40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 104 7. Flames of Rage ([-])

Under the night, the first thing Khalil saw was the burning flames, and then the collapsing ruins.

A big hole was blasted at the edge of the arena, and a truncated broken surface appeared on the intact wall of the tens-meter-high building, as if someone had cut a piece out of thin air with a huge blade, which was incomparably abrupt.It doesn't look like the trail an explosion should leave.

He approached quickly, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of blue under the burning ruins.With a fixed look in his eyes, Khalil immediately stopped and lifted up the ruins. The soldiers buried under it were sunk in a pool of blood, which was obviously his own.

There were scorched black marks on his power armor, a big hole was cut in his chest, the cables were exposed and sparks were emitting, while his own chest was in tatters, as terrible as if it had been bombarded head-on by something like a bomb.Khalil pulled him out in silence, with a flash of blue light in his eyes.

He tore off the wounded man's helmet, looked carefully at his facial features, and only carried him out of the ruins after confirming that there was no bleeding from his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.After being healed with psychic power, he raised his right hand and notified the second company commander in the city through the communication channel.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Khalil entered the ruins again.

He stepped over the flames and the collapsed wall with ghostly speed, the flames flickered, the smoke billowed, and the wooden chairs placed on the stands became the catalyst for the flames to spread.He moved forward all the way, but the things he saw the most were corpses.

A total of six of the dead belonged to the Ultramarines. Their bodies were shattered, charred black marks spread on the fragments of the armor, but the U-shaped emblem was still shining.Khalil silently restrained their bodies, led them out of the ruins, and then entered again.

The fire intensified and spread relentlessly.The smoke was blazing, pungent and choking, but it was useless to him.His vision is still clear and his hearing is still sharp.He could hear a small sound among the crackling burn, carried by an imperceptible breeze, caught relentlessly by him.

Khalil turned his head and galloped in that direction.

Along the way, he could see more corpses, but not those of the Ultramarines anymore, but some made from bolters.

Many of them were still holding weapons when they died, a kind of silvery metal gun that didn't look like a live weapon.

Moving forward, he passed the bunker that gradually began to undergo qualitative changes due to the high temperature and its edge pit filled with some kind of acid, and arrived at the front of a cave, where molten black metal fragments were slowly deformation, and there are large pieces of broken metal on the ground.Khalil knew that there should have been a gate here before.

And the sound came from here.

He was about to enter, but a fast and tense strange language came from the cave.Khalil slowly narrowed his eyes and raised his hands, deliberately using a speed that ordinary people can see clearly.

He could clearly see the appearance of the person who was aiming at him inside the cave, so he didn't want to add to the misunderstanding.After a few seconds, a man with a metal gun came out. He had many scars on his body, the most conspicuous one should be a claw mark on his chest.

Khalil could see that it should be a mark left by some kind of beast, which can also prove the identity of this person from the side - of course, it is impossible for gladiators to fight each other in the arena, and it is impossible to fight with dangerous beasts. Combat also sells tickets extremely well.

He stared blankly at the man, who was in a strange daze.His body was trembling slightly, and there was a terrifying complexity in his expression.After a while, he put down his gun and gestured for Khalil to go in with him.

Khalil lowered his raised hands, but did not agree. He lowered his head, and a blue light flashed in his eyes again.

"No," Khalil said. "Before that, I need to ask you a few questions."

The man looked at him in surprise, alert again, he raised his gun: "Who are you?"

"I am Karil Rohars, the instructor of the Eighth Legion of the Human Empire. Who are you?"

"What. What empire?" The man frowned. "Where do you come from? Your accent is so strange."

Odd, of course, I've only just learned your language.

Raising his hand, Khalil pointed to the sky.

"What do you mean?" the man asked.

"I'm from the sky, beyond the stars," Khalil said. "Whether you believe it or not, it is the truth."

The man looked at him, still not putting down the gun in his hand.Khalil looked at him calmly. Of course he knew that what he said might sound like a madman's raving to a gladiator, but he didn't want to lie.

What's more, he could sense the subtle emotions in the man's heart—he was instinctively terrified when he saw Khalil, but he still raised his gun.

And when he saw Khalil's face clearly, the fear dissipated, replaced by a strange joy, strange because the joy was not for himself.Moreover, along with this joy, there is also a kind of sympathy and sadness.

Who do you sympathize with?And for whom are you sad?

".So, you are from the same place as those blue giants?" After a while, the man asked.

"They're called Ultramarines," Khalil said. "Belong to the Human Empire like me, but not from the same place as me. They are here to liberate you."

"liberation?"

"Just so that you don't have to be gladiators anymore."

The man looked at him blankly, as if he didn't understand what he said.After a while, he put the gun down again, and wiped his face with trembling hands stained with dried blood: "My name is Karelian, and I'm from the Norsha land."

"My name is Caryl Rohars, and I'm from Nostramo."

"Khalil?" Karelian said his name again. It was not easy to pronounce the three syllables in Nuceria's native language, but he still did it, although he seemed a little stumbling.

Then, he made the gesture again. "You should come in, those blue warriors, they need your help."

Khalil nodded to him and followed him into the cave.Karelian was surprised by his lack of hesitation, but he did not forget to explain to him. He led Khalil into the cave, and spoke in a low voice.

"The guards of the arena went to the underground cave with them. Those tall fighters are very brave, but their number is too small now. There are only three of them. We are helping them, but we can't help much. This gladiator The field belongs to the Tarco family, and they have many personal guards stationed there."

Khalil didn't speak, but silently wrote down the names of the Tarco family.

He followed Karelian in the cave, and his body over four meters tall did not appear embarrassed. Karelian raised his head to look at him, and suddenly smiled, which was a bit strangely sad.

"They've widened the whole underground cavern since Angron was 12. You should thank him, Khalil, or you might knock your head in."

"Angron?"

"Don't you know him?" Karelian asked back. "I thought you'd know him."

"I come from beyond the stars, from a place so far away from you that it is almost impossible to reach. So I am unlikely to know him. Who is he?"

Karelian was silent for a moment, and answered his question in a very soft voice: "He is just like you."

"same as me?"

"As big as you, as inhuman as you," Karelian said. "I knew it when I saw you, like I saw him for the first time. You're all different from us, and to be honest, Khalil, I was actually quite scared myself when I pointed a gun at you."

Gladiator pretended to be brave and laughed, as if he was laughing at himself, but also as if he was taking this opportunity to tell the truth.

Khalil stopped, and an unlikely guess emerged. He should have thought that Karelian was lying, but the subtle emotions in the latter's heart at this moment did not escape his perception.

So Khalil took a deep breath.

"How tall is he?"

"Slightly shorter than you."

"Where is he now?"

Karelian also stopped in his tracks, turned his head in the darkness, and smiled complicatedly at Kalil.

"Fighting," he said. "Alone."
-
Racife Palpas of the [-]nd Company of the First Order of the Ultramarines felt the urge to vomit. He lowered his head, but he vomited a burst of internal organs, and the smell of blood filled his mouth.He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he seemed calm.

Turning his head, he saw Fritz, their pharmacist, bandaging a woman whose abdomen was bleeding and her neck was twitching abnormally.

Racife could see that she was suffering from the aftereffects of facing the explosion, but, to be honest, the gladiator was lucky to survive.Compared to her, many of their brothers did not have such good luck.

Thinking of this, names flashed in Raciford's mind, and the faces referred to by these names came along with him.

He couldn't help clenching his right hand slowly, the metal collided and creaked.But Raciford knew it wouldn't help.

The explosion came too suddenly and without trace.The guards of the arena obviously knew the inside story, they were beaten and retreated, but after the explosion, they roared excitedly and launched a charge.

There are also those modified soldiers who use silver tentacles as weapons.
Raciford pursed his lips. Beside him, the team's Sergeant Tampa Firth was still tirelessly continuing his current career - calling their chief in the communication channel and trying to report the current situation.

"This is Sergeant Tampa Firth, repeat, this is Sergeant Tampa Furth, we were attacked by unidentified local psykers in the arena, and seven brothers are missing. We have three remaining, We are continuing to fight them in the underground caves of the Colosseum, and we need reinforcements."

There was no answer in the channel, the gladiators held their weapons - spears, short swords, long swords and axes - watching Sergeant Tampa Firth kept making this sound, several people's eyes already With sympathy, it seemed that he thought he was crazy.

Raciford knew he hadn't, but he thought the sergeant should be there soon.After all, their communication ability was completely destroyed in that explosion.It goes without saying that their superiors could not have heard their entreaties without answering them.

Furthermore, the sergeant stubbornly believed that it was a psychic explosion. This makes no sense at all.They didn't have any evidence that it was an attack by a psyker.

Sighing, Raciford stretched out his hand, trying to persuade the sergeant to stop doing this futile work.They must now lead this group of civilians out of this subterranean cave by themselves, and the Ultramarines' honor cannot be lost.

However, just as he stretched out his hand, he heard an inhuman roar—from the depths of the rock, with unparalleled fury, resembling the roar of a wild beast.

Raciford immediately became vigilant. He held his chainsaw sword. Although he didn't activate it immediately, he was ready to face the incoming beast.

Turning his head, he looked at the group of gladiators, trying to get something from their reactions, but they were very calm.And the woman who was twitching next to the pharmacist has calmed down now.

She opened her mouth and slowly spit out three syllables.Raciford frowned and repeated it in Gothic: "An-G-Lang?"

He didn't know what it meant, but every syllable sounded like a growl.The sergeant stopped calling and simply stood up.

"Ready to fight," he ordered briefly. "No one can harm this group of civilians until we are all dead. They have shown us the way to avoid fire and siege, so we must protect them."

"Understood." Raciford replied in a low voice.

　and also

　　
　
(End of this chapter)