Warhammer: Filial Piety Makes Power

Chapter 40 The Empire's Runaway Princess - Alpha
As the flagship of the Legion, the Abomination Exemplar truly lives up to the name of the Glory Queen, and is in a completely different league from those small boats.

Because her name is rather tongue-twisting, Atlas's crew prefers to call her the Abomination. After all, true to her name, the Second Legion is a Frankenstein's monster with everything, and they hope their own ships will be as powerful as they are.

Perhaps because they called it that often, the machine spirits on the Abomination got used to it and even gradually picked up Atlas's bandit habits, starting to devour some warp snacks.

Mordred was quite pleased with this phenomenon, feeling as if she were raising a daughter. Following her example, a large number of warp creatures were captured by the Abomination every day.

Among these unfortunate souls, some exceptional individuals are selected and, after enduring brutal beatings by the demonic forces, are used to craft enchanted weapons for further development. Others are directly absorbed by Atlas.

The remaining defective products will not be wasted; they will all be thrown into Mordred's fel furnace for incineration to produce fel crystals to supply the Legion.

Through rigorous scientific testing by the Great Sage, it was discovered that these fel crystals are highly beneficial to Atlas's growth. When combined with gene seeds from other legions, the adaptation efficiency can be greatly improved.

Therefore, the Space Marines of the Second Legion are particularly excited whenever they enter the warp, because capturing a cool demon means that more of their brothers will be born.

Demons feed on the souls of living beings and extreme emotions, but Atlas does the opposite, becoming powerful by devouring demons.

Under this concept, not only the Space Marines of Atlas, but also the mortal auxiliary forces and even the ship's inhabitants began to follow suit.

Some Voidborn even went so far as to cultivate psychedelic mushrooms next to the Fel Furnace.

As for what magic mushrooms are, you can tell from the name: they are a byproduct of Mordred's research into the super mushrooms in his hometown.

If ordinary people eat it, they will actually see villains. Even superhumans like Space Marines will experience a special reaction similar to being drunk if they consume it.

Mordred thought these pink mushrooms were only good for brewing wine and making cigarettes, so he didn't pay them any attention and just threw them on the boat with other mushrooms to keep them. Who knew they would cause such trouble?

Upon learning of the situation, Mordred took it very seriously and immediately arrested the young men who had stolen his mushrooms. Then he was dumbfounded.

The good news is that this stuff isn't addictive, just like catnip does to cats. And not only is it harmless, it also allows ordinary people to slowly absorb fel energy, making them more compatible with the Second Legion's gene seed.

The bad news is that people who are exposed to fel energy radiation for a long time will become silly.

This result devastated Mordred. Based on all the previous signs, it was clear that the Emperor had not told the truth. He had definitely inserted more than one thing into his body, making his gene seed so abstract.

"Am I even human?!"

But sand sculptures are better than mutations, and these things can reduce the chances of the crew being corrupted by the warp, so it can be said to be an alternative way of fighting poison with poison. Mordred stopped worrying about it and continued to research new mushroom varieties.

After all, warp travel is extremely boring, and Mordred's beloved learning machine was also destroyed by the Emperor, so he could only conduct some profane experiments to relieve his boredom.

However, this seemingly normal scene appears completely different to others.

Looking at the mushroom vendors scattered throughout the lower deck, Alpha was convinced that this was Mordred's way of controlling mortals, a blasphemous act of polluting human genes.

That's right, the company commander Jerry who contacted Mordred earlier was actually Alpha in disguise. As Macado's prized student, Alpha is well-versed in the ways of a secret agent and never shows his true face. He always maintains a disguise when he's out and about. He came here this time to observe his brother from the shadows.

Just like he would be present when other Primarchs returned to the Empire, Alpha enjoyed the wonderful experience of observing from behind the scenes and uncovering their little secrets.

Alpha was quite dissatisfied when he recalled the strange, ambiguous smile on the face of the Marker when he learned that he had completely infiltrated the Second Legion.

[Old man, how many people does Atlas have in total? My men make up a full tenth of them, and you still dare to mock me? You're utterly ignorant!]

The lurking agents began to move. Alpha had not lied to Mordred; there was nothing wrong with the thousand Space Marines he brought. But the problem was not with the Space Marines, but with Primarch Alpha himself!

Alpha, whose inner thoughts were incredibly rich, couldn't help but laugh at the thought of his foolish second brother being completely fooled by him.

【Mo Lao Er, Mo Lao Er, you are neither that wild dog Ruth nor that bunch of freaks from the First Legion. How can someone as dull as you possibly discover me?】

My foolish brother! Mere imitation cannot make the legion stronger. Look what I've discovered—a bunch of dubious offspring of other brothers! You're completely deceiving yourself!

The tall, expressionless warrior strolled through the ship's cabin without even needing to hide; the identification code on his body allowed him to move freely.

The only thing he was wary of was the demi-human race called canines. These big dogs had an unusually keen sense of smell, but fortunately they were simple-minded and he could easily fool them. He even gained the friendship of their leader.

According to his most prized son, the dog-man he met in the canteen was named Rambo, Mordred's prized student, and one of the eight dog-man commanders.

Alpha couldn't help but smile again. No wonder he was his second brother's prized student; their stupid and clumsy personalities were exactly the same.

[No, at least the dog-men aren't as hypocritical as Mordred, who openly conducts blasphemous research and acts so self-righteously, completely disregarding the truth of the Empire.]

By the way, should I recruit some dog-people into the legion in the future?

Alpha, multitasking, moved around the ship, nodding to other Space Marines he encountered. But a closer look would reveal that he wasn't wandering aimlessly; he was following the markings.

As one of the Clover, Hydra's Legion, specializing in covert operations, also has its own set of ciphers, and Alpha, as the Primarch, is even more adept at deciphering them.

[Not bad, as expected of my proudest offspring, he has actually come up with something new, incorporating the characteristics of the First Legion into the cipher, one link after another, quite interesting!]
Look here, it even includes metaphors from the dog-people's native language, doesn't that seem a bit too cumbersome? I must teach him a lesson later, and make sure he doesn't pick up too many of the First Legion's bad habits.

Following the cipher text, Alpha, having deciphered 17 cipher texts in a row, was getting a little impatient, but eventually arrived at a small alley on Deck 4 and slipped into a hidden secret door.

Then he saw the display screens covering the entire room, and the person on the screen was himself.

In the blink of an eye, Alpha did not hesitate and immediately chose to retreat, but someone was always faster than him. A large hand fell from the sky and firmly pressed down on his head.

The breath behind him dispelled his sliver of hope, but also brought a greeting:
"Oh, isn't this the princess who ran away from the empire, Miss Alpha?"

(End of this chapter)