The Bystander Sees Clearly

Barbarus, Southern Swamps, wild wasteland.

The third year of Hades' arrival in the Southern Swamps.

The hazy, thick white fog meandered, and the deep, damp, soft black earth was dense. Between heaven and earth, upward, there was nothing but white fog, and downward, nothing but black earth.

In the empty space where the white fog thinned slightly, sat a tall figure—

Mortarion, not caring about the mud of the earth, sat directly on the black soil. A comatose young man leaned against his left knee, while his right knee supported his arm, which also held his giant scythe.

He looked into the depths of the mist, his amber eyes seeming to cut through the viscous fog, staring straight at that familiar figure.

Hades slowly emerged from the fog, the scythe hanging downwards like an oar, gently sliding through the white mist, causing ripples to spread.

Stopping four meters away from Mortarion, Hades smiled apologetically beneath his mask, then sat down directly.

"Long time no see, Hades."

Hades looked up and smiled, patting his knee. The old friend's familiar gesture made Mortarion relax a little.

It had been three years.

"Yes, long time no see, Reaper."

Mortarion didn't like his name, Hades knew. Not only did he dislike it, but he actually loathed the name given to him by his adoptive father.

That's why the Death Guard called Mortarion "Reaper."

Reaper, both the god of death and the harvester, the one who reaps the wheat.

Just like Mortarion himself.

"How's it going? The liberation plan for the Southern Swamps isn't holding you back, is it? Our Death Guard are really doing well, I'm just watching from afar. Those artillery barrages, they instantly disarmed the first line of those petty lords—"

"Whoosh whoosh—BANG!"

Hades gestured wildly, leaning on the scythe's shaft, his other hand exaggerating from one end to the other, drawing an exaggerated arc of artillery fire.

Mortarion smiled. He had indeed seen the power of those artillery pieces, but unfortunately, these powerful cannons were not suitable for mountain warfare. They could only provide support on the plains, and they were powerless against those on the mountain peaks.

But—Hades still liked to praise others so much. The Death Guard, they were indeed Mortarion's pride.

Those brave and fighting people, those who took up scythes to resist for survival, they fought, they resisted, only for a future where they no longer had to fear.

Mortarion subconsciously lowered his eyes to look at the young man leaning beside him. His struggle not to surrender to fate was still vivid in his mind.

They were all fighters fighting for themselves, weren't they?

But Mortarion looked at Hades across from him, still bragging wildly. He seemed to be talking about how awesome he was.

"Hades, can you still not get close to people?"

Mortarion reached out, seemingly wanting to touch the invisible field around Hades.

"Hey! Don't! Don't, don't, don't!!!"

Mortarion's action made Hades quickly retreat, losing his balance while still sitting, almost falling over.

Bro, don't!

Hades was sweating profusely in his heart. It was one thing for others to touch his Null Field, at worst it would make the other person feel sick for a while, but if Mortarion touched it…

Bro, don't attract other weird things over here!!!

Hades quickly retreated, sliding backwards on the ground, completely disregarding his image.

Seeing Hades' huge reaction, Mortarion instead withdrew his hand in disappointment, his eyes seeming to blame Hades for rejecting him so much.

So, after so long, had the three of them drifted apart?

Mortarion still remembered when the three of them were still very naive, laughing and talking about liberating humanity in a broken house after drinking. At that time, he boasted that he would fight for the cause of human resistance to the end, Typhon also chimed in, and Hades crawled around on the ground, clapping his hands as he crawled.

Mortarion was certainly not drunk, but it was clear that Hades and Typhon were drunk at the time.

"Mortarion! Bro! I'll follow you!!! I don't have any ideals! I just want to find a place to draw little people when I have nothing to do!"

What were little people?

Mortarion still wondered.

But now… those happy and simple memories were gone. Typhon was fine, Mortarion was very pleased that Typhon had also found comrades who understood him.

Only Hades, because of his special nature, could only walk alone outside the crowd…

When I defeat Nac'Lare, when there is no more oppression on this planet, Mortarion vowed to help his friend out of this damn physical curse…

Seeing Mortarion across from him obviously falling into thought again, Hades panicked internally.

No, bro, don't hold grudges!!!

"Uh…" Hades scratched his chin, "That… my constitution can hurt people, and I'm still not used to the feeling of hurting people."

"Besides, I don't want my friends to get hurt, right? Reaper, if others get hurt because of me, I definitely won't feel good about it."

Hades nodded in conviction first, and he glanced at Mortarion secretly. The other party seemed to be persuaded by him.

In his interactions with Mortarion, Hades had discovered that Mortarion was the type to have tens of thousands of words' worth of bizarre mental journeys, but only utter a few words. Unless pushed to the brink (like having his defenses broken), Mortarion was unlikely to fully express his thought process.

And his thought process generally had a few more twists and turns than the average person.

This led to Hades being extremely cautious not to be misunderstood by Mortarion, because if he was, the problem would be huge!

Mortarion nodded, using his hand to support the young man a bit more, allowing him to find a more comfortable position.

"I understand your feelings, Hades."

"If you really need someone to talk to, you can come to me. I can withstand your abilities."

Mortarion was silent for a moment, then mumbled another sentence.

"I'm not that easily hurt."

As Mortarion moved, Hades looked at the emaciated young man. He guessed it was Vokes. Sigh, the future incredibly powerful Death Guard was actually so thin now.

"Hahaha, Reaper, you still have to lead the Death Guard to fight Aliens, I wouldn't dare bother you."

A wisp of fog drifted over, and Hades idly reached out to pinch it.

"You're already bothering me."

Crap, what a cold joke.

Hades immediately exaggeratedly clasped his hands together, nodding and bowing towards Mortarion.

"Ah, I shouldn't disturb Lord Mortarion, this humble one deserves to die ten thousand times, this humble one will take his leave now—"

"Hades."

Mortarion frowned, calling the fiend's name in a serious, soft voice, subduing the mischievous monkey who was about to run wild.

Alright, alright, we won't do that bit.

Hades instantly sat up straight. Actually, to be honest, the reason he sought out Mortarion this time wasn't because he hadn't talked to anyone in too long and was going crazy.

If it wasn't important, he wouldn't want to delay Mortarion.

After all, Mortarion had too many things to do right now compared to Hades.

Mortarion might still be thinking of advancing steadily, step by step, and finally plotting to kill his foster father, Nac'Lare.

But... Hades knew that the seemingly endless time had already become like a beached sea fish on the coastline, withering away by the day, in a precarious state.

Could Mortarion really kill his foster father before the death knell sounded, before the Emperor arrived?

If he couldn't, would Mortarion's mind gradually twist and fall like in the original story?

Hades knew that the events on Barbarus were destined to be a poisonous thorn deeply embedded in Mortarion's heart, silently corroding the Lord of the High Walls's inner self in the long legion life to come.

Then, before everything happened, could Hades do something?

Hades knew that his own time was also running out. Although he had always hoped to completely suppress the Null Field below his skin, according to previous attempts, this idea was not very realistic in the short term.

He could only gradually distance himself from people.

But, Hades thought, what if, just what if, he could persuade Mortarion before he completely distanced himself from people?

While the connection between Mortarion and him wasn't so shaky.

While everything hadn't happened yet.

If Typhon could betray an entire legion because of Mortarion's trust in him.

Then was it possible for Hades to save an entire legion because of Mortarion's trust in him?

He wanted to try.

.

At least, he had to give Mortarion a vague warning about the future.

Today, Hades was also working hard to avoid becoming a stinky can.

Uh, I'll put the group QR code in the comments, I'll try again!

I confess, I ran towards comedy while writing, I really couldn't stop.

Sigh, stop, stop.jpg

[Lord of the High Walls] refers to Mortarion. In a short story about the Emperor playing chess with Magnus, Mortarion's chess piece before the betrayal was a high wall, and after the betrayal, it was a heart eaten by maggots.