Warhammer 40k: Shattered Steel Soul

Chapter 498 How Difficult It Is

"...This is the development of Olympia, Lord Perturabo."

Kaliphon accompanied the Lord of Iron and sat under the iron-colored silk cloth on the top floor of the Palace of Lokos, overlooking the capital of Olympia, which was outlined by lights.

The mountain wind in the evening passed down the valley, blowing the gauze curtain toward the dim city, fluttering like several dark flags. Those decorative satins that showed various colors during the day faded and simplified, turning back into pure black strips, reaching into the depths of the night. In the distance, the sharp fortress towers of those tightly laid out fortifications were faintly revealed from the mountains, and they seemed to be there and not there in the mist.

Kel Varen, the war blacksmith on duty today, could not help but focus more on those arrangements that were closely related to the war. If he came at another time, his eyes would stay more on the garden-like city area that was rarely seen in the Great Expedition.

However, standing outside the tent, quietly listening to the conversation between Governor Cariphon and the Primarch, his mind occasionally fell on the Iron Warrior skull emblems marked between the tower and the hall, as well as the military facilities themselves.

The return of the Iron Blood brought a severe and cold atmosphere. Every officer accompanying the Primarch kept a silent and evasive silence, and a few of them disappeared.

When the warsmith Dantioch went to report to the Primarch about the unauthorized departure and actions of the Word Bearers, Perturabo interrupted him directly, the words of one of his most trusted and relied-on warriors.

The anger and sudden realization in his eyes at that time even made the warsmiths feel uncertain whether they could walk out of the command room safely-although they soon realized that the suppressed anger was not directed at them.

Kyle Varen took a deep breath, letting the air mixed with the cold mountain wind tremble and roll down his throat.

As the conversation between Kaliphon and Perturabo, which was not kept secret from the warsmith, gradually reached his ears, the journey of their primarch to countless light years away alone gradually became clear in front of him...

No, he could hear that Master Perturabo still had reservations, but many things were cleared up and became more clear.

"Does it have to be like this?" Kaliphon asked, his clear voice becoming trance-like.

"This is my decision," Perturabo said, enough to let people imagine his expressionless face, "The success of the human empire today is not achieved by hesitation and wandering, but by blood and sacrifice."

"But Olympia - yes, I understand, Abo. It is also blood and sacrifice, because the peace here is based on the stability of the entire galaxy maintained by war and power..."

"I am very happy that you agree with this, Cariphon. No utopia has ever been a sky garden. To ensure the secrecy of the first major battle, before the news of the warmaster's rebellion spreads throughout the galaxy, only our own home planet in the Olympia cluster will initiate war mobilization; but I need you to prepare for me to immediately spread the communication throughout the administrative division."

"This is not difficult to do. If you are willing to organize a speech, Olympia will trust you, Perturabo. But besides me, besides Olympia and your iron warriors..." There was a slight sound of air moving. Was it a wave? "How many people are willing to believe in the justice of Warmaster Perturabo? You shouldn't be a Warmaster. You know your reputation in the Empire..."

"Then turn it around, rely on statements, rely on violence. This is not the point. If I win, the Memoirs will know what they should do. If I lose, the Galaxy will no longer exist." Perturabo said, pausing, this pause was heart-wrenching, and then he continued: "But no matter what, the Olympia Cluster will be involved in the war."

"Indeed." Kaliphon said in a low voice.

"I..."

The Iron Lord seemed to have something else to say, but his voice stopped abruptly.

After a long and stagnant silence, Perturabo spoke again: "Let me take another look at Olympia today, Kaliphon."

Did some subtle electric currents float in, mixed with the cold evening mountain breeze and the subtle trembling of the blowing gauze curtains? And in the sound of the electric current, was there another breath of the Primarch, lightly and quickly drifting in the tent, and finally drowned in the great silence?

Kyle Varen could imagine how Lord Perturabo would observe the hologram of Olympia with a calm look, reach out his hand, hold it in his palm with one hand, and turn the ball firmly and gently with the other hand, stroking the wrinkles of the mountains and plains - no, that was the Perturabo of the past, that was the Iron Lord of the past, but definitely not the Warmaster Perturabo who now stood on the edge of rebellion and stared into the abyss.

He felt a rumbling panic for this, which instantly submerged him, because he could not imagine Lord Perturabo's eyes and attitude. He could not confirm... what?

Facing the land that adopted him in front of him... Yes, he was not a soldier from Olympia, but this was his second home, the second mother planet that adopted him... Facing Lokos, facing this ideal beauty, what could he not confirm?

Its survival, or its destruction?

It seemed to be a long time later, Perturabo spoke again.

"I will leave a part of the battle formation to guard here, Governor, I will leave a theater president who can speak for me-Trident, and this level of command chain will not continue to be vacant. Everything in Olympia is not meaningless, even if all the construction is within the possibility of being burned down."

"How happy your recognition is, my lord," Kaliphon said sadly, "Then don't look at the sky with hatred, Abo."

"I didn't-"

"I can see your eyes, when have you become unfathomable in front of me?"

Kaliphon said, did she grab Perturabo's hand? A fragile mortal, put her soft hand on the cold and hard steel?

"Don't let anger and resentment gnaw you, Abo. If we must lose a lot, if your ideals must be destroyed in your hands, then at least don't let us lose you again."

Kel Varen's heart tightened. Under the iron armor, under the links of the black shell, under the bone plates in the chest, his two hearts beat nervously at the same time, one heart was full of bitterness, and the other heart was full of worry.

But then, a signal sent to his ears woke him up, and his surprise brought him back to reality.

He decided to ask loudly outside the tent to report the news he knew after listening to the next words of the Primarch. He thought this should be considered good news. If possible, Kyle Varen hoped that Lord Perturabo could relax even for a moment because of this news.

And the last sentence he heard was the Primarch's calm reply.

"This is so difficult." The Lord of Iron said.

——

As soon as he set foot on the surface of Medusa, no, before that, when they just arrived outside the atmosphere of Medusa, Akurduna had already felt that some changes had indeed taken place here.

Yes, when a miraculous golden light pierced through the warp storm, when the navigators stood up in surprise, and the temperature in the hall of the Astropathic Choir dropped again, the Purple Phoenix Fulgrim ordered to go to Medusa, even if it was just an illusion of Akurduna, a sinister crisis brought about by the chaos of the warp.

Yes... long before that, the two of them had personally experienced the tip of the iceberg of what was hidden behind the warp, and knew what kind of experience a person who fell into the hands of darkness might suffer... and Fabius Bile is still on the list of the Emperor's Children's wanted orders.

Fulgrim did not publicize this, nor did he intend to cover it up. Even if the apothecary's defection was regarded as a stain on the perfect wings of the Emperor's Children-Fulgrim believed that concealing a crime was the real ugliness.

In any case, they passed through the warp that was enough to identify the direction. Even if it was still dark here, that beam of light was enough.

Medusa's atmosphere is always dark and gloomy. Starlight can never penetrate the heavily polluted atmosphere and send light to the ground through the rolling sulfur clouds. This is why many clans in Medusa regard the coming of Ferrus Manus as the light of the world.

However, this harsh realm without light is darker than before. It seems that the sky has been filled with dark shadows that seem to have arrived here from the void near Medusa. The tiny sounds of beetles biting mixed with ashes and steam sounded in Akurduna's ears, making him feel very uneasy - they are still outside the orbit, how can the noise penetrate this vacuum?

The Iron Hands did not respond to their request to land, but the satellites and combat platforms did not hinder them. The Emperor's Children could only take the initiative to land.

As agreed before, Fulgrim brought Akurduna and his company, in addition to the first and tenth companies to accompany the Primarch.

Walking on this land full of metal ores and extreme climate, a certain potential sense of crisis intensified the hostility that the continent seemed to have towards humans. The large land train seemed to be moving with the property of a clan at a certain location to cope with the ever-changing environment and possible natural disasters on the surface of Medusa.

The second captain sat in his own tank, together with Julius and Thor, and kept in touch with Fulgrim. Fulgrim seemed a little quiet during this journey. Perhaps this gloomy land was not suitable for the dazzling phoenix, or perhaps he just recalled the never-ending factory of Chemos.

About six hours later, they encountered the first battle. In the darkness, some strange species that seemed to belong to the land of Medusa appeared from the scattered and abandoned steel casting area and blocked them in front of them. Under the lighting of the Emperor's Children, it can be seen that it was a group of jumping monsters with bull-like horns on their heads and five-legged weird limbs that supported them from the ground.

Without even leaving the vehicle, these animals were cleaned up in front of them with a few rounds of flamethrowers that didn't require precise hits. But the premonition of danger still ached dully in Akurduna's forehead.

Yes, the wilderness of Medusa was full of dangers. In the series of battles in the Gardenar system, when he led the Second Company to fight alongside Ferrus Manus, he had learned many stories about the native land of Medusa, the wild crises in the darkness and the xenophobic nature of the clan itself...

Oh, during that time, he remembered that Lord Ferrus still wanted to fight for the rumored position of Warmaster. Unfortunately, the battle was not fought well, until Fulgrim led the expeditionary fleet and rushed to support, the situation was not from danger to better - and his life was saved from that crisis, for him, it was quite worth celebrating.

So, will it be the same this time? A successful assistance?

Akurduna was a little dazed until he saw those distorted but still roughly prototyped outlines again. That should be the base fortress of the Iron Hands on the home planet, if he remembered correctly. For a moment, he thought that it was the influence of the Blade of Lar on him that continued vaguely, and the hallucinations flashed back continuously, but he soon realized that no: that dull and weird outline was the reality he was facing now.

All this almost made him feel some kind of unspeakable betrayal, not by the Iron Hand, but by reality - could this place quietly soaked in pus be the home of the Gorgons who once matched the beauty of Lord Fulgrim?

During the time when the warp storm obscured the light, those few short months were enough for a dark existence in the warp to harm this tough and cruel land to such a blasphemous point? So, if we continue to infer this way, what happened to Chemos and what happened to the Golden Throne?

Too many things happened... too many, after Nikaea, it seemed that all the chaos came one after another, so that they had no time to deal with it...

The second group of tainted creatures approached, and those rustling iron pincers approached the purple-gold combat vehicles of the Emperor's Children.

Those twisted things, embroidered on metal and flat stone, were like a group of multi-legged spiders, deliberately forming a poisonous web around them and swallowing them in... This was only the second round, and Akurduna's combat instincts told him that this was just an appetizer.

Where did these heretical things come from? Could it be that the power that attacked them in Olympia that year was still obsessed with making a comeback?

Akurduna closed his eyes briefly, abandoning the thoughts that surged up. If the Blade of Laer really left any residue of his influence on him, it could only be his worries, and the anger and disgust that he had once conquered the filthy garden long ago.

And the Emperor's Children will defeat anything that can defeat them again.

Live up to the Skyhawk on his chest. Live up to the throne of Terra.

His fingers brushed the two knives on his knees, fastened them one by one to the magnetic buckle on his waist, stood up, and gave orders to the helmet.

"Leave the vehicle and clear the enemy. Afterwards, follow the Primarch, brothers."