Chapter Summaries

Ordan was placed in a Heaven's Judgment Heavy Dreadnought and learned that the Imperium had launched a major campaign into the Warp. He returned to the Grey Knights' front line, killed The Ashen One, and as the Blood God sent Beastmen and prepared a counterattack, the Grey Knights faced mounting pressure.

• Ordan accepted the 4th Brotherhood's Heaven's Judgment Heavy Dreadnought and was surprised that its Blackstone sarcophagus caused him no pain.
• After the Dreadnought's systems connected him to the battle network, Ordan learned that the Imperium was invading the Warp and targeting Khorne's domain.
• Ordan joined dozens of wounded Grey Knights in Dreadnoughts and teleported to the front, where he helped hold back the daemon tide.
• Ordan recognized The Ashen One, attacked him with the Dreadnought's weapons, and smashed him with its giant hammer.
• The Blood God sent Beastmen to break the Grey Knights' fortresses and considered extending his true power beyond the Blood Soil to destroy the human Warp rift.

The Blood God abandoned his chance to destroy the Warp Rift and marshaled his forces as the Imperial army and allied Chaos Gods gathered outside the Blood Soil. The Grey Knights held Heaven’s Judgment Fortress until reinforcements arrived, and Ron’s forces began deploying Warp Shielding Machines to breach the Blood Soil’s defenses.

• The Blood God feared the rift was a trap, sent more of the Sea of Blood against the human fortresses, and prepared to defend the Blood Soil as more fleets and hostile gods arrived.
• Ordan learned that the Grey Knights numbered one hundred thousand, had lost less than five percent of their strength, and that fallen warriors were returning as Legion of the Damned Warriors.
• The Grey Knights held Heaven’s Judgment Fortress while Kovan and Pedron worried that the Sea of Blood would shatter the Void Force Fields protecting the rift.
• The Imperial army arrived on schedule, drove back Chaos forces, and deployed special force fields that weakened the Blood Soil’s outer defenses.
• Ron taunted the Blood God as the Empire’s super-giant fortresses released new Warp Shielding Machines and began drilling toward the Blood Soil.

The Imperium sent Warp Shielding Machines to bore through Blood Soil’s defenses while Ron and the other gods helped break the Brass Walls. The machines opened a breach, leaving the Blood God staring at the gods gathered outside his domain.

• Skall and the other pilots drove the Warp Shielding Machines toward Blood Soil despite the Blood God’s gaze and the danger of the mission.
• Ron encouraged the pilots, and they charged through the warp as Ordan and the Grey Knights went to delay the Beastman reinforcements.
• Khorne raised a Lava Storm and sent meteorites, daemons, and mutated creatures against the machines, destroying several while Skall and the others pressed onward.
• The machines’ drills cracked Blood Soil’s defenses as Ron and the other gods attacked the Brass Walls and helped weaken them.
• The Brass Walls collapsed in places, opening a breach through which the Blood God saw Ron and the other gods staring back at him.

Ron and the Chaos Coalition invaded the Blood Soil while Ron used Hell Roulette and Faith Fel Energy to turn the neglected Blood God Warriors against the Beastmen. As the warriors charged into battle for greater rewards, the Blood God faced the invading gods without the reinforcements he expected.

• Ron and the Lord of Pleasure, the Lord of Pestilence, and other gods attacked the Blood God and invaded the Blood Soil after its barrier fell.
• The Chaos Coalition poured through the opened passages, while Ron’s faith system stirred unrest among the Blood God’s daemons and armies.
• Hark secretly prayed to the Lord of Hell and used Hell Roulette to win Faith Fel Energy and Hell Shards.
• Ron increased Hell Roulette’s rewards and offered extra shards for dueling Beastmen, prompting Hark and other Blood God Warriors to charge the Beastmen’s lines.
• The Blood God realized his warriors had turned against the Beastmen instead of answering his call to defend the Blood Soil and condemned their betrayal.

The Blood God tried to rally his wavering warriors with blessings, but Ron’s rewards and roulette drew them into fighting the Beastmen instead. As the Chaos Coalition gained ground and Ron’s forces began building Hell Engines on the captured territory, the Blood God’s Slaughter Army remained trapped far from the Blood Soil.

• The Blood God forgave traitors and promised rewards, prompting Hark and other Blood God Warriors to join the fight against the invading Chaos Coalition.
• Ron mocked the Blood God’s dwindling resources, rejected his refusal to surrender, and revealed that the Slaughter Army could not return in time to reinforce the Blood Soil.
• Hark found the Blood God’s blessing meager and began slaughtering Beastmen for Hell Shards, inspiring other Blood God Warriors to turn on them for roulette rewards.
• Hark won the roulette’s grand prize, became a Greater Daemon, and his broadcast drove the Blood God Warriors to fight even more fiercely.
• The Chaos Coalition pushed back the Beastmen, captured bastions, and advanced as Ron’s legions began constructing Hell Engines on the Blood Soil.

Ron’s Hell Army overwhelmed the Blood God’s forces by capturing the Blood Soil, building fortified production sites, and plundering its resources while Ron and the other Chaos Gods fought over the God of War’s Authority. The Blood God attacked Ron in fury just as a massive tremor shook the Brass Fortress.

• A colossal Hell Engine broke through the Beastman line, seized a lava volcano, and began drilling for brass iron as Hell troops built bastions and artillery positions.
• Ron blocked the Blood God’s Authority of Slaughter and declared that his industrialized forces represented advanced productive power, while the Lord of Change sensed a transformation spreading through the Warp.
• Ron, the Lord of Pleasure, and the Lord of Pestilence continued plundering the God of War’s Authority as Hell troops seized mines, collected battlefield salvage, and hauled away chunks of the Blood Soil.
• The Lord of Pleasure and the Lord of Pestilence urged their daemons to imitate Ron’s plunder, stripping the Blood Soil and even taking skulls from the Skull Cairns.
• The Blood God cursed Ron and attacked him, but Ron countered with an elbow strike; then a powerful tremor shook the outer perimeter of the Brass Fortress.

Ka'bandha led Hell's elites through a weakened Bloody Corridor and attacked the Brass Fortress, where the Blood God realized that traitors had breached its defenses. Ka'bandha confronted Ang'grath and the fortress's Bloodthirsters, then unleashed the Lord of Hell's mind-corroding favor against them.

• The Blood God discovered a crimson figure inside the Brass Fortress and realized that Guides had infiltrated it in large numbers.
• Ka'bandha arrived on the Blood Soil battlefield, routed the Beastmen, and led Hell's elites toward the Brass Fortress.
• Ka'bandha used his knowledge of a damaged Bloody Corridor, weakened by an old Holy Ash Bomb, to get his troops inside the fortress.
• Ang'grath and the Bloodthirsters confronted Ka'bandha, but he tore apart one attacker and activated the Lord of Hell's domain.
• The domain's dark whispers overwhelmed Ang'grath and the other Bloodthirsters, leaving them unable to resist.

Ron’s whispers and promises corrupted the Bloodthirsters guarding the Brass Fortress, turning Ang'grath and many other defenders against the Blood God. Ka'bandha led them in opening the fortress to the Chaos Coalition, while the Beastmen counterattacked and fighting spread through the walls.

• Ron’s whispers exploited the Bloodthirsters’ resentment over their meager divine favor, causing Ang'grath and the defenders to hesitate as Ka'bandha approached the Brass Walls.
• Ka'bandha challenged Ang'grath, displaying his slaughter authority and urging the Bloodthirsters to abandon the Blood God for Ron’s greater rewards.
• Ron’s promises overwhelmed Ang'grath and the other defenders, who submitted to the Lord of Hell; those who refused were beheaded.
• Ang'grath and the other converts opened the fortress gates and welcomed Ka'bandha and the elite Hell Army inside.
• Ka'bandha’s forces seized the Slaughter Cannons, blasted breaches in the defenses, and opened the Brass Fortress to the Chaos Coalition.
• The God-Chosen and the Beastmen launched a purge against the rebel Daemons, but fighting and destruction spread across the fortress.

Ka'bandha led the Chaos Coalition into the Brass Fortress, and the invasion shattered the Beastmen’s faith and weakened their defenses. After defeating the Skull Throne’s guards, he stood before the throne as the furious Blood God struggled to break free.

• The God-Chosen knocked down a Great Unclean One, but the battlefield fell silent when the armies saw Ka'bandha’s forces breach the Brass Fortress.
• The Beastmen’s morale collapsed as they feared the invaders could destroy their souls’ sanctuary, and many God-Chosen withdrew to defend it.
• The Great Unclean One led the Plague Army through the weakened line while Chaos Coalition forces flooded into the fortress to loot and destroy it.
• Ka'bandha drove the Khorne Chariot to the Brass Hall, rallied the Daemons, and led them in battle against the God-Chosen guarding the Skull Throne.
• Ka'bandha and the Daemons defeated the remaining guards, and he approached the Skull Throne as the Blood God erupted in fury and struggled outward.

Ka'bandha's seizure of the Skull Throne shattered the Beastmen's faith and left Khorne's Blood Soil on the verge of collapse. As the other gods retreated, Ron challenged the weakened Blood God, who tried to flee before Ron struck him and sent him flying.

• Ron and the other gods restrained Khorne as Ka'bandha and the Chaos Coalition plundered the Brass Fortress.
• Ka'bandha drove the Khorne Chariot through the Brass Fortress with the Skull Throne and the Lord of Hell's skull icon, crushing Beastman morale and causing their battle lines to collapse.
• Khorne unleashed his remaining power, forcing the other gods to retreat, but Ron advanced and challenged him to a final duel.
• Khorne backed away from Ron's charge and tried to flee, but Ron blocked him and struck him with the power of his believers and their suffering.
• Ron punched Khorne and sent the Blood God flying before countless beings across the Warp.

Ron beat the Blood God and devoured his Authority of Slaughter, becoming strong enough to rival the Supreme Deities and opening a path for humanity to expand through the Warp. As the Lord of Change considered intervening, Ron turned his crushing aura toward it.

• Chaos entities watched Ron batter the Blood God, and Blood Soil’s followers began fleeing toward Abyss Hell as Ron’s victory spread through the Warp.
• Chaos Lord Fadis celebrated his early allegiance to Ron, then directed his Chaos Engine to plunder the Brass Fortress alongside the Hell Army and Chaos Coalition.
• Ron declared the Blood God’s era over and absorbed his authority, gaining power to confront the Supreme Deities and protect humanity’s expansion across the Warp.
• Ron recognized that Authority of Slaughter could make him more violent, but trusted the Sun of Hope and humanity’s positive hopes to counter its influence.
• The Lord of Change grew alarmed at Ron’s rise, while the battered Blood God urged it to stop him; Ron then turned toward the Lord of Change and confronted it with his aura.

Ron and the other Dark Gods plundered the Blood Soil, leaving the Blood God devastated and unable to recover easily. Ron returned to Abyss Hell to digest his spoils and prepare for further expansion, while a vast sea of biomass appeared beyond the Galaxy.

• Ron refused to seek alliances and prepared to fight the other Chaos Gods, while the Lord of Change hesitated over attacking him.
• The Lord of Change betrayed the Blood God, pinning him down and attacking him as the other gods joined in plundering the Blood Soil.
• Ron and the other gods stripped the Blood God of his Authority of Slaughter and wealth, leaving his domain ruined and his followers scattered.
• Ron slapped the Lord of Change as the gods withdrew, and Tzeentch returned to the Crystal Labyrinth after discovering damage from Khorne's forces.
• Ron led his legions back to Abyss Hell with the spoils and planned a new wave of expansion across the Warp.
• Beyond the Galaxy, a black sea of biomass drowned the stars.

Ron and the Imperium's leaders learned that the Great Devourer was approaching the Galaxy and had only a few centuries to prepare for its Tyranid tendrils. Ron organized the Imperium's response and asked the Emperor to lead research into weapons that could counter the threat.

• Tako confirmed that a shadow devouring an entire star system was the Great Devourer, whose tendrils were reaching toward the Galaxy.
• The Emperor offered to end his retirement, but Guilliman and the other Primarchs made clear they wanted Ron to remain in charge.
• Ron explained that the Devourer's true body was at least a thousand years away, while its tendrils could arrive within three hundred years.
• Ron called on humanity to unite, accelerate the conquest of the Warp, and develop weapons to defeat the Tyranid swarms and Chaos Gods.
• Ron ordered the Imperium to expand Warp colonization and speed up weapons development, then asked the Emperor to oversee research against the Great Devourer.

Ron persuaded The Emperor to return to scientific research and gave him a vast laboratory to develop weapons against the Tyranids. Meanwhile, the Imperium prepared a final campaign in the Warp by projecting fortress worlds into it, and Ron returned to the City of Life as war approached.

• Ron reassured The Emperor that his past research plans had been sound, and Guilliman and the other Primarchs urged him to accept a return to the laboratory.
• The Emperor agreed to lead research at Ron's enormous experimental base, while Perturabo was appointed his assistant and Tako received the Emperor's materials list.
• Ron and the Primarchs planned new Warp war zones as the Imperium accelerated production of Blackstone Fortresses, fortress worlds, and weapons against the Dark Gods.
• At an Imperial fortress port, Ron watched the Forge Archmagos project more than a thousand fortress planets and numerous Blackstone Fortresses into the Warp.
• Ron praised the effort to build human strongholds in the Warp, then returned to the City of Life to prepare for the coming final battle.

After decades of secret work across the Warp, Ork and the other engineers reached the Twin Star Fortress world to complete their part in the Imperium’s century-long construction of a colossal rift-generating engine. Vulkan saw the first sparse stars appearing in the Warp and looked toward the coming counteroffensive against Chaos as Ork began his final assignment.

• Ork arrived at Colonial Enclave No. 777 with Vulkan and recalled the dangerous missions in which he had installed Void Engines and Spatial Anchors.
• Vulkan recognized Ork as the descendant of Old Ork, remembered his grandfather’s service, and learned that Old Ork had died.
• Ork saw sunlight from a star system and then noticed sparse starlight beyond the twin fortress planets, while Vulkan said the Warp was beginning to change.
• Agarwa anticipated the Imperium’s counteroffensive and the activation of the colossal machine, which the Salamanders knew could tear open reality and create a Great Rift.
• Ork boarded a landing craft for the Twin Star Fortress world to adjust its Void Engine, unaware of the full century-long plan behind his mission.

Senior engineer Ork began the final data upload needed to activate the Imperium’s Behemoth engine network while Vulkan’s forces defended the Twin Stars. The Lord of Change discovered Ork’s location, and Ron, trapped by three Chaos Gods, activated an emergency plan and called for humanity’s aid.

• Ork traveled to the Twin Stars and began calibrating and uploading the final Behemoth Project data without knowing its purpose.
• Vulkan monitored Ork’s mission while Salamanders and Imperial forces fought to keep the Chaos armies away from the Twin Stars.
• The Lord of Change read Vulkan’s thoughts, found Ork’s location, and unleashed corruption beneath the Twin Stars.
• Vulkan contacted Ron for help, but Ron was being held back by three Chaos Gods in a deep-space dimension.
• Ron realized the Lord of Change had deceived him with a phantom and activated an emergency plan, calling for humanity’s higher-dimensional fire support.

Ron called in a secret Imperial weapon to break the Chaos Gods’ hold on him, and the Divine Punishment Mega-Fortress launched a Hell Nuke into the deep-space dimension. The nuke detonated beside the Lord of Pleasure as Ron’s enemies realized too late that his fire support had arrived.

• Ron ordered the secret launch of the Redemption Type I Hell Nuke after the blessings of the Lord of Pleasure and Nurgle trapped him.
• The Purifiers received Ron’s command, and Grand Master Kovan prepared the Divine Punishment Mega-Fortress for combat.
• The Archmagos used Ron’s data to locate the deep-space dimension, and Kovan launched the Hell Nuke and led an elite force into the void.
• Kovan and the 7th Brotherhood set out in Divine Punishment Void Shuttles to attack the Chaos Gods directly.
• While the Lord of Pleasure and Grandfather Nurgle continued assaulting Ron, the Hell Nuke entered their dimension and detonated beside the Lord of Pleasure.

Ron and humanity’s Hell Nuke and Divine Punishment Void Shuttles badly wounded the Lord of Pleasure and Grandfather Nurgle, forcing them to retreat and giving Ron a chance to reach the Twin Stars. Deep underground, engineer Ork began entering calibration data for the Void engines as the Lord of Change’s influence stirred his ambition and denial.

• The Hell Nuke tore through the Warp, drained its Chaos energy, and severely burned Ron, the Lord of Pleasure, and Grandfather Nurgle.
• Ron confronted the injured Chaos Gods, and Kovan’s Divine Punishment Void Shuttles bombarded them with small Hell Nukes until they fled.
• Ron used the opening to leave and extend his authority toward the Twin Stars to stop the Lord of Change and protect the Behemoth Project.
• At the Twin Stars’ underground engine facility, Ork entered calibration codes while imagining his return to his family.
• Ork grew ambitious and suspicious, noticed he might have entered an incorrect code, then denied making a mistake and continued typing.

Vulkan defended Twin Stars against a Chaos invasion with his newly forged Dragon Scale Armor while Ron stopped Tzeentch from corrupting the Void Engine. The Behemoth Project activated successfully, prompting the Chaos Gods to halt their assault and seek reconciliation with Ron.

• Vulkan donned the Dragon Scale Armor and fought off Ku'gath and the other Greater Daemons attacking the Salamanders' fortress.
• Tzeentch manipulated engineer Ork into introducing errors into Twin Stars' Void Engine, but Ron arrived, restored Ork's composure, and attacked Tzeentch.
• Tzeentch tore off a wing and fled from Ron, who devoured the abandoned authority.
• Twin Stars' Void Engine activated and joined the other engines in creating the Behemoth Project's Reality Rift Generation System.
• The Chaos armies withdrew and the Chaos Gods halted their attacks, seeking to reconcile with Ron and negotiate terms.

Ron discovered that the Lord of Change’s tampering had unexpectedly improved the Rift Generation System, then used the Chaos Gods’ suspicions to divide them before activating the system. A vast rift opened through the Warp, flooding it with the energy and laws of reality.

• The Chaos Gods offered Ron territory and compensation in exchange for peace and the surrender of the Void Engines, but he left them waiting while Xiao Ling inspected the system.
• Xiao Ling found data contamination but reported that Ork’s additional calculations had improved the Void Engines’ power and range by more than fifty percent, enabling them to affect the gods’ domains.
• Ron presented the improved data as a gift from the Lord of Change, causing Grandfather Nurgle and the Lord of Pleasure to accuse him of betraying the gods.
• Ron rejected further negotiations, warned that the Warp was about to change, and activated the Rift Generation System’s thirteen thousand Void Engines.
• The engines tore a vast rift through the Warp, exposing the Galaxy and pouring reality’s energy and natural laws into the surrounding Chaos.