Warhammer: I don't want to become a stinky can!

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"Yes, my lord, I am here."

Do what you want, Sai.

Konrad Coates uttered those words with an eerie softness.

【You are a noble sinner, Sai. If there is still light among the fallen Midnight Lords, it can only be you, and it must be you. Only you can retain your last vestige of self in hell.】

Conrad stared intently at Sevita.

If anyone in the Legion or Nostradamus opposes you, let me know.

After the last word was uttered, they fell silent.

silence.

Sevita felt a tightness in his throat as the Lord of the Night uttered words that were hard to believe.

Sevita recalled Hades's suggestive glance at him, and the wavering within him that had once been... This couldn't be... The Primarch couldn't do this, and neither could he...

"My lord, the legion needs you."

Severta began to speak haltingly, but Conrad Coz tilted his head and looked at him sadly.

I'm being watched; it can't be me.

“My lord, I do not understand your meaning.”

Conrad Koz shook his head again, more like shaking his head itself, his eyeballs twitching erratically once more, but he continued to explain to Sevita.

[A fish is unaware that it has always lived in water unless it is cruelly pulled out and left to struggle in the dry air.]

They were watching me all along, before I became conscious, before I was born, before all the tragedy had occurred.

Conrad Coz's mental state became unstable once again. Severta could smell the psychic energy. Conrad quickly withdrew his hand and fled back into the darkness of night as if escaping.

[Sai, do what you want to do, don't let the last light of the Legion go out.]

Koz's whisper came from the darkness; it sounded like a roar.

Sevita swallowed hard. Although he still couldn't understand Conrad's words, he made his attempt anyway, asking aloud,

"Father, how can I make sure you are not being watched?"

In the darkness, Conrad Coz let out a painful, desperate howl, and Severta imagined Coz scraping his own flesh.

It's too late! Too late! We realized it too late! And how could that madman possibly help us?!

Yes, there is a code.

I'll add two interludes today, otherwise I'll forget the main storyline while writing.

This can be considered as touching upon the main storyline.

Chapter 314 Interlude: Mortalian Awakens Karas for the First Time

Pain, anxiety, buzzing.

Calastifon rose from the deep, dry ocean, dizzy and exhausted, the blinding light blurring his vision.

He instinctively wanted to rub his throbbing temples, but then a slow, sluggish force reminded him of his current state.

He is not dead yet.

"grass."

Karastiphon muttered a curse.

Realizing this, Carrastiphon stopped all activity and patiently remained still, waiting for himself to recover.

His eyes began to adjust to the blinding white light, and he realized that the light that had just hurt him was not dazzling at all. On the contrary, it was dim, with the dimness characteristic of the Endurance.

When he finally got used to everything, including his crippled body and his current miserable situation, Carrastiphon raised his eyes and, sure enough, saw a familiar and tall figure.

"Motalian?"

Karastiphon called out hesitantly, with a hint of sarcasm, unsure whether the sarcasm in his tone was directed at himself or at Mortalian.

The Lord of Death sat quietly in a simple chair, his armor covered in dried blood and obvious dents, as if he had just been through a fierce battle.

Karastiphon allowed himself a second to imagine whether this was the scar left by Mortarion after he killed Hades.

This image gave him a subtle and wicked sense of satisfaction, as if it were compensating for his current incompleteness. Then he shifted his gaze and looked directly into Mortalian's eyes.

Mortarian looked very tired, extremely tired, but his bright yellow eyes gleamed in the shadow of his hood.

【Karastifen, long time no see.】

Mortarion spoke with a sigh, the Primarch seemingly wanting to say something, but then stopped.

Karastifon silently observed his surroundings. There were two death guards at the door; he could recognize one as Garo and the other as a technical sergeant.

—But Hades was not there.

Where is Hades?

"I can't be more direct," Karas asked.

Motari paused for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice.

He left; he went to Terra.

Karas raised an eyebrow.

"He's finally abandoned you too? Just like you abandoned me back then?"

“What a pity, Mortarian. I was hoping to see Hades, so I could mock him and say that you were left behind too.”

After all, the original entities are different; they were born strangers.

Karastifon watched with satisfaction as Mortarian's brows furrowed deeply. Just like that, Karastif thought, and then Mortarian would flee, taking his own harsh words with him, and abandon him in this forgotten corner.

But Mortarian did not leave. Although he seemed very dissatisfied with what Karas said, he remained seated.

If you still regret what happened back then.

"Disgusting," Mortalian said calmly and softly. Karas vaguely felt that Mortalian was trying to comfort him.

But the next second it really felt disgusting.

"Then I apologize, Callas."

Karas felt the stomach acid rising in his empty stomach, but strangely enough, Mortarian was still talking. He didn't even refute the mocking words.

This was my oversight; I should have noticed all of this.

Mortarian gazed calmly at the fearless machine containing Karastifon; in a sense, this massive iron contraption was already Karastifon himself.

After Hades left, the Death Guard quickly plunged into another battlefield, Cajol, where they encountered primitive men roaring with blood and skulls, and altars built from skulls.

It took them three whole months to finish the battle. Even though the enemy only had crude swords and flintlock pistols, every night, blood-red monsters would spew out from the darkness and ominous flames, and the local primitives clearly knew how to control them.

It's witchcraft again.

Mortarian scoffed at this.

The Lord of Death already knew how to handle all of this. He carefully and cleverly deployed the Zero Company on the battlefield. By now, even the Hound of the Underworld knew that the Death Guard had a team that could counter psionic species.

Ultimately, with the combined suppression of the three Ghost Riders, Mortarian successfully beheaded the leader of the Cajor people, a burly, almost mutated madman.

Without Zero Chain, it would have taken the Death Guard much longer and at a much higher cost to end this.

Mortarian understood this very well.

What was Mortarian thinking as he led the Death Guard in battle against bloodthirsty monsters in the forest, as he commanded his knights to flank the opposing wizard forces in the channel, as he fought against the opposing leader and heard Reibo's roar in the channel?

What was he thinking about?

Motalian was unaware that he had hastily ended the battle. He returned to his office, gripped his pen with his bloodied hand, and wrote a report announcing the end of the war. Then he looked up at the two framed, incongruous letters on the wall.

How stupid, he thought.

Then he opened the channel and, without any further thought, called Enrique, the master craftsman of the Death Guard, a Terran, whom he was not familiar with.

[Enrique, awaken Carrastiphon, then summon Garo.]

He said this, though he himself didn't know what he was saying.

Then he abruptly sat down there, facing the soon-to-awaken Carrastiphon.

He heard Calathiphon's curses, which gave him a strong urge to leave, but he couldn't just wake up a Dreadnought and then shut it down again; even for a Primarch, it would be inappropriate to do so.

Karastiphon was still the man from memory, his sharp words stinging Mortalian, but he was right about everything.

Motarian offered a dry apology.

The words stuck in his throat. Unlike when he faced Horus, he could easily say things that made him nauseous, or when he faced Hades, he could say whatever he wanted.

He was stuck. Mortalian wanted to know what Karastyphon had gone through back then, and he also wanted to know how Karastyphon was doing now...

And... Mortarian wondered if Karas still had the potential to move forward, though he needed to scrutinize that question.

In a sense, a Karas sleeping in the Fearless is like a badge displayed in the Hall of Glory; he symbolizes a past, a past in which Mortarion once made mistakes.

A stubborn and prejudiced past.

Beneath the gas mask, Motari took a few quiet breaths before deciding to say what he wanted to say.

【Karas, while you were asleep, the Death Guard experienced many things: the Battle of Druun, the Battle of Ruster, the Battle of Abustu, and some others...】

"What are you trying to say, Mortarian?"

Carrastifon is always like that, sharp enough.

Motari settled in for a while.

[...I want you to keep up with the Death Guard, not become a broken silhouette of the past, thrown into the battlefield when manpower is insufficient, and then forcibly put into hibernation.]

Now it was Carrastyphon's turn to be silent. After a moment of silence, Carrastyphon laughed.

"Thank you for your kindness, but they are a little late."

It's better than nothing.

Another silence fell; they were no longer like old friends who had nothing in common to talk about.

The Lord of Death spoke first.

[Karas, if you still wish to die.]

Then I can... help you.

Karas's pupils suddenly dilated.

He certainly wanted to die; he should have died long ago in Barbarossa, instead of becoming a grotesque, inhuman lump of flesh imprisoned in this cramped corner. He had mocked Hades many times, hoping to provoke Hades into killing him in a fit of rage.

But by a twist of fate, seeing Mortarion covered in blood before him, perhaps it was the long-dormant will to survive that suddenly erupted in Karastyphon, perhaps he was truly inspired by the battles the Death Guard had experienced, or perhaps hearing the fact that Mortarion had been abandoned by Hades brought Karastyphon a long-lost sense of pleasure...

Karaston paused for a moment. Well, he was unwilling, he was afraid of dying, and he didn't want to leave like this.

He changed to a more relaxed tone.

“No, Mortalian, I think when I wake up next time I might hear better news—like how Hades abandoned you this time.”

Mortarian shook his head.

You don't have to be so harsh, Callas.

If you truly derive pleasure from the suffering of others, then... perhaps I have other information to share with you.

Callas raised his voice,

"for example?"

Rumors about Hades have long circulated within the Death Guard...

Karas frowned.

[And I only recently learned that the rumor circulating among them wasn't about Hades's prowess, but rather that he overturned a recruit's bed—and that Hades tried to escape, only to be discovered by the poor recruit.]

...Motalian looked at Karas, and Karas looked back at Motalian.

Motalian seemed to be asking him if this wasn't funny.

After a moment of absolute silence, an astonishing burst of laughter erupted from the fearless, stuffy can.

Karas didn't know whether he found it more unforgettable because of Mortarian's lame jokes, or because he was genuinely gloating over Hades's miserable experience.