40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 291 11. Return to the Perfect City (1)

Return to the perfect city.

This thought made Angel Tai feel creepy. Admittedly, he shouldn't feel this way. After all, he was actually prepared.

Angel Tai knew early on that one day, he would go back. Or, in other words, he never really left the Perfect City at all.

But just being ‘ready’ is not enough, not even close.

Preparation is sometimes just self-deception, like going to war for the first time, or killing someone for the first time.

When the cannonballs fly past your ears, blasting up fragments of the earth with irresistible force, when the sword blade digs deep into someone's abdomen or cuts across the throat, and blood surges, then will you? I know how futile it is to 'prepare'.

Angel Tai silently retracted his thoughts and returned to reality. Now in the real world, he was sitting in the fourth seat of a shuttle, tied to a cold iron chair with six restraints.

Hemot La Cruz and Battusa Narek, who were chanting in a low voice, sat on his left. They were heavily armed, wearing scarlet armor. This was not the standard camouflage for the Word Bearers, and Lorgar Aurelion ordered the color of their armor to be changed.

Khalil Lohars was standing at the back of the cabin. Looking from Angel Tai's perspective, he could only see his back. Shadows surged across the giant's back like living creatures, seemingly harmless.

The deck shook, and the new shuttle, which had been programmed for autopilot, began to land slowly. Angel Tai reached out to untie the restraints and stood up from his seat.

The built-in program of the shuttle was using mechanical sounds to remind them of something, the opening time of the cabin door, or the readings of the surrounding environment. The former was understandable, but the latter was not a function that a shuttle should have.

Angel Tai has flown in at least a thousand shuttles. Whether they are standard models or privately modified models, none of them can warn them of their surrounding environment like this one.

Is this the power of adamantine? The Word Bearers thought to themselves. The deep cooperation between the Night Blades and the Adeptus Mechanicus was no secret within the empire, but he didn't expect it to be this deep.

Twenty-three seconds later, the hatch slowly opened and they walked out. The smell of dust and ashes immediately rushed to their faces eagerly, welcoming the visitors excitedly.

Khalil lowered his head and observed the atrocities that the Midnight Blade and the Ultramarines had jointly committed.

Here they executed people and burned their homes. They were so determined and serious that even after so many years, the Perfect City was still in ruins.

Ashes covered the ground, and dust covered the devastation. You can hardly see any signs related to the word "life", and everything you see is a hollow emptiness.

But Hermot La Cruz was still chanting without stopping. He began with the God-Emperor's rescue of Terra and continued with the return of the Primarchs.

Battusa Narek remained silent, his right hand on his waist, the hilt of his sword trembling.

Angel Tai thought of some opinions and firm words written by Lorga Aurelion more than ten years ago.

".It is not enough to be aware of corruption or betrayal, you must stand up against it. In the same way, it is not enough to simply be aware of ignorance and ignorance. If not corrected, they will turn into deeper darkness. Sooner or later, the Milky Way will one day It will belong to humanity, so we must fight as examples. When the dust settles, if someone chooses to look at the past, then our actions will have meaning."

example.

The Word Bearer chewed the word bitterly, speechless.

"I was there back then." Khalil said softly. "The destruction of the Perfect City was called the 'Emperor's punishment for the inefficiency of the Seventeenth Legion' in Terra's clerical reports. Of course, the truth is not the case. Angel Tai, did you ever have that? Not sure?"

"It's resentment, my lord." Battusa Narek replied in a low voice as his temporary commander. "We resent you."

"What now?"

"Probably the same thing."

"This is normal. This is a blood feud." Khalil looked at him gently. "It's just that you don't know the truth. The perfect city is not perfect, Word Bearers. The way it looked before it was burned to ashes by fire can be called beautiful, but it is by no means perfect."

"So?" Bartusa asked emotionlessly. "Why was it destroyed back then?"

Khalil didn't answer the question, he just stepped forward. Angel Tai followed, as did the other two.

From this moment on, the world was plunged into coldness. The blazing sun hanging high in the sky was pale and dim, not like the sun, but like the lifeless eyes of a dying person.

Khalil Lohars walked silently above the ruins, with blue light surging through the gaps in his armor, like a fluorescent sea in the night. Five seconds after the psychic light appeared, the Word Bearers' bodies began to tremble from the cold.

The power armor could not withstand the cold, and their own extraordinary physiques that had been tuned by genetic engineering could not withstand its power. Angel Tai's teeth began to chatter, but he still followed Khalil Lohars.

The smell of the air began to change quietly. It was no longer a waste of nothingness mixed with dust and ashes, but a more lively and passionate taste.

The silent ruins also began to change, and sounds began to appear quietly. There were cries of hawkers, children playing, and people talking peacefully and friendly.

The ashes flowed backwards and were grasped tightly by invisible hands, transforming into pale buildings. High-rise buildings rose from the ground, streets returned to their original appearance, churches emerged out of thin air, and bustling markets reappeared.

Everything flows against the current, returning to its original appearance in the unreal chill. And they suddenly appeared on the top of a tall building.

Looking down at the scene below, Angel Tai's teeth stopped trembling. Bartusa stood beside him, making a sound close to vomiting from his throat.

"God Emperor" Hemot La Cruz murmured unconsciously. "What's this?"

This is a place that the Word Bearers are extremely familiar with. They once lived and preached here, and talked about it with pride to everyone who passed by.

This is their home, or at least it once was. Every corner is flawless and every detail is lifelike. Apart from being deserted and too pale, this place is exactly what it once was.

"This is the perfect city, Pastor." Khalil spoke softly. "What it looked like before it was destroyed. Now, let me reveal the truth to you. Look over there."

He pointed to a corner of the city, and looking in that direction, Angel Tai saw a tall tower. And Khalil's instructions didn't stop there, it was just the beginning.

From the tower to the church, the watchtower, the city wall, the school, the water tower, a statue, the fountain stone sculpture in the center of the square. He pointed them out one by one, linking all these insignificant things without any pause, as if he had done it before. once.

Angel Tai's jaw began to tighten, and a strange feeling began to spread in his mouth.

He was secreting saliva like crazy, but that still didn't stop him from feeling strange. It felt like someone took a knife and stabbed it between his lips, teeth and tongue, then inserted an awl and twisted it wildly.

"A pattern?" Hermott La Cruz laughed uncontrollably. "A star?"

"Yes, a star," Khalil said. "That's why."

Battusa Narek wanted to speak out against this statement - how could one star be the cause of the destruction of an entire city or even an entire world? But he couldn't say it.

He actually couldn't say it.

The eight-pointed star composed of buildings is just an abstract pattern, and the things that make it up don't even exist at all in essence. They are just illusions caused by psychic energy. But he can feel the essence of this thing, at least part of him can.

Battusa Narek smelled something like charcoal.

Angel Tai clenched his right fist, then released it. Hold it tight again, loosen it again. He turned it into a boring job, and as he stared at the star, some specious memories began to surface in his mind.

A third of a second later, the Word Bearer suddenly fell to his knees, took off his helmet and retched - just like Battusa Narek, he could also vaguely see the star. Nature.

He could see, and fear and disgust swept over him.

The 'hermit's' laughter turned into a roar after a few seconds.

"I knew it!"

His face flushed, anger flowing naturally from every pore. The rage generated by faith is so cruel that the faithful cannot tolerate any infidel acting wildly in their presence. The old priest waved his arms wildly and spoke nonsense like a madman at the top of the tall building.

"I knew there was something wrong with God's herd, I knew it! Heretics and demons were gnawing at our foundation, and the shepherds didn't respond! God-Emperor! Send down your punishment!"

Khalil did not stop the old pastor from expressing his emotions, nor did he remind the other two to stay calm. He understood them. All Word Bearers had the right to have doubts about the destruction of the Perfect City, but in the end only a few could see the truth.

These three people saw it, so their collapse is completely reasonable - in the past years, whether it was Hemot, Bartusa, or Angel Tai, they probably had it at one time or another. I have rarely thought about the word 'grievance'.

They probably all thought more than once that the destruction of the Perfect City was a complicated conspiracy and an unjust, false, and wrongful conviction. This is not the same as them coming to him with Luojia's orders. The Perfect City is a thorn that pierces deeply into their hearts.

But now, this thorn was pulled out by Khalil himself. The wounds were revealed again, and the rotting flesh and venomous pustules began to emit a rotting stench.

But this isn't the end, it's just the beginning.

Khalil reached out and removed the psychic energy. In the cold, they returned to the ground, and ashes and dust filled the earth again. He turned his head and looked in a certain direction not far away. What was once a mountainous area is now a hollow.

Turning around, he began to stride in that direction.

update completed.

Don't guess, nothing could happen to Khalil here.