If one were to look down upon the entire Octarius System, the surroundings would be a void of barren gloom and deathly silence.
Every planet had fallen beneath the sprawling, star-strewn Tyranid fleets. Only the largest planet in the center still maintained a faint, flickering light of life—a sickly green mottled with spreading black spots.
The flagship of Hive Fleet Leviathan was a Hive Ship so massive it could almost blanket the surface of a planet. Equipped with predatory feeding tentacles and launch sacs that spat out Harpies and Ether-singers, it served not only as a node for the [Hive Mind] to command the surrounding Tyranids but also as a gargantuan mobile factory, churning out an endless stream of organisms.
It was a bizarre living entity, encased in leathery skin and chitinous armor hundreds of feet thick. Capable of weathering the horrific Warp storms through raw physical resilience, it was a living biological battleship.
Now, this sun-blotting Leviathan Hive Ship hung in space, its tentacles thrust straight into the last territories of the Octarius Ork Empire, sucking the organic matter from the soil while vomiting out terrifying numbers of Tyranid warriors.
"Zoggin' bugs!"
"Waaagh!!!"
Standing atop a massive iron fortress, a powerful, one-eyed Ork appeared. Huffing like a bellows and gripping a chainsword, he stared with bloodshot eyes at the approaching Tyranid swarm devouring his defense lines, letting out a roar of extreme fury.
This was the commander of the last Ork defense line, Warboss "Da Big Toof," who had survived several Tyranid assassination attempts.
Big Toof had constructed a vast network of bunkers made from scrap metal across every Ork-controlled zone to resist the invasion. But as planet after planet fell, staggering amounts of biomass were fed back into the Hive Ships, fueling the continuous production of fresh Tyranids.
The once-impenetrable iron defense line held together by the [Waaagh! Field] had begun to wither, eroded by the frenzied Tyranids until only this small pocket of territory remained.
Before Big Toof's eyes, the sky was carpeted with Tyranid gargoyles, and the horizon, stretching hundreds of kilometers, was stripped of its color by the chitinous tide. In the distance, colossal Tyranid Bio-Titans lumbered forward, their massive forms tearing at his fortifications.
Conversely, while the Ork lines were bristling with bunkers, their machine-gun barrels were glowing red with heat, yet their relentless fire did nothing against the absolute numbers of the Tyranids.
For once in history, the Greenskins were actually being outnumbered.
It was a joke. A travesty. Never had a Warboss been so stifled, which only added to the fury of Big Toof, a veteran of a thousand wars.
The Tyranids had massed an incredible force for this siege, clearly intending to swallow the remaining Orks in a single gulp. At this moment of life and death, Big Toof roared at his lieutenant:
"Gather da lads right now! Charge wiv me! Waaagh!!!"
"We's gonna die fightin', but we's takin' a bite outta dese runts first!"
"Waaa-gua (wha)?"
Just as Big Toof grabbed his lieutenant's collar to bellow his orders, a thunderous explosion suddenly echoed across the entire sky. A shockwave traveling down from space made the very earth tremble beneath his feet.
This sudden upheaval was so terrifying that even the "iron-willed" Big Toof had his "Waaagh!" frightened right back into his throat, coming out as a pathetic "wha?"
One only had to look up to see the cause.
A second ago, a Tyranid escort ship—larger than an Imperial battleship—guarding the Leviathan Hive Ship was snapped in half by a terrifying force from nowhere. The crippled Tyranid vessel let out a shrill psychic shriek capable of tearing a normal human soul apart. Disgusting ichor sprayed from its severed trunk before it erupted in a violent explosion.
The shattered remains of the Tyranid battleship plunged into the atmosphere, wreathed in high-temperature flames. Smaller fragments burned up, but the larger chunks fell like meteors, slamming into the Tyranid formations and tossing them into chaos.
"Dat's an Ork fleet..."
Big Toof's jaw dropped, speechless with shock. The massive flying juggernaut that had suddenly appeared in space—a gargantuan vessel mashed together from countless pieces of scrap metal—what else could it be but an Ork warship?
The ship's main batteries roared to life, opening fire directly into the thick of the Tyranid fleet! Instantly, the sky was ablaze with the fire of clashing shells.
Ghazghkull's fleet had arrived.
The ship unleashing this horrific firepower was the flagship of Warboss Ugrok's fleet: a giant Space Hulk. This flying behemoth already possessed firepower rivaling an entire Imperial fleet, but after Kenmyo's repairs and upgrades, the space monster had become even more lethal.
The Tyranid fleet was caught off-guard. Under the cover of the massive barrage, a giant rock-like object was air-dropped from the hangar of the Ork ship directly onto the planet Octarius. It punched a hole through the sun-blotting swarm of flying beasts and landed squarely in the center of the Tyranid legions, leaving the bugs dazed.
Suddenly, the fallen "Rok" erupted in a strange, eerie flash of light, mirrored by a similar flash in the sky.
A grand, towering green giant stepped out from the light. His massive power claw gleamed with a terrifying edge under the sun. Even facing uncounted monsters, this Big 'Un didn't flinch.
With a heavy THOOM, a twenty-five-meter-tall iron beast descended from the sky in a flash of light, landing right behind him and instantly crushing hundreds of Tyranids underfoot. This Gargant, bristling with horrifying weapons, bore a massive and conspicuous totem on its front—an iconic banner that every Ork on the field could recognize.
Finally, Big Toof understood who had arrived. All the lads understood.
It was Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. The Prophet of Gork and Mork. The Beast.
He was here!
"Waaagh!!!"
The six-meter-tall giant Ork let out an earth-shattering roar, his eyes locked onto the hideous bugs.
"Bring da krumpin' down on dere 'eads!"
The only Ork the Prophet would trust to watch his back was, undoubtedly, Gul'dan—the one who could also hear the divine oracles.
"Yes, my lord."
Inside the Gargant, Kenmyo immediately pulled the trigger. The barrels of the [Death-Blasta Mega-Cannon] began their lethal rotation. Simultaneously, he issued the order for the entire fleet to attack.
In space, the Ork fleet opened their hangars, hurling more and more "Roks" down into the fray.