"Ha, the little guy is lost."
Amidst the laughter, the cultist who was hit by Javier suddenly jumped on him and hit him hard on the head.
The sudden attack made the recruit feel dizzy and nearly fainted.
This was cruel, he couldn't help but think.
But there is no doubt that compared to these atrocities, the smiling face in front of you is even more cruel.
A necklace made of a small silver mirror and tattered feathers strung together hangs around the neck of the cultist. He is wearing a blue-gray priest's robe, stained with blood, and the collar is open, seeming to show the blood on his skin. That strange carving.
"Finally found you, little soldier."
The cultist said cheerfully, with a strange accent.
He then pulled out his dagger and other cultists gathered around him.
Despite the ringing in his ears, Javier could still hear their wild laughter.
The cold laser rifle was still in his hand, he could shoot, he could shoot, his finger trembling on the trigger.
"oh!"
The cultist noticed his little movement and suddenly laughed, showing his black teeth.
"Will you shoot me, lackey of the false god? But it seems a little too late. Too late to save your comrades."
At this time, Movi's voice echoed in Javier's head again,
"Shoot, idiot, shoot!"
But even this time, Javier failed to pull the trigger. He let out a shaky breath and threw the laser rifle to the ground.
"I surrender--"
The voice sounded a bit harsh, but he couldn't care less.
"Don't kill me, please."
The cultist laughed so loudly that it drowned out the roar of the machine, and his brothers and sisters joined in, sounding like a flock of crows howling.
"So what can you do for me, a soldier who can't even fire a gun?"
The cultist sighed, weighed the dagger in his hand and said.
"But your blood, your soul, is another matter."
Then, amid a burst of chanting, the leading cultist raised his dagger. Javier tried to struggle but was held down by a nearby big hand. He could only close his eyes in despair and hold his breath.
But after a while, the knife did not fall on him. Instead, there was a series of deafening explosions and repeated shots from laser rifles.
Blood splattered on his face again, but this time the blood was cold, as if it had been splattered a few weeks ago.
Javier started retching again until the figure stood in front of him.
The Astra Militarum soldier looked up cautiously, his blood curdling when he saw the pair of black boots stained with mud.
He already knew who stood before him.
Sebastian Jarek, their political commissar.
"Stand up, Private Javier."
Javier struggled to his feet, although his legs were still shaking.
The young political commissar seemed to be standing in the shadows. He was dressed in black, with the edges stained with mud and blood. The hem of the political commissar's coat swayed with the steaming heat, and the silver breastplate was full of dents and scratches.
Yarrick looked Javier directly in the eyes, and just like they had always known, the commissar never ran away.
Unlike him——
After calming down a little, Javier finally plucked up the courage to raise his head and look at the other person's face.
There is a fresh scar on Yarek's light gray skin, and his black eyes are so cold that it makes people feel as if they are in the deep sea.
The people standing behind Yaric were wearing the same green-gray uniforms as Javier. He also saw his superior's superior, Lieutenant Miller, and the team behind him. The captain's scarred face was expressionless, and he didn't even blink. .
After seeing Javier, Miller turned around and said something, but he didn't know exactly what it was, but he felt that the other person was saying——
"madness".
Yarrick lowered his head slightly and looked at Javier's laser rifle lying in the dust.
"Your battery is full."
He said quietly, as if stating an inconsequential, everyday fact.
"You didn't fire a single shot."
Javier's inability to lie would be as impossible as his inability to shoot a gun.
"sorry, I do not have."
"You fled, failed to shoot when faced with an enemy, and then ran away."
If this was an interrogation, the wording would be too gentle, but Javier knew that it by no means meant that he was forgiven.
He recalled Movi's desperate face. His comrades dragged him back as he was unable to move, but he abandoned his comrades who were fighting and left the position privately so that he could escape first...
"Yes--"
His voice trembled.
Yarrick's eyes did not change. Although there was no malice, they were still extremely cold.
He then raised his ornate red and black bolt pistol and pointed it at Javier's head.
"Private Javier."
Judgment came as scheduled.
"You have abandoned your duty to the 4337th Infantry Regiment, abandoned your oath to Holy Terra, and tarnished the glory of the Golden Throne. Your punishment is...death."
Tears streaked across Javier's face again, and he wished he hadn't, at least not in front of his own people.
"Do you have anything to say in your own defense?"
Javier listened to the roar of the train next to him and felt the dust sliding across his cheeks. His whole body was trembling from head to toe, as if he was in a world of ice and snow.
"I...I just want to survive."
After he finished speaking, he could no longer control his emotions and sobbed softly.
Alex looked at him and exhaled slowly, and Javier seemed to hear the sound of his gloved fingers slowly pulling the trigger.
"Then you should choose to fight."
There was a flash of light from the gun, and Javier's world fell into darkness.
The moment Javier's body fell, Yarrick replaced the bolt pistol with a new magazine.
From the beginning of the battle to the present, he changed the magazine of his pistol four times and fired a total of thirty-two shots, six of which were used to execute his own soldiers.
Since they landed in Valedo, all hell broke loose.
Valedo is a peaceful religious world, and the initial message sent was just a simple riot. Everyone thought it might be a conflict between some extreme sects - even within the state church, there is no shortage of careerists and weird doctrines influenced by violence. .
But when several Astral Legions, including the 4337th Infantry Regiment, were deployed to Valedo, nothing seemed to happen.
This confused Yarick and the others. They even thought that there was something wrong with the dispatching system of the Ministry of Military Affairs - this was nothing new.
Pending further orders from the Ministry of Military Affairs, several regiments could only be stationed in various places. A large number of Imperial Army soldiers and officers even took the opportunity to take a vacation and enjoy carnival fun with the residents of the planet.
The Archbishop of the planet is preparing to hold a grand ceremony in the planet's capital and display a large number of sacred objects.
This also attracted many Astra Militarum troops to watch.
