Tyrant Huron witnesses the destruction of a frigate on the Doomwraith's surveillance screen.
He opened and closed his paws, his anger boiling.
In this war, no matter he wins or loses, he has already suffered heavy losses. Even if he kills all the guys in the empire now, the destroyed fleet and the killed soldiers will never be recovered.
Not to mention the serious damage to the surface of the New Badab planet.
This can be said to be the most painful and humiliating defeat he suffered since the Battle of Badab.
After all, the failure of the Battle of Badab can be said to be the result of the empire investing more power, but this time it failed, the enemy was obviously weaker than itself.
While he may deny any responsibility, the reason for the defeat is simple and obvious - they underestimated their enemy.
Some staff members also warned him not to be overconfident, but he didn't listen.
There is no doubt that these loyalists are different from those he has outwitted in the past.
They are extremely cunning, cunning and unscrupulous,
If anything, it looks eerily like the doctrine of the Eighth Legion.
He had already heard that the other party used captured warships to raid the port and staged a violent massacre. Even Huron had to admit that this raid was well done.
He is so fast and bloodthirsty that if the other party is not a determined loyalist, he may even be willing to recruit them.
However, there are some troubling elements in this.
For example, the rebellion of the Black Armored Guards.
Huron couldn't figure out for a while why these remnants of the Eighth Legion betrayed him. Did they want to avenge the dead Supreme?
No kidding, Huron never sees any brotherhood among these scum, they only fight for those who can afford the price.
The question is, the Loyalists should and will never bribe them - the Eighth Legion's misdeeds were already famous in the galaxy during the Heresy.
Was it Malek's own intention, or was it someone who was secretly driving him? Are the people driving him inside the Red Pirates? Some careerist trying to take his place?
Huron's suspicious nature forced him to consider this possibility.
Another point--
Those soldiers who retreated from the Star Fortress claimed that they encountered a terrifying enemy in the battle, and many of them were killed silently, without the ability to fight back.
Who is this unknown enemy?
Someone from the Loyalist faction? Or someone else taking advantage of the situation? Or is it the person who drives the Black Armored Guard?
The Star Castle was invaded not only by external forces, but also by obvious internal forces. This layout of internal and external attacks did not look like it could be planned temporarily.
Thinking about it this way, it seems that the Astral Knight's raid is not as simple as it seems on the surface.
The appearance of the Lamenters and Ranger Warriors seemed to have ulterior motives.
Under the gathering of many questions and intelligence, all kinds of thoughts troubled the black-hearted king, so that he could no longer concentrate on commanding the battle, and could only hand over the command task to his deputy.
"My lord."
A voice interrupted Huron's thoughts.
He turned around and saw his old subordinate, Kyle Kus, who was also directly responsible for the Eye of Hell entering the dark bridge.
Behind him are two terminators, sandwiching Kelkus.
Kelkus escaped alone in a shuttle. Most of his subordinates were dead, and he himself would soon be as well.
Huron looked at the disgraced captain, his hand on the handle of his battle ax.
"Kneel down."
At the Tyrant's command, one of the massive Terminators placed a hand on Kelkus' shoulder pads and forced him to kneel.
There was a clang of ceramite hitting the rock slab, and Kelkus' helmet was immediately taken away and thrown aside.
"You disappoint me, Kelkus."
Huron whispered, his voice as sharp as his claws.
"You have brought shame to all of us, but you have done a good job in the past, so I will let you die a happy death."
"Can I be allowed to defend myself before a verdict is made?"
Kelkus kept his head down wisely, and after Huron fell silent, he hummed.
"You have powerful fortresses and fleets, and enough soldiers, but you still let the Eye of Hell fall. This result cannot be forgiven for your arrogance or stupidity. Kelkus, I have been so battle-hardened with you. The warrior expects more, but your performance makes you no longer qualified to wear the coat of honor."
"Third Captain Nasir Wotek took a company and his fleet away before the attack."
Kelkus whispered:
"And Malek also showed signs of betrayal after Nasir Votek left. I found in the communication records of the Star Castle Center that Nasir Votek had contacted a mysterious signal before leaving. I There is reason to believe that someone used some kind of intelligence to trick the Third Captain out of the Star Castle, and then had him captured by the Astral Knight fleet, which led to the subsequent attack."
Slowly, Kelkus raised a hand, his armored gauntlet opened.
"Before I left, I went to Nasir Watke's private room and found this."
As he did so, he looked up for the first time at Huron.
The tyrant stared at the object in the old subordinate's hand, then reached out and picked it up.
It was a communication beacon, generally used for secret point-to-point communication. It was in the shape of a hooded skull with a sharp sword passing through it from top to bottom.
Huron stared at this thing for a long time, and finally whispered:
"How could it be...them? Dark Angel?"
"Lord, you should have heard that there is a group of cloaked black-armored warriors in the Eye of Terror... They are mysterious, but sometimes they are hired."
Huron grabbed the communication beacon.
Then, he smiled, a strange and unpredictable smile.
"Kaerkus, your wisdom has earned you a pardon. Get up."
"Thank you, Lord."
Kelkus stood up from the ground, and the Terminator beside him picked up his dropped helmet and returned it to him.
"Lord, although I am gone, the Star Castle should not have fallen yet."
After hearing this, Huron thought for a moment and immediately guessed what Kelkus had done.
"You released Kandali Kala Harir?"
"Yes."
Although he transformed the opponent into a hell beast, Huron always wanted to wait for the right time and release it to the right opponent - after all, the recovery of the hell beast was very troublesome.
However, now is the perfect time.
So he patted Kelkus on the shoulder.
"You did a good job. I really did not misjudge the person. You are the most stable and rational among all my company commanders... As expected, the main responsibility for this failure is myself."
"My lord... I also have my carelessness, but the top priority now is that we must return to the Eye of Hell immediately. The hell beast will not hold on forever."
"I've already arranged it."
As he spoke, Huron turned his attention to the surveillance screen, and saw a huge warship slowly retreating under siege.
That is the flagship of the Lamenters, the Mother of Tears.
As the Mother of Tears retreated, a wide passage appeared between the Red Pirate Fleet and the Eyes of Hell.
"Send the signal! Prepare to jump into a gang! This time I will lead the team myself!"
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