"Sibylla Hastings, you have served the Empire in this position for one hundred and twenty years. During this time, you were recruited by Lord Killriman to join the Indomitable Expeditionary Fleet and serve him as an advisor to him for more than thirty years. ”

In the darkness of the dark room, Ranmaroke, who had re-unearthed a spare helmet from the Lionmane's arsenal, was mercilessly reading out the information projected by the power armor onto the lenses in front of his eyes.

"Your contribution to Master Killman's expedition is undeniable in every sense of the word, and you are trusted for it. Earlier in the day, you should have been invited to a focused discussion on the Psionic Council. As far as I know, the discussion should have ended five hours and twenty minutes ago, and it's a shame that you have made such a bad decision in such a short period of time after the meeting has ended. ”

This relatively "latecomer" Firewing Grand Mentor had not experienced the Celestial Army era, and even if the Wing Army had not suffered too much damage in the Randan War, the position of "Great Mentor" would not have fallen on the head of him, a Caliban. But he still learned from those who survived the Flame Army how to gather information covertly and unobtrusively, and how to use all kinds of methods to interrogate a prisoner.

But another Space Marine "colleague" who was also in the dimly lit interrogation room on the Lionmane was clearly not very interested in the art of interrogation of the Dark Angels.

"If I had to do it, I'd just pry his mouth open." Hiding in the shadows, Yago Sevitaleone said with a little dissatisfaction, "I can see that many of the previous steps are meaningless to this hardcore. Let's just be a little more efficient and jump straight to the last step. ”

In such a dimly lit scene, to the naked eye of a mortal with no additional modifications, black was almost indistinguishable from midnight blue, and the Winged Helmet and the Batwing Helmet looked similar enough. Inquisitor Hastings, who had just barely woken up from a coma, was disgusted by the blackstone shackles on his body, and his vision was blurred due to bloodshot congestion in the corners of his eyes, and he did not distinguish that the two Astartes in front of him did not belong to the same organization. But this did not prevent him from cursing: "You cursed heretics, may the flame of the emperor scorch your sinful souls forever!" ”

Ranmaroke was a little angry at this, but he forced himself to act indifferent for the sake of interrogation. And when faced with the same sentence, Sevita's reaction was to laugh directly:

"Oh, that's scary." The midnight lord's company commander imitated a very contrived tone of "fear" and said mockingly, "After all, 10,000 years ago, I was the first person to shout 'Puppet Emperor should be punished'. What if his old man remembered this and sent a spiritual energy from the throne on a whim to kill me? ”

The scope of this provocation was a bit large, and even Ranmaroke, who should theoretically be on the same side as him at this moment, couldn't help but turn his head and say to him: "I think it is better to put you in the same blackstone shackles and handcuff this inquisitor." ”

Sevita shook her head in disappointment, "I'm starting to miss our Fujimaru 'Inquisitor'. If she's here, it's going to be a lot more fun to fight back than the humor you have all over the body combined. ”

He wanted to get the conversation back on track, but Inquisitor Hastings wouldn't agree: "You damned heretic, foolish traitor!" I knew this whole thing was a mess bastard's trick, that damn little bitch—"

- Bang.

What prevented Inquisitor Hastings from continuing was a force that slammed the back of his head against the back of the high-backed chair that now bound him. This external force came from Ranmaroke, who took a step forward, and at the same time he warned him: "You better watch out for your words." ”

This step forward also caused Inquisitor Hastings to notice the Legion emblem on his shoulder armor in pain. As Ranmarok finished the action and slowly retreated, the Inquisitor reopened his eyes desperately and muttered, "'Fallen Angel'." ”

His gaze then turned to Sevita, who was farther away from him. The dim light and the trauma to his head and face obviously had some effect on his vision, but he was able to make out the bat wing emblem on the opponent's breastplate with the human skull clustered around it.

"'Lord of Midnight'." He gnawed at the word between his teeth, as if he wanted to chew it up and swallow it.

Ranmarok didn't react to the word "fallen angel" - or rather, he was trying to keep himself from reacting, but Sevita applauded again when he heard the name of his legion:

"Congratulations, you're half right, my half to be exact." "And I have to say, my cousin of the dark angels is right: the emperor is far from here, but the emperor's spokesman, Miss, is close. I advise you to be cautious in what you say and do. ”

Ranmarok turned his head a little surprised: "Considering that you just confessed that you had just confessed to the 'killing of the Puppet Emperor' without any guilt, I thought you wouldn't have a good impression of her. ”

"You'd be wrong. From the perspective of the galaxy as a whole, I actually agree with the emperor's motives. He wants to sweep away the galaxy, unify all of humanity, and usher in eternal peace and peace for our entire race—what a great ambition that any sane human being would have to admit. ”

Sevita sarcastically remarked, "As a genetic heir of Conrad Coz, a Nostramo man, a member of the Eighth Legion, I have a few 'little words' about the means he used to actually work towards this desire. At best, it can only be regarded as a 'personal vendetta', which is not yet to be taken out of my anger on the innocent people involved. ”

I listen to you. Ranmarok thought to himself.

The Firewing Grand Mentor would like to continue to have an "in-depth discussion" with the other party about this matter, but unfortunately, the target of this interrogation is not Sevita. In the case of the latter, who is obviously absent-minded and only cares about gags, the former has to shoulder the burden of getting the topic back on track.

He turned back in the direction of the prisoner in the interrogation room who was confined to his chair: "Inquisitor Hastings, I admire your loyalty to the throne and unwavering in your duty, but this time, you crossed the line. ”

He read out to the Inquisitor, who was somewhat confused by the blackstone shackles, and read out the charges that in the eyes of the Dark Angel were enough to bring him to this:

"Ever since the First Battle of Pamenho, you have been investigating everything related to the 'miracles' of the 'Epiphany' in every detail. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but as the investigation progresses, your actions begin to offend the parts that you should not interfere with. You ordered a techno-priest under your jurisdiction to board the Lion's Mane in the name of overhaul and attacked the Contemplative Array with electronic scrap code to gain access to her stored data; The Midnight Lords have discovered that you and your men are trying to ambush the outskirts of the Cathedral of Tyros, apparently planning a 'sadly unprofessional' assassination of mortals. Do you have anything to argue about this? ”

Inquisitor Hastings did not respond to this in words of any sense. He just tilted his head slightly, and in front of the two Astartes present, he spat on the ground clearly.

Ranmaroch sighed slightly, and Sevita spread her hands at the former, gloatingly sneering, "Look, what am I talking about? ”

"Well, he's yours." The Firewing Grand Mentor shrugged his shoulders indifferently, took two steps back, and swapped places with the Midnight Lord's company commander: "Remember, we need to know what his henchmen, his men, and what he knows that he shouldn't know, and where he passed them on. Don't let him die until then. ”

"Are you questioning the Midnight Lord's craft?" Sevita picked and chose around the small table to the side, deliberately causing the metal objects on top to collide with each other and clank unnecessarily, "Even with that damn blackstone thing around his neck, I could tell him to tell him how old he was and still peeing his pants—"

He was interrupted by a faint communication tone coming from inside the Power Armor. Sevita, who was a little in the mood, didn't want to pay attention to it, but Joan of Arc Not only did Alter refuse to hang up, but he stubbornly pushed the communication back to him. They were in a stalemate for more than a second, and the impatient, Sevita, decided to surrender, glanced at the source of the communication, and immediately furrowed her brow.

He threw the skinning knife he had just picked back on the table with a loud thud, and then deliberately picked up the communication in an unnecessary gesture that was visible to everyone present, rather than a neural link, and opened it for public.

"I said, Miss, you know that if you contact me on a private tactical channel instead of a public channel, you can speak directly without waiting for me to pick up the communication, right?"

Ranmarlock took the opportunity to make a move, and the chair in which Judge Hastings was being held automatically had some mechanical devices protruding, physically enclosing the prisoner's senses and depriving him of the ability to make sounds.

"But I think in less urgent situations, people should have a little bit of privacy with each other, and a little bit of freedom in the choice of whether or not to talk to each other right away." Rika Fujimaru's voice echoed through the interrogation room after coming from Sevita's power armor, and the slight echo made it seem a little hollow, "Did you capture an Inquisitor?" ”

Sevita looked at Ranmarok helplessly, then let out a long sigh, "I don't really want to know where you heard this news in such a short period of time—aren't you supposed to be dealing with some issues related to my genetic father and some of my other crooked brothers in Galatam Star Fort now?" ”

"That version of the message is outdated." Theoretically, Rika Fujimaru didn't tell Sevita about her trip today, not to mention that the part of the sudden run into the void was also suddenly decided during the on-the-spot performance; In fact, she didn't show the slightest surprise that Sevita knew about it, as if it was a matter of course, "I'm on the Flare of Macurag right now, and I've just finished some technical exchanges with the director of the Digris Think Tank about card prophecy...... I'm done, I'm dead, I'm over the curfew. ”

There were some wails and fake cries from the communicator that were very appropriate for the age of the parties, but definitely not in line with the rights of the parties. But it only lasted a short time. After venting her emotions for two seconds, Rika Fujimaru quickly relented and repeated the question again: "Is Inquisitor Hastings okay now?" ”

"I didn't say—" Sevita instinctively tried to plead his case, mixing it up, but then he realized that his reaction to the previous question was tantamount to acquiescing in the fact that it had happened. He had to stop the car himself, sighed again, and tried to do some pointless dying throes: "Please define the criteria for 'okay'. ”

"You haven't started the torture yet, have you?" Ritsuka Fujimaru's tone was a little uneasy.

"Actually, it's over." "Had it not been for this communication," said Sevita in a relaxed tone, "I would have planned to pack up and go out and paint him evenly on the lintel of his current residence as a warning. ”

"That's not yet." Fujimaru Rika said inexplicably, her tone relaxed again, "If you really started to be punished, you wouldn't have described my state in such detail." ”

Sevita in the power armor gave a clear "tsk".

Ranmaroke on one side silently pointed to the position of their prisoner, then made a flat thumb between his throats. He was obviously asking if he wanted to kill him outright, but Sevita just shook her head and pointed to the approximate location of the communication device on the power armor, which meant "everything listened to Fujimaru Ritsuka".

"Where are you now? I'm going to look for you. The girl in the communicator asked, "Also, be nice to Inquisitor Hastings, I have something to talk to him about." ”

“…… Miss, you know he obviously has a big opinion of you, right? "We caught him because he was hiding in your path to the church with his men, and he was armed with a Spirit Star Dart pistol, a psionic field sword, a flamethrower, and even a hot melt bomb—you know what that means, right?" ”

"Of course I knew he had a problem with me, and now I also know that he wanted to kill me. So what's the matter, he hasn't really killed me yet. The tone from the communicator didn't care, as if he was just saying something like "I accidentally spilled the ink, but fortunately it didn't spill on the unwashable fabric", "Who hasn't wanted to kill a person these days, as long as he doesn't listen to people like those spirits, and has the ability to understand and communicate with each other, I don't think there's any need to care about this matter at all." ”

Sevita deliberately sighed loudly at the communication device, and Ranmaro, who had been holding his breath and poking to the side, finally couldn't help but speak:

"I'm against it. This man is an obvious destabilizing factor, and I recommend that he and the path associated with it be eradicated immediately. ”

Fujimaru Rika paused for a moment, and then asked in an inquiring manner: "Is the person who is a little farther away from Ranmaro?" ”

"It's hard for you to hear." In order to better transmit the sound from the medium and the airwaves, Sevita reluctantly took two steps in the direction of his dark angel cousin.

"I understand your concerns. From the point of view of military and secrecy principles, there is certainly no problem in this way. But we are now very close to a center of power in the vast and bloated machine of the Empire, and many things cannot be considered in these aspects alone, we must also think about political issues. Rika Fujimaru advised softly, "Especially, this is the Five Hundred Worlds of Otlama, under the rule of the original Robert Kiliman, and even in front of him. A lot of things are not as simple as they seem. ”

Sevita let out a little dissatisfied, clearly uninterested in the underlying cause. But Ranmarok was different, and he made it clear with a little unhappiness that his decision was refuted: "I don't understand. ”

"There are some things you may not know. I've met with this Heatings Inquisitor at today's meeting of the Psionic Council. Rika Fujimaru explained calmly and patiently, "You may know about this, but you probably don't care about the specifics of this matter: I was accompanied by Mr. Digris when I entered the venue.

At this meeting, he was not only the director of the Ultramarine's think tank, but also the then chairman of the Psionic Council. This is a very important identity in every sense of the word, and theoretically, the fact that he entered the meeting with me should be a very powerful commentary or endorsement of my identity or importance—but it is clear that Inquisitor Hastings, who has seen all this, still goes straight to me, and Mr. Digris, who is supposed to be in charge of the whole meeting, does not attack him on this off-topic, but implies through my psionic powers that I am free to do so. This seemingly inconsistent incident took place at an Otrama negotiating table, and it clearly meant something. ”

Sevita, who had lived in the intrigues of the Midnight Lord for a long time, had a rough understanding of the problem behind it, even if it was the first time she had seen such a "civilized" method. But Caliban-born Ranmarok really couldn't keep up with this overly roundabout train of thought for a while: "What? ”

"Mr. Digris's attitude in this matter can probably be regarded as that of the regent himself." Rika Fujimaru went on to explain, "He came in with me to show that he valued me; He acquiesced in the questioning of me and suggested that I deal with it myself, indicating that he still had doubts about me. This doubt may be in competence, or it may be related to something that he himself is not sure about and therefore has to remain suspicious. Considering that Inquisitor Hastings was able to act so quickly under the supervision of the regent himself, I would now prefer both—the regent should have acquiesced in the existence of the opposition and allowed them to move freely within certain limits. ”

"Is 'Operation Freedom' enough to try to murder the 'future of the Empire'?" Sevita sneered and sarcastic, "To be honest, I don't really care if you really represent the 'future of the Empire', I care about cutting out all possible opposition. ”

"I advise you to put your gang mentality away, it's really unnecessary." Rika Fujimaru's tone sounded a little helpless.

"Then I don't know what you think about this, Miss?"

"Didn't he think I was a heretic and wanted to investigate me?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was reasonable: "Then I'll open the door myself and let him investigate it enough - give him the boarding authority of the Storm Boundary, and I'll ask him to be Kelya's psionic mentor." ”

This sentence reveals a strong self-confidence that "the body is not afraid of shadows".

Miwoo (trying to get by)

(End of chapter)