Chapter 423 Legion Era: The Twilight of an Era
The cold wind blew on Vito's face, and the wind blew the messy hair from both sides of his face. He stared at the emperor beside him, his black eyes staring at him closely under the black hair.
"You want me to kill Guilliman?"
Vito asked, and the Emperor stood aside and looked at him quietly. The Emperor raised the long staff in his hand and walked past Vito. Vito followed his figure with his eyes and turned his head to look. He glanced at the sailors who tied up the longboat and walked away. They seemed to have completely ignored this guy who looked different from everyone around him.
The sailors carried their bags toward the exit of the dock, heading to reunite with their families in Vito's memory, if his memory had not been blurred by the passage of thousands of years.
He turned his head and looked at the Emperor standing on the edge of the long board of the pier in front of him. He stood there with the wooden cane in his hand, and the cloak on his body danced with the cold wind. Vito sighed and left. When they reached his side, they stood side by side on the dock.
Vito crossed his arms, and the emperor next to him glanced at him and then looked at the strait ahead, "What happened?"
"I met Guilliman. We had a long chat. The situation was worse than I imagined." "You had a fight? Like father and son? You know you are not a good father." "This." That’s not the point, Vito.”
The Emperor stared at the strait in the distance, his golden eyes reflecting the shadows of the rising and falling waves on the sea. "Guilliman and I disagree on almost everything. He accuses me of being a liar, a tyrant, and a conspiracy." "He basically said all the elegant, non-swearing words he could think of."
"Isn't it strange? He woke up and saw all this. Do you really think he will come to give you Father's Day greetings?" Vito said sarcastically, and the emperor beside him also chuckled, and he raised his head slightly. At the beginning, "I don't expect it. Anyway, to him, I have never been his father."
"My father is Conor Guilliman, not the Emperor, as he said." The Emperor said so, and Vito beside him crossed his arms and stared at him with angry eyes. One look at him.
"And you want to kill him because of this?"
The Emperor glanced at Vito, whose golden eyes were looming under the cover of the undulating cloak. He and Vito looked at each other for a while and then moved their eyes to the distance, "I will not decide like this because of anger, jealousy and resentment. Vito "
"Yes, you don't have any emotions anyway, right?" Vito said and took a few steps aside. He seemed to want to stay away from this old bastard, but the latter calmly turned his head to look at Vito .
"I had a long chat with Guilliman in front of the Golden Throne. We had a long chat about many things in the galaxy for thousands of years and in the future. The result was that we did not reach any consensus other than protecting human civilization. He refused to carry out his duties according to my wishes."
After Vito was stunned for a moment, he turned his head slightly and glanced at the emperor behind him, "Have you told him your final fucking plan?"
The emperor shook his head. He looked into the distance and said without any emotion in his heart, "No, no. If I tell him, then we will not just quarrel."
"Yes, he will kill you and chop you up on the spot." Vitor said with his back to the Emperor, who nodded in approval, "Guilliman cannot understand what must be done. His childhood His experience made him place too much emphasis on human emotions, his compatriots, and the continuation of the people, which prevented him from seeing the deeper facts."
"Yes, just like me." Vito stood aside and said with his arms folded. His hair was blown by the cold wind and danced gently on the side.
The Emperor was still staring into the distance. After a moment of silence, he spoke, "You already know sacrifice, Vito. Ten thousand years have allowed you to finally understand many things. Now, you can understand my thoughts. At least part of it."
"Then why do you think Guilliman can't? Although that child is regarded as a god by humans, he only slept for ten thousand years in the past. He has not experienced everything now. He is only three hundred years old and is just a child. He will Grow up and eventually become like us.”
After speaking, Vito sighed. After a long sigh, he hummed softly, "Becoming the two most assholes in human history."
"Maybe he will understand one day, but I'm just worried that it won't be as long as ten thousand years. The empire and humanity will have no time for him to grow up slowly."
"And sooner or later he will know our plan. He will never accept it now, and he may not be able to accept it in the future. Then you have to kill him before he causes too much damage."
There was no warmth or emotion in the emperor's words, just like telling the butcher to kill a pig and serve it tonight, with an understatement and no care.
Vito turned to look at him. He frowned at the guy known as the Emperor, "You are going to kill your son."
"He is not my son. He is the leader of the Thirteenth Legion, the Primarch and the current regent of the empire, Robert Guilliman, who controls powerful power and legions."
"He's a threat."
"You're an asshole." Vito said softly, looking at the Emperor. Of course he knew that the latter could hear him like this, but he just wanted him to hear what he was saying, every word.
"It was Horus who once stood in his place. You know what he did. The wounds he caused have not healed to this day. Humanity cannot bear another rebellion, the rebellion started by Guilliman."
"You want me to kill him when I return to Terra?" Vito stared at him and asked, while the Emperor shook his head. The eyes on that side of his face had no warmth at all, they were cold and ruthless.
"He still has value now. Although he is destined to go to war with us to defend his ideals, for now, he can still play a role until you bring someone else back who may replace him."
"You regard him as a tool, a tool that can be discarded if it is not used smoothly. The reason why you don't kill him now is just because I haven't found the other original bodies yet, and you have no one who can replace him. The person who replaces him is destined to be abandoned just like you."
Vito said ruthlessly. His words made the emperor silent for a long time, but he finally opened his cold eyes again. He stared at the cold ice sea in the distance, "We all have our own place."
"This is the purpose for which Guilliman and the others were born. For the future of mankind, for that, we must make sacrifices."
"In your words, they are like a group of pigs, born to be slaughtered at that moment. You raised them and called them children just for that moment, a group of tools and weapons."
"What about the others? Riemann, Lion, Vulkan, Khan, Dorn and everyone else, do you want me to kill them too?"
"If they can't understand the plan, then yes, sacrifice."
The Emperor turned around as he spoke, staring at Vito with his golden eyes under his long hair, and looking at the sword holder in front of him, "We all have our own responsibilities, and you must prevent him from causing any irreversible threat. Terminate him before, just like you should have done to Horus."
"Unable to be done by Assassins, Astartes or anyone else, only a Primarch can kill a Primarch or, alternatively, a being greater than them can take charge."
Vito stared at him, staring into those golden eyes that were without warmth. Vito clenched his fists, "Are you asking me to kill all my friends, the people I care about, before your plan is completed?" After that, no one will be left.”
"In this universe, only you and I can understand the necessity of that plan. We have no other way. There has been no other solution for ten thousand years. This is the only way."
Vito looked at those golden eyes. He clenched his fists, burning with anger that had nowhere to vent. "No, maybe it's not just this. There is another way, a key."
As Vito spoke, his voice gradually became much quieter, and finally only the last word was left. The Emperor looked at him and frowned slightly. He seemed to have noticed something, "Did you find anything? You found me and Something unknown.”
Vito raised his head and looked at him, recalling in his mind what Iyanna told him, "This is the only way you can have a showdown with the Emperor."
After a moment of silence, he let out a long sigh and shook his head helplessly, "No, not really."
"I know you don't want to do that, but this is the only way to break this ten-thousand-year deadlock." The Emperor stepped forward and pressed Vito's shoulders. He looked into the other person's eyes and shook his head, " Our compatriots have fallen into the abyss for too long, forgetting everything in the past. Today, the galaxy is full of invincible enemies, and even more terrifying enemies outside the system are gradually approaching. "
"The only thing we can do is to leave everything beautiful to our new compatriots, a universe without threats, a universe that truly belongs to mankind."
"Humanity has sacrificed for ten thousand years for that moment, and now, we cannot let those trillions of sacrifices go to waste for a dozen people, do you understand?"
After the emperor finished speaking, Vito in front of him let out a long sigh. He nodded silently and silently gave the emperor the answer, and the latter also nodded happily.
"Very well, in this universe, you are the only one who can understand me."
"To stop any possible rebellion, you will not only need to kill the leader of the rebellion, but also fight their legions. Guilliman will use Caul's Primaris plans to rebuild the Legiones Astartes, and to fight them, you will You must also have your own legion.”
Vito raised his head and stared at the Emperor beside him. He frowned slightly, "My legion?"
The Emperor nodded silently. He pressed Vito's shoulder, and a smile appeared on his cold face. "You need an Ultramarines strong enough to suppress Guilliman, as well as the remaining nine legions." force."
Just like the liquidation of the Second and Eleventh Legions back then, Vito thought about everything that might be bound to happen, and sighed longly at what he had to do again.
The Emperor looked at him and was silent for a while, then raised his head and put his hand on the inside of his shoulder, close to the neck. He almost put his hand on Vito's neck, and the latter raised his head to look. Look at him closely.
"You are the only person I trust, Vito, the person I truly trust in this universe. Go and build your legion. I will order Caul to fully assist you. He will not be loyal to Guilliman."
"He is loyal to me. He has prepared the first batch of legion members for you according to my orders. Use him to create an unprecedentedly powerful legion. I will also help you find those reliable people in the empire. And make them all available to you.”
The Emperor looked at Vito, waiting for his response, and Vito sighed and nodded after a moment of silence. Then the Emperor nodded slightly in response and stepped back a few steps. He looked at Vito in front of him, holding the scepter in his hand and walking down the dock. His footsteps stepped on the sea below but did not sink, but walked on the water.
The Emperor walked out a few steps, holding the scepter and walking towards the dusk at the end of the strait. Vito stood on the dock and looked at him in silence for a while before speaking, "Emperor."
"You want me to check and balance and be ready to destroy them at any time, then have you found a sword bearer for me? When the differences between you and me can no longer be bridged."
The Emperor stopped on the sea, he stood there in silence for a while, Vito could not see his face, but he knew that the Emperor was silent for the first time since the beginning of this conversation. Unlike the silence that only lasted for a moment when he asked him to kill Guilliman and all his "offspring" before, this time the Emperor really hesitated.
But the hesitation only lasted for a moment. The Emperor raised his head, his eyes under the hood, and the sunset on the sea shone on his face, sweeping away all the shadows.
"Each of us has our own place." He said as he walked towards the sunset. Vito stood on the dock and watched the figure walking towards the sunset. He also stood in the light of the sunset. He looked up at the setting sun.
That was the end of an era. Abaddon was not wrong. The era of the Primarch will eventually end. However, the people who ended it and the people who created it are the same two people.
Vito closed his eyes in the sunset. When he opened his eyes again, everything disappeared. He looked up at the familiar ceiling above his head and sat up from the bed. He lifted the quilt on his body. Lilith, who was leaning against him, also opened her eyes and looked at Vito who woke up.
"Are you awake? I saw you had a beautiful dream after a long time." Lilith said and sat up. She supported her hands on the mattress and the quilt slid off her shoulders.
She looked at Vito sitting on the bed. He didn't look at her but at the huge French window that was closed beside him. The armored window there fell down during the subspace voyage, blocking all the light outside.
But suddenly, the armored window was lifted up with a roar, and the layers of armored covers rose up. As the thing opened, a ray of sunlight shot in from the gap. Soon, as the window was fully opened, the light completely shone on Vito.
Lilith sat sideways behind him. She raised one hand to block in front of herself. The light of the golden sun made her subconsciously grin and growl. She knew that light. She blocked her eyes and covered herself with the messy quilt and clothes at her feet, as if she was afraid of the light.
"Well, it looks like we're here, damn it." Lilith complained in a low voice on the bed, and Vito stood up beside her. He walked to the French window and looked at the huge planet outside. There was a planet shining with golden light in the golden palace.
Vito looked at the light, then at his raised hand. The golden light shone on his head and reflected on the blood vessels below, emitting a layer of red halo, just like the light of blood.
"Forgive me."