40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 244 15. Eyes that See the Truth

It was dark outside the porthole of the shuttle, and twelve rivets on its circular edge were shining. The artists responsible for the interior decoration of this shuttle did not even let them go. In a sense, their responsibility was simply crazy.

A pale and slender index finger scratched the surface of the porthole at this moment. Looking at this scene, Corax suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

Where did this unreal illusion come from? He had no answer.

He stared at the porthole, and his vision suddenly blurred for a moment. When his vision recovered, the owner of the finger was no longer there.

Corax silently tensed his muscles and turned his head. At this moment, Khalil was already standing beside him, leaning against the bulkhead, with a leisurely and relaxed posture, and he didn't seem to have any intention of attacking.

But when he spoke, his voice was like flint striking.

"Your father wants you to participate in a war."

Khalil narrated indifferently with an attitude that could be called completely detached.

"He wants you to be the embodiment of justice and the executioner with blood on your hands to a certain extent. This war will affect countless planets like Lycaeus. Sometimes, you will be the savior. But most of the time, you are the one who goes against justice."

"The more important point is that, Lord Corax, you have no power to choose. You look like you have it, but you don't."

The lines on the face of the Primarch tightened silently.

He did not show anger, but two red spots appeared on his pale skin like alabaster. Despite this, he still did not make any answer, but just waited silently for the follow-up.

"And I believe" Khalil finally turned his head, his eyes were so cold. "He probably talked to you about it."

Corax finally gave a voice, low like some kind of echo: "Yes."

"So, what do you think?"

After a brief hesitation, Corax decided to be honest - he didn't smell any hostility from Kalil, so even though the latter's words sounded almost provocative, he still maintained a considerable degree of politeness.

"I don't like it." said Corvus Corax. "I understand its necessity, but I don't like it."

Kalil nodded without comment.

"As for the power of choice you mentioned. Do you think he will force me?" Corax asked, his eyes fixed on Kalil.

These eyes are different from the completely black eyes of the Nostramo people, but compared to the black and white eyes of ordinary people, they are also a bit too strange. In fact, they can indeed be roughly described as "pitch black".

Kalil smiled and did not answer the question. He temporarily looked away, raised his head, and looked at the ceiling of the shuttle.

The golden fluid was wrapped in a silver pipe and twisted its body, and the glass was dotted in its gaps. The pipe twisted to form a complex pattern. The hazy light was looming in the pipe, echoing the gold and emitting a dizzying brilliance.

From some angles, it was a warship. From another angle, it was a sphere. Dazzling and complex.

Corax forced himself to lower his head. He didn't want to stare at this so-called decoration anymore, it made his eyes itchy. The metaphor wrapped in it seemed so coincidental at this moment that it was chilling.

"You have already chosen, Lord Corax." Khalil said, his voice without a smile. "In other words, you have accepted the vision he gave."

"I accept it." Corax replied in a low voice. "If it is necessary, why don't I accept it? I understand the necessity of sacrifice."

Khalil turned his head and looked at him for a while, and suddenly shook his head.

"Yes, you understand, but he asks for more, greater sacrifice. He asks you to join the Great Crusade now, Lord Corax. In other words, he wants you to abandon your comrades and your home planet and go directly into the galaxy. He even hopes that you can do it willingly." Corax looked at him in astonishment. "Are you kidding me?" The primarch asked in astonishment. "How could he..." He was talking, but suddenly paused, and the astonishment on his face gradually changed. "It seems that you realize it." Khalil said. "Before being your father, he is first the 'Emperor', so he will not allow anyone and anything to slow down the progress of the Great Crusade."

"So, even if he was amiable in his conversation with you, sounded almost like a poet in that meeting, and never showed any ambition, it was just a choice for him. He chose to face you in this way, or rather, face you."

Corax was silent for a while again, and when he spoke again, his voice was not so low: "But he still asked you to come."

"So?"

"If he is really as ruthless as you say, then why would he bother? He could just tell me what to do and what to do."

Khalil raised his eyebrows in surprise.

In his mind, Corvus Corax was the first Primarch to be aware to some extent of the Emperor's connivance towards them, though he did not realize it in a way that Not bad, but.

"Yes." He nodded gently, his eyes sly. "So we can now discuss how this matter should end with dignity. You have many offers to make, Lord Corax. He will be happy to agree to them."

"Many conditions?" Corax repeated.

"Yes."

"Then I would like you to remove the honorific from my name," Corax said. "This is my first condition. On Lycaeus, lord is usually called an armed overseer or a giant company foreman. I am neither."

Khalil finally showed a more normal smile.

"Okay, Corax," he said. "So, what's the second condition?"

——

Sanguinius saw a monster.

It also has wings, sharp teeth, and horns. Its body is bronze, and its eyes are two obsidian stones that have been polished to near perfection. The angel stared at it, touching its eyes with his fingers, his thoughts boiling.

His expression remained calm. In the studio, candles burned secretly. Sanguinius shut down the ventilation system and closed the studio door.

He could taste the special smell of the burning candle as he breathed, and the tip of his tongue dissected the contents of the smell one by one.

He exhaled, the aroma filling his lips and teeth. The aroma comes from a dead creature whose skin and bones were removed and the inedible parts of its body turned into candles.

Making the best use of everything?

Sanguinius chewed on the word and sighed softly.

He turned his head and looked at the studio door. The vermilion door was wrapped in leather, and the biometric identification device was carefully shaped into the shape of the door handle. It was wrapped in silver metal, and a circle of gemstones sparkled on its edge.

He stood up, walked over and opened the door. Horus Luperkar was standing outside the door, holding a large silver dinner plate in his hand.

"Good evening, brother," Horus greeted gently. "How did you know I was outside the door without me knocking?"

Sanguinius managed a smile: "Intuition."

Horus smiled. He walked into the studio and went straight to the only table here. The aroma of steak fills the air, accompanied by the taste of kalash.

The angel closed the door, but his mouth was inevitably full of excitement for a moment. The Kalash brought by Horus was mixed with blood and tasted great. Sanguinius looked at his brother and tried to say something, but Horus stopped him without looking up.

The Corsonia was busy cutting steaks, concentrating.

"Don't say it." He lowered his head and said. "If this is something you feel you need to hide, don't say it, Sanguinius. I can't be completely honest with you either, so I won't ask this of you."

"Now, come and have the dinner you missed. It's a pity that my father and I were the only two people at the dinner."

Hearing this, Sanguinius walked towards him and even made a joke, a sincere joke. His mood suddenly improved for some reason.

"Wouldn't that be a good thing for you?"

"What?" Horus raised his head. "What good thing?"

"Attending dinner alone with my father."

The Corsonian's expression turned serious. He put down the table knife in his hand heavily, leaned back and sunk into Sanguinius' chair with a hollow back, and placed his hands quietly on his knees.

He didn't say anything, but he seemed to have said everything.

Sanguinius couldn't help but laugh. As he laughed, he brought a chair and sat down slowly. The aroma of the steak was still fragrant, but Sanguinius was more concerned about the wine glass on the other side of the silver plate than it was.

Through the glass, Sanguinius could directly see the bright red blood-like wine inside. The angel picked it up, raised his head, and drank the large cup of Kalash in one gulp. When he put down the cup, two bright reds appeared on his face.

The special brewing method of Kalash makes it comparable to the most terrifying spirits to a certain extent. After adding blood, the intensity can be called cool. Sanguinius coughed slightly to ease the burning sensation in his throat.

Horus looked at him intently.

"Are you feeling better?" he asked softly.

"Much better, brother," Sanguinius replied with a smile. "I have never tried to get drunk. The 'happy state' that Ruth said seems more like a word he made up to me. However, I kind of believe him now."

"If I drink Kalash like he drinks Fenris mead, I'm afraid I will quickly enter this 'happy realm'."

"Drunkness is not a good thing." Horus said slightly seriously. "Believe me, Sanguinius, it's definitely not a good thing. And the state of joy Russ was talking about didn't actually mean a state of drunkenness."

"As soon as the party starts, he has already entered his happy state. For him, wine is just an add-on, dispensable."

"You mean, he's never been really drunk?"

"I think so." Horus nodded slightly. "He tried very hard to make us see him as a savage, but we all knew in our hearts that he was not at all. Russ was just pretending, and his disguise couldn't even be considered excellent, it could only be said to suit him. Appearance.”

Sanguinius nodded thoughtfully. Instead of using a cutlery, he picked up a cut strip of meat with his fingers and ate it bit by bit.

Even with the skin on the bone, the juice is overflowing. The bright red blood-like liquid slowly slipped from the corner of his mouth, but the angel didn't seem to care.

"I saw something terrible," Sanguinius spoke softly after a few minutes. "It's undeniably sad, and the metaphors and details are maddening when you delve into it, but I just can't get over it."

"Why?" Horus asked his brother patiently, without any impatience. He didn't even want to ask Sanguinius what the truth was.

"Because, besides these things, there is hope in that thing," answered the angel of Baal with a sad look on his face. "Hope, brother. The rarest thing in the world, it appears in a desperate scene. How ironic."

"I don't have the gift of being able to peel off the cocoon and see the future like you do, Sanguinius." Horus spoke slowly.

"I cannot explain or dismantle the picture you describe through the knowledge gained from his extensive reading like Magnus did. All I can do is listen. In my opinion, since this matter There is still hope, and that's a good thing."

good thing

Sanguinius fell silent, his thoughts inevitably drifting to the back room of the conference room. The completely dark eyes of the "extreme darkness" slowly emerged from the memory, so clear that they could even be used as mirrors.

Sanguinius shaped them through his imagination and gazed upon them once more. He saw his reflection and saw a child with blood and tears on his face.

"There's still hope," Khalil Lohars said.

+Hope still exists, my son. + Said his father in the spirit.

"Yes," Sanguinius said to his brother. "There's still hope. So... that's really a good thing."

Horus smiled, the worry fading from his face.

"Then you finish it quickly!" The Corsonian pointed at the plate in a pretense of severity. "I didn't bring it here just to let it sit on the dinner plate and get cold!"

Sanguinius chuckled.

And pinch.