Roundtable Viewing (V, Temporarily Concluded)

For a moment, no one spoke in the stone chamber; only a deathly silence slowly spread. 👣🔥 🐍♡ The result was indeed shocking, but the constantly flashing and jumping images completely glossed over the process, as if it were deliberately staged.

Ferrus Manus frowned deeply.

"What exactly did Father ask for?" he asked in a deep voice. "You've mentioned deals and demands repeatedly, and you even call yourself a businessman. So, omitting these important developments is actually his demand, isn't it?"

"You're right," the videotape said. "Of course, I personally contributed a little bit. Also, have you ever heard of the term 'shock education'?"

Before Ferrus could even reply, the dark screen suddenly lit up with a brilliant and dazzling Blue Radiance.

What followed was an intense, incomprehensible sense of detachment, painless yet strangely as if one had truly died once. When this feeling and the light completely disappeared, the world before Ferrus's eyes had undergone a complete transformation.

He smelled an extremely strong stench; his olfactory cells immediately picked up on the various pheromones in the air, which his brain then analyzed one by one: highly polluting chemicals, hallucinogens, blood, the stench of a corpse, and household garbage.

Ferrus Manus looked up and saw a wondrous sky illuminated by neon lights, and a sour, foul rain that seemed to be falling endlessly.

The world before his eyes seemed to slow down; the raindrops shimmered brilliantly in his eyes, yet were so murky as to be incomprehensible. He had wanted to hide, but the rain passed straight through his body, crashing heavily to the ground and shattering into pieces.

"What's going on?" someone asked in a low voice.

Ferrus turned around and saw Roboute Guilliman.

"What do you think?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"I think it's a special kind of immersive experience," Roboute Guilliman replied, frowning, a genuine look of bewilderment on his overly young face.

He bypassed Ferrus Manus and wandered around the filthy alleyways.

The chill of the cold night truly descended upon his skin, followed by a foul odor he had never smelled before, almost making the Macragge man nauseous.

His overly acute senses played a role he didn't want them to at this moment; however, after a brief lapse in composure, Roboute Guilliman quickly arrived at a second conclusion.

"Look, the smell and temperature are real, but there's no touch."

As he spoke, he stomped his foot, but the puddle he was stepping on didn't ripple at all.

To lend credibility to his claim, he reached his hand towards the wall, and again, the rough, corroded stone did not impede him. Roboute Guilliman's hand passed smoothly through the wall, creating an extremely eerie experience.

Ferrus Manus approached him and put his hand on his shoulder.

But I can touch you.

"Yes." Roboute Guilliman turned around, his expression growing increasingly serious. "What exactly did that thing do? And what about the others?"

Ferrus looked up at the sky again, just as a dark shadow swept past and swiftly swooped down. The black robe billowed, revealing a pale face full of malice in the darkness.

"Hello," Konrad Curze Curze greeted with a chuckle and a bow. "Welcome to Nostramo. How do you like the place?"

"I don't really like it," Ferrus said. "Are you alone?"

"Of course." The Nostramo man took a deep breath of the foul air, his smile widening. "And I arrived before you all; I've already explored the Hive City."

"So? What did you find?" Roboute Guilliman asked.

Before Curze could answer, the world fell silent, leaving only a faint, cruel scream that echoed continuously from above. The three Primarch, as if by unspoken agreement, raised their heads and looked upwards.

Then, a voice resounded in their hearts.

"[Well done.]" the videotape said lazily. "[Please wait a moment while I change the scene.]"

A dazzling blue light suddenly erupted before their eyes once more, and then, that intense tearing sensation surged up a second time.

Ferrus gritted his teeth and resisted it with all his might. Of course, his resistance was futile; the Radiance lasted for only a few seconds before naturally dissipating.

At this moment, the scenery before them changed again.

They found themselves in a luxurious hall. Even though he had lived in Terra for quite some time, Ferrus was momentarily captivated by the gloomy and chaotic splendor. Then, he immediately smelled an intensely pungent and terrifying stench of blood.

"By the Emperor," Roboute Guilliman muttered to himself. "Where is this place, hell?"

Konrad Curze Curze retorted to Roboute Guilliman in a roaring voice.

"No!" he laughed cruelly. "This is Nostramo!"

Ferrus Manus did not speak, but began to observe his surroundings. He saw many corpses scattered throughout the hall, each one a brutal death, yet from those large, fragmented limbs, Ferrus perceived a strange compassion.

"How efficient and Mercy!" Curze exclaimed in amazement.

"What are you talking about?" Roboute Guilliman frowned in exasperation. "What's the difference between someone who would do something like this and a madman? Are any of these corpses intact?"

Curze chuckled, crouched down, and extended a sharp index finger, using it to precisely point out three parts of a person in the pile of corpses.

"Take a good look, rich boy. Do you know how many stabs that madman you're talking about used to kill him? The answer is one. His left hand, head, and upper body were all severed by the same stab. And look at this one, also one stab, through the heart. And then that one, decapitated."

Curze's laughter began to grow increasingly terrifying.

"Do you understand?" He slightly raised his head, staring at his brother with interest. "The killer had no intention of torturing them at all. Their bodies were torn to pieces simply because they didn't obediently wait to die; they tried to resist."

"How soft-hearted! If it were me, I would have skinned all these damned Silver-Winged Corpse and hung them up. I would have made them die alive in agony."

He stood up with a sneer, and slowly stretched under Roboute Guilliman's inexplicably complex gaze.

Another scream came from their right, down a deep, dark corridor. Curze squinted, turned around without a word, and walked straight in that direction.

The pool of blood beneath his feet remained completely still, and his robes were not tethered to the corpses even once, as if he were a Ghost.

Ferrus Manus turned his head slightly and glanced at Roboute Guilliman, who was still in a bad mood.

He began to speak in a flat, emotionless manner.

"You'd better learn to get used to it. I understand you come from a civilized and progressive world, quite different from most of us. But if you don't want that flippant idiot to find another opportunity to mock you, you'd better temporarily shed your civilized facade."

After he finished speaking, he immediately followed Konrad Curze Curze. Roboute Guilliman took another deep breath and followed his retreating figure.

They entered the deep, dark corridor. Konrad Curze Curze hummed a song softly ahead, seemingly enjoying himself, with occasional light skipping.

The walk lasted about five minutes, with screams continuing unabated. Finally, when they successfully emerged from the corridor, they found themselves in another, even more luxurious and bloodier, darker hall.

A man is committing murder here—no, perhaps that's not the right way to describe it, because there are no other living people left in the hall, only a woman wearing a velvet cloak.

Apart from this garment, she was only wearing a flesh-colored onesie. The Macragge man stared at her for a few seconds, then his expression turned grim again.

"Do you know what you've done?!" the woman roared at the blood-soaked man, clutching a sharp knife as she lunged at him.

"Of course I know," the man said. "Let your family become history, let you become history, or what?"

As soon as he finished speaking, his dodge and counterattack followed seamlessly. He dodged the woman's blade, broke her ribs, and sent her sprawling to the ground. Then, he approached the woman, his eyes glowing with a faint blue light.

They all knew what was going to happen next; they had already seen this part of the story. But for Roboute Guilliman, when he actually experienced it firsthand, the story he had already seen seemed to become somewhat different.

He frowned and searched for Konrad Curze Curze. He found him not far from the man, crouching among the Curze, staring intently at the man's face.

What was he planning to do? A question arose in the hearts of the Macragge people.

"Tell me the truth," Karyl Lohars said coldly, pulling the woman up.

His movements were extremely rough, and the chill brought by the psychic energy was spreading rapidly. The woman opened her mouth stiffly and began to answer his question. Konrad Curze Curze, however, shook his head and spoke in a low, eerie tone.

"You're really stupid," he said, seemingly sighing. "What do you think the Night Haunter is? A laboratory hybrid created by the nobles of Nostramo?"

Karyl Lohars ignored him, only closing his eyes in anguish and shaking his head after receiving that cruel answer, before moving on to ask another question.

Curze sneered.

"Extended lifespan? Genetic defects? No, no, the one who is truly defective and short-lived is you, Karyl Lohars."

"Your body is being oppressed by your psychic power, and your soul is being devoured by Nostramo. You are already in dire straits; why not use this power to ascend to a high position and become one of the nobles?"

"That way, at least you can live for a few more decades. Why did you do these things? Why did you teach him that way?"

He suddenly stood up, walked up to the man who was taking deep breaths, and stared down at him.

"Foolish," he said coldly. "Nostramo will show no mercy to anyone, and it will begin to torment him the moment you die. Once he goes mad, your death will be worthless, and everything you have will sink with his madness."

He laughed cruelly, completely ignoring the slightly eerie looks his brothers were giving him. Leaving Ferrus aside, Roboute Guilliman, after much hesitation, finally spoke, "Konrad Curze."

"Silence," the Nostramo man said without turning his head.

Roboute Guilliman took a third deep breath, maintaining his composure, and very politely declined Konrad Curze Curze's "offer" to silence him.

"No, get out of here, you rude bastard."

Curze slowly turned his head, his body still motionless, and glanced at Roboute Guilliman out of the corner of his eye, his hands slowly retracting into his sleeves.

The Macragge ignored the obvious threat and strode towards the vicinity of the interrogation scene. He pointed to the blue light in Karyl Lohars' eyes and began his fourth deep breath.

While calming himself and refining his words, he also tried to adapt to the smell of the slaughterhouse. Konrad Curze Curze watched him calmly, waiting for him to say what he was about to say, like a judge about to deliver a verdict.

However, all of Roboute Guilliman's efforts came to naught two seconds later.

A burst of intense blue light suddenly rose from where Karyl Lohars' hands touched the woman, drowning out his roar.

The room suddenly plunged into darkness, followed by unsettling murmurs, then an intense chill capable of freezing Primarch. Amidst this terrifying experience, they heard a thunderous battle roar.

Then the darkness faded, the blue light went out, and it transformed into a scarlet flame, which began to burn fiercely.

Karyl Lohars trembled and knelt on the ground.

Konrad Curze Curze turned his head sharply.

He took a few steps closer, almost to the point of kissing the man on the cheek, and stared at him intently and frantically, blood seeping from his cuffs.

"Why are you kneeling?" he asked softly, his face contorted. "What did you do, you fool? What did you do to yourself? Psionic backlash? Is this the real reason you died and were brought back to life?"

I don't think so.

Ferrus Manus, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke slowly, pointing to the burning crimson flames. Roboute Guilliman stared at them and saw a huge brass shadow within them.

This shouldn't have shaken his mind, however, the little truth hidden beneath the brass armor was subtly torn open by another blue Radiance.

Then thousands of monsters, wielding axes and clad in tattered armor, roared as they charged forward, their faces covered in blood, yet still not satisfied.

Roboute Guilliman took a step back, his face pale.

"What is that?" he asked.

No one answered, and what answered wasn't human.

"Where are you?" the thing asked.

Come out—face me, and take the honor you deserve. I feel your anger; I know you want to set the world ablaze. Then come! Power, blessing, blades, armor—all these things, I can give you.

Let them repent amidst their screams! Let the world burn, and bring victory through slaughter!

"Who is it?!" someone roared from the darkness. "Who's speaking?! Show yourself!"

No one answered, so the man turned to Karyl Lohars, who was kneeling on the ground, and lunged at him.

He had clearly forgotten that he couldn't touch anything, and his attempt to help was futile. His fingers passed right through his body and eventually fell to the air.

So he straightened up and stubbornly repeated the same futile effort. The madness on his face was visible to the naked eye, and the indescribable extreme and complexity even made Roboute Guilliman feel a little chill.

He couldn't help but wonder—why was Konrad Curze Curze so agitated?

"Don't listen to that thing, don't agree to any promises, just keep going," the Nostramo man said in a low voice, still repeating the work that was utterly fruitless.

He certainly didn't know what the thing that appeared in the flames was, but as long as he retained his rationality, he would instinctively perceive its terrifying true nature.

He tried again and again to get Karyl Lohars to his feet, but it was no use. Really?

Whether it was a misperception or not, Karyl raised his hand and gripped his own throat. He didn't speak, but his voice began to echo in the darkness.

I can still hold on, I must hold on.

"Yes!" Konrad Curze Curze roared.

At this moment, his voice actually overlapped with the promise made by that thing.

The world suddenly shifted; the bloody slaughterhouse shrouded in darkness vanished without a trace. A gloomy, raining sky replaced the luxurious ceiling and the golden chandelier with burning candles, and a vast, empty ruin slowly emerged.

The only thing that remained unchanged was the presence of many corpses all around. They stood silently in the rain, their appearance horrifying, occupying every corner of the ruins.

Karyl Lohars walked slowly past them.

Konrad Curze Curze, panting, immediately caught up with him, his two brothers exchanging a glance before following closely behind.

They first saw a child who had lost her skin; she stared blankly up at the assassin named Karyl, and then asked, "Vengeance us?"

"I will," Karyl said.

Then there was a worker trapped under the rubble, his face covered in dust, thin as a monster, coughing up blood.

"Vengeance us."

"I will." Karyl crouched down, looked directly at him, nodded slowly, and then left.

A woman hanging from a telephone pole said, "You don't need to do this; you don't belong in Nostramo."

"But I saw everything, and I couldn't bear it."

"You don't belong here," the woman repeated, her swollen eyes looking as if they were about to pop out of their sockets. "You're a Ghost; you don't need to suffer for strangers."

"Perhaps," Karyl said.

"You don't need to do this," the woman repeated, and Karyl stopped. Under the Primarch's gaze, he looked up and gave the hanged woman a firm refusal.

No, there are.

"But what about the child?" Seeing that her persuasion was ineffective, the woman suddenly changed her tone. "What will happen to him?"

He will find his own way.

Countless dead, countless Ghost, all stared at him at that moment. Even knowing they probably couldn't detect his presence, Roboute Guilliman broke out in a cold sweat.

He looked at Ferrus Manus, whose serious expression suggested he was probably not feeling too well either, but what about Konrad Curze Curze?

His panting was turning into a strange, hoarse groan, and his face was gradually becoming more grotesque than the dead.

"You gave him the light, and now you're going to take it away with your own hands. Even if you set fire to it, can that fire truly cleanse the darkness of Nostramo?" a head in the middle of the road asked.

When confronted with its question, Karyl Lohars stopped and whispered in response, "What I gave him was a false light; it was not noble."

Konrad Curze Curze slowly clenched his fists; his sleeves were already soaked with a viscous liquid that wasn't rain.

"False light?"

"Yes. If he were of no help to my plans, I wouldn't have brought him back from that mine. If he had no power, I wouldn't have taught him how to kill, how to fairly judge evil. I was just using him."

"You're lying!" the head retorted coldly.

"Back in the mines, he was nothing more than a beast afraid of light. How could he possibly help your plans? And even if that were the case, in a world like Nostramo, where there is absolutely no light, is false light really inferior to real light?"

"You're far from it! Shut up, you idiot!"

Konrad Curze Curze could no longer contain himself and began to scream. He rushed to the middle of the road and started yelling at the man who couldn't even see him.

"Your laughable light will be extinguished by this world, and everything you've done will become nothing but a ridiculous fabrication! You protected him too well; did you think your sudden departure would make him mature quickly? No, it won't!"

Konrad Curze Curze waved his arms, roaring, sneering, and screaming.

"He's just a weak, useless coward, constantly switching between so-called justice and reality, trying to grasp both even when he's battered and bruised. He'll go mad sooner or later, and you're the only one who can stop him."

"Stop! Stop! Don't go any further!" he roared in a commanding tone. "I, as the ruler of Nostramo, command you to stop!"

The man ignored him and walked resolutely forward. He passed right through him, treating the hand that tried to stop him as nothing.

Konrad Curze Curze slowly lowered his head.

The world fell silent, and the voice that had been drowned out by his roar rang out once more.

"You're a fool, Ghost. I don't understand why you would step into this cruel world yourself. You've wandered for so long, you've already witnessed the horrors of humanity, why are you so determined to change all of this with your own hands?"

The Ghost said, "Is the reason that they are not human enough?"

No one understood what he was saying, but the three Primarch could hear his thoughts.

[Because this shouldn't be happening.]

A reason that couldn't be simpler, a reason that makes almost no sense.

Roboute Guilliman's expression turned solemn. He sighed, placed his right hand on his chest, and bowed his head in silence.

Ferrus Manus squinted and began rhythmically tapping his left arm with his right hand, the metallic clanging echoing incessantly.

Only Konrad Curze Curze remained silent, not uttering a single word.

The reality is that no matter what they want to do, the world will not change according to their will. They have neither the power nor the authority. This is a story that has already happened and is long over.

All they could do was watch.

The head continued its conversation with Karyl Lohars as icy rain poured down, crashing to the ground and shattering into pieces. Then, starting from the head's eye sockets, millions of points of blue Radiance slowly began to illuminate the surrounding eerie ruins.

He departed, but the world did not collapse. Instead, the radiant Radiance gradually transformed into endless, dark flames, with a murky red boiling and burning in its deepest depths.

The three Primarch clearly captured this scene, but before they could even think of anything, the world changed once again.

They returned to the slaughterhouse, where the woman's body was twisted, cold, and utterly dead. The voice from the darkness continued, relentlessly, promising things like power, slaughter, or justice.

Konrad Curze Curze slowly raised his head, his eyes indifferent, and stared into the darkness—or rather, glared.

He didn't say a word, but his neck twitched nervously.

Roboute Guilliman looked away, unable to bear it any longer. He had already seen Karyl Lohars' raised right hand, and he knew what was about to happen. They all knew.

Konrad Curze Curze walked slowly up to Karyl and looked down at his face.

"Goodbye," Karyl said.

"Goodbye," Konrad Curze Curze replied softly.

A cruel blue light, like flames, was reflected in his pupils, burning a corpse.

A stumbling figure flashed past them, rushing towards the doorway piled with corpses. He was so fast it was almost indistinguishable; many bodies were crushed in his reckless run, but he paid no heed. He simply reached the body and carefully helped it to its feet. The man was trembling, whimpering incessantly from his throat. His muscles began to spasm, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.

He started to cry.

Konrad Curze Curze burst into laughter, his voice strange and broken.

Roboute Guilliman and Ferrus Manus exchanged another glance—they hadn't seen this scene through the light screen.

Crying won't help.

Curze ignored his brothers. He walked to the trembling, pale Shadow and gave a cold laugh to himself. Was he talking to himself? Perhaps, but he was looking directly into those tear-filled eyes.

"Your tears will only shame him. Can you understand the determination he's made? Can you understand what he's trying to do? No, you can't."

He slowly crouched down, getting closer to the face that was extremely similar to his own, yet completely different, and his dark eyes suddenly widened.

"You're just lucky," he said softly. "You did nothing, made no effort—you're too weak, even thinking of crying. Ah, considering your age, perhaps that's not surprising; you're only eighteen months old."

"So, what can a child do? He actually expects you to do something he can't do? Give up, child, you can't do it. You can only give up halfway, and then his soul will never rest in peace."

He slowly extended his blood-stained hands from his sleeves and placed them on the neck of the pale Shadow.

Then apply force little by little.

The hands, with their distinct knuckles, were stained with blood, sharp fingernails embedded in their palms, and bits of flesh were slowly falling out of the wounds.

His hands, wrists, and arms began to tremble, veins bulging. How he wanted to kill the child, to spare him future suffering, but he couldn't touch him.

This is just a story.

"That's enough," said Ferrus Manus.

He put his right hand on Konrad Curze Curze's shoulder.

"This isn't your story," Gorgon said softly. "Don't get too caught up in it, Konrad Curze."

"What's it to you?--"

As if he had found an outlet for his anger, or perhaps he was simply enraged, Konrad Curze Curze stood up grimly and lunged at Ferrus.

The rage in his eyes was genuine, but there was probably something else mixed in. It was so obvious that even Roboute Guilliman could see it clearly.

He stood there hesitantly, abandoning the idea of going forward to help.

Ferrus punched Curze to the ground; the punch was as fast as lightning and as heavy as a mountain.

"Don't go too far," he said calmly.

"What's it to you?" Curze replied with a smile, his white teeth glistening with blood.

"Yes, what does this have to do with you?" A voice that hadn't been heard for a long time suddenly broke the silence, asking this question.

A sudden flash of blue light, and everything vanished effortlessly, like a sand dune being toppled without warning. They returned to the real world, back to their own.

However, there were only the three of them there.

"What about the others?" Ferrus asked.

"They haven't finished their special experience yet," the voice on the videotape said with a smile. "Actually, you guys haven't seen several of them either. So, do you think this shock education was enough?"

"Aside from what Konrad Curze Curze said, I don't see what educational value this story offers us," Ferrus said.

"No, no, have you forgotten that blood-red Shadow?" the videotape asked flippantly. "You'll soon find out where the shock lies; if you don't believe me, ask them."

The blue light flashed again, and for some reason, Perturabo and Rogal Dorn, who looked much older, appeared together in their respective seats.