40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 637 20. Judgment (2, Father and Son)

After that brief explanation was spoken by the lion, Zabriel fell into a strange silence, but his genetic father did not give him time or chance to breathe.

The lion raised his right hand, accurately found the connection between Zabriel's power armor and helmet, and took it off.

The fallen angel himself did not resist, perhaps due to excessive stimulation and briefly shut down. However, the helmet being held by the lion at this time was quite interesting - except for a few spots that it already had, it had no damaged.

This means that the Lion did not use any violence when taking it down. However, while it is worn, the helmet itself cannot be removed by others unless the wearer is willing and sends a signal through the neural connection.

The lion calmly walked to the cold interrogation table and gently placed his helmet on it.

The soft sound made by the collision of metal and metal seemed to wake up Zabriel. The fallen angel roared again, and a gust of evil wind followed closely and hit the lion's back, but he himself ignored it and did not even dodge. .

So the wind just stopped.

The lion slowly turned around, lowered his head, and looked directly into the eyes of the fallen angel without speaking.

Zabriel remained in his memory as a trustworthy veteran, an Astartes before he returned to the Legion.

He participated in many battles or brutal internal purges, killed aliens, but also massacred innocent mortals. These things shaped him and made his deep sapphire eyes look extremely cold.

He is a living template. He is the most standard and ruthless Dark Angel, not a knight of Caliban. Even though he tried hard later, some things couldn't be changed.

And now, that person no longer exists.

At this moment, standing in front of the lion was an old warrior. He originally had black hair, but now it looked mixed with gray. His eyes were sunken, and his blue eyes became unusually tired, but also extremely angry.

There is obviously something wrong with his self-healing ability. Many injuries that should have healed to the point of being invisible are now openly left on his face, criss-crossing, shallow or faint, indicating what their owner has gone through. What a cruel struggle.

The most critical point is that Zabriel in the lion's impression will not save mortals unless the mission requires it.

Back then, his sword was wielded only for emperors and lions, and salvation was never in the wielder's nature.

"You" said hoarsely, and the fallen angel spoke tremblingly.

He uttered a single syllable, which seemed ridiculous, but the real resentment flowing through every scar like running water was extremely real.

The lion didn't say a word, still looking directly into his eyes. Zabriel took a deep breath and suddenly showed a contemptuous smile.

"So the great Leon El'Jonson also lied? Ten thousand years, ha, that's ridiculous. We must still be in the orbit of Dubnos now, and you just want to interrogate me. So, tell me , Primarch, what do you want from me?”

He emphasized the word "Primary" very hard, and coupled with the inescapable Terran accent, the words became extremely contemptuous and provocative.

Zabriel himself obviously knew about this, and he even deliberately waited for several seconds after he finished speaking, but the lion did not become furious as he imagined, or directly kill him.

This discovery made him a little overwhelmed, and also made the lion's lips buried in the beard twitch.

Zabriel was unaware of this and decided to continue.

"You want to know the whereabouts of the others?"

The lion didn't answer, and Zabriel gritted his teeth and continued to tell. He probably just planned to continue provoking the lion, but now he became more and more excited, words that he had suppressed for a long time spewed out from deep in his chest.

"I'm afraid I have nothing to offer you!" he growled. "I'm sorry, sir! I've been on the run for three hundred and ninety-two years, but I can count the brothers I've met on one hand! It's my incompetence!"

"But, after all, we are a group of people who never gather and never stay. We even have to put on robes and pretend to be enhanced servitors or slaves to go out - and this is all thanks to you."

"You ordered your battleships to fire on your home planet and your heirs, and then rushed into our midst to massacre us. Even so, you were still not satisfied, and even personally led a group of our imitations to hunt us down. ”

Zabriel stopped speaking, and asked in a soft voice under the gaze of the lion.

"I really want to know why, Primarch. I don't understand what we did to make you hate us so much."

As he stared up at him, Leon El'Jonson shook his head expressionlessly.

"First, they are not the imitations you mentioned, they are also Dark Angels."

Zabreel suddenly sneered and retorted immediately.

"Really? The Dark Angels who can't even recognize the coat of arms of the Knights? It's not like I haven't dealt with them before. Sir, I know how lacking they are in this regard. So I also know that in order to keep us closed forever, I What have you done with your mouth?”

"In order to get more accomplices, you even allow a group of knights who are not knights to use our name to deceive us? My Majesty the Emperor, you are really an excellent Primarch. Who else in the galaxy can rival you?"

The lion slowly frowned and realized one thing very reluctantly: Zabriel probably really wanted to die.

At the same time, he had to admit another thing: at that moment, he was really angry.

What Zabriel said stirred his nerves from the bottom up, and he could not tolerate anyone slandering his heirs like this.

Cheating? Damn words, no one knows better than him how much they have sacrificed in these ten thousand years.

But Zabriel didn't know that.

Zabriel didn't know anything. He didn't know how cruel his primarch was to make the decision to ban those inner circles and societies. He didn't know that his successors didn't insult their inheritance. The name comes.

He has traveled through many worlds, but the world in his eyes is probably very narrow, and everything is overwhelmed by hatred.

Leon El'Jonson, a knight from Caliban, whispered to himself: He is not wrong, he cannot see what you see. He's just an old, tired, resentful man, just like you.

Moreover, he is also your son.

The lion looked at Zabriel, who still kept his sneer. However, after getting rid of the influence of anger, the stiffness and pain hidden behind the smile were clearly revealed to the lion's eyes.

Guided by his intuition, he saw every detail, from Zabriel's trembling fingers and tense muscles to his chest that barely rose.

All of this strangely adds up to an indescribable force that makes the lion extremely calm.

The tone he used next could even be called kind.

"I've never had the thought of shutting you up forever, Zabriel."

The fallen angel wanted to repeat his old trick and interrupt the lion's words again, but the latter's gaze made him unable to speak at all and could only stand where he was.

The lion slowly narrated: "Indeed, I am hunting you, but there are only about twenty people who have been executed by me. They either lost themselves and committed irreparable sins, or they fell to Chaos. One side.”

"Perhaps you will say that it is all because of me that they are like this. If you think so, I will not refute, because you are right, but there has always been an insurmountable barrier between loyalty and betrayal. Wall. The two concepts can never be confused.”

"They can hate me, but they must die. I can feel guilty, but I will definitely wield my sword against them."

"Now, let's talk about the biggest problem at the moment. I kid you not, you are indeed ten thousand years in the future, now in the forty thousandth year. Accept it, Zabriel, we are going to talk about it next It’s all about the passage of time.”

I can't accept it.

who is he? Who is this person standing in front of me, this person who is teaching me and explaining to me?

My mind was in turmoil, and even my vision was affected. It's ridiculous, before today, I didn't even know that Astartes could be so vulnerable to violent mood swings.

I thought we were free of most physical and mental weaknesses, otherwise the Emperor would not have entrusted us with such responsibilities. Now it seems I was wrong.

Or maybe it's just because I'm facing a lion.

My own genetic father.

It is impossible for ordinary people to understand how the Astartes feel about their Primarch, and I would say that it is difficult for us to describe it ourselves.

I have discussed this matter with my brothers, and our opinions differ, but we all agree that there is a spiritual connection between the Primarch and us. This connection makes us instinctively obey him, follow him, admire him, and want his approval.

During the years of my escape, I thought about this matter over and over again. Finally, I came to the conclusion that this was not a coincidence, but someone did it deliberately.

So, who is it?

I knew who it was, but I actually understood him - I thought I would hate him, but I was wrong again, because I knew what we were.

Everyone knows that we are Astartes, two-hearted and three-lunged cyborgs. We have been trained to kill since the day we entered the Legion. We are proficient in all kinds of weapons and tactics. We are reborn to kill. We are in the hands of the Emperor. sharp blade

But we are still human.

Somehow, the Emperor didn't erase our feelings.

This makes us human, with joy, anger, sorrow, and a sense of honor, but we can also lose our minds due to anger and do irreversible things impulsively.

The Emperor must have known all this, and he must have asked himself when he created us after the Primarch: Do I really want to retain their feelings?

The decision he finally made made me imagine the above picture, but it also raised questions in me

War does not actually require human nature. No matter how we attach meaning to war, its essence will not change. Ultimately, it's a matter of one group of people going to kill another group of people or things.

So, how exactly does emotion help in this?

The Emperor can transform us into cold and ruthless machines, like servitors who only follow orders. If he had done that, I don't even think the Great Rebellion would have happened.

But he didn't, which was strange.

On the one hand, he leaves behind our emotions so that we can identify ourselves as human beings, but on the other hand, he imposes a restriction on us, allowing us to have a special connection with the original body.

I don't know what others think, but for me, Lion El'Jonson is just Lion El'Jonson, that's it.

He is not my brother, my friend, my father or a trusted general. He is more than these. I once fought for him, but not now. What happened on Caliban has changed everything.

I looked at him and realized that I couldn't face him. I have been passive since the beginning of the conversation.

But I can't escape. I don't have the power and I don't intend to do so-some things, I must ask clearly.

"Do you dare to swear?" I asked him suddenly.

I guess my expression must be quite funny when I spoke, otherwise he wouldn't frown so tightly. He is old, I discovered this clearly again.

This made me realize again painfully that what he told me was very likely true, which was like a thunder that tore my world apart.

A moment ago, I was still fulfilling my oath in the lower nest of Dubnos, and now, I am standing ten thousand years later.

I don't even dare to think whether Dubnos still exists.

"Swear?"

I took a deep breath to make sure I could speak clearly. I didn't want him to look down on me.

"Yes, swear, swear to anyone you want, I just want to make sure you will tell the truth next. You have changed, lion, but I don't want to know the reason for the time being, I just want to know why you hate us so much."

After I said that, I took a step back and waited for his answer. I think I must have looked forward to the answer, otherwise he wouldn't have suddenly pursed his lips.

Yes, this is a bet. What I did was simply bold and beyond the pale.

In the past, my brothers might have drawn their swords against me for this, but who cares? Now it's me, Zabril, standing in front of the lion, so I'm going to do this.

I want him to swear to be honest with me, I want to see if he will reveal his true colors and kill me.

I saw the lion slowly raise his right hand.

Then it bent, and slowly he clenched his right fist, moved it to his chest, and pressed it tightly.

He looked straight at me, and I didn't see anything I wanted to see in his eyes.

I knew I had lost the bet, and I lowered my head, but the lion was never a merciful man, and he was about to make the final judgment on me. I heard him breathe softly.

I heard him say, "I will be completely honest with you, Zabril."

I fell to my knees, as if a sword had pierced my heart.