Recaps

The Swarm’s invasion of the Evans agricultural world met fierce resistance from the fairies, Treants, and Clay Giants, but the Cerebrate clone escalated its assault with bombardment and a lethal virus. By the third day, the Swarm had surrounded the capital, where an Eternal Tree blocked the Corruptors’ attack.

• Evans cargo ships escaped the Swarm fleet, while five million Warrior Bugs landed on the agricultural world and began destroying it.
• The Evans and their Treant and Clay Giant allies ambushed the Warrior Bugs, using living forests, collapsing tunnels, and mobile attacks to inflict heavy losses.
• Unable to establish Hatcheries or devise a countermeasure, the Cerebrate clone ordered Corruptors to bombard the planet and Brood Lords to spread Abaddon’s virus.
• Twenty thousand Evans Fairies attacked three Corruptors, but the Corruptors froze many of them before Guardians and Scourge arrived and slaughtered the fairy forces.
• The Swarm gained the advantage and surrounded the capital on the third day, but five Corruptors’ breath attack was stopped by the gigantic Eternal Tree’s psionics barrier.

The Cerebrate clone’s attempt to capture the Eternal Tree’s genes stalled as the Swarm suffered heavy losses taking the capital. Christina arrived with an Evans and Anfenli fleet, forcing the Cerebrate clone to abandon its ground forces and prepare to withdraw.

• The Eternal Tree bound five Corruptors, and the Evans destroyed them with bombs.
• The Cerebrate clone spent days assembling an army of over ten million Swarm units, which suffered devastating losses against the defenders’ laser arrays and in two days of street fighting.
• The joint Evans and Anfenli fleet arrived with twenty thousand ships, led by Christina aboard the Evans Queen’s flagship.
• An Evans soldier told Christina that the governor had been killed and the survivors had relied on the World Tree to defend them.
• Christina ordered the fleet to attack the Swarm and sent the Queen’s Spear combat fairy company to land and rescue the survivors.
• The Cerebrate clone abandoned the Hatcheries and Warrior Bugs on the ground and half its fleet in orbit, while two thousand Swarm ships charged as a rear guard.

Christina’s combined fleet destroyed the Swarm vessels attacking an agricultural world, while Zhang Han fortified his systems and expanded his forces. When a hidden Sapphire fleet advanced on Tabi Star, Zhang Han rushed back with reinforcements, though he knew he was a month behind.

• Christina’s fleet and the Anfenli living fleet destroyed two thousand Swarm vessels, losing fewer than five hundred ships between them.
• Johnny’s Underground Church used the Swarm’s devastation across the Libra Sector to expand its influence, while Zhang Han reinforced his occupied systems and raised their fleet strength above 1.2 million.
• After learning the Stellaris Council was preparing to withdraw from ravaged sectors, Zhang Han sent Johnny a hundred thousand Swarm vessels and five War Cerebrates to build forces in the Libra Sector.
• Zhang Han received intelligence that a Steel Fleet of more than twenty thousand ships was advancing toward Tabi Star, so he left Skadi and Kereit to defend his systems and led four hundred thousand Swarm vessels back.
• Zhang Han learned that the advancing fleet belonged to the Sapphire people and included their Titan Battleship, and realized he could not reach Tabi Star before them.
• Zhang Han ordered newly hatched Swarm vessels to gather at Tabi Star or attack the Sapphire fleet to buy time, relying on the system’s Spore Towers and its Space Hatchery, which produced four thousand vessels a day.

Zhang Han discovered a 200,000-strong Swarm fleet hidden near a neutron star and recognized it as one of Zagara’s ambush forces. After a day of brutal fighting, his larger fleet held a slight advantage in losses but failed to encircle Zagara’s force, and the battle continued.

• Zhang Han’s scans revealed Zagara’s hidden Swarm fleet near the neutron star, and he ordered his 400,000-strong fleet to attack.
• Zhang Han found that Zagara’s specialized fleet was better armored, more resistant to magnetization, and more skillfully commanded than his own.
• Zhang Han used a flanking formation and sent Fang Warships forward, while Zagara’s fleet retreated and maintained its layered defensive formation.
• The fleets fought for a day, with Zhang Han losing 100,000 units and Zagara losing 70,000, while both sides suffered heavy losses among their Mutalisks and Scourge.
• Zhang Han’s greater numbers left Zagara’s fleet likely to lose eventually, but he failed to surround it and resolved to study her tactics after the battle.

Zhang Han sensed that Zagara was drawing his fleet into a trap and retreated toward the Hyperspace Route entrance, preserving his superior numbers while her ships pursued. Zagara opened a stargate through the neutron star, annihilating Zhang Han’s rearguard as he escaped into Hyperspace for Cadian.

• Zhang Han’s fleet entered the neutron star’s magnetic field after Zagara’s retreat, where her ships suffered an even greater drop in combat strength.
• Zhang Han’s growing unease prompted the Swarm Network to prioritize protecting him, and he ordered his fleet to retreat while Zagara’s ships pursued.
• After three hours of fighting, Zhang Han reached the Hyperspace Route entrance with two hundred and forty thousand ships, while Zagara had only seventy thousand remaining.
• Zhang Han detected a gravitational anomaly and concluded that Zagara was opening a stargate through the neutron star.
• Zhang Han fled into Hyperspace toward Cadian, leaving tens of thousands of ships behind to cover his retreat.
• Three days later, Zhang Han received footage showing the neutron star exploding into a black hole and annihilating his rearguard.

Zhang Han resolved to hold Zagara back while Kundera intensified his attack on her, and he studied Kundera’s battle memories to prepare. Zagara sent 1.5 million Swarm fleets through an emergency Stargate to pursue Zhang Han, determined to destroy him before turning back to Kundera.

• Zhang Han contacted Kundera and shared the battle footage of Neutron Star’s eruption, and Kundera promised to launch a major offensive against Zagara.
• Kundera sent Zhang Han battle memories and warned him that Zagara valued her own life, while Zhang Han decided to hold her off regardless of Kundera’s motives.
• Zagara realized Kundera had likely allied with the Overmind Consciousness Fragment after her ambush and backup plan failed.
• Zagara used Neutron Star’s mass to stabilize a Stargate and sent 1.5 million Swarm fleets through it to pursue Zhang Han.
• Zagara caught golden dust from the neutron star, called it a good omen, and vowed to destroy the old Swarm and lead a new one to glory.

Humanity Zhang Han awoke after Erika's prayer completed the final piece of his consciousness, then explored her memories and learned how the Darom Empire's Church, Hatchery, and contribution system shaped life on Tabi Star. He remained connected to the people there as he considered the society they had built.

• Erika finished her Inquisitor paperwork, prayed to the Four-Winged Dragon God, and entered the network to assemble Consciousness Fragments.
• Erika's actions supplied the final fragment, awakening Humanity Zhang Han and restoring his memories of his own life and the Swarm's history.
• Zhang Han discovered that his Psionic Entity was linked to many weak beings and that their Consciousness Entities could expand his Psionic Power.
• Zhang Han reached out to Erika, examined her memories, and learned that the former maid had become a Church Inquisitor known for cruel punishments.
• Zhang Han studied Erika's memories of the Darom Empire and found that the Hatchery controlled production and distribution while ordinary people earned contribution points through labor.
• Zhang Han learned that the Church encouraged devotion and volunteer work, while citizens valued the stability, goods, and genetic ascension offered by the system.

Zhang Han reviewed Erika’s memories of the Church’s version of Tabi Star history, then returned to the Swarm Network and learned how Isha had reconstructed his shattered consciousness. He discovered the Swarm had expanded and conquered Cadian, but a Sapphire Civilization fleet was due to attack Tabi Star in five days.

• Zhang Han examined Erika’s memories and learned how the Church’s teachings shaped Tabi Star’s history, faith, and social order.
• Zhang Han left Erika and returned to the Swarm Network, where Isha and the Hive Swarm Consciousnesses welcomed him.
• Isha showed Zhang Han how the Swarm had gathered the fragments of his shattered consciousness and pieced him back together, despite casualties among its units.
• Zhang Han learned that the Swarm had expanded its Hatchery, made an agreement with Kundera, conquered Cadian, and benefited from Johnny’s work through twenty Mimics.
• Isha informed Zhang Han that a Sapphire Civilization fleet led by a heavily defended Titan would reach Tabi Star in five days.

Zhang Han recovered control of the Swarm and prepared Tabi Star’s defenses as the Sapphire fleet approached. He learned that Zagara had severed the systems’ wormhole connections, leaving the Swarm to face the coming battles without nearby reinforcements.

• Zhang Han thanked Isha for restoring his consciousness, and her preserved League of Legends save file moved him deeply.
• Zhang Han connected with Isha, took control of the Hatchery, and reviewed its production and the Darom Empire’s four thousand warships.
• Zhang Han arranged space-combat training for the crews and judged that the Swarm’s forces might not be enough to stop the Sapphire fleet, which included a Titan Battleship.
• The Overmind Consciousness on Cadian reported that Zagara had used wormholes to sever the connected star systems.
• Zhang Han accepted that the Swarm might have to withstand the Sapphire attack and then face Zagara without reinforcements.

Zhang Han prepared the Swarm for the Sapphire fleet and Zagara, while Zhang Zihao’s expeditionary fleet reached the final Hyperspace Route to Tabi Star. Chen Hui reaffirmed her plan to exploit a weakness in the Swarm’s succession, and Nalga considered offering the Sapphire people advanced knowledge as a last resort.

• Zhang Han shifted production toward Heavy Leviathans, Brood Lords, Fang Warships, and Ghost Bugs, and recalled Kagar’s and Kagat’s fleets to defend Tabi Star.
• Zhang Han’s humanity consciousness gained thirty percent more psionic power, allowing him to expand the Swarm Network as the Hatcheries produced more units.
• Zhang Zihao questioned Chen Hui about her plan after the Sapphire fleet suffered losses against several small Swarm fleets, and Chen Hui insisted that threatening the Hatchery through its successor was their only chance.
• Zhang Zihao accepted that the fleet had to follow Chen Hui’s plan as its food and ammunition ran low.
• Nalga worried that her mistake had endangered the Overmind and considered revealing knowledge that could help the Sapphire civilization advance to tier three.

Zhang Han’s Swarm Fleet battered the Sapphire invasion force while Chen Hui stopped Zhang Zihao from having her executed by revealing she had rigged the Peacemaker with an antimatter bomb and taken poison. As Chen Hui forced the bridge crew to obey her and sent a message toward the Hatchery, the Sapphire Titan-class Warship contacted the Swarm Network.

• Zhang Han’s Swarm Fleet ambushed the Sapphire fleet as it emerged in the Tabi Star System, sinking hundreds of ships and sending Fang Warships into close combat.
• Zhang Zihao recognized the Devouring Swarm’s formidable nest and ordered the military police to take Chen Hui away for execution.
• Chen Hui revealed that an antimatter bomb would destroy the Peacemaker if she died, then remotely detonated it to prove her threat.
• Chen Hui told the bridge crew she had taken poison and demanded that they follow her orders, and Zhang Zihao agreed.
• Chen Hui ordered the crew to transmit her message and footage through the field shield generator and maximize the Peacemaker’s shield output.
• Zhang Han continued his assault as the Sapphire Titan-class Warship sent a message into the Swarm Network.

Zhang Han negotiated with Chen Hui’s Sapphire fleet after learning that Nalga was still alive, offering their release and supplies in exchange for her safety. The Sapphire people agreed to pay with 500 kilograms of antimatter, giving Zhang Han enough to open a wormhole between Cadian and Tabi Star and potentially reinforce his forces against Zagara.

• Zhang Han stopped the Swarm Fleet’s attack after discovering Nalga was alive and began communicating with the Sapphire people through the Ether Drake.
• Chen Hui demanded that the Swarm let the Sapphire fleet leave safely, provide supplies and medical treatment, and protect them from other Hatcheries.
• Zhang Han rejected Chen Hui’s request for shelter, warned the Sapphire people, and had Fang Warships sink several of their ships.
• Chen Hui offered 500 kilograms of antimatter in exchange for the Sapphire people’s demands, and Zhang Han agreed once he realized it could help open a wormhole on Cadian.

Chen Hui survived the poison and the Sapphire people received supplies and treatment from Zhang Han, who then used antimatter and a collapsing moon to open a wormhole between the Tabi and Cadian systems. The chapter ended with the two Zhang Han consciousnesses bickering as the new route connected the systems.

• Chen Hui prepared and drank an antidote while the bridge crew celebrated the Sapphire people's agreement, then Zhang Zihao ordered her taken to the infirmary.
• Zhang Han received confirmation from the Peacemaker, obtained the antimatter, and told Chen Hui he would send Overlords with supplies and treatment.
• A Specialized Cerebrate explained the Nutrient Fluid to the Sapphire people, while Chen Hui began testing it for safety.
• Zhang Han evacuated Swarm units from Tabi Star's moon and coordinated with his Overmind consciousness on Cadian to prepare a wormhole.
• Zhang Han used a Leviathan to trigger the moon's collapse, then spent the antimatter to open a wormhole linking the Tabi and Cadian systems.

Zhang Han opened a wormhole and offered the Sapphire fleet safe passage in exchange for releasing Nalga, while Chen Hui negotiated to save as many people as possible. After half the fleet escaped, Chen Hui opened communications between Nalga and the Swarm Network, and reality shattered around her.

• Zhang Han opened a wormhole with the Ether Drake and offered the Sapphire people safe passage if they released Nalga.
• Chen Hui negotiated for half the Sapphire fleet to leave first and secured Zhang Han's agreement to let them go.
• After three hours, half the fleet departed, while Chen Hui and Nalga remained aboard the Peacemaker.
• Chen Hui prepared a shield and helmet, then tuned Nalga's field shield to the Swarm Network's frequency.
• The world shattered as a voice mocked the insects and invoked the power of mind over matter.

Zhang Han freed Nalga, read Chen Hui’s memories, and chose to honor his promise to let the Sapphire fleet return. Chen Hui woke in the infirmary aboard a surviving warship and learned that the Swarm had spared the fleet and delivered her to them as their leader.

• Zhang Han used his Psionic Power to break the field trapping Nalga and released her.
• Nalga knelt before Zhang Han, who welcomed her back to the Swarm and promised to take her home.
• Zhang Han read Chen Hui’s memories and decided to let the Sapphire people return, leaving their fate to Nalga.
• Zhang Han told Nalga that Chen Hui had tried to help her and would be allowed to live, though the Sapphire people might not thank her.
• Chen Hui woke in an infirmary, where a nurse told her the fleet had survived and thanked her for saving them.
• A psychologist explained to Chen Hui that the Swarm had stopped its attack, delivered her to a surviving warship, and called her the Sapphire people’s leader.

Overmind Zhang Han defended the Hyperspace Route entrance at Cadian against Zagara’s Swarm Fleet, whose Mutalisks and Scourge spread Green Mist Spores to blunt his fortifications. He developed a counter using Psionic Storm, and Ghost Bugs cleared the contaminated space as the battle continued.

• Overmind Zhang Han brought his fleet to Cadian and prepared four Meteorite Fortresses to defend the Hyperspace Route entrance.
• Zagara’s Swarm Fleet arrived, and her Mutalisks and Scourge pushed through the fortresses’ fire to spread Green Mist Spores.
• The Green Mist Spores obscured the route entrance, disabled some Spore Towers, and weakened Zhang Han’s firepower as the infestation grew.
• Zhang Han optimized Psionic Storm to target the Green Mist Spores and shared the technique through the Swarm Network.
• Ghost Bugs used Psionic Storm to clear the contaminated space in just over ten seconds.

Zhang Han won a major fleet clash against Zagara at Cadian, while Zair struggled to capture Zhang Han’s poorly defended Hatchery system. The chapter left Zair calling on Moras for more support as the ground battle dragged on.

• Zhang Han’s fleet repelled Zagara’s twenty-thousand-ship Fang Warship assault and destroyed most of the attackers, leaving Zhang Han with three thousand Fang Warships.
• Zhang Han challenged Zagara to keep fighting, while Zagara decided to wear down his fleet and bring another reinforcement fleet through the Stargate.
• Zair overwhelmed the small fleet defending Zhang Han’s Hatchery system but struggled against its stronger Warrior Bugs and extensive underground passages.
• Zair used Corruptors and Baneling bombardments to repel an attack and establish her first Hatchery, while Brood Lords and more Corruptors began clearing planetary defenses.
• Moras told Zair she was bait while he stayed hidden as an ambush force, and Zair demanded that he use Cerebrates to provide her with more processing power.

Zhang Han used layered ambushes and Psionic Storms to exploit Zair’s mistakes and destroy her Hatchery while their Swarms fought a costly war of attrition. The battle left Zair’s defensive line strained, as Zhang Han waited for Kagat and Chloe’s fleets to return.

• Moras refused to spend Psionic Power to help Zair, and Zair turned back to the battlefield after angrily dismissing her.
• Zair’s Corruptors and Warrior Bugs attacked Zhang Han’s defenses, but Blood Mist Insects, underground assaults, and winged Zerglings inflicted heavy losses.
• Zhang Han described the brutal attrition at Cadian, where both sides had committed billions of Warrior Bugs and Zagara had lost a Meteorite Fortress.
• Zhang Han drew Zair into sending more troops and aircraft into the fight, then ambushed her Mutalisks and Corruptors with hidden Hydralisks and Defilers.
• Zhang Han used Psionic Storm to clear the Hatchery’s defenders and destroyed the Hatchery with a force of Zerglings, Banelings, and Ultralisks.

Zair and Moras left the ground war behind and encountered Chloe's much larger Swarm fleet, where Zair used a split formation to counter the numerical disadvantage. Chloe chose a lopsided division of her own forces and began commanding her first space battle, while still relying on basic fleet knowledge.

• After three days of fighting, Zair and Moras left two thousand Swarm vessels behind and set out to attack enemy production facilities in other systems.
• They reached a solitary-star system where Chloe commanded two hundred thousand Swarm vessels against Zair's hundred thousand.
• Zair divided her fleet into two mutually supporting forces to gain mobility and avoid being trapped in a defensive formation.
• Chloe consulted a War Cerebrate, then assigned fifty thousand vessels to pin down Zair's left wing while she led a hundred and fifty thousand against the right.
• Zair reinforced her right wing and prepared to race Chloe for a breakthrough as Chloe reviewed fleet tactics and began her first space battle.

Chloe struggled to encircle Zair’s more agile fleet, and her frustration worsened her command while Zair exploited openings. Chloe then called upon the Overmind, empowering her Swarm Fleet with psionics and turning the battle into a slaughter of Zair’s forces.

• Chloe’s 150,000-ship fleet failed to quickly encircle Zair’s 40,000 ships, as Zair’s mobile Corruptors and other units countered her formation.
• Zair’s right wing attacked Chloe’s left, while Chloe’s War Cerebrates held their defensive line despite heavy pressure.
• Chloe grew angry at her slow progress, and Zair used the resulting openings to improve her fleet’s local casualty ratios.
• Chloe prayed to the Overmind from atop a Swarm Leviathan, sending a surge of psionic power through the Swarm Network.
• Chloe’s fleet gained speed and powerful psionic attacks, and its ships endured damage that would previously have destroyed them.
• Zair’s fleet was surrounded and overwhelmed as both wings collapsed under Chloe’s empowered Swarm.

Zair’s fleet faced annihilation until Moras arrived, but Moras killed her and retreated with her own forces. After Chloe’s Swarm Fleet won an inexplicable battle, Zhang Han and Abaddon investigated the psionic field and questioned what price its power might demand.

• With her fleet reduced to thirty thousand vessels, Zair prepared to abandon it and flee into the Hyperspace Route, but Moras’s flagship emerged before she could escape.
• Zair warned Moras that the enemy fleet’s abnormal strength might indicate a trap, and Moras invited her aboard the Leviathan to retreat and report to the Matriarch.
• Moras engulfed Zair’s Overlord in blue plasma, killed her, and withdrew into Hyperspace, planning to conceal the murder with a fabricated memory.
• Chloe’s Swarm Fleet annihilated its enemies, and the battle records and memories were sent back to Tabi Star.
• Zhang Han summoned Abaddon to study the psionic field, and Abaddon warned that the Shroud might be pressing against the real universe.
• Abaddon said the field could be reproduced through faith in the Overmind and strong enough bodies, then asked what price its power would exact.

Abaddon concluded that the Shroud was being deliberately expanded by a powerful civilization in the dark energy dimension, prompting Zhang Han to order more research and cautious use of psionics. The Overmind Consciousness studied Abaddon's findings while the battle on Cadian continued to drain Zhang Han's forces, even as reinforcements and supplies kept arriving.

• Abaddon explained that a civilization in the dark energy dimension had carved the Shroud from conventional space and was carefully stretching it along the dimensional membrane.
• Zhang Han promised Abaddon more Cerebrates for research, ordered the Swarm to use psionics cautiously, and mentioned that the Demon Bug Laplace was incubating.
• Zhang Han sent Abaddon's findings to the Overmind Consciousness, then helped Isha coordinate plans and expand the Hatchery's production.
• The Overmind Consciousness realized that the Shroud's changes had increased the power of psionic spells, but frequent use would accelerate its expansion.
• Zagara continued fighting Zhang Han on Cadian for over ten days and added two War Hatcheries, while Kundera captured five of her star systems.
• Zhang Han's forces suffered heavy daily losses, but Stargate reinforcements and Johnny's steady shipments of rare resources raised his production capacity.

The Church of the Lord of Desire and the God of War Church fought over a planet, using mortal followers and supernatural monsters to battle for control of its temple altar. Their champions clashed as both sides tried to claim the planet for their gods.

• The Church of the Lord of Desire and the God of War Church deployed fleets and armies to contest a planet inhabited by a medieval civilization.
• The churches’ followers fought across the grasslands while Lust Demons, Ripper Beasts, Warfiends, and Fury Bulls tore through the battlefield.
• Pink-bannered giants occupied the pyramid temple and began changing its altar’s magic circle, while red-armored giants and Warfiends attacked them.
• A silver-armored warrior killed a Warfiend, and a red-armored warrior split a Lust Demon in half.
• The silver-armored warrior and the red-armored warrior shouted for their gods and struck at each other with a greatsword and great axe.

The Church of the Lord of Desire won the battle for the planet, while the defeated God of War Church punished its surviving faithful with a brutal gladiatorial slaughter. Sophia reflected on the church’s growing power and the intensifying competition to conquer the remaining civilizations in the Barren Sector.

• The red-armored warrior killed the silver-armored warrior with a flaming axe, but a beam from the altar revealed that the Church of the Lord of Desire had completed its ritual first.
• Sophia learned that the Desire Church had won, while the God of War Church’s transports gathered its defeated faithful from the battlefield.
• The skull-helmeted commander ordered roughly a hundred thousand faithful to fight until only those worthy of serving the God of War remained.
• After an hour of slaughter, twenty thousand survivors boarded the transports, including wounded faithful who crawled aboard unaided.
• Sophia considered the dangers of fighting the God of War Church again and noted that competition for the Barren Sector’s dwindling civilizations was growing fiercer.

Sophia transformed a conquered planet for the Desire Church and sacrificed its enslaved population to the Dark Prince, who marked the planet as his own. Elsewhere, Teresa trained in the Shroud to withstand contact with a being beyond mortal comprehension.

• Sophia ordered the Church to establish a connection between the planet and the Shroud while its warships announced the Church's rule to the kingdoms.
• The Church destroyed kingdoms that resisted, enslaved their people, and gathered over a million captives at the altar.
• Sophia performed a sacrificial ritual, and the Dark Prince consumed the captives before marking the planet and its sapient life-forms.
• Teresa prayed to the Great Instrument of Longing and entered the Shroud, where a strange mouth praised her and tested her with a surge of desires.
• The voice told Teresa to become more resilient, warning that her younger distant cousin's survival after contact with the Overmind was no guarantee.