Just after Nareth conquered the island of Grosseto, he received a distress message from Szczesny.
He immediately boarded an aircraft and flew toward Trinio.
Upon seeing the colossal sea monster Fangjaw, he couldn't help but marvel at the size of this Toothed Kraken.
Marlena's eyes burned with hatred. "Fangjaw is the largest of the Toothed Krakkens. It has devoured countless Sicilians."
Just as she finished speaking, she saw the giant leap down without hesitation.
After Szczesny sliced off one of the sea monster's tentacles, he was met with a violent retaliation. He dodged frantically, but the Toothed Kraken wasn't like a normal octopus with just eight arms; it had dozens of writhing tentacles.
He had been flung away multiple times. Fortunately, his troops opened fire in time, relieving some pressure and allowing him to barely hold on.
But this provoked the creature's frenzied counterattack. The Fourth Regiment suffered devastating losses; at least dozens of lightly augmented warriors and over a hundred candidates were eaten by the beast.
The people of Trinio lost their morale and fled in panic, screaming in a local dialect of Low Gothic that Szczesny couldn't understand.
Only Giorgio stayed beside the commander, shouting at his kin and rallying thirteen recruits who had passed the selection process.
Just as the Fourth Regiment was falling into crisis, a massive figure plummeted from the sky, crashing down on the elongated head of the Toothed Kraken.
Szczesny's eyes lit up as he saw Nareth drive his heavy halberd deep into one of the sea monster's compound eyes.
The steel-clad warriors watched as the monster was struck with meteor-like force and slammed into the sea, creating a towering tidal wave over a hundred meters high.
They stared in awe at the towering figure standing on the sea's surface and erupted in thunderous cheers.
"Perun, God of Thunder!"
"Sventovit, God of War!"
"..."
Each associated Nareth with ancient deities and charged into the sea like pilgrims, madly attacking the tentacles.
Nareth pulled out his heavy halberd. Blood stained the sea red, and Fangjaw let out a painful wail.
The gene-primarch sensed sharply that the attack hadn't been fatal. The massive sea monster had vitality matching its size, and its eyes were not its vital weakness.
The wind howled behind him as Nareth flipped forward. His halberd left a deep gash on the creature's elongated head-body like a runway.
He activated his warp vision and tried to observe Fangjaw the same way he had with the Mother Sea, seeking weaknesses invisible to the naked eye.
Dozens of tentacles thrashed wildly. Fangjaw hadn't been injured for a thousand years and was now enraged, determined to devour the pest atop its head.
On the aircraft, Marlena raised her staff high, aiming at the creature that had devoured countless of her people.
Two beams of radiant light shot from the skull ornament, targeting a tentacle.
Cells combusted and boiled, gray tentacles turned bright red like heated iron serpents, thrashing wildly.
Boom! A tentacle exploded into thousands of fragments, scattering in all directions.
She had landed a hit, but Marlena frowned.
'Fangjaw's vitality is terrifying. I only blew up one tentacle with a direct hit.'
Meanwhile, Maria and the others injected combat stimulants from the Kournikova family.
Tsvetana rapidly pulled the trigger, emptying her energy clip in an instant, arcs of light rained down on the sea monster's head.
The other two assassins leaped down. Dementieva gripped her riot shield tightly and slammed it into the octopus's head.
Maria slashed an arc with her curved blade, cutting through a swinging tentacle. As she landed, she drove her glass dagger into the slimy head.
The Coral Sea's overlord let out a deafening roar, its remaining compound eyes bloodshot as it raised its head in fury.
Maria and Dementieva raised their weapons to strike its head, but tentacles flew through the air, whipping their arms and sending them flying.
As the two were flung back, Fangjaw lifted its head to its highest point, still dozens of meters below the aircraft.
Tsvetana reloaded and fired into the creature's gaping maw.
Marlena cried out in Low Gothic: "Get out of the way, it's going to spray ink!"
The pilot acted on instinct, jerking the controls to dodge.
Black ink slammed into the aircraft's undercarriage, sending the streamlined airship into a spin.
Sweating, the pilot struggled to regain control, and the ink had nearly struck the ship's nose.
While everyone else was in chaos from Fangjaw's attacks, Nareth seized his moment.
He entered that peculiar state again; it felt as though he stood suspended in air, overlooking the entire battlefield.
He didn't see people's physical movements. Instead, he saw their projections in the Immaterium, the ripples of their souls.
He perceived the fear of the Trinioans and the pilot, the unwavering faith of the steel warriors, Marlena's overwhelming hatred...
Most crucially, he saw Fangjaw's warp projection.
Among the octopus's organs, the most unusual was its ink sac. It radiated two opposing lights: brilliant life-light wrapped around a core of darkness filled with countless screaming souls.
With soul-sight still active, he also saw spiritual light flickering above it.
Nareth understood immediately:
'The Toothed Kraken's ink sac is both its weakness and a Beyonder material.'
Fangjaw had exposed this weakness by flipping over. Seizing the opportunity, Nareth let his body fall naturally.
In mid-air, he swung his halberd powerfully, striking the upper edge of the ink sac beneath the octopus's head.
He twisted his body, the halberd carved downward in a smooth arc.
The primarch's body seemed to defy gravity. Along with the halberd, he sliced along the edge of the ink sac like a butcher's blade.
Fangjaw sensed the tear beneath its head and tried desperately to stop itself from toppling backward, but it couldn't control its massive form like Nareth could.
Its enormous body tilted to the right and crashed into the sea.
Through the wind and waves, Nareth advanced with long, arcing strides.
He cut the entire ink sac out, skin and all, perfectly intact. Grabbing the slippery hide, he tore hard.
Fangjaw's tentacles twitched feebly. As the ink sac was removed, its life force drained rapidly.
As Nareth landed in the sea, he sensed the final glimmer of Fangjaw's soul extinguish.
The Primarch, having successfully unearthed his latent power, smiled.
'I should name this ability. It's different from a Psyker's Aether Vision or a Beyonder's Spirit Vision.'
'When I use it, perceiving emotions is just a side effect. Its main purpose is to identify an enemy's weak point.'
'It's similar to the Sequence 5 ability "Weakness Detection" from the Red Priest path, but it doesn't rely on mysticism. I directly observe through subspace.'
'In that case, I'll call it—"Warp Insight."'
Nareth thought of the Eleventh Legion; he would soon take over from the Emperor.
'I wonder how many of my gene-sons will awaken this "Warp Insight" inherited from me.'
The people of Trinio gazed in reverence at the giant dragging back the ink sac. He had killed Fangjaw, the Coral Sea's nightmare, and ended the Sicilians' thousand-year curse.
Marlena stepped down from the aircraft and approached Nareth. She bowed deeply.
"Thank you for killing Fangjaw. With its head, the Sicilians will offer you their loyalty."