Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

"Mr. Orpesson, why did you join Avalon?"

"Do you care about this, little girl?"

"... A little."

When they spent about half a Terra standard hour waiting for the crowd in the square to gradually disperse, and followed the shadows of the last group of confused people, they moved forward silently, passed through the famous Topfit Gate, and vaguely saw the spire of the apartment building. The little travel companion beside Orpesson finally couldn't suppress the strong curiosity under the eight-year-old skin.

Compared with people of the same age, Cyrene is undoubtedly precocious. The death of her parents and the long life alone have made her grow up at a very fast speed. She tried her best to imitate the appearance of every adult she saw to make up for the vacancy of the elders in her life: this can be seen from the fact that Cyrene was able to suppress the doubts in her heart for more than an hour, and tried to maintain a calm state when asking questions.

If it were those mediocre and stupid adults, or adults who were full of contempt for children, they might really be deceived by this blandness, but Olpersong was different: although he never considered himself a genius, as an immortal, he had seen and tasted it after all.

Moreover, in the countless long years in the past, Olpersong had had a family more than once, and even had children, although their specific appearances and even names had long been forgotten by him: it was not that he did not want to remember, but his limited brain and mental strength were really difficult to resist the erosion of time.

This cruel world gave Olpersong endless life, but did not give him the corresponding physical strength, intelligence, or even willpower: as an immortal, he not only did not remember everything in the past tens of thousands of years, but even those people and things a hundred years ago, he had almost forgotten them.

Don't think that all immortals are monsters like the Emperor or the Sigillite. In fact, those two monsters should not be categorized as immortals at all. They should be classified as another race, a mutant class that is enough to make immortals feel afraid: Orpesson understood this very early, which is one of the reasons why he finally decided to leave the Emperor.

They are not the same kind of people after all.

To this day, this decision still makes Orpesson feel mixed. He and the Emperor are not without feelings. On the contrary, the Lord of Mankind has the longest, most unforgettable and most solid friendship with him.

They met in Nineveh, the first military empire of mankind and the capital of the Assyrian Empire, 8,000 years before Jesus came to the world. That is the oldest thing Orpesson can remember so far.

He could not forget that moment: the Emperor was the first Eternal he met, and the Emperor was also his anointed witness. The Lord of Mankind witnessed Orperson becoming a believer. They walked side by side in the years that followed, and accomplished many remarkable things together, until the gears of fate ruthlessly crushed their paths and reorganized them into non-intersecting lines.

Compared with the years they experienced and the friendship they formed during the years, both the Great Crusade and the Primarchs who were active in the Great Crusade were like punctuation marks in the classics, so small that they were insignificant.

Of course, Orperson felt that the Emperor would not think so: compared with the years of working together and moving forward side by side, the arrogant guy should be more fascinated by the present, the Great Crusade that he had set off and controlled at will, and the many descendants who respected him like a god.

When they first met, Neos was such a person.

As for the events before he met the Emperor, even Orpesson had long forgotten them. He could vaguely remember that a long, long time ago, he seemed to have become a member of an adventure group, boarding a ship called Argo, and experienced a journey that later generations considered to be just a myth: but he could not remember more details and the final outcome.

In fact, if he had not occasionally heard that the Spider Queen named her latest creation of a star maid [Atalanta] during his service at Avalon, he would probably have completely forgotten about it: just like he forgot the name of his last wife before he joined the Great Crusade, he only kept the cross she gave him.

(It is well documented that Orpesson first met the Emperor in 8000 BC and became a believer. Although I cannot understand why an immortal would become a believer, and I am not sure whether he participated in the Argonaut adventure, but in the mythology, Atalanta was indeed a member of the Argonaut crew.)

As for why he served under the Lord of Avalon...

"Heh..."

Orpesson smiled, glanced at Cyrene who was secretly looking at him, and after making sure that he could take care of the girl, he turned his head to look at the road ahead.

They were still a few minutes away from the apartment building at their destination. Because it was not on the main road, there were not many people around: the residents were packing their bags in their homes, or gathered in the shadows and whispered. The only two Dawnbreakers and dozens of Avalon mortal soldiers standing in a conspicuous place were when they saw Orpesson, they simply nodded to this comrade as a greeting.

"Do you want to know why I chose to join Avalon's army?"

Oerpesson returned the salute and asked Cyrene without turning his head.

"I just want to know: Why do you all like that Avalon so much?"

Cyrene no longer concealed the confusion and depression in her heart: she didn’t understand why these people wanted to leave the flawless and perfect city and go to another corner of the world? And the decision was made before the Emperor asked them to leave?

Isn't their perfect city the greatest city in the world? Even the emperor affirmed its value!

"us?"

This question made Orpesson raise his eyebrows, but he didn't pay attention.

"I don't know about others, but if you ask me, the reason is very simple."

"Because Avalon's benefits are better, that's why I came here to stay for two more years."

"Welfare?"

Cyrene chewed on the word, which was still a little too far away for her.

"Yes, benefits."

Orpeson nodded.

"In words you can understand: they give more wages, better daily security and infrastructure, more generous material rewards after retirement, and the reward and punishment system and promotion system are more open and transparent. As long as you are down-to-earth If you work hard, you won’t be treated badly.”

“You get what you work for: Human beings have spent tens of thousands of years not understanding this.”

"For example, I joined the mortal army of Avalon twelve years ago, and I am neither a native of Avalon, nor do I have any interpersonal relationships in the Dawnbreaker Legion: but despite this, just by virtue of With the expertise I have acquired and my military exploits over the years, I have become a member of the Avalon Guards and served as a low-level technical officer in the Guards."

"If you can't understand what this position symbolizes: In terms of actual treatment, even the governors of the Far Eastern Frontier must show enough respect to me because I come from a more important class."

"Above my level, there are only those who have undergone surgical transformation of the Queen's Guards and Astartes warriors; and in terms of personal treatment, even those of the Dawnbreakers treat me as equals. I even command the Astartes in those projects that suit my profession."

"Although I don't care about the people under my command, the advantage is that the conditions are favorable, the work is leisurely, and the pay is also good: if I serve for another twenty-eight years and make corresponding achievements during this period, I can even serve in Afghanistan. In the newly developed colonial world of Wallonia, serving as a colonial official or consultant, you can also be understood as the administrator of your city. "

"Is that so?"

Cyrene nodded: With what she has seen and heard now, she can only understand the last sentence.

"So, if they ask you to be an official, you will serve them?"

"Absolutely. Many of my comrades do hold this thought."

Orpeson pouted.

What Cyrene said is not wrong. Most of the best comrades around Orpeson hold this idea: these people often come from poor backgrounds, and a considerable number of them even come from the lower-level hives, but they rely on their With his excellent ability and fierceness, he seized the opportunity that came out of Morgan's fingertips and climbed to his current position.

The Eternal Ones can understand their madness. After all, the Far Eastern Frontier is currently at a historical turning point that is once in a lifetime.

You must know that Morgan's country is not like Guilliman's five hundred worlds. It was not established by an alliance of all worlds, but a huge country forcibly kneaded by the Dawnbreaker Legion's conquest of blood and fire: although there are There is a lot of political drama and compromise of interests, but one thing is unquestionable.

The Far Eastern Frontier created an unprecedented political entity in the eastern part of the Milky Way. Since its establishment, this political entity has not had any systematic rentier class: according to the historical inertia of mankind, this position originally belonged to the Dawnbreakers, but The Astartes obviously won't take up any more resources.

And those imperial governors who surrendered to Morgan one after another, under the deliberate suppression of the original body, were unable to form the initial top-level structure of Avalon. As a result, the wealth was overwhelming. In this way, the Spider Queen was placed in front of the mortal elites of her generation.

The hereditary rule of countless worlds, the wealth and status across the stars, the blessings that can take care of relatives for thousands of years, and the untouched top-level structure of the Far Eastern Frontier are enough for every mortal elite who swears allegiance to the Spider Queen. Crazy about it.

Not to mention, the newly born Great Avalon has been devouring its own food in the east with a barbaric expansion attitude. Although more than sixty years have passed since its establishment, there are still large tracts of interests waiting to be harvested. Q: And in the past sixty years or so, Morgan’s elites have suffered massive losses.

The most typical example is the Lost Crusade when Avalon was first established. In supporting the Dark Angel Legion, Morgan's mortal army suffered heavy losses. If you look at the proportion alone, this several-year expedition was very important to Avalon. The damage caused by the Valonian Mortal Auxiliary Army was even greater than that of all the interstellar wars combined in the more than sixty years since then.

But such heavy losses are not without benefits: a considerable number of the most capable mortal troops under Morgan's command have experienced that expedition and escaped from the purgatory battlefield, although they have forgotten what they were doing. No one fights, but the instinct in his bones still remains.

The courage shown by this part of the mortal troops on the battlefield can even make the Space Wolves and the Blood Angels admire them. Whether facing the overwhelming green tide or the twisted monsters that give Astartes a headache, they can always maintain high morale: because in their instinctive will, they know that they have faced something more terrible, and they came back alive from that battlefield.

Since there is a successful first time, the second time will not make people feel afraid.

Orpesson even envied his fighting brothers: as a thorough and famous battlefield punching enthusiast, he regretted that he had missed perhaps the most legendary battlefield in the entire Great Expedition.

In this case, even if he is a civilian living in the lower nest of Avalon, if he is gifted enough, hardworking, and willing to shed his blood for the cause of the Lord of Avalon, he can completely create a noble family that can be passed down for thousands of years and rule a world or even a galaxy in a generation of the world, and the blood of thousands of descendants behind him.

This is not a beautiful fantasy, but a realistic fairy tale that has been realized countless times throughout the Far Eastern Frontier: Morgan has at least thousands of [Officer Families] under his command, and they have risen like this.

Unexpectedly, Orpesson couldn't help but feel fortunate that he was an immortal who didn't have to worry about his descendants. For him, serving for a few more decades and then owning a fertile valley or manor on a beautiful emerging colonial world was all he had planned for the next hundred years of his life.

Of course, he could also make more merits as appropriate, because those warriors with better performance would be assigned to a better world: and if they were willing to give up power and settle down as a traditional military family attached to the Dawnbreaker Legion, they could even be assigned to several star regions around the Avalon galaxy and become Morgan's real base.

But Orpesson was not interested in this. Compared with living in Avalon, he preferred the emerging colony of Kalyon in the Hull galaxy on the west side of the Far Eastern Frontier: this name was given by the Spider Queen herself, telling of the glorious future of this new colonial world.

It will serve as the core world of the entire Far Eastern Frontier West, as an important hub between Great Avalon and the Empire, and as a trade hub that is visible to the naked eye and will rise soon, and will last forever in the galaxy: Morgan once described this place as [Caus of Avalon.]

…Tsk…Caus…

Oerpesson smacked his lips, and the expression on his face became a little unpleasant. He couldn't help but speed up his pace, but he still tried his best to take care of Cyrene who was trying to keep up with him: After sending the little girl home, the immortal stood cautiously at her door, waiting for Cyrene to pack her few bags.

The little girl obviously had no reason to stay in the city, and it seemed that she was still looking forward to witnessing the meeting between the Emperor and the Word Bearers Legion, so she naturally wanted to compete for the first position to leave the city: the immortals who had lived for countless years could understand all this without even Cyrene taking the initiative to speak, and while he still had some time to rest, Orpesson didn't mind going there in person to send Cyrene to his trusted colleagues outside the city.

During this period, he couldn't help but think of Calth again: there was no way, just a dozen years ago, the name of this world had appeared in his mind countless times, after all, Calth and the Five Hundred Worlds were the hundred-year destination that Orpesson had chosen for himself at the beginning.

As for why he changed ships halfway on his way to Ultramar to join the army and went to Avalon instead: the welfare mentioned to the little girl was naturally one of the reasons, but the other reason was not easy to say.

Orpesson turned his head and looked at the golden minarets outside the window.

Faith.

He sighed.

Faith is another reason: although the Five Hundred Worlds also maintain a tacit attitude towards the faith of its residents, Avalon is obviously more relaxed in this regard. They really wrote religious freedom into national policy, and among the mortal auxiliary group under Morgan, healthy personal beliefs are indeed not prohibited.

On the ship to Macragge, although people also expressed understanding of Orpesson's beliefs, they never stopped mocking, doubting or observing the alien eyes. On Avalon, "a believer" is just a label used by people to identify Orpesson.

Compared with the group of Titan captains who collectively praised the goddess of hunting before the war, painted their own god machines, and the senior officers who placed Morgan statues next to their respective strategic rooms and sand tables, the cross on Orpesson's chest was really too inconspicuous. Even a Dawnbreaker once asked him, which world did he buy this souvenir from?

In comparison, although the objective conditions of the Five Hundred Worlds were better than Avalon: Ultramar was a fertile land that had been cultivated by Guilliman, while the Far Eastern Frontier still had some wildness of the expansion era, Orpesson finally chose the latter.

However, this was not the reason why he took the initiative to come to the Perfect City: if he knew that the location of this business trip was the Perfect City, and that there was a Lord of Mankind floating above this city, he would have called in sick long ago.

He didn't want to see his old friend. After all, so many years had passed. Who knew what the paranoid man had become? Maybe he was cooperating with some twisted things that he couldn't name, which he considered "safe", and then created a bunch of creepy and terrifying creations.

Orperson would think so, not completely wronging the Emperor. No one knew the stubborn golden bastard better than him. Let's not talk about anything else. Let's talk about his current boss, Morgan, known as Spider Woman: just from the skills, temperament, agility, and extremely normal logical thinking shown by this only female Primarch on weekdays, as well as her shamelessness of saying one thing to one person and another to another in the sky above the Perfect City...

Orperson would never believe that she was created by the Emperor alone.

The Emperor doesn't have that ability, you know.

He must have cooperated with someone, perhaps those strange energy entities in the warp, or other dangerous realms and gods: the Lord of Mankind never mind playing with fire in these horrible places, and he created a lot of twisted freaks.

Madmen, war maniacs, fools, greedy politicians, and believers...

"..."

Orpesson took a heavy breath through his nose.

Believers... huh...

He clutched the cross on his chest. Looking out the window again at the hustle and bustle: the first batch of residents who wanted to move out of the Perfect City were already waiting on the streets for the inspection and arrangement of the Dawnbreakers and mortal warriors, while Guilliman's descendants were standing farther away, doing the rest of the auxiliary work. Their experience in such large-scale evacuations was obviously not as good as their blood relatives in silver armor.

At least in Olperson's opinion, the Dawnbreakers' skills in managing and comforting these mortals can be called art: even if one exhausts the memories of the immortals, there are few powerful military organizations that can do what they do. In less than ten minutes, a few Dawnbreakers and hundreds of mortal soldiers were able to organize the tens of thousands of people blocking several streets in an orderly and meticulous manner.

These demigod soldiers were like skilled shepherds, and they simply classified a group of scattered people, allowing them to leave in the most basic order and go to the next checkpoint, and then welcome more detailed classification: There are more than a dozen checkpoints like this. After the crowd finally walks out of the Perfect City, they will be divided into more than a dozen separate small teams that are easier to be transported collectively.

Like an assembly line.

Or... a concentration camp?

Thinking of some bad words, Orpesson narrowed his eyes: In his impression, other Astartes Legions, such as the Ultramarines standing on both sides, guarding and maintaining order, may not be unable to do this, but few of the Emperor's angels have such patience with mortals.

And experience.

"She is really unlike him."

The Eternal sighed.

"Nios may also care about these ignorant people walking in the mortal world, but he will never do things so meticulously: he will care about their overall fate, but he will never care about how to manage their trivial matters, such as sending confidants to evacuate the masses. She definitely didn't learn these from Neos."

"Then, where will it be from..."

Orpesson muttered to himself.

Then, he suddenly thought of what kind of scene would happen if the group of guards came to evacuate this group of believers: just a moment of fantasy in his mind made the Eternal laugh out loud.

"Not at all..."

He began to hesitate whether to meet the Queen of Avalon: All along, in order to prevent the master of the soul field from being aware of his difference as an immortal, Orpesson had never even been to the Aurora. He accurately controlled his merits to ensure that he was always in an inconspicuous but comfortable position.

But now, meeting the Lord of Avalon might be a better idea: He has not received the latest intelligence about Neos for too long. Although he doesn't care what the Emperor wants to do, if Neos really messes up something, then he, Orpesson, will most likely be affected.

There is no way. If the time was tens of thousands of years ago, when Neos's ambition was just a Babylonian Tower of Babel, Orpesson could still hide far away, but who said that the current situation is [All under heaven belongs to the king]? It is safer to understand the situation clearly.

What's more,

Looking at the Dawnbreakers who were walking around in the crowd and constantly maintaining order, the Eternal had a hint of amusement on his face: Although in various propaganda, the Spider Queen always labeled herself as a follower of the Emperor, there were some things that Orpesson could guess even if he hadn't seen them with his own eyes.

Based on Morgan's current actions and his understanding of Neos, Orpesson could at least be sure of one thing: that is, no matter what the external propaganda was, the compatibility of the father and daughter was definitely not very good. Maybe they would be a good partner, but he didn't believe how much loyalty Morgan would have to the Emperor.

I'm afraid that this time, the work related to the Perfect City was forced upon him.

In this way, she could help conceal her whereabouts.

Even if it was only temporarily.

"..."

Never mind, don't think too much about it.

Orpesson shook his head, laughing at his own arrogance in his heart. He never thought of himself as a great man, nor had he ever had too lofty a goal: being able to live a comfortable life for decades on a stable piece of land, facing the loess and back to the sky, was his biggest dream as an immortal.

Perhaps in the eyes of these primarchs, it was no different from a joke.

As a habit, Orpesson stroked the cross on his chest. He turned his eyes back from the window, because Cyrene had already dragged his huge suitcase and walked in front of him. The immortal stepped forward, helped, and walked in front of him with the suitcase, while the eight-year-old girl followed him step by step.

When they passed the apartment rented by the hot dog vendor, Cyrene did not forget to walk up and knock on the door, but after waiting for a few minutes without a response, she returned to Orpesson's side with great disappointment.

"He left a long time ago."

Cyrene's voice was crying.

"He didn't even say goodbye to me."

"Maybe, he just wants to grab a place in the best towns."

Orpesson comforted her.

"You know, he is looking forward to the Emperor's coming just like you."

"No, it's different."

The little girl shook her head.

"He must have gone to Avalon. He always said he was going to Avalon."

Then, Cyrene raised her face and looked at Orpesson blankly.

"Is it so good there: why do all of you want to go to Avalon?"

"..."

Orpesson found that he couldn't answer this simple question, and he hesitated for a moment. Finally, he gave an answer that he didn't even know if it was an answer: Maybe, it was more like a comfort.

"I can't explain it, little girl, but if you want, I can take you to Avalon: believe me, you will like life there more, and then, you may understand the answer to this question."

"But I don't want to leave."

Cyrene took a last look at the living cabin where she had lived for eight years.

"This is Perfect City, this is my home."

"Now it is..."

The Immortal did not speak again, he kept his thoughts in silence: After comparing the situation of Perfect City and Avalon in his heart, Orpesson felt that for this little guy without a father or a mother, Avalon might be a more friendly environment for growth.

If it really doesn't work, just take this little girl out of the city and hand her over to the woman in person: based on the woman's personal experience and character, she will not ignore such an orphan, just hope that Cyrene will not be raised into a fanatical nun.

The Immortal made up his mind, he took Cyrene's hand and took her to choose a uncrowded path: in the more than 20 days before officially entering Perfect City, every Avalon soldier who participated in the operation was required to memorize the map of their activity area.

"Forget it, I'll take you outside the city, to the evacuation team, you have to stay there obediently, there will be a group of scary looking big sisters waiting for you, but they are actually a group of very friendly people."

"Will the vendor uncle be there too?"

"Ah, that shouldn't be possible."

The Immortal scratched his chin.

"Because you are separated, in order to avoid unnecessary bad events, they will disperse and alienate you: adult men without families are grouped together, women and children without family breadwinners are grouped together, and intact families are grouped together, and the elderly or orphans will also have their own categories..."

"In short, it's very troublesome, but they are really attentive."

"Yes, why are they so attentive? Are they good people?"

"Not good people: they are just the weird ones."

"Weird."

"Yes: in this galaxy, good people are the weird ones."

"You will understand later."

Olperson held the suitcase in one hand and pulled Cyrene in the other. The sun had just risen from behind him in the early morning. In the gradually dazzling sunlight, two shadows, one large and one small, were dragged very long on the ground, and the shadows were parallel until they disappeared in the hustle and bustle of the perfect city and could no longer be heard.

And where they disappeared, an extremely abnormal, blood-red light was gradually covering the entire Perfect City: it came from the Emperor's fleet in the sky, and from a long-laid isolation skynet.

When the first ship of the Empire arrived in the low-Earth orbit of Monachia, this isolation net had already been deployed, and it was not until now that it slowly retreated, leaving space for sending communication files.

Undoubtedly, a call from the Perfect City, at the instruction of the Emperor and the Primarch, rushed out of the broken gap at the first time, rushing to the ethereal front of the Great Crusade beyond the galaxy.

Rushing to the Truth Bearers who still knew nothing about everything here until now.