Hazy Star Field, Gothic Star Zone, Bessimore Section, Flarys System.

"This is the last one, the last Blackstone Fortress."

"Finally, this power was fully grasped in the hands of our mother."

"Both Avalon and the Empire will be stronger and more invincible as a result."

When Rana saw the shadow of the Blackstone Fortress again, his mind seemed to have calmed down considerably: the Praetorian Guard was still looking up at the behemoth with awe, but there was no trembling in his heart at the beginning.

There was no other reason: after recovering the first Blackstone Fortress, the Dawnbreaker Legion's expeditionary fleet, led by the Genetic Prototype, swept through the Gothic Star Sector again without stopping, and it took less than two Terra standard months to tightly control the entire five ancient Xenomorph fortresses in their own hands.

After witnessing how their Mother of Genes had made this terrifying creature bow down to them, and even meekly follow their fleet, leaving in the waves of Tuchucha's engine, the original awe of the Blackstone Fortress in the hearts of all the Dawnbreakers was easily overwhelmed by the frenzied gaze surrounding the Lord of the Legion, and vanished completely.

In the midst of this fanaticism, there is naturally no place for awe and trembling.

The originally remote and stable [Gesserman] system was positioned by the Daybreakers as a temporary legion rallying point, and then a large expeditionary fleet followed their original body, using the power of the Tuchucha engine, to transport the found Blackstone fortresses here one after another, preparing to make a collective subspace jump to the home galaxy of Avalon.

The recovery of the first five Blackstone Fortresses was generally smooth, but among the five recovered ancient creations, except for the two Blackstone Fortresses in the Cyclops Cluster and the Brigia Galaxy, which were relatively active in response to the Spider Queen's actions, the remaining three Blackstone Fortresses behaved like ordinary dead objects.

They did not resist Morgan: but they apparently did not want to pay attention to her, let alone actively cooperate with her orders or threats.

With the help of two ancient xenomorph artifacts and the Tuchucha Engine, the Spider Empress reluctantly drove the three silent Blackstone Fortresses away, but in her heart, she also knew that she was destined to be unable to rely on the power of these three Blackstone Fortresses in a short period of time: they might be able to serve as some kind of guarding weapon in Avalon, but they would not have the ability to take the initiative with the army.

After all, she was about to lose the artifact of the Tuchucha Engine, and without the help of the Tuchucha Engine, it would indeed be difficult to drive these three ancient creations to pretend to be dead with just the two controllers in her hands.

But on second thought, aren't there still two Blackstone Fortresses that will obey her orders: if they take the initiative, such a force will be enough for the time being.

Thinking of this, the mood of the genetic prototype brightened a little: the resistance of the Blackstone Fortress was already expected by her, and she did not need to rely on their strength in a short period of time, and the two Blackstone Fortresses that could take the initiative to attack were enough to satisfy her.

In this satisfaction, the Genogen commanded his legion to the site of the sixth Blackstone Fortress, and before the quick and sufficient preparations, the Daybreakers, who had already mastered it, began to board the ship again and again, check for possible dangers in the Blackstone Fortress, and prepare for the next reconquest operation.

It was an easy job: for in the previous five times, the Blackstone Fortress had been filled with a gloomy and gloomy atmosphere, but the Morgan Sons had never been in danger.

This time, they think the same thing.

——————

Kurin, from Avalon's home planet, took off his helmet and let out a slow sigh as he tapped the strange onyx-colored walls beside him, unable to hide the look of displeasure on his face.

Curlin never liked these things, nor did he like the place called Blackstone Fortress: even though his team had made five identical landings, he still couldn't get used to the low air pressure, just as a tall Irish wolfhound couldn't get used to a cramped gray-black iron cage.

The Dawnbreaker's new blood slowly exhaled that breath like a sigh.

He began to miss the Legion Arena on the Aurora, which was wide, savage, and able to challenge the great warriors at his own pace.

Bayar, Rana, Hecht, Abaddon, Ahriman......

But he knew he couldn't go back now: because the arena was temporarily closed.

The Dawnbreaker Legion's routine and ethos, how relaxed it is in rest time, and how strict it is in wartime, in the mind of the Lord of the Second Legion, she sees the relaxed rest time as some kind of threshold that can be accumulated, so that her offspring can maintain a good fighting condition and a stable mood in the most difficult wartime.

For now, there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with this reasoning, and even a legion thorn like Kulin, who is already a little famous, doesn't dare to say anything more about the orders of the original body.

He didn't want to say anything more.

"Be on guard, Kulin."

In front of the Dawnbreaker's new blood, a voice as heavy as the Blackstone Fortress crashed into his ears that was impossible to refute, and Kulin retracted his thoughts and nodded, in response to the Squad Leader.

The leader of the squad is Kesbah, the leader of the five-man team, a native of Terra, who is not one of the first few legionnaires, but who also has a wealth of combat experience, which makes him respected and convinced by Kurin.

Under the leadership of Kesper, the five-member vanguard team explored the interior of the Blackstone Fortress with great ease, and when it was said to be an exploration, it was more like an inspection: after all, they had already landed on five Blackstone Fortresses before, and the internal structure of these alien creations was strikingly similar, as if they were industrial products created in the same batch.

All the corridors and halls are incredibly rigorous, and the labyrinthine structure is created by the extremely hard onyx-like metal building materials, and these alien creations are so large that even if ten thousand Daybreaker warriors are on board at the same time, they are still a little stretched thin.

In this case, Kulin's team had to take on an overload of tasks, as the main force of the legion had to take over and inspect the power system and energy grid of the Blackstone Fortress as soon as possible, the former to ensure that the creature could continue to operate, and the latter was the greatest guarantee for humanity to survive here.

In keeping with their mission, the vanguard team painstakingly explored a wide outer corridor, slowly approaching the end of these spiral passages, they were not far from the central area where the main force of the Legion was located, and Kulin could even hear the calls of some of the battle brothers in the distance.

But even so, their communication platform is near-dead: the gloomy atmosphere of Blackstone Fortress stifles the possibility of high-speed communication with technology and psionics, which is another reason why Cullin hates it.

Restraining his disgust, the Dawnbreaker's new blood honestly followed the left rear of the team, fulfilling his duty and seemingly all right: until he suddenly realized that the rhythmic pace of the squad had been interrupted by an abrupt pause.

“！”

Kesbah, who was walking at the front, did not say anything, but he stopped his steps, made a gesture, and led his men to the wall, and then, with the expression on his face, gave the order, motioning his men to look at the end of the corridor at the end of the view.

Kulin looked at it.

The interior of the Blackstone Fortress, unilluminated by no lights, was no less than even the quietest of midnights, and the countless epochs of wandering, although they did not allow these strange creations to accumulate a thick layer of dust, did indeed deprive any life of the last of its comforts.

Looking directly at the endless corridors of the Blackstone Fortress is like looking directly at the night itself, inspiring endless fear in the heart, in which even a speck of dust is as dazzling as a star: not to mention an eerie light that emerges from the darkness.

Kulin saw it: the light appeared at the end of the corridor, in a dim place that even the Astarte warriors couldn't see, but he was sure it wasn't the light that any natural being could emit.

Because it floats in mid-air.

Casbah frowned, under his silent command, the two Daybreaker warriors were ready for remote support, and the emergency call for help that could be launched was also ready, after all this, he took the two warriors, including Kulin, and walked in front, followed by the two firepower exporters.

The team of five advanced again, they put on a standard battle stance, and their breath couldn't help but become a little nervous, and soon, they came to a suitable position, and the being in the shadows seemed to sense their approach, he did not run away, but stood there, and even walked towards them.

For some reason, as the being approached them, Kulin felt a palpable sense of oppression, and he felt that the shadows beneath his feet seemed to be deeper, as if he were standing on a bottomless abyss where he couldn't see the bottom clearly.

The new blood of the Dawnbreaker heard the same sound of confusion, coming from the mouths of those comrades around him: obviously, this was not his delusion alone, that existence in the shadows did have some sense of oppression, an invisible sense of oppression, like a huge black spot in the sea of souls.

Kulin muttered, but his displeasure was soon interrupted by a kind of astonishment: as the shadowy presence walked not far in front of them, the team of five recognized the identity of the object in front of them at a glance.

He, in turn, is also an Astarte warrior.

Amid the consternation of several Daybreakers, the taciturn Astarte warrior, standing at a seemingly polite and safe distance, wearing a MKII. model power armor that looked a little too worn, and not a complete set, was the product of an obvious patchwork.

However, there were certain details of the power armor that made several of the Daybreakers frown: the helmets and joints and the like, though tightly obscured, could not hide the strange stench that came with them, and the warrior was silent and serious, but the way he walked revealed a certain sense of incongruity.

The bigger problem was this: his Power Armor livery was a color the Daybreakers had never seen before, a dark gray halfway between the Iron Hand and the Iron Warrior, with little shine, like a gray plain under the setting sun.

In the memory of the five-man squad, none of the Astarte regiments carried out this kind of livery.

So, even though the other party was also an Astarte warrior, the Dawnbreakers' blades and muzzles were not completely lowered, and although out of politeness, they did not point directly at the silent battle brother, but only slightly lowered their weapons.

Casbah spoke, not wearing his own helmet.

"I am Kesbah, son of Morgan, and I salute you, strange battle brother, please tell us your name and team, and why you are here: are there any other battle brothers here?"

The captain's voice dissipated into the cold hallway, but there was no response: the warrior just stood there, silently watching the Morgan sons for a long time.

It was a strange move: the two Daybreakers, who were in charge of the fire cover, had quietly raised their guns.

At this moment, Kulin, who was standing on the side of the line, saw the marks on the Astarte's shoulder armor, although the marks were extremely blurry, he could still make out them.

Is that......

"Captain."

Kulin spoke in a low voice.

"He seems to be...... of the Eleventh Legion? ”

"The number on his shoulder armor, is it X.I.?"

“……”

Kesper was silent for a moment, and then Kurin heard an instinctive curse coming out of the Terra veteran's throat.

"Damn it!"

"Prepare for battle!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Casbah gave the order to his warriors, and everyone immediately raised their blades and guns: but the previous low-downs were fatal at this time, because in the moment it took to raise the muzzle of the gun, the originally taciturn [Astarte] crashed straight into the ranks of the Daybreakers like a black shadow that no one could see.

The first to bear the brunt was Kesbah, who was standing at the forefront, and the squad leader raised his blade in time to block the claw-like hands of the nameless attacker.

At this moment, no one cared why this guy's hands were like the sharp claws of some kind of beast: because at the very moment of hand-to-hand combat, the worn-out helmet of Nameless Astarte was broken through from the inside by some savage strange force, and the lower part of it exploded, revealing not a mouth or teeth, but a large stream of twisted flesh.

Kulin saw everything clearly: out of the gap, a large mass of wriggling tendrils and mouthparts scrambled out, like a ferocious overlord octopus, and the color of the dozens of wriggling tentacles was terrifying: it was a color that bordered on rotting human flesh, and the stench that followed told the same breath.

Before any of the Daybreakers could react, the wriggling malice mercilessly bypassed the intertwined blades and stabbed Kesbah's neck, swallowing his entire throat and even half of his face in one fell swoop, and then the sound of the harsh acid corroding flesh and blood echoed clearly in everyone's ears.

At that moment, Kulin heard a scream, or a roar, and he couldn't tell if it was anger or horror, and he didn't know if it was his own or the other fighting brothers: the young Dawnbreaker warrior was stimulated by the bloody scene before him, and instead of panicking, he quickly fell into a calmness that bordered on fanaticism.

In this calm, he didn't really think about anything, but he clearly knew what he was going to do through the subconscious movements of his body: he roared and raised his blade, rushed at the monster that was by no means his fighting brother, and stabbed the gap with a snow-white edge that was exposed by the shattering of his worn helmet.

Beneath the gap, he didn't see any skin, only rotting flesh.

The blade pierced deep into it, feeling some kind of obstruction similar to hard armor, and with a beast-like roar, the nameless monster let go of Kesbah in pain, shook off Kulin's blade, and dodged the Dawnbreaker from the other side.

It wanted to go on the attack, but Casbah had already raised his blade: half of the leader's jaw was so corroded that he could even see the roots of his teeth, but that didn't stop him from raising his blade, not even in a panic or rage, he roared and told two of his men to retreat behind him, and just as Coolin and the other Daybreaker did so, the two sons of Morgan, who were in charge of the fire cover, seamlessly seized the gap and released their anger with precision.

Countless steels and flames were poured down on the monster's body in the next instant, and even quickly tore through the patchwork power armor, but not a single drop of blood was laid: the sons of Morgan found that under the tattered power armor there was an extraordinarily strong, bone-like existence, and the rotting flesh clinging to them, indifferent to the ferocious firepower.

With his teeth pressed against his teeth, one of the firefighters quickly pulled out another hand and struck the monster's head with precision, shattering the part of the eye that was in tatters: the monster paused at the force of the impact, but it still didn't stop its advance, which made the battle-hardened dawnbreakers feel a kind of absurdity.

Especially, when the monster in front of him still has an appearance that is almost exactly like theirs, the dark thoughts that arise from it are enough to make everyone present feel heavy.

"Keep firing and suppress it with fire!"

Casbah mercilessly ordered, and all the warriors drew their matching guns, they no longer had the luxury of killing the monster in front of them at once, and constantly struck its joints and limbs, limiting its mobility: everyone present knew that it was obviously more valuable to capture this monster alive than to kill it directly.

They quickly succeeded, and in the face of the surging fire, the monster in front of them, which resembled Astarte, quickly broke its legs and fell to the ground, and the Dawnbreakers watched it with merciless eyes, not daring to stop the continuous suppression of the fire in their palms.

But just as they were doing a rotation, a faint screech came from everyone's automatic sensing system.

"And the enemy, not just the one in front of you?"

"I also sensed it: the sound was like a spider crawling on the floor."

"Is it the end of the hallway?"

"It's not...... I can't be sure...... The induction system is suppressed here. ”

"Psionic perception is the same, this monster in front of you is weird."

"The sound is getting closer! Where is it! ”

"Not in front!"

"More than one!"

"It's not on the ground...... Wall! Voices came from the walls! ”

"It's not just the walls! And the ceiling! ”

"Overhead! From the top of our heads! ”

"Fire !!"

At the end of the deepest dark spiral of the Blackstone Fortress, blood and flesh flowed on the cold walls that had not changed for thousands of years, accompanied by countless angry war cries and beastly roars.

Scarlet blood, rotting flesh.

——————

"Something is wrong."

The Praetorian Guard Steward frowned and stopped his steps, he stopped the somewhat dazed battle brothers next to him, behind whom was the power energy system that had just been checked.

"What's wrong, sir?"

Someone asked.

“……”

Rana didn't reply immediately, he just closed his eyes, briefly shielded all his perceptions, and used a pure energy from the heart to open up an induction that could not be defined in the real universe.

In an instant, his sensing range expanded to several kilometers around him, and countless hazy points of light converged into figures, quietly appearing in the darkness of his mind: those figures were none other than the Dawnbreakers who were scattered in this range, with Rana as the center.

【Roundtable Bloodline】

This is the fifth step of the retransformation operation named by the Spider Empress [Phoenix Transformation] or [Nirvana Path], and it is also the ability that only Lana and Bayar have in the entire Dawnbreaker Legion.

This transformation will bring a powerful auxiliary ability: according to their respective mental strength, the children of Morgan who have undergone the transformation will sense the state of other dawnbreakers within a certain range with themselves as the core.

including action, location, life and death......

……

Wait a minute!

Rana frowned, and all his attention was focused on one corner: there, he felt a clear signal that one of his fighting brothers had fallen.

……

Damn it.

The Praetorian Guard Steward glanced back at his position, where his Mother of Genes was not far away, checking the information and situation on the Blackstone Fortress: she certainly wouldn't be able to leave, but it involved the loss of the Daybreaker......

Sure enough, at the moment when Lana looked at the original genome, he got a look from Morgan: there was no need for more, the chief guard arranged the defenses around the original as fast as possible, and then ordered a capable team and quickly rushed over.

It wasn't a distant place, and because of the communication barrier inside the Blackstone Fortress, the team of the Chief Old Guard was the quickest rescue team: and it was true, when Rana called out to the approaching battle brothers, formed a considerable force, and rushed into the flickering spot of the incident in his mind, he heard the angry war cry and the roar of the beast before he could even get close.

Without the slightest hesitation, the Praetorian Guard stepped into the cloister, even throwing some of the other warriors behind him.

At first glance, Ranner saw a Daybreaker: he was lying on the edge of the hallway, bleeding profusely, with at least four or five horrific wounds on his chest, a broken arm, a severely corroded part of his left ear, and even the white bones that had spread to the base of his neck.

But even so, he still didn't really die, his chest was still heaving, and he retained his last breath because of the powerful vitality bestowed by the Spider Queen, and the unshakable enhanced version of feigned death.

The Praetorian Guard didn't stop at the side of the fighting brother, for he could even hear the footsteps of the apothecaries behind him, and he strode forward, rushing towards the place where the roar had come from.

But just as he was about to step into the darkness, the beast of darkness could no longer control its thirst for blood: perhaps victory and battle had allowed its savage instincts to expand uncontrollably, and even gave up the possibility of ambushing the Praetorian Guard in the darkness.

With a terrible scream, an indescribable being leaps from the ceiling and slams into Lana's front door like a meteorite.

It wasn't a bug at all, but a grotesque product of Astarte's warriors: the creature had only the upper body of Astarte, its face and arms had been smashed, revealing rotting flesh without a trace of skin, and its back had spider-like legs that helped it run quickly across walls and pounce on the Praetorian Guard's face.

But it picked the wrong opponent.

The attack that had been caught off guard was narrowly dodged by the superior Praetorian Guard, and the horror brought by the thing in front of him was forcibly suppressed in an instant, and the chief old guard stretched out his iron palms and grabbed the blasphemous existence tightly.

The wriggling flesh in the tattered helmet seemed to be trying to do it again, but before they could rush to Rana's neck, a chill flashed through the Praetorian Guard's pupils, and an infinite amount of power surged from his palm.

"Click!!

Without the slightest hesitation, the Praetorian Guard stewards clung to either side of the monster, and in a short roar and rage, he tore the blasphemous creature apart with force, tearing its flesh and bones in half, and throwing it haphazardly in the darkness on either side, like an enraged giant tearing apart a cardboard box, as a matter of course.

In the shadows, there seemed to be a last struggle: but soon everything fell silent, save for the cries of the brothers who continued to fight.

The Praetorian Guard didn't care about the consternation in the eyes of the other Daybreakers, he just glanced at the blasphemous remains a few times, then listened to the roar of the beast in the darkness, and gave an indifferent order.

"Remember to catch one alive."

"Mother should have some interest in them."

(End of chapter)