How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 363 I'll Give You a Punch

"Sometimes, I also feel that the series of bad things the emperor did in the past do have some rationale."

Changing back into the most ordinary Chaldean uniform, Ritsuka Fujimaru stood in front of the monitoring screen in the simulation room, with his arms folded across his chest, watching the images of Sevatar and Sigismund interacting with each other on the screen.

Perhaps because he felt that he had evolved a little bit of a chance to win, the former, after recovering from the pain and poison, once again made up a pretext to provoke the latter, and entered the simulation room with a solemn vow to fight a real victory. But the actual battle was still very tense: under the premise that Sigismund could not and should not use the power of St. George at will, Jeanne Alter only managed to maintain the normal output of Sevata's power armor. This was a "fair balance" recognized by both sides, and it did in fact create a "fair balance" of equal strength between the two.

Two pairs of eyes were indeed staring at the indecisive duel on the screen in front of them, but the owners of the two pairs of eyes were obviously not fully focused on it. After Fujimaru Ritsuka finished speaking, another audience member snorted coldly and made a statement that, if you dig a little deeper, you will find that its connotation is "treasonous":

"Your words are too general. I have no idea what you are talking about."

This is the evaluation of Nasir Amit, the first Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers and former Captain of the Fifth Company of the Blood Angels Legion.

This Bound Astarte, who boarded the Storm's Edge almost seamlessly after the overall dust settled on the Great Keeper of Secrets invasion, had actually appeared in the real universe under the guidance of the Archangel in the Cathedral of the Holy Blood at the time of the incident. The mission assigned to him by the Primarch was "to ensure the personal safety of Fujimaru Ritsuka no matter what", and Amit obviously had his own understanding of the means needed to achieve this mission. This "own understanding" also caused him to have some... bloody conflicts with Raphaen, the current fourth captain of the Blood Angels Chapter, within 20 minutes of appearing in the world. This was also the main reason why the command chain of the Arax Angel Fortress suddenly went offline in the middle of the previous invasion.

In any case, this conflict did not cause serious consequences because after the Grey Knights entered the scene, Shalasi Devil was stably contained and resolved. But there is no doubt that Amit's appearance did not bring any positive benefits. Although "this is a decision made by the Archangel himself" has become a consensus among the Blood Angels who know the inside story. The Father of Genes decided to choose such a... difficult to evaluate person as a pioneer, instead of choosing the first generation of the Blood Angels Chapter, the Primarch's Attendant Radoron, or the Lord of the Holy Blood Guard during the Legion period, Azkalon, there must be his own reasons. Under such a consensus, Amit's actions were eventually widely recognized by the soldiers of the Fourth Company, including Captain Raphion (after he "taught" all those who dared to express their opposition) - but there is no need to guess that these people must still have doubts in their hearts.

Only Fujimaru Ritsuka himself understood Sanguinius's choice: Radron and Azkalon were too "civilized". To truly control Fujimaru Ritsuka, one still needed a "barbarian" like Amit who was not very reasonable. In the past period of time, Sigismund occupied the ecological niche of "usually admonishing Fujimaru Ritsuka and occasionally forcing him by force" on the Storm's Edge. But obviously, when the Great Keeper of Secrets invaded, the Storm's Edge immediately went forward after discovering the problem and rushed to the front before the Blood Angels could react. This behavior still made Sanguinius feel a sense of crisis, perhaps similar to "Sigismund is still too civilized."

So he sent Amit out without saying a word, and did not recall him back to the warp after the emergency was resolved, intending to insert him into the schedule of Fujimaru Ritsuka's "personal bodyguard" - after all, Amit was fearless and dared to confront the Primarch and the Emperor. Fujimaru Ritsuka even felt that with the order directly from the Primarch in front of him, if Amit really felt it necessary, it might not be impossible to imagine that one day he would suddenly decide to capture him, break his legs and lock him in a stasis field...

Sanguinius accurately grasped the fact that Amit would not listen to Fujimaru Ritsuka during the mission and made a decisive kill. Although this always reminded the Master of Chaldea of ​​how she dealt with Caesar or Moriarty who might be causing trouble... Without noticing, had she gradually fallen to this status in the eyes of others?
However, these are the thoughts derived from the meeting between Fujimaru Ritsuka and Amit (outside of the Star Torch). Now, after the stage of exchanging pleasantries (or verbal attacks on each other), in the time when Fujimaru Ritsuka has no schedule and "doing something to relax", her thoughts have flown back to the matter that has been entangled with her whenever she has free time in the past few days:

"This time, I'm referring to the brainwashing of the Astartes." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, "From my perspective, which you call 'outdated, old-fashioned and conservative' ethical and moral concepts of the year 2000, using hypnosis, brainwashing, hormone stimulation and even physical surgery to change a person's thinking and personality and completely turn them into a 'weapon' is obviously inhumane and a 'bad thing' that is not worth promoting. But now I can't help but envy you a little: after going through this part of the transformation, you will definitely not be bothered by the things that bother me now."

"Are you still thinking about those refugees?" Amit asked bluntly, with the sarcasm in his tone very direct. "For someone of your status, that should be a trivial matter - both before and now."

These "refugees" came from the first temporary settlement on the main star of Baal. Regardless of the previous reasons, the place where the Xia La Xi Demon Disaster descended was the newly built state church in the settlement. This made these refugees who had lost their homes, escaped from death in various parts of the star region, and gathered here after passing various biological and soul tests, finally suffered the accusation of Chaos pollution, which might or might not have happened.

The good news is that they are only being detained for the time being, and have not been subjected to any cruel or cold treatment; the bad news is that this time when competing with the Grey Knights who advocated "direct destruction" of the entire settlement, although Chaldea, who held opposing views, maintained its usual policy of mercy, its attitude did not seem so firm: those present at the negotiations were Inquisitor Hastings and Sealbearer Kellya, and not only did Ritsuka Fujimaru, the head of the agency, not show up, even her appointed official spokesperson Cleopatra did not express any attitude on this issue.

"It's true that 'big things' that are life-threatening to the empire are a headache, but that doesn't mean that 'small things' that are life-threatening to a group of civilians are not worth worrying about." Fujimaru Ritsuka replied, "At this time, it's easy for me to think: If I were among them, how desperate I would be."

"That's impossible." Amit interrupted this non-existent assumption impatiently, "You're a little strange - you hesitated for too long. Save if you want to save, kill if you want to kill. The commander of the Night Lords I know has never been so fussy."

It had only been two days, or about fifty hours, since Charasi Demon Disaster was completely exiled. The reason why Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't show up could be attributed to the fact that the Imperial Saint needed to rest after the fierce battle, but the reason why Cleopatra remained silent was really just because Fujimaru Ritsuka hadn't made up his mind on this issue.

"Yes, I hesitated on the same issue for too long." Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed, "There are some things I can't say to Sevitarion or Sigismund... But I am no longer the commander of the Night Lords."

"how?"

"Who do you think will win between the two of them?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka suddenly turned the topic to the battle in front of them. The simulated indoor scene of flying sand and rocks was faithfully projected in front of the audience by the monitoring screen. The timer showed that the two players had been fighting for more than eleven hours. The rules were armed combat and first blood. However, judging from the current vigorous state of both sides, if they were allowed to continue, they might not be able to win in another day and night.

Amit was silent for a while. They had been watching the duel from the middle (of course, the middle), and it had probably been about thirty minutes so far. For ordinary people, this period of time would be enough for them to decide the winners and losers for several rounds, but for the Emperor Champion and the Prince of Crows, others could not see anything from this period of attack and defense - perhaps they themselves could not see anything. The balance of victory might have already tilted, or it might not have. The amplitude was too small, even for an experienced soldier like Amit, a frequent visitor to the duel cage, he could not tell the difference.

"I don't know." The First Chapter Master of the Flesh Tearers replied, "But out of emotional inclination, I bet on Sigismund."

"If this evenly matched fight lasts for more than twenty hours, Sigismund will win. If the winner is decided before then, Sevitarion will definitely be the winner." Ritsuka Fujimaru stated his opinion.

"reason?"

"It's actually very simple: in the same highly concentrated mental state, Sevitarion is more likely to feel bored with the same thing he keeps doing than Sigismund. In addition, as a Cursed Astartes, Sigismund's current state does indeed free him from the shackles of physical fatigue. In general, on paper, the modified version of the Iron Knight Terminator is still stronger than Sigismund's fine power armor, but if Sevitarion fails to win within twenty hours, his mentality will be problematic and his concentration will also drop - this is nothing under normal circumstances, but he is facing Sigismund, so it is a big problem." Amit pondered this sentence for a while, and then realized again: "You are not right."

The problem is not the angle from which Fujimaru Ritsuka analyzes the problem: from what Amit only half knows about the other party in the illusion, when Fujimaru Ritsuka, as the eighth Primarch, directs the battle, "the personality tendencies and thoughts of both sides" will indeed be considered as an important factor in addition to the sand table. The difference he realized is that -

"--This is too rough an analysis, isn't it?" Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed at himself, "The average human brain, without any modification, can only deduce this much at best."

If it was Ritsuka Fujimaru in the illusion, when asked to predict the outcome of a "rich sample size" battle between Sevatar and Sigismund, Amit had no doubt that she could accurately deduce "who will lose at what moment and in what form after the duel begins" - without using the gift of prophecy.

This impression actually came from Sanguinius, because the Archangel had emphasized to them in the illusion that the Night Lords' fear tactics were well-known, but that was only a very small but most eye-catching part of the tactics followed by Fujimaru Ritsuka. What the Eighth Legion was really good at was psychological warfare against humans. They would study, figure out and guide the behavior patterns of enemy generals, and make plans for every possible situation as much as possible, and then completely disintegrate the opponent's fighting will through deterrent military actions (at this time, usually fear tactics). The leader among them was naturally the Primarch. Fujimaru Ritsuka was a real commander. Sometimes she could even command the enemy to walk into the pocket she set and surrender obediently -

"So, what exactly do you want to say?" Amit interrupted his overly divergent thoughts and asked unhappily, "Are you trying to say that you became stupider after changing your environment, so you started to hesitate about things that you didn't hesitate about before?"

The wording of this sentence sounded somewhat offensive, but Fujimaru Ritsuka laughed:
"That's probably why Sanguinius likes you. I do too, but I still find you difficult to get along with on this basis." She responded with a blunt and impolite sentence, "Your judgment is both right and wrong: I did mean that, but in essence, I would hesitate about the same thing when I was in the illusion, but the primarchs all have very smart brains, and they can come to a conclusion in an instant with thousands of thoughts - so I appear decisive."

Amit started to get impatient: "So what are you hesitating about?"

"'Existence is reasonable'. If a practice is common in human society, it must have corresponding rationality. The Grey Knights' practice must have their reasons." Fujimaru Ritsuka said, "But respecting the right to life of refugees, or to put it more simply, 'treating people as human beings' is definitely not wrong, right?"

Both decisions have their merits, and both may have adverse effects. Therefore, it is now a situation where one needs to choose the lesser of two evils - but Fujimaru Ritsuka can't tell the difference.

When in the illusion, the computing power of the Primarch-level brain can easily allow Fujimaru Ritsuka to deduce most of the possible subsequent effects of an event and make decisions accordingly. Now, even if the Imperial Saint believes that an organized mass can physically and psychologically dispel the possible chaos pollution for the refugees, and can also shut up the Grey Knights, the State Church, and the Ministry of the Interior in a religious sense, she still cannot confidently affirm that this move will not cause more complex and harmful chain reactions in the future:

For the part of the plan related to the resurrection of the Primarch, the faith of the Triumvirate of Baal should still be focused on Sanguinius as much as possible. The return of a loyal Primarch with considerable charisma could obviously save many more people in the future than the 300,000 people in the First Settlement.

Amit sneered - he was really impatient: "After all, isn't it just a small matter? How many mortals lose their lives every day in the galaxy? A few hundred thousand are not a big deal."

Fujimaru Ritsuka sighed: "That's why I said that I even began to envy you."

"Then why don't you just stop thinking about it? The emperor certainly doesn't think about this either, at least not as much as you do." Amit urged impatiently.

"But if I no longer think from the perspective of ordinary people and try to save their lives, can I still be considered the 'savior of mankind'?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked, "If I also give up empathy and compassion, and use the lives of people around me like chess pieces, can I still hold my head high and claim that 'human beings are a species with more virtues than flaws, selfish but also altruistic' when faced with questions about their right to survive?"

Amit laughed, "Which idiot asked you this? You really worry too much."

Then, amid the humming noise of the Flesh Tearers Chapter Master's custom-made Terminator Power Armor, Nasir Amit made his final statement:
"You have to understand, ma'am. In this galaxy that has never stopped burning for tens of thousands of years, the most insignificant thing is human life. But some people's lives are indeed much more valuable than others."

A large hand wrapped in a ceramic steel glove pressed heavily on Fujimaru Ritsuka's shoulder. The unactivated chainsaw sword linked to her wrist stopped at the side of her face, not hurting her at all, but the cold light on the single-molecule saw blade still looked aggressive.

"For example, yours." The Astartes said ten thousand years ago, "I don't care what you are hesitating about. I just want to point out that it is extremely inappropriate in all dimensions to consider your own life together with those worthless mortals. You have to have some... self-awareness in this regard."

Fujimaru Ritsuka frowned visibly. Then——

——She raised her hand and without hesitation, punched Amit in the face without a helmet.

The punch hit Amit's nose. But even if the fist of a 17-year-old ancient girl was well-trained, without even magical enhancement, it would certainly not be able to do anything to an Astartes even if it hit the target. In fact, the punch was able to hit because Amit was too shocked at that moment, and the chainsaw fist in his hand was too close to the vulnerable important person, so he reflexively controlled himself not to move. The final result was that Astartes' nose was just a little sore, but Fujimaru Ritsuka's hand felt as painful as if it had hit the wall.

“Thank you for contradicting me,” she said, shaking her hands. “At the moment when I contradicted you in my mind just now, I am sure that I already knew the answer. I just didn’t realize it.

"——And indeed, I may have become stupider after changing my environment, so I started to hesitate about things that I didn't hesitate about before."

(End of this chapter)