Leon Eltheuson found it difficult to fully concentrate his thoughts, and he remained seated on his throne, the light shining overhead. There was a pool of blood not far away, and he didn't let them be cleaned up, and Luthor's left hand was still lying there.

In the midst of this bloody and horrific scene, for some reason, Leon began to think back to the past.

He thought of Caliban, of the Knights, of the walls, of the forests, of the behemoths. He had been taught how to speak, then to wield a sword and use a shield in the town behind the walls

He should have learned how to ride again, but there were no horses for his size in Caliban. Later, someone did make a horse through genetic technology, but that was later after all.

He had followed someone on foot, and with him he went deep into the forest to slay the beasts.

Since when did things become what they are now?

He held the armrest of the throne with one hand and was silent. The lines of ivory slammed against his arm, and the clear perception made everything clear.

He no longer wore his armor, and the ornate wreckage was scattered all over the place, resting in front of the throne, resembling the dismembered corpse of a man. His sword was still leaning against the armrest, and the blood had dried up on the sword, turning into some kind of bloody pattern

Leon turned his head to glance at it, then spoke suddenly.

"Akau, he's lying."

The Knight in the Darkness nodded silently, not surprised by Leon's name—his primordial would often call him that when no one was around.

"He deceived me." Leon Eljonson said thoughtfully. "I'm looking for a reason, Akau, little brother, can you see it?"

Coswayne took off his helmet again, stepped out of the darkness, and came to Leon, kneeling on one knee.

His armor was pitch black, and his right shoulder armor had only the mark of the Dark Angel Legion. The beast's fur hung from him in a string of white ropes, trembling slightly in the light cast by the stained glass.

"Because of loyalty." The Wingless Knight said slowly. "Sir Luther made his sacrifice."

"His sacrifice was ridiculous." Leon replied coldly. "The problem has not been solved, and new problems have been born."

His right hand jerked against the ivory armrest.

Suspicion.

Little by little, he exhaled the icy air.

"The way they just looked at each other is not what brothers should be, nor what they should do between comrades. I saw them glaring at each other, searching for suspicious evidence on each other. And this thing"

Leon was silent for a moment.

"I'm to blame." He said. "I have persecuted them too much, but why don't they open their mouths to defend themselves? As I said, everyone has one more chance to defend themselves. However, no one except Asleta exercised this right. What the hell are they thinking? ”

"Because they don't dare, my lord." Coswayne said with his head down.

"Don't dare?"

"If you open your mouth, you'll be suspicious. Even if you didn't have him in mind, they would have imagined him. To disappoint you, it is an absolute no-no within the Legion. Not to mention being suspected of being a traitor. ”

"Is there a rule in the Legion that says that I will be punished for disappointing me?" Leon Eltheuson frowned sharply. "What of their vows says you shouldn't let me down?"

"Nope."

"Then why are they afraid?"

"Because you're the one who asks questions." Coswayne looked up at his primordial form.

Of course, they knew that silence would lead to greater anger, but they could only be silent. Because they don't dare to defend themselves, and besides, even though Asleta defends himself, you don't believe him. ”

"But I never doubted him."

"It doesn't matter, my lord." Coswayne said quietly. "The point is, Sir Luther has been taken away, and our shame is about to be washed away, what are you going to do after this?"

"The truth has yet to see the light of day." Leon replied in deep thought, his eyes shining.

All kinds of clues were recalled by him at this moment, and they were connected one by one. Some speculation came to mind, and he threw away the outrageous ones, saving the persuasive ones. After a long time, he took the initiative to break the silence.

"Prepare the ship." He said. "I'm going to Terra."

"What are you going to do?"

"A Caliban is going to be tried in Terra, isn't it worth my trip?"

——

Little by little, Luthor moved his new left hand, which was not the same as the one he was familiar with. Its palms were unscarred, and the blade of the oath never bleed.

It is silver in color and has a smooth surface. The artificial muscle fibers are tangled together like thick cables, giving the metal arm a sense of absurdity that borders on the real arm.

Staring at it, Luther's expression was complicated. Although the nerve junction in his upper arm was still aching, this was not the main reason for his complicated expression.

"How does it feel?" Carlil asked.

"It's amazing." Luthor said. "I've seen many warriors use bionic organs, and I didn't expect to use them one day."

"Didn't you think you might be injured on the battlefield?"

"No, I only imagined what it would be like when I died." Luthor smiled wryly. "Sacrifice to cover the retreat of the troops, or fall into the enemy's trap and die as a vanguard unit. I know it's morbid, but a glorious death is something I longed for. ”

Carlil watched him quietly, without commenting on the matter, and the exchange was done silently.

Luthor nodded gratefully at him and stepped off the operating table. The massive mechanical tentacles that hovered above him, operating on him, slowly retracted into the ceiling at this moment.

A dreamlike sense of unreality still hovered in his mind, making his steps a little vain. He still couldn't believe that he was now in Holy Terra and that he had not been treated as a prisoner at all.

What prisoner would be given such a bionic arm?

They walked out the door and began to walk through the dark underground. It smells of dust, the floor is rotten, and the tiles look as old as they are thousands of years old.

Cobwebs were piled up in the corners, and from time to time even the bones could be seen. Strangely, there were no torches or any other light sources, but they were as bright as day.

"Where are we going, Lord Carlil?" Luther asked.

"You and I are now colleagues, Sir Luther." Carlil replied without squinting. "Therefore, there is no need to call me an adult anymore. As for where we're going, of course, it's going to meet our boss. ”

Immediate superior?

Luthor couldn't help but wonder what the word meant, and he couldn't figure out who could be Karil Lohars's top boss.

Although this instructor from the Eighth Army is not well-known, he obviously has a lot of secrets. Not to mention his terrifying ability to evoke the dead, his height alone and his striking resemblance to Conrad Coetzes were enough to make people think about it.

Combine these points, plus the fact that he has the Terra Secret Order. Luthor already had dozens of guesses about his true identity.

He kept thinking, trying to forget what had happened on the Indomitable Truth, and found himself in a cavern a few minutes later. There is no smell of dust here, but it is just as ancient.

The walls and floors were made of stone, the most primitive of those stones, but they were so smooth that they seemed to have been polished. A man in dark green robes stood in the cave with his back to them, holding a heavy scepter.

Luthor saw the golden Aquila at the tip of the scepter at a glance, and his pupils immediately shrank.

The man turned slowly.

"It's too slow, Carlil." He said slightly accusatory. "And, does an operation take hours? My time is precious. ”

"Why don't you say that to Sir Luthor's chief surgeon?"

The man did not reply, but cast his stern gaze on Luther, a pair of dark eyes that shone slowly with a lightning-blue glow beneath the hood of his robe. Luthor froze in place as if struck by lightning, his body trembling, and it took a few minutes for him to return to normal.

"Brave, but also stupid." Macado said slightly critically.

"Your self-sacrifice has not solved the problems of the First Legion, Sir Luther. In fact, your departure may add more problems to them. Without people like you, the conflict between the Terra veterans and the Calibans will grow. ”

He lifted his hand, causing the scepter to pause heavily on the ground. The smooth stone changed in an instant, and the silvery metal took its place, and the fine lines were dense on the ceiling, which was emitting a misty glow.

A golden round table waited quietly not far away, the chairs glittering like light. The Aquila flapped its wings on the surface of the table, and another I-shaped pierced by three horizontal lines glowed scarlet underneath the Aquila.

"Who are you.?" Luthor spoke in astonishment, he had recovered from the shock, but his thinking function was still not fully restored.

"Palm Print, Machado." Carlil's voice came from above him. "A stubborn old man, because he likes to complain too much, is not a good person to talk to."

The Palm Sealer took off his hood and ignored Carlil's words, only gesturing with his free left hand for them to take their seats at the round table. Luther took a deep breath and walked over with Carlil.

Machado sat first on the left hand and Carlil on the right, deliberately vacating the main seat. Following Machado's gestures, Luthor sat down behind Carlil, and felt a strong coldness as he took his seat.

"First of all, let's talk about your grievances, Sir Luthor." Machado stared at him, his voice calm and wise, his words extremely coherent. "Esoteric Buddhism is a non-alien organization to me, but it's a mystery to you and to Carlil."

The Palm Sealer let go of his hand, and his scepter dissipated into light. The long golden table began to emit an even more intense golden glow, and after a few seconds, a number of images jumped out of it, mostly blurry, not clear, and looked like silhouettes.

Luthor stared at them and felt an icy current of air emerge from the depths of his bone marrow and rush into his brain.

He didn't feel angry, only extreme rationality.

"The membership of this group is unknown, the only thing that is certain is that there are aliens and humans within it. They rarely actually stay somewhere for long, and the way they move through the galaxy is not known to us. However, they have been trying to influence humanity for a long time, and their earliest history can be traced back even before humans left the solar system. ”

Machado narrated without emotion, there was no hatred, no emotion, nothing in his voice.

"Their purpose is still a mystery, but no alien can be trusted, especially one like theirs. We may assume that if you had not chosen to sacrifice yourself, Sir Luther, or if the Eighth Legion had decided to deal with the matter immediately and in accordance with the law aboard the Indomitable Truth, you could imagine how far things would have gotten without mercy. ”

Luthor clenched his fists in silence.

"In other words, they are harmful to humans." Makado said calmly.

"And now they're trying to get their claws between the Astarte legions, and no one can tolerate that. However, the progress of the Great Expedition cannot be delayed, and it is impossible for the Legions to stop and return to Terra to be reviewed one by one, so I have reactivated this place. ”

He spread his hands and ran his fingers through the air, causing intricate and gorgeous ripples. The air fluctuates, and the world changes again. In the blink of an eye, the sleek silver metal and golden table vanished, and the stone floor took its place.

Luthor found himself sitting on a stone table with many names engraved on the surface of the table.

"His words are hard to understand, aren't they?" Carlil asked Luthor with a smile. "Are you a little confused about what the palm seal is trying to say? It's quite simple, Sir Luther. Remember that invitation I told you not long ago? ”

"I remember."

"We would like to invite you to join the organization, Sir Luther." Macado said solemnly. "You are wise and powerful. The most important thing is that you are full of hatred. And that's exactly what we need. ”

"What kind of organization is this?" Luthor asked, slightly dazed.

"It doesn't have a name yet." Carlil said he stopped laughing.

"There's a lot hidden within the Empire, Sir Luther. Esotericism, aliens, wizards. With the galaxy so vast, humanity faces enemies that are not only visible in war. There are more disruptions that are born from small things. For example, the death of Sergeant Tlynver Ratton, who would have thought that his death would cause such a storm? We don't know how Esoteric Buddhism does this, but we have the means to deal with it. Of course, there may be more than that. ”

He spread his palm, and a ring glistened in the whiteness. It's pitch black all over, but there's a scarlet glow on the inside. It is molded to resemble a human skull, but it is unassuming, even austere.

Luthor stared at it, and saw that the red light was actually dancing.

"They can do evil, they can kill the faithful, they can kill the innocent, but their hands will be bloody, and so will their accomplices." Carlil said in a deep voice. "And this ring will help you see their blood-stained hands."

Luther looked up in silence.

"What am I going to do?" He asked briefly.

"Hunting." Macado replied softly. "I'll let you know the details later, there are my agents all over the galaxy, and you can get information about the secret things from them. Esoteric Buddhism has never been able to show its traces, but how can there be an impermeable wall under the sky? ”

Without words, Luthor reached for the ring. His hands were shaking.

"There is no honour in this duty, Sir Luther." Carlil reminded. "You've got to think about it."

"Don't think about it." Luthor whispered. "I've discarded honor."

He put on the ring.

There is one more chapter.

(End of chapter)