40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 170 31. One-Day War (End, two chapters in one)

Khalil looked down at Harkosus III.

From orbit, it is a green planet.The vegetation environment represented by the forest makes the whole planet look beautiful, but there is neither sadness nor joy in his eyes, as if he is observing a corpse.

Conrad Curz was standing beside him, checking his weapon.The Mechanic-Priests offered him several weapons to choose from, including a finely crafted bolter or a power fist, and Curze didn't seem to like them.

He just chose one of them.A not-so-fancy bolter, but still packs a punch.But besides it, he has many other gadgets hanging or storing in his arm belt and storage compartments.

Conrad Koz ran his fingers across them, and these round things collided with each other, making a slightly dull metal knocking sound.The Night Blades walked silently in the darkness behind them, entering drop pods or aboard Stormhawks, armed to the teeth.

According to the information provided by the Ultramarines, most of the aliens still exist underground, and, compared with No. [-] and No. [-], these aliens on No. [-] seem to be much more primitive.Of course the Midnight Blades didn't know the answer, but that didn't stop them from making preparations.

Regardless of the reason, the killing is going to happen.

"There are still 3 minutes, and the raid is about to start, Khalil." Konrad Koz said softly after checking the last grenade on his body.

"Do you need this time to be alone?" he asked.

Khalil glanced at him sideways, looking surprised: "No, I don't need to be alone—but I'm curious, why would you think so?"

"People need to be alone, especially when they urgently need to think to solve some problems." Curz replied quietly.

Now, he is wearing a luxurious and majestic eerie armor, and his black hair is clean and smooth, which is very different from the dirty appearance of the night ghost in Nostramo in the past.He changed a lot, but some things never changed.

Khalil smiled, shook his head, and said nothing.

"Are you sure?" Conrad Coates asked.

"I'm sure," Khalil said. "I have plenty of alone time, Conrad. But three minutes like this standing peacefully together, overlooking the danger we're about to face... It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"."

"What's the matter, Conrad?"

"I'm not used to you being so straightforward." Conrad Koz replied a little depressed.

Khalil couldn't help but chuckle.

Three minutes later, a new rain of fire descended from the orbit of Harkosus III.

Some of them fell into the city according to the plan, assisting the Ultramarines to guard the deep pits that are still emerging with alien shapes, while others went to the forest or wilderness-ground collapse is not just a city exclusive patent, in In those places where there is no one, these aliens have also come to the surface and are gathering.

Macragge's Glory picked up this intel via scan and immediately shared it with Nightfall and Unwavering Resolve.After a brief discussion, the general direction of the strategy was quickly determined.

The war dogs have the largest number and are responsible for the frontal battlefield.The Night's Blades were responsible for parachuting in on the Xenomorph's flank and rear, creating panic.At the same time, the Ultramarines can gather their hands and search for their Primarch underground with all their might.

This matter was of the utmost importance, and no one could leave a poisoned Primarch roaming an underworld filled with xenomorphs.And Khalil will act with the Ultramarines.

Actually. He's already there.
-
"You don't look well, Chapter Master Gage."

"Obviously?" asked Marius Gage.

His words drew a chuckle from the interrogator.Khalil approached him—his drop pod had been programmed to land directly near one of the largest breaches in the city.After landing, he entered the gap directly, and met Marius Gage under the leadership of the Ultramarines.

Of course, the situation of the latter is not good. Judging from the still pale face, Khalil can be sure that the Chapter Master is probably still suffering from the poison at this moment.

He came to Marius Gage, who stretched out his hand, unlocked a data pad in advance and handed it to him.Khalil reached out to take it, and saw a complex stream of data flash by.He holds his thumb down and starts swiping up and down, and the reading time is quickly over.

Gage coughed and shook his head wearily: "That's the situation, Instructor Khalil. We found some ... clues, and some weird murals and altars that shouldn't appear. I won't mention the latter for now, but the former is not. did not bring us to him."

"Why didn't you follow him from the beginning?" Khalil raised his head and asked.

Marius Gage let out a wry smile at the question: "He had already forgotten about us, Instructor Khalil."

"I have seen the symptoms you described in the information, but from your tone, it seems that there is something hidden?"

"Yes." Gage pursed his lips, trying to remain calm.

"He didn't just forget about us, he was hallucinating that he was in Macragge decades ago. On that day, his father was assassinated. And the Primarch at that time IMHO , Instructor, we can’t rely on our personal will to get close to him. We can only follow him, relying on his tracks and the sound of running to track him. However, this clue will soon be broken. He disappeared deep underground We can still find some clues, but we still can't find out where he is."

Khalil nodded and moved on to another matter.He put the data pad back on the table, the force was very gentle, but the movement was very crisp: "I need a little help, Captain Gage."

"Anything," said Marius Gage.He stared at Khalil closely, his tone softened, but firm enough to crack mountains and rocks. "What do you need?"

"Your blood."

"How much?" Gage asked.

He didn't ask Khalil why he needed his blood, or even pursue what might be hidden behind the question—he only did two things after hearing Khalil's request.

The first thing is to ask.The second thing to do was to draw the combat dagger from the arm belt and bring it close to his own cheek.

He was wearing armor, fully armed, and it was inconvenient to take it off now.His face or neck was the only place where blood was likely to be drawn.He traced the point of the knife on the jaw, the cheeks, and the little bit of the neck that was exposed, and then he asked.

"How much do you want, my lord?"

Khalil stared at him without answering.

For a split second, Gage thought the eyes weren't eyes, but two swirls.A dark vortex filled with the remains of the dead.He looked at the vortex, the tip of the knife rested on the left cheek, and sank slightly into it.

His skin was punctured, and a drop of blood forced out of a vein.

"Enough is enough," Khalil said, his head bowed, a drop of blood suspended over his outstretched right hand.

Gage was bewildered—he watched the blood, and slowly put the battle knife back on the belt.He didn't understand what was going on, but that didn't stop him from observing what was going to happen next.

"Is that...enough?"

"Yes." Khalil looked up at Gage.The blood begins to swirl and begins to clot.It was just a drop of blood, an insignificant drop of blood, but at this moment it began to make a frightening hum.

"Blood is a very important concept in many witchcraft or myths, Chapter Master Gage. Of course, you and I don't actually believe in these things but they exist."

Gage waited in silence.

"Blood is the source of life," Khalil continued. "Not only that, among the mysticism books I have read, they all mentioned a concept."

He clenched his right hand.

"The Blood of the Father and the Son"

The storm gathered, and Gage's heart began to convulse.

"Be able to evoke a certain connection."

The temperature drops, the forest is as cold as ice, and as deep as hell.

Frost began to form all around, and the busy auxiliaries on the front line stopped in place, as if the pause button had been pressed.

The drop of blood began to spin faster and faster, and the hum intensified, becoming high and sharp.Gage's hearing and sanity began to be destroyed by it, and he gasped and almost fell to the ground, but a hand lifted him up.

Khalil Rohars stood beside him, eyes black and calm as the dead.

"Get ready, Chapter Master," he reminded in a low voice. "You can close your eyes and just sleep. After all, we don't need to keep our eyes on where we are going next."

Gage did as he was told, his question stuck in his throat, as if he had entered an unknown world, his mind was screaming, but the footsteps of Khalil Rohars kept ringing in front of him thorough.With darkness all around him, Gage knew he was heading down an unknown path, but he was fearless.

He just moves forward.

He would find Robert Guilliman.

He swore he would—

"—Where are we?" Marius Gage opened his eyes suddenly.

"Good question." Khalil nodded at him. "I'd like to know, too, but I can't tell you. I saw a book in the Emperor's library that records this ritual, and this is the first time I've used it. It looks like we've succeeded."

Gage put his fingers on the belt, pulled out his bolter, and started looking around.

He didn't wear a helmet when he came, but at this moment he clearly felt the wearing of the helmet.The readout on the eyepiece pauses silently, as if not activated.Several warning runes flickered in the retina, baring their teeth and claws, like a roaring monster.

Through the eyepiece, Gage saw a forest and a path through the woods.

He lowered his head, trying to analyze through the soil more information that could help them in their current situation.However, when he lowered his head, he didn't see the soil. What he saw were millions of wriggling maggots, densely packed, some of which had already begun to metamorphose, while some still maintained the unique white tenderness of larvae.

They twisted and writhed around each other, staring at Gage with black eyes.

Gage's finger snapped on the trigger.

He almost shot--he might have shot if he hadn't realized that he was stepping on thick frost.

"the ice"

"It's my strength." Khalil replied calmly with his back turned to him. "I am a psyker, Captain Gage. The use of psychic powers can cause various supernatural phenomena, and frost and temperature drop are the most common ones."

Gage agreed, but he remained silent.He followed Khalil, gun in hand.The forest is quiet and dark. The skin of the trees presents a sickly withered yellow color. The leaves have long since died, but they still stay on the dead branches, blocking the light.

There was a rotten smell in the air, even passing through the filter system of the breathing grille.Gage felt an urge to vomit, but he held back.They continued to go deeper, and the further they went, the quieter the world became, and the light almost completely disappeared.

Frost was trampled by the iron boots and creaked, and the voice of Khalil Rohars sounded again after a while, still calm.

With just one sentence, he calmed Gage's tension and brought him back to his senses.

"Think carefully, Chapter Master Gage," he said. "Do you think we're still on Harkosus III?"

"...Here, it doesn't look like it." Gage decided to tell the truth.

Holding the gun, he glanced around vigilantly, alert to the darkness. "The natural environment on Harkosus [-] can be called beautiful. Although it may be damaged a lot now, it will definitely not become like this."

"Indeed. So, where do you think we are now?"

".I have no idea."

"You must give an answer, Chapter Master." Khalil stopped and turned around.There was a cold light in the eye sockets of the skull mask, and the cloak writhed at his feet like a living thing.

Gage felt a little uneasy about his request, and he asked: "I can only give a guess at most, Instructor Khalil. You brought me here, and I know nothing about witchcraft .”

"Guess then, Gage," Khalil said. "This technique is just a trick in essence, a trick of finding people is my power that changed it, it brought us here, but you are the master of that blood."

"You and Robert Guilliman are bound by blood. It is a fact that cannot be changed. No matter where he is at this moment, no matter what torture he is going through, this matter will not be erased. So, say your Guess."

Marius Gage felt absurd—if he had been told these words in the past, he would have scolded the other party with the truth of the empire without hesitation.But...after experiencing so many things, he can no longer look at the truth of the empire with normal eyes.

At this moment, standing in this dark and rotting forest, he took a slow breath.

".We, we are now with Robert Guilliman."

Gage spoke, looking to Khalil, who was still staring quietly, not moving, but giving him the confidence to continue.

"We're with him, we're protecting him, we're—"

Gage stopped speaking abruptly, he trembled, felt a strange and heavy force wrapped around his limbs, and began to greedily ingest it inside.It has no consciousness, only an instinct.Gage closed his eyes in pain, not resisting it.

He closed his eyes, but the world in front of him began to change.The darkness dissipated, and thousands of hasty and frantic images flashed alternately.Those images were his past memories, everything about 'Marius Gage'.That force goes on going inwards, it doesn't stop, it doesn't stay, it just goes on.Gage opened his mouth in excruciating pain and suffering, trying to scream, but no sound came out.

The picture continued to flicker until at a certain point, it finally stopped, and the pain disappeared along with it.Looking at the picture, Gage felt his eyes moisten.He saw Robert Guilliman in ceremonial armor, and he saw Macragge and the Ultramarines.

Not long after their reunion, Robert Guilliman was speaking to the whole of Macragge.

He announced his new identity, the name Ultramarine, and a few other things.He told the Macragges that these giants were his sons and had his blood and his heart.Together they will stand together to bring about a better future for Macragge
Gage was standing beside him then, watching the primarch's golden hair flying in the joyous air, and his heart twitched as he listened to the orchestra below.
He remembers this scene, and he will remember it until he dies.He will always remember the oath he made at that moment, he will protect Macragge, he will protect
He will protect Robert Guilliman.

Yes, Robert Guilliman - his Primarch, his father, his brother, his friend.

Gage finally screamed, the power satisfied, and he moved away, as if he was harmless, just a creature that feeds on emotions.It does it so naturally.

A strong sense of detachment came afterwards, and Gage gasped for breath like a drowning person rushing out of the water. He opened his eyes, and his whole face was dripping with sweat. He didn't know whether it was blood or tears coming from his body. Out of the eyes.

Only at this moment did he realize that he was kneeling on the ground, and the forest had disappeared. He was kneeling on a piece of grass, and not far away was a giant lying on the ground with his eyes closed.

"You succeeded, Gage." Khalil's voice came from above his head, and he was still calm, as if he had foreseen this scene.

But for some reason, Marius Gage could hear a hidden emotion in his voice, an emotion that... shouldn't be present in a man like Khalil Rohars.

Gage raised his head to ask a question, but Khalil lowered his head prophetically and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Take a break and take a deep breath, Gage. The power evoked by that trick didn't come without a price, and I helped you pay for most of it, but you still suffered beyond imagination. Take a deep breath, and you'll recover."

But what about him?
Gage asked silently—Where's Robert Guilliman?

He turned his head, looking in the direction of his Primarch.How excellent the eyesight of the Astartes was, he saw Robert Guilliman's face clearly.

The haggard face, with the bony cheeks, the blond hair faded to an almost solid color of pale snow.His skin turned into a decaying yellow color, disgusting and frightening.

"I'll take him back." Khalil said calmly, he didn't sound like a promise, but rather a statement of fact.

Gage tried to answer, he opened his mouth, and a wave of exhaustion knocked him down before he could speak.He fell to the ground, his figure gradually dissipated, and returned to the place where he should be.

Khalil stepped forward, and the pitch-black flame leaped out from the void, clinging to his body, burning blazingly.

He said calmly, "Is that all you want for one of them?"

No one answered, only the swaying grass.

"Conrad Curze, Angron, and now Robert Guilliman. Are they important to you?"

Still no answer.

"I've come to take him away," Khalil said. "I don't care what price you paid, or what Tzeentch used to win you into his plan. I just want to tell you one thing, and I will take him away."

——"So, aren't you going to let him decide for himself?" A voice suddenly sounded.

This voice is old and thick, with gentleness, and the fragrance of trees, grass and soil.But it was also very evil, very hoarse, like the last breath of a seriously ill person before death, with an unbearable rancid stench.

Khalil laughed—what else could he say?He was not surprised by this.Once, twice, three times.It's them every time, it's them forever.If he was just an ordinary person, he might not be able to touch any clues of any of them in his life, but he was not ordinary, and neither were the Primarchs.

So, sooner or later, they will come to them.

They will always come, like the devil behind the door, if you keep knocking on the gates of hell, they will come for you.

But Robert Guilliman did not knock.

"Decided what?" Khalil asked back. "You crossed the line."

The voice laughed and started to introduce himself.

"Nurgle, if you don't know what to call me, you can use that name. But, god of vengeance and hatred, you are wrong about one thing. I have not crossed the line, neither have we. They belong to us as they should be. Fire Thief Didn't I tell you?"

"He has taken our powers from us and bound them in a little cage of his own making. These children could have had a more beautiful and superior form, but he, because of his terrible and greedy ambition Kidnapped these children."

"I didn't cross the line, god of vengeance and hatred, and if you come back to us, you'll know the truth of what I said. Yes, I paid a price for crossing the line, but it's a price I didn't have to pay Just like you, what price will you pay this time?"

"So, you should ask the person who lied to you. For example, what is hidden in the covenant between him and you, so that you can barely stay in that fragile world."

"I'm not a god." Khalil said coldly, otherwise he didn't respond to Nurgle's tirade.

"You will be." Nurgle smiled, whispering to him with the swaying of the grass.

"My scheming friend or enemy invited me a long time ago, He told me the whole picture of this plan, and also told me what might happen after that, including your arrival. So, I'm not actually surprised. You Want to take him back, don't you?"

"To bring him back."

"A small difference in the words. You seem to be mocking me with this. Do you think that I just treat him as a tool? Well, then come on"

Nurgle's voice faded away, replaced by a fetid wind.

Khalil calmly raised his right hand and grabbed a leaf that was drifting from afar.It was alive on the one hand, and rotten and perforated on the other, fragile.Through the hole, Khalil could just see the figure of Robert Guilliman.

"Come on," Nurgle whispered. "Come and let him choose."

Without hesitation, Khalil crushed the blade.

　The update is complete, and this section will end tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)