Half of Tantalus's sun had sunk below the horizon, and Inquisitor Marcus Antaris Tirilius sat like a stationary rock, still with mechanical slaves tending to his power armor, while he himself watched silently at the distant horizon, where the shadows had been stretched long, long. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

His squires and battle nuns were taking care of the day-to-day affairs of the ranks, and no one would come to disturb the Inquisitor at this time, so he finally had time to think about his own business.

Tantalus V was hopeless, Inquisitor Marcos thought to himself, and although he tried his best to deny it, he felt uncomfortable with the statement of the director of the Space Marine think tank.

"Get ready for an extermination order." Is this a mockery, a hint, or just a simple expression of a fact?

This group of space marines, what they are asking for, Marcos still can't see clearly, this uncertainty makes Marcos very irritable.

But Marcos could vaguely feel that unlike trying to find out the ins and outs of the truth, these Space Marines seemed to have no interest in the truth itself, and they seemed to want to use this fact to achieve something.

Extermination Order, these three words are a terrible word for others, the vast majority of the Empire, because it symbolizes the total destruction of a world, the Final Judgment in which even dust will not survive, but it is definitely not an unfamiliar word to the Emperor's Inquisitor. Now, however, he felt a pang of distraction at the thought of the word.

What did Marcos, the forgotten planet, come for?

Of course, Marcos was an imperial inquisitor, which meant that he could not have been an easily confused person. Now, when the Inquisitor adjusted his train of thought, he could still find himself standing in the depths of his own heart, staring coldly at himself at this moment, as if he knew that this would happen sooner or later.

Enslavers, Chaos, and Tyranny...... The appearance of any of these heretical aliens would be enough to pronounce the death penalty of this worthless remote world.

The Inquisitor touched the sacred seal on his chest, and although it looked inconspicuous, as soon as he pressed a seal, a planet, along with all the life on it, would be wiped out.

In reality, however, in this situation, the fleets of Tyranid and Chaos have surrounded the planet so tightly that even if he signs an extermination order, no fleet will carry out the order.

Thinking of this, for some reason, the inquisitor felt a little relieved.

He was shocked, surprised that he could have such an idea.

What the hell is wrong with you?

The Inquisitor began to examine his own heart as if he were a heretic.

Extermination Order......

Then, it dawned on him that once the seal was pressed, it would be the second extermination order he had signed.

And the first -

Judge Marcus immediately realized a series of changes in his thoughts, and this was the root cause.

High Inquisitor Romules Cummedes.

His mentor.

As soon as the valve of thought opened, memories flooded back.

Unlike many of his inhumanly trained peers, Marcos came from the Imperial Academy of Loyalty, and it was there that his mentor selected him from a group of cadets to join the Inquisition.

Over time, Marcos discovered what made his mentor unique.

The High Inquisitor of Romulus, despite his centuries of selfless service to the Emperor and the Empire, refused to sit in the rear like his colleagues of the same ancient ranks, but always refused all promotions unless they were unavoidable, and remained firmly at the forefront of the fight against heretics and traitors.

The Inquisitor of Romulus is accustomed to arresting and destroying the craziest aliens and heretics, and even the mighty Chaos Space Marines will be defeated by his will of gold. He always wields his hammer and fights in the lair of his enemies.

Marcus followed his mentor into fierce battles countless times, but while he was impressed by his mentor's strength, courage, and wisdom countless times, he was also puzzled by his mentor's actions.

What shocked Marcos the most was that Romulus had a surprising record: the High Inquisitor fought for the Empire for hundreds of years, witnessed countless rebellions and conspiracies, defeated countless heretical traitors, and stabbed countless terrifying enemies of the Empire, but he never used a single extermination order.

Not once, not once since he became a judge.

Of course, Marcos knew that as an Inquisitor, ruthlessly destroying a planet in order to suppress the growth of the sprouts of chaos was the most basic psychological quality. Of course, he didn't believe that his mentor couldn't even be ruthless, and he didn't believe that he hadn't encountered a single out-of-control situation in his mentor's hundreds of years of work.

???? But why is that?

It was as if there was a force that made Romulus hold on to the seal on his chest and refuse to use it. Aurelius has witnessed dozens of times that Romulus has taken him directly to the planet where rebellion is growing, going deep into the interior, peeling back the cocoon, and finally smashing the Yellow Dragon, strangling the rebellion with his own hands and warhammer, instead of exterminating it like the other Inquisitors.

For a planet where the tide of betrayal has already surged, they mobilize their forces and throw themselves into the flames of war until the entire planet is cleansed. Even on planets that have been overwhelmed by the forces of chaos and the frenzy of rebellion, Romulus refuses to use his power to launch a baptism of fire, instead landing on the planet with legions of armies to fight traitors and heretics until they are defeated.

Romules's conduct was also widely controversial within the courtroom. Some admired his resoluteness, bravery and merit. But more often than not, doubts and criticisms are heard. Marcos has lived through several instances of the impeachment of his Mentor: instead of using a simple planetary bombardment to cleanse a planet that has been polluted by chaos, he uses all the armies he can muster under his power, making the solution extremely costly.

Even occasionally, the Sector Governors and Warlords, who had suffered losses for Romules' counterinsurgency efforts, wrote a lot of attacks at Romules.

Almost everyone was puzzled as to why Romules refused to do so when an extermination order would solve the problem. It is necessary to take military means to solve the problem, just to keep this planet, but pay a much greater price, and even do not hesitate to get yourself into impeachment and trouble.

Moreover, trying to find evidence of Romules's disloyalty, weakness, and other unfit to be a judge is a cause for political opponents or revenge, but it is also worrying. However, Romules always ruthlessly crushed these rumors with his own actions, with his own real actions on the battlefield.

In fact, Marcos did not understand the significance of his mentor's actions. He had persuaded his mentor to issue an extermination order on several occasions under extremely unfavorable circumstances, but each time he was only severely reprimanded and punished. His mentor seemed to regard every planet and every group of civilians in the empire as precious as his own life-------- and even more, and anyone who had seen Romulus in battle would have no doubt that he was ready to give his life to his cause. Asking him to give up a planet and its people is as unacceptable as asking him to give up his faith.

He had asked his mentor why he had done so, but Romulus didn't seem to be willing to answer him, and even if he did, it was too obscure to understand.

But in any case, there is one thing that cannot be denied, and that is the merits of Romules. Among other things, during Marcos's time as an apprentice alone, he watched his mentor bring dozens of planets back into the hands of the emperor. There are many of them, which would have been burned. Even what everyone thinks is hopeless. But Romules insisted on doing it, and it succeeded.

As if with the protection of the emperor, Romulus was able to turn the planets that others were trying to burn back into stable, orderly imperial territory. Only Aurelius and those around him know what the price Romulus paid to do this. The arduous efforts and battles are unimaginable to ordinary people.

There was a force that sustained Romules, and even in the hardest, most terrible, and most chaotic circumstances, even Marcos and everyone else wanted to give up, Romules never lost hope.

It's incredible--------- until Romules died, Marcos couldn't figure out his mentor.

The High Inquisitor, Romules Cummers, died on the battlefield, in battle.

When the entire Coldron V has been devoured by the mad Chaos traitors, High Inquisitor Romulus Cummerus, as he has done every time before, refuses to give an extermination order, instead fighting the surface of the planet with the army, fighting the traitors to the death.

But this time, the High Inquisitor failed to complete his mission. All his blood had been spilled on the place he had defended to the death--------- just as there had been in a previous battle.

Marcos then took over as a mentor------- he was already a mentor at that time.

In front of Marcus, who had just become an Inquisitor, was an extremely cruel reality: the entire Coldron Five had been devoured by the mad Chaos Traitors, and even his own mentor had died here.

If even the High Inquisitor Romulus Cummels can't do it, who else can?

All the Imperial officers and officials breathed a sigh of relief: this new Inquisitor was not like the previous one-tenacious Romulus, who had given the long-awaited order for a total retreat, and after handing over the entire planet to the traitors, a paper extermination order solved all the troubles.

As soon as he took office, he issued an extermination order, however, it solved all the troubles well and minimized the damage. It can be said that everything that Marcos did was in full accordance with the duties and oaths of the Inquisitor, and that he would not be in any trouble. The first battle of the new official in office was fought perfectly.

However, when he saw the flames of imperial punishment engulfing the Coldron V and the countless innocent traitors on it, Marcos felt an indescribable pain.

Destroyed in the flames along with the Coldron V and the countless traitors on board, are the bones of High Inquisitor Romulus Commerdes-------- and his faith.

???? Marcos knew he had done nothing wrong, and he said this to himself repeatedly. But the haze in his heart not only did not disappear, but accumulated more and more. He always seemed to hear the rebuke from his mentor and felt that he had done something wrong. The two psychology were entwined in his heart, and the pain became more and more painful.

???? Frightened by his own spiritual wavering, Marcus flogged himself, repented, and recited the holy scriptures repeatedly......

???? So when Tantalus 5, a trivial report ignored by other colleagues, happened to appear in front of him, he almost couldn't wait to grab it.

???? Only by burying your head in your work can you calm your heart.

???? This trick did work, but --------- contact with Astarte just now turned his heart out again--------

???? That's guilt, guilt about one's own guru. He felt that he had done something wrong. As mentioned earlier, he followed his mentor for a long time until Romules died, and he didn't understand his mentor-------- maybe not? In fact, in his subconscious, he has understood everything about his guru, but his outer mind is not aware of it.

???? It's a trial.

Marcos, the Inquisitor, sat motionless, like a stone sculpture, staring blankly at the horizon in the distance. He understood that the purpose of his coming to this planet was not to escape, but to find ---------

???? Find your own salvation.