40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 597 115. Dark Crusade (35)

Following closely behind his primarch, Dante walked into the main bridge of the Red Tear.

The splendor and majesty before departure had been replaced by other things at this moment. Carefully selected decorations such as flags, tapestries, and silks were torn off one by one from the dome covered with pearls and agate, and the communication enhancement device was destroyed by the priests of the Mechanicum. They were placed at the far left end of the dome without any concern for aesthetics.

According to their calculations, here is the optimal angle. As for the extent to which the harmonious beauty of the dome will be damaged, that is not something they will care about.

Rather than this matter, they wanted to persuade Ms. Letala, the captain of the Red Tear, to agree to their drastic transformation plan.

After Sanguinius made it clear that he didn't care what would become of the Red Tear's main bridge, this was the only one they needed to convince.

The female captain wanted to preserve the 10,000-year tradition of the Red Tears, but she could not ignore the statistical advantages of the latest cogitators, so she agreed to let the priests replace the cogitator array on the far right side of the bridge.

After the old huge machinery was removed, the new array occupied less than one-third of the original area. Such a huge improvement made the crew overjoyed - there was finally a place where they could avoid cables and move quickly. !

But their joy did not last long, because it was quickly chosen as a temporary military meeting place.

The star chart round table, ship projector, and long-distance communication were placed in sequence. It's well organized, but it seems a little strange. After all, it stands to reason that it has its own conference room to shoulder this responsibility.

But things are different now.

What's the difference?

The answer lies in the three Astartes who are clearly not Blood Angels.

They gathered around the temporary round table, discussing something back and forth. Dante looked at them and looked away. Similar discussions - or arguments - had happened many times in the past few days. Everyone was stubborn and difficult to convince the other party.

It's not just personality factors that are at play here, there are also some deeper things that are affecting them.

Dante had no intention of commenting, but he didn't bother to get involved. However, Sanguinius suddenly stopped.

"Why don't you communicate with them, Dante?" the archangel asked in a low voice, seemingly curious.

"."

"My son?"

"I just think." Dante paused. "That's not necessary, my lord."

"Really? I'd like to hear your opinion -" Sanguinius smiled and shook his head, emphasizing. "--complete."

Dante nodded reluctantly and began to organize his words helplessly. He tried his best to sound gentle, but found that he couldn't do it.

Ultimately, what he had to say was deeply offensive and extremely disrespectful.

"I don't think the outcome of their discussions would have been different because of me. Malakin Flowers wanted the Weeper to be the vanguard, Centor Joe the same, and Gabriel Seth."

He shook his head, omitted the second half of the sentence, and then continued: "I understand their pursuit of honor, the original body, but, with all due respect, in my opinion, there is another layer to their obsession with pioneer status. The reason – they want your approval.”

Sanguinius smiled and said, "What about you?"

Dante was startled.

"What about you, my son?" the archangel lowered his head and asked. "Do you also want to get my approval? Well, let's not talk about it for now, but what you just said was full of a sense of luxury."

"I have to say, you've been around me for too long, long enough to think that wanting my approval is a bad thing. What? You think their motivations for joining the battle are somewhat impure, and therefore they don't deserve to be your brother. ?”

The Chapter Master of the Blood Angels couldn't say a word to refute. He wanted to refute, but he didn't know where to start. His fingers were trembling slightly, and the steel collided with each other, making a gentle knocking sound.

Sanguinius looked at him sternly and pointed at the round table.

"Now go over and participate in the discussion of your brothers. Since the voyage, you have not participated in a single discussion. People who don't know may think that you are my guard and not the chapter leader!"

After the words fell, the angel strode away from the place. Three strong mortals walked towards him and left the main bridge holding his sword. The door is closed again, the oracle is ticking, and the scene outside the porthole is getting darker and darker.

Dante took a deep breath and walked towards the round table.

"Ah, look who's here." A voice said, low and rich, making people unable to help but want to tense their muscles, as if they were facing a dangerous beast.

Dante looked at the speaker. The burly giant was staring at him maliciously. His face is sharp and angular, and he has very short hair suitable for a warrior, which is almost the same as a bald head.

Seeing Dante looking at him, he even smiled provocatively.

"Isn't this Captain Dante?" Gabriel Seth said.

He wanted to continue laughing, but for some reason he suddenly tightened his jaw and clenched his teeth. Dark anger flashed across his face, forcing his voice to drop again, like a growl.

"Are you finally willing to condescend to talk to us three beggars?"

"Don't say that, Gabriel." The Lamenter's Malakim Foros frowned and stopped. "You're going a little too far."

"Going too far? He didn't even bother to look at us! Who is the one who went too far? The joint operations of four battle groups and the joint actions of more than fifty warships resulted in the fact that our great parent group commander was not even willing to attend a meeting ?”

Sentor Joe of the Blood Knight sighed and knocked on the round table helplessly.

"Brothers? Please, please come back to the discussion, okay? We still have things to do. We have to figure out what is going on with that psychic signal."

He said, with obvious impatience on his pale face.

"Logically speaking, there should be patrol ships and outposts of the Ultramarines at the border between the Empire and the Five Hundred Worlds, and at least there should be deployment of sub-groups. However, until now, we have not seen even half an Imperial ship other than ours. , even the damn Eldar pirates are nowhere to be seen.”

"This group of dead remnants should be quite common in the Extreme Star Territory. I have read the materials provided by the Ministry of Military Affairs. It said that five hundred worlds are suffering from aliens. Orcs and bugs are secondary. The real problem is the dark spirit. The tribe’s slave-catching teams always catch our cousins ​​during a break in the war.”

He snorted coldly and made a comment: "Despicable move, they deserve to end up in this situation."

Dante didn't say a word, enduring the cynicism of Gabriel Seth, the frown of Malakin Foros, and the complete disregard of Centor Joe. He just silently walked to the round table and stretched out his arms. Drawing out his right hand, he evoked the star map.

He zoomed in on where they were currently, then checked the settings to hide all the asteroid belts, and highlighted the twenty-seven nearby planets marked as inhabited, and then uploaded the data to a new type of satellite not far away. Among the array of meditators.

Soon, they relied on the detailed information provided by the Ministry of Military Affairs to display a series of lists. Those are the 'reserve companies' of the Ultramarines. There are twelve in total, with a conservative estimate of about 1,200 people.

This kind of power is more than enough to guard this place.

However, it is true that the angel fleet failed to receive a reply signal - no, it actually received it, but it was not an ordinary signal, but a psychic signal that was difficult to decipher.

Captured two centuries ago, it is now being decrypted by the Blood Angels' Librarian Callistarius, and the complete results have not yet been obtained.

"Three possibilities." Dante said calmly.

"First, they all encountered accidents, so they were unable to patrol as usual, and they were unable to reply to our communication signals that were obviously within the detection range. Second, they were engaged in a war, so they had no time to care. Third, We encountered the threat of Chaos, or they. Therefore, the signal was cut off and could not be sent out normally. "

"So you can talk." Gabriel Seth said coldly.

Dante nodded, but still didn't formally interact with him verbally, and he didn't even make eye contact. Malakin, who was closest to the Flesh Tearers Chapter Leader, was extremely keenly aware of the change in the atmosphere, so he hurriedly spoke.

"But, Lord Dante——"

"-It's just Dante, we are brothers." Blood Angel said.

For some reason, he lowered his head, as if apologetic.

Malakin wrote down this incident and continued: "That psychic signal is the key point. It is completely unreasonable for it to appear here. The Astropaths of no ship in the fleet are allowed to leave the Glory of the Star Torch soon." When using their abilities, it just passed into their minds.”

"And there are no exceptions." The Blood Knight sighed. "damn it"

He muttered and folded his hands, the long sword sheathed at his waist shaking.

This descendant of an angel who is famous for his superb swordsmanship does not seem to like the reliable device of the armed belt, or perhaps this has something to do with the wild world he came from.

In short, his sword was tied around his waist with a leather belt, and the scabbard was equally special. It was a kind of pitch-black animal skin with distinct layers of scales covering the surface, shining with a metallic silver light.

Dante glanced at the sword, his eyes sweeping over its unremarkable handle, and said, "I believe Callistarius will be able to give us an answer soon."

"A think tank?" Seth pointed out this matter without mercy.

"The most potential," Dante corrected. "Extremely talented and very cautious."

"So? Is he the director of the think tank?"

"Not yet, our position is vacant, but he will become the next one soon." Dante said.

He seemed to be a little too patient. After all, Seth's questioning was really provocative. The two chapter leaders on the side looked at each other in unison, and both saw what they wanted to say in each other's eyes.

‘If it were me in my place’

Seth suddenly took a deep breath.

"Does he have this qualification?" Flesh Tearer asked roughly, still seemingly rude, but his tone had slowed down.

For a man with such a well-known reputation as a ferocious man who is recognized as inheriting the spirit of Nasir Amit, the first-generation flesh-tearer, this is really valuable.

Dante showed a faint smile, nodded, and said: "Of course he does, Gabriel. I can see it clearly, just as you and my company commander saw some shining points in us when we were young."

"I was not born when you were young," Gabriel Seth said, as if he was laughing or growling.

Two crew members holding documents passing behind them were looking at the back of the burly giant in fear, and at the same time quickened their pace. It seemed that they were worried that he would do something bloody on the Red Tear, the flagship of Sanguinius.

Dante's insight made him discover this, so he couldn't help but frowned-it seems that the world still has a deep misunderstanding of the Flesh Tearers. There is no way, they perfectly inherited the violent part of the Angel Blood.

There are many other warbands similar to them, such as a certain Blood Knight standing next to them. He and his brothers also love close combat when fighting, and they are even more than the Flesh Tearers. They don't even like to use heavy vehicles for joint attacks.

In Dante's view, this is a bad habit, but ugly and cute. After all, violence can always play a great role in some places.

He thought about these things, and the time outside quietly passed for two seconds. His frown and silence fell into Gabriel Seth's eyes, and the extinguished anger surged up again.

With the pain of being rejected for his kindness, the impatient Flesh Tearer suddenly took a step and quickly approached the Blood Angels - his behavior shocked Malakin, who almost stepped in to stop him, but the Blood Knight pulled him back.

Centor Joe pointed him in another direction.

There, Sanguinius was staring at this place expressionlessly, and the other two chapter masters knew nothing about it. At least, Gabriel Seth had no idea, he was immersed in some indescribable complex emotions.

He raised his head and glared at Dante angrily.

"Let me make it clear to you, old man." He growled. "When I first knew that I would fight alongside a legend like you, I felt honored."

"Dante, Louis Dante, the warrior who once repelled the demon tide with his own strength, the captain of the mother group. Others have forgotten who you are, but I won't. I remember every hero among us, and the Flesh Tearers remember everyone."

"But not now, because I find you so arrogant. You disappoint me and will disappoint my brothers in the future. They all respect you, and I will not reveal the truth. I will wait for them to find out what kind of person you are."

He smirked, revealing the fangs unique to the descendants of angels: "After all, I don't want them to hate me."

"So you hate me?" Dante asked.

"Do you deserve it?" Seth replied.

Dante reached out and pulled him, saying calmly: "It seems that you have a deep misunderstanding of me, brother."

The Blood Angel put his left hand on his waist.

"Let's speak with the sword."

The Flesh Tearer agreed readily.