In the Kingdom of Disorder, Nareth skipped the ascension ritual and turned his attention to the blasphemous stone tablet before him.
Main ingredients: 1 Slaught, 1 Enslaver.
Auxiliary ingredients: 331,100 milliliters of Black Lasvot, 1 Psychneuein, 1 Hrud.
After reading the formula for the Mentor of Disorder potion, Nareth began recalling details about each ingredient.
Even among the auxiliary materials, the Psychneuein was a dangerous species that fed on psykers. There were three main types: the Mara strain, the Luctos strain, and the Prospero strain.
To acquire them in large quantities, Prospero was the most practical target.
Nareth knew that, by territory, the true rulers of Prospero were the Psychneuein.
At the height of the Thousand Sons Legion's power, they only truly controlled a single city, Tizca.
The rest of the planet's vast wastelands were ruins left by the Psychneuein during the Long Night, serving as their hunting grounds.
This was partly because most of the Thousand Sons were away on the Great Crusade, but the terrifying combat power of the bees was also a major factor.
Khalophis, the future Magister Templi of the Pyrae Cult and Captain of the Sixth Fellowship, ranked among the top five in overall combat power within the Thousand Sons during the Crusade. Even he, arguably the strongest psyker under Magnus himself, would be injured when facing a swarm of Psychneuein alone.
Aside from Magnus, there were only a handful within the Thousand Sons who could survive long in Prospero's wastelands, constantly hunted by the bees.
The psykers of Prospero could only hide within Tizca, relying on psychic defense systems built by the Thousand Sons to resist the swarms' incursions.
Nareth then turned his thoughts to another auxiliary ingredient, the Hrud.
'The Hrud command the power of entropy. Their mass migrations caused enormous losses for Perturabo's Iron Warriors after his return.'
After recalling the auxiliary ingredients, he moved on to the main ones.
'The Slaught are the ruling caste at the top of the Rangdan hierarchy.'
'The Rangdan are also poses the murder-minds. of the slaughts indicating they may have servants to them'
'Fighting the Rangdan wasn't without reward, besides their technology, their bodies serve as potion materials.'
'If the Slaught and Cerabovores qualify, then the Osseivores likely do as well.'
Looking ahead to future wars, Nareth knew that Advex–Mors was merely a secondary outpost for the Rangdan.
The "First Rangdan War" hadn't truly harmed them. Remembering the carnage of the Second Rangdan War, Nareth silently mused:
'Aside from preparing more Ramilies-class star forts to handle the dozen-plus war-moon, I should also prepare additional trump cards.'
'The "Voidclaw" , one of the Dark Age of Technology's doomsday weapons from the Vigilus'
Visions of terrifying constructs flashed through his mind before he reined in his thoughts and reviewed the remaining materials.
The Enslavers were warp entities who entered realspace by enslaving psykers and forcing them to construct warp gates. They controlled other species through psychic domination.
A typical Enslaver could control ten sentient beings, with a psychic control range of up to fifty meters.
Nareth recalled the Emancipation of Drune campaign from the Great Crusade, which surfaced vividly in his mind.
'The Enslavers dominated the entire world of Drune, and their leader was monstrously powerful.'
'During the Emancipation of Drune, three Legions of Astartes fought for months.
'In the final battle, Horus Lupercal, Jaghatai Khan, and Mortarion themselves were paralyzed under the mind-control of the Enslaver leader.'
After reflecting on all the species involved, Nareth realized collecting these materials would be anything but easy.
'Of course, just like how the Baron of Corruption potion didn't require a Warlord level Cerabovers, ordinary ones sufficed, the same goes for the Enslaver. Regular ones can serve as materials. Astartes can handle them; for me as a Primarch, collecting them won't be difficult.'
'But if I take part in these campaigns, I won't just be a bystander. The Emperor will likely send me, the Pegasi, as the main assault forces.'
The Psychneuein and Hrud were massive threats to the Thousand Sons and Iron Warriors, respectively.
The Slaught ruled the Rangdan.
And the stronger Enslavers were dangerous even to Primarchs.
Nareth then returned to realspace. Before rejoining the frontlines, he sent a message to Lian Ramilies.
"Lian, I want you to join the surface battle, fight at my side."
Unlike Wojciech, whom Nareth met young and more adaptable.
The Lian had lived too long, utterly devoted to the Omnissiah.
Without using psychic manipulation, Nareth couldn't guarantee absolute loyalty from Lian, nor whether empowering him would risk exposure.
Faith, after all, is unpredictable.
But now, after ascending as the Baron of Corruption, it was different.
Given enough time, Corrosion would ensure Lian's total devotion.
The Magos already viewed Nareth, who had recovered multiple Standard Template Constructs, as a being blessed by the Omnissiah.
Before long, an impassioned voice came through Nareth's comm bead:
"Lord Nareth, it is my honor. I will follow you into battle."
Nareth soon met the Magos and his Skitarii.
Like all Mechanicum forces, his army adhered strictly to the sacred number of the Machine God, twelve.
Each Macro-Branch had four cohorts, and each cohort consisted of three sub-cohorts.
The Magos' army fielded ten of its twelve branches, each with twelve sub-cohorts.
"Lian, stay close to me," Nareth said with a faint smile. "Your Tech-Priests are capable of commanding your guards."
"As you wish."
In Lian's logic engine, calculations produced a clear conclusion.
[The Primarch highly values this unit // me.]
As Nareth advanced, he maintained a distance of thirty-three meters between them, just within the range of Corruption's influence.
Leading his force to the Third Legion's Second Company's line, he saw that all Vostroyan pattern Rhino command vehicles had been psychically destroyed by Rangdan Overlords.
Captain Mikhaeli and his warriors were locked in battle against four such overlords and their slave armies.
Nareth strode toward the overlords, deliberately slowing his pace so Lian could keep up.
He also observed the Magos's forces: large numbers of soldiers raised flame-lock muskets and unleashed waves of fire.
Jets of burning fuel incinerated swaths of slave troops instantly.
Nareth's pupils contracted. Even among the most advanced Forge Worlds, few still comprehended or could manufacture such flamer weapons.
In the early Great Crusade, flamers were common among Astartes, but they were soon replaced by more easily mass-produced boltguns.
By the post-Crusade era, flamers had become rare relics even among Astartes and Mechanicus armies, until Kol Rakhul reintroduced them on a large scale.
'Hmm. Lian's Ark Mechanicum Forge has impressive manufacturing power, his troops are equipped with flamers en masse.'
While considering this, he saw the Tech-Priests leading each sub-cohort raise flamer-disruptor rifles and target a Rangdan Overlord.
A thunderous barrage followed. The Overlord's energy shield crackled under the assault, then shattered. A second later, the creature was reduced to ash by disintegration beams.
'Corroding Lian's loyalty just became even more valuable.'
Nareth then turned his attention back to the battlefield.
One Overlord clapped its hands together, the amplified shockwave blasted a dozen Shadows of Order off their feet.
'Telekinesis, huh?'
'How convenient, i just started learning it.'
The Primarch's mind raced. Data from the Fra'al Crystal Archives regarding telekinetic disciplines surfaced in his thoughts.
The Baron of Corruption clapped his hands, shaping his psychic power into a black spear that shot toward the Overlord.
The impact shattered its energy shield.
The Overlord turned to face him, seeing the black-armored giant with golden wings, fear overtook its gaze.
This was the being who had slain their warlord.
It tried to flee, but before it could, the Primarch clapped his hands again.
A stronger telekinetic strike than before smashed through its force field.
Boom!
The Overlord's head fell. Its last thought before death was:
'His second psychic strike… was several times stronger than the first!'
The cleansing of Advex–Mors lasted four standard months.
When Nareth returned to the Throne of Shadow's Sovereignity, he received a request from Lucius's contingent, they wanted the construction schematics for war-moon.
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