Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 333 Angel’s Dream: Time to Wake Up

"I've told you time and time again, Konrad Coates, that my specialty has never been divination, and that the way I use the Emperor's Tarot for divination is through the inherent framework of narrative and understanding. To enhance people's natural belief in what I say.

The fortune teller Morse said impatiently, stuffing a stack of tarot cards that he took out from nowhere back into his sleeve. A card accidentally slipped to the ground during this process, with a bright beam of golden light painted on it. Revelation card.

He reached his hand down and the dropped card flew upwards back into his palm.

"Though I assume that with your intelligence you should be able to understand what Morse means," said Magnus the porter, straightening his turban and trying to tuck more of his thick hair back into it, all the while looking curious He looked at Sanguinius's face after taking off his helmet, "But if you need me to explain what he is talking about, because I know many people can't understand us talking like this, so..."

"No, thank you, Magnus," Sanguinius said gently, holding a leather coat given to him by Conrad Curze. After Conrad returned to his mortal form, his hobbies have probably subsided. These leathers are not human skin, but...

Well, Sanguinius couldn't figure out what kind of skin it was, so long as it wasn't human skin.

"They can be used to pay taxes," Sanguinius said. "Just give me two."

"You can take it yourself, Archangel." Coze's voice floated from inside the dark vehicle. As soon as he arrived here, he quickly got into the shadows. "No expulsion thereafter..."

"The technology I use is based on the theory of thermodynamics. The movement of a single molecule cannot be easily predicted, but the movement of multiple molecules constitutes the macroscopic universe. Through statistical calculations, it can be seen that individual behavior is not easy to analyze, but in a sufficiently broad study Within the scope, such as predicting the direction of the two forces as a whole, you can get the answer. War will definitely come again, Sanguinius, no matter what form it is... remember this."

Morse continued to lean against the hot shell of the vehicle and calmly interrupted Curze's words. "This, my friends, is the psychohistory of empire."

"Which empire has this doctrine? I haven't read about it in the Imperial Library. It doesn't sound like it relies on the warp? Is it accurate?"

"The Galactic Empire," Mors replied casually, eyes still on Sanguinius.

"Besides our empire, is there a second human empire across the galaxy——"

"It's not important." Morse said, "I just want to know, since you have chosen the identity and path of the Blood Angel, are you prepared for death."

Sanguinius nodded calmly: "My personal sacrifice is not worth investing unlimited resources to save. If there must be sacrifice, there will be sacrifice."

He blinked, "Although I would still like to survive, if I could choose."

If he had no fear, he would not be obsessed with whether this strange world is real or fake. Although he was ashamed to admit it, he did have a serious desire to survive.

But his fear of his own death was not that strong. Otherwise he couldn't continue making these jokes.

"So I said, Sanguinius, don't listen to the soothsayer's nonsense. Destiny is just an excuse for the weak. Why do you have to wander around repeatedly..."

A loud explosion sounded at the edge of the village. Through the windows composed of broken beams and old wooden frames, Sanguinius immediately discovered that the fence on the adjacent edge had been attacked.

Mutant? Sanguinius was a little stunned. Shouldn't they have been wiped out by the pure-blood tribe?

Or was he, as a mortal, really unable to eradicate them in time?

"Call your angel Sanguinius to come! Otherwise the legions of blood are coming..."

Some kind of loudspeaker equipment spread the mutated and harsh voices of the mutants into the market.

The people in the market inevitably fell into a panic. Sanguinius quickly and nimbly climbed to the top of Konrad's vehicle, unbuttoned the heavy protective clothing, and let his pure and dazzling white robe attract more people. His eyes and arms swept across the crowd, taking in the entire scene.

"Those on my left hand side retreat from the east side of the bazaar, those on my right hand side go to the west, and those in front of me and behind me go to the temple to the north. I am Sanguinius, Archangel of Baal, You should leave behind me!"

Konrad Coates knocked on the roof from the inside of the vehicle: "It's a mutant. Don't you have a sentry tower?"

Sanguinius whispered, "For the last time, Curze, tell me if this is true or not."

"Which one is true or false? An invasion here?" Cozz asked doubtfully, "Aren't you awake to ask such a question?"

Morse opened the door of the vehicle, returned to the interior, and left a message before doing so: "Are you still standing on the roof of the vehicle? If you don't get down, we won't take care of you while driving."

Sanguinius jumped off the roof of the car: "Let's go. I wish you good luck in your trade. By the way, do you have any weapons?"

There was a rapid sound of billiards in the vehicle, and Magnus pulled out a spear and a long knife: "Do you want it, Sanguinius?"

Sanguinius took the pair of weapons. They were heavier than he imagined, and he had never wielded a weapon with any mortal skill, but Sanguinius quickly adapted to them.

The wave of invasion began to tear down the city walls and overwhelm the defending troops. The cries of the Baal were endless, and a fire of rage burned in Sanguinius's heart, dripping with blood like wet rust.

"Leave quickly, Konrad Curze," the angel said. "This is a Baal thing."

The vehicle's engine started running, humming and smoke coming out at the same time. A few seconds later, Coates emerged from the car with a short dagger in his hand.

"You can't beat them," he said lightly, his dark eyes fixed on Sanguinius's face, and he twirled the knife. "Come with us, you don't deserve to die here."

"I know how to kill mutants."

"No, it's not just mutants," Magnus said, also getting out of the car and looking at Sanguinius worriedly. “That’s ‘those things,’ we’re only human.”

"My friends, I know the day of my death," said Sanguinius. "The foretold death is far from me, and the breath of fate has not yet breathed into my open heart."

"I believe you are prepared to die alone. Sanguinius, whether angel or mortal, has always been so..." the diviner Morse said calmly with the sound of burning flames as the background, "From now on When you were informed of your end by the Way of Change, you accepted it, but were you prepared to face another kind of sacrifice?"

Before Sanguinius could react, a hellish ball of fire struck their vehicle, and Morse's voice was lost in the fire.

Sanguinius felt his heart sink rapidly, sinking into a crimson vacuum of terror and rage.

He looked up and recognized the true outlines of the intruders - a hound with eight bones stretching out its throat to replace its head, a bright red ghost with a copper fork in its hand, and a three-headed red-brown dog demon. The sound came from some kind of fanged, sharp-mouthed skull cannon, piloted by mutants familiar to Sanguinius.

"We..." Before Konrad Coze could finish his words, he had to turn around and engage in a battle with a blood-thirsty monster that was several times taller than him. As a mortal, even he couldn't last long under the axe-wielding monster with black wings, blood-skinned skin and a multi-horned head. That's probably a little leader among the monsters.

Sanguinius looked away. The invasion of monsters has arrived in the market. The mutants may have summoned inanimate creatures through their blood and drink the sweet blood of the pure-blood tribe with them.

He and Magnus fought together for some time, making even the weakest monsters difficult for mortals to kill. Sanguinius's mind went blank as Magnus fell.

Memories of the battle that followed became hazy, and the demon's form seemed to change inaccurately, causing Sanguinius to focus more on the dead and wounded around him.

As fate would have it, he was not injured at all, while almost everyone in the market was spared. Sanguinius recognized each of their heads.

The mutant threat still looms over Baal's tribe, threatening Sanguinius's submission.

He was favored by fate, but his fellow travelers were not. The sacrifice was not just his.

Another sacrifice will be focused on those around him, perhaps his people, or his future legions.

"Bring out your angel Sanguinius..."

They will share in his glory, his pain, and his death. The great angel would bring it all to them, before his own sacrifice came. This is inevitable.

Sighs fade into the wind like sand, but Sanguinius fights without hesitation.

He would not continue to think about those abstract fates for now. He's not that kind of person. The problem is only that the battle is now, the real choice is either already over or will exist in the fateful future.

…

"The script I wrote lacks morality? Magnus, you have to know that such a scene will happen everywhere in the galaxy, and the next unlucky person may be any mortal... Isn't this the most realistic real-life scenario?"

"...Why do you want to talk to Perturabo about this? What's the point?"