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

Chapter 408 All Strategic Transfer Gang
There was a rather primitive complex hanging in the sky, floating in the air like a mirage. From Sigismund's perspective, even though he could only glimpse the tip of the iceberg from the angle of the window of the Hera Fortress, he could be sure that these buildings did not exist for military purposes.

But he would not underestimate this thing - especially now, under the building complex, in the place that should normally be the "ground", a device shaped like a light bulb extended out.

In terms of proportion, the device might be quite large, but from the distance Sigismund was looking at, it was just a small dot. If it had not just launched an energy wave similar to a ship-borne light spear, causing ripples on the void shield outside the Hera Fortress, perhaps Sigismund would not have shifted his attention from the entire building complex to it.

At this moment, the "light bulb" stopped outputting energy, but it was obvious that it was only in the interval between two attacks. A bluish-white light similar to the color of the "light spear" accumulated around the "light bulb", but it was not because of this that Sigismund became alert to the entire building complex in the air.

"Glorious Complex Grand Temple". Fujimaru Ritsuka once mentioned this name to him with regret. He knew that this was a primitive engineering miracle that had been built by a country and several generations of people more than a thousand years before human history entered the AD era, and it stood on the land of Terra. He also knew that this miracle, which had long been destroyed by war and crushed in the dust of history so that no one knew about it, existed as a "concrete image of someone's life experience and deeds".

"Ozymandias." With mixed feelings, he couldn't help but utter the name aloud.

This was the pharaoh of the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, also known as "Ramses II" or "Meliamun". He not only conquered the lost territories with his bravery, but also reached the "earliest peace agreement" with the Hittites with his wisdom. In the era when humans were born and the kings of the world pretended to be the incarnation of the gods and used this religious mystery to consolidate their rule, Ozymandias believed that he was the incarnation of "Ra", the most important sun god among the Egyptian gods. The temples currently suspended above the Hera Fortress are a complex of all the temples that he had built or repaired in Egypt during his rebirth.

Ozymandias recruited civilians in the name of praising the gods. In fact, his purpose of draining the country's power to build these flashy temples was more to boast about his civil and military achievements to future generations. To this end, he even erased the traces of other pharaohs in the existing temple murals and stone carvings, and replaced them with his own name and inscriptions. If Sigismund were to make an evaluation, he would think that Ozymandias was undoubtedly an ambitious and even arrogant ruler. Even though he believed in paganism, he actually did something close to blasphemy against his own beliefs; but at the same time, he had to admit that Ozymandias was a qualified emperor - even if it was only a few thousand years, the history he wanted to boast about during his lifetime was indeed passed down to later generations. According to the records of Chaldea, his life experience was indeed great enough to allow him to be compared with the boasting he left behind.

After all, that was more than 40,000 years ago. If Sigismund had lived in the past, he might have dismissed it. Perhaps Ozymandias did leave a strong and colorful mark in human history, but what about now? The temple complex that ancient Egypt built with the efforts of the whole country and took an untold time, in the 30th millennium of human history, it was just a simple landscape that could complete the main construction of all the buildings within three days by mobilizing a few engineering vehicles. He would admit the greatness of this pharaoh, but the gap in time and the development of mankind itself had already left him far behind. Considering the construction time, he would indeed praise the grandeur of the Great Temple of Glory Complex, but he would never think that these buildings, which were not used for war, could cause any trouble under the artillery fire of Space Marines.

It was not until after his death that he finally realized through his own experience that an invisible and intangible abstract concept like "the span of history" could also become a weapon.

"grown ups?"

Seeing Sigismund stopped and looked out the window, Cassius Vilan, the "chapter leader" of the Celestial Lions who was temporarily with him, asked cautiously: "Do you know what that is?"

"A fortress of witchcraft," Sigismund replied. "It's the first time I've seen one in person, but I don't think it can be easily destroyed by conventional firepower."

He knew a little about what Fujimaru Ritsuka had experienced before arriving at the Astronomican, and he and she realized on Baal that the spirits that Fujimaru Ritsuka was forced to leave behind in Tzeentch's domain did not dissipate directly. After that, Sigismund consciously conducted research on the Forsaken in the spirit base portraits on the Storm's Edge, but he did not expect that this knowledge would come in handy so soon.

"If we assume the worst, the Grand Temple of Glory has lasted at least eighty-one days in the Crystal Palace." Santo's voice rang out beside Sigismund. Iron Hand was not originally here, but his figure also appeared out of thin air in the corridor in the golden light. This scene shocked and awed many people in the Tianshi War Group, but unfortunately neither Santo himself nor Sigismund intended to pay attention to this emotion in the team.

"If we don't deal with it quickly, this wedge inserted into the front line out of nowhere will be very troublesome." Iron Hand continued to add, "You also heard the next arrangement from the telepathy. We will stay on the ground. In order to prevent the subspace from affecting the ether transmission, I think we need to change the channel that maintains our present world to another path."

Sigismund still stared out the window and did not answer this question. The angle of this corridor was not that good. In theory, he could roughly sense the position of Fujimaru Ritsuka through the connection of the contract, and thus infer that the Storm Edge had already taken off and was hovering opposite the Glorious Grand Temple for calibration; but in reality, he could only judge from the golden clouds in the mountains where the Hera Fortress was located that the Holy Sword Armor on the bow of the Storm Edge had begun to warm up.

"This is really irrational." The Black Knight suddenly made such an evaluation - not on Santo's proposal, but on Fujimaru Ritsuka's overall decision on this matter. "The Glorious Composite Temple is indeed very difficult to deal with, but since it has fallen once, it can fall a second time. I don't think it is necessary for the Imperial Saint to step forward in person and take risks."

"Then go talk to her in person." Santo's mechanical voice was slightly gloating, "Anyway, I don't intend to get into trouble."

Sigismund sighed bitterly. His experience in the illusion allowed him to clearly distinguish what she could talk about and what she absolutely could not talk about just by looking at her tone. From what she had just said, this matter happened to fall into the category of "absolutely not allowed".

"I can't persuade her." The Black Knight commented firmly, "Of course, she can't persuade me either, so the appropriate decision at this time is to accommodate each other according to the situation, rather than wasting time on useless efforts. I will obey the arrangements and lead the Tianshi Warband to join my gene father and obey his orders. But I still retain my point of view: there is no need for the lady to put herself in danger personally."

"I'm telling the truth, Sigismund." Santo's tone showed a hint of displeasure, "If you were not the heir of Lord Dorne, I would be suspicious of your attitude. You are despising that lady."

"Not at all," Sigismund replied immediately, and then asked, "Why do you think so?"

Santo stared at the other person for two seconds, confirming that the Black Knight really didn't realize the problem, and then he spoke: "You are a little too nervous about the lady's safety. Admittedly, she is just a mortal in the body, even weaker than the auxiliary soldiers or servants we often see, but she has already experienced many battles and knows exactly what she should and shouldn't do in a battlefield environment. Although it is inconvenient to say it clearly, she has indeed achieved more brilliant results than you and me without the protection of the Emperor, but you turned a blind eye to this and only treated her as a porcelain doll that would break at the touch." "I didn't--"

"--You have. You should have seen your expression when you saw her injured in the underground prison." Santo pointed out coldly, "In my opinion, your overreaction in this matter not only reflects your own arrogance, but also disgraces the lady's ability and honor."

"First of all, the lady's ability and honor are very solid, and will not be humiliated by a little unfair and implicit evaluation." Sigismund immediately refuted, "Secondly, Captain Santo, I think that your way of thinking, which bases the evaluation criteria of the lady's 'ability and honor' on battlefield performance, is quite one-sided."

After he finished speaking, Santo did not respond quickly. The air quickly solidified in silence, and the strong smell of gunpowder made the young people who were watching all this nearby silent. The two legendary figures from the Great Crusade ten thousand years ago stared at each other quietly in the tense atmosphere. The golden halo outside the window gradually spread in the mist over time and scattered far to their sides, making this silent confrontation look like a holy judgment.

Santo did not ask, but Sigismund still stared at the other's eyes that were half hidden by the mechanical structure, and explained to himself: "It is true that the lady's combat and command capabilities are obvious to all, and she has won many victories on the battlefield, but the lady herself is still not a warrior or a general.

"The Emperor gave her the authority to be the judge who sets the rules. She will judge the entire empire, cut off the obsolete and inappropriate parts of the galaxy, heal the wounds with new rules, and lead the entire human race forward. Therefore, her honor is different from ours:
"We are the Emperor's soldiers and weapons. The meaning of our existence is to unleash His wrath and punish Him on the battlefield. Therefore, exterminating the enemy in front of us is an honor worth pursuing for a lifetime. For the lady, the great deeds she must accomplish are far more than this. Therefore, how to kill the enemy on the battlefield, which is undoubtedly an honor for us, is not important to her. Fujimaru Ritsuka can certainly do so, and she is capable enough to do so, but she doesn't care about these."

Iron Hand remained silent, not speaking to express his agreement, but not objecting either. However, Santo did avoid Sigismund's gaze and turned his head to the window. For him, this was also a silent statement. Outside the stained glass window in the corridor, the golden light from the bow of the Storm's Edge seemed to have reached its peak, and the Dendera Lamp under the Great Temple of Glory had begun to accumulate and flash dangerous light again.

"It's about to begin." Feeling the surging waves of the subspace behind the curtain, Gabriel Santo made the above judgment and chose to avoid the topic.
-
"Let's go behind closed doors. Of course I'm telling the truth - we can't win with just the holy sword equipment."

Fujimaru Ritsuka said at the console: "If you simply regard the upcoming confrontation as a proxy war between the Emperor and Tzeentch, and then compare the parameters of the enemy and us, you will know that the disadvantage is definitely on our side - the problem with the hardware of Storm's Edge is very serious."

Akuldona, who rushed over after hearing the news, wanted to say something but hesitated, and finally could only nod his head. From the bottom of his heart, of course he wanted to persuade Fujimaru Ritsuka not to be impulsive, but unfortunately when he returned to the control room, he happened to catch up with a dark thing (a shadow servant) dragging Amit, whose legs were broken, to the infirmary. After seeing this scene, even Akuldona could easily understand: Fujimaru Ritsuka was in a very bad mood. Therefore, some questions that could have been asked before, after this incident, became unasked.

But this does not mean that Akurdona has completely given up persuading him. No matter from which angle he considers it, at this moment he has the responsibility to persuade Fujimaru Ritsuka not to do irrational things. So Akurdona referred to the cheat sheet that Fujimaru Ritsuka himself had taught him, and after nodding, he asked again, "So you must have a plan, right?"

"The plan is this: In the first round of shooting, I will overload the Triton engine and energy circuit on the Storm Edge, maximize the effectiveness of the Holy Sword Armor, and push back the energy output of the Dendera Lantern." Fujimaru Ritsuka said some crazy plans in a very calm manner, "This step may not succeed in causing damage, but my main goal is to attract the attention of the people inside the temple. The Holy Sword Armor only needs to slightly tear open the barrier outside the Grand Temple and allow us to enter the barrier."

"...Wait a minute." Akurdona couldn't help but say, "Are you going to board the ship yourself?"

Fujimaru Ritsuka ignored him and just stared at the projection screen on the wall of the control room. Amid the flow of calculated data, the screens that looked like floor-to-ceiling windows showed the scene directly in front of the Storm Edge: the several-kilometer-long building complex of the Grand Temple of Glory, and the compressed and concentrated light in the Dendera Lantern. This main gun had once blasted open the walls of the Tower of Ends, and had also destroyed countless silver spires in the Crystal Palace. Although Fujimaru Ritsuka had already anticipated that she would be hostile to it again sooner or later, when this really happened in reality, she still couldn't respond and make decisions with a completely calm and rational attitude.

She had to admit that Tzeentch had her figured out this time.

"We don't know the current situation inside the temple yet, but the Lamp of Dendera is still Ozymandias's treasure. The main gun of the Grand Temple will only fire when he intends to fire." Ritsuka Fujimaru did not answer Akurdona's question - she thought she didn't need to answer common sense questions such as "one plus one equals two".

But she did have some plans for what was to come: "The void shields of the Hera Fortress can be reset during the time when we are exchanging fire, and once we enter the interior of the Great Temple, the main strategic goal is to 'find a way to distract Ozymandias', forcing him to spend his energy on the problems within the Temple, or even stop allocating resources to the Dendera Lamp. Of course, this is an ideal situation where 'Ozymandias still retains a certain degree of self-awareness'. If we find that this is not the case after the actual landing, we will first head to the direction of the Dendera Lamp and try to shut it down."

Akuldona felt that he should say something - even if he knew that he could not persuade Fujimaru Ritsuka, he should still give some advice. But unfortunately, when he opened his mouth to speak, the electronic prompt in the main control room sounded: "The Holy Sword Armament has been preheated and can be fired at any time."

"Set the clock that was previously synchronized with the Hera Fortress to the top, use the Sheba lens to synchronously observe the energy peak of the Dendera Lamp, and have Trismegistus predict and fit the launch time." Fujimaru Ritsuka ordered calmly, "Pause Chaldeas's copying of Macragge - I don't need precision, I just need to borrow Chaldeas to forcibly awaken Macragge's star soul. The Ortnaus spirit base enhancement function is activated, the channel connection is in good condition, and the built-in clock is connected to the console. The entire project enters the countdown, five, four, three..."

On the control room screen, under the gradually increasing blue-white light of the Dendera Lamp, Akurdona knew clearly that it was useless to say anything.

(End of this chapter)