[Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe] stood in the crowd, his face as white as a sheet of paper.
His lips were trembling uncontrollably.
In the [Wings of Freedom Regional Chat], he spammed in total panic:
[Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe]: "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!! Bros!! I think I'm dead!!"
[Konnichiwa Slaanesh-chan]: "...Yeah, we can tell."
[I Just Like Sleeping In]: "Good luck, bro. You flew too close to the sun on this one."
[Number One Handsome of the Soul Hall]: "Heh heh heh... [All According to Plan] explicitly told you not to randomly change the plan, but you just wouldn't listen."
[Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe]: "How the hell was I supposed to know they augmented their actual bodies too?? My psychic sense didn't pick up a damn thing!!"
[Blue Pigeon Knows Nothing]: "Is it possible... that your psychic powers are just absolute garbage?"
[Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe]: "..."
--
Fabius slowly raised his head.
He looked directly at [Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe] standing in the crowd, a bone-deep, glacial fury entering his gloomy eyes for the very first time.
This mortal...
This mortal had truly screwed him over this time.
Meeting that gaze, [Are You Sure This Melon Is Ripe] felt as if someone had just ruthlessly crushed his heart.
But before he could even process a reaction, a cold voice drifted up from the examination table.
It was faint, yet carried an ironclad resolve.
"Lord... Fabius..."
[Selling Flatbreads at the Terra Palace Gates] lay in a pool of his own blood, his chest and abdomen split wide open, his organs and mechanical architecture completely exposed to the air.
But his eyes remained wide open, staring dead ahead at the Apothecary standing over him.
"Do... do you need... to continue... the examination?"
Every word was squeezed out through gritted teeth.
He was using his last ounce of strength to defend the honor of the Iron Hands.
Quite a few of the surrounding Emperor's Children Astartes lowered their heads.
The flames of fury were already burning in Saul Tarvitz's eyes.
He stared hard at the body on the platform, at the exposed mechanical organs, at those two perfectly intact geneseeds.
He hadn't misjudged them.
Gabriel Santar was the real deal.
The Iron Hands' support was genuine.
And he, Saul Tarvitz, had chosen to believe them when everyone else was casting doubt on this company.
He snapped his head up, glaring at Fabius who was preparing to continue cutting. His voice was freezing cold:
"Enough."
"Fabius."
Those words detonated like a thunderclap across the camp gates.
Fabius's movements froze.
He slowly raised his head to look at Tarvitz.
"The results of the examination are perfectly clear." Tarvitz enunciated every word with heavy emphasis. "Are you going to continue torturing our brother?"
Fabius's lips parted, as if to speak.
But no words came out.
Because he had already seen the looks from everyone around him.
The gazes of those Emperor's Children Astartes.
They had gone from initial suspicion to coldness, from coldness to anger, and from anger to some kind of... profound disappointment.
The disappointment of looking at one of their own.
Fabius slowly retracted the mechanical arms. The scalpel and micro-drills were still dripping with fresh blood.
He looked at the mangled body on the platform, and for the first time, sheer terror crept into his gloomy eyes.
Not the fear of death.
But the fear of a ruined reputation.
He knew that no matter how today ended, his name was completely shot.
He was the Chief Apothecary of the Emperor's Children, deeply respected by countless Astartes.
But from this day forward, everyone would remember...
That he, Fabius Bile, had personally vivisected a loyal Iron Hands warrior without a single shred of hard evidence.
All because of a mortal's report.
His lips trembled as he muttered to himself:
"Impossible... this is impossible..."
His gaze swept over the body on the platform, over the mechanical organs exposed to the air, over those two perfectly intact geneseeds.
"It must just be this one warrior who underwent the augmentations!"
His voice suddenly spiked, tinged with manic hysteria:
"Right! That must be it!"
"He's the only one in your company who has mechanical augments! The rest of you are all flesh and blood!"
Just then, an icy voice rang out.
The voice wasn't loud, but it instantly silenced the entire camp entrance.
"Lord Fabius."
Paul spoke slowly, his cold, hard face completely expressionless.
"Are you still not satisfied?"
His gaze swept past Fabius and Lucius, finally settling on the still-trembling body on the platform.
"My brother, Simon Hart, has been tortured into this state by you."
His voice carried a bone-piercing chill.
"And you still need to continue your examinations, is that it?"
"Fine! We'll indulge you!"
Fabius opened his mouth, but couldn't get a sound out.
Paul turned his head, looking at the four hundred and ninety-nine silver-grey figures behind him.
"Julian Montgomery."
"Step forward."
[Selling Cola at the Terra Palace Gates]'s heart skipped a violent beat.
But he didn't hesitate for a second.
His silver-grey power armor gleamed coldly in the twilight as he stepped out of formation, his strides unwavering.
He walked up to Paul's side, slamming his right fist against his breastplate with a muffled metallic crash:
"Commander Gabriel, Julian Montgomery present."
Paul gave a slight nod.
Then he looked at Fabius, and at the bleeding body on the platform, his voice terrifyingly calm.
"Take my brother, Simon Hart, off the table."
"And then you lay down. Let Lord Fabius dissect you until he is fully satisfied."
[Selling Cola at the Terra Palace Gates] nodded and walked toward the platform.
He looked down at the familiar face on the table...
The face was pale from blood loss and sheer agony, but his eyes were still open, still carrying a stubborn glint.
"Simon..."
His voice was shaking.
He crouched down, reaching out both hands to gently support the mangled body.
"Simon Hart... my dear brother..."
"Are... are you okay?"
[Selling Flatbreads at the Terra Palace Gates] slowly opened his eyes.
He looked at [Selling Cola at the Terra Palace Gates], and a faint smile actually surfaced in his eyes.
"I'm okay... brother..."
His voice was weak, but still carried an ironclad resolve:
"It's fine... brother..."
"You just have to endure the pain..."
"One day... our father..."
"Will seek justice... for us..."
[Selling Cola at the Terra Palace Gates]'s eyes grew red.
He carefully lifted the broken body off the platform, walked step by step to a clean cot nearby, and gently laid him down.
Then he turned around and walked back to the examination table.
He pulled off his helmet.
Revealing a young face marked with a resolute expression.
He removed his power armor.
The silver-grey armor plates were taken off piece by piece, exposing the heavily scarred, muscular physique underneath.
He stepped up to the diagnostic platform and lay down.
Then he looked up at Fabius.
A steel-like determination burned in his eyes.
"Bring it on."
His voice was calm, yet carried an undeniable strength:
"A warrior of the Iron Hands..."
"Never fears any challenge..."
"Never fears any pain..."
He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.
That young face was set with ironclad resolve.
And just before closing his eyes, his lips moved slightly, murmuring the ancient oath of the Iron Hands Legion:
"Steel and the sacred are eternal."
"Flesh is a shackle, steel is liberation..."
"Only steel can bear the weight of eternal war..."
"For the Gorgon... for Medusa..."
The voice was soft, but it slammed into everyone's hearts like a sledgehammer.
His young face looked calm and solemn in the twilight.
As if he wasn't about to face a vivisection, but a holy ritual.
--
Bonus chapter at 200 Powerstones.
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