Chapter Summaries

Ron and Guilliman were trapped by a Warp snare filled with countless copies of the Vengeful Spirit, but Ron turned the Chaos Gods’ trap against them and escaped. They reached the Galaxy late, while Horus’s forces had already isolated the Solar System and Horus advanced toward Terra.

• The Eternal Soul detected three Vengeful Spirits, which multiplied into thousands and surrounded the ship as Guilliman relived his failed attempt to reinforce Terra ten thousand years earlier.
• Ron considered abandoning Guilliman but decided to take him along, then learned that Guilliman had escaped the original trap only after the Emperor defeated Horus and relit the Astronomican.
• As the Vengeful Spirits battered the Eternal Soul, Ron used the Sun of Hope to copy and alter the Chaos Gods’ Warp trap, splitting the ship into copies and opening a golden passage out.
• Ron and Guilliman returned to the Galaxy, but Xiao Ling reported that they were one to two Terran days late and that Chaos had already besieged the Solar System.
• Horus strode through the ruins of a Space Fortress, declared that no one could stop his revenge, and vowed that the Galaxy would burn again.

Horus destroyed the Blood Angels’ last resistance and prepared a calculated assault on Holy Terra, confident that his Chaos forces could overwhelm the Solar System’s defenses. He left the chapter directing his armies toward the system’s weakest points as Chaos fleets and Daemons advanced.

• Horus killed the Blood Angels Captain with Worldbreaker before the Captain could land a blow.
• A Blood Angels warship made a suicide attack, but Horus shielded himself from its weapons and New Dragon Forest Planet’s crimson ray destroyed the ship.
• Horus rebuked Erebus and the resurrected Fallen Primarchs for being suppressed by The Savior, while the Chaos Gods continued empowering him as their clear-minded commander.
• Horus ordered Kairos to provide a detailed map of the Solar System’s defenses, then used Chaos Pilots and dark machinery to scan the system when Kairos’s intelligence proved unreliable.
• Horus analyzed the defensive maps, planned precise attacks against weak points, and sent Chaos fleets, drop pods, and Daemons toward Holy Terra.

Horus’s Chaos forces rapidly overwhelmed the Imperium’s outer defenses while the Emperor’s phantom briefly transformed into the Dark King, terrifying Horus and the Chaos Gods before fading. Horus renewed his determination to invade Terra, and Mortarion approached Mars’s blockade line, where he noticed a huge red “Demolish” painted on its armor.

• Horus ordered Mortarion to destroy Mars’s blockade line within seven hours and then join Magnus in attacking Luna’s defenses.
• Magnus, Fulgrim, and the other Fallen Primarchs devastated the Imperium’s defenses as Horus taunted the Emperor’s phantom and rejected his plea to stop the war.
• The Emperor’s phantom transformed into a terrifying Dark King, frightening Horus, the Chaos Gods, and Erebus before its golden light returned and it vanished.
• Horus concluded that the Emperor had become a fusion of personalities and the Dark Side, then vowed to break into Terra and prevent the Dark King’s emergence.
• Mortarion hurried his attack on Mars after sensing the Dark King’s aura and spotted the word “Demolish” painted on the defense platforms.

Mortarion and Rotigus attacked the Martian blockade line, initially mistaking its demolition signs and banners for evidence that it had been abandoned. After the plague army overwhelmed the defenses, they discovered the line was being held by Oris Will’s demolition crew, who wondered why Terra’s regular troops had not arrived.

• Mortarion saw the blockade line’s demolition signs and banners and suspected The Savior had abandoned it, while Rotigus vowed to corrupt its defenses.
• The Imperium’s weapons damaged the plague army, including killing a Void Whale with the Wall of Arat’s fortress cannon, but Mortarion waited for Nurgle’s blessing before ordering the assault.
• Mortarion and Rotigus unleashed plague sorcery, flies, and unnatural rain as the plague army charged and corroded the blockade line’s guns and defenses.
• The Death Guard and Daemons breached the Wall of Arat, while Oris Will watched the defense collapse and demanded to know where the regular troops were.
• Oris recalled that his demolition crew had been caught at the blockade line when the Chaos attack began, then used its servitors, workers, and stockpiled weapons to resist without receiving reinforcements.

Oris rallied Will House’s workers and guards to defend the Wall of Arat against Mortarion’s Plague Army, but the militia was driven back to the Savior Statue. When the statue survived the enemy’s bombardment and unleashed Melta Beams, it began glowing and trembling, leaving the Death Guard Captain alarmed.

• Oris chose to fight rather than flee, gathered Will House’s forces, and concentrated them at the Wall of Arat’s main platform.
• Will House’s troops detonated the outer platforms, destroying many Plague Army vanguard forces and enraging Mortarion.
• Mortarion ordered the Maggot Herald to kill everyone on the main defense platform before the giant bell tolled seven times.
• Oris promised rewards and security to the workers, who joined the battle as the Plague Vanguard Force attacked their defenses.
• The Maggot Herald’s forces overwhelmed the militia and forced Oris and the survivors to retreat behind the Savior Statue.
• The statue endured the Plague Army’s bombardment, fired Melta Beams at the attackers, and began to glow and tremble.

Ron used the Sun of Hope to bless the beleaguered defenders of Holy Terra after Oris Will prepared a final suicidal charge against the plague army. The blessing healed the workers and guards and empowered them to attack, leaving the Death Guard Captain stunned by their strength.

• The Savior Statue briefly trembled and went dark, prompting Oris Will to believe his people had failed to earn salvation and prepare a last charge with explosives and the Main Defense Platform.
• The Death Guard Captain mocked the defenders and corrupted their demolition systems, then stopped their charge and unleashed plague upon them.
• Ron bypassed the Warp Storm through a faith connection and struggled to shape a large-scale blessing through the Sun of Hope.
• The Savior's golden light healed the defenders and empowered them, while Oris led them into a renewed charge against the plague daemons.
• A greenish, sturdy worker charged into the daemons with a hammer, leaving the Death Guard Captain and plague beings aghast.

Ron’s blessings empowered the workers to defeat the Plague Vanguard Force, while the Chaos Gods refused to spend their faith to counter him. Oris evacuated the survivors, and Mortarion halted the pursuit after seeing Terra’s true defensive line.

• The workers’ blessings gave them varied powers, and their machines surged beyond their limits as they drove back the Plague Vanguard Force.
• The Chaos Gods watched Ron’s blessings with anger, but Nurgle withdrew his intended blessing rather than risk a contest of faith with Ron.
• Oris and the workers killed the Maggot Herald, routed the Plague Vanguard Force, and received orders to evacuate aboard a transport fleet.
• Oris activated the Self-Destruct Mechanism, and the transport fleet fled as Corrupted Void Whales pursued it.
• Mortarion saw Terra’s true defensive line after crossing a Blackstone Interference Barrier and ordered the Plague Army to stop pursuing.

Ron confirmed that Holy Terra's defenses still held as the Chaos armies gathered before the newly revealed Space Steel Wall. Mortarion hesitated to attack, and Horus fell silent after turning to see the defenses for himself.

• The Plague Army stopped pursuing the transport ship, and Oris and the workers aboard celebrated their rescue.
• Ron returned to the Eternal Soul, told Guilliman that Holy Terra's defense line still stood, and the ship sped toward the Solar System.
• Holmes welcomed the evacuated workers and coordinated with the defenders as Rogal Dorn assumed command of Terra's forces.
• Mortarion halted the Plague Army before the Space Steel Wall, wary of its immense defenses and waiting for the other Chaos armies.
• Horus confronted Mortarion for delaying the attack, then turned to look at Terra's defenses and stood frozen in silence.

Horus and the Fallen Primarchs confronted the Space Steel Wall guarding Terra and realized the Chaos army could not easily breach it. Horus devised a surprise assault and directed a massive attack, which reached the wall under heavy Imperial fire.

• Horus saw the Space Steel Wall and recognized that the Savior had built an immense, technologically advanced defense around Terra.
• Magnus and the other Fallen Primarchs asked Horus how they could break through after Magnus's sorcery failed to damage the wall.
• Horus rallied the demoralized Fallen Primarchs and searched the wall's defenses until he found a plan for breaching its interior.
• Horus ordered Chaos aerial forces to launch a surprise assault on the Space Steel Wall.
• Holmes ordered the 13th War Zone's fortress cannons to fire, inflicting heavy losses as Chaos forces counterattacked and advanced under Horus's precise command.

Mortarion and Horus led a Chaos assault against the Steel Great Wall, breaking through the outer defenses of the 13th War Zone. Mortarion then learned that the supposed weak sector was held by thousands of Adeptus Custodes, while a distant explosion and Typhus’s disappearance left the Fallen Primarchs’ campaign in disarray.

• Horus directed seventy-seven Corrupted Void Whales toward a supposed weak point in the Steel Great Wall, and Mortarion led their charge.
• Mortarion struck the wall with Silence, while the Corrupted Void Whales rammed and exploded against it, spreading plague and destroying the outer defenses of the 13th War Zone.
• Holmes ordered the Solar Auxilia to retreat and requested aid from Terra Command as the Plague Army poured through the breach and attacked the defensive platform.
• Mortarion began extending his domain across the platform as Plague Daemons advanced, but the Plague Warriors attacking the second line encountered thousands of Adeptus Custodes and were overwhelmed.
• Mortarion confronted Horus after learning that the supposed weak sector was guarded by Adeptus Custodes, then saw a distant mushroom cloud and discovered that Typhus and his elite army had vanished.

Horus’s attempt to seize the defensive platform’s core failed when the Savior statues awakened as powerful Psi-Titans and drove back the Chaos assault. Facing the Fallen Primarchs’ doubts, Horus secured their support and promised a renewed offensive with the Chaos Gods’ reinforcements.

• Horus revealed that Alpharius’s Ghost Troops and the World Eaters had infiltrated the platform’s core, so Mortarion sent Heart-Eater and the 4th Plague Division to support them.
• Heart-Eater’s Eater’s Plague devastated the Imperial defenders, forcing them to retreat toward the engine room as the Chaos forces pursued.
• The Savior Statue and the Living Saint statues rose as combat machines, including an Imperator-class Psi-Titan, and devastated the attacking Chaos troops.
• The Imperial defenders counterattacked while the Chaos assault collapsed, and the Adeptus Custodes broke free of their restraints.
• Mortarion and the other Fallen Primarchs confronted Horus over the failed attack, but Horus rebuked their doubts and declared that the general offensive would begin with reinforcements from the Chaos Gods.

Horus forced the Chaos Gods to let him command the campaign against Terra, then led a vastly reinforced Chaos army into a renewed assault on the Steel Great Wall. As Imperial troops waited behind their defenses, an unseen observer noticed that the supposedly pressured garrison seemed surprisingly calm.

• The Chaos Gods summoned massive daemon reinforcements across the defensive platforms, including sixty-four Bloodthirsters, while the summoning drained their power.
• Horus refused to bow to the Chaos Gods and demanded sole authority over the campaign; the gods threatened him but ultimately accepted his terms.
• Horus ordered the Chaos army to attack, and the force captured several defense platforms while overrunning much of the 13th War Zone.
• The Savior’s Blackstone devices and statues helped shield the Imperial defenders from the Chaos Gods’ corrupting presence as the assault gathered strength.
• Draining, a Cadian veteran, a Krieg veteran, and a Catachan warrior waited for orders while sharing lunch in the dining hall.
• A being watching the dining hall through a Rot Fly noticed that the Imperial garrison did not seem to be under much pressure.

A Chaos entity infiltrated the Imperium’s defenses and discovered that its soldiers were eager for battle, its warehouses overflowing with advanced weapons and supplies, and Blackstone barriers blocking communication. After escaping to report its findings, it enraged Horus, the Dark Emperor, in the Chaos Temple.

• Draining received orders sending the veterans to the Eighth War Zone, and the soldiers eagerly prepared to fight the Chaos Daemons.
• The Cadia veteran and the Catachan big man mistook the Chaos assault for a feint and praised Horus’s supposed cunning, while the Rot Fly’s Chaos consciousness listened in disbelief.
• The Rot Fly explored the warehouse district and found enormous supply stockpiles, including mortal combat armor plated with Auramite.
• A Blackstone Containment Device blocked the Rot Fly’s Fel Energy transmission, so it flew beyond the barrier while narrowly avoiding detection.
• The Rot Fly escaped the barrier and transmitted its intelligence to Horus, the Dark Emperor, who erupted in rage in the Chaos Temple.

Horus launched a major assault on the Steel Great Wall after deciding the Imperium’s defenses were too thin, while Magnus continued trying to breach its Blackstone blockade. At the Eighth War Zone, Imperial forces held back a huge Daemon attack with overwhelming firepower, but Horus believed the line would soon break and cripple the Imperium’s logistics.

• Magnus reassured the Fallen Primarchs that the campaign was proceeding smoothly, then focused on infiltrating the Blackstone defenses around the Steel Great Wall.
• Fulgrim mocked Rogal Dorn and attacked Sanguinius, but Horus seized Fulgrim, forced him to apologize, and ordered Sanguinius to restrain himself.
• Horus committed his forces to a full assault, directing the Chaos army with rapid orders and preparing to return to Terra.
• At the Eighth War Zone, the commander of the 16th Storm Army Group requested reinforcements as Daemons bypassed the Ninth War Zone and attacked his sector.
• Imperial troops, war machines, and artillery devastated the Daemon advance, while Horus’s Commissariat forced the Daemons to keep charging into the barrage.
• Horus judged that the Eighth War Zone’s defenses would fall within half an hour and that cutting its logistics would trigger a wider Imperial collapse.

Horus prepared to crush the Imperial defenders and claim the Golden Throne, but a vision revealed that The Savior had already desecrated the Emperor’s remains, enraging him. As Chaos and Imperial forces escalated their fighting in the Eighth War Zone, Rogal Dorn waited at Holy Terra Command, frustrated that his abundant reinforcements left him little to do.

• Horus proclaimed his vengeance against the Emperor and planned to conquer Terra, seize the Golden Throne, and divide the Emperor’s power.
• Horus saw a phantom of the past in which The Savior dismantled the Emperor’s skeleton, burned the bones to ash, and rested beside the Golden Throne.
• Horus erased the phantom rather than expose The Savior’s blasphemy, then vowed to make both the Emperor and The Savior submit to him.
• Draining and his armored squad joined the Eighth War Zone as Imperial reinforcements kept arriving, while Horus directed the Chaos Daemons to withstand the defenders’ firepower and push forward.
• Rogal Dorn learned that the Eighth War Zone remained stable under the planned reinforcements and lamented that the Imperium’s plentiful troops left him little room to command.

Rogal Dorn struggled to uncover Horus’s hidden main force, while the Grey Knights and Inquisition tortured Chaos captives until two Greater Daemons revealed that Horus had concealed a vast army. When scouts still could not locate it, Dorn used a Chaos projection signal to contact Horus and provoke him into revealing his plans.

• Rogal Dorn questioned Kovan about the Grey Knights’ intelligence gathering, and Kovan said his team needed more time.
• Kovan’s interrogation team tortured Chaos captives, and a Tzeentch Weaver claimed Horus had hidden a vast army for a decisive attack.
• A Bloodthirster confessed that Horus’s hidden army included eighty-eight Bloodthirsters, and Kovan sent the intelligence to Dorn.
• Dorn ordered scouts to search for the hidden force, but they found only traces of Horus that could establish a projection link.
• Dorn used the signal to contact Horus, while Horus sensed the connection in the Chaos Temple and sneered.

Rogal Dorn confronted Horus in the Chaos Temple, hoping to provoke him into a decisive battle, but Horus refused and saw through the tactic. Dorn accused Chaos of hiding most of its forces, enraging Horus and the Fallen Primarchs, yet he left believing his plan had failed and Terra faced an even harder fight.

• Rogal Dorn confronted Horus, endured the Dark Emperor's overwhelming presence, and declared that he would defend Terra against him.
• Horus recognized Dorn's attempt to provoke a decisive battle and refused to fight on his terms, while Alpharius demanded revenge for their old duel.
• Dorn accused Horus of concealing at least eighty percent of the Chaos forces and vowed that Terra would find and crush the hidden army.
• Horus and the Fallen Primarchs realized Dorn believed their full assault was only a feint, and their humiliation turned to fury.
• Horus seized his Chaos Sword and charged toward Terra's defensive line, with the other Fallen Primarchs eager to join him.
• At Holy Terra Command, Dorn told his adjutant that he had failed to enrage Horus and feared the unknown location of Chaos's main force.

Rogal Dorn took command of Terra’s defenses as Horus and the Fallen Primarchs launched a fierce assault on the Eighth War Zone. Dorn held back the Imperial reserves, unaware that Horus had invented the threat of a hidden Chaos main force to keep him from reinforcing the sector, and the chapter ended with the Fallen Primarchs tearing through its defenses.

• Dorn heard that Horus and the Fallen Primarchs had appeared and were attacking the Eighth War Zone, and he prepared for a possible full-scale Chaos offensive.
• Dorn assumed command of the Steel Great Wall’s defenses, ordered scouts to watch for the hidden Chaos army, and kept the Imperial reserves ready rather than committing them.
• Horus revealed that no hidden main force existed and that he had used the deception to pin down Dorn’s armies while targeting the Eighth War Zone.
• Horus ordered the Fallen Primarchs to destroy the sector’s core fortresses, and Mortarion, Angron, and Magnus devastated the Imperial defenses.
• Horus mocked the Savior’s defensive line as the Eighth War Zone’s fortifications fell under the Primarchs’ assault.

Ron briefly projected his consciousness into the Eighth War Zone, where Horus mistook his silence for deliberate contempt and challenged him to a duel. Ron cut the connection, and Horus broke through the Steel Defense Line, only for the scene beyond The Veil to leave the Chaos forces stunned.

• Ron infiltrated the Solar System’s blockade and asked Guilliman to identify Horus, then unknowingly broadcast insults while trying to understand the blurry signal.
• Horus challenged Ron to a duel, but Ron ignored him because he could barely hear the transmission and was focused on the Golden Throne’s danger.
• Ron told Guilliman that Horus might need to reach the Imperial Palace to help contain the Emperor if they could not return in time, then ended his projection.
• Horus lost his composure and ordered a massive assault, while Rogal Dorn conceded defeat in command and ordered the defenders to retreat.
• Horus destroyed the Eighth War Zone’s core bastion, shattered its Blackstone blockade, and prepared to advance toward Terra.
• The retreating Imperial ships crossed The Veil and revealed what lay beyond, leaving Horus and the Chaos forces dumbstruck.

Horus led the Chaos Coalition through Terra’s outer Steel Defense Line, only to discover another immense wall waiting beyond it. After the revelation broke his strength and halted the assault, the Chaos Gods’ avatars appeared in the Warp.

• Horus rallied the demoralized Chaos army and used his command authority to coordinate a fierce assault on the next Steel Defense Line.
• Rogal Dorn struggled to counter Horus’s tactics as Imperial platforms fell, while Horus and the Fallen Primarchs fought their way through the defenses.
• The Chaos Coalition destroyed the final fortress in that section, and Horus declared victory before noticing troop carriers retreating toward Terra.
• A still larger Steel Wall appeared beyond the conquered defenses, leaving Horus and the other Chaos beings despairing at the layered fortifications built under Ron’s plan.
• Horus collapsed from exhaustion, while Rogal Dorn wondered why the attack had stopped and the avatars of the Chaos Gods’ authority appeared in the Warp.