40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 441 167. Terra (thirty-five)

Leon El'Jonson looked down at the spear in his hand between battles. It was quivering and gleaming, its blades heated by the death-bringing foehn winds, but it remained spotless.

It is hard to imagine that just now, it was used by a lion to pierce the enemy's shield, armor and flesh together. He raised his head. The foggy battlefield was still bloody, but they had advanced at least

No, there is no way to measure distance, or even time.

It doesn't matter.

He swung his sword and the spear was handed out at the same moment. The lion's blond hair has long been stained with blood. He is far more focused on killing than before, and he uses spears more than swords. This is a deliberate consolation that Leman Russ will be happy to see.

He killed two of the Word Bearers with a single slash and a jab, while those who remained looked at him in bewilderment, neither fleeing nor struggling.

Their choice was to talk.

"Son of God?" One of them muttered a question. "The gods say you are dead"

The lion's answer was another merciless slash, the blade shattering the scarlet armor and splitting flesh and bone cleanly into two. The bloody light disappeared in a flash, and the head flew high into the air.

Die? The lion twitched his lips indifferently. This expression certainly shouldn't be called a smile. It was just an instinctive reaction based on ridicule, but in the next second it was twisted into a terrifying murderous intention.

Death strikes again, and the beast of Caliban unleashes his ferocity. The giant sword was smashed down, and the spear was used as an axe. He killed the Word Bearers in the most brutal way.

As he expected, they were still just so-called recruits recruited, not the real elite of the Word Bearers. The lion paid no attention to this, but raised his spear and drove its handle deep into the ground.

Red meteors streak across the burning sky. The First Legion is announcing their arrival in the most ostentatious way. Countless darkness has been cleared and countless troops have been re-recruited. The organization was rebuilt, soldiers and officers walked side by side again, and the tattered tanks and armored vehicles turned into a torrent of steel and continued to speed forward indomitably.

The Dark Angels brought hope, they came late, but they brought hope nonetheless.

The lion bowed his head in thought.

The blade of the spear was close at hand, and his face shone with a gentle light, no longer sharp. For some reason, Leon El'Jonson suddenly felt a desire in his heart.

He wanted to hear a rush of running behind him, then Leman Russ's obnoxious shouts and energetic playfulness.

You thought I was dead, bro, right? ! ha! I fooled you! Now give me the spear, I'm going into battle!

He heard no such sound and continued on his way.

Never forget the duty we were born to do. A voice said in his heart. Our job is to kill, our job is to win. Victory or death, nothing more.

I know. replied the lion.

He and his angels, his wolves, continued to walk side by side. Everything was covered in blood and sludge, but they still fought.

For Terra, for the Imperium, and for humanity.

The demons are endless, and the traitors appear from the flanks, launching sneak attacks in the thick fog. They brought some heavy firepower that was never meant to be in their hands, and even had a few pre-placed death minefields.

Tanks and armored vehicles rumbled, and artillery roared. Every time you advance one meter, you have to kill four to five enemies, sometimes some savage-like cultists, and you don't know where they came from. Sometimes it's a clumsy Word Bearers recruit, but most of the time it's a demon.

They cover the sky, and their numbers are so numerous that it stings the eyes. The influence of the power of Chaos has made communication equipment unable to be used at all, and the chain of command has become dilapidated. No commander can carry out his orders to the entire army at this moment, not even the Lion.

What's more, he doesn't have this intention. He just wants to continue heading towards the Star Torch. Then - the Sons of Horus came, and another kind of Word Bearers, one more like daemons than Astartes.

The elite Gastalin Terminators and these hybrid monsters sneak-attacked the advancing artillery team from the rear right side at extremely high speeds. After the attack, they immediately escaped into the thick fog and evacuated.

Then there was another artillery position, which was also attacked. No one reported it to him, but the Lion still relied on his keenness to sense what was hidden behind these two similar attacks.

He smiled a little, because this kind of premeditated attack was definitely beyond the control of the wildlings and Word Bearers recruits.

This means that there are other people out there, people who know what they are doing but still choose to help them.

Then another instinct of the lion began to be awakened. Caliban's emerald green eyes suddenly brightened.

He just took one step, and the thick ash and cruel mud was replaced by the moist soil of the forest. He took a few more steps, and the ground changed again, returning from dirt to pale ashes.

He just appeared quietly behind the enemy group. The Word Bearers and the Sons of Horus knew nothing about this and were still busy harvesting the lives of the artillery squads. The pungent magic breath emanating from their bodies made the hairs of the lions stand on end.

For a moment, he refused to believe that what appeared before him was a human being, not a demon.

So, this is what you do to yourself? The lion raised his sword and spear in disgust. Disregarding justice, he willingly acts as a lackey and harms loyal people.

Self-degradation.

Rage burned in his heart, and he began to charge silently, facing this demonic tide alone.

Many members of the artillery team were still alive, but they could not help him. They had been loyal to their duties for long enough, and even their hearing had been destroyed by the sound of artillery. How could they fight against such a united demon army?

However, Lion El'Jonson would never sit idly by and watch them be slaughtered. He roared, attracting many traitors who were busy killing. When they saw him, they roared more, and the enemies swarmed over, which was exactly what the lion wanted.

He swung his sword to behead a Son of Horus. The heavy design and helmet of the Terminator could not help him, at least not this time. The lion sword killed him easily and slashed at another man.

The man tried to resist with the assault shield in his hand, so a spear pierced him from another angle. He only had time to kill two people, because the combined grenade launcher, autocannon, multi-melta or heavy flamethrower started firing at the next moment.

He began to dodge and block, his instincts driving his body, turning the lion into a flash of lightning. An incredible flash of lightning.

The bombs failed to hit him, the autocannons were blocked by his greatsword, and the hot melt was chopped up by his spear. The promethium fire was the only weapon that could slow his steps for a moment, but it only lasted for less than half a second.

The traitors were still firing, but the Caliban man in flames had already rushed out of the hellish heat with his hair and beards standing up. The hot wind burned the air, and he rushed into the center of the Terminators, finally showing his claws.

Slashing horizontally, splitting vertically, smashing down. Forehand slashing, backhand slashing, spear stabbing, spinning, waving, flying up and down. His figure floated in the bloody battle, like a blood-stained shadow, golden hair fluttering, but the emerald eyes were not stained with dust.

When he killed the twenty-second traitor in Terminator armor, they finally realized who they were facing. Then the Word Bearers came, armor and flesh intertwined, the mark of Chaos everywhere on them.

They surrounded him, and the leader opened his mouth with boastful pride, trying to say his name, but the lion strode over and beheaded him with a sword before he could say anything.

He himself did not realize how terrible this was. He was two hundred meters away from the man, but he only took one step to cross it.

The head flew up and spun. Before it landed, the scarlet armor gradually twisted in the screaming and twisting demon shadow, and a pair of flesh wings emerged from behind the spine and vibrated rapidly.

The Lion realized that his enemy was still alive and needed to escape. He didn't think, just reached out and pulled it down, and cut it completely in half with his sword.

All this happened in a third of a second.

There was no room for thinking, fighting, only fighting itself. Primitive and pure, the savagery of the lion was taking him to see the truth.

He had the skills of a knight and the heart of a man, but he was still a lion in the forest. When the territory is threatened, when the tribe is harmed by outsiders, this is what the lion will do - not to kill, but to retaliate.

Blood splattered, and the lion pounced on another Word Bearer. Time was slowed down, slowed down, slow enough for the lion to see every detail of the man's twisted face.

He saw fear, enlightenment, and madness. He even knew what this man was going to do, he was going to roar, to be brave, and attack him with the arms transformed into blades by the power of chaos.

So the lion dismembered him before he could do so, completely dismembered him. The internal organs and broken bones fell to the ground from the cut chest. He wanted to say something, but the lion slapped him away with his sword, shattering his jaw and skull.

At the same time, two other claws attacked his back from behind him, much faster than any Astartes. Despicable, effective, precise, ruthless - the only problem was that they missed.

Without any sign, the lion disappeared again. Only the moist forest scent and a green leaf slowly floated and fell to the blood-stained ground, as if mocking their incompetence.

At the same time, the Gastalin Terminators who had left the regiment to chase the artillery team and destroy the position were once again attacked by lion swords and wolf spears. The lion fell from the sky, cruelly dismembered one of them, and then disappeared again.

The sound of artillery fire disappeared, and the surroundings began to fall into silence. The traitors began to realize another thing-they were being hunted.

This was true, because every ten seconds or so, a lion rushed out from the dark corner, with its fangs wide open, biting one of them to pieces. His armor was covered with blood and steam, and he came only for their death.

Falcus Cayber also realized this, but he was not surprised. This was expected. As early as when he watched the Emperor's Children kill each other on the Spirit of Vengeance, he had foreseen this day.

Cayber knew that they would one day face off against the others on the battlefield, and that the Primarchs would join in the fight - except for his own.

His Primarch was no more, a shell of his former self. Horus Lupercal would not order his brother's Legions to kill each other, would not allow them to attack them, would not allow the Spirit of Vengeance to crash-land on Terra.

But he dared not resist. From beginning to end, Falkus Cayber had seen every detail, every bit of cruelty and coldness that was not his father's, and still he dared not resist.

How ridiculous, how sad, how deserved.

So, this is the ending he deserves.

Farkus Cable raised his bloodless lightning claw toward Leon El'Jonson, then lowered it.

bring it on.

He closed his eyes. The strong wind hit, and the moist earthy smell disappeared in a flash, and then sharp pain came from his chest. He opened his eyes and saw the eyes of the lion before darkness struck.

A green, completely ruthless, without any mercy.

That's how it should be. This is how you should treat me. He struggled to spit out half a broken syllable and wanted to say something, but he couldn't say anything anymore, not even tears.

"Farkus Kaibo." The lion nodded to him. "traitor."

The Son of Horus greeted his death with a silent smile. He fell to the ground, and his two hearts were completely destroyed at the same moment. This was the lion's method - but he was not really dead yet, and his eyes were staring blankly at the burning sky.

At the last moment of his life, he saw a golden light and a figure with wings on his back.

The dead Farkus Cable was the first to see Sanguinius' arrival.

——

Push it and do it again. Take a deep breath, exert force, push. Avoid the blade that is too big, use the pierced palms and fingers to fix the stone, push, and keep pushing. Take a deep breath, we're almost there, do it again, hold it with your shoulders

Then the stone fell, falling off the cliff and straight into the abyss. The wind howls, the dead scream, and the innocent souls roar. Khalil stood on the edge of the cliff watching it fall to the ground, and returned to the starting point, under the cliff, without saying a word.

He started pushing again.

There is golden light shining in his palm. Just as Constantin Waldo said, he has one more chance, one chance to recall his memory. Use it and the painful torture will be over, but he must continue to endure it.

not the right time yet.

He pushed up the stone with concentration, but some pictures flashed before his eyes. Three coalition forces and five original bodies in front of the Star Torch Gate. The burning fleet in orbit, the Queens of Glory biting each other, and the burning surface of Mars

and a fleet in the warp.

He smiled.

Come quickly. Conrad. How else would the god wake up for the last time?

4k for this chapter, one more chapter to go.