Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 475 Holy Word Civil War

"You are approved," his brother monk said to him, squeezing the cross in his palm, making it difficult to tell to whom he was praying. "We are approved, Brother Narek. Aurelion hears the voice of the God-Emperor."

Narek was silent, staring at Elias who fell in front of him. His pride and enthusiasm disappeared from this fanatical believer, and even the sarcasm and hostility in the usual contradictions disappeared.

Right here, in front of the Wanderer's Temple, where Elias once stood proudly, this Halhabat fell in a pool of blood in an awkward posture, with the broken hand bones twisted behind him. , the body twisted like a salamander. The weak breath stirred up the pool of blood under him, and the ripples floated and burst like blood-red pus bubbles. A small sound poked Narek's eardrums.

"We can fight back just like they attacked us, Narek," the monk beside him said with a hint of joy in his piety, "We can really expose their stupidity like they called us humiliation. Then. Those who betrayed us, the traitors to the Muristan Creed."

Narek's heart clenched in shock and worry, and his chest seemed to be sealed by bone plates, making every breath filled with crackling pain.

"Do you know what you're talking about?" he asked softly. "What is - like them?"

"Or, more than them." The monk changed his words politely, raised his bolter, and pointed the muzzle at Harhabat on the ground.

He turned his head, his face covered with scars, and his once peaceful eyes were full of hatred, "We are allowed. The kindness we pursue is finally recognized by Aurelion and our father, and haha Erhabat—during those confused days, they self-righteously trampled on the latest decrees of the God-Emperor.”

"Mercy we pursue? (Mercy?)"

"At our mercy."

The monk pulled the trigger, and Battusa Narek stared at Elias, swallowing the tight shiver and clog in his throat before he heard the gunshot. Elias became broken, like a pile of black and red residue, bitten and swallowed by bloodless teeth.

His stomach curled up in the mixed smell of blood and sesame oil. These residues stung him and polished the thoughts that were about to come out of his mind, just like the dusty sky of Colchis was enough to flatten a person's flesh. The manic wind and sand painfully exposed something deep in his heart.

He sucked in a breath, his skin shriveling from the cold air beneath his robes.

"Aurelion has indeed received enlightenment," he said softly. "Infinite killing nourishes the enemy, but traitors still need to be excommunicated." Aurelion said that the last enlightenment he received made him understand that this order was aimed at Prosper. Luo."

"But Aurelion also realizes that this is also a warning to him and a mercy from the God-Emperor - for many of the Harhabat are traitors to the first half of our latest teachings," the monk brother replied, incomplete The imperfect lips curled into a smile, then quickly subsided, "Therefore, we will once again become those who fulfill the Holy Word, Narek. We will be favored again. We will be proven right."

He paused for a moment, taking a joy that must be hidden from the killing and destruction.

"Okay, Narek." The monk comforted helplessly, "I know you don't want to accept the death of a former companion, even if we are divided into two and disagree with each other. However, when Aurelion walked out of the temple, he was not in person Did you take action against Elias? This is also the decision of our genetic father."

"Really?" Narek said. His questions echoed in the corridor, like a drop of water sinking into a deep pool of silence. The sound gradually spread, and even though it continued to weaken, Narek still felt that it was spreading to the outside of the Rhythm of Faith, flowing out of the armor plate along the metal frame, and going deep into the silence of the outer asteroid belt.

There, the final civil war among the Word Bearers unfolded: those Harhabait who killed the most were executed by Aurelion, as were those Muristan who expressed resistance or doubt.

It was only then that all of them discovered that Aurelion seemed to know how many dead souls that should or should not be stained on each of their bloody hands.

It was only then that they confirmed that Aurelion no longer seemed to care about any of them individually - only the purity of the creed needed to be maintained, and only the effectiveness of the army as a whole deserved attention.

"What puzzles you, Narek?" the monk said, looking at him encouragingly.

For a moment Narek didn't want to say anything. He wanted to be immersed in the silence and let time pass by him. He wanted to see Daniel again, or go back to a year ago when he set off for Ulan in Erebas. He promised to kill him...O Daniel, some of us who are proud of the piety thought that his fault brought disgrace to Mulistan.

Then he came to his senses.

"You know what I'm thinking, brother, you just don't want to admit it, just like I refuse to look at it," Narek said. Te and Muristan have the same inner creed that really supports their actions. We are all the same kind of people, immersed in the same kind of pride and self-proclaimed determination..."

The septon eagerly raised his hands to his sides, still clutching his bolter in one hand and the cross in the other.

"You shouldn't say that. We persisted until today and saw the real dawn, Narek! How could you suddenly change at this time? If we were exactly the same as them, I would have devoted myself to them a few days ago. Got it—"

"No, brother, no." Narek said, a warm current gently fell down his back, and he realized that the air flow brought by breathing returned to his lungs, "The dawn you are looking forward to is the same one. This is the reason why most people in Harhabat and Muristan insist on their creed... They won by chance before, and now you win by chance."

Narek showed a smile, squatted down, reached out and plucked the pieces of Elias, and there was a scarlet stickiness on his hand. His smile widened.

"Just like I have to admit, I don't want to pray for the dead person in front of us according to Mullistan's teachings at all. I hate him, and so do you, but you even have to hide your smile... Yes, I even doubted it just now Why did Daniel invite me to join Muristan, brother, otherwise I wouldn’t be here now.”

After saying that, he raised his head and stared at the monk beside him, "Let me think about it myself, brother, I will figure it all out. I will become a real Muristan, what do you think of this?" "

The monk's eyebrows were still tightened because of Narek's obvious heresy just now. As if to prove Narek's arbitrary and biased, he took the initiative to put down the bolter and patted Narek's shoulder affectionately with the hand holding the cross: "As long as you can figure it out. From now on, we are still brothers of the Word Bearers."

"Of course," Narek said. The thought that had been lingering for a long time gathered into a flickering point of light, and the light points gathered into a cluster of bright candles.

He watched the monk disappear from the end of his field of vision and left towards the end of the dark corridor. It was already dark and dark there, and maybe there were still a few electric candles burning, distant and subtle, that could be extinguished by the next gust of wind at any time. But most places are dark from the start, but they rarely notice.

Bartusa Narek shook his head and listened to the subtle sounds until everything around him was silent. He nodded to the Harhabite on the ground, stood up, and quietly left along another road.

Gradually, he began to run, his footsteps echoing against a background of distant noises that grew louder and weaker. He passed through the gate, crossed the shuttle, passed countless prayer rooms, hermitages, and power rooms. He nodded slightly to the massacres and massacres he met along the way, and left as if nothing had happened, letting them confirm that he was on an urgent mission.

He went to the navigation hall once, grabbed a young navigator, and told him that there was a mission that was doomed to fail but must be completed, knowing full well that the navigator followed him because the bolt gun was pressed against his chest. .

He arrived at the hangar, giving vague orders to unsuspecting mortals to let him pass, even taking a small crew with him. He scanned their faces, assessed their characters and their reasons for being exiled from this internal carnage, and led them into a small boat.

He told them he was going on a special mission from Muristan, and left the grim-faced men behind. The tiller was pulled, the hangar door opened for them, out of Aurelion's sight, deep inside. Among the stars in the outside world.

"But where are we escaping to, my lord?" one of the crew members asked with deep fear, looking at the vast starry sky in front of him and glancing very quickly at the navigator who was blocking his third eye.

"Escape," Narek said, breaking the silence. "A good word. Yes, we are running away, and your judgment was spot on. What can you see now, Mireille?"

The navigator kept shaking his head, "The light of the star torch is very blurry, sir..."

"Can't you see Prospero?"

"That - it's too difficult, sir. I can't promise to complete your mission. The waves in the subspace have not calmed down at all. Maybe it's too late for us to return to the flagship. We all heard that you won in the end. Go back now, Ori Leanne wouldn't know we left otherwise..."

The tremors caused by the torpedo blasting the ship outside the window made the people inside the ship tremble.

"There is no 'otherwise'," Narek said. "I must tell those who will face the disaster what happened among the Word Bearers. Even if that is the God-Emperor's decree... I believe that the God-Emperor is no longer the same person he once was. You can think that I am talking nonsense, speculating on the Holy Word, and only blaspheming. I don’t care what you think. I just want you to care about your own life. Do you understand what I mean?”

He used the title sarcastically.

"I'll give it a try," the navigator said quickly, forced to use his psychic powers, exploring the limits of the power he possessed. It is true that they do not have to rely on the Star Torch to guide the way forward, but losing that lighthouse will only greatly increase their physical and mental exhaustion until they reach the edge of the range that their subspace eyes can see.

"The subspace environment here is really not something I can identify. If we go to Prospero, we may - we will definitely get lost on the other side of the veil. There is no way I can make such a long jump. My lord, no one can do it. Got it, it’s not a question of whether I want it or not…”

"So where else can we go, Terra? Mars? The Moon?"

"I don't know, sir. There are some abnormal whirlpools nearby. I don't quite understand. There seem to be some entrances that have never been mentioned. The subspace currents run against them. I'm worried that we will fall into them... I don't know what will happen. This kind of spiral whirlpool has never been mentioned in my teachings..."

The navigator's words stopped abruptly. The sudden shock of the warship threw him to the edge of the table. The flames suddenly bombarded the hull of the ship. The burst of energy brought countless warnings that suddenly popped up.

"Go!" Narek shouted, "No matter where to go, go! Someone must leave!"

——

This is Terra. Ahriman thought, the scene of the throne world approached him, but what really caught him was not the scene of the real universe, but the terrible darkness swirling in his psychic vision.

Every dark mark is a gully with a surging storm of hatred, and the riddled penetrating holes are waiting to completely devour the entire world from the inside out. At that time, the fire of death will burn fiercely, and the galaxy will evaporate into non-existent ashes and residues.

No one spoke within the ship, but everyone heard the struggle and shock of each other's minds. They looked at each other, shocked by the naked darkness that Terra had revealed to them.

"Did you feel it?" asked Fusistaka.

"Yes..." Barak replied tremblingly, their eyes locked, "Obviously."

Hathor Mat looked up, blinked hard, and clenched his teeth stubbornly.

"The vortices..." Ahriman said slowly, feeling the space squeeze around him, pressing his blood vessels. The darkness tore at his body, and he supported himself on the edge of the table.

"Father's power is there," he continued, panting softly, and the uncontrollable scream trembled in a weak whimper in his throat, "His runes are in the open entrances of the vortex, every entrance. We all recognize his... embers. The remnants of his work..."

So close, so close, the marks left by Magnus surged around them, and time flowed painfully in their veins like broken ice.

"Focus on Terra," Visistaka's teeth chattered.

The vortices were almost all covered and blocked by darkness, but they could feel the traces of Magnus burning continuously on the other side of the darkness. And the deepest part of the darkness was the only place where the red fire was brightest.

"We came to the right place," Hathor lowered his head again and stared at his companions, "I have a hunch that he - his ashes, is behind the curtain of the throne, Azak, we have to go to the other side. And the Emperor..."

When this term came out, a huge cold terror froze the teeth of the lecturer of the Bright Feather Temple. The Thousand Dust Suns surrounded each other and were ready for battle in an instant.

But there was only a radio wave coming here, from the Terra control tower.

A flashing signal appeared above the control panel in the cabin.

The Thousand Lights was allowed to enter Terra's orbit.