Chapter Summaries

After the Fallen saved Avalons from a Greater Daemon, Marshal Haraga asked them to stay and defend the planet, and Afka agreed. When a Dark Angels warship arrived to hunt them, the Fallen chose to face their pursuers in the desert, where Drop Pods began landing.

• Marshal Haraga thanked Afka and questioned why the Fallen had hidden in Xerxes City without contacting the authorities.
• Afka admitted that the Fallen were considered traitors but remained loyal to the Emperor, and Haraga asked them to stay and protect Avalons while warning that spies had exposed their location.
• Afka accepted Haraga’s offer of aid, and the people of Avalons honored the Fallen as Guardians; Haraga provided technicians and weapons to repair and equip them.
• As the Fallen prepared for battle, a Dark Angels warship appeared over Avalons, and Afka refused Haraga’s offer to help them escape.
• Afka ordered Haraga to keep her soldiers away, then led the Fallen into the desert to limit the danger to civilians.
• The Dark Angels threatened to execute anyone who resisted or aided the Fallen, Haraga ordered the anti-air defenses shut down, and Dark Angels Drop Pods descended into the desert.

Lion El'Jonson reached Avalons and sensed tragedy among his sons, while Ron arrived aboard the Dreamer as the Dark Angels fought the Fallen and the planet's defenders. Ron's descent interrupted the confrontation, leaving Belial and the others facing the Savior's arrival as The Rock approached.

• Lion El'Jonson hurried through the strange forest toward Avalons after sensing grief and danger among his sons.
• Ron arrived at Avalons aboard the Dreamer, whose crew had accidentally struck a Dark Angels cruiser, and the two ships exchanged accusations and threats of inspection.
• Belial and the Inner Circle Knights attacked Afka and the Fallen, intending to capture them despite Afka's warnings that Chaos threatened the planet.
• Haraga and the mortal soldiers knelt to prevent Belial from executing them after they defended the Fallen, just as the Dreamer appeared overhead.
• The Dreamer announced Ron's imminent descent, and a golden vessel began descending toward the battlefield while Belial wondered when The Rock would arrive.

Ron arrived on Avalons with an overwhelming ceremonial force, declared himself Emperor, and freed the Fallen after revealing the truth behind the Caliban disaster. The Fallen agreed to form a new Chapter under his command as Ron prepared to arm them and face a looming Chaos threat.

• Ron’s Titans, Custodes, and fleet arrived on Avalons, and Carter ordered everyone to kneel before the Emperor.
• Belial and the Dark Angels knelt, and Ron descended in golden armor, proclaimed that he would save Avalons, and ordered the Custodes to free and heal the Fallen.
• Belial gave Ron The Rock Fortress’s communication sequence, and Ron used his psychic power to show the Dark Angels and Fallen that Chaos had caused the disaster on Caliban.
• Ron offered the Fallen a new homeworld and their own Chapter, and Afka and the other Fallen agreed to serve him.
• Ron ordered the Fallen treated and rearmed as more Landing Craft arrived, while he worried about an unknown enemy near the Chaos Rift.

Afka and The Fallen received treatment and lavish armaments from The Savior, then joined the forces assembling to face the Chaos Rift. As Ron organized the massive army and Belial agreed to fight, Afka foresaw a planet-destroying daemon emerging amid flames and ruin.

• Afka and The Fallen recovered in the Battlefield Hospital, where a Medical Sister gently checked on Caiden and helped him feel at ease.
• Afka led The Fallen through prayer and into the mobile armory, where they received masterwork and Artisan-class equipment, including Centurion armor.
• The Fallen marched out in resplendent gear, pledged loyalty to The Savior, and impressed the Dark Angels, while Belial feared they now outmatched the Deathwing.
• Ron assembled Titans, Imperial Knights, super-heavy tanks, Adeptus Astartes, and other forces around the Chaos Rift, and Dante welcomed Afka among the gathered Chapter Masters.
• Ron invited Belial and the Dark Angels to join the battle, and Belial accepted The Savior's command.
• Afka experienced a vision of a towering daemon over a shattered planet and heard the title Dark Demon, Planet Destroyer.

Lion and his Knights arrived on Avalons through Lion’s Warp ability, then crossed the desert as a powerful Chaos Daemon approached. At the Chaos Rift, Ron’s overwhelming forces assembled to face Peroflai, who recoiled at the sight of the enormous army.

• Lion led Zabriel, Hada, and the Knights out of a forest on Caliban and onto Avalons, then set out to find a settlement and search for The Fallen.
• Lion accepted water from Hada, sensed a powerful Chaos presence, and raced toward it while telling the Knights to continue without him.
• Peroflai, the Dark Demon and Planet Destroyer, entered the rift to destroy Avalons, while Haraga and the soldiers prayed and prepared for the threat.
• Ron judged the Chaos enemy weaker than expected, dismissed concerns about his large deployment, and ordered his forces to prepare for battle.
• Peroflai emerged with his daemon army, saw Ron’s Primarchs, legendary warriors, Titans, Custodes, Grey Knights, and Astartes, and staggered back in alarm.

The Savior’s forces overwhelmed Peroflai and destroyed the Chaos army on Avalons, then Ron arrived at The Rock and compelled the Dark Angels to reveal their secrets. As Ron explored the fortress in search of relics to confront an unknown enemy, Lion arrived on the battlefield and saw The Savior.

• Titus and the Imperial forces attacked Peroflai, while the Librarians sealed the Chaos Rift and cut off his retreat.
• Afka led The Fallen into battle, and the combined legendary warriors battered Peroflai until Kovan destroyed him with a Holy Ash Bomb.
• Ron learned that an unknown enemy had defeated Ka'bandha, then took the Adeptus Custodes and other warriors to The Rock.
• Azrael initially refused to show Ron The Rock’s Library, but yielded after Ron questioned the Dark Angels’ loyalty.
• Ron entered the fortress seeking the Tuchulcha Engine and the Ouroboros, while Lion arrived on Avalons and spotted The Savior.

The Lion reached Avalons after the Savior had already defeated Chaos and restored the battlefield, then struggled to prove his identity and accept the Savior’s apparent authority and achievements. After learning that The Fallen and the Dark Angels had left with the Savior, he dreamed of returning to Caliban and entered a temple to seek answers from the Emperor.

• The Lion arrived at the purified battlefield, where Marshal Haraga mistook him for one of the Savior’s warriors and doubted his claim to be a Primarch.
• The Lion asked Haraga to explain the War of Blasphemy, and she described the Savior’s arrival, victories, and miracles on Avalons.
• A holographic recording showed the Savior wearing the Emperor’s Golden Armor and carrying the Emperor’s Sword, leaving The Lion shocked and hurt.
• Zabriel showed The Lion The Fallen’s reply, which said they would continue serving the Savior, and The Lion withdrew in disappointment.
• The Lion stayed on Avalons with his companions and, after falling asleep, dreamed of Caliban and entered a temple to find the Emperor.

The Lion received a vision of the Emperor, learned of his father’s unbearable suffering, and resolved to aid The Savior by gathering forces and forbidden weapons. As Ron’s expedition rushed toward the threatened Vostonia Pan-Sector, he began uncovering The Rock’s secrets, leaving Azrael distressed over the Dark Angels’ lost privacy.

• The Lion encountered the Emperor’s toxic personality in a vision, was ordered to help The Savior, and woke with tears after sensing his father’s pain and desire for release.
• The Lion chose to join The Savior’s expedition, gather dark-age weapons, and lead his forces through the Forest of Caliban toward Vostonia Pan-Sector.
• The Lion peered into a forbidden passage in the Warp, resisted its corrupting influence, and continued toward the weapons of extermination.
• Ron learned that Chaos forces were gathering at Vostonia Pan-Sector and prepared to use the Engine of Discord to reunite his scattered forces for a decisive battle.
• Ron sent researchers into The Rock to catalog its technologies and secrets, while Azrael feared the Dark Angels would lose all privacy.

Ron’s forces found the Tuchulcha Engine beneath The Rock and learned that it could manipulate the Warp and might permit limited travel through time. When the self-aware engine refused to submit, Ron ordered Xiao Ling to take it down.

• Ron used his authority and overwhelming force to impose reforms on the Dark Angels, while Afka mourned a lost relic and identified the arriving megaship as Plagueheart.
• Ron learned that Plagueheart was a Warp-energy core and that his search party had found the Tuchulcha Engine in The Rock.
• Ron and the legendary warriors entered the engine’s chamber, where the Tuchulcha Engine spoke through a dead Servitor.
• The Tuchulcha Engine said it could open Warp passages and serve as a gate to the past, though fixed fates could be difficult to change.
• The Tuchulcha Engine demanded that Ron apologize and beg for its help, but Ron ordered Xiao Ling to take it down.

Ron subdued the Tuchulcha Engine with Xiao Ling’s help, and the Imperium excavated the Ouroboros to assemble the Engine of Discord. The Orks and Adeptus Mechanicus transformed it into Ron’s giant drill, which plunged into the Warp and headed toward Khorne’s realm.

• Xiao Ling overwhelmed the Tuchulcha Engine, forced it to surrender its Data Core, and won a month of game time from Ron.
• Ron ordered the Tuchulcha Engine to cooperate, while the Adeptus Mechanicus began excavating it and searching for the Ouroboros beneath The Rock Fortress.
• Dante showed Azrael the Dark Angels’ generous demolition compensation, including equipment, a new Monastery, and a rebuilt Caliban.
• The excavation uncovered the Ouroboros, and Ron gathered it, the Tuchulcha Engine, and Plagueheart for the Engine of Discord’s assembly.
• The Orks and Adeptus Mechanicus assembled the components into Ron’s giant drill, which tore through reality and entered the Warp.
• The Chaos Gods sensed the Warp shaking as the machine charged toward the Daemons outside Khorne’s Brass Fortress.

The Lion led Zabriel and a legion of Extermination Automata through the Warp toward the Vostonia Pan-Sector, but Ron’s Warp Shielding Machine tore through Caliban’s forest and then crashed into Khorne’s realm. As the machine shook the Warp and scattered daemons, the Blood God emerged to confront it.

• The Lion deployed Extermination Automata to destroy Caliban’s great beasts and resolved to reach Vostonia before the Savior arrived.
• A violent tremor swept the Warp as Ron’s Warp Shielding Machine burst past the Forest of Caliban, leaving a torn passage behind it.
• The Lion recognized the Savior’s flamboyant machine and hurried onward with his automaton legion toward the Vostonia Pan-Sector.
• Ron realized the machine had struck a Warp forest, while its deafening vibrations disturbed the domains of the Chaos Gods and daemons.
• The Warp Shielding Machine crashed into Khorne’s realm, tearing away the ground and sending daemons floating through the void.
• The wounded Ka’bandha sensed the machine’s arrival, and the Blood God erupted from the Brass Fortress.

Ron piloted the Warp Shielding Machine through the Warp, accidentally wrecking Chaos domains and finding the traumatized Magnus, whom he urged to return to the Emperor. The machine then barreled into Khorne’s realm, where the Blood God tried to stop it and was hurled away by the Warp’s laws, leaving the daemons believing Ron’s machine had defeated him.

• Ron worried that the Warp Shielding Machine’s uncontrollable speed might damage it, but the Tech-Priest Archmagos explained that slowing down could eject it into an unknown realm, so Ron ordered the Ork Big Mek to prepare a return to the Galaxy.
• Ron spotted Magnus hiding in his Shadow Realm, sent him coordinates and a message claiming the Emperor had forgiven him, and Magnus left to return home.
• Magnus teleported into the Black Throne’s great hall, where the Emperor’s Tyrant persona beat him with Seven Wolves instead of welcoming him.
• The Warp Shielding Machine crushed through a Chaos Lord’s domain, then charged into Khorne’s Blood Soil despite Ron’s alarm.
• Khorne struck the machine with his Blood Axe, but the Warp’s laws repelled him and sent him flying through volcanoes, so the Khorne daemons believed the machine had defeated their Blood God.

Ron escaped Khorne’s realm in the damaged Warp Shielding Machine after the daemons mistook Ka'bandha’s accidental deflection of its drill for a heroic victory. The machine then stopped abruptly after entering a new region of the Warp.

• The Demon Eater’s machine drove through the Blood Soil, knocked down Khorne, broke into the Brass Fortress, and nearly crushed Ang'grath.
• The daemons of Khorne rallied around Ka'bandha, who charged the machine in the Brass Chariot and swung his Blood Axe at it.
• Ron ordered the machine to turn and avoid Ka'bandha’s blow, but the daemons believed Ka'bandha had blocked the drill and celebrated him.
• Khorne recovered and struck at the fleeing machine with a huge Blood Axe, but it escaped the Blood Soil with only minor damage.
• Ron realized that Khorne’s daemons’ faith had strengthened him, then found that the Warp Shielding Machine had stopped in a new region of the Warp.

Ron escaped the Warp Shielding Machine after Tzeentch trapped it in a Sorcery Array, but the machine remained bound in Vostonia, where the coming decisive battle awaited. As Ron gathered allies, the Lion led an ancient army toward the same destination.

• The Warp Shielding Machine became ensnared in Tzeentch’s Sorcery Array, and Ron’s Psyker Grand Masters could not break it free.
• Tzeentch manipulated the Threads of Fate to set a hunt for Ron in motion, while Khorne sent Ka'bandha and Chaos armies toward Vostonia.
• Ron let a reckless blue-painted Ork choose a risky plan, and the Psyker Grand Masters and Orks helped him escape the Warp, though the machine remained trapped.
• Ron sensed that the Sorcery Array was rooted in Vostonia and warned Guilliman and Jaghatai Khan to rendezvous with him before entering the sector.
• The Lion led his Bloodline Progeny and Extermination Automata through the Forest of Caliban toward Vostonia.

The Lion and Zabriel reached Ullanor, where they discovered that the Savior's forces were using Imperial Titans for construction work. The Lion went to meet the planet's Primarch, recognized Guilliman, and immediately attacked him.

• The Lion asked Zabriel about the Imperium's greatest external threat and decided he would deal with Abaddon after resolving his current mission.
• Zabriel identified their location as Ullanor, and the Lion recognized the sounds of Titan God-Machines nearby and rushed toward them with his forces.
• The Lion found Imperial Titans working at a construction site covered in the Savior's slogans and met engineering supervisor Mika, who directed him toward the planet's Primarch.
• Mika required the Lion and Zabriel to wear safety helmets before crossing the construction site, and they traveled by shuttle to meet the Primarch.
• The Lion recognized Guilliman, remembered their old grievances, and lunged at him.

The Lion attacked Guilliman over old grievances, but their confrontation turned into a brawl that ended in reconciliation. After The Lion left to defend Vostonia, Guilliman received a warning that both Primarchs needed to join the main force before entering the war zone, and realized The Lion had already gone ahead.

• The Lion lunged at Guilliman, but the Adeptus Custodes shield wall blocked him and warned him not to attack a Primarch under the Savior's protection.
• Guilliman and The Lion traded insults about the Codex Astartes before Guilliman left the shield formation to duel him.
• Guilliman used his specially modified armor to trap The Lion's fist and land a blow, after which the Primarchs fought until they were bruised and exhausted, then made peace.
• The Lion asked Guilliman about the Savior and the Imperium, reported that a fallen Primarch might attack Vostonia, and left with forces and supplies to prepare its defenses.
• Guilliman gave The Lion a stasis-sealed lunchbox containing a Mutated Beast of Nurgle greater daemon's meat as payback for insulting the Codex Astartes.
• The Savior warned the Primarchs to regroup with the main force before going to Vostonia, but Guilliman discovered that The Lion had already departed.

After learning that the Chaos Gods had lured The Lion into Vostonia, Ron considered the threat to the Imperium and joined The Emperor and Magnus in examining the Sorcery Array. They discovered it was part of a vast scheme to create a rift into the Warp, and Ron called for total war against the Vostonia Pan-Sector.

• Ron received Guilliman's message and worried that The Lion had entered the Chaos Gods' trap in Vostonia.
• The Emperor beat Magnus over the fate of the Warp Shielding Machine until Ron promised to preserve the artifact, then The Emperor warned that Chaos was now targeting Ron.
• Magnus apologized to The Emperor for his past betrayal, and The Emperor told him that the Webway's collapse had not been solely his fault.
• Ron projected the Lord of Change's Sorcery Array, and The Emperor and Magnus deciphered how it was destroying the Warp Shielding Machine and tearing open a vast rift.
• Ron realized the crisis threatened to give Chaos free passage into the Galaxy and urged the Imperium to enter total war and attack the Vostonia Pan-Sector.

Ron convened the Imperium’s leaders to plan the Battle of the Bulwark, a vast war to blockade the Vostonia Pan-Sector and destroy Chaos forces and their sorcery array. As preparations began, Ron failed to contact the cut-off sector, where Lion’s Dark Angels and the people of Calisth faced a devastating Chaos assault.

• Ron ordered the Imperium to gather as many troops as possible for the Vostonia blockade and to prioritize the war’s supplies and equipment.
• Popov reported that the Logistics Department had built extensive reserves, easing Ron’s concerns about military supplies and famine.
• Ron ordered the Forge Worlds to accelerate production, and the conference ended with battlefields covering the star map in red.
• Ron failed to project a message into Vostonia through the Fel Energy storm and worried about Lion’s fate.
• On Calisth, Chaos destroyed a Hive City and killed an Ecclesiarchy Priest as a Dark Angels chaplain led his battered Knights into a final attack.

Dark Angels leaders received a vision of The Savior and used it to rally the defenders of the Calisth System, but a Greater Daemon of Khorne overwhelmed them. The Lion arrived with reinforcements, only to be mistaken for The Savior as he tried to introduce himself.

• Lazarus proposed retreating to Vostonia, but Sapphon insisted the Dark Angels had to hold their position.
• The Chief Librarian received a vision of The Savior, and Sapphon ordered the message spread across the Calisth System to strengthen resistance.
• A Greater Daemon of Khorne killed the defending Chaplain and wounded Sapphon, Lazarus, and the Chief Librarian when they attacked it.
• The Lion and his fleet broke through the Warp storm, and he destroyed a Heldrake before landing near the wounded Dark Angels.
• The Lion began to announce himself, but the Dark Angels cheered The Savior and drowned out his name.

Lion El'Jonson returned to Vostonia, but the people mistook his arrival for The Savior and were disappointed when they saw him. After Lion defeated a Greater Daemon of Khorne and promised to protect the planet, Chaos reinforcements overwhelmed the defenses, so he ordered the Extermination Automata Legion into battle.

• The people and Daemons mistook Lion’s arrival for The Savior, then their morale fell when he revealed himself as Lion El'Jonson.
• Sapphon recognized Lion, and the Dark Angels greeted their returned Father of Genes.
• Lion fought the Greater Daemon of Khorne bare-handed, defeated him, and declared that he would protect Vostonia.
• More Chaos armies descended and broke through the defenses, but Lion told the Dark Angels to prepare a counterattack.
• Lion deployed the Extermination Automata Legion along the defensive lines, making the Daemons’ charge falter.