Chapter Summaries

Nero Curtis and Legio Tempestus fought off a Shadow of Order air attack near Artificial Food Complex No. 25 before Indians Cavaliero called on the legion to reject Karania and pledge loyalty to Lord Nimrod. The legion split into factions, and Karania fled with the surviving God-Machines, vowing to defeat Cavaliero.

• Curtis led Odyssea and the other Titans against 116 Shadow of Order fighters, destroying several before the remaining aircraft retreated.
• Indians Cavaliero announced that Karania was a traitor and ordered Legio Tempestus to follow him and pledge allegiance to Lord Nimrod.
• Karania rejected Cavaliero's command, and Curtis and other princeps declared loyalty to Karania and Horus.
• Two Reavers attacked Odyssea from behind as the Laxvalia turned to fight them, while Estaban III's Skitarii fired on the Titans and the retreating fighters struck the anti-aircraft positions.
• Cavaliero challenged Karania to face him on Estaban III, and Karania escaped aboard a Heavy Transport Ship with 31 God-Machines, swearing to kill Cavaliero.

On the plains of Gatherman, Akurduana and Fulgrim watched the Emperor’s Children battle the vengeance-driven War Hounds. After Khorag killed the Daemon Prince Casolon at the cost of his own life, the War Hounds charged to avenge their captain as a Shadow of Order rushed toward Casolon.

• Akurduana refused to fight Lord Nimrod on his world, while Fulgrim insisted that Akurduana was too important to risk.
• Akurduana watched Julius Kaesoron and the Phoenix Guard cut through the War Hounds, who fought on through their wounds to avenge their betrayal.
• Casolon gained the upper hand against Khorag, but Khorag tore away his human-skin poetry and attacked him at close range.
• Khorag shattered Casolon's face and struck his chest, destroying the profane Palatine Aquila, before Casolon killed him with a sword thrust through his heart.
• Margodon and the War Hounds charged toward Casolon to avenge Khorag, while a Shadow of Order rushed in from the crowd.

The Shadow of Order fought Julius Kaesoron while Akurduana and the Apothecary tried to contain the berserk warriors. The Shadow of Order banished Kaesoron but died in the fight, and Mago took up his sword and helmet to continue his mission.

• The Apothecary used a Resonance Blaster to restore some Vengeful War Hounds' reason, but others remained consumed by the Butcher's Nails and fought each other.
• Kaesoron attacked the Shadow of Order, who wounded him and unleashed golden light that freed the Avenging Hounds from Slaanesh's influence.
• The Shadow of Order invoked Holy Light and banished Kaesoron, but Kaesoron fatally struck him before disappearing.
• Mago picked up the Shadow of Order's Power Sword and helmet and vowed to carry on his fight against traitors.

Horus ordered an attack on Mezoa to break the stalemate in Colonid, while Flamini summoned aid from the Black Emperor. As Horus’s Venomous Ships assaulted Mezoa’s defenses, the Forge Temple detected a massive space hulk entering reality.

• Horus reviewed the stalled war in Colonid and ordered his forces to target Mezoa with seven hundred Venomous Ships.
• Flamini prayed to the Black Emperor, who sent him the Eye of Night and the Hand of Darkness to help operate the Blackstone Fortress.
• The Venomous Ships translated into the Mezoa System and charged the five Ramillies-class Star Fortresses under heavy torpedo fire.
• The Magos Council initially reported that Mezoa’s void defenses had gained the advantage over Horus’s fleet.
• The Fifth Patriarch detected an enormous space hulk breaking into reality and identified its mass and the composition of its ships.

Horus watched the assault on Mezoa’s defenses while a colossal space hulk threatened the Ramillies-class Star Fortresses. A mysterious xenos construct arrived and destroyed the hulk, leaving Horus to recognize an ancient warship he had thought lost.

• Regulus controlled the space hulk as Horus ordered Agnis and Virulan Moy to board a Ramillies-class Star Fortress and seize Mezoa’s Void Bastion.
• A Venomous Ship breached the defenses and spread Death Guard toxins through the fortress, causing Mezoa’s void defense system to collapse.
• Maloghurst warned Horus of a massive Warp-threat signature, and an unfamiliar xenos construct arrived above Mezoa.
• The construct fired a blinding beam that tore apart the space hulk and killed Regulus and the Dark Mechanicum forces within it.
• Horus prepared to retreat, then spotted an ancient warship he had seen before and believed had vanished long ago.

Horus recruited Alkahas and the Space Sharks to help capture the Blackstone Fortress, but Alkahas used the assault to betray the Sons of Horus. The chapter ended with Alkahas killing Agnis during the ambush.

• Horus contacted Alkahas, promised he would never be forgotten, and secured his agreement to join the assault on the Blackstone Fortress.
• The fleets of the Sons of Horus and the Space Sharks attacked the fortress, and assault boats carried Agnis and his forces inside.
• Agnis found the fortress largely unguarded, while Virulan Moy encountered the Pale Nomad and was killed along with twenty-nine warriors by the Librarian's psychic spell.
• Space Sharks forces attacked the Sons of Horus from behind, and Alkahas declared that he served the cause of killing the False Emperor.
• Alkahas used wind and lightning to overpower Agnis, killing him as Asimand watched the battle feed.

Horus Lupercal’s fleet was ambushed by The Exiled and a powerful Xenos Fortress, forcing him to abandon the Colonid campaign and pursue the power hidden on Morlo. On Rock of Ghana, Abaddon learned of the retreat order but attacked figures below the Stormbirds before leaving.

• Horus Aximand warned Horus Lupercal that the traitor fleet’s energy readings were rising, and Horus realized they had walked into an ambush.
• The Exiled’s barrage shattered a Void Shield on the Vengeful Spirit, while Horus failed to reach Agnis and Huozhe.
• Horus’s sealed memories about Morlo awakened, and he ordered Maloghurst to abandon the war in Colonid and begin a new Scarlet Path.
• Flamini watched the Vengeful Spirit retreat from the Blackstone Fortress and prepared to launch a full counterattack.
• Abaddon and Kaelbor crossed the ruined Rock of Ghana, where Abaddon attacked and killed a Shadow of Order before Kaelbor told him the Warmaster had ordered a retreat.
• As the Stormbirds lifted off, Abaddon spotted two figures below and ordered the gunships to bombard them.

Fulgrim withdrew from Gatherman and ordered Akurduana to bring Perturabo to the Heart of Hydra, while Nimrod directed him to warn Perturabo of Fulgrim’s plan. On Mill World, the Shadows of Order destroyed evacuating aircraft and transports before Horus regrouped with Abaddon after the defeat.

• Fulgrim ordered the Emperor’s Children to retreat from Gatherman, then told Akurduana to bring Perturabo to the Heart of Hydra to discuss an ancient weapon.
• Akurduana reported Gatherman’s casualties to Nimrod, who ordered him to warn Perturabo that Fulgrim intended to use him to become a Daemon Prince.
• The Shadows of Order’s Judang fighters destroyed the final evacuating Stormbirds and attacked the Death Skull Titan Legion’s heavy transports, bringing down a transport and a Warlord Titan.
• Sons of Horus and Dark Mechanicum warships fled the Colonid Sector, while the Shadows of Order pursued them until a Warp Storm blocked their advance.
• Horus welcomed Abaddon aboard the Vengeful Spirit, reassured him after the defeat, and asked Maloghurst to tally their losses.

Horus’s forces suffered heavy losses without success, while Flamini and the Space Sharks captured Pandex and punished its Dark Mechanicum. Flamini rewarded the Space Sharks with new armor and prayed to the Black Emperor, as Pandex’s survivors pledged further war materiel.

• Maloghurst reported the Sons of Horus’ casualties and the deaths of Seghar Torgaddon and Agnis, and Horus ordered the fleet to proceed to Morlo.
• Flamini used the Blackstone Fortress to destroy Pandex’s orbital defenses, and Alkahas Phall led the Space Sharks’ assault on the planet.
• After five weeks of fighting, Flamini thanked Alkahas and gave the Space Sharks three thousand sets of Raptor-pattern Power Armor.
• Mezoa’s Second Patriarch thanked The Great Obliterator for defeating Pandex and promised ten thousand sets of Mark IV Power Armor, two thousand sets of Cataphractii Terminator armor, and fifty Contemptor Dreadnoughts.
• Flamini returned to the Blackstone Fortress, placed the Euclidean Sigil and the Wall of Spirituality on the altar, and prayed to the Black Emperor.

Nimrod counted the Chapter's losses and considered how taking Pandex had left him in control of all Colonid while Horus gained nothing. Zso Sahaal persuaded Mosax to fight xenos under Nimrod's command, while Phosis T'kar feared the Thousand Sons' growing flesh-change and disunity.

• Flamini reported that the Chapter had lost 2,950 dead, including 740 on Mill World, and Nimrod reflected on the losses at Gatherman and Pandex.
• Nimrod considered Pandex's surviving resources and industrial base, and noted that Horus had left Colonid without gaining it.
• Zso Sahaal and Cassati Nuang met Mosax and urged him to abandon his refusal to fight; Zso showed Mosax visions of humanity threatened by xenos.
• Mosax agreed to fight xenos and said he was willing to follow Lord Nimrod.
• Phosis T'kar killed a Thousand Son suffering from flesh-change and told Hathor Maat that the Legion was fragmenting and Tovek was ignoring his orders.
• Hathor promised Phosis that a turning point would come, but Phosis doubted that the Legion could regain its former glory.

Semenio attended Pat’s first sermon naming the Black Emperor, then reported Alpharius’s order to cause chaos at Dorset. Pat relayed the warning to Nimrod, who considered the slow growth of his faith and learned that Alpharius was targeting him.

• Semenio joined the Shadows of Order in the chapel, where Pat revealed the Black Emperor’s name and taught the ritual salute.
• After the sermon, Semenio told Pat that Alpharius had ordered him to create chaos when the Shadow of the Throne reached Dorset.
• Pat prayed to Nimrod and reported Semenio’s intelligence, while Nimrod reflected that the sermon had yielded no feedback of faith.
• Pat told Nimrod that Alpharius was making a move at Dorset and had targeted him.

Per received a glass sphere intended to threaten Nimrod, who identified it as an Antidil device and ordered Thomas to study it. Alpharius gathered his officers, declared the Hydra Network had reached its moment of convergence, and decided to give Nimrod a chance.

• "Pablo" gave Per the glass sphere and pledged to follow him, and Per sent it through a portal to Nimrod.
• Nimrod identified the sphere as an Antidil device that could paralyze life-forms, questioned Slau Dha about the Cabal, and named Port Munro as one of its waypoints.
• Nimrod returned to the real world and handed the sphere to Thomas for study.
• Alpharius met with Inger Peck and Gukur aboard his ship and told them the Hydra Network had reached its moment of convergence.
• Alpharius said he would give Nimrod a chance and ordered them to begin.

Tzeentch watched Alpharius’s plan unfold as Alpha infiltrators attacked the Shadow of Order and Nimrod collapsed after an unseen blow. Gukur led the disguised attackers toward Nimrod’s office, but Dynas Chayne sensed Gukur’s psychic intrusion and confronted him.

• Tzeentch judged that Alpharius’s plan was doomed but chose to let the conflict continue.
• Gukur offered to retrieve Nimrod, and Alpharius sent him to the Shadow of the Throne while arranging an escape route.
• Omega taunted Nimrod over a vox call, and Nimrod fell as the signal failed and fires erupted aboard the Shadow of Order’s fleet.
• Peck landed a disguised Stormbird with fifty Alpha warriors, and Gukur led them toward the primarch’s office.
• Dynas Chayne detected Gukur’s psychic touch, shouted “Traitor,” and charged him with his blade.

Dynas Chayne and the Lucifer Blacks fought Gukur and the Alpha Legion, while Freddy killed Gukur with a psychic attack. Inger Peck escaped and resolved to join forces with Konrad Curze to hold Nimrod in the eastern galaxy, as Nimrod learned Alpharius had fled aboard a Stormbird and moved to secure the Alpha.

• Dynas Chayne wounded Gukur, but the Alpha Legion's superior numbers and firepower overwhelmed the Lucifer Blacks.
• Freddy lulled the Alphas to sleep, trapped Gukur in darkness, and killed him with a psychic attack.
• Inger Peck realized his plan had failed, escaped, and decided to join forces with Konrad Curze to hold Nimrod back in the eastern galaxy.
• Nimrod arrived and learned from Freddy that one Alpha had escaped, while Dynas reflected on Freddy's mythical nature.
• Nimrod learned that an Alpha had stolen a Stormbird and escaped, and he ordered his forces to board the Alpha.

Omega escaped Shadow of Order’s pursuit with the Alpha, but William Wood’s Tanith Clown ambushed the battleship near a Mandeville Point. As the Alpha took heavy fire, a new warship translated into realspace ahead of it.

• Omega realized Nimrod had faked his fall and ordered the Alpha to retreat while Shadow of Order’s ships pursued.
• Omega plotted a winding course through asteroid belts and gas clouds to evade the pursuing fleet.
• William Wood prepared the Tanith Clown’s ambush and planned to seize the Alpha for the Black Emperor.
• Omega’s Alpha passed through an asteroid belt and neared a Mandeville Point, apparently shaking off Shadow of Order’s fleet.
• The Tanith Clown emerged from a gas cloud and fired on the Alpha as fourteen pursuing warships closed in.
• William learned that a warship had translated into realspace at the Mandeville Point ahead of the Alpha.

"Omega" faced Nimrod's forces aboard the Alpha as Sid Ranko and a powerful psionic construct attacked the First Company. William Wood arrived and claimed Sid for himself, while "Omega" remained under attack.

• "Omega" recognized an Abyss-class warship among Nimrod's fleet and saw the Alpha surrounded and trapped.
• "Omega" led the Honor Guard to meet Sid Ranko, who identified himself as another Omega and attacked with a Meltagun.
• The Farseer Puppet and an enormous psionic construct incapacitated and killed members of the Honor Guard as Sid fought "Omega".
• "Omega" tore off Sid's helmet, recognized him, and fought him until a blow interrupted his attempt to kill Sid.
• William Wood arrived and told the First Company Captain that Sid Ranko was his, intending to make him a third Marionette.

Nimrod learned that William Wood had captured Inger Peck and rewarded him with the Alpha as his flagship. He then captured the Antidil Assisiltir, an envoy of the Cabal, and planned to extract the location of the Antidil homeworld before Eldrad Ulthran could strike at the Cabal.

• William Wood brought Nimrod the captured Inger Peck, whom Nimrod identified as Alpha's First Company Captain.
• Nimrod praised William for capturing the Alpha and gave him the ship as his flagship.
• Nimrod sensed a presence in a cabin, broke in, and found the Antidil Assisiltir inside a glass sphere.
• Nimrod rejected Assisiltir's proposal, demanded the location of the Antidil homeworld, and imprisoned him in the Kingdom of Disorder.
• Nimrod resolved to search Assisiltir's mind for the homeworld before Eldrad Ulthran attacked the Cabal.

Nimrod welcomed Nathaniel Garro and Vespasian onto his War Council and laid out a campaign to seize the eastern galaxy. At Kamiti Sona, Hathor Maat and the Thousand Sons fought their way into the psychic prison while Ahriman searched for Magnus's soul shard, which the Black Emperor had said was inside Camille Shivani's urn.

• Nimrod welcomed Nathaniel Garro and Vespasian and invited them to join his War Council alongside Menes Kalliston, Sulekh Kontep, and Togon Khan.
• Nimrod told the council that Horus had sent Curze to conquer the eastern galaxy and that their objective was to take it while countering the Alpha Legion's schemes.
• At Kamiti Sona, Lemuel Gaumon, Kaia of Tizca, and Camille Shivani were imprisoned among thousands of Psykers when an alarm sounded and their collars began to fail.
• Servo-skulls attacked the prisoners, then Sisters of Silence and Astartes charged into the psychic prison as the freed Psykers fought back.
• Hathor Maat, Azek Ahriman, and Phosis T'kar led the Thousand Sons in battle against the opposing Astartes while Ahriman searched for Magnus's soul shard.
• Hathor recognized Camille's urn and recalled the Black Emperor's order to bring Magnus's soul shard and Camille Shivani back.

Hathor rescued Camille, Kaia, and Lemuel from the Space Wolves, recovering Callista’s funerary urn before escaping with them through the Radiance of Tizca. Afterward, Kairos offered to help Phosis T'kar if Hathor altered the Book of Magnus, but Hathor refused as Phosis’s flesh-change worsened and he revealed that Sobek was dead.

• Hathor used lightning and Psychological Suggestion to fend off the Space Wolves while Lemuel struggled in Svafnir Swift-Wolf’s grip.
• Hathor took Callista’s funerary urn from Camille and escaped with Camille, Kaia, and the other Thousand Sons using the Book of Magnus.
• At the Thousand Sons’ refuge, Hathor asked Menkare to settle their guests, while Phosis T'kar suffered from his flesh-change.
• Kairos offered to help Phosis T'kar in exchange for a small alteration to the Book of Magnus, but Hathor refused.
• Phosis T'kar told Hathor that Sobek was dead.

Hathor Maat delivered Callista Orestes’s ashes to Nimrod, who bound the raging soul fragment in the Seventh Layer Space and ordered the Thousand Sons gathered so he could cure Phosis T’kar. Nimrod also learned that Balthasar Quturi had rescued 4,930 Raven Guard and instructed him to seek secrets while watching for Alpha infiltrators.

• Hathor Maat returned Callista Orestes’s ashes to Nimrod, who confined the soul fragment in the Seventh Layer Space.
• Hathor reported that Camille Shivani had been recovered, Lemuel Gaumon was with the Sigillite’s Knight-Errants and the Space Wolves, Phosis T’kar’s flesh-change had begun, and Kairos had proposed a deal.
• Nimrod decided to summon the Thousand Sons through the Warp Gate and cure Phosis T’kar’s flesh-change.
• Balthasar Quturi told Nimrod he had broken his vow to use psychic power and brought out 4,930 battle-brothers.
• Nimrod told Balthasar to gather secrets from Corax and watch Sergeant Dorr’s squad for Alpha infiltrators.