Chapter Summaries

Qin Mo used the Celestial Engine to devastate Mortarion’s fleet and daemon fortresses, turning the Void War in his favor. He then left Tigurius to assist the fleet, hinting that another Primarch was about to join the battle.

• Qin Mo ordered the Tyran Navy to shield the Ultramar fleet while they waited for his next move.
• Qin Mo transformed a moon into a Star Gate and brought the Celestial Engine into the system.
• The Celestial Engine destroyed ten daemon fortresses with its Giant Lances, then erased a quarter of Mortarion’s warships with its Arc Weapons.
• The Celestial Engine used gravity devices to cluster daemon fortresses together and destroyed at least forty of them.
• Qin Mo returned to the bridge and told Tigurius that the Void War was only a matter of time, then pointed out that Mortarion also had a Primarch.

Guilliman led the Imperial forces in a massive ground war on Onila Prime against the Death Guard, mortal rebels, and traitor war machines. As allied Titans and Knights gained ground, Sal arrived in an Aeldari Wraithknight and was sent to help Harlequins fighting two Warhound Titans.

• Guilliman learned that the Death Guard were establishing ritual nodes across Onila Prime and organized the Imperial Army, Titan Legions, and Knight Families to confront them.
• Imperial and traitor forces clashed across the planet as Titans, Knights, Space Marines, and armored forces joined the battle.
• Yvraine and Eldrad Ulthuan led Harlequins from the Webway, while three Greenskin warships emerged from the Warp and were destroyed in the crossfire.
• The Blade of the Omnissiah Titan Legion destroyed several enemy Warlord-class Titans, and Agripinaa's Radiance and Mars Witch broke through the enemy line.
• Sal piloted an Aeldari Wraithknight to aid the Five Hundred Worlds' Knights, then learned that Guilliman—not Qin Mo—was aboard the Leviathan command vehicle.
• Guilliman asked Sal to assist the Harlequins, who were trapped by two Warhound Titans, and Sal reluctantly agreed despite wishing Usulan dead.

Guilliman led his guards into a fog-shrouded battlefield, where he fought a Nurgle vanguard and was wounded by a concealed Daemon Prince. Mortarion appeared and bound Guilliman with the power entering through his wound, while his forces kept Guilliman’s allies at bay.

• Guilliman left the Leviathan with Koken, the Custodes, the Sisters of Silence, and his honor guard, then challenged Mortarion in the fog.
• Seventy-seven Nurgle vanguards emerged, and Guilliman charged them before a larger demon army arrived.
• The Lord of Tyran rescued Guilliman from a Daemon Prince’s attack and drew most of the vanguard toward Onila Satellite One.
• Guilliman fought the remaining Greater Demons, while a Daemon Prince concealed inside a dying Greater Demon wounded him before Guilliman killed it.
• Mortarion descended, restrained Guilliman through the wound, and found him isolated as the demon army engaged his allies.

Aeolans tried to take the girl from her guards, but Lando killed her and rescued the wounded before bringing the girl to the battlefield on Onila Prime. The girl freed Guilliman from Mortarion’s power, and Qin Mo arrived to confront Mortarion.

• Aeolans shot Colonel Devorlas and took the girl, but Lando intervened and killed Aeolans after finding Devorlas gravely wounded.
• Lando subdued the fighting sisters, treated Devorlas and the other wounded, and brought the girl to the battlefield on Onila Prime.
• Guilliman and Mortarion argued over the Emperor until Mortarion prepared to sever Guilliman’s limbs.
• The girl spread a curtain of light across the battlefield, dispelling Guilliman’s restraints and the demons’ mist while restoring strength to the fighters.
• Mortarion tried to escape through a rift, but space folded and returned him to the battlefield.
• Qin Mo arrived with the heads of seventy-seven Daemon Princes and Greater Demons and threatened Mortarion as Guilliman prepared to fight.

The girl’s mission was complete, and Lando carried her away while Guilliman and Qin Mo fought Mortarion. Mortarion was badly wounded and his soul was struck, but his spreading corruption still threatened the battlefield.

• The girl’s power destroyed the Nurgle Demon Army, and the remaining warriors withdrew from the fight between the Primarchs and Qin Mo.
• Lando injected the ruined girl with a drug, replenished her biomass with his blood, and carried her away from the battlefield.
• Guilliman engaged Mortarion while Qin Mo attacked from behind, destroying Mortarion’s wings and helping drive him back.
• Qin Mo revealed that he was watching for Taifon, provoking Mortarion into a reckless dive that Qin Mo and Guilliman punished with simultaneous strikes.
• The Emperor’s Sword and Qin Mo’s Chainsword damaged Mortarion’s soul, while corruption spread from his wounds and vibrations shook the planet.

Qin Mo used his power to reverse Onila Prime’s satellites and smash Mortarion, leaving the Daemon Primarch badly mutilated but alive. Qin Mo and Guilliman arrived at the wreckage to finish the final battle, while Mortarion remained unable to move and unable to return to the Warp.

• Mortarion called to Guilliman and apologized to him and the Emperor, then tried to strike Guilliman with his scythe.
• Qin Mo’s lightning blasted Mortarion into Onila Satellite One, and Qin Mo reversed Onila Satellite Two’s orbit until it collided with the first satellite.
• The satellite fragments formed a ring around Onila Prime instead of falling onto the planet, and Guilliman agreed to go with Qin Mo to finish Mortarion.
• Qin Mo and Guilliman teleported to the satellite debris and found Mortarion reduced to part of a shoulder, neck, and head, still clinging to life.

Guilliman and Qin Mo defeated Mortarion, but Nurgle intervened and pulled Mortarion’s soul back to the Warp. Refusing to let the war end without retribution, Qin Mo entered Nurgle’s Domain, where he found Kaldor Diego fighting a daemon army.

• Guilliman questioned Mortarion, then struck him with the Emperor’s Sword, but Nurgle’s power protected Mortarion’s soul.
• Mortarion offered Qin Mo a bargain to return Aisha, but Qin Mo refused and challenged him to leave his mansion and face him.
• Nurgle pulled Mortarion’s soul back to his Domain, preventing Qin Mo from devouring it, and Guilliman declared the war over.
• Qin Mo rejected the victory as incomplete, ordered Scholar to open a portal, and entered the Warp alone while telling Guilliman to reclaim planets.
• Qin Mo arrived in Nurgle’s Domain and found Kaldor Diego battling daemons, where Kaldor Diego demanded to know why he had returned so soon.

Qin Mo returned to the Warp and joined Kaldor in fighting through the Daemon Army, while Guilliman entered the Warp to find him. Guilliman was captured by Nurgle and Mortarion, but a familiar power came to his defense.

• Qin Mo reunited with Kaldor and led him through the Daemon Army toward the manor, but Kaldor stayed instead of taking the portal out.
• Guilliman entered the Warp, searched for Qin Mo, and briefly saw him fighting alongside a Grey Knight.
• Nurgle confronted Guilliman in a dim house and subdued his resistance to the plague.
• Mortarion poured Nurgle's ultimate plague into Guilliman's mouth as Guilliman suffered in agony.
• A familiar power shielded Guilliman, and he called out to the Emperor in his heart.

Qin Mo and Kaldor fought through Nurgle’s manor, where the Emperor-possessed Guilliman killed Mortarion and held back the demons so Qin Mo could reach Nurgle. Qin Mo confronted the Plague God, declared that humanity would return to destroy the Demon Realm, and escaped through a portal as Guilliman and Kaldor left the Warp.

• Qin Mo told Kaldor to leave the Warp while he faced a threat, but Kaldor insisted on accompanying him into Nurgle’s manor.
• Qin Mo and Kaldor followed the golden glow of Qin Mo’s Chainsword to a chamber where the Emperor possessed Guilliman and Mortarion stood recovering.
• Guilliman split Mortarion with the Emperor’s Sword, then held back the pursuing demons while Qin Mo entered the next chamber alone.
• Qin Mo confronted Nurgle, who reinforced its Demon Realm rather than attack because it feared the Cold Sun and the consequences of fighting him.
• Qin Mo vowed that humanity would return with the power and army to destroy the Demon Realm, then stepped through a portal as Guilliman and Kaldor also left the Warp.

After waking in a sealed section of the Webway, Guilliman learned how he and Qin Mo escaped Nurgle’s Garden and wondered whether the Emperor had erred by creating the Primarchs. Qin Mo explained that the Primarchs let the Four Gods influence the real universe, but argued that the Emperor’s choices had also been necessary to give humanity a chance to survive.

• Qin Mo told Guilliman that he had branded Nurgle, the Emperor had burned Nurgle’s Garden, and Guilliman had passed out after enduring the Emperor’s possession.
• Guilliman discovered that he was in a sealed section of the Webway and reflected on the Emperor’s failed attempt to create and connect his own passage.
• Guilliman recalled the pain of possession and asked Qin Mo whether creating the Primarchs had been a mistake because their betrayal had harmed the Imperium.
• Qin Mo explained that the Four Gods could not cross the Veil freely and needed beings such as the Primarchs to interfere with the real universe.
• Qin Mo acknowledged that the Emperor had given the Four Gods that means, but argued that loyal Primarchs like Guilliman were needed to repair the Imperium and that humanity otherwise would have awaited its death.

Guilliman thanked Kailia for saving him and learned that Mathieu had ordered Aeolans to take her to the battlefield. After the Plague War, he went to confront Mathieu, but Sulimannien stopped him to give him a copy of Lorgar’s Lectitio Divinatus for the Historical Truth Society.

• Guilliman decided that he, Lion, and Sanguinius should work to improve the Imperium rather than destroy it.
• Guilliman visited the recovering Kailia, thanked her for saving him, and learned from Qin Mo that Aeolans had taken her to the battlefield under Mathieu’s orders.
• After the Plague War ended, Guilliman summoned Mathieu and headed to find him on Macragge’s Honour.
• Sulimannien greeted Guilliman as “Robo,” then gave him a reproduced copy of Lorgar’s Lectitio Divinatus for his historical records.

Guilliman confronted Mathieu over the deaths caused by his orders, but spared him after hearing why he had acted. Later, Guilliman examined Lorgar’s copy of the Lectitio Divinatus and rejected its contents as nonsense.

• Guilliman seized Mathieu and accused him of causing the deaths of his soldiers, Astartes, and Sisters of Silence.
• Mathieu explained that his mission was to help Kailia reach the suffering Guilliman and save him, and that the Lord of Tyran had disrupted his plans.
• Guilliman blamed Mathieu for Kailia’s abduction and nearly crushed his skull, but ultimately released him and left.
• Guilliman reflected on the Emperor’s growing power and recalled Usulan’s claim that the Emperor had changed over ten thousand years.
• Guilliman read Lorgar’s signed copy of the Lectitio Divinatus, then dismissed it as twisted nonsense.

Qin Mo recalled meeting Bik, a Warp creature who had briefly returned in an Alloy Skeleton body, before receiving two hundred Space Marines on the Glorious Humanity. He granted Chapters including the Sons of Antaeus permission to choose homeworlds under Tyranid recruitment rules, while the Burning Falcons awaited help rebuilding their Chapter.

• Qin Mo remembered how Bik and his Alloy Skeletons helped destroy seventy-seven Nurgle demons on Onila Satellite One before Bik's presence vanished from the body.
• Two hundred Space Marines led by the Sons of Antaeus arrived on the bridge and knelt before Qin Mo to honor him for protecting them from the Inquisition.
• Qin Mo offered the Sons of Antaeus and other promised Chapters the choice of an uncolonized planet as their homeworld.
• Qin Mo set rules allowing Chapters to recruit and screen aspirants but forbidding them from killing candidates during recruitment.
• Chapter Master Saran and the other eligible Chapter leaders accepted the rules, while the Burning Falcons waited for aid rebuilding their Chapter.

Qin Mo arranged a way for the Burning Falcons to rebuild their Chapter and discussed the loyal Fallen Angels with Guilliman. He agreed to attend a victory parade on Terra because the trip would let him search Mars for the Void Dragon fragment.

• Qin Mo told Lando and the other surviving Burning Falcons that they would rebuild their Chapter in The Chronicler's time-altering dimension, and Lando pledged their loyalty to humanity and the sector.
• Qin Mo asked Lando about the Burning Falcons' Primarch, but Lando said the recruits had never learned their Chapter's culture before it was destroyed.
• Qin Mo explained the sector's obligations to the Space Marines and told the Dark Angels that Guilliman would urge Lion to clear the loyal Fallen Angels' names.
• Qin Mo asked Guilliman to persuade Lion to meet Zabriel and his sons, while Guilliman explained that Lion was occupied integrating the Imperium's armed forces.
• Guilliman told Qin Mo that the High Lords wanted the Five Hundred Worlds' forces at a victory parade on Terra, and Qin Mo agreed so he could search Mars for the Void Dragon fragment.

Half a month later, Qin Mo and Guilliman relaxed aboard Macragge's Honour while the Talon and Ultramar fleets assembled to travel to Terra for a victory ceremony. Talon's population and colonial expansion continued to grow as the chapter ended with the sector thriving.

• More than four thousand warships gathered near Macragge as senior commanders planned the fleet's journey and resupply.
• Qin Mo and Guilliman watched Talon news discuss whether the invitation to Terra was a trap, and Qin Mo said the High Lords wanted talks about Talon's future expansion.
• Guilliman promised to defend the Talon fleet if the Solar System Navy attacked it.
• News 44 announced that Colonel Andrei and Ossianna had been rewarded for having twenty children who would provide two army squads for service in seventeen years.
• Qin Mo said Talon's colonial fleets and population were expanding rapidly, and the sector was thriving.

Lion traveled aboard the King of Explorers to obtain Primaris reinforcements for the Space Wolves, hoping to give Guilliman good news and demonstrate his resolve as Warmaster. He set out with Zabriel, who hoped Lion would also help clear the Fallen Angels’ names.

• Cawl explained how he created the Primaris Space Marines, and Lion accepted the Primaris Dark Angels after learning their gene-seed came from him.
• Lion asked Cawl for Primaris reinforcements to deliver to the Space Wolves, a Chapter Guilliman believed would be difficult to persuade.
• Lion rejected Cawl’s offer to explain the Primaris design process to the Space Wolves, saying Russ’s descendants would not listen or understand.
• Cawl agreed to leave the delivery to Lion and departed to focus on his research.
• Zabriel asked Lion to use the visit to help the Fallen Angels, and Lion promised to look into the Caliban matter when he could return to the Rock.

On Fenris, Logan and the Wolf Lords joined the Space Wolves’ battle against the Goff Clan Greenskins, with the war’s outcome hinging on Logan’s duel with their warlord, Gruk. Logan wounded Gruk but was badly struck, and a melta blast hit Gruk’s arm as the fight continued.

• Gruk and its Greenskins spread across Fenris after their warship crashed, while the Space Wolves and Imperial Guard fought them amid other threats.
• Logan led the Wolf Lords into the battle on Ahaenam, where they attacked Gruk and its leaders as human and Greenskin forces clashed.
• Logan quickly severed Gruk’s claw and detached its cannon, but Gruk seized him and smashed his helmet with a headbutt.
• Logan wounded Gruk’s shoulder and then buried his axe in Gruk’s forehead, enraging the warlord.
• Gruk punched Logan and shattered the lower half of his helmet, but Logan pulled his axe free and hacked at Gruk as a melta blast pierced its arm.

Lion El'Jonson arrived on the battlefield, killed Gruk with a single punch, and helped the Space Wolves fight off the Greenskins. After rescuing a Lion Guard captain, he warned her to protect herself as the battle continued.

• Gruk survived an explosion of grenades and charged Logan and Sven Bloodhowl, but Lion El'Jonson arrived and punched Gruk's head off.
• Lion's Lion Guard disembarked from a dark green transport aircraft as Logan ran back to help the Space Wolves fight the remaining Greenskins.
• Lion moved across the battlefield, killing Greenskins and rescuing injured Space Wolves despite Logan's distrust of him.
• A Greenskin attacked Lion from behind, and the Lion Guard captain charged to protect him before another Greenskin knocked her down.
• Lion crushed both Greenskins, helped the captain to her feet, and told her to keep herself alive.

Lion helped the Space Wolves defeat the Greenskins and brought Primaris Space Marines as reinforcements, but Logan and the Wolf Lords suspected Guilliman was trying to replace them with Ultramarines. The chapter left Lion facing their hostility as Logan questioned the recruits’ origins.

• Lion arrived on Ahaenam without armor, fought the Greenskins, and then deployed the Incinerators and Primaris Dark Angels and Space Wolves to finish the battle.
• Lion gave Zabriel a tube of medicine and told him to inject a Primaris Space Wolf before throwing him among the surviving Greenskins.
• On Fenris, Logan hosted a victory banquet for Lion, but Lion poured out his drink and announced he had brought Guilliman’s Primaris recruits as reinforcements.
• Logan accused Lion of becoming Guilliman’s dog, while Lion calmly explained that he and Guilliman were equals and demanded that the Space Wolves accept the recruits.
• Sven Bloodhowl and other Wolf Lords protested that the recruits were Ultramarines in disguise, and Logan privately concluded that Guilliman’s supposed sons of Russ were not Fenrisians.

Lion pressured Logan to accept the Primaris Space Wolves, and the standoff nearly turned violent before one of the Primaris began Wolfing. Bjorn recognized him as a son of Russ and secured the Space Wolves’ acceptance, while Lion explained that he was acting for the Imperium.

• Lion demanded that Logan sign for the Primaris Space Marines, but Logan refused and ordered him to take the Ultramarines away from Fenris.
• Lion grabbed Logan by the throat, and the Space Wolves and Lion Guard drew weapons as the confrontation escalated.
• A Primaris Space Marine began Wolfing, and Bjorn arrived and ordered the warrior taken away.
• Bjorn told Logan that the Primaris were sons of Russ who still needed trials, and Logan agreed to accept them.
• Lion said he represented the Imperium and needed the Space Wolves ready to fight, and Bjorn reminded the gathered warriors that they had always fought for the Imperium.