40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 429 155. Terra (twenty-six)

"who?"

Bjorn heard Sol Tarvitz ask.

His smile fell quickly. He had something to say-not very civilized, but he resisted the urge in the end.

It was obviously not a wise move to scold an emperor in this situation. He quickly turned around and pointed the fist blade of his left hand at another person in the darkness.

The man glanced at him, but the sword in his hand was still pointing steadily at Ahriman on the ground. There was not a drop of blood on the sword.

"Sigismund" Bjorn whistled. "What day is it today? Are you here?"

"I have always been," Sigismund said quietly. "And I will be forever."

Bjorn glanced at his breastplate, which was densely covered with claw marks and dents. Only one component had been damaged to this point, and it was not difficult for him to imagine what kind of brutal battles the defenders had gone through before they arrived at Terra.

"Put down your sword," Sol Tarvitz said from behind him. "What a wild wolf. The throne is above, what will happen below? Another ship crashes on Terra?"

"Don't call me that," Bjorn said over his shoulder. "It's a pack of wolves, not a wild wolf—"

"—It's Eter, not the Nest." Sol Tarvitz answered his words and smiled softly. "I remember it all, Bjorn."

Lone Wolf looked at him strangely.

"I see," Bjorn said.

They sat together, a bonfire burning in front of them. It was an unwise idea to set up a camp under the current circumstances, but Bjorn agreed because Thor Tarvitz had just pointed out their mission to him.

Bjorn decided to join them, needing no reason. After all, what reason could be as noble and honorable as fighting for humanity?

Furthermore, although it is unwise to set up a camp when the enemy is unknown, if they want to protect the Star Torch, it is a different matter.

There weren't many of them anyway, so they might as well light a bonfire in the darkness to attract the enemies. However, there was one thing that concerned Bjorn.

He couldn't help but care.

He looked at the warrior named Thunder. At this moment, he was leaning on a moved stone and half lying on the ground, slowly sharpening the knife in his hand.

If anyone asked, Bjorn would admit one thing very simply, namely, that he liked the knife in the other man's hand very much.

That knife was a combat dagger, not a main battle weapon, but its wide blade and brutal arc proved that it had very good chopping performance. Furthermore, its owner maintained it very well.

Bjorn stared at Thunder sharpening his knife without blinking, as if he had forgotten everything that happened not long ago. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth.

"What are you looking at?" Lei Lei asked without raising his head. "The wolf in my impression is not an animal that likes to join in the fun."

"I'm watching you sharpen your knife." Bjorn decided to tell the truth. "At the same time, I'm still thinking about how I'm going to get this knife out of my hand."

Thunder finally looked up at him.

"Get it?" he asked, his voice very soft.

"Yes." Bjorn nodded, his voice also very soft.

"I'm afraid you won't be able to hold it before I die." Lei Lei grinned. "Besides, if this is the chat topic you finally came up with after thinking about it for a long time, then you are really a bad chatter."

Sol Tarvitz looked up from the monotony of counting bullets and took a moment to observe them. He ultimately came to the conclusion that there was no need to care.

After all, Thunder and Bjorn are the same kind of people to a certain extent.

Although they didn't get along for a long time, Tavitz still believed that Thunder had a survival philosophy that coincided with the wolves of Fenris. There was no way they could fight, and even if they did, he would be able to watch a good show.

Besides, he had another thing to do now.

"What is the name of this book?" he asked the disabled and blind Azek Ahriman, without any sympathy in his eyes.

Bjorn didn't hide what the Thousand Son had done; in fact, they didn't hide anything from each other. Except for Thunder, everyone told a story about the past.

Don't ask why, few people can say no to a wild wolf, especially around a campfire. Bjorn took the place of Ahriman, who did not want to speak, and told his part.

Ahriman thus received a new nickname, blurted out by Thunder after hearing the story. Surprisingly, there is no insult in this nickname.

"It has no name." Ahriman replied, looking down at the book.

A blind man looking down at a book - this thing is really bizarre, but Tavitz is too lazy to add details, even though the ancient book with a blade as the spine has issued a certain call to him more than once.

He swore that he would be an avenger, not an avenger.

"That's it." The Emperor's Son nodded without interest, and looked at Sigismund again, but the movement of his hands was not slow, and the explosive shells were still passing through his gauntlets one by one.

"Have you contacted the company?"

"No," said Sigismund.

He had his helmet on again now and was busy trying to access the comms channel.

There is no doubt that this helmet was recovered from someone who died in the war. There is no shortage of such things on the battlefield, and this has been the case since ancient times. However, for the Astartes, this dilemma is still very rare.

In other words, how cruel would a war have to be that would put the Astartes in such a predicament?

A few minutes later, the Imperial Fist took off the helmet he had picked up, turned it around, and placed it on the ground facing him. He had turned on the video recording function of the eyepiece. Tavitz knew what he was going to do, so he quietly closed his mouth and said no more.

"This is Sigismund," he said. "I don't want to talk about my title or military rank, that's meaningless. I'm a member of the Imperial Fists and that's it. I want anyone who receives this video or recording to head immediately in the direction of the Star Torch, we need support . Any form of support will do. Civilian, soldier, armed or just brave enough - the Star Torch needs you, the Empire needs you, if you can't figure out the direction, please close your eyes for a moment, you will. If you see the star, believe me."

He picked up his helmet, put it on again, and started sending.

"What a terrible speaker," Tarvitz heard the disabled Thousand Sons say. "But what he said was true."

"What's true?" Tarvitz asked.

"It's about the Star Torch."

Azek Ahriman raised his head slightly, his empty eyelids quite uncomfortable. He used the sound to locate the direction of Tavitz, who was currently facing him.

"I have no eyes, but I can still feel its brilliance. It's right behind us, isn't it?"

"Yes," Tavitz said.

He closed his eyes, and in the still darkness the crackling of the fire was still evident, along with the dissimilar breathing sounds of the other four.

The sound of Sigismund's breathing was produced inside the helmet, which seemed dull and serious. Azek Ahriman breathed carefully, like a fallen leaf. Bjorn's breathing is long and savage, and the Thunder lives up to its name, with each breath being the most pronounced and sometimes even loud.

Tavitz held his breath, and gradually he heard a sound that was different from the sound of breathing and his own heartbeat.

It was an extremely faint buzzing sound that should not have been caught by anyone, but it fell into his ears. At the same time, along with the sound, a bright golden pillar of fire suddenly rose from the darkness, illuminating the world after he closed his eyes.

Sol Tarvitz opened his eyes.

"Yes," he said to Ahriman. "It's right behind us, which means if no other reinforcements arrive, we're the last defenders."

After he finished speaking, he counted the last explosive bomb, pressed it into the magazine, hung it on his armed belt, and stood up slowly.

There were only five people in this team that was too broken to be called an army, and one of them was blind. However, at this moment, they all turned their attention to Sol Tavitz.

"I think we're going to hold it," Saul Tavitz said. "After all, we have the Imperial Fists here, we have the Space Wolves, we have the Emperor's Children, we have the Thousand Sons—"

"—and me," Thunder said. "Thunder Warrior."

"So we will hold here and die here." Sol Tarvitz continued. "But this is not actually a speech. After all, I am not good at words. But I just want to say that if death does come, I will be honored to die with you."

"Are you sure you want to include him?" Bjorn asked meaningfully.

Sol Tarvitz nodded solemnly, no one understood why he was so sure that Azek Ahriman would fight with them until the end - in fact, if Bjorn was asked to give this speech, he would not even Thousand Sons will be classified as combatants.

"I'm very grateful to you, Captain Tavitz." Azek Ahriman took a deep breath. "But I can't tarnish your glory. What I have done is enough to make me die ten thousand times. I am a person with no honor at all. If you calculate it hard, I can even be classified as a traitor. What's more, I have no ability to fight."

"So, are you willing to die with us?" Sigismund suddenly asked.

Ahriman was stunned, and for a few seconds he made a strange sound with his throat. Then he nodded sharply.

"Then that's enough," Tavitz said.

He closed his eyes and continued to stare at the burning star. Deep down in his heart, he actually already knew the outcome of the battle, but he would not accept it.

He didn't know how long this war would last, whether reinforcements would arrive, or what the situation was like outside. But, to be honest, he didn't care about these things at all.

Just like Sigismund doesn't care why he can get up from the siege of demons again and again, just like Thunder doesn't care why he can call out the dark flames, just like Bjorn doesn't care how many enemies there may be, just like Aze K. Ahriman did not care about his disability, but he still stood here.

—and Leon El'Jonson cares.

Sorry for being late. I still have a toothache after eating, so I am writing slowly.

In addition, the length of the Siege of Terra chapter is a last resort. I certainly won’t say that I want to divide this story into multiple novels like the main story (I would try if I could, but I obviously can’t), but I At least I want to explain all aspects clearly. That's about it. I wish you all good dreams.