Chapter Summaries

Lion visited the trade station with the Blood Angels and equipped his mortal Lion Guard with Power Armor and Laser Rifles. He accepted an escort of twelve strike cruisers and two companies for the journey to Terra.

• Sanguinius thanked the Lion Guard for protecting Lion, then offered to pay for whatever weapons and equipment Lion wanted from the station.
• Lion arrived at the trade station and learned that visitors could apply to receive free Dimension Engines.
• Carron led Lion through the station, where Lion questioned the sale of Ogryns and Ratlings before entering the weapons shop.
• The Lion Guard captain asked for Power Armor with self-destruct functions and melta bombs, but Lion chose the cheaper armor without self-destruct functions.
• Carron bought one hundred sets of Power Armor and one hundred Laser Rifles for the Lion Guard.
• Carron offered twelve strike cruisers and two companies to escort Lion to Terra, and Lion accepted Sanguinius's arrangement.

Qin Mo worked on the Psionic Matrix’s refuge for souls, faster-than-light travel, and a device to store Aisha’s power. The Emperor remembered Malcador’s loyalty and sacrifice, silently praising him.

• Qin Mo ordered the Scholar to create containers that would protect human souls within the Warp.
• Qin Mo researched a way to build a Webway that bypassed the Warp while the Emperor watched him eat Soul Crystals.
• Qin Mo asked why the Emperor had never met Lion, and the Emperor admitted he did not know what he could say to him.
• Qin Mo began making a device to store Aisha’s power for the Emperor, who had endured ten thousand years of pain for humanity.
• The Emperor remembered Malcador promising to fight beside him until humanity prospered, then recalled Malcador’s sacrifice on the Golden Throne and praised him.

Qin Mo had Aisha charge a device for Guilliman, then showed the Emperor and Aisha a new component for the Celestial Engine. He imprisoned The Deceiver inside the giant Living Metal sphere, which began absorbing its power.

• Qin Mo summoned Aisha from the Webway and asked her to charge a device with her divine power.
• Aisha infused the device with power, and Qin Mo arranged for it to be sent to Guilliman on Terra.
• Qin Mo took the Emperor and Aisha to see a Living Metal sphere designed to contain a C'tan fragment as part of the Celestial Engine.
• Qin Mo released The Deceiver from the Hypercube Maze and ordered it into the sphere.
• The Deceiver resisted, but Qin Mo struck it with a hammer and sent it into the sphere, which sealed shut and began absorbing its energy.

Qin Mo prepared to use The Deceiver as the core of the Celestial Engine’s expanding stellar system, while Aisha effortlessly cured a deadly plague in the Tyran Sector. The Emperor’s possession of Vanessa briefly failed for an unknown reason, leaving Qin Mo to wonder whether the Hive Mind was involved.

• Qin Mo explained to the Emperor that The Deceiver would power the Celestial Engine’s artificial star and its planetary structures, allowing the War Machine to control entire sectors.
• The Emperor imagined the completed Celestial Engine supporting a major expedition into the Eye of Terror, and Qin Mo said its foundations could be put to use quickly.
• Qin Mo told Aisha and the Emperor about a plague in his sector, and Aisha cured it instantly with her power.
• Qin Mo and the Emperor discussed how each of them had different abilities, and the Emperor briefly lost his connection to Vanessa before possessing her again.
• The Emperor said the interruption was strange, and Qin Mo wondered whether Lion’s arrival on Terra or the Hive Mind could explain it.

Guilliman learned that a Tyranid hive fleet was advancing toward Tyran while a plague spread through the Five Hundred Worlds. Horst urged him not to send aid yet, hoping to observe Tyran’s war machines, but Guilliman was left considering whether the Imperium should intervene.

• Guilliman allowed the Lord of Tyran’s device to be placed before the Golden Throne after Trajann agreed to guard it, while Lord Cypher’s escape from the Imperial Palace remained unexplained.
• Guilliman learned that Lion had entered the Solar System and began considering how to explain matters to him.
• Horst told Guilliman that a Tyranid hive fleet was heading toward Tyran and that a plague had broken out in the Five Hundred Worlds.
• Horst revealed that the Tyranids had fought a war of attrition against something in the Stygian System, stripping its planets down until even their rocks were gone.
• Guilliman realized Horst wanted the Inquisition to observe Tyran’s war machines, and Horst left after Guilliman declined to interfere with his investigation.
• Guilliman considered the Tyranid threat and did not believe the Imperium should simply watch from the sidelines.

Lion arrived on Terra and reconciled with Guilliman after an angry confrontation over the breakup of his Legion. Guilliman persuaded Lion to become the Imperium’s Warmaster and lead its forces against an approaching Tyranid invasion.

• Lion arrived at Terra’s Cathedral with the Lion Guard and demanded that Guilliman meet him.
• Lion and Guilliman fought and argued over Guilliman breaking up Lion’s Legion, then sat together and acknowledged their shared burden.
• Lion asked Guilliman what he should do, and Guilliman told him to visit the Emperor and announce that he had been made Warmaster.
• Guilliman explained that the Imperium needed Lion to unite its military forces, and Lion agreed to cooperate.
• Guilliman asked Lion to lead the Astra Militarum and his sons to aid a sector threatened by a Tyranid invasion, and Lion agreed.

Qin Mo examined the evolved Leviathan hive fleet and decided to test his new Solar Engine against it rather than send Heat Death to fight. He traveled aboard the weapon as it approached the engagement site, where Burner and Mimic prepared for battle.

• Qin Mo discovered that the approaching Leviathan hive fleet had evolved inorganic weapons, Psychic Power units, and genes that let it digest Living Metal.
• Heat Death asked to fight the Tyranids, but Qin Mo assigned the coming battle to a new weapon and reassured the disappointed Iron Man.
• Qin Mo transferred his consciousness into a vessel aboard the Solar Engine as it traveled toward the Tyran Sector.
• Burner asked the Stone Man to increase the Solar Engine's output so he could make The Deceiver scream louder, but Qin Mo and the Stone Man refused.
• Mimic reported that the Solar Engine would reach the engagement site after twenty jumps.

Qin Mo prepared to test the Celestial Engine against the Leviathan hive fleet, but the swarm changed course to avoid a mysterious planet with immense gravity. The planet proved to be the mad C'tan Saranoga, and Qin Mo persuaded it to force the scattered Tyranids back together.

• Qin Mo outlined plans to destroy the Leviathan hive fleet with the Celestial Engine and handle any survivors personally.
• Mimic detected a brilliant, planet-sized object with abnormal gravity along the hive fleet's route and scanned it.
• The Leviathan hive fleet avoided the planet's two-hundred-light-year radius and split into groups heading toward the Five Hundred Worlds and Earth.
• Burner and Mimic recognized the planet as the Outsider, Saranoga, one of the galaxy's two intact C'tan.
• Qin Mo promised to help Saranoga, and the mad C'tan forced the scattered Leviathan hive fleet to gather together again.

Qin Mo tested the Celestial Engine’s Solar Engine by firing on the system where Saranoga had gathered the Leviathan Hive Fleet. The blast annihilated the fleet while sparing the system’s six planets, and Qin Mo prepared to go home.

• Mimic began to project Saranoga’s image, but Qin Mo warned him that seeing the Outsider could drive mortals mad.
• Saranoga gathered the Leviathan Hive Fleet in a star system less than one light-year from the Celestial Engine.
• Qin Mo ordered Stone Man to fire the Solar Engine at the system with its output lowered to spare the planets.
• The Solar Engine unleashed a blast that scorched the system and made its six worlds uninhabitable without destroying them.
• The attack annihilated the Leviathan Hive Fleet, and Qin Mo regretted not seeing the Tyranid Beasts it had designed to fight the Iron Men.

Qin Mo learned how Cegorach tricked Saranoga into swallowing other C'tan, driving it mad, and Saranoga begged him to help separate them. The chapter ended with Mimic revealing that one of its own fragments was inside Saranoga too.

• The Solar Engine's attack disrupted communications across nearby Imperium worlds, and the Ecclesiarchy pontiff on Terra sent religious fleets to search for the supposed Living Saint.
• Qin Mo spoke with Saranoga, whose conflicting voices revealed that Burner had a fragment inside it and that Saranoga wanted The Forger to separate them.
• Saranoga showed Qin Mo how Cegorach deceived it into swallowing five weak C'tan, leaving their consciousnesses trapped inside its body and driving it mad.
• After Saranoga pleaded for help, Qin Mo looked to Mimic, which admitted that one of its fragments was also inside Saranoga.

Qin Mo agreed to help Saranoga, a mad C'tan that had absorbed other C'tan fragments in an attempt to suppress the conflicting powers inside it. He confined Saranoga in a dimension and began studying its unstable condition to find a way to separate it.

• Saranoga showed Qin Mo how devouring other C'tan fragments had slightly reduced the conflict among its powers and temporarily restored some reason.
• Burner urged Qin Mo to help Saranoga, while Mimic warned that it could destroy what Qin Mo had built.
• Qin Mo agreed to help Saranoga on the condition that it remain in his dimension, and Saranoga rushed inside.
• Qin Mo studied Saranoga in the dimension and learned that its personality shifted unpredictably as it explained how C'tan perceived the world.
• Qin Mo's analysis showed that Saranoga's great mass and unstable mind left it at risk of exploding or losing its identity to the other consciousnesses within it.

Qin Mo analyzed how to separate Saranoga from the C'tan it had devoured and concluded that he would need to break Saranoga down into fragments. Saranoga accepted the cost, and Qin Mo suspected its authority might be reason or mental manipulation.

• Burner joined Qin Mo in the Forge Dimension and explained that he had come to prevent misunderstandings about his violent fragment inside Saranoga.
• Qin Mo and Burner completed their analysis, and Qin Mo told Saranoga that separating the C'tan would require decomposing it into fragments.
• Qin Mo explained that Saranoga had nearly fused with the five C'tan it had devoured and could not be separated without being broken down.
• Saranoga calmly agreed to be decomposed, explaining that it had suffered for ages and needed to take responsibility for releasing the C'tan it had swallowed.
• Qin Mo considered that Saranoga's authority might be reason or mental manipulation.

Qin Mo dismantled Saranoga with the Starforge Anvil, freeing the C'tan fragments Saranoga had consumed. He separated the fragments and stored them in six dimensions, leaving Saranoga and the five lesser C'tan contained apart from one another.

• Qin Mo used Saranoga's released stellar energy to create a Starforge Anvil and Material Forge Hammer.
• Qin Mo repeatedly struck Saranoga until its Living Metal body and true form shattered across the dimensional space.
• Qin Mo gathered Saranoga's countless fragments and discovered fragments of five lesser C'tan among them.
• A fragment controlled by Burner broke free and attacked Qin Mo, but Qin Mo smashed it into smaller pieces.
• Qin Mo used his forge to extract the other C'tan fragments from Saranoga's fragments and stored them in the Hypercube Maze.
• Qin Mo created six dimensions and placed Saranoga and the five lesser C'tan in separate dimensions, grouping the remaining fragments together.

Qin Mo helped Mimic and Burner fuse with fragments, then met The Chronicler and promised it protection, a home, and a chance to become whole. As The Chronicler began fusing, Qin Mo, Mimic, and Burner set out to deal with Saranoga.

• Qin Mo sent Mimic into the forge, where its fusion raised its completeness to twenty-six percent and strengthened its powers.
• Mimic demonstrated that it could share sensations, and Qin Mo asked whether it could sense and share what he felt.
• Burner carried an unconscious fragment to Qin Mo and entered the forge to fuse with it.
• Mimic introduced The Chronicler, a C'tan with many fragments whose abilities were recording, writing, and storytelling.
• The Chronicler gave Qin Mo its essence in exchange for protection, and Qin Mo promised it a star system to live in and sustenance.
• The Chronicler entered the forge to fuse, while Qin Mo, Mimic, and Burner went to attend to Saranoga.

Qin Mo negotiated with Saranoga’s fragments, who agreed to surrender part of their essence so he could restore them safely. The Chronicler then revealed that Mimic had been shattered by Godsfall and recounted how The Forger used the Kasa Dynasty’s industrial strength to confront the Void Dragon.

• Qin Mo told Saranoga’s fragments he would restore them only if they gave up some essence, and they unanimously agreed.
• Qin Mo sent the fragments into the furnace and warned Mimic that entities with divided wills were difficult to control.
• The Chronicler revealed that Godsfall, a weapon created by the Void Dragon with The Forger’s help, had shattered Mimic at the end of the War in Heaven.
• The Chronicler recounted how The Forger admitted to tampering with the Kasa Dynasty’s Biotransference Furnace so its Necrons would not obey the Silent King unconditionally.
• The Forger summoned nearly a thousand Kasa Dynasty World Engines and told the Void Dragon they were copies of its material weapons.

Qin Mo learned more about the Kasa Dynasty, the Void Dragon, and the coercion behind the Necrons’ Biotransference before sending The Chronicler toward Tyran Gate. Lion arrived with an Imperial fleet to help repel the Tyranids, only to learn that the Lord of Tyran had already destroyed the hive fleet.

• The Chronicler explained that The Forger had used the Void Dragon to create a consciousness-transfer vessel for the Kasa Dynasty, and Qin Mo considered why the dynasty might not have hated The Forger.
• Qin Mo reflected that the Silent King and the Necrophage had faced the C’tan’s overwhelming power and may have had no real choice about Biotransference.
• Qin Mo told Mimic to wait until Saranoga finished merging before dealing with the other C’tan shards, then sent The Chronicler to Tyran Gate.
• Lion arrived at Tyran Gate with an Imperial Navy fleet to support the Tyran Army against the Tyranid swarm.
• A Tyran Navy captain told Lion that the Lord of Tyran had already destroyed the hive fleet, and Lion turned his fleet away.

On the journey back to Terra, Lion and an Inquisitor discussed how the Tyranids could have been defeated so quickly and what Talon’s unknown weapon meant for the Imperium. Lion concluded that the weapon posed a crisis, while the Inquisitor saw it as humanity’s good fortune.

• Lion and Horst's apprentice returned from Talon, both confused by how little they had needed to do.
• Lion asked the Inquisitor whether the Tyranids were weaker than he had expected, and the Inquisitor described their overwhelming strength and the limits of the Celestial Engine.
• Lion reasoned that the Tyranids’ numbers made a swift defeat by ordinary fleets implausible, so Talon must possess a Void War weapon more powerful than the Celestial Engine.
• Lion imagined Talon and the Imperium at war and wondered whether its weapon could have killed him, then called it a crisis for the Imperium.
• The Inquisitor argued that a weapon capable of stopping Hive Fleets could spare humanity from Exterminatus and immense sacrifices, leaving Lion feeling guilty.

Guilliman discussed the Imperial Truth, the Tyran Sector, and Lion’s character with Yvraine while managing the Imperium’s affairs. Yvraine advised him to ask Lion what the Emperor had told him, but Lion arrived and found Guilliman alone with Yvraine, reacting with open hostility.

• Guilliman continued reorganizing the Five Hundred Worlds and preparing Felix to become their fourth Space Marine champion, while Talon’s medicine temporarily contained a plague.
• Guilliman and Yvraine discussed the Imperial Truth and the Tyran Sector’s rational approach to supernatural forces, including why its methods could not be copied elsewhere.
• Yvraine described Lion as a sensitive executioner and urged Guilliman to ask what Lion had discussed with the Emperor about Talon.
• Lion entered to tell Guilliman about discovering that the Tyranid hive fleet had already been destroyed, then stopped and glared fiercely at Yvraine when he saw her with Guilliman.

Lion confronted Guilliman after finding him speaking privately with Yvraine, but avoided asking directly about their relationship or Guilliman’s knowledge of the Tyran Sector. Guilliman asked what the Emperor had told Lion, and Lion recalled his conversation with Trajann before entering the Throne Room.

• Lion ordered Yvraine to leave, then faced Guilliman and concealed his suspicion about the private conversation.
• Guilliman said he already knew the Leviathan hive fleet had been destroyed and that Qin Mo had told him about the Solar Engine.
• Guilliman tried to invite Lion to discuss his grievances, but Lion stayed silent and Guilliman asked what the Emperor had said.
• Lion recalled walking with Trajann, who said he trusted Lion more than Guilliman and criticized Guilliman for bringing an assassin into the Imperial Palace.
• Lion joked that Trajann seemed to be plotting to assassinate Guilliman, then entered the Throne Room.

Lion recalled his painful meeting with the Emperor, who explained Caliban’s destruction and revealed the possible fates of the Talon Sector. The Emperor left the decision to Lion, who finally told Guilliman that he had been asked to become Warmaster.

• Lion knelt before the Golden Throne and endured the Emperor’s overwhelming wills, while seeing Lord Cypher approach the Throne and shoot himself without dying.
• The Emperor told Lion that the Watchers had caused Caliban’s destruction to prevent the Three Divine Artifacts from merging, and that Azrael had shattered the planet without blame.
• The Emperor showed Lion evidence that Qin Mo was both an unmodified human and capable of wielding C’tan power, then revealed two possible fates for the Talon Sector.
• The Emperor told Lion to make the decision about the Talon Sector himself, leaving Lion troubled by the danger its people faced from the C’tan.
• Guilliman asked Lion what the Emperor had told him, and Lion answered that the Emperor had asked him to become Warmaster.