Chapter 505 Phoenix in the Mirror (2)
The voice in the darkness never subsides... Do you need me to complete you and him? Phoenix, you should be glorious and flawless... I wonder what this wind wants, and it will make the splendor even more brilliant...
"Oh, if you had said it two hundred years earlier, I might have been willing to listen. ." Fulgrim responded lightly, without any hurry or annoyance, and the long sword clanged through a gap between the incoming mechanical gears, accurately and elegantly breaking a series of precision machinery. Now that Ferrus' mind was in his arms, there was nothing external to worry about.
Half of his mind was still hanging on the head in his arms, thinking about how to awaken Ferus... He had never seen the Iron Hand so weak in many meetings in the past. He had seen Ferus's frustrations and successes, his anger and pride, but he had never seen him so unconscious. This was the only thing that bothered him.
He took the time to stare at the silver head in his arms, looking at his familiar face. Thanks to the characteristics of the Primarch, Ferus was still very similar to when they first met. Changed into a determined face. He thought hesitantly - what did Ferus lack? What was taken from him?
He raised his hand to block another attack from the steel machine, and a handful of blood exploded from above. Fulgrim's blood turned into rain of fire as he fell, and then stopped like mist in the sky above Ferus' head, dissipating harmlessly. . The demon's flesh and blood that was touched by the fire mist melted in an instant, but those floating ribbons and gems still couldn't help but flutter towards it, like moths fluttering towards the flames. These corrupted creatures crave Fulgrim's presence because they...
... lack the essence that would enhance their existence.
Fulgrim placed the sword across his hand, leaving a thumb free. His blood dripped from his fingers. He consecrated and covered the ears, eyes, and mouth of Ferrus's head with blood. and the bridge of the nose, like an incomplete final anointing.
“I lend you my blood,” he whispered, “I lend you my being, Ferus Manus, and may the blood of our origin fill your will, may You wake up from the loss - or at least, let me feel your presence from the loss."
He did this between battles, those sword swings and dodging are minor things. The hustle and bustle of the surrounding battles and the interlacing of sword blades seemed to be isolated on the far edge, and those sword swings and dodging became shadows in the background. At the moment, all his attention was focused on the head in his hand, and on the faint pulse that might be contained there. He waited, eagerly, almost holding his breath to hear a little reaction from Ferus.
However, the facial features on this head began to fade again. In fact, it was quietly fading away entirely. Although it was still in his arms, it continued to fall deeper into this unreal world. Fulgrim could not say a word. He didn't say anything, he just held the head and tried to grasp its deeper shadow - he even had some thoughts to think about it, just like he wanted to kill Ferus... What a strange thought, but he couldn't think of it for a long time. disperse.
When the head in his arms completely disappeared, he heard a voice again. For a moment, Fulgrim stopped breathing, and then he heard another voice coming from the other half of his face. come out.
“...Where is this?”
Fulgrim heard his own voice say in another tone. The sound didn't come from the outside world, but... came from within his body, from the depths of his own throat.
"Where is this?" The voice repeated again, this time more clearly, with Ferus' unique calmness and questioning.
Fulgrim suddenly realized that Ferus was no longer the mind sealed in his head, but integrated into his body and rested in his shell.
He heard his own voice asking questions in a low and unfamiliar tone, using the tone of Ferus. The strange feeling made his chest rise and fall violently.
Unable to explain why, he suddenly laughed again in his own way. He succeeded, he gave a part of himself, and Ferus has risen from the void.
"I don't know, Ferrus," Fulgrim said, his voice light and brisk, his answer leaping from his lips as if he had already prepared the words. of. "I'm here to find you. I don't know where this place is as well as you."
Half of his face is colder than his own face of flesh and blood, and the junction where he has long been accustomed to has also become cold. stand up. And half of his shoulder finally lost the last feeling. Maybe that hand knew that the steel arm was free and suddenly relaxed.
How would Ferus answer him? According to his character, he might be upset about falling into this trap. However, in front of him, Fulgrim believed that Ferus would be willing to talk to him about this matter - after all, he did not blame him, but guided him along the way. He leaves.
He looked forward optimistically, as if the rescue had been won.
Then, darkness surged slowly like a thick curtain, as if growing out of those twisted shadows. The voice came from the depths of endless darkness, carrying some ancient resentment.
"How can your body carry steel?" The voice was like a poisonous snake whispering in the ear, with an unsettling coldness. "Look at yourself in the mirror, your heart has been corrupted, your blood has been corroded. Look in the mirror and see what you look like now... Let's look at the silver mirror reflecting your old face... There is no way out until the flaws are hidden. ..."
Well, Fulgrim thought, why do you always insist on questioning whether he is perfect? Could it be that he was in the garden of the corrupt and was not educated enough by his descendants?
"It just so happens that your head disappeared just in time," Fulgrim joked to Fulgrim. The flames of the flaming sword were brighter than before. The flames cut through a head protruding towards him on the wall, and the blood The rain fell like petals, and the crystal mirror on the wall shattered. The charred fragments spread out like ink marks on the ground.
"...Free a hand for me." He finished the second half of the sentence and waited expectantly for Ferus' response.
“What do you mean?” Ferus’ voice asked, with a hint of confusion. Fulgrim's heart sank suddenly, and a strange feeling of strangeness ran down his spine.
Fulgrim took a deep breath, trying to suppress the uneasiness and pull himself back into their conversation. Ferrus shouldn't have asked this - he was Ferrus Manus, the fearless Iron Hand, the brother who fought alongside him and witnessed countless victories and defeats. The years they have spent together, the glory and frustration of fighting...
Fulgrim took a breath and brought his thoughts back to the conversation between the two of them: "Don't you know how to understand humor, Fei? Ruth?”
"I am Ferrus?" Ferrus asked.
Fulgrim exhaled the breath that was tight in his chest, and the colors in front of him almost made him dizzy.
Is it true that his body cannot bear the existence of Ferus, so that his brother no longer remembers - No, damn, these sounds are too annoying.
He bit his lower lip and smiled calmly again. "You are. You are Ferrus Manus."
The compound whispers came back again, laughing lowly and sharply at the edge of his consciousness... How sad you are, Fulgeri Oh, purple phoenix... The whispers echoed in all directions as a chorus... You once danced proudly on the horizon, but now you have fallen so much. Seeing that you have made your own mistakes and have no way out, there is no need to be happy now...
The rose-colored light turned into a gorgeous blood color, suddenly falling from the infinitely high ceiling, like a beam of stage lights, splashing directly at Fulgrim's feet.
"Where am I?" Ferus continued to ask. "Who are you?"
"You asked about the previous topic. As for the second half, I am Fulgrim, and I am planning to take you out."
"You Are you angry?”
Fulgrim’s lips trembled, “Don’t worry about it, I’ll just take you out.”
Yes, they have encountered countless worse situations, fought on more dangerous battlefields, and faced deeper darkness. No matter what kind of trouble, they have experienced it before, but they have come out of it every time. And this time, it should be no exception. Just give him time, give them time. But first, they will be alive and well.
Fulgrim breathed a sigh of relief and regained his smile.
After a while, Ferrus said - he occupied their currently shared vocal cords, crowding out Fulgrim's words: "Do you see the way out?"
"No, I can tell this is a maze with my own eyes!" Fulgrim said, "Why don't you help me see how I can beat the elusive machine——"
< br>The entire mechanical labyrinth was in constant motion. A loud clang hit the drums that sounded at an unknown time, and then several intertwined collisions of weapons fell in the rhythm of the background song, creating an exquisite set. Differential tone. With each strike of the sword, Fulgrim's peripheral vision was constantly attracted by something scattered throughout the maze - mirrors, mirrors that should not exist in the dark depths.
In the mirror, images of the past continue to resurface. That was the former Ferrus Manus, the invincible and cold-as-iron warrior.
Fulgrim paused for a moment, his eyes couldn't help but be attracted to Ferus. He turned to the other mirror and saw himself - his current self. The armor is full of scratches and cracks, the gorgeous decorations have faded, blood and dust are mixed on his body, as well as missing broken arms and damaged legs... completely different from Ferus...
Fulgrim's thoughts surged like a tide, and the darkness wanted to use this method to overwhelm him, making him question himself, his relationship with Ferus, and his own brilliance.
He gritted his teeth and beat his unwelcome mechanical dance partner back into the darkness, and found that Ferus did not appear again to pay attention to him.
Just as he was about to call him, he felt the pulse, beating lightly in his heart.
"I can't see that," Ferrus reappeared. "I don't know how to defeat this maze."
"You are Ferrus." Fulgrim smiled crisply, "You should be better at solving this kind of problem than me."
Phoenix's steel arm flicked away a string of gems, and with a flick of the long sword, a wave of fire surged out, covering a chariot with spiked wheels rolling from the other side of the maze. The fire light suddenly brightened again and again. destroy.
“Anyway, we are going out together.”
“Have you found the way out?”
"You'd better stop talking, Ferus."
"I thought..." Ferus paused, "You want to listen to me."
"You are the Man of Steel Hands, not the mouth of steel, Ferus, I should let you continue to sleep - forget it! "I am the hand of steel? But your hands are of steel," Ferus said quietly.
Fulgrim wanted to laugh, but a wave of frustration suddenly caught up with him. He forced a smile: "You gave it to me, brother."
The light and shadow around him swirled like foam, and countless pictures rolled and coiled. On each mirror, he saw half of his face, and the outline of Ferus floating on the iron surface. Like misplaced light and shadow, it obscured his steel face.
What Ferrus Manus once gave him was now returned to him in another form.
Those mirrors made him look in a daze for a moment, and he waved some lenses away at will.
"Are you... okay?" Ferus asked in a deep voice.
Fulgrim's temper suddenly rose, and he raised his voice: "It's pretty good -" Then he calmed down his tone again, "It's just that there are a lot of things to fight against, such as this The maze itself—and the ghostly machine that always emerges from every wall."
"He is one with the maze. Stay away from the walls and don't look directly at the mirror. Why the mirror?" Ferus said, wondering how he quickly came up with these analysis results and asked a question.
“I don’t know, it can’t just be convenient for me to look at myself. How did I get that level of self-admiration?”
Fulgrim said, with a smile in the corner of his eye. The light passed through a mirror, and suddenly he realized that what he saw was the face of Ferus -
"Quick!" Ferus reminded him. Fulgrim hurriedly added a sword, and part of his fire feather was torn apart, and his transparent legs and feet were broken into many fragments and fell into the crawling ground.
"You are distracted, maintain your combat intensity, you can do it." Ferus said.
Fulgrim sighed, "Ouch!"
The endless attacks entered a climax. Pieces of glass ice crystals mixed with pink mist floated, and the demon with sharp claws and long tail spit out meat jelly. Like long tongues hatched from the gauze on the ground, sad calls seeped out of the air, which seemed to belong to the natives of Cadia, and seemed to belong to something more.
The figure of the phoenix burns like a candle in the maze, burning one by one, with a very beautiful light, jumping and floating infinitely, the sword is as powerful as rain and wind, in In the gap between the sword light, he stepped on subtle steps, and flowers of blood bloomed under his feet.
"Stop for a second," Ferus said suddenly, and Fulgrim obeyed without hesitation. The shadow of another steel arm suddenly appeared on his vacant arm - no, that was a A heavy hand cannon and a series of precisely calculated gunfire penetrated the weak points of the mirror maze within a second. A series of broken mirrors fell down layer by layer like dominoes. A large number of gears and pistons collapsed, blasting open a thin path of enemies. fork in the road.
"How do you know? Well, that's you." Phoenix muttered.
Fulgrim gained some breathing space along this empty path. A pool of living silver flowed under his feet, cushioning his injured feet.
The flaming sword sliced through the air, bringing up a gust of hot wind. Fulgrim's movements were as swift as the wind, and Ferrus's precise fire formed an impenetrable line of fire behind him. The mirrors shattered under their attacks, and more parts of the steel maze also shattered.
"You and I are familiar." Ferus said thoughtfully. "Your fight was also perfect."
"What conclusion did you draw?"
"You defeated me, so we know each other?" Ferus reasoned reasonably.
"What! How could such a barbaric thing come to forge our friendship? Am I that kind of person?" Fulgrim scolded with a smile, assuming an innocent posture. For a moment, he wanted to ask Ferrus if he remembered something. thing.
“No.” Ferrus replied without blinking—at least Fulgrim didn’t blink. "I just can't figure out why you are my friend."
"That hurts a little, Ferus."
"You have an extraordinary will, a superhuman skill, and perfection."< br>
"I'm starting to wonder if you are secretly scolding me. I'm very wary of this word."
"Then why did we become friends?" Ferus asked hesitantly, while helping Fulgrim supplement his lack of long-range firepower. At some point, Fulgrim had a long-range firepack on his back, so much so that his Fire Wings had to find ways to leave room for it on their backs.
Fulgrim shrugged: "Look at those mirrors."
"The mirrors are covered with witchcraft and cannot be looked at directly. The battle time is urgent. If you want me to know, you can Just tell me." Ferus said.
"Alas!" Fulgrim sighed again, exaggeratedly, "you'd better not understand why."
However, those fragments of the mirror are still inevitably Flying past Fulgrim's sight.
Every wall shines with cold silver light. The surface is as smooth as a mirror, but it distorts and deforms visually, as if it is constantly flowing with the pace. The metallic luster reflects the phantom deep in the maze, and the interplay of light and shadow makes it difficult to distinguish between reality and illusion. The gears on the wall were running at a crazy high speed, making a low mechanical roar, as if the entire space had a life of its own.
There is an intoxicating aroma of mechanical grease floating in the air, and the fresh metallic smell of some high-tech material slightly burned. The mechanical heartbeat was faintly ringing in the ears, with a deep sense of beauty and fatal attraction...
The mirror reflected Ferus's past: those most perfect battle commanders, impeccable The art of war and his powerful legion, the calculation of siege of cities and targeted destruction, and the supreme terrifying efficiency of the legion... In Fulgrim's private heart, this has always been unmatched by even the Warmaster.
What about his turn? The reflection in the mirror was no longer what he looked like now, but brought him back to the past, to the time in his deepest memory.
He saw Chemos, an ordinary world on the verge of death. There was no conquest of behemoths, no glorious interstellar battles, only the last struggle of a planet before its death... He saw himself standing in front of the legion for the first time, and they were so lonely and weak at that time...
< br>
He painstakingly told them to pursue perfection, his words were bright and full of hope, chasing a better future, racing against life - his descendants believed him, and even he believed it himself.
Many years ago, someone once asked him, what is perfection? That was on the eve of his first foray into the depths of the Warp. He explained part of it, but hid something he didn't want to say clearly. He describes a resilient planet, Chemos—a place that constantly strives for progress and perfection. However, he omitted the mirror part...
"Why can't I understand?" Ferrus asked, his voice suddenly remembering, interrupting Fulgrim's thoughts. He said not to look at the mirror, so he didn't even look at it.
“Because that’s very strange,” Fulgrim said in a daze, but he kept talking, “If you are curious about how we became friends, I will be heartbroken.”
Ferrus awakened him. He woke up from his memories, and his consciousness gradually emerged from the edge of chaos. But this was temporary, for the dark whispers never ceased for a moment.
Why do you resist looking directly at your flaws...
The darkness whispered to him tenderly, like a lover's whisper.
I can help you, let's see what you need, good boy, I shouldn't criticize you, let's see what's wrong with you... Let me help you find what you really look like... …
Fulgrim’s thoughts seemed to be swallowed by the whirlpool of a metal maze, and he sank into the endless darkness and bizarre world. Ferus's existence became blurred, and the once unshakable faith was eroded in this illusion.
He understood where his fears came from. These uneasinesses had once been real, but he had left them behind - this was the darkness trying to disturb him again, stirring up worries that had long been quelled. But he couldn't completely control his thoughts and slipped into them uncontrollably.
He stayed too long in this maze of darkness and steel, feeling himself gradually being eroded. His essence, his fire, was dying out.
So, does he need to continue to resist?
Yeah, why should I resist?
Fulgrim seemed to be too dazed to resist. He relaxed his tense will and allowed his consciousness to follow the mechanical vortex all the way down to its deepest part. His thoughts went far and deep, quickly slipping into the old whirling thoughts...
He did not need to resist these thoughts.
(End of this chapter)