Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

She is coming.

His blood relatives are here.

A little faster than he expected, but still within the expected range.

The midnight ghost wanders in the darkness, like a broken wing separated from a black vulture, carried by the vicious wind, and floats to a distance that no one can fathom.

He leaned forward, staying outside the small country illuminated by the only dim wall lamps, and concentrated on heading to his destination in absolute silence and dead silence. Apart from him, this several-kilometer-long dirty road The tunnel was deserted, and the last occupants had hurriedly moved out a few hours ago, leaving a mess of silence on the ground.

Midnight Ghost liked this kind of silence, especially when he realized that this silence was not just a lie transmitted to his senses from the outside world, but also the result of the temporary rest of the illusion in his mind that had never calmed down: his brain It is silent now, a silence that makes people cry.

It had been a long time since he had been sober like this: the vision that had troubled him for a long time quietly disappeared from his mind. Although this was destined to be only a temporary ebb, it was enough to make the midnight ghost show a terrifying and sincere smile.

The smile in the darkness was like the god of the dead in any ancient mythology.

Midnight Ghost knew the reason why this wonderful status quo would come to pass: all along, when he was thinking hard about something, the illusion in his mind would arbitrarily project the future of this matter in front of his eyes, making him All the thinking has become ridiculously useless

This situation has only changed twice so far: the first time was when his genetic father put his palm on his shoulder, and the cold light caused the illusion to flee in desperate screams, rising slowly. The golden sun temporarily obscured everything with its dazzling glare, ruthlessly declaring the Emperor's omnipotence.

The second change was not long ago, when he was leaning on the wall of his brand-new lair, stuffing the hundredth piece of rodent meat into his mouth while thinking about his silver-haired blood relative. In the future, some too slow discovery flashed through Midnight Ghost's mind, leaving him stunned.

Midnight Ghost cannot see any future for his silver-haired blood relatives. All he can see is the betrayal, destruction and loss that should have happened, not anything that happened to the Lord of the Second Legion at any point in time from now on. Therefore, when he thought about Morgan over and over again, he was surprised to find that as he devoted more energy to this matter, the illusion in front of him disappeared unconsciously.

This sounds natural: after all, Curze can't find Morgan's future at all, so he can't let new visions repeatedly torture the mind of Midnight Ghost, and the fragments recording the original fate of the Spider Queen are just part of the past. It's just a normal memory, and of course it cannot be used as part of the "future" to be repeated in the mind of Midnight Ghost.

When Curze discovered this, he smiled.

Although Midnight Ghost knew very well that this was just an unreasonable mistake, a special situation that could not constitute any truth, and did not improve his current situation at all, but this did not prevent him from carefully savoring the short-term peace and silence, and began to Plan to have an unforgettable interaction with your silver-haired blood relative.

A completely unknown interaction.

An interaction that is no longer dominated by his prophecies and visions of the future, but has real dangers and possibilities. No one knows what will happen.

It can be a contact, a conversation, a hunt, a fight.

even……

It can be a trial.

Judge her hypocritical face, judge her stolen life, judge her exquisite means of concealing everyone, let the truth be revealed in the darkness, let the lies be ruined in fear, and gather every drop of blood of fate back to the In the right position, let the abominable fate flow again: no one can escape.

Or maybe it could solve another question in his mind, a question that was burning his mind, and he longed for the answer to it, that was important to him.

It was worth his trouble.

It was worth his blood.

…

It’s really exciting, isn’t it?

The corners of his ferocious mouth curled all the way down to the sharp earlobes, revealing the rugged yellow tartar in his pale lips. The midnight ghost was like a blood-eating monster in rural mythology, advancing in the deepest darkness and bleak light, searching. The sound of riding boots fascinated him, calculating the distance between them.

Finally, Coze arrived at the meeting place he had carefully chosen. It was a hub connecting various roads, the end of the main road on the bottom deck, a crossroads in the dark, and those doors that were casually covered. , ventilation ducts scattered with dust, and path intersections leading to unknown darkness, are everywhere in this place, even reminding Midnight Ghost of the vastness that he could capture when he looked down at Nostramo.

He liked it, he chose this place: on this strange battleship, nothing could make the Midnight Ghost regain the feeling he had in Nostramo better than a complex maze in the dark. I am very sure that I will not lose to anyone here.

Just like that, Coze squatted down, like those ferocious stone beasts at the top of Nostramo's spiers, quietly waiting for the sound of riding boots to gradually approach. The stench in the ventilation ducts was cold and cold, making his dirty mind The dirty robes made a hunting sound, and from time to time the extremely sharp claws on the slender arms were exposed.

He could already smell blood.

Midnight Ghost knew that this time, this was not a ridiculous hallucination.

——————

After a long absence, the leader of the Second Legion was fully armed.

Morgan held her black-blue double-edged spear ax tightly in her hands. She put on the armor gifted by the Lord of Fire Dragons, and her lower body was protected by a steel skirt made by her own hands, while [Stheno] and [ Euryale] swallowed her hands and forearms, providing terrifying toughness that no armor could match. They were as thin as a layer of white paper, and could even clearly reflect every aspect of Morgan's body. nails.

Even above the head, an invisible layer of light appeared between the back of the Primarch's head and earlobes, making the Spider Queen's cyan-blue pupils look particularly cold.

Compared with these creations, all of which were made by the Primarch, and the psychic waves swirling around Morgan's body, the twenty old guards behind the Lord of the Second Legion seemed a bit cumbersome, although among them The majority of people have no such sad consciousness at all.

Beside Morgan, the Chief Old Guard is almost inseparable from his genetic mother. Unlike the [immature] subordinates behind him, as a veteran who came out of the Terran Unification War, Lana is very Knowing the rift between the Astartes warriors and the Primarchs, one can roughly guess why their Primarchs are so heavily armed.

Because of this, he was talking quietly to the original body along the way. At first, it was just admonishment, but as they walked farther and farther in the darkness, the admonition gradually turned into a plea.

"I beg you, my lord."

The Chief Old Guardsman spoke in another low voice while staying close to his Primarch. The expression on his face was full of obstacles to his progress, and he was determined to follow up.

"You are a psyker, my lord, one of the most powerful psykers in the empire. You can use your psychic power to solve the situation at hand instead of rushing into danger yourself."

"Please let us line up in front of you and become your guards and shields. If we can delay even one second from the Primarch's offensive, it will be enough for you to summon enough power to conquer your That brother, stop his atrocities on the ship."

"There is no need for you to go to danger yourself: that is a Primarch anyway, and we know nothing about his power and talent. The only thing we know is his beast-like cruel nature. Such a existence is extremely dangerous. It might be impossible to communicate, that would be too..."

[Shh. 】

The anxious words were interrupted softly. The Lord of the Second Legion smiled, touched the helmet of her chief guard, and put her fingertips on her lips until she spoke the final decision. .

[Stop talking, Rana. 】

[He can hear it. 】

"But! Sir..."

[Don't be so worried, my child, I know it well, listen to my orders and execute them well. This is what you need to do now, and nothing will go wrong. 】

"..."

Lana was silent. He seemed to be worried about whether to provoke the wrath of his Primarch, but after the shortest decision, his sense of responsibility and trust in his Primarch still defeated the unknown and instinctive fear. .

"With all due respect, my lord."

"The last time you acted so arbitrarily, the tragedy of Yemenga was the result."

"Please think twice."

Rana's words were sonorous with pathos and force, setting off a wave of silence among the Old Guards behind the Primarch. As Morgan's footsteps stopped, every Dawnbreaker could not help but keep quiet. , they felt the flash of anger in the eyes of the Gene Mother, which was destined to be born after the scars were ruthlessly opened.

Lana gritted his teeth. He also felt the anger of the Mother of Genes, but just when he closed his eyes, waiting for the judgment that this offensive word would bring.

He heard a sigh.

That is the sigh of the mother of genes.

The anger of the leader of the second legion lasted less than a moment, but she quickly regained control of her own reason. The flames that were burning wantonly were extinguished, and in exchange for a low voice and a gentle pat on the head, she The helpless words spoken by the old Guardsman when he stood on his shoulders.

[Indeed, Rana. 】

[But this time is different. 】

[I can assure you of this, my child. 】

"..."

Lana didn't speak anymore. He felt the force of the Mother of Genes' fingers on his shoulder. The force could be called slight, but it left the Chief Old Guard speechless.

After all, it was the Primarch.

The Lord of the Second Legion turned around, and she led her descendants forward for a short distance. This time, she did not use psychic exploration to find her brother, because she could feel the presence of the midnight ghost. Where.

Moreover, right next to the Spider Queen's riding boots, there is a capable navigator: the big white cat named [Warmaster] rushed to the lower deck without hesitation the moment he discovered that his breeder had arrived. It came out, rubbed the Gene Queen's boots, and kept licking Morgan's fingers that touched it. Then, with its tail raised high, it walked to the front of the team step by step.

Under the guidance of this apex predator in the front bottom cabin, soon even the most insensitive Old Guardsmen were able to smell the strange smell in the breeze. The chain saw placed on the top of the halberd The blade began to roar, and everyone involuntarily entered an instinctive vigilance.

The Primarch stood at the front of her team, roughly assessed the distance between her and her brother, then turned her head and looked at her chief guard.

[You stay here and don’t move forward without my order. 】

"...Understood, sir."

After the briefest moment of tangle, Lana's instinctive retort was quickly swallowed by him. The old guard stared at his mother nervously, the thermal imaging fluoroscopy device was turned on at full power, ready to speak at any time. The muzzle of the gun formed a sharp contrast with the lazily opened mouth of [Warmaster] who also stayed in place.

The big white-haired cat sat on the ground. When it saw its breeder walking towards that hateful rival, it curled up and lay down with its tail close to its body, its eyes half-closed, its ears erect, and its whiskers naturally drooped. It made a purring sound, and there was no sense of tension about an imminent battle: on the contrary, it looked at its silver subordinates aside with confused eyes, curious about what these guys were nervous about.

And in this sight where tension and laziness met, Morgan gently tapped the double-edged ax gun in his palm with his finger, and his figure slowly disappeared in a wave of waves like a pool of water disturbed by stones. .

The next moment, she appeared in front of the Midnight Ghost and saw the smile made of ferocious teeth stained with yellow stains.

[You are here, Conrad. 】

"I'm always here, dead."

【……】

[You can call me Morgan, that's my name. 】

"I know."

In Spider Queen's pupils, the midnight ghost wrapped in darkness nodded his head seriously, with a thoughtful expression between his brows and eyes.

"But I can't do that."

【……Why? 】

"Because you're dead."

Conrad's voice is a given.

"Calling someone by their first name is disrespectful to the deceased. It is a form of etiquette."

【……】

[Nostramo etiquette? 】

"No, it's my etiquette."

——————

Just when Midnight Ghost was worried about how to pull out the rotten pork strip stuck at the root of his teeth, he felt a light wave of spiritual energy.

He knew that the person he had been waiting for finally came: it was later in the evening and earlier in the morning than he expected, but it was not a big problem. He enjoyed the mistakes made by his brain's independent speculation without prediction.

The Midnight Ghost squats in the darkness, his figure is like a hound sitting upright, waiting for his blood relatives to start the topic of real concern between them, and beside his sharp claws, there are still a lot of them scattered Food remains, obviously, he was constantly replenishing the nutrients he had lost.

[We should talk, right? 】

Just when Midnight Ghost finally dug out the pork strip and started chewing it for the second time with satisfaction, he heard another word from the Lord of the Second Legion after the silence. This word came from the pure darkness, plain and simple. To the point where the speaker’s mood is unrecognizable.

Curze blinked.

"If you think that I stole your precious kitchen waste, then please allow me to apologize to you, deceased. I did not know that they were private property that you valued. I promise that I will not do this again."

A string of words that were more like sarcasm than an apology slowly floated out of Midnight Ghost's mouth, but what disappointed him was that his living dead blood relatives did not seem to be shaken in the slightest, as if this was the case I have listened to his remarks thousands of times.

Morgan was silent for a moment.

After a long time, Midnight Ghost just heard a sigh, and he instinctively sensed that it seemed to be the last thin line.

[The Emperor chose to hand you over to me, Conrad. Neither you nor I are satisfied with this decision, but we have no choice, right? You are destined to be on my ship for several years, maybe longer. 】

[If we don’t want to torture each other continuously during this period, then you should have a good talk with me now. 】

"..."

She was more rational than he expected.

Midnight Ghost thought this way, and then, almost instinctively, he developed a monstrous anger and desire for destruction: Why can this hypocritical living dead maintain such hypocritical rationality like now?

Doesn't she know her own blasphemy and original sin? Doesn't she know that her existence is distorting everyone's destiny?

No, she must know.

She was dead, but she could still stand before him alive: she must have gone through some unknown transactions, or simply found some blasphemous path and came back to pollute the justice and order of the world.

Use her hypocrisy, use her reason, use her disguise.

She is invincible.

…

But it's different now.

The Midnight Ghost is going to tear it all apart, starting from this moment.

Coates believed so.

So he smiled.

"What do you want to talk to me about, about your [adoption] of me?"

[I don’t hate this word. 】

"I don't hate it either."

"In general, everything is not as bad as you think. Dead, I have adapted to life on this ship. I have built my nest here. The food wasted by your heirs and subordinates It’s hearty enough and I don’t have to worry about my tummy.”

"As long as you don't stop me from continuing my career, I think we can still get along very happily. A few years is not such a long time. If you forget that there is a monster deep in your ship, you can relax Enjoy your conquests and your sleep."

"Wear your crown, noble queen like a corpse. Just like I just want to be my monster in the shadows here, don't interfere in those places you are not good at."

[As a parasite, you are more confident than I thought, Ghost. 】

The voice of the Lord of the Second Legion was terrifyingly cold. Midnight Ghost even felt as if he was falling in love with this coldness. It reminded him of the dry and cold plasma that gradually flowed out after the skin of the guilty was peeled off.

"Justice and civilization are beneficial parasites, my dead blood relatives. They are parasitic on the wings of the order brought by fear and power, like jumping toothpick birds feeding on the residue from the crocodile's mouth. "

"You can't deny that."

[Of course I won’t deny it. 】

He heard Morgan laugh.

[But I can be sure of another thing: you are just a poor parasite, my brother Nostramo, who was placed in my ship by our father, slovenly, useless, and far from useful. , not even harmful, because your existence itself will not bring anything except ruin. 】

"……oh!"

"What a damning indictment!"

Midnight Ghost slowly raised his slender arms, and his exaggerated tone was like a bartender in a nightclub hypocritically praising the appearance of the benefactor. He lowered his head and shed a few drops of non-existent blood. After tears, the wanton and savage smile appeared in the Spider Queen's pupils.

"Why do you say this, my wight queen?"

[This is the truth, my parasite. 】

"This title of yours really hurts my heart. Is it because I started a trial without your permission? Then you have to forgive my strong ambition."

[You call that a trial? 】

"Then what's your name here?"

The Spider Queen's humming, accompanied by her cold laughter, stung the remaining pure land in the Midnight Ghost's heart.

[Generally speaking, we will call this kind of person who does not submit strong evidence, circumvents the laws of the empire, conducts private trials, and uses cruel methods and has extremely bad influence...]

【Conspiracy, murder, crime. 】

"..."

The silence in the darkness was even more terrifying than the coldest wind in Nostramo. The Midnight Ghost's breathing began to become obviously heavy at that moment. He was like a pot of boiling water that had been boiling for a long time, and finally Knocked to the ground.

He was silent for a long time.

"Even in Nostramo, everyone is responsible for their actions."

【I don’t think so. 】

[After all, in front of me now, isn't there a murderer full of sins, killing innocent people indiscriminately, and talking about excuses. 】

"..."

"Let me remind you one last time..."

[No need for your reminder. 】

【I know what happened. 】

【Take a good look at yourself. 】

【coward. 】

——————

The Midnight Ghost's attack was faster than Morgan imagined. He jumped away from his actions like a monster, hooked his claws on the rusty wall, and turned into an uncaptured residual in the darkness. film.

Normally, that's true.

But in fact, Midnight Ghost has a fatal weakness: a weakness discovered by Morgan from the beginning.

The Lord of the Second Legion watched his crazy brother disappear into the darkness, then he calmly raised his ax gun, and then without hesitation slashed at a corner in the boundless darkness around him. .

The harsh sound of metal friction showed that the attack was not successful, but the shadow that was darker than darkness that left in a hurry rolled to the side in an awkward manner, squatted low on the ground, and temporarily stopped the attack.

"..."

"How did you find me?"

The silence in the dark night lasted for a while, but when faced with this problem, the Spider Queen just held the ax gun and waved away the indescribable stench in front of her in disgust.

[How long has it been since you took a shower? 】

"..."

"..."

"bath?"

"what is that?"

【……】

【That's enough. 】

Just as the Midnight Ghost's second attack came with a stronger stench, the Spider Queen tightened her grip on her weapon while not forgetting to contact the maid in her bedroom.

[Aniya, it’s me. 】

[Prepare a bath, no, I don’t need it. 】

[Just boil water, 100 degrees. 】

【No no no! If he doesn't need to be washed in my bathroom, I'd rather kill him. 】

【Let me think about it...】

[By the way, how big is the pool where you wash the mop? 】