How can a retired savior be considered retired if his price drops to 40,000?

Chapter 387: Honor Duel! Fight!

Due to the poor rule of law and the excessive martial virtues of the Empire, honor duels are common in various scenarios. The Ultramarines have of course already prepared a set of mature and efficient countermeasures for this. When Guilliman and his guards arrived at the viewing point that overlooked the arena, the duel venue and personnel were basically ready.

The Astartes who came upon hearing the news formed two waves, one blue and one black, and gathered around the ring in a clear and distinct manner, making waves of tsunami-like noises one after another as if competing with each other. There were also Astartes who were not affiliated with the Ultramarines or the Black Templars, and they were scattered among the crowd. The armor of other colors was like dots of colorful waves in the tide, which made Guilliman wonder for a moment whether the entire Hera Fortress had already known about this duel in such a short time.

The champion sent by the Ultramarines is Demetrius Titus of the Second Company. His captain, Servatus Archeran, stands at the edge of the field with his arms folded, looking at everything, looking a little bit nervous. In fact, if you want to be serious, Cato Sicarius, who is currently following Guilliman as a personal guard, is the more "orthodox" champion of the chapter, but this title has become ambiguous in the process of him (being forced) to leave the position of captain of the Second Company and then join the Primarch's guard. In short, because no one has dared to act rashly in front of the Primarch, the Ultramarines have not encountered a situation where the entire chapter needs to be honored. Due to this ambiguous issue, it has not been resolved because it is not very important. Considering the current situation, Guilliman also feels that it is not necessary to be serious about such details.

"Don't be so unhappy, Cato," he said to his former chapter champion, "give your brother a chance, too."

Sicarius was indeed not very happy, but his face was just a little gloomy, and he would not do anything outrageous just because of this unhappiness. After experiencing all kinds of ups and downs and tests, he was indeed much calmer. After confirming this again, Guilliman turned his attention back to the ring: opposite the fully armed Titus, Sigismund was also ready to go.

The Black Knight stood solemnly at the edge of the field, also wearing a full set of armor, but the carvings and prayers on it were all in the style of ten thousand years ago. This subtle difference made him appear just the right amount of abrupt on the stage. He held the unsheathed Emperor's Black Sword, with the tip of the sword facing down, resting on the ground, silent, quietly waiting for his opponent to get ready, like a sculpture made of black marble.

This scene made Guilliman a little dazed: the armor of the Black Templars was inspired by the Knights Templar of the Imperial Fists, and the Maltese Cross, the emblem of the chapter, was originally Sigismund's personal emblem. The similarities between the scene before him and those ten thousand years ago triggered Guilliman's memories, and he unconsciously recalled the glorious era ten thousand years ago when the Great Crusade was in full swing.

There were no serious conflicts between the Ultramarines and the Imperial Fists, and Guilliman and Dorn had never had a dispute in the past ten thousand years that culminated in a champion being appointed for an honor duel. But duels between Astartes were not uncommon, and Guilliman was fully aware of the procedures for a formal duel involving the honor of the Legion and the Primarch. However, even this procedure had obviously changed over the past ten thousand years, and the "duel preparations" instructed by Digoris were different from what Guilliman had known in the past.

At least 10,000 years ago, the Legion Champions would not wear power armor during duels, nor would they hold combat weapons in their hands. At that time, the Astartes participating in the duel would wear tights that could roughly protect against cuts and blunt blows, holding relatively safe weapons for training, and only rely on their own strength and skills to compete, and no one would be killed when the winner was decided. But now, the duelists on both sides of the ring are wearing their own full sets of power armor, and the only restriction on props is that grenades and long-range weapons are removed. The whole thing seems to be speeding all the way to a life-and-death fast lane.

The Imperial Regent wanted to call off the duel and change the rules. In his opinion, the duel style of ten thousand years ago was obviously more civilized and (as much as possible) less offensive. But before he could really open his mouth, a commotion in the crowd in the distance first drew his attention.

Rogal Dorn, surrounded by his guards, which were temporarily assembled from the elite members of various successor chapters, appeared outside the human wall. This unexpected audience interrupted the waves of cheers around the ring, and the place where the primarch passed was like Moses parting the sea. Both the black and blue tides quietly receded, revealing dry ground for the son of God to walk on.

The surroundings did quiet down, but the enthusiasm and tension in the air quickly increased to an almost suffocating level. Both duelists turned around and saluted the Primarch with awe, but under this gesture of respect and submission, the tension between the duelists was ready to explode.

Dorn had obviously just learned about this and rushed over, and had to ask Sigismund directly about the cause and effect of this duel. Guilliman sighed and did not spend more time paying attention to this conversation. He just turned and left the hidden viewing platform where he was, which overlooked the entire square including the arena, and went to the duel scene with his guards.

Since Dorn showed up at the duel, he had to show up for his offspring. Chapter to chapter, primarch to primarch. Only in this way can an honor duel be considered "equal".
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The duel continued uninterrupted. Soon, the two trusted champions of their respective chapters were already fighting in the ring. However, Guilliman did not observe the battle between the two first, but instead stared at his brother and observed him carefully.

Dorn frowned, but he had been like that recently. Therefore, Guilliman couldn't tell whether his brother was really angry about the duel or whether his old and wrinkled face had become too accustomed to that action unconsciously. Dorn did not comment on the cause and effect of the duel, and even the duel itself officially started under his order, but it was precisely because of this that Guilliman could not judge the other party's attitude on this issue. This uncertainty made the Imperial Regent a little nervous, but as the duel began, the atmosphere under the ring became heated again. The Astartes of both camps cheered for their champions, and the sound waves like a tsunami enveloped the two Primarchs facing each other across the ring. Perhaps for mortals, in such an environment, they would have to work hard to hear what the people next to them were saying, but in the eyes of the Primarchs, such a noisy sound field could not cause a decisive interference to their perception ability, and they could still clearly capture every tiny detail on the ring.

At first glance, Titus is the more powerful one in the ring. The firstborn who crossed the Rubicon River now has a more powerful and fierce strength. His more than 400 years of combat experience also enabled him to quickly master his enhanced abilities and fully utilize his advantages of being big and strong.

He swung the chainsword in his hand vigorously, but Sigismund continued to press forward with more sophisticated skills, showing no signs of losing ground. The light reflected by the black sword's blade dragged a tiny afterimage in the air due to the high-speed swing of the sword holder. The two duelists crossed their feet fearlessly, fighting fiercely, only knowing how to move forward and not retreat. Under the heavy sword shadows, the situation was difficult to distinguish for a while, and they were evenly matched.

The Imperial Regent was more focused on his own offspring. Although the better (or more reasonable) outcome for this duel would certainly be for Titus to lose to Sigismund, and then the feud between the Ultramarines and the Black Templars would be over, Guilliman was still the Primarch of the Ultramarines after all. In a small corner of his heart, he certainly hoped that Titus would win. However, at a certain moment, he accidentally glanced at his brother who was also watching the fight across the ring, and found that Dorn's attention was also more focused on Titus.

This surprised Guilliman a little, but then he thought, maybe this was the first time Dorn had watched the battle of the Primaris Space Marines so closely since returning to the Empire (or, in other words, finally returning to the real universe). If this could allow him to make a more objective assessment of the product of this technology and understand its advantages and its necessity in the Empire at this stage, then that would be even better. The current position of the two of them also made it impossible for Guilliman to communicate with each other immediately, so Guilliman just took note of this matter and prepared to ask about it later.

By the time the tradition of honor duel was passed down to the 41st millennium of the Empire, it had become a "it's hard to end here without someone dying today". At least for Guilliman, all the senses he could mobilize and integrate conveyed to him a fact: Titus did embody a clear and cold killing intent. Astartes is a weapon, and it is obvious that Titus can now clearly implement this in all his will and actions. His eyes are focused, and he has no hesitation about his goal - even if he knows that he is facing a legend under the power of the Emperor ten thousand years ago, he is still fearless and unhesitating in taking all actions with the goal of defeating his opponent.

But for Sigismund in the ring, Guilliman found it difficult to judge him. Admittedly, all the actions of the Black Knight had clear goals, and his tactics were quite aggressive, but his sword moves, although sharp, simply contained a desire for victory. Of course, this can also be understood as Sigismund abiding by the rules of honor duel ten thousand years ago. Guilliman's logic told him that this was a reasonable theoretical possibility, but in reality, he always felt that something was wrong.

This wonderful duel lasted a total of two hours and twenty minutes, but in Guilliman's opinion, the outcome was already determined when it reached about the 40th minute. Titus was certainly a Primaris warrior with a greater advantage in size and physical strength, but Sigismund was not an ordinary firstborn. Guilliman was not very familiar with this captain of the Imperial Fists ten thousand years ago. Judging from this duel alone, the Black Knight, as a firstborn, did not have a big gap in basic functions such as strength, physical fitness, reaction speed compared to Titus, who had successfully become a Primaris - at least not as obvious as the gap between firstborns and Primaris warriors in general. More importantly, although the endurance of Primaris warriors was already quite amazing, when the duel reached about the 40th minute, Guilliman vaguely discovered that this Sigismund did not seem to get tired at all.

This is a subtle sign that only the Primarch can discover: even the most ordinary Firstborn, under the premise of having had sufficient rest and supplies, can fight for several hours at high intensity without showing signs of fatigue, let alone the pair of opponents fighting on the ring. But in this process, even the Primaris warriors, their combat effectiveness will indeed gradually decrease in an extremely smooth curve, but few people can realize and grasp that tiny gap - as a Primarch, Guilliman can do it (although he often does not need to do so), and when he realized this, he also found that Sigismund seemed to be able to do it as well.

The Imperial Regent couldn't figure out whether it was because Sigismund was originally like this, or because his current state of resurrection gave him this characteristic. But in short, at the end of the duel, the Black Knight keenly and accurately seized a tiny flaw when Titus was retracting his move, successfully knocked his opponent to the ground with the hilt of his sword, and placed the blade on his opponent's neck, declaring his victory in this way that did not hurt his opponent's life but was absolutely oppressive.

If someone else had done this in an honor duel, it would have been seen as an insult by the losing party. But now, the person doing this was Sigismund, a well-known legend who had reappeared in the world because of the favor of the Emperor, so after a brief silence around the arena, the enthusiastic and excited cheers once again echoed. These cheers reached the next peak when Sigismund moved his sword away, stepped back, and extended his hand to Titus. After a short pause, Titus chose not to reject the other party's kindness - as if they were not fighting a duel with the honor of their own chapters at stake, but just a friendly exchange between the chapters.

Although the Ultramarines lost the duel, the scene still brought a smile to Guilliman's face. He turned his eyes away from the ring and turned to his brother. Dorn's face was expressionless as always, and it was difficult to judge his thoughts, but Guilliman logically deduced that his brother should not be dissatisfied with this result.

He then made his verdict at the edge of the ring, announcing that Sigismund was the winner of the duel. But amid the waves of cheers, he knew very well that the issue was not yet completely over.

(End of this chapter)