Chapter Summaries

Soap, Ghost, and ARS elites launched a surprise assault on a Tyger Claws-controlled building in Japantown, while Lei Ruoya and the Emergency Countermeasures elites arrived outside. The assault began as civilians fled the area.

• A Tyger Claws member shot a pink-haired sex doll worker who tried to escape, and he and another man carried her back into the building.
• Soap ordered the ARS team to begin the assault, and he and Ghost used Optical Camouflage to approach the entrance.
• Soap and Ghost killed the two Tyger Claws guards by tearing off their heads, causing nearby civilians to scatter.
• Soap, Ghost, and the ARS elites charged into the building.
• Lei Ruoya led more than forty Emergency Countermeasures elites into public view and warned uninvolved civilians to keep their distance.

Atlas forces occupied a Tyger Claws stronghold in Night City, using Celine’s Wise AI to disable bystanders and gather intelligence. After Soap defeated a gang executive, Celine declared that Atlas would take his possessions and memories.

• Celine’s pulse attacks disabled nearby civilians’ ability to observe and record Atlas’s operation.
• Roach, Celine, and Jill Valentine entered the Tyger Claws stronghold after Soap, Ghost, and Lei Ruoya led the assault.
• Celine reported that she had infiltrated Westbrook’s NCPD network and found evidence of police corruption and a dangerous barrier around Night City’s network.
• Roach and the others reached the top floor, where Soap defeated a Tyger Claws executive.
• Celine lifted the executive and declared that his possessions and memories would belong to Atlas.

Atlas tested its new Hardlight weapons and an unknown drug by sending D-Class Personnel into a simulated town overrun by Flood Infection Forms. Six survivors remained when a Primarch broke into the mall and declared them precious specimens who had to be escorted away.

• Atlas ordered more than a hundred D-Class Personnel to choose Hardlight weapons and enter the simulated town for a three-wave survival test.
• The D-Class Personnel armed themselves, formed groups, and took shelter in a shopping mall as the test began.
• Flood Infection Forms swarmed the mall, and the D-Class Personnel's disorganized defense collapsed as many were killed or transformed into Combat Forms.
• Six D-Class Personnel continued fighting the Flood until a Primarch smashed through the mall wall and offered to take them to safety.

Mortarion oversaw the examination of six D-Class survivors rescued from Flood-infected Combat Forms, then returned to Core Base. There, Atlas’s upgraded fleet was revealed as its ships began sailing through a massive gate toward the surface.

• Dense fog disinfected the Simulated Town while Sanctum Defenders eliminated the Combat Forms, and Mortarion guarded the six survivors during quarantine examinations.
• After the tests confirmed the survivors were free of infection, Mortarion contacted Tranquil Riverbank and teleported back to Core Base.
• Mortarion arrived near Atlas’s battle fortress, Sojourner-class Dreadnought, and nearly four hundred ships, including upgraded Epoch Heavy Carriers and a Carthage-class carrier.
• Atlas’s CCS-class Battlecruisers and four CRS-class light cruisers began sailing through a hundred-kilometer gate toward the surface atmosphere.

Xyander and three Primarchs departed Shield World 0459 for High Charity, while Sui Yang reviewed Atlas’s operations in the Cyberpunk universe and its plans to resurrect fallen soldiers. The chapter left him examining Forerunner hardlight technology, which could turn light into solid matter.

• Xyander ordered the fleet to jump to High Charity and told Fulgrim, Angron, and Leman that he would report to the Covenant council upon arrival.
• Apu informed Sui Yang that Fulgrim and the others had entered Slipspace.
• Sui Yang reviewed Division 09’s progress in Night City and learned that Atlas had established its presence before the events of Cyberpunk 2077.
• Sui Yang reviewed Atlas’s cloning and consciousness-transfer program, which resurrected fallen soldiers according to their wills and offered their clones different choices about their memories and identities.
• Sui Yang instructed Celine to pay extra attention to Gloria Martinez and her son David, and he told Dorn to stay ready to deploy troops if Arasaka or Militech used force.
• Sui Yang opened the file on Forerunner hardlight technology, which solidified light into usable structures such as bridges.

Sui Yang reviewed Atlas's plans for arming its Fleet, employing Huragok, and provoking a Covenant crisis that could lead to human unification. He then went to the Biological Experiment Center after Alexia reported progress on a Flood vaccine, where Mortarion and Halsey were waiting.

• Sui Yang chose Hardlight weapons as the standard firearm for the Astartes Legion's Auxilia because they were powerful, durable, and easier to maintain than plasma weapons.
• Sui Yang considered assigning the domesticated Huragok to warehouse and maintenance work, while surveying Core Base's ship production and noting that Fleet staffing and equipment still lagged behind.
• Sui Yang planned to use Xyander, Fulgrim, Angron, Leman, and the Astartes to turn the Elites against Covenant leaders, then exploit the conflict to push humanity toward unification.
• Sui Yang decided Atlas would approach suitable Spartan candidates' parents only after nearly unifying the Halo universe, rather than abducting children or replacing them with Clones.
• Apu told Sui Yang that Alexia had made progress on the Flood vaccine and wanted him at the Biological Experiment Center.
• Sui Yang arrived at the experiment room, where Alexia and Halsey discussed their work and Mortarion respectfully greeted his father.

Sui Yang learned that Alexia and Halsey had developed a Nanorobot-based method that could prevent the Flood from parasitizing some humans, and he set targets for further testing and mass production. After leaving the observation room, he considered sending Melissa to assist Celine in Universe 09 and using it to test Accra Park’s first Synthetics.

• Sui Yang praised Mortarion for assisting the Biological Department and assured him that he and Corax would eventually fight the Flood on the front lines.
• Halsey and Alexia explained how the Flood infected victims and described a weakened Infection Form that left D-019923 partly self-aware.
• Alexia and Halsey reported that Nanorobots could disguise a brain as damaged, preventing Infection Forms from parasitizing six D-Class subjects in a surface trial.
• Sui Yang ordered the six survivors to be used as prototypes for Clone Soldiers, called for cheaper vaccine production with a target of three hundred thousand doses, and assigned Mortarion to continue helping the doctors.
• Apu suggested sending Melissa to support Celine in Universe 09, and Sui Yang considered using the universe to test Accra Park’s first Synthetics.

David Martinez traveled to Atlas’s Westbrook division to interview for its unusually well-paid Trainee Security position, while noticing how Atlas had changed the surrounding district. In the Halo universe, Xyander’s Fleet emerged from Slipspace and advanced toward High Charity.

• David Martinez witnessed MaxTac subdue a Cyberpsycho and received an invitation to interview for Atlas’s Trainee Security position.
• David recalled Atlas’s rapid takeover of Tyger Claw territory and its recruitment offers, then hoped the job would help support his mother while he stayed in school.
• David arrived in Westbrook and saw Atlas’s aid stations, temporary-work postings, and armed soldiers replacing some of the district’s usual disorder.
• An Atlas receptionist welcomed David, registered him, and led him to a waiting area with dozens of other Trainee Security applicants.
• Xyander’s Fleet emerged from Slipspace in the Halo universe and accelerated toward the heavily defended Covenant capital, High Charity.

Xyander brought his fleet to High Charity, where the Covenant Defense Fleet challenged his unauthorized arrival. He persuaded the Prophet of Mercy to let him address the High Council, but had to enter the station under guard while his fleet remained under the Third Formation’s control.

• Leman, Angron, and Fulgrim assessed the vast Covenant fleet guarding High Charity and concluded Atlas could not defeat it in a direct battle.
• Fulgrim warned Xyander to hide his hostility toward the Prophets, then left the bridge with the other Primarchs as the Defense Fleet locked onto their ships.
• Dilawa challenged Xyander, who invented a story about finding an object linked to the Sacred Ring and learning the truth about the gods and the Zerg.
• The Prophet of Mercy agreed that the High Council would hear Xyander, and Dilawa ordered his fleet to berth under the Third Formation while Xyander traveled to High Charity with only his personal guard.
• Xyander accepted the escort arrangements and privately compared the Prophets to ostriches.

Xyander returned to High Charity with a device he claimed was sacred technology and was imprisoned while awaiting the High Council. His friends Artes 'Vadum and Tyr 'Vadamee began investigating his situation, while the Prophets planned to use the device to weaken the Sangheili and empower the Jiralhanae.

• Xyander and his guards surrendered their weapons and the silver cube to the Honor Guards before entering High Charity's prison block.
• Xyander met Artes 'Vadum and Tyr 'Vadamee in his cell, gave them a coded request to return to their homeworld, and asked them to reassure their elders.
• The Honor Guard captain delivered the cube to the Prophets, who identified it as a possible Luminary.
• The Prophet of Truth decided that the situation gave the Prophets a chance to weaken Sangheili influence and openly support the Jiralhanae.

The Prophets agreed to weaken the Sangheili and cultivate promising Jiralhanae, including Atriox, while planning to use Xyander’s punishment as a public warning. During a live High Council broadcast, Xyander challenged the Covenant’s account of the Forerunners and activated the Luminary, revealing a galactic star map and a holographic figure beside him.

• The Prophet of Truth argued that the Sangheili threatened the Prophets’ authority, and the Prophet of Regret agreed to promote promising Jiralhanae such as Atriox.
• The Prophet of Mercy took the Luminary to study it and planned to credit Xyander with recovering it to ease his punishment.
• Gnolls protested against Xyander in High Charity as Brutes took over crowd control from the Sangheili.
• During the live council session, Xyander declared that the creatures on Miracle had destroyed the Forerunners rather than being creations of the gods, and the Prophets condemned him.
• Xyander asked to operate the Luminary, unlocked it, and revealed a miniature galactic star map along with a holographic figure identified as Apu.

Xyander used Apu’s account of the Forerunners and the Flood, along with recordings of the Prophets’ conspiracy, to turn the High Council against Truth, Regret, and Mercy. As violence erupted and the Honor Guards hesitated, Xyander killed Regret and urged the Sangheili to take control of their future alongside humanity’s Reclaimers.

• Xyander instructed Apu to explain the Flood, the Forerunners’ extinction, and the true purpose of the Great Installation Ring to the High Council.
• Truth tried to stop Apu and have Xyander arrested, but an Elite councilor defended the revelation as sacred, and Apu revealed that the Sacred Ring was a weapon meant to destroy intelligent life.
• Xyander accused the Prophets of deceiving the Sangheili, and Apu played recordings of Truth, Regret, and Mercy discussing their plans, prompting Elite councilors and Honor Guards to attack them.
• Xyander seized the three Prophets and argued with Ripa and the loyal Honor Guards, while Apu declared that humanity were the Forerunners’ Reclaimers.
• Xyander killed Regret with a Plasma Lightsaber after a rebellious guard silently let him take the weapon, then announced that he had met humanity’s true leader and called on the Sangheili to seize the initiative.

After the Prophets’ conspiracy was exposed, Xyander and the Honor Guard moved to take control of High Charity while Elite forces fought the Prophets’ Brute supporters. Xyander’s flagship brought the Reclaimers into Port One, where Leman led the Young Astartes against the Brutes and left the watching Elites wondering if he was a god from legend.

• Ripa Morami and the Honor Guard pledged themselves to Apu and the Reclaimers, and Xyander outlined plans to expose the Prophets, secure High Charity, and deal with the Brutes.
• The broadcast of the Prophets’ secret discussion provoked the Elites to purge their supporters, while Gnolls fled with stolen ships and Brutes fought alongside their loyal Grunts.
• Xyander’s flagship rammed a CAS-class Assault Carrier at Port One, ruining the Brutes’ escape plan and opening the way for Young Astartes to storm the port.
• The Young Astartes broke through the Brutes’ temporary Bubble Shields as more than a thousand of them reached the platform.
• Leman announced that the newcomers were Reclaimers, charged the Brutes, and cut through them with the Sword of Winter, leaving an Elite to ask if he was a god from legend.

Leman and Angron won the Elites’ allegiance after the Young Astartes seized Port One, and the allied force began fighting its way through High Charity. Jialan Clovey’s Dark Angels squad advanced into the city, where he dodged a Gnoll sniper’s plasma shot and killed the sniper with an explosive bolt.

• The Young Astartes cleared Port One, while Leman killed a Prophet and the Elites, Grunts, and Gnolls pledged themselves to the Reclaimers.
• Angron promised the Elites their honor would be preserved and led them back into High Charity to fight the Prophets and Brutes.
• Fulgrim and Niren Hogg rallied the forces as Niren attacked Brute positions and the Astartes joined the Elites in taking a city district.
• Jialan Clovey led his Dark Angels squad through the streets, firing on Brutes and warning his squad to watch for snipers.
• Jialan dodged a Gnoll sniper’s plasma beam, then fired an explosive bolt that destroyed the sniper’s position.

Sui Yang reviewed Gabriel Angelos’s emergence of psychic powers during the battle for High Charity and ordered preparations to undermine the UNSC and UEG. He also sent Dorn to reinforce Division 09 in Universe 09 after Arasaka moved to exclude it.

• Sui Yang watched helmet-camera footage showing Gabriel Angelos destroy a Scarab with a burst of psychic lightning, then learned Gabriel had fainted and been taken for treatment.
• Sui Yang assessed the near-end of the battle for High Charity, where Xyander, Fulgrim, and their forces controlled most of the city and the Covenant civil war had begun.
• Sui Yang ordered the Investigation Department Base on Reach to publicize threats, establish the company website, and conduct targeted lethal operations against corrupt UNSC and UEG officials.
• Sui Yang emailed Dorn and instructed him to finish his current work within five Earth days, then take his personal troops to the Frontline Base in Universe 09.

Dorn received news that Terraria’s first local Astartes candidates had reached Relic Base, then ordered troops deployed to Universe 09 for a possible forced unification. In Night City, Jill Valentine finished training David Martinez and his classmates, and David was approached by an unknown person as he left.

• Aoyi told Dorn that Terraria’s Astartes Adaptants had arrived at Relic Base and that Angela Ziegler Cage would oversee the next steps.
• Aoyi invited Dorn to see the Dawn Moon Flower Sea, but Dorn declined and ordered five knight orders and an Elven Night Owl Strike Team to deploy to Universe 09 within five days.
• Jill Valentine defeated David Martinez in a sparring match, taught the trainees about close combat, and dismissed the class.
• David stayed behind, considered leaving Arasaka Academy for Atlas’s training program, then left the training room and heard someone ask to speak with him.

Soap urged David to consider signing a full-time intern contract with Atlas, while David struggled with the thought of leaving Arasaka Academy and telling Gloria. Gloria begged him to stop working for Atlas after warning that corporations and gangs were joining forces against it, as a stealth Paris-class Heavy Frigate took position above Night City.

• Soap told David that Atlas valued his character and abilities, offered him a full-time intern contract, and warned that signing meant severing ties with Arasaka Academy.
• David returned home troubled by the choice between Atlas and Arasaka Academy, and noticed a mysterious white-haired woman on an overpass before she disappeared.
• David told Gloria that he had joined Atlas as a trainee security personnel and showed her that he had earned 600 over the weekend.
• Gloria urged David to leave Atlas, explaining that her partners had heard megacorps and gangs were joining forces against the company.
• David kept quiet about considering dropping out and worried about Atlas's safety, while a stealth Paris-class Heavy Frigate positioned itself above Night City and aimed its cannons toward the city.

Atlas launched an orbital attack on forces converging on its Division 09 building, opening a direct war against Night City’s megacorporations. David recognized Atlas’s weapons and hoped to join the company, while Maine’s mercenary crew fled the bombardment.

• The Paris-class Frigate received authorization from Price to attack the forces surrounding Division 09 while avoiding civilian casualties, and the captain ordered a low-power salvo and an orbital assault.
• The frigate struck Arasaka’s offshore fleet and armed convoys in Night City, beginning Atlas’s fifth “Corporate” War.
• David and Gloria watched blue orbital weapons bombard Westbrook, and David asked whether he could work for Atlas if it replaced Arasaka and the other megacorporations.
• The bombardment destroyed several Arasaka Special Operations Unit teams and gang forces, killing nearly a thousand attackers while leaving most of the attacking force intact.
• Maine’s mercenary crew encountered the wreckage, realized their assault job was far more dangerous than expected, and fled toward the outskirts.

Atlas forces overwhelmed Arasaka and Night City's mercenaries, capturing Maine's group as Celine monitored the battle. After detecting encrypted files from Arasaka Tower, Celine proposed sending Primarch Dorn through the Space Gate alone to destroy the enemy and demonstrate Atlas's power.

• Maine's group encountered Lei Ruoya's Glory Warriors, ODSTs, a Heavy Tyrant, and a Cyclops, then surrendered when Maine recognized they could not win.
• Atlas's Clone Soldiers and Synthetics fought Arasaka's forces, with the Synthetics disabling the Special Operations Unit through cyberattacks before the clones finished them off.
• Lucy told Maine's group that Atlas and Arasaka's confrontation had become a Corporate War.
• Lei Ruoya ordered her troops to secure Maine's group, and ODSTs used pulse devices to knock them unconscious.
• Celine detected encrypted files leaving Arasaka Tower and proposed that Primarch Dorn attack the tower alone to establish Atlas's deterrence.

Dorn arrived in Night City with the Royal Capital Knights and Night Owl Strike Team, then approved Celine’s plan to broadcast Atlas’s attack on Arasaka as a show of force. As the fighting spread through the city, Dorn jumped from a Luna Transport toward the plaza outside Arasaka Tower.

• Dorn’s Royal Capital Knights and the Night Owl Strike Team passed through the Space Gate into the Cyberpunk 2077 universe, and Aoyi took charge of their deployments.
• Dorn flew toward Night City while Celine proposed broadcasting his attack on Arasaka Tower to inspire resistance and demonstrate Atlas’s power; Dorn approved her plan.
• Dorn considered Celine’s independent suggestions and wondered whether Atlas’s AI research raised risks, then decided his father needed no warning.
• Fighting spread across Night City as company forces battled Arasaka troops, with Lei Ruoya and the Advance Team defending the branch building.
• Arasaka security forces and NCPD officers gathered outside Arasaka Tower and fired missiles at Dorn’s Luna Transport, which released decoy drones as Dorn leaped toward the plaza.