Warhammer: Filial Piety Makes Power

Chapter 24, Second Legion (Dark Souls II)

"Father, won't sending Rambo and the others to Qatar cause some problems?"

"What problem could there be? I don't think you understand at all!"

At this moment, the group was resting in the upper bar of the Abomination Exemplar. Upon hearing their father's reply, the Space Marines gathered around and expertly ordered drinks. Clearly, it was time for their father to tell a story again.

Under the embarrassed expression of the bartender Tom, Mordred, feeling dizzy from days of experiments, gulped down a mouthful of orange juice and said:
"What do you think I did before I returned to the Legion? Let me tell you, it took me eight years to unify the Dogman tribe, but it took me less than four years to unify the entire Tranquility. And at least half of the credit for those last four years goes to the Dogman."

The Atlas understood that the Tranquil World, as a wildlife park of the dark age of technology, was home to many monstrous plants and animals. Apart from its excellent natural environment, it could be described as a mini-Catachan.

Without armor, they might not be able to beat those leisurely roaming chickens, after all, those chickens are nearly four meters tall, can fly and run, and can peck through terracotta with one beak.

As for those exploding toads and one-punch mushrooms, they can only be eliminated with long-range firepower, so why does it take longer to unify a tribe than to unify a planet?
Seeing that his offspring knew the dangers of the wild animals in their hometown, Mordred then recounted a past event that made people question the meaning of life.

"Don't think that Rambo has gained my favor because he's one of my old subordinates. I'm a fair man. Although these dogs are lazy and greedy, they're really capable. Putting everything else aside, could you command tens of thousands of Oglin soldiers?"

Everyone shook their heads. Let alone commanding tens of thousands of Oglins, they wouldn't understand even a hundred of them, and that's assuming that the Oglins in the Tranquil World are generally smarter than those outside.

"But dogs can do it, otherwise why do you think I can clear out those monsters?"

Mordred summoned Tom, who was still pretending to be dead, and pulled out a patent leather bunny girl outfit, gesturing for him to change into it quickly, saying that if she was going to be a bunny girl, then she was a bunny girl, no discounts whatsoever.

"Father, can we not wear this? It's so embarrassing."

"No, if you keep nagging me, I'll make sure you work as a waiter in a bar for the rest of your life. Go change now, I have to go check out an experiment later, or you'd better pray that no one else will do it for you."

The company commander resigned himself to his fate and walked backstage amidst countless gloating gazes, preparing to accept his execution.

"It is thanks to these dog subordinates that I am able to command 80,000 Oglin warriors. And this time, I have sent out the eight smartest dogmen."

They are: Breath of the Storm - Nyx, Dry Lands - Bane, Wild Lightning - Rehgar, Radiant Ice - Seven, Bloodhound - Guts, Death Wish - Vera, and Shadow Hunter - Casca.

Finally, there is my personal disciple, Rambo, known as the Flame of Destiny.

Each of them possesses exceptional skills, and their fighting spirit and patience are extraordinary; they are by no means ordinary, useless dogs.

After saying this, Mordred took a pocket watch off his neck and opened the photo inside for everyone to see.

In the center of the photo, Mordred, clad in scrap metal armor, looked radiant, with eight powerful dog-men behind him. Below were the words: "One heart and one mind, glory forever!"

A strange sense of unease stirred within everyone. They didn't know why, but they felt their father was being ridiculous by giving the dogs such cool nicknames. They wanted them too!

Mordred saw right through her offspring's thoughts, but this glory did not belong to them. If they wanted to earn the cool title, they would have to fight for it themselves.

"Alright, I'm going to do my experiment now. When that bastard Tom comes out later, you guys have to make sure he has a memorable experience. It would be best to take a picture so I can put it in my album as a keepsake."

Watching their Primarch leave, the canned boys turned on their power armor recording switches, ready to capture embarrassing photos of Tom the moment he appeared.

Just as everyone was waiting, one of the Atlases suddenly spoke:
"Hey, have you guys noticed that since those eight dog-men all have cool titles, given Father's personality, he should definitely have one too! But why didn't he tell us?"

"Don't ask questions you shouldn't ask. Since Father isn't saying anything, he must have forgotten. Why are you thinking so much? Look! Tom's out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Tom, the Eighth Company Commander, appeared before everyone, now dressed in a humiliating outfit. Amidst a burst of camera flashes, Tom let out a shameful roar:

"Quack! You bunch of bastards! It's one thing when Father is here, but now that he's gone, you still humiliate me. I'm going to kick you all out!"

Just as Tom's dark history had been turned into high-definition 1080p, Mordred arrived at the secret chamber where the demon Hill was imprisoned.

In just one month, the secret room has undergone a dramatic transformation, expanding from the size of a living room to the size of a football field. The Great Sage is currently conducting final data comparisons inside.

"Your Highness!"

Mordred waved for everyone to continue working, then approached the Archsage, gazing at the row of cultivation tanks containing a large number of demons. "Are the results confirmed?"

Kragg nodded and handed Mordred a lab log to look through:
"Your Highness, the experimental results show that the Second Legion has inherited this trait of yours; in other words, this trait is the true strength of the Second Legion."

Two 3D models of Atlas were projected, and Mordred immediately identified which offspring each model belonged to based on their noticeable height difference.

"On the left is Gawain, the fourth company commander who returned from studying at the Fourth Army Corps, and on the right is Joseph, the ninth company commander who returned from studying at Alpha."

Through data comparison, I discovered that new recruits implanted with the Second Legion's gene seed would enter a rather long period of weakness, during which their souls would become weak to varying degrees and begin to erode.

In contrast, the Legion veterans did not exhibit this phenomenon, but by comparing them to the Emperor's Son Dreadnought named Rellano in the warehouse, even Atlas veterans suffered from a thinning of their souls.

"Wait! What's that Dauntless called?"

Mordred interrupted the Great Sage's narration, as if he had heard an extraordinary name.

"Rellano, that Dreadnought's name is Rellano, it's the Dreadnought that the third company commander picked up that nobody wanted."

At this point, even the great sage Kragg laughed without any decency. "What the hell is this 'Dreadnought' that nobody wants? Only the strongest in the Legion can be placed in the Dreadnought. How come I can't find this kind of thing?"

"……continue,
"I'll deal with that unlucky son when we get back. Seriously, you can pick up things, fine, but why did you have to pick such a notorious thief? Wait, this is something we Atlas brought back from rescuing friendly forces on a battlefield. Yes, that's exactly it, that's the truth!"

Ignoring his own Primarch's self-deception, the Great Sage continued his report:

"Therefore, based on the data comparison, I can confirm that the Second Legion can replenish its soul by devouring demons, a type of warp creature, and undergo adaptive evolution."

Even without devouring demons, the Legion's gene seed will slowly absorb the contents of the surrounding souls, depending on the environment.

This is why there are significant differences among veteran soldiers.

The Great Sage's report has explained it very clearly: due to Mordred, the Atlas people are all soulless, and while soulless, they also crave to replenish their souls.

This leads to them becoming more and more like a certain legion wherever they study abroad, and their unconscious tendency to absorb soul fragments will make their cousins ​​from other legions dislike them.

This phenomenon reminded Mordred of the Soulless, but there was a difference; it was more like the Undead from a game he had played before.

However, the matter was far from over. After reporting this pile of news, which was neither good nor bad, the Great Sage finally revealed some "good news" that excited Mordred.

Your Highness, I have found a solution to the problem of low compatibility of Legion gene seeds!

???

"Really? Tell me quickly. If this problem can really be solved, from now on we'll each go our own way. I'll call you teacher, and you'll call me dad!"

If this problem can be solved, Mordred is willing to abandon all pretense of decency and have the 3.99-meter-tall giant hold the Great Sage tightly, as if afraid she will run away.

As several sounds of metal shattering rang out, Kragg, hearing the frantic alarm from his internal organs, quickly spoke up:

"Stop, stop, stop! My back is about to break!"

Seeing the Great Sage twisted into a dangerous arc in his arms, Mordred quickly put his good teacher down and immediately showered him with concern.

"Your Highness, don't move. I can handle this myself. Let me tell you the solution!"
By studying the batch of Thirteenth Legion gene seeds in the warehouse, as well as your and Primarch Vulcan's blood samples, I discovered that when Atlas recruits undergo gene modification surgery, the success rate is significantly improved if another gene seed from a different legion is implanted at the same time!

In other words, do you want to go and steal some gene seeds from other legions?

"..."

Silence was the only thing that brought a sense of relief to Mordred's smile at Cambridge tonight.

(End of this chapter)