40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 24 24. The Long Night (two, two in one)

Climbing.

[-] meters in the sky.

Khalil clenched his hands and stroked the edge of the building, looking for a suitable point of support.

The cold, rough exterior of the building made his fingers ache, as did his palm.However, he has long been used to it.

Friction is as integral to climbing as it is to getting blood on your palms when you swing a knife.

It was cold and windy.

The higher you go, the stronger the wind.They seem to be admonishing Khalil in a relatively gentle way, wanting him to retreat.

Khalil didn't answer that.He just exhaled a foul breath, turned his head and glanced down.

In his field of vision at the moment, thin clouds have covered Quintus.It becomes psychedelic and eerie, a neon halo shredded by distance and reflected off Khalil's retinas.

All he could hear was the whistling wind, and some sort of strange echo from inside the great spire.Khalil knew that it was the sound of some kind of mechanical operation.

There are many things in Shadow's memory, including the strict security at the connection between the upper and lower nests, and the specific locations of these machines.The steeple belonged to House Sklevok, and Shadow had no reason not to be familiar with it.

A sad postnatal creation, covered in flesh and blood with metal, blurring emotion and cognition.

A slave who never had a life of his own was seen as a precious substitute.

A sharp knife held in the hand of a monster, stained with blood by filthy means.

"No." Khalil said quietly. "After tonight, there will be no need."

He continued upward, his movements light and quick.

His stamina and strength have never been so abundant, and the pitiful amount of vitamins in the nutrient cream has never made this body so strong.

Now, he only needs to use light force to fly up three or four meters, and even the biting cold wind can no longer affect him.

This is incredible.

Khalil knew it was definitely one of some side effects of that power.He let go of the restraints, and they began to dance happily through his body.

Increased strength and stamina may be just one of their rewards.

However, in some ancient fables, good luck and money without reason usually come from the devil.The more you gain, in the end, the more you lose.

After continuing upwards for 300 meters, he reached a small circular platform.There are twelve huge machines humming around the round table, they can adjust the temperature and purify the air.

Khalil has seen many similar platforms.Only this one is worth his stay.

Standing on the edge of the circle, Khalil took off his cloak and dropped it from the sky.It quickly fell into the thin cloud layer and disappeared without a trace.

Looking at the nothingness, he was silent for a moment, but suddenly smiled and shook his head.

"Your revenge, let me help you complete it."

He muttered to himself, and pulled up the sleeve of his right hand, fully revealing the tattoo of the Rohars family that seemed to be dripping blood.

A destroyed aristocratic family is nothing to worry about in Nostramo. Once it loses power, not many people will remember their names.

However, the workers in the nest will not be remembered by many people when they are alive.

What an ironic comparison.

Khalil closed his eyes and took a brief, deep breath.When he opened his eyes again, the cold blue light had replaced the pitch black, becoming the only color left in the eye sockets.

Then he walked right into the wall like a real ghost.
-
A spear was thrust into a man's chest and abdomen, and pierced him through.

He lay on top of a boulder with a blank expression, and the surface of the stone was covered with his blood.Light poured down from the sky, illuminating him, and there was darkness all around, and countless pairs of longing eyes were waiting hungrily inside.

Mantas Scolework stared at the painting and shook his head slightly.

"The patriarch's taste in art is unbelievable."

he said to himself. "The person who drew this painting should be sentenced to death, and the painting should be destroyed immediately. Instead of being kept until today."

After saying this, he deliberately paused, and at the same time glanced sideways at the darkness in the corner of the study.

Mantas Sklewok was silent for a moment, and suddenly burst out laughing.

In the past, the shadow would answer his words during this short interval.This also created this little habit.

He shook his head with a smile, and slowly returned to his desk.

There are several documents on it, the unintelligible cursive characters are beautifully linked together, and the bright red ink wanders quietly on the pale parchment roll.

After being placed for a period of time, they have already set their shape, and they will no longer smudge each other because of a little friction, making the words become a mess.

Mantas Scolework picked up the first one, and he spent a few minutes checking the document he had written by himself, and then put it back with no interest.

The deal with Shaking Tooth has been concluded, and since then, there are only three aristocratic forces that the Scolework family needs to deal with in Quintus.

And twelve hours later, the big cleansing will come early.

The power of those three families could not be compared with that of the Scoleworker family at this time. Their end could only be that they suffered huge losses in Quintus, and finally withdrew from the competition in desperation.

Thinking of this, Mantas couldn't help but sneered—he was already looking forward to the opening of the noble council half a month later.

At that time, he will propose compensation in parliament reasonably and legally, and if they do not agree
No, there is no if.

He started laughing out loud.

They have to agree.Other than that, there is no second choice.

But, my son.

The Tattooed Earl closed his eyes and sighed in his expensive and comfortable chair.

At the beginning there were seventeen, and 20 years later, the number is only three.

Right now, that number is zero.

zero.

It can represent starting from scratch, or it can represent the complete loss of wealth.

At this moment, Mantas Scolework is more inclined to the latter.

Deep wrinkles began to appear between his brows. This matter must be thoroughly investigated, the murderer will be sentenced to death in front of everyone, and the people behind the scenes must also pay a heavy price.

He opened his eyes indifferently, ended his thinking, then stood up, intending to leave the study to rest.It was still a long night, and he didn't intend to wait any longer.

After all, shadows don't fail.

When he came to the door of the study room, he pushed it open—the hinges of the door, which had been well maintained every day, were extremely smooth, and the gilt door was easily pushed open by him with one hand, without encountering any resistance.

Servants can only touch its surface with their foreheads and wait for the built-in mechanism to allow the gate to slide open automatically.But Mantas Skleworker is more fond of manual work, and doing it by himself is also one of his labels.

He came to the long corridor and walked slowly, like a walk.

The lights turned on spontaneously, and the soft yellow glow illuminated the place very warmly.Even the expressions of the staring ancestors in the portrait softened. In Mantas' perception, his ancestors looked at him with pride.

This made him can't help showing a smile.

Yes, you should be proud of me.

I will make the Scolevokers the only nobles in Nostramo as long as I live, and everyone else will bow down.

Fathers, you will cheer for me.

Even the depression of losing a laboriously raised heir was dispelled by this emotion, and he walked down the corridor smiling, only to be sprayed with hot blood on the next corner.

The right hand of Mantas Sklewok trembled violently.

what's the situation?
"Oh, good evening."

A soft voice sounded in the darkness, with a little sincere apology.

"I didn't mean to spill the blood on your clothes, it's just that you came at an unlucky time. I just finished the last hidden sentry post."

"However, you are really suspicious. You have to keep so many traps, organs and safety measures in your own steeple."

"you--"

Mantas Sklewok spoke in surprise and anger, and was immediately interrupted.

"—shh."

A blood-stained cold hand came from the depths of the darkness and closed Mantas' jaw with great force, and let the middle finger and thumb rest on a certain place on his cheek.

Then, the owner of this hand exerted a slight force.

Accompanied by a crisp click, Mantas Sklevok suddenly felt a sharp pain.

His jaw fell loosely like this, the muscles pulled it tenaciously, resisting gravity, but the nerves ached as if they were on fire.

Mantas' body trembled violently, and he instinctively wanted to cry out in pain, but a blade was stabbed into his throat in the next second.

The blade was pulled out, but the cold air flow followed, messing up his entire mouth, and the blood that was about to gush out from the wound was also frozen.

They turned into blood pillars with countless tiny ice edges, which continued to hurt the owner's body.

Mantas Sklewok suddenly fell to his knees. He is not someone who craves physical pleasure, and his tolerance to pain is not outstanding.As a result, he is now in so much pain that he can't stand up.

"Shh," said the voice softly. "It's late at night, everyone is asleep, so be quiet, okay?"

Hearing this, Mantas raised his head tremblingly, and his great anger prompted him to do this, ignoring the pain for a short time.

He had to see the true face of such a daring man.

At the same time, he is still thinking of ways to break the situation.

This highly skilled assassin obviously came from another family, just like the shadow of the Scolewalker family, it was one of the trump cards belonging to each family.

And, he also displayed a familiarity with the family's inner workings, as well as an eerie sense of humor.The latter is easy to explain, nothing more than a mental problem.There are also shadows, and I am afraid that all "shadows" have this problem.

But how to explain the former?Especially the timing of this kind of assassination happened to be carried out on the day when the shadow left
No, no, how did he get around the cascading security inside the spire?
I didn't hear any gunshots, so maybe all the Sentinels are out of order?There is also a built-in alarm system, why doesn't it warn? !
Could it be that there are betrayers?Did he conspire with other families to assassinate at this time?Is it chatter?Chances are good they'll guess I'll do it
"Don't think about it, Monsieur Count."

Said the voice in the darkness, crouching down so that Mantas could see his face more clearly.

It was a pale face.

With melancholy eyebrows and a high nose bridge, he is smiling softly at the moment, looking very gentle.

"You can't guess the truth unless I take the initiative to reveal the answer. And the guesses you are making now are actually meaningless. Of course, if they can divert your attention and make you ignore the pain for a while, I will It doesn't matter."

Mantas opened his mouth, and made a broken sound from his throat angrily.It sounded like a whimper, with blood oozing from his mouth.

"No, I'm not an assassin. Killing you is not my main purpose here."

Khalil explained patiently.He squatted beside the kneeling count with a relaxed posture, as if he was having a conversation with an old friend.

If you don't look at the identity and scene, maybe some people will think they are friends.

After all, Mantas Sklewok answered Khalil's question with just a few whimpers.

"Look, Mr. Earl, you have your own set of rules for dealing with the world."

"You have turned everything into a simple exchange of benefits. Although it is true that most of you prefer a moment of physical pleasure, benefits are still the most important thing."

"I like this attitude of using rules to make the world go round, but your rules."

Khalil sighed softly.

He stretched out his right hand, picked up Mantas' chin, and dragged him towards the other end of the corridor.

Pain followed, and Mantas kept slapping the hand that was so cold that it was almost dead, but it didn't help at all.

And he couldn't even bite off his fingers, his jaw was now doing nothing but pain.

Between turning left and right while walking, he showed an extreme familiarity with this place, as if he had lived here for decades.

At the same time, he still didn't even forget to finish the second half of the sentence to Mantas Scolework.

"...Your rules are really bad. Even a person like me who doesn't have to care can't stand it. Do you know what it feels like, Mr. Earl?"

Khalil shook his head, swung his arms, and flung the supreme Earl of the Skelevoker family into a room.

The door had already been opened, and the Earl spun into it, knocking down a table and chairs.

He lay on the ground in unbearable pain, feeling dizzy and confused.

He sat on the earl's position by virtue of his wisdom, and all 32 brothers and sisters who competed with him were sent into a death trap by him.He doesn't like violence either, it's too crude
Therefore, although he still wanted to stand up and resist, his body simply ignored it.

Khalil ignored him, just wiped the blood from his hands on his clothes, and then closed the door.

Immediately afterwards, he dragged a chair, sat in front of Mantas Sklewok, looked at him with his head tilted, and waited patiently.

It's so easy.Khalil thought.Undoing the shackles and throwing away the rules, could it be so easy to make a leader who poisoned the hive capital suffer like this?
He couldn't help but laugh.

Yes, killing is indeed easy.

Humans inherently know how to use violence, not to mention people like him.Violence can achieve the goal as quickly as possible, but after that?
Mantas Scolework got up tremblingly, interrupting Khalil's thoughts.

He glanced at Khalil, and then even pulled up a chair and sat down.In the process, his gaze swept across Khalil's deliberately exposed right wrist.

He narrowed his eyes.

Khalil saw it.

Mantas Sklework took a deep breath, and slowly raised his hands, intending to find a solution for his dislocated jaw.

At this moment, a hand with a tattoo on the wrist stretched out, brushing his cheek with a chilly temperature.

——The wound and pain dissipated.

The tattooed earl's cheek twitched violently.

"Surprised?" Khalil asked.

"... Some." Mantas Sklework replied in a low voice.

"Are you surprised by my power, or my identity?"

"A little bit of both"

The earl with tattooed face shook his head, feeling a little emotional.

Instead, he relaxed strangely at this moment, leaning against the back of the chair.This change of posture made Khalil laugh silently.

He probably guessed what the tattooed earl was thinking.

"You're still alive, Khalil Rohars," whispered Mantas Scolewok.

Khalil didn't answer, he knew that Mantas still had a lot to say.

He is willing to show a little respect to a dying person.

"You came here to ask me the truth about that year, right?"

Mantas Scolework spoke slowly.

"Yes, it was the traitor who brought down your family, since he's dead. So, I guess, someone already told you?"

Khalil still didn't answer.

Mantas ignored the matter calmly and continued to talk.However, he was still racing through the answer to this question in his mind.

"Your father, Gaius Rohars, begged us to pardon you at the cost of your family's treasure, the inhuman executioner who at the last moment demanded a way for his son. We promise gone."

Staring into Khalil's eyes, Mantas paused for a moment, and he planned to take this time to observe Khalil's possible reactions.

"That way, does it refer to throwing a seven-year-old child and two daggers from the Rohars family into the nest?" Khalil asked with a smile.

"You can't ask for more." Mantas replied calmly.

"The crime of murdering an earl should have killed you all, even the traitor was wiped out of his name. After that, he was an unknown priest in the lower nest, far from the life a nobleman should have. Far."

"But still better off than the nesting folks."

Khalil shook his head with a smile. "You don't know, Mr. Earl. The traitor you forced can still rule the wind and rain in the lower nest. Frankly speaking, he is still a nobleman, just living in the lower nest."

Inevitably—Mantas Sklewk frowned.

He didn't get the reaction he wanted.

This means that his speculation about Khalil Rohars will be completely overturned again.The other party didn't come for profit. At least until now, this descendant of the Rohars family has not shown any desire to regain his surname and status.

The more critical point is that Khalil Rohars survived.

This means that one of the families that participated in the conspiracy back then secretly protected him and raised him.

It also meant that, in their tone of voice, the man Mantas Sklewok must have been the source of the hatred.

Although it is true.

It was indeed Mantas who planned the downfall of the Rohars family.

But why did Khalil Rohars seem indifferent at this moment?He can even still smile easily, and Mantas can tell that the smile is definitely not a fake.

He couldn't help swallowing the saliva that still smelled of blood.Invisibly, the initiative of the conversation was reversed again.

"Are you confused?" Khalil asked softly.

"But, as I said, Monsieur Count, you will never guess the truth unless I ask."

"You seem very confident, the descendant of the Rohars family." Mantas said in a deep voice.

"Well I'm not really confident," Khalil said. "I just know what I'm going to do."

"what are you going to do?"

Khalil smiled and stood up.Silver light flickered on his wrist, he raised his hand, and the two knives were held in the palm of his hand while spinning like this.

Then he turned and threw them out.The blade pierced the air with great force, making a dangerous howl.The thick wall was instantly pierced, followed by the clicking sound of mechanical operation.

Immediately afterwards, another wall flipped over suddenly, and a huge black machine appeared like this.

Mantas Sklewok's face suddenly changed.

The nobles of Nostramo have many ways to communicate with each other. They can choose to send messengers, send letters, or use the communication system to chat instantly, which is convenient but not decent.

Among all these methods, there is one that is only used in emergencies.

"You see, Monsieur Earl, I know a great deal. I know how you indulge yourselves, I know how you murder each other. And this is certainly the most interesting part of what I know."

Khalil laughed out loud, and the laughter echoed around the room.

"What are you going to do?" Mantas asked, leaning forward and grabbing the armrest with both hands.

It was the first time he felt out of control, not even when he was being dragged down the corridor.A terrible uneasiness began to surge in his heart, and then ate away at his heart.

"What do you think?" Khalil asked back. "What do you think I'm going to do? Weren't you full of confidence just now, Mr. Earl? Don't you think that this descendant of the Rohars family is here to seek revenge from you?"

"Is not it?!"

"No, no, Monsieur Count. You are not worthy of me making such a fuss, no matter the cost."

Khalil turned around and slowly approached the machine: "The descendants of the Rohars family have long since died, Mr. Earl, the one standing in front of you is just a ghost."

"What the hell are you going to do, Khalil Rohars?!"

The ghost stopped in its tracks, turned around, smiled softly, and a cold blue light lit up in its eyes.

He answered softly, and answered the count with great force in another language completely different from Nostramo.

"I'm going to light a fire, Count. I'm going to burn you bloody bastards. I've had enough."
-
In the cold night, a voice suddenly sounded in Nostramo's upper nest.

It came from far away, hissing through the night on ancient machinery.It passes through the gorgeous and gloomy court of the nobles, through the dark and bloody dungeons, through the vaults full of gold and silver treasures
In the end, it reached the ears of every nobleman.

At this moment, whether they were sleeping on the bed or wearing human skins and slowly dancing to the soft music, they all heard this soft voice.

"You nobles."

"Monarchs in the Court of Eternal Night."

"good evening."

"Please remember my voice, and please be prepared. You can run away, resist, hide... whatever, but I will end everything tonight."

"Of course, and this last thing"

Slight laughter sounded, hovering in their ears, with a chill and madness that came from nowhere, and gradually expanded, like thunder.

"Remember, I'm here for you."

　Ask for votes and ask for everything~ I also ask for postings.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)