Warhammer: In the Name of Nirvana

"You seem to be playing tricks on us, dear Lord Alpha."

A low call from the darkness made Hydra's pupils open: because he knew that the person speaking was Conrad who lived in his lower bunk.

In all senses, Conrad is not a good chat partner. He always likes to mix high-sounding discussions with hidden mysteries in chats. In the verbal confrontation with him, Even Alpharius must be careful.

"How do you say this, Lord Conrad?"

Hydra tried his best to keep his tone as calm and confused as possible, and then he heard the slight turning sound from the lower bunk very clearly: it turned out that there was a person less than two meters away from him in a straight line. The Primarch can indeed make anyone's senses sharper than ever before.

"How long has it been since we reunited with Zhuang Sen's fleet, then separated, and then headed south alone under your guidance?"

"Calculated based on the time on this battleship, fourteen Terran standard days."

Alpharius gave an accurate answer. He turned his head and looked at the alarm clock placed beside his bed. The clock on it was pointing to the number [XI].

Eleven o'clock in the evening is indeed a time for mortals to take a rest, but what surprised Hydra was that aboard the Dawn Goddess, Morgan's descendants seemed to abide by the same rules as mortals. Work and rest time: Just after eleven o'clock, except for the slight footsteps of the night shift personnel and the continuous debate and noise in the distant strategic meeting, the entire battleship has fallen into a deep sleep. Even Conrad is no exception.

What fun.

Hydra's pupils flickered.

Alpharius boasts that he has traveled to many legions, including legions that are close to the people like the Ultramarines or Salamanders, but even they are not so close to the people that they maintain a similar schedule to ordinary people.

Also among the people, among the descendants of Guilliman and Vulkan, Alpharius can always easily feel the goodwill brought about by the gap in strength, but among this group of Dawnbreakers, the people are not There is another explanation: it is the habit of the Astartes that is no different from that of mortals. It is the pride, fearlessness and confidence of the mortal servants who only regard these warriors of the Emperor as their larger kind.

Thinking of this, Alpharius couldn't help but blinked. He somewhat understood why those subordinates who "died before they were born" always emphasized the closeness of the Dawnbreakers in their intelligence reports: This is indeed an extremely conspicuous feature of the Second Legion. Characteristics, and in Alpharius's eyes, this characteristic undoubtedly contains some hidden ambition of Morgan.

Hydra has never believed that its Ava blood relative would be as gentle or even weak as the rumors: those who believe such rumors will definitely suffer a big loss in front of Morgan.

Hydra was thinking a lot, and in his lower bunk, Conrad's questions were also going on in an orderly manner.

"Yes, it's like what you said. It has been fourteen days, and we are almost touching the edge of this dead star. If we go further, we will leave this war zone: but we still haven't arrived. That’s the destination you mentioned, isn’t it?”

"Don't you give me an explanation?"

"..."

Hearing this, Hydra was silent for a moment. This didn't seem to be a problem he could deal with.

"Mr. Morgan asked you to ask this question?"

As soon as Alpharius' words came out, Conrad laughed contemptuously in the darkness.

"How much do you despise me: I am also a Primarch after all. The long voyage and the whispers in the corridor are my sources of information: If you want to deceive me in this regard, you can try it. .”

"...don't dare."

"I'm sorry you don't dare either."

Conrad snorted, and both of them fell silent. It was not until some time later that Midnight Ghost brought up another topic seemingly inadvertently.

"By the way, Alpha. Some people have mentioned to me that you seem to particularly like to go to the working areas and even living areas of the mortal assistants on the ship: Are you more interested in those mortals?"

"...mortal assistant?"

"In your Legion, they should be called Mortal Servants, but the Dawnbreakers will call any mortal who serves them a Mortal Auxiliary, those in the Auxiliary Army, those in the Navy, even those who approved the documents on Avalon. So are the MPs: on this point, they are all treated equally."

Alpharius was silent for a moment. He took a moment to think about Conrad's purpose in opening this topic: he did not believe that this midnight ghost was really hearsay. After all, he had always felt it during his actions in the past few days. The shadow falling behind him.

Conrad has been watching him: as for who was behind it, it goes without saying.

A certain spider queen's desire to control everything under her command was so strong that it was almost pathological: after temporarily losing thirty of her subordinates and five times that number of mortal spies, Hydra came to this conclusion. in conclusion.

These elites who once served in the Hydra Legion are now either retiring to their old age in the Dawnbreaker Legion office in Holy Terra, or enjoying the fear of society at the patrol outposts on the northern border of the Avalon Federation. A life of ecstatic solitude.

If not every nail he planted could not escape Morgan's day after day, never-ending soul search, Alpharius would not have to be as passive as he is now. On Morgan's battleship, he could not find Anywhere he settled, he had only experienced such a helpless feeling with the Dark Angels and Space Wolves.

"Answer my question, guys from the 20th Legion, how do you keep grinding?"

Conrad in the darkness seemed to be getting a little impatient. He was even kicking the bed. As long as he stretched out his left leg, he could kick Alpharius, who was sleeping on the top bunk, to stagger.

"..."

Hydra had to pause his thinking and choose the safest answer that would make it impossible for anyone to find fault.

"I'm just a little curious about the way the Dawnbreaker Legion gets along with mortals. After all, according to rumors from the outside world, the Second Legion is almost the most friendly Astartes Legion."

"This has nothing to do with you, an ordinary soldier, right?"

"But I have a right to be curious, don't I?"

After a question and answer, the two roommates in the upper and lower bunks were silent for a moment, and then burst into tacit and awkward laughter.

"You're right: you can be curious, ordinary soldier."

On the last four words, Midnight Ghost deliberately used the heaviest tone to embellish it, almost making his suspicions and speculations clear, but Alpharius was not confused about this: he knew very well that as long as he revealed his true identity , then almost every one of his brothers will recognize him. After all, they are the emperor's children, and they have the same genetic module in their blood.

Oh, except Jonson: before this guy recognized Alpharius, the word [Warmaster] thrown by Hydra attracted all his attention.

"So, what have you observed after so many days of observation?"

The Midnight Ghost continued to ask questions. He kept rolling around on his bed and changing sleeping positions: Conrad is not a very honest sleeper, and at the same time, he is also a very light sleeper. Both of them The fusion made sharing a bunk bed with him a very torturous torture.

Alpharius had to endure the shaking feeling from the lower bunk from time to time, and he himself had to be cautious, because the slightest movement would cause Conrad to wake up suddenly: Over the next few days, Hydra discovered that with Conrad Being a roommate is much more difficult than conducting espionage work on the Dawn Goddess.

It was torture.

Alpharius sighed. He simply took off his cautious disguise and answered the Midnight Ghost's question in a calm and objective tone.

"I found that the relationship between the Dawnbreaker Legion and mortals is too stable."

"..."

"What's wrong with stability?"

Conrad heard the disapproval in Alpharius' tone.

"Of course there is nothing wrong with stability in itself. In fact, the relationship between the Dawnbreakers and mortals is the best solution I have ever seen between the Astartes and mortals: the Ultramarines' closeness to the people is too ritualistic, and Although the friendly people of Salamander are very real, they never seem to have any foresight in this matter."

"But the Dawnbreakers are different. They have firmly bound themselves to the mortals of Avalon through their pervasive people-friendly actions. In the eyes of these mortal helpers who serve the Second Legion, the Dawnbreakers' warriors are just them. They are just a slightly larger version of the same species, not a completely different species."

"This extremely deep trust gives them sufficient ability, means, and credibility to establish a new order with the Primarch and the Astartes as its core and mortals as its wings: and this new order will undoubtedly be enough Stable, mature enough, and hopeful enough.”

"enough……"

"Replace the various temporary systems currently in place during the Great Crusade and become the new governing system of the Human Empire. This system can even continue to operate for a long time, extending to countless generations until mortals become accustomed to it."

"Because under this system, the Astartes can coexist with mortals: the Astartes warriors will serve as powerful superiors, with enough energy, ability, skill and moral character to maintain a good social structure, as long as they Without falling, this structure can continue for a long time, and the Astartes will undoubtedly be the absolute core of this structure. Mortals are only their dependents and ruled, and they are also the kind of willing ruled."

"...Isn't this bad?"

Conrad is a quiet listener. He admits that Alpha is describing a future that makes him excited. Therefore, he increasingly cannot understand why Alpha is worried about the future of this system.

"In itself, this system is of course very good, and from the perspective of the Far Eastern frontier and the five hundred worlds becoming increasingly prosperous, this system is even highly feasible: but it is just because it is so good and so feasible. Sexuality, so some beings absolutely do not allow this system to be truly established, or even extended to the entire empire."

"Some existence..."

"You mean the war council made up of mortals?"

"No"

Alpharius closed his eyes.

"It is a higher, bigger, superior, more powerful existence."

"..."

"..."

"you mean……"

"Makado?"

"..."

…

"right."

"That's Machado."

"..."

Conrad was silent for a moment.

"You didn't lie to me, right?"

"..."

"Of course: I'm the Alpha."

Hydra crossed his fingers and watched the clock slowly cross twelve o'clock. He finally decided to do as the Romans did and tried to sleep on this huge ship that made him feel uneasy: after all, he really needed to rest now.

But just when Alpharius felt a heavy sleepiness that he had not seen for a long time, he suddenly felt the bed begin to shake: it was Clad who stood up and left, muttering in the room, making a loud sound, waking up Alpharius. Reese, and as Midnight Ghost turned on the switch on the side at the same time, the dazzling light instantly shot into the eyes of Hydra.

"..."

Alpharius's eyes narrowed: the feeling of being forcibly pulled out of half-asleep made Hydra very dissatisfied. He looked in the direction of the light and only saw Conrad in the corner of the room. Looking for something.

"What are you doing?"

Alpharius asked in a deep voice, he even forgot to add a humble tone.

"I'm kind of having trouble sleeping, so I'm looking for something to help me sleep."

"What is it?"

"music."

"..."

"By the way, Alpha, I forgot to mention it before: I actually have the habit of grinding my teeth from time to time while sleeping. I want to know what impact this will have on you?"

"……Won't."

That's good.

Midnight Ghost let out a string of deep laughter, which made Hydra feel a little uneasy.

Then, he saw the Midnight Ghost rummaging through the pile of debris. This lasted for a while, until Hydra heard a loud exclamation: It turned out to be Conrad from a pile of strange sculptures. Pull out a pair of shiny, finely crafted power claws.

"This is a weapon made by myself."

Midnight Ghost showed off triumphantly.

"Yeah, great."

“I call them Grind and Fang: they symbolize two very important parts of my philosophy of life, and I rarely feel confused whenever I see these two names.”

"That's really good."

Alpharius replied casually, all he wanted to do now was sleep.

But the moment he turned over, Hydra suddenly realized something.

Grinding...Fangs...Seiko Power Claws...

…

etc.

Did Conrad just say that he likes to grind his teeth?

Before the thought dissipated, an extremely harsh sound, like an eagle's claws slowly scratching across a glass bottle, echoed in Hydra's ears for a long time.

What followed was Conrad's extremely familiar murmur.

"The sound helps relieve stress, my dear alpha brother."

"..."

——————

Alpharius felt that he should indeed speed up his progress.

——————

【……】

[You are much better than I thought, Conrad. 】

"Thanks for the compliment, sister."

[But... I'm still a little curious: How did you inspire our brother Alpharius... to work enthusiastically? 】

"Maybe, it's just some sincere brotherly love."

【……】

【Let me think so. 】

Morgan shifted her gaze. She was more concerned about the lifeless planet in front of them than the answers in Conrad's mouth. It seemed that the secrets of everything were hidden on it.

On the sixteenth Terran Standard Day after separation from Jonson and Leman Russ, the Dawnbreaker fleet, under the leadership of Alpharius, finally arrived at the border of the Dead Stars, which was only a short distance from the theoretical northern border of the empire. One step away, and an unknown galaxy hidden here is the final destination of their trip.

This galaxy is not big, and there are no civilizations or defenders on it. The Dawnbreaker's fleet easily controls every world in the galaxy, even every asteroid ring, and finally in a whole body In the gray and white world, they found their goal.

In fact, as early as the moment she entered this galaxy, Morgan had already realized that this world was her target, for no other reason: if we say that other areas of the Dead Stars were just a depressing place for the navigators and think tanks, As for the dark deep sea, then this nameless galaxy is a huge iceberg that can completely freeze any psyker in it.

And this gray-white star is the core of the iceberg, the birthplace of all icy breath. Just being close to its low-Earth orbit has caused most of the think tanks and even the navigators in the legion to fall into a temporary state of freeze: their first Their three eyes could not open, their souls became extremely weak, and fell into a state of suspended animation that was close to a vegetative state. Their response to the outside world was so slow that people had to worry about whether they were still alive.

Even Zosimus, the chief think tank of the Dawnbreaker Legion, and Cassia, the chief navigator, were also knocked down, and they were also in this [seriously injured] state, as were an unimaginable number of mortal auxiliaries. , and the Dawnbreakers who accounted for half of the legion.

As the only great psyker in the fleet who could still maintain regular activities and even use spells, Morgan felt the strangeness of this nameless world more clearly than anyone else.

If subspace is a vast ocean with turbulent waves and hidden murderous intent, then the place they are now in is a place that can be called the [Pole]: from the perspective of subspace, there is no ocean here, only a vast ocean. On a piece of frozen ice floe, the ferocious monsters that were once active in the depths of the Sea of ​​Souls seemed to be reduced to the living dead with their heads sealed in the ice.

But that's not the most important thing: after all the navigators and think tanks were installed, the Dawnbreakers released a large number of reconnaissance drones to the surface, and the thousands of photos sent back made the staff The senior officials of the Ministry felt some kind of fear that was almost absurd.

This pale world is not without traces of civilization. In other words, this world once had a highly developed civilization. Although the tall buildings and hives bustling with people have all turned into ancient ruins scattered in all directions. But the former prosperity can still be seen.

However, these buildings do not seem to be in human artistic style, but more like some unknown alien civilization.

The ground of the entire planet is relatively flat. In the center of the only continent in Weidu, there is a huge mountain range that is extremely inconsistent with geology. The source of the strange aura in the subspace also emanates from this mountain range: Reconnaissance . Humans and machines captured every inch of the mountain range without any blind spots. But only the bare surface, countless caves that seemed to be hidden entrances, and...

Scattered throughout the mountains are sculptures with particularly distorted images.

There are a large number of these sculptures, which can be said to be vivid and lifelike, but all of them are extremely twisted, extremely ferocious, and extremely terrifying in appearance, as if their creators were trying to create terrifying monsters that would never exist in the human world. : Among those Dawnbreaker warriors who were still conscious, no one could identify what these sculptures were carving.

But Morgan recognized it.

【demon. 】

The first second she got the photo, the Spider Queen whispered this word, which made Conrad, who was standing aside, tilt his head and start asking her in a low voice.

"demon?"

[Yes, demons are what I told you, those fallen creatures living in subspace: in fact, there are not only them, there are countless other subspace creatures in these photos. At the very least, I can Recognize the enslavers and the dimensional beast called Kemerei, there are quite a few of them. 】

Conrad blinked.

"What is our brother doing these things? Has he fallen into the fanatical worship of Lorgar and Magnus, eager to find some spiritual sustenance from the warp?"

Conrad laughed mockingly, but this time, Morgan did not laugh with him, her face was extremely serious.

[That guy wouldn’t do such a meaningless thing: obviously. This should be a base for him to conduct experiments, and from the perspective of location, it should be the first base he established after escaping here. He should have completed some research here, and this research eventually led to Death Silence Appearance of stars. 】

"You mean, the nearly frozen subspace in front of us and the annihilated alien civilization are his masterpieces: and he is no longer here?"

[Of course not here, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find some clues from his research site to deduce what kind of methods he has prepared to deal with us: I think we need to prepare a small-scale Airborne. 】

"Small scale?"

"Facing a dangerous position like this, it would be safer to press the entire legion up, right?"

[On the contrary. 】

Morgan shook his head.

[Because the subspace activities in this galaxy have almost stagnated, all the think tanks under my command have collapsed, and a considerable number of the remaining warriors have fallen into a depressed and depressed state, unable to exert their combat effectiveness at all. Only those Terrans Veterans still have something to look forward to. 】

[But I also want to leave a large number of Terran veterans to disperse among the various fleets to ensure that when I leave, the fleet will not be defeated by a sudden attack: let’s talk about it again. Since the three of us are going to explore, the combat power will be overflowing, and bringing too many people will be a drag. 】

"..."

"That makes sense: Who are you going to take?"

[Headed by Bayar: His second company is enough. 】

"Aren't you worried that your chief of guards will be sad because of this?"

[I need Rana to coordinate the overall situation. The role he can play by staying above is undoubtedly greater than that of Bayar. Moreover, don’t underestimate me, the chief guard, he will understand what I mean. 】

"I never underestimated him."

Conrad responded and left Morgan's throne room. He needed to catch Alpha who was wandering on the battleship. This Primarch was needed for the next airdrop operation.

After the Midnight Ghost left, Morgan did not immediately make preparations. She just picked up the photos and looked at them again and again. An indescribable sense of crisis continued to accumulate in her heart: In the end, the Spider Queen made up her mind. Determined, before the airdrop begins, she must know the situation on the ground in advance.

After reluctantly consuming a batch of alien souls that were extremely precious to Morgan, the Spider Queen successfully caused an absolutely reliable psychic detector to appear in the subspace. of coldness and deathly silence, and then smashed all the way to the pale planet at its feet.

The process went smoothly, and the detection speed was also very fast: when Conrad and Alpharius returned to the throne room, they found that Morgan was still sitting on the throne, and her face seemed to become even more ugly. .

The two Primarchs looked at each other, and finally Midnight Ghost took a step forward.

"What's wrong?"

【……】

Morgan did not reply immediately. She lowered her head, letting her long hair cover the thoughts in her blue pupils. It was not until a long period of silence that her hoarse voice reached the ears of the two original bodies. beside.

[I just checked the surface: a very rough check. 】

[There are two new pieces of information that I hope you can pay attention to. 】

The Primarchs looked at each other again.

"What are they?"

Alpharius asked.

[First, I feel the breath of God on the surface of this planet. 】

"…Which god?"

【……】

【Nothing. 】

[Four, none. 】

"..."

"..."

"Then...what about the second one?"

[The second thing...]

[Those sculptures, they are not sculptures at all. 】

[They are demons: a group of demons who are still alive. 】

"..."

"Which god's demon?"

【……】

【Nothing. 】

[Four, none. 】