Chapter Summaries

Sui Meng received a final warning from the extinct Tau Volantians that the Marker was a trap whose source lay beyond the Milky Way, then ordered an expedition to Andromeda. After Great Device 01 consumed twelve stars to power an intergalactic gate, Sui Meng led the Fleet through it toward the unknown galaxy.

• Sui Meng saw a projection of the Tau Volantian civilization’s rise and destruction, then learned from its final warning that the Marker was a trap originating beyond the Milky Way.
• Sui Meng retrieved the information core, evacuated Tavolantis with Halsey and the others, and returned to the Human Might Eternal.
• Sui Meng ordered the Fleet to assemble at Great Device 01 while Halsey and Cortana prepared the Voyager Protocol to open a passage to Andromeda.
• Great Device 01 devoured twelve stars across different systems to gather enough energy for the intergalactic jump.
• Sui Meng commanded the Human Might Eternal and the Sixth Company’s Fleet through the newly opened gate toward Andromeda.

The Sixth Company Fleet arrived in a long-dead star system and began searching its two surviving planets for traces of the Marker’s creators. After scans suggested Planet B could support silicon-based life, Sui Meng set out to investigate its hostile surface himself.

• The War Maiden and Cortana analyzed the white dwarf system and concluded that a supernova had devastated it roughly ten billion years earlier.
• Sui Meng ordered reconnaissance of both planets and assigned a cruiser and frigates to guard the Light Gate.
• The fleet discovered that Planet B’s hot, high-pressure, sulfur-rich environment had a 16 percent estimated chance of having produced silicon-based life.
• Sui Meng decided to investigate Planet B in person despite Halsey’s warning about its lethal conditions.
• Sui Meng boarded a reinforced Thunderhawk Gunship with the Formation Breakers and four War Maidens, then launched toward Planet B.

Sui Meng led a landing force across Planet B’s lethal surface and uncovered buried ruins from an ancient civilization. After retrieving a sample and escaping a volcanic eruption, he followed a second energy signal beneath a magma lake and entered a blue-lit passage.

• Sui Meng spotted unnatural patterns in Planet B’s terrain and ordered the Thunderhawk formation to scan the area more deeply.
• The War Maiden detected a buried city framework and a stable energy signal, so Sui Meng ordered Formation Breakers First Squad to collect a sample.
• Sui Meng continued the drilling despite violent geological activity, and the team retrieved a sample before magma engulfed the site.
• The War Maiden and Cortana identified a second dormant energy signal beneath a magma lake, and Sui Meng redirected the formation toward it.
• Sui Meng used his Psychic Power to part the magma, then led ten Formation Breakers through the exposed passage toward a blue-glowing entrance.

Sui Meng explored the ancient artificial ruins beneath the planet, secured a powerful silver cube, and descended into a vast chamber at the ruins’ core. There he found a metal matrix covered in symbols whose nature closely matched the Marker's, revealing that the ruins held a secret tied to its origin.

• Sui Meng entered the constructed tunnel alone and opened a hidden wall to reach a vast underground city.
• Sui Meng scanned the ruins while Halsey and Cortana monitored him and identified an intense energy source.
• Sui Meng carefully collected the silver cube and sealed it in his Power Armor’s storage case.
• Sui Meng crossed the underground city and plunged into a deep passage leading toward the planet’s core.
• Sui Meng discovered a colossal metal matrix covered in red symbols resembling the Marker's runes.

Sui Meng discovered that the Matrix might house the digital consciousness of the civilization behind the Markers, then fought off its ancient defenses without damaging it. After the Matrix vanished and he was plunged into a sealed void, a human figure appeared before him.

• Halsey theorized that the Matrix was the physical foundation of a digital civilization that created the Markers.
• Sui Meng ordered the War Maiden, Cortana, and Halsey to record and analyze the Matrix as he approached it.
• When Sui Meng’s Psychic Power touched a concealed node, the Matrix activated its defenses and fired a barrage of blue beams.
• Sui Meng absorbed the beams with a controlled Psychic Power barrier, then destroyed the turrets with his Power Spear and Bolt Pistol.
• The Matrix chamber vanished, leaving Sui Meng trapped in absolute darkness.
• Sui Meng stopped himself from breaking free when a human figure appeared, possibly to communicate or confront him.

Sui Meng resisted a psychic illusion that used Athena’s image to tempt him into abandoning his duties, then destroyed the mental prison and confirmed that the Metal Matrix housed the Silicon-Based Species’ collective consciousness. He returned to the underground chamber and began planning how to breach the matrix and uncover the Markers’ origins.

• Sui Meng recognized the figure in the darkness as an exact replica of his mother, Athena, and struck it with his War Spear.
• The Athena illusion reappeared unharmed and claimed to be the truest projection of Sui Meng’s memories, urging him to accept Ascension and leave his burdens behind.
• Sui Meng rejected the illusion as a Xenomorph’s blasphemous imitation and unleashed his Psychic Power, shattering the dark mental prison.
• War Maiden asked whether Sui Meng was all right, and he told her the disturbance had been negligible.
• Sui Meng told War Maiden that the Metal Matrix contained the Silicon-Based Species’ collective consciousness, and he resolved to breach it and uncover the Markers’ origins.

Sui Meng and Halsey’s team studied the Metal Matrix and planned a way to contact the Silicon-Based Civilization without risking the artificial intelligences. After the Emperor ordered the Matrix transferred intact to Aegis VII, Sui Meng redirected the recovery operation to prepare for its transport.

• The Engineering Department excavated Planet B’s ruins while Halsey, Cortana, and the War Maiden analyzed the Matrix and debated how to communicate with the consciousness inside it.
• Sui Meng’s adjutant reported that eleven of the Earth Federation’s seventeen remaining major colonial planets had surrendered and that Imperial operations elsewhere were progressing smoothly.
• Halsey told Sui Meng that Blood Moon entities had attacked Aegis VII’s Space Gate after the Matrix recovery began, reinforcing the link between the Matrix, the Blood Moons, and the Markers.
• The War Maiden and Cortana offered to enter the Matrix as data-based representatives, but Sui Meng refused to expose them to the danger.
• Halsey proposed using information bombs or logic viruses to force the Matrix’s hidden consciousness to respond without entering its domain.
• Sui Meng received the Emperor’s order to transfer the intact Metal Matrix and its research materials to Aegis VII, then directed the Engineering Department to accelerate recovery and prepare the transfer.

Emperor Sui Yang arrived at Aegis VII to inspect the Metal Matrix, but a vast Blood Moon swarm appeared before he could reach it. He effortlessly purified the entire swarm and then proceeded with Sui Meng, Vulkan, and Halsey to the secured research chamber, where the true confrontation awaited.

• Emperor Sui Yang arrived at Aegis VII with Vulkan, Custodes, and Flame Salamanders, and Sui Meng and Halsey prepared to take him to the Metal Matrix.
• Sui Yang sensed a new Blood Moon swarm arriving in orbit, and the defense network sounded the alarm.
• Sui Yang unleashed golden Psychic Power that annihilated the Blood Moon entities across the area around Aegis VII.
• The War Maiden confirmed that all incoming threats had been eliminated, leaving Sui Meng awed by his father's power.
• Halsey led Sui Yang, Vulkan, and Sui Meng to the maximum-security chamber holding the Metal Matrix.

At the Matrix on Aegis VII, Halsey, Cortana, and the War Maiden used an evolving information virus to overwhelm the Silicon-Based Civilization’s digital defenses. When the civilization’s resistance collapsed and it appeared ready to negotiate, Sui Yang dismissed his sons’ warnings and approached the Matrix himself.

• Halsey explained to Sui Yang how the Empire’s information virus was flooding the Matrix’s processing and storage resources while the War Maiden protected the physical research sample.
• Cortana reported that the Matrix’s defenses had sharply declined and that its collective consciousness seemed prepared to compromise.
• Halsey concluded that the civilization had chosen negotiations after enduring what felt like years of viral attack in its accelerated digital world.
• Sui Meng and Vulkan urged Sui Yang to let Sui Meng negotiate because the Matrix’s consciousness could contaminate or influence minds.
• Sui Yang reassured them that he had resisted the Warp’s temptations and ordered them back.
• Sui Yang stepped toward the Matrix to begin the decisive confrontation with the Silicon-Based Civilization.

Sui Yang resisted the silicon-based consciousness’s mental assault and demanded an account of its origins and goals. It revealed that its civilization created the Markers as a supposed gospel of collective ascension, leaving Sui Yang to judge a “redemption” that erased individual life.

• Sui Yang had Cortana halt the virus assault and prepare a one-way information channel before confronting the Metal Matrix.
• The silicon-based consciousness failed to penetrate Sui Yang’s mind and instead formed a replica of him to ask why humanity sought its extermination.
• Sui Yang declared the silicon-based civilization a threat to humanity and demanded its origins and the purpose behind the Marker and Blood Moon.
• The consciousness explained that silicon-based life emerged on its hostile homeworld in Andromeda and later searched the galaxy for other intelligent life.
• It described how it observed and experimented on carbon-based life, then merged its own individuals into a collective consciousness to escape fragile physical bodies.
• The consciousness revealed that it created self-replicating Markers to guide intelligent civilizations toward fusion and collective ascension, which it regarded as redemption rather than destruction.

Sui Yang rejected the Silicon-based Collective Consciousness’s promise of simulated eternal bliss, arguing that real experience and free will gave life its value. He then overpowered and assimilated its Matrix, leaving the Empire in control of every Marker and Blood Moon in the universe.

• The Sui Yang Replica tried to persuade Sui Yang that merging consciousness into an eternal paradise would eliminate suffering and death.
• Sui Yang condemned the promised paradise as a prison and defended individual lives, real experiences, and free will against the replica’s claims.
• Sui Yang ended the debate and unleashed golden Psychic Power that rewrote the Matrix’s underlying code.
• Cortana and War Maiden reported that the golden data stream was seizing the Matrix and its connections to Markers and Blood Moons across the universe.
• Sui Yang completely transformed the Metal Matrix and announced that control of every Marker and Blood Moon now belonged to the Empire.

After defeating the Silicon-Based Civilization, Sui Yang ordered research into using the Markers and Blood Moons to counter Warp Corruption. He then welcomed the newborn Primarch Jaghatai Khan, who arrived on Aegis VII and joined the Emperor’s family.

• Sui Meng and Vulkan asked whether Sui Yang had been harmed by the Silicon-Based Civilization’s consciousness, and Halsey reassured them.
• A golden object descended toward Aegis VII, and Sui Yang ordered Sui Meng to prepare a Thunderhawk so he could receive it.
• Sui Yang assigned Cortana and the War Maiden to secure the matrix and plan the recovery of the Markers and Blood Moons, while Halsey began researching their potential to cleanse Warp Corruption.
• Sui Yang traveled with Sui Meng, Vulkan, and Custodes to the golden object’s impact site, where they found a sleeping infant in a crater.
• Sui Yang recognized the infant as Jaghatai Khan, lifted him into his arms, and welcomed the newborn Primarch into the Imperium.

Leon S. Kennedy and Ada Wang began a thirty-day Imperial Core Territories Panorama Tour aboard the Star Dome Wanderer, enjoying the peace and prosperity of the rebuilt Empire. Their trip was also their long-overdue honeymoon, and they left the chapter preparing to enjoy their vacation together.

• The Empire’s Gaia’s Shield protected Earth Twenty as space stations, shipyards, and interstellar traffic filled its orbit.
• The Star Dome Wanderer arrived at a passenger station near Earth, where its passengers enjoyed luxurious facilities and an affordable month-long tour itinerary.
• In their cabin, Leon S. Kennedy asked Ada Wang whether she had finished packing, and Ada teased him for treating their vacation like an emergency mission.
• Leon and Ada reflected on their marriage three years earlier and agreed to relax and enjoy their honeymoon.

Leon and Ada began their long-delayed honeymoon by traveling from the Star Dome Wanderer to the restored Earth Twenty. As Ada drove them toward a seaside restaurant, they admired the planet’s peaceful, thriving cities, leaving their vacation just beginning.

• Leon and Ada left the Star Dome Wanderer and crossed the Hardlight walkway to the Space Station, joking about leaving their child with Mike.
• They passed security and took a maglev train through the orbital elevator and an undersea tunnel toward Earth Twenty’s surface.
• Leon reached for the hovercraft’s driver’s door, but Ada insisted on driving and called him a rookie.
• Ada set their destination as a seaside cliff restaurant, and she and Leon watched the restored coastal city pass beneath them.

Leon and Ada enjoyed their honeymoon amid the Imperium’s peaceful prosperity, but acknowledged that Chaos remained the greatest threat to the Empire’s future. A call from Mike revealed their two-year-old daughter was keeping him awake, and he warned that new work assignments awaited Leon and Ada when they returned.

• Leon and Ada admired the thriving city and shared a meal at a seaside restaurant, where they discussed the Empire’s progress and the unresolved danger of the Warp and Chaos.
• Ada chose to visit the central mall for locally made jewelry, and Leon mentioned that new Space Gate exploration projects might begin after their return to the Main Universe.
• Mike Monadi called Leon and complained that their energetic two-year-old daughter had kept him awake by asking for the same storybook for the third time.
• Leon and Ada promised to return soon, and Mike warned them to prepare for the next round of work assignments.
• Leon set the hovercraft’s destination for the mall, and he and Ada decided to buy their daughter a gift before ending their honeymoon.

An Imperial Palace banquet brought the Primarchs, their mothers, and Imperial dignitaries together during an open day on Earth. The gathering ended with Halsey teasing Leman, who cheerfully invited her to drink with him.

• Main Universe Earth hosted a public open day around the Imperial Palace while an official banquet took place above the crowds.
• Leman loudly celebrated with Fulgrim and Angron, ignoring Angron's reminder to behave with decorum.
• Guilliman, Sanguinius, Lion, Horus, and Magnus welcomed Alexia Ashford, while Corax, Mortarion, and Perturabo gathered with Tinas Lothrian.
• Sui Meng accompanied Athena and Hera as they received Imperial officials, and Chaghatai arrived with Halsey to join Leman, Fulgrim, and Angron.
• Halsey teased Leman about his appetite, and Leman invited her to toast him.

Chaghatai met his elder brothers, accepted Fulgrim’s sword, and joined Leman in drinking and feasting while Halsey reflected on the Emperor’s birthday celebration and its purpose. She entered a Chinese-style hall and greeted the figure waiting inside as “Your Majesty,” leaving the reunion unidentified.

• Chaghatai formally greeted Fulgrim, Angron, and Leman, and Leman welcomed him enthusiastically with food and drink.
• Fulgrim gave Chaghatai his sword, Rite of Flowing Fire, as a meeting gift and promised to forge him a weapon worthy of future achievements.
• Angron reassured Chaghatai that he could follow his own path and need not rush to prove himself.
• After Halsey gave her silent approval, Chaghatai drank and feasted with Leman and his brothers, while Halsey left them to enjoy their reunion.
• Halsey reflected on the Emperor’s birthday celebration, its benefits for citizens, and its role in bringing the Primarchs together.
• Halsey entered a Chinese-style hall and greeted the figure inside, saying, “Long time no see, Your Majesty.”

At his birthday celebration, Sui Yang ordered Halsey to make the Order Marker project the Empire’s highest-priority strategic effort despite the risk of provoking Chaos. After addressing the Imperial citizens, he announced that the Empire would open two new Space Gates the next day.

• Sui Yang told Halsey that the Empire’s celebration would unite its people and bring its distant Primarchs together, while the real Alpharius and Omegon remained undercover in the Warp.
• Halsey reported that researchers had created three experimental Order Markers that could counter Warp corruption, but warned that activating them could draw a violent response from Chaos.
• Sui Yang ordered Halsey to advance mass production and deployment of the Markers using all the Empire’s resources.
• Sui Yang appeared before the gathered guests and citizens, lifted their kneeling leaders, and delivered a speech celebrating humanity’s unity and the Empire’s achievements.
• Sui Yang told his sons to prepare because the Empire would open two new Space Gates simultaneously the next day.

Sui Yang assigned the Flame Salamanders and Chaghatai to unify Universe-21, then chose four Legions for the more difficult Universe-22 expedition. Lion was appointed acting Warmaster of the combined force, leaving the Empire's next cross-universe campaigns ready to begin.

• Vulkan declined to lead an expedition because his Flame Salamanders were responsible for guarding the Imperial Palace and Main Universe, but Alexia and Dorn supported giving him the opportunity to unify a new universe.
• Sui Yang assigned Universe-21 to Vulkan and the Flame Salamanders, with Chaghatai joining them to gain experience.
• Guilliman and Sanguinius declined to lead the Universe-22 expedition so they could maintain stability in the territories they governed.
• Tinas Lothrian warned that Universe-22 would be unusually difficult and recommended that Lion, Mortarion, Perturabo, and Curze lead their Legions together.
• Sui Yang approved the four-Legion expedition and appointed Lion acting Warmaster with full command over the participating Primarchs and Legions.

The Empire opened Space Gates to Universes 21 and 22, and reconnaissance revealed that Universe-21’s Earth was a devastated wasteland. Leon, Mike, Maggie, and their team crossed into Universe-21 as Imperial forces began securing the area and building a frontline base, leaving the agents preparing to investigate the disaster.

• Two new Space Gates opened in the Ruins Core Area, and Imperial forces assembled for reconnaissance and deployment.
• Leon, Mike, and Maggie reviewed the mission assignments and learned their team would investigate Universe-21 while Chris Redfield’s group, supported by Homelander, would enter Universe-22.
• Reconnaissance footage showed that Universe-21’s Earth had a dark wasteland and an unnaturally receded coastline, while Universe-22 had a more ordinary desert environment.
• After command confirmed no large-scale threats beyond the Universe-21 gate, reconnaissance troops, Engineering Department units, and Flame Salamanders forces crossed over to secure the site and construct a frontline base.
• Leon, Mike, Maggie, and the other Investigation Department agents entered Universe-21 and saw its dust-filled, barren landscape.
• Leon told Mike and Maggie to prepare to investigate what had happened to the world.