40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 687 69. The belated trial (twenty-nine, 8K big chapter, I didn’t update it in the past two days because I was in Cavan, I’m sorry)

Serafax is no stranger to assault bikes.

Although he didn't deal with it very often during the legion period, he was a Dark Angel after all - the prototypes of the tactics, fighting methods and even their own characteristics that each legion was good at could be found in them.

However, even so, he did not expect that the white scar brought by the war blacksmith would drive such a motorcycle.

Is this really an assault bike or any of its variants? Serafax couldn't help but feel confused.

In front of him lay a behemoth, with extremely strong and thick frontal armor. Like the attack motorcycle, it was equipped with sidecars for the second Astartes to ride on, but the heavy weapons that should be carried on it had been removed. Only the sight holes remain.

Moreover, it did not have any paint that belonged to the Fifth Legion - if I had to say it, the only paint it had on its iron-gray surface was dark bloodstains and countless scars.

Bullet holes, dents, knife marks, charred blackness caused by explosions, and pits and holes left by strong acid corrosion.

"You still have to wait."

said one of the Mechanic-Priests. The red robe she wore was brighter than the color Serafax remembered, and seemed to have been soaked in blood.

Three huge wheels stood beside her, almost completely blocking her entire body. Several servo arms extend from the priest's back and are undergoing maintenance work, which is not very fast.

"I don't remember my patience being so bad, Father."

An oriental face replied. The face under his warrior braids seemed to be smiling, with the corners of his mouth raised. But if you take another look, you will find that the so-called bend is actually a small scar.

Serafax tried to put away the smile that was molded by steel and blood in his mind, and he got a rather cold face. Every detail was tempered by the flames of war, and there were even A strange inhuman feeling.

To put it bluntly, his face is like an ancient battle face, handmade by craftsmen who are well aware of the fragility of human nature. The purpose is just to make the enemy feel fear when facing it.

But his tone was quite gentle.

"There is no necessary connection between the importance of the task and your patience," replied the priest.

A servitor staggered from behind her, with dry skin and atrophied muscles, like a mummy that had been dead for a long time. It raised its hands dully, the gears in its joints creaking. A mechanical arm extended from the priest's back again, and he immediately disassembled the servitor's arm and began to inspect the inner structure.

Serafax didn't care about this at first, until he heard a muffled sound, as if he was suppressing pain. The Dark Angel turned his head in disbelief and saw that the servitor had his mouth open, with huffing sounds coming from his throat.

Bai Scar, who was standing aside, immediately noticed his turning of head.

"Isn't it strange?" he asked in a unique tone that was mixed with ridicule and pity, his eyes narrowed slightly. "I think, even if you are a Dark Angel, you have never seen any servitor like this in the past, right?"

"Indeed," said Serafax. "That surprised me."

"Oh, then I sympathize, brother." White Scar shrugged, making a helpless gesture. "You will have to look at hundreds or thousands of similar weird things in the future."

He didn't explain what was going on with the servitor, so he ended the conversation, walked straight to the motorcycle, and started checking its engine. The priest seemed to acquiesce to the matter, and she was busy examining the strange servitor.

Serafax walked to her side, looked down at the disassembled arms and parts of the servitor, and found that they were covered with semi-coagulated plasma. This was obviously not the work of the servitor itself - besides, , it is not any kind of fighter servitor, and has no chance of being stained with this level of blood.

The Dark Angel admitted that he was temporarily distracted by this little puzzle, but the priest seemed to be used to it.

She didn't care about any blood stains that shouldn't be there, and completely turned a blind eye to them. This was completely contrary to the thirst for knowledge that her identity should possess.

Serafax watched the servo arm behind her dance, cleaning every bit of blood, straightening the mechanical structure, and aligning the removed parts with the reserved flesh-and-blood interface.

Then, the servitor's stiff and dull eyes suddenly blinked once.

After the repairs were completed, it turned around dully and left.

"Does this happen often?" Serafax asked, carefully considering his words.

"Always."

The priest threw out a word and returned his attention to the wheel of the motorcycle. Soon, the problems were investigated one by one. The dents were hammered back, the cracks were welded shut, and the scratches all over the place were clearly beyond the scope of this faithful believer in the Om Messiah.

She ignored these obvious minor problems with indifference. With a turn of the servo arm behind her, she completely lifted the wheel hubs and loaded them onto the giant motorcycle, followed by the tires that had just been cleaned by the other two servitors. The flesh, flesh and broken bones stuck in the gaps have been dug out and scattered on the ground, emitting the pungent stench of chaos.

"It's solved." The priest turned around and spoke to the white scar who was still waiting. "You may begin your mission, and may the Om Messiah keep its engines roaring forever."

The latter nodded to her with a half-smile, jumped on the motorcycle, and clicked on his helmet. His power armor and this behemoth really complemented each other, and both were covered in bruises.

Serafax sat down on the sidecar thoughtfully, pulled out his gun again, and placed it directly above the armor shield. Then, the motorcycle's engine roared suddenly.

Its sound was unlike any motorcycle engine Serafax had ever heard before. Even when it was running at low power, its deep sound was as loud as the roar of a monster.

Bai Scar ignored him, just turned the car around, accelerated and rushed out of the position.

The speed of this vehicle is much faster than ordinary assault motorcycles. Although it is not as good as jet-type hover motorcycles, considering the size of this vehicle, most of the technology used in its engine has never been mass-produced.

The more Serafax thought about it, the more strange he felt. Strangely, the sound of the engine gradually became quieter at this time. He was about to ask why, but he heard White Scar's voice slowly ringing in the communication channel.

"You're going to the palace, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"It wasn't a good place in the past, and it's even less so now. I'm curious, what on earth do you want to do there?"

".How can you describe the palace like that, cousin?"

Bai Scar turned his head and shook his head at him.

"I have always been quick to speak and straightforward. This is my character and my disease. The Great Khan once predicted that I would die on this matter, but even so, he admitted that I can always point things straight. The essence of it—so, that’s what the palace is, cousin.”

"Admit it." Baiscar chuckled. "It's never a good place to admit it."

"Why?"

"Because the emperor ordered the construction of it just to shape his authority and reflect the power of the new political system of the empire. The truly precious things in the palace are the people who guard it, the imperial guards, the seal bearers, and the emperor. Only The palace itself is not worthy. Without them, it would be nothing more than a pile of rubble.”

Serafax was silent for a few seconds and then said, "I haven't asked for your name yet?"

"xun-nu," Bai Scar spat out two awkward syllables and added them. "You can call me Swift Fury - Korchin always has a hard time finding a good counterpart in Gothic, cousin."

He seemed to smile again when he said the word cousin.

The surrounding scenery flies by, but you can't escape the dead black and cruel red, both of which are everywhere. The sound of the motorcycle's engine gradually became transcendent, evolving from silence to a sharp hum.

Serafax tightened his grip on his gun, bracing himself for the bumps. In this way, they ran over countless corpses, rushed through the restricted area, the lost front line and the place where the flag once stood, and finally stopped in front of a ruins.

The Dark Angel stared sideways, not seeing any light. The darkness was spreading and encroaching wantonly in this broken eaves and broken wall. Despite this, something larger is unstoppably drawing its own lines behind it.

Is it a city wall? Serafax asked himself, then immediately rejected it. He didn't think that a war of this magnitude would leave a city wall behind. However, those lines were so clear that he couldn't help but frown.

He jumped off the sidecar and his steel boots hit the ground, causing a cloud of dust to rise.

"The situation is a little worse." Xun Fury turned off the engine and spoke softly. "The last time I was here, I could still see some battle flames."

"Have you been to the palace?"

Xunnu didn't answer directly, but just patted his chest, seemingly too lazy to answer the question.

Serafax also quickly realized how stupid his question was - it was normal for White Scars to appear anywhere, so Swiftfury must have worked with his brothers as a quick reaction force to assist the palace's front. .

Unless their commander is an extremely stupid person, he would rather force the Chogorians to go against their nature at this time of life and death, and then impose discipline and trap these eagles on the front line to fight positional warfare.

"Anyway, you have to be careful, cousin." Xun Fury said. "Now, it's time to say goodbye - and have a good fight."

The engine roared again, smoke rose high from the rotation of the tires, and White Scar shouted, a war cry in the language of their homeland.

His tone was completely different from the noble and elegant tone he used when speaking Gothic. It was filled with a lot of guttural sounds and sounded murderous. Then there was a sound, a silver light flashed away, and a scimitar was raised high by Swift Fury.

He rushed into the darkness without fear, and before leaving, he helped Serafax attract the attention of possible peepers.

However, it was not until this moment that Serafax remembered that he had not yet introduced himself to Swiftfury.

This incident triggered his memory and quickly pushed other things out of the water. This can be traced back to the Ullanor Victory Banquet. At that time, he was drinking the specialty wine from Macragge and talking with two officials from the Logistics Department.

At that time, it was perhaps one of the rare times in the empire when there was no need to care about identity or military rank. Everyone could express themselves. Dance, compete, tell jokes, and even kiss on the spot, and then ask their superiors to witness the loyalty oaths they were about to make.

Therefore, such a conversation took place at that time. It was a bit transcendent and would have caused a lot of trouble in another situation. But at the time, it seemed reasonable.

Serafax remembered that it was after three rounds of drinks when he asked the two officials which Astartes Legion they found the easiest to deal with.

They were already very drunk, but still vaguely said that they could not answer the question. However, despite this, they could accurately say which one was the most difficult to deal with - the Wolves of Russ and the Eagles of Jaghatai.

Then they complained a lot about the logistics of the two Legions and how much time it was wasted.

One officer even said that he was assigned to be responsible for the ammunition supply of a campaign of the Fifth Legion, but the White Scars never contacted him once until a full year after the victory of the war.

And, there is another point, the White Scars pay attention to etiquette. The official said so. Although they are mysterious and look like barbarians, they really pay attention to this, Serafax.

But I didn't even tell him my name.

Looking at the direction where Xunfu was going away, Serafax was extremely confused. Not only that, until this moment, he suddenly realized that White Scar had not even asked about this matter.

Why?

Putting the question in his heart, the Dark Angel turned around and walked into the darkness, stepping very lightly. The surroundings were unusually quiet, even a little too quiet, and there was no sound of wind. But Serafax's eyepiece told him that this place was crowded with people.

It was constantly sending annotations: left rear, right front, front, head, feet. The lines were dancing, and the thermal imaging and night vision modes were constantly switching. In the end, it even entered the combat mode without Serafax's permission and began to passively analyze tactics.

The server was running at high speed, and the uninterrupted humming sound like a whisper was one after another, drowning out Serafax's own heartbeat, until it became a mysterious atmosphere that was almost terrifying.

The Dark Angel stopped and drew his sword.

At this moment, his vision was full of constantly jumping lines, and one "person" after another was walking busy. Some of them seemed to be guards, patrolling with guns in hand; others must be believers who came to see the miracle, bowing every three steps.

Serafax frowned and looked around coldly, wondering which stupid sneak dared to show off in front of him, a truly evil person.

But what sounded in the darkness was not any inhuman roar, but a distant voice that seemed to have traveled through time.

"Serafax of Caliban." A man said very softly. "You are sentenced to death."

The voice had just been uttered, and when the syllable was about to reach the "s", the sound of whistling wind sounded in the darkness.

With his combat experience, Serafax immediately determined the direction of the wind, raised his gun with his left hand and shot, and raised his sword with his right hand to block - he was prepared, and it can be said that he was well prepared, but the attacker was obviously better.

He used some strange long-range weapon that could fire something like a bullet, but it could not be blocked. Serafax clearly felt the impact of the bullet hitting the decomposition force field, but there was a loud bang in his ears.

The blue light went out, the force field collapsed on the spot, and the power sword was shaken out of his hand by the huge recoil force. But this was not the end, the sound of the wind continued, his eyes blurred, and the whole person suddenly fell back, as if hit by a huge force.

The syllable came to the word "death penalty".

Four figures rushed out of the darkness, holding dim blades in their hands, but they had no heartbeat. In Serafax's perception, the four people who attacked him were not even alive.

But no matter what, they all seized this opportunity and stabbed the blades in their hands into his power armor at a speed that surpassed Astartes and even exceeded common sense - piercing the armor plate and reaching deep below it, but the location chosen was very particular

The piercing pain came from under the black shell, and the neural sensing device had been completely destroyed.

The Dark Angel roared, clenched his fists, ignored the pain, and stood up abruptly, but the four attackers were not going to let him go. It actually took him less than one-fifth of a second to stand up, but in that one-fifth of a second, his power armor was torn into pieces, and the armor plate was as brittle as paper in front of those blades.

With a few bangs, the heavy object fell to the ground, and the sharp blades extended and entered the body again, blood splattered, and the Dark Angel froze in place with his eyes wide open, and all the muscles in his body were passively locked.

The knife was poisonous.

He realized this immediately, but he didn't give up the fight. He glanced around, trying to see the identity of the attacker, but the unknown toxin had other effects, and it took effect very quickly, causing his eyesight to deteriorate in just one second.

Let alone seeing the attacker clearly, he couldn't even focus on the things in front of him now.

Moreover, muscle locking and vision loss were only the first symptoms, and other senses followed closely, one after another.

The Dark Angel knew something was wrong and had a rough guess about the identity of the attackers. If it wasn't the Assassin's Court, what other forces could it be?

They had so easily implemented a complete set of tactics against the Astartes. The disguises, weapons and combat power they had prepared were impeccable. Thinking of this, he even admired these attackers a little, but he couldn't.

The Dark Angel tried to concentrate.

The poison was still spreading, but they couldn't resist him.

This has nothing to do with the laws of physics or human physiology, or even the Dark Angel himself. What really plays a decisive role in this battle is a little bit of willpower from the Chaos Sorcerer named Serafax.

And so the Dark Angel sank slowly, deeper into his heart, and the wizard himself took his place and began to speak.

"Who sent you -" He controlled his body, tongue, throat and lungs. "——Come to kill me?"

The assassins did not answer, but the sound of footsteps answered his question. The wizard looked up, and his restored vision helped him see an extremely pale face in the darkness.

He was obviously not born that way; his complexion was pathological, stemming from his owner's long absence from the sun. He had no hair, no hair at all, and his lips were extremely pale. Under the high eyebrows were carved a pair of eyes that were so calm that they were no different from those of the dead, and the irises showed an inhuman appearance.

"You have no right to know this." The man said slowly. "But you were able to escape the influence of the 'needle' and kill him."

As the words fell, four sharp blades pierced Serafax's vitals without hesitation. Two knives were stabbed into the forehead, one on the left and the other on the right, and two knives were pierced into the heart respectively, and then stirred cruelly until the feeling transmitted back by the blade turned into a sticky paste, then he stopped.

However, the wizard still had his eyes open, and no blood even flowed from the wound.

"You shouldn't have given this order."

He said sincerely and seriously, but the man just raised his right hand expressionlessly and threw out a small jar.

The powder contained in it sprinkled the Chaos Wizard all over him, causing him to feel excruciating pain at the moment of contact. No, it seemed that it was not just that simple, the powder also blocked other things.

"The ashes of an untouchable person?" He asked with his eyebrows furrowed, holding back the immense pain.

The man finally narrowed his eyes, then raised his right hand and moved it resolutely. One of the attackers immediately swung the blade and stabbed himself in the heart. When he pulled it out, the knife was already shining, and a silver object covered the entire blade.

The wizard lowered his head, stared at it, watched it insert from his jaw, and felt it quickly reach the brainstem.

Unspeakable terror struck at this moment.

His skin began to dissolve, then muscle, bone and all. The attacker fell to his knees, and there was silver liquid flashing from the wound at first, but it was soon covered with blood.

His companions drew their guns and pointed them at him. After three gunshots, the body was shattered into pieces, and then they used promethium flamethrowers and strong acid liquids. The whole process was extremely skillful. They didn't stop until his existence was completely wiped out.

And looked toward the last remnants of Serafax.

They held the ejector and the glass bottle filled with corrosive liquid and walked towards him. Unexpectedly, a voice sounded out from the melted flesh and blood again, with a strong meaning of warning.

"Don't do it again, you have to-"

"——Evil thing!"

The person who ordered the order sternly reprimanded, but saw a man standing up instantly from the flesh and blood, unscathed.

Apart from losing his power armor, he seemed to have not suffered any damage. This scene of violating the experiment fell into the eyes of the orderer. It was real, absurd and realistic, but it did not make him feel the least bit surprised.

In fact, the Chaos Sorcerer can only see one emotion in the person's eyes.

furious.

"How dare you tarnish the sanctity of mankind like this?!" the orderer roared, and a gun fell from his belt as his wrist shook, and he held it in his hand.

The wizard didn't know the model and data of the gun, but he could taste the coldness like thorns on his back from its black muzzle. However, he did not retreat or dodge, but stood on the spot and took it hard. This blow.

The missile, which was far smaller than ordinary bullets, followed the bend of the orderer's fingers and accurately shot into the center of his eyebrows. There is no room for bringing up blood flowers because it is not made of metal.

Green smoke curled up, and the stench that arose after the flesh and blood was burned spread quickly. The Chaos Wizard raised his hand and touched his forehead, but his fingers didn't touch anything, only emptiness.

He was a little surprised. He wanted to say something, but found that his eyes suddenly went dark. No, no, it wasn't the darkness, it was the fact that he had lost his eyes - and then his nose, jaw and other parts except for two fingers, two fingers that he had just extended.

Half a second later, a new Serafax quickly grew from the broken section of the finger.

"Incredible." He said to the orderer in surprise. If you carefully read the expression on his face, you can actually read a bit of joy. "Does the Empire already have the capability to create such a weapon?"

The orderer's expression suddenly darkened, but he did not fire any more shots to waste ammunition. He just made a gesture to ask the remaining three assassins to return to him.

The Chaos Wizard smiled and nodded to him, and spoke again: "You have no ability to kill me."

The assassins were silent.

"At least for the time being, right? Any solutions you have should have been tried on me, so can we come to a consensus?"

"What do you want to say?" the orderer asked coldly.

"You can't kill me now." The Chaos Wizard replied slowly. "But I can be your prisoner until you figure out a way to kill me—"

"--ridiculous."

The one who gave the order interrupted him with a sneer, but the wizard remained patient. He wanted to say that he was going to exchange his freedom for just a few questions, but the one who gave the order obviously didn't want to hear it.

And he didn't need to listen.

The Chaos Wizard stopped talking and looked up at the sky. Since he arrived on Terra with a fabricated personality, the sky here has always been dark. But not now. Now, the dark clouds covering the sky have dispersed.

The dark clouds of war have all dissipated, and then the sky is like the embers of a burning end. A scarlet crown quietly emerged, as if it had existed for an eternity, radiating its brilliance indifferently.

No, are those really brilliances? More like flames, right?

The wizard took a few steps back and lowered his head to turn to the four assassins, but they had disappeared. The cold wind whistled, blowing away the darkness and flying bricks and stones. The appearance of the outer corner of the palace finally appeared in the eyes of the wizard at this moment, but he was not happy about it.

Because the outer corner is intact at this moment.

It has not been destroyed, polluted by the demons from hell, blown up, or stained with the blood of innocent people. Its gold color still shines, and civilians worship under it, feeling the cold wind of the Himalayas in the early morning.

The black-armored guards responsible for patrolling and security duties shuttled through it, and from time to time stopped for a respected old man to inform them which religious scholar would come to preach today.

Many Astartes wearing bright yellow armor stood on the watchtower not far away. Countless airships or aircraft flew in the sky, filling the air. The transportation transfer station set up in the sky was broadcasting the maximum stay limit with a mechanical voice.

The clouds were lingering, and a glittering golden giant stood on the top of the mountain, overlooking everything.

The Chaos Wizard took a deep breath, dared not look again, and sank quietly, almost using the fastest speed to change the Dark Angel back to the dominant position.

Serafax opened his eyes and saw this shocking spectacle. He instinctively widened his eyes and couldn't say a word for a while.

People ignored him, only the scarlet crown that shouldn't have appeared still existed. It fell right above this harmonious scene, like a program error that shouldn't have appeared. It was absurd, bizarre, but real, and it pierced people's eyes.

Fortunately, Serafax soon understood why it was here.

Because the sky began to change color.

Countless fireballs streaked across the sky, carrying the heat of hellfire, and fell not far away, shaking up a bloody frenzy. The ground under his feet suddenly turned into a mud pit, and the evil power of the subspace kept boiling, swallowing countless pilgrims like a swamp. The seemingly sacred ballads came out from the shadows under the city wall, and one twisted figure after another rushed out of it, grabbing people and tasting their sweet flesh and blood.

How long does it take to destroy the Terra Palace?

Serafax had the answer at this moment: one minute.

Yes, one minute.

In just one minute, the harmony and peace he witnessed were gone.

Countless killings, devourings and tragedies took place alternately, and it seemed as if the fast-forward button was pressed. Even the reaction speed of Astartes could not keep up. By the time Serafax realized what was happening, despair had already gripped his throat deeply.

Ruins and darkness returned again, shrouding him.

The Dark Angel knelt down speechlessly, tears welling up in his eyes without knowing when.

How could this happen? Why did this happen? He wanted to ask the question, but an indescribable coldness had locked him, making him tremble instinctively.

The red light shone brightly in the darkness. The Dark Angel barely raised his head and stared, just in time to see the blazing light illuminating the surrounding darkness, and countless tragic dead stood up from it and walked towards him.

What is this? Serafax asked himself, or more accurately, asked another person in his heart. But that person did not answer at all.

The Chaos Wizard was busy hiding the huge power he brought with him, and had no time to answer the Dark Angel's questions, so he could only rely on himself.

Many speculations were quickly born: Was it the Undead? Or some monster? A kind of demon?

He had no clue at all, so he could only run out of the encirclement and run wildly in the ruins like a headless fly. But they seemed to be everywhere, and no matter where Serafax ran, he could not get rid of the gaze of their burning eyes.

That gaze had no focus and seemed dead, but it made him panic for no reason. Deep shame and pain pierced the Dark Angel's heart, making him want to kneel down and repent.

But he couldn't, he was not allowed, so he had to keep running, running until he was exhausted and could no longer continue.

He finally fell into a deep pit.

This place seemed to have been bombarded with a huge amount of artillery fire, and the degree of depression of the ground was completely incomparable to the surroundings. However, no matter who designed the building that once existed here, its designer must have had some obsession with "solidity".

Because, even at this point, a little bit of its debris still remains. At this moment, it flashes in front of Serafax.

A touch of light gold.

The Dark Angel rushed over and pushed away the bricks and stones buried on it, and saw a small half of the broken eye, which was a little bit of the remains of the Emperor statue he had seen before. Although there was only this little bit left, it was still as big as Serafax.

Staring at this golden eye, the Dark Angel burst into tears.

He had already felt something.

Golden light suddenly appeared, bringing him to a new world, and a calm voice came into his ears.

"I heard from them that you want to see me?"