Seraphs of the Emperor’s Judgment

Chapter 78: Aeldari

Sol easily dodged the creature's charge. As it overshot and attempted to turn back toward him, his Bolt Pistol spoke first.

Bang bang bang!

Three explosive bolts detonated inside the giant lizard's mouth, blowing its entire tongue to pieces. Yet, this giant lizard did not die, its blood-filled maw still snapping viciously at this detestable hunk of iron.

But what met it was a cold longsword.

With a flash of cold light, a brilliant spark cleaved through the air.

Even Sol's sword could not immediately pierce the giant beast's scale armor. Enraged, the lizard immediately whipped its head around to bite again.

However, the Space Marine noticed a deep groove on the lizard's neck, one that had even cracked the scales apart.

It was a weak point.

He dodged the lizard's pounce and brought his sword down once more.

After blood sprayed out, the monster's head was completely severed from its neck. It charged forward for nearly another hundred meters before crashing to the ground."There's no need for stealth anymore!"

Soshyan said as he charged into the open. He saw Sol pull something from the monster's severed neck. It was a blood-stained collar—this beast was kept as a pet.

"I... think I've seen this kind of dragon-beast before."

Sol frowned slightly, unable to recall it at the moment.

At this time, Soshyan noticed that the squad had arrived at a broad, oval plaza surrounded by those bizarre glowing structures. Dominating the center of the plaza was a purely ornamental stone archway, carved with some sort of xenos script he had seen in the Imperium's Xenos Threat Assessment.

It was Aeldari script!

Seeing this script, Sol finally remembered where he had seen this kind of dragon-beast before.

The Aeldari, also known as the Eldar, were one of the alien races humanity had encountered early on. Records concerning them could often be found throughout humanity's long history.

The Aeldari are actually very similar to humans, though not entirely identical.

Their limbs are longer and more slender, possessing flawless facial features, elegant almond-shaped eyes, and more pointed ears.

At first glance, unless observed deliberately, it is very difficult to distinguish between Aeldari and humans.

But the most obvious difference between humans and Aeldari lies more in their movements.

Because Aeldari movements are delicate and graceful, humans find this elegance extremely difficult to imitate. Of course, humans often claim that such useless little gestures cause the Aeldari to waste most of their lives.

However, regarding lifespan, the Aeldari can easily live for over a thousand years, which seems to afford them more room for "wasting."

The Aeldari mind, though similar to that of a normal human, is developed to a degree far surpassing humanity's.

As a highly sensitive race to psychic power, Aeldari also experience emotions far more intensely than humans. Although they can feel sorrow or joy just like humans, their emotional experiences can be much more extreme.

This has also become a curse flowing through their species' veins.

Aeldari history is incredibly complex and ancient. They have existed for so long that data regarding their physiological evolution and origins are exceedingly scarce.

Regarding their original homeworld, it is only known that it was destroyed in a cataclysmic civilization-ending event known as the Fall of the Aeldari.

The surviving Aeldari civilization preserved most of their history in the form of traditional tales, songs, and dances. Other written records, monuments, and visual recordings were almost entirely destroyed in that disaster, with only a few preserved aboard gigantic starships that fled their doomed planets.

Although the exact location of the Aeldari homeworld remains unclear, scholars of the Imperium speculate that it is very likely situated in a region of the galaxy known as the Eye of Terror.

This ring-shaped, eye-like region is located approximately ten thousand light-years northeast of Terra.

The Aeldari believe that in the very ancient past, their homeworld and their ancient civilization once covered the entire Eye of Terror. But during the subsequent Age of Fall, the forces of Chaos claimed that entire spatial domain.

To this day, the Eye of Terror is the largest region in all known areas of the galaxy where the Warp overlaps with realspace.

There are no habitable planets within the Eye of Terror. Perhaps the secrets of the Aeldari's past still remain there, waiting to be rediscovered, but every Aeldari unanimously avoids that place as much as possible.

Because there dwells the archenemy of their entire race, and the root of all their curses.

The Chaos God, Slaanesh.

"It seems those bizarre arachnid creatures must also be alien xenomorphs brought by the Aeldari. No wonder there are no local records of them, but why are they..."

Hearing Sol muttering to himself, Soshyan was suddenly astonished.

"There are actually Aeldari here?"

He looked out and noticed that the moss on the plaza had significantly diminished, revealing more of the original, true paving and the complex patterns upon it. Soshyan wasn't surprised to find that these patterns resembled an extremely intricate labyrinth.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire shattered the silence, followed by the sound of running footsteps.

A man, his clothes so tattered he was practically naked, dashed out from the complex of buildings. He constantly looked back over his shoulder as he ran, appearing utterly panic-stricken.

Seeing a group of Astartes, he changed direction and ran toward these Angels, gesturing wildly all the while.

"Run!"

He screamed.

"They are right behi—"

Before he could finish, his head exploded, and his body slid forward a few more meters after collapsing.

Without needing any further urging, the Astartes immediately found cover and concealed themselves.

A short while later, an Aeldari appeared.

It wore a chameleon cloak that blurred its silhouette. The uniquely designed, elegantly contoured long-barreled rifle in its hands was still aimed at the dead man.

It didn't seem to notice the Space Marines; it simply walked over to the corpse, crouched down, and inspected it.

Soon, a second Aeldari warrior arrived to regroup, standing to the side and watching.

The first looked up and began conversing with its counterpart in the flowing, melodic Aeldari language, but Soshyan couldn't understand it.

Then, the first Aeldari pulled out a silver sphere.

The second Aeldari nodded upon seeing it.

"That's a grenade! They spotted us a long time ago!"

Sol's stern voice instantly exploded over the comm channel, and he was the first to charge out of cover.

Seeing its ploy exposed, the first Aeldari raised its rifle again with superhuman agility.

But before it could pull the trigger, Sol dodged to the side just in time.

In the next second, a high-speed spinning monomolecular disc shrieked through the air, missing the torso of the Emperor's Children by mere half-seconds.

The power of Aeldari weapons was tremendous. Against them, the defense offered by Astartes Power Armor was, for the most part, highly limited. Had Sol taken that hit just now, he would have been severely wounded, if not killed outright.

Immediately following that was an explosion.

Aware of the Aeldari's sharp reflexes, Soshyan bypassed other options and directly lobbed a Krak Grenade.

The grenade detonated near the first Aeldari. Although it dodged the majority of the blast wave with incredible speed, some of the residual force still struck the Aeldari's back.

As it collapsed to the ground spitting blood, its companion also raised its weapon, beginning to return fire just as Soshyan ducked back into cover.

"Armin, covering fire!"

Upon receiving the order, Armin and the other six warriors simultaneously aimed their weapons at that Aeldari.

In an instant, a torrential storm of bullets blanketed the slender figure.

Yet, the other party ducked and dodged with extreme agility, managing to evade every single one of those deadly explosive bolts as it retreated toward the bushes at the plaza's edge.

But while she was busy dealing with the bolter fire, Soshyan had already begun his sprint, the Holy Flame Sword in his hand blooming with the magnificent luster of death.

(End of Chapter)