Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 417 Duncan Aihe

"As long as they remain sinful, His love cannot accept them and bring them favor. Only by relying on Him and entering into Him does He return sin to them." - Word Bearer Mullistan Daniel, the first grand captain of the regiment

Morse sorted out the chess pieces scattered everywhere on the table. He did not use supernatural means, but personally put the chess pieces one after another back into the wooden box made of acacia wood. Now that he has nothing to do, adopting some retro lifestyle can indeed add some simple fun to his life.

After Malcador finished dealing with the story about the disappearance of planets in a star region due to a series of accidents caused by aliens, subspace and dark technology chain, and the subsequent effects, when he returned to the chess and card room of the Emperor and the Artisans - well, this place used to be just An indoor model room with a view of the outdoor garden at the same time, Morse has almost packed everything.

Only a small pile of dust remained on the table where the angel statue had been.

"Did he go to Randan?" The Imperial Prime Minister walked over slowly, stopped beside Morse, and stretched out his hand to hold the edge of the table. "Mars just reported that he went to the Evernight Maze."

"Let's go to Randan." Morse turned his head, easily put the lock on the wooden box, and patted the top of the box encouragingly. "Maybe he's here now."

Malcador nodded slightly, "Do you know... what he will do with the Second Legion?"

"I don't know, and I'm too lazy to ask," Morse said, "but I think you can completely remove this organization from the system. I'll trouble you for him, dear Imperial Regent."

——

Tick ​​tock.

Blood dripped from the wounds in Duncan Aho's hands.

The original body stood up slowly, staggered feebly, and then tightened the fallen chains around his palms and wrists. He panted softly, completing each step in the series of actions painfully and persistently.

"You..." The lion's eyes were fixed on the Primarch in front of him, feeling as if his thoughts were falling into an abyss that was difficult for him to understand.

The Lion's thoughts were clear, and every word found its proper place, but his thoughts were so complex that he could not single out any of them to convey to the Second Primarch.

Primarch. he thinks. A Primarch who should have been free. They were supposed to put their loyalty to the Emperor first. For this reason, he would not hesitate to sacrifice his own legion.

He thought this was the foundation of the Primarch's identity. If necessary, Lorgar Aurelion would not hesitate for a moment. Horus Luperkar would have done so. Perturabo was another story.

Duncan, why didn't he tell the truth sooner? Why did he wait until his former comrades clashed with each other and let the Dark Angels personally execute so many Silver Angels before announcing his identity and explaining the experience of the Second Legion?

If they had known the true nature of the Resurrection Angel from the beginning, unnecessary blood would not have been shed...

Click.

Leon's sword fell a few inches from his hand, and the blade cut into the stone paving on the ground, making a harsh sound.

Just then, Duncan spoke.

"Will you execute me?" he asked.

"Why?"

Leon answered subconsciously.

"I betrayed."

"you……"

Leon suddenly realized how slowly he had reacted to the nature of the Second Primarch's actions.

Duncan Aho undoubtedly chose to throw himself into the furnace of Ran Dan's consciousness. This was a betrayal of the mission he shouldered, and was the best proof of the Emperor's expulsion decision.

But he stood there blankly, looking at the enemy who was in an absolutely weak state, without even swinging a sword.

He calmed down, grasped the sharp weapon in his hand again, raised his sword, and pressed down on the throat of the second original body. With just a tap of the wrist, the blood will flow out against his neck.

Duncan began to sort out the bone chains that had been cut off by the lion. His fingers pressed the two ends of the broken chains. After pressing once, the chains were reconnected and wrapped around his waist.

"You must be questioning in your mind why I didn't tell you the truth," Duncan said.

"Duncan..."

"The moment we became aliens, we were already part of the Randan Empire. A legion that must be destroyed, a shadow that is not qualified to join the glorious Great Crusade."

"You are not enemies of the empire..."

"We are Renegades," hissed the Second Primarch, tired of dealing with shock and hesitation. "What are you doing, Loyalist? Defending the Renegades?"

The lion remained silent, and for the first time in his life, his hand holding the weapon began to tremble.

"Tell me, my brother." Duncan pressed. The words accumulated over ten years were brewing in his heart, and finally turned into a tiredness that could not be spoken.

"The Emperor's eldest son, the first of all armies... With your loyalty to the Empire, with your trust in the Emperor. The moment you discovered the truth and confirmed that my son, who had been removed from the family by his father, had indeed chosen to rebel... …Won’t you do your best to execute my legion?”

"Without a doubt." The cold wind breathed out from Leon El'Jonson's mouth, almost frostbitten his lips and tongue. "The moment I discovered the truth."

"Father gave you the arsenal of mankind's weapons to kill each other. Your destiny lies within it."

"I will definitely live up to the emperor's orders."

"But you still discovered the truth."

"You can't hide it till the end."

"The truth. The truth is that I am not bound, Leon. I betrayed the empire and abandoned humanity. I know who I am and why I did it. I chose this path with my own hands, and I will not regret it. I only want to The Legion survives.”

"It won't," Leon said.

Duncan blinked hard to squeeze out the blood that flowed into his eyes. "Don't……"

"It won't," Leon continued, staring at the Second Primarch, the blade of the sword across his neck, forcing Duncan to raise his chin and meet his gaze.

"Your Legion will not continue to exist in its current form. The aliens who are enemies of the Empire will not receive mercy. The Legion you chose to betray will receive the Emperor's judgment."

"The Emperor's sentence..." Duncan bit his lip with his teeth, "Death is also the Emperor's mercy."

Then, he showed a sad smile.

"But how can my legion get another kind of mercy from him, Leon? How can he resurrect them in a pure body? He is not a god who can resurrect the dead..."

Duncan asked, his tone gradually taking on a cheerful determination, "But look at them, look at them! Good warriors of the Empire, good angels of the Emperor!"

"Not long ago, they were still fighting for the Empire, obeying your orders, and going forward one after another to provide support for the Emperor's divine punishment..."

"Lions, if they have done you harm, it is my command. The Risen still serve the Emperor after death, and they serve the Emperor even in death!

"And I, their Primarch, am the only stain on their pure loyalty, the one responsible for forcing them to live in this world."

"That's enough, Duncan, you-"

The second primarch suddenly burst out, and a bone sword stretched out from his wrist caught Leon's blade, and then struck with it to form a diagonal cross. Then he rotated around the intersection point, and his palm immediately took advantage of the situation. The lion's sword hilt, combined with the movement of the other hand, quickly snatched away Leon El'Jonson's sword blade.

Leon reacted immediately, pressed on Duncan's exhausted body, reached out to his left hand, grabbed the long straight sword blade and the hilt loosely held by him, changed his footwork, and turned to the next step in the blink of an eye. The two originals moved from behind and twisted him to the ground.

Duncan knelt down heavily, and the chains vibrated violently, making crisp collision sounds. Leon maintained a suppressive posture, snatched back his long sword, and pressed the sword against the back of the second original body's neck, like a decapitating guillotine.

Leon vigilantly examined every muscle required to exert force on the second original body, and judged the opponent's movement trend through the robe.

No, nothing. Duncan didn't struggle. He just knelt there, staring at the blurred reflection of his own silhouette in the blood lake beside his knees.

"Ask mercy from the Lord of Mankind for the Second Legion, I beseech you, Leon El'Jonson," he whispered.

"No," Leon said, lowering his sword, "Only you really care about the fate of the Second Legion, and I will not take care of your children for you. On the contrary, they will be eliminated after being removed from the list."

Duncan's back stiffened.

Wow.

Leon took a step forward, and the blood lake was stirred up, flowing and hitting the lion's leg armor.

"And I will do my duty," he ordered sternly, "hunt down the traitors and eliminate the heretics. For every Resurrection Angel that escapes death today, the Dark Angels will hunt them to their end. With the First Principle In the name of the body, I swear to the emperor."

"Leon!" Duncan roared, and then the lion grabbed his hair and pushed him into the bloody water.

Blood splashed everywhere, and a string of bubbles burst out of the blood lake. Leon leaned forward, relying on his weight to easily suppress the futile and desperate struggle of the second original body, and whispered in his ear: "You know the choice you should make. . And I always keep my word.”

After saying that, Leon El'Jonson raised his sword and stabbed.

Before his sword made contact with Duncan's artery, the spiritual world was suddenly torn apart, throwing him out of the world of collective consciousness.

He resisted, the lion thought to himself.

He opened his eyes, and the pain from the previous injury to his chest had subsided. As Duncan said, the flesh and blood structure covering his body did its best to repair the battle damage on his body.

The lion sat up on the ground and looked up at the towering sculpture that was difficult to distinguish in the surrounding darkness. He still couldn't see it clearly, but he could hear a drop of blood falling from above, gently hitting the flesh and blood covering the ground. Then came the second drop.

Tick ​​tock.

He snorted heavily, found his long sword from the ground, wiped it briefly, and prepared to put the scabbard back.

As he said, he would hunt the Risen Angel, and that was more than just a lie used to goad Duncan Aho.

The Second Legion has brought damage to the Empire's military strength. No sin needs to be repaid, and no betrayal can be forgiven.

The moment before the sword was sheathed, a hand covered the back of his hand, stopping his movements.

It is rough, dark, and bears the marks of years of work.

But it is also warm, dry, and exudes a faint, halo-like golden light, supporting a shallow light in the dark oath hall.

"Leon," said the Emperor, "why don't you do it?"

"Your Majesty..." Leon replied, unable to say the following words.

He wavered, and was deeply ashamed of his wavering. Being unable to wield a sword due to friendship is such a weakness that puts a loyal knight to shame.

On the other hand, there is also a deep-seated sadness in his wavering. No. Sadness, this word is too simple, it is just a brick available in the pavilion built by human beings to store their thoughts.

What touched him was a feeling, a strange... loss and shortcoming, a suffocating... choking and obstruction, and a dull burning pain. All this surrounded him in vain, tempering his soul.

"What's wrong?" asked the Emperor.

"The Second Primarch has turned traitor, but the Astartes of the Second Legion still retain a clear sense of self. I believe they still have value in serving the Imperium."

Leon answered, suddenly recalling that a few years ago, a Luna Wolf had expressed a similar plea to him. And that Space Marine...

His eyes swept across the ground and saw the pearl-white warrior falling to the ground silently.

The Emperor took the sword from his hand and drew it out. Golden fire ignited from the blade of the sword, and cold light shone on the inlaid rubies.

"What did Number Two say to you, Leon?" the Emperor asked calmly, moving forward with his sword in hand. The firelight illuminated half of his golden armor, and the rainbow of light was still spreading, forcing back the surrounding darkness layer by layer.

"He said... that he was the only stain on the Second Legion's loyalty and the source of the Resurrection's sin."

"anything else?"

"He said... you are not a god and cannot bring the Legion back to life."

The emperor nodded slightly and said vaguely: "He is right."

Leon El'Jonson followed the Emperor as they approached the end of the real Oath Hall. This once so reassuring figure now made Leon unimaginably uneasy.

Finally, the Emperor raised his flaming sword, and the flames illuminated the human form hanging above.

A Primarch with withered black hair and a thin face, his eyes were closed nervously, and blood flowed across his face.

He was bound and protected by countless dry, skeletal warrior hands, as if embedded in a niche in the wall.

crackle.

The Emperor raised his sword, and the flames extended outward from the tip of the sword, extending into a long whip that burned like thorns. Wherever it touched, the fingers that were tightly clasped around the Primarch's body silently loosened, reluctant to let go. Swinging downward without any force.

Finally, the naked Primarch reappeared. It was almost an extremely haggard skeleton, and it was obviously deformed - veins stretched out on the back of the ribs and arms, and the bones, like half-expanded bone wings, were ruthlessly broken before they could grow.

His vitality had been exhausted over the years, like a candle in a strong wind, on the verge of being extinguished.

And his hands were still clutching the palms of his Astartes warriors, even though the hands he grasped had long ago turned into tired bones.

That is undoubtedly the prototype of the bone chain held by Duncan in the spiritual world.

The Emperor looked at the Second Primarch.

"What will he get, father?" Leon asked.

"He deserves it," the Emperor answered. “He has given his soul into my hands.”

Then, the fire went out.

The Lord of Mankind did not choose fire. On the contrary, the last ray of light also left. Darkness fell everywhere, as if a dim black sun had risen in the hall.

Leon was in silence, and this gloomy shadow made him hear his own heartbeat. He waited in the darkness, waiting for the light to reappear.

Then, there is the wind.

The wind blew through the lion's hair, bringing with it a faint hint of charcoal.

After a long silence, the light came back again.

This sudden incandescent light pierced a painful physiological tear in the corner of Leon El'Jonson's eye.

He adapted to the brightness of the Oath Hall and re-observed everything in front of him.

there is none left.

All is gone.

No more flesh and blood, no more bones.

Standing at the end of the hall, the angelic statue of the imprisoned Primarch Duncan Ahor, or the rack that bound him to the crime of betrayal, also quietly disappeared into ashes.

All that is left is the broken wall of the glorious Queen, which has been corroded by the years, and the flying bones and white dust. They look as pale as sackcloth in the strong light.

The Second Legion ceased to exist.