At midnight, the Lord of the Eighth Legion returned to his office door, carefully keeping a distance so that he didn't have to let the automatic door slide open.

The hallways of the Nightfall were dim, the heat interacting with the pipes in the walls, and the faint mist that overflowed gathered under his feet. With no one on the side, Conrad Coz didn't need to be protected by his heirs.

He stood there in silence through the wall. His brother Fogham's hand-woven garment was still neat on him, and the black gown, which concealed many delicate details, shimmered in the faint darkness.

Conrad Coetzes didn't enter his office, he just stood outside the door and that's it.

The banquet was good, and none of them had any more grudges. Robert Killeman and Angron were people he had never met or imagined before.

Killiman is sensible and gentle, but he is determined and stubborn in his desire for Conrad Coetzes to forgive him for putting Caril in such danger. What was supposed to be a one-sided apology turned into a comical scene of two parties feeling sorry for each other, which also made the last bit of resentment in Coetze's heart disappear.

Angeland is different, he does not speak for the most part, and is silent like a reassuring mountain.

The things on his forehead were tormenting him, and Coates could see it—he could tell it in Angron's occasional twitching facial muscles and frowns, and whenever those two things happened, the nails made a creepy grinding sound.

He was being tortured, suffering, being tortured, and he had no complaints. Admittedly, he doesn't talk much, but every time he speaks, he makes the mood better. That's why the party lasts late into the night.

It was also the first time that Conrad Coetze had quickly become acquainted with two strangers - he had been speculating on the way back if it was a blood relationship, but he had no answer, he just thought that they were both good people.

They were good people like Fogham, Ferus Manus, Roger Dorn. And there was a kind of enthusiasm in them, a kind of Lorga Aurelian-esque passion for brothers.

Conrad Coetzes pursed his lips, and a golden face flashed before his eyes, obscured by scriptures. If asked, he would be honest that he didn't like Lorja Aurelian, but that didn't mean he hated him.

Hate was a strong emotion, and he didn't feel that way for Lorga Aurelian.

With a sigh, the Lord of the Eighth Legion closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had already turned into a midnight ghost.

His shoulders naturally relaxed, his back bent, not rickety, but not erect either. Lifting his legs, he strode into his office, where he was not surprised to see another pale giant.

He was grading documents.

"That's my job." Midnight Ghost hissed.

"Do you want me to apologize for that?" The pale giant replied without raising his head.

"I don't want you to apologize for that."

Carlil looked up, looked at Midnight Ghost, and smiled abruptly, "So, do you want me to apologize for another thing?" ”

"I don't dare." The ghost hissed in reply, clasping its hands in a gesture of resistance that was evident. "After all, you saved so many people. How dare I ask a hero to apologize to me? ”

Carlil didn't reply, he lowered his head and finished correcting the last piece of paper. In this way, the twelfth public school founded by the Ultramarines is about to start construction early tomorrow morning.

With that, he put down the pen in his hand, looked up, and stared at the Midnight Ghost without saying a word.

He looked closely at the child he had brought out of the underground mine, and felt a funny absurdity.

The Midnight Ghost was a far cry from what he had been, the child in the foul night wind of Nostramo had vanished, replaced by a growing youth he didn't know very well.

The progenitors' childhoods were so short that a few months was enough for Midnight Ghost to become thoroughly acquainted with Conrad Coetzes' identity.

But

"I'm not a hero, ghost." Carlil spoke calmly, almost gently. "Not before, not now, and not in the future."

"You say that only because of your paranoid sense of morality, that you don't allow yourself to be called a hero, because you don't feel worthy, because you don't think you can save more people."

Karil was silent, and after a brief thought, he chuckled and asked, "Did you learn this knowledge from books?" ”

"Yes." Wraith said. "There are a lot of books on the Nightfall for me to read."

"You're done reading it all?"

"I've read them all, a total of 2,233 copies."

"So-" Carlil spread his hands. "-Let's talk, Ghost, since you're no longer a child, let's talk to each other in a more rational way."

"Okay." The ghost pursed his lips and nodded.

With a wide movement, he pulled over a large chair and sat down across from Carlil.

"You have a grudge against me." Carlil was the first to speak. "Don't deny it."

"I won't deny it." The ghost replied calmly with his hands folded.

"So, will you admit it?"

“.”

"Will you, Spirit?"

"I'll admit it."

"No, you won't admit it." Carlil stared at the ghost, shaking his head slowly.

He didn't get what he wanted from the spirit, and the ghost never looked at him.

"You're just talking, ghost, you're running away. Are you afraid to admit this fact, why? Are you afraid to admit that you are angry with me? You don't even dare to look at me. ”

"Why wouldn't I?" Midnight Ghost turned its head defiantly. "Why don't I dare look at you?"

Carlil stared at him calmly, his eyes intertwined for five seconds before the ghost turned its head again.

"Say whatever you want." The ghost stared at the wall and replied. "Eye to eye doesn't prove anything."

Carlil sighed.

"Yes, looking at each other doesn't prove anything, but whether you dare to look at each other proves my guess. Like, something you're afraid to admit. You're afraid to admit that you have a grudge against me and thus disappoint me. What are you thinking, Spirit? ”

"I don't know."

"I hope you answer me seriously."

"I don't know."

"Really?"

“.”

"Is Karil Lohals really that special to you, Midnight Ghost?" Carlil asked.

His mind was gradually calming down, and the bitter truth and reality were intertwined, turning into a subtle emotion that even he was a little confused about.

"You're so special that you don't even dare to blame this person?"

He couldn't help but chuckle again.

"If you have a grudge against me, you should just say it, ghost, instead of holding it to the bottom of your heart and using the bad habits you learned from me to curb normal emotional development. I'm not a good role model. ”

The Midnight Wraith was silent, as quiet as a statue. His lips were trembling, and his masseter muscles were constantly moving. Tense and relaxed, twitching nervously.

"On the one hand, you want to be angry with me, you want to release your emotions, but on the other hand, you are afraid that releasing this emotion will make me feel that you are not mature enough and will make me feel disappointed in you."

"But the question is, why am I disappointed in you? You've done well enough. Furthermore, if you are really mature, you should break free from this emotion. ”

Karil Lohals slowly stood up.

"In a sense, Conrad Coetze." He spoke expressionlessly in Gorgothic. "You're still in that mine, when are you going to get out?"

"And when are you going to be able to face me?"

Conrad Coetzee stood up abruptly and replied in a fierce tone, "You never tell me about your plans, you never tell me what I should do after that, you only explain part of it, and then hide the more important places. ”

"You don't tell me why you died and come back to life, you don't tell me why you were impaled by the Praetorian Army, you don't even tell me why you came back as a skeleton, you just make them a casual joke. You accuse me of not being mature enough, but have you ever wondered what you're doing?! ”

Yes, that's it, Konrad Coetzes.

Carlil smiled.

"I'm doing some. Something that only I can do. He looked at the child who was looking at him stubbornly with a little regret.

"You're just sacrificing like a stupid fool!" Conrad Coetzes roared.

"You're just trying to put everything on your shoulders over and over again! Why are you so arrogant, Karil? Am I not enough to share this for you?! ”

"I don't need anyone to share this for me." Carlil shook his head. "Because these things are not 'responsibilities' in the first place, they are my own choices. And why should you share for me? Conrad, have you done everything so far to help me? ”

"I just want to make you proud." Conrad Coetzes replied tremblingly. "I just don't want to see your blood again."

Staring at the child, who had not really grown up, many images flashed before Carlil's eyes.

He remembered the first time he had taught the Wraith how to kill, and how the Wraith had innocently and passionately asked if he could save Nostramo.

Involuntarily, he smiled. The smile was natural and wide, not at all like the expression that Caryl Lohals would make, but it just happened, and it was so smooth.

"I've always been proud of you." He said mildly. "But I want you to see every corner of the world with your own eyes, just as you decided to join the Empire. So, stop trying to ask for my help in everything, Conrad. ”

He chuckled and walked out of his desk, patted Conrad Coetzes on the shoulder, and left the office.

——

+ I'm curious, have you ever had children in the past? +

+ There was a long time ago. +

Niuos did not shy away from the subject, and he sent some images through psionic communication, which were remnants of one or two children frolicking in a wheat field, their faces blurred.

+ And I can't remember their faces or names. +

+ Regrets? +

+ Absolutely. +

+ And they say that you are a ruthless madman, an arrogant careerist. +

+ Indeed, I am not a madman who could not have made such a plan. All the rulers of the ages have only operated on earth, they may be wise or they may be mediocre, and their purposes are terrible compared to mine. +

+ You sound arrogant. +

+ I'm arrogant, aren't you? +

Carlil smiled dumbly, and he looked up and fiddled with the papers that had been kept in front of his desk. This action doesn't make much sense, just like this conversation, it's just a simple expression of emotions.

+ Arrogant, brutal, greedy monsters, liars who deceive the world, tyrants who will sooner or later destroy the world. They called me by these words, some strangers, some soldiers who spurned me because of the encroachment on my land, and some of my friends. +

+ They don't understand me, but I understand them. I've lived for a long time with the mindset of an ordinary person, and I understand how overwhelmed a person can be when facing a world that is changing dramatically. Just like you, Karil, I've kindled a fire on Terra. +

+ This flame dazzled all who saw it, some of them were attracted to it and joined me, and some of them were shocked and frightened by it. They can see the future I picture for a short time, so they know what to expect if I fail. Humanity cannot afford to fail, so they do not accept me and my flame. +

+ Feeling sad? +

+ Nope. +

The Emperor laughed, the first time he had laughed as an Emperor.

+ I'm just proud of them. Isn't it enough that they see the ambition of this mask and the possible consequences of this dream? +

+ Human beings have been so contradictory since ancient times, there are heroes among us, there are villains, there are greedy and unscrupulous, there are cruel and unkind, but there are still many stars among us. I've seen the stars with my own eyes, Carlil. Therefore I will not allow the future of mankind to be bleak like this.+

+ Darkness is coming, and if no new stars appear, let me come. +

+ If you were going to illuminate all of humanity, you would burn yourself to death. +

+ And you know, I don't care. +

yes, you won't care.

Carlil shook his head.

+The babbling of a madman.+

+ But you started this psionic communication. +

+ Did I say I wasn't? +

There was a burst of happy laughter on the other end of the com, and half a minute later, it hung up. Carlil calmly lowered his head and began to continue grading the papers.

The nights are long, but they always pass. And what will people see after that?

Today, after reading the teeth, half of the face is numb, I can't write too much, and I have the cheekiness to ask for a ticket.

By the way, I'm going to try it out tomorrow to see if I can maintain the quantity and quality.

(End of chapter)