40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 206 31. Conscription (1)

The speed at which time passes can be staggering. But in the blink of an eye, another year and a half passed. However, for those who are prepared, it is not difficult to accept. At least that's the case for Konrad Coates.

He focuses on his responsibilities, turning work itself into a daily routine - which may sound a little creepy, since the word work usually means 'torture' most of the time.

However, he does not find it unacceptable to spend more than twelve hours a day correcting various official documents.

Through the data report, he could clearly see and even sense that Nostramo was changing little by little. This process is enough to comfort him, and the positive emotional rewards are enough to dilute any discomfort caused by long hours of work.

Besides, he knew very well that this situation was only temporary.

The Midnight Blades are a Legion of Astartes after all. They cannot stay in Nostramo forever. The Great Crusade needs them.

So, just try to get everything sorted before then.

That's what he thought, and that's what he did. He kept his emotions calm and looked at everything around him rationally, trying to ignore a certain point in such ordinary daily life - of course, he failed.

He couldn't ignore it.

——

"Close combat is the last option in battle." Siani said almost without emotion. "Don't do it if you have any weapons in hand, or if the enemy doesn't force you to do so."

"Unarmed is an inefficient option compared to swords and firearms. You can use it to silently take down mortals or enemies who are unaware of you, but a knife will only make it faster."

"It's much more convenient to go straight into the heart or cut off the trachea than to reach out and break the neck, but, having said that, we still have to practice it. It's always good to have an extra option in a crisis."

His voice echoed from the vaulted ceiling. There was only one other person in the empty practice field listening to his words, and he didn't seem to be paying attention.

He has long black hair, which is now spread out and falls behind his shoulders. His cheeks were bruised, he was wearing practice armor, and he held a practice chainsword in his right hand. It is not equipped with a single-molecule saw blade, and the saw blade is just composed of ordinary steel.

"But you were just making a sneak attack." The man with the bruised face said hoarsely. "Aren't we having a sword fight, Instructor Siani?"

"No one stipulates that you can't hit your opponent in the face with your fists in a sword fight. In fact, if I could, I would kill you with a bolter from a few hundred meters away. Instead of a sneak attack at close range."

Siani grinned, his smile full of pride. The bruised and swollen man caught this incident and couldn't help grinding his teeth.

"Fighting is about bullying, remember that. A fair duel is a fool's errand unless you're having a friendly technical exchange with us, or our cousins."

Siani said, emphasizing the word friendly.

"You were unfriendly just now." Savita shook his head, but couldn't help but retort.

If it were another person, he would use long speeches to refute the opponent, but he was facing 'Siani of Terra', so long speeches were no longer an option.

After all, a year and a half has passed.

Now, he looked almost different than before. He was six feet tall, and his bones still creaked every night, and Sevatar doubted they would grow.

The same goes for his muscles. Synthetic substances and orders from the chief medical officer have caused them to expand rapidly, and they can improve day by day with a little exercise. Within a year and a half, his physiological functions were almost perfect.

This power can be observed with the naked eye and can also be truly felt.

Now, Yago Savita can punch through the steel plate with one punch, and can also twist the steel with just the strength of his grip, and the speed is even more amazing.

But he hasn't completed the final step yet, so he will still only be called a recruit, or reserve.

"Friendliness is just a lie." Siani did not hide his disdain. "You don't have to pretend anymore, Reserve Yago, you've been thinking about how to hit me with your chain sword since the beginning, right?"

"Please call me Sevatar."

"Unless you hit me." Siani smiled slowly, pulling down his visor.

Night Blades have many different styles of training armor. Although the purpose is similar, the appearance is very different. At this moment, Siani only brought a knight's helmet with a simple style that seemed more decorative than practical.

Not only was he not wearing training armor, but his standing posture looked very leisurely. It was not like he was facing an enemy with a weapon that could threaten him with death, but rather like he was facing a young child.

You can probably guess his purpose, and he achieved his purpose.

Sevatar took a slow, deep breath.

Siani easily angered Savita with just one sentence and his basically unchanged attitude. This anger was already there, and Sevatar had no desire to prevent it from exploding.

He took a step forward, and the chainsword roared and began to spin. The saw blade made a terrible noise, and his posture had changed greatly from the ugliness that Richtnar despised as a 'monkey' a year and a half ago.

He only held the sword with his last three fingers, and his index finger maintained an empty grip. It looks weird, but it has a strong sense of power.

Siani clearly captured this event through his restricted vision at the moment, and a smile bloomed on his face: "Very good, Yago."

He laughed loudly and kicked Savita's left knee in advance, barely holding back. Savita immediately heard the sound of his own fracture, and he immediately gritted his teeth to prevent himself from screaming in pain.

The original sword power was blocked, and logically speaking, his attack could no longer be effective - but at this moment, Sevita suddenly clenched his index finger.

At this point, his right hand was completely attached to the hilt of the sword, and his left leg was firmly nailed in place. Amid the roar, a loud, slightly dull sound came later.

"Good job." Siani said easily, took a step back, and raised the visor again.

Savita gasped, slowly retracted her left leg, and sat on the ground. His chainsword was lying not far away at the moment. Siani knocked it away with just a combat knife, and Sevatar couldn't even see clearly how he did it.

"The way you hold the sword is quite interesting. Reserve. Store your power until you really seize the opportunity and then release it."

Siani couldn't help but laugh and gave his own assessment. "It's really fun, but not very practical."

"Isn't it practical?" Savita asked calmly. His left hand was gently touching his knee, feeling the extent of the bone damage.

"Of course." Siani nodded. "What kind of weapon do you think a chain sword is? A wooden stick? It doesn't require you to use a second force to increase its lethality. You just need to make sure it can hit the enemy, and it will never let you down. However, if you do it good."

He took off his helmet and turned it around. There is a very clear depression on the visor, which was caused by the steel saw blade.

"Did I hit you?"

"Yes, Sevatar."

Siani approached his only student, turned his helmet over, and tapped the dent in the visor with his finger.

"In actual combat, you should be able to blind me with the help of power armor and a real chainsword, or simply chop half of my face off."

"Sounds like a good thing." Sevatar grinned. "I thought, if I had the chance, I would give it a try."

"Yes, if you can get close to me, and I only have a combat knife in my hand, you can indeed do it." Siani put away his smile and gently kicked Sevita's injured left leg with his foot. It brought him more pain.

"Do you understand now? Bullying, remember these four words, recruit. You will need to use them in the final assessment in two months."

Savita nodded slightly and made a native Nostramo gesture to Siani. The Terran laughed and immediately returned the favor. Gutera's gang gestures emerge so naturally from his hands that they almost look like they're dancing.

Savita pursed her lips, forced herself to look away angrily, and stood up from the ground without relying on anyone.

He found his chainsword, took it and left the range. Training time is over and he will go to therapy.

Siani knew that in just two days he would see the reserves active on the practice field again. A broken knee is nothing. All that is left for Yago Savitarion now is the implantation of a black carapace and a little final time to mature.

Then, he will officially enlist in the army.

Siani slowly lowered his head and pondered in the empty practice field.

It was rare, but he did have mixed feelings about it.

Argo Severtarion was once a fine beast, but now he has grown claws and fangs, just shy of becoming a truly terrifying beast.

His talent was unquestionable, Siani had established, Sevatar was a born warrior, and Felzalost said he had never seen a psyker born with such power.

Where will he go in the future?

Siani didn't have an answer, he just had a strong intuition. He didn't think that this recruit would die on the battlefield, that he would make a name for himself, that he would -

The hand-to-hand combat champion suddenly stopped thinking.

"——Instructor?" He turned his head and saw Khalil Lohars without surprise.

The latter smiled at him as a greeting. Siani couldn't help but sigh and complained: "Seriously, you should change this habit."

"If I had corrected it, your anti-submarine technology wouldn't have advanced so much in a year and a half."

"But you are not sneaking!" Siani said loudly. "Who can really be one with the darkness like you!"

"Conrad Coates."

"."

"Do you want to refute? Or acquiesce?"

"I want to refute." Siani replied dully. "But I think it just makes you joke more."

"I'm not kidding." Khalil nodded to him seemingly seriously and cast a silent gaze. When Siani finally couldn't bear it anymore and was about to start sighing, he spoke and changed the subject without leaving any trace.

"Okay, let's get down to business - how is he doing lately?"

"Don't you watch it every day?"

"But I'm just a bystander after all." Khalil reached for the combat knife in Siani's hand and began to look at the scars on it caused by the collision with the chain sword. "How do you compare the feelings of being a bystander with the feelings of those who experience it?"

Siani frowned and began to think.

"He's making rapid progress," he said after a minute's silence. "No, actually, it was very fast. I'm starting to believe now that he was 'better' than others before the transformation."

"This kid has an inexplicable intuition in combat. If I only use one sword or fighting technique to face him, he will quickly find the weakness in it. I have to change my moves and techniques to face him. To him. And, he’s tough.”

Having said this, the young man who became a teacher for the first time finally showed a sincere smile on his face: "This kind of tenacity made him get up from the ground again and again and face me again and again."

Khalil listened silently and made no comments. He still played with the combat knife. It was a good weapon for the Astartes, but not quite enough for him.

However, this did not prevent him from passing the blade between his fingers, or even pressing it against his wrist, making it disappear into thin air. After completing this set of actions, he just answered Siani.

"You did your job very well, Instructor Siani." Khalil said with a smile. "It seems that I finally officially have a peer - how about it? I have taken him with me for a year and a half. Do you want to lead other people to study in the future?"

"Ah" Siani was stunned for a moment. "No, let's forget about this."

"Why?"

"I'm afraid I don't have that much patience." Siani shrugged. "I'd better leave this kind of thing to you. Besides, what do you mean by this?"

Khalil smiled and said nothing. He handed out the dagger and gave it back to Siani, then turned around and nodded slowly towards the other end of the training ground.

There, Conrad Coates was leaning against the wall and staring silently. His long hair was disheveled and he looked very lazy, but his expression was extremely focused.

"Primary body?" Siani was shocked.

"You failed the anti-stealth test again." Khalil said mercilessly.

"Well"

"Yes, the conscription is about to begin." Conrad Coates said in a low voice. "But before that, I have something to ask you, Khalil."

This chapter is 4k, I owe 2k, I will pay it back tomorrow.

By the way, if you can tolerate Starry Sky's endless reading of pictures, a lot of propaganda and deception, and basically useless space, then it is actually a good game.

I give it 6 points.