Leonard watched his team being captured one by one, there was no mistaking this. A total of twenty people, no one was spared.
He was the first, Estonev was the thirteenth, and Kai Thune, a new member of the team, was the last.
Quintus' night is still long, but for the Punishment Blade team, it is already over.
Leaning against the roof of the building, the cold ice bound him firmly to the ground. To be fair, this position was not comfortable, and although Leonard had experienced worse positions, he would still want to move if given the choice.
But he had no choice.
Moreover, he didn't understand either.
So, he asked directly.
"Why, instructor?"
He watched the giant throw the unconscious Kai Thun to the ground and spoke in a dry voice. "Why are you doing this?"
However, the giant did not answer. He just took off the recruit's helmet with a very gentle movement - Leonard originally thought that he was afraid of hurting Kai Tuan, but in fact, he was not at all.
He saw their instructor, who had only been on duty for just over a day, press his helmet against Kai Toon's temple instantly after taking off his helmet. He did this with two fingers of the same hand.
Then he started pushing.
Kai Toon woke up in pain, there was no doubt about it, but his expression after waking up was very relaxed. After noticing that he couldn't move, he was so calm that even Leonard was a little surprised.
"Are you feeling better?" Khalil asked coldly.
"Much better than before, instructor." Kai Tuan replied in a low voice. "I didn't expect they had weapons like that."
"There are all kinds of guns in Nostramon, and it's no surprise that sonic guns are there. Although they are rare, it doesn't mean there are none."
Khalil shook his head calmly. Kai Thun originally wanted to say something, but out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of his teammates who were frozen on the ground.
"Instructor?" He said dryly. "What does it mean?"
"I would like to ask what you mean, Kai Thune of the Punishment Blade Team."
".I?"
"Yeah, you." Khalil laughed. There was no kindness in this smile.
"I chased you, only to find that you were completely indifferent to the group of people who were tied up for sacrifice. You are still a new soldier, and I can tell from the emblem on your right shoulder. So, who told you that you should ignore it? Those of the victims?”
"It's me, instructor," Leonard said.
He vaguely sensed a reason, but he couldn't believe it and didn't want to believe it.
how can that be possible? he thinks. How could the Primarch's adoptive father not understand our duty?
"I'm not talking to you, Leonard. I'm not in a good mood right now, and I hope you forgive me for this and everything I'm going to do to you in the future."
Khalil turned his head slowly, and there was an emotion that was extremely unfamiliar to Leonard brewing in his eyes as dark as agate stones.
Looking at these eyes, it took Leonard a long time to realize how this emotion should be spelled.
disappointment. He spoke its syllables silently in his mind.
Leonard's right hand began to tremble slightly, however, Khalil ignored him and just turned his head back.
"Tell me, Kai Toon, why are you ignoring those victims?"
The recruit didn't answer, just remained silent. Something indescribable slowly boiled over his pale face.
"Kay Thune, your hearing system was not seriously damaged. You were just hit by the gun and knocked unconscious. It does not mean that you lost your hearing."
Khalil spoke slowly.
"So, in the name of Legion instructor, and with the rights and obligations bestowed upon me by the Emperor and the Primarch of the Eighth Legion, Konrad Curze, answer me, why do you ignore those victims?"
"Because they are not sinners." The recruit replied in a low voice. "They have nothing to do with my mission."
Khalil took a deep breath. He never thought that he would get such an answer.
No connection whatsoever.
He had imagined the worst for them, but never thought it would be this bad.
"What is your mission, Kai Toon?"
"Judgment."
The recruit answered without thinking and even began to recite a short but powerful sentence.
"We are the divine punishment sent down by the Emperor, we are his sharp blades, and we are the incarnation of judgment. We will walk in the dark night and slaughter sin. We will always abide by this way until the end of our lives."
"Who to judge? Who to punish?"
"Of course he is a sinner, instructor."
"For whom to be judged? For whom to be punished?"
"Of course the Emperor and our Primarch, Master."
"It's so wrong——!"
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 pity.
Leonard's lips began to tremble.
But now, all the Punishment Blades are awake. But no one dared to speak out, they all stared silently at Kai Toon and the giant entrenched in the darkness.
"Where did I go wrong, instructor?" the recruit asked blankly. "That passage? But I've recited 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 once belonged 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 have never despised you either. I just feel 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 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 occurred? Did you know that I saw you recklessly kill them? Do you know that I saw you 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, so 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.
(End of chapter)
