Chapter 212 Battle of Macragge (6)

The theater under renovation was divided into a maze by scaffolding and indigo curtains, and the reflections of a search team holding carbines marched on the walls. Talasa Udon avoided them, relying on her familiarity with the terrain and her relatively flexible legs to avoid another group of searchers. When she saw Garlan's guards entering the inner court at the wrong time, she immediately knew that she should start hiding.

She wanted to know where Connor Guilliman was. Archon Connor was the one who could not be sacrificed. He made a promise with the Macragge people to improve their lives, and he made a promise with Robert to watch him grow up.

More than ten years ago, Connor took Robert to hunt at the foot of Crown Mountain, where the air was fresh and the temperature was cool. Connor accidentally cut his arm there, and the blood stained his clothes red. He told Robert not to be afraid, not to cry, that one day all mortals would die, but Macragge would stand. Macragge was Robert's eternal harbor and invisible family.

So Connor could not die.

Euton squatted behind the seat, and then she sat down quietly.

She found herself at the back of the theater. If there were no scaffolding and a play was being performed on the stage, it would be difficult to find a more remote position in the entire theater. When Robert was invited to watch a play and didn't like the stupid play being performed, Euton could find him in this position, his golden hair was more eye-catching than any light source.

Euton told Robert that if he wanted to obey the rules of politics, he had to learn a set of superficial politeness. Robert pouted: You don't like that yourself.

She heard the sound of muskets outside the theater, not far from here. Euton poked his head out from behind the back of the chair, and the theater was still dark.

When Robert was ten years old, he was not as tall as he is now, but he was already very handsome, and every line just outlined his radiant image. He just met all the imaginations of the Macragge people about handsome young leaders, so Macragge invited him to play the young war king who had appeared in history in the play. Robert agreed and regretted it.

He was at the side of the stage, just behind the blue and gold curtain, holding Euden's hand, and he said it was pointless, he didn't want to perform for these people.

Don't worry, as long as you are willing to do it. You have agreed to this agreement, so you can't ignore the words that come out of your mouth. Connor and I are watching you from the audience. The third row in the middle, the best seat, you can see us at a glance.

Robert asked: What's the point of doing this? But he performed very well that day, far better than Euden and Connor thought, just like a human being.

After the performance, he took off the gilded laurel wreath he used for the performance and replaced it with his own green leaf crown, the leaves and the curled hair. Will you come to see me when I perform next time, Robert asked. We made a promise.

Euden smelled a burning smell of blood from the street outside and got into her nose. The smell was not pleasant. She knew that the theater could not stay for long, but where in the heart of Macragge was safe? What she really didn't understand was why Archon Garland had the courage to start a rebellion. Yes, Robert's expedition was his only chance, but how would he face the Space Marine Legion after Robert's return?

When a group of scaffoldings suddenly collapsed in front of the theater, Euden took off the noisy wooden sandals in his hands, stepped on the ground barefoot, and left silently along the back wall. She couldn't go to the second floor of the theater, which meant blocking herself in a dead end. She remembered that the theater had a back door, and hoped that the key to that door was still in the gap between the bricks.

Robert couldn't play with any children in his childhood. That was the period when he was least human. Looking into Robert's eyes at that time, she always felt that she actually saw a machine, an emotionless thinker, coldly splitting the whole world into data.

Connor once wanted to persuade Robert to go to the military academy in Macragge to meet people who were theoretically his peers and might be his colleagues in the future.

I have read all the books in the Deucalion Library, Archon. Robert said, I don't need to learn ignorance from the ignorant.

Well, Connor answered him, remember that theater, I used to have the master key there, which they gave me when the theater was built, but now it is gone, do you know where it is?

Robert speculated many places, and he failed.

In the third brick crack of the middle row on the right side of the inner wall of the back door of the theater, Connor said, the theater was performing stories when Ultramar was still unified that day, but our trade and wealth have declined exponentially in disputes and darkness, so I put the key of the theater into the crack of the wall on the inside of the back door, and then walked out, thinking that I would never come again. There is no military strategy, no reason, no logic, I didn't think of it myself, but this is what a person would do.

Robert didn't react at all that day, just like he was still that delicate machine, not hurt, not frustrated. It rained at night, and Euden didn't find him in Robert's room. She chased him into the rain, looking for the golden-haired child in the sound of rain. She saw Robert standing quietly by the back wall of the theater, soaking wet, with mud on his marble-like palms.

The key is not here, Robert said. Why did you lie to me?

Euton accompanied him to search, shaking the movable bricks one by one. The key was in the gap of the fifth row. Right next to the brick that Robert had just broken.

He remembered it wrong, Robert. He is not young anymore, and this is what a man does. Euden told him.

Robert put the key back into the gap of the third row and said nothing. Even though it was many years ago, Euden still remembered the way Robert stood on tiptoe at that time. After that, she stopped talking about Connor Guilliman raising a Thinker.

Year after year passed, Robert Guilliman participated in politics and went to war. Then he left home because his real father and brother came. This was the first time he had been away from Macragge for so long. I wish you victory, Euden told him.

Euden hoped that when he returned, everyone Robert cared about would still be there to greet him, because this was what they had agreed. Maybe he would use the memorial garden. The porch there was being expanded, and when it was completed, it would be clearly visible from several kilometers away. The inscribed walls would frame an elegant pool, surrounded by quiet flower beds and Salamans bluestone tiles, white water lilies fell in the pool, and rushes swayed in the flower beds.

Ah, the sound of artillery outside is ringing. But she always thinks of these things.

She put her shoes back on in the soft mud and took out the key from the crack in the wall. The painted back door opened, and the creaking sound was very loud. The main door of the theater is always open, so it is rusty here. She saw smoke rising outside, not much flames, but a lot of black smoke.

There were soldiers chasing on Proyana Avenue. The footsteps were noisy, every household closed the door, and the stoves of the small restaurants cooking broth outside were extinguished. The kerosene burned the wall black. The flag on the top of the meeting hall in the distance was replaced. It was a piece of burning cloth, hanging heavily. It must be impossible to see the starry sky in today's weather. The bright stars that can always be seen directly are hiding behind the thick smoke. The buildings built by Robert and Connor here collapsed piece by piece.

She still didn't know where Konor was. The shadows of the patrols appeared more often than they did, and their shadows seemed particularly distorted, like ghosts in ancient myths. Robert was very averse to those unscientific stories.

She seemed to be the only one left in the world. She was afraid, but it was too early to die now. Her joints ached because she was not young. She walked in the shadows of the street, not running, thinking about how to do everything she could. Rebellion. Panic. Macragge must survive this. Macragge will not fall.

The barracks were outside the city, and the council hall was in the hands of the enemy. She needed to see Konor's guards first, their camp was inside the city. Euden had even seen the soldiers drinking in the market. Where were the guards now? Waiting beside Konor Guilliman, fighting in the inner court, or being controlled by Galan? She needed information, more information.

"Lady!" Someone called her in a low voice in the alley, "Lady Euden, you are here!"

She saw the shape of the armor on the tall guard at the entrance of the alley, Konor's guards, she was familiar enough with each of them. There were burn marks and several knife cuts on his worn armor, and the shoulder armor used to mark the production serial number was cut off by the blade.

The guard put away his sword, and his posture was full of caution and restraint unique to wartime.

"How is Konor Guilliman?" Euden asked, not only did he not relax, but he became more serious. "Guard, why are you here alone?"

"I can't enter the inner court now," the soldier said, "My comrades are all in the battle, and Galan controls too much power. Leave with me, lady, the nearest safe place is within half a mile."

"Who told you I was here, soldier?"

"No one, the guards don't need me, I was sent to find you. Time is running out, respected housekeeper. Please leave with me."

"What is your name?" Euden asked sternly. If Robert had the ability to remember the names of tens of thousands of Ultramarines, then Euden could at least remember every face and every name in the Mortal Guard.

"I am Manichno, ma'am. I am good at hiding and finding. Dear housekeeper, let's leave quickly." The soldier's words became cold and dull, like iron sinking into the shadows on the ice.

He raised his head, most of his face was stained with dust from the war, but the shape of his forehead and the high brow ridge still had distinct racial characteristics. A pair of ruthless eyes lurked in the shadow cast by the brow ridge, flashing the blue-green cold light unique to the polar region.

"Where are you from?" Euden asked, squeezing out the voice from his throat, feeling that his whole body was trembling slightly. A primitive fear seized her, and she couldn't help but find some words to prolong time and regain control of her body.

"I'm from Basaf." Manichno said, "Don't hesitate, time is passing. Leave with me, ma'am."

She didn't fall down just because her body was so stiff when she stood.

"Where is Connor?" Euden asked. "Where is Robert?"

"I have no way of knowing, ma'am," Manichno said, his tone tense. The emphasis and the threat in his voice made Euden find her place again.

Euden looked at him and took a step back.

"You are too tall, soldier. Almost as tall as those space marines."

She shook her head and tried to straighten her chest, even though her tired back was aching.

"Perhaps others only think you are a subspecies with peculiar genes, but I will not admit my mistake. Yes, the opponent of the Transcendent can only be the Transcendent. Without the support of the Space Marines, Garlan does not have the courage to rebel! You use cunning tricks to create chaos and destroy cities, and now you want to use my life to threaten your goals. Your meanness is contemptible, but you will get nothing from me. Tell me, who are you!"

Manichino restrained all his expressions. In addition to vigilance and secret suspicion, there was another emotion on his face that made Yutun more puzzled.

Tension.

The meaning behind this is far more thought-provoking than the complacency of the evil trick. If complacency is equivalent to danger, then the tension that should not be generated is equivalent to the danger of losing control.

"I am Alpharius, lady." He said, moving at an incredible speed, like a non-existent shadow that disappeared and reappeared at high speed. Perhaps he relied on this ability to shuttle within the dangerous walls of Macragge. "Although I cannot deny my involvement, this is not the mess I planned."

The nerves behind her ears hurt, and she was forced into a coma.

——

The Sword of the Covenant blocked another attack, and the collision of steel echoed in the sanctuary, twisting on the walls along with the flickering candlelight. Sigismund swung the sword and hit the enemy's chest hard. Blood flowed from his mouth and his vision became blurred. Some strange rustling sounds lingered in the gaps between the weapons, interfering with his mind.

This battle was full of pure disadvantages for him. The Sword of the Covenant had no edge, and the grenade launcher that he had just snatched from the enemy a few seconds ago had been fired and fell to the ground with the fragments of his ceramsite armor. He had to find every mistake and weakness of the enemy and disarm them. And when he blocked an obviously fatal attack, what he would do immediately became to end the life of the opponent, no matter who they were.

Although these warriors wore Astartes armor, their fighting style was quite strange, neither light nor heavy, and their movements were filled with a different kind of coldness and brutality. Their physical strength and toughness seemed bottomless, but their fighting skills were almost non-existent, and they especially liked to aim at his head. Sigismund grasped their fighting characteristics and continued his battle calmly. His combat proficiency improved rapidly with every attack and defense.

A collision of blades knocked the Sword of Oath and the opponent's power sword away at the same time. Sigismund waved his hand back, and the iron chain wrapped around his arm drew a long arc of steel, hooking the Sword of Oath and bringing back the power sword without the energy field installed. He grabbed the back end of the blade with his bare hands, held the sharp blade in his left palm, turned around and pounced on a warrior, and the tip of the sword pierced the outer armor that was cracked in the previous blunt attack, penetrating the torso.

He did not pierce the membrane, bones, powerful muscles or modified organs. In fact, his sword was stuck in a space full of gaps and interlaced channels. The piercing sound was like the collision of metal and hard bones. At the same time, a huge force from another attacker knocked Sigismund down heavily on the stone ground from the side.

He stopped rolling and adjusted his position, with his hand armor resting on the side of the ritual round platform in the center of the temple.

There was no bleeding in the body of the person who was pierced just now, and he did not even suffer any damage that could be called injury. The outer armor on his body began to peel off, and at the same time, something else began to fall out.

The rustling sound became louder and louder.

Sigismund quickly stood up and held his long swords with both hands. The moment his palms left the round platform, the hidden button was released, and the door of the temple fell down with a bang.

He gave himself thirty minutes before ions and fire destroyed the entire enclosed space.

——

Angron let go of his hand, and like the previous battles, he subconsciously shook off the acid and sticky meat attached to his giant palm. A pool of pale acid was thrown onto the table, quickly causing a large area of ​​corrosion.

He frowned, staring at the pile of biological debris under his feet, which was a mixture of still-squirming weird necrotic worms and indistinguishable fungus-like flesh, and stood there without moving.

"Kahn!" He shouted to the door.

The iron door slid to the side automatically. After the responsibilities of the legion commander and the primarch were re-divided within the World Eaters, the first legion commander Kahn appeared outside the door. Obviously, he rushed to the door immediately after the battle broke out in the room and began to wait.

"Father." Kahn said, his eyes fell on the pile of things crushed by Angron.

"Help me find someone to clean it up." Angron said, "You can go to the database to see if you can find the origin of this alien. They are composed of a large number of entangled worms, with a large number of hoses, solid tendrils, bone blades and unknown beam weapons inside. They rely on some immature biotechnology to forge a human appearance. The emotion hidden in their hearts is hunger."

"I hope the Eighth Company will airdrop to Macragge with me. What do you think?"

"Prepare the airdrop cabin." Kahn said as he turned on the communication array.

The aliens in this chapter are from DH, with some insignificant changes. If you are interested, you can guess what they are