Chapter Summaries

Sergeant Kent and the Storm Army Group struggled to hold the 17th Defensive Line against a devastating Chaos Daemon assault while awaiting Imperial support. Just as Kent prepared to lure a Greater Daemon into an explosive trap, the Savior’s Victory hymn sounded across the battlefield, and he announced that reinforcements had arrived.

• Kent learned that his company’s mental pressure was dangerously high and ordered the soldiers to take Soothing Serum before rallying them to fight for the Savior.
• The Chaos Daemons surged against the 17th Defensive Line, and Kent’s company fought to hold its position until Imperial support arrived.
• As the line collapsed under mounting casualties, Kent used a runic weapon to provoke a Greater Daemon of Khorne and lured it toward the fortress’s explosives.
• The Greater Daemon charged Kent, but the battlefield suddenly brightened and the March of the Savior’s Victory sounded.
• Kent recognized the hymn and told the surviving soldiers that their reinforcements had arrived.

Ron monitored the Imperial vanguard’s desperate battle and ordered an all-out strike to ensure a decisive victory in the Colonial Crusade. The Hell Weapons devastated the Chaos forces, while the defenders at Eden One learned that Imperial support had arrived and charged back into battle.

• Ron watched the complicated battlefield and learned that the Departmento Munitorum still had 5% of its targets to mark before the full-scale strike could begin.
• Ron ordered Guilliman and Rogal Dorn to use all available resources for a spectacular attack, and Tako reported when every target was locked.
• The Imperium launched its full-scale strike with Holy Ash Bombs, Hell Weapons, aircraft, Titans, and Astartes forces.
• Tzeentch warned the Chaos Gods that the path of fate had changed, but they realized their armies had advanced too far to withdraw in time.
• Hell Weapons killed and corrupted Chaos Daemons across the battlefield, forcing the survivors to flee in terror.
• Kent and the soldiers of Storm Army Group’s 17th Defensive Line celebrated the Empire’s arrival and charged the Chaos Daemons, while a Greater Daemon of Khorne sensed a terrifying weapon locking onto him.

The Blackstone Fighters and Kent’s company devastated the Chaos assault, while a Greater Daemon of Khorne realized that The Savior’s forces were killing the higher-ranked daemons and fled toward an escape passage. He reached the passage just as a massive Hell Missile struck nearby.

• The Greater Daemon of Khorne ordered the Bloodletters to intercept the incoming Blackstone Fighters, and Kent directed his troops to cover them with anti-air fire.
• Kent’s fire net shot down many Bloodletters, and elite soldiers killed the daemons that crashed into their lines.
• Blackstone Fighters used their speed and armor to smash through Bloodletters and pursue the Greater Daemon of Khorne.
• The Greater Daemon saw his Brass Fortress ranking surge as higher-ranked daemons fell across the battlefield, recognized The Savior’s attack, and fled toward the passage out of the colony.
• As the Greater Daemon approached the passage, a Hell Missile more than ten meters long struck the area.

Hell Weapons and Blackstone Fighters devastated the Chaos Daemons, and the Greater Daemon of Khorne surrendered after being badly wounded. Instead of striking again, the humans dropped a device that unfolded into a banner of the Savior and emitted an unknown wave.

• A Hell Missile destroyed a passage and badly wounded the Chaos Daemons, while Adeptus Astartes captured a diseased Lord of Change after he raised a white rag and surrendered.
• The Greater Daemon of Khorne fled toward a larger passage, but Blackstone Fighters used phase-teleportation to intercept him.
• The Blackstone Fighters endured his lava flames and hit him with armor-piercing Hell Missiles, leaving him crippled and suffering from cursed energy.
• As the fighters returned for another strike, the Greater Daemon of Khorne knelt and surrendered, copying the Lord of Change.
• The fighters dropped a device beside him; it unfolded into a banner of the Savior and released an unknown wave without immediately attacking the daemons.

Chaos Daemons gathered beneath the Savior’s banner to escape Imperial bombardment, then surrendered and were escorted from the battlefield. War correspondent Kelly reported their submission as a great Imperial victory, while Grey Knights silenced a daemon who resisted her interview.

• The Banner Platform created a Temporary Safe Zone, and the Greater Daemon of Khorne and other Chaos Daemons saluted the Savior’s banner to keep it active.
• More daemons joined the safe zone, where the first arrivals forced newcomers to salute or drove them out as Imperial bombardment continued around them.
• A fleeing Keeper of Secrets was killed by a Blackstone Fighter, and Grey Knights arrived to escort the surrendered daemons away through a teleportation portal.
• Kelly reported the daemons’ surrender as an Imperial victory and interviewed a Bloodcrusher, which attacked her and was killed by the Grey Knights.
• Kelly questioned a Tzeentch Horror about its supposed oppression, and it feigned grief and loyalty after noticing the Grey Knights threatening it.

After the Imperium’s victory in the Warp, Ron approved a vast development project to turn the newly stabilized lands into humanity’s stronghold. A report about the Tree of Life caught his attention, leaving its significance unresolved.

• Kelly recorded a Tzeentch Horror condemning Tzeentch and praising the Savior, while the daemon realized he could no longer return to the Chaos Gods’ domains.
• At The Bastion, Ron and the Primarchs watched news of the victory; Guilliman regretted that many elite Greater Daemons had escaped, but Ron reassured him that the operation had achieved its goal.
• Ron reflected that the Imperium’s Hell Weapons had inflicted devastating losses, forcing the Chaos Gods to withdraw their elite forces from the colonies.
• Ron learned that scattered Chaos Daemons were forming domains around the colonies, making rapid expansion difficult, while the battle had also stabilized vast Warp lands around the thirteen colony planets.
• Ron approved a massive development project involving hundreds of billions of people, then noticed a document titled “Tree of Life.”

Ron learned that Orks had led the Warp exploration force to the Tree of Life, and the Imperium later transferred the enormous tree to the Garden of Eden for research. Leman Russ arrived too late, found the tree gone, and realized it had been dug away.

• Ron learned that Orks transformed by the Tree of Life had revealed its location, and he led an exploration force into the Warp to secure it.
• More than ten years later, the Archmagos of the Warp and the Warp Research Institute successfully transferred the Tree of Life to the Garden of Eden world.
• Leman Russ emerged from the Chaos turbulence, convinced the Tree of Life could heal The Emperor and save the Imperium.
• Leman Russ searched the area for the tree but found only a newly formed pit and traces of massive roots.

Leman Russ discovered that the Tree of Life had been moved rather than destroyed and set out to reclaim its sap, while Ron’s Imperium developed the Tree in the Garden of Eden world’s City of Life. The chapter ended with Ron confident that population growth would support faster Warp colonization, unaware of where Russ had gone.

• Russ grieved over the empty pit where the Tree of Life had stood, then used his parchment map to learn that it had been moved to another dangerous region.
• Russ vowed to retrieve the Tree of Life’s sap and plunged back into the Chaos Storm.
• Imperial planners prepared the City of Life as a vast combination of urban and agricultural zones centered on the Tree of Life.
• Ron praised the Tree of Life’s benefits and reviewed the Imperium’s census data with Tako, finding that population growth could sustain further expansion.
• Ron resolved to accelerate Warp development and wondered where Leman Russ had gone.

Ron prepared for the Chaos Gods’ response to humanity’s warp colonization, while engineer Ork arrived at the dangerous construction front on Eden World. In a nearby Chaos Realm, Leman Russ returned and was stunned by what he saw.

• Ron noticed the Chaos Gods were replacing their dwindling daemons with cheap, fast-breeding Beastmen that could resist Hell Weapons and bypass the Blackstone Veil more easily.
• Ron continued expanding his daemon legions to defend the edges of humanity’s colonial zones against Chaos attacks.
• Ork arrived in the City of Life, admired its wonders, and then traveled onward to a front-line construction site with the other engineers.
• Ork and the engineers reached their work zone amid battles between Imperial forces and Chaos enemies, and swore to serve the Savior.
• Leman Russ appeared as a silent wolf-shadow in a Chaos Realm near the Garden of Eden and stared in disbelief at the battle around him.

Leman Russ watched the Carcharodons slaughter and capture daemons, then avoided contacting them so he could continue searching for the Tree of Life. As he crossed more ruined Chaos Realms, a projection showing humanity enslaving daemons shocked him, and he fled onward until he stepped into a wheat field.

• The Carcharodons destroyed the Chaos Realm’s defenders, captured the Plague Herald in Blackstone Shackles, and gathered daemon prisoners while Leman Russ watched from hiding.
• Leman Russ decided not to approach the Carcharodons and left to continue searching for the Tree of Life.
• Russ crossed abandoned Chaos Realms and found human footprints, wreckage, and a damaged projection device among the ruins.
• The projection showed daemons saluting The Savior’s banner, fleeing mortal armies, and laboring in shackles, leaving Russ convinced it was a deception by the Lord of Change.
• Russ followed the Prophecy Map through a Chaos Rift and emerged in a wheat field.

Leman Russ crossed impossible fields and a peaceful garden in the Warp, convinced they were illusions planted by the Lord of Change. He reached the City of Life, saw the Tree of Life, and attracted the attention of a patrolling Servo-automaton.

• Russ walked through vast, fertile farms in the Warp and marveled at their crops, granaries, and servitors.
• Russ overheard Oker tell his family how he earned a Medal of Glorious Contribution defending a front-line construction site from Daemons, and learned that humanity was expanding Warp colonies.
• Russ mistook the farms and the mortals’ peaceful life for an illusion created by the Lord of Change, recalling how he had cursed a false Emperor and cut off their communication.
• Russ reached the City of Life and was amazed by its gardens, buildings, and hopeful residents.
• Russ spotted the outline of the Tree of Life, but a patrolling Servo-automaton noticed him.

Leman Russ explored the City of Life, where xenos served humans and Chaos Daemons were kept in parks for study and entertainment. After seeing Khorne’s Flesh Hounds behave like pets around The Savior’s image, Russ marveled at humanity’s power, but sensed numerous threats converging nearby.

• Leman Russ evaded a Servo-automaton’s surveillance, but the security department flagged the blurred figure as a high-risk target and called in elite forces.
• Russ saw xenos working happily in a restaurant and questioned how humans and xenos could coexist, though he still believed xenos would always threaten humanity.
• Russ entered a daemon park, where students studied a caged Bloodthirster and tourists hunted daemons in a designated zone.
• Russ expected Flesh Hounds to attack nearby sightseeing vehicles, but they wagged their tails and ate specially made meat offered by visitors, revealing their attachment to The Savior.
• Russ recognized The Savior’s image on the vehicles and wondered who he was, then sensed numerous threats closing in.

Russ fought his way through the City of Life toward the Tree of Life, convinced that Ron Grant had betrayed the Imperium and endangered The Emperor. After learning that the Space Wolves had joined Ron and Terra had fallen, Russ became determined to obtain the tree’s sap and save his father, while Ron prepared to welcome him home.

• Russ evaded pursuing Carcharodons and fought Tyberos, breaking through the warriors’ defenses before escaping with a soul-rending howl.
• Russ reached the edge of the Main District and used Mechanical Plunder to learn that Ron called himself the Emperor of Mankind, had founded the New Imperium, and had erased records of The Emperor.
• Russ saw reports showing the Space Wolves welcoming Ron as their Father of Genes and learned that Terra had fallen and the Golden Throne’s crisis had been resolved.
• Russ concluded that The Emperor was in danger and raced toward the Tree of Life to obtain its sap and save him.
• Ron received word that Russ had arrived in the City of Life, told Guilliman and the other Primarchs that Khan had gone to receive him, and began arranging a welcoming ceremony with The Emperor.

Ron learned that Leman Russ had returned and arranged for Jaghatai Khan to meet him, while the Emperor eagerly awaited his son. After the Khan subdued Russ and brought him to the Savior’s Sanctuary, Russ reunited with his brothers and discovered that the Tree of Life’s essence was already being made into drinks for the Emperor.

• Ron told the Emperor that Leman Russ had been found, and the Emperor asked to see his son as soon as possible.
• Leman Russ mistook the Khan’s arrival for another attempt to stop him and charged toward the Tree of Life, so the Khan chased him down.
• The Khan blocked Russ with the Pale Eagle, fought him until he was exhausted, and carried him to the Savior’s Sanctuary.
• Ron and the other Primarchs welcomed Russ home, and Russ began to believe that the Imperium and his brothers were safe.
• Russ asked for the Tree of Life’s essence to heal the Emperor, and Ron handed him a drink made from its essence, explaining that the Emperor already drank it.

Leman Russ learned that the Emperor had recovered and that humanity had prospered under Ron, then agreed to fight alongside Ron against Chaos. After the Emperor contacted him and the High-speed Passage opened, Russ traveled with Ron and the other Primarchs to reunite with his father, though he grew nervous along the way.

• Jaghatai Khan explained that Ron had plenty of Essence of Life, and Russ drank it, recovering his strength and healing some of his injuries and Chaos corruption.
• Ron told Russ that the Emperor had escaped the Golden Throne more than a century earlier and was eager to see him.
• Russ learned that the Imperium had reclaimed territory, defeated or subdued its enemies, and brought humanity out of hunger and disease, then pledged to fight beside Ron against the Chaos Gods.
• The Emperor briefly contacted the Primarchs and invited Russ to visit, prompting Russ to realize the Emperor's earlier call in the Warp might have been real.
• After the High-speed Passage connected, Ron led Russ and the other Primarchs to the Emperor, who welcomed Russ affectionately as Lion watched with jealousy.

Leman Russ returned to The Emperor after ten thousand years, only to be beaten for having cursed him during a mistaken summons before the two reconciled. Ron then returned to the Sanctuary of the Savior, where he reviewed humanity’s growing Warp colonies and considered the counteroffensive against Chaos.

• Leman Russ nervously approached The Emperor, who welcomed him before revealing he remembered Russ’s insults and striking him with a powerful slap.
• The Emperor projected scenes of Russ cursing and insulting him, then beat Russ while the other Primarchs watched.
• Lion and the other Primarchs begged The Emperor to stop, and Ron separated them after Russ admitted his mistake.
• The Emperor forgave Russ, comforted him, and reunited with his son as Ron left them together.
• Ron returned to the Sanctuary of the Savior and studied a map of the Warp’s Chaos domains and the Imperium’s expanding colonies.

After the Chaos Beastmen forced the Imperium to abandon Colony World No. 9, Ron decided to launch an unprecedented war into the Warp and appointed Guilliman and Rogal Dorn to help command it. As the Imperium mobilized, Ron worried that his Chaos forces were too few and thought of the missing Ka'bandha as a general he wanted by his side.

• Pulu reported the loss of Colony World No. 9, and Ron absolved the War Angels, telling Pulu to learn from the defeat.
• Ron and Guilliman agreed that the Imperium needed a large-scale war against the Chaos Beastmen and the Chaos Gods.
• The Primarchs gathered for Ron's war briefing, and Russ eagerly pledged himself to the campaign.
• Ron promised Russ new Truth Alloy wolf armor, then appointed Guilliman and Rogal Dorn as deputy commanders and issued the Supreme Command to mobilize the Imperium.
• Ron assessed his mixed forces and worried that the Lord of Hell's Chaos army was too small for the vanguard, then thought of the missing Ka'bandha.

Ron remembered Ka'bandha’s past aid to him and the Imperium, then decided to find and recruit the disgraced Supreme Bloodthirster to strengthen his Chaos forces. After Ron ordered a search, he found Ka'bandha weakened and exiled in the Warp, and addressed him.

• Ron recalled Ka'bandha's help in major conflicts, including the Battle of Baal, the Plague War, Commorragh, and Vostonia.
• Ron decided to recruit Ka'bandha and other Chaos beings who had lost the Dark Gods' favor for his army.
• Ron surveyed his Divine Domain, saw his forces struggling to defend it, and ordered his followers to search the Warp for Ka'bandha and other Greater Daemons.
• Ka'bandha, abandoned by the Blood God after losing to the Beastman God-Chosen, struggled to survive in the Warp and killed a swarm of Tyranids.
• Ron found Ka'bandha and called out, making the weakened Bloodthirster freeze.

Ron recruited the exiled Ka'bandha into the Hell Divine Domain, restored his strength with thirteen blessings, and sent him to fight the Beastman army. Ka'bandha confronted the Beastman God-Chosen and withstood a devastating blow without stepping back.

• Ron found the crippled Ka'bandha in exile and urged him to reclaim his glory, offering him an army and a powerful Spirit Stone.
• Ka'bandha accepted Ron's recruitment and became a Hell Warrior under the Lord of Hell.
• Magnus ordered a retreat as the Beastman champion overwhelmed the Hell forces and captured territory for Khorne.
• Ron poured thirteen blessings and the Authority of Slaughter into Ka'bandha, restoring him to greater strength than before.
• Ron sent Ka'bandha to attack the Beastman forces, and Ka'bandha charged toward the battlefield to reclaim his lost dignity.
• The Beastman God-Chosen struck Ka'bandha with the Blood Axe, but Ka'bandha stood firm with only a crack in his shoulder armor.

Ka'bandha fought the Beastman God-Chosen after Ron empowered him with Hell Blessings, while the Blood God and the other Chaos Gods poured blessings into their champion. Ka'bandha won the duel, leaving the Chaos Gods mourning the loss of their investment.

• The Beastman God-Chosen struck Ka'bandha's armor, but Ka'bandha blocked the blow and Khorne's Greater Daemons recognized the crack as a feat reminiscent of the Blood God's armor.
• The Blood God strengthened the Beastman God-Chosen, but Ka'bandha punched him backward and crushed several Skull Cannons.
• Ron gave Ka'bandha thirteen more Hell Blessings, bringing his total to twenty-six, and the Blood God responded by raising the Beastman God-Chosen's blessings to sixteen.
• Ron matched the Chaos Gods' combined investment by secretly giving Ka'bandha more Authority of Slaughter, while the other three gods granted the Beastman God-Chosen a total of twenty-six blessings.
• Ka'bandha and the Beastman God-Chosen collided in a battle that nearly destroyed the Chaos Realm, and Ka'bandha emerged standing with his opponent's head in his hand.