40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 167 28. One-Day War ([-])
Khalil clenched his right hand slowly, and some pale fragments just fell down like that, adding more whiteness to the ground.

The last of the revenants of Harkosus died at this moment.

Believers were killed by the gods they believed in, and beliefs in turn persecuted themselves.The fragments fell slowly, joining other companions who had already been here.They look almost as thick as year-round snow, but they're not snow.They are ashes and fragments of the soul.

Khalil lowered his head and gazed at them, finding some real peace at last.

During that battle—or massacre—the xenos of Harkosus cursed the god of fire in their eyes incessantly.

They denounced the betrayal of the gods, the hypocrisy of the gods.They cursed him, wishing him to be brutally murdered and forgotten in history.May every altar of His be overthrown, and every temple be burned to ashes in flames.
They wanted him to live forever, to be tortured for ten thousand years.

Khalil readily accepts this.

Why doesn't he accept it?They have every reason to hate him. Although the relationship between gods and believers has never been equal, he has never regarded himself as a god.

If these true Harkosus hated him, let them come.

Rather than accepting an unnecessary curse and fate under the control of Tzeentch, and longing for the mercy of a false god, it is better to die simply and neatly - it is with this thought that he arouses the dead soldiers of the Eighth Legion them.

He slew in the temple of the Fire God while they fought alongside their living brothers above the surface.

Khalil closed his eyes, thousands of pictures swarmed in.

As the night fell, the undead dressed in black flames were killing mercilessly.Without pity or any superfluous emotion, they have become the immortal dead, and the dead never desire.

He would soon be accomplishing one of his goals—Khalil realized it, but wasn't half-joyed about it.

The troubles on Harkosus [-] are about to be completely cleared up, but after that?How would he explain all this to the Eighth Legion?
And, this is just the first step.Harkosus has three planets, the danger of number one may be gone, but what about number two and number three?

In other words, what about the War Hounds and the Ultramarines?what will happen to them

With a sigh, Khalil closed his eyes, and disappeared into a shadow. After he left, the ancient temple began to collapse.

Temples and beliefs will become things of yesterday, but at this moment, this place is still a kingdom of God.He floated up to the surface, rocks and earth could not stop him, as if he did not exist, and after an indescribably short time passed, he appeared beside Konrad Koz.

The latter sat on a large piece of scorched black metal, propped his face and stared into the distance, did not speak, and did not seem very surprised by his arrival.

".Instructor?"

Khalil turned his head and nodded to the first company commander: "Van Cleef."

"How did you show up?"

Khalil raised the corner of his mouth, and the skull mask dissipated—I don’t know whether it was intentional or unintentional, but he actually made a joke: "I flew up, like a ghost."

Yi Lianchang's expression looked intriguing. He glanced at his primarch before speaking again: "The primarch said, you have a lot to explain to us."

I do.

Khalil turned his head and glanced at Conrad Koz.The latter still maintained that deliberately made posture, without even looking at him.The expression is tense, and the eyes are sad and sharp looking straight ahead.

"Yes," Khalil said. "I do have a lot to explain to you."

As soon as the voice fell, many dark shadows immediately walked in the darkness, and the soldiers of the Eighth Legion were as quiet as ghosts.

"Then say it."

Conrad Koz finally spoke - he looked at Khalil with a serious expression, no details belonging to 'Midnight Ghost' stayed on that face.At this moment, he only exists as the Lord of the Eighth Legion, and he is asking Kalil to give a reasonable explanation.

And Khalil had to answer, whether out of his own will or the responsibilities that come with being an instructor, he had to answer that question.

Khalil bowed his head, his face under the hood pale and calm.He spoke slowly, his tone was as ordinary as chatting, but the words themselves were as sharp as a sword, almost cutting every listener.

"All this time, I've wondered if I should tell the truth. I've tried to be completely honest with you and I've failed because some truths need to be qualified enough to be heard."

He looked around, the eyes that had been so gentle on them now felt like needle pricks, and a pain surged through VanCleef's heart, but the Captain did his best to keep calm.

"I've thought about this countless times." The instructor of the Eighth Army narrated slowly in his characteristic low tone.

"To be more precise, I have assessed your qualifications countless times. I have assessed you in training at the training ground, I have assessed you in everyday life. I have assessed you countless times, from name, character, Digging in the data and the past. I've been trying to find someone who can tell me the truth."

".So did you find it?" Van Cleef asked with a little hope that he didn't realize it.

"No." Khalil stared at him. "Including you, Van Cleef."

"But I've-"

"—Yes, you have faced the monster in the dark once, and you even relied on your own willpower to win at the last moment, but this has nothing to do with what I said. What we are going to discuss is not Within the bounds of willpower, Van Cleef."

Khalil Rohars interrupted him indifferently, sounding haughty, unkind, .
Very strange.Think for a long time.

"But, instructor"

A weary voice sounded in the darkness—it was Siani, Siani of Terra, and he sounded exhausted now, no longer alive.

Khalil could hear his frustration at the moment, but forced himself not to be moved.

"Aren't we even entitled to be revealed a little bit?"

Ciani raised his right hand, pointing at the black flames on the far horizon.He wore a helmet, and the eyepieces were scarlet, and Khalil could clearly see his own reflection in them.

Ciani didn't speak anymore, just pointing to the shadowy ghosts in the flames and remained silent.After a moment, he took off his helmet and took a deep breath of the cold air.

"...We are fighting side by side with you." Siani from Terra said in a low voice.

Khalil felt a lump in his throat—he looked directly at Siani, but he could feel Conrad Koz's gaze, which was urgent and anxious, and also a little hopeful.

hope.

what do you wish, boy?Want me to tell them the truth?Or do I hope they will forgive me for hiding it?

silence.320 four pairs of eyes stared silently at their instructor, and 670 six ghosts stood at the dividing line between life and death and stared at this place. They were dead, but they still held 'hope'.

希望
"...if you insist on listening." Khalil Rohars slowly closed his eyes. "Then listen, but once you've heard it, there's no turning back."

The pitch-black flames swept in and burned blazingly, surrounding all the soldiers of the Eighth Legion.They remained silent, their heads held high without fear.

"Then come on." Conrad Koz chuckled. "Come on, instructor."

"it is good."

After the voice fell, the flame climbed up and burned on their armor, leaving a boiling mark.The 320 four people fell into the border between fantasy and reality.

The darkness covered the face, the deep silence, and the horror.They began to stare at the darkness with human eyes—then, the monster in the darkness gave them the answer.

Those filthy, greedy monsters that cannot be detected or even directly looked back maliciously.In just an instant, their sanity began to boil and burn, and their proud willpower was shattered in an instant.

Van Cleef was the one who persisted the longest among them. He clenched his fists and yelled at the darkness fearlessly, but in the next second a hand was put on his shoulder.

He turned and saw Khalil Rohars.

"I'm sorry I said that to you." Their instructor said softly. "But I think you understand by now, Van Cleef."

".What is this?" Van Cleef asked bitterly.

He thought he already knew something about them, but he didn't expect that his so-called understanding was just something born after an ant happened to see an elephant's tail by chance.

His 'understanding' and 'preparation' are completely vulnerable in the face of facts and truth.

"That's the truth you want," Khalil said.

At this moment, his voice not only echoed in the ears of Van Cleef, but also rang in the ears of the other 320 people.

"This is what is hidden in the darkness. Countless monsters hungry for human beings, born from nightmares, baptized from evil thoughts. They cannot be killed, cannot be looked at, and cannot be talked about. They are myths and legends The monster in the book is the thing that harvests life at midnight. What do you think of it when you see it?"

Silence, silence again, dead silence in the true sense—Van Cleef lowered his head in frustration, but Khalil smiled.

He turned around, pulling Van Cleef to turn around together, and saw Conrad Koz, and 320 three dark shadows walking slowly.

"Monsters in the night?" Conrad Curz asked seriously. "Is this the truth?"

"Yes." Khalil nodded slightly.

Conrad Curze walked past him, his scarlet cloak curling as if burning in the darkness, automatically without wind.He moved forward, forward, almost to the boundary between the Veil and the real world.He just stood there without fear, even sneering.

"See clearly, you monsters. See us clearly, see every face here."

He proclaimed lowly to something in the dark.

"I, Conrad Coates - I speak to you from the edge of our world. Yes, yes, you are monsters, you are devils, you are spirits from hell. But you are nothing but fairy tales You are thieves who steal mothers and children by night, and you are weak by day. You fear the sun, you fear the light, and you will fear us from now on. For we shall be the Blades of Night , we will be sentinels in the darkness, we will help those who are dying in the darkness you have created, and we will kill you all!"

He roared, his voice louder than ever.

"Listen, you maggots, monsters in the dark! This world is where we live, and we will guard it until we die!"

Khalil lowered his head and chuckled.Three thousand six hundred and seventy six ghosts are fleeting in his shadow.

"Yes." He said. "Until death."

"Until death!"

Twenty thousand voices sounded in unison.

　gone

　　
　
(End of this chapter)