40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 170 31. One-day War (End, two chapters in one)

Khalil lowered his head and looked down at Harkossus III.

From orbit, it appears to be a green planet. The vegetation environment represented by forests made the entire planet look beautiful, but there was no sadness or joy in his eyes, as if he was observing a corpse.

Conrad Curze stood beside him, checking his weapons. The Mechanicus-Priests offered him several weapons to choose from, including masterwork bolters or power fists, but Curze didn't seem to like them.

He just chose one of them. A bolter that isn't exactly flashy, but still packs a lot of firepower. However, apart from it, there are many other gadgets hanging or stored in his armor belt and storage compartment.

Conrad Coates ran his fingers across them, and these round things collided with each other, making a slightly dull metal knocking sound. The Midnight Blades walked silently in the darkness behind them, entering drop pods or boarding Stormhawks, fully armed.

According to the intelligence provided by the Ultramarines, most of the aliens still exist underground, and compared to Numbers One and Two, the aliens on Number Three seem to be much more primitive. Of course, the Midnight Blades didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop them from making preparations.

No matter the reason, killing is going to happen.

"There are three minutes left before the raid begins, Khalil." Konrad Curze spoke softly after checking the last grenade on him.

"Do you need some time alone?" he asked.

Khalil glanced sideways at him, looking a little surprised: "No, I don't need to be alone - but I'm curious, why do you think so?"

"People need to be alone, especially when they urgently need to think and solve some problems." Kurtz answered quietly.

Now, he wears luxurious and majestic eerie armor, with clean and smooth black hair, which is very different from the dirty appearance of the Midnight Ghost on Nostramo in the past. He has changed a lot, but some things have never changed.

Khalil smiled, shook his head, and said nothing.

"Are you sure?" Conrad Coates asked.

"I'm sure," Khalil said. "I have my fair share of alone time, Conrad. But three minutes like this, standing calmly together, overlooking the danger we are about to face. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"."

"What's wrong, Conrad?"

"I'm not used to you being so straightforward." Conrad Coates replied slightly depressed.

Khalil couldn't help but chuckle.

Three minutes later, a new rain of fire descended from the orbit of Harkossus III.

Some of them fell into the city as planned to assist the Ultramarines in guarding the deep pits where aliens were still popping up, while others went to the forest or wilderness - ground collapse is not exclusive to cities. In uninhabited places, these aliens have also come to the surface and are gathering.

Macragge's Glory acquired this information through scanning and immediately shared it with Nightfall and Resolve. After a short discussion, the general direction of the strategy was quickly determined.

The war dogs are the largest in number and are responsible for the frontal battlefield. The Midnight Blades are responsible for parachuting in from the alien's flanks and rear to create panic. In the meantime, the Ultramarines can gather their forces and search the ground for their Primarch.

This matter was of paramount importance, for no one could leave a poisoned Primarch to roam the underworld infested with aliens. Khalil will act with the Ultramarines.

In fact, he is already there.

——

"You don't look well, Chapter Master Gage."

"Is it obvious?" Marius Gage asked.

His words elicited a chuckle from the inquirer. Khalil walked towards him - his drop pod was programmed in advance and landed directly near the largest gap in the city. After landing, he entered the gap directly and met with Marius Gage under the leadership of the Ultramarines.

The latter's situation was certainly not good. Judging from his still pale face, Khalil was sure that the Chapter Master was probably still suffering from toxins at this moment.

He came to Marius Gage, who stretched out his hand, unlocked a data pad in advance and handed it to him. Khalil reached out and took it, seeing a complex stream of data flash past. He held it down with his thumb and started sliding up and down, and the reading time was quickly over.

Gage coughed and shook his head tiredly: "That's the situation, Instructor Khalil. We found some clues, and some weird murals and altars that shouldn't be there. I won't mention the latter for now, but the former doesn't matter either. Didn't lead us to him."

"Why not follow him from the beginning?" Khalil raised his head and asked.

Marius Gage gave a wry smile at this question: "He had already forgotten about us, Instructor Khalil."

"I have seen the symptoms you described in the information, but from your tone, it seems that there is something hidden?"

"Yes." Gage pursed his lips and tried his best to remain calm.

"He didn't just forget about us, he was hallucinating that he was in Macragge decades ago. That day, his father was assassinated. And the Primarch at that time IMHO , instructor, we can't rely on our own will to get close to him. We can only follow him and rely on his traces and the sound of running. However, this clue quickly disappeared deep underground. We can still find some clues, but we still can’t find where he is.”

Khalil nodded and mentioned another matter. He put the data pad back on the table with a gentle but crisp movement: "I need a little help, Chapter Master Gage."

"Anything," Marius Gage said. He stared at Khalil closely, his tone was gentle, but firm enough to crack mountains and crack rocks. "What do you need?"

"Your blood."

"How much?" Gage asked.

He didn't ask Khalil why he needed his blood, or even pursue what might be behind the question - after hearing Khalil's request, he did only two things.

The first thing is to ask. The second thing he did was to pull out the combat knife from his belt and hold it close to his cheek.

He was wearing armor and was heavily armed, and it was not easy to take it off now. His face or neck were the only possible places to get blood. He gestured with the tip of the knife on his chin, cheeks, and a little bit of his exposed neck, and then he asked.

"How much do you want, my lord?"

Khalil stared at him but didn't answer.

For a moment, Gage felt that the eyes were not eyes, but two whirlpools. A dark whirlpool filled with the remains of the dead. He looked at the whirlpool, the tip of the knife resting on the left cheek and sinking slightly into it.

His skin was punctured and a drop of blood squeezed out of his veins.

"That's enough." Khalil said. He lowered his head and a drop of blood floated above his open right hand.

Gage was confused - he looked at the blood and slowly put the combat knife back on the armor belt. He didn't understand what was going on, but that didn't stop him from observing what was going to happen next.

"Is this enough?"

"Yes." Khalil raised his head and looked at Gage. The blood begins to swirl and coagulate. It was just a drop of blood, an insignificant drop of blood, but at this moment it began to make a frightening buzz.

"Blood is a very important concept in many witchcraft or myths and legends, Chapter Master Gage. Of course, you and I don't actually believe in these things but they do exist."

Gage waited in silence.

"Blood is the source of life," Khalil continued. "Not only that, in the occult books I have read, they all mentioned a concept invariably."

He clenched his right hand.

"The Blood of the Father and the Son"

The storm gathered, and Gage's heart began to twitch.

“To evoke a connection.”

The temperature dropped, the forest was as cold as ice, and the depth was as deep as hell.

Frost began to form all around, and the busy auxiliary troops on the front position stopped in place, as if the pause button had been pressed.

The drop of blood began to spin faster and faster, and the buzzing intensified, becoming high and sharp. Gage's hearing and sanity began to be destroyed by it. He gasped and almost fell to the ground, but a hand helped him up.

Khalil Lohars stood beside him, his eyes dark, as calm as the dead.

"Be prepared, Chapter Master," he reminded in a low voice. "You can close your eyes and just think of it as a nap. After all, where we are going next, we don't need to keep our eyes open."

Gage did as he was told, his question stuck in his throat. He seemed to have entered an unknown world. His reason was screaming, but the footsteps of Khalil Lohars always sounded in front of him. thorough. Surrounded by darkness, Gage knew he was entering an unknown path, but he was fearless.

He just moves forward.

He would find Robert Guilliman.

He swore that he would -

"——Where are we?" Marius Gage opened his eyes suddenly.

"Good question." Khalil nodded at him. "I want to know too, but I can't tell you. I saw a book recording this ritual in the Emperor's library, and this is the first time I've used it. It looks like we succeeded."

Gage put his fingers on his armor belt, took out his bolter, and began to look around.

He came without a helmet, but now he could clearly feel the feeling of wearing it. The reading on the eyepiece paused silently, as if it were not activated. Several warning runes flashed in the retina, teeth and claws bared, like roaring monsters.

Through the eyepiece, Gage saw a forest and a forest path.

He lowered his head and tried to analyze the dirt to find out more information that could help their current situation. However, when he lowered his head, he did not see the soil. What he saw were millions of squirming maggots, densely packed. Some had begun to metamorphose, while others still maintained the unique whiteness of larvae.

They twisted around each other and stared at Gage with dark eyes.

Gage's finger snapped on the trigger.

He almost fired—or would have if he hadn't realized that he was actually walking on thick frost.

"these ices"

"It's my strength." Khalil answered calmly with his back to him. "I am a psyker, Chapter Master Gage. The use of psionic powers can cause various supernatural phenomena, with frost and falling temperatures being the most common."

Gage agreed, but remained silent. He followed Khalil, gun in hand. The forest was quiet and dark, and the skin of the trees showed a sickly yellow color. The leaves had long since died, but they still stayed on the dead branches, blocking the light.

There's a putrid smell in the air that can even pass through the filtration system of the breather grille. Gage felt an urge to vomit, but he resisted. They continued to go deeper, and the deeper they went, the quieter the world became, and the light almost completely disappeared.

The frost crunched under the iron boots, and the voice of Khalil Lohars sounded again after a while, still calm.

With just one sentence, he calmed Gage's nerves and brought him back to his senses.

"Think carefully, Chapter Master Gage," he said. "Do you think we're still on Harkossus III?"

"It's not quite the same here." Gage decided to tell the truth.

He held the gun and glanced around warily, wary of the darkness. "The natural environment on Harkossus III can be called beautiful. Although it may have been destroyed a lot now, it will never become like this."

"Indeed. So, where do you think we are now?"

".I have no idea."

"You must give an answer, Chapter Master." Khalil stopped and turned around. There was a cold light in the eyes of the skull visor, and the cloak was twisting at his feet like a living thing.

Gage felt a little uneasy about his request, and he asked: "The most I can give is a guess, Instructor Khalil. It was you who brought me here, and I know nothing about witchcraft. ”

"Take a guess, Gage," Khalil said. "This spell is essentially just a trick. It's a person-finding trick that was changed by my power. It brought us here, but you are the master of the blood."

"There is a blood connection between you and Robert Guilliman. This is an irreversible fact. No matter where he is at the moment or how tortured he is, this matter will not be erased. So, tell me your Take a guess."

Marius Gage felt a sense of absurdity - if someone had told him these words before, he would have denounced them with imperial truth without hesitation. However, after experiencing so many things, he can no longer look at the truth of the empire from a normal perspective.

At this moment, he stood in this dark and decaying forest and took a slow breath.

".We, we are with Robert Guilliman now."

Gage said, and he looked at Khalil, who was still staring quietly without any movement, but it gave him the confidence to continue.

"We're with him, we're protecting him, we-"

Gage suddenly stopped speaking. He trembled and felt a strange and heavy force entangled his limbs, and began to greedily suck it inside. It has no consciousness, only an instinct. Gage closed his eyes in pain and did not resist it.

He closed his eyes, and the world in front of him began to change. The darkness dissipated, and thousands of rapid and frantic images flashed interlaced. Those images are memories of his past, everything about Marius Gage. That power keeps going inward, never stopping, it doesn't stop, it just goes on. Gage opened his mouth in severe pain and suffering, trying to scream, but no sound could come out.

The picture continued to flicker, until at a certain critical point, it finally stopped, and the pain disappeared along with it. Gage looked at the picture and felt tears in his eyes. He saw Robert Guilliman in his ceremonial armor, as well as Macragge and the Ultramarines.

Not long after their reunion, Robert Guilliman was speaking to all of Macragge.

He announced his new identity, announced the name Ultramarine, and announced a few other things. He told the Macraggeans that these giants were his sons, possessing his blood and his heart. They will stand together to bring a better future to Macragge.

Gage was standing next to him at that time. He looked at the golden hair of the original body flying in the joyful air, and listened to the music played by the orchestra below, and his heart twitched.

He remembered this image and would remember it until his death. He would always remember the oath he made at that moment, that he would protect Macragge, that he would protect

He will protect Robert Guilliman.

Yes, Robert Guilliman - his primarch, his father, his brother, his friend.

Gage finally screamed. The power was satisfied, and it took the initiative to stay away. It seemed to be harmless, just a creature that feeds on emotions. It does this very naturally.

A strong sense of separation followed, and Gage gasped like a drowning man rushing out of the water. He opened his eyes, his whole face was covered with sweat, and something unknown whether it was blood or tears fell from his face. Bleeding from eyes.

Only then did he realize that he was actually kneeling on the ground, and the forest was gone. He was kneeling on a piece of grass. Not far away, there was a giant lying on the ground, his eyes closed.

"You succeeded, Gage." Khalil's voice came from above his head. He was still calm, as if he had foreseen this scene happening.

But for some reason, Marius Gage could hear a hidden emotion in his voice, an emotion that should not appear in Khalil Lohars.

Gage raised his head and wanted to ask a question, but Khalil lowered his head as if without warning and pressed his shoulder with one hand.

"Rest for a while, take a deep breath, Gage. The power evoked by that trick does not come without a price. I helped you pay most of it, but you still endured more torture than you imagined. Take a deep breath, and you will recover."

But what about him?

Gage asked silently - where is Robert Guilliman?

He turned his head and looked in the direction of his original body. Astartes' eyesight was so good that he saw Robert Guilliman's face clearly.

The gaunt face, the cheeks were tightly knitted, and the blond hair had faded, almost becoming a pure color as pale as snow. His skin turned into a decaying yellow color, which was disgusting and terrifying.

"I will take him back." Khalil said calmly, it didn't sound like he was making a promise, but rather like he was stating a fact.

Gage tried to answer, and he opened his mouth, but a wave of exhaustion knocked him down before he could speak. He fell to the ground and gradually dissipated, returning to where he belonged.

Khalil stepped forward, and dark flames jumped out of the void, clinging to his body and burning fiercely.

He said calmly: "Do you really want one of them that much?"

No one answered, only the swaying grass.

"Conrad Curze, Angron, and now Robert Guilliman. Are they important to you?"

Still no answer.

"I'm here to take him away," Khalil said. "I don't care what price you pay, or what Tzeentch uses to win you over to join his plan. I just want to tell you one thing, I will take him away."

——"So, aren't you going to let him decide for himself?" A voice suddenly sounded.

The sound is old and thick, gentle, and carries the fragrance of trees, grass and earth. But it was also evil and hoarse, like the last breath of a seriously ill person before death, with an unbearable putrid stench.

Khalil smiled—what else could he say? This didn't surprise him. Once, twice, three times. It’s them every time, it’s always them. If he was just an ordinary person, he might not be able to touch any trace of any of them in his life, but he is not an ordinary person, and neither are the Primarchs.

So, sooner or later, they will come to them.

They will always come, just like the devil behind the door. If you keep knocking on the door of hell, they will definitely come to you.

But Robert Guilliman didn't knock on the door.

"What to decide?" Khalil asked. "You've crossed a line."

The voice laughed and actually started to introduce itself.

"Nurgle, if you don't know what to call me, you can use this name. But, God of Vengeance and Hatred, you are wrong about one thing. I did not cross the line, and neither of us did. They were rightfully ours. The Fire Thief Haven't I told you?"

"He stole the power from us and bound it in a small cage of his own making. These children could have been in more beautiful and outstanding forms, but he failed because of his terrible and greedy ambition. Kidnapped these children."

"I did not cross the line, God of Vengeance and Hatred, and if you come back to us, you will know that what I say is true. Yes, I paid a price to cross the line, but it was a price I did not have to pay Just like you, what price will you pay this time?”

"So, you should ask the person who deceived you. For example, what is hidden in the covenant between him and you that allows you to reluctantly stay in that fragile world."

"I am not a god," Khalil said dryly, but otherwise made no response to Nurgle's tirade.

"You will be," Nurgle smiled, whispering to him with the swaying of the vegetation.

"My scheming friend or enemy invited me a long time ago. He told me the whole plan and what might happen next, including your arrival. So, I am actually not surprised. You You want him back, don’t you?”

"Take him back."

"Small difference in wording. You seem to be mocking me. Do you think I just treat him as a tool? Okay, let's do it."

Nurgle's voice gradually faded away, replaced by a gust of putrid wind.

Khalil calmly raised his right hand and grabbed a leaf floating from a distance. On the one hand it is full of life, on the other hand it is rotten and perforated, making it fragile. Through the hole, Khalil could just see the figure of Robert Guilliman.

"Come," Nurgle whispered. "Let him choose."

Without hesitation, Khalil crushed the blade.

The update is complete and this section will end tomorrow.