Inside the palace, Nareth sat upon his throne, gazing at two warriors clad in amber-colored power armor with green pauldrons approaching him.
Their most striking feature was the eerie gray paste smeared across their faces, making them resemble ghosts.
Even the Shadow of Order Honor Guard, drawn from elite warriors across the Chapters and with their inherited senses, couldn't discern their true faces beneath the paste.
Of course, such disguises were meaningless before the perception of a Primarch.
Nareth's gaze sharpened. He immediately noticed subtle abnormalities: slightly protruding cheekbones, a raised ridge at the junction of the forehead and crown, and most notably, muscle calcification along the temples and jawline.
He tapped his finger lightly on the throne, deep in thought.
'The gray paste, this must be why they call themselves the "Faceless."… To conceal their mutations? Hmm. Calcified muscle fibers… Could this be linked to the nature of their lost Primarch? Or the reason their Legion was purged from the records of the Imperium?'
For now, the evidence was insufficient.
The two Faceless warriors now knelt before the throne.
The one on the left, armed with a power sword and bolt pistol at his hip, bared a mouth full of tiger-like fangs.
"Primarch, I am Suárez, First Company Captain of the Second Legion. I report at your command."
The one on the right, long-haired and carrying a bolter on his back, followed:
"My lord, I am Erling, Second Company Captain of the Second Legion. I await your commands."
Nareth, having already decided to absorb the Second Legion, immediately adopted a warm and welcoming tone.
"Welcome, Faceless."
The two were visibly shocked by the Primarch's hospitality and bowed deeply, flustered but honored.
"No need for formalities," Nareth said with a smile. "I'd like a briefing on the current status of the Second Legion."
Suárez quickly responded:
"My lord, the Second Legion currently consists of 10,424 Faceless warriors, all stationed within the 22nd Fleet."
"The 22nd Fleet includes 24 warships of various classes, with the Ashes as our flagship."
Nareth noted that Suárez made no mention of support regiments from Solar Auxilia, an omission that piqued his curiosity.
"That gray material on your faces… It's quite unusual," he said, with feigned casualness.
Suárez, clearly prepared, answered smoothly:
"My lord, our first conquest was World 22-1, a volcanic ash world, hence the name of our flagship."
"There, we discovered a unique volcanic ash. When applied to our faces, it made us look like ghosts, intimidating our enemies."
"The custom stuck, and we began calling ourselves the Faceless."
Nareth gave a slight nod. Suárez's answer was confident, but Nareth sensed something concealed beneath it.
His gaze darkened, and as he questioned them further, his consciousness began to probe.
"What is the current command structure of the Second Legion?"
As Nareth's awareness encircled the two warriors, he sought access to their minds.
Reading an Astartes' mind is far harder than reading a mortal's, but not impossible.
"According to the Principia Belicosa, we're organized into companies and squads," Suárez began.
"There are currently ten companies…"
As Suárez spoke, Nareth locked onto Erling's mental gate, a strange, lid-like construct exuding the stench of death.
"…each captain is accompanied by a varying number of Faceless guards…"
Nareth's consciousness transformed into a rot-scented mist and seeped into Erling's mind.
Within, his awareness raced through floating orbs of memory, until one green orb revealed the events of World 22-1.
An amber-armored warrior had just slain a centipede-like xeno. Starving, he tore off its roasted, steaming flesh at the volcano's edge and began devouring it.
Drooling, he ripped and chewed through the alien corpse with frenzied hunger.
Then, as if infected, other Faceless warriors rushed in to feast as well.
Nareth frowned.
He was reminded of the infamous Ninth Legion, the Flesh Eaters.
But he noticed a key difference.
'Sanguinius's flaw: The Red Thirst, bloodlust. The Blood Angels drink blood, but they don't eat flesh. The Faceless? They devour everything, blood, meat, bones.'
'Sanguinius feared the Ninth Legion would be purged like the Second and Eleventh if their secret was exposed. But the Emperor only cared about humanity as a whole; he would sacrifice individuals as needed. Was the Second Legion erased for cannibalizing corpses?'
Digging deeper, Nareth discovered that the Faceless only ate xenos corpses, not all dead.
One particular memory stood out: Erling training new recruits.
"Remember, we only consume xenos. They are livestock, nothing more."
"It's not just that we're human and must not eat our own kind. We do it because of our special ability."
"Each alien you consume teaches you how to kill its kind more efficiently, and empowers you, you might gain strength, speed, or… well, even these bony cheekbones. Anything can happen."
"The gains are small. But if you eat enough, you'll start noticing the difference."
Nareth realized: they weren't just savages with a taste for meat. The gains were real, physiological enhancement through xeno consumption.
He now understood their facial mutations and the reason for hiding them; xeno devouring had caused it.
'Could this be the Second Primarch's "gift"? The power to consume, digest, and evolve?
Was this granted by the Emperor, to wipe out alien species by devouring them? Or… was it a latent genetic flaw, like the Blood Angels' thirst?'
He recalled how the Blood Angels felt rejuvenated after drinking blood. Even the tired hero Dante was visibly energized by blood consumption.
He also thought of the Penitent Chapter, formed from Ultramarines in the Second Founding, who embraced ritual cannibalism after adopting the customs of their primitive homeworld, Bosul.
'Could the Mortifactors gene-seed have come from Second Legion remnants absorbed into the 13th Legion? Did the Second Legion mutate over time from devouring xenos, and did the Emperor see it as degeneration? Was the original plan to eat xenos into extinction, only for them to turn into the monsters they hunted?'
As Nareth withdrew his consciousness, a bizarre thought occurred:
'If the Second Legion had survived to face the Tyranids… what would've happened in that mutual feast? They'd still lose, but what a sight that would be.'
He re-centered his mind and began revising his original strategy.
Originally, he had intended to bring the Faceless close, subtly influencing them and gradually integrating them into the Eleventh Legion.
That way, when the Emperor reviewed the status of the Second, he might be inclined to merge them based on cohesion.
But now, Nareth rejected that plan.
He didn't want the Eleventh Legion contaminated by corpse-eating culture.
The Faceless had kept their cannibalism secret, disliked joint operations, and would surely be difficult to manage in integration.
With that, Nareth formulated a new approach.
"You may rest for now. In ten standard solar days, all company captains are to attend the Eleventh Legion's strategic meeting."
"I will issue my orders then."
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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