Hive Barrier

The intelligence was like a boulder cast into a still, deep pool, stirring towering waves within the command core of Macragge's Honour.

Celestine's records, Cawl's data streams, and Carter's cold, shocking account were all displayed together on the holographic star map before Guilliman.

The air in the command room seemed to freeze solid.

Guilliman, Calgar, Greyfax, and several high lords of Ultramar who had rushed over upon hearing the news all stared intently at those fragments of information: a civil society whose citizens lived an average of three hundred years, free from disease and hunger; a galaxy-spanning war against the Tyranids that had lasted three hundred thousand years; a terrifying front consuming seventy percent of national strength; and that deeply taboo term, "Void"...

Guilliman's face was dark as still water as his finger traced the shadow on the star map representing the Tyranid invasion route.

His thoughts raced, cruelly comparing those fragments against the Imperium of Man's own plight.

Just then, a clear, ethereal voice rang out, like ice crystals dropped into a rushing current.

"Perhaps we have long been receiving the Hilling Empire's grace without even realizing it." Evelyn's figure appeared at the edge of the command room as though moonlight had gathered into human form.

Her silver hair flowed with a faint glow, and her eyes, seeming to reflect an ocean of stars, were fixed on another direction on the star map—the primary route of the Tyranid invasion.

Everyone's gaze instantly focused on her.

"Evelyn?" Guilliman looked at her.

Evelyn gave a slight nod. Her voice carried the distinctive rhythm of the Eldar, yet was exceptionally clear. "You may not know this, but these Spartans possess extraordinarily powerful psychic barriers. My psychic senses cannot penetrate them in the slightest. Their souls' projections in the Warp... are exceptionally stable, far beyond those of Eldar and humans. They even possess nearly absolute resistance to the whispers of Chaos."

She paused, her gaze passing over the data images of Carter's squad. "This is not an innate gift. It is more like... a 'Soul Armor' forged by some highly advanced technology or training system."

She stepped forward, slender fingers drawing an arc across the star map, connecting the Hilling Empire's possible location to the directions from which the Milky Way's major hive fleets invaded.

"The ancient Eldar prophecy tablets and the observation records of the Craftworlds have both revealed a fact that was deliberately overlooked: the Tyranid hive fleets we have encountered are far from reaching the scale and strength of the Tide of Star Devouring described in the prophecies." Evelyn's voice carried a chill from glimpsing the truth. "We have always wondered where the Tyranid main force, capable of drowning the galaxy in the prophecy, went. Why did what we faced seem to be only branches and aftershocks of an immense flood?"

The command room fell deathly silent. A horrifying speculation rose in everyone's heart.

Evelyn's gaze sharpened like a sword piercing through mist. "Combined with Captain Carter's account—the Hilling Empire is devoting seventy percent of its national strength to a total war against the Tyranids that has lasted three hundred thousand years... the answer seems obvious."

She pointed at the vast shadowed region on the star map representing the Hilling Empire, her voice firm and decisive:

"The true Tyranid main force, the flood that should have drowned us according to the prophecies, has not vanished. It has been... firmly held beyond the galaxy by the Hilling Empire! On that distant battlefield we cannot observe and cannot comprehend! The Hilling Empire is a... silent barrier standing between the Milky Way and the endless sea of Tyranids!"

"Boom!"

It was as if invisible thunder had exploded within the command room!

A silent barrier!

Those words were like the heaviest warhammer, smashing brutally into every heart!

The Imperium of Man struggled to survive in fear, fighting the incursions of Chaos and scattered Tyranid branches in despair, yet it had never imagined that in the endless darkness beyond the Milky Way, an unfamiliar, powerful Imperium—one they had once suspected and guarded against—was bearing the most terrifying pressure alone, using the flesh and blood of countless warriors and three hundred thousand years of war to shield them from annihilation!

Guilliman abruptly closed his eyes, his towering body seeming to bear an invisible weight.

Evelyn's deduction had cut through the mist, laying the cruel truth bare before him.

The Hilling Empire's efficient war machine, its cold social structure, its unimaginably powerful "ordinary" soldiers... everything now had the cruelest and most reasonable explanation!

"Logic... the logic aligns to an extraordinary degree!" Cawl was the first to recover from the turmoil. His mechanical voice carried unprecedented excitement and an almost devout awe.

"To fight an enemy that devours the stars requires a war machine of equal scale! The baseline combat strength of its individuals must far exceed the norm! Its social structure must serve the maximization of wartime efficiency! Its technological development must focus on killing and survival! Everything... points to this conclusion!"

Greyfax clenched her teeth, her eyes beneath the hood filled with the utmost complexity.

Fear, suspicion, shame, shock... all manner of emotions churned within her.

If this was true, then the Inquisition's hostility and surveillance toward the Spartan Squad seemed utterly laughable and... contemptible!

"Regent," Evelyn said, looking toward Guilliman as he opened his eyes again. Wisdom gleamed in those star-like eyes. "The Hilling Empire's armament level, wartime mobilization model, and even the 'efficiency' of its civil society perfectly fit the traits of a civilization locked in a state of total war for the long term. They are using the strength of their entire civilization to resist a threat capable of destroying us in an instant. The equipment and authority granted to this 'reconnaissance team' they sent also match the standard configuration for a high-risk mission deep behind enemy lines."

Guilliman slowly nodded. His voice was low and hoarse, carrying an unprecedented weight. "Evelyn's analysis... is highly credible. The Hilling Empire's mode of existence and its display of power... indeed point to a civilization giving everything it has to fight an apocalyptic enemy far beyond our imagination."

His gaze swept across the gathered figures before finally settling on the unknown shadow on the star map. "They are the barrier... and witnesses to a war abyss beyond anything we can imagine."

The command room fell silent again, but this time it was no longer the blank silence of shock. It was a heavy silence, laden with immense guilt and awe.

In their ignorance, the Imperium of Man had benefited from the Hilling Empire's sacrifices, and had even continued to suspect and test their emissaries.

Guilliman's gaze became unfathomably deep. Looking through the viewport at the vast river of stars, he seemed able to pierce the endless Void and see the fires burning on that distant battlefield.

Carter's anger, his cold threat of a military tribunal, his anguish over "waste"... all of it now had a heavier, more heartbreaking explanation.

"We need to reassess our relationship with the Hilling Empire," Guilliman said with unquestionable resolve, "and also the role we ourselves play in... this war that has protected the galaxy for three hundred thousand years."

He paused, then added in an unprecedentedly solemn tone, "Before we reach Terra, everything discussed here today is classified at the highest level. No one is to reveal even a word. Any violator... will be treated as a traitor."

His gaze, cold as tangible ice, swept over every person present. Greyfax instinctively lowered her head, while Calgar struck his breastplate heavily to show his Fealty.

The shadow of the Hilling Empire on the star map was no longer merely a powerful, mysterious foreign civilization in their eyes. It was a tragic monument forged from flesh, steel, and endless sacrifice, guarding the galaxy.

And the "Void" mentioned by Carter was like an even deeper, more unknown darkness beyond that monument, emanating a chill that made their souls tremble.