Warhammer: I don’t want to be a can of worms! ! !

Pain, restlessness, buzzing.

Calastyphon emerged from the deep and dry ocean, feeling dizzy and exhausted, and the dazzling light made his eyes blurry.

He subconsciously wanted to rub his painful temples with his hands, and then the slow and dull force feedback reminded him of his current state.

He's not dead yet.

"grass."

Karastifon muttered a curse.

Upon realizing this, Calastiphon ceased any activity and patiently stood still, waiting for himself to recover.

His eyes began to adjust to the dazzling white light, and then he realized that the white light that had just stabbed him was not dazzling. On the contrary, they were dim, with the unique dimness of the Endurance.

When he finally adapted to all of this, including his mutilated body, and his current extremely bad situation, Carastiphon raised his eyes, and sure enough, he saw a familiar and tall figure.

"Mortarion?"

Karastifon shouted hesitantly and sarcastically, not sure whether the sarcasm in his tone was directed at himself or Mortarion.

The Lord of Death was sitting quietly on a simple chair. His armor was covered in dried blood and there were obvious impact dents. It looked like he had just experienced a fierce fight.

Calastyphon allowed himself a second to imagine, could this be the scar caused by Mortarion's killing of Hades?

This imagination gave him a subtle and wicked sense of satisfaction, as if it was making up for his current disability, and then he moved his gaze and looked straight into Mortarion's eyes.

Mortarion looked tired, very tired, but his bright yellow eyes sparkled in the shadow of his hood.

[Callastyphon, long time no see. 】

Mortarion spoke with a sigh. The original body seemed to want to say something, but was stuck.

Karastifon observed the surroundings silently. There were two death guards at the door. He could identify one of them as Garro and the other as a technical sergeant.

--But Hades isn't there.

"Where's Hades?"

Karas asked bluntly.

Motali paused and spoke hoarsely,

[Left, he went to Terra. 】

Karas raised his eyebrows.

"He finally abandoned you? Just like you abandoned me?"

"What a shame, Mortarion, I was hoping to see Hades so I could taunt him that you were left behind too."

After all, the Primarchs were different, they were born strangers.

Karastiphon watched with satisfaction as Mortarion's eyebrows furrowed deeply. That was it, Karas thought, and then Mortarion would flee, taking his own harsh words with him. Lost in this forgotten corner.

But Mortarion did not leave. Although he seemed dissatisfied with Karas's words, he still sat there steadily.

[If you still regret that scene back then. 】

Mortarion said calmly and softly, "It's disgusting." Karas felt as if Mortarion was trying to comfort him.

But the next second I felt really sick.

[Then I apologize, Karas. 】

Karas felt that the gastric juice in his empty stomach was about to rise, but Mortarion was still talking. It was strange that Mortarion would not refute the words that taunted him.

[This was an oversight on my part, I should have noticed all this. 】

Mortarion looked calmly at the Dreadnought Machine equipped with Karastyphon. In a sense, this huge iron guy was already Karas himself.

After Hades left, the Death Guard quickly threw themselves into another battlefield, Kajol. They met those primitive people roaring with blood and skulls, and met those altars built with skulls.

It took them three full months to end this battle. Even though the weapons on the opposite side were only crude swords and flintlocks, whenever night fell, blood-red monsters would spew out from the darkness and ominous flames, and those locals Primitive man obviously knew how to drive them.

Witchcraft again.

Mortarion scoffed.

The Lord of Death already knew how to deal with all this. He carefully and skillfully placed the Zero Company on the battlefield. By now, even the Hades had learned that the Death Guard had a team to restrain the psychic species.

In the end, under the cooperative suppression of the three wandering knights, Mortarion successfully beheaded the leader of the Kajol people, who was a madman so strong that he was almost mutated.

Without the Zero Company, it would have taken the Death Guard longer, and at a much higher cost, to end this.

Mortarion understood this deeply.

When he led the Death Guard to fight against the bloodthirsty monsters in the forest, when he commanded the knights to outflank the opposing wizard troops in the channel, when he was fighting with the opposing leader, he heard Ribo's roar in the channel. What was Mortarion thinking?

What was he thinking about?

Mortarion didn't know that he ended the battle in a hurry. He returned to the office, held the pen with his bloody hand, and wrote the war report declaring the end. Then he raised his head and stared at the two pictures on the wall. A framed, incongruous letter.

How stupid, he thought.

Then he opened the channel, and without any other unnecessary thoughts, he called Enrique, the forging master of the Death Guard and a Terran. He was not familiar with this heir.

[Enrique, wake up Calastiphon, and then call Gallo over. 】

He said this even though he didn't know what he was talking about.

Then he sat here suddenly, facing Carastyphon who was about to wake up.

He heard Calastiphon yelling, which gave him a strong urge to leave here, but he couldn't just wake up a Dreadnought and shut it down casually, even for the original body, it was inappropriate to do so.

Carastyphon was still the same man in his memories, stinging Mortarion with his sharp words, but he was indeed right.

Mortarion apologized dryly.

The language was stuck in his throat. It was not like facing Horus, who could easily say words that made him sick, nor like facing Hades, who could say whatever he wanted.

He was stuck. Mortarion wanted to know what Karastifon had experienced at that time. He also wanted to know what Karas was doing now...

And...Mortarion hoped that there was still a possibility for Karas to move forward, though he would need to examine this harshly.

In a sense, a Karas sleeping in the Dauntless is like a badge displayed in the Glory Room. He symbolizes a past, a past where Mortarion has made mistakes.

A stubborn and prejudiced past.

Under the gas mask, Motali took a few quiet breaths, and then he decided to say what he wanted to say.

[Karas, after you fell asleep, the Death Guard went through a lot, including the Battle of Druun, the Battle of Just, the Battle of Absdu, and some others...]

"What do you mean, Mortarion?"

Carastyphon is always like this, sharp enough.

Motali settled down for a moment,

[...I want you to keep up with the Death Guard, rather than become a broken silhouette of the past, thrown into the battlefield short-handed, and then forced to sleep. 】

This time Calastyphon was silent. After a period of silence, Calas laughed.

"Thank you for your kindness, but they come a little late."

【Better than nothing. 】

There was another period of silence. It was no longer like old friends who had nothing in common.

The Lord of Death spoke first,

[Karas, if you still wish to die. 】

【Then I can... help you. 】

Karas' pupils trembled suddenly.

Of course he wanted to die. He should have died as early as Barbarus, instead of becoming a piece of meat imprisoned in this small corner. He had ridiculed Hades many times, just to make him furious. Kill yourself.

But by mistake, looking at Mortarion covered in blood in front of him, perhaps Karas' long-sleeping desire to survive suddenly broke out, or perhaps he was really inspired by the battles the Death Guard had experienced. Perhaps hearing the fact that Mortarion was abandoned by Hades made Karastifon feel a long-lost pleasure...

Kara paused for a moment, okay, he was unwilling to give in, he was afraid of death, and he didn't want to leave just like that.

He changed his tone to a more relaxed tone,

"No, Mortarion, I was thinking that next time I wake up, I might be able to hear better news - just like Hades abandoned you this time."

Mortarion shook his head.

[You don't have to be so mean, Karas. 】

[If you really take pleasure in the pain of others, then... I may have other news to share with you. 】

Callas raised his voice,

"for example?"

[There are actually rumors of Hades circulating within the Death Guard...]

Karas frowned.

[And recently I learned that the rumor they circulated was not that Hades was so heroic, but that he collapsed a recruit's bed - and Hades tried to escape, but was discovered by the poor recruit. 】

...Mortarion looked at Karas, and Karas looked back at Mortarion.

Mortarion seemed to ask him if this wasn't funny.

After a moment of absolute silence, a startling roar of laughter erupted from the fearless muffled can.

Karas didn't know whether he was more haunted by Mortarion's bad joke itself, or whether he was actually gloating about Hades's tragic experience.

Moreover, Hades himself is indeed very heavy. Karas is very sure of this, because he was once dragged down by Hades purely by his weight.

No more.

Also, Mortarion tricked Karas, I mean he told a bad joke.