40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 530 48. Records of the Battle Group Era (, Meteor Shower)
If Khalil's perception of time was correct, and he did not fall into hallucinations, and was still barely conscious, then the banquet held by the wolves lasted for a total of twenty hours.

During these twenty hours of torture in the kitchen, countless meads and food were devoured. Not even half a complete bone was left on the long table, and the last bit of soup in the wooden bowl was also eaten by bread. Dip clean.

By the end, the dishes didn't even look like they needed cleaning. For those Fenrisians who have worked in kitchens for generations, this may be the only thing that makes them happy.

Of course, there is no guarantee that an underfed wolf pack member will sneak in in the middle of the night, steal sausages, bacon, or simply wake up the chefs from their sleep and ask them to work extra hours.
Who knows? At least Bjorn believes that this is very likely to happen.

In a thoughtful tone, Lone Wolf gave his evaluation of this banquet - let's call it an evaluation.

"While I think they still mess with things in the kitchen in the middle of the night, generally speaking they're not as voracious at the table."

His words made Sevita look at him strangely and made him sneer.

"The son of Russ lacks appetite? Don't make me laugh, Bjorn."

The lone wolf glanced at him, shook his head, and replied to Sevita in a rare calm tone: "No, you didn't understand what I meant. They do eat like starving ghosts reincarnated, but there are preconditions for this. "

"What? Are you being picky? Yong Ye, this is really news."

He knew he didn't have to actually answer. Sevatar didn't really want to leave, he was just joking with Bjorn in his own way.

Therefore, Khalil simply threw away his hands and walked away - he didn't bother to stay, so that Bjorn and Sevatar could use him as a sword and shield in the conversation. He knew exactly what tricks they were playing and what plays they were performing.

Savita remained unmoved and even bluntly exposed the old wolf's sincerity hidden behind his words and smile.

Judging from the identical binding style, these books are the work of Azek Ahriman himself.

The blind man, still wearing his thick cotton-padded jacket, was sitting behind a wooden table and immersed in writing. This tower was probably built the day after tomorrow. Its main materials are stone and logs, without any steel mixed with it.

As the implicit protagonist in their conversation, the 'instructor' himself only gave an ambiguous smile.

He was not a friend of Iago Severtarion, never had been. And a person always needs friends. No matter how many there are, friends can always provide some support.

How lone wolves and outcasts spend the rest of the day is their own business, and just like Khalil, he has his own business to do.

"Don't do this, Bjorn. You'd better not do this little trick of 'insufficient supplies but still insisting on fighting' in front of our instructors."

After he finished speaking, he grinned his lips and began to openly mock - or, in other words, show off - his juniors.

Some things must bear corresponding responsibilities or costs before they can be held in the hand as a matter of course. Just like a knife, if there is no consciousness of killing, no sharp edge can be considered sharp.
He quietly walked into the darkness and found Azek Ahriman writing rapidly in a tower extending outward.

"Ha, a meal of moose meat or sea animal meat grilled to perfection is certainly worthy of fighting over each other, but if it is orc meat, it is another matter. And every one of them has eaten orcs at least once, they He was a very gentleman at that time."

The only stronghold of the wolf pack is now open to him. Although Bjorn said that he can go anywhere, Khalil still has a sense of proportion in his heart.

After Saiweita finished speaking, she turned her head as if she couldn't wait and asked Khalil at the side.

"Oh?" Sevita raised an eyebrow. "Appreciate further details."

This is completely different from the style of Wolf Fang Castle itself. Furthermore, the decoration in this only room is also far from what the wolves like. There is only a table, a chair, and a bed, and then there are books piled throughout the room.

Bjorn shook his head and asked: "It is a fact that the supply of materials is insufficient, and it is also a fact that we persist in fighting. So, why do these two things combined become my little trick?"

"You know it yourself, so when do we leave, instructor?"

"indeed so."

Now, looking at the entire galaxy, there are probably very few people who can get along with him like this. At least Khalil himself is not among them.

Khalil appeared quietly, stretched out his hand and knocked on the stone wall. In the flickering light of the animal oil torch on the wall, Ahriman stopped writing without any surprise. He turned around, his face full of gloom and twilight showed only calmness.

"I knew you were coming."

Khalil looked at him, reached out and picked up a book from a stack of books. It had a red cover and no title. The cover was made of animal skin. The spine was very hard and seemed to be made of mixed materials.

"Can I read it?" he asked. "I'm interested in the stories you've recorded."

"Of course, they are stories meant to be told endlessly. But if you are really interested and not just looking for a topic, I suggest you wait a moment."

"The books I put in the room are all stories from recent centuries. Although they are not very related to each other, it is natural to read the series of books from the beginning, what do you think?"

Khalil smiled, not expressing his usual objection to the honorific he insisted on using.

He just said: "No need, I am powerless. I will leave Fenris tomorrow. There is only one day left. I can't read all these good stories."

"Not a good story," Ahriman said. "Just a blind man trying to remember everything he heard."

Khalil glanced at him and lowered his head. He turned to the first page of the book in his hand and saw a slightly familiar name. At the banquet just now, he clinked glasses with this person more than once.

"Logan Grimnar?"

"The lion and the wolf king jointly appointed this wolf." Ahriman immediately took up his words. "Served for four and a half centuries with great military exploits and unparalleled loyalty."

Khalil was silent for a few seconds, raised his head from the book he had been reading for five seconds, and repeated Ahriman's words.

"The Lion and the Wolf King?"

"Yes, the Lion and the Wolf King." The blind man nodded and smiled. "Everyone thinks Russ is dead, but according to the ancient legend of the Fenris people, the dead just entered an eternal winter."

"Sooner or later, he will meet the wolves again on a certain winter day. And our galaxy has been in perpetual winter since ten thousand years ago, so Russ can continue to influence his descendants in his own way." I know about meeting again in the winter, but..." Khalil suddenly stopped speaking, frowned, and then quickly relaxed.

He sighed, closed the book, and smiled to himself: "I'm so old and stupid, I can forget such a thing."

The blind man was silent for a moment and silently recited a sentence in Nostramo.

"Darkness in a prison changes everything."

"Time changes everything," Khalil corrected in High Gothic. "Instead of the prison, the prison itself does not exist, Azek Ahriman."

"A concept?"

"Yes, a concept. There is no shortage of such things in subspace, isn't it?"

The blind man fell into silence again, but could not see any urge to ask questions. The strong thirst for knowledge as a Thousand Son seemed to have disappeared from him, and Khalil could only read a deep awe from that face.

He narrowed his eyes and simply changed the subject before Ahriman's possible compliments actually arrived.

"So, that means Leon will come to Fenris?"

"Once every century." Ahriman calmed down and replied calmly. "He will come with the Order and hold a communion for sixty-five Terran Days."

"During this period, he will hold the Spear of Russ tightly and act as a 'leader' to deal with certain unresolved issues of the wolf pack in the past hundred years. For example, who accidentally killed someone, and who had conflicts with certain departments of the empire. , and it’s unclear who died.”

"Actually, it's Ruth who makes the decision, right?"

"I think so - in fact, the wolves also know this. Their sense of smell cannot be faked. As long as they set foot on Fenris and hold the Spear of Russ, the lion will be indistinguishable from the wolf king. Of course. , According to Bjorn, this is only the case during these sixty-five days. "

Khalil nodded understandingly.

Now, he really has an uncontrollable curiosity about the current situation of the empire. Although ten thousand years have passed, the original bodies have not passed away, so what have they done in these ten thousand years?

He raised his head and looked behind the wooden table. On the stone wall of the tower, a closed window was gently rustling in the cold wind.

The strengthened glass faithfully blocked the biting cold temperature outside for the owner of the house, and also prevented the flames burning in the fireplace from being extinguished. But the wind and snow in Fenris will never stop, just like time, time will not stop for anyone, not even gods.

a thousand years
Khalil narrowed his eyes, put down the book, said goodbye to Ahriman, and turned around to leave.

The door was closed, and the blind man lowered his head quietly and began to write at his desk again. The slightly dim light in the room turned his posture of bowing his head at his desk into an oil painting.
-
The wolves roared.

Their voices penetrated the cold wind and accurately echoed in the ears of every child of the night, but they did not really come. They were just standing on a high slope in the distance, with their backs to the pale winter sunlight of Fenris, looking like a misty shadow.

They bid farewell by howling in the sunshine. Khalil raised his head, stared at the sky of Fenris, listened to the howls of the wolves, and slowly clenched his fists.

Since his recovery, his body has been in a new state every day. Admittedly, this was inseparable from some of his own actions, but in the short two days he stayed in Fenris, something was quietly changing.

He lowered his head and looked thoughtfully at his arms. From the bulging blood vessels and the slightly trembling muscles, he tasted a completely different feeling from before.

During the period of time when he had just recovered, this body that could barely be called a flesh and blood body was almost the same to him as wearing unpowered power armor.

The whole body is heavy and heavy, and even simple movements such as shaking hands are extremely difficult. The 'artificial muscle bundles' seem to be trapped in a situation of lack of energy supply and become extremely stiff.

At that time, every piece of flesh and blood on his body was telling his pain and discomfort.

It was like a huge person was stuffed into a tiny skin. His bones were broken, his flesh and blood wasted away, and even his eyes were crushed to pieces in their sockets.
But now it's different. Now, this body is becoming 'tightly integrated' - this expression is simply weird, but it is indeed the word that best expresses Khalil's current state.

But was it his power that changed this body, or did his humanity regain the upper hand, allowing him to regain his human identity?
Khalil didn't know, he could only hope for where he would go next.

He reached out and held a book from his arms.

"Conrad Coates would kill me for this."

Yago Severtarion stood beside him and spoke slowly in an extremely calm tone.

"I think he and others will definitely press my face into the ashes in the wasteland, then drag me, throw me into the innermost part of the Altar of the End, and shut me in there for a thousand years."

"He said he wouldn't do it." Khalil said without raising his head, the moonlight twinkling in his eyes. "And he also said that if you continue to say these ignorant things, he will let Bellos tell stories to the ghosts."

Amid the strange looks in the eyes of the other four Chapter Masters, the corners of Sevatar's eyes twitched clearly.

He took a deep breath and said simply and neatly: "I apologize."

"He accepts it," Khalil said.

He finally raised his head, and the book in his hand automatically moved without any wind at this moment. There were no dark clouds in the sky, but the sunlight suddenly became darker, and the biting cold wind suddenly stopped.

The next second, centered around where Khalil was standing, the surrounding snow suddenly sank, forming a huge crater. Even looking down from orbit, it's crystal clear.

The strange thing is that neither the wolves on the hillside nor the children of the night standing next to him suffered any harm.

The pages turned and the sound continued, almost becoming a monotonous noise. Khalil closed his eyes. This time, his thoughts sank into the dark ocean without any hindrance, without any hindrance.

He 'reached out' and grasped a star.

The star is called Kaos.

(End of this chapter)