It's funny. Conrad Coetzes examines everything around him with a detached attitude.

This "detachment" is not just the usual conceptual "detachment", just as his current "surrounding" is not the kind of "surrounding" expressed in everyday contexts.

On the one hand, he did walk on this tattered, patched ship, which seemed to be about to become unsustainable, but still lingering in the void. He watched as his sons wailed as others quickly "disposed of" everything that needed to be disposed of at the moment—the scarce mortal crew, the muddled slaves, who needed to manipulate the ship itself by driving these things that were not much better than servants, so that it would serve its master while his masters fell into anguished delirium.

Koz, who theoretically didn't need a guard, still brought eighteen people with him on this trip, just for this purpose. He didn't really want to waste his time communicating with mortals. Of course he could, but he didn't have the patience that the legionnaires were there for.

On the other hand, he was not on a real ship. His consciousness hung high somewhere in the ocean, looking down at his own shell as he walked around the ship, as his heirs easily suppressed almost non-existent revolt, as he watched the cries and struggles of more Midnight Lord Astarte warriors—as if he were the king of the night, perched high above a tower of power, watching it all.

He walked on the way to the bridge in one ship, but had a full view of all the Astartes in the entire fleet; He examines the non-existent military discipline of the Midnight Lords at this moment, but at the same time judges them all for the sins they have committed in the past.

It's an amazing feeling. Coates thought.

Before he actually tried to do so, he had no idea that he could go through the lives of fifty-three thousand six hundred and forty-two genetic heirs at the same time. Of course, he somehow took advantage of the fact that the flow of time in subspace was different from reality, but before that, he didn't know that there was such a means of cheating.

Interestingly, the vast majority of the fleet believed that the total number of Astartes among them was more than 60,000. As the primordial of the Midnight Lord, Koz knows very well how his heir "runs" the entire legion, and with a little thought, he can figure out how this oolong came about:

These gang leaders take care of all their forces like a fairy tale dragon guarding their property, they don't allow others to find out too much about their true strength, and when they report their homes, they deliberately let their numbers be inflated - often for reasons like vanity or bluff.

The Midnight Lords themselves knew the virtues of their comrades, and after the warband had assembled and counted the numbers, no one believed the more than 80,000 that had been counted. But on this basis, they generally believe that about 60,000 is an almost real figure, but unfortunately, the situation is a little more cruel than they thought.

Coetzes partly analyzed and deduced these inconsequential minutiae, partly directing his body absentmindedly into the ship's bridge. While he was simply dealing with the crew in charge of the work in it, the first deceased in this trial appeared; When he realized that the mortals who were still able to move had taken what was happening as another battle between the Chaos Gang and the Chaos Gang and surrendered without hesitation to save their lives, a second and third criminals were declared dead at about the same time.

They have gone too far in subspace. Coetzes thought coldly. Whatever their reason, whatever they wanted to claim from these powers that should not have been theirs, they had gone too far. The end is set, and they must die.

Next, he watched as he used his communication device to announce his existence to the entire gang to which the ship belonged, and demanded that they surrender. This is not a statement to the Space Marines, but to the mortals who are responsible for controlling the ship. With the other legions, maybe the whole thing wouldn't have gone so well, but it was the Midnight Lord—so he was pleased to hear the message of surrender swearing allegiance in a trembling voice flying like snowflakes in the communication link.

At the same time, he executed twenty-four of his own heirs due to unmistakable subspace influence.

Fifty-three thousand six hundred forty-two, fifty-three thousand six hundred and fifteen, fifty-three thousand five hundred seventy-five—fifty-three thousand five hundred seventy-four.

As he had done all of this, preparing to leave the ship via the portal, he noticed that the number of heirs trapped by the Path of Judgment had suddenly decreased by one, but this time the attrition had nothing to do with his will.

He glanced in that direction from the High Heavens, and then came to a conclusion: it was Sevita. In such a short period of time, he has managed to get out on his own.

For a moment, Coetzes felt a little weak. But then, he felt some satisfaction and pride because of it. He pulled his attention away from the questions on the corners, and confirmed that his shell was able to teleport through the subspace without any problems.

- How could it not go well? At this moment, the surrounding subspace is almost under his control.

He and his heirs walked down the corridor of the other boat, fifty-three thousand five hundred and forty-nine, and took a slight look at the uninspired "decoration" around them, fifty-three thousand five hundred and twenty-two, and then, they spent about ten minutes doing the same thing as before, fifty-two thousand four hundred and seventy-four, during which time, except for those who had gone too far in the subspace, who had been imprisoned by the dark angels, The Black Armor Guards and Red Glove Sect, who have been in exile together since the thirtieth millennium, have also managed to leave on their own.

Why is this for us? A cry of anguish and resentment came from the subspace.

Is this the echo of the souls of the sons he put to death? Or is it some kind of subspace evil that pretends to be this escaping energy and wants to confuse him? Coetzes didn't bother to discern, he just replied without discrimination:

"Why?" He was rushing to the flagship of the Third Gang in the physical universe, and he stared at the immature energy that was asking him in the High Heavens, "Isn't my judgment unclear enough?" Isn't your own humble and filthy life enough to explain what happened to you? I am not here to forgive, but to correct the mistakes I have made in the past. ”

A reasonable punishment, accompanied by forgiveness and edification at the end, maybe Fujimaru Rika will do this. Coetzes thought indifferently. But unlike him, he will choose the easier option while making sure it works.

Fifty-two thousand three hundred seventy-nine.

But we didn't have a choice! The voice was still shouting. In order to survive, we must do this! In order to survive, we must commit sins! We're here just to meet you. You should know that this should have been almost impossible in the eyes of ordinary people, but we have come with the humblest hope - but you have only given us cold judgments and cruel tortures! We still don't have a choice!

Koz was unmoved. He responded, in a calm, but nonchalant tone: "It's funny. ”

He looked down from the highest heaven at the shadow of the gathering of energy that dared to question him, and said, "You said that you wanted to come to see me, so now, you have seen it. ”

Fifty two thousand two hundred seventy-one.

"You say you don't have a choice, and I'll tell you that you're wrong — of course you have a choice." The Lord of the Night looked down on his sins, "You can choose to die, it is obviously easier that way. No punishment can continue to punish you beyond death, but you can take your sins with you and become a deserter. ”

In subspace, the passage of time freezes abruptly. It may have been Coetz's own will, or it might have been a natural phenomenon in the operation of the subspace itself, but at least, he didn't show any surprise from it.

"Of course, you can choose to put up with all this." He continued his statement, "Face your sins, accept those punishments, endure all torture – I will not forgive you for this." You should know from the beginning that I am a very strict judge and I don't have the word 'forgiveness' in my dictionary. To reiterate: I will not forgive you for this, but I will appreciate your will to allow you to continue to live and atone for your sins. ”

Fifty two thousand two hundred seventy-one.

This made Koz raise an eyebrow in surprise, but he continued: "Of course, you have to know that this is not a path that you can succeed if you go along. You could die at any moment - after all, some of you have committed unspeakable crimes, and the corresponding punishments will naturally be more severe. Even Astarte's body and spirit are likely to collapse as a result. It will be a painful and long journey to death with no guarantee of survival, and if you do not have faith in yourself, then perhaps a quicker and more peaceful end is more suitable for you. ”

He finished saying these words and waited quietly for a second, two seconds, three seconds. The shadow of displeasure that had been expressed against him had reverted to an amorphous energy, still hovering nearby, but no longer expressing an opinion. After confirming this, Conrad Coetze once again confirmed the number of his children:

Fifty two thousand two hundred seventy-one.

This immovable data made the Midnight Lord Primordial speechless for a while.

Miwoo (none)

And that's not the final number......

(End of chapter)