"...If any secret is fermented for ten thousand years, no matter what the original intention is, it will deteriorate in the end. I know this very well."
Faced with Azrael's words, Soshyan could only remain silent.
The two of them stayed in silence under the dim light, each with their own thoughts, until they were awakened by the sound of a distant bell.
It was the big time clock of the orbital station, and it also reminded the two of them that they had been there for an hour.
"Sorry, brother Soshyan, for wasting so much of your time."
Finally, Azrael was the first to speak.
"It doesn't matter. We are battle brothers and we should help each other. The empire is in turmoil now, so we should work together."
"Yes."
Azrael nodded, and then suddenly said something that made Soshyan almost jump from the ground.
"The Astral Knights are not a sub-group of the Imperial Fists, right?"
"Uh...how could-"
Azrael waved his hand.
"Brother, don't get me wrong. I don't mean to accuse you, but I don't think there is any need to hide it from you... Well, Master Ezekiel has noticed something is wrong with your battle group very early on, especially on the battlefield. Your entire group seems to be enveloped in a huge anti-psionic field. Although it seems very thin due to the distance, it does exist."
This surprised Soshyan, because Kayon never said this, either he deliberately didn't say it, or Ezekiel's spiritual energy was extremely powerful and sensitive, or there was something special about it.
"And there's the ship."
Azrael then dropped a bombshell.
"While the keel number cannot be identified, the Sword of Caliban is a Great Crusade-era ship, and its ancient scanning devices have detected a unique set of codes...the Primarch's codes."
Soshyan could only remain silent.
"That set of codes is not in the database, but all the codes have patterns. Finally, the technical sergeant calculated that the code represents the number...XI."
Azrael stepped forward and put his right hand on Soshyan's left shoulder.
"No need to be nervous, I have no intention of prying into your secrets, so I will not say the final conclusion, ever! I just want to say that everything ten thousand years ago is too far away from us, and living people really have to be Are we haunted and haunted by the ghosts of the past? Gene seeds have given us glory and strength, but they have also burdened us with the complex and trivial entanglements of the past. I often wonder, are we shadows of the past, or are we real people in the present? self?"
As he spoke, he stretched out his left arm towards Soshyan.
Soshyan looked at the other person, surprised by Azrael's words. The Supreme Master of the Dark Angels obviously had another side that no one knew about.
He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found that he had no words. He could only hold the other person's hand and nodded.
"yes."
Azrael smiled, a very natural smile.
"I hope we can all find our own answers. Goodbye, brothers Soshiyan. I hope we can fight side by side one day in the future."
"I will, Brother Azrael."
In this way, the two ended their conversation and returned to their respective battle groups, and only the two of them knew what they discussed.
A few days after the meeting between the two, several battle groups stationed there held a grand celebration banquet. All Space Marines participated in the banquet. The atmosphere was very harmonious. Soshyan also recounted two war battles with Azrael. The brotherhood of the regiment, and its close attitude made many people raise eyebrows, including the warriors of the Dark Angel. They wondered when their supreme master had a good brother.
At this time, the influence of the Pandora Campaign also began to spread within the empire. As the organizer of the campaign, Soshyan's name quickly spread to many worlds and war groups.
A month after the battle, the reward from Terra arrived.
As the judge said, the focus of this award is on the Dark Angel.
The High Lord of Terra first praised the loyalty and courage of the Dark Angels, praising them for exerting their ten thousand years of fine tradition and once again severely inflicting heavy losses on the enemies of the empire, and they are the true pillars of the empire.
He also strongly praised Azrael, the Supreme Master of the Dark Angels, as a hero of the empire and a nemesis of the enemy, and awarded him a sword made by Terran craftsmen. His sword was reforged from an Imperial Guard sword that was damaged during the Battle of Terra. , named the Pai Shang Sword.
At the same time, all the Dark Angels who participated in this battle received a Death Star Battle Medal.
Then came the battle commander Soshyan and the Astral Knights. There was only a mild word of praise for loyalty and bravery. Soshyan himself received a medal, and the other soldiers did not even get medals.
The White Temple only had commendations. As the chapter leader, Randall was not mentioned by name, let alone medals.
As soon as the news came out, the warriors of the Astral Knights were very angry, and Soshyan spent a lot of time trying to suppress everyone's complaints.
After that, Azrael led the Dark Angels to leave the Pandora Galaxy and head to the nearest recruiting world. They suffered a lot of losses in this battle, nearly two hundred soldiers were killed, and they needed to replenish their troops immediately.
The Astral Knights and White Templars were not much better. The Astral Knights lost 67 people, and 3 more people entered the Dreadnought. The White Templars lost 132 people, including 2 company commanders, so Soshyan gave Lan Doyle also returned to his home planet to replenish his troops, and after he obtained the flagship, the two sides would meet to discuss how to solve the next problems.
After the White Templar left, the Inquisitor also left the galaxy, and now only the last man remained——
Nun of the Ebony Chalice.
Velez often appeared next to Soshyan during this period, but in order to prevent Veronica from getting angry all day long, Soshyan avoided contact with the other party as much as possible - he found that as long as he came into contact with Velez, Veronika would Nika will definitely find out and get mad.
But there is always a time when there is no way to avoid it. Before the Ebony Holy Grail left, Velez invited Soshyan to have dinner.
Considering that the other party had indeed helped a lot, and that he had not taken good care of him during these days, Soshiyang agreed, and then chose a time when no one knew about it, took off his power armor, put on a robe, and took a ride on Di Trian's shuttle went to the ship of the Order of the Ebony Grail.
The meeting was not complicated, as Velez said it was just an ordinary dinner. The two sat facing each other under candlelight, with only simple food and water on the table.
Velez rarely wore a blue low-cut dress. Although Soshyan didn't pay much attention to it, it had to be said that the years had not left any traces on her body, but it made her look even more...
The nun seemed very happy and told Soshyan many things that had happened since she returned to the convent.
Soshyan also informed Velez of the later part of his experience.
However, during this process, Velez would occasionally ask about Veronica's identity in a subtle way, but Soshyan always got around to it.
Three hours passed quickly, and Velez informed Soshyan that the Order had received a new mission to suppress a riot in the religious world and had to leave immediately.
Realizing that the two parties would be separated again and would meet again in unknown years, Soshyan gave Velez a pendant made of explosive shells before leaving, with an inscription he personally carved on it - Veronica. There is one there too.
Velez was very happy and gave Soshyan a golden rose brooch.
After leaving the nun's ship, Soshyan put away his things, took a careful bath for a few hours, and after making sure he wouldn't smell anything, put on a new robe and returned to the bedroom.
He thought he had done everything perfectly, but he didn't expect that as soon as he opened the door, a pillow hit his face directly, accompanied by the angry screams of the Eldar girl, which was almost the same as her howling banshees. generally.
“Get out!!!!”
