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Chapter 257 Living Up to the Blood of Saint Gilles (Part 2)

If the Flesh Rippers were merely mired in the curse of Blackfury and headed towards self-destruction, then the Blood Knights were utterly succumbed to the torment of Blood Thirst, ultimately being branded as traitors by the Imperial authorities.

As inheritors of Saint Gilles' noble bloodline, the Blood Knights, like other Holy Blood Angels, are constantly battling the dual curses within their genetic seed—the maddening black rage and the insatiable thirst for blood.

However, fate was particularly cruel to them. Among all the chapters that inherited the genes of the Holy Blood Angels, the Blood Knights had the strongest thirst for blood and were the most easily controlled by the thirst for blood.

The Blood Knights once launched a galactic expedition in a noble name, vowing to purge all heretics and aliens from the Empire's borders.

However, as the expedition progressed, the members of the chapter gradually lost their minds under the influence of thirst.

They began indiscriminately slaughtering friend and foe alike, committing countless horrific atrocities on the battlefield.

These mad acts eventually led to a trial by the Terra Highlords Council, and in the early days of M41, the Blood Knights Chapter was officially declared a traitorous chapter.

In other words, this warband that came to answer the call to the expedition was a rebel warband.

What's even more poignant is that, despite bearing the stigma of being traitors, the Blood Knights remained steadfast in their loyalty to the Emperor.

Some warbands ignored the Highlord's judgment and maintained close relations with the Blood Knights, while others regarded them as traitors and were keen to purge them.

For this reason, the Blood Knights have developed a lone-wolf fighting style. They deliberately keep their distance from all potential allies, both to avoid harming friendly forces when their thirst for blood flares up, and to protect these chapters from the Inquisition's accountability.

This self-imposed exile makes this already cursed chapter appear even more lonely and tragic in the galaxy.

This has put the Blood Knights Chapter in an extremely difficult situation – they not only lack key resources such as weapons, ammunition, and gene seeds, but they also have a shortage of manpower to maintain the Chapter's operations.

As a chapter officially labeled "rebels" by the Empire, they lost most of their supply channels and were unable to receive regular support from the Forgeworld and the Imperial Military Affairs Department like other orthodox chapters.

Worse still, they are severely lacking even the most basic chapter servants, which directly threatens the chapter's ability to sustain combat operations.

According to the Codex Astartes, the official combat strength of a Space Marine Chapter is indeed limited to around one thousand men, but this does not mean that the total number of men in the Chapter is only this many.

In reality, to maintain the fighting capacity of these thousand Space Marines, the chapter often requires the support of tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of support personnel.

The crew, technical priests, and logistics personnel on warships alone occupy a huge amount of human resources, not to mention the squad servants who are specifically responsible for maintaining weapons and equipment, manufacturing ammunition, and maintaining power armor.

Wearing and maintaining a set of power armor is an extremely complex engineering project in itself.

Even though the modified MK10 power armor from Dorakor has achieved modular wear and can adjust the armor mode according to different battlefield needs, its maintenance and operation still require a large number of skilled servants to assist.

Typically, each Space Marine requires at least seven or eight servants to take care of his power armor—including routine maintenance, pre-battle donning, post-battle cleaning, servo system calibration, and other tedious tasks.

Without the support of these logistical personnel, the Space Marines' combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

The sources of the warband servants are diverse.

One group consists of ordinary servants who have served the Warband for generations, raised with Warband culture from childhood and known for their loyalty and reliability; the other group consists of those who failed the recruit trials.

Not all chapters, like some extreme factions, execute or abandon their losers.

Some chapters—especially the relatively milder sub-chapters—will incorporate these candidates who fail the trial into the chapter's auxiliary forces, allowing them to continue serving the chapter as servants or auxiliary troops.

These individuals may not be comparable to true Astartes warriors on the battlefield, but they can still undertake logistical support, light combat, and even reconnaissance missions, becoming an indispensable force for the chapter.

However, the Blood Knights Chapter struggled to maintain even such a basic manpower.

Because they were declared traitors by the Highlords Council, they were unable to openly recruit servants or chosen ones like other warbands, which kept the Blood Knights' logistics system on the verge of collapse for a long time, further exacerbating their predicament.

Compared to other Astartes chapters, the Blood Angels and their sub-churches have a unique and cruel need—blood servants.

These carefully selected mortal servants not only had to fulfill the duties of ordinary warband servants, but also had to be ready at any time to give their lives to relieve the thirst of the children of Saint Gilles.

This unique "blood sacrifice" tradition makes the Blood Angels chapters more complex and burdensome in terms of logistics than other chapters.

There was once a loyal old blood servant who served Dante, the Chapter Master, for a whole century.

This unsung hero ultimately sacrificed his life when Dante was extremely weak from not drinking blood for a long time.

As hot blood flowed into Dante's parched throat, the Thousand-Year Chapter Master regained his strength, while the old servant gave his life in his final service.

Such tragic sacrifices are commonplace in the Holy Blood Angels Chapter, and every Blood Servant is well aware of their ultimate fate.

It should be noted that the thirst of the Holy Blood Angel is not a simple physiological need.

This curse, originating from the Primarch's genes, is far more than just a thirst for blood; it is a soul hunger accompanied by a bloodlust.

The offspring of Saint Gilles must take the life of their victims while drinking their blood; in a sense, this can even be understood as devouring the souls of their victims.

Only through this complete "hunt-and-suck" ritual can the torment of thirst be temporarily suppressed, and sometimes even a brief boost in power can be obtained.

This also explains why simply drinking blood cannot suppress thirst, but only provides temporary relief.

The Holy Blood Angel, whose thirst for blood has not been satisfied for a long time, will gradually undergo terrible mutations.

Their skin will turn pale and dry, like weathered parchment; their canines will grow uncontrollably, eventually piercing their jaws; their limbs will elongate strangely, their joints twisting and deforming; their faces will become increasingly ferocious, eventually transforming them into the legendary vampire monsters.

This horrific process of degeneration can only be reversed through fresh hunting and drinking blood.

Therefore, each Blood Angel sub-command must maintain a sizable blood servant force. Some chapters obtain blood by periodically executing populations of their homeworld through rituals; others have established complex blood servant training systems, raising specialized blood donors from childhood…

But in any case, no descendant of Saint Gilles has ever truly escaped this curse—even a legendary think tank like Mephisto, who successfully overcame the Black Fury, has to periodically succumb to the instinct of bloodlust.

Therefore, when the Blood Knights Chapter was declared a traitor, they faced not only the cessation of regular supplies, but more fatally, the depletion of their blood servant supply.

Without a stable supply of blood, the blood thirst of the warband members worsened, leading to more out-of-control atrocities. This vicious cycle made them sink deeper and deeper into this path of no return.

However, this time, when Mephisto brought back the Blessed Wine that could suppress blood thirst to Baal, Dante immediately thought of the Blood Knights struggling in the darkness.

He knew that no bloodline of angels needed this salvation more than these cursed brothers.

He specially ordered a batch of Holy Blessing Wine to be secretly transported to the Blood Knights and invited them to Rostov—this was not only a precious gift, but also represented the unbroken brotherhood between the Holy Blood Angels and this rebellious chapter.

The Blood Knight did not respond to the summons immediately due to a number of complex considerations.

First of all, as a rebel warband wanted by the Imperial authorities, every move they make carries enormous risks.

Without orders from the Imperial Military Affairs Department or permission to travel, they had to move with the utmost caution, like ghosts in the shadows, avoiding the patrol routes of the Imperial fleet. This situation made their marching speed far slower than that of the orthodox battle groups.

The deeper reason lies in the lingering shame and self-blame within the Blood Knights.

Chapter Master Sento Joel and his brothers always believed that their bloodthirsty, disfigured appearance was a desecration of the noble bloodline of Saint Gilles.

They were unwilling to appear in Rostov in such a wretched manner, as if they were shamelessly begging for mercy from the Brothers in Arms.

The Astartes' sense of honor made them yearn to earn salvation as warriors—they hoped to step forward when Rostov faced a real crisis and prove themselves worthy of this blessing through their battles and bloodshed.

After all, Space Marines value honor, and they long to offer timely assistance to Chen Xi when Rostov faces a crisis or problem, in exchange for the Holy Blessing Wine that can quench their thirst.

In addition, their solitary habits, developed over hundreds of years, also influenced their decisions.

Even knowing Dante's good intentions, the Blood Knights still instinctively kept their distance from the other chapters.

They fear that their reputation for treason will implicate their allies, and they are even more afraid of harming innocents when their thirst for blood flares up. This self-imposed exile mentality is deeply ingrained in the soul of every Blood Knight.

The stalemate was not broken until the Flesh Rippers arrived in the Mariupol Sector.

As a brother chapter also plagued by the curse, Gabriel Seth, the chapter leader of the Flesh Rippers, had a long talk with Sentor Yor.

The two chapter leaders eventually reached a consensus—rather than wallowing in darkness alone, they should seize what may be their last chance for redemption.

Thus, witnessed and accompanied by the Flesh-Tearer, the Blood Knights finally mustered their courage and appeared before Chen Xi in the most solemn manner.

They shed their former mania and gloom, displaying a long-lost warrior's dignity, ready to face this moment that could change their destiny with a completely new attitude.

However, both of the warbands that came to provide support were in very poor condition.

The Flesh Rippers Chapter has only four full companies left, while the Blood Knights are in a slightly better position, but still only have six companies that are not at full strength.

The combined strength of the two warbands was barely equivalent to that of a normal Space Marine warband.

If it weren't for the miraculous effects of the Blessed Wine, which restored the sanity of the warriors in their respective warbands who had fallen into Black Fury and been assigned to the Death Company, thus adding about three additional companies to their fighting strength, these two battlebands, which had suffered so much, would probably have been unable to meet even the most basic combat needs.

However, what troubled Chen Xi even more than the lack of troops was the infamous reputation of these two battle groups within the Empire.

The Flesh-Tearers are known for their ferocity and bloodlust, while the Blood Knights are stigmatized as "rebellious."

He could imagine the uproar and protests that would ensue when other Imperial forces found themselves fighting alongside such "allies."

"Two Chapter Masters, on behalf of the Inquisition, I acknowledge and thank you for stepping forward when the Empire needed support the most." He paused, his gaze shifting between the two Astartes, who exuded a bloodthirsty aura: "Especially the Blood Knights Chapter, who, despite bearing the name of treason, remained steadfast in their loyalty to the Emperor; such loyalty is truly moving."

But considering your esteemed chapter's...special reputation within the Empire, I must ask, did Chapter Master Dante give any special instructions or arrangements for this trip?

The atmosphere in the room immediately became heavy.

Sento Yorna's face, pale from prolonged thirst, twitched slightly, while Gabriel Seth clenched his fists instinctively—they both sensed the underlying concern and distrust in the judge's words.

The two battle leaders exchanged a complex look, a look that contained anger at being questioned, helplessness at being stigmatized, and a hint of worry about being ostracized again.

"Chief Dante gave us no special instructions! But we are the sons of Saint Gilles! Angelic blood flows in our veins!" Chief Seth's fist slammed heavily into his chest, producing a dull thud. "The Flesh-Tearers will wash away their shame with blood and sacrifice! They will build their glory with the heads of their enemies! The Empire and humanity will be protected by our swords!"

Commander Yor slowly raised his head, his pale face appearing particularly gloomy in the dim light.

“Your Honor, the Blood Knight requests a redemptive expedition.” He spoke slowly, a low growl seemingly suppressed in his throat, his fingers clenching slightly, knuckles cracking softly, his gaze sharp as a blade: “Give us a chance, and we will prove our loyalty with the blood of our enemies! We will not betray the blood of Saint Gilles!”

"To live up to the blood of Saint Gilles..." he repeated the words in a low voice, shaking his head, his tone tinged with helplessness, yet also revealing a hint of expectation.

“Very well, sons of Saint Gilles.” He raised his chin slightly, his gaze sharpening. “I’ll trust you this time. Prove to me that my trust in you is worthwhile.”

The air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment as both battle commanders straightened up, their eyes burning with fighting spirit.

They knew this was not just a promise of battle—it was a vow of honor and redemption.

(End of this chapter)