11 First Battle (I)

Years later, someone might ask, who was the first to die?

The Harkosus have no answer, and neither will the Nostramo. Most speculations will ridiculously list some important names, such as the three leaders of the Burning Fire Chamber of Commerce.

They would say that these people must have died at the hands of the Eighth Legion, the Midnight Blade. Such speculation is baseless and utterly absurd. The leaders of the merchant guild are dead, but they are certainly not the first to die, and not all of them were killed by the Midnight Blade.

In fact, the first victim was a soldier on the Harkosus I. His name was Torak, and he used to be a strong man. Sadly, before he died, his muscles had been covered by loose fat.

He sported a neatly trimmed mustache, and his gray uniform was impeccably groomed by his wife. He was on duty at monitoring station A-1, responsible for security at the entrance to the third passage.

This is a dispensable position, and yes, as you might guess, all dispensable positions are actually comfortable jobs.

Torak had a good salary, plenty of free time, and a happy family. Fifteen minutes before his death, he was even planning what his wife would cook for him when he got home from work that night.

Fifteen minutes later, he will lose this opportunity forever.

While he was contemplating, an ancient mechanism within the monitoring station was deliberately activated, unnoticed by Torak. Not because he was stupid, but because he had never known the true nature of the A-1 monitoring station he was in from the beginning.

The mechanism took nine minutes to fully warm up. Nine minutes later, the white lights above Torak's head turned a menacing red, flashing rapidly and intensely enough to induce an instinctive sense of panic.

Torak, of course, didn't understand what was happening, so he began to report the matter to his superiors and seek help. But his superiors only said one sentence, a sentence that Torak couldn't understand at all.

That phrase does not belong to High Gothic, nor is it one of the eighteen local languages of Harkosus; it is a completely foreign language belonging to another race.

His superior said, "Our service is over."

Six minutes later, destruction struck. The A-1 monitoring station exploded in the cold vacuum, and the entrance to the third passage was immediately engulfed in flames, leaving no trace of soldier Torak.

The A-1 monitoring station turned into a bright, flickering flame in space and was immediately detected by a massive ship nearby named Nightfall, belonging to the Imperium of Man.

It will attempt to conquer Harkosus I, just as its siblings HMS Firm Resolve and Macragge's Honour did to Harkosus II and III, but with a difference: it will come alone.

--

Konrad Curze Curze stared silently through the observation window at the massive ball of fire. Karyl stood beside him, slowly stretching his shoulders. The same was true on the bridge; everyone remained absolutely silent.

The crew members who had worked with the Eighth Legion for a long time would not speak at this time; it was a precious tacit understanding.

However, it is worth mentioning that while everyone else was fully armed, Karyl Lohars was still not wearing armor.

Two minutes later, a detailed survey report was delivered to Konrad Curze Curze's Dataslate. It was the latest model, kindly provided by Roboute Guilliman.

He lowered his head, then looked up after several seconds and gestured to the instructors of the Eighth Legion: "It exploded on its own."

Karyl nodded calmly.

It certainly exploded on its own, but not through any self-destruct device. In the instant the flames erupted in the vacuum, Karyl sensed a fluctuation of psionic energy. It was very faint, almost missed by him due to the distance. But it was definitely there.

What was the purpose of a satellite-like organization that was destroyed by psionic energy?

Karyl had no answer, and he was no longer prepared to try to arrive at one through careful thought.

The root of all problems is right before our eyes.

There were no longer any obstacles between Harkosus I and Nightfall, and based on evidence provided by senior traders, the Eighth Legion believed they could even take the planet within six hours.

Konrad Curze Curze's voice rang out again a few seconds later, like a sigh. Karyl turned his head and saw the pale profile of the Eighth Legion Commander, and an extreme focus.

"It's full of mysteries," Curze said. "I'm starting to doubt this so-called Federation of Harkosus, Karyl. It doesn't even have exactly three scattered planets."

"There are indeed many coincidences," Karyl said. "Even enough to make one suspect that this is a trap."

"Do you think it is?" Curze turned his head to meet his gaze, his eyes showing no sign of backing down.

Karyl nodded calmly.

In the darkness, something always waits, its hunger never satisfied, no matter how much it devours. There are no boundaries, no restraint, only pure malice.

He had been reminded before he set off, but if you intend to solve a problem, you must first confront it. And once you have seen the problem itself, it has succeeded.

Is it an open conspiracy?

He gave a cold laugh, which startled Konrad Curze Curze —he hadn't seen that kind of smile on Karyl Lohars' face in a long time.

This was not a smile belonging to the "Eighth Legion Instructor." He had seen this smile on many dark nights, but it disappeared at some point, as if Karyl had deliberately abandoned it.

And now, Konrad Curze Curze knows that it never disappeared.

"Perhaps it is a trap, or perhaps it isn't. Intrigue and scheming are disgusting, aren't they, Konrad Curze? You need to be wary of traps, of the consequences of stepping into them, and of the potential chain reaction they might trigger."

He smiled and lowered his head, letting out a sigh in the darkness. A flash of cold psychic energy appeared and disappeared, and something instantly clung to his Shadow.

The deathly white and pitch black enveloped the clothing in the next second, a hideous skull replaced the face, gleaming coldly beneath the hood. The Shadow -like black cloak securely concealed most of the details, with only a faint blue light seeping through the gaps.

"So, we might as well destroy the trap along with it," Karyl said in his now terrifying voice.

Twenty minutes later, a rain of fire fell from the sky and landed on Harkosus I.

The following section will be a long chapter.