Chapter Summaries

Mary showed Shirley and Ashelika the Inquisition and explained that her novels were records of its real activities. After an astropath reported a distress signal from a Forge World under Xenomorph attack, Duanmu Huai prepared a reconnaissance fleet, while Shirley asked to accompany him.

• Mary led Shirley and Ashelika through the Inquisition and explained that her golden eye had a unique power and that her novels described real events.
• Shirley realized that the Inquisition and the worlds in Mary's stories were real, while Ashelika asked to visit the fantasy world where Mary had been adventuring.
• Tong reported that she had received a distress signal from a Forge World under attack by Xenomorphs, though Duanmu Huai noted that the message could have come from any point in time.
• Duanmu Huai ordered a reconnaissance fleet to investigate the Forge World and allowed Mary to take Shirley and Ashelika to Arkham City.
• After watching Duanmu Huai leave, Shirley asked Mary if she could go with him, but Mary warned that the mission could be dangerous.

Duanmu Huai discovered that the distress signal had been disguised to lure his fleet toward a dangerous system, while the real signal came from Istvan. Recognizing Istvan as the site of the Horus Heresy’s opening purge, he ordered the First Fleet to investigate rather than retreat.

• Ranni and Tong found that a Warp presence had distorted the starry sky and misled Tong about the distress signal’s source.
• Tong traced the genuine distress signal to Istvan’s third planet, where a supposed rebellion had prompted a request for fleet support.
• Duanmu Huai recognized Istvan as the site of Horus’s planned purge of loyal Space Marines and considered how the Horus Heresy had begun.
• Duanmu Huai rejected Ranni’s suggestion to retreat and ordered the First Fleet to assemble and head for Istvan.

Duanmu Huai arrived at Istvaan III during Horus’s betrayal and attacked the Sons of Horus fleet, declaring Horus and Erebus enemies of the Inquisition. As the loyalist Space Marines battled Angron’s World Eaters below, Duanmu Huai landed on the planet and charged Angron.

• Duanmu Huai’s fleet arrived near Istvaan III just as the planet burned, and he recognized the Sons of Horus fleet and Horus’s flagship, the Vengeful Spirit.
• Duanmu Huai confronted Horus and Erebus over communications, denounced them as Chaos heretics, and ordered his fleet to attack.
• Echote led the Inquisition Fleet into battle, overwhelming the Sons of Horus fleet and destroying its Void Shields.
• Horus ordered Angron recalled and prepared to retreat, summon the other fleets, and seal the Istvaan System’s jump points.
• On Istvaan III, Angron led the World Eaters against the loyalist Space Marines until Duanmu Huai landed and challenged him.
• Duanmu Huai and Angron charged at each other, and their Thunder Warhammer and Chain Axe crashed together.

Duanmu Huai killed Angron on Istvaan III, ending the battle and forcing Horus’s fleet to withdraw. After meeting the surviving loyalist Space Marines, Duanmu Huai explained why the Inquisition had intervened and offered to escort them to Terra, though Horus’s blockade stood in their way.

• Duanmu Huai fought Angron in a brutal melee, tore off his head, and declared the battle over.
• Horus learned of Angron’s death and ordered his fleets to assemble and seal the jump points so they could destroy Duanmu Huai’s fleet.
• Saul Tarvitz, Garviel Loken, and Nathaniel Garro met Duanmu Huai aboard the Inquisition Fleet and described the loyalists’ losses.
• Duanmu Huai told the survivors that the Imperial Truth was false and that the Inquisition had intervened because Horus had allied with the Chaos Gods.
• The survivors said they had planned to warn the Emperor but could not reach Terra, and Duanmu Huai offered to escort them through Horus’s blockade.

Horus prepared to hunt down the fleet that had defeated him, while Loken, Tawiz, and Garo sought guidance for the loyalist survivors. Duanmu Huai challenged the missionaries to prove that the god they worshipped was the Emperor on Terra, leaving them shaken before asking the Astartes why they had come.

• Horus told Mortarion that the World Eaters would get their chance to avenge Angron by searching for the mysterious fleet.
• Loken worried that the survivors might split over whether the Emperor still deserved their loyalty, and Tawiz urged them to seek direction from Duanmu Huai.
• Duanmu Huai found Sindermann and the woman trying to explain his arrival as part of the Emperor's plan, then questioned whether they could prove their god was the Emperor on Terra.
• Duanmu Huai argued that believers might create a god named the Emperor distinct from the real ruler of the Human Empire, and the woman collapsed in distress.
• Duanmu Huai sent the missionaries away, then asked Loken, Tawiz, and Garo what they wanted from him.

Duanmu Huai explained that the Inquisition fought to protect humanity rather than serve the Emperor or Empire, prompting Loken and his companions to consider joining it. After the Eisenstein reported their position to the Vengeful Spirit, Garo killed the traitorous communications officer as the fleet approached, and Duanmu Huai prepared to open a passage out of the Istvan System.

• Duanmu Huai told Tawiz, Loken, and Garo that the Inquisition protected humanity and fought Chaos openly, while the Emperor and Empire were not its ultimate concern.
• Tawiz, Loken, and Garo discussed the Inquisition afterward, and Loken suggested they could devote themselves to its endless fight while Garo remained wary.
• Tong reported that Warp Space was still obscured, and Echote informed Duanmu Huai that the Eisenstein had sent the Vengeful Spirit their position.
• Garo confronted communications officer Mars aboard the Eisenstein, and Mars admitted his loyalty to Horus before Garo killed him.
• Garo contacted Duanmu Huai, who said he would open a passage to another star system as the approaching fleet triggered an alarm.

Duanmu Huai’s fleet ambushed Horus’s Sixty-Second Expeditionary Fleet with a Fold Reaction, then escaped the Istvan System through Warp Space. The fleet emerged near Macragge’s Honour, whose crew asked who they were and why they had appeared there.

• Horus’s fleet came under ultra-long-range fire, then spotted and destroyed a destroyer that had emerged from the Asteroid Belt.
• The destroyed destroyer’s Fold Reactor activated, creating a miniature black hole that devastated Horus’s fleet.
• Duanmu Huai explained that the enemy might have escaped into Warp Space, then ordered his fleet to leave the Istvan System while the fog had cleared.
• The Inquisition Fleet and the Eisenstein crossed turbulent Warp Space, with Duanmu Huai catching Ann when the ship jolted.
• The fleet emerged near Macragge’s Honour, and Duanmu Huai, Tawiz, and Loken relaxed after hearing the other ship identify itself.

Duanmu Huai warned Robert Guilliman that the Word Bearers were preparing to betray the Ultramarines and attack the Five Hundred Worlds. Guilliman ordered his forces to investigate the unresponsive Clock Tower at Tams Planet, leaving the confrontation poised to confirm Duanmu Huai’s warning.

• Duanmu Huai presented the battlefield recordings of Angron’s attack and death, but an Ultramarines captain questioned whether they proved the World Eaters were traitors.
• Duanmu Huai warned Guilliman that the Word Bearers had come to take revenge and would sabotage the Ultramarines’ defenses before launching a surprise attack.
• Duanmu Huai explained that the Clock Tower would ram an orbital watch station and that Word Bearers would attack the Ultramarines during a welcoming banquet.
• Guilliman questioned Duanmu Huai’s claims and asked whether the Inquisition would kill him if he fell to Chaos; Duanmu Huai said it would.
• Marius reported that the Clock Tower was loading cargo at the far point of Tams Planet and could not be reached by communication.
• Guilliman ordered his forces to proceed to Tams Planet and investigate what had happened to the Clock Tower.

Marius led the First Company and Duanmu Huai’s group to investigate the Clock Tower, where they found a ship corrupted by Chaos and attacked by daemons. The chapter ended with Duanmu Huai knocking away a corrupted Astartes after Marius froze at the sight of a fellow Space Marine as an enemy.

• Marius questioned Duanmu Huai’s decision to bring Okegis and Lorena on the mission, but Duanmu Huai insisted they could help protect the Ultramarines.
• The Fury Blade contacted the Clock Tower and heard the tormented screams of souls aboard it, which Duanmu Huai identified as victims sacrificed to the Blood God.
• Marius led the First Company into the Clock Tower, where they found bloodstains, Chaos symbols, and crew members hanging as sacrifices.
• The Ultramarines fought through Bloodhounds and armed cultists as they advanced into the ship.
• A corrupted Astartes attacked Marius, leaving him and the First Company stunned until Duanmu Huai struck the attacker aside and urged them to recognize their enemy.

Guilliman investigated Duanmu Huai’s warning that the Word Bearers were uploading dangerous code to the Kaus Network, and Rumiere uncovered an occult threat that manifested as a monster. Guilliman cut the Word Bearers’ communications and ordered the Fourteenth Company to prepare, while still struggling to accept that Lorgar’s forces might be hostile.

• A High-Ranking Technician reported that the Word Bearers’ code was passing through Kaus Network defenses, and the Mechanicus Cult could not quickly identify or stop it.
• Rumiere offered technical support, used a retired Cogitator Terminal to control the network data, and found that the uploaded code was a word rather than a virus.
• When Rumiere transferred the final word, the code multiplied and formed a pink monster that burst out of the terminal; Guilliman cut it down with his sword.
• Rumiere said the immediate threat had been contained, and Guilliman ordered the Word Bearers’ communication lines cut and the Fourteenth Company sent to their station’s perimeter.
• Guilliman returned to the Command Room with blood on his face and asked whether the First Company and the Clock Tower had sent any news.

Duanmu Huai, Marius, Okegis, and Lorena fought through the corrupted warship and discovered that Chaos had transformed former Astartes into monstrous servants. They reached the bridge, where a mutated World Eater confronted Duanmu Huai over Angron’s death, and the two sides began another battle.

• Duanmu Huai and his companions defeated a horde of Chaos creatures and corrupted Astartes, with Okegis and Lorena helping Marius’s group survive.
• Duanmu Huai explained to Marius that the Chaos Gods could corrupt anyone who failed to guard their mind, and the group continued toward the bridge.
• Marius questioned how Lorena could overpower a mutated Astartes, and she credited her strength to persistent training.
• The group found a fleshly monster controlling the warship on the bridge and encountered a mutated World Eater who vowed to avenge Angron.
• Duanmu Huai challenged the World Eater and his gathered allies, and the battle erupted.

Duanmu Huai and Marius fought through the Warp Demons aboard a corrupted battleship, then warned Guilliman that killing the creatures only strengthened Savage Wrath. Guilliman planned to secretly redeploy the Seventeenth Legion, while Duanmu Huai offered to provoke its traitors by bringing the Inquisition Fleet to Calth.

• Duanmu Huai, Okegis, Lorena, and Marius's warriors defeated the World Eaters and destroyed the Demon's brain aboard the battleship.
• Duanmu Huai told Marius that Savage Wrath's domain would keep reviving Demons and growing stronger, so they left the ruined ship to report to Guilliman.
• Guilliman reviewed Marius's footage and concluded that the Seventeenth Legion had allied with a Warp entity, while lamenting that the Edict of Nikaea had left the Legions without Librarians.
• Guilliman rejected a preemptive attack and ordered a discreet military redeployment to keep the Seventeenth Legion away from Ultramar while preparing to retaliate if it struck.
• Duanmu Huai proposed bringing the Inquisition Fleet to Calth to provoke Erebus and the traitors into acting early, and Guilliman entrusted him with the plan.

Erebus moved the Word Bearers fleet to an outer berth after the Ultramarines claimed their systems needed repairs, unaware that Duanmu Huai had arranged the diversion. When Duanmu Huai’s Inquisition Fleet arrived at Calth, Erebus recognized it and realized his decision might have been a mistake.

• Erebus agreed to move the Word Bearers fleet after the Ultramarines requested the berth for another fleet and blamed technical issues for the combat network outage.
• Erebus accepted the temporary outer berth and ordered his fleet to leave the station.
• Rumiere reported the Word Bearers’ movement to Duanmu Huai, who explained that he intended to protect the prosperous Ultramar Five Hundred Worlds.
• Duanmu Huai ordered his fleet to Calth, and the Inquisition Fleet entered the planet’s orbital zone as Erebus reached the outer berth.
• Erebus recognized the Inquisition Fleet’s golden churches and remembered the threat it had posed to the Sixty-Second Expeditionary Fleet, then doubted his decision.

Guilliman confronted Erebus over the Word Bearers’ betrayal, and Duanmu Huai killed Erebus during the exchange. The Word Bearers were defeated at Calth, but Lorgar’s forces were on their way to attack the Ultramar Five Hundred Worlds.

• Erebus learned that Guilliman had surrounded the Word Bearers on Calth and confronted him by holographic communication.
• Erebus admitted the Word Bearers had betrayed the Emperor and revealed Horus’s rebellion, claiming several Primarchs were dead and promising an assault on Guilliman.
• Duanmu Huai appeared on Erebus’s flagship, struck him down, and destroyed the bridge in an explosion.
• Guilliman ordered the Word Bearers on Calth annihilated and declared the Legion rebels after its fleet advanced toward the orbital array.
• The battle ended with the Word Bearers’ ground forces and fleet destroyed, while Lorgar’s army approached the Ultramar Five Hundred Worlds.

Duanmu Huai dreamed that he confronted the Emperor, rejected his claim to have acted for humanity, and insisted humanity should determine its own future. After waking, Duanmu Huai learned that Guilliman wanted to discuss their next move.

• Duanmu Huai met the Emperor in a dream and mocked his plans and the Imperial Truth.
• Duanmu Huai argued that humanity should shape its own destiny through survival of the fittest, then drove the Emperor's radiance away.
• Duanmu Huai woke and told Okegis that he had exchanged opinions with a bastard and reached a consensus.
• Duanmu Huai explained why he distrusted the Emperor, the Adeptus Custodes, and most Gene-Seed Primarchs, and why the Inquisition avoided conquest while opposing the Chaos Gods.
• Echote told Duanmu Huai that Guilliman wanted to discuss their next move, and Duanmu Huai agreed to go to him.

Duanmu Huai persuaded Guilliman to form the Grey Knights and learned that Lorgar’s fleet was preparing to attack. Lorgar acknowledged Erebus’s defeat but remained confident as the Word Bearers and World Eaters advanced toward war.

• Duanmu Huai warned Guilliman that Lorgar had three powerful Abyss-Class Warships and that the Mechanicus Cult had likely joined Horus’s rebellion.
• Duanmu Huai proposed training loyal warriors with powerful Psychic Power as the Grey Knights, and Guilliman agreed to provide recruits and Calth’s factories.
• Guilliman offered five thousand warriors, while Duanmu Huai agreed to provide the Inquisition’s training and equipment despite its limited resources.
• Lorgar learned that Erebus had failed and that Calth remained in Ultramarines hands, blocking the Word Bearers’ planned entry into the Five Hundred Worlds.
• A red-skinned, one-eyed giant challenged Lorgar over the failure and the Inquisition’s interference, but Lorgar dismissed the setback as minor and advanced with the World Eaters toward war.

Duanmu Huai gathered five thousand Ultramarines Librarians on Calth and taught them the truth about Chaos, its origins, and the danger of dealing with it. He explained that the Inquisition would train them to fight Warp threats, then began introducing their enemies.

• Duanmu Huai prepared Grey Knight armor for the Inquisition and gathered the five thousand Ultramarines Librarians for training.
• Duanmu Huai told the Librarians that the Imperial Truth was a lie and warned that Chaos could corrupt anyone who tried to use its power, even for good ends.
• Duanmu Huai explained the history behind the Chaos Gods and how their followers used rituals to weaken the barrier between Warp Space and realspace.
• Guilliman realized the Word Bearers intended to use Calth for a ritual to summon daemons.
• Duanmu Huai told the Librarians that they would serve as the Inquisition’s force against Warp threats and began a practical guide to their enemies.

Duanmu Huai offered Guilliman three Protoss Arks to destroy the three Abyss-Class warships threatening Ultramar, while Ultramar prepared newly outfitted Grey Knights for the coming battle. Lorgar’s fleet emerged from Warp Space before the Five Hundred Worlds, facing the Ultramarines and the Inquisition Fleet.

• Duanmu Huai showed Guilliman the silver-armored Grey Knights and warned that many might die because they had little time for training.
• Duanmu Huai offered three Protoss Arks for kamikaze attacks against the Abyss-Class warships, and Guilliman accepted his help.
• A vast enemy fleet emerged from Warp Space, led by a gigantic trident-shaped fortress covered in monasteries and churches.
• Magnus compared the Inquisition Fleet to a Word Bearers warship, while Lorgar dismissed its faith as false.
• Lorgar raised his hands and declared that the enemy’s resistance would begin his Warp Space symphony before bringing them down.

Guilliman and Duanmu Huai faced the advancing Word Bearers and World Eaters as the World Eaters’ reckless charge disrupted Lorgar’s plan. Three Star Spirit Motherships destroyed the Abyss-Class warships and devastated both fleets, but the surviving attackers kept fighting as Duanmu Huai ordered the Grey Knights into battle.

• The World Eaters charged the Inquisition fleet to avenge Angron, frustrating Lorgar and disrupting his planned attack.
• Lorgar ordered the Word Bearers to advance while Guilliman and Duanmu Huai began a planned retreat.
• An astropath detected a powerful psychic signal, and the Star Spirit Motherships Memory of Nesi, Spear of Adun, and Pride of Autaris emerged and pierced the three Abyss-Class warships.
• The Motherships exploded, devastating the Word Bearers and World Eaters fleets, scattering the Ultramarines, and damaging Calth’s orbital defenses.
• The surviving Word Bearers and World Eaters continued attacking, so Duanmu Huai sent in the Grey Knights and left the fight to Guilliman.

Horus’s rebellion suffered a major setback when the Word Bearers’ attack on Calth failed and three Abyss-class Warships were destroyed, though he still ordered the assault on Terra to proceed. After the Ultramarines’ victory, Guilliman planned to defend the Emperor, while Duanmu Huai agreed to escort him but intended to part ways before reaching Terra.

• Horus learned from Lorgar that the Word Bearers and World Eaters had been nearly wiped out and their three Abyss-class Warships destroyed during the attack on Calth.
• Fulgrim, Mortarion, Lorgar, and Horus questioned how the Ultramarines and Inquisition had anticipated the attack, and Horus blamed Inquisition spies among the Loyalists.
• Horus ordered his forces to summon a Warp Space Storm, isolate the Loyalist Legions, and continue their advance toward Terra.
• Guilliman thanked Duanmu Huai for the Inquisition’s role in destroying the Abyss-class Warships and defeating the Word Bearers.
• Guilliman said the Ultramarines would gather forces and head to Terra, while Duanmu Huai offered to escort him but said he would leave before they reached the Emperor.