40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 381 110. The Burning of Five Hundred Worlds (End)

Looking up to the sky, Lorgar Aurelion felt a breeze blowing through his fingers. He sat up, his new heart beating passionately in his chest, as if urging him to do something, but he would rather wait a little longer.

Resurrection took him a while, and it wasn't a good experience. Vulkan's carefully designed strategy forced him back into the darkness. Fortunately, the four gods' reactions were different, and they were not just reprimands.

He comforted himself with these words. After all, reacting was better than completely ignoring.

After a while, the Great Word Bearer stood up with a golden staff in hand and sighed on the broken glass-like ground.

"I already told you—" He lowered his head and looked at the charred corpse. "——This will have no consequences, Vulkan, but you are so stupid that you would rather turn a deaf ear. I will not die. The eyes of the gods are staring at the world through me. I am their eyes to see the world. I will Live forever."

He shook his head in pity, knelt down halfway, put the golden staff on the other side, and began to collect the remains.

He carefully picked up the gray-white powder and ashes with both hands and piled them next to the body that was still braving the heat.

He did this very meticulously and carefully, as if the bloody battle with Vulkan had never happened - which was absolutely not the case, but the battle did not have any impact on Luojia.

He did die for a moment, but soon came to life again. His body is filled with surging black ether, which connects him to the spirit of chaos.

Rather than the title of the Great Word Bearer, Lorgar Aurelion now should probably be called the embodiment of darkness.

After a while, he finally buried the ashes that were part of Vulkan under the remains of the Fire Dragon Lord. The golden staff was still put aside by him, but the air suddenly began to tremble.

A series of syllables that did not belong to any language came out of his mouth, making the world suddenly darken. The thick clouds that had been dispersed by the artillery fire were back at this moment, gathering in the gloomy sky and blocking out the sickly sunlight that was left.

The gorgeous ocean that belongs exclusively to subspace began to surge magnificently, smearing wantonly on a dark curtain. At this moment, those few Macraggeans who still dared to look up to the sky fell into great fear.

They are witnessing with their own eyes a beautiful scenery that most people in the human race have never seen before, but this does not mean luck, because the only things behind this beautiful scene are death and destruction.

In nature, beautiful colors often represent danger.

Luo Jia closed her eyes, clenched her fists, and kept chanting.

His voice is like a ballad, in which the Eightfold Path is contained. The power of music is stirring up the already weak foundation of the world here. The power of chaos greedily smells the scent of the world of the living through him, and he is obsessed with it. Unaware of this.

He was still thinking with pity - I told you so, brother. I will die, but I will be reborn.

To you, death may be no different than coma. But in the meantime you will be unarmed and you will face a terrible fate, I'm not lying.

After a while, the song was finished. The Colchis slowly opened his eyes. The pupils had disappeared, leaving only darkness. He stretched out his hand and grabbed Vulkan's remaining limbs with such force that the already fragile remains began to shatter like flying ashes.

The strong wind gradually picked up, and his skin began to emit light as bright as the sun, illuminating his entire body almost transparently. If anyone could watch here at this moment, they would find out what a terrifying truth is hidden under Luo Jia's skin.

What shines through under the light is not bones or flesh, but thousands or tens of thousands of nightmarish creatures. They pushed up his skin, and when he used his strength, they twisted freely underneath, creating terrifying depressions or bulges.

For example, at this moment, he was staring at his brother solemnly, gathering strength, trying to make him see the truth, but his face was changing.

The face belonging to Lorgar Aurelion was skewed to a terrifying degree, and a dark liquid, unknown to be blood or mud, gurgled from his seven orifices.

When it drips on the ground, the glass turns into black stones. When it drips into the air, cracks appear, and dark shadows dance and twist wildly in them.

The Great Word Bearer laughed happily, his skin was trembling, his flesh was moving, and his bones had long since disappeared. He was like a doll made of clay, without any self at all.

This was the truth, but only he could not see it.

After a few minutes, the strong wind had formed a storm, and no one could enter it.

Luojia held Vulkan's hand tightly and began to formally pray for the power of the gods - as always, his prayers were answered.

Amidst the angry heat waves, the indulgent warmth, the diseased ichor, and the changing stars, Vulkan's remains began to be covered in radiance.

At this moment, Perturabo stepped off a speed attack craft.

There is an elite force beside him, which is by no means small. Their armor is covered with blood and dust, both of which come from the corpses of demons. The desire to kill still lingers in my heart, but I can't take another step beyond the thunder pool. My reason has become steel.

The speed attack boat stopped at the edge of the storm. It could no longer go deeper. The mechanical power would eventually be exhausted. Perturabo looked into the distance in silence, the storm mixed with the rich smell of blood was destroying his sense of smell.

It was blood red, but had an unsettling golden light. The mixture of such complex scenery created a swirling, distorted light on Perturabo's retina, which was extremely disgusting.

But he must stand here.

In the past forty-four minutes, more than eleven detonation signals have been sent to the Lord of Steel's armor. Only this one must come in person, because Vulcan's signal is also here.

Perturabo tried calling, but no one answered, so he knew that his stupid brother might have done something that ordinary people could not bear, and had caused some consequences that ordinary people could not bear.

This matter made him a little annoyed. He had just asked it, and his tone was even close to an order, but he still got such a result. Vulcan's behavior amounted to disobedience, and in war this kind of thing would not be tolerated.

But Perturabo couldn't blame Vulcan for disobeying his failed coach.

He even wanted to laugh a little - if he were to do it himself, I'm afraid he would choose to turn a deaf ear to the words of a coach like him.

But there is another reason for this, and that reason is determination.

After seeing clearly what existed in the warp, Vulkan made up his mind. He once told Perturabo that he would prevent civilians from being exposed to these things or being harmed by these things at all costs.

His determination was extremely heavy, but the Lord of Steel was not willing to give in too much.

He knew that it was true that the Emperor might have told them countless lies about the truth of the Empire and the warp, but even if these lies were added together, they would not be enough to compare with the horror of the warp.

At this moment, all the important locations in Macragge City, whether they are scenic spots, military camps or municipal buildings, have all the powerful explosives owned by the Macragges buried and installed underneath and inside them.

There were also orbital weapons launch platforms. After obtaining permission, Perturabo manually controlled three separate launch platforms and aimed them at Macragge City.

They are just the beginning.

After these three weapon platforms are activated, many data packets that have been prepared will be sent through the internal network to the thinking space shared by all servo divisions.

They will be confused by the sudden extra data, and as long as one of them clicks on it, all the weapon platforms will aim at Macragge and fire for at least one round.

If the Union Army loses, all these backup plans will be activated immediately without any hesitation. Even if someone senses something is wrong, the Iron Warriors who have already been assigned to the designated position will ensure that his plan goes smoothly.

Both jade and stone will be destroyed, that's all.

Yes, there are civilians who will die for this. Those who did not have time to move to the underground shelter will also die. His children and his brother's children will probably all die.

This means that the Lord of Steel will once again have his hands stained with the blood of loyalists, and he will completely break his oath.

But it doesn't matter.

He didn't care, his hands were already bloody. Thirty years in advance, looking across the galaxy, who doesn't know that he is a sick general who likes to let his soldiers die one by one, and likes to let them die worthless? That's the kind of person he is, it doesn't matter.

What's more, rather than letting the Word Bearers drink the blood of innocents and transform them into warp monsters in eternal torment, it would be better to just let them die as loyalists.

Anyway, he will be able to resist the infamy.

If Roboute Guilliman wants to hate him afterwards, so be it, that's what he deserves, and that's the reward he deserves. If the surviving Macraggeans want to scold him for causing them to lose their home, let him scold him for it.

If Eltros is going to show up, then so be it.

"Activate the final line of defense." Perturabo ordered, his tone was very calm, as if he was just chatting.

He still couldn't see clearly what was in the storm, but he could vaguely detect something through his intuition. His command fell on the ears of Dantioch, as well as Gallo, Athelus Numean, and Valentus Dorro.

They came from Guilliman's court and gathered here, as if they were about to witness something. But they didn't understand who Perturabo was saying this to, until a broken message came from the communication channel. The sigh of Frix the City Lord.

".I understand, my lord." said the First Captain of the Iron Warriors. "May you return victorious."

"Let's leave the conversation for later. Fricks, can't you change this problem? You always like to talk about irrelevant things."

Perturabo sneered, holding the war hammer, and strode into the storm.

Dantioch immediately and instinctively wanted to follow, but was firmly restrained in place by an order.

"Retreat immediately, all of you. Go fight in the city, and assist civilians and active forces to retreat underground to prepare for the second round of fighting. Everyone must obey my orders, and violators will be expelled from the legion and will never be allowed to fight again. Then fight as the Iron Warriors, Death Guard, Salamanders or Ultramarines."

"You have no right to do such a thing!" cried Athelus Numeon. "We only obey our Father!"

"You can try it, Artiles." Perturabo's voice sounded hoarsely in the communication channel. "I am the commander-in-chief of the Union Army. In this war, my power is supreme. Tell me, are you going to disobey the commander-in-chief?"

Salamander pursed his lips tightly and looked at the warsmith for help. The latter avoided his sight, returned to his speeder with a hard heart, and began to operate in manual mode.

No one could see his expression, the iron mask covered everything except a pair of burning eyes.

Valentus Doro sighed and issued orders to the Ultramarines. At this moment, the only person left was Garro, and the Death Guard could only show a half-crying expression when facing the eyes of Salamander.

"I can't humiliate him, Atlas." Garro said.

"You have no supporters now, right, Captain?" Perturabo asked.

He sounded a little proud.

Unfortunately, Atlas couldn't confirm whether this was true or his illusion. Because the voice of the Lord of Steel had become somewhat intermittent, and the background noise originally generated by electromagnetic waves was now replaced by the soft howling of monsters.

In a trance, a picture appeared in front of Atlas Numaion, and he even felt that Perturabo was walking alone in purgatory.

"I beg you--" Atlas Numaion opened his mouth again and made a last attempt.

As it should be, he was rejected.

"- I will rescue Vulcan." Perturabo whispered. "We are about to face a dark age, Atlas. We will return to ignorance and barbarism. In such a world, Vulcan will be more useful than me, and he can make the empire go further."

"Our father will never agree with you, and neither will I. If things are really as you say, mankind needs an iron-fisted ruler."

"Don't deny me." Perturabo said. "I see farther than him, and farther than you. I am always right. Cruelty and high pressure may make us win for a while, but if we need to walk into the light, we need people like him."

"So, leave."

He hung up the communication without question.

Atheles Numaion clenched his fists and listened to his heartbeat. After a brief silence, he resolutely led his brothers away from here.

The storm is still there, but the people are gone. Above Macragge's orbit, in the tortured Mandeville Point, a fleet is warping in.

There is another chapter of 6k, the end. Maybe 7k? Not sure.