Chapter Summaries

Vanessa reported the Imperial Navy’s defeat and requested protection for Agripinna Forge World, and Qin Mo agreed to defend its system. He planned to send the Celestial Engine and a large force there, leaving the Tyran Fleet to protect its sector.

• Yao En reported Vanessa’s actions and the black-robed man’s words to Qin Mo, who confirmed that Vanessa had passed his test.
• Vanessa told Qin Mo that Admiral Kwalon’s fleet had been defeated and asked him to protect Agripinna Forge World.
• Qin Mo lamented that events were unfolding earlier than expected, and Vanessa said that foreknowledge had not been enough to change Kwalon’s fate.
• Qin Mo agreed to defend Agripinna’s system but refused to commit to fighting enemy fleets across numerous sectors.
• After Vanessa left, Qin Mo decided to send the Celestial Engine to the Forge World with Grey, Yao En, and a hundred regiments.

Qin Mo prepared Grey and Yao En for their deployment to Agrippina Forge World, warning Yao En about Chaos forces and ordering him to protect Vik above all else. On Agrippina, Vik learned that the Imperial Navy had withdrawn and was tasked with securing more guards for the foundry's defense.

• Qin Mo told Grey and Yao En they might be stationed at Agripinaa for years and instructed Grey to meet the soldiers he would command.
• Qin Mo warned Yao En about Nurgle's Plague Fleet and the World Eaters, and told him to prioritize Vik's safety over the Forge World.
• Yao En asked how to report without interstellar communications, and Qin Mo told him to use messenger ships while he developed a communication system.
• Vik walked through the Glory of the Omnissiah foundry, where soldiers and colleagues greeted him with respect for sharing his crystal research.
• The Arch-Dominus told Vik that the Imperial Navy had withdrawn and ordered him to secure guards from a southern foundry for the coming defense.

Vik traveled across Agripinna Forge World and diverted from his assigned destination to answer a distress signal beneath an ancient factory. He left with the Rangers and Vanguard, while Sevyn continued strengthening the defenses against the plague and possible invasion.

• Vik boarded an Arvus transport carrying Rangers and a squad of Vanguard, then learned that Sevyn commanded the Forge World's southern defenses.
• As the transport crossed the factories, Vik received distress signals from beneath them and contacted Sevyn, who explained that he was conserving troops for a possible attack from orbit.
• Vik decided to investigate a distress signal instead of going to the tower, and the Vanguard and Rangers chose to accompany him after Sevyn granted permission.
• Sevyn asked Vik about the plague and the danger ahead, and Vik said Agripinna would endure with the Machine God and the Omnissiah's help.

Vik led survivors out of the factory while fighting Plague Zombies, despite Sevyn’s insistence that they protect its production lines. After a monstrous creature nearly reached the elevator, Vik destroyed it and emerged to find enemy warships attacking the Forge World; he led the group toward the tower as the invasion began.

• Vik led Rangers and Vanguards into the factory’s underground levels and ordered them to cover the retreat of the Adepta Sororitas, Servitors, and other fighters from the Plague Zombies.
• Sevyn demanded that Vik leave the Adepta Sororitas to protect the production lines, but Vik rejected his argument and continued evacuating the survivors.
• Vik and Vanguard Alpha held the rear as the others boarded the elevator, then retreated inside while firing on the pursuing zombies.
• A huge, bloated monster charged the elevator, and Vik used a bomb from his chest compartment to blow it apart before the doors closed.
• The elevator carried the survivors to the surface, where Vik saw enemy warships exchanging fire with the Forge World’s orbital defenses.
• Vik led the group through the gaps between the factories toward the tower.

Solaax the Oathbreaker’s combined Chaos fleet crippled Agripinna Forge World’s orbital defenses, leaving the way open for an invasion. As Solaax prepared the first ground assault, a dispute over the spoils exposed how fragile the warbands’ unity remained.

• The Conqueror and more than thirty Cruisers attacked the orbital defense platforms while Chaos Space Marines boarded them and disabled their defenses.
• Solaax watched the battle from the Conqueror’s bridge and credited his alliance with the other warbands and deal with Huron for the fleet’s success.
• A mysterious woman criticized the battle as lacking finesse, warned Solaax about his terms with Huron, and vanished.
• After the Conqueror destroyed the final defense platform, Solaax ordered Shalok to lead the first assault wave.
• A Death Guard warrior objected that the spoils should be shared by merit, so Solaax ordered every warband to send elite warriors in the first wave.

Shalok and the Oathbreaker Warband prepared to launch a decapitation assault on a Forge World, while Korax revealed his larger plan to unite the former World Eaters warbands. At Fortress Beta, Vik and Sevyn watched the drop pods descend and organized the defenders, though the Imperial fleet was delayed fighting pirates.

• Shalok slit mortal slaves’ throats as he made his way to the Fear Claw Drop Pods, easing the torment of his Butcher’s Nails.
• Korax ordered Shalok’s Berserkers to spread among the drop pods and target key locations, then explained his ambition to unite the former World Eaters warbands.
• Shalok commanded his drop pod to launch ahead of the other warbands, and it descended toward the southern end of the Forge World.
• Vik watched the orbital bombardment fail against Fortress Beta’s Void Shield as drop pods filled the sky.
• Sevyn ordered the anti-air weapons to fire and mobilized defenders around the predicted landing sites.
• Sevyn told Vik that the Imperial fleet had been intercepted in a nearby system while Adepta Sororitas and Mechanicus forces prepared to repel the landing.

Chaos forces attacked the fortress with Terror Claw Drop Pods, overwhelming defenders and threatening the Void Shield as Sevyn and Vik withdrew toward a hidden chamber. Sevyn sealed himself inside to direct the remaining forces while Vik stayed outside to face the approaching Chaos Space Marines and protect the STC template.

• Terror Claw Drop Pods breached the fortress defenses, and the Oathbreaker Warband slaughtered the defenders as Chaos cultists poured out.
• Sevyn spotted enemies attacking the Void Shield and redeployed personnel to defend it.
• Sevyn saw a massive Chaos Space Marine approaching through a tunnel, and he and Vik headed for the hidden chamber.
• After Sevyn spotted five more execution masters, he entered the hidden chamber and began issuing his final orders while Vik remained outside.
• Vik aimed his weapons at the approaching enemies, disabled his fear response, and retrieved the STC template, determined not to let the enemy capture it.

Vik used the STC to create an Iron Man that defeated the Chaos Space Marines, then revered the cube left behind as a holy relic. A month into the invasion, Sevyn revealed that enemy reinforcements and orbital bombardment threatened the Forge World, but Vik saw black moons and a planet in the sky and declared that the Omnissiah was with them.

• Vik activated the STC's Emergency Function, which consumed nearby metal and his equipment to print an Iron Man.
• The Iron Man adapted to the Chaos Space Marines' attacks and killed five before destroying the last with its fusion reactor.
• Vik praised the STC, recovered the metal it had used as a cube, and Sevyn began directing the defense against the invaders.
• Over the following month, Sevyn and Vik survived further raids and helped repel the drop-pod assault, while the invasion escalated into a full-scale war.
• Sevyn reported that enemy warships, including Red Corsairs, were gathering in orbit and could bombard the Forge World.
• Vik saw two black moons and a smaller black planet flickering above the battlefield and said the Omnissiah was with them.

Grey commanded the Celestial Engine as it entered stellar orbit and fought the enemy fleet gathered around the Forge World. The Engine’s satellites devastated the fleet, then teleported bombs into its midst as the Engine drew closer.

• Grey received readiness reports and assembled more than a thousand Regimental Commanders before the battle began.
• The enemy fleet attacked the Celestial Engine, but its satellite shields and defenses intercepted most of the barrage.
• Grey guessed that the enemy fleet stayed to cover ground forces already deployed on the Forge World.
• The Celestial Engine’s satellites fired successive volleys that destroyed roughly forty percent of the enemy fleet.
• The Celestial Engine advanced toward the Forge World and teleported bombs into the enemy fleet, overlapping more than a dozen ships.

Grey’s forces crippled the enemy fleet with Void Mines and prepared to teleport onto the Forge World. Korax’s fleet suffered heavy losses and withdrew into the Warp, leaving the Oathbreakers’ people behind.

• Twelve enemy ships overlapped with the Void Mines, and the mines exploded ten minutes later, destroying seventeen ships.
• Grey ordered his officers to prepare for battle as the Celestial Engine approached the Forge World and the regiments readied to teleport.
• A woman warned Korax that the Blood Scryer and Warp Engines were disrupted and that the system’s gravitational pull had increased.
• Korax learned that the fleet had suffered forty percent losses and that the Conqueror had taken a hit while withdrawing.
• The Conqueror reached the Mandeville Point and entered the Warp, where terrifying creatures’ shadows filled the ship.

After the enemy fleet fled, Grey and Yao En arrived at the Forge World to help command its defense without risking its industrial facilities. Yao En left for the front lines, intent on carrying out his own duty in the war.

• The Conqueror and the other warbands' capital ships escaped into the Warp, leaving the system's fleet badly damaged.
• Grey explained that the Talon forces would join the Forge World's command rather than immediately assaulting the remaining enemies.
• The Celestial Engine scanned the planet and found the Adepta Sororitas still held a strong advantage, while Talon forces began teleporting into the fighting.
• Grey and Yao En arrived at Vik's fortress, where Sevyn told them the Arch-Domini had been killed by drop pods.
• Grey agreed not to bombard the Forge World, and Sevyn prepared to command the battle with the arriving Tech-Priests.
• Yao En declined to join the command discussion and went to the front lines to locate the enemy's upper ranks and carry out his real duty.

After the enemy fleet was driven away, the First Company of the 44th Regiment tested a scattered advance tactic while retaking the Forge World's polar region. Grot's forces defeated a small group of mutants and a Space Marine, then discovered that the battlefield's blood was gathering and disappearing.

• The Adepta Sororitas advanced under the protection of Titans and Knights, while Talon forces attacked behind enemy lines; the priests assigned the polar region to Talon forces.
• Grot led the First Company across the polar region in scattered groups, testing a tactic that let ground forces advance quickly.
• Grot's company encountered mutant enemies at a bombarded warehouse and killed them with Heavy Bolters and Laser Rifles.
• A crimson-armored Space Marine attacked the company, but Loot charged him and crushed him with his armored arms.
• Grot and his infantry saw the battlefield's blood pool together and vanish, so Grot recorded the phenomenon and reported it to Custodian.

Yao En analyzed reports of supernatural blood phenomena and identified a foundry district as the likeliest source of Chaos corruption. He set out unarmored toward a nearby district with many living beings, planning to infiltrate the enemy and stop its ritual.

• Yao En reviewed footage of blood gathering, evaporating, and forming a hostile humanoid figure, then recognized the phenomena as signs of a ritual.
• Yao En used his Biological Processor to map the reports and identified the Engine Foundry and Wild Donkey Foundry as the most likely source of Chaos corruption, with an 83 percent probability.
• Yao En told Grey he planned to infiltrate the enemy as a civilian or prisoner, and Grey agreed to prioritize an assault on the marked foundry.
• Yao En dismissed his Terminator Power Armor into a Warp Rift and ran toward Foundry District Four, where his Biological Processor had detected many living beings.

Dark Apostle Kevien used a prisoner’s blood to locate the resistance hiding beneath Forge District 4. He slaughtered the defenders, enslaved the surviving civilians through a skull ritual, and led his forces deeper into the district.

• Kevien ordered an Oathbreaker Space Marine to bring him a captured, heavily augmented prisoner and tried to recruit him to serve the Blood God.
• The prisoner spat lubricant into Kevien’s eye and shouted his devotion to the Machine God, so Kevien performed a ritual that drew blood from him and sent it threading through Forge District 4.
• Kevien’s forces followed the blood threads through the district’s pipes and underground passages until they found a hidden cavern full of civilians and Adepta Sororitas.
• Kevien ordered his forces to kill the Adepta Sororitas and the heavily augmented people, then made the Mortal Servitors build a skull pile.
• The skull pile filled the Oathbreaker Warband with fighting spirit and subdued the surviving civilians, whom Kevien ordered to wait as he led his forces onward.

Yao En was taken with the prisoners to the Oathbreaker Warband’s foundry, where he learned they were being forced into a gladiatorial ritual. After meeting the White Scars Astartes Chen Ye and other captive Space Marines, Yao En decided to target the ritual’s leader, Dark Apostle Kevien.

• The Oathbreaker Warband finished clearing the fourth forge district and marched more than a hundred thousand prisoners, including Yao En, toward the foundry.
• Yao En was locked in a cell and saw Chaos Space Marines from other warbands imprisoned nearby.
• Chen Ye explained that the Oathbreakers had captured separated members of other warbands and were using gladiatorial combat to gather blood for a ritual.
• Chen Ye told Yao En how he and Barutai had been captured after arriving at the Forge World to repair their Terminator armor, and said he wanted to avenge Barutai.
• The captive Space Marines argued over whether to escape and cooperate, while Yao En asked who was conducting the ritual.
• The blue-armored Space Marine named Dark Apostle Kevien as the ritual’s leader, and Yao En resolved to kill him when he appeared.

Chen Ye, Yao En, and Rhode were forced into a gladiatorial ritual staged by the Oathbreaker Warband. Armed and marched into an arena, they faced hundreds of the warband’s fighters as the battle was about to begin.

• Chen Ye challenged the execution master to put him in the arena, and the execution master selected Yao En, Chen Ye, and other captives for the match.
• Rhode volunteered to join the gladiators and asked that Yao En be excluded, but the execution master included him anyway.
• Oathbreaker Mortal Servitors released the selected prisoners and marched them to an arena where Forge World leaders were bound to spiked pillars.
• The warband distributed melee weapons, and Chen Ye killed a servitor who tried to stop the captives from taking extra weapons.
• Yao En, Chen Ye, Rhode, and the other captives entered the arena opposite eight hundred and eighty-eight Oathbreaker gladiators, and both sides prepared to fight.

Rhode, Chen Ye, and Yao En fought the Oathbreaker Warband while trying to protect the mortal captives, who were being slaughtered. As Rhode and Chen Ye fought their way through the battle, Yao En’s pendant summoned a flaming blade, signaling that his god had turned Its gaze upon the arena.

• The Oathbreaker Warband charged, and Rhode summoned lightning with his scepter, killing several Space Marines.
• Chen Ye fought the Execution Masters with twin blades, then used a massive axe Rhode sent him as Rhode struck enemies with lightning.
• The mortal captives suffered heavy casualties, and Chen Ye drew the Space Marines’ attention by taunting them while Yao En defended the survivors.
• Rhode rejoined Chen Ye alongside a female xenos after a psychic blast scattered nearby enemies.
• Yao En’s pendant flashed and conjured a flaming long blade that let him cut down enemies, including those beyond its apparent reach.

Yao En used the C'tan power in his pendant to disrupt the ritual while fighting through the arena, prompting Kevien to return and identify him as the cause. When Yao En charged Kevien, a rift opened and his Custodian Power Armor emerged to fight on its own.

• Yao En slaughtered enemies with his augmented strength and warped space, weakening the arena's ritual as Chen Ye and Rhode noticed the dead left no blood.
• Kevien sensed that the ritual's effects in the arena had weakened, ordered Mogriva to send more warriors against the Soulless One, and decided to return after learning about his abilities.
• Chen Ye asked Rhode where Kevien was, while Yao En continued fighting and waited for his target to appear.
• Yao En's Biological Processor identified Kevien on the northern platform, and Kevien recognized Yao En as the cause of the ritual's disruption.
• Yao En charged Kevien, and a rift opened as Yao En's Custodian Power Armor emerged and began fighting automatically.

Yao En used his Terminator Power Armor to stop the ritual, kill the Dark Apostle Kevien and his brother Mogriva, and rescue the prisoners. He teleported away from the forge after completing his mission, while the enemy remained unaware of his final actions there.

• A Terminator Power Armor appeared in the arena and slaughtered the enemies as Yao En approached the platform.
• Mogriva tried to shield Kevien and attack Yao En, but Yao En used Bullet Time to stab him with a flaming blade.
• Kevien fled through the forge, but Yao En tracked him down and killed him, burning his body and soul to ash.
• Yao En teleported to the prison, freed the captives, summoned the teleportation device, and killed a pustule-covered Space Marine.
• Yao En teleported away from the forge before the enemy realized he had entered the prison and rescued the captives.

Around the bonfire, Rhode challenged Yao En over the deaths in the arena, then faced Chen Ye as their temporary cooperation ended. Rhode stayed seated instead of fighting and revealed that he had left his homeworld in the 30th Millennium.

• Rhode accused Yao En of letting thousands die, and Yao En explained that he had sacrificed them to stop the ritual and lure out Kevien.
• Chen Ye warned Yao En not to trust Rhode, who admitted he had once planned to kill them but no longer wanted to.
• Chen Ye rose and confronted Rhode, while Yao En stood with Chen Ye and the rescued prisoners kept their distance.
• Rhode remained seated and laughed at Chen Ye for calling him young, then recalled leaving his homeworld sometime in the 30th Millennium.