Chapter Summaries

Rogal Dorn’s defenses forced Horus’s Chaos Coalition to stall, but the Chaos Gods secretly corrupted a deep-space region and then poured their resources into a massive assault on Terra. The chapter ended as a spatial rift pierced the Steel Great Wall and advanced toward Terra.

• Dorn followed Tako’s advice, strengthened reconnaissance and reserves, and watched the Imperial defenses exhaust Horus’s forces.
• The Chaos Gods’ authority avatars corrupted a deep-space Blackstone blockade, eroding its Psykers and hiding the attack from Terra.
• Dorn prepared to launch a final offensive against Horus, but alarms revealed a growing Warp rift near Mandeville Point, prompting him to activate the backup plan.
• The Chaos Gods agreed to invest vast amounts of Fel Energy, damaging their own realms as they gathered power in the Abyss of The Void.
• A spatial rift surged toward Terra and pierced the Steel Great Wall and its Blackstone Containment Device.

The Dark Rift tore through the Steel Defense Line, leaving Tor Garadon and the Imperial defenders to fight Chaos Daemons as Horus advanced toward Terra. With the loyal Primarchs absent, Rogal Dorn prepared to face Horus alone, but Tako directed him to the Redemption Armory to use all of Savior's Armed Forces.

• The Dark Rift overwhelmed the Grey Knights' Psychic Barrier, split the Fourth Steel Great Wall, and forced the defenders into desperate close combat.
• The Master of the Phalanx ordered Tor Garadon to evacuate Warzone 113, but Chaos severed communications and Daemons attacked before the defenders could withdraw.
• Horus led his forces through the Dark Rift toward Terra, confident that the broken defense lines and lost Imperial firepower could not stop him.
• Rogal Dorn left Holy Terra Command to confront Horus alone, determined to protect The Emperor despite the odds.
• Tako told Rogal Dorn he was authorized to use all of Savior's Armed Forces and directed him to the Redemption Armory.

Rogal Dorn prepared to defend Holy Terra against Horus and the Chaos forces, then entered battle wearing the Savior’s powerful Armor of Redemption. His overwhelming strength stopped the Imperial line from collapsing, and he challenged Horus to face him.

• Tako led Rogal Dorn and other Imperial elites to the Redemption Armory, where they received weapons and armor for the coming battle.
• Rogal Dorn donned the Savior’s latest Armor of Redemption, took up a larger Truth Shield, and armed himself for combat.
• Horus and the Chaos forces attacked the Blackstone fortress, destroying its machinery and driving the Imperial defenders toward defeat.
• The final wave of Imperial reinforcements arrived, and Rogal Dorn descended onto the battlefield in the Armor of Redemption.
• Rogal Dorn shattered a Bloodthirster’s axe, battered Greater Daemons, and blocked the attacks of Alpharius and Omegon with his shield.
• Confident in his armor’s overwhelming power, Rogal Dorn challenged Horus to fight him.

Rogal Dorn challenged Horus and the Fallen Primarchs, then held a core Blackstone Engine while defeating Chaos attackers with the Armor of Redemption. Horus and the other Primarchs converged on him, and their coordinated assault ended with Magnus unleashing a Chaos Flame that began melting Dorn’s armor.

• Dorn broadcast a challenge to Horus and the Fallen Primarchs, and Imperial defenders mistook it for a sacrifice to buy them time.
• Horus broke through the Adeptus Custodes, destroyed a key Blackstone Engine, and headed toward Dorn with his Dark Retinue.
• Dorn battered Alpharius and Omegon, killed a Keeper of Secrets, and drove back the Chaos Daemons gathering around him.
• The Fallen Primarchs ambushed Dorn together, but the Armor of Redemption and its Blackstone system blocked their attacks.
• Magnus unleashed a vast Chaos Flame that forced the Fallen Primarchs to flee while Dorn remained trapped in the fire and watched his armor begin to melt.

Rogal Dorn used the Armor of Redemption and its support weapons to break free of Mortarion and Magnus’s trap, then drove back the Fallen Primarchs until Horus arrived. Horus defeated Dorn, crippled the armor, and prepared to kill him as Terra’s fate hung in the balance.

• Dorn activated the Armor of Redemption’s emergency system and used a relic-grade Relic Rune to escape Mortarion’s Fungal Abyss as Magnus’s crimson flames burned through it.
• Mortarion, Magnus, and the other Fallen Primarchs attacked Dorn, but the Armor of Redemption endured their assault with minimal damage.
• Angron charged Dorn, who used a Drop Pod, External Armor, and support weapons to overpower him and drive back the other Fallen Primarchs.
• Horus appeared, blocked Dorn’s attack, and declared that humanity had already lost because The Savior was not wearing the armor.
• Dorn charged Horus, but Horus eventually battered him down, damaged the Armor of Redemption, and raised Worldbreaker over Dorn’s head.

Horus destroyed the Armor of Redemption after Rogal Dorn escaped, broke the Blackstone defense, and opened the way to Terra. Ron returned to the Solar System, but the Chaos Gods and a planet-class weapon threatened his route, leaving him to charge into the storm as Guilliman headed for Holy Terra.

• Horus nearly killed Rogal Dorn, but the Armor of Redemption teleported Dorn away before Worldbreaker struck; Horus then destroyed the armor and its Emperor-bone remains.
• Horus destroyed the core Blackstone Engine, collapsing the Warp blockade and leaving the Imperial defenders scattered as Chaos forces advanced toward Terra.
• Rogal Dorn and Tako learned their emergency defenses had failed, but The Savior's return signal restored the defenders' morale.
• The Chaos Gods joined forces to impede The Savior, unleashing a Chaos Storm while New Dragon Forest Planet approached Terra through the Dark Rift.
• Ron arrived aboard the Eternal Soul and learned the Armor of Redemption had been destroyed; he and Guilliman prepared to reach Terra as a planet-class weapon neared it.
• Ron leaped into the Chaos Storm to find a faster route, while Guilliman set course for Holy Terra; Ron then realized he was moving away from it and worried that their other plan might fail.

Ron escaped a Chaos illusion, tried to guide reinforcements toward the besieged Solar System, and took the Golden Throne to awaken the Emperor and hold the line. The Emperor rose to confront the Fallen Primarchs as Horus and the Greater Daemons entered the Throne Room.

• Ron broke free of a Chaos Gods illusion in the Miniature Garden and found himself still trapped in the Chaos Storm near the Solar System.
• Ron decided to use the Sun of Hope to guide the support fleets and Primarch brothers, but first needed to delay Chaos's advance.
• Ron transferred his consciousness to the Clone Avatar, took the Emperor off the damaged Golden Throne, and endured its immense psychic pressure in his place.
• The Emperor awakened in golden armor and left the Throne Room to confront his fallen sons, still connected to the Golden Throne by an extended cable.
• Horus and the Fallen Primarchs reached the Throne Room through the Dark Rift, and a group of Greater Daemons rushed inside ahead of them.

The Emperor left the Golden Throne and slaughtered the Chaos daemons attacking the Imperial Palace, then confronted Horus and the Fallen Primarchs in the Dark Rift. When Angron charged him, The Emperor slapped him hard enough to knock him senseless and clear his mind.

• Ang'grath led Khorne's Bloodthirsters into the Throne Room, expecting to destroy the Golden Throne, but found The Emperor guarding its entrance.
• The Emperor unleashed his power and drove the Greater Daemons into a panicked retreat, killing many as they fled into the Dark Rift.
• Horus and the Fallen Primarchs mocked the fleeing daemons, then realized The Emperor had risen and was approaching through the rift.
• The Emperor tore through the Dark Rift's boundary and confronted Horus and his rebellious brothers, leaving them frozen in fear.
• Angron charged The Emperor, who dodged his axe and slapped him across the face, leaving Angron stunned and trembling.

The Emperor defeated Horus and the Fallen Primarchs in the Dark Rift before the Golden Throne pulled him back into slumber, while Ron’s clone burned out trying to sustain him. Horus and the Fallen Primarchs then emerged from the rift expecting to attack Terra, but found themselves aboard a human battleship with Terra gone.

• The Emperor beat Angron into submission, then fought Horus while Mortarion, Magnus, Fulgrim, and the other Fallen Primarchs retreated and fled deeper into the Dark Rift.
• The Emperor chased the fleeing Chaos forces until the Golden Throne dragged him back, and Ron’s exhausted clone broke away from the throne and withered.
• The Chaos Gods urged Horus and the Fallen Primarchs to destroy the throne while the Emperor slept, and they raced toward the Throne Room as the rift passed the defenders.
• Horus and the Fallen Primarchs emerged from the Dark Rift and struck what they thought was the Golden Throne, but discovered they were aboard a human battleship.
• Horus looked toward Terra and found it missing, while Grandfather Nurgle collapsed in fury inside his little black room.

After Terra vanished into Dawn City's Webway, Ron used Diablo to exploit the Chaos Gods' weakened domains, recruiting their followers and taking their resources. With the Sun of Hope strengthened, he turned back toward the battle in the Solar System, where a new sun began to rise as his will descended.

• The Adeptus Mechanicus used Old Ones technology to relocate Holy Terra into Dawn City's Webway, leaving the Chaos Gods' siege without its target and Nurgle unconscious from the loss.
• Ron spread Diablo's influence through the Plague Garden, where frightened followers began defecting to the Lord of Hell and Nurgle's domain fell into turmoil.
• Diablo's followers recruited warriors in Khorne's Blood Soil, while Ron's agents sold experiences and spread his faith in Slaanesh's Realm of Pleasure.
• Ron considered the risks of his overlapping authorities but chose to keep gathering power without seeking to become a supreme god.
• Ron decided to finish the battle in the Solar System and turn his attention back to Horus and the other fallen forces.
• A new sun rose in the darkness of the Solar System as Ron's will descended.

Ron manifested the Sun of Hope in the Solar System and used its blessings to strengthen Imperial defenders and push back Chaos. As Horus threatened the Imperial fleets, Ron realized he needed to keep the fallen Primarchs from escaping, and sensed his Primarch brothers arriving to help.

• Ron used the Sun of Hope to illuminate the Solar System and began searching for Imperial defenders trapped by the Chaos tide.
• Anselmor and the Rift Lords Chapter fought Daemons at the Fourth Steel Great Wall until the Sun of Hope strengthened them and cleared the obscuring mist, allowing them to counterattack alongside other defenders.
• Ron blessed Imperial warriors and weakened Greater Daemons of Khorne, while Khorne rejected Ron's proposal to cooperate against the other Chaos Gods.
• Horus destroyed a battleship with Fel Energy, and Ron decided he had to keep Horus and the other fallen beings in the Solar System.
• Ron sensed his Primarch brothers arriving as reinforcements.

Ron welcomed Lion, the Primarchs, and Imperial forces through the Forest of Caliban, then prepared to confront the Chaos Bastion as reinforcements flooded into the Solar System. Horus withdrew toward New Dragon Forest Planet under attack, while Guilliman arrived too late to find Terra or his brothers and learned that Holy Terra had been moved to Dawn City's Webway.

• Lion arrived through the Forest of Caliban with Jaghatai Khan, Perturabo, young Angron, and Imperial warriors, and Ron greeted them.
• Angron gave Ron the living-metal thought core of a Necrons lord as a trophy, and Ron praised and embraced his adopted son.
• Perturabo identified New Dragon Forest Planet as a dangerous mechanical Chaos Bastion, and Ron revealed that Holy Terra had been moved into Dawn City's Webway.
• Imperial and xenos fleets arrived in the Solar System as Horus discovered Terra was gone and ordered the Fallen Primarchs to retreat to New Dragon Forest Planet.
• Mortarion warned Horus that New Dragon Forest Planet was under attack, and Horus hurried back to reinforce it.
• Guilliman arrived at the Steel Great Wall, learned from Xiao Ling that Terra was safe in Dawn City's Webway, and found the Chaos forces and his brothers gone.

Guilliman discovered that the decisive battle had moved to a deep-space fortress and rushed there aboard the Eternal Soul. Meanwhile, Steel-Tooth's Orks smashed their Ron Giant Fortress into the Corrupted Void Whale, and Ron asked whether Horus had been pinned down.

• Guilliman failed to contact Calgar or find the battlefield, then spotted the fleets gathering around a huge fortress and recognized the ships of Horus and his loyalist brothers.
• Guilliman ordered the Eternal Soul to jump toward the new battlefield, pushing the ship to travel faster through the turbulent Warp.
• Steel-Tooth's Orks charged the Corrupted Void Whale with the Ron Giant Fortress, while the Death Guard Captain steered the whale away from their first attack.
• The Death Guard Captain watched the Ork fortress stop unnaturally in space, turn around, and catch up with the whale.
• The Ron Giant Fortress rammed the Corrupted Void Whale and its drill tore through the creature, destroying Grandfather Nurgle's idol and enraging both Chaos and the Imperium.
• Ron disclaimed any connection to the Ork colossus, then asked the Adjutant of the Redemption Legion whether they had pinned down Horus.

Ron used the Orb of Eternity to batter New Dragon Forest Planet’s Chaos Veil and prepared to seize the fortress before Horus could interfere. As the Orks and Tyranids destroyed Chaos forces and moved to block the Fallen Primarchs, Ron’s plans were complicated by Slaaneshi rumors that turned his battles into lurid propaganda.

• Ron learned that Horus and the other Fallen Primarchs were approaching, while Imperial coalition forces began intercepting them.
• Ron fired the Orb of Eternity at New Dragon Forest Planet’s Chaos Veil, terrifying its defenders and deciding to claim the fortress and its resources.
• Ron discovered that Slaaneshi Cultists were spreading obscene stories about the Ork Ron and Grandfather Nurgle, while Plague Entities blamed The Savior and the Lord of Pleasure.
• The Ork Warlord defeated a Death Guard Captain with a Squig Bomb and mace, then received orders to lead the Orks into the Dark Rift and delay Horus.
• The Orks destroyed the Corrupted Void Whale and the Idol of Nurgle before Ron Giant Fortress charged toward the Dark Rift.
• Lao Ba’s Tyranid swarm devoured the Corrupted Void Whale and its daemons, then followed the Orks to help hold back Horus for at least one planetary rotation cycle.

Horus and the Fallen Primarchs were delayed by Ron’s Tyranid and Ork forces as they rushed back to New Dragon Forest Planet. Ron’s fleet breached the planet’s defenses, and he began a landing operation with the loyal Primarchs while sensing that he might have forgotten something.

• Horus led the Fallen Primarchs through the Dark Rift toward New Dragon Forest Planet, where Tyranids attacked and slowed their advance.
• Magnus entered a new Rift branch, killed two Ork Warlords after they ambushed and humiliated him, and then faced more Orks as the Tyranids caught up.
• Ron’s Tyranid Swarm and Steel-Tooth’s Orks trapped Horus’s forces, delaying their return while Ron’s fleet continued its siege.
• After more than ten hours, Ron’s forces breached New Dragon Forest Planet’s defenses, and Ron ordered a landing operation with Lion and the loyal Primarchs.
• As Ron prepared to deploy in Blackstone Drop Pods, he wondered whether he had forgotten something and felt an ominous premonition.

Ron realized Guilliman had missed the gathering for the decisive battle and launched the invasion of New Dragon Forest Planet without him. The Imperium broke through the planet’s defenses, while Diablo’s followers recruited Chaos forces and Ron considered how to weaken the Chaos Gods and repair the Throne.

• Ron tried to contact Guilliman, but learned he was unreachable and might miss the battle; Lion regretted that they could not fight together.
• Ron, Lion, Dorn, Jaghatai Khan, and the other loyal Primarchs launched in Blackstone Drop Pods toward New Dragon Forest Planet as Imperial forces cleared the skies.
• The Imperium bombarded the planet with Hell Missiles, devastated its Chaos garrison, and sent the Adeptus Custodes, Redemption Legion, and Legion of Fear into battle.
• The Legion of Fear persuaded routed Chaos beings to submit to Diablo, and Ron granted the new followers Fel Energy blessings and onboarding benefits.
• As New Dragon Forest Planet’s defenses rapidly collapsed, Ron considered using Diablo to expand humanity’s influence in the Warp and reflected on the need to repair the Throne.
• Ron’s Blackstone Drop Pod reached its target area and smashed into the ground.

Ron arrived at New Dragon Forest Planet’s core and ended the standoff by persuading the Dark Mechanicum and Greater Daemons to surrender. He claimed Horus’s Chaos Temple, strengthened his authority, and completed his takeover of the planet, then received unexpected news.

• Ron made a dramatic entrance, and Lion and the Primarchs watched as the Dark Mechanicum surrendered, blaming Horus for forcing them to serve him.
• After a Hell Weapon bombardment outside the core, the Greater Daemons also surrendered, and Ron ordered the Imperium’s forces to lower their weapons.
• Ron led the Primarchs and the surrendered Chaos forces into Horus’s Chaos Temple, where he sat on the Chaos Throne and released Diablo’s authority.
• Ron’s power transformed the temple and surrounding terrain, expelled Horus’s and the Chaos Gods’ influence, and helped the Machine Goddess’s Giant Engine take over the planet’s dark mechanical facilities.
• Ron completed his takeover of New Dragon Forest Planet, then received unexpected news.

Ron inspected the Light of Shadow on New Dragon Forest Planet, learned its history and powers, and ordered Regubor to prepare it for use against Chaos. With the planet secured and Imperial reinforcements arriving, Ron planned to turn it into a fortified base while Rogal Dorn and Jaghatai Khan reflected on the Imperium’s changed fortunes.

• Ron visited the Light of Shadow and heard Regubor explain that the Old Ones had created it during the War in Heaven to oppose the C’tan.
• Ron reviewed how the artifact had passed from humanity to the Necrons, then concluded that Erebus might have recovered it through a trade with Trazyn.
• Ron learned that the Light of Shadow could amplify Psykers and manipulate Warp energy, and he ordered Regubor to restore it for imminent use.
• Ron had the intelligence department seek contact with Trazyn and considered using the artifact to strengthen the Emperor and develop technology against the Warp.
• Ron watched Imperial transports arrive at New Dragon Forest Planet and planned to make it a fortified main base against the Chaos Coalition.
• Rogal Dorn and Jaghatai Khan talked over roasted lamb as Dorn reflected that Ron’s return had reversed the Imperium’s fortunes.

The New Imperium armed New Dragon Forest Planet with Sephos’s planetary defense system and opened fire on the returning Chaos Coalition. As Corvus Corax arrived for the decisive battle, Guilliman finally appeared—already alone in the Void before the enemy fleet.

• Sephos activated the completed planetary defense network, which linked the planet’s weapons through the Psyker Network.
• Ron ordered the defenses to attack, and the Dark Main Cannon and hundreds of thousands of heavy weapons destroyed large numbers of Chaos warships.
• Horus and the fallen primarchs arrived aboard their flagships, prompting the loyalist primarchs to prepare for battle.
• Corvus Corax emerged from a Warp rift and asked where Guilliman was; Ron said Guilliman was on his way.
• Guilliman’s ship, the Eternal Soul, appeared alone before the fallen primarchs’ assembled flagships.

Guilliman arrived at the Solar System aboard the Eternal Soul, only to emerge in the heart of Horus’s fleet and face a devastating attack. After Horus disabled the ship and confronted him aboard, Guilliman’s weapons failed to stop the Dark Emperor, who crushed his Radiant Short Sword.

• Ron and the other Primarchs watched Guilliman approach Horus’s forces, but Lion insisted that the battle plan could not change to rescue him.
• Guilliman celebrated reaching the battlefield without delay, then discovered that the Vengeful Spirit and the other Chaos flagships had surrounded the Eternal Soul.
• Horus identified Guilliman as a chance to disrupt the Imperium’s defenses and ordered the Chaos fleet to attack and capture him.
• The Eternal Soul survived the first bombardment and tried to escape, but Horus breached the ship and destroyed its engine room.
• Guilliman attacked Horus with Ash Bombs and the Radiant Short Sword, but Horus caught the blade and crushed it.