Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 477 Changing Spirit

"Your will has been conveyed, Captain Amon." Sejanus said, sitting on the side of the long table, his hands gently folded, "Terra has heard our astrological language, and now there is only one missing Respond. I believe you will get the answer you have been waiting for, and we will not become enemies."

"I hope so, Sejanus," Amon said, his tone low. "I look forward to a peaceful future, and I don't want anyone to ruin it. We already have the hope of a long-lasting peace."

"Next, I think I can return to orbit and wait for the answer with you."

"Or stay put until we hear from the Emperor."

Sejanus tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his eyes reflecting a sharp light, "It sounds like your prediction of the answer is not optimistic, Sun of a Thousand Dusts."

Amon looked at him without denying it. "I am sorry, Commander. I would like to assure you that for the sake of your friendship with us, Prospero would never harm a messenger."

"Is this - a declaration of guilt?"

"I hope it isn't, but I have to think about our home planet."

"Detaining me will not stop our pack of wolves."

"Then let peace continue for even one more day, Commander." Amon said, "Without the Luna Wolves, I'm afraid there would be a second legion coming here to start the war. I once didn't want to believe it, but Magnus Tell me there's nothing to worry about about the future of the City of Light. Now," he took a deep breath, "I don't want to admit that he's wrong.

"If the Emperor clears Prospero's name, I will apologize for what happened today, and the Luna Wolves will be compensated, whatever you want, honorable Sejanus. On a personal note, I thank you for everything you’ve done for us.”

Xinyue shook her head slightly: "I didn't do anything. This was never a negotiation between us."

"Because it all depends on the emperor's will, and the entire human empire has always been like this." Amon said softly. "Our thoughts may be able to influence momentary turbulence, but all power is ultimately the only one. You and I both know this."

For a while, they looked at each other, waiting for the Astropath's reply.

The fleets in orbit and the psykers at the ground communication tower stations are waiting for a distant signal, hoping to capture the fragments flying here along the ocean currents.

But they are wrong. In fact, when it does come, it will not require any transit. It is grand and deep-seated. It instantly expands from the existence of subspace to the present world. It rings the air of Prospero like a big bell and burns invisible above the City of Light until a dripping star is hollowed out. The black sun hole of fallen lava hangs in the non-material world, coating Prospero in everyone's senses with a layer of dimness after the sun is on the verge of extinction——

+Prospero will burn. +

The Emperor's sentence echoed cruelly to the bone, and darkness swept away all the brilliance of Tizca, causing everything to fade in an instant.

Hastur Sejanus jumped up from the table immediately, as did the other Luna Wolves. The bolters in their hands were aimed at their respective targets in an orderly manner, while the psychic light on the side of the Sun of Thousand Dusts In a flash, several warriors screamed in pain and fell to the ground at the first moment of using their psychic powers, covering the blood that overflowed from their ears.

"Please," Amon shouted.

In Sejanus's shocked eyes, a group of Iron Warriors filed in, heavy firepower brewing in the barrels, waiting for the moment of roaring roar.

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency," a dull whisper came from the helmet, "we did not want you to fulfill...the Emperor's mission. I believe that is not the right thing to do."

Sejanus looked at the unfamiliar yellow and black iron warriors and took a step back.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I want to confirm again, are you inviting the Luna Wolves to defy the Emperor's call?"

"For truth and peace, yes."

"This is not true, warriors. We are the Emperor's warriors, protected by the Emperor, and sworn to follow his orders. Since there is no longer any possibility of misinformation, since we have heard what the Emperor himself said. You said it angrily, why would the Moon Wolf be seduced by your despicable pleas?"

Sejanus changed his words. Miraculously, even though his guns were pointed at each other, there was no anger in his heart. He felt himself trembling slightly.

"You can trap me in Prospero, but the Sixteenth Legion's attack will never stop for this. If that's your intention, then do it."

Amon stared at him, "It is enough to prevent the commander of a legion from participating in the battle, respected Sejanus. Please follow the Iron Warriors to rest for a while."

——

"Even if I don't want to believe it, when I saw the Iron Warriors, I couldn't help but doubt it. I am familiar with each of them, the War Blacksmith, the Remembrancer, and I can recognize them through their helmets. Luna Wolf and Steel The Warriors were never hostile - so I recognized him, even though it was hard for me to believe."

Sejanus sat at the table and stared out of the window at the long street. The Emperor's wrath took away every sparkling brilliance of Tizca, making everything gray and rough, containing some kind of primitive wildness.

The psychic runes originally intended to be here also had cracks under the influence, and could be erased with a swipe of a finger, but he was still trapped in this room. Because the people guarding the door are Iron Warriors soldiers.

"Why can't you believe it? Because you don't believe in the Iron Warriors' choice?" Kalista asked, rubbing her temples tiredly. Not long after the memoirist got up from the hospital bed, she came here with her paper notebook.

Neither Legion had any intention of preventing the Memoirs from interviewing Sejanus, and they did not mind granting Sejanus as much of his needs as possible, short of returning to the Luna Wolves.

"Because Kaidomo Frix has been missing for nearly two hundred years, Kalista, I am very sure that he is on the missing list of the Iron Warriors, including other warriors I don't recognize..."

"Is it that rumor about the Iron Warriors?"

"I'm afraid it's not just a rumor, or it's more than a rumor...their numbers, their armaments, and the timing of their appearance in Prospero. I don't want to think about what that means, Carly Star. You can write this down. I think since they allow you to come to me, they won’t mind you recording it truthfully.”

The memoirist's pen moved quickly on the notebook, and Sejanus's mood became complicated. Maybe he was witnessing a historical record. Maybe this record would last longer than he himself lived, and his blood would be spilled on on the notes.

It was still hard for him to imagine what Magnus had done... However, the Luna Wolves would never disobey the Emperor's orders. Whether it's for the oath Horus once knelt before the Emperor, or for the situation of the Luna Wolves, who now lack the primarch, when facing the pressure from Terra... No, the Luna Wolves cannot withstand anything. An additional internal dispute.

"My lord, I'm sorry that you are trapped here," Calista said softly, with a sad expression, "The Sun of Thousand Dusts is sorry for you."

"It doesn't matter, I expected it when I came to the surface. Callista, they seem to be ready for war. Even so, I know that none of us want to get into war-but I can already see the prospect of war burning, I think."

"Me too." Callista lowered her voice, like a soft exhale, floating in Sejanus's ears. "We all foresaw... Prospero's destruction, my lord. Perhaps this is the fate of betrayers..."

"What do you know?" Sejanus turned and looked down at the Memoir before him, uneasy about whatever she might say next.

The memoirist handed her the notebook in her hand and squeezed her fingers. There was a faint fire in her eyes, "In these days, Prospero's psychic talents have all entered a leaping path. Stream, we can’t break free..."

In her notebooks, the burning pictures of Prospero wildly outline large blocks of darkness with rough and savage brushstrokes. The fear hidden in them is enough to burn a person's eyes. In addition, there are some blurs. Pictures of some one-eyed angels with broken bodies, strange wings composed of flying flames, performing illegal calculations in a high tower with the help of balm...

Sejanus's heart cooled quietly at the scene he witnessed, "No," he murmured, "Red Magnus..."

"Misguided," Calista said, the light outlining her shadow as if it was about to float away at any moment, "He's trapped, he's ruined a lot of things, he has no way back, so he's broken... He's already Defeated, but his legions resisted."

Sejanus closed his eyes and felt the light and shadow changing in front of him, the shadows twisting and stretching. He frowned.

"So, what personal suggestions are you making to me...Memorial Messenger?"

+I can bring you back to the Vengeful Spirit, my lord,+Calista's eyes stared straight at him, mind words rolling through the void of consciousness,+I am an unrecorded psyker, But I have overheard some methods of using psychic powers. I can still call upon this power, my lord, and I believe this is the Emperor's favor, the Emperor's choice. The great God-Emperor has commanded me to lead your escape. Hastur Sejanus, please follow me back to the right path. +

Sejanus opened his eyes again and met Callista's eyes. He felt that there seemed to be some extraordinary magic in them. The flames lingered around the thin Memoir, and clusters of ashes came from the invisible wind. Fly down.

This small room seems to have become an independent hall. The outside world cannot hear what is happening here, but their will seems to be approaching, and his soul is increasingly exposed...

He dismissed his concern in this area and abandoned his excessive awareness of his innermost feelings.

"Give me my gun back," Hasta Sejanus said. "Let me see how far you can go."

+Of course, my lord,+ Kalista raised her eyebrows in delight, her fingers reached into the void, and she easily took out a bolter, handing it to Sejanus with both hands. The latter felt the touch of his fingers on the handle and remained silent.

+Sir? +

"Wait a moment before we go out." Sejanus pointed the muzzle of the gun in the direction of the door, "I need to say a few words to Frix first."

Calista was stunned for a moment, then smiled, +Okay, sir. Listen to you. All you have to do is open the door. The War Blacksmith is guarding the door. +

Sejanus nodded to the Memoir and adjusted the bolter so that it could fire a lethal round at any moment.

He rose, the linen robe Prospero had provided swaying gently in the windless room. He walked towards the door, leaving his back to Callista.

Callista imitated a raised eyebrow, and it hesitantly selected and compared between different variables. Burnt pictures flew past the front of its consciousness, burning along the leads leading to different possibilities. Finally, at this moment, it gestured like a gun and lit a cluster of flames on its fingertips.

At the far edge, it heard a sharp, burning laughter that jumped like tongues of fire, expanding the flame at the tip of its borrowed finger—a bullet ready to go.

Sejanus opened the door.

Two gunshots were fired.

The first gunshot came from Frix. The Iron Warrior's pupils shrank for the first time, and he shot Kalista's hand. The resulting explosion destroyed the mortal bones, and a red and white flower bloomed on her wrist. of broken flowers.

The second gunshot came from Sejanus. The bomb whizzed through the air as the gunman turned sharply, hitting Kalista's chest with a blurry afterimage, and a handful of mortal flesh was Thick blood spurted out from the body of the former Remembrancer, splashing into a curtain like rain.

Then, Kalista fell backwards, and the blue flames squirmed in the cracks in her body. Sejanus added a second shot coldly, and her head suddenly exploded, turning into a ball of charred bones and softness. mixture of substances. The blue flame twitched, gradually detached and peeled off from the damaged body, and dissipated in the air filled with large amounts of powder.

Sejanus lowered his gun hand, exhaled, and faced the Iron Warriors again.

"It looks like something escaped your detection, Warsmith," he said. "It wants us to see each other as enemies."

"I'm sorry," Frix said, glaring at the wreckage. "I'll have Amon find someone with psychic powers to guard the gate."

Sejanus blinked, "Okay - but what is our relationship now? Other than enemies?"

"We are... cousins ​​of the legion, comrades in battle," Fricks said, brushing his hand over the barrel of his gun.

Sejanus shook his head: "No, Kaidomo Frix."

He ignored Frix's surprise at being recognized and continued:

“I don’t care what crimes Sun of the Dust has committed, and I’m not curious about the mysterious reappearance of Iron Warriors’ titular dead man.

“I don’t even understand why there’s still something that’s trying to stir things up out of it because it doesn’t make sense anymore.

"You are the traitors appointed by the Emperor, and we are the destroyers appointed by the Emperor. This is the only thing that must be certain... and the excess emotions in our hearts cannot change the Emperor's decree. Do you understand what I mean, Warsmith ? Just as you appreciate my care, I also appreciate... your mercy on me. But it won't last long."

As soon as the words fell, the air suddenly froze.

They faced each other, an emotionless face facing an expressionless iron face.

Then, there were two more gunshots.