Warhammer 40K in a box

Chapter 483 Loken's New Mission
Time passed amidst heavy breathing and congealed bloodstains.

Hours later, in a secret chamber hidden deep within the Ash Knights Chapter's monastery.

The air here is cold, filled with the smells of metal, incense, ozone, and a faint trace of promethium fuel.

The stark white emergency lights shone through the sturdy overhead grille, casting Chen Xi's solemn figure onto the cold, metallic wall, making him appear like a judge.

Gavial Loken leaned against a cold wall engraved with the Imperial Eagle emblem.

He is no longer on the verge of collapse, but more like a war machine that is still in fierce internal conflict and has been forcibly stopped.

The power armor was covered in dents and scratches from the battle, and the damaged servers emitted intermittent groans.

The helmet had long been discarded; sweat, blood, and deep pain etched deep lines on his face.

His face was wiped clean of sweat and blood, but his sunken eye sockets and taut lips still bore the marks of extreme pain and exhaustion.

Several large sedative needles were still inserted near the nerve interfaces in his neck and arms, and small amounts of the drug were continuously pumped in, forcibly suppressing the rage that was almost burning away his reason.

Each breath was accompanied by excruciating pain, as if his ribs were breaking, but he refused to sit down, his chest still heaving violently under the influence of the medication.

Those bloodshot eyes stared intently at Chen Xi, their silent questioning like flames forcibly imprisoned in a furnace.

The hatred, accumulated over millennia, was temporarily sealed by the cold reality and the emperor's will, but it was not extinguished. At this moment, it was mixed with a deeper confusion suppressed by drugs and a sense of powerlessness that was almost humiliating.

Chen Xi gave him no chance to catch his breath. He walked straight up to Loken, close enough that the latter could feel the crushing force of that will, originating from psionic energy and as heavy as a mountain.

“Gavial Loken,” Chen Xi’s voice was low and cold, each word like a hammer striking a red-hot metal ingot, reverberating in the frigid air: “You’ve lost control. In the heart of the chapter, to openly attack the senior administrative secretary of the governor’s office—whatever ancient hatred is etched into your soul, this act itself is a blatant trampling on the ironclad laws of the Empire and the order of the chapter!”

Loken's Adam's apple bobbed violently, as if he wanted to refute that it was by no means "administrative secretary," but rather... However, the chaotic fog in his mind caused by the subversion of his identity and the strong sedative was still churning.

Chen Xi raised his hand, a simple gesture that carried an undeniable will, like an invisible force lock, forcibly suppressing any possible roar from Loken's throat.

His gaze was sharp as a probe, as if it could directly scan the flaws in one's soul.

“I know what you ‘sensed’—that throbbing originating from your genetic seed, that eternal wound of loyalty and betrayal etched deep within steel and flesh.” Chen Xi’s voice carried an absolute certainty, as if he had seen right to the core. “But listen carefully, Company Commander Loken: what you resonate with is not the fallen shadow that wielded the ‘Worldbreaker’ on the walls of Terra, dragging the Empire into an abyss of eternal damnation.”

Standing before you is Hathor Lupeka.

He paused deliberately, letting the name "Hasor Lupeka" echo in the deathly silent chamber, as if forging a new definition.

“She is the vessel that carries Horus Lupecal’s genetic imprint, fragments of memory, and unfinished mission of redemption.” Chen Xi’s words were precise and cold. “The Emperor’s will see through everything, knows of her existence, and has given her the sole permission to atone for the Empire’s sins and fight for the survival of humanity.”

"This is the will of Terra! It is a supreme command that transcends your personal hatred and mortal understanding!" "'The will of Terra'..." Loken repeated hoarsely, his voice muffled by the tranquilizer, the bloodlust in his eyes fluctuating violently under the impact of the ultimate title "The Emperor's Will".

However, the deep-seated vigilance and distrust of the "source" that originates from the depths of the genes is as stubborn as a core of refined gold and cannot be easily extinguished by drugs or words.

“Exactly!” Chen Xi’s voice suddenly rose, and the invisible psionic pressure intensified instantly, causing Loken to gasp for breath. “Your loyalty, your pain, your doubts—all of this is known to the Emperor and His representative of the will!”
But what the Empire needs are not berserkers whose reason has been consumed by hatred, who destroy their own walls, but warriors who can distinguish friend from foe in the Dark Ages, protect the flame of revolution, and accurately detect potential threats!

He took another step forward, and the oppressive feeling emanating from the psionic energy almost squeezed Loken into the cold adamantite wall behind him.

"Therefore, I bestow upon you a new mission, Company Commander Loken... no, I should call you the Last Shadowmoon Wolf!" Chen Xi's voice was resolute, carrying an irresistible final command, "Put away your pointless, blind killing intent that could destroy valuable combat power! Transform it! Transform it into the cold gaze of supervision and scrutiny!"

Loken looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with a chaotic tension of intense conflict, as if the gears of his soul were being forcibly engaged and about to shatter.

"You are appointed as the 'adjutant' of Hathor Lupeka's training team—just as you did ten thousand years ago." Chen Xi uttered the title clearly, as if engraving an unalterable instruction on the battle group's dossier. "Your duty is to observe her closely! To examine her with your most rigorous, discerning gaze, steeped in the bloodshed of the battlefield and logical analysis!"

Examine whether every command she issues aligns with the survival of the Empire! Examine whether every tactical decision she makes maximizes the service of the Chapter and humanity!
This will test whether her so-called 'will to redeem' is strong enough, worthy of the power she bears and the authority of the 'Primarch,' in the face of the whispers of chaos, immense pressure, and the temptation of power!

Chen Xi's gaze was like a sharp sword, burning into Loken's soul: "I want you to monitor her! Use your eyes, soaked in the blood of the battlefield and the pain of millennia, to scrutinize her without stopping! Scrutinize whether every one of her orders is in line with the survival of the Empire! Scrutinize whether every one of her tactical decisions serves the Chapter and humanity to the greatest extent possible!"
We must also examine whether her so-called 'will to redeem' wavered when faced with whispers of chaos, immense pressure, and the temptation of power! Is the power she carries sliding towards the edge of the abyss?

"Your hatred is the sword of Damocles hanging over her head!" Chen Xi's voice was like a cold judgment. "It will become the last line of defense to protect the empire and prevent that ancient sin from repeating itself! This is an order, Gavial Loken! In the name of the Emperor and the Governor!"

The secret room fell into a deathly silence.

Only the faint electrical hum of the emergency lights on the walls, the discordant buzzing of the server, Loken's still heavy breathing despite being forcibly suppressed by drugs, and the thunderous power contained in Chen Xi's words echoed between the cold, adamantine walls.

The immense inner conflict nearly tore Loken apart.

On one side is the deep-seated resentment, the distrust born of genetic instinct, and the pride of warriors; on the other side is the supreme command of the "Emperor's Oracle" and the immense pressure exerted by Chen Xi.

After a long, suffocating silence, Loken nodded very slowly and heavily.

He didn't speak, but the deep, blood-red rage in his eyes, which had been lowered and then raised again, had not been extinguished.

It was merely forcibly compressed, packaged, and transformed, refined into a cold, piercing, and perpetually restless form of surveillance and suspicion.

This gaze will constantly scan his own tormented core, and it will also constantly scan the target he is ordered to "evaluate"—Hasor Lupeka.

"Yes, Your Excellency..." The hoarse voice, like the static from a damaged communicator, announced the beginning of a new, imposed, and dangerous duty.

(End of this chapter)