Outsider, Great Devourer, Rangdan

The ground trembled faintly. The tremor did not seem to come from the planet itself, but rather from the dragging pull of some massive object in the distance.

Its appearance threw the gravity across the entire system into even greater disarray. The Hive Fleet, Imperial fleet, World Engine, and Tyranid planetary organisms all rocked chaotically. Aurikan, who had already torn apart three Tyranid planetary organisms, had become a cloud of crackling sparks, frantically drawing energy from the star to replenish his shriveled body.

The Tyranid Hive Mind had blanketed this star system in a dense Warp shadow. The Warp held absolute dominance within the system. As a god of the Material Universe, Aurikan found wielding his power in this mire as difficult as moving through thick mud.

His authority ultimately relied upon reality itself, yet reality here was riddled with holes. Every use of his power came at an enormous cost, and he could only gnaw at the star's energy for a little replenishment.

At that moment, Aurikan also noticed the disturbance caused by that immense gravitational pull.

It was a gravity well. An unprecedentedly vast gravity well was pressing down upon the Tiamat System.

This was the Tyranid Hive Fleet's unique method of Warp travel. They would use some immense source of gravity to carve out a gravity-well tunnel, then use it to rapidly move toward their target.

This gravity well was so enormous that it was as if an entire Hive Fleet were about to descend upon the edge of the system. What source of gravity had the Hive Fleet used to complete such a colossal gravity-well jump in a single stroke?

Aurikan could not immediately think of any gravitational source that met those conditions, but he knew what he had to do.

He had to distort the