Sometimes, life is really bad.

Astlis occasionally thinks like this, and he always likes to think about it when he is not on combat duty and is not in charge of keeping secrets.

——————

The veteran of the Dark Angel stepped out and closed the door by the way, leaving the old man who was not the Dark Angel inside.

Then, Astlish's head turned unnaturally inside his helmet, and he didn't really want to visit the mortal named Luthor in the room if he wasn't going to complete the mission, he never felt that this guy was a member of the First Legion, in fact, it was the dominant opinion in the Legion, and at this point, he was going with the flow.

Even if he Luthor was brought by the [Lion] himself, the special treatment would not bring universal respect, at least among the First Legion.

Even the [Lion] himself......

Astlis suppressed the urge to continue.

Is there any essential difference between this old man named Luthor and those ordinary mortals who are trapped in an office building, reading documents, toiling all their lives, and being ignorant?

Maybe it's because he's a Caliban.

Caliban's ...... Luther Knight?

Astlis came to this conclusion, he wanted to laugh, but he held back the contemptuous voice.

Then, he turned and stepped onto the road to the left, his black armor quickly disappearing into the dim light of the cloister.

Astlis walked in this darkness, and he deliberately slowed his pace, as if enjoying it.

This kind of deliberate darkness is not actually a favorite of the First Legion, the children of [Lion] prefer a simple and direct atmosphere, and they don't even bother to decorate the surroundings, after all, only the most primitive environment can best preserve everything.

After all, the so-called secret is the most fundamental way everything is.

But that doesn't stop Astlish from being viscerally fond of this flickering atmosphere, a personal hobby, a free soul that is different from the stereotypical emotions brought about by genetic seeds.

In the darkness, he can think calmly, thinking about things that he can't think about, or even dare not think about, in a sunny place.

It was thanks to this that he was invited by the Lunaris Order to become one of the new recruits, and this was the twenty-sixth miniature group that Astlis had participated in since joining the First Legion.

Twenty-six, Astlis remembered the number, and remembered it clearly, it was a total, an account, the only existence he had accumulated over the decades of his campaign for the Emperor, but it was not the number that Astlis now had, for some groups had quietly disappeared: when they were no longer needed by the Legion, this was the only way to return.

Now, the Dark Angel was only a member of seven orders or brotherhoods, which made him feel relieved and somewhat frightened: for as a soldier of the First Legion, that number was not high.

Iron boots trampling on the unadorned floor, making a tooth-aching sound of metal grinding, Astlis enjoyed it all, he walked through hidden corridors and secret doors, sometimes he made his way through the common areas where everyone could walk, but the next second, he pushed open the hidden curtain and entered the unacknowledged private space where only the dark angels could exist.

All of these entrances were strictly guarded, and he would occasionally see a silent warrior lingering around the corner or in the doorway of certain rooms, and Astlis would nod to some of them, some of them would return the salute, others would maintain an arrogant dead silence, and in other cases, Astlis would accept the salute from the Silent Guards, and he would only respond to some of them, while others would be ignored.

None of this is anything to do with etiquette or personal camaraderie, it's a product of the unique Legion culture of the First Legion, and everyone has to adapt to it.

The Dark Angel's journey finally ended in front of a pure black door, which he opened to reveal only a round table and a few chairs, emitting a light slightly brighter than the hallway, barely illuminating everyone's faces.

There was already a dark angel sitting inside, wearing a hood, and the shadows cast in front of him offset the dim light in front of him, allowing his face to remain hidden in the darkness.

But even so, Astlis was still able to recognize the person in front of him.

"Brother Kasrai."

"Welcome, Brother Astlis."

In the dim light, the two members of the Lunaris Order greeted each other, and they did not show any seriousness or nervousness, as it was just a simple daily conversation, and did not involve battles and deeper secrets.

"Do you have any new insights from the last topic, Brother Astlis?"

Kasley leaned back in his seat, and Astlis's body leaned forward as far as he could, maintaining a certain unspoken respect.

"You know, it's hard, Brother Kasrae, after all, we're thinking about something more rebellious, and in the legions of mediocrity, their warriors will even see this behavior as some kind of betrayal, rather than a necessary part of a new idea."

"Rest assured, Brother Astlis, do you really think that the [Lion] will not know what we are doing? He reshaped the Legion with his own hands, plucked the part he hated the most, and became the new, and never-before-seen, core of the web. ”

"All the people in this legion have secrets, but the Lion doesn't."

"In the same way, no one in this legion will have secrets, but the [Lion] will have."

Kasrae laughed, a smile of pride and sadness, as if he were smearing and destroying a finished painting with fresh dye, exuding mixed grief.

"We used to envy the reunions of the other legions, the Astlis brothers, we rarely envied them, but when we saw them able to fight alongside their Genetic Father, we felt jealousy—we had talked about this topic, about the spiritual connection of the Genetic Father with us, but there was no doubt that we did feel jealousy, and we did feel joy when [the Lion] returned to us."

"Even though he brought [change], our joy made us choose to take it all."

"And it turns out that [change] is not the right thing to do, that some things that were once right have been recklessly erased, that a false war is being waged meaninglessly, that what should have been an encirclement of reason and cooperation, but which has been twisted into a hard, single-handedly duel by stubborn arrogance."

Astlis listened in silence, then briefly uttered his feelings.

"But we can't stop him, can we?"

"He's activating the Caliban, the barbarians from the forest, and even the characters who aren't even Astarte, but we can't stop him, because he's a lion, and the lion is unstoppable."

"No ......"

Kasrae responded with a smile.

"When this war is over, [the lion] is truly unstoppable."

"And you, me, and even us, shouldn't be able to see that day."

——————

They continued to chat, chatting about the contents and tasks that belonged to the [Lunaris Order].

Things that cannot be discussed in the sun, things that will not be allowed by the sun, but they exist after all, and they need to be faced after all: and the mission of the [Lunaris Order] is like this.

In the First Legion, the Lunaris Order is not the only one, there are several small groups that overlap with it, they maintain independence and secrecy from each other, and operate within their own range.

The lion knows all this.

Of course he knew, and rightfully so.

As the minutes ticked by, the conversation between Astlith and Casrae drew to a close, citing topics and inferences, and all sorts of words of disobedience flowed freely through their mouths, enough to make a dozen Ultramarines or Imperial Fists faint in anger.

As they reached the end of their discussion, the two battle brothers looked at each other, and they thought and were silent together for a moment until Astlis took the initiative to speak.

"How's the port going?"

"There's not a big effect yet."

"Where?"

"Many of the other Legion's warriors didn't like our arrangement, and there was a general fear among mortals, who thought that the officials who were stiff in the harbor would be their sad future, but they couldn't see the meaning and benefit of the Legion."

As he spoke, Kasley's body involuntarily leaned forward, and the atmosphere in the room seemed to change abruptly with this movement: Astlis, who had always been like a subordinate, seemed to have become a higher-ranking figure in the blink of an eye.

And rightfully so.

Although in the Lunaris Order, Kasley is the upper echelon of Astris, when the topic shifts to the Brotherhood of Deadwood, Asteris is Casrae's mentor and guide.

Of course, some things don't end there.

For example, these two fighting brothers who have been side by side in multiple mini-groups at the same time will never mention the topic of assault warfare, after all, in this realm, Asteris is a member of the Grey Feather Order, and Kasley is the backbone of the rival Knights of the Stonewall, and the two groups have maintained a hostile and offensive relationship with each other in terms of related content for decades.

In other areas, there would be no common topics between the two sides, and Asteris would not tell Kasley about his research in the [Company of Falling Stars], and Kasley's actions in other groups should have been ignored.

Astlis and Kasrae, the former being the latter's boss at some times and the subordinate at other times, occasionally they will be rivals, but most of the time, they will also be the most ordinary fighting brothers who have nothing to do with each other, and when they meet each other in their free time, the fighting brothers can choose the one they need at this time from a dozen relationships and discourses, depending on the topic and need.

This is the Dark Angel Legion, and it became so simple when the [Lions] drastically streamlined the internal organization of this legion according to the customs of their home planet.

It's so simple that it's even dissatisfying.

"The war continues, it continues to be long and stupid, and even those of the Second Legion are coming to join in."

Astlis sighed.

"Those [fangs]?"

"yes, a bunch of troublemakers."

Even as ordinary Dark Angels, Astlith and Kasrae still have something to talk about, something that only Terra veterans in the Legion have.

"The Lion, the arrogant Lion, he has destroyed so many things, and he is turning the Legion into something of a pathetic object that has lost its past, its memories, and its history, something that only he loves."

"He will do it, through this war, the angels who belong only to the emperor will become the knights of the Caliban, blood and war will do all this, and the [Lion] is expanding it, and his knights are pouring into the legions one after another, waiting for their blood-stained positions."

The old soldier's evil words echoed through the room, and they were not afraid to say them, nor were they afraid to let [the lion] hear them, he would know sooner or later.

It was the Terrans who shed their blood in this war, not the Caliban—there were countless people in the First Legion who were thinking so, some of them just lamenting, others mixed with disdain and resentment, and such words increased with more and more bloodshed.

The veterans from Terra are gradually disappearing from the Legion and the front lines, but words don't work, only blood and corpses have been in their place.

The fighting brothers Astlith and Kasrae continued to talk, and eventually, they seemed tired of talking about the Lion, so they naturally started talking about another group of annoying guys.

"Second Legion...... I thought they were dead. ”

"It's impossible, the smaller their numbers, the less likely it is for their warriors to die, the Scourge Star and the troublemaker have always been like this, their lives are very hard, otherwise it would be impossible to live until now."

"So what are they doing here? Are we going to wipe their butts again? ”

"What? You forgot? ”

"This is the front line against Ran Dan, [Alien], [Powerful Alien], once such words appear, those troublemakers are like dogs that smell meat, at least some of them do."

"That is, they didn't all come?"

"How could they all come, when did you see the Second Legion acting together? Maybe there were some possibilities at the time of Holy Terra, but since leaving the solar system, it is no longer possible. ”

"yes, it's impossible......"

Fragments of those memories flashed through Asteris's mind: sparse queues, silver-white armor, flying fangs, and the ...... Damn it......

He closed his eyes.

"Let's talk about [Lion]."