Chapter 1015, The Meeting (Part 2)

Chapter 1015, The Meeting (Part 2)
Sitting in the hovercar arranged by the Imperial Government, Leon looked down at the Holy Terra Palace.

This place felt both familiar and strange to Leon.

The familiarity stemmed from the fact that the overall structure, layout, and style of the Terra Palace were not significantly different from what they were ten thousand years ago. He had visited many times and recognized many of the places.

This is quite poignant, yet also somewhat puzzling: Wasn't it said that ten thousand years had passed? Why hasn't the palace changed much?
It's hard to say whether the palace was built too well under the emperor's personal supervision, or whether humanity has truly made little progress in the past ten thousand years...

It's probably a combination of both.

As for the so-called unfamiliarity, it lies in the fact that among the few changes in the palace, some places are particularly conspicuous.

For example, in addition to the Empire's double-headed eagle banner, there is also a blue shield and sword banner.

That's the so-called alliance flag, right?

They've even managed to insert them into the palace?

There were also many government officials bustling about in the palace, more than in the former imperial era.

Let's take a look at the guards on duty. The main force and the most common ones are undoubtedly the imperial guards in their golden armor and red tassels. However, outside the gates of government buildings, there are some soldiers in blue helmets and silver armor doing sentry duty.

At first, Leon thought it was a Space Marine chapter that had received special permission.

Although that's not quite normal, since the Golden Knights Chapter, as a founding chapter, was stationed in Holy Terra for a long time, they weren't allowed into the palace by the Royal Guard to serve as guards. How could they possibly be a chapter they'd never seen before?
Leon still remembered just how arrogant these guys who called themselves the Emperor's personal guard were.

Could it be that their tempers have improved?
However, when he got closer and saw the blue-helmeted, silver-armored warriors on guard, he overturned his previous assumptions and was even more shocked.

Isn't that the Imperial Guard?
Just because you changed the paint job doesn't mean I don't recognize you.

But changing the paint job is clearly a bigger problem, isn't it? Is this really going against tradition? Can ancestral rules really be changed?
These places all felt completely unfamiliar to him.

However, he kept all his words to himself.

Because he had already found it unbelievable long before that.

After accepting the invitations to meet with Gu Hang and Robert, he originally thought it would take him a long time to meet his old brother and the current supreme leader of the imperial government.

After all, he knew that he was in a remote area in the southern border of the empire, and no matter what mode of travel he used, it would take at least a year to reach Holy Terra.

That was assuming everything went smoothly.

However, Dante argued that interstellar travel was not such an inconvenient thing.
He claimed that the new empire now possesses a more convenient and faster way of interstellar travel.

Although the cost of teleportation armies and the resources required for them is relatively high—it requires building a huge veiled spirit gate first, and teleportation itself consumes an enormous amount of energy—this special method is not easily used unless absolutely necessary.

However, if it's a normal message sent to an individual, a small unit, or a small fleet, it's extremely fast and convenient.

To be honest, if Dante didn't appear to be the legitimate chapter leader of the Blood Angels, whose chapter has a glorious history, Leon would never have believed it and would have considered it a clumsy hoax or a trap.

Even so, he remained highly vigilant.

He brought with him some of his guards, a group of Space Marines whom he publicly called the 'Angels of Forgiveness,' part of the Death Angels Chapter. He also brought with him some elite mortal soldiers known as the 'Lion Guard.'

A group of several thousand people crossed the Veil of Spirits, built on the surface of the planet. They arrived in Comoros.

Leon also had a fairly deep understanding of the Dark Eldar. Ten thousand years ago, the Human Empire had also left traces of its activities with the Dark Eldar, a group of space pirates who plundered everywhere.

At that time, among the enemies the Empire considered, the Dark Eldar were a relatively low priority opponent, mainly because the damage they caused was relatively less than that of other Xenomorphs. Compared to the Empire's size, they were more like flies or mosquitoes—annoying, bothersome, harmful, and even disease-causing, but not deadly.

Of course, if that's the case, and you can easily swat the mosquito to death, then you should definitely swat it.

The key point is that their strength isn't really that insignificant. They are just few in number and don't have much desire to expand in the real universe. If a real war breaks out, they can still be very strong if they gather a large force in a single region. Moreover, it's extremely difficult to track them down, making a direct confrontation unrealistic.

In the few large-scale battles fought against the Dark Eldar, the Eldar seized opportunities to bully humanity with local superior forces; but rarely were they able to seize opportunities to besiege them with superior forces.

It's because of their mysterious and unpredictable homeland, the Comoros.

When Leon was still active ten thousand years ago, he envisioned many extermination plans for various human enemies, including the Dark Eldar.

Unfortunately, even he couldn't find a way to eliminate this powerful remnant of the overlord clan.

However, unexpectedly, it has now been conquered by a new empire.

It's not just about conquering.

In Comoros, he encountered a considerable number of Dark Eldar.

They were clearly in a state of some kind of enslavement.

While the Empire's general policy dictates that aliens should be exterminated, a more flexible approach can be taken with those possessing special technology or uses.

At least Leon wasn't as obsessed as some of the conservatives in the Empire.

He only cautiously assessed the reliability of these technologies and instinctively pondered their potential effects in warfare when using the Veil Spirit Gate for rapid spatial travel.

The more I think about it, the more reliable the alliance's move seems.

Although he still couldn't understand how Gu Hang had managed to conquer Comoros, the result was already before him, making him even more curious about the upcoming meetings with Gu Hang and Robert.

The meeting happened much faster than expected.

When he arrived in Holy Terra and took a hovercar into the reception room of a palace now used as the Prime Minister's residence, Robert and Gu Hang were already sitting there.

Gu Hang maintained his composure, smiling and reservedly welcoming Leon to take his seat.

Leon's gaze, however, was fixed on Robert.

"You... haven't changed at all."

“You’ve aged a lot,” Robert replied.

(End of this chapter)