Chapter Summaries

Ron gathered the Primarchs, Adeptus Custodes, Dark Angels, and Fallen as Imperial forces secured the area, while The Lion received new armor and learned that the resources of The Rock Fortress had been used for the war effort. The Fallen Phoenix, Fulgrim, then emerged from a Greater Daemon’s corpse and taunted the assembled Primarchs, hinting at a new threat.

• Ron brought three thousand Adeptus Custodes from the webway and won their public allegiance, impressing The Lion with his authority.
• Ron and The Lion agreed that the Fallen could choose whether to return to the Dark Angels, and Ron welcomed them as Imperial warriors.
• Lazarus arrived with the Dark Angels and was stunned by the Fallen’s master-crafted armor and high-grade Purity Seals; Ron promised The Lion similar equipment for his legion.
• Ron treated The Lion and presented him with new Primarch armor, then explained that The Rock Fortress had been dismantled and its relics repurposed for the Imperium’s war effort.
• The Lion accepted the loss of the fortress’s relics after learning they supported the Warp Shielding Machine, then donned his new armor and took up the Lion Sword.
• Fulgrim emerged from a Greater Daemon’s corpse, stopped the Adeptus Custodes from attacking, and taunted the four Primarchs about the danger awaiting them.

Ron humiliated Fulgrim by showing footage of the Fallen Phoenix being beaten, then warned the loyal Primarchs that three more fallen traitors were approaching. The chapter left eight Primarchs poised to clash on the planet.

• Fulgrim insulted Ron and provoked the loyal Primarchs and Adeptus Custodes, but Ron calmly accused him of jealousy and imitation.
• Ron projected footage of The Emperor and Ron tormenting Fulgrim, humiliating him before the Imperium’s warriors and Primarchs.
• Fulgrim vowed to win the war and departed in pink mist, leaving his puppet body behind; Ron burned the remains.
• Ron told Guilliman, Lion, and the others that at least three more fallen traitors were heading to the planet, bringing the impending Primarch gathering to eight.

Ron and the Primarchs prepared for the arrival of four Fallen Primarchs, reviewing intelligence and planning how to divide the fight. Ron resolved to pursue Fulgrim and investigate the Morgath Stone, while Guilliman volunteered to capture Fulgrim.

• Lion and Jaghatai Khan welcomed the chance to fight the traitors, and Guilliman asked Ron which enemies were coming.
• Ron consulted his prophecy network and revealed images of Fulgrim, Lorgar Aurelian, Perturabo, and Angron, along with other dangerous enemies to watch.
• Ron considered how the Morgath Stone could strip away Warp essence and planned to seize it from Fulgrim for study.
• Ron warned his brothers that the Fallen Primarchs were unlikely to cooperate and proposed choosing opponents and strategies in advance.
• Ron briefed the Primarchs on Fulgrim's traps and the Morgath Stone, then Guilliman vowed to capture Fulgrim himself.

Ron assigned Guilliman to pursue Fulgrim and secretly prepared an elite rescue team to protect him, then assessed the hidden Lorgar as a likely weaker but uncertain threat. The chapter ended with Ron warning that Lorgar’s escape from Sicarus meant either Corax had been defeated or an unknown enemy had tied him down.

• Guilliman insisted on confronting Fulgrim, and Ron approved the mission as the Guilliman Vanguard Plan to gather intelligence and wear down the Fallen Primarch.
• Ron secretly activated the Stretcher Unit and sent the Legion of Fear and his Dark Prince Clone to protect Guilliman during the pursuit.
• Ron and the Primarchs reviewed Lorgar’s history, his fall to Chaos, and his concealed activity on Sicarus.
• Ron estimated that daemon Lorgar was probably weaker than Fulgrim and the awakened Lion, while noting that Lorgar’s strength remained uncertain.
• Ron inferred that Lorgar’s unobstructed return with the Word Bearers meant Corax had either been defeated or occupied by an unknown enemy.

Ron judged that Lorgar was unlikely to have defeated Corax and suspected an unknown enemy had stopped the Raven King. He assigned the Primarchs to confront the Fallen leaders, then revealed he had secretly identified Perturabo through the Mechanicus Forum as the Mechanical Fortress shook under the Chaos Rift's influence.

• Ron explained that awakening to one's Warp essence offered greater power and freedom than daemon ascension, and concluded that an unknown force had likely stopped Corax.
• Ron assigned Jaghatai Khan to fight Lorgar and gave him a parchment scripture to show Lorgar after beating him into a clearer state of mind.
• Ron and The Lion discussed Perturabo's history, his Iron Warriors, and the danger his mechanical forces and Techno-plague posed to Savior's Territory.
• Ron assigned The Lion to stop Angron and kept Perturabo as his own opponent, saying he wanted Perturabo alive for the Imperium.
• Ron and Guilliman reached the Mechanical Fortress, where Ron revealed that he had exposed Perturabo's secret Mechanicus Forum account and had been monitoring him.

Ron tried to draw Perturabo back to the Imperium by cultivating their friendship through anonymous Mechanicus Forum accounts and offering him ancient art. The chapter left Ron and his brothers facing a vast Warp incursion on Castellid Prime as Imperial reinforcements arrived and the Mechanical Fortress began to rise.

• Ron told Guilliman he believed Perturabo could be won back and planned to appeal to his ideals and need for friendship.
• Ron shared forged ancient Terra artwork with Perturabo, who thanked him and then abruptly logged off.
• The Lion alerted Ron that Warp palaces, corrupted landscapes, and Daemons had appeared across Castellid Prime as the Lord of Change's Chaos Array took effect.
• Ron announced that more Imperial fleets were arriving, and a vast armada surrounded the planet and sent troop transports down.
• Ron called for humanity's steel tide, and the Mechanical Fortress shuddered and began ascending.

Ron deployed the towering Redemption Fortress-class Titan, Emperor of the Imperium, and chose Guilliman’s plan for a direct assault on Fulgrim’s command core. The Titan led an attack into the Chaos army, crushing Daemon Engines, but it raced ahead of its escort and became surrounded.

• Lion and the other Primarchs watched Ron identify the 233-meter Emperor of the Imperium as a unique Redemption Fortress-class Titan.
• Tako reported that Fulgrim was roughly two hundred kilometers away amid a vast Chaos force, and Guilliman proposed striking directly at his command core.
• Ron approved Guilliman’s assault plan and explained that the Titan’s beacon would let reinforcements arrive as the force advanced.
• The Emperor of the Imperium led a Titan formation out of the Imperial line and charged into the Chaos army.
• The fortress Titan blocked enemy fire, crushed a Heavy Hammer Skull Tower and a Plague Meat Mountain, and scattered daemons underfoot.
• Lion recognized the danger as the Emperor of the Imperium outran its escorts and became surrounded by Chaos Engines and aerial vehicles.

Ron used the Emperor of the Imperium’s overwhelming firepower to break the Chaos siege and blast a path through the daemon horde. After seeing the fortress Titan’s power, he regretted not building it even larger and prepared to give Tako another instruction.

• Lion warned Ron and the other Primarchs that Daemon Engines were closing in and urged them to retreat, but Ron judged they had no time to turn the Emperor of the Imperium around.
• Ron ordered the Titan to brace in place and defend until the other Titans caught up, while Chaos daemons taunted him and the Primarchs.
• The Emperor of the Imperium deployed its weapons, including a relic-grade Eldar shipborne Lance, and unleashed a massive barrage at the approaching Chaos forces.
• The Lance beam destroyed Daemon Engines and daemons, devastated the battlefield, and carved a broad path through the Chaos horde.
• Ron praised the fortress Titan’s combat power, wished he had ordered an even larger war engine, and turned to Tako as his adjutant stepped forward to receive instructions.

Ron ordered the forge departments to develop more powerful Bastion-class Titans and led a Titan formation deep into the Chaos front toward Fulgrim. After Fulgrim's attempt to taunt him failed, Ron tried to summon reinforcements, but Chaos corruption disabled the beacon, leaving the force braced for a boarding assault and possible breakout.

• Ron ordered the forge departments to resume Bastion-class Titan research with ample funding and promised his Primarch brothers one of the new Titans each.
• Ron led the Emperor of the Imperium and the Titan formation onward toward Fulgrim's command center as the Titans fought off nearby Chaos Abominations.
• Fulgrim ordered Lucius to attack Ron's isolated Titan formation, then tried to taunt Ron through sorcerous communication, but Ron mocked him and blocked the connection.
• Ron and the Primarchs pushed farther into the Chaos front, where Ron activated the beacon to summon reinforcements.
• The beacon quickly failed after unknown Fel Energy corrupted it, and Ron prepared the force to withstand the Emperor's Children assault or break out without reinforcements.

Ron and the Primarchs defended the Emperor of the Imperium against a vast daemon assault, while concealed Adeptus Custodes thwarted Emperor’s Children saboteurs and automated war machines cleared a path for reinforcements. As the Titan advanced, Fallen Phoenix Fulgrim prepared a poisoned weapon and faced the approaching Savior and his allies.

• Ron used an antimatter Ivory Pistol to destroy a flying horde of Khorne’s Beasts of Vengeance, astonishing Lion and the other Primarchs.
• Emperor’s Children sorcerers teleported into the Emperor of the Imperium, but concealed Adeptus Custodes arrested them before they could damage its engines.
• Ron received confirmation that the boarding parties had been contained while the Adeptus Custodes and Primarchs fought off the surrounding daemons.
• Lucius the Undying saw a Psyker Beacon summon reinforcements and urged his forces to bring down even more daemons.
• Automated combat machines descended into the daemon horde and formed a fiery defensive line, letting the Emperor of the Imperium advance.
• Fallen Phoenix Fulgrim prepared a lethal poison for his brothers as Ron and the Primarchs approached with their allies.

Fulgrim prepared a Warp-poisoned trap and set out to face The Savior as the Imperium’s forces assaulted the Demon Palace. The battle advanced toward the palace, while Ron grew alarmed by repeated appearances of the number nine and hurried off to seek divine help.

• Fulgrim prepared a potent intoxicating poison intended to reach The Savior’s true body through his Clone Body, then entered the sorcerous array to meet the arriving enemy.
• The Redemption Crusade deployed armored squads to Calisth Planet, where Old York led his squad against daemons and killed an Emperor’s Children warrior.
• Old York’s squad cleared a route for the advancing Titan God-Machines and saw the Emperor of the Imperium Fortress arrive with The Savior’s banner.
• Ron learned the army would reach the Demon Palace in nine hours and felt uneasy when he noticed repeated groups of nine.
• Ron left the watchtower to find the Emperor, Buddha, or God and change his luck.

Ron feared that the Lord of Change had laid a fate-based trap for him, but after performing a luck-transfer ritual, he led the advance toward Fulgrim’s Demon Palace. When Fulgrim’s Nine-Layer Sorcery Array activated, it ensnared Guilliman instead of Ron.

• Ron saw a shadow shaped like Tzeentch’s sacred number nine and performed a fortune-changing ritual with incense, holy icons, and offerings to his ancestors.
• Ron told Guilliman that capturing Fulgrim and claiming the Morgath Stone mattered more than a duel, then promised to arrange a public fight after they captured him.
• Ron and the primarchs reached the Demon Palace after exactly nine hours; Ron ordered an assault despite suspecting the Lord of Change’s trap had already activated.
• Ron blasted through the palace’s barrier, exposed Fulgrim, and attacked him alongside Jaghatai Khan and Guilliman.
• Fulgrim’s Nine-Layer Sorcery Array repelled the attacks and ensnared Guilliman, while Ron realized the trap had caught the wrong target.

The Chaos Array trapped Guilliman instead of Ron, sending him toward a duel with Fulgrim while Ron remained outside to face an arriving Chaos Mechanical Fortress. Guilliman entered the luxurious Warp arena Fulgrim had prepared, and the chapter left their confrontation about to begin.

• Slaanesh accused the Lord of Change of sabotaging the Chaos Array, but the Lord of Change insisted he had acted honestly and searched the Threads of Fate for the cause of the mistake.
• The Array failed to restrict Guilliman’s absent Warp essence, then began separating him and Fulgrim from the loyalist Primarchs and preparing to teleport them away.
• Ron and the others tried to cut through the Array’s tentacles, but Ron concluded that stopping it would require destroying Calisth Planet.
• Guilliman declared his intent to settle his ten-thousand-year grudge with Fulgrim and retrieve Ron’s relic, while Fulgrim raged that he had been paired with Guilliman instead of Ron.
• The Array delayed Guilliman’s teleportation, and Ron threw him the Holy Sword before Guilliman was taken into the Warp; Ron then turned to confront a Chaos Mechanical Fortress.
• Guilliman arrived in Fulgrim’s lavish Warp arena, where Chaos spectators awaited the duel.

Fulgrim's plan to torture The Savior failed when Guilliman was captured instead, and the Chaos spectators waited impatiently for him to arrive. Guilliman finally appeared in his upgraded Armor of Fate, killed a Greater Daemon of Khorne, and prepared to fight through the Arena toward Fulgrim.

• Fulgrim and the Chaos spectators gathered in the Arena to watch The Savior, but the Lord of Change revealed that The Cursed One was still in the Galaxy.
• The Emperor's Children Announcer announced that Guilliman would be the opening victim, and the spectators waited as the Chaos Array struggled to draw him in.
• Guilliman finally crashed into the Arena and challenged Fulgrim to a duel, but Fulgrim refused and called on the gladiators to attack him.
• A Greater Daemon of Khorne charged Guilliman, who caught its axe, overpowered it, and destroyed it with the Holy Sword.
• Guilliman activated the upgraded Armor of Fate and prepared to cut through the Greater Daemons toward Fulgrim's throne.

Guilliman endured a prolonged assault by Chaos forces with the Armor of Fate’s layered defenses and healing supplies, then escaped Fulgrim’s trap and challenged his traitorous brother. Fulgrim defeated him after their duel, leaving Guilliman captured and hoping The Savior would come to his aid.

• Guilliman fought off an ambush and then battled a growing swarm of Greater Daemons, using his Force-Field Shields and twin blades to hold out.
• After the daemons exhausted his first set of shields, Guilliman activated a second force-field system, injected Panaceas and Restoration Potions, and drove through the encirclement toward Fulgrim.
• Fulgrim sent Guilliman back into the Arena with a Chaos Array, but Guilliman used a hidden Beacon to teleport to Fulgrim and strike him by surprise.
• Slaanesh’s tentacles stopped Guilliman’s blades, but Guilliman punched Fulgrim in the face, and they fell into the Arena and fought hand to hand.
• Fulgrim and Guilliman fought with their weapons until Guilliman collapsed, after which Fulgrim ordered the daemons to hang and torture him and took his swords.
• Guilliman accepted that he might die but held on to hope that The Savior would rescue him.

Fulgrim tortured Guilliman and used a Slaanesh illusion of Yvraine to corrupt him, then tried to spread blasphemous footage through the Psyker Network. The network blocked him, so Fulgrim enlisted Kairos to build a Chaos array and continued preparing his trap for The Savior.

• Fulgrim had the Twin Executioners torture the captive Guilliman and exposed him to an illusion of Yvraine to weaken his will.
• Fulgrim uploaded images of Guilliman and Yvraine to the Psyker Network, but its restrictions locked his account and Data-slate.
• Fulgrim contacted Kairos, who agreed to build a Chaos array to corrupt the Psyker Network in about ninety-nine hours.
• Fulgrim's illusion showed Guilliman a Maiden Emperor image of the Emperor, but Guilliman expelled the vision and destroyed the memory.
• Fulgrim strengthened Guilliman's illusory corruption and produced the Morgath Stone, the key to his scheme to seize The Savior's authority.

Guilliman resisted Fulgrim’s Pleasure Illusion while Fulgrim prepared to use a Morgath Stone array to seize his authority and spread humiliating recordings. Meanwhile, Perturabo unleashed his Chaos Machine Tide against the Dark Angels, and Ron hurried toward the battlefield as he considered how to deal with the Lord of Iron.

• Guilliman fought off the illusion’s temptations, drawing strength from Ron’s example and fearing that Fulgrim was recording his humiliation.
• Fulgrim assembled a million-gem Morgath Stone array and planned to seize Guilliman’s authority and spread the recordings through the Imperium’s Spirit Net.
• A Chaos factory and a vast tide of Chaos machines smashed through the Dark Angels’ defenses on Calisth Planet, destroying a Warlord Titan.
• Perturabo arrived with the Iron Warriors, coordinated their forces through his Logos Armor, and used the mobile factory’s weapon to destroy another Titan.
• Ron reviewed a forbidden recording report, learned that Perturabo was attacking the Dark Angels, and directed the Emperor of the Imperium toward the battle while considering whether he could reclaim Perturabo.

Ron challenged Perturabo to a three-part contest to decide their war, proposing they compete in machinery, knowledge, and martial strength. Perturabo accepted and demanded Ron’s mounts if he won, while Ron wagered the Iron Warriors Legion; Perturabo had yet to answer Ron’s final taunt.

• Ron contacted Perturabo and greeted him warmly as Angron and Lorgar arrived to join the fighting.
• Ron proposed a best-of-three War Protocol, with equal forces in a mechanical battle, a knowledge contest, and a duel between the Primarchs.
• Perturabo analyzed the proposal, judged himself superior in all three contests, and asked where they would meet.
• Ron chose Perturabo’s Chaos Factory Fortress, and Perturabo accepted the accord, demanding the Dreamer and Emperor of the Imperium if Ron lost.
• Ron wagered Perturabo’s Iron Warriors Legion if he won, then taunted Perturabo about whether he feared losing his Gene-Scions.

Ron and Perturabo finalized a wager over the Iron Warriors Legion and began a three-part contest, with the Dreamer and other vessels at stake. After Ron conceded the swordsmanship round, he chose the subject for the knowledge contest and prepared to show Perturabo what a cultured man could do.

• Perturabo accepted Ron’s terms despite Ahalin and the other Iron Warriors pleading with him not to wager their Legion, then forced them to submit and agreed to sign a sorcerous contract.
• Ron and Perturabo prepared the contest, deploying Warp formations and positioning their forces and vessels while Ron learned the latest intelligence lowered his side’s projected win rate to 69.13%.
• Ron rejected Tako’s suggestion to bring more guards and set out with ten Custodian Wardens for Perturabo’s factory fortress.
• The machine forces clashed while the Custodian Wardens and Iron Warriors watched Ron and Perturabo duel; Perturabo won the swordsmanship round, and Ron graciously conceded.
• Ron and Perturabo discussed swordsmanship amicably, then Ron chose the next contest and announced that he was a cultured man too.

Ron defeated Perturabo in the art-knowledge round and won the final mechanical war, leaving Perturabo and the Iron Warriors bound to honor their wager and join him. The chapter ended with Ron calling the Iron Warriors to his side.

• Perturabo criticized Ron's ornate golden armor, and they agreed to settle their knowledge wager with a contest about ancient Terran art.
• Ron performed Beethoven's Symphony of Fate on the giant pipe organ, impressing Perturabo and the Iron Warriors.
• Ron identified Perturabo's mural as Da Vinci's The Battle of Anghiari and defeated him in the art round.
• Perturabo and Ron watched their mechanical legions fight while the Iron Warriors awaited the outcome of their oath.
• Ron’s enhanced Automated Mechanoids overcame Perturabo's Dark Automata, winning the final round and the wager.
• Ron claimed victory and urged the Iron Warriors to come to his side.