40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 541 59.Primal Fear (Part 3, The Birth of Robert Guilliman)

As an Astropath, Mariel has served her only master, Robert Guilliman, for nearly half a century.

To an astropath, this number is almost unbelievable. Most of them are premature senile people, which is the price of being an astropath.

It may be cruel to say it, but they themselves also know this - to put it in slightly blasphemous terms, they are actually an indispensable and precious consumable for the empire.

Regarding this matter, people can find the most direct evidence from the captain of the expedition fleet.

Every captain will do their best before the start of each voyage, making many rounds and making repeated requests to apply to the Astropath for more Astropaths to be brought on board.

For no other reason than to be able to directly 'replace' them when something goes wrong. After all, no one can guarantee whether they will make it to the end of the voyage unharmed, so the captains must make two plans.

Therefore, Mariel's service can undoubtedly be regarded as a miracle, but in fact, this miracle is artificial. The reason why she is alive today is only because of a magic circle. Its designer's name has been erased, but this does not diminish its power.

It was it that dispersed the spies from the subspace for Mariel, and it was also the one that protected her fragile soul from the damage she suffered every time she sent astrological messages in some way - but now, she felt that her death might be Just today.

There is no other reason, just because of what she 'saw'.

Mariel had already lost her eyes, and the sequelae caused by the soul-binding ritual even caused her to lose a small part of her sense of taste. However, for a well-trained and experienced astropath, these are no problems.

She could still perceive most of the things she wanted to see. Therefore, of course she could see the monster bearing the face of her lord. Not only could she see the thing squatting on the ground eating, but she could even see its face clearly.

To be honest, it was a flawless face, with no wrinkles born from fatigue and pain, no wind and frost from years of fighting, his eyes were as bright as the blue flames of a plasma engine, and his blond hair was as bright as the midday sun.

Such a perfect and divine face was now covered in blood. He lay on the ground with his mouth wide open and greedily licked the broken flesh and blood. He used his long tongue to roll away every bit of tendon and nerve stuck in the bones. He was so greedy. Discomforting.

A dozen minutes ago, these flesh and blood were once living people, loyal astropaths, and an entire choir. But now, they are just bloody corpses one after another.

Mariel even believed that she might be the only survivor of the choir.

As early as the riot on the ship began, the Astropaths entered a state of meditation in accordance with Guilliman's orders, intending to pass the news of the attack on Macragge's Flaor to the nearest fleet.

To engage in astrological communication, they must be attentive and must be in an environment of absolute silence. However, just an hour later, the door to their station was forcefully torn open.

A bloody Robert Guilliman walked in, covered in blood and with pieces of flesh and skin hanging from his body.

The Astropaths stared at their Lord in shock, forgetting to speak. Only a few people noticed something was wrong, but it was too late. They could only witness this monster rushing into the crowd, killing and eating freely.

The only reason Mariel could survive was simply because of luck. The monster was busy eating and had no time to care about her, leaving her free to use a simple psychic spell.

She swallowed a bitter mouthful, her throat rolled, but she suddenly encountered a familiar thought in her mind. The chief astropath rolled her non-existent eyes, and through perception, saw a choir member who was not dead among the corpses.

He was torn apart from the middle by the monster, and his internal organs were scattered all over the floor. However, he was not dead yet. He was still trying to breathe with difficulty, but his scattered lungs no longer contracted.

His mind was in tatters, with only the most basic desire to survive and the fear of Robert Guilliman remaining.

The Chief Astropath took a deep breath at this.

She was short, and even if she tried her best to breathe, she couldn't make much noise. However, the monster that was several hundred meters away from her suddenly raised its head, stared at her with its eyes, and then moved on its hands and feet. Run towards her.

Its nails, as sharp as steel knives, had bits of meat stuck in them, leaving wet handprints one after another wherever it ran. Its speed was simply astonishing, and Mariel's psychic perception could not even capture its afterimage.

The chief astropath's heart sank suddenly. At this moment, her vision was filled with only darkness and the spreading scarlet handprints one after another. In just two seconds, the handprint stopped in front of her.

She reluctantly suppressed the urge to scream.

However, this monster clearly came to the Astropath with superhuman agility, but it did not kill him immediately. Instead, it showed a simple doubt.

After a few seconds, it looked left and right, twitching its nostrils, sniffing the air like a wild animal, trying to find any trace of Mariel. It didn't know that the short Astropath was standing next to him, motionless, with blue light shining in his eyes, his breath held, and his heart beating stiffly.

Half a minute later, the beast, which had devoured too much flesh and blood but was still hungry, finally turned around impatiently and left the place, returning to its hunting ground to feast, leaving Mariel alone.

Even the soul of the chief astropath was frozen. If she had just been one step too late to activate her psychic energy, she would have been torn apart by that thing's hands by now.

Mariel watched motionless as the thing continued to devour flesh, holding her breath more carefully.

Although she is the chief astropath, she is not very good at killing spells. As early as when she was performing soul-binding rituals within the Star Language Court and learning how to use psychic powers, she was not outstanding in this aspect, and her talent was not particularly good.

If it weren't for her firm belief, I'm afraid none of those schools would have let her study.

However, faith succeeds and faith fails. The only school she can enter is called the Holy Code, which specializes in teaching astropaths with strong beliefs how to combine faith and spiritual power to inspire others.

As an astropath who has performed the soul-binding ritual, Mariel can expand the power of faith through her weak connection with the Emperor. Coupled with psychic assistance, she can instill courage in those who also believe in the Emperor.

Just by standing beside her, a normal person could become strong, lift weights they could not lift before, and ignore pain through courage. This power was equally effective even on Astartes, only more powerful.

The only problem is that there are not many straightforward killing spells within the Holy Code Sect. The few spells Mariel has learned are either powerful and long-lasting complex rituals, or expulsion and purification circles that require the combined efforts of several people.

In other words, the only psychic spells she can rely on now are the most basic psychic lightning.

Mariel didn't think she could defeat the monster with it.

She stood there, looking more and more nervous as time passed. The universal psychic spell she is using now has a time limit.

When the time is up, if she still intends to maintain her current 'invisible' state, she must cast the spell again. Mariel had no doubt that those short ten seconds were enough for her to die several times.

How to do? the Chief Astropath asked himself anxiously.

She must inform her master of the situation here, but this also required her undivided attention.

Star language communication is never a simple matter. Even the masters of various universities within Star Language Court have to spend several seconds to achieve instant communication within the ship, let alone a partial student like her.

However, Robert Guilliman must also know that the choir was almost wiped out. Mariel is not good at war. However, after so many years of exposure, she also knows a little bit about the nature of war: any war is actually an information war.

The Lord of Macragge still doesn't know that they failed to send a distress signal, which will definitely have a certain impact on his tactical purposes.

The First Astropath accepts death, but never a worthless death. She will never become a burden or stumbling block to Macragge's Glory and Robert Guilliman.

She was thinking seriously and nervously, unaware that the bloody monster was gradually changing the way he ate. This is not in line with their instincts. These beasts are always greedy and will not let go of anything they can eat.

But now, it is no longer so greedy, but has begun to carefully select, looking for the brains of the choir members in the pile of flesh and blood.

It pries open the skull with its nails, digs out the brain, and devours it into its mouth. Or simply use your tongue to roll away the eyeballs, bite open the eye sockets, and directly inhale the brain along with the plasma.

It didn't even let go of the debris in its nails, sweeping them away with its long scarlet tongue. It suddenly changed eating from a feast to a delicate and patient selection, and even acquired the virtue of not wasting food out of thin air.

Marianne should have noticed its weirdness at the moment, but the chief astropath was blinded by the matter of 'thinking' and failed to notice its weirdness in time.

She didn't realize that this soulless and instinctive beast was changing. She doesn't know yet, but this is her only chance.

She will cry over it after her death.

But what about the monster? It should have only instincts like its kind, only greed and appetite. But now, after devouring so many psykers' brains, this beast had a strange thought deep in its heart.

This idea is not instinctive, but comes from its brain—to be precise, its newly born brain.

At this moment, in the flickering of the only candlelight left in the astropaths' meditation room, its forehead began to swell, the bones creaked, the skin stretched open, the veins popped out, and the brain was slowly taking shape inside the skull.

Every piece of brain tissue it swallows is being transformed under the control of some kind of force, turning into a very smart mind that can only be possessed by a dozen or so people in the entire galaxy.

Today, they are revered as demigods, but ten thousand years ago, most of them would have been called Primarchs.

Monsters know nothing of these things, at least for now. It just listened to the sound of the brain beating gently inside its skull, and couldn't help but growl.

After a while, it raised its right hand and tapped its forehead driven by curiosity that didn't exist more than ten seconds ago.

Suddenly, a burst of sparks bloomed in the darkness.

In a daze, the monster even heard the singing of thousands of birds.

The birds flew around him in the darkness and spoke politely.

"You're not a monster, you have a name."

"Your name is Robert Guilliman. You are the only monarch in the five hundred worlds of Ultramar, and you are the king here. People believe in you fanatically and respect you like a god."

"Many of them regard meeting you as their lifelong goal. You are a great being, completely different from the mediocre mortals like them. You are born to be extremely tall, with a handsome face, and a strong body. In fact, , you were born to dominate them.”

"Robert Guilliman?" he murmured, pronouncing his name.

The chief astropath looked at him with a horrified expression, and happened to meet a pair of blue eyes looking over.

The monster walked towards her nakedly, steadily and confidently. His footsteps hit the wall heavily, echoing over and over again, gradually becoming distorted in the smell of blood.

Mariel's face turned even paler, not because of anything else but because of the change in footsteps. They were no longer footsteps, but another sound, a name whispered by creatures in the darkness.

"Robert Guilliman!" they shouted.

At this moment, something quietly breaks in the darkness, like a baby bird breaking its own eggshell, or something evil breaking out of the grave.

The monster stopped in front of her, looking down at her.

Even though the spell had not lost its effect, Mariel knew that she had been discovered. Before she could say or do anything, a hand grabbed her neck.

The monster lifted her up and looked at her very calmly. His expression was no different from Robert Guilliman whom Mariel knew well.

She finally let out a cry of terror and tried to resist, but it was too late. Two fingers penetrated deep into her empty eye sockets, reaching the back of her brain, and then gently stirred

After a while, the limp body was thrown away.

The monster opened its mouth, put the brain on its finger into its mouth, and tasted it gently.

The chorus of the birds was still in his ears, chattering endlessly about his life. The more they talked, the more he understood himself, as if the mummy that had lost its flesh and blood regained its strong body, and this sense of fullness fascinated him deeply.

His thoughts began to become clearer and more agile. After a few minutes, he actually asked the birds a question.

"Why did my father betray me and my brothers?" he asked in confusion. "Why would he make us slaves to those stupid mortals?"

He got a shrill laugh.