Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"Must retreat."

In the dimly lit meeting hall, Avalon, dressed in unyielding tactical fearlessness, broke the silence.

The feedback from the battle ahead exceeded their worst expectations. The battlefields opened by the enemy throughout the battleship and the uniform armor painting let them know that they might be fighting the main force of the Gray Knights' chapter.

In view of this unfavorable news and the authority of the Avalon Defense Master, his proposal was quickly adopted without any questioning.

"Then the next question is how to retreat."

Gulbin, who was in charge of the fleet command, pointed out the problems they faced. After the flight decks at the bow and main body of the ship were lost one after another, there were many ways for them to retreat, but none of them was a mature plan for an organized evacuation.

"At the end of the B6 channel on the left side of the plasma reactor, there is our hidden flight deck. As long as the pre-buried explosives are detonated, we can evacuate directly after the surface armor is detached."

The champion swordsman Ryan, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke, surprising Gulbin beside him. The two had been in the same war gang for more than a century, and this was the first time he knew clearly about the hidden functions of his brother.

"Then there's only one question left."

Secret Keeper Stein, who was apparently in charge of commanding the warband, looked around to confirm the direction for the entire warband's next battle.

"We need to evacuate the brothers guarding the middle section of the battleship, and then concentrate our forces to penetrate the enemies in the direction of the engine room."

"agree……"

"agree……"

The discussion ended, and the Alphas in the meeting hall left the dark hall one after another in accordance with their respective tasks.

When only Stein was left in the entire hall, the door behind his seat was pushed open again.

Stein sat motionless on the marble seat, as if he had expected this.

"Password." Stein asked in a low voice.

"Dragon's blood." The person was wearing a cloak with optical camouflage function on the power armor, and his voice sounded familiar to Stein but difficult to recognize.

"Issue number?" Due to the discipline of the legion, Stein did not try to find out the identity of the person who came.

He searched for the corresponding program in his memory according to the password given by the other party, and then, as if he had received some inspiration, he sat up straight and solemnly, the power sword in his hand already clanking.

"Grayscale." The words uttered from the visitor's mouth stopped his alert posture, and the special pronunciation caused the leader of the war gang to enter a special physiological state.

"Key..." Stiff words came out of Stein's mouth, and the visitor did not hesitate and gave him a special password...

call!

Stein's muscles relaxed and he sat slumped on the stone chair for several seconds. A large section of memory was activated from his brain under special hypnotic instructions, and a secret that made him tremble was awakened by this memory.

"I didn't know there was this here..." he murmured.

"Ignorance is a virtue if it is not necessary." The visitor responded.

"Okay, your order?" Stein stood up from his seat and took out a secret key that he had never known before from the hidden compartment of the armor.

"It's not my order, it's his will."

The person reached out and took the metal badge-shaped key from Stein's hand, turned around and pressed it into the neck of a dragon in the Hydra mural on the wall of the meeting hall.

The entire stone wall slowly cracked under the servo-driven hydraulic device, and at the end of the messy floor was the metal gate that had been opened.

The strong light made Stein, who had been in the dark room for a long time, feel slightly uncomfortable. While his pupils shrank violently, he also saw his final mission at the end of the secret room - a huge dimension shrouded in a stasis field. Health cabin.

"Can I know 'his' intention?" Stein asked before he died, feeling that the poison reserved in his chest was taking effect.

This is not his transgression, but hundreds of years of living in the Eye of Terror, which has made this Alpha almost forget where he came from.

If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed his true position.

Hundreds of years of memories of fighting against the empire flashed through his mind, and the various real and fake battle experiences made him eager to find a final destination before his death.

"...Okay, I will destroy your brain on the physical level after you die." The visitor hesitated for a moment, but decided to solve this last doubt for Stein.

But even he himself couldn't possibly know "his" complete thoughts.

"There is a special being on this ship, and 'he' wants to observe it up close."

"receive."

The toxin on Stein's body has fully taken effect. The normally strong giant staggered and leaned weakly on a broken stone chair.

The mysterious visitor calmly observed the longer and longer breathing under his breastplate, and after confirming that his physical signs were consistent with the type of toxin and that his death could not be terminated, he asked in a low voice: "Your last words? "

"Hail him for me... HYDRA SUPREME!"

Violent neurotoxin spread in Stein's two hearts, and as his breathing stopped, the Astartes, who had not known his alignment until the end, finally stopped breathing.

The mysterious man looked at the lifeless body in front of him. After waiting in silence for a long time, he raised the plasma pistol in his hand and replied in a low voice:

"Received, but unfortunately, I can't witness his recovery either."

Boo!

The blue-white plasma melted Stein's helmet instantly. The shock wave stirred up dust in the room and turned his head into fly ash.

After completing the cleaning procedures, the mysterious man turned around and walked towards the open secret room. After turning off the stagnant energy source with his own hands, the Alpha with a special mission watched the servo start according to the predetermined procedure.

Until the automatic robotic arm took out a tube of bright red blood from the refrigerated box and injected it into the extraordinarily tall body in the life-support cabin.

This mysterious man also activated the poison prepared in advance in the armor, ending his life before that life awakened...

hiss! call!

The automatic machine completed its mission and started the activation process of the life support module before the final energy was exhausted.

The nutrient solution in the cylindrical glass cavity faded away like a tide. In the darkness with the lights out, a powerful heartbeat sounded in the unusually strong chest.

The plate-like ribs expanded violently outwards under the movement of the huge lungs. With a long breath, this exceptionally strong Astartes finally returned to the world after centuries of slumber.

Well!

One second there was a low moan coming out of his mouth, and the next second this body had already shattered the outer shell of the life-support capsule, crouching in a vigilant posture and staring at the surroundings.

Blue-green eyes without any emotion looked around, and the dark environment in the secret room and meeting hall was clearly visible in his eyes with natural night vision.

"Alert cleared. Location, reserve point No. 0195."

After looking around, the sturdy giant saw the bodies of the two deceased people. He slowly walked to the corpse of the mysterious man with bare feet and squatted down, carefully observing the latter's physical signs.

"Well... the deceased was found. The identity was analyzed... The analysis is completed. The results of the third generation biochemical transformation of the empire are 77% development level and 5% gene seed mutation level. The source of the gene seed points to... me?"

"Who am I?" The giant's eyes showed contemplation.

But he didn't hesitate to think about it. After picking up the plasma pistol in the mysterious man's hand and inspecting it, he turned around and looked at the secret room before he woke up.

On the wall behind the shattered survival cabin, a brand new Mark IV power armor and matching weapon kit are on standby in the form of spare parts on the automatic armor-wearing machine.

"I am...the son of the Emperor..."

He stood up and walked towards the ancient automatic machine. He stood in the central groove and started it without any instruction.

As several mechanical arms flew up and down, his body was quickly buried under armor made of ceramic steel and adamantine.

When all the armor was installed, the final robotic arm buckled down the heavy Mark IV helmet. When the threads of the neck armor and helmet were closed, the airtight sound of air pressure sounded under the helmet.

The giant then spat out the second half of the sentence as the eyepiece on his helmet lit up:

"I am, Alpharius!"

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