...
As the defense of Baal raged on, a fierce battle was also underway in the Infernal System. However, this was not a battle between humans and the swarm, but rather between iron and the swarm.
The Leviathan Ironclad mothership lay concealed within the dimensional space, beyond the reach of tens of thousands of Tyranid bio-ships that prowled the system. The Hive Mind watched helplessly as the Ironclad mothership drained the outer planets of their minerals, then their stone, and eventually even the molten cores.
Recognizing this metal behemoth as a predator much like itself—though far more insatiable—the Hive Mind felt the sting of competition. And so, when the Ironclad mothership began mass-producing iron legions from the plundered resources, the war began.
Inferno One became the battleground for the first large-scale conflict between the Ironclads and the swarm. As this was their initial encounter, the master AI of the Ironclads did not intend to win outright, but rather to probe the swarm's limits.
It anticipated a war of attrition, a clash of quality and efficiency in resource utilization.
**[First probing assault initiated.]**
**[Deploying nanite swarm.]**
The message resonated within the Ironclads aboard the mothership, newly minted warriors rising and igniting a crimson glow in their eyes. These ground-combat units, however, were not the main force of this initial assault. Instead, a newly engineered steel battalion took swift action.
On Inferno One's surface, the swarm halted and gazed at the sky as a dense white mist descended from low orbit. Through the synaptic bioforms, the Hive Mind observed the phenomenon and analyzed the fog as a potential biochemical agent. To confirm, it dispatched a flying beast to investigate.
As the creature neared the mist, just meters from its edge, it began to disintegrate—its flesh sloughing off and decaying as it vanished. Nothing was left but an empty chitinous shell; it had failed to discern what comprised the mist.
Yet the dying creature's final sensory data granted the Hive Mind insight: the fog was no mere gas but a swarm of organism-like machines—mechanical constructs of flesh rather than circuitry. These micro-entities consumed cells, multiplying exponentially as they absorbed energy and matter.
The mist quickly grew into a tempest—a white storm devouring everything organic across the land, expanding in a massive wave like a desert sandstorm. As it spread, it left only barren stone in its wake. Realizing this hostile predator sought to drain all organic resources ahead of it, the Hive Mind ordered every remaining creature to retreat to the digestion pools, where a new breed of insect would be born—one designed to devour and assimilate the nanite swarm.
A dark horde soon surged forth, meeting the white storm in a fierce clash across the planetary surface. Responding, the master AI altered its strategy, replacing the organic nanites with metallic ones that, though unable to reproduce via organic material, were lethal and impervious to the swarm's counterattacks.
The Hive Mind retaliated by spawning iron-devouring creatures, its black storm twisting with the Ironclads' metallic swarm until the Hive Mind noticed something sinister: embedded within the metal swarm was a virus that ravaged its brood's genetic material, transforming them into semi-metallic husks that fed the Ironclads.
In turn, the Hive Mind began purging infected pools and creatures. The master AI marveled at the adaptability of its adversary but continued to hone its own offensive.
For hours, the microscopic clash persisted, until the last shred of biomass was consumed. Having rendered its opponent's adaptation meaningless, the AI emerged victorious, if only temporarily. Far more crucial than the fleeting victory was the knowledge it gained of the swarm's evolutionary potential.
With billions of Tyranids still swarming Inferno One, the AI deployed a fresh wave of nanites, which tore through the horde, devouring and incinerating each bioform to the molecule.
In retaliation, the Hive Mind engineered bioelectric organs within its creatures, generating an EMP-like pulse to repel the Ironclad swarm.
Unfazed, the master AI deployed the Ironclad ground forces. From the vantage of the Hive Mind, there appeared to be an endless host of Ironclads descending—each one a walking fortress clad in adamantine, their arms mounted with arc weapons.
Realizing that these iron soldiers surpassed the Tyranid horde in both quality and quantity, the Hive Mind reached a chilling conclusion: in a war of attrition, it would inevitably be defeated by these insatiable predators.