Chapter 686: Ezekiel: Azrael, your mother is dead

The Rock fortress,

Zabriel stepped onto the floor paved with pitch-black rock, walking through the deep and wide corridor, looking at the towering stone statues supporting the ceiling hidden in the cold fog, feeling the cold wind blowing across his weathered cheeks.

It was as if the remnant world-soul of Caliban was using her fingers to stroke Zabriel's scarred cheeks.

Some of these scars came from the enemies of humanity, some from the beasts in the forest... but more came from his brothers who flowed with the same gene sequence.

A mocking sneer crossed Zabriel's mouth, mocking himself, mocking his brothers who called themselves loyal, and mocking this damn fate.

He once had no feelings for Caliban. Zabriel was a Terran, a Crownless Prince, one of the first Astartes. When he boarded Caliban, the mountains and forests of Caliban had long been razed, leaving only cold mountain stones and a large number of newly built armories.

In Zabriel's view, Caliban had always been an ordinary planet, not as civilized as Macragge, not as magnificent as Fenris, not as majestic as Chogoris, and even less important than Terra.

But at this moment, stepping onto this fragment of Caliban, a thought Zabriel had never had before arose in his heart.

"Home..." Zabriel said softly, without anger, without pain, only a lightness and emptiness like relief.

A subtle tremor, with Zabriel as the core, passed to the Fallen Angels beside him. These Astartes, who had once been sentenced as Fallen and had been hunted by the Dark Angels for ten thousand years, had their expressions waver slightly.

Even though they were Astartes with tough minds, and even though ten thousand years of wind and frost had already shaped them into rocks, their minds still wavered.

Especially those warriors who were born on Caliban and grew up on Caliban.

Once, this was home, their hometown.

But later it became their burial ground, their cage, their purgatory, the headquarters of those who hunted them, the tribunal that sentenced them to be guilty.

The years were long and unbearable. Now that the shackles were broken, they were finally able to call this place home again.

An elderly Fallen Angel knelt on the floor of the Rock fortress.

He seemed unable to bear the power armor separating him from his contact with Caliban, and even his helmetless face was pressed against the ground.

Feeling the slight cold coming from the ground, the elderly Fallen Angel's eyes seemed to reflect himself when he was young, when he was not yet an Astartes, but just a knight's squire.

He was making a scene in the clear and cold stream with his companions, stepping on the huge pebbles polished by ten thousand years of stream water, unable to stop running around because of the coldness of the stream and the pebbles.

Now that his cheek was pressed against the ground, feeling the coldness coming, it was as if the coldness in the Caliban stream was coming from his memory.

"Caliban, my hometown."

"Today, I have finally, finally returned to your side."

He shed tears, the first time since the fall of Caliban.

A shadow suddenly covered him.

The other Astartes around held their breath, not daring to speak, not daring to cry.

That elderly Fallen Angel also hurriedly stood up, bowing slightly toward the Lion before his eyes.

Lion El'Jonson did not speak, just nodded slightly toward the elderly Fallen Angel, then turned and continued to walk at the front of the team.

Zabriel couldn't help but sigh in his heart, a bitter and complex emotion spreading in the bottom of his heart.

Zabriel understood that the Lion could never punish the Dark Angels of today. In fact, Zabriel and the vast majority of Fallen Angels did not hope for the Dark Angels of today to be punished.

Although the Fallen Angels had suffered cruel hunting, they were brothers after all, essentially all loyalists, only the trickery of fate made them kill each other.

For the sake of the Imperium, for the sake of humanity, they should not continue that cruel fate.

They often cursed Azrael, cursed Asmodai.

But they understood that the person who should truly bear these sins was the mastermind behind the fall of Caliban, not the Dark Angels Chapter Master Azrael of today.

It was just that ten thousand years of fleeing, ten thousand years of humiliation, ending up like this, was ultimately a bit complex in the bottom of his heart.

Zabriel saw the people of the Dark Angels Chapter.

The Lion did not hide his purpose for returning to the Chapter. Not only the Dark Angels Chapter, almost all the Dark Angels' successor chapters had sent representatives or even the entire chapter to come, longing to admire the glory of the gene-father, longing to follow the gene-father to fight.

The Unforgiven gathered here. When the Lion stepped out from the pitch-black corridor, the Grand Master among the Unforgiven first knelt down to his gene-father, and then more Astartes from the parent chapter and successor chapters followed.

Their eyes were filled with hot tears. Every Astartes knew that their gene-father had long returned, but he had never returned to them. They even began to suspect that they had been abandoned by their gene-father.

Now, the gene-father had finally returned to them.

A tremor from the depths of their genes engulfed them, making their souls submit before the Lion.

But there was only one flaw. These Unforgiven obviously noticed the Fallen Angels behind the Primarch.

Surprise, disgust, suspicion, shock—all kinds of expressions hung on the faces of the Unforgiven. They looked at the Fallen Angels as if they were not looking at their own brothers, but at a group of enemies.

"Fallen." A slight voice sounded, a voice that could be captured by the extraordinary perception of the Astartes.

Asmodai of the Dark Angels parent chapter was staring at the Fallen Angels with a gloomy gaze.

But the Lion ignored Asmodai and didn't care about these things.

In fact, the Fallen Angels didn't pay too much attention to Asmodai either. Their attention was attracted by the absence of one person.

Azrael, Supreme Grand Master Azrael, Dark Angels Chapter Master, the leader of the Dark Angels today, was absent.

Only Chief Librarian Ezekiel attended on his behalf.

Zabriel's eyelids twitched slightly. He sensed that beneath the Lion's seemingly calm face, anger was accumulating.

"Azrael, where is he?" The Lion's voice was as calm as the deep jungle of Caliban.

His voice echoed in the deep corridor, as if Caliban itself was questioning.

Clear sweat appeared on Ezekiel's forehead. He stood up and stepped forward slightly.

"Not long ago, Supreme Grand Master Azrael felt that he had failed to fulfill his responsibility to lead the Chapter and successor chapters, and has now voluntarily resigned from the position of Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels, joined the Deathwatch, cut off all contact with the Chapter, covered the Chapter's emblem, and went into self-exile to become a Black Shield..."

?

A question mark appeared on Zabriel's head.

Black Shield was a special kind of Astartes in the Deathwatch. They abandoned their past identities, severed contact with their Chapters, painted their emblems black, joined the Deathwatch, lived incognito, had no honor, were not remembered, and dedicated their lives to the Deathwatch.

These Astartes would be abandoned by their brothers, far away from their Chapters, no longer receive the blessing of their Primarch, and were even considered no longer watched by the Emperor. Often, only those who believed they had committed heinous crimes and longed to redeem themselves through service in the Deathwatch would choose to become Black Shields.

Chapters would also often respect their choice, ignore their existence, and allow them to redeem themselves in this way.

But... Azrael was the Supreme Grand Master. What kind of crime could make him choose to redeem himself in such an extreme way?

And...

Zabriel turned his head slightly and looked at Lion El'Jonson. ===== CHAPTER 687 =====