Warhammer: In the Name of Ashes

"It's natural, longing... and expectation."

On the eve of the Primarch's arrival, deep inside the main body of the huge fortress complex on Titan II.

The two sons of Calvin were in the preparation hall underground of the fortress, enjoying their precious private time after a long day of training.

One of the young men was wearing a linen robe. He was holding his shoulder armor and looking at it repeatedly under the lamp. After he was satisfied that there were no scratches, he carefully applied a layer of holy oil on it and then wiped it gently. .

Another young man had a slightly different attitude towards equipment. He had already given his armor to a servitor to take care of.

He himself is using a dagger to chop the runes on the granite slabs quarried from the ground, using a knife to chop and axe-like runes (just like the miserable author sitting in front of the computer typing), displaying his modest literary talent.

"Huh!" Blowing the debris off the slate, Russell looked at his work with satisfaction, but then he hesitated about his choice of words.

"Hey! Bro. Check it out for me."

He looked at little Calvin behind him who was still handling the armor and said.

He and the guy next to him were both the first batch of recruits on the mother planet Titan. However, because of the different sources of recruitment, little Calvin, who was born in Terra, and Russell, who came off the black ship in the Extreme Star Territory, had completely different fates. and a personality shaped by these circumstances.

Needless to say, little Calvin’s fate:

Be brave, loyal, have an excellent educational background, be well-informed and have a sense of the big picture.

He was born into a Terran noble, and had participated in the training of Astartes soldiers since he was a child. If it weren't for the arrogance of his father and brother in the family, his evaluation should have been added with some suffixes such as enthusiasm, cheerfulness, and sense of responsibility.

But his brother ruined everything with his own hands.

Our ancestors have fought for the empire for thousands of years, and their countless bloodshed and sacrifices are no longer recognized by the empire.

The surviving members of the family were all exiled to distant war fronts because of their crimes.

The glory of Sutherland has faded in this world, and only an orphan is fighting for it.

The future is uncertain and there is no way back. The sudden bad news made young Sutherland grow up overnight.

The changes in the environment around him made him restrain his innocence and enthusiasm, and all he had to do was impose stricter requirements on himself in training.

His powerful talent coupled with his hidden inferiority complex shaped his strong will and matching abilities. Among the new recruits who came from Terra, he was the natural leader.

Russell is just the opposite:

Born in the Zhongji Academy, both of his parents died when he was young, and his only brother died on the border of Ultramar before he came of age.

But because of the attention of his college, he had an unexpectedly warm childhood.

It was an extremely remote star region, and the Zhongsi Academy to which it belonged was not taken seriously by the empire.

The instructor was his brother's comrade and treated him like a relative;

His classmates had the same background as him, and there was no competitive interest in them as they were not valued by the district governor. They also had a tenderness between them that was unimaginable to the outside world.

In this environment, Russell's personality growth was much healthier than that of little Calvin, and his mature and generous style of dealing with things made him very popular among students from outside Terra.

The two have very different styles, and both have a strong influence on the recruits. In several confrontations on behalf of their respective camps, they also greatly admired each other's personalities.

They are a natural partner, because both are smart enough to understand that forming cliques is the most foolish behavior, and they have an obligation to bridge the relationship between the two groups.

They are also the closest competitors to each other, because only in this way can they prove that their path is the right one.

"Okay..." Little Calvin turned his head, and after looking at it carefully, he gave his evaluation with the utmost care.

"Oh? Then I'll take a look..."

Russell picked up the dagger and once again devoted himself to carving the stone slab.

He had enough confidence in Little Calvin's aesthetics, but the other party's wording was not so direct and often required him to "translate" again.

Usually, the "yes" in the former's mouth means "to be optimized"...

This set of tablets is Russell's carefully prepared personal biography. He hoped that after his death in battle, these things could faithfully record his life and accompany him in the long years he spent in the underground City of the Dead.

——

A day later, Calvin's fleet jumped out from Manzeville Point. After emitting the psychic key of a specific wavelength, the Angel of Punishment led the fleet through the heavy fog of war outside Titan II and appeared in the berth above the starport on time.

Thousands of Gray Knights were like sculptures made of steel, holding halberds and marching in formation until they reached the bottom of the starport and then stopped.

The icy cold wind blew across the pale and desolate plains, howling and trying to take away everything that passed by, but the gray knights stood motionless on both sides of the road, only the cloaks behind them rustled in the strong wind.

"How long will it take?" Ms. Phaethon, the high-ranking judge representing the Demonic Tribunal, opened the magnetic boots under her feet and whispered to the elder beside her against the howling cold wind.

At this time, she was wearing heavy feedback power armor and standing behind Urdas in front of the queue.

The former's body is nearly two meters tall with the support of armor, which is tall enough for a mortal.

But against the backdrop of the 2.5-meter gray knights in the array behind him, the figure of Phaethon, who comes from a family of knights and can be said to be extremely talented, actually looks a bit "petite".

As for the Third Order in front of him - the Grand Master of the Shaper Order Urdas, his 2.7-meter-high body is like a walking iron tower. Just standing there, he has an awe-inspiring and inviolable look. momentum.

"Soon." Urdas was not wearing a helmet, and his big chin covered with silver stubble showed his strong personality in daily life. The only remaining gray-blue eye was sharp and gloomy, set off by facial muscles full of scars.

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a faint tremor in the air coming from the end of the sky.

When this tremor quickly started from nothing, from small to large, it turned into an overwhelming roar. Following Urdas' line of sight, Judge Phaethon finally saw the Thunderhawks that were rapidly expanding in his sight and descending from the sky.

"what is that?"

"...Gestalt?"

"Your throne! How is this possible?"

"No, it's Gestalt! But how can it be so pure?"

Feeling the psychic suppression hanging down like a dark cloud at the end of the sky, the sons of Calvin present discussed with each other in the psychic channel.

This kind of gathering of group will is no stranger to them, and they have even had similar exercises through the data sent back from the front.

But drills are drills. Without the central control of the original body, it is impossible for them to come into contact with the core power of the Legion's will, and it is impossible to touch such a unified state of spiritual harmony.

And when this masterpiece belonging to the original body appeared in front of them.

The extremely pure spirit in the collection of wills, and the terrifying spiritual suppression that followed, made them truly understand the incomparable strength and weakness and the indistinguishable essential difference between the two.

"Do you feel it?" Little Calvin asked his partner beside him slightly absent-mindedly.

"Yes, I feel it," Russell murmured.

The two sons of Calvin recovered from the shock and confirmed each other's feelings in excitement.

Because they are also Gray Knights, they are the only ones who can clearly perceive the opponent's unified pace at this time;

Because they are also Gray Knights, they know better how difficult it is to achieve such a unified harmony between different soul fluctuations. It is an almost impossible miracle.

As the sons of Calvin, only they are qualified to practice this tactic and know the horrific changes this change will bring;

They are also the sons of Calvin. In front of the 281 familiar and unfamiliar spirits, what they see is not a single soul.

That is a colossus composed of 281 souls! It was an existence called Legion Will that evolved into a god-like existence in the real universe!

In front of this god who is like a descendant of the world, although they have an absolute numerical advantage, they are still like tiny ants.

The existence of the other party was so clear because of the same bloodline. He didn't even have to do anything. His mere presence was enough to make their hair stand on end.

(Two Gray Knights died in the battle of the Space Hulk, so only 281 Krieg-based Gray Knights were able to accompany Calvin to Titan II.)

A huge sense of humiliation rose from little Calvin's chest. Even though he knew that this was not the original intention of those brothers, he still did not want to let his ugliness be exposed in front of them!

"Maintain discipline! We can feel them. Then they must be able to "see" us!"

Calvin Sutherland ordered in a low voice, and Russell behind him understood his thoughts instantly.

"yes!"

He also didn't want to show weakness in front of brothers he had never met, let alone their genetic father.

Two particularly tall gray knights stood at the front of the array, and the fluctuations of psychic energy between the positions on the left and right were no longer obscure.

"Concentrate your will!"

In the psychic communication, the two are like trumpeters standing under the storm, the first among all brothers to blow the horn of struggle.

"I am the Holy Hammer!" Many arbiters then shouted.

The call of the two men was quickly responded to by other arbiters, and a temporary psychic network was quickly formed in just a few breaths with these officers as nodes.

call! drink!

For thousands of Gray Knights, they successfully linked their spirits to each other, something that had never been done in previous training;

Their compatriots in the sky brought them tremendous pressure. Under this terrifying oppression, the sons of Calvin broke through the shackles of the past and reached an unprecedented spiritual level.

call! drink!

The breathing of thousands of people proceeds at a unified frequency. Even if the individual voice is small, its neat chest resonance attracts the attention of the inquisitor in front.

"Quiet, the Silver Blade is about to arrive."

The Grand Master spoke with a calm expression, drawing the attention of Ms. Phaethon, the Inquisitor.

The latter was no longer distracted after being reminded by Urdas, and naturally did not see the smile hidden in the corner of the great mentor's eyes.

The sparks between the two troops have been ignited before they have even met. This kind of fighting spirit is something that veterans greatly appreciate. He would never allow the Inquisitor's curiosity to disturb the competition between the Gray Knights.

The sons of Calvin on the ground looked serious. They were excited about the new realm and had a deeper understanding of the spiritual power of order;

It also made them feel more in awe of the will of the legions above them when they experienced this power.

As the Thunderhawk descended upon them with its vast will, a loose but vibrant collection of psychic powers had taken shape.

renew.