40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 414 140. Interlude: The Day Terra Was Broken (7.8k)

Why Terra was broken for 10,000 years, and what happened on the day Terra was broken - these two things have become the ultimate questions that plague all historians, devout believers, and simple doers. .

They worked tirelessly and desperately to pursue the truth of these two incidents.

In the investigation of historians, this matter can be generally attributed to the rebellion of Horus Luperkar and Lorgar Aurelion, the repeated instigation of Alpharius, and the unscrupulous tactics of the enemy of Chaos. various invasions.

However, these are just inducements, and the real cause remains unclear until now. Many people are trying to pass through the dust of history and board the broken Terra, trying to find clues from the ruins.

But none of them came back.

Unlike historians who seek truth from facts, devout believers try to explain the reasons from a religious perspective. It was the God-Emperor who shattered Terra, because only in this way could humanity continue to survive.

However, there can never be only one sect of believers.

In some areas, a church that prays to the God-Emperor during the day will turn into a gathering place for another group of people after midnight. During the day, the sacred and majestic statue of the God-Emperor will also turn into a gloomy ghost wearing a dark robe.

In the mouths of these people, it was He who broke Terra.

But who is He and what kind of God is He? What did He do? Why did He do this? None of these questions can be explained, and only a few vague words are circulated among their so-called 'doctrine'.

Such as revenge, judgment and punishment. The high degree of distrust, as well as the behavior of not worshiping the God-Emperor and even blurring his statue, made this sect be classified as a complete cult within the state church.

As for those good guys

They don't speculate, they don't study, they don't pray. They only do one thing.

"Are you ready?!"

"Just throw me down!" Cassidorius Delkunas roared. "Hurry! Otherwise you will miss the time!"

His roar was so violent that it didn't sound like a normal human voice at all. For a moment, his roar almost overwhelmed the roar of the engine of this small shuttle.

Its pilot cursed and immediately pressed a button on the console. The deck cracked, and Cassidorius Delkunas fell out of the shuttle, suddenly appearing in a very dangerous posture in the dark night dotted with dim scarlet.

At the same time, the driver's voice came from his headset, with dissatisfaction, rough tone, but full of admiration.

"They say you have five hours, Cassidorius."

"That's totally enough."

He said, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he adjusted his posture and began to fall rapidly.

A strong wind blew in my face, bringing with it a terrible cold. The combination of the two brought a terrifying low temperature that could freeze an ordinary person to death in an instant, but it had no effect on Cassidorius.

There was a faint red light under his skin, emitting intense heat. High-temperature steam radiated from around Cassidorius's body, forcing the ice to be unable to attack.

The strong wind was like a knife, cutting the air, and he widened his eyes in the strong wind to make sure that he had seen the landing position correctly.

He clearly saw a huge ruin.

It was wrapped in darkness, the thick fog escaped, and the moonlight from nowhere shone on it, making it pale and eerie. It stood ten thousand years ago and has not collapsed even in ruins. Rogal Dorn's design is really amazing.

With respect to the Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Cassidorius activated the jetpack on his back.

Fortunately, it did not malfunction due to low temperatures and strong winds like last time, which shows that the Mechanic-Priest of Mars really took his advice. Cassidorius sighed with contentment, and then slowly landed.

He narrowly missed landing in a tower that had lost its top floor. And he didn't waste any time and started running as soon as he landed.

The rotten wooden floor and main structure of the tower miraculously withstood his mad dash. He ran all the way to its edge and clearly saw the scene outside the ruins through the breach caused by the bombing - it was a scene of horror. The person is pitch black, with no other colors visible.

There was only pure darkness, far beyond the limits of what the human eye could capture.

It's a deep darkness.

Cassidorius gritted his teeth habitually, took out a lighting rod from his waist, threw it over, and jumped down.

The height of more than ten meters did not have any impact on his body - this time, he came fully armed and prepared, and he would never be confused by various situations like the last time.

The lighting rod fell into the darkness and rolled a few times, but did not emit any light. Cassidorius looked down at his right wrist. On a silver watch, the Imperial Sky Eagle was shining brightly.

He pressed the Sky Eagle smoothly, and a light green screen appeared, with a coordinate point clearly pointed out on it. He walked forward, fearlessly into the darkness.

But just as we entered, the temperature began to drop further. In just a few seconds, Cassidorius's skin was covered with a thick layer of frost. He didn't take it seriously, and just kept throwing out the lighting rod and looking down at his watch.

He knew nothing about his surroundings, but he could rely on the guidance of his watch to find the lighting rods one after another. Only when he actually found them could Cassidorius see a little bit of light.

The ground was muddy and exuded a strong smell of blood. Shell casings and weapons were buried in the dirt mixed with flesh, making walking difficult. Ten thousand years later, no one can collect these bones and weapons.

Cassidorius sighed.

"Four hours and thirty-one minutes," he read out a number and shook his head.

After another eleven minutes, he finally left the dark fog. At this moment, under the eerie moonlight that should not appear, he finally saw the goal of his trip.

How can one describe this scene?

At least, Cassidorius couldn't describe it in any language. He just stretched out his hand tremblingly, groped behind his waist, took off his portable camera, and started taking pictures.

Under the moonlight, in a dilapidated corner of the Terra Palace, a damaged Titan leaned quietly on the ruins. Its surface was covered with dust, but it was not enough to cover a god's machine, so those terrible bullet holes and the charred blackness left by the bombing remained on its surface.

It was obvious that it died in a fight.

Unfortunately, Cassidorius did not know its exact model and could not even identify its coat of arms. He was not taught this knowledge, and the mechanical priest responsible for connecting with him didn't actually like the personified Titan very much.

But who will care about him now?

Cassidorius bowed to the Titan with great respect, then continued walking and entered a corner of the palace from under it. But just as he entered, he saw many withered bones.

Most of them were mortals like him, their military uniforms rotting and hanging empty on their bones. Some of the dead had guns in their hands, while others had only knives to use. Cassidorius bowed, took his picture, and then walked past them.

He turned a corner and saw many Astartes. Mostly the Imperial Fists, then the Iron Hands. He silently bent down, saluted and bowed again, and then raised the camera in his hand.

By convention, a good-for-nothing like him—or, in other words, an officially certified explorer—needs to write a final account of the fallen.

At some point these photos would be sent to the chapter or unit in which they had served during their lifetime, and then this part of the job would no longer be Cassidorius's business. Naturally, others will dig up their names from history, and it will be worth it.

These withered bones have been lying on the broken Terra for a full ten thousand years. There was no honor during this period. Even the troops they once served could not accurately count the names of each deceased.

After all, most of the troops were rebuilt after the war, and apart from their names and numbers, they have nothing in common.

And loyalists never deserve this kind of treatment.

Cassidorius took photos silently, one after another. The monotonous shutter sound of the camera kept ringing in the ruins, as well as the sound of his footsteps. He kept going deeper without any fear.

There is no need for this, why should he be afraid of the heroes who once protected mankind?

Until there was a sound of footsteps.

Cassidorius suddenly hung the camera back on his waist, and pulled out the exquisite plasma pistol equipped by the Martian Mechanicus with his backhand.

Fifty-five processes, meticulously crafted. Fitted to his palm, individually molded, and designed just for him. A work of ingenuity from the Adeptus Mechanicus, representing absolute precision and absolute destruction.

There is even a ribbon of the Emperor's Holy Words baptized by a senior priest of the Ecclesiastical Church hanging under its barrel - such a weapon may not be seen in some Astartes Chapters, so why does it appear? In his hands?

The answer is simple.

The exploration of Shattered Terra has begun slowly and cautiously for four hundred and sixty-six years. Countless people died for it, but it was totally worth it. They used their lives to bring back the names of the deceased, as well as countless valuable experiences and lessons.

For example, no exploration should last more than twenty-five hours, and all explorers should be equipped with full armor and weapons, e.g.

Cassidorius pulled the trigger sharply.

The brilliant blue light illuminated his face and also illuminated things in the darkness.

It was a red monster with gnarled muscles. It stood upright on its back legs, with two horns on its head and a sharp sword in its hand. It is worth mentioning that its body appears very illusory, almost transparent.

However, Cassidorius did not doubt its authenticity at all - a growl of disgust erupted from the throat of the descendant of the Delkunas family, followed by a violent rebuke.

"demon!"

The plasma light group burst out again and hit the vampire's head with one shot. It twitched and fell, blood spreading all over the floor.

This was not the end however, Cassidorius continued to fire as more demons swarmed in from the shadows. The explorer showed no fear at all, he just fired.

Just fire.

This is not the first time he has dealt with these so-called 'echoes', he has fought them as early as the first exploration.

These demonic echoes from the bloody battles thousands of years ago do not have real life, but are just a remaining obsession.

Their greed for human flesh and souls persisted in the sixty-five fragments of Holy Terra, thus creating this so-called echo.

Compared to real demons, these things are really weak. One shot can kill several of them instantly, but the number is really astonishing. It took Cassidorius twelve minutes to end the battle. He really didn't know how the soldiers ten thousand years ago faced such a demonic tide.

The things he fought were just echoes, things with less than one-tenth of the power of the main body, and what about them?

The explorer lowered his head in silence and glanced at the withered bones. He put away his gun, took out his camera, and began to dig deeper. After passing several winding corridors, he saw a circular square - at least it had been a square.

Judging from the stacked crates, as well as the decaying weapons and armor, it was probably used as a temporary mobilization point tens of thousands of years ago.

Cassidorius raised his hand and took another picture. He wanted to leave right away. After all, there was not much time left. He had to return to the evacuation point before the five-hour deadline came. However, just a second before leaving, he suddenly stopped.

Crate?

He turned his head sharply and rushed to the piled boxes in three steps at a time. He bent down and began to look at the boxes with great concentration, and they gave him a quiet, decaying gaze.

The surroundings were quiet, there was no sound, the air was filled with chill, and there was no rotten smell like other ruins. After careful observation, Cassidorius discovered something with a shudder.

The boxes showed obvious signs of being moved.

Someone—or something—brought them here.

"This is the third assembly point." A voice suddenly sounded from behind him. "This is where we mobilize and distribute weapons."

Cassidorius turned around quickly, and the plasma was already in his hands. He thought he would see a monster, or something similar, but he was stunned.

He saw a middle-aged man with gray hair, wearing a blood-stained military uniform, with his hands behind his back, staring at him with his chin raised like he was reviewing his subordinates.

"Who are you?" Cassidorius asked warily.

"I am Major Sad bin Salah ibn Rashid Al Latib of the 21st Infantry Regiment of the Terra Defense Forces." The man slowly spit out a long and scary name. . "You can just call me Major, or Ibn."

Cassidorius was silent for a moment and replied: "A man of good luck? Is this what your name means?"

"Only part of it," the major said. "You seem very knowledgeable."

"Me?" The explorer shook his head, but the gun in his hand was still pointed at the major. "I'm not knowledgeable. I'm a notoriously dissolute kid in my family. I know nothing but eating, drinking and having fun."

"family?"

"I'm from the Delkunas family."

The major thought for a moment and nodded clearly: "That Rogue Trader family - it seems that your family has continued well."

"What do you mean?"

"Ten thousand years have passed, Delkunas," the Major said. "And you still exist, and you still have that gun, so your family continues well."

The major looked at it.

"Seiko level, what a good gun. I have seen many explorers, but they don't have such weapons like you. Your family has reached a cooperation with the Mechanicus?"

". Deep cooperation." The explorer said. "You said you have met many people like me? What do you mean?"

"Need I be more obvious, Delkunas?" The major looked at him and shook his head.

To be fair, his natural overlooking attitude really made Cassidorius feel itchy, but he did not lose his mind because of this anger.

Similarly, he did not relax his vigilance against the major just because of his words, and the plasma was still firmly held in his hand.

"Your words are full of hints, and I don't know whether they are true or false. But, at least to me, these hints sound like fabricated lies. I don't believe that anyone can tell the truth in sixty-five fragments. I don’t believe even one of them has survived to this day——”

Cassidorius was suddenly speechless, for no other reason than the major stepped forward and reached out to hold the barrel of the plasma gun. No, maybe not 'hold', but pass. The five fingers of the right hand went straight through the barrel of the gun and slowly closed into a fist.

"—I did not survive, Delkunas," the major said. "None of us have."

The cold wind blew by, and the explorer couldn't help but froze for a few seconds. The impact of this incident on him was really severe, but he quickly remembered another thing.

This year is already the 466th year since the investigation into Broken Terra began. In past investigations, it was not unusual to witness ghosts.

Although the general public may not know about this matter, most people in organizations such as the Ministry of Military Affairs, the Mechanicus and even the State Church have a specific consensus on this matter, that is, there is indeed something "haunted" on Terra.

According to the investigation reports that Cassidorius had read, ghosts were just illusory entities, and they were basically incommunicable and could only repeat some mechanical actions and words.

It was definitely not like what the colonel showed in front of him at this moment. He was able to think for himself, and he could even act to 'provide evidence' in order to prove something.

"How do you explain those crates?" Cassidorius suddenly asked. "How do you explain them, Major? They were moved here. It has been ten thousand years. The wood should have rotted into slag long ago, but they can still bear the responsibility of carrying heavy objects."

"I don't have to explain," the major said.

He turned around and walked into the deep darkness in front of Cassidorius. His figure was completely hidden in it for only a moment, but his voice was not like that. His voice was still calm, and even reached Cassidorius's ears accurately.

"You're here for the truth, aren't you?"

"What truth?" the explorer asked knowingly.

"The truth about the day Terra was shattered," the Major said. "You wonder what it was that broke, you wonder what happened that day, and that's why you're here."

"What does that have to do with you?!" Cassidorius asked loudly into the darkness.

He couldn't wait for an answer, but he didn't need any so-called answer, because the world in front of him was changing. Ashes hung upside down from the ground, the air began to tremble, and a thin and continuous clicking sound came from the void, ringing clearly and audibly in his ears.

It ticks like a clock hand. Cassidorius lowered his head instinctively and glanced at his watch. But it no longer displayed the time. The light green screen was flashing through seemingly insignificant numbers one after another wildly and disorderly.

Looking at them, Cassidorius's heart began to beat faster - he could read binary language, so he knew what the combination of these numbers meant.

"Revenge." He said them with difficulty. "The time has come?"

"Yes," said the major.

"It came and lasted for ten thousand years, and Cassidorius—"

He walked out of the darkness, his blood-stained military uniform had become neat, and he had an ancient standard laser gun in his hand. The helmet pressed against his white hair, and his face was dripping with sweat. A dazzling bloody red light fell from above their heads, replacing the moonlight.

Suddenly there was a burst of violent footsteps behind them. Cassidorius instinctively looked back and saw a group of soldiers charging towards him. He instinctively closed his eyes. The strong wind came, but nothing happened to him.

They rushed past him, and the explorer turned again, sluggishly. Seeing the raging fireball braving hellfire screaming from the sky and smashing the dome, the demon climbed on it, jumped off the fireball with a maniacal laugh, landed on the ground and started killing people.

The ground shook, and a group of Astartes in bright yellow armor rushed out of the darkness on the other side and began to fight them. Everything is becoming chaotic, Cassidorius's ears are full of roars and death.

He stared blankly at everything in front of him, not knowing how to react, but he saw a large piece of ferocious flames falling from the sky, burning the flesh and blood of the demons. A huge shadow slowly rose, covering him.

The explorer raised his head blankly and saw a god's machine full of mechanical beauty. Every component of it was so beautiful and full of power - in contrast, it looked ferocious with blood all over its body at this moment.

The glory of the Ohm Messiah stood in front of him, roaring angrily, and the mania of the machine soul rushed into Cassidorius's eyes like a substance through the flashing red light above his head. He couldn't help but clenched his fists, and the handle of the plasma pistol creaked in his hands.

"—and this is only the beginning," said the Major, standing beside him. "What you see is just the tip of the iceberg, but that doesn't matter. Look up, Cassidorius."

According to what he said, the explorer, who had lost the ability to think for himself, raised his head, not even paying attention to where the major learned his name.

In the night sky, he saw a scarlet crown. Just floating there quietly, complete, brilliant, but uncontrollably suffocating.

"Remember this, Cassidorius," the major said quietly. "Twenty-five hours after the start of the Defense of Terra, a god awakened in Terra."

As he finished speaking, the sky suddenly began to darken.

A burning battleship appeared from the dissipating clouds. The bow of the ship looked like a ghost in black robes, and the crown suspended in the sky appeared exactly on its head, like God's will.

Then, the battleship began to fall, or in other words, fall - fall at a very fast speed.

Its hull with the Chaos Eight-Pointed Star painted on it passed the atmosphere tightly, burning and pressing down, hitting the ground of Terra heavily with the force of a mountain.

Cassidorius suddenly began to vomit.

He fell to the ground in a violent, terrible tremor that seemed like the earth was falling apart. There was a burning smell in the air, and his eyes swept around wildly, and he saw that the ground was cracking, and demons and magma were laughing wildly in the supernatural cracks.

"The name of this ship is the Spirit of Vengeance," said the Major, still holding his gun. "It was once the flagship of Horus Luperkar."

He paused, as if he meant something.

".But not now. Now, it is a premeditated altar ship. It has been waiting in the subspace for a long time. There is no concept of time there, Cassidorius."

"Long before the Spirit of Vengeance was a Spirit of Vengeance, the name it stood for was already there waiting. From the beginning of time to the end of time it existed, as so do gods. It is He The exclusive altar will also become the only altar from now on.”

"What are you talking about?"

His eyes were red.

"The truth." The major said. "The truth of the day Terra was broken. You want to know why it was broken. This is the reason. From a physical perspective, it was because the Spirit of Vengeance hit Terra and brought the evil magic of the Warp. It penetrated deep into the core of Terra."

"But, but." Cassidorius covered his throat and gasped as if he couldn't breathe. "Reinforcements-"

"-Yes, reinforcements." The major laughed. "The Loyalists are coming, at all costs. If you have the gift of psychic powers, you can see them now."

"You will see the White Scars Khan and his men bloodied on Terra following the Spirit of Vengeance."

"You will see Sanguinius and his angels flung from the Signus system to Terra by the Warp Storm."

"You will see the scarred Lion leading the Dark Angels to Terra from the forests of Caliban."

"You will see a massive fleet coming from Ultramarine, unimpeded. Ultramarines, Iron Warriors, Death Guard, War Hounds, Raven Guard, Salamanders, and the Midnight Blades destined to land on Terra."

"But."

The Major raised his gun.

"Until they arrive, we will have to hold this place, Cassidorius."

The explorer froze, a terrible guess forming in his mind.

"Five hours, that's your time, Cassidorius," the Major said. "And we are ten thousand years. Every night for ten thousand years, we have been fighting here."

"We accept our fate. Starting from the twenty-fifth hour, we will fight forever. We die and then reborn in the next morning. Every night, we will arrive in the past from the future."

"We shape the past from the future. This is the meaning of our existence. Terra is destined to be broken and destined to become an altar. Its time is chaotic, so we can fight for hope again and again."

A group of people walked in front of them.

The armor was torn, the uniform was stained with blood, and the bones were reborn. The Imperial Fists saluted him, the Iron Hands saluted him, and the soldiers saluted him-Cassidorius opened his mouth unconsciously, and tears flowed unconsciously.

He wanted to ask, why do I deserve your treatment like this? How do I know this?

Then, a hand grasped the plasma.

Really grasped, really held in the hand.

"Because of this gun." The major said.

"What?" Cassidorius asked with trembling lips.

"In your memory, the exploration of the broken Terra began 466 years ago. But it's not for us."

"It started 10,000 years ago. You saw those floating fortresses on the way here, right? Every regiment participated in it, built along the fragments of Terra in the cold vacuum"

"All the fighting is just for today, Cassidorius, just for your arrival. That's why we appear before your time comes. You are the 55,555th explorer to land on Terra, and you carry this gun."

"It lays a foundation for victory. This is the established future, forged by us from the past."

He reached out to take it away, and Cassidorius looked at him in a daze, unable to say a word.

The major saluted him and put a gem in his hand.

"I will make the best use of it." He said seriously. "For humanity."

After the words fell, everything suddenly disappeared, and Cassidorius sat up suddenly - a crowd of people were standing in front of him staring at him, some were huge, some were short, some were wearing steel armor, some were wearing robes, and he didn't care about any of them.

He spread out his right hand.

A gem was shining quietly there.

The name of the major in this chapter comes from David, a friend in the book group, Saad bin Salah Ibn Rashid Al Ratib, which can be understood as the son of the right path, the son of justice, and the man of good luck. Thanks for his advice.

I'm sorry for the late update, that's all for today, a lot of things have happened recently, and I'm not in a very good state. This chapter may not be able to write the desired effect, I'm sorry. In addition, this chapter actually has a lot of foreshadowing, if you are interested, you can sort it out, and I will add more if you guess all.