Chapter Summaries

Sigismund and Obi-Wan Kenobi discovered that Darth Vader’s Chaos Fleet was heading for Tatooine, where Obi-Wan foresaw a confrontation over Luke. As the fleet arrived, Obi-Wan chose to face his former apprentice while the Imperium prepared to defend Mos Eisley.

• Sigismund met Obi-Wan aboard the cruiser and showed him Coruscant being consumed by Chaos as hyperspace routes collapsed.
• Obi-Wan foresaw a crimson sandstorm and a bloodstained Lightsaber at Luke Skywalker’s former Moisture Farm, then warned that Leia Organa was also in danger.
• An Imperial Fist reported an anomalous Hyperspace disturbance above Tatooine, and Sigismund and Obi-Wan saw a ship emerge from a red cloud.
• Sigismund left Obi-Wan to choose his course, and Obi-Wan switched off his Lightsaber and headed out to confront Darth Vader.
• Cortana warned John and the Spartans that Vader’s Chaos Fleet was entering low orbit and ordered them to defend Mos Eisley against an expected Orbital Drop.

Chaos forces led by Darth Vader attacked Tatooine, forcing the Spartans and Imperial Fists to defend the landing pad and evacuate civilians. As the orbital battle raged, burning wreckage descended toward the planet, threatening the evacuation and the people below.

• The sky over Tatooine split open as Chaos forces and Warp Entities began emerging, and John-117 ordered the Spartans to hold formation.
• The Spartans resupplied and built defenses around the landing pad while Sigismund insisted that the Imperial Fists protect Tatooine’s civilians despite the poor odds.
• Alice-130 and the other Spartans helped Auxilia, Clone Soldiers, and Terminators organize the defenses and move civilians into a safe zone.
• Sigismund’s fleet engaged Darth Vader’s Chaos Fleet in orbit, and John-117 ordered a transport formation to collect civilians while the Spartans continued evacuating them.
• Countless burning objects tore through Tatooine’s atmosphere and descended toward the surface as the orbital battle intensified.

Chaos forces invaded Tatooine, overwhelming the Imperial Fleet and turning Mos Eisley into a brutal ground battle. Sigismund ordered the civilian evacuation and a delaying defense as Clone Soldiers, combat machines, and Spartans fought to protect the population.

• Cortana warned Sigismund that the Imperial Fleet could not hold orbital control, so he ordered the ground forces deployed, transports withdrawn, and ships to buy time for the evacuation before retreating.
• Chaos Drop Pods struck Mos Eisley, where mutated Stormtroopers attacked the Clone Soldiers and Terminators defending the city.
• A Cyclops Mecha ran out of ammunition and faced a giant Khorne fanatic; its pilot triggered the self-destruct, killing the attacker and the nearby Clone Soldiers.
• Chaos heretics grew furious at the soulless Clone Soldiers and turned their rampage toward Mos Eisley's civilians.
• Spartan soldiers defended the civilian landing field, destroying a corrupted tank and holding back heretics as refugees watched in silence.

Chaos-corrupted troops attacked Tatooine, forcing Imperial Fists, Spartans, Clone soldiers, and Auxilia to defend civilians as the Chaos Fleet threatened the planet from orbit. Knight Mechs arrived to support the defenders, while John prepared for evacuation and noticed Obi-Wan Kenobi among the arrivals.

• Chaos-corrupted former Imperial troops descended on Tatooine, sacrificing civilians and attacking the shelters and defenders.
• Douglas killed a chanting Chaos Cultist, then returned to formation as Jerome warned him to check his shield.
• Spartans, Auxilia, Clone soldiers, Terminators, and Imperial Fists fought off the heretics across the landing pad and Mos Eisley's streets.
• Four Knight Mechs deployed from orbital Drop Pods and attacked Chaos artillery and tanks, with Vulture gunships providing support.
• John saw transports arriving to evacuate civilians and learned that the defenders would remain until Imperial Fists reinforcements came.
• Four Luna Transports landed at the civilian pad, and John spotted Obi-Wan Kenobi arriving with them.

Obi-Wan Kenobi drew the Chaos forces away from the evacuation and fought them while John’s troops provided support. The civilians escaped Tatooine as the Fleet withdrew, leaving John’s forces behind as Darth Vader headed for Mos Eisley to confront Obi-Wan.

• John confirmed the evacuation was proceeding and transferred temporary command to Fred-104 before joining Obi-Wan.
• Obi-Wan offered to serve as bait, then attacked the Chaos Cultists and cut a deadly path through their ranks with his lightsaber and the Force.
• Three corrupted AT-ST walkers advanced, and John ordered fire support; the Spartans, Auxilia, and Titan tanks destroyed one walker after breaking its psychic barrier.
• The first evacuation convoy carried more than a thousand civilians toward low orbit while Phantom Fighters escorted it.
• The last convoy left Tatooine as the Fleet entered Slipspace, leaving John and the others behind until the Imperial Fists arrived.
• Darth Vader ordered the Chaos Fleet to bombard Tatooine and flew toward Mos Eisley, where Obi-Wan waited.

Darth Vader arrived in Mos Eisley transformed by Chaos, crushing the Knight Mechs and freezing the defenders with his power. He confronted Obi-Wan and released him from his bonds, then charged at his former master.

• Chaos ships bombarded Anchorhead as Darth Vader’s transport formation descended toward Mos Eisley.
• Four Knight Mechs targeted Vader’s shuttles, but Warp-powered hands crushed the machines before they could fire.
• Cortana urged John and the defenders to retreat, but Vader’s unseen pressure immobilized them across the city.
• Darth Vader stepped from his shuttle with a restored face and a Chaos-corrupted body, accompanied by mutated guards.
• Vader confronted Obi-Wan, invoked their past on Mustafar, freed him from his restraints, and rushed toward him.

Darth Vader overpowered Obi-Wan Kenobi and tried to corrupt him for information about Luke, but Obi-Wan attempted to destroy his own soul rather than yield. A golden force shattered Vader’s hold over the battlefield and sent him flying, leaving its source unknown.

• Darth Vader defeated Obi-Wan in their duel and demanded to know where Luke was hidden.
• Vader restrained the Spartans as his Chaos Army overwhelmed Mos Eisley’s defenders.
• Trapped between surrendering his soul to Chaos and becoming a Jedi Spirit, Obi-Wan began annihilating himself with the Force.
• Vader halted Obi-Wan’s self-destruction and began injecting corruption into his body to force information from him.
• A tremendous golden pillar of light tore through the Chaos haze, freed the immobilized defenders, and destroyed nearby daemons.
• A golden streak struck Vader’s Lightsaber and hurled him into the ruins.

The Ironwing Knight Company and Niren Hogg arrived through a golden rift and devastated Darth Vader’s Chaos forces. As John led the Spartans to rescue the wounded Obi-Wan, Vader stopped the battlefield and appeared beside him, but a woman interrupted his threat by challenging him directly.

• An Ancient War Spear struck toward the golden pillar, and the Ironwing Knight Company and Niren Hogg emerged above Mos Eisley.
• Niren Hogg incinerated Chaos forces while the Ironwing Knights attacked Daemons, Heretics, and corrupted machines from the air.
• Cortana urged John to evacuate, but John ordered Blue Team, Red Team, and Black Team to follow him and rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi.
• John and the Spartans fought through the enemy and came within thirty meters of Obi-Wan before the battlefield froze and their sensors failed.
• Darth Vader appeared beside Obi-Wan and addressed the Spartans, but a magnetic female voice interrupted him and challenged him to fight her instead.

Athena confronted Darth Vader while Imperial forces continued evacuating Mos Eisley, and a mass teleportation brought forty thousand Battle Knights and Sisters of Battle, along with Hera, to reinforce them. The Imperium maintained its retreat plan as Athena and Vader remained locked in a standoff, leaving Obi-Wan in danger.

• Athena appeared inside Darth Vader’s barrier and forced the Spartans to retreat from the Chaos field while Vader focused on her.
• Imperial troops and civilians continued withdrawing from Mos Eisley as the Ironwing Knight Company, Niren Hogg, and other forces supported the evacuation.
• Forty thousand Battle Knights and Sisters of Battle emerged from the pillar of light and established a powerful defensive line against the heretics and daemons.
• Hera arrived, destroyed a large portion of the enemy army with Radiant Light, and protected trapped civilians with a Psychic Barrier.
• Cortana explained that the Emperor’s emergency teleportation had severely drained him, so Douglas ordered the Spartans to keep retreating and wait for a chance to rescue Obi-Wan.
• Athena and Darth Vader remained in a silent standoff in central Mos Eisley.

Athena and Darth Vader’s battle devastated Mos Eisley and threatened to break the barrier separating reality from Chaos. After Vader unleashed a tide of wraiths, Sui Yang took control of Athena and turned her greatsword into a weapon that absorbed the attack, then launched her toward Vader.

• Athena provoked Vader into attacking, and their weapons collided in an explosion that wrecked Mos Eisley’s central district and damaged Hera’s barrier.
• John, Douglas, and Jerome endured the shockwave as corruption seeped through cracks in the barrier and began mutating the dead.
• Vader conjured a tide of wraiths from the resentment of billions of dead souls and sent it against Athena.
• Athena’s defensive formation collapsed, so she transformed the Spear of Victory into a greatsword and struck at the wraiths.
• The sword absorbed and purified the wraiths as Sui Yang took control of Athena, who then charged at Vader.

Athena, empowered by the Imperium’s collective faith and possessed by Sui Yang, overwhelmed Darth Vader in their battle above Mos Eisley. As Vader collapsed and unleashed Warp corruption, Athena split him in two, leaving his fate uncertain.

• John led Fred and Jerome into the crater to search for Obi-Wan Kenobi, but Cortana found no life signs or energy residue.
• John ordered the Spartans to withdraw from Mos Eisley and rendezvous with Commander Sigismund.
• Athena’s heavy sword forced Darth Vader onto the defensive and wounded him, while Pure Psychic Energy threatened to consume his essence.
• The chapter revealed that Athena’s immense power came from the Imperium’s faith and Sui Yang’s control of her through their partnership.
• Darth Vader erupted with Chaos energy that corrupted the land, sky, and fallen soldiers, but Athena broke through the Warp mist and split him in two.

Sui Yang used Athena to defeat Darth Vader, sever Anakin Skywalker’s soul from Chaos, and leave the enemy fleet in disarray. As Tatooine’s defenders evacuated civilians and established a base, Athena set out to hunt the remaining Chaos forces and hurled the Spear of Victory at a Chaos Star Destroyer.

• Athena, controlled by Sui Yang, cleaved Darth Vader in two and secretly severed Anakin Skywalker’s soul from Chaos, storing his essence in the Hell Domain.
• Darth Vader’s death plunged his fleet into chaos, with corrupted ships attacking one another, bombarding Tatooine, or attempting to flee.
• Sigismund’s Imperial Fists and engineering machines established a defensive base in the Gobi while Battle Knights, Sisters of Battle, and their allies escorted civilians south from Mos Eisley.
• Athena purified the crater, then walked into the desert to hunt the remaining Chaos forces.
• Athena stopped, aimed at a Chaos Star Destroyer in low orbit, and threw the Spear of Victory toward it.

Athena destroyed a Chaos Star Destroyer and routed the Blood God's Army, but her power was nearly spent when she spotted a golden meteor descending toward a nearby town. The meteor landed amid a massacre, revealing a wheat-skinned child whom the Bloodletters rushed to seize for sacrifice.

• Athena hurled the Spear of Victory into orbit and destroyed a Chaos-corrupted Star Destroyer before its cannon could threaten the refugees.
• Athena held off the Blood God's Army, then grew to a hundred meters tall and swept its main force from the battlefield with one strike.
• After shrinking back and exhausted, Athena pinned a surviving Blood Hound and headed north toward more Chaos armies.
• Athena saw a golden meteor carrying a Psychic Power aura like the Emperor's descend toward a nearby town and hurried there.
• The meteor struck the town's center, and Bloodletters spotted a wheat-skinned child in the crater and rushed to sacrifice it.

A Primarch infant awoke on Tatooine and destroyed nearby Bloodletters before Athena arrived and gathered him into her arms. As she carried him south toward Hera for nourishment, Tzeentch’s forces attacked, but Athena broke their assault and continued onward with the sleeping child.

• The Primarch infant killed several Bloodletters with effortless blows and greeted Athena by calling her “Mama” when she arrived.
• Athena took the hungry infant into her arms, wrapped him in a divine Light Cocoon, and soothed him to sleep with her power.
• Athena sensed Hera’s divine presence to the south and set out to seek her help nourishing the Primarch.
• Tzeentch’s sorcerers, heretic Stormtroopers, Horrors, and other daemons attacked Athena and targeted the sleeping infant for corruption.
• Athena shattered the attackers’ psychic restraints, purified many of them with her spear, and sped south beyond the horizon.

Sigismund’s forces established a fortified base on Tatooine and brought rescued civilians inside as Athena returned with a newborn Primarch. Hera took the infant into her care, Athena blessed him, and Sui Yang considered Anakin Skywalker’s role in the Hell Domain.

• Sigismund oversaw the base’s defenses and the Heretic Inquisition Department’s inspection of arriving civilians.
• Athena returned to the base riding Niren Hogg, stunning the civilians and soldiers with her arrival and the infant she carried.
• Sigismund and John recognized the infant as a Primarch, while Cortana confirmed his identity and determined that he needed special nourishment.
• Hera received the Primarch from Athena and promised to care for him.
• Athena marked the infant with her blessing and wished him wisdom and courage.
• Sui Yang considered how to assign Anakin Skywalker a position in the Hell Domain.

Anakin Skywalker awakens in the Emperor’s Fifth Layer of Hell, where Sui Yang shows him the sins of an alternate Chaos-corrupted self and offers a chance at purification. Encouraged by Obi-Wan Kenobi and the sight of his surviving children, Anakin enters the lava and begins a new life as Hell’s gatekeeper.

• Anakin awakens in Wrath without the Force and witnesses the Giants cast sinners into the lava.
• Sui Yang tells Anakin he must serve his sentence, then shows him memories of an alternate self committing atrocities for Chaos.
• Obi-Wan appears, forgives Anakin, reveals the Chaos Gods’ influence, and gives him a blue Kyber Crystal as a tool for purification.
• Sui Yang shows Anakin that Luke, Leia, and Owen are alive and reveals possible futures for his children.
• Anakin enters the lava with Obi-Wan’s crystal and begins transforming into Hell’s gatekeeper, while Obi-Wan serves in Paradise Domain.

After returning to the Golden Throne, Sui Yang reviewed the losses on Tatooine and sensed that the newborn Ferrus Manus had safely arrived and was growing under Hera’s care. He planned for Athena to train Ferrus as his foster mother while keeping attention on the Chaos-corrupted Coruscant, where Lorgar and Curze had been sent to intervene.

• Sui Yang checked the battle reports and learned that 317 Imperial Fists had died on Tatooine, though the fallen could return from the Paradise Domain if needed.
• Sui Yang sensed that Ferrus Manus had been born on Tatooine and was flourishing under Hera’s divine power.
• Sui Yang recalled Ferrus’s harsh upbringing on Medusa, his friendship with Fulgrim, and his death during the Horus Heresy.
• Sui Yang decided Athena could serve as Ferrus’s foster mother and train him in combat.
• Sui Yang considered Coruscant’s fall to Chaos and judged Magnus’s decision to send Lorgar and Curze there to be correct.

Sui Yang redirected reinforcements to save Tatooine while sending the Greek Demigods, Grey Knights, Word Bearers, and Night Lords to purge Coruscant. After Tatooine’s defenses held and reinforcements arrived, the planet was relieved at great cost, while Lorgar and Curze reached the Coruscant system to confront its Warp rift.

• Sui Yang adjusted the deployment after Darth Vader’s surprise attack, sending elite forces to Tatooine while the Greek Demigods and Grey Knights continued toward Coruscant with the Word Bearers and Night Lords.
• Sui Yang reviewed Kamino’s cloning technology and planned to bring the Kaminoans into the Empire under strict controls that would remove clones’ gestation and free will.
• Sui Yang assessed the disorganized Chaos forces and decided not to interfere with Lorgar and Curze’s mission to destroy Coruscant’s Warp rift.
• One Earth day later, nearly a hundred Imperial Fists vessels arrived at Tatooine and devastated the Chaos fleet, while Athena and Hera attacked the enemy forces from the surface.
• The reinforcements relieved Tatooine, but Sigismund’s Imperial Fists and the local population suffered devastating losses, and Jabba the Hutt was killed by Nurglings.
• The evacuation fleet returned to Yavin 4 for resupply as Lorgar and Curze arrived with the Word Bearers and Night Lords in the Coruscant system.

Lorgar, Curze, and Kaldor Draigo planned to attack Impproco before advancing on Chaos-corrupted Coruscant. Their fleet seized orbit and launched an invasion of the frozen planet, where Draigo emerged from his Drop Pod as the assault began.

• Lorgar proposed using Impproco as a foothold because its Chaos corruption was low, and Curze and Draigo agreed to the plan.
• The allied fleet jumped into formation around Impproco and destroyed Chaos ships and defenses with orbital bombardment and jamming torpedoes.
• The fleet's strikes exposed and destroyed Chaos temples beneath the ice, including the largest temple, which Flame of Faith hit with consecrated liquid nitrogen.
• After securing orbital control, the fleet launched tens of thousands of Drop Pods toward Impproco's surface.
• Kaldor Draigo emerged first from a Drop Pod on the northern ice plains of a Chaos fortress.

Kaldor Draigo led the Grey Knights, Word Bearers, Night Lords, and Greek Demigods in an assault on Impproco, giving the Legions live combat experience against Chaos while preserving the planet as a forward base. Draigo killed a Tzeentch Greater Daemon and confirmed that the Purification Protocol had permanently erased it.

• The Grey Knights and Greek Demigods advanced through Impproco's Chaos fortifications, purifying daemons and recording combat data as Draigo ordered Mouse Droids marked for recovery.
• Draigo and Athena's war attendants reached the fortress's lowest level and faced a Tzeentch Greater Daemon sealed within a blue Crystal.
• The Greater Daemon deflected their attacks and hurled Draigo into a wall, but an Athena war attendant wounded it with a golden-burning spear.
• Draigo seized the Greater Daemon, slammed it into the floor, then pretended to be trapped by its time stop to lure it close.
• Draigo killed the Greater Daemon with his Holy Flame-wreathed Power Sword, and its essence was purified rather than returning to the Warp.
• Draigo touched the Crystal, causing it to vanish, and reported that the Tzeentch Greater Daemon had been permanently erased.