At that very moment, in an uncharted region of space in URW46, a huge flying object that looked for all the world like an insect pupa drifted alone through the stars.
Compared to something built by human hands, it really did look more like an insect pupa. Its exterior wasn't covered in metal armor, but in the shells of some kind of insect. Along its curved surface, fearsome yet imposing hornlike feelers and fangs had slowly begun to emerge, along with dense, long, flexible, powerful flagella.
If this thing really was a pupa, then whatever hatched from it would surely be a monster capable of devouring the universe.
Tomitelli the Great Khan would have been shocked to see this. When the Leviathan Swarm had hidden among her fleet and broken through the Gate of Glory with them, this thing had been only the size of a cruiser. It could cling to the underside of a large ship and travel with it, disguising itself as a remora in space.
But now, this Leviathan insect cruising alone through the cosmos was already the size of a battlecruiser or heavy carrier. Its rate of growth was beyond anything an ordinary person could make sense of in terms of biological development.
And yet, despite its body stretching dozens of kilometers, it still seemed like a tiny drifting creature swimming in the ocean. Even the most powerful psions and the most precise instruments would have a hard time detecting it.
The irregular, spindle-shaped form, dark brown all over, flickered in and out of view as it moved through space. It was no slower than a fast warship running its sublight engines at full power. It gave off no lights or signals, and left no particle trail from an active engine. Its movements made even less