40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 426 152. Interlude: See you again in winter

"See you in the winter!" someone shouted.

Ruth opened her eyes and saw a hall.

Wooden tables and chairs were scattered all over the place, as if they had just experienced a banquet. The smell of wine and meat filled the air, and the unpleasant smell caused by the cooling oil hit Ruth's nose accurately in the sunlight.

He looked around and saw the swords and shields hanging on the walls, the spears on the weapon racks, and the flags hanging on the load-bearing pillars of the entire hall. They were probably handwoven, had a rough surface, and were shaking slightly at the moment.

A familiar symbol stared menacingly at him from among the flags, its fanged mouth slightly open.

He looked further into the hall, past the long tables piled with leftovers, and saw a heavy wooden throne. It is not suitable for any king. As long as the king has the smallest vanity, it should be decorated with gold and silver treasures.

At the very least, a sharp sword must be placed on the armrest of the chair. Rather than like now, the edges are faded, the backrest is incomplete, and the armrests are even full of oil stains

"See you in the winter!" the man shouted again. "Rest in peace! Rest in peace!"

Ruth turned around and listened.

He wanted to know where the sound was coming from, but his excellent hearing didn't come in handy this time.

The ears that could easily hear the sound of prey trampling on the snow through blizzards in the past were no longer as sensitive as before. The Fenrisian grunted from his throat with an expressionless expression, and couldn't help baring his teeth.

He turned around and walked towards the hall door. The two doors are made of very thick wood and are dotted with patterns, but they are not very neat and even look random.

Someone used a knife to carve many names densely on it, as well as some endless legends. He lowered his head, put his shoulders on the two doors, and pushed them open slowly, very cautiously.

As the door moved, a chilling wind immediately roared in through the opened gap. The wind and snow mixed with the cold rushed out from the outside, hitting Ruth's face and body. He stuck out his tongue and licked it, and sure enough he tasted a familiar taste.

Fenris——?

Ruth kept stepping until the door was fully open.

The interior decoration of the hall was completely destroyed by his actions. The flags were covered with wind and frost. The strong wind blew the leftovers on the table to the ground. The disgusting white grease that emerged after the broth cooled was sprinkled on the floor. On the carpet, everywhere.

Before long, they will ferment and develop a disgusting odor.

Russ stood up and looked at the scene outside the gate. After a few seconds, he decided to go back and get a sword despite the wind and snow.

So he turned around and started walking, but the process wasn't easy. The once strong Leman Russ was now walking extremely hard under the wind and snow. Every step he took, he had to withstand huge wind pressure and protests from inside his body.

He tried his best to keep walking smoothly, but occasionally he still fell. Fortunately, the snowflakes that were blown in had covered the ground, so he didn't have to fall into the soup and water.

After falling down for the fifth time, Ruth stood up gropingly, exhaling hot breath between his lips and teeth. His right hand felt something hard in the snow, so he pulled it out and saw a wooden wine glass.

Of course there was no more wine in it, but he raised his eyebrows.

Ruth opened his mouth and bit the edge of the wine glass, a familiar look of pleasure appeared on his face - then, his canine teeth slowly exerted force, and a stream of cold liquid seeped into the edge of the wine glass, and he slowly bit it. out.

It was very little, not even a sip, but it was indeed the taste of Fenris mead he remembered. A burning sensation passes through the tip of the tongue and then throughout the taste buds on the tongue. Ruth happily tasted the poisonous wine and took down the wooden wine glass.

He stood firm, aimed upward, and then threw it out. A sword and a shield just fell down and fell into his hands.

He squeezed them, feeling a reassuring roughness. Then, he turned around again, blocked the wind and snow with his shield, and walked out of the door little by little.

Unfortunately, the world outside is actually worse than the inside of the hall.

Outside the gate is a dangerous cliff, as if some god once took a sword and struck it here, so this cliff and the mountain opposite have a pleasant straight angle.

Russ came to the edge of the cliff, stared down, and saw a bottomless black void. He clicked his tongue, looked up again at the snow-capped mountains that were emitting bright white light under the sunlight, and squinted his eyes.

After a few seconds, he began to retreat. When he returned to the door of the hall, he began to run wildly. His body was very weak at the moment, and every step he took required all his strength.

Russ almost felt his bones protesting against the restraints of his muscles, telling him to be gentler on them, but the Fenrisian didn't bother to notice.

He just ran, running forward. The sword and shield swayed on both sides of his body, and the broken hair hanging on his forehead was wet with sweat, and was blown into icicles by the cold wind, which rested on his forehead, creating an unpleasant feeling.

He didn't care about any of these things, he just ran forward - and then jumped.

With a muffled grunt, Russ successfully jumped over the gap that was at least eleven meters long.

He lay in the snow, enjoying the surrounding ice and snow, and moved lazily for a while. After a while, he stood up, and the joy of success reverberated in his heart.

After realizing this, he almost laughed out loud - being happy for such a thing? I'm really hopeless

"However, contentment is the state that countless wise men pursue throughout their lives." A voice suddenly spoke.

Ruth looked up and saw an old man with white hair and beard. Wearing a thick fur coat, he is very old, wearing a black eye patch, and holding a straight wooden stick in his hand.

"How come I'm not surprised at all, father?" Ruth shrugged. "Your style of testing people is really unexpected."

"This is not a test, Ruth," the old man said. "I no longer have the ability to do such a thing, at least not to bring you back to life. And if it were me, I wouldn't want a chair full of oil stains."

"You don't have to worry so much in the ice and snow." Ruth grinned. "If your clothes are dirty, they will be dirty. Just roll around in the snow."

"Come with me?" the old man asked. "No matter which path you choose in the end, I hope to reveal these truths to you."

Ruth did not answer this question. In the strong wind, his expression gradually became helpless. After a few seconds, he asked, "How is it now, Father?"

"It's terrible," the old man said bluntly. "Terra is gradually crumbling. This place has become an altar and will soon become a temple."

"Time is no longer important, and so is space. Soon, even the basic laws of physics will be shaken. And it is avoiding Him, and it will try its best to delay the moment it sees Him. .”

Ruth rolled her eyes in a most obvious way.

"I've had enough of this." He threw the sword to the ground a little angrily. "Your answer makes me feel like I asked a stupid question, father. I just want to hear an explanation, not these damn riddles - what are the laws of time, space, and physics."

He shook his head, picked up the sword again, and placed it on another patch of snow.

"So what if it hides from Him or doesn't hide from Him? I only care about one thing, and you know that."

"So, what do you want to know?"

The old man's expression also became helpless. He simply spread his hands and made a very straightforward gesture to Ruth, which represented powerlessness.

"What language should I use to explain to you these riddles that you can understand immediately?"

"Strictly speaking, you don't even need to explain." Russ said, throwing down the shield and simply lying down. He leaned his hands on the shield and squinted at the old man's face, trying to imagine the black blindfold he wore as the moon or a star.

"So, what do I need to do?"

"Don't ask me, you are the whole father," Ruth said. "I now plan to exercise my natural rights as your son. Do you have any objections?"

The old man laughed dumbly, and then turned into a belly laugh - this was definitely not a disguise, because this happy smile was an impossible disguise for the Lord of Humanity. He laughed so much that he couldn't help but bend down, but after laughing, he immediately straightened his face.

"Are you going to be stupid again, Ruth?" the old man asked sternly.

Ruth glanced at him and immediately retorted loudly: "What do you mean again?!"

"You disobeyed my orders and went to raid the Spirit of Vengeance——"

"——You didn't give me an order either!" the Fenrisian said unhappily. "You say nothing and do nothing, and then you expect me to say nothing and do nothing like you?"

"Do I have to watch that thing turn Jaghatai's legions into its own? Who would believe it when it says it won't harm Jaghatai?"

"But now is not the time to be willful, Ruth." The old man persuaded him earnestly. "If you just want to exercise your power as you said, why didn't you do it in the past and why do you have to do it now?"

"If you have to choose your own time to be willful, then why is this word called willful?" the Fenrisian asked again.

"Besides, there is no concept of time here at all. I can stay here with you for a hundred years, and not even a second of the outside world will pass, right?"

".indeed so."

"Then why did you—" Ruth raised his hand and patted his side. "——Why don't you lie down and look at the sky with me."

"Now?"

"Yes."

The old man raised his head and glanced at the sky.

"It's the coldest time of year in Fenris, Russ, and one of its few sunny days. We'd be blind."

"Don't you have an eyepatch?" the Fenrisian grinned. "When you can't stand it anymore, just use it to cover your good eye."

The old man lay down helplessly, but still held the stick tightly in his hand.

The wind and snow are still roaring, this is Fenris, a planet with such a harsh climate that local creatures must do their best to survive.

The people living here are savage, strong, and cruel. The animals living here are cunning, ruthless, and live in groups.

The confrontation between man and nature happens all the time. Even if you wear the thickest clothes, you will feel cold. Even if you hold the sharpest sword, you will still have the risk of having your throat bitten by wild beasts. No moment of relaxation, no peace.

Just like the life of the Lord of Mankind in becoming an Emperor and Queen.

How similar, how sad.

For several minutes, they didn't say a word. Just lying in the snow, sinking gradually, staring at the sky in silence.

"Is it quiet?" Ruth asked, her voice muffled in the snow. "I really like this time when I don't need to think or fight, father."

"indeed so."

"Do you like the silence?"

"I don't like it," the old man said honestly. "It's too wonderful for someone like me."

"What does it mean to be someone like you?"

"Executioner, war maniac, careerist -" the old man answered in the same unclear voice in the snow. "—The galaxy is burning, Russ, and it's all because of me."

Ruth didn't speak, just listened.

"Horus died, and he apologized to me at the last moment of his life, even though he actually did nothing wrong. He died, clearly realizing what he had done, and then he died like this, and his body even had to be destroyed by Him. They are used as puppets."

"Lorgar Aurelion died, leaving only the last bit of essence. His legions were tainted, his image was devoured, and there will never be peace. They will continue to create new Lorgar Aurelion in the future. The purpose of coming for fun is not even to bring more worlds into the tide of chaos, but simply to hurt me."

"Mortarion died. He fought to the last moment, was tortured to the last moment, but did not find rest. His body and part of his soul were even used by an evil god as a virus bomb or something like that."

"Magnus is dead too. I spent four years trying to keep him out of my clutches but failed. He was right under my nose and I failed to protect him. He had to sacrifice himself to do so. Come and seek a future that is barely acceptable.”

"Your brothers are suffering, Russ. Robert Guilliman, Perturabo, Vulkan. Angron, Corus Corax, Fulgrim."

"Sanguinius's legions suffered heavy losses in the Signus System. Leon El'Jonson personally destroyed the hope of the Knights on Caliban. Rogal Dorn is walking alone in the darkness. Ferru S. Manus has been imbued with an unwarranted hatred, a horrific sense of satisfaction in revenge, and—"

"—You talk a lot, Father," said Ruth. "Why are you so sentimental and chattering today?"

The old man was silent for a moment, then suddenly sat up from the snow and hit Ruth hard on the head with the wooden stick in his hand. The force was so great that it even made a dull loud noise.

"This hurts!" The Fenrisian stood up suddenly, bared his teeth and shouted. "You can't hit me for telling the truth!"

The old man sighed and said nothing. Russ rubbed his forehead and reached out to hold the long stick. Its surface began to tremble, and the rough wooden surface was broken bit by bit, revealing the majestic underside. Golden light suddenly appeared, and the Dionysian Spear buzzed in the wind and snow.

The Fenrisian shrugged and laughed again: "I knew you had it."

"It seems that you have made your decision." The old man said slowly. "That means we'll only have the last few minutes talking to Ruth."

"I'm here, father." Leman Russ responded softly.

When the wind and snow stopped, he stood up and looked down at his short father.

"See you again in the winter," the old man said.

　Unfortunately, there is still only one update today——

　　Revise the outline.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)