Chapter 31: Belisarius Cawl

"Yes, there are only the four of us left."

"Hey, I was just being poetic for a moment; don't get all emo on me."

"Right, back to business then."

Romulus shook his head with a wry smile and pulled up a chair to sit down.

"Care to guess the name of the Explorator fleet's flagship?"

"The Steel Soul?"

"That’s no fun, brother."

Romulus had been looking forward to a bit of a show-off moment.

"As far as we are concerned, there is only one member of the Adeptus Mechanicus who warrants your emphasis."

Pushing open the porthole, Ramses watched as over a dozen shadows emerged beneath the starlight.

"Who else could it be but Belisarius Cawl?"

***

The Pierre-de Sector, Little Pierre-de System.

As ripples disturbed the Mandeville point, a refined space fleet tore through the veil of reality. The safety of the Carcharodons' warp travel is truly commendable; perhaps it is the experience accumulated from years of operating in the outer reaches where the light of the Astronomican cannot reach. Even while towing a strike cruiser and a piece of Orky iron, their journey remained unscathed.

On the bridge of the *Nicor*, which had reopened as the fleet returned to realspace, Arthur, having just finished a bout of combat, stood side-by-side with Tyberos at his invitation, watching the shark.

Yes, a shark.

A great white shark from Terra.

At the very least, after the passive scanning of the creature, that was the name displayed on Arthur’s interface.

It was truly wondrous. In the vast, boundless universe, beyond his companions, he could actually find something from his own era on a ship returning from the void.

"You recognize it?"

Tyberos followed Arthur’s gaze to the great white shark in the aquarium. Long experience in combat had made him exceptionally sensitive to the presence of the Sword-Brother beside him. He was certain that Arthur’s focus was locked onto that shark.

This was a rarity, for the bridge of the *Nicor* was a massive aquarium, housing countless dangerous species from the oceans of various worlds. Many warriors invited to the bridge would be drawn to those gargantuan and terrifying predators. Yet, Arthur stared fixedly at that unremarkable great white.

In this era, almost no one knew the significance of this shark.

"It comes from Terra."

Arthur admitted it readily, a look of melancholy washing over his face.

"But the ocean that nurtured it is gone."

Arthur was genuinely saddened. Anyone who knew that the planet, once identical to his home, had become the Holy Terra of the present would feel the same sorrow.

It was the agonizing rift of traversing time and space. Even the sisters who followed at the Angel’s side were infected by this touch of grief.

"..."

Tyberos watched the figure beside him—a man he theoretically should have addressed as an elder—and felt a bit at a loss. He relaxed his grip, an impulse rising within him to wake the ten-thousand-year-old Dreadnought back home just to have someone for this guest to talk to.

He felt he was the first person to ever drive an elite Dark Angels Sword-Brother to self-imposed silence with just a few words.

"How did you come to know this title?"

Tyberos stiffly changed the subject, looking toward Kahurangi, who had just entered the bridge, for help.

"The Lord of Shadows?"

Arthur noticed his gaze.

"Yes."

"Because it once belonged to Alkas Fal."

Alkas Fal, a Terran-born Raven Guard Captain of the 30th Millennium.

Arthur, well-versed in Romulus's philosophy of speaking the truth, answered the question directly. He then nodded to Kahurangi, who had just reached his side, and departed with the sisters in tow. He knew how to read the atmosphere; now that the fleet had exited the warp, it was time for the Carcharodons to hold their internal reports, and it was not proper for him to linger here.

"..."

Kahurangi watched his daily-refreshing "gift" leave. Seeing the low-pressure aura surrounding the other party, he ultimately suppressed the urge to call Arthur back.

"Did you anger Lord Arthur, my lord?"

"...I do not know."

The two stared at each other for three seconds.

"Did you go to their Librarians again?"

"Yes."

"Still didn't learn anything?"

"Yes."

At the mention of this, Kahurangi felt ashamed. The Librarian named Ramses was very good at playing the fool. Faced with his probing, the man was airtight; despite clearly possessing profound knowledge of the warp, he remained vague on every detail. One could only say he was truly a master of the warp from that golden age.

"Let us discuss the grey tithe, my lord," Kahurangi said.

Tyberos opened a holographic projection, displaying a communication from the Mechanicus Ark.

"Magos Belisarius Cawl from Mars has agreed to accept the tax. Furthermore, the Black Templars accompanying the Archmagos have sent an invitation to us and the Deathwatch, requesting a war council to discuss purging the Drukhari xenos that have invaded the Archmagos's vessel."

"They are not the Deathwatch," Kahurangi reminded him tactfully.

Tyberos's expression remained unchanged.

"I know."

"They are Ultramarines and Blood Angels, and there may even be Imperial Fists among those iron-clad warriors," Kahurangi recounted the intelligence he had gathered.

"There is more."

Tyberos clenched his fist. The recent battles had been far too frequent, to the point where even a brief moment of ease made him feel somewhat unsettled. He began to search the Chapter's records on the Dark Angels for anyone with such a towering stature and a penchant for gladiatorial combat, but he found nothing.

No, Arthur was more like someone who chose to learn through gladiatorial combat simply to become stronger; he didn't enjoy the sport itself. He was learning the experience the sharks had accumulated over ten thousand years with astonishing speed and perseverance, rapidly adapting to this era.

"Who told you this?" Tyberos asked.

"The mortals."

Sensing that his words might cause unnecessary misunderstandings, Kahurangi added, "They never hid their origins. They merely borrowed the identity of the Deathwatch, and even went so far as to ignore the Codex to recruit Astra Militarum as mortal auxiliaries. You know as well as I do, with that level of equipment and their combat doctrine, it would be impossible to keep hidden once they entered the Imperium's view."

"As for how they store such a massive quantity of war machinery, that is likely a secret we should not seek to uncover."

"Indeed," Tyberos agreed with a nod.

The Carcharodons possessed an astonishing level of self-restraint when it came to prying into secrets. They themselves had been gifted the ancient relic known as the Void Glass by the Father of the Void; it was no great matter if these obviously extraordinary warriors possessed some form of pocket dimension.

As for the Chapter’s stolen Void Glass...

At the thought of it, a wave of a headache hit Tyberos. This annoyance quickly transformed into anger, driving him to shift his gaze toward the culprit aboard that Mechanicus Ark.

Those damned xenos.

"Reply: The Carcharodons will provide assistance."

"Then—"

Infected by this pale, cold anger, and having had the terrifying desire for slaughter within his own Raven Guard bloodline awakened, Kahurangi took a light breath and asked, "Should we notify Lord Romulus?"

"Of course."