"How does your shapeshifting ability work? I want you to turn into a very special human—can you do that?
First, let me be clear: although this human has a human body, his soul is extremely unique." Rhodes nodded and asked.
The most important thing about a Primarch is the soul. That's the soul of a true god, a sub-warp deity. This is what makes impersonating a Primarch so troublesome. Even with the Emperor's endorsement, their gene-sons can sense something is wrong, and even some Chaos Space Marines, Champions of Chaos, or Daemon Princes can spot the issue.
That's why, even though the old doctor cloned so many Primarchs, Abaddon could tell at a glance—they only carried the body, but the most important part of a Primarch is the soul.
"If it's just an ordinary human, a photo is enough for me. But if you want a perfect imitation, it's best if I have some of his DNA.
Any power his body possesses, I can mimic, as long as his life level isn't above mine," Babaryu, in human form, Ryuji Baba replied.
How strange! What kind of being does the master want me to imitate? Could a human's life level surpass those of the Ultra Warriors?
Rhodes didn't answer, instead checking Babaryu's enhancements. The system's enhancement powers are extremely overpowered—maybe he could use this to his advantage.
If the original Alien Barbarue can't do it, then just strengthen him and make him into an enhanced version.
Babaryu's height and weight aren't special—both are about five times normal, with freezing ability and beam skills.
Both can be enhanced twice, each time costing 10,000 gold coins to max out the skill.
The most special: gene simulation, which can be enhanced three times—first for 10,000 gold, second for 50,000, and third for 250,000 system coins.
The first enhancement makes the Alien Babarue's mimicry more precise, more lifelike.
The second lets him mimic the target's aura and perfectly replicate all skills.
The third is the ultimate upgrade: the Alien Babarue selects a target to mimic and, with a sample of their blood, can fully imitate even their soul—true, complete simulation.
But there's a limitation: the target's life level can't exceed the Alien Babarue's.
If you tried to make him imitate the King of Ultra, he absolutely can't match the King's power or aura.
"Ryuji! I'll take you to meet someone—try your ability and see if you can transform into him." Rather than overthink it, best to just try—after all, they have a living Primarch here.
"Leave it to me, master! I won't let you down," Ryuji replied.
He'd only just been summoned by his master, and in his area of expertise, he couldn't allow himself to fail.
Rhodes nodded and led Ryuji to a secret room on the spaceship—a special training chamber that only Rhodes and a few scientists could access.
The resurrected Primarch, Horus, had been doing rehabilitation training here for over a month now. Our Warmaster had fused excellently with the Dark Giant.
Sometimes, Rhodes would release Ace killers or other giant monsters for Horus to practice fighting in his giant form.
Horus was a natural-born warrior and worked well with Daram; both had a masterful grasp of their power.
After Horus transformed, Daram's strength improved by 20–30%—and this was just the initial fusion.
"You're here, Lord Rhodes. I feel pretty recovered—when will you let me out to deal with the Chaos?" Horus asked, setting down a dumbbell weighing over a thousand tons.
"This time, I came to experiment.
I want one of my subordinates to see if he can become a Primarch," Rhodes said, not attempting to hide his intentions.
"What are you trying to do?" Horus glanced at Ryuji behind Rhodes.
"All you Primarchs keep disappearing, but the Imperium needs you now more than ever. I plan to have my subordinate take on a Primarch's appearance and return to the Imperium to boost morale," Rhodes explained.
"If another loyalist Primarch returned, it would be a good thing.
But are you sure he can become a Primarch? You can't fool people by just looking like a Primarch—look at all those clones," Horus replied.
"Ryuji, try to become him," Rhodes said, pointing at Horus.
Ryuji nodded, circled Horus, touched his body, and began to change.
In an instant, he transformed into a four-meter-tall version of Horus, but the difference in aura was obvious.
Even Rhodes, let alone Horus's sons, could sense something was off, though it was hard to say exactly what.
"How strange! I can even become his giant form.
But his soul level is much higher than mine.
Sorry, master. I can only become his likeness, even his giant form, but I can't achieve perfect imitation," Ryuji said.
He looks human, but his body is just a vessel—the real difference is his soul, which is unimaginably powerful, like a world-shaking giant crammed into a human shell.
Rhodes said nothing, instead spending more than 300,000 system coins to max out Ryuji's mimicry skill.
But even then, the transformed Horus could only approach the real thing—according to Horus, he could fool ordinary Legion members, but not Chaos Champions or Chosen; they would immediately sense the difference in the soul.
Of course, if they'd never seen the Primarch's gene-sons, they wouldn't know.
"So, other loyalist Primarch gene-sons probably couldn't tell either. My plan is still viable," Rhodes said.
None of the loyalist gene-sons have ever seen their gene-father.
"You're right, but Roboute Guilliman would notice—he knows his brothers well.
Powerful psykers could too—the Legion librarians might discover something, though it's unlikely," Horus said.
If it were so easy to copy a Primarch, someone would've done it already. But this guy's life level is extremely high—almost as high as a real Primarch's.
Compared to them, he's only a tiny bit less; ordinary humans couldn't tell the difference at all.
Rhodes helplessly nodded—seems Mefilas plan is a bust.
"Listen, brother, even if he can't become a real Primarch, we can use him another way," Horus said with a smile.
Why not pick someone no one has ever seen?
"Horus, do you have any good ideas?" Rhodes asked.
"Of course. You know there's more than one Primarch—two of them have had all traces erased.
If you can become a New Age Primarch, then maybe he can appear as the Second or Eleventh Primarch," Horus explained.
If he tries to impersonate a loyalist Primarch, he'd be found out, but if he appears as a missing Primarch, he could fool many—even Roboute Guilliman, who's never met them.
"But his soul strength isn't as high as a Primarch's!"
"Most people can't perceive a Primarch's soul strength—gene-sons only get a vague sense.
Only the strongest gene-sons can tell. If he becomes me, only my former company commander could notice, and even then, not immediately," Horus explained.
"So you mean, have him return as one of the erased Primarchs?" Rhodes asked.
"That's right! The two unknown Primarchs, all data erased—only my father and I know the truth.
The other brothers hadn't returned yet, so there was no need to worry about anyone exposing this.
You have the Primarch's blood vault—you can let him absorb DNA from there and use his blood to make a new Astartes Legion with no problem.
What do you think of my plan—let him appear as an erased new Primarch?" Horus said.
Brilliant!
Rhodes nodded—this plan was great. No need to impersonate anyone—perfect mimicry. Ryuji could reach 9.9 similarity, just slightly lacking in soul strength.
Other unseen Primarchs would never spot the flaw.
"We'll do it your way," Rhodes agreed.
"This stays between you, me, and father. Never let Roboute Guilliman know, understand?" Horus warned.
Of all the brothers, Guilliman is the most calculating. If he found out, he'd interfere, so best to keep him in the dark—let him just be a worker.
"Got it, we won't tell Roboute Guilliman," Rhodes nodded.