Chapter 154: The Dutiful Sons and Worthy Descendants of Sanguinius

"These two Chapters, every one of them is your dutiful son and worthy descendant."

Zhou Yun gazed at the two Chapters standing face to face outside the window, and could not help sighing,

On one side was the Flesh Tearers Chapter in crimson armor edged with white; their founding date was unknown, but until the forty-first millennium, they had always believed their parent Chapter to be the Ultramarines, and their gene-father to be Robert Guilliman,

while the Red Thirst and Black Rage were mutations of the gene-seed of unknown cause that needed to be concealed at all costs.

Until the High Chaplain of the Blood Angels, the Castigator Astorath, came to them; this High Chaplain was the Blood Angels' executioner, responsible for executing those descendants of Sanguinius who had utterly fallen to the Black Rage, whether of the parent Chapter or of the successor Chapters,

Astorath revealed to the Flesh Tearers their origin, letting them understand who their true gene-father was,

but even so, when Baal needed aid, many of the Chapter's elders still felt estranged from the Blood Angels and were unwilling to reinforce Baal; only eight hundred relatively young warriors followed Chapter Master Kaen to Baal.

And standing opposite them, in a somewhat tense standoff with them, was the Knights of Blood Chapter.

Zhou Yun's eyes narrowed slightly, his gaze toward the Knights of Blood exceedingly wary,

in fact, the Astartes of the Flesh Tearers Chapter were also exceedingly wary, so wary that they could not even spare attention for the gaze of ordinary mortals.

Of course, the populace of Baal Secundus — at least the populace of Angel's Fall Town — were well trained; nearly all of them lowered their heads, not daring to watch the two companies of angels locked in confrontation, and even covered their ears.

The Flesh Tearers Chapter's wariness was well founded,

the Knights of Blood were a group of Renegade Astartes,

they too were tormented by the Red Thirst and Black Rage, but they had chosen to give themselves over to the Thirst, sinking into the instinct and desire to drink blood,

they suppressed the Black Rage by feeding on the blood of innocents, but in the end they were still declared traitors by the High Lords of Terra for the many atrocities they committed in battle.

But the Knights of Blood insisted on their loyalty, and held that mortals had no right to judge whether an Astartes Chapter was loyal,

even when confronted with their own blood-drinking, their Chapter Master Yor argued thus:

"Mortals are cattle, we are the shepherd's dogs. Is it wrong for us to take food from the herd?"

The Hua Hua Hua Di Huang of old created the Astartes to protect mankind, yet now there were Astartes who regarded themselves as far above mortals, and even began slaughtering mortals to draw their blood.

"If the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang heard such a speech, he would surely praise it highly." Zhou Yun said with considerable sarcasm.

The winged figure in the Bai Guang was uncommonly silent; he scarcely spoke any more.

Zhou Yun's gaze drifted soundlessly onto the Knights of Blood,

the Knights of Blood had indeed been listed as a Renegade Chapter, and they had indeed been controlled by the Red Thirst,

but they were still here now to protect Baal, answering Dante's summons, coming to defend the home world of their gene-father.

Whether it was the Flesh Tearers, who had scarcely set foot on Baal before, or the Knights of Blood, mired in their predicament,

their purpose in coming to Angel's Fall Town was in fact very simple,

before the war arrived, before death came, to draw some peace, courage, fury, and hope from the relics of their gene-father.

The tavern patrons said the angels had come for miracles, which was of course wrong,

the angels had come to sacrifice themselves.

"This is where our Father descended; we cannot slaughter one another beneath our Father's gaze." The leader of the Flesh Tearers Chapter said.

If they had met beyond Baal, the Flesh Tearers, who for so long had acted according to the holy book written by Guilliman, would long since have opened fire on the Knights of Blood.

But this was Baal, and their Father's gaze was watching them with sorrow.

A dry, cold laugh came from behind the helmet's air grille of the Knights of Blood's leader; the smell of blood nearly spilled out.

"We know who our gene-father is," the Knights of Blood said. "We know whose curse this is, whose blessing."

"We have always engraved his name upon our hearts; we are closer to Sanguinius than you — you would agree, wouldn't you, sons of Guilliman?"

"Well said." Zhou Yun could not help exclaiming in admiration,

although the Red Thirst kept the Knights of Blood forever trapped in craving and fury, it seemed not to have affected their tongues — they were still vicious when they spoke,

striking straight at the Flesh Tearers' having acknowledged the wrong father for those long past ages; this attack was especially potent given that many Blood Angels successor Chapters did not care for Guilliman.

In terms of aggression, the Red Thirst clearly surpassed the Butcher's Nails of the World Eaters next door by a wide margin.

The leader of the Flesh Tearers Chapter nearly wanted to immediately begin attacking from the point that the Knights of Blood had been declared traitors,

but he quickly realized that the loyalty or disloyalty of an Astartes Chapter should not be exposed before the eyes of the nearby mortals.

Moreover, the leader of the Flesh Tearers Chapter knew that the Knights of Blood could not be provoked now.

They seemed to have been sons of Guilliman for too long, and had not yet learned the Blood Angels' style of taunt and mockery; in aggression they were far inferior to the Knights of Blood, who had long since fallen into the Red Thirst.

"But you are right."

Before the Flesh Tearers could figure out what to say in rebuttal, the Knights of Blood spoke first:

"This is the place watched over by the Angel's gaze, and you have no right to refuse us here; we have purer Sanguinian blood than you."

"Besides, we have come to reinforce Baal, to defend Baal; no one but Commander Dante and the Angel himself can refuse our aid." The leader of the Flesh Tearers nodded, seeming to show as much affability as he could, and said to the Knights of Blood: "We are allies; we can coexist."

"No, we dare not fight shoulder to shoulder with you; you are not pure enough, strong enough, or wrathful enough." The Blood Angels' leader glanced at the Flesh Tearers and gave an almost savage smile.

"Is purity judged by wrath?" The leader of the Flesh Tearers rebutted almost instinctively.

Perhaps it was the teachings of the holy book that made them always feel reason should outweigh fury.

Zhou Yun, with keen interest, forked a piece of scorpion meat from his plate and stuffed it into his mouth,

savoring the delicacies native to Baal while watching the infighting of Sanguinius's dutiful sons and worthy descendants.

"Hah—" the Knights of Blood lightly exhaled a breath of blood; his body radiated a terrifying, dry-thirsted and wrathful red heat,

the fangs hidden beneath his helmet nearly bared themselves — truly frightening.

A flash of fury immediately passed through the eyes of the Flesh Tearers' leader; he seemed, to some degree, to have been infected by the Red Thirst emanating from the Knights of Blood,

he and his battle-brothers almost simultaneously placed their hands upon their weapons,

these warriors still did not wish this to develop into a fratricidal struggle, but the aura of the Red Thirst emanating from the Knights of Blood was too thick.

The leader of the Knights of Blood let out a mocking laugh: "I was beginning to think you were really Ultramarines spies smuggled in."

"So you do feel anger too — good, very good."

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The Blood Knight leader glanced around, as if searching for something:

"You need not worry," he said while searching, "We need to feed, but we dislike being seen while feeding even more."

The scent of blood seemed about to gush from the Blood Knight leader's mouth.

"Remember my name."

The Blood Knight leader was still speaking to the Crimson Blades, yet his gaze silently swept around.

Zhou Yun had been watching the entire confrontation between the two warbands.

This keen Blood Angel Chapter Master sensed the gaze, yet could not find its source.

Beneath the fake skin Zhou Yun had crafted from body clay, he had always worn the Phantom Thief DX suit.

This artifact concealed Zhou Yun's figure and aura.

"Sento Yor, Chapter Master, First Blade of the Blood Knights." The Blood Knight Chapter Master Sento Yor, unable to locate Zhou Yun, snorted and turned to leave.

The Crimson Blades' leader took a sharp breath, as if suppressing his anger.

He lowered his head, recited a few passages of rules and precepts from the Codex to calm himself.

At that moment, he looked less like a Blood Angel and more like an ancient Roman noble.

Afterwards, this Crimson Blades leader led his warband brothers to the Great Plaza to worship their Gene-Father.

"You should thank Horus; if he had not left the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang half-paralyzed, immobilized upon the Golden Throne."

Zhou Yun glanced toward the direction the Blood Knights had left, then looked again at the direction the Crimson Blades had left:

"Otherwise, your progeny might well have fallen into the fate of the Thunder Warriors."

"Come to Angel Fortress tomorrow; the Hua Hua Hua Di Huang will reward your merits. No need to wear power armor."

Zhou Yun spoke with a slightly sarcastic tone.

But Zhou Yun was actually somewhat serious.

The Blood Angels' gene-seed was simply too unstable.

Even with deliberate concealment, Zhou Yun still detected obvious mutation traces on the Blood Knights.

And though the Crimson Blades appeared calm, when the Blood Knights radiated their blood-thirst aura, Zhou Yun vaguely observed a Crimson Blades warrior without a helmet, his teeth lengthened and pressing against his lips.

Even the Crimson Blades, who devoutly followed the Codex and had long existed as a successor chapter of the Ultramarines, were easily influenced, revealing symptoms of blood-thirst.

The winged figure within the white light trembled, almost with anger.

He babbled a long string of words, but due to the barrier between reality and the Warp, Zhou Yun could not actually hear what was said.

Zhou Yun quickly scraped the scorpion meat clean from the plate; this Bara specialty pleased him greatly.

He set down the plate, looked at the tavern owner, and silently pulled a Blood Stone from his pocket of the fourth dimension, placing it on the table:

"Do you have any rooms available? I wish to rest for a while," Zhou Yun asked.

The owner nodded slightly, indicating that Zhou Yun could use the rooms behind the tavern.

Zhou Yun nodded slightly, stood up, and looked at the artifact he had just exchanged from his pocket of the fourth dimension.

When in doubt, first divine right from wrong.

Comment anywhere in this chapter or the previous one to enter the lottery; Dante and eight boxes of Blood Angel blind boxes will be drawn in twenty-four hours. Thank you, great ones, for your subscriptions.

The author visited his grandmother's house today, is somewhat tired, and may sleep now; the lottery results will be tallied tomorrow.

(End of Chapter)