Chapter Summaries

Ron and the Primarchs escaped Orensis after Hell Missiles devastated the Chaos Daemon army, then investigated the identity of the Chaos Gods’ terrifying released beast. The chapter ended with the beast attacking Vostonia’s capital and Ron ordering his brothers to move out.

• Chaos Daemons surrounded the Arena, but Ron’s rescue team arrived in a White Falcon vehicle and Perturabo opened a route through the blockade.
• Ron and Perturabo deployed Hell Missiles, whose contamination tormented Ang'grath and devastated the Daemon army, forcing the survivors to retreat.
• Ron, Guilliman, Perturabo, and the others left Orensis while the Burning Heart and Burning Legion stayed behind to subdue the Daemon world.
• At a war council on Dreamer, Ron and the Primarchs considered whether the Chaos Gods’ beast might be Angron, but could not identify it from the projection.
• Ron received word that the beast had attacked Vostonia’s capital, destroyed the nearby Imperium fleet, and left an Adeptus Custodes reconnaissance squad missing; he ordered his brothers to move out.

Captain Yapol’s Firstborn Regiment purged the doomsday cult in Decius Hive City while Vostonia fell to a Chaos beast. At the high wall, Marko and an Archmagos lured the beast into a target zone and fired the city’s enormous plasma cannon, engulfing it and the sacrificial armored forces.

• Yapol ordered his soldiers to execute the doomsday cultists and purge the church after learning the Chaplain had died by suicide.
• As earthquakes and Warp corruption devastated Vostonia, Yapol led his Firstborn onward, believing the Savior of the Imperium might still arrive.
• Marko learned that the Beneficiaries and Grey Knights had been annihilated, then followed the Archmagos’s plan to lure the Chaos beast toward the high wall’s main cannon.
• Marko sent the armored forces, including his father and eldest son, to draw the beast into the target zone despite their deaths and mutations.
• The Archmagos fired the super-giant mechanical cannon, and its plasma beam engulfed the Chaos beast and the armored forces as the beast roared in pain.

Marko and Vostonia’s defenders faced destruction until Ron arrived, but his clone was quickly killed by Angron. Ron and his Primarch brothers then fought Angron in space, where Guilliman endured most of the demon’s attacks and finally faltered.

• Marko and the Firstborn watched Angron survive the Plasma Ray and demolish Vostonia’s defenses, until Ron arrived, rescued Marko, and promised the planet would survive.
• Ron revealed that his clone had been destroyed while testing Angron’s strength, then joined Guilliman, Lion, Perturabo, and Jaghatai Khan to prepare for battle.
• Chaos Daemons attacked as Lion opened a path through an illusory Forest of Caliban, allowing the Primarchs to reach the battlefield and confront Angron.
• Ron and his brothers lured Angron into a cruiser converted into a Melta Bomb, but he survived the explosion and attacked them across the ships.
• Ron stabbed Angron in the eye, but the attack failed, and Guilliman repeatedly intercepted Angron’s blows while the Primarchs continued fighting.
• After taking most of Angron’s attacks, Guilliman dropped to one knee and told Ron he could not continue.

Ron and the Loyalist Primarchs struggled to hold off Angron until Ron’s secret weapon was ready, while Guilliman became lost in the Warp and was stranded on a daemon-filled world. As the battle worsened, Ron seized Angron’s Butcher’s Nails and pulled them free, making Angron howl in agony.

• Ron sent the badly wounded Guilliman to recover while he rejoined Lion, Jaghatai Khan, and Perturabo against Angron.
• Angron’s plague pus corrupted Perturabo’s machines, and he destroyed Jaghatai Khan’s Pale Eagle before Ron rescued him.
• Ron told Jaghatai Khan that his weapon would be ready within half an hour, and the Primarchs fought on as Angron and the daemons pressed them into a dead end.
• After Guilliman got lost in the Warp and appeared on a daemon-filled Death World, Ron realized he would not return soon and continued fighting with the others.
• Ron reached Angron’s head, grabbed the Butcher’s Nails embedded in his brain, and yanked them out, causing Angron to howl in agony.

Ron and the Primarchs tried to remove Angron’s Butcher’s Nails, but the Chaos Gods took control of Angron before Ron could equip his arriving armament. As the exhausted group was trapped, Jaghatai Khan awakened his Warp nature and summoned a powerful motorcycle, offering Ron a way to reach the forge platform.

• Ron pulled at Angron’s Butcher’s Nails while Lion, Jaghatai Khan, Perturabo, and the mechanical forces restrained Angron with Auramite Chains, and the Legion of the Damned arrived to hold back the Daemons.
• Ron pulled half the Nails free, but Angron broke the chains, knocked the Primarchs aside, and left Ron with the remaining Nails burrowing into his head.
• Ron regrouped with Lion, Perturabo, and Jaghatai Khan, but the Chaos Gods took conscious control of Angron and blocked their routes to the arriving forging platform.
• Daemonized Angron trapped the Primarchs in filth and wreckage, then flew toward the platform to destroy it.
• Jaghatai Khan awakened his Warp nature after the Great Unclean One crushed the Pale Eagle, and he summoned a powerful motorcycle and told Ron to get on.

Ron and Jaghatai Khan raced toward the Forge Platform on the Galaxy Eagle while Lion and Perturabo were left behind among Nurgle’s daemons, who preferred resting and making soup to fighting. Ron reached the hangar and activated the Golden Throne, leaving the pursuing daemons frozen in terror as it rose.

• Ron boarded Jaghatai Khan’s Galaxy Eagle, which struck the Great Unclean One and carried them out of the ruined cage while Lion and Perturabo stayed behind.
• Lion and Perturabo fought Nurgle’s daemons until they realized the daemons were holding them in place without risking a serious battle, then both sides rested while the daemons cooked Plague Soup.
• Ron and Jaghatai Khan overtook Daemon Angron, taunted the Chaos Gods, and sped toward the Forge Platform as the gods unleashed a Warp storm and tendrils after them.
• Jaghatai Khan threw Ron toward the platform and turned the Galaxy Eagle toward the pursuing tendrils, while Ron slipped past the daemons and reached the hangar.
• Ron escaped the daemons by firing his Blackpowder Pistol and sealing the hangar entrance, then activated the Golden Throne as the daemons burst inside.
• The Golden Throne rose with its skeletal occupant and glowing red mechanical eye, terrifying the Greater Daemons and making other daemons faint.

Ron tested the Redemption Armament, a giant psychic-powered machine built around an imitation Golden Throne and fragments of The Emperor’s bones, by attacking Chaos Daemons and confronting Daemon Angron. The Chaos Gods mistook its appearance for The Emperor’s return, then attacked after recognizing the deception, only for Ron to reveal the armament’s full power.

• Ron piloted the Redemption Armament and slaughtered the Chaos Daemons before flying out to confront Daemon Angron.
• Ron rescued Jaghatai Khan and Galaxy Eagle from the tentacles of pleasure, while Lion and Perturabo watched him carry the Golden Throne and The Cursed’s remains into battle.
• The Chaos Gods initially feared Ron’s armament, then realized it was an imitation and sent Daemon Angron to attack him.
• Ron increased the armament’s power, seized Daemon Angron, and slammed him into the Forge Platform.
• When Daemon Angron pinned the armament down, Ron revealed a radiant phantom of The Emperor and unleashed the True Emperor’s Death Gaze and a Plunger Attack.

Ron used a mechanical arm charged with The Emperor’s concentrated holy Psyker Power to overpower Daemon Angron and send the energy through the Warp, contaminating the Chaos Gods’ realms. He left Angron beaten and nearly motionless on the Forge Platform, while the gods resolved to treat the newborn Savior as a major threat.

• Ron restrained Daemon Angron and slammed the charged mechanical arm into his head, forcing holy Psyker Power through the Warp passage the Chaos Gods had opened by possessing him.
• The energy flooded Khorne’s Brass Fortress and Slaanesh’s Palace of Pleasure, injuring daemons, disrupting the gods’ domains, and dulling the desires of pleasure cultists across the Galaxy.
• The energy contaminated Tzeentch’s Crystal Labyrinth, temporarily halting schemes and affecting events across the Galaxy, while Nurgle’s daemons struggled to contain it in the Garden of Nurgle.
• Bala the Glutton added a trace of the contaminant to Plague Soup and began experimenting with a new, foul-smelling recipe, while the wounded Lord of Pestilence suffered and vomited in the Black House.
• The Chaos Gods grew to regard the newborn Savior as a threat to Chaos, and Ron continued battering Daemon Angron until the daemon was foaming at the mouth and barely moving.

Ron defeated Daemon Angron, brought him back from the Warp, and asked his Primarch brothers whether to spare or kill him. After Angron begged for release, Ron killed him, freeing him from the Butcher’s Nails and Chaos.

• Ron outmaneuvered and overpowered Daemon Angron in a Chaos factory, tore out most of the Butcher’s Nails, and bound him for the journey back to Realspace.
• Lion and Perturabo located Ron, who returned dragging the dying Angron; the Nurgle daemons hid in fear as he passed.
• Ron asked Lion, Perturabo, and Jaghatai Khan whether Angron should live, and they offered opposing views on his possible recovery and the danger he posed.
• Angron regained a moment of clarity and begged Ron to kill him so he could be free.
• Ron declared Angron free, shot him with a Blackstone bolt, and used divine power to destroy his body and soul.

Ron blocked the Chaos Gods from reclaiming Angron’s soul, then used the Morgath Stone Array to draw Angron’s gentle Warp essence into the Sun of Hope. The essence strengthened Ron’s power and his ability to soothe human suffering, but he awoke to an urgent battle report and a lingering soul fragment.

• Ron deployed Blackstone devices around Angron, preventing the Chaos Gods from reaching his soul.
• Perturabo praised the devices and requested a Blackstone Fortress, an Eldar Craftworld, and research support to improve the technology.
• Ron purified Angron’s daemon body, then asked Perturabo to extract Angron’s Warp essence with the Morgath Stone Array.
• Ron released the Blackstone barrier as Angron’s soul shattered, allowing the array to draw Angron’s essence into him.
• Angron’s essence strengthened the Sun of Hope and let Ron ease believers’ negative emotions, potentially reducing The Emperor’s suffering.
• Ron returned to consciousness, received an urgent battle report, and discovered a lingering fragment of soul.

Ron secured Angron’s purified soul fragment and decided to raise a cloned Angron as a kind new Primarch, while the Imperium’s forces reclaimed the Vostonia Pan-Sector and routed the Chaos armies. The Chaos Gods withdrew, but Ron’s troops pursued the daemons and began capturing some for research.

• Ron confirmed Angron was dead, preserved his clean soul fragment, and announced he would use it to create and raise a new Angron.
• Lion, Jaghatai Khan, and Perturabo volunteered to train the new Primarch, and Ron entrusted the soul crystal to the Adeptus Custodes for delivery to the Dreamer’s cloning research base.
• After reading the battle report, Ron said the Imperium could plan a Victory Celebration as the Redemption Fleet broke the Chaos Array and the Warp storms began to disperse.
• The Chaos Gods withdrew their forces from Vostonia, and Ron mocked them before ordering the Imperial army to pursue and destroy the fleeing daemons.
• At Calisth Planet, Old York’s mortal troops and the Storm Army Group routed daemons, while Tyberos and the Carcharodons surrounded others to capture them for the Daemon Research Institute.

Olson witnessed the New Imperium’s forces rout Chaos Daemons and the Savior Propaganda Department turn captured daemons into interview subjects and secret operatives. As Tyberos’s Carcharodons crushed a revolt, Titus pursued daemons into the Warp and sensed a Chaos palace and an unfamiliar loyal Primarch’s aura.

• Olson recorded the terrified daemons and watched a young propagandist interview them while War Angels guarded him.
• When one daemon resisted, a War Angel killed it; a frightened Tzeentch daemon praised the Savior and was hired as a secret operative named Steve.
• The propagandist recruited more daemons and offered Tyberos an interview, but a group of daemons rebelled before the Carcharodons could leave.
• Tyberos and the Carcharodons swiftly suppressed the revolt, and the Propaganda Department filmed the daemons fleeing in fear.
• In the Warp, Titus led an assault force in pursuit of fleeing daemons, reached a Chaos palace, sensed an unfamiliar loyal Primarch’s aura, and received an urgent message from The Savior.

Ron celebrated Vostonia’s liberation while worrying about Titus’s missing assault force and the Chaos Gods reclaiming several Fallen Primarchs’ souls. Titus’s force returned with help from mysterious figures, and Perturabo recognized the One-Armed Wanderer as an old enemy.

• Ron ordered Titus to retreat from the Warp, but a Chaos storm severed their connection and engulfed the assault force as Titus heard blood-red crows overhead.
• Months later, Marko joined Vostonia’s victory parade, reflected on improved support for the Firstborn and their families, and found comfort before the Savior’s statue.
• Ron attended the celebration with Lion, Jaghatai Khan, and Perturabo, then worried that Titus’s force was lost and that the Chaos Gods had reclaimed parts of Fulgrim, Mortarion, and Magnus’s souls.
• Ron told Lion that Little Angron’s embryo had survived, and the Primarchs eagerly headed toward the Biological Laboratory.
• Ron received news that Titus and the strike force had returned after being guided by the Blood Ravens and helped by a One-Armed Wanderer.
• Perturabo recognized the One-Armed Wanderer and vowed he had finally found him after ten thousand years.

Perturabo recognized Dorn’s image and nearly gave in to his hatred, but Ron calmed him and agreed to arrange a fair duel if Dorn was found. Ron then brought the Primarchs to meet the new baby, where an urgent warning from Corax revealed that a notorious traitor had resurfaced.

• Perturabo recalled his rivalry with Dorn, the rumors that tarnished his victories, and his despair after hearing Dorn had died.
• Ron restrained Perturabo and set a limit against large-scale war, promising to arrange a duel between him and Dorn if Dorn was found.
• Ron led the Primarchs through the cloning laboratory, where Lion objected to the possibility of using Horus’s clone body as a weapon against Chaos.
• The Primarchs met the baby, who delighted them, while the Emperor watched their close bond with Ron and felt lonely.
• Ron received an urgent message that Corax had detected a terrifying conspiracy while tracking a traitor, and Ron reacted with disgust at the traitor’s name.

Ron learned that Corax was pursuing Erebus, whose hidden schemes had helped bring about the Horus Heresy, and feared the Dark Apostle was planning a new move against the Imperium. He called an emergency war council and advanced the plan to conquer the Vigilus war zone and secure its Blackstone, while sensing that a major unforeseen event might be approaching.

• Ron reviewed Erebus’s history and concluded that the Dark Apostle had engineered the Horus Heresy and possessed dangerous powers tied to Chaos.
• Ron realized that Erebus’s reappearance threatened the Imperium’s plans and that his own knowledge and intelligence advantages were becoming unreliable.
• Ron shared the report with the Lion, Jaghatai Khan, and Perturabo, concealed Erda’s death, and canceled baby-companionship day to convene a war council.
• Ron proposed moving up the conquest of Vigilus to secure its Blackstone before Erebus could interfere, despite the risk of facing multiple enemy forces.
• Ron headed to the war conference with his Primarch brothers and sensed that an unknown, momentous event was about to occur within the Imperium.

Corax tracked Erebus to a Warp cloning factory, resisted his attempt to manipulate him, and killed one of his cloned bodies before a Warp Storm swallowed him. The real Erebus revealed that he had cloned Horus and other Primarchs and planned to destroy Holy Terra, promising the Chaos Gods that he could erase their greatest threat.

• Ron recorded his growing sense of crisis and sent the warning to his divination coven before summoning the Departmento Munitorum for a Vigilus campaign meeting.
• Corax's raven swarm slaughtered a Word Bearers squad transporting Angron's flesh, and Corax discovered twisted cloned bodies resembling Rogal Dorn, Sanguinius, and other Primarchs.
• The Savior sent Corax a message and a group photo with his brothers, easing Corax's gloom and warning him not to trust Erebus.
• Corax found Erebus's experimental factory, resisted a sorcerous vision meant to lure him into seeking answers, and killed Erebus's cloned body before a Warp Storm engulfed him.
• The real Erebus revealed his cultivation vats containing Horus and other Primarch clones, then told the Chaos Gods that he had a plan to destroy Holy Terra and could erase their threat.

Erebus presented the Light of Shadow to the Chaos Gods and planned to use crises across the galaxy to weaken the Imperium before striking Holy Terra. Ron ignored Erebus’s challenge, then led an army toward Vigilus, where he arrived amid a battle between Chaos forces, Tyranids, and an Eldar Craftworld.

• Erebus told the Chaos Gods that the Light of Shadow could alter reality and proposed using it to isolate the False Emperor from the Warp.
• Erebus won the Chaos Gods’ support for a plan to provoke wars across the galaxy, draw Imperial forces away, and attack Holy Terra through a ruined Webway.
• Erebus tried to taunt Ron through a psychic connection, but Ron cut him off and ordered the Word Bearers to detonate Cyclonic Torpedoes in the Silent King’s territory and gather forces at Vigilus.
• Ron assessed the crowded wars and Blackstone deposits around Vigilus, assigned Lion to investigate the expanding Pariah Nexus, and left Jaghatai Khan and Perturabo to guard Imperial territory.
• Ron led an Imperial army and allied forces into the Vigilus region, where he found a Chaos Warband and Tyranid splinter tendril attacking an Eldar Craftworld.

Ron arrived in the Vigilus region as Asurman with a Drukhari fleet and human allies to rescue the Alaitoc Craftworld and bring its Eldar into Redemption Paradise. After Alaitoc accepted the alliance, Ron reached the ruined Craftworld and reacted to its corrupted condition.

• Ron detected three simultaneous wars in the asteroid system and ordered Tako to help the endangered Eldar while he transferred his consciousness into his Asurman clone.
• Asurman led the Drukhari fleet to Alaitoc, where Farseer Aelari accepted aid from the distant kin and human allies despite the council's distrust.
• The allied fleet destroyed or drove off the Chaos and Tyranid forces in space, then Ron prepared to lead troops into the Craftworld to clear the remaining enemies.
• Aelari's vision revealed a new path as Alaitoc faced Daemon incursions, dwindling Spirit Stones, and the Dark Prince's assault on its souls.
• Ron arrived aboard a sailboat at the corrupted Alaitoc Craftworld, and Iris purified the air around him before he looked out over the ruined world.

Ron planned to secure Alaitoc and its Blackstone deposits by subduing the Craftworld Eldar with help from Redemption Paradise, while the Imperium faced crises elsewhere. After the allied forces rescued Fahimel’s Guardians, the Eldar prepared to meet Asurman, and an old Farseer hurried to drive the Drukhari from Alaitoc before they discovered how vulnerable the Craftworld was.

• Ron learned that the Imperium could send supplies to Vigilus but had few troops to spare, and he resolved to recruit Alaitoc’s battle-hardened Eldar.
• Fahimel and the Children of Alaitoc struggled against Chaos forces and the Tyranid swarm as their defenses collapsed and their last Warlock Titan fell.
• Fok’s Drukhari and human reinforcements arrived, and a mutated Hive Lord tore through the enemy before stopping short of Fahimel’s Guardians.
• Fok told Fahimel to leave the fighting to his forces and bring her people to welcome Asurman, while the Guardians wondered what kind of being their savior was.
• After the allies cleared the invaders, Fahimel followed Fok to meet Asurman, and an old Farseer led elite Warlocks to confront the Drukhari and force them to leave Alaitoc.

Ron arrived at Alaitoc and used the Goddess of Life’s power to soothe the Craftworld Eldar’s withered souls, winning their immediate awe and drawing them toward him. Fahimel nearly collided with him as he welcomed the gathering Eldar, while Alaitoc’s leaders had yet to respond.

• Ron sensed that Slaanesh’s corruption was weakening Alaitoc and decided to take control of the Craftworld, ordering his forces to prepare.
• Fahimel and the Children of Alaitoc were stunned by Ron’s luxurious ship and its enormous Spirit Stone statue of Isha.
• Ron stepped onto Alaitoc with his Black-armored Warriors, and the Eldar were impressed by his presence and the relief they felt from the drizzle of Soul Potion.
• Ron used Isha’s authority to shelter nearby Eldar souls, prompting Fahimel and other Guardians to approach him despite the warriors’ threat.
• Ron stopped his guards and offered to walk with the Children of Alaitoc, while Fahimel nearly stumbled into him and hurriedly apologized.