Chapter 404 The Road to Expedition: The Emperor’s Road

The Starport Fortress has a wide side hall. Almost every imperial fortress, battleship and military base has such a place. This place is prepared for high-ranking officers and imperial nobles who have served again.

Here you can intuitively overlook the endless majestic Milky Way through the huge tilted hanging windows, as well as various unusual but spectacular astronomical phenomena in the dark night sky, including huge star clusters rising like giant pillars in the astral world.

Giant pillars, surrounding the dark background, pulling out the rotating nebulae with long wave boundaries and other beautiful wonders.

This has a unique attraction for many Imperial Navy officers. After all, as a member of the Navy sailing in the Milky Way under the Emperor's light, who doesn't have a romantic desire for the Milky Way? So there is a place like this.

, a spacious observation deck that is very suitable for expressing poetry, painting and other elegant aristocratic hobbies.

Of course, it is also very suitable for picking up girls. Vito has been in many places like this to "talk about the Milky Way" with female captains of the Navy. The conversation was very spacious, and this is also due to the fact that the ground here is still very wide.

But today this place is obviously not the right place to chat, especially not to pick up girls. After all, who would want to talk about the philosophy of life in a place where battleships are exploding, wreckage slides into the atmosphere, and people may be hit by artillery shells at any time.

Vito looked at the galactic battlefield outside the window. His eyes jumped on the warships flying outside the window. They flew out the window with bright tongues of flames spitting out thrusters, flying across the blazing night sky towards the side of the planet's orbit, on the planet's dusk line.

In the direction of the battlefield, the flickering explosion flames are rising from the edge of the entire world, like the rising dawn.

"Are you okay? Malakin." Vito stood in front of the window and asked. A huge figure was reflected on the floor-to-ceiling window next to him. He walked in behind Vito wearing a golden armor and stood behind him.

He stood silently in the dim space of the observation deck, with only the firelight lit by the explosion outside illuminating his face through the wide hanging window.

Vito's eyes turned to the side, staring at the reflection of the face illuminated by the firelight on the glass window. The latter stood in the explosion of firelight and sighed longly, "I'm okay, sir, at least I'm still alive.

, living in disgrace."

"You are very depressed, my friend. My eyes will not deceive me. I know that I am not living a good life." Vito glanced at the person in the reflection. He raised his head and glanced at Vito before sitting down with a sigh.

On the stone platform beside him, he sat next to the statue of the Imperial Angel holding a spear and flying a flag.

Malakin sat down at once, and he put the yellow helmet on the steps aside. Vito saw that the helmet was full of craters and lacerations, which silently revealed that the man who bowed his head sat down.

The warriors have been fighting for the empire in this dark galaxy for many years, maybe a lifetime.

But even if he fights for a lifetime and bleeds and sacrifices for the Emperor in this dark universe for so long, he can't wash away the heavy and suffocating feeling of depression on his body. That feeling comes from shame and

Self-doubt is like a drop of blood and tears falling down, just like the drop of blood on his shoulder armor.

"Are you still regretting what happened to Badab? It's been so long." Vito turned his back to Malakin and stood under the blazing starry sky. The firelight shined through the edge of the golden armor and lit up.

He saw the golden eagle spreading its wings on the shoulder armor, and the eagle's wings cut the incoming firelight into several pieces and projected them.

Malakin sat on the edge of the shadowed steps. He raised his head, his face illuminated by the broken shadow of the sacred eagle's wings flashing in the firelight. He looked at the tall giant in front of the window. He stood there speechlessly.

, as if the Emperor himself was standing there, listening and witnessing everything that happened here.

Malakin looked at the stalwart figure in silence for a moment, and then the Chapter let out a long sigh. He lowered his head and put his hands on his knees, "We betrayed the Emperor, betrayed Sanguinius, we

Join the enemies of the Imperium and join the machinations of Chaos."

"You were deceived, Malakin. I told you and all of you during the trial that the crime is not on you, but on the real traitor."

Vito stared at the fire outside the window. His figure was reflected in the light of the fire, and the edges of his body released a hazy halo, just like a dawn sun rising slowly from the horizon. The light emanated from the dark

It shot out slowly on the horizon, but it was still suppressed by the darkness and buried deep in the dusk of the sunset.

"I will always remember and be grateful for your help, sir. If you hadn't argued hard for the trial, even threatening the Salamanders with violence, we, the Executioners Chapter, and the Mantis Warriors would have ceased to exist.

Already."

Malakin still remembered that during the trial, the Chapter Masters of the Shark Chapter and the Tauren Chapter insisted on executing all rebels, executing all three surrendering Chapters, and having their reputation and records removed from the Empire.

At that time, the Weeper and the other two surrendered chapters had almost no support, and no one dared to support them in front of the two chapter leaders.

As members of the rebel side, they are not even qualified to defend themselves. It seems that the only outcome will be that they will be executed as shameful traitors and fall into the abyss of spurned sin forever. Even their

The soul of their father Sanguinius would never want to look at them again.

But in that silent court, only Vito and Tushan, the Chapter Master of the Salamander Chapter, defended them. Faced with the two Chapter Masters who are known for their cruelty, bloodthirsty and rage, they argued hard and even

There was an immediate quarrel at that time, which was quite lively but exciting at the same time.

The Chapter Master of the Tauren Chapter took out the order scroll of the High Lords Council and slapped it directly on the table. He roared and warned the audience that the High Lords Council had ordered him to deal with all rebels strictly, and that strictly means using rebels.

His corpse warned the rest of the universe of the consequences of betraying Terra.

Vito slapped the Grand Inquisitor's pendant of the Inquisition directly on the table, along with a bolt gun, and angrily denounced the high lords on the spot as a bunch of senile idiots, and only the same stupid fools could.

He would listen to them without thinking, which made the Tauren Chapter Leader almost declare Vito's heresy on the spot.

In the end, Tushan stepped forward to stop them, and directly told the representative of the Tribunal in charge of the trial that the founding group Salamanders objected to the execution of everyone. They were only deceived and not sentenced to death. If the Trial insists on this, then Huo Huo will

The Lizards will refuse in the name of the Fire Dragon Lord and carry out an act of true justice.

This was almost a military remonstrance, and a fight almost broke out at that time. The Minotaurs, the Shark Chapter and the Salamanders, as well as several sub-groups supporting the founding Chapter, had another interstellar battle just after the Badab War.

Soldiers civil war.

But in the end Vito resolved all these disputes and prevented the conflict that was about to break out. Vito proposed to the representatives of the Inquisition in the name of the Grand Inquisitor that the Atonement Crusade should be used instead of en masse execution.

Let the surrenders go to the deepest part of the galaxy to fight against the enemies of various empires for a period of one hundred years. During this period, the surrenders must continue to fight against the enemies of the empire and cannot recruit new soldiers. If they still have not died out after a hundred years,

That means the Emperor forgives them.

Although this was cruel and almost certainly meant that each battle group had to pay a heavy price, it was also the best solution at the time. Malakin knew that because it still represented hope, as long as they could survive that century

, then you can be forgiven.

Finally, after another heated discussion, the representatives of the Tribunal accepted this suggestion, and finally Vito persuaded the shark and the minotaur to accept it, although the final result was that Vito and the shark and the minotaur would accept it.

Both of his Chapter Masters had a falling out and the two sides broke up on bad terms, but he also saved three Chapters.

Malakin has always been grateful to Vito for saving his war group. During the subsequent Redemption Crusade, Vito has also been secretly helping the Weeper. He quietly used his position as Inquisitor to provide them with various assistances.

Supplies, armaments, corrections, etc., especially when the Weeper later encountered the Tyranid Hive Fleet. Without the reinforcements brought by Vito, the Weeper would have perished at that time.

"You have completed the Atonement Crusade and persisted for a hundred years. During this period, you fought countless enemies of the Empire and saved many Imperial worlds and countless people on them. Why do you think so?

Do you still need to repent? You have already washed away your shame."

"No, sir, not at all. Our battle group is still cursed. Doom and curse have enveloped us from the very beginning. Badab is just a part of our cursed destiny. We cannot wash away that shame at all. Our

Existence is a sin."

Malakin lowered his head and said. He spoke in a low and sad voice. Vito looked at him reflected in the glass, "Are you talking about cursing Jianjun again?" "Yes, sir, cursing Jianjun, the name itself has

A curse, just like our fate."

Malakin whispered. He looked at the scarred helmet at his hand, which had experienced thousands of years like him. Malakin stared at the countless gaps and damage on it. It had already reached the point of being completely damaged.

Edge, just like his warband.

"We participated in the Abyss Crusade, but we came back. We should have perished in the Eye of Terror in that glorious battle, but we came back, came back with the curse, among the many who sacrificed their lives in the glory of the Emperor,

Or perhaps among the group of chapter leaders who have taken refuge with the enemies of Chaos, only we have returned. Perhaps this is a joke played on us by the Evil God of Chaos."

Malakin smiled bitterly, with an unconcealable sadness in his smile. He smiled tiredly, while Vito looked at the reflection on the glass and looked at him silently.

This is what happened to many of the cursed armies and battle groups returning after the Abyss Expedition. The reason is very simple, isn’t it? Most of the battle groups that went to the Eye of Terror expedition did not die in it, and defended it with the heroic sacrifice of the last man.

others have chosen to betray the glory of the Emperor, and have surrendered to Chaos in the whispers of the Warp.

But, you are the only one who came back from it. You did not die or fall into chaos? You just came back like this? Who let you come back? Why, you came back. This suspicion sprouted in everyone's hearts, leading to crying.

Chapters such as those who finally returned alive from the Abyss Crusade will still be stigmatized as Chaos spies and those who may betray them at any time.

They were targeted, cursed and hostile. Most of the last survivors of the Cursed Founding Army were driven away from their homes, resources, or forced. Their home worlds were occupied by those loyal war groups, and

They, like the Weepers, were expelled to the farthest corners of the galaxy.

Many battle groups were betrayed in this way, not because of the Chaos pollution during the Abyss Expedition, but because of the hostility of the empire and even their own blood brothers. They were abandoned and betrayed. In the end,

As predicted, he fell into the embrace of chaos.

This is a self-confirmed prophecy, born from doubt and made possible by doubt.

"Brothers don't trust us. Other war groups are not even willing to share a room with us, sharing a room with a group of cursed Sons of Darkness who were released by the evil god of Chaos."

Malakin said as he touched the crack on the top of the helmet, which was the gap left by Tyran's claws. His iron fingers touched that place and sighed sadly, "The Black Fury is better than any other Son of Sanguinius."

They have cursed us more deeply. I have seen countless brothers buried here and burned out in the final madness, which even makes our own brothers unwilling to accept us."

"We were exiled to the edge of the galaxy, hoping to find redemption somewhere, but all we got was the fate of betrayal. Huron easily deceived us on Badab, causing us to turn our backs on the glory of the Emperor and side with the traitors.

We are not even aware of it."

Malakin stroked the helmet, and his fingers gently touched the traces of the helmet, which were the traces left on the edge of the galaxy in the dark years, "We thought that after millions of years of sacrifice and

After the battle, we finally ushered in salvation, we defeated the curse, defeated the misfortune, and finally became the true sons of angels, but the fate waiting for us is only a deeper destruction."

Before the Badab War, there were only more than 700 Weepers left. After that, there were only more than 300 people left in the battle group, and only three of the ten companies were left. The entire battle group

Almost extinct.

"When you granted us salvation, we seized the opportunity, thinking that we could be saved again. We embarked on a redemption expedition, but as before, we only met the fate of destruction."

Malakin lowered his head and said, Vito knew that the Lamenters ran into the Tyranid invasion Hive Fleet during the expedition. The entire battle group was almost wiped out and would be destroyed at any time. They were just hanging on for a while.

, lingering in that misfortune just like it had been for thousands of years.

No brother is willing to accept them, the Emperor's Light has abandoned them. At the end of this dark galaxy, what awaits them is only the fate of destruction, and that is only the length of time, their fate has been decided.

"Sir, you should have let us perish before the Hive Fleet. Perhaps only then could our sad fate come to an end. Perhaps only then could we truly die as the sons of angels."
To be continued...