The Emperor’s Angel of Death

"Take him down."

As soon as Soshyan spoke, Asterion, realizing he had been tricked, immediately drew his combat knife, deflecting the incoming chain halberd and attempting to rush out the door.

But Amnak's sword struck like a snake from an unusual angle, aiming for Asterion's left leg. The King of the Labyrinth instinctively took a step back, but the sword immediately changed direction, stabbing and slashing at the back of his left knee joint with a speed he couldn't see, severing the artificial tendons without injuring his flesh.

With the whine of servomotors, the Terminator's left leg rapidly lost power.

Asterion tried to contact his guard to warn them, but found that the signal was completely blocked, with only white noise in the communicator.

Then, the unactivated chain halberd slammed heavily into the back of his right knee joint, the immense force forcing him to bend his knee and then fall to the ground.

Accompanied by heavy footsteps, the other Terminators rushed in, swarming over him and pinning him to the ground.

"Soshyan! Soshyan!"

Finally, Asterion, pinned down, lost all his previous composure, struggling and roaring with rage.

"I never expected you to be so vile and despicable! You are not worthy to be a Space Marine! You defile the armor you wear! You are a liar! A viper!! You will pay for your actions today!"

"Bastard! Still daring to be presumptuous at this time!"

Mark cursed, hitting Asterion's helmet hard twice with his fist, making a loud bang.

At this time, Faysal was also stunned. He had not expected things to develop like this, as if his years of experience in the political arena had become a blank sheet of paper—

However, he immediately forced himself to solve the immediate crisis, because Soshyan did not seem to intend to stop there.

He walked up to Asterion, looking down at the Minotaur Chapter Master. This giant was unusually strong, and three or four Terminators could barely hold him down, but that was all.

"Still daring to resist, now I have reason to suspect that you have fallen, becoming an accomplice of the Red Corsairs, or even that the original Asterion Chapter Master is dead, and an Alpha Legion viper has replaced him. Take off his helmet and let me see the face of this traitor."

"Damn it! Soshyan! How dare you! Do you know what you are doing? I will definitely kill you!"

Upon hearing this, Faysal was even more shocked, because although Asterion was quite famous on Terra, legend had it that no one had ever seen his face, because this legendary Chapter Master had experienced eight situations in his more than five hundred years of service where he was considered completely impossible to survive, but ultimately always seemed to escape death. He had experienced eight situations in 500 years where it was considered "completely impossible to survive," so some people believed that his equipment and identity were inherited by successors. The Chapter publicly claimed that "Asterion survived," but the person under the armor had long been replaced, so this person never showed his face.

Faysal hesitated for a moment, and then said:

"Commander Soshyan! Please... please don't do this! Let's talk!"

But no one paid attention to him. As a mortal, he had no ability to stop a group of Astartes.

In the end, no matter how Asterion shouted, Mark forcibly removed his helmet, revealing a bald head and a fierce face full of scars. He was gnashing his teeth, staring at Soshyan with a man-eating gaze, as if they were mortal enemies.

Soshyan just sneered.

"I thought it was something special. Envoy Faysal, you also heard it. He even uttered wild words to kill me. Such a stubborn and fierce thug must have fallen into the arms of the Chaos Gods and become a shameful traitor."

With that, he waved his hand.

"Drag him out and execute him, and disarm the Minotaur Chapter. If there is any resistance, treat it as rebellion and annihilate them on the spot. Afterwards, I will personally send a letter to Terra to explain."

"Soshyan! How dare you! This is rebellion! This is rebellion! What kind of Space Marine are you, playing these conspiracies and tricks! Do you dare to have a head-on duel with me!"

As Asterion was dragged up, he roared madly. Seeing this, Mark immediately raised his fist.

"Traitorous bastard! Shut up!"

Two bangs later, he directly knocked the other party's mouth full of blood, with shattered teeth flying, and his entire face seemed to be crooked.

Hearing that Soshyan was going to execute Asterion, Faysal panicked and hurriedly stepped forward, waving his hands and saying:

"Commander-in-Chief Soshyan, no! Absolutely not!!! With a great enemy at hand, we must not kill each other! Moreover, if you do this, you will be regarded as a rebellion!"

"Hmm? That's strange?"

At this time, the people outside also gathered around. Soshyan pointed at Asterion with a puzzled expression and said:

"This person, without permission, brought weapons and trespassed into a military restricted area, and also threatened the lives of me, the supreme commander of the expeditionary force, and the esteemed envoy, your safety. If he is not a traitor, how did I become a traitor instead?"

Saying that, he looked at those Chapter Masters.

"Does everyone think this is strange?"

Watching the crowd discussing, some people had already seen the clues, but the Minotaur's reputation was so bad that no one would speak for them.

The corner of Faysal's eye twitched. He knew that he had underestimated this supreme commander of the expeditionary force. This first contest had already been lost completely.

But he was still trying to salvage the situation.

"Maybe a servant made a mistake."

"Okay, then send someone to investigate now. If that's the case, I'll apologize and release him immediately."

Faysal knew that since the other party dared to arrange this, there would definitely be nothing to investigate, so he changed the subject.

"Lord Soshyan, this matter is not that serious, there is no need to make such a big fuss. Chapter Master Asterion has served the Empire for hundreds of years and has made great achievements. He will definitely not be a traitor. Let's treat this as a misunderstanding, and it will not harm each other's harmony, as well as the honor of the Astartes Chapter."

Looking at this envoy, Soshyan shook his head with a smile.

"Envoy, now is a time of war, how can you say that things are not serious? This involves top-secret military intelligence. You should also have some understanding of the confidentiality system in the army and its significance. Once military secrets are leaked, the price may be the lives of thousands upon thousands of soldiers! As their supreme commander, how can I not be cautious and careful? There is no small matter in military affairs, but since you said so, I respect the voice of the High Lords, but this person must be reviewed to determine that he is not a traitor and will not leak military secrets."

As an old bureaucrat, how could Faysal not know what the so-called "review" was? Most of the Empire's reviews are basically linked to torture, especially psychic interrogation.

"Commander-in-Chief, let's talk this over. I am willing to vouch for Chapter Master Asterion."

"Lord Faysal, this is not a matter of vouching or not. I cannot risk the lives of the warriors. If you really think there is a problem with my decision, I am willing to abdicate and let you arrange a new commander to sit in this position. I will immediately lead the Chapter back to the homeworld."

"Oh, no, you misunderstood, I... I don't mean that"

Saying that, he lowered his voice.

"Supreme High Lord Commander Soshyan, can we talk privately?"

Soshyan pondered for a moment, and nodded.

"Please."