Chapter 328 The Rise of the Primarch: God of War
People always say that where there is light, there is shadow. The brighter the place, the darker the place. This statement is often not wrong. In terms of Bell's service experience of more than 200 years since he joined the war group, those most gorgeous and prosperous places often have the opposite existence like a mirror.
The more prosperous, the more decadent the mirrored things are. The more holy, the more corrupt the other side is. This can be applied to almost all empires in the empire, especially the most prosperous hive cities. In those magnificent upper nest aristocratic urban areas, and below the middle nest that is neither good nor bad and barely makes a living, is the mirror image of all prosperity.
In the low nest, all abominations are hidden, terrible alien parasitic settlements, crazy and violent low nest gangs and barbaric mutant tribes, not to mention those brutal Chaos cultists who cruise in the darkness of the Emperor's light and hide in all shadows.
They are almost an absurd mirror image of the prosperous city above, from the most terrible, horrible and unimaginable dark abyss written by a postmodern dystopian writer. It is a crazy and twisted place that no normal person would want to escape into.
Bell knows that all the imperial cities and nests have similar places under them. The difference lies in the degree of chaos and the difference in the inhabitants, but he can't think of it, and dare not think that there is such a place under the Emperor's Palace.
Bell walked in the dark underground tunnel. It seemed like some kind of strange dark temple buried deep underground. Everything around was shrouded in a layer of disturbing and strange darkness. Bell looked around everything. There were countless stone pillars and sword-holding statues standing around this dark underground palace.
Those statues were like sealed giants, holding weapons and standing between stone pillars. Their swords and the stone pillars beside them were engraved with prayers. The runes and scrolls surrounding them were like magic spells, sealing something here, something that should never see the light of day again.
Bell walked in this deep tunnel with caution and anxiety. He followed closely behind Vito. In front of him, Vito Mai, wearing the golden armor of the emperor, walked at the head of the team. The golden halo burning behind his head was like a lighthouse, projecting light all around, illuminating the ink-like ominous darkness on both sides of the road.
Bell looked at the halo, which was like the light of the star torch. This logic really made sense. Where there is light, there is shadow. And in this galaxy, is there any place brighter than the palace? This is the location of the Golden Throne, the location of the star torch that illuminates the dark universe, and the throne of the emperor.
Naturally, underneath it lurks the darkest place in the universe, a dark place that no one wants to enter, not even the golden-armored imperial guards.
Trajan subconsciously held the lightning axe in his hand, and the imperial guards surrounding him held their weapons around Vito. They were wearing advanced golden power armor, and there should be very few things in the universe that could threaten them, but here, in this dark place, all the imperial guards held their weapons tightly.
Bell looked at the imperial guards, he saw that the blades of the power halberds were flashing with blue lightning, and those jumping arcs kept illuminating the surroundings, and as the imperial guards moved forward, they were like torches illuminating the darkness on both sides of the road.
But it was useless. Just like the lanterns held by the statues on both sides, the hooded statue guards standing on both sides of the road stretched out a hand from under their robes. The hanging lanterns were hung in front of them with thick black iron chains, illuminating the hall with dim light.
Those burning lanterns, those lanterns that should have illuminated the dark space, were like swaying candles in the darkness. The weak flames could not illuminate the deep darkness here. All the light would be swallowed by the darkness as long as it left the iron cover of the lantern a few steps away, and disappeared in the misty deep space.
Bell walked among the imperial guards. He and Eisenstein followed closely behind Vito. Logically, there was nothing to worry about in the palace, but Captain Eisenstein beside him pressed his hand tightly on the hilt of the chainsaw sword on his waist almost out of instinct, like the instinct of an old soldier.
It was very quiet here, so quiet that it was creepy. Bell could even hear the heartbeat of his power armor. He looked around at the silent warriors around him. All of them stared at the deep space around them without saying a word. Only their breathing echoed in the air.
Puff, puff, the heavy breathing of the giants seemed particularly loud here, as if they were giant beasts breathing. But if there were really any monsters here, then these monsters were also hidden in the surrounding darkness, spying on the visitors who entered here in the shadows.
After a long hesitation, Bell mustered up the courage to walk up. He approached Vito and whispered to the marshal, "My lord, where is this place? Is this really the palace?"
"Haha, it's terrible here, right? At least the emperor's rich gold aesthetic decoration is gone here, and it won't blind my eyes." Vito said with a smile, his eyes scanning the darkness on both sides.
"Although it has changed from shining gold to pitch dark"
"But where is this place? Is this the palace?" Bell asked in a low voice, but his voice was full of awe. He looked at the lantern statue that slid past him. The dim light from the lantern hung by the iron chain shone on the face of the statue, dimly illuminating the invisible face under the hood.
Bell looked at the face of the statue. When the face appeared in front of him in an instant, Bell felt his whole body suddenly became cold. It was not because the face of the statue was so scary. On the contrary, the face was quite ordinary, calm and peaceful, but too calm. There was not even a little emotion that people could feel, as if it was made of darkness.
"Shadow Prison, the full name is Shadow Prison, but you can think of this as a dungeon under the palace that cannot see the light." Vito said, looking around the darkness. He walked in front of the crowd, illuminating the dark road with the golden halo burning behind his head.
"Dungeon? My Lord, you said a dungeon, but it's underground in the palace? What's locked up here?" Bell asked in surprise. Eisenstein behind him also looked over. Not only him, but Trajan and the surrounding guards also looked over with their peripheral vision, looking at Bell and Vito.
They all looked at Vito, who turned his head slightly and looked at Bell with the same cold expression as the statues around him. That look made Bell feel cold from the end of his spine to his neck.
"You don't want to know, Bell, not at all." Vito said and turned his head. He continued to walk on this dark road. The surrounding environment suddenly became dead silent again. Bell remained silent for a long time, and then slowly spoke after a long time.
"Where are we going, sir?"
"The prison door, guarded by the underground palace guards here."
"Prison door? Here? There are guards? Are they the imperial guards?"
"Well, you can say that, but they won't make you like it. The things guarded by these imperial guards are not very likable. You will be there soon. It doesn't have to be soon. You can see them."
Vito raised his head slightly to the front, and Bell raised his head to look at the things in front of the team. After a moment of hesitation, he almost subconsciously stood in the middle of the road. He let the imperial guards and Eisenstein on both sides pass by him, and looked up at the huge black door in front of him with a look of astonishment.
It was a completely black steel door, completely opposite to the golden doors in the palace. It didn't have a trace of sacredness and magnificence. It was on the other side of the mirror like everything here. It was a terrible door, a cold and frightening prison door.
Bell looked at the countless carvings on it. They were eerie rune symbols. All the scriptures were arranged and extended along the gullies on it, just like a magic circle, except that this magic circle was full of skulls and bones deeply embedded on it.
It was a terrible scene. There were screaming skulls on the gate. They stretched their hands out of the gate one after another, but they seemed to be caught by something. They were dragged back into the dark gate body by the terrible thing while screaming, just like sailors escaping from the dark ocean, stretching thousands of hands out of the dark sea.
Bell looked at the skulls on the gate, he swallowed his saliva and looked at the screaming bones. He didn't know what they were trying to escape from, but Vito was right. He didn't want to know at all, not at all.
Bell lowered his head and saw the guards Vito mentioned. When he saw them, he was stunned for a moment. Vito was right. Those guards were like this gate, just like everything here, which made people feel scared and uneasy from the depths of their souls.
The underground guards of the imperial army stood in front of the gate, holding lightning halberds and wearing black armor branded with pale skulls. They stood in front of the magnificent gate silently, just like the statues around them, standing in front of the gate coldly, without even a little warmth, so that you doubt whether there is really a person under the armor.
Bell looked at them, then slightly tilted his head and widened his eyes. His eyes were wide open and looked at the things on both sides. There were different gates around the black giant gate in front of him. The carvings on their surfaces were different, but their common characteristics were that they made people feel a heartfelt sense of fear.
Bell stared at the other huge door on the side of the towering wall in front of him. There was a dragon carved on the door, a gloomy dragon made of steel. It coiled around the door and grasped its claws on the stars, as if it was nailed to the door like a doomsday dragon that devoured everything.
It was indeed nailed to the door. There was a long spear in the center of the door. It directly pierced the chest of the steel dragon and nailed the dragon to the door. The dying dragon shook its long head and roared. Its whole body was carved three-dimensionally on the surface of the door, as if it was really alive there.
"Bell." Eisenstein shouted in front. Bell then turned his attention away from the gates. He looked at Vito and his group who had already walked to the front of the gate. The golden armored guards and Eisenstein were standing behind him, meeting the shadow guards with him.
The guards in front of the black gate saw Vito, and after the latter stood still, they all knelt in front of Vito, but they still held black and cold halberds in their hands, as if they were ready to fight against something indescribable at any time.
Bell returned to Vito from behind, and the latter also raised his head slightly and looked at the shadow guards in front of him, "Stand up, and then open this door."
The shadow guard who was kneeling in front of Vito raised his head slightly. He did not look directly at Vito, but looked at Trajan for permission. After the latter nodded to him, the shadow guard stood up. He turned back to his brothers in silence.
All the dungeon guards stood in front of the gate. They did not say a word throughout the whole process, and almost at the same time, they raised their halberds and hit the ground with the steel ends. The neat knocking sound seemed to have a regularity, a rhythmic sense of regularity, hitting the dark floor, clang clang, clang clang, hitting again and again.
Bell listened to the knocking sound. The sound seemed to have a unique sense of rhythm, like a melody, an unknown cold accompaniment, but suddenly the accompaniment stopped abruptly, as the shadow guards suddenly stopped the halberds in their hands, and then instantly hit them heavily on the ground at the same time and stopped.
As the shadow guards collided, the points where the halberds collided on the ground lit up instantly. The light threads extended from the ends of the halberds, extending from the ground all the way up to the two sides of the gate behind them.
The light path climbed up the gate pillars, just like a snake climbing up. As they passed, all the runes lit up. Those runes flashed dimly and all lit up on the entire gate. Those complex runes spread and lit up quickly along the gate, just like the previous collisions with unique rules.
Bell looked up at the runes that gradually lit up. As the eagle logo with spread wings surrounded by countless white bones in the center lit up, all the runes on the entire gate flickered without exception. Bell carefully observed the sky eagle. The eagle was very different from the empire.
That eagle had only one head, and it was holding a planet in its claws. Terra? Bell immediately recognized the planet. It was not the Terra of today, but the Terra of long, long ago, before the Age of Conflict and the nuclear war, the Terra full of vitality.
Bell was surprised when the door slowly opened. The huge black door opened slowly after a crack appeared in the center. With the creaking sound of heavy machinery, the huge door slowly opened with a rumble. Bell and Eisenstein both looked at the crack in the center that was gradually expanding. The crack soon reached a point where one person could pass through.
When the crack opened, Vito walked up. He walked towards the crack alone in silence. Bell was about to follow but was stopped by Trajan beside him. Bell looked at Trajan beside him in surprise. The latter shook his head as he looked at Vito walking towards the crack.
"Only the Marshal can face the things in there, and only he can go in."
Trajan said, and Bell did not refute. He knew what Trajan said was true. He just stood there and watched Vito walk through the shadow guards. He walked through the shadow guards who made way on both sides and strode into the dark crack.
Soon, just like everything here, Vito disappeared into the door. The halo behind his head was instantly swallowed up by the darkness in the dark space, and he himself disappeared into the deepest darkness, completely disappearing.
The shadow guards looked at Trajan, who nodded slightly to them, and the guards once again raised their halberds and hit the ground at the same time. In the neat sound of the collision, the door slowly closed, and the black giant door completely closed the open crack and re-sealed it.
"What are you doing?" Bell looked at Trajan in surprise, and the latter looked at the door and raised his head slightly. He put his battle axe on the ground and held the upper side of the axe with one hand to fix it to his side.
"When the marshal solves everything, the door will open again by itself."
"What should we do now?"
"Wait, we can only wait here for the return of the marshal."
Bell looked at the door in silence for a moment, and Eisenstein came up behind him. He pressed the hilt of the chainsaw sword on his waist and looked at the dark door, "How long will it take?"
Trajan also fell silent, his fingers tightly grasped the surface of the battle axe, and the commander of the imperial guards looked at the door in front of him, "Pray to the emperor, may he bless you."
——
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Vito walked into the dark corridor, and he heard the sound of the door behind him closing, but he was not at all uneasy because of the closing of the door. He continued to move forward without even looking back.
He walked in the dark corridor, the burning halo behind his head illuminated the dark steel walls around him. Vito quickly walked along the corridor to a terminal. He stood in front of the terminal and looked at the screen in front of him. After a moment of silence, he took out Helen's CD from the bag on his waist.
Vito put Helen's CD on the terminal, and soon Helen's image appeared on the CD after a flash. The little blue artificial intelligence girl looked at the golden giant in front of her.
"Sir." Helen said softly, and Vito looked at her and nodded slightly, "Start the lighting and power system here, so that this place will light up." "Yes, sir."
Helen closed her eyes, and the terminal screen at her feet lit up. On the screen that had just been silent, countless icons and code arrays began to flash rapidly. The entire terminal began to operate rapidly, and the mechanical clicks were constantly echoed and amplified in the silent corridor.
Vito turned around and walked to the other side of the corridor. He stood in front of the huge floor-to-ceiling window on the side of the corridor. It was a glass window that completely cut off the entire steel wall. It occupied a considerable area of the wall alone.
Vito looked at the glass window. Everything behind it was shrouded in darkness. The halo behind his head shone a dim light on the glass, but only his own face could be reflected. Vito looked at his eyes and remained silent, because he knew that everything would change soon.
Suddenly, the lights in the corridor came on, and the lighting lamp above Vito's head suddenly lit up with a bang, and the light instantly illuminated the entire corridor that had just been dark. The light quickly extended forward along the long corridor and turned on, and the lights ran towards the end of the darkness like dominoes.
Vito did not look at the lights in the corridor. He continued to look at the darkness outside the window. There were lights on there, too. They were brighter spotlights. The pale light pierced everything from the darkness and illuminated the shoulders of the steel body. The pale light reflected a little bit of light on the reflective armor.
It was a robot, a combat robot standing in the hall under the huge glass window in front of Vito. There were more robots around the robot holding an unknown gun in both hands. Vito watched the spotlights light up in the hall. As the lights came on, more robots appeared under the lights.
Vito looked down at the combat robots, the steel bodies called iron men. They were densely packed all over the hall, standing like a parade team. At the end of their team were several huge multi-legged giant mechas. They stood among the dense iron man infantry around them, standing under the pale spotlights.
Vito looked ahead, he saw a huge army of iron men that seemed to have no end. They stretched towards the tall iron wall at the far end. Under the palace, there was a huge army of iron men buried deep.
Vito looked at the iron wall at the end, the iron wall where countless war machines stood at the end. On the tall wall was a soaring eagle, a star eagle holding Terra or the planet Earth, but the Golden Age text underneath was erased and replaced by a line of high Gothic fonts.
"Terra - Final High Wall Defense Plan - The Last Iron Guard."