40k: Midnight Blade.

Chapter 739 31. Keep Accounts First

"Hello again, Corporal Kius."

Handshake, shake, smile - all in one go. Khalil took two steps back, looked up at Sarron behind him, and nodded.

The corporal looked at him with a complicated expression, and after a long while he slowly spoke.

"Sir, may I ask a question?"

"I will tell you everything I know within my ability."

"When did you come on board?"

Khalil spread his hands with a smile on his face. "This question is a bit long. Let's solve a more important problem first. What do you think, Corporal?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the tribune came over with two dark elves. Blood flowed down his golden armor, soaking the deck at his feet, outlining one bloody pattern after another.

Kius's expression became even more complicated. At this moment, a porthole on their side was suddenly filled with an infinite amount of light. The light was so bright that it almost swallowed up the corporal's face.
It was not until half a minute later that it slowly dissipated. But this was not the end, there were more and smaller explosions constantly appearing, they worked together to destroy a huge Eldar warship, without any grudges, dancing in the high temperature, bringing even greater light.

The corporal took a deep breath, retracted his gaze, and asked expressionlessly: "What problem are you going to solve?"

Khalil said nothing, but looked down at the two Dark Eldar whose limbs had been cut off. They must have been of noble status and lived a privileged life in the past, and the armor they wore was significantly different from the Cabal warriors who died around the deck.

But at this moment, they probably wished they were dead - just a simple gaze made their remaining bodies tremble violently.

One of them even wanted to beg for mercy out loud, but unfortunately, before it could even utter the first syllable, the imperial guard stabbed its jaw with a knife, turning the words it was about to say into a terrified groan.

"It depends on how they want to resolve it." Khalil replied slowly.

The tribune immediately understood and in an instant drew his sword and stabbed one of them in the abdomen, lifting him up and stabilizing him on the sword with amazing skill and balance.

Despite this, it still maintained its rationality, as if this extremely terrifying situation, which was extremely horrifying to ordinary people, was nothing. It just gave Khalil a humble and flattering smile with a face full of fear.

The High Gothic language, no longer with an accent, sounded fluently.

"We only ask you not to deliver us into the hands of Lady Thirst."

"Do not."

After the firm refusal, there was a long pause, but the expressions of the Dark Eldar were frozen at the moment they heard this word.

The incomparable fear gripped their hearts tightly. In comparison, even the constantly flowing blood and life seemed not so scary anymore.

The pause ended. Khalil spoke again.

"My powers are limited," he said slowly and calmly. "I can bring utter destruction upon only one of you - as for the other, I can do nothing."

Was he telling the truth? No one knew, least of all Gius, who was completely stunned: What was going on? How many times had this Grand Inquisitor dealt with the Dark Eldar in the past? How could a few words have such power?
He was amazed, but soon his perception of this "power" was refreshed. Because in the next second, the Dark Eldar who was not lifted up by the sword suddenly raised his head and spat out a mouthful of black liquid at his compatriot who was hung on the blade of the Imperial Guard.

The latter knew nothing about it and only realized what had happened the moment he touched her. His expression quickly turned into resentment.
But it had no chance to speak, as the liquid had completely corroded the flesh on its neck, leaving only white bones. Half a second later, with a snap, the bones broke and the head rolled off.

"I say!" the remaining alien screamed at the top of its lungs. "I can say anything! Choose me, my lord!"

Khalil finally laughed, and seeing this, the Eldar also smiled ingratiatingly.

"Who sent you?"

The Eldar answered immediately, without hesitation: "Asrubail Viktor."

Khalil raised his eyebrows: "Oh - so you are the famous Black Heart Conspiracy?"

"No, no, sir, we are just a bunch of unlucky people who snatched this contract from his slightly open fingers."

It smiled humbly again, but this time there was a hint of sadness in its smile.

"But now I understand why he didn't let his conspiracy group enjoy the generous reward of this contract alone."

"What did it send you for?"

The struggling Eldar without arms or legs turned his gaze towards Sarron who was standing behind Kius and spoke in a low voice.

"His blood."

The latter remained indifferent, but the former immediately burst out with terrifying murderous intent and almost drew his sword.

"interesting."

Khalil finally laughed, and then there was a long and dead silence after this sentence. When he spoke again, his voice had become soft.

"You mentioned the contract just now. What? The Comorian overlord is just a middleman in this mission?"

"I can't know the truth behind it, sir, but there are actually a lot of contents in that contract that are related to the prophecy."

Prophecy, the blood of the first Primaris Astartes. Interesting, what do the Eldar want to do?
After pondering for a few seconds, Kalil immediately remembered the Eldar advisor who stayed with Robert Guilliman. The latter was from the Death Army, and one of the leaders of this Eldar force was a prophet.

Eldrad Uslan No, it shouldn't be him. It would be too stupid to bet on both sides. However, one should always be on guard against others.

It seems that I need to return to the solar system as soon as possible.

but now--

He looked down at the Eldar, and his right hand moved slightly. A sharp blade suddenly slid out from the wide cuffs and pressed against the skin of his wrist. The latter looked at him nervously, and only after receiving a nod from Khalil did he feel relieved and close his eyes. A cold light flashed, and the head fell to the ground. A scream came from the void. The darkness boiled, and the blood and corpses all over the deck suddenly shook.

Kius drew his sword reflexively, roared at the enemy's attack, and protected Kalil behind him. Sarron also immediately raised his shield and followed the example of the Grand Inquisitor. He ignored his strange expression and raised his shield.
However, as time passed, apart from the screaming and the shaking corpse, no other strange phenomena occurred.

What's going on? Kius looked around vigilantly, but he couldn't find any movement related to the enemy. The entire deck was dead silent. Apart from the messy corpses left by the Dark Eldar, there was nothing else worth noting.

Could it be that there are still some Eldar who haven't died yet? As soon as this thought came to the mind of the corporal, he had the urge to stab the corpses one by one with his sword.
Of course, he quickly eliminated the seven-point subconscious consideration and the three-point hatred for the alien, sheathed the sword, turned around, and happened to see Khalil's complex expression with a hint of smile.

The corporal frowned and asked in confusion, "What are you laughing at?"

"Nothing, I just feel that Fulgrim's descendants are indeed dedicated to their duties. Well, leave this matter to me. I will rush back to Terra to report. The support fleet seems to be arriving soon. We will say goodbye here. Goodbye, Corporal, and you, Sarron."

After saying this, he winked at the young Primaris and mouthed a name. The latter was shocked and a look of disbelief appeared on his face.
-
Taking off his helmet, La Endymion slowly sat down. Just two hours later, he and Khalil boarded a warship full of soldiers who had completed their service and were returning to Terra to receive retirement assignments.

Naturally, there is no good environment to offer them here, but it does not matter. This is already the fastest ship they can find that can depart for Terra. Even if the conditions are so harsh that they need to stay close to the cargo hold to get some place to stay, the tribune does not care at all.

He had done similar things before, and so did the man he was responsible for "protecting"
He leaned back and placed his helmet on his right knee. He turned his head and wanted to say something, but he saw Caryl Rohals slashing open his chest with a knife in a very horrifying way.
The tribune took a deep breath, maintained his last bit of politeness, and asked: "What are you doing?"

"I have to give Belisarius Cawl a heads-up."

Khalil said without raising his head, still concentrating on cutting his bones with the knife. The blood strangely stagnated in his blood vessels and no longer flowed, but the bones were surprisingly stubborn, and sparks even flew between the friction between the blade and the bones.

"The ruling sage?"

"Yes, why bother asking when you already know the answer, huh?"

"No, my Lord, I just don't see the need for this?"

"Of course." Khalil finally looked up at him. "Four years have passed, and the promised position of Casting General will probably fall to him along with the division of a large number of resources."

"Therefore, he will be very busy during this period. He will even be so busy that it will be difficult to contact him even if we do not follow the formal procedures, so I must use some special means. I don't want to wait another year or two after returning to Terra. Don't you know the administrative efficiency of our empire?"

As if he was convinced, the tribune turned away and looked at the only round porthole in the cabin in silence. It was not until the sound of bones and steel rubbing against each other became more intense that he finally could not help but speak again.

".But what kind of means would require you to almost completely cut yourself open?"

Khalil didn't answer, but just pointed at his heart with the knife in his hand.

Between the separated flesh and bones, the heart was beating slowly and steadily, and in the center was embedded a medium-sized black scale, as clear as a gem, reflecting the color of blood.

Khalil picked it out with his knife and asked with a smile, "Do you know what this is, La?"

".I don't think I have any reason to know."

Khalil's smile grew wider, and then his tone became somewhat proud.

"This is a fragment of a suit of armor that was once given to me. That armor later became my prison, and later, a symbol and embodiment of my humanity. Belisarius Cawl had one of these, and used it as a source of power."

Slowly, stiffly, Ra turned his head and looked at him.

"What did you say?" he asked in a tone that was not at all his own.

"What's wrong?" Khalil looked at him in confusion. "I allowed him to do this - is there a problem, La?"

The tribune took a deep, deep breath of air. This was probably the most difficult moment in his long life, but he still managed to get through it and made a dry sound.

"I strongly recommend that you do not tell this to any member of the Nightblade or its subgroup, especially Yago Sevitarion."

Khalil laughed, nodded, held the armor in his hand, and closed his eyes. A darkness slowly emerged, followed by countless starlights, all over the galaxy, almost forming an alternative star map.

He found one of them near Terra, and with a thought, he connected with it. Belisarius Cawl's voice followed closely, with an unexpected shock.

"Ouch—wait, what, what's going on?"

Khalil uttered a thought: "Is it me, Great Sage Cawl, or should I call you Forge General now?"

From the other side of the fragment came a wave of extremely complex thoughts, almost like a storm of thoughts. Its complexity was totally unlike that of a normal human being, but rather that of a person suffering from the most severe schizophrenia in history.
But Kaul was still Kaul, and he soon calmed the storm. The sounds that came after that could even be described as calm.

"Lord Caryl Rohals, I strongly protest to you - although I can understand the nature and particularity of this communication between us, I still want to protest. I almost crashed just now, do you understand?"

"But you made it through, Call, and that proves that my faith in you was right. Don't you agree?"

"Ha!" Kaul gave a shrill laugh. "Of course!"

"Very good. Then, regarding the task you assigned to me, it has been completed. I will pass the relevant information to you as soon as I return to Terra, but now, I need you to do me a favor."

"What is it, my Lord? I must remind you that I am currently at my inauguration ceremony - there are several Primarchs sitting in the audience."

"That's all the better," Khalil said. "I need you to go to Robouti Guilliman after this meeting and have him ask his Eldar advisor a question."

"what is the problem?"

"Just say—"
-
Roboute Guilliman asked Illyan Natus a question word by word.

"—Does this matter concern you, Eldrad Uslan?"

(End of this chapter)