Ulmit has been in service within the Children of the End for more than half a century, and if this statistic were to be quantified as the Ultramarines do, then it should be written for seventy-two years.

Even if half of that time were erased, the remaining half would be enough to completely change a person.

Ulmit's memories still have memories of his childhood, but he is very different from that child. Trained, reborn, a long career in war, and then there are brutal sights to see, like an entire planet ravaged by aliens.

At that time, he had not yet served as a sergeant, but was just a new scout, and he had not even landed in the airborne cabin. He was lucky, and before he landed, he felt the most cruel side of the war through the peep window of the airborne warehouse.

He saw vast expanses of scorched earth, mountains of corpses, and burning cities, all of which were the most emblematic images of war, as common as the weeping children in the ruins or the broken Aquila banner.

However, if one of the most iconic imagery had to be singled out, Ulmit would definitely choose earth.

Yes, dirt.

The soil, which had been thoroughly soaked in human blood, had buried a huge amount of flesh and blood, and had become unusually fertile soil.

Ulmit only found out about this after landing in the airborne pod, and the knowledge he gained from books told him that, in time, the suffering planet beneath his feet would become a very good agricultural world.

However, there are two necessary prerequisites for this. First, they must win and take the world back. Second, the aliens that are invading this world cannot be orcs.

Ulmit and his brother spent forty-two days trying their best to complete the first condition, as for the second. Already in the very beginning, it has already lost the conditions for its establishment.

After the end of the war, Ulmit's imagination of agriculture, wheat, and rejuvenation disappeared, and only the purest and most primitive thoughts remained in his mind.

Aliens should be punished.

In the decades that followed, the idea became a rule, that aliens should be punished, traitors should be killed, and demons should be exterminated

It's extreme, but the enthusiasm within it never dissipates. This code is poured out by the blood and tears of mortals, and it is the simple perspective of a man who still has a ridiculous sense of justice and is capable of living a brutal war.

It is the one that has allowed Ulmit to survive seventy-two years of brutal warfare, and finally to the Night Soul, standing in front of Shen.

But, who is Shen?

Ulmit couldn't give a specific answer, and the words that chronicled his deeds were always pale, and they couldn't really match the shock of seeing him in person - just imagine, a veteran from 10,000 years ago, a warrior who fought bloodily on Terra

What other honors can be compared to these two things?

Ulmit didn't realize how excited he was at the moment.

He had been informed of this early in the morning, but that did not stop him from being so enthusiastic about it, and it was for this reason that Keur Sahola had to cough lightly to remind the sergeant of something—but he had forgotten something.

He forgot that Shen didn't really care about these things.

"Angler Tay's successor?"

In the darkness, the prisoner who had volunteered to be restrained opened his mouth softly, his voice clear and natural, a far cry from the soft whispers that the Shadow Knights were accustomed to.

"Yes, sir!" Ulmit unconsciously puffed up his chest and answered his question with both enthusiasm and excitement.

Keur was silent and looked away, and from the sergeant's face, he vaguely saw what he had been back then.

Realizing this made him a little embarrassed, although he had been in the service for almost two centuries, however, two centuries was probably not much different from ten years for Shen.

Half a second later, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a line of sight. You don't need to look back, Kaul can also know, that is, Shen is looking at him.

“.”

In silence, the Shadow Knight's warlord put on his helmet and took a few steps back without a trace. Ulmit was unaware of his actions, and the fog that surged around him completely obscured him.

"Nice to meet you." Shen said that the answer was not what Ulmet expected. Even by the standards of mortals, he expressed a palpable lack of bewilderment.

Faced with this situation, Shen laughed as expected. The expression on his pale, cracked face made one wonder if it would shatter like a ceramic toy in the next second.

"Surprised?" Shen asked with a smile. "You probably think I'm going to be a little more old-fashioned? Or is it majestic, at least a little detached? ”

The sergeant was silent for a few seconds, then nodded slightly ashamedly. He didn't know why he was feeling this way—Keur, who was watching, saw it because the sergeant had naturally placed himself in the position of junior.

"If the person tied up here is Yago Sevitaleon, he will probably deliberately present these imaginary effects to calm you down a little."

"But I'm different, Sergeant Ulmit, I'm a shameful escapee who threw down my responsibilities years ago and began to wait for you in this dusty and misty place."

Ulmit was stunned again, he didn't expect to hear such an answer.

"Me, me?" The sergeant was confused but polite enough to maintain a semblance of calm. "I don't understand, I have something worth waiting so long."

"Compared to him, it's not that long." Shen said softly. "Plus, you're certainly worth my wait. You're one of Anglel Tay's successors, and you've taken on a responsibility that you don't know the exact weight of, Sergeant. ”

He raised his head, and two flames suddenly lit up in his blackened eyes like dark red embers, and the dust that hung upside down around him was swept away by a sudden breeze.

Ulmit suddenly felt a tingle between his brows, and he immediately realized that it was because of Shen's gaze.

"Seal of Loyalty?" The sergeant spoke confused and nervous. "I don't understand, my lord, it's just a tradition of ours."

"Yes, I know. Every Son of the End will be given this sigil at the moment of official armoring, and within your warband, it represents the Whisperer Loyalists led by Ingres Tay, an act of honor defined by St. Giles himself."

"Although you don't talk about this history anymore, it is still an integral part of your tradition. At least, I believe that's the official story, right? ”

The sergeant's expression changed from bewilderment to solemnity, and he glanced sideways at the silent Kaurir, who did not react at all, and even his body movements were hidden under the pitch-black cloak.

Helpless, he had to take a deep breath and speak seriously.

"What exactly are you trying to say? If I just want to show that there may be a propagandist involved in this operation, I am mentally prepared. We have fought against them for 10,000 years, and one day we will take back our name. ”

Shen laughed again, then asked, "Why?" ”

The sergeant frowned inexplicably, and at the same time, Kaurir finally cast a gaze. His eyes, hidden behind the eyepieces, were full of pity.

"Why do you want to reclaim a name that belongs to a traitor?" Shen asked.

The sergeant opened his mouth and had the heart to answer, but he didn't know how to answer at all. It's puzzling. However, it is true that he never thought about it.

"The title and what it stands for have been so stigmatized that to this day the common people do not know what it means, and those who know it regard those who speak of it as the most despicable traitors."

"As for you, Sergeant, you are a child of the void born on a ship belonging to the five hundred worlds of Otrama, and Master Robert Killiman has always valued history, and he will never hide the destruction of Cowes and the tragedy of Maculag."

"So, you must know this history, and you know what the Bearers have done—and now, answer me, have you never doubted it? Why did Ingres Tay leave such a sentence at the last moment of his life? ”

The sergeant clenched his fists in reluctance, but Shen stopped his voice. He looked at Ulmet with a calm expression, obviously the one who was bound, but easily had the undoubted upper hand.

The other two people present did not have any objection to this, but they didn't know that Shen was not such a person before.

Why? My lord? ”

After a long silence, the sergeant finally spoke.

His voice was dry and unnatural, and who would have thought it was the voice of a battle-hardened Astarte.?

But this was the case, and the sergeant was not only hoarse, but even showed a certain degree of trembling.

His heavy armor, inherited from an ancient warrior, helped him to disguise some of it, but he was not wearing a helmet, and the subtle twitching of his facial muscles could not hide from Shen's eyes.

"I was there when Ingres Tay took his last breath. This last sentence is actually only the second half of the sentence. ”

Shen narrowed his eyes very visibly and confided the sentence in its entirety.

"In the name of Aurelian, one day, we will reclaim our name."

For a long time, the sergeant remained silent, and the emotion on his face was completely revealed, without any concealment, like an unpredictable storm.

The Children of the End and the Bearers have fought for 10,000 years, leaving their mark all over the galaxy. In the past 10,000 years, they have fought many beautiful battles, but they were also on the verge of extinction.

In such a long history, the Children of the End have never lost their original traditions like other warbands that have survived the disaster.

All thanks to Hermit Lacruz.

During these 10,000 years, he kept a complete record of everything that happened to the children of the end, and there may have been deletions, but he never concealed them, but left those deleted records in the book room on the flagship 'Bright Horn'.

Of course, the sergeant hadn't read the redacted records, but he still knew who Lorga Aurelian was.

He knew it from the beginning.

Lorga Aurelian is the father of their genes, and their shame, a sinful past they cannot speak to anyone.

Every recruit of the Children of the End is told about it before undergoing the transformation operation, about Loja's betrayal and the difficult struggle of the loyalists within the Bearers.

Such a heavy and terrible history has been passed down intact by generations of children of the end, and it has been openly told to every child who may join them, allowing them to make free choices.

It is to bear the blood of this sin, and after that, go on with great difficulty, and fight for the emperor, humanity and empire until the last moment. Or choose to refuse?

If the latter is chosen, the children will not be punished, and the Children of the End will simply ask the Think Tank to erase their memories of the incident and send them to the Ultramarines' training location.

They are now able to recruit troops from all over the galaxy, but if they could, they would choose to continue an ancient tradition within the Five Hundred Worlds of Otlama.

Robert Killiman personally issued this order, and it is now seen as an unshakable bond between the Children of the End and the Ultramarines.

The sergeant is one of the evidences of such a bond, and if you dig deeper, he can even be considered a noble birth—he was born on the Glory of Maculag, and Robert Killiman was even on the ship at the time and the sergeant chose to join.

He had no way to explain the reasons in detail, he was only fourteen years old at the time, and he couldn't make much sense. Maybe it was because of the expectant eyes of the instructor who was in charge of training him at that time, or maybe it was because of the mysterious and mysterious God Emperor's inspiration?

The sergeant took a deep breath in confusion, and he opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't say a word, only silence remained between his lips and teeth, turning into a white mist that slowly escaped.

"Is it painful?" Shen asked calmly. "Suddenly I realized that the biggest secret that the warband had been keeping silent about the rest of the world was actually hiding another reversal inside."

The sergeant nodded wordlessly.

Shen smiled and turned to Keur, "Is the ceremony ready?" ”

"It's ready from the start," the Shadow Knight's current warband leader replied in a low voice. "The think tanks have set up the ceremony venue three days in advance, and we can start at any time, as long as—"

He looked at the sergeant.

"—as long as Sergeant Ulmit is ready." Shen picked up his words.

The sergeant's heart was shocked, and he began to look back and forth between Shen and Keur, looking very dazed. He doesn't know what he's going to face yet, but it doesn't matter. Because, all questions will be fully answered within the next ninety-two Terra hours.

The Soul of the Night was already approaching Litatra, and after three more Terras, they would see the massive battleship burning in Litatra's low-Earth orbit.

Shen would immediately recognize it as the infamous Abyss-class battleship 'Fury Abyss', and at the same time, he would also perceive that it was not raising the Void Shield, but was passively withstanding the attacks of the Litatra Orbital Defense Platform.

They will continue to get closer, and when that time comes, they will discover the truth.

"Yes, when that time comes, they will find out the truth." A strange voice said in the darkness.

It giggled, whispered, and tiptoed toward a flaming star

It summoned the chaotic energy gathered on it with its slender fingers, and began to patiently construct a gap large enough to hold it through. It had a strange grin on its hairy skull, and its eyes were full of anticipation.

Its name is Samus, and it made a promise to Shen 10,000 years ago that it would grant him a heroic death.

(End of chapter)