Chapter Summaries

Usulan warned Qin Mo that the Black Legion would attack Cadia with a Blackstone Fortress and advised him to keep the Celestial Engine out of the fight. Qin Mo accepted Sal’s offer to help and prepared his forces for the coming ritual and war.

• Qin Mo challenged Usulan’s motives, and Usulan said he had come to warn them about the ritual rather than use them as pawns.
• Usulan explained that the Black Legion would attack Cadia with a Blackstone Fortress and warned that the sentient weapon would be hostile to Qin Mo’s C’tan power.
• Usulan offered Sal as someone who could help cripple a Blackstone Fortress, and Sal vowed to help Qin Mo or die trying.
• Qin Mo invited Sal to the Tyran System and ended the communication.
• Qin Mo told Mimic that the ritual reports had changed his expectations for the Black Crusade, but Mimic had been spacing out.
• Qin Mo reviewed his preparations, with the Tyran Navy heading to the Misty Sector and the Celestial Engine standing by to aid Cadia.

Abaddon’s ritual succeeded, pulling Black Legion and other warships into the Warp and opening a route for a surprise attack on Cadia. At Cadia High Command, Creed received reports of the invasion while Klein’s merchant ship escaped the battle using its Dimension Engine.

• Abaddon watched the sorcerer complete a ritual that had sacrificed tens of billions of people and turned eighty-nine Imperium worlds into daemon worlds.
• Warships fighting across the Misty Sector appeared in formation beside the Soul of Vengeance, and a rift opened ahead of them.
• Abaddon realized the ritual had succeeded and planned to send the fleet through the rift to attack Cadia.
• Creed reviewed reports at Cadia High Command as enemy warships poured into the system near its Mandeville Point.
• Klein discovered his merchant ship was under heavy attack and saw its shield straining in orbit.
• Klein’s crew activated the Dimension Engine, and his merchant ship vanished from the system.

As enemy ships and planet-destroying Void Structures overwhelmed Cadia, Creed arranged a formal request for aid from the Tyran System. Klein transmitted the message while Cadia’s Planetary Defense Shield held against an attack, though Creed began to suffer the effects of the rifts.

• Creed explained that Cadia’s defenses were already deployed and that he could not quickly reinforce Milak Bastion, leaving Klein with no further suggestions.
• Officers reported that Cadia’s fleet and Orbital Defense Platforms had been destroyed, two eight-pointed-star-shaped Void Structures had appeared, and one planet had been destroyed.
• Creed drafted a request for aid to the Imperium and had Klein sign it as Cadia’s liaison.
• Klein contacted his merchant ship and relayed Creed’s message, “Cadia requests support,” for transmission to the Tyran System.
• The Planetary Defense Shield activated over Cadia and endured an attack, while Creed watched the sky and began feeling pressure in his skull.

Qin Mo’s forces prepared the Tyran Sector’s defenses, then received a request for aid from Cadia and mobilized the Celestial Engine to respond. As the Engine departed for Cadia, Vik sent the newly formed Blade of the Omnissiah Titan Legion with it.

• Qin Mo outlined the Ultimate Mobilization Order and confirmed that Sal would be sent to Cadia when needed to face the Blackstone Fortress.
• Vanessa asked Qin Mo to prepare the Celestial Engine for travel because she feared Cadia had come under attack, and Qin Mo explained how the fleet would use the Engine to jump there.
• A guard reported that Cadia had requested aid, and Qin Mo declared that Talon would respond as he had agreed with Creed.
• Adam ordered the fleet to prepare for a jump, Grey sent the Celestial Engine toward Cadia, and Qin Mo offered to open a passage for Sal.
• Grey told Vik that the Celestial Engine was leaving the Forge World, and Vik sent the Blade of the Omnissiah Titan Legion aboard before the Engine entered dimensional space.

Abaddon gathered the allied fleets to destroy Cadia, but the Celestial Engine arrived before the Blackstone Fortresses could fire again. It sent teleportation beacons to Cadia and opened rifts for the Talon Navy, leaving the Chaos fleets preparing for battle.

• Abaddon agreed to help Solaax attack Agripinna, Taifon attack the Segmentum Obscurus, and the Red Corsairs seize Tyran Navy ships after Cadia fell.
• The Blackstone Fortresses charged their weapons, but their energy dispersed as the system's Warp rifts began shrinking.
• The Celestial Engine emerged from a rift with two moons, prompting Abaddon to order his fleet to prepare for battle.
• Solaax fled aboard the Conqueror through a Warp rift, while Taifon returned to the End of Days to ready his fleet.
• The Celestial Engine launched torpedoes that dropped teleportation beacons on Cadia, then opened more than two hundred rifts for Talon Navy warships.

Qin Mo and the Tyran Navy confronted the Chaos fleet as the Celestial Engine and the Blackstone Fortresses exchanged devastating attacks. Both sides’ superweapons began recharging for another round, while a Warp rift strengthened the fortresses and destabilized the system.

• Qin Mo ordered the Celestial Engine’s weapon arrays to target the Blackstone Fortresses as the Tyran and Chaos fleets assembled.
• Qin Mo explained to Grey and Sal that the Blackstone Fortresses could destroy planets and grew stronger when working together.
• The Celestial Engine’s first Particle Lance struck the Eternal Will, whose Warp-energy shield weakened the blast but failed to stop it from piercing the fortress.
• The second Blackstone Fortress attacked the Celestial Engine with its Vortex Cannon, and the resulting exchange sent energy waves through both fleets and the system’s rifts.
• The Celestial Engine’s satellite structures and the Blackstone Fortresses stopped firing to recharge, while Sal and Qin Mo noted that the Warp rift had strengthened the Chaos weapons.

Sal prepared to enter Vahr's Talisman with Custodian and Weeping Legion support, while Qin Mo kept Yao En behind and praised him. As the fleets engaged, the Celestial Engine's Arc Weapon devastated the Chaos fleet and a Particle Lance pierced the Soul of Vengeance.

• Sal explained that his Wraithbone relics would guide him to Vahr's Talisman's core, where he could calm the Blackstone Fortress and paralyze it.
• Qin Mo sent Sal, Grey, the Custodians, and the Weeping Legion to the Blackstone Fortress, but kept Yao En behind and praised him for stopping the daemon-summoning ritual.
• The Talon and Chaos fleets advanced around the Celestial Engine as the Blackstone Fortresses and the Engine's satellites exchanged fire.
• Abaddon and Taifon planned to lure the Lord of Tyran into range of the Soul of Vengeance and End of Days, and the ships began closing on each other.
• The Celestial Engine's Arc Weapon swept across the Chaos fleet, overloading the Void Shields of its Frigates and cruisers and damaging ships throughout the formation.
• The Soul of Vengeance lost its Void Shields while exchanging fire with the Lord of Tyran, allowing a Particle Lance to pierce its port side.

Abaddon’s fleet suffered heavy losses from the Celestial Engine and withdrew from the battle near Cadia. Before retreating, Abaddon tested a boarding assault, learned that the enemy shield stopped physical objects, and left determined to fight another day.

• The Celestial Engine destroyed the frigates and disabled the fleet’s Void Shields, while its Particle Lance badly damaged the Soul of Vengeance.
• Taifon blamed Abaddon for the losses, but they agreed the fleet could not continue fighting and ordered a retreat.
• Abaddon sent ten Cruisers carrying Mortal Servitors in Boarding Torpedoes toward the Celestial Engine while keeping Terenon Laila on the bridge.
• Point-defense weapons destroyed most of the torpedoes, and the few survivors struck the energy shield without penetrating it.
• Abaddon concluded that boarding would require teleportation and watched the retreating Soul of Vengeance as the fleet’s Cruisers screened it from pursuit.

Abaddon’s fleet retreated toward the Warp rift while the Blackstone Fortresses resisted withdrawal and suffered repeated propulsion failures. Laila arrived aboard the Eternal Will, where he discovered Lamenters in Terminator armor attacking a patrol and called for reinforcements.

• Abaddon estimated that at least forty Cruisers would be destroyed during the retreat, as explosions rocked the Soul of Vengeance.
• Abaddon saw the Blackstone Fortresses fighting their crews and ordering them to keep stopping and starting as they withdrew.
• Abaddon sent Laila to the Eternal Will to guard it from boarders before it retreated.
• Laila found that the Eternal Will’s propulsion systems kept shutting down, and a Dark Mechanicus priest showed him footage of Lamenters attacking a patrol.
• Laila recognized the Lamenters in Terminator armor, reported the attack to Abaddon, and requested reinforcements.
• Laila thought Kayan would have been the unlucky fool sent to intercept the Lamenters, unaware that Kayan was even more unlucky.

Laila set an ambush to kill Sal and destroy the Spirit Bone Device, but Grey and the Lamenters stopped her attack. Grey captured Laila and contacted Qin Mo, leaving her fate to the next communication.

• Laila planned to use thirty Black Legion Space Marines as a distraction while she attacked Sal and his Spirit Bone Device.
• As the Weeping Legion advanced through the Blackstone Fortress, Sal led the group through a strange passage while Grey warned that they might enter the Warp.
• Sal guided the group into a twisted chamber of stairs and entrances, where thirty Black Legion Space Marines launched an ambush.
• Laila rushed through the fighting and attacked Sal, but Grey used Bullet Time to sever her arm before Fros cut off her remaining limbs.
• The Lamenters wiped out Laila's Space Marines, and Grey restrained her and contacted Qin Mo to determine her fate.

Qin Mo used the power of the C'tan to erase Teleron Laila, while Grey and Sal located the Eternal Will's core and returned to the Celestial Engine. Qin Mo destroyed the Eternal Will, but as the last Blackstone Fortress began to collapse, a mysterious presence restarted its engines and sent it speeding into the rift.

• Qin Mo decided to eliminate Teleron Laila, and his power caused Laila to disintegrate completely inside the Blackstone Fortress.
• Grey asked Sal how to destroy the core, and Sal explained that the Spirit Bone Device would disrupt it when placed inside.
• Sal's Spirit Bone Device found the core, and Grey, Sal, and Fros returned to the Celestial Engine.
• Qin Mo's Particle Lances destroyed the Eternal Will, leaving the other Blackstone Fortress to face the Celestial Engine's attack alone.
• A mysterious horned figure appeared in the remaining Blackstone Fortress and made its propulsion systems roar to life, sending it into the rift.

Qin Mo repelled the Chaos fleet and agreed to let Creed command the Tyran Army as the war shifted toward its next battles. In the Warp, Abaddon struggled to remember a capable adjutant who seemed to be missing from his memories.

• The Blackstone Fortress charged into the shrinking rift, and Qin Mo refused to risk Grey and the Terminators by pursuing it into the Warp.
• Qin Mo told Klein and Creed that the enemy had been repelled and Cadia was safe for the time being.
• Creed thanked Qin Mo for answering his call, and Qin Mo reminded him of their old agreement to help each other.
• Creed asked to command an army regiment for the coming battles, and Qin Mo offered him command of the entire Tyran Army.
• Aboard the damaged Soul of Vengeance, Abaddon wondered about a capable adjutant he could not remember, then accepted that all his adjutants were present.

Taifon blamed Abaddon for the disastrous campaign, but Abaddon proposed destroying nearby star systems to expand the rift and strengthen their position. A Blackstone Fortress returned through the rift, though it damaged the Soul of Vengeance and did not answer communications, so Abaddon prepared to board it himself.

• Taifon accused Abaddon of trusting the wizard and leading their forces into a disastrous rush toward Cadia, while Abaddon let him leave if he wished.
• Abaddon argued that the rift could be expanded by destroying star systems around Cadia, and Taifon saw the potential but questioned whether they could do it in time.
• Abaddon explained that the rift could eventually span three hundred light-years and said the Blackstone Fortresses' return would decide whether they continued the war.
• A Blackstone Fortress emerged through the rift and entered the Warp, while a lance beam struck the Soul of Vengeance and destroyed two of its engines.
• The Blackstone Fortress did not answer Abaddon's attempts to contact its garrison, so he ordered a company assembled and said he would lead it aboard.

Abaddon discovered that Vashtorr had transformed the Blackstone Fortress’s crew and systems, then accepted the fortress as a gift while refusing Vashtorr’s offer to repair the Soul of Vengeance. With the fortress under control, Abaddon ordered the allied fleets to resume their campaign in the Anlai System.

• Abaddon and his warriors entered the Blackstone Fortress and found its crew transformed into mechanical constructs fused with the fortress.
• Vashtorr revealed that he had killed and transformed the crew, presenting the modified fortress as a gift and offering to repair the Soul of Vengeance for a price.
• Abaddon refused Vashtorr’s offer, renamed the fortress the New Eternal Will, and ordered it to join the rear of the fleet.
• Abaddon told Taifon and the Red Corsairs leader that the returned fortress was the Eternal Will and promised the Red Corsairs different compensation.
• Abaddon ordered the fleets to destroy celestial bodies in the Anlai System until the rift expanded to planetary size, then continue the process.

After the Chaos fleet fled, Qin Mo and Creed discussed Cadia’s defenses and the wider war, with Qin Mo explaining how the Tyran Navy could rapidly defend surrounding systems. Creed arranged for Tyran cargo ships to collect incoming Imperial reinforcements as the threat of further fighting remained.

• The Tyran Navy deployed ships to systems around Cadia while Tyran industrial worlds sent weapons and armor to reinforce the Cadian Shock Troops.
• Creed addressed the people of Cadia, warning that the enemy’s retreat had only temporarily resolved the crisis, before Qin Mo appeared in his office.
• Qin Mo and Creed agreed that the enemy would likely continue fighting, and Qin Mo used a star map to explain that wars were still breaking out across the Misty Sector.
• Qin Mo explained that Tyran Navy ships could watch surrounding systems and summon a main fleet through Dimension Engine jumps to engage any enemy fleet.
• Creed showed Qin Mo notices listing incoming reinforcements and asked him to provide cargo ships to transport them; Qin Mo agreed, and Creed wrote letters of guarantee.

Abaddon’s fleet attacked a lone Tyran Navy Frigate in the Anlai System, only for the Tyran Navy to arrive in force and ambush the Chaos ships. A Void Mine struck the End of Days, and Taifon’s attempt to expel it failed just before it exploded.

• Abaddon ordered the Chaos fleet to attack the Tyran Navy Frigate and the Eternal Will to fire on the planet.
• The Frigate escaped through a Dimensional Channel, and Abaddon learned Taifon’s earlier fleet sent to probe the Tyran Sector had never returned.
• The Tyran Navy emerged from rifts with the Lord of Tyran, seven Cruisers, twelve Destroyers, and twenty Frigates, then launched an attack on the Chaos fleet.
• The Tyran Navy Destroyers deployed Void Mines, and one struck the End of Days while the Soul of Vengeance escaped damage.
• Taifon ordered the End of Days to expel the Void Mine, but it exploded first and tore a huge hole through the bridge.

The Chaos fleet and Tyran Fleet exchanged fire while Abaddon and Taifon sent boarding parties to the Lord of Tyran. Adam trapped and killed both groups, then turned his attention back to the battle.

• The Chaos fleet attacked the Tyran Fleet, while its destroyers teleported Void Mines into the Blackstone Fortress and disabled its Vortex Cannon.
• Abaddon proposed a boarding action, and Taifon agreed to send troops alongside the Black Legion warriors.
• The boarding parties teleported into the Lord of Tyran, where Adam sealed one group inside an ammunition depot and destroyed it with an incendiary torpedo.
• Adam sealed the other group in its section of the ship and sent Iron Men to kill them.
• The Iron Men overwhelmed the Space Marines, and Adam returned to watching the battle across the star system.

Abaddon used a Vortex Torpedo to escape pursuit by Adam’s fleet, sending the Lord of Tyran and nearby ships into dimensional space. In the Warp, Taifon learned Abaddon had another torpedo and agreed to keep following him.

• Abaddon ordered his fleet to withdraw and secretly prepared the Soul of Vengeance to cover its escape.
• Adam ordered the Tyran Navy to pursue the damaged Soul of Vengeance, but Abaddon launched a Vortex Torpedo at the Lord of Tyran.
• The Lord of Tyran’s Dimension Engine automatically activated its defense protocol and sent nearby warships into dimensional space.
• Adam confirmed the crew had not activated the Dimension Engine and promised to report its automatic response to the Navy Department.
• Taifon confronted Abaddon about using a Vortex Torpedo, and Abaddon offered him the last one.
• Taifon ordered the End of Days to continue following the Warmaster until victory.

Abaddon gave Taifon his last Vortex Torpedo, then decided to wait for a better opportunity to resume the fighting. On Cadia, Inquisitor Belona proposed using illegal Psykers to close the rift, but Qin Mo recognized her dangerous ambitions and Creed expelled her.

• Abaddon gave Taifon his last Vortex Torpedo and said his forces needed to wait before continuing the battle.
• Taifon ordered two sorcerers to corrupt the torpedo so it would be under his control.
• After the Tyran Navy repelled an enemy fleet in the Anlai System, Creed told Qin Mo that Inquisitor Belona claimed she could close the rift.
• Belona proposed using a drug to push illegal Psykers beyond their limits and direct their power at the rift.
• Qin Mo recognized Belona's plan and told Creed to expel her, so Creed ordered her to leave Cadia immediately.

Qin Mo and Creed agreed to use the Celestial Engine to scan Cadia and eliminate its Psykers, despite the risk of exposing the planet’s military defenses. The scan detected more than seventy Psykers across the system, and drones began carrying out the cleansing.

• Belona left after Qin Mo rejected her plan, while Creed warned that Cadia’s growing number of Psykers could soon become uncontrollable.
• Qin Mo offered to use the Celestial Engine to find every Psyker, and Creed chose to have the Engine erase them rather than exile them.
• Creed authorized a scan of Cadia and gave Qin Mo a document accepting responsibility, saying he trusted Qin Mo and the Tyran forces.
• Qin Mo ordered the Stone Man to scan Cadia and cleanse its Psykers.
• The Celestial Engine detected more than seventy Psykers across the system and sent drones to teleport away those who did not resist and shoot those who did.