Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

Chapter 626 Golden Throne—Lily

"The winner of the war."

"Tsk, it feels..."

"Not as good as a bitter loser."

"However, for our great wolf god Horus, these two titles are actually quite ironic. He won when he shouldn't have won, but failed where he couldn't fail: I hope he won't live to realize this this time, and I hope that the most tragic fate in the galaxy can show leniency to our great warmaster."

"Just like it did to me this time."

Sitting on the [Blood Throne], which was made of the corpses of fifty-five civilized races as the steps and the main body, and was melted with thousands of twisted alien bones with skin and flesh peeled off, the Eternal Night King of Nostramo was obviously very satisfied with his humorous words and artistic style. He curled up his thin lips and smiled on his haggard and pale face as a reward.

He had the right to be happy for a while, whether it was to praise his cultural accomplishment or to sing praises for another victory he had just achieved, it was worth writing about: after all, whoever won an undoubted victory in this hellhole of the Ghoul Stars was worthy of praise.

Even Dorn would not deny this.

In fact, since the Lord of the Imperial Fist learned some of the truth about the Ghoul Stars from the Emperor, this Invit stone man, who theoretically should have a very bad relationship with Conrad, at least would not have any common language, actually sent a whole fleet for the first time: it was full of 2,000 Imperial Fists who were as indestructible as their Primarch, as reinforcement for the Eighth Legion.

Dorn's meaning was obvious: although on the surface, Holy Terra had already outsourced all the defense work and subsequent colonization plans of the entire Ghoul Stars to Conrad's descendants, but the Lord of the Imperial Fist did not think so.

According to Dorn's idea, a huge threat like the Ghoul Stars should not be a [private matter] exclusive to a certain legion: it should be a collective threat facing the entire galaxy, requiring every legion and the Emperor's people to contribute their own strength to it.

Therefore, the Imperial Fists have the obligation to assume their own part of the responsibility.

Very Dorn's behavioral logic.

And Conrad likes it very much.

If this kind of thing were placed on other Primarch brothers, no matter who it was, they would more or less frown because their [private territory] was disturbed for no reason, but Midnight Haunter was different. Not only did he know the reason why Dorn intervened in the Ghoul Stars, which was really as simple as he said on the surface, but he actually had no sense of territory for the [private kingdom] of the Ghoul Stars.

Nonsense, what madman can have any sense of territory for such a place: this is a ghost place that even Perturabo would quietly avoid, although after hearing about Dorn's actions, the Iron Warriors Legion also squeezed out a large camp and ran to Nostramo to assist in defense.

However, the kind-hearted Midnight Ghost did not throw these two cheap reinforcements directly into the Ghoul Stars to play a real escape. He just enthusiastically took these unlucky guys around the outermost area, which was considered to be a good host. Then, he threw these guys into the outermost defense line and left a few orders for building bunkers before leaving.

It was very rare that both the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors just silently took out their measuring instruments and scrapers and began to diligently contribute their own civil engineering strength to the [Nostramo Ghoul Star Defense Belt]: No one mentioned the suggestion of actively launching an expedition to the Ghoul Stars, not even the most fanatical Imperial Fists.

Conrad and his descendants were no longer surprised by this. After all, in the past thirty or forty years, more than one legion's expeditionary force or support fleet had traveled thousands of miles to the land of Nostramo and vowed to conquer this [the last black spot in the entire galaxy]. However, 99% of them did not even have the courage to stay on the outermost line of defense in the end. The descendants of Dorn and Perturabo had already shown courage worthy of their gene father.

The Night Lords would never laugh at those who dared not launch an expedition against the Ghoul Stars, or even actively fled, because Conrad's bloodline knew clearly: if there was no Primarch leading the team, they would not dare to run into this ghost place.

Even if there was a Primarch Conrad leading the team personally, every Ghoul expedition had to be extremely cautious: most of the time they only skidded on the outermost layer, and going a little deeper inside would be a major event worthy of being written into the annals of the legion.

Generally speaking, there are only two reasons that can really support them to advance to the deepest part of the Ghoul Stars: First, it is the rumor that the monsters in this ghost place intend to march into the heart of the Empire. No matter how sad the truth of these rumors is, the Eighth Legion must use their lives to identify its authenticity.

They must know whether these miraculous words are just rumors, or whether there is a real threat that is worth mobilizing the power of the entire legion, or calling for reinforcements from the Dawnbreakers and Ultramarines Legions, or even going a step further and requesting the Imperial Sky March led by the Emperor himself from Holy Terra.

This is not an exaggeration: in the darkness guarded by the Night Lords, there are really opponents who can swallow them up in one bite.

Four or five years ago at most, a fleet of the Midnight Lords lost all contact within an hour while passing through a deep area called the [Drazak Sector] in the Ghoul Stars: three companies and hundreds of thousands of mortal auxiliary troops did not even send out a complete distress message, and three battleships and a dozen cruisers were swallowed up by this ghost place without leaving any residue.

What's more terrifying is that the Midnight Ghost refused to take revenge for this. He only asked to seal up this information tightly and from then on, the entire Drazak Sector was designated as a forbidden zone that was absolutely forbidden to go to. Even if a fleet was lost in it, rescue was never allowed.

In the Midnight Lords' exploration of the entire Ghoul Stars for more than 40 years, Conrad drew one forbidden zone like Drazak after another. After counting them all, they actually occupied most of the territory of the entire Ghoul Stars: these forbidden symbols flowed with the lives of tens of thousands of Midnight Lords and countless mortal auxiliary troops.

But such heavy losses did bring benefits. First of all, the combat effectiveness and morale of the Eighth Legion have been significantly improved. The entire Night Lords can be said to have been reborn: literally reborn.

Those new recruits who survived one or even multiple ghoul expeditions have all become powerful combat forces that can surpass their peers at an astonishing speed. After more than 40 years of continuous bloodshed and sacrifice, the Eighth Legion has changed from a killer gang that ranked last among all legions in average quality before Conrad took over to a war group that is now famous throughout the galaxy for its elite individual quality.

But this is not the greatest change.

The real change lies in the soul.

Although the current Midnight Lords will also accept the task of internal repression and spreading fear, their main task is still to defend the territory and people of the Ghoul Stars. This is undoubtedly a boost to the morale of the Legion: every Midnight Lord can proudly call himself a warrior defending the entire human empire, without having to find a pale explanation for the honor wall stained with the blood of his compatriots as in the past.

Under this change, even the most stubborn Terra veterans will willingly abandon most of the Legion's traditions and embrace the new future brought to them by the Midnight Ghost: the history of the Eighth Legion needing to forcibly recruit new soldiers from various conquered worlds is gone forever. They have now become the dream destination of countless young athletes. The selection standards for new soldiers are being improved every year, and the bloodshed in the Ghoul Stars has never stopped every year, but the overall number of Legion and the quality of soldiers are also steadily increasing.

It is this obvious contrast that has established Conrad's unquestionable dominance over the entire legion. Even though he often leads people to rush into the Ghoul Stars, no soldier will say anything: they are afraid that their names are not on the expedition list and they cannot participate in the most glorious collective activities of the legion.

And this is another change in the Eighth Legion and the proudest achievement of the Primarch.

Compared with the past, the current Midnight Lords have finally learned the importance of unity. This is a simple survival of the fittest. After all, those who do not know how to survive in groups and cannot rely on each other with their companions generally cannot walk out of the Ghoul Stars alive: the power of individuals is not worth mentioning there. Only by gathering the power of the group can it be possible to walk out of the living hell of the galaxy intact.

But even so, the internal unity of the Eighth Legion is still not as good as that of most of its brother troops. The Midnight Lords are more accustomed to small-scale operations of dozens or hundreds of people. As for large-scale operations that require thousands of soldiers to attack together, they are still inexperienced, and the coordination of multiple arms is even more messed up: even Conrad has no way to deal with this.

Because: He won't either.

This is a sad story.

However, despite some shortcomings, the people of Nostramo still have great respect for their great gene father: no longer the morbid worship of the blood king in the past, but the core hub of the entire legion, instinctively flocking to him. It is this kind of flocking that makes them follow the original master to the core area of ​​the ghoul stars every few years and launch another expedition that is almost impossible to return.

If it is just to confirm the rumors, there is no need to expedition so frequently. This is the second reason why the Night Lords Legion often expeditions to the ghoul stars: that is, they can indeed benefit from this crazy but rich [Bloody Canaan].

In this bloody Canaan that has swallowed up countless time and air, there are countless ancient treasures hidden that Holy Terra and the Mechanicus could never dream of: almost every expedition of the Eighth Legion will encounter ancient artifacts that can be traced back to the Dark Age of Technology or even the Golden Age, and how to target those giant space wrecks that buried countless treasures has become a daily compulsory course within the Midnight Lords.

Conrad even made this into a business: after all, the adamantium of Nostramo will be dug up one day, but the ancient treasures in the Ghoul Stars seem to never run out: around this somewhat useless tertiary industry, the Midnight Lords can completely build a sustainable trade network.

Conrad's descendants don't have to worry about the lack of sponsors for the "junk metal" they have worked so hard to dig out from the Ghoul Stars: even Mars is willing to pretend to be in love with the Far Eastern Three Kings for these things, and even open an embassy in Nostramo.

But this is just the periphery. The really important things will never be put on the auction table by Conrad. They are often the main purpose of the Eighth Legion's expedition. Their importance allows the Primarch to invest hundreds of lives without blinking an eye, and even let him fall into the danger of the Ghoul Stars.

Just like: now.

Conrad absentmindedly fiddled with the slightly deformed alien skull in his palm: even after washing the skin and flesh, he did not find the tip of the iceberg about this civilized race in any ancient book of the empire, but their strength was unquestionable, because these unnamed aliens had previously hidden in a space wreck. Under the premise of Conrad's personal suppression, the Eighth Legion still paid two thousand lives for victory.

No one would complain, because this was a victory with very low casualties in all the previous ghoul expeditions, and even this expedition itself was extremely successful: the Midnight Lords Legion killed all the way to the world [Auldus] deep in the ghoul planet, which was their final destination. Conrad believed that in this abandoned and desolate world, there were treasures worth him leading most of the Eighth Legion to gamble with their lives.

This time, the prediction of the Midnight Ghost was also correct.

The people of Nostramo dug everywhere on the toxic waste-filled surface of Oredus, walked in awe through countless magnificent dome buildings that may have been tens of thousands of years old, and fought against those ancient machines that were still able to move, paying at least tens of thousands of lives for this: just to find the "thing" in Conrad's dream.

In the end, they found it: after the entire Eighth Legion had been struggling hard on Oredus for almost two hundred days, an unprecedentedly huge dome building was dug out from the depths of this world. This wonder named the Temple of Sound is a majestic creation that is particularly outstanding even on Holy Terra, and what Conrad is looking for is sitting in it.

That is...

"A throne."

Standing next to the Midnight Ghost, Shen muttered to himself in confusion.

"Is this what you want, Lord Conrad?"

"It should be... it."

Conrad was also a little uncertain, and he hesitated on his blood throne.

"You can call it the Glass Throne, Shen."

"Glass Throne..."

Shen whispered the name.

"It gives me an ominous feeling."

"That's right."

Midnight Ghost grinned.

"After all, it's just a defective product, and its related functions are not that strong. If you see its genuine brother, that is, the golden throne or the black glass, it will not be as simple as just ominous."

"Excuse me, sir."

Shen still frowned.

"It's not just a feeling. My uneasiness has a basis in reality: as soon as we found this Glass Throne, we chose an illegal psychic who had committed a crime according to your advance request, and then forced him to sit on this Glass Throne."

"Very good: where is he?"

"There."

Shen waved his hand, and a skeleton covered with human skin was lifted up. The skin was as disgusting as the land overturned by a nuclear bomb. Every inch of bone and even every shriveled blood vessel was clearly set off. As for soft tissues such as eye sockets and tongue, they had long disappeared: even in the craftsmanship of the Midnight Ghost, this is a relatively adult level.

"He only persisted... I can't explain it."

Shen smacked his lips.

"Almost instantly, his soul was sucked out the moment he sat on it. We have to watch the slow-paced video later to see the whole process of his death: although this guy is not a powerful psychic, such an ending is enough to alert us."

"Do you know what such a cruel and crazy death means, sir?"

"Of course I know."

Conrad smiled, and he seemed to have two ideas with his servant.

"This means, Shen..."

"We found the real thing this time."

——————

Supplement: The Glass Throne (or the Glass Throne, but this name is not good) is a real setting, but it is only active in the story line of the Death Wraiths of the Dark Ravens. This warband also operates in the Ghoul Stars and is of the same type as the Space Sharks.

The Glass Throne can be understood as a replica of the Golden Throne, but its functional range seems to only cover land that is roughly the size of the Ghoul Stars: every Death Wraith warband leader who sits on it will endure many years before slowly turning into stone.