracture and retreat step by step.
"Sister Hopper!"
Another scream echoed out, a sight Hopper could barely bring herself to look at.
God-Emperor above, aid us.
Ultimately, something did descend—though it was not the divine intervention Hopper had prayed for.
Hopper herself could not perceive the sheer bizarre nature of what was happening. She only felt the strength within her body growing more profound, while the gravitational pull drawing from the Warp grew increasingly intense.
With a casual sweep of her blade, she could easily cleave through the seemingly indestructible chitinous carapace of the Tyranids.
The echoes of laughter from the Warp reverberated inside Hopper's mind. She didn't know whose laughter it truly was. Her faith led her to believe it was the Emperor rewarding her, but her logic screamed that this was not the Emperor's doing. The two conflicting perspectives clashed violently inside Hopper's mind, though the most pressing matter at hand was undoubtedly the battle in realspace.
"Get me a flamer!"
A flamer was thrown to her from the rear. As if guided by some strange, supernatural impulse, Hopper aimed it directly at the Tyranid Warrior before her.
Experience accumulated from days and even decades of fighting the Swarm dictated that such a compact flamer should have absolutely no hope of breaching its defenses. Yet, Hopper fired anyway.
The sheer intensity of the flamer's heat defied everyone's expectations. Crimson flames swept through the entire space, carrying a temperature that completely contradicted common sense.
In a mere instant, the once-terrifying Tyranid organisms were reduced to blackened cinders.
Hopper stared blankly at the flamer in her grip. Was this even a flamer? Its destructive potency was practically on par with a multi-melta!
Hopper could only attribute this to the God-Emperor bestowing His blessing upon her. Regardless of the means, victory was the only objective now. Only through victory could she lead herself and her remaining Battle Sisters out alive.
"For the Emperor!"
Hopper roared, a golden radiance erupting across her form as the faint, subtle mist of blood that had been enveloping her body gradually began to dissipate.
"God-Emperor above, we survived this crisis."
Perhaps because the region was far too frigid, or perhaps because there wasn't much of value here to satisfy the Tyranids, this isolated little chapel and its surrounding settlements had been completely spared from the Swarm's assault.
Steph told the survivors that all of this was due to the God-Emperor's protection. In reality, however, she knew the truth but simply refused to acknowledge it—the people here survived solely because of Yuki's promise.
In fact, Steph had sensed something unusual about Yuki from the very beginning, hadn't she? His unnatural fearlessness toward daemons, his peculiar familiarity with the Battle Sisters, and that bizarre brand of audacity.
It was truly ironic. Her past training had constantly drilled into her never to trust anything suspicious, yet she had never once suspected Yuki.
"God-Emperor, You did not allow me to perish upon the field of battle. Is this Your punishment for me?" Steph looked up at the sacred statue.
She had devoutly worshipped the Emperor for decades, yet she had never received a single revelation from Him. The education she had received taught her that this was the norm; humanity's duty was to maintain absolute faith in the Emperor to earn the reward of loyalty after death.
But what exactly was that reward after death?
After a moment, Steph ridiculed herself. "Perhaps it's precisely because I think about these sorts of things that I didn't die on the battlefield."
Watching the Tyranids gradually depart, leaving behind nothing but a barren, lifeless world, Steph finally understood why she was still breathing.
"So that's how it is. Time has eroded even the last remnants of my courage. Be it faith or hatred, nothing remains."
She thought of Hopper once more, who still looked so incredibly youthful.
"I'm truly envious... that after enduring so many things, she still has room left in her heart for hatred to grow."