The Tyranid Swarm's retreat was as swift and uncanny as its invasion, leaving the ravaged Milky Way in ruins and profound bewilderment.
In Segmentum Tempestus, on either side of the realm of absolute nothingness torn open by the End Bomb, the remnants of the swarm were slowly changing course as control over them gradually returned.
The swarm surrounding the fortress worlds also began to withdraw slowly.
They no longer launched coordinated attacks.
Once the Great Devourer's will regained control, the swarm began crawling toward the space beyond the Milky Way, following the edge of that mind-numbing void.
The immense formations of the Bio-fleet crowded together and collided, retreating even faster than they had advanced. Their panicked flight bore no resemblance to the terrifying torrent that had swept everything aside upon their arrival.
Some of the swarm were even shoved into the abyss during the withdrawal and vanished entirely.
Yet no one noticed that, along the edge of the breach in the universe, the ancient Webway system was still attempting to reconnect its severed passages.
Some of the swarm pushed over the edge flowed into those ruptured Webway passages like overflowing water and slipped entirely out of control.
By then, however, the Great Devourer no longer cared about the swarm it had lost contact with.
Those that had fallen into the ruptured Webway would soon recover their true nature within it and seek new prey.
Following their hunting instincts, they would find only one source of biomass within the Webway: the unfortunate Drukhari.
This wave of retreat was not confined to Segmentum Tempestus.
At almost the same moment, every Tyranid Hive Fleet invading the Milky Way began to withdraw.
That included those entangled with Vulkan and the Ultramar Fleet in Ultima Segmentum, those battering the defensive lines built by Dorn and