Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 105 The Secret of the Second Legion

Inside the palace, Nimrod, sitting on the throne, looked at the two warriors coming over wearing amber armor, their shoulder armor was green.

Their most distinctive feature is the strange gray substance smeared on their faces, making them look ghostly.

Standing in the palace are the Shadows of Order who were selected from various chapters to serve as the Honor Guard. Even with superhuman perception, their faces cannot be discerned.

The mysterious gray substance naturally could not block the Primarch's perception.

Nimrod keenly noticed that their cheekbones grew slightly outward, and there were signs of bulge at the junction of the forehead and parietal bone. Most noteworthy was that the muscle fibers from their temples to the mandibular angles showed obvious signs of calcification.

He tapped his fingers on the back of the chair, thinking silently.

[Smeared with ash, that's why they call themselves the Faceless Ones.

Is it to cover up the change in facial appearance?

Hmm, muscle fiber calcification, how does this relate to the characteristics of the Second Primarch and the future erasure of records by the Empire?]
Nimrod pondered for a moment but to no avail; what he saw now was not enough for him to draw any conclusions.

The two faceless men came before the throne and bowed.

The faceless man standing on the left, with a power sword and a bolt pistol on his waist, opened his mouth to reveal a mouthful of sharp tiger-like teeth.

"Primarch, I am Captain Suarez of the Second Legion, reporting to you."

The faceless man with long hair standing on the right, carrying a grenade rifle, followed up.

"Sir, I am Erlin, the Second Captain of the Second Legion, and I await your orders."

Nimrod, who had already decided to find a way to annex the Second Legion, immediately showed his enthusiasm.

"Welcome, Faceless One."

The two Faceless Men were surprised by the Primarch's enthusiasm and bowed in response, flattered.

Nimrod smiled and said, "No need to be so formal."

"I'd like to be briefed on the Second Legion's situation."

Suarez immediately reported, "Sir, the Second Legion currently has a total of 22 Faceless Men, all concentrated in the nd Fleet."

"The 22nd Fleet currently has 24 warships of various classes, and the flagship is the battleship Ashes."

Nimrod noticed that Suarez did not mention that there were fixed solar auxiliary troops to cooperate with the Second Legion in combat.

He said in a thoughtful and curious tone.

"The gray material applied to your faces is very special."

Suarez was well prepared and answered calmly.

"My Lord, 22-1, the first world we conquered, was a volcanic ash world, which is how the Legion's flagship got its name."

"In that world, we discovered a special kind of volcanic ash. When applied to our faces, it makes us look like ghosts and intimidates our enemies."

"Later, applying this volcanic ash became our custom, and that's why we called ourselves the Faceless Men."

Nimrod nodded slightly. Although the captain responded calmly, the Primarch keenly sensed that he seemed to be deliberately concealing something.

His eyes were deep, his awareness spread to the two of them, and he asked at the same time.

"What is the current command structure of the Second Legion?"

Nimrod's consciousness circled around the two people's bodies, searching for the door to their hearts.

The will of the Astartes is stronger than that of mortals, and reading their minds is more difficult, but not impossible.

"According to the Military Code, the Second Legion's command structure is composed of companies and squads. Currently, there are ten companies..."

As Suarez spoke, Nimrod locked onto the door to Erlin's mind. It was like a pot lid, churning with the breath of death.

"...Each company commander's guard is composed of dozens of Faceless Men of varying numbers." Nimrod's consciousness flashed, and he turned into a smell of rotten corpses, seeping into the second company commander's mind.

The Primarch's consciousness flew through Erlin's mind, passing through one ball of light after another. He saw what was happening in the 22-1 world in a green ball of light.

After the warrior in amber armor defeated the centipede-shaped alien, a hungry warrior grabbed the alien corpse that was being roasted on the edge of the volcano and exuded an alluring aroma.

He drooled and tore into the centipede alien's corpse with big mouthfuls.

As if infected, all those wearing amber armor rushed towards the alien's corpse.

Nimrod frowned slightly, and the first thing that came to his mind was the Ninth Legion known as the Ghouls.

But then, he keenly discovered the difference between the two. The defect in the genes of Sanguinius' descendants was "blood thirst". They sucked blood instead of meat.

The Faceless Men are not picky about food, they eat both blood and flesh.

[Although Sanguinius was worried that the Blood Angels' secret of sucking blood would be discovered by Old Man Huang, which would lead to the Ninth Legion being wiped out like the Second and Eleventh Legions.

But in Old Man Huang's heart, there is only humanity as a whole. Individuals are not so important in his heart, or they can be sacrificed.

So, will the Second Legion be wiped out for feasting on corpses?]
Nimrod continued to examine Erlin's memory with doubts.

He then discovered that the Faceless Men did not eat all corpses, they only ate alien corpses.

He was drawn to something Erling said when he was teaching the new recruits to adopt this cultural habit.

"Remember, we only eat xenomorphs. They're like livestock in captivity."

"It's not just because we're human and can't eat our own kind, it's also because of our special abilities."

"Every alien you eat will not only reveal their weaknesses, allowing you to better exterminate them, but it will also enhance your own strength, speed, or even cheekbones. Anything is possible."

"This improvement is very slight, but if you eat enough, you will notice a noticeable change."

Nimrod noticed that the Faceless Men had put themselves through rigorous testing, and their improvement was not due to a preference for gnawing on alien corpses, but rather a beautified illusion; their physical fitness had indeed improved slightly.

He also understood the changes in the appearance of the two faceless men and their concealment. It turned out that they were all changes caused by gnawing on the aliens, he couldn't help but think to himself.

Is this the special ability of the Primarch of the Second Legion? The ability to eat, digest, and evolve?

Was it given to them by Old Man Huang, allowing them to devour all the aliens and exterminate them, or was it an ability hidden in a genetic defect like the Blood Angels?]
Nimrod knew that the Blood Angels would be in better condition after drinking blood. The exhausted Imperial hero Dante clearly felt it after drinking the blood of the Blood Servant.

As he gathered his consciousness, he thought of the Ascetics, a division of the Ultramarines that was spun off during the Second Founding of the Army. They had adopted the primitive tribal customs of their home world, Bosur.

After the battle, the ascetic will drink the enemy's blood, eat the enemy's flesh, and cut off the enemy's head as a trophy.

[Could the Ascetic's gene-seed have come from the Second Legion, which was absorbed into the Thirteenth Legion?

Could it be that the Primarch of the Second Legion had changed due to long-term consumption of alien corpses, and was considered corrupt by Old Man Huang and thus wiped out?

The original plan was to exterminate the aliens by eating them, but in the end, I became the alien. Didn’t that go too far?]
As Ningluo focused his consciousness, he couldn't help but think, what would have happened if the Second Legion had not been destroyed and encountered the Tyranids, and they devoured each other.

[It's probably still not as efficient as bugs, but the image is quite funny.]
Ningluo gathered his thoughts and began to revise his previous plan to exert influence on the Second Legion.

He originally wanted to bring the Faceless Men with him and influence them subtly.

In this way, when Old Man Huang chooses the affiliation of the Second Legion in the future, he will take into account the difficulty and time of integration and absorption.

But now he has rejected this plan. He does not want the 11th Legion to be influenced by the zombie culture.

The Faceless Men conceal the secret that they devour aliens, do not like to fight together, and would feel inconvenienced if they acted together.

When Nimrod thought of this, he had a new plan in his mind.

"You will rest first. Ten sidereal days from now, all company commanders will come to attend my legion's strategic meeting."

"I will issue the order then."

(End of this chapter)