Emperor's Bane

Chapter 39 Astris

Sometimes life really sucks.

Astris thought about it occasionally, and he always liked to think about it when he wasn't on a combat mission or responsible for keeping secrets.

------

The veteran of the Dark Angel came out, closed the door by the way, and kept the old man who was not a Dark Angel inside.

Afterwards, Astoris's head turned unnaturally inside his helmet. If it wasn't for completing the task, he actually didn't want to visit the mortal named Luther in the room. He still didn't feel that this guy was A member of the First Legion, in fact, that's the prevailing opinion in the Legion, and at this point, he's drifting with the crowd.

Even if Luthor was personally brought by [Lion], special treatment would not bring universal respect, at least among the First Legion.

Even [Lion] himself...

Astris held back the urge to continue thinking.

This old man named Luther, is there any essential difference between him and those ordinary mortals who are trapped in the office building, reviewing documents, toiling all their lives, and being extremely ignorant?
Maybe it's because he's a Caliban.

Caliban's... Luther knights?
Astoris wanted to laugh at this conclusion, but he held back the sound of contempt.

Then, he turned around and stepped into the road on the left, the black armor quickly disappeared into the extremely dim lights in the corridor.

Walking in this darkness, Astris deliberately slowed down his pace, as if enjoying it.

This kind of deliberate darkness is actually not the favorite of the First Legion. The sons of [Lion] prefer a simple and direct atmosphere. They don't even bother to dress up the surroundings. After all, only the most primitive environment can best preserve everything.

After all, the so-called secret is the most fundamental aspect of everything.

But this does not prevent Astris from being passionate about this flickering atmosphere from the bottom of his heart. This is a personal hobby, and it is different from the rigid emotions brought about by gene seeds. Freedom soul.

In the dark, he can think calmly, thinking about things that he can't think about in the sunny place, or even dare not think about it.

It is also because of this that he was invited by the [Moon Shadow Order] and became one of the new recruits. This is also the No. 20 six miniatures that Astelis has participated in since he joined the First Legion. group.

26. Astoris remembers this number clearly. It is a total number, an account, and the only existence he has accumulated during the decades of fighting for the emperor, but it is not Astoris The numbers that Tellis carries now, for some groups have quietly disappeared: when they are no longer needed by the Legion, this is the only way back.

Now, the Dark Angel was only a member of seven religious orders or brotherhoods, which even made him feel relaxed and somewhat terrified: because as a soldier of the First Legion, this number was really not high.

Iron boots trampled on the undecorated ground, making a tooth-sick metal rubbing sound. Astoris enjoyed all of this. He walked through hidden corridors and secret doors without any hesitation. Advance in the public area where everyone can walk, but in the next second, he will push open the secret door curtain and enter the unacknowledged private space that only dark angels can exist.

All these entrances are strictly guarded. Occasionally he can see a silent warrior standing around the corner or at the door of certain rooms. Astoris will nod to some of them, some of them People will return the salute, others will remain arrogant dead silence, while in other cases, Astris will accept the salute of these silent guardians, he will only respond to some of them, and others will be ignored .

All of this has nothing to do with etiquette, nor is it because of personal friendship. It is a product created by the unique regiment culture of the First Legion, and everyone must adapt to it.

The Dark Angel's journey finally ended in front of a pure black door. He opened it, and there was only a round table and a few chairs inside. The light was slightly brighter than that in the corridor, which could barely illuminate everyone's faces.

There was already a dark angel sitting inside. He was wearing a hood, and the shadow cast by him offset the dim light in front of him, leaving his face hidden in the darkness.

But even so, Astris was still able to recognize the figure in front of him.

"Brother Carsley."

"Welcome, Brother Astris."

Under the dim light, the two members of [Moon Shadow Order] greeted each other. They didn't have any serious or nervous emotions, because this was just a simple daily conversation, and it didn't involve battles or deeper secrets. .

"The last topic, do you have any new insights, Brother Astris?"

Kasrei leaned back on the seat, while Astris leaned forward as far as possible, maintaining a certain unspoken respect.

"You know, it's hard, Brother Carsley, after all, we are thinking about some more rebellious things. In the legions of the mediocre, their fighters will even regard this behavior as a kind of betrayal, not A necessary part of the new thinking."

"Relax, Brother Astris, do you really think that [Lion] will not know what we have done? He reshaped the Legion himself, took the part he hated the most, and became the part of the spider web A new core, and a core that never existed before."

"Everyone in this legion has secrets, except [Lion], which doesn't."

"Similarly, no one in this legion will have a secret, but [Lion] does."

Kasrei laughed, it was a smile mixed with pride and sadness, as if he was randomly smearing and destroying a finished painting with fresh dye, exuding complex sorrow.

"We used to envy the reunion of other Legions, Brother Astris, we rarely envied them, but when we saw them fighting alongside their genetic father, we would be jealous - we discussed This topic, discussing the spiritual connection between the Gene Father and us, but there is no doubt that we do feel jealousy, and we do feel joy when the [Lion] is back among us."

"Although he brought [change], our joy led us to choose to take it all."

"And it turns out that [change] is not exactly the right thing, some things that were once right have been recklessly erased, and a wrong war is being waged senselessly in what should have been a The siege of reason and cooperation is twisted by stubborn arrogance into a tough, single-handed duel."

Astris listened silently, and then briefly expressed his emotion.

"But we can't stop him, can we?"

"He's using the Calibans, the savages from the forest, even people who aren't even Astartes, but we can't stop him, because he's [Lion], [Lion 】unstoppable."

"Do not……"

Casre responded with a smile.

"When this war is over, [The Lion] is truly unstoppable."

"And you, me, and even we probably won't see that day."

------

They continued to chat, chatting about the content and tasks belonging to [Moon Shadow Order].

Those things that cannot be discussed in the sun, those things that will not be allowed by the sun, but they exist after all, and they need to be faced after all: and the mission of the [Moon Shadow Order] is like this.

In the First Legion, [Moon Shadow Order] is not the only one, and there are multiple small groups that have overlapping functions with it. They maintain independence and secrecy from each other, and they operate without interfering with each other within their respective ranges. with.

[Lion] knows all this.

Of course he knew, of course.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and the topics of Astris and Kasrei were gradually coming to an end. They cited one topic after another, narrated inferences one after another, and all kinds of disobedient words The random flow of their mouths is enough to make a dozen Ultramarines or Imperial Fists faint with rage.

When they reached the end of their discussion, the two battle brothers looked at each other, and they thought together and remained silent for a while, until Astris spoke up.

"How is the progress of the port?"

"There is no obvious effect yet."

"which aspect?"

"Many fighters of other legions don't like our arrangement, and there is a general fear among mortals. They think that the officials who act stiffly in the port will be their sad future, but they can't see the deep meaning behind this and the concern for the legion. the benefits of."

As he said that, Kasrei's body had been involuntarily leaning forward, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to change suddenly along with this movement: Astris, who had always been like a subordinate, seemed to have become a higher-ranking subordinate in a blink of an eye. that one character.

That's right.

Although in [Moon Shadow Order], Casreis is the upper echelon of Astoris, but when the topic shifts to [Brotherhood of Deadwood], Astoris is Casreis' mentor and guide people.

Of course, some things don't stop there.

For example, these two combat brothers who work side by side in multiple micro-groups will never mention the topic of fortified operations. After all, in this field, Astris is a member of the [Grey Feather Order] , Carsley is the backbone of the hostile [Stonewall Knights], these two groups have maintained mutual hostility and attacks on related content for decades.

In other fields, the two sides will not have any common topics. Astris will not tell Kasrei the content of his research in [Falling Star Company], and Kasrei's behavior in other groups, He also deserves to ignore it.

Astris and Kasrei, the former is the latter's boss at some times, and the subordinate at other times. Occasionally, they will be rivals in competition, but most of the time, they will also be between each other. The most common battle brothers who have nothing to do with each other, when they meet each other in their free time, according to the topic and needs, the battle brothers can choose the one they need at this time from more than a dozen relationships and words.

This is the Dark Angels Legion. When [Lion] greatly simplified the internal organization of this legion according to the customs of his home planet, it became so simple.

So simple that it's even unsatisfying.

"The war goes on, and keeps getting long and stupid, and even those of the Second Legion are going to join in."

Astris sighed.

"Those [fangs]?"

"Yes, a group of troublemakers."

Even as ordinary dark angels, Astris and Kasrei still have some topics, some topics that only Terra veterans in the legion have.

"[Lion], arrogant [Lion], he's destroying so many things, he's making the Legion something sad with no past, no memory, no history, something only he loves."

"He will do it, through this war, the angels that belong only to the Emperor will become the knights of Caliban, blood and war will do it all, and [The Lion] is making it amplified, his knights One after another poured into the Legion, waiting for their bloody position."

The veteran's words echoed through the room, and they weren't afraid to say them, nor were they afraid to have The Lion hear them, as he would know sooner or later.

It was the people of Terra who shed blood in this war, not the people of Caliban——in the First Legion, countless people were thinking this way, some of them were just sighing, and some were mixed with disdain and resentment, so The words increased with more and more bloodshed.

Those veterans from Terra were disappearing from the Legion and the front lines, but words were not, and where they once stood was blood and corpses.

The battle brothers Astris and Kasrei continued to talk, and finally, they seemed to be tired of the topic of "Lion", so they naturally started chatting about another group of annoying guys.

"The Second Legion... I thought they were dead."

"Impossible. The fewer their numbers, the less likely their fighters will die. This has always been the case with disaster stars and troublemakers. Their lives are very hard, otherwise they would not be able to survive until now."

"Then what are they doing here? Do we have to wipe their ass?"

"What? Did you forget?"

"This is the front line against Ran Dan. [Alien], [Powerful Alien]. Once such words appear, those troublemakers are like dogs that smell meat. At least some of them are like that."

"That is to say, they didn't all come?"

"How could they all come? When did you see the Second Legion acting together? Maybe there were some possibilities in the time of Holy Terra, but since leaving the solar system, it is no longer possible."

"Yeah, it's impossible..."

Fragments of those memories flashed through Astoris' mind: the sparse queue, the silver-white armor, the flying fangs, and that...damn...

He closed his eyes.

"Let's talk about [Lion]."

　Confused?
　　Confused?
　　Riddler?
　　That's right, this is the Dark Angel.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)