Chapter Summaries

Ron was trapped on the Chaos Planet as the Chaos Gods sealed every escape route and began draining his power. He refused to ascend into a supreme god, then waited for the Dark King’s arrival and chose not to stop it, leaving the Chaos Gods facing the being they feared most.

• The Emperor’s violent fluctuations briefly distracted the Chaos Gods, giving Ron time to crack Tzeentch’s maze before the Adeptus Mechanicus restored the Warp Extraction Devices.
• Ron attacked the Lord of Change and tried to escape, but the other Chaos Gods intervened and sealed the routes off the Chaos Planet.
• The Chaos Gods imprisoned Ron in a tightening cage and wounded him while draining his authority and faith-based Fel Energy; Ron rejected the chance to ascend and secretly sent a Psyker Power communication.
• The Warp trembled as the Holy Sun began turning black, and the Chaos Gods recognized that the Dark King was physically awakening.
• The Lord of Change begged Ron to stop the Dark King’s descent, but Ron refused and watched as the faith converging on the Holy Sun accelerated its awakening.

As the Dark King’s awakening tore through the Warp and threatened the Galaxy, Ka'bandha rallied the terrified daemons of Blood Soil while privately fearing the coming destruction. Ron used the crisis to demand the Chaos Gods’ complete cooperation, leaving the outcome to their response as the End Times drew near.

• Ka'bandha learned that the Dark King, not The Savior, was awakening, then publicly vowed to face him and rallied the daemons of Blood Soil.
• An Abomination Rift opened across Blood Soil, devouring daemons and structures as destruction spread through the Chaos Gods’ domains and the Warp.
• Terrified Chaos beings prayed for help, while the Chaos Gods watched The Savior and the Lord of Hell and recognized they needed The Savior’s cooperation.
• Ron described the devastation to himself and rejected the Chaos Gods’ offers, demanding their absolute obedience and commitment to stop the Dark King.
• On New Dragon Forest Planet, Sanguinius, Lion, and the other Primarchs launched their final attack against the Dark Emperor Horus.

Sanguinius, Guilliman, and the other Primarchs confronted Horus in the Chaos Temple, where their insults gave way to a massive battle. Horus overwhelmed them and pierced Sanguinius, but Sanguinius held him fast so his brothers could keep fighting.

• Horus mocked The Savior, and Sanguinius and the Primarchs answered by condemning Horus and trading insults with him.
• Horus smashed the Throne and attacked, triggering a battle between the Primarchs, Chaos forces, and their armies inside the Chaos Temple.
• Horus battered Guilliman and wounded several Chaos Primarchs, but Guilliman refused to leave the fight and rejoined his brothers.
• Sanguinius and the Primarchs continued to obstruct Horus as he tried to reach The Savior's hidden throne and destroy its core node.
• Horus pierced Sanguinius's chest with his claws, but Sanguinius pressed close and restrained him rather than letting go.

Sanguinius and the Primarchs killed Horus, but he revived as a Chaos-powered abomination and overwhelmed them as the galaxy descended into crisis. Ron returned from the Warp to protect the Primarchs and confront Horus.

• Sanguinius held Horus in place while Magnus and the other Chaos Primarchs activated a sorcery array, allowing Guilliman, Lion, and the Loyalist Primarchs to restrain him.
• Sanguinius stabbed Horus through the heart with the Moon-Silver Blade, and the Primarchs attacked until Horus fell silent; the Blood Angels' Black Rage vanished.
• Guilliman tried to destroy Horus's corpse with Melta Grenades, but it survived, began beating like a heart, and rebuilt itself into a Chaos abomination empowered by the four Chaos Gods.
• Horus attacked the Primarchs while The Savior's Chaos Throne came under siege and The Emperor's storm threatened fleets across the galaxy.
• Ron awakened, stopped Horus's attacks with his Psyker Power, and told Guilliman he would handle the rest.

Ron tried to end the battle after the Chaos Gods agreed to a ceasefire, but Horus rejected their order and attacked him. With the gods’ authority backing him, Ron endured Horus’s assault and began draining the power from Horus, leaving the Dark Emperor weakened and defeated for the moment.

• Ron told Guilliman that the Chaos Gods had agreed to stop the war, and the Imperial forces celebrated the apparent victory.
• Horus refused to obey the gods and vowed to kill Ron, reigniting the battle between Chaos and the Imperium.
• Horus battered Ron into a crater and unleashed the Chaos Gods’ powers, but Ron emerged uninjured and absorbed the attacks.
• Ron called on the Chaos Gods to honor their agreement and used their authority to drain Horus’s power.
• Horus lunged at Ron to reclaim his stolen authority, but Ron struck him down and accused him of endangering the plan to stop the Dark Joy King.

Ron defeated Horus, stripped him of the Chaos Gods’ authority, and had him arrested for public trial. With the Dark King threatening the Galaxy and the Warp, Ron began advancing an expanded Golden Throne repair plan and prepared a Wandering Ark as a last resort.

• Ron overwhelmed Horus with authority-powered blows, while Guilliman and the Imperium’s forces celebrated and the Chaos forces fell silent.
• Ron absorbed Horus’s borrowed authority, restrained him with Fel Energy, and ordered the Custodian Veterans to arrest him in Blackstone Shackles.
• Horus begged Ron for an honorable death, but Ron refused and sent him away to await a public trial.
• Ron sensed the Dark King’s growing threat in the Warp and reassured the anxious Chaos Gods that events remained within his plan.
• Ron issued orders to expand the Golden Throne repair project and prepare the Wandering Ark Project in case humanity had to flee beyond the Galaxy.
• Ron turned toward the Chaos Mechanical Giant Tower, where the Ancient Artifact was located, and hoped it could help suppress the Dark King.

Ron confirmed that the Light of Shadow could help repair the Golden Throne, but a Dark Rift began spreading toward New Dragon Forest Planet and threatened the artifact. Blackstone Fortresses stopped the rift, giving the Imperium and Chaos hope, while Zahn helped the Chaos Gods rein in the Lord of Change before turning his attention to an important announcement.

• The Archmagos reported that the Light of Shadow's core matrix remained intact and could be awakened, and Ron ordered it moved to the target location.
• Ron displayed his power to the Chaos forces, which submitted to his commands, while some daemons suspected the Dark King had awakened.
• A vast Dark Rift spread toward New Dragon Forest Planet, and Ron feared it would swallow the Chaos Great Tower and destroy the Light of Shadow.
• Mechanicus Arks arrived with Blackstone Fortresses, whose devices halted and weakened the Dark Rift, prompting Imperial and Chaos forces to celebrate.
• The Lord of Change tried to probe the Blackstone technology, so Grandfather Nurgle and the other Supreme Dark Gods pinned him down and beat him as Zahn joined in.
• After helping stabilize the alliance with the Chaos Gods, Zahn returned his attention to his main body to prepare an important announcement to the Galaxy and the Warp.

Ron rallied the Galaxy and the Warp behind a plan to stop the Dark King, turning the crisis into a vast joint disaster-relief effort. With the crowds mobilized and the communications network ready, Zahn ordered the work to begin.

• Ron broadcast his presence across the Galaxy and the Warp, accepted the allegiance of humans and daemons, and watched Horus finally give up resisting.
• Ron declared that the Dark King could be stopped and promised to save all life, drawing faith toward the Sun of Hope and persuading daemons to trust him.
• Ron called on the Galaxy and the Warp to unite against the Dark King and explained the Galaxy and Warp Super Disaster-Relief Project.
• Engineering ships and Imperial and Chaos forces gathered on New Dragon Forest Planet, raising banners and pledging to complete the mission.
• The Machine Goddess built a temporary communications system while Cawl and the other Archmagos finalized the plan, and Zahn ordered the work to begin.

An agricultural sector’s officials prepared to welcome the Savior as a Chaos Rift opened nearby, and watched daemons haul his enormous Honor Banner through the passage. The Archon ordered the honor guard to keep playing music and dancing as the banner approached.

• The Archon and sector officials waited beside the Chaos Rift, reassured by the Archbishop that the Savior would defeat the Black Calamity.
• The rift’s daemonic roars frightened the crowd, but the Archon held his ground while everyone awaited the Savior.
• An official spotted the Savior’s arrival, and the crowd saw Greater Daemons and other chained daemons dragging a heavy object through the passage under Custodes’ supervision.
• The Archon and Archbishop watched the daemons haul the Savior’s several-kilometer Honor Banner, praising the Savior’s power.
• The Archon recognized the banner and told the honor guard to keep playing music and dancing.

Ron escorted the Ancient Artifact, Light of Shadow, toward the Webway entrance to Terra while presenting the Empire’s progress as a victory to keep fear of the Dark King in check. The artifact reached its destination, and Ron prepared to enter the corrupted Webway and put The Emperor back on the Golden Throne.

• Ron used golden Psyker Power and a public celebration to reassure Imperial subjects and strengthen their confidence against the Black Calamity.
• Tako reported that broadcasts, celebrations, and disaster relief continued across the Empire, while Ron praised him and emphasized maintaining an atmosphere of victory.
• Engineering crews prepared the route as Chaos Daemons transported the Ancient Artifact and received livestock as food and payment for their labor.
• Ron’s wage increases and consumer subsidies boosted workers’ spirits as the Empire maintained its celebrations and the daemons held a livestock feast.
• The Ancient Artifact reached the Webway entrance to Terra, where Ron and the others sensed the Dark King’s powerful Fel Energy and learned Terra had been abandoned and devastated.
• Ron steeled himself to enter the Webway and return The Emperor to the Golden Throne.

Ron and the Primarchs reached the Golden Throne as the Light of Shadow suppressed the Dark King's corruption, but the Emperor's transforming skeleton noticed the artifact and a black-armored warrior emerged from the Warp. The chapter left the defenders preparing for the threat.

• Ron and the Primarchs flew across ruined Terra while Ron reflected on how relocating the Empire's government had preserved its administration.
• The Adeptus Custodes and Grey Knights transported the Light of Shadow toward the Golden Throne, while the Chaos daemons fled Terra.
• Ron and the Primarchs reached the Throne Room and found the Emperor's skeleton enlarged, growing dark flesh, and radiating violent life force.
• The Light of Shadow activated and suppressed the Warp and dark Fel Energy, but the Emperor's skeleton turned toward the artifact.
• The Adeptus Custodes formed shield walls and the Grey Knights took combat positions as pitch-black flames appeared and a black-armored warrior stepped into reality.

The Dark Legion of the Damned attacked the Light of Shadow, overwhelming the Imperium’s defenders until Ron used the Sun of Hope and the Emperor’s stored Holy Energy to weaken their destructive power. The defenders regained ground, but the Emperor’s skeleton began tearing free of the Golden Throne, and the Dark Emperor appeared to confront his children.

• The Dark Legion of the Damned advanced on the Light of Shadow, and its attacks slaughtered the Imperium’s elite warriors while piercing their defenses.
• Ron assessed that neither the Custodes nor the Primarchs could stop the legion by force, then decoded its destructive authority with the Sun of Hope and the Lord of Change.
• Ron used the Emperor’s stored Holy Energy to help the Grey Knights establish a sacred psychic array that weakened the Dark Legion’s power and let the Imperium’s forces hold the line.
• The Primarchs and Custodes fought back as the Light of Shadow struck the Golden Throne, but the throne began to tremble and crack.
• The Emperor’s skeleton tore at the cables binding it to the throne, and the Dark Emperor appeared before the Primarchs and asked whether they intended to stop him.

The Dark Emperor began tearing free of the Golden Throne while the Primarchs, Imperium elites, and Chaos forces struggled against his fear and the Dark Legion of the Damned. Ron completed a new Divine Circuit and gathered power from across the Galaxy and Warp, then struck the Dark Emperor with a flying tackle and elbow, sending him flying.

• The Dark Emperor’s destructive presence cowed the Primarchs and Imperium elites as he began pulling the cables that anchored him to the Golden Throne.
• Guilliman, Sanguinius, and the other Primarchs led Imperium forces against the Dark Legion of the Damned while the Chaos Gods sent their daemon legions to stop the Dark King.
• The Chaos Gods’ attacks of Authority failed, and Ron used contributions of faith Fel Energy to complete a new Divine Circuit that countered the Dark Emperor’s destruction and Fear.
• Ron gathered power from the Chaos Gods, lesser gods, and Orks, then charged through the Dark Legion of the Damned as Guilliman and the Primarchs attacked the Throne.
• The Dark Emperor shattered the Primarchs’ weapons and forced them to their knees, but Ron struck him with a flying tackle and elbow that broke his blade and sent him flying.

Ron, as The Savior, broke through the Dark Emperor’s Authority of Destruction and repeatedly battered him, but the Dark Emperor used the Emperor’s authority to sway the Primarchs against Ron. Ron exposed the deception with the Emperor’s hope-infused bone powder, then resumed his assault and pinned the Dark Emperor to the Golden Throne.

• Ron broke through the Dark Emperor’s destructive flames and struck him repeatedly with Ork-powered elbow attacks.
• The Dark Emperor tried to suppress Ron with the Emperor’s authority, but Ron showed the Emperor’s Edict of the End and continued fighting.
• The Dark Emperor took the Emperor’s aged form and persuaded the Primarchs and Imperial forces to turn against Ron while preparing to pull out the final anchor cable.
• Ron threw hope-infused bone powder from the Emperor’s skeleton at the disguised Dark Emperor, allowing the Emperor’s lingering consciousness to suppress the Dark Emperor’s personality.
• Ron launched a sustained barrage of attacks and pinned the Dark Emperor to the Golden Throne.

Ron pinned the Dark Emperor to the Golden Throne and beat him to weaken his destructive Authority and help the Emperor recover. Fulgrim and Magnus tried to join in, but the Dark Emperor’s wrathful presence frightened them into tumbling down the steps.

• Ron transformed the Dark Emperor’s body and battered him on the Golden Throne, using faith and hope to suppress his destructive Authority.
• Horus watched from the Blackstone Cage, envying Ron for defeating the Emperor in public, while the loyal Primarchs watched in shock.
• Rogal Dorn shut off his helmet’s receivers and turned away, unable to watch or hear his father being beaten.
• Fulgrim and Magnus secretly agreed to help Ron so they could attack the Dark Emperor, then concealed themselves and approached the throne.
• Fulgrim and Magnus revealed themselves and rushed to help, but the Dark Emperor’s furious glare and command frightened them into rolling down the steps.

The Emperor’s lingering consciousness watched Ron suppress the Dark King and judged him a better successor than the Primarchs, while the Chaos Gods debated whether to trust Ron and continued supplying him with power. Ron revealed that his plan was to restrain the Dark Emperor long enough for the Imperium’s disaster relief teams to sever the Dark King’s reach.

• The Emperor praised Ron’s leadership, criticized the Primarchs for kneeling or mocking him, and secretly put them on a list to settle accounts later.
• Fulgrim and Magnus tried to record the Dark Emperor being beaten and join the fight, but the Dark Emperor frightened them into tumbling down the steps.
• The Chaos Gods considered scheming against Ron, but Khorne warned them not to interfere until the Dark King was defeated, so they continued feeding Ron faith and Fel Energy.
• Ron secretly redirected some of that power to build the Lord of Hell’s Divine Domain while fighting the Dark Emperor at the Golden Throne.
• Ron used a death-defying scissor kick to pin the Dark Emperor, weakening his Authority of Destruction and delaying his birth.
• Blackstone Fortresses blocked several Dark Rifts as engineering fleets and vast numbers of people joined disaster relief teams to fight the Black Tide.

On Ormus Planet, worker Ork told his wife Marian that he had volunteered to join the relief mission against the Black Tide, leaving her to care for their children. He departed for the disaster zone and saw the vast Imperium Disaster Relief Fleet gathering to fight the threat.

• Marian fed the Sophen Finches on her balcony while worrying at the sight of black mottling in the sky.
• Ork told Marian that his application to join the Third Industrial Group's engineering team had been approved and that he would leave for the Corvax district.
• Marian cried over the Hufen Birds that had abandoned District 14, while Ork explained why he had to help stop the Black Tide.
• Marian accepted Ork's decision and promised to care for their children and keep feeding the Hufen Birds in District 13 until he returned.
• Ork said goodbye to his family, boarded a transport ship, and reached a spaceport crowded with the Imperium Disaster Relief Fleet and volunteers.

Ork and a Tsukamelo miner joined a relief fleet heading into the Black Tide, where the crew endured violent turbulence before reaching a temporary gathering area. As the disaster zone’s workers began reinforcing the defenses, a mysterious armored figure emerged from the storm and announced that he had returned.

• Ork and a bearded miner from Tsukamelo shared liquor and discussed how Tsukamelo’s queen and miners had joined the fight against the Black Tide.
• The relief fleet entered the disaster zone, and the passengers clung to their seats as the Black Tide’s turbulence battered their ship.
• Ork and the other passengers sang a hymn to The Savior until the ship reached the protection of the Blackstone Fortress force field.
• Ork and the Tsukamelo miner disembarked at a temporary gathering area and saw its growing spaceport, asteroid bases, and relief operations.
• A burly figure wearing tattered armor was hurled from the Black Tide onto planetary debris, rose, and said, “Father, I'm back—”

Vulkan escaped the Warp and returned to a Galaxy devastated by a catastrophe, only to discover the Emperor’s Dark King manifestation and believe humanity had been wiped out. As he wandered toward Terra in despair, a human named Ork spotted him and raised a gun.

• Vulkan recalled leaving Terra, fighting the Beast, and spending millennia trapped in the Warp before its currents finally freed him.
• Vulkan emerged from ruins and found shattered planets and countless human corpses scattered through the void.
• Vulkan saw the Emperor’s Black Sun projection and recognized the Dark King, then set out toward Terra to learn what had happened.
• Vulkan found no life or Imperial signals as dark Fel Energy corroded his body, and he feared humanity had perished.
• Ork spotted Vulkan among the ruins, mistook him for a Warp monster, and aimed his gun at him.

Vulkan encountered Ork at a ruined asteroid site and learned that humanity still survived in ordered bases, though communications were down. As Ork led him back to camp, Vulkan resolved to protect humanity’s remaining spark and help it recover.

• Ork encountered Vulkan among the drifting ruins and fired at him, wounding him with a stray bolt round.
• Vulkan protected Ork from Black Tide monsters, killed them, and accepted Ork’s Healing Serum.
• Ork identified Vulkan as a Salamanders warrior and explained that the base’s communications equipment had been damaged.
• Vulkan learned that the survivors had a camp and agreed to follow Ork back, keeping the Imperium’s fate to himself.
• Vulkan grieved over humanity’s condition and resolved to protect the survivors and help humanity rebuild.