The thing about psychic spells was that they were just so convenient. A psyker was always a psyker, and in the blink of an eye, they were all back in the laboratory on Terra.
Not a single Custodian who had entered the illusion had suffered a casualty, even when faced with the surging daemon army. They truly lived up to the Emperor's handiwork. Hogg watched those powerful warriors with envy.
Magnus was still unconscious, lying on the floor while the Emperor used his unparalleled psychic power to disinfect him. The Warp's filth burst into flames when it came into contact with golden psychic energy, vanishing from Realspace for good. But Magnus still showed no sign of waking.
Hogg had killed Kairos Fateweaver and sealed him inside his own body. He would be digested before long, but for now Hogg could only keep his monstrous form.
With the Custodians gone and the Emperor checking Magnus's condition with Malcador, Hogg figured he was no longer needed. He prepared to find a corner to lie down in and digest his meal. After all, Kairos Fateweaver was a renowned Lord of Change. Such a delicacy deserved to be savored.
Hogg was about to push open the door, one claw already reaching for it, when the Emperor spoke:
"You little shit. Who said you could leave? Get over here."
The utter lack of emotion in that voice made Hogg's heart ache. Even the tail swishing behind him froze stiff. Reluctantly, he shuffled over to the two men.
"Dad! What can I do for you?"
Now a full ten meters tall, Hogg rubbed his four claws together in front of himself. His enormous, fearsome head even managed to look obsequious. He certainly had a powerful survival instinct.
The Emperor looked him up and down, taking in his sincere, apologetic expression, then sighed.
"Haah! I can see you did a decent job this time, so I won't beat you. But if I hear even a word of slander about me, don't blame me when I have to bury my white-haired son.
"And this is Malcador, the Imperium's Sigillite and my closest friend. You'll be under his supervision from now on. Don't pull any more stunts."
The well-behaved Hogg raised all four claws to swear an oath. "I promise to be Dad's most filial son."
The silent old man looked at Hogg. To Malcador, Hogg was both a participant in the plan he and the Emperor had devised and a gift from fate.
After countless simulations of the future, they had discovered that humanity's dark fate could not be changed. But after the monster that had fallen from the sky contaminated a continent on Terra, Malcador found that the future had become impossible to read.
At first, he had suggested killing Hogg, just as they had done whenever they discovered these Outworld Wanderers in the past. But the Emperor had refused, choosing instead to remake him as a Primarch.
As expected, the Emperor's decision had been right. Hogg had disrupted the fates of several Primarchs, muddying the waters further. At the same time, he had given the already exhausted Emperor a chance to catch his breath.
Malcador was deeply grateful to Hogg for that. His old friend's dwindling humanity had slowly begun to return, and at last, someone could help shoulder his burden.
"You can call me Malcador," he said, his voice old but still booming.
"Oh! Of course I know you're Malcador. I also know you and my bargain-bin dad are so close you share pants. If you weren't a man, I'd have to call you Mom.
"Hey! What did the Emperor look like when you first met him? Was he especially impressive? I even wrote about it once when I was bored—"
"Shut up!"
Malcador, who had been feeling grateful just moments before, roared and swung his cane. Hogg failed to dodge in time and was knocked to the ground with a single blow. As he wondered why he had fallen over, a golden figure pounced on him and started laying into him with bare fists.
After being beaten again and again, Hogg finally snapped. Why was he getting beaten when he'd killed Kairos Fateweaver and stopped Little Pony from being corrupted? He'd only let his tongue slip and told the truth!
An inexplicable fury flared within him. You old bastard, you asked for this. I'm going to be the most filial son ever today! Dark red Psionic Energy covered his four claws as he swung them with all his might.
"You two filthy lovebirds, don't think I won't hit back! Eat my Supersonic Explosive Claw!"
But this only enraged the two powerful men even more. They unleashed even more brutal attacks on Hogg, who was no match for them and was pinned to the ground and beaten senseless.
The Imperium's two supreme leaders were disciplining a Primarch. Outside, the Custodians on guard duty quietly sealed their helmets and switched off their audio receptors. It was better not to hear such things, if only to preserve their lord's dignity.
Hogg's continuous screams of pain were so piercing that they woke Magnus. But when he remembered his experience in the illusion, gorging himself on fruit, he felt sick all over again.
Magnus, sprawled across the operating table, began retching. But a Primarch's digestive system could even break down Adamantium, and Magnus had already vomited once. All he could bring up was a puddle of stomach acid.
A slender figure hiding in a corner poked her head out of the shadows. She watched the utterly absurd scene, then pulled a camera from inside her tight top and began taking covert pictures.
"Seeing this makes dying worthwhile!" The one who sighed was none other than the stealthy Alpha.
With even his stomach acid gone, Magnus had nothing left to throw up. All he could do was watch the Emperor and Malcador give Hogg a sound beating. He wanted to stop them, but every time he opened his mouth, he felt sick.
At last, half a Terran hour later, the noble Master of Mankind and Malcador stopped their discipline.
The two men felt refreshed after venting their anger. Malcador also sensed that his old friend's humanity had grown a little more complete. He had discovered a blind spot.
Hogg, lying on the ground, had been beaten back to his original form, shrinking to just over two meters tall. The Kairos Fateweaver he had swallowed had nearly been digested under the physical massage. Perhaps the food he had eaten lately had been nourishing; Hogg felt as if he had grown a little, reaching the astonishing height of two meters and thirty centimeters.
After resting a little longer, Hogg climbed to his feet. His stomach felt a bit off, and with a loud retch, he spat out two skulls. He shook the slime off them, then walked over to Magnus and stood obediently beside him, holding the skulls.
The Emperor, seated in a chair, glanced at the weak and exhausted Magnus before turning his gaze to Hogg.
"Hogg, what did you do in that illusion? Why did Magnus end up like this? And why did that useless thing suddenly target the two of you? Tell me exactly what happened."
"Father, this was all Magnus's fault. I'm a very good person," Hogg said, quickly trying to shift the blame as he thought about polishing the skulls in his hands.
"Here's what happened. Magnus thought I was brainless and that I'd interfered with his experiment. But who am I? I'm the wise scientist among the Primarchs, the one who inherited your research skills!
"So we got into an argument. Magnus said he'd discovered a miraculous place in the Warp, full of friendly little Spiritlings. His solution had been given to him by the creatures in there."
The Emperor calmly turned to the trembling Magnus. "It seems I've indulged you too much. Didn't I warn you not to trust anything in the Warp?"
The Emperor's words made Magnus's already weak heart tremble. An overwhelming sense of guilt swept over him, as if he were about to die.
"Go on."
"Then he wanted to take me to see the illusion. But I can tell when daemons are in disguise, and I saw that it was all a Chaos God's scheme. So I came up with a plan to lure you over.
"I have to say, I'm a genius. I think we should share this method with every Legion. Then we'd have the strongest—"
"Thock!" A cane struck Hogg on the head with a crisp sound, successfully interrupting his heretical idea. The blow had just the right force: enough to leave him dazed without hurting his brain.
Realizing he'd almost lost control of his mouth and accidentally blurted out what he was thinking, Hogg gave Malcador a grateful look and continued recounting what had happened.
"You know what I can do. Warp sorcery can't cloud my eyes. I unleashed my Psionic Energy, and everything around me returned to its true form.
"The daemon disguised as a Djinn came to kill me, but it couldn't beat me, so it started calling for reinforcements. With my strength, though, I might not have lost. If you hadn't arrived, I could've eaten all of them myself."
Fondling Kairos Fateweaver's skull, Hogg shamelessly acted as if none of it had anything to do with him. Then he fanned the flames. "Old Man Yellow, hurry up and beat Magnus! He's an idiot. Maybe you can beat some sense into him."
Ignoring Hogg's goading, the Emperor and Malcador exchanged a glance and understood what had happened.
The experience of Magnus being deceived must have been among the memories Hogg could not be read for.
He had wanted to ruin Tzeentch's scheme, but he was afraid he might not be strong enough to win. After calling for reinforcements, he was discovered and forced into a fight. When the daemon army appeared, he tried to flee with Magnus, but the others had arrived in time.
The two men understood what had happened, but tacitly chose not to expose Hogg's little act. It wasn't good to beat a child all the time. They might as well let him keep a little pride.
"Then what happened to Magnus? His psychic power is fading away."
Now that he was conscious, Magnus remembered being deceived like a fool for so long, and how much fruit he had eaten in there. He felt sick all over again.
Psychic power was an intensely subjective thing. Even a Primarch could feel revulsion and loathing after eating Oli-ge raw and doing sit-ups in a cesspit.
Besides, Magnus had been saved by Hogg, the little runt he had always looked down on. He began to doubt everything about himself.
The moment Magnus began to doubt himself, his psychic power started flowing out of his body, and even his skin lost its healthy red hue.
Alarmed by Magnus's condition, Hogg hurriedly pulled a photograph from his Dimensional Pocket and held it in front of Magnus.
Seeing the picture of himself stuffing his face with fruit, juice splattered all over him, Magnus recalled the slimy, disgusting sensation and started retching again. But the loss of his psychic power stopped.
Before you continue