40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 323 43. Interlude: Knight and King of Knights (Part 1)

The sky is filled with yellow sand, the light is distorted by the temperature, and a man in a cloak is walking slowly in the desert. He looked injured and walked with a limp, but there was no trace of blood.

He would look back from time to time, as if looking for pursuers. There was no one chasing him in the hot desert, only a monotonous and endless sea of ​​sand staring coldly at him.

The man grunted from his throat, lowered his head thoughtfully, reached out of his cloak with a silver arm, and took out a canteen from his belt.

He unscrewed the screw cap unhurriedly, raised his head, and somehow kept the cool, clean drinking water from touching his lips, but a blade pierced the kettle the next second.

Luther was not surprised by this, or in other words, he had been prepared for it. At this moment, his free right hand slammed into the attacker's face. The latter tried to dodge, but was hit hard in the face by Luther with a broken kettle while retreating.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of electricity suddenly emitted from the surface of the kettle, and the attacker fell down. Luther rushed towards him, put his left hand against his chin, put his right knee against his chest, and hit him hard on the bridge of the nose with his right hand.

Blood spurted out, and the severe pain and physiological reaction made the man's eyes blurred and tears continued to flow. He struggled, trying to escape, but Luther took a deep breath, and his right knee exploded with strength at this moment.

With a bang, the attacker stopped moving, only his fingers were still twitching.

His mouth opened and closed, and foaming blood poured out of his mouth.

Luther sighed, pulled out a silver needle with a mechanical timer embedded at the end from his belt, and pierced it into the attacker's temple, and then he pressed the timer.

A countdown of one minute and thirty seconds began to beat. Luther wasted no time. As the attacker suddenly began to twitch violently, he asked: "Who sent you?"

The attacker made a muffled sound from his throat.

Luther frowned and asked again in the local language, but the attacker still didn't respond. He seemed to understand something and began to imitate phrases such as 'dad' or 'mum' in original tones.

It sounds funny, but the words for parents in various languages ​​are actually somewhat similar. This time, the attacker reacted a little and showed a somewhat innocent smile.

Luther shook his head, pulled out a short knife from his belt, inserted it from the chin, and stabbed the attacker through the head.

Blood and brains gurgled out from the gap in his jaw, but Luther immediately pulled out the blade without making a move, or immediately started running like the ninety-nine attacks he had encountered before.

This was the last assassin to kill him, and there was no need to waste any more energy. He sat next to the body and dug his left hand deep into the sand. After a few seconds, he got a reading.

"Forty-eight kilometers to go" Caliban sighed. "This is not a good assignment, Agent 21."

A voice came from his implanted headset: "Why? Don't you like this desert trip?"

"Assassinating a king, escaping from the city during the chaos, and then being chased by his best one hundred hounds in the desert, do you call this a journey?"

“At least Loperigo has a nice view.”

"I don't like the desert."

"You prefer the forest?"

Luther didn't answer the question, just drew his short sword and stood up from the ground. He walked a few more steps and retrieved the kettle. The tip of the knife belonging to the attacker was exposed, reflecting the bright sunlight on the side of the kettle.

Luther narrowed his eyes and pulled out the knife. Amidst the uncomfortable sound of metal friction, he turned the dagger over and saw the emblem on the handle.

An eight-pointed star.

As expected, the old knight calmed down, shook his hand in disgust, and let the short knife return to the attacker's chest.

"I heard you sighing." Agent No. 21 spoke again on the other end of the call channel. "what happened?"

"It's not a good thing." Luther replied coldly, turned around and left the desert. "You know what I mean."

There was a pause on the other end of the communication channel.

"Understood." Agent 21 said. "The cleaning process has already been started according to the prescribed procedures when you reported the first attacker. You just need to wait for the approval of the printer."

"Are you still using psykers to send him applications as before?"

"Otherwise? Half a galaxy away, is it possible that I have to board a ship capable of subspace jumping, run back to Terra, hand over the documents to him, and then come back to inform you?"

"Isn't that way inhumane?" Luther skillfully changed the topic so that his attention could be diverted from Loperigo's future encounters.

He has done similar things many times, but he is not numb yet. Luther himself couldn't say whether this was good or bad, he just thought of Caliban at certain times.

Or rather, the forest of Caliban.

"We are not fighting for humanitarian reasons, Luther." Agent No. 21 laughed. "Humanism can't make people like you and me abandon their original lives and wander aimlessly in the vast galaxy. We are already ghosts, Luther, you are still talking about humanitarianism?"

"I'm a knight," Luther said. "I swore an oath to protect civilians and fight for the innocent. This is my past life and it cannot be separated from me."

"Like Leon Al'Jonson?"

"You'd better not mention him," Luther warned. "I don't have time to talk to you about these things now. The Lion has his own will. What he wants to do has nothing to do with me."

"I need to remind you, Luther. In the past sixteen natural months of Terra, the Dark Angels Legion has had several different forces track down the place where you once appeared. Do you think this is the will of the Lion? ?”

".K."

"But maybe not." Agent No. 21 paused for a moment, and some kind of hoarse shouting came from the voice channel. It was the scream of psykers as they were forced to 'overclock' due to sending messages too far.

Luther had seen that scene once, and he shuddered, never wanting to see it again. Among the Sealbearer's agents, this behavior is nicknamed weakness.

"You'd better speak clearly," Luther warned. "I don't want to hear your subtle hints here that something might be wrong with the Dark Angels. I've talked to the Markbearer about this at least a dozen times, and I know better than you."

"I agree with you on this, but I hope you get to the extraction point quickly."

"Why?"

"Because the lion is with me." Agent 21 said. "Actually, he has a knight with a gun pointed at my head. You better come up quickly, Luther, I don't want to die for this, I will curse you."

The old knight hung up the communication and stood there for more than ten seconds before continuing to walk.

——

"Put the gun down, Coswayne," said Leon Al'Jonson. "This is an agent of a Sigil Bearer. I don't like them, but they must be treated with due respect."

"Then I am truly grateful, my lord."

Agent No. 21 replied with a pale face. She sat on a chair, her legs disappearing from her thighs. There are traces of prosthetic limbs on the severed limbs. As for where they are now, you can try asking the lion, if he is willing to answer.

"So, how did he answer?" Leon El'Jonson asked calmly.

"He didn't answer. I thought you could hear me," Agent 21 said. "I hope you won't be angry about this."

The lion glanced at her, a dark light flashing in his emerald green eyes: "Interesting, why do you think I would be angry because of this?"

"Well, because-"

"You'd better not do anything you shouldn't do," the lion warned. "Stop being such a weak, ignorant idiot, Agent 21, and take your hands off the arms of that chair. You are losing my respect for you."

As the voice sounded, Coswayne raised the gun in his hand again and pressed it against her forehead.

"."

In silence, Agent No. 21 raised his hands.

"Very well, now tell me, what is Luther doing on this planet?"

"This is confidential, sir. I have no right to tell you."

Agent No. 21 was no longer as nervous as before. She answered the Lion's questions extremely calmly, and even had time to observe Coswayne. The latter was unmoved by her observation and remained silent, just raising his gun.

"You can choose to remain silent on this matter, but I have the right to know other things." The lion narrowed his eyes and said. "For example, how much has Luther the Caliban done for you over the years?"

"There is a problem with your wording. Luther is not 'doing things for us'. He is one of us."

"He is a knight of the Order and the Grand Master of the First Legion."

"Not now." Agent No. 21 smiled at him. "In other words, it stopped a long time ago. Dear Lion, I noticed that you seem to be a little confused about the situation."

"Go on," the lion told her. "I allow you a moment of disrespect."

Agent No. 21 bowed slightly exaggeratedly: "Luthor is one of the agents of the Printer. In fact, he is now the most outstanding one among us. You know that your behavior of tracking him has violated the law to some extent. Did you follow the laws of the empire?"

"When everything is settled, I will return to Terra to find my father for trial." Leon El'Jonson said calmly. "You don't have to use words like law to pressure me. Even if Conrad Coates is standing here today, I still want to find out the truth."

Agent Twenty-One slowly lowered his hands and shrugged. She said nothing more and placed her hands neatly in front of her. Coswayen put away the gun again, but pushed her and her chair away from the bridge console.

The servitors looked at this scene in confusion and did not make any reaction. Thirty minutes later, a boarding signal began flashing on the console.

Leon Al'Jonson passed it by hand.

There is one more chapter.