40k: Midnight Blade

Chapter 76 75. The Eighth Legion (Ten, 3k)

Leonard saw his team being captured one by one, there is no doubt about that. There were twenty people in total, and no one was spared.

He was the first, Estonev was the thirteenth, and the new recruit Kai Toon in the team was the last.

Quintus's night was still long, but for the Punishment Blade team, it was already over.

Leaning against the roof of the building, the cold ice bound him firmly to the ground. To be fair, this posture was not comfortable. Although Leonard had experienced worse postures, if he had a choice, he would still like to move.

But he had no choice.

Moreover, he didn't understand.

So, he asked directly.

"Why, instructor?"

He looked at the giant throwing the unconscious Kai Toon to the ground and spoke in a dry voice. "Why did you do that?"

However, the giant did not answer. He just took off the recruit's helmet very gently - Leonard originally thought that he was afraid of hurting Kai Tuen, but in fact, it was not the case at all.

He saw that their instructor, who had just taken office for just over a day, immediately pressed Kai Tuen's temple after taking off his helmet. He used two fingers of the same hand to complete the task.

Then, he began to exert force.

Kai Tuen woke up in pain, there was no doubt about that, but his expression after waking up was very relaxed. After noticing that he could not move, he was so calm that Leonard was even a little surprised.

"Are you feeling better?" Khalil asked coldly.

"Much better than before, instructor." Kai Tuen replied in a low voice. "I didn't expect them to have such weapons."

"Nostramon has all kinds of guns, and sonic guns are not surprising. Although they are rare, it does not mean that they do not exist."

Khalil shook his head calmly. Kai Tuen wanted to say something, but he caught a glimpse of his teammates who were frozen on the ground.

".Instructor?" he said dryly. "What does this mean?"

"I would like to ask you what you mean, Kai Toon of the Punishment Blade Squad."

".Me?"

"Yes, you." Khalil laughed. There was no kindness in this smile.

"I chased you and found that you were completely indifferent to the group of people who were tied up and sacrificed. You are still a new recruit. I can see it from the emblem on your right shoulder. So, who told you that you should ignore the victims?"

"It's me, instructor." Leonard said.

He vaguely sensed a reason, but he didn't dare to believe it, and didn't want to believe it.

How could it be possible? He thought. How could the adoptive father of the Primarch not understand our duties?

"I'm not talking to you, Leonard, I'm in a bad mood now, and I hope you will forgive this and everything I will do to you later."

Khalil turned his head slowly, and in his eyes as dark as agate, an emotion that Leonard was very unfamiliar with was brewing.

Looking at those eyes, Leonard realized how to spell this emotion after a long time.

Disappointment. He silently pronounced its syllables in his heart.

Leonard's right hand began to tremble slightly, but Khalil ignored him and turned his head back.

"Tell me, Kai Toon, why do you ignore those victims?"

The recruit did not answer, but remained silent. Something that could not be described in detail slowly boiled on his pale face.

"Kai Toon, your auditory system is not damaged too much. You were just hit by the gun and fainted, which does not mean that you have lost your hearing."

Khalil spoke slowly.

"So, in the name of the legion instructor, with the power and obligation given to me by the Emperor and the 8th Legion Primarch Conrad Curze, answer me, why do you ignore those victims?"

". Because they are not sinners." The recruit whispered. "They have nothing to do with my mission."

Khalil took a deep breath. He never thought that he would get such an answer.

Nothing to do. He had assumed the worst for them, but never thought it would be this bad.

"What is your mission, Kai Toon?"

"Judgment."

The recruit answered without hesitation, and even began to recite a short and powerful sentence.

"We are the punishment sent by the Emperor, we are his sharp blades, we are the embodiment of judgment. We will walk in the dark night and kill sin. We will always abide by this path until the end of our lives."

"Judge who? Punish who?"

"Of course, the sinners, instructor."

"Judge for whom? Punish for whom?"

"Of course, the Emperor and our Primarch, instructor."

"It's a mistake--!"

Khalil roared suddenly, and his voice crashed into the gloomy building in the cold night of Quintus. His voice echoed from the top of the building, echoing continuously until it became an inhuman cry of regret.

Leonard's lips began to tremble.

And now, all the blades of punishment, they are awake. But no one dared to speak, they all stared silently at Kai Toon and the giant entrenched in the darkness.

"What did I do wrong, instructor?" the recruit asked blankly. "That paragraph? But I have memorized it millions of times."

Leonard saw that their instructor closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, the brief surge of extreme rage dissipated in an instant, as if it had never appeared before.

He was completely calm. Leonard thought in disbelief. But, how is this possible?

Calmly, Khalil spoke slowly.

"No, not the words, Kai Toon, but your actions."

"My behavior?"

Khalil did not reply to this sentence, he just sighed calmly, and that kind of calm indifference almost made Leonard's hair stand on end.

He wanted to speak, but he could not, for a dangerous chill was persuading him.

Oh, you'd better be quiet, Leonard, who used to belong to the First Company, you'd better be quiet.

After a period of silence, Khalil spoke again, with a soft tone. The combination of words and tone made everyone hear a sense of irony.

"There are seventy-two bodies in that church," he concluded slowly. "Excluding the civilians who were sacrificed, there are thirty-three cult members. In other words, you have judged thirty-three sinners tonight. Congratulations, Kai Toon."

"If you hadn't brought me back, I could have judged more tonight. He was just lucky enough to knock me out with the help of the gun, but I also inserted the knife into his chest. He was the last person. "

Kai Toon replied in a low voice, with a slight tremor in his voice.

"So?" Khalil asked with a chuckle.

".So, I don't understand why you are so aggressive and even treat us with such - such contempt."

Kai Tuan moved his head. The young man pursed his lips and his eyes fell on the dirty ground of the building. The dirty acid rain puddles reflect the misty light, and also reflect the thick clouds of Nostramo, making it even more eerie in the eyes of those who look at it.

"You are wrong, Kai Thune. I have never despised any of you. Who am I to do this? You have fought for humanity and the Empire for a long time, and that is why you are broken like this."

"Even a recruit like you who has not yet officially obtained a military rank has a longer life in the war than ordinary people. Your captain Leonard has been fighting for forty-three years. I have no right to despise you. I never despised you. I just felt sorry for you.”

"But you were clearly mocking me just now."

"No." Khalil stretched out his hand and pulled the young man's face back. "I didn't. I was satirizing something else, something that made you like this."

He looked at him seriously, meeting his eyes.

Kai Tuan tried to evade at first, but later, he stopped trying to resist. He looked back at those dark eyes for the same amount of time, and then, something in his eyes began to sparkle.

He already believed Khalil's words.

"But we did nothing wrong, instructor," Kai Toon said hoarsely. “Is it wrong to punish sin?”

"Yes, but I want to know, who are you punishing for?" Khalil asked softly.

"For the Primarch, for the Emperor."

"So, Kai Toon, which of the thirty-three sinners you killed tonight committed a crime against your Primarch and the Emperor? And what was the crime?"

The recruit was stunned.

What he faced was a very simple question, but he had no idea how to answer it. He just stayed there, not speaking again for a long time, as if he was a natural sculpture, a statue of iron and steel.

He didn't answer because he didn't know how to answer. But he didn't need to think anymore, because someone answered it for him.

"All of them," Estonev said hoarsely. "All are guilty. They are all guilty of the Primarch and the Emperor, Master. Their crimes are too numerous to list."

"What crimes have they committed against Konrad Curze and the Emperor?"

".Crime against humanity, instructor."

"What crime did they commit against Konrad Curze and the Emperor?"

"Crime against humanity, instructor."

"Which humans are against humanity? Sergeant Estonev of the Punishment Blade, which humans?"

Khalil asked softly. He turned his head and looked at Estonev. With a calm expression, the latter immediately looked away, not daring to look at him.

"Which humans? Tell me, Estonev. Are they the civilians who died because of your recklessness? Or the civilians who died because of your indifference?"

"Did you know that I was only a block away from you when the explosion happened? Did you know that I saw you recklessly kill them? Do you know that I saw you being indifferent to the pleas of those innocent people behind the door?"

"I saw them all, Estonev, and I felt more pain than them, because I realized that I was too late to save them, because I realized that what happened tonight did not have to happen."

He raised his head, then lowered it again.

"Tonight, three hundred and seventy-one innocent people died in your hands. Either because of your indifference, or because of your deliberate indulgence."

He turned his head and looked at the captain of the Punishment Blade.

"Leonard, you did the best. You only had one innocent life on your hands. You just watched two gang members beat a woman to death."

"It took me three minutes to find you, and you did nothing during these three minutes. When I caught you, the woman had her last breath. Do you know she found you?"

".I know." Leonard replied awkwardly.

How could he not know? The woman kept looking at the alley where he was as she vomited up the fragments of her entrails.

"I hope you will remember tonight. I will also remember tonight, because tonight, there are also 371 innocent lives that will be counted on my head!"

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled bitterly. Then, he raised his right hand and pressed it just below his ear.

"This is Khalil Lohars, canceling all original launch plans. Yes, canceling all ground missions, including the second batch that has been prepared."

He lowered his head and looked at the owner of the twenty pairs of eyes, staring at them calmly with sad eyes.

"Starting tomorrow, I will personally lead them in cleaning."

"Instructor-" Estonev tried to say something, but was interrupted by a gesture from Khalil. The giant put down his hand, looked at him calmly, and shook his head.

"Don't talk to me now, Estonev. You are not him to me, you are just a broken shadow, an echo."

He turned around and stood on the edge of the building, overlooking the chaos and disorder of Quintus, and listened to the sounds in every corner.

"When you are complete, talk to me again." He said in a low voice.

My back hurt. I slept for a while, then got up and wrote another chapter.

This plot may be a bit long, but I tried to write it as detailedly as possible. The transformation of these teams in the Eighth Legion is a very important point, and it can be regarded as a supplement to GW.