Chapter 112: Shadow of the Tyranids (Patreon)

"Can somebody tell me what the hell is going on?"

Face twisted like he was constipated, Heydrich stared at everything unfolding before him, utterly unable to make sense of what had just happened.

As far as the Path of Permanence went, Heydrich was genuinely in the dark — his grasp of this particular Path was shaky at best.

He'd never even considered how this so-called immortality had unlocked itself, and the sheer mystery left him thoroughly baffled.

"Just where did things go wrong..."

He turned it over and over without finding an answer. Something felt off, he was sure of it — he just couldn't say what.

"Forget it — no rush going to find Guilliman. Let me see if I can pull off the dragon transformation first. Wait, does this mean I've actually become a Dragon Emperor now? Hm, I think there was some marvelous technique for turning into a dragon..."

If he couldn't figure it out, he'd simply stop trying. Some things were better left unexamined — after all, what was he supposed to do if digging deeper turned up nothing?

So Heydrich simply channeled his inner Sir Humphrey and set about trying to work the Path of Permanence.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, in some corner of the Imperium.

"...This is one of the oldest of humanity's rulers, a contemporary of the great Emperor himself — the Immortal Dragon Emperor!!!"

Just then, a troupe of Harlequins were working their instruments, dressed in solemn, dignified dragon robes.

"Good!!!"

Below, the crowd cheered along in earnest, though a thread of despairing exhaustion showed in their eyes.

"And now, the sweetest part of the show!!!"

As the performance wound down, the troupe pulled out the ultra-budget-but-more-stable Ruan Mei Sacks Heydrich had given them and started flinging candy like maniacs...

Yes, flinging candy — thanks to Heydrich's black-hole manufacturing device, his candy output was staggeringly high, and the Harlequins had packed an entire sack full of sweets for the occasion.

It had to be said, by Warhammer-universe standards, candy was still wildly over the top.

Much like Heydrich's running joke about certain religions back home — stop handing out the free eggs, and the faithful vanish overnight.

Of course, Heydrich wasn't asking them to proselytize — he simply wanted these Flower Sprouts to work a little harder and open him a few more doors.

As for what exactly their performance entailed, Heydrich couldn't be bothered to ask.

But if handing out eggs was a minor kindness, these particular gifts could sometimes genuinely save a Warhammer native's life.

"Sigh..."

The Sector Governor watched the troupe of Harlequins with no small amount of resignation. Fighting them outright simply wasn't an option.

The Imperium's enemies came in many varieties, and the Eldar ranked among the lowest priority. After all, plenty of feudal worlds — even feral worlds — had their own populations of Wild Sprouts to contend with.

Still, compared to the Flower Sprouts, the governor cared far more about the man standing in front of him.

He looked young, but carried himself with impeccable manners. Odd company for a band of Flower Sprouts — and yet this fellow actually carried documentation issued by a Primarch himself.

"I happen to have a large shipment of supplies you desperately need. Perhaps we could arrange a trade... hm?"

A droning blare—!!!

But before the governor could finish speaking, alarms blared to life across the entire city.

At that very moment, a Tyranid bio-fleet appeared on the augur array. Both men's faces changed at once.

They stood within the Imperium Nihilus, now all but completely cut off from contact. If the Imperium Sanctus was one vast battlefield still cooking off in a chain of secondary explosions, the Imperium Nihilus was a corpse rotting slowly in the dark.

These days, every world fended for itself. Reinforcements, so-called or otherwise, simply weren't coming.

"Contact the Dragon immediately—"

The Flower Sprouts had clearly noticed too — one after another, their expressions turned frantic.

At the same moment, one of them dashed straight through a door, bolting toward the great hall beyond.

Back in the General's Residence, Heydrich rubbed at his temples.

"The marvelous Dragon Transformation technique, paired with Elation's phantasm-crafting, lets me pull off the dragon transformation. But turning into a dragon on its own doesn't seem all that necessary right now. I'll set this Path aside for the time being and work it out slowly once I'm back."

He still had no clear idea how to actually put this Path to use, so he simply tossed the matter out of his mind.

Part of the reason was that he wasn't entirely sure whether this Path was even complete.

If it were a fully complete Path of Permanence, he'd be able to conjure true dragons outright.

Still, that was something he could work on at leisure. Other matters needed his personal attention right now — chief among them, the Tyranid War Veterans he was about to deal with.

So at that moment on Macragge, Titus looked out over the gathered Astartes around him.

"Remember these lessons well. Basic Tyranid bioforms — Hormagaunts and Termagants — pose little threat to us. But the more advanced Warriors and Carnifexes are genuinely dangerous; they've got confirmed Astartes kills on record. As for the higher-tier Lictors and Hive Tyrants — if you spot one, fall back and call for support first."

Around Titus stood a large group of Astartes clad in dark-yellow power armor — all of them Heydrich's own men.

As an aside, the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master had eventually tracked him down and practically clung to his leg, begging him to stop shoving more recruits into the Chapter.

In the end, Heydrich had no choice but to resignedly found his own Astartes Legion — he had no intention of following the Codex Astartes anyway.

As for the paint scheme, Heydrich went straight for dark gold. A number of people felt that was a bit too flashy, though — after all, no Astartes Chapter besides the Custodes used that color.

So in the end they settled on dark yellow instead. Heydrich couldn't be bothered to fuss over such small matters.

These were all recruits under Titus's charge, since the Tyranid swarm was what they'd be facing next.

"Titus."

Just as Titus was instructing the new recruits, Calgar walked over.

"Yes."

At the sight of Calgar, Titus offered a salute.

"By the Primarch's order, you're to serve as captain of the Tyranid War Veteran Company from now on. And by the Primarch's further order, your company will be classified under the Ancient Sage's battle order."

Having said that much, Calgar let out a breath of relief — he'd finally, with Guilliman's blessing, gotten the whole matter settled.

There'd been some stubborn resistance and no small amount of grumbling, but under Guilliman's pressure, it had gone through all the same.

These Tyranid War Veterans wouldn't be returning to Holy Terra with Guilliman, though — they'd be heading into the Imperium Nihilus instead, where they were needed more.

As for Titus himself, he'd once been captain of the Ultramarines' 2nd Company, and he'd racked up a genuinely dazzling combat record with the Deathwatch as well.

Naturally, he'd become the undisputed choice for captain. As for his new second-in-command, Calgar trusted him completely.

"It's an honor beyond measure!!!"

Titus had no complaints whatsoever about serving under Heydrich for the time being. If not for the man, he'd still be wasting away in the Deathwatch.