As Cadmus had predicted, Sahar's haphazard and forceful assault managed to contain him for less than four seconds. The firstborn Astarte Black Shield was quickly slammed to the ground, and the Dark Angel finally freed up his hand and drew the unimolecular dagger from his waist, ready to finish off the entangled traitor once and for all. But at this moment, the bird was alerting him that the "Verchak" on the other side of him had moved slightly to a more favorable position for shooting.

He immediately and vigilantly gave up his current move, distancing himself from Sahar in an attempt to escape from the unknown crosshairs - if you give Verchak enough time to react, you really don't know what terrible thing she could lift from under the hem of her gothic dress.

In this instant, he realized that the bird in his helmet could not recognize Sahar's signal at a short distance. This partly answers the question of "how did he get up to it quietly", and demanded that Cadmus would have to keep an eye on him for the rest of the battle; It was also at this moment that he realized that he was being pointed at gunpoint by Vilchak.

It was a revolver, very small-calibre, obviously not a weapon in the regular army of the Empire, and he didn't remember such a thing in Vilchak's usual equipment - no, it was this age, and the point 22 caliber was not exactly a toy for aristocratic children with spare money! Not even teaching equipment! Who would use a pistol with this caliber that is almost impossible to break the defense in real combat!

Although as the original cast Astarte, Cadmus said in a moment, "Even if the other party uses this gun to shoot at his unhelmeted head, even six shots will be enough to kill him", but the moment he noticed that "Vilchak" was about to pull the trigger, he still instinctively followed the impulse that had been engraved into his muscle memory, raised his left shoulder and made a tactical defensive move.

The MK10's appropriately sized shoulder armor didn't block his view, and he still accurately witnessed the moment when the opponent fired: the first shot accurately hit the lower edge of his shoulder armor, and the power armor gave him no more feedback than if he was hit by a headless and brainless beetle; At the same time, Sahar rose from the ground again, and after a few seconds, his movements seemed to be much more coordinated, and Cadmus realized that not stabbing the dagger in his throat just now was a serious tactical mistake, but not enough to defeat him in this confrontation; The second shot that followed by "Verchak" apparently adjusted the aiming position and successfully hit the joint of Cadmus's left elbow - the accuracy was appreciated (if the opponent did aim at it that way), but alas, the caliber of the pistol was too small, and the attack was completely ineffective, and it was possible that the paint was not even scraped off.

Without a third shot, "Vilchak" dropped the muzzle of her gun after firing two rounds and began to move towards the wall, trying to use the container or reliquary box next to her as cover. In Cadmus's opinion, the idea that someone would attack the original Space Marines with a toy pistol is very puzzling. If he had had had more time, he might have questioned the other person's level of cognition, and perhaps noticed something else amiss, but Sahar had already rushed at him again.

Also as Astarte, Cadmus had an idea of how quickly drugs like sedatives failed on them, but what was happening to Sahar now was clearly a little more than he had in mind. In no more than ten seconds from the time he first pounced, it was clear that his body had recovered to the point where he could perform basic combat: as he lunged towards Cadmus, he drew the blaster from his waist.

Well, maybe he doesn't have his brain. A mockery flashed through Deathwatch's mind.

The distance between the two Astartes was too close for a shot, even if Sahar barely straightened the muzzle and pulled the trigger in an irregular move that was not in any tactical practice after drawing his explosive pistol, trying to form a burst of fire regardless of the hit rate. The moment he pulled the trigger, Cadmus had already taken advantage of the situation and hit him like a small armored car. Perhaps only the first blast successfully left a small depression in the armor of the original warrior, and the rest were missed.

However, at this moment, Cadmus decided to retract the ridicule he had just made in his mind. Regardless of whether or not Sahar was giving him a real tactical advantage by doing so, he didn't pull out his gun and make such a dazed attack without being prepared: Cadmus's impact did deflect Sahar's muzzle, but it didn't succeed in knocking out the prepared opponent. This shot was a flaw in the latter's deliberate sale, and he deflected his body in the blink of an eye as the opponent collided with him, stabilizing his center of gravity between the staggered steps, unloading most of the force that Cadmus was trying to output to him, and bullying the opponent closely, grabbing the right hand of the original forged warrior holding the monomolecular dagger.

In the next moment, he smoothly shook off the empty gun in his hand and tried to pull his battle dagger from his waist. Of course, Cadmus would try to use his free left hand to limit the opponent's movements, but at this moment, he realized that the joints of his left power armor were not very bright.

The servo slowed down for half a beat before reporting abnormal hypothermia in parts of the armor, with the warning red area between his left upper arm and elbow. The Primordial Warrior's strong physique, adapted to all kinds of combat environments, made Cadmus insensitive to temperature changes, and it wasn't until he was prompted and needed to move that he realized that the area was indeed a little cold.

This low temperature did not affect the body of the original Astarte, but it did have some effect on the internal drivetrain of the power armor. It stands to reason that this could not have happened, and the machinery made by the Empire would not be so fragile - but this is what happened. Cadmus's left hand armor was not his help but his drag in this moment, and this subtle difference allowed Sahar to successfully draw his unimolecular dagger, but unfortunately the difference was very subtle after all, Cadmus still managed to grab the opponent's wrist before the opponent stabbed the knife in his waist.

The next scenario would have devolved into a wrestling affair and then the stronger Cadmus would have won with a little time. But at the moment when the two sides began to stalemate, the original warrior realized again that he also had the slight touch of being hit by a beetle on his left knee, and then, as he consciously paid special attention to this, he found that the position began to chill and stiffen.

"Verczak", hiding behind the display case, was pointing the muzzle of a toy pistol at Cadmus's knee. Obviously, the joking weapon does have a real combat significance beyond destruction - not a lot in other situations, but in hand-to-hand combat that requires high-speed reactions, the slightest difference can be fatal.

Power A's alarm was still unusually slow for half a beat to sound, and Cadmus realized in the flash of fire that the longer the scene dragged on, the more dangerous it would be for him. If it were to be faced alone, neither of the two enemies at the moment would be able to pose a real threat to Cadmus, but when combined-

- It's not the time to feel sorry for yourself, you have to solve one as soon as possible.

He staggered again and tried to switch positions so that Sahar could block "Vilchak's" trajectory for himself. But in the current situation, moving your feet, or changing your center of gravity while exerting force, is a rather dangerous thing. Realizing the flaw, Sahar immediately took the opportunity to change the direction of his power, trying to uncontrol the degree of Cadmus deflecting his center of gravity so that he could throw him to the ground - but he was too aggressive to forget the difference in physical strength and reflexes between himself and his newborn cousin. In the next second, the man who was forced to shift his center of gravity to a dangerous point was Sahar: he was finally put at a disadvantage by a bad decision made on the spot, and had to rely on the help of the magnetic boots to stand still on his own core alone.

Moreover, he clearly could not maintain this state for long.

At such close range, Cadmus took advantage of his weight and strength, forcing Sahar to retreat backwards in order to avoid the blades that were progressing towards his neck, or to maintain his standing stance. Slightly farther away, "Vilchak" immediately got up from where he was and prepared to go to the opposite side of the vault to bypass Sahar's aiming, but Cadmus seized the moment of Sahar's unsteady center of gravity due to the retreat earlier before she could successfully get into place, raised his right leg and kicked him in the direction of the false inquisitor-

— the same area he had refused to set foot in during his brief confrontation with "Vilchak" in any case.

Outsiders may not be able to tell, but the real Inquisitor Verchak had told Cadmus that every vault on her ship contained hidden traps made with Lost Technology, and that anyone but her would be dismantled in the moment they passed through the corresponding lots—even if the person had a protective force field on them. Cadmus had never seen such a trap when it was actually activated, but Verchak had told him about its setting to warn him not to cross the Minepool and explore secrets that he should not be discovering.

Even the eyesight of the original cast Astarte and the bird's meter built into the MK10 power armor would not have been able to tell its existence without prior knowledge, but now, Cadmus was very sure that there was indeed such a trap in the space in the middle of the vault: a shrill beep sounded inside the vault, Sahar let out a cry of astonishment as soon as he stepped into that area, and "Vilchak" in the distance also shouted something in a hurry. Cadmus had intended to take this opportunity to take a closer look at how this so-called trap worked, and by the way, pick up the empty gun that Sahar had just thrown aside, and put it all to a perfect end after reloading, but—

In the next instant, Sahar vanished from place without warning, and was replaced by "Vilchak", a Vilczak that "scattered" and collapsed like a toppling building block. In that moment that caught everyone off guard, Cadmus could clearly see that the top of her head and skirt were silently torn apart by some invisible blade, but she was not bleeding, and the treacherous destruction caused by the trap was not the cause of this strange phenomenon. Without having to consider the effects of inertia and potential energy like Sahar, she strode forward and quickly left the position where the trap was in effect, and the camouflage of "Verchak" slipped off her body like a mosaic of colored bricks peeling off the wall, revealing the true insides of the subject:

With her free hands, Rika Fujimaru drove the thrusters at the feet of the Ortenus exoskeleton, and as she rushed towards Cadmus, she pulled out the iconic Aquila Scepter from her side, and slashed at the original Astarte with the Aquila wings at the top of the scepter as if she were using a long-handled axe. Cadmus was momentarily confused by the true identity of the intruder, and only instinctively raised his hand mechanically, easily grabbing the handle of the scepter that was thrown at him—

- The security protocol for the scepter itself was activated at this moment, and Cadmus's last memory of the incident was the white arc of psionic lightning, and the sharp pain that caused him all over his body in an instant.

——

The alarm in the vault went off for only three seconds, and was reluctantly stopped by higher-level code commands.

“…… He didn't die, it should be that most of his nerves didn't listen to him for the time being. Fujimaru Rika looked down at Cadmus who had fallen to the ground and said, but it seemed to be more of a comfort to herself, "I was also holding a scepter at the time of the incident, so the security protocol was de-escalated. ”

"And the original cast looks really hard to kill. I don't think you have to apologize, he just needs to recuperate for a few days and he will be fine. On the other end of the com, Sevita was still talking calmly.

But the other Midnight Lord, who was also on this communication link, apparently did not have the leisure to review it afterwards, and Sahar jumped up from the same place almost immediately after recovering - behind the container where Fujimaru Rika was hiding: "What the hell is wrong with my witch! I don't know about it yet! It's okay to take an electric shock and a sedative injection for nothing, can you guys not play dumb riddles!! ”

"I'm inclined to think it's your own problem." Sevita's voice in the communicator was unpleasantly smooth, "Your mood swings are too great. You know, even if you could have made sure you were standing still and not saying a word, our esteemed lady would have been able to get the deal over in front of this damn dark angel. It's all your fault that this operation could have been completely free of violence. ”

"Good news, he probably didn't send his current information anywhere else, so no one should know that we're making some trouble here." After using the scepter's identification code to overstep the authority to check the communication records in the Cadmus Power Armor, Rika Fujimaru concluded, "Bad news, after all the fuss just now, Inquisitor Verchak himself must have realized that something was wrong. ”

"Do you want to retreat?" The voice of inquiry over the communicator was somewhat gloating, and this immediately aroused a backlash from one of the field executives, "Shut up, impossible!" I won't leave this ship unless I see Mita! ”

"It's not up to you, Sahar senior." Sevita took advantage of the situation to start from the perspective of seniority, "Given that you have much more seniority in the Legion than I do, it should not be difficult for you to understand how the Empire's system works. As a traitor Astarte, you yourself are a bad one, and it is not a pity to send it to this ship, but even the face of the lady is very precious-"

"—not so precious." Rika Fujimaru interrupted Sevita's chanting with her own words, "Considering that my tasks and duties are irreplaceable to a certain extent, I occasionally want to be ridiculous in small things, and the rest of the empire will be forced to tolerate it. The price I'll really pay in this matter is at most the Sim Room Sword Marathon that Sigismund has a special version, and it's not yet to the point where I'm sacrificing a human life for the sake of face. ”

"Mita is still saved!" Sahar somehow understood the passage by leaps and bounds, or perhaps he had a strong need to grasp such a life-saving straw.

He was locked in the depths of the room by a trap in the middle of the vault, and with one hand he held the useless scepter that Fujimaru Rikka had opened from inside, and paced anxiously in place: "Mita is still alive, right?" We're going to save her right now? ”

"First of all, Sahar. Your overly emotional emotions will create obstacles for us to dive in the future, so you have to calm yourself down and accept the reality because we have to make plans based on the reality. Fujimaru Rika thought that she could use the authority of the Aquila Scepter to remove this trap and release Sahar from it, but in the balance, she chose to make her words clear first under the premise that the subject was partially restricted.

Sahar nodded anxiously not far away, "I understand, I can-"

"—you can't. Now take a deep breath and stabilize your emotions. Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was almost commanding, "Otherwise, I'll leave you here and go find the cell where the former inquisitor's acolyte is being held." I will not go deep into the enemy camp with a burden that clearly has a negative impact on the execution of the plan. ”

Sahar, who was really panicked, didn't even realize that the important scepter that Fujimaru Rika had worked so hard to take out was still in his hand, so her words were completely bluffing. As a result, he literally had to take a minute or two to take a deep breath and barely hold down his restless thoughts.

It's useless to be in a hurry. He told himself over and over again that excessive urgency and recklessness would only lead him to mess things up. After he thought he had been able to calmly accept any terrible facts, he asked Rika Fujimaru that question again: "So, what really happened to Mita?" ”

"Are you sure you can take any bad news right now?"

"What good news, bad news – it's happening!" Sahar shouted, "I must know what is happening to her!" ”

Fujimaru Rika sighed: "Okay, but you must be calm. ”

"You said before that she was still 'alive', and I have done the worst psychological construction based on this." Sahar said this, but Fujimaru Rika still gave him a suspicious look before speaking:

"Information I have obtained from empathy: Mita Ashern has been made a demon host by the Inquisitor of Lord Verchak."

(End of chapter)