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

He was pulled by a passing battle brother and stood up again. According to the progress on the scene, Konrad Curze and the Night Lords had been gone for about three to four minutes. Four of the six veterans had reassembled their leg parts and were able to stand up and move slowly, shakily, with one foot deep and one foot shallow. The remaining two focused on repairing their hands and weapons, trying to maintain the minimum heavy firepower output of the front. The Dreadnaughts were still lying on the ground, cursing and complaining, but unfortunately, the current situation was too tight to repair them, so they could only stay where they were for a while.

After looking around, Ferros's enhanced mind immediately judged the situation. The Iron Father's command authority was online again. In a flash, he reviewed the battle situation of the other five exits of the main power room, uploaded what happened to his front a while ago, issued a corresponding warning, and dispatched a few technical sergeants, pharmacists, and large crane servants for support.

This series of information transmission took less than three seconds, and the battle command link immediately transmitted the shock and doubts of the other five secondary battlefields - the appearance of the Night Lords on the Doom Claw was fine, after all, they had just been boarded by the Emperor's Children not long ago, and now it was not unthinkable that another Chaos warband would show up to take advantage of them. But, what happened to Conrad Curze? Was his death really an unbelievable rumor? What did it mean that the traitorous Primarch who had disappeared for 10,000 years appeared again? What did he want to do by bringing his cubs to the ship? Was this incident related to the disaster that the Doom Claw was currently experiencing?

The common strengthening transformation in the Iron Hands Chapter allows the warriors to easily use multi-threaded processing, and it would not affect anything to have such discussions while fighting. As the person with the highest command level, Ferros did not join these urgent discussions, but immediately began to formulate the next strategy: his previous experience has proved that in front of the Primarch, the Space Marines are just vulnerable children, so he is ready to mobilize large vehicles to deal with this risk.

He was still checking the weapons reserves in the hangar that the current communication link could connect to, but he realized amid the exclamations that the traitorous primarchs and Chaos warbands who had left earlier had returned. The leader, Konrad Curze, had a lot of Chaos blood on his body, but he didn't care about it, and even didn't care about the weapons that the Iron Hands almost hit him in the face: he just appeared with his men and stood on the central axis in front of the front line, as if he was the one with the highest command here:

"Hold the line." He gave the Iron Hands an order as a matter of course. "At present, it seems that as long as we don't over-stimulate the thing in the center, it will not make any further attempts to corrupt the surrounding areas."

"Why should we listen to you?" a Primaris brother asked angrily, "The words of a traitor cannot be trusted."

In the past, such remarks would have inevitably led to bloodshed in various senses, but now, facing such remarks, Coze simply expressed his annoyance and said that he didn't care:

"It's up to you. Anyway, I'm just a messenger, and this is not my ship." He said this and walked towards the bunker and the position. "Your plasma reactor is not a demon engine. I have to go back to the temporary command room to study the next strategy. I advise you to make way, and--"

He suddenly turned to Ferros, and before the latter could react, he grabbed his power backpack and lifted him up.

"--You are the real commander of this ship, and you come back with me." As Koz said this, he easily suppressed all the resistance of the angry Ferros, including explosive shooting, chainsaw weapons and power drills.

Amid the somewhat cautious looks of the other Iron Hands chapter members, with limbs and weapons difficult to use flexibly due to the recent sabotage operations, and a large number of Medusa's dirty words, Curze carried the Iron Father, who was unable to put up an effective resistance and could only be dismantled into pieces bit by bit, and his cursed cubs and left leisurely.

Poor Ferros, the only thing he succeeded in doing in the end was to pass on his battlefield command to the next brother.

Burn out, there are, yards, six o'clock.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 60 The Cost of Skipping All Dialogue Scenes

"..."

"..."

Considering the sensitive status of Conrad Coates, after asking him to return to join the team, Fujimaru Ritsuka left the cabin with Adjutant Fish and waited in the corridor with the guards outside for this part of the team to return. And now, they are indeed back.

Just as he had said in the telepathic message, he brought back the real commander of the ship, a furious Malkan Ferros.

This scene was too shocking. Everyone, including Fujimaru Ritsuka, was speechless by the team that appeared in front of them - some people were shocked by the existence of the "Primarch", some were shocked by the current miserable state of the Iron Father, and some, especially Fujimaru Ritsuka, were shocked by Conrad Curze's overly simplistic and crude execution ideas when achieving his goals.

It is difficult to comment on the actual operation of the Night Lords, from the Primarch to the warriors, in completing the mission, so Fujimaru Ritsuka chose not to comment.

She just sighed slowly and tiredly, as if from the depths of her soul.

"My problem." She pinched her brows with a headache. "I didn't plan the personnel deployment well. I'm very sorry for what happened. Adjutant Fish, please contact medical support immediately. This Iron Father obviously needs treatment... repair... uh, you know what I mean? Then, I will definitely give you an explanation about this matter."

Before Adjutant Fish could speak, Conrad Coates' voice rang out: "'Explanation'? I have nothing to explain."

"..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka took another deep breath and turned to Adjutant Fish with a forced calmness: "By the way, you should have a high-pressure water gun here, right?"

Ferros, who was originally hanging in the air, fell to the ground at this moment.

"Fujimaru Ritsuka! You can't!"

The Primarch's roar echoed through the walls of the corridor. Konrad Curze dropped the Space Marine in his hand and immediately strode forward, ready to grab Fujimaru Ritsuka in his hands.

In his impression, the chains that could even bind the Primarch always emerged from her, moving quickly enough, often in a path that did not conform to the laws of physics and was difficult to predict. The strategy of dodging had proven to be ineffective in many previous encounters, but if he could control one end of the chain, things might be different.

But what he didn't expect was that at the same time he moved his feet, five chains shot out from another direction that he didn't pay much attention to.

This time, the one who took action was not Fujimaru Ritsuka who borrowed the King's Treasure House with the King's Law Key, but Enkidu who received the telepathic transmission.

The situation this time was different from the previous times when they just let it go. Curze was seriously prepared to use all his strength as a Primarch to resist, but he was not the only one who realized this, otherwise it would not be Enkidu, the "Chain of Heaven" himself, who took action.

The Primarch's reaction speed and strength were indeed far superior to those of ordinary people, and the Heroic Spirits who could also use aether as a supplement at any time in the warp were no pushovers. The top biological alchemical engineering creations of mankind and the divine weapons clashed in an instant. The confrontation that was beyond the reach of mortal eyes took place in just a moment. Curze avoided or blocked four of the five chains, but was eventually caught by the last one on the bump on the shoulder armor.

His movements were delayed a little bit in the next moment. In a game of this level, such a tiny "little bit" could become the decisive factor in winning or losing. One wrong step led to another, and the next thirteen seconds became garbage time for Curze to fight back unilaterally. This was enough to prove that even the Primarch, as long as the conditions were in place, could be defeated by the beautiful but useless Gothic decorations.

Thirteen seconds later, Konrad Curze was tied up with his hands tied behind his back, and was forced to kneel on the floor of the corridor under Enkidu's free adjustment of the chains, like a roaring and angry beast. What happened in just thirteen seconds had shocked all the Astartes present, regardless of their faction.

At least after this battle, Adjutant Fish had some new understanding of the theorem that "the judge does not keep idle people under his command."

"You can't do this!" Koz, who was completely controlled, was furious. The Heavenly Chain itself tightened and trembled from time to time, which proved that he still did not choose to settle down, but was still trying to resist - and then triggered the "God of Law" mechanism of the chain, making the restraints even stronger and tighter.

A dangerous calmness appeared on Fujimaru Ritsuka's face. "Why do you think I can't do this? Didn't you consider the possible consequences when you dealt with the problem in 'your' way?"

This calmness made her look less like the casual captain, and more like the Lord of the Legion who was overlooking Nostramo from the bridge of the Nightfall in the dream, ready to pass judgment on a planet.

"You can't do this to me for no reason!"

"You call this 'for no reason'? Your sense of justice, which is so excessive that it can drive you crazy, has all of you started to play dead at this moment?"

Ritsuka Fujimaru stretched out the Sky Eagle Scepter that was taller than her. In the current situation, the pair of golden wings just hit Curze's face - for the Primarch, it was almost no harm, but it was still somewhat insulting.

"Let me remind you what you just did: you caused serious personal injury to a ship leader who was doing his duty! No one cares what you thought during the process, everyone only sees the result of this incident!"

Koz began to feel guilty and short of breath, but still didn't want to admit his mistake: "But..."

"No 'buts'. That's why I was wondering why the mental age of all of you Primarchs is no more than five years old. When will you be able to get out of this sense of omnipotence where 'the whole world revolves around me'..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka complained almost to himself, and then took a deep breath to adjust his mentality. During this time, Koz once again argued:

“They won’t listen to me…”

"Is it 'they really didn't listen to you' or 'you read in the prophecy that they wouldn't listen to you'? Did you even try?"

"..."

No answer is also an answer. It took all of Fujimaru Ritsuka's willpower to control himself and not curse out loud immediately.

"I thought that after all that has happened, it's about time you change your bad habit of relying on prophecies."

This was a veiled and euphemistic accusation, but Coze obviously did not understand what Fujimaru Ritsuka really wanted to express under the sentence: "... just some small things."

"..."

Fujimaru Ritsuka didn't say anything, but the eagle wings that hit Koz's face again clearly showed her attitude.

"I don't like to insult others in any sense. I think mutual respect is very important in interpersonal communication. So I almost never swear, and when I have to point out flaws, I try to evaluate them from an objective and practical perspective." Fujimaru Ritsuka said softly, "But just because I don't swear doesn't mean I won't."

Then, raising her voice sharply, she spoke a short, powerful phrase in Nostramo that shocked everyone present who knew the language.

This short phrase comes from Quintus's Nest in Nostramo and has been popular among gangs for a long time - not only because its meaning is extremely insulting, but also because even in Nostramo, which is mainly characterized by soft hissing sounds, it is shocking that it contains six explosive sounds in just ten syllables, which can easily grab the attention of the public when it is the first to be cursed.

By the way, the meaning of this phrase is "weak coward" in a negative sense, which is a hundred times stronger. Therefore, after a brief moment of surprise, Conrad Coates roared angrily again:

"How dare you say that??!!"

In response, Fujimaru Ritsuka just sneered:

"Can't I? I think this phrase is quite objective when used to evaluate your attitude towards life."

End of today (lie down peacefully)

(End of this chapter)

Chapter 61: A grand cat wash, a big pool, and a video

"I've seen your attitude of 'assuming that what is predicted will happen once it's predicted' in my past life."

Fujimaru Ritsuka's calm attitude was almost cold:

"That's what happens to students who did nothing during the holiday and spent the last day cramming their workbooks by copying. The nature of your use of prophecy in this matter is no different from the fact that after seeing the question and the answer, even if you can tell at first glance that it is wrong, you will give up thinking about what the correct answer is and just copy the wrong answer."

In rage and humiliation, Konrad Curze struggled violently in the chains. It was impossible to break free from the "Heavenly Chains" that held him at a level of divinity, and it would only tighten under resistance. But he seemed to be unaware that the surface of his power armor, ceramic steel and adamantium, was creaking under the excessive pressure, and even deforming and breaking, piercing his flesh. He said nothing, but was very persistent in trying to get up from the chains.

The strong body of a demigod and the functions pre-installed in it as a weapon make it easy for any Primarch to ignore the pain in his body when he wants to. However, what integrates all this is not the will that matches the demigod or the weapon, but the fragile yet tenacious spirit of mankind.

In the Emperor's original design, he hoped that this "human possibility" would give the Primarchs more than the cruel and unstable nature of the Warp, or the cold logical data. Such a design did work as he hoped. But the Emperor forgot that flowers in the nursery always need a stable environment, careful pruning, watering with clean water and the care of sunlight, and most of the Primarchs do not have these. They may still become flowers in a difficult environment, but they may not.

Allowing such a spirit and will to control the Primarch's body would be a disaster.

"This metaphor may be a little difficult for you to understand. Although you must have read my memories, I don't think you would notice such a lifelike part." As if he didn't notice the rage of a Primarch at all, Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was so cold and steady that it was amazing. "I don't really agree with bringing up the past, but if I want you to understand what this behavior is, I probably have to mention the past."

Even though Curze's movements were almost completely restricted by the Heaven's Chain, his intense emotions almost set off a small storm in the warp. If an ordinary mortal stood here, he might even be frightened to death by the wrath of the Son of God; if Adjutant Fish or even the Iron Father Ferros were to face this scene, although they could speak and even attack the other party, they would probably not be able to remain unaffected and be as precise and accurate as usual.

But Fujimaru Ritsuka stood there, not showing much difference in attitude from when she talked with Adjutant Fish, and even clearly and systematically - as she said - "digging up old accounts."

"When we were searching for the scattered Night Lords, our mission was to unite them into a viable fighting group, but you killed almost everyone you met. I don't have a problem with you executing those who deserved it, but they are all your genetic descendants. Do you not consider the possibility that they might change for the better?"

"You are just a mortal! What do you know?!" Conrad Curze's eyes were red with anger, "You have no idea what kind of criminals and scum my legion is made up of!"

"I know. I've tried, so I know." There was even a hint of sadness in Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone. "They can really change for the better. As long as they are given a little chance and proper guidance, only a very small number of them will be 'consistent'. As the leader of the legion, you didn't give them that."

This sounded completely impossible to others: how could a mortal "try" such a theory in a Chaos warband? But Curze was obviously choked by this: whether it was true or not, at least he did listen to this statement.

—Then he became even more angry:

"You mean this is all my fault?!"

"Is it so difficult to admit this? People make mistakes, and so do the Primarchs." Fujimaru Ritsuka said as a matter of course, "Make mistakes, realize them, and then grow from them. This is how humans correct themselves and evolve towards a better and more perfect direction. If you are so stubborn that you don't even admit this, then you really have no future."

"No matter what you do, the future is there, I can see it—"

"You know that 'seeing' is not a good thing, right? What happened on Jestal should have proved to you that what you 'see' may not actually happen. As long as you 'try hard enough', the 'past' and 'future' are not something that cannot be changed."

"I am just using this opportunity to choose a more correct and efficient method—"

"Do you think so?" Fujimaru Ritsuka asked the same question twice in a progressive manner, "In your opinion, is that your choice?"

"what?"

When this question was repeated for the third time, it finally reached the end:

"Does 'more correct' and 'more efficient' for you also mean 'simpler'?"

"——How dare you?!"

"Isn't that so? You killed all the offspring you considered 'unqualified', was it because 'killing them all' was more difficult than 'training them to be qualified legionnaires'? You chose to let your poisoned legion degenerate like that, was it because 'letting nature take its course' was more difficult than 'rectifying military discipline'? So I say you are weak, you are a coward, because you are unwilling to even slightly resist the prophecy, face the challenge of the 'future', and only dare to move forward along the known and established route!

"You claimed that your brutal behavior was 'for justice', but you never thought of any way to deal with your so-called 'sinners' other than torture and killing; Nostramo returned to chaos and violence after the order disappeared, and you only wanted to use the extermination order to wipe her off the star map. When will you realize that your 'justice' has never eliminated the 'sin' itself, but has only been constantly eliminating the 'people who commit the sin' - because the latter is obviously simpler than the former?

"Even your decision to die on Tagusa was the same. You wanted justice, and you believed that all criminals, including you, should be punished accordingly - but look at this galaxy that has been burning for ten thousand years! You are supposed to be the most fair judge, and tell me, do you think this is a crime that can be offset by death? Even if you accidentally broke your neighbor's window, you should at least pay the price. If you really realize that 'rebellion is wrong', isn't the most important thing you should do to find a way to salvage the situation at least a little bit?

"But you chose only death, because death is obviously a simpler punishment - but it is used here not because it is appropriate, but because there is really no more severe punishment that can fit the crime you committed!

"Conrad Coates, you have gone through a long period of adaptation and adjustment after your 'recovery', both physically and mentally. If you still have even a little bit of self-esteem and sense of responsibility as a 'human', then in this 'second life', you should have grown up a little bit and assumed the responsibilities that you should have assumed, right?"

This was a long speech, which Fujimaru Ritsuka spoke for four minutes and seventeen seconds without interruption. At first, Koz was still struggling in anger, but as the topic progressed and deepened, he gradually calmed down.

He did want to refute, but he couldn't find the right words no matter how hard he tried; he had never thought this way before, but when the sharp blade of Fujimaru Ritsuka's words accurately pierced his mental weakness, he naturally understood the correctness of the other party's words. The bright red anger faded from his cheeks, and pale shame and panic emerged. The creed that he thought he had adhered to in his past life was shattered by these words, and even the pride and self-esteem as a Primarch were completely dismantled. When the voice fell, what was left there was almost a corpse.

——It's not that no one has ever said something similar to Coze before. Coze has heard harsher comments than this. There are indeed some people who can finish such a paragraph completely, but there has never been anyone who can make him listen to these words. Even Yago Sevitarion.

Even after realizing that the other party was right, he could always make excuses for himself. However, in front of Fujimaru Ritsuka, all the excuses he could have made for himself were no longer valid:

In the illusion, she knew all the tragedies he knew, experienced all the pain he had experienced, and felt all the torture he had felt. Based on this, she successfully changed all the endings he had not changed, and pointed out a completely different future. She even exerted all the functions of Curze as a Primarch in the illusion with her mortal will, and even some of these abilities Curze himself was not aware of.

If there is anyone in this world who can really blame him, then apart from the Emperor, it is only Fujimaru Ritsuka.

And Fujimaru Ritsuka was right, he knew it, so he couldn't help but accept it. Even if this rightness negated almost all of his life, he couldn't find a reason to resist this fact. Then he realized that this idea of ​​"refusing to admit mistakes and guilt" was also a kind of cowardice.

Konrad Curze finally couldn't help himself, and let out a weak whimper under the heavy constraints of the chains, as the Iron Hands and Night Lords members looked on in silence.

He just wanted to disappear from the spot and hide in a dark corner where no one was. That would make him feel familiar and safe.

At this moment, Fujimaru Ritsuka's anger, which was like magma flowing under the fragile ice and could only maintain a false calm, suddenly melted away. She held the Skyhawk Scepter at a non-threatening angle, slowly stepped forward to Curze, and tried to look into the Primarch's almost pure black eyes:

"…Have you started to reflect? Have you finally realized where the problem lies?" This wasn't even sarcastic, just a simple confirmation out of concern. "Although this is wrong, it can be considered a 'legitimate mistake' at the beginning. After all, no one told you what to do, and it's normal to find the wrong way if you rely entirely on yourself. Although there are opportunities for you to realize your mistakes and change them later... But anyway, it's not too late as long as you are willing to start."

It was hard to say what Conrad Coates took these words for, but he was indeed trembling with intense emotions, until every detail captured by his super-sized senses told him that Ritsuka Fujimaru brought only pure love here.

This was too strange for him. Coze knew that he and Fujimaru Ritsuka were two completely unrelated individuals except for the vague contract. His past experiences also made him completely unable to understand where this kind of love would come from if there was no genetic connection.

He instinctively wanted to avoid something unfamiliar, but as a human being, he couldn't refuse it completely. For a short while, his Primarch-level brain didn't know how to deal with the current situation, until Fujimaru Ritsuka raised his hand and tentatively touched his chest armor.

——This was a gesture of comfort. Perhaps in a normal situation, she would pat the person opposite on the shoulder, which seemed reasonable. But now, the person in front of her was a Primarch, and even if Curze was kneeling on the ground, she would have to jump up to touch the bottom edge of his shoulder armor. In order not to make things look too ridiculous, the breastplate was a relatively suitable height, but it looked a bit weird, and she was hesitant because of this.

Curze successfully interpreted the meaning of "trying to comfort" in this action, and realized that although he could not figure out the mechanism of this matter, the manifestation of "love" was always similar. Just as he instinctively knew how to use his offspring's love for him, he also instinctively tried to use this to free himself from the current situation.

The Primarchs all possessed a certain supernatural charm, even Konrad Curze, in this almost broken mood, his pale and haggard face could make me feel pitiful. He himself was not so conscious, but in the eyes of others, the broken nobility and painful transformation were enough to make people feel heartbroken.

"…I know I was wrong. Can you let me out now?"

It was very difficult for Curze to admit his mistakes in person, but he did it this time. The Primarch's expression of trying his best to overcome the pain undoubtedly touched the hearts of all the Night Lords present, and such an earnest request was hard to refute. Even Malkan Ferros, the main victim who was forced to lie on the ground and watch the whole process, wanted to say for a moment: "Forget it."

But Fujimaru Ritsuka quickly pulled his hand back and said firmly: "One thing is one thing, this is not acceptable."