Chapter Summaries

Athena gave Ivan her first kiss, granting him Goddess’s Blessing to help him survive the coming attack. Meanwhile, William learned of Ivan’s enhanced abilities and unveiled a custom MS unit for Nova.

• Athena explained that she gave Ivan her first kiss to grant him Goddess’s Blessing before the dangerous attack on the Covenant fleet, and she took him to her quarters.
• William’s system reported that Ivan had gained Goddess’s Blessing and detailed how it enhanced his combat abilities, luck, and exclusive God Body.
• Nova arrived with Sia at the MS workshop, where William prepared to show Nova her specialized unit.
• William had the gray covering removed, revealing a gray MS unit with a large shield attached to its back and left shoulder.

The chapter described a tall, slender mobile suit with a transparent orb embedded in its chest and no obvious ranged weapons. It was said to resemble a mobile suit from the Gundam 00 theatrical film, with minor differences and a different engine.

• The narration described the mobile suit's tall, slender frame and transparent chest orb.
• The narration noted that the mobile suit lacked obvious ranged weapons.
• The narration compared its appearance to a mobile suit from the Gundam 00 theatrical film, noting minor differences and a different engine.

William ordered the United Fleet to exploit the Covenant's blindness and destroy the Invincible Fleet before seizing City of Brotherly Love. The surprise attack devastated the Covenant formation, and a Tactical missile carrying a Quantum Bomb raced toward the remaining ships.

• William ordered Serena and the Artificial Intelligences to disable the Covenant's scanning systems for three hours, then directed the United Fleet to attack City of Brotherly Love and the Invincible Fleet.
• Serena, Athena, and Megan blinded the Covenant, allowing the Flood ships to resume attacking while the United Fleet advanced undetected.
• The United Fleet released its aircraft and opened fire on the Invincible Fleet with Mag Electromagnetic Cannons, Tungsten projectiles, Yamato Cannons, Plasma Cannons, and Tactical missiles.
• The Tactical missiles released nuclear and Hydrogen Bomb warheads inside the Covenant formation, destroying half the fleet and stripping the shields from the other half.
• The Star Killer launched a Tactical missile carrying a Quantum Bomb toward the Invincible Fleet.

William ordered the United Fleet to destroy the battered Covenant fleet, then led his God Body into battle against its carrier-based aircraft. As William and Serena fought deep among the Covenant warships, Ivan and Mylon arrived to help overwhelm the enemy.

• The Quantum Bomb and earlier attacks destroyed most of the Covenant fleet, though more than five hundred damaged warships remained.
• William ordered the United Fleet to use its weapons freely, sent Ivan to attack with Super Speed, and called on Hya, Nova, and Athena to strike the enemy.
• William and Serena entered Super Speed and attacked Covenant carrier-based aircraft with their Ship Slicers.
• Ivan raced through the Covenant formation, slicing through warships, while Serena took over piloting after William's Super Speed left him exhausted.
• Mylon arrived beside William's God Body and destroyed a CCS-class Cruiser with a barrage from his Rotary Gauss Cannon.

William’s fleet destroyed the Covenant’s Invincible Fleet and left the City of Brotherly Love exposed. William prepared to attack the Covenant capital and rescue the trapped Elites, while keeping Heya’s reality-warping ability secret.

• William docked Mylon’s salary for disobeying an order and told him to destroy CCS-class ships.
• William and Serena coordinated their attacks, while Heya summoned Skeleton Knights to strike the Covenant fleet.
• Nova used a Psionic storm to immobilize the Flood fleet, and the Phoenix-class carriers destroyed its infected warships with hydrogen-bomb missiles.
• The Human Elite’s United Fleet wiped out the Invincible Fleet, leaving the City of Brotherly Love without its protection.
• William resolved to defeat the Prophets and the Covenant forces in the capital and rescue the Elites trapped there.

The United Fleet began its ground assault on the City of Brotherly Love under Xia’s defensive barrier while its AIs worked to weaken Covenant morale. Drop Pods carrying Elites, Helljumpers, Astartes, and Custodes reached the city, where Angel Keisha appeared as a Divine Barrier protected the Astartes.

• Xia’s Light Magic barrier shielded the United Fleet as it approached the City of Brotherly Love and destroyed nearby anti-aircraft defenses.
• Serena, Cortana, and Megan infiltrated the city’s communications network and urged the Grunts, Gnolls, and Bingfeng to surrender, while the Prophets and Brutes refused.
• Fleet Zero launched Helljumpers, and Saum’s CAS-class and CCS-class ships deployed roughly thirty thousand Elite Drop Pods.
• The Star Killer launched more than two hundred Large Drop Pods carrying Custodes and Dark Ravens, who landed amid Covenant forces and began fighting.
• A pale-yellow Divine Barrier protected the Astartes from Covenant weapons and crushed or repelled nearby troops, then Angel Keisha appeared before both sides.

Keisha, Kolax, and the human and Elite forces attacked the Brute-led Covenant army in the City of Brotherly Love. The battle became a rout, and the arrival of William and Ivan's God Body Squad left the Brutes with no chance of turning it around.

• Keisha flew overhead and shielded the Astartes with Divine Light, while the Gulu people and Gnolls panicked at the arrival of the so-called demons.
• Kolax and more than four hundred Terminators teleported into the Brutes' ranks, and Kolax offered the other Covenant races safety if they surrendered or helped fight the Brutes.
• The Gulu people surrendered and more than half the Gnolls defected, while the Bingfeng continued fighting beside the Brutes.
• Drop Pods brought in Helljumpers, Jaws, and Saum's Elite veterans, turning the fight into a slaughter of the Brutes.
• Thousands of transports delivered Marines and allied Covenant races, then William and Ivan's God Body Squad arrived alongside Xiya and Nova's White Ravens and Thunders.

The United Fleet and its ground forces crushed the Covenant defenses in the City of Brotherly Love, joined with the surviving Elite forces, and reached the Prophets’ sanctuary. William left his God Body to lead the forces inside, where Saum was eager to confront the Prophets.

• The United Fleet’s aircraft and Mylon’s Rotary Gauss Cannon devastated Covenant fighters while ground troops advanced through the city.
• Saum persuaded the exhausted surviving Elite forces to cooperate with humanity, and William arranged for them to rest aboard the warships.
• William’s God Body Squad and the MS Formation crushed the Scarabs and Jiralhanae bodyguards, clearing the way to the Prophets’ sanctuary.
• William ordered Serena to pilot his God Body, ejected from its cockpit, and leaped safely to the ground.
• William gathered the Jaws, Kolax, Custodes, Ravens, Keisha, and Saum to enter the sanctuary and confront the Prophets.

William and his allies confronted the Covenant’s three Hierarchs in the sanctuary and killed them after condemning their war against humanity and betrayal of the Sangheili. William left orders to use a recording of their deaths to break Covenant morale and to continue clearing Jiralhanae forces from the City of Brotherly Love.

• William entered the sanctuary with Angel Keisha, Saum, and his forces, where the three Hierarchs cowered among the dead guards.
• Saum killed Prophet of Truth after blaming the Prophets for the deaths of his people.
• William killed Prophet of Sorrow with a slap when he cursed Saum as a traitor.
• William rejected Prophet of Mercy’s pleas, saying the Prophets had no right to his mercy, and signaled Saum to kill him with an Energy Sword.
• William ordered the Jaws captain to send the combat recording to Serena for an edited morale-breaking video and to continue clearing Jiralhanae from the City of Brotherly Love.

After the Covenant fractured, William prepared to take Shield World 0459 without provoking its Templar Defenders. He ordered the Xenomorphs prepared for an immediate airdrop while Fleet Zero held its fire.

• Mike reported that nearly half the Covenant forces had collapsed or mutinied, while the Brutes’ elite forces withdrew from the Orion Arm.
• William learned that Kolax and Saum’s ground forces still needed nearly a month to clear the Brutes from the City of Brotherly Love before he could target the Dreadnought Fleet inside Shield World 0459.
• Carmen reported that surface contamination exceeded eighty percent and that Fleet Zero’s weapons were ready, but William ordered the warships to fire only on his command.
• Rebecca asked why Fleet Zero would not bombard the Flood-covered surface, and Halsey warned that Templar Defenders might interpret the attack as an assault on the Shield World.
• William told Serena to notify the doctor (049) to begin airdropping the Xenomorphs once their preparations were complete.

Mylon, John, and the assembled forces watched Elizabeth Green help 049 prepare thousands of aliens for deployment to Shield World. The drop pods landed amid a landscape overrun by the Flood, whose infected Covenant forces and forms were described.

• Mylon remarked to John that Green’s presence meant they would not have to face the Flood directly, while John simply nodded.
• 049 pressured the Pluto Research Institute researchers to ready the aliens, and Green helped load them into drop pods within six minutes.
• The ground crew released thousands of pods through the hangar’s airlock, sending them down into Shield World’s atmosphere.
• On Shield World, the pods descended over murky lakes and swamps covered in writhing Flood growths.
• The Flood-infected Brutes, Grunts, and Gnolls were described as Combat Bodies and Pure Forms, while Infection Forms spread from exploding sacs.

The Flood had overrun the Shield World’s surface, but remained trapped there after its infected fleet was destroyed. William sent thousands of alien drop pods to fight as vanguard troops, and the chapter ended with the aliens appearing well suited to counter the Flood.

• Thousands of disposable drop pods descended onto the Flood-infested Shield World, and green blood from failed pods corroded the living roots.
• Tiger Form aliens emerged from the landed pods and attacked the surrounding Combat Form Flood.
• A headless Combat Form pierced a Tiger Form’s abdomen, but its corrosive blood damaged the Flood’s arm and the alien tore the Combat Form apart.
• William’s plan to use aliens as vanguard troops was explained: they seemed resistant to Flood infection and avoided risking Umbrella soldiers and Astartes.

William ordered Elizabeth Green to test whether the Flood could infect her clone, while Alien forces fought the Flood on the Shield World. The clone resisted infection, and the Flood appeared to abandon their attempt to assimilate her.

• William ordered Serena to tell Elizabeth Green to expose her clone to the Flood and have an Alien Praetorian kill her if she lost control.
• Elizabeth Green sent the clone, guarded by Alien Praetorians and New Reverse Strain Aliens, toward the battlefield.
• The Alien Praetorians engaged the Flood while Infection Forms swarmed the clone and one entered her body through the back of her neck.
• The Flood infection failed, and the clone convulsed before becoming still without transforming.
• Serena reported that the Flood had not infected the clone and seemed to have detected her special nature, prompting Halsey to ask what was happening.

Halsey warned that the Gravemind might be pretending to fear Green's clone to lure the humans into infecting Elizabeth Green. William ordered Green to remain aboard the ship and organized a heavily protected, sterilized landing operation on the Shield World; the chapter ended as the technicians and their escorts prepared to deploy.

• Halsey argued that the Flood's easy defeat could be a trap, and that the Gravemind might have discovered Green's Hive Mind through the infected clone.
• Rebecca realized the apparent fear could persuade them to infect Green in hopes that she could control the Flood, and William ordered Serena to keep Green aboard the ship.
• William ordered Spartans, Terminators, technicians, the Shark Squad, Prus's Ghost Agents, and Noble Team with Keisha and Water Sprite to secure and sterilize the landing zone.
• John and the others teleported to the Shield World, while technicians and their escorts boarded Pelicans to join them.

The Aliens’ battle against the Flood turned against them as the Gravemind adapted its tactics and exploited their biological weaknesses. John and three other Primarchs arrived with more than four hundred Terminators, bolstering the defense and attacking the Flood.

• The Gravemind directed Flood Combat Forms to target the Aliens’ heads, shifting the battle toward the Flood’s advantage.
• John led four Primarchs and more than four hundred Imperial Guard and Raven Guard Terminators in a teleportation assault on the landing zone.
• John ordered the Astartes to clear the visible Flood, and the Primarchs divided the Terminators into four groups to attack from different directions.
• Mylon fired his Ultra-Heavy Bolter into the Flood waves, destroying Combat Forms and Tank Flood.
• The Terminators used their AT Shields, Bolters, and Energy Claws to withstand Infection Forms and fight the Flood.

Keisha used her Divine Barrier to purge the Flood from a five-kilometer area of the Shield World. After technical personnel confirmed the zone was free of Flood cells, Carter ordered it disinfected and a dead clone incinerated.

• Pelican transports landed technical personnel, the Madtooth Sharks, Ghost Agents, and Carter's Containment Task Force in the cleared landing zone.
• Keisha flew into the air and expanded her Divine Barrier, purging Flood Spores and pushing Flood forms out of the area.
• Keisha extended the barrier into a sphere with a five-kilometer radius, cleansing the surface, underground, and sky.
• Carter ordered technical personnel to inspect the purified zone and examine the aliens, Astartes, and Primarchs.
• Technical personnel found no Flood residue but discovered that a clone's spinal cord had been hollowed out; she died after the barrier destroyed the Flood within her.
• Carter ordered the area saturated with disinfectant and the dead clone completely incinerated.

William and Serena briefed the assembled commanders on the Flood threat and proposed entering the Shield World to seize the Forerunner Dreadnought Fleet before destroying the world with Quantum Bombs. The Gravemind’s location remained unknown, so the forces prepared to use the lake entrance to reach the Shield World’s interior.

• Catherine maintained her Divine Barrier around the surface base, keeping the Flood out while the Gravemind watched from beyond it.
• Rebecca and Halsey learned that the Gravemind had used Flood Spores in a clone’s spinal cord to deceive Elizabeth Green, and William’s leaders recognized the danger of underestimating it.
• Serena showed the commanders a lake forty kilometers north of the base and explained that it contained an entrance to the Shield World’s interior, where the Forerunner Dreadnought Fleet lay.
• William warned that the mature Gravemind could infect and control vehicles and buildings, and that the fleet’s scans had failed to locate it.
• William proposed entering through the lake to seize the Dreadnought Fleet, withdrawing their forces, and destroying the Shield World with Quantum Bombs.

William assembled an elite force and sent it aboard the Amber to enter the Shield World, while the surface base prepared for evacuation. The Amber reached the lake entrance, where Serena activated its scan and a fissure opened to pull the ship into the Shield World.

• William ordered the elite troops to assemble at the airport and assigned Kolax and Prus to defend the surface base and prepare for evacuation.
• Serena agreed to assist William from inside his Power Armor and notified Miranda Carter to outfit the Amber’s crew in airtight suits.
• William arrived at the airport with Ivan, Nova, Hia, and Megan, and the Amber arrived to transport the assembled force.
• The Amber flew toward the northern lake, fought off airborne Flood with its shield and Gauss Point Defense Cannon, and hovered above the water.
• William told Serena to scan the Shield World entrance so its Forerunner AIs would recognize them as human.
• The lake split open and pulled the Amber downward, and William ordered Miranda Carter not to resist.

The Amber entered the Shield World’s interior and discovered its artificial sun and vast habitable landscapes. Serena theorized that the Precursors had intended humanity to inherit the galaxy, and she located the Forerunner Dreadnought Fleet’s starport for William.

• The Templar Defenders scanned the Amber, showed no hostility, and guided it through the Shield World’s outer framework.
• Miranda piloted the Amber through an exit into the Shield World’s interior, where the crew saw its artificial sun, Dyson Sphere, and surrounding landscapes.
• Serena explained that the Forerunners’ technology controlled the artificial star’s energy and illumination to make the interior habitable.
• Serena theorized that the Precursors had deliberately allowed the Forerunners to attack them and had intended humanity to inherit the galaxy.
• William asked Serena to locate the Dreadnought Fleet’s starport, and she found its position and shared it to his helmet display.

William led a ground force to a Forerunner aerial starport to investigate a fleet of forty-four Dreadnought Warships, which Serena suspected were drones. After learning that most personnel were evacuating and the Flood threat was limited, William prepared to approach the starport’s central control console with Halsey’s help.

• Serena reported that the forty-four Dreadnought Warships appeared to be Warship-class Drones, and William ordered the Amber to approach their aerial starport.
• William and the ground forces boarded a Pelican and landed on the starport, where he warned everyone to stay alert while they secured the warships for humanity.
• Serena told William that about eighty percent of the Shield World’s surface personnel had evacuated and that its Templar Defenders were fighting the Flood in several locations.
• William had Serena connect him to Halsey, who advised him to approach the blue Central Control Console because it might control both the Dreadnought Fleet and the Shield World.