40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 348 68. Moth
In essence, war is a science, a very cruel science.And what humans are best at is probably war. Does this represent human nature to a certain extent?
Perturabo thought about these questions many times, and he felt an ambivalence about philosophy that both disgusted and interested him.

On the one hand, he believed that philosophy was of no help to human survival.On the other hand, he also believes that philosophy is of great research value and can help him kill time.

Of course, as always, he did not reveal these thoughts. This was his style - after all, Steel would not speak for himself.Steel silently endures forging, tempering, and becoming armor, weapons, and shields.

"Horus sent a message." The Fire Dragon Lord said. "He will be waiting near Istvan Three."

"Did he mention Fulgrim and the others?" Perturabo asked, lowering his head.

He was gently tapping a metal octahedron with a tool hammer.Its surface is silver, with fine patterns and the Olympian coat of arms.There is no doubt that this is one of Perturabo's works.

However, the strange thing is that Vulkan did not see the purpose of this eight-sided cube.

"No." Vulcan said. "That's what I was worried about and he didn't say a word about it."

Perturabo gave a dull nasal voice, which was considered to be some kind of answer.He turned the octahedron and continued tapping, until it finally responded.The surface began to deform, and with the sound of gears turning, it transformed into a beautiful car.

Vulkan looked at it with a bit of amazement and couldn't help but ask: "How did you design it?"

"I don't know," said Perturabo. "Just doing it for fun"

He said this, but then he knocked on the front hood of the car in front of Vulkan, so it deformed again and returned to the octahedral shape.

"There are sixteen ways of transformation in total," the Lord of Steel said. "My original intention was to make an educational toy for children, but it seemed too difficult to make. Not to mention children, even the scholars at Olympia couldn't fully understand the rules of this octahedral deformation."

"I'm disappointed because it's just some simple mathematical formulas. It's understandable that kids can't understand it, and it's really frustrating for me that they can't understand it."

"Are you showing off?" the third person in the room asked quietly.

Unlike Perturabo and Vulkan, he was fully armed, and his armor and respirator were even polished.The famous scythe called Silence rested quietly in his hand, and hanging from his waist was a brass energy pistol called the Lantern, which was one of the Emperor's personal collections.

"It sounds a bit similar." Vulcan laughed. "But it shouldn't be that our brothers shouldn't need to look for a sense of superiority in ordinary people."

Perturabo snorted coldly and said nothing, which was regarded as acquiescence.

Mortarion shook his head, and the smell of spices became stronger with his movements: "When will you change this problem?"

"what?"

"this."

"What?" Perturabo turned his head rudely and impatiently, still holding the tool hammer and octahedron in his hand.

"What exactly do you want to say, Mortarion? I ask you to finish your words in one breath, speak clearly, and explain it clearly. And don't use your numerology to explain it to me in a way that is consistent with the truth of the empire."

Vulkan laughed happily and silently on the side, he already knew what would happen next.

"Numerology is a very scientific set of scientific theories that are very consistent with the truth of the empire -" Mortarion raised a finger extremely seriously. "——The seventh is the hidden truth of all things. I can give many examples to prove that I am correct."

"Then lift it." Perturabo put down his hammer and octahedron, sneered and crossed his hands. "Come on, let's have a debate. At this point, you serious guy."

"Your attitude makes me want to stop talking." Mortarion said, with obvious helplessness in the eyes on the respirator. "Conrad actually said that you are a good person. I really doubt whether his evaluation of you was through the filter of brotherhood."

The corners of Perturabo's eyes twitched sharply: "You actually——"

He took a deep breath.

"——Forget it." The Lord of Steel returned to his expressionless face. "Stop chatting and get down to business. What do you think about Horus?"

"I don't believe he would do what you are speculating, but Conrad's predictions do have a high degree of credibility. Although I can't understand his talent yet, his words are indeed consistent with numerology. The derivation of learning.”

Mortarion said, raising a finger again very seriously.

"I think we need to be cautious. There are too many doubts about this whole thing. Fortunately, we will be close to Istvan III soon, and by then, the truth should come to light."

"But, brother, what if our bad inference comes true?" Vulkan asked seriously. "I think we must make two preparations. I propose that the combined fleet immediately carry out pre-war mobilization and warm up the artillery positions. At least we must be prepared before danger comes."

Mortarion did not answer immediately. He frowned and seemed to be thinking.

Perturabo answered very quickly, and the Lord of Steel still maintained his expressionless face: "I have no objection. If he wants a war, then we will give him a war. But if this is just a misunderstanding, I will apologize to him." "I hope so." Vulcan sighed quietly and looked at Mortarion again. "What about you? Have you decided, brother?"

"The minority obeys the majority." said the Lord of Death. "You have a point, Vulkan. I agree."

A few minutes later, they jointly issued an order, which quickly spread throughout the huge combined fleet.The battle barges, cruisers, destroyers and even the people on the shuttle received this order signed by the three primarchs accurately.

A tense atmosphere began to spread within the fleet, except for one ship.

It is the only exception.

Named the Terminus, the template for the Predator-class battleship was completed in a manufacturing facility on the Moon.Once known as the Dusk Raider, now it is simply the Terminus, the flagship of Death Guard First Captain Karas Typhon.

It has strong firepower and numerous decks, all of which are specially designed to accommodate several times the number of assault boats than ordinary ships.It has distinguished itself within the Death Guard, and shines as brightly as Karas Typhon's name
But soon it won't be.
-
Ezekiel Abaddon dragged himself back to the royal court.

He had just gone to inspect the maintenance status of the front twenty floors of the Vengeful Spirit. Despite the lack of crew and servants, its repair speed was still very fast.

Most of the places damaged by bombs or other things have now returned to their former appearance, and this is definitely not the work of the technical sergeants. In fact, the Vengeful Spirit is healing itself.

Abaddon didn't know how to view this matter. He gave himself many explanations, but none of them could truly convince him.So he had to force himself to forget for a while and returned to the royal court of Luperkar.

The Wolf God sat on his throne, the fur of the giant wolf trembling slightly on his shoulders, and the scarlet eyes on the dark armor stared at Abaddon as if they were self-aware.

This has never happened before.Abaddon lowered his head, also forgetting about it for the time being, and spoke slowly.

"Primarch." He said while keeping his voice calm. "We are ready to fight again. The repair of the Vengeful Spirit has been initially completed."

In reply, his genetic father gave him an intriguing smile.

"No, not enough," he said.

"grown ups?"

"Actually, it's far from enough, Ezekiel. We need manpower to warm up the artillery and load ammunition. These chores require mortals to do it." The man on the throne said with a smile. "We can't let the Astartes do these chores, right?"

"But we have no servants left."

Neither did the crew.Abaddon said in his mind.I don’t even know how the Vengeful Spirit will navigate and turn if a war really breaks out later.

"Don't worry." The Wolf Shepherd chuckled. "I have my own way. By the way, Ezekel, have you seen Loken, Tarik and Ashmand? Why didn't I see them coming to me?"

Abaddon was silent. He didn't understand for a moment why his primarch was asking this question - could he be joking to him?

A sense of absurdity arose spontaneously, prompting him to raise his head involuntarily and glance at the Wolf Shepherd God.The latter's burning eyes were staring at him, causing his heart to stop beating for a moment.

"Primarch?" Abaddon said hesitantly. "Have you forgotten? They left."

"Oh." The Wolf Shepherd nodded thoughtfully. "I forgot, I'm sorry, my son. I almost forgot that they are already betrayers."

He laughed.

"That's funny, my own son betrayed me and took my crew and servants away. What? Couldn't they find anyone else to sail the ship?"

Taking away the crew and servants?they are not.
Abaddon saw before his eyes the horrifying sight of the hanging dead men, moving in the cold, putrid wind.A retort came to his lips, but he swallowed it himself.The Shepherd God looked at him with satisfaction, and some murderous intention quietly passed away.

"Remove them." He waved his right hand indifferently. "Find out how many people have betrayed me and remove them all. One day, they will return my blood to me. As for now, Ezekiel, you can leave."

"As you order, Primarch."

With his head lowered, Abaddon left Luperkar's court as if he was fleeing. His whole body was cold and no longer the same as before.

　update completed.

　　The plot begins tomorrow.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)