The foul shadow at the edge of the Baal System was brutally torn apart by a silver torrent that suddenly ripped through the darkness!
The Hilling Empire's Forerunner Fleet, like the dawn's first light, savagely pierced through the densest core region of Leviathan's Hive Fleet.
They did not elegantly maneuver around it. Instead, with the most direct and domineering posture, they positioned themselves before the battered planet Baal and faced the swarm that blotted out the sky!
The Hive Fleet reacted instantly! Countless biological warships lit up with ghostly green and crimson glows. Spore missiles poured forth like a downpour, while bio-acid cannons capable of tearing apart starships spat deadly torrents! Firepower terrifying enough to annihilate an entire Imperium fleet slammed viciously into the silver fleet that had appeared without warning!
Yet the expected explosions and fire never came.
Those torrents of acid, capable of corroding Adamantium and vaporizing armor, vanished soundlessly upon touching the invisible energy field rippling like water across the Forerunner ships' surfaces! Spore missiles struck it without raising even the faintest ripple before turning completely to cosmic dust! Dense streams of energy beams were like grains of sand cast into the sea, entirely absorbed and neutralized by that seemingly fragile energy shield, which in truth contained laws beyond comprehension!
Absolute defense! For the first time, the Hive Mind's cold and colossal network of consciousness transmitted an information stream that could be interpreted as "astonishment."
Its evolved resistance to energy attacks, physical impacts, and biochemical corrosion seemed completely ineffective before this incomprehensible shield!
Just as the swarm fell into a brief state of "mental confusion," the Hilling Empire's judgment descended!
The main gun arrays along the enormous yet streamlined hulls of the Sojourner-class Dreadnoughts lit up with brilliance enough to dim the stars.
There was no deafening