Dark Age

To Cheng Mingrui, the Tyranids were much easier to fight than humans, most likely because they lacked variety in their troops. The Gitz had powerful claws that could pierce steel, but the Ork Boyz were also skilled at close combat. Orks knew how to use a choppa from the moment they were born.

When the Tyranids and Orks collided, flesh and blood flew everywhere. Some Orks were surrounded and torn apart by Gitz, but far more Gitz were hacked to pieces, crushed, and chopped into pulp.

Cheng Mingrui could burst a Git with a casual punch. It felt like playing a hack-and-slash game, mowing down hordes of enemies. Unlike fighting humans, he did not have to stay constantly alert for grenades, heavy artillery, lasguns, and heavy stubbers.

Before long, the Gitz blocking force was broken through. Like a watermelon smashed by an iron fist, red flesh and blood splattered everywhere.

With two precise shots, Cheng Mingrui killed the Git clinging to Cleverhead's back. Three Mega Bosses charged with him into the Gitz surrounding Cleverhead, crushing their bones and flesh like tanks.

Freed of the weight on his body, Cleverhead spun on the spot. His Power Klaw whipped up a whirlwind of death, sweeping away every Git around him.

Furious at being ambushed, Cleverhead snatched the Shoota from Cheng Mingrui's hands and sprayed the distant Gitz with gunfire.

"You dared ambush me? You dared bite me?! Die! All of you, bloody die!" Cleverhead was furious, driven into a frenzy.

The Orks seemed slightly outnumbered, but they were far stronger, and the Gitz soon began to buckle. The Orks killed them faster than they could pour in through the vents and other openings. The Bomm Boyz even gave some of the vents a "fire in the hole" with their stikkbombs.

Seeing their disadvantage grow increasingly obvious, the cunning Gitz left a rear guard behind while the rest of the Tyranids escaped through the intact vents.

The Orks had gained a slight edge in this savage clash.

"Pah, you didn't stand a chance! Everyone, follow me. We've gotta hurry. Wherever these bugs show up, there's trouble." Cleverhead pulled the Gitz heads still hanging from his body off one by one. The creatures had bitten so deeply that every head took flesh and blood with it.

On the bridge, large numbers of Genestealers had already taken control. The humans there were being bitten by Gitz and injected with a virus to infect them.

An especially enormous Git emerged from the shadows and stood behind Captain Pex. Its tongue, over a meter long, swayed back and forth, dripping disgusting saliva everywhere. It even licked Pex's face.

Pex was in a strange state as well. His eyes were lifeless, and he ignored everything happening on the bridge, concentrating solely on issuing orders and guiding the warship toward an unknown destination.

"For the Great Devourer, for the Hive Mind..." Lost in a daze, Pex muttered to himself in a hollow, icy voice.

Genestealers were the vanguard and guides of the Hive Fleet. They were sinister, terrifying creatures, particularly adept at disguise. They could inject their gene virus into other life-forms, transforming them into their own kind.

The faction most severely undermined by the Gitz was the Imperium of Man. No one knew how many worlds they had infiltrated, or how many worlds that appeared loyal to the Imperium had already become strongholds of the Chaos Cults established by the Gitz, molded entirely to the Tyranids' designs.

The main reason the Gitz spread so successfully through the Imperium of Man was that the Imperium provided fertile ground for them to survive. The Imperium of Man was too vast. Its feudal system and tax-farming arrangements meant that as long as a world paid its taxes in full and on time, the Imperium would not interfere in its internal affairs.

The high degree of autonomy enjoyed by each planet left the Imperium of Man's central authorities with very little control, creating favorable external conditions for infiltration.

The most crucial internal factor was that ordinary humans were willing to believe the Gitz's lies. Some even willingly accepted assimilation and infection, volunteering to be devoured by the Tyranid Fleet so that their souls could return to "heaven."

The Imperium of Man oppressed ordinary people far too severely. They could be expendable supplies, resources, recruits, or a tax base. But they could never be themselves: free people with dignity.

The Four-Armed Emperor preached by the Gitz was more popular among the lower classes. They preached unity and rejection of suffering. Their lies promised that if the cult could bring the Hive Fleet to them, then once the Tyranid Swarm devoured the planet, everyone's soul would find peace and go to a "heaven" without suffering.

And so the universe of Warhammer 40,000 was dark and hopeless. There was war, blood, and glory here, but no hope.

The eerie scene on the bridge was shattered when an enormous foot kicked the hatch down. Cleverhead was so massive that he had to stoop and force his way inside.

"Stinking bugs! Don't you touch my ship! Get your filthy claws off my precious ship!" Cleverhead's roar was loud enough for everyone on the bridge to hear perfectly clearly.

The shadows lurking on the bridge began moving one after another. They were Gitz too, only larger, faster, more agile, and more... cunning than those outside.

Cleverhead widened the hatchway so the other Orks could enter the bridge easily. None of the Orks there was bigger than him.

Including Cheng Mingrui, there were more than twenty Mega Bosses. Facing them were forty to fifty-odd stronger Gitz. Both sides stared at each other without immediately attacking.

The Orks held back because they had brought no sluggas. Cleverhead had said he was afraid of damaging the bridge and told all the Boyz to take it easy. They had brought no heavy firepower whatsoever, only choppas and big choppas.

The Gitz held back because they needed to buy time for their own purposes. The earlier fighting had already proved how ferocious these Orks were. They probably could not beat them.

Every moment they could stall was another moment gained. The Gitz would never strike first. They were merely tools the Hive Mind used to buy time.

"Watch where you're chopping. Don't damage my ship. Don't let a single one of these bugs get away. Chop 'em all into mince." Clicking and clacking came from Cleverhead's Power Klaw.

Every Mega Boss carried a different weapon, but all of them were fine tools that felt right for hacking people apart.

With a wet crunch, a strangely shaped throwing axe struck a lurking Git squarely in the head, signaling the start of the fight. With a furious roar of "Waaagh!", the Mega Bosses all leaped forward and clashed with the Gitz before them.

Even without firearms, the battle was exceptionally spectacular. It was a clash of fists against claws and fangs, a blood-pumping collision of flesh against flesh and strength against strength: violence at its most primal and essential.

Cruelty and bloodshed served as pigments, mixed with the blood of the torn-apart Gitz and smeared across the entire bridge, painting a breathtaking, satisfying masterpiece for the battle's final act.