Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes.

Chapter 271 The prophecy that came as promised, the death of St. Marduk.

"So, we ended up stopping them, right?"

When everything was settled, Calvin stood in front of the disappearing stone door and heard the old voice behind him.

"Marduk?"

Calvin turned his head unexpectedly, and saw the old man standing among the mortals at the edge of the battlefield.

At this time, the back hall of the bridge is in a mess, the collapsed sculptures and the dissolved deck make it difficult to move;
Shocking bullet wounds and corpses all over the place silently tell of the tragic past here.

Calvin looked around, and there were very few surviving mortal soldiers on the surrounding intersection positions;
Even with Marduk, who came for subsequent reinforcements, the soldiers of the Tindalos Legion were also incompletely organized and suffered heavy casualties.

The weapons of the alien civilization benefited from their weird technology. Calvin also observed during the battle that most of the soldiers who were hit by high-energy rays disintegrated instantly after being hit, and not even the whole body was left behind.

Most of the wounded soldiers who survived on the battlefield were warriors who survived hand-to-hand combat, while the remaining few wounded were caused by the beetles.

"Your battlefield is not here."

Picking up the war hammer in his hand, Calvin's steel body stepped on the alien metal corpse all the way, walking towards Marduk.

Fully clothed, he stood in front of this old, stooped mortal, like an elephant looking down on a hound.

The soldiers of the Tindalos Legion retreated silently, kneeling on one knee and saluting their lord;
Only the old man in the red robe of the state religion was left, and at such a close distance, he was able to look up at the whole picture of the demigod in the form of war in front of him.

"Mortals are ignorant, and faith needs to take place before them in what it really is;

Ordinary people are ignorant, and only by doing their own things and preaching in the midst of water and fire can they guide all living beings and realize the compassion of the emperor. "

Marduk explained to Calvin the significance of his appearance in his characteristic tone.

"Understood, tell the difference between going to me and going to me, right?"

Calvin smiles, religion and faith, devotion and love.

It is a great blessing for devotees to become authentic in this present universe.

In those materialistic universes, there are similar psychological laws.

"You should be careful."

Marduk glanced at Calvin helplessly, with white beard and hair on his drooping face, but he still had his own stubbornness.

"Faith is by no means so shallow, and as your identity, you should understand the spirit of the emperor."

After a hundred years of preaching, his influence is no longer limited to mortals.

For the Astartes and their internal legends, Marduk also had his own understanding after reading the books of the Orthodox Church.

Just like the most skilled deceitful sinners often grasp the most authentic cognition, the records of Astartes in the internal materials of the state religion are closer to those ancient truths.

Since the two met, they have maintained a tacit understanding of each other.

As for Calvin's identity, Marduk, who is a senior member of the State Church, also had a half-knowledge of Calvin's identity, but he did not pursue it.

Correspondingly, Calvin never refuted Marduk's theory.

"Yes, I think we did stop them."

He picked up the topic just now, which can be regarded as temporarily dispelling this little dispute.

The adventures experienced in Orpheus and the details of this war were sorted out and reviewed in Calvin's mind at the speed of light.

After various vague inferences and mutual confirmation, Calvin finally came to this conclusion.

The alien device buried deep in the core of Korcash should be the last back of this alien race here.To successfully destroy it in this battle is to completely eliminate the tragedy that never happened.

"But I don't know if this is the end, because you haven't said whether the fate of death you foresaw has been changed."

"Death? That doesn't really matter. What matters is whether the emperor's will is carried out; what matters is whether the original tragedy here has been changed..."

Looking at the maintenance personnel who began to appear on the edge of the hall in the distance, Marduk seemed to have completed a certain mission, and his whole body collapsed easily.

His already hunched body arched even more fiercely, and with the sound of violent coughing, streams of blood overflowed from the corners of his mouth unstoppably.

"Ok?"

Calvin instantly noticed the abnormality of Marduk's vital signs.

This mortal, who had been stably maintained in the twilight state of human beings, was like a barely mended balloon at a certain point in time, losing the little life force left at an alarming rate.

"You're hurt."

The psychic energy passing through his body was fleeting, and Calvin quickly found the hidden wound on Marduk's chest.

A metal beetle got into Marduk's body during the previous battle.

In his not-yet-destroyed chest, the evil presence bit through the old man's fragile heart.

He should have died on the battlefield just now, but the retreat of the aliens caused their dependents to fall into a strange sleep.

The attack of the metal beetle was always stopped at the second when the sharp teeth bit through his heart, and at the same time blocked the flesh and blood that was about to burst with its own teeth.

But this is still not the reason for him to live until now, it is the regret of the unfinished mission that is maintaining the life of this old man;
It was his persistence in changing the tragedy of Orpheus that made him endure unimaginable pain and persist in coming before Calvin.

Calvin understood Marduk's state.

What Calvin regrets most now is the affirmation given to the old man about the change of fate.

If he knew the injury on his body in advance, there might be a chance to save it.

"No need to regret..."

Marduk raised his head with difficulty and looked at Calvin who was half kneeling.

He struggled to stretch out his hand, which was as thin as a dead tree, and gently placed it on Calvin's shoulder armor.

The divinity and humanity revealed at that moment by the silver shoulder armor carved from the sacred imperial eagle wings and the tiny palms of mortals gave the soldiers present a great spiritual baptism.

They paused in their attempts to support Marduk, and whispered the Emperor's name.

"What a...sacred existence.

My mission has been accomplished, but you, the Son of God, should have a greater vision.but me……"

"And you, as a loyal servant of the Emperor, shouldn't have any slack thoughts!

You should do everything you can to survive and witness more of the emperor's great achievements come true! "

Calvin interrupted Marduk's last words, brazenly wrapping his psychic energy around his bursting heart.

He picked up Marduk's scrawny body, turned around and strode towards the medical department.

He didn't dare to use psionic teleportation, because that would directly tear up this mortal's body;
He didn't even dare to run in big strides, because the nearly shattered flesh and blood couldn't withstand a slight shock.

But life is still passing through this body at a rapid speed. Excessive blood loss is a threshold of life and death that is difficult for a strong man to pass, let alone this frail old man.

In Calvin's perception, Marduk's vital signs are rapidly weakening, and the projection of his soul in the warp is also flickering.

Maybe in the next second this body will declare death, maybe in the next second, that soul will leave here and return to the seat of the God Emperor.

"You believe in the Emperor, don't you?"

Calvin strode forward and said to Marduk who was in a semi-conscious state.

He didn't wait for the old man's reply, and continued talking to himself:
"Then you believe in the divinity of the Emperor, don't you?"

The old man looked at Calvin's body with half-closed eyes and didn't speak, but Calvin thought he heard and agreed with his point of view.

"Then do you recognize my existence?

Well, let me be more direct.

Are you willing to place your faith in the Emperor on me temporarily? "

The silent exchange was completed in the next few seconds, and the empty corridor witnessed the confrontation of the two people's beliefs.

When Calvin almost gave up in despair, he finally sensed the contract between him and the soul under his arm from the link in the soul.

The majestic spiritual energy was like a tide that had been accumulated for a long time. The moment the gate was opened, it baptized and sublimated Marduk's soul.

The spiritual energy emanating from within is different from external interference. Under the silver light that is about to overflow the pupils of the old man, the organs in his body have regained the vitality that is almost in the prime of life.

Blood flowed from the horrible wound on the heart again; from a microscopic perspective, the cells at the hideous gap also began to recover.

Bang!
Calvin kicked open the door of the medical room, ignoring everyone's astonished eyes, and went straight to the medical equipment and put Marduk's body down.

At the last second before the old man completely fell into a coma, his dying consciousness seemed to be able to hear Calvin's exclamation:

"My lord, I finally saved it..."

　The first watch, I don't know if it will be too late for the second watch, so please ask for a ticket... Forget it, I don't have the face to ask for it.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)