40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 23 23. The long night (1)

"First try, failed."

The cold wind howled, and in the empty square, a hissing voice came from below the exquisite podium, with a bit of sharpness like grinding teeth.

This voice didn't sound very human. Moreover, people should not talk to themselves in this way.

"I will continue to try, please don't get in the way." said the person hiding under the podium. "This is my mission."

Then, it fell silent - and a few seconds later, a shadow in jet black leather emerged from under the podium.

Just looking at the body, you can't tell whether it is a boy or a girl. Not only that, but there's also a stiffness to its movements.

The shadow bent down and pulled out a huge firearm from under the podium. It's dark and fierce, not unlike the gang's cheap weapons or high-end automatic guns. It is a terrifying firearm that looks extremely deadly.

Same as its owner.

Shadow picked up the gun and slung it on his back. With a slight click, the gun was fixed on its smooth back. It was weird and natural, and Shadow didn't feel anything was wrong.

It seems to have done this hundreds of times.

Then it started running at an astonishing speed. It tore through the air and reached the opposite side of the square in the next moment.

Its figure is not strong, and the close-fitting leather jacket exposes the curves of the body. Biologically speaking, its size clearly shouldn't allow it to be so fast.

But this is Nostramo.

"It seems to be a renovation."

On a spire somewhere beside the square, Khalil, who had turned back at some point, stared at its movements, smiled and shook his head.

"Is this the same old thing that has been popular for so many years and yet it hasn't gone out of style?"

"Khalil, he seems to be moving towards us." The ghost whispered.

"I know."

"I could kill him."

"Yes, you can."

"Let me go?" The ghost said with a bit of pleading that was obvious to Khalil.

"No, Ghost. This is my job description. The best way to work is to perform your duties, isn't it? Go deal with the sentries in those houses. They seem to be planning to stand still and wait for us to appear again."

Khalil turned his head, smiled and winked at the ghost: "How about giving them a surprise?"

".But, 伱——"

"——I'm fine." The ghost narrowed his eyes. "Go ahead."

The ghost was silent for a few seconds and finally left. He is only eighteen months old, but he can already clearly understand what tonight's ambush means.

So he won't say no to the cleanup.

And Khalil knew this very well.

The time has come, the time has come.

He exhaled softly.

I wanted to set the world on fire when this day came, ghost, but your appearance revealed another possible hope for me.

A way to burn away the darkness without burning the world with it.

And I will ignite this precious flame with my own hands.

Blue light lit up from his eyes, and for the first time, Khalil accepted this power without reservation. They began to flow among the limbs and bones, and in the dark, the sound that penetrated the curtain came again.

As always, it had a fatherly gentleness to it, and the ghost paid it no heed.

He just sneered and let Him knock on the door of reason and whisper in his ear.

Nothing can affect him anymore.

The ghost opened his arms and jumped down.

In the cold wind blowing in his face and the tearing feeling caused by the rapid fall, he abandoned all the rules he had set as never before, and tore apart all the restraints and cautions.

The time has come.

He no longer had to endure the pain.

——

The shadow climbed silently up a building.

Its hands are extremely stable, and its fingers are extremely precise. Every time it climbs up, it can insert into the gaps between the bricks and stones, so that it does not have to suffer any accidents when climbing with bare hands.

Soon, it came to the smashed gargoyle. It stared at the remains of the gargoyle. There was no room left for the eyes to observe on the face that was completely wrapped in pitch black leather, but it was observing.

There is no doubt that this is quite bizarre.

But this is Nostramo after all. Anything can happen and nothing is weird.

——Among these things, there is naturally a ghost falling from the sky.

"boom--!"

There was a loud noise and bricks and stones flew everywhere. The shadow was forcefully pushed into the building, and there was no one in the corridor that had been cleared in advance. Therefore, the sound of it hitting the wall was particularly violent.

what happened?

The shadow was completely unprepared for this sudden attack. It had never thought that someone could attack from high altitude at such a speed. The power was even more terrifying, and the first blow sent it flying backwards.

The attackers followed closely behind.

He obviously didn't want to give it a chance to resist, but as soon as he got up from the ground, the next round of attacks appeared immediately.

Two dots of blue light suddenly appeared in the darkness and disappeared in an instant, followed closely by a fierce silver light. The blade pierced the leather clothing, cutting and sliding on the flesh, and the sound it made was similar to the collision of metal.

Shadow growled, and the sound of gears clashing came from his arms. It suddenly stretched out its hands, and actually resisted the two blades next time.

"ha."

In the darkness, the attacker chuckled.

"The person who transformed you was really willing to spend a lot of money to replace your skin with fine gold. But don't you feel pain? Your body should be trying to heal, right? Every time you move, the metal stuck in your flesh and blood will bring... It hurts, isn't it?"

"You know a lot." Shadow replied indifferently. "But it's of no use. You have brought disgrace to the Skolywok family. I will take you back and face trial."

"Judgment."

The attacker sighed.

"Judgment." He chuckled, his laughter echoing and growing. "The Skolywok family wants to put me on trial?"

Shadow suddenly took a step forward, and the sound of clicking gears was very noticeable under the violent movement. It punched fiercely, intending to force the target back in close combat first.

Then--

"boom!"

With a kick, the shadow flew out again. It smashed three walls in shock, completely unable to understand what was happening.

Of course it doesn't understand.

The attacker came slowly, his footsteps sounding dullly in the silent darkness, and along with them came a mocking word.

"Don't you think this is a bit ridiculous?"

The shadow rose again. Hearing this, it raised its left hand and pulled off the hood on its face, revealing a face covered in metal.

The shape of the facial features is deliberately left rough, but the edges of the metal are exquisitely carved, creating a sense of absurd opposition. The coat of arms of the Skolywok family glowed dully in the middle of the forehead.

Where the eyes should be, there are two dark holes. At this moment, a kind of anger is flowing in it.

"I don't know whether to live or die," it said coldly. "No matter who is standing behind you, you are dead and your family is dead. The Skolevok family has completely mastered Quintus, and we will use this as a basis to rule the entire Nostramo!"

"interesting."

The attacker nodded thoughtfully: "As a noble assassin, you seem to know too much."

"I am the shadow of the Skolywok family, you ignorant bastard!"

It roared angrily and rushed toward the attacker with terrifying momentum. A strange sound of gears clashing violently sounded within its body, even covering up the sound of its footsteps.

"Kneel down! This way you can avoid the pain of flesh and blood! I know you have undergone physical transformation, but flesh can't beat steel!"

"Kneel down to a puppet? No, let's forget it."

The attacker chuckled and suddenly disappeared from the spot, so fast that the shadow could not capture any trace of his movement.

It raised its hands vigilantly, wary of the blade attack that might come at any time - as long as it seizes an opportunity, it will make that bastard regret being an enemy of Skolywok!

Why would a body modifier hurt the skin that the Scollewock family swore to protect?

How could an attacker who didn't even know the name of the Shadow of the Scolewock family be so arrogant? Doesn’t the family behind him know what it means to be an enemy of Skolywok at this juncture? !

However.

No.

No attack came, no air-searing blades or attacks of the same magnitude as before.

The shadow moved slowly. It did not intend to sit still and wait for death. It wanted to take the initiative and find the opponent.

Its gun shook behind it, and the sound of the gears inside its body was also extremely violent. It was waiting, searching, longing with concentration - and then, it just ignored one thing.

Something it should have noticed a long time ago was now covered up by the sound of gears driven by its anger.

temperature.

The temperature began to get colder and colder, and even the water mist condensing in the air began to turn into frost. The ground began to freeze, shadows stepped on it, and small breaking sounds were heard, but it knew nothing about it.

Then, a voice sounded, echoing in the room.

"There is no obvious change of seasons on Nostramo, but I am still used to using four seasons to distinguish its year. It is winter now, the shadow of the Skolywok family. Winter... is very cold, shadow."

where? !

The shadow turned a deaf ear to the attacker's words. It just kept looking into the dark corners, trying to find its enemy in the empty building.

The temperature continued to drop, and finally, after reaching a certain critical point, the shadow suddenly stopped.

The sound of the gears running also stopped, and a strange clicking sound began to sound within its body. The attacker walked out of the darkness at just the right moment, his eyes shining with intense blue light, extremely cold.

"You!" Shadow spoke angrily, moving his right hand stiffly, still trying to catch the attacker.

"Yeah, me."

Khalil stared at it calmly. "Save your energy, it'll be better for you and me."

"Don't even think about it! Even if I can't take you back to face trial, I will kill you on behalf of the family!" Shadow growled.

"Quiet down, okay? I'm going to meet your family." Khalil said softly. "I'm going to visit you tonight, so you should calm down."

"Metals at low temperatures will produce a strange reaction with your bloody flesh, a shadow. In other words, even if I don't do anything, you are going to die."

"I am going to kill you--!"

"Yeah." Khalil smiled and shook his head, slowly came to the shadow, raised his hand and pressed it on its forehead.

There was some kind of weird noise suddenly sounded the next second, and Shadow's body trembled suddenly, and then he screamed.

Ten seconds later, the screams stopped. With a dull sound, a body wrapped in metal fell to the ground, making no more noise.

Khalil stood there, speechless, his throat rolling. After a while, he slowly exhaled a breath.

"It turns out that you can still use it like this." He said to himself. "Taking memories. It's really scary."

It's also really disgusting.

What have I done?

The vengeful spirit lowered its head, closed its eyes, and began to look through Shadow's memories.

As he told Shadow the night was still long and he was going to visit the Skolywok family.

Let me reassure you again, no knife, really no knife.

By the way, put a song here.

Into the Fire, Manson's song, is very nice and different from most of his songs.