40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 144 6. Gifts between friends

Khalil withdrew his power and the Emperor followed. The frost and golden flames disappeared, and silent gray replaced them again. It has always been so, and it will always be so.

There were no windows in this room, but the Lord of Humanity suddenly began to stare at the wall, silent. His behavior came without warning, but Khalil was used to it. He folded his hands and leaned against the wall for a short rest.

Five minutes later, the Lord of Humanity finally withdrew his gaze.

He spoke in an ethereal tone.

"I started seeing less and less."

He paused for a moment, lowered his head, and thought carefully for a while again, weighing every word that was spoken.

".Now, all I can see is almost the storm. The never-ending storm."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Khalil replied quietly.

"We can't say for sure yet." The Lord of Humanity shook his head.

The laurel wreath was still shining, but the face beneath it had revealed its true appearance. The divinity and seriousness that made people unable to look directly faded away, leaving only fatigue and a glimmer of hope that they dare not let themselves be sure of.

Khalil captured it, but didn't say it directly. He knew the reason for the Emperor's reluctance to confirm this hope.

He couldn't help but laugh: "Even you will deceive yourself in some places."

The emperor glanced at him but said nothing, a dim smile flashed across his eyes.

He closed his eyes. Spiritual energy spread in the air, and the gray-white scenery began to change. Khalil's back fell into the air in the next second, and the wall supporting him disappeared - in fact, even the room itself disappeared.

The cold wind howling by was not generated by spiritual energy, but was a wind from the natural environment. Harsh, but with a true harshness that trumps all. Snow fell from the sky and was carried by the wind into a sharp blade cutting the face.

Khalil looked down and saw a patch of snow as deep as his shins. He raised his head and looked forward, seeing a cliff, and beyond that, a cracked canyon and a forest sealed by snow.

Khalil didn't ask where this place was, a touch of nostalgia appeared on his face.

"When was the last time you saw snow?" the Emperor asked from his side.

"I don't remember," Khalil replied honestly. "I know very little about the past and even if I do remember it, it doesn't really mean much."

"Perhaps, but memory is still important, my friend." The Emperor said seriously, the wind and snow blew by, and he looked worriedly into the distance, as silent as a stone.

Kalil had no intention of asking. For a moment, there was silence and no sound, only the howling cold wind. The cliffs were jagged and irregular, as if they had been cruelly gnawed by something.

He couldn't help but start to imagine a huge creature in his mind, feeding on the mountains. He let his thoughts wander, let them scatter aimlessly, and let them become spiders crawling on unfamiliar cobwebs.

Then, he finally heard the voice of the Lord of Mankind.

"There is still hope," he said in a slight but firm voice. "Hope will be shaped by our own hands, led by fire, beaten by the forge, and tempered by the endless storm."

Khalil said nothing, just glanced at him. With great courage the Emperor affirmed that hope existed, and he would work towards it.

However, as a pessimist.

"I can't shape hope like you can," Khalil said softly. “I’m only good at other things, and they’re the opposite of building.”

"Didn't you educate Konrad Curze very well?" the emperor asked.

"He has grown up enough to even know that some questions do not need answers at all. In the history of mankind, countless wise men have longed for answers to questions, and eventually went crazy and became slaves to the desire for knowledge. But he already knows the difference between actions and questions. There must be contact”

Khalil shook his head.

"At best, I only gave him a foundation. In essence, he still grows on his own. His own will is the key, and I am just an addition."

"Too modest." The emperor looked at him. "Is it your paranoid moral sense that forms the basis of your personality, or is it because you are unwilling to admit your importance to him?"

Khalil didn't answer, he fell into a kind of silence. He looked back and saw countless passing moments and he smiled.

"Perhaps both, or perhaps neither -" He sighed deliberately and looked at the emperor. "——Why do you ask so clearly?"

"This is my little revenge for your earlier ridicule," the Emperor replied solemnly.

Khalil laughed. The wind and snow were paused at this moment. The scene of the world was reshaped in an instant, and the room reappeared. The previous wind and snow had completely disappeared, leaving only a gleam of light.

It was raised by the Lord of Humanity and held in his palm, revealing a bright light.

"Now, even my memory has power." Neos said in a low voice. "It cannot be added to, but it can be taken away and used for other purposes."

He opened his palms, and white light bloomed in the gray room in the next moment.

A suit of armor emerged from the light. The darkness and the dead white of 'winter' existed quietly on it. Compared with most power armors, it was not generous enough. Khalil did not even see the backpack used as the main power core.

The skull-shaped helmet stared silently under the dark hood, and the windless automatic cloak was closed outside the streamlined broad shoulder armor. Its corners were perpendicular to the ground, and it was undulating like a shadow at the moment.

"What is this?" Khalil raised his eyebrows.

"My personal gift." Nios smiled at him. "An armor shaped by the images of 'winter' and 'cold' in my memory."

"And it doesn't look like a piece of power armor."

Khalil looked at it and couldn't help but smile - he wouldn't deny the fact that he liked the armor.

"I didn't see the servo system, and I didn't see the cables connecting the armor. Is this still considered a power armor?"

"I didn't say it was power armor." Neos replied. "But it can still increase your combat capabilities."

"So it requires another form of motivation?"

"Yes." Nios said. "And I'm sure you've guessed what it is."

Khalil nodded noncommittally, and a cold blue light lit up in his eyes - the cloak of the armor began to rustle, and a cold light emerged from the gaps in the metal. It turned into a shadow in the next second and disappeared in place. Then, Khalil's sight was wrapped in a coldness.

The metal-like and bone-like touch stayed quietly on his face. He raised his arm, and the armor activated by his psychic energy began to return in reverse, increasing his own strength.

The five fingers of the gauntlet are sharp, and on the back of the hand there is an imperial sky eagle soaring steadily. He laughed, and his voice was turned into a cruel coldness by psychic energy. It was absolutely terrifying, but Nyos also laughed with him.

A craftsman always likes to see his work loved, and the laughter of joy is worth ten million words of praise.

"But..." Khalil asked softly in his now extremely terrifying voice. "How am I going to explain this armor to people?"

"My gift is nothing more than this," the Emperor said calmly. "No one can explore its secrets and its origins. Let them guess. It is my thanks to you."

"What have I done to deserve your gratitude to me?"

The skeleton turned his head and stared at his friend, the Lord of Humanity, lowered his head, smiled softly, and did not answer the question.

"Although you say no reward for no merit, you don't seem to let me refuse." Khalil said. "Then I'll accept it. Does it have a name?"

“I don’t usually give my work a name when I’m a craftsman, especially if it’s clearly going to be given away.”

Khalil lowered his head thoughtfully, and after a moment, he nodded slowly.

"Blade." The armored giant replied. "That's what I'm going to call it."

The Emperor was stunned. He quickly understood what Khalil meant. After a brief silence, there was a burst of laughter that could not be concealed. Khalil looked at him for a few seconds and then joined in. There is nothing in laughter but pure joy.

This chapter is 2.5k, I owe 1.5k and I will pay it back tomorrow.

After comprehensive consideration, I will update an extra chapter tomorrow with a slight spoiler. It is about the story of Coze in the hh line.

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