A Mortal's Mercy

"Sir, please come out and meet me."

Not long after, a dark figure appeared in front of Han Mingxuan.

The moment the dark figure appeared, he felt as if his vision had dropped out of frame.

Have we met before?

"We met you when you went fishing during the Imperium Anti-Corruption campaign."

"Oh, that must have been over a decade ago."

"Yes, sir."

"Let's sit down and talk."

Xiulikas stood up, his face now visible in the lamplight.

Very ordinary, a completely generic face.

What brings you here?

"For your safety, sir."

My own safety?

Do you know what the title of Warmaster means?

"Of course I know that. The First Warmaster told me about it."

"Do you know what it means for Neoth to become your Warmaster?"

"Know."

"Then you..."

"I know everything, Your Excellency Xiulikas, I know everything."

"At first I didn't understand what role I played in the Emperor's plan, but now I do."

"But this would put you in great danger; you might very well end up like him."

"I know."

"But... alright, then what is it for?"

Han Mingxuan was stunned for a moment upon hearing this question.

Yes, for what reason?

Then he smiled.

"Your Excellency, do you know that Han Mingxuan is Han Mingxuan, Father of Night is the Father of Night?"

Is there a difference?

"Yes, Han Mingxuan is just one person. He could be a Teacher, a Miner, an Underhive worker, or just an Imperialis Militia."

"But the Father of Night is different. These three words were born in Nostramo's darkest hour. These three words carry not only power, but also responsibility."

"I have always believed that rights and responsibilities must be aligned."

"But these are responsibilities that Neoth should have borne."

"No, Your Excellency, these responsibilities do not belong to him alone."

"According to your Perpetual's calculations, a middle-aged man and a young man are shouldering the fate of humanity. It's unfair, but that's the cruel reality."

"As a human being, I stand in this position, and I bear many burdens—expectations, resentments, and so on. These are the things this position has bestowed upon me."

Silence fell over Han Mingxuan's room.

Xiulikas's chest rose and fell slightly beneath his black robe; for the first time, this Fate’s Assassin revealed his emotions.

For Assassin, revealing too much emotion is tantamount to death.

He placed one hand on the table, his five fingers clenched tightly together, his knuckles white.

Don't you resent him?

"Of course I blame him. I blame him for being a liar who only knows how to use others to achieve his goals; I blame him for being a tool."

"I resent even more his disastrous parenting skills, which have added a lot of headaches to my work."

"But... that's precisely why he's also a pitiful person."

Boom!!

An explosion comparable to the birth of the universe occurred in Xiulikas's mind.

He was stunned.

Who is Neoth?

The most powerful Psyker in history, the Dark King Prophecy to destroy everything.

One... one god.

But what did he hear now?

Han Mingxuan, a Mortals, is actually showing pity for a god?!

"You've never understood him. Neoth's greatest wish was to be an Old Farmer. Sigh, I don't know what he was thinking. With the agricultural technology of this world, it's impossible to support such a large family."

The Agri World is only slightly better than the Industrial World, because once the Agri World is drained of its nutrients, it usually ends up becoming Hive World.

The farming methods used throughout the Agri World are very crude.

All the nutrients in the land will be completely drained during a single planting, and then the land will continue to be cultivated with fertilizer until it is no longer fertile.

So after much thought, the kind of farmer the Huangpizi wants to be is probably a farmer from the Paradise World.

Sure enough, the Huangpizi hasn't changed its ways and is still very Greed.

"But the times didn't allow him to farm; he was forced to stand at the forefront, and then he was caught in the middle."

He wanted to be human, but couldn't; he wanted to be a god, but resisted that.

"At first, I looked down on him too. I thought he was just a gambler and a liar. I felt like I'd have to pay credit card bills just for being looked at by him."

"But when I stood in a similar position to him, I realized that he seemed more helpless than anything else."

"So, I want to do everything I can to help him."

"Everything for humanity, for humanity's Sea of Stars, for humanity's glorious destiny."

"Call!"

Xiulikas exhaled a breath of stale air.

Perhaps it's due to his age and declining health, or perhaps it's from overusing his eyes recently, but his eyes are a little sore.

"Sir, you are more like a god than he is."

"No, Your Excellency, I am merely a Mortals with a passionate heart, a normal Mortals."

"Fortunately, I'll only live for a few hundred years at most, so I can still retain some humanity."

"That's for the best. I don't know what kind of monster I'll turn into if I live too long."

Xiulikas stood up and bowed to Han Mingxuan.

"The Fate Assassin Xiulikas, pays his respects to you, the great Mr. Han."

"Don't flatter me like that, sir. I'm a very reserved person."

To praise oneself by name like that really makes my ears burn.

"Compared to me, Perpetual like yourself is truly worthy of my respect."

"Sir, you're joking."

"No, Your Excellency, I am telling the truth. For Perpetual like you who have lived for tens of thousands of years, the fact that you haven't thought of destroying the world is already a blessing for this world."

Xiulikas eventually left Han Mingxuan's residence, but now he felt quite relaxed.

This is the first time since the Dark Age of Technology that things have been this easy; it's a rare occurrence.

In Han Mingxuan's room, he looked at something that Xiulikas had given him.

That was a dagger.

According to Xiulikas, this dagger can cut through the web of fate and allow him to find a way out when he has nowhere else to turn.

"Warhammer, this place is a real cesspool."

Hopefully, everything will be different after the Ullanor Crusade.

Meanwhile, on Xiulikas's side, he did not leave, nor did he go to find Oll Persson.

He went to find someone else.

At this moment, aboard the Flagship the Blood Angels, the Red Tear.

"Dante, go and rest. Our mission hasn't even begun yet."

"Yes, Father."

Dante returned to his Rest Room, but he looked into the shadows of the Rest Room.

"Come out."

Bang.

With a muffled thud, Xiulikas closed a book.

That was a Literary Pivot of Splendid Chapters Dante had left in the Rest Room.

This book is well-written.

"Who are you?"

"You don't need to know who I am. I just want to ask you, do you feel that this dream was a beautiful dream for you?"