Chapter Summaries

Perturabo took command of the defense against the Greenskins and used the Precognitive Chip to design a layered defensive line. He sent the plan for construction and directed the Legions to deploy, while Angron and Vulkan departed after clashing with his views on the sector’s people.

• Perturabo inspected the Precognitive Chip and criticized Angron, Vulkan, and Dantiok for wasting Nuceria’s resources on poor defenses.
• Angron persuaded Perturabo to accept command authority, and Perturabo modified the tactical table to plan the defense.
• Perturabo agreed to write Angron a book on defensive warfare, while Vulkan worried about the burden of Angron’s ability to sense others’ thoughts and emotions.
• Perturabo designed a layered defensive line with traps, firing positions, and troop routes, then sent the plan to Dantiok for construction.
• Perturabo criticized the effort to protect the Ounus Sector and argued that its people should fight rather than evacuate; Vulkan and then Angron left to deploy their forces.

Angron and Qin Xa oversaw the fortress defenses and began an advance through the Greenskin horde to expand the defensive perimeter. Qin Xa encountered the planet’s Warlord and chose to fight it alone, but the first exchange left a deep gash in his armor.

• Dantiok directed the Fourth Legion’s construction work while Qin Xa and Angron inspected the wall, where Nucerian soldiers and Space Marines held off the Greenskins.
• Angron outlined plans to equip the Nucerian Regular Army with armored vehicles and heavy artillery and use it for trench warfare.
• Angron led a force out of the fortress to clear ground for the defenses as artillery, gunships, engineers, and Nucerian troops supported the advance.
• Qin Xa noticed the Greenskins’ equipment improving, drew their forces toward him, and encountered a five-meter-tall Warlord after it cleared the surrounding Boyz and Nobs away.
• Qin Xa declined Angron’s offer to intervene and fought the Warlord, which struck him across the breastplate and knocked him back.

Qin Xa used an Ancient Artifact that suppressed psychic power to weaken and behead a Warlord-class Greenskin, then explained that he had fought it to demonstrate effective ways of countering Greenskins. The fortress came under attack again, and Qin Xa suspected that more than one Warlord existed.

• Qin Xa realized the Warlord resisted psychic attacks through the Greenskins’ WAAAGH! Energy and devised a new strategy.
• Qin Xa retrieved an Ancient Artifact that suppressed psychic power, returned to the fight, and weakened both himself and the Warlord.
• Qin Xa used his Battle Axe and Giant Claw to behead the Warlord, and the surrounding Greenskins fled.
• Qin Xa confirmed that his recording captured the battle, while the other defenders studied it and discussed the Warlord’s strength.
• Qin Xa said he had fought to demonstrate Greenskin traits and ways to counter them, then suspected there might be other Warlords when another attack began.

Gusa and Sissy P met Qin Xa to discuss the new Greenskin Warlord and agreed to help him kill the self-proclaimed Great Beast Emperor. Two days later, Perturabo worried that Fulgrim and Ferrus would abandon the campaign against the Greenskins when they arrived at Little Nuceria.

• Gusa and Sissy P told Qin Xa that the new Warlord had invited Gusa to his capital in three days, and explained that the Greenskins had driven them out of their former home.
• Qin Xa pressed Gusa about failing to use the Orbital Bombardment Beacon, then learned that Gusa had been unable to meet the new Warlord until the invitation arrived.
• Sissy P estimated that the Orbital Bombardment Beacon had a seventy-to-eighty-percent chance of killing the Warlord, so Qin Xa ordered it activated before he and an Assassination Squad teleported in.
• Qin Xa called Gusa a research subject and told him to activate the teleport Beacon or disable the Warlord’s detection defenses; Gusa accepted the risks to gain status and pursue his goals.
• Two days later, Perturabo, Angron, Qin Xa, and Vulkan gathered to welcome Fulgrim and Ferrus to Little Nuceria, while Perturabo predicted they would leave the war against the Greenskins.

Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus arrived to join the Primarchs directing the war against the Greenskins in the Ounus Sector. With the civilian evacuation nearly complete, the leaders prepared to counterattack, but first planned to eliminate the Warlord-class Ork threatening to rally the enemy.

• Angron reassured Perturabo that Fulgrim and Ferrus would not challenge his authority, while Qin Xa teased Perturabo about his unpredictable nature.
• Fulgrim and Ferrus landed with a small force, greeted Angron, Vulkan, and Perturabo, and met Qin Xa; Angron sensed Perturabo's jealousy of the attention the Third Legion received.
• Ferrus praised the 12th Legion's strength and numbers, unintentionally sounding insulting, and Perturabo left before Angron followed him.
• Vulkan explained that he had drawn Greenskin forces to his world while the civilians were evacuated, and the Primarchs reviewed the enemy's advance toward Little Nuceria.
• Fulgrim endorsed using the evacuation as bait before launching a sector-wide counterattack, and Qin Xa warned that they first had to kill the Warlord-class Ork before it rallied the Greenskins.

Qin Xa and the Primarchs agreed to hunt down the Great Beast Emperor, while Gusa challenged the Ork ruler in the underground tunnels. After Sissy P died helping him defeat the Beast Emperor, Gusa took command and ordered the Greenskins to leave and return home.

• Qin Xa proposed an assassination plan, and the Primarchs agreed to go together and kill the Warlord.
• Gusa and Sissy P entered the Great Beast Emperor’s palace, where Gusa learned the ruler wanted to test his weapons on him.
• Gusa attacked the Beast Emperor, and the two fought while Sissy P moved in to help.
• The Beast Emperor caught Sissy P, whose EMP grenade disabled its machinery, but the Beast Emperor crushed him before Gusa could reach him.
• Gusa killed the Beast Emperor, took command of the gathered Greenskins, and ordered them to leave and return to where they came from.

After Gusa killed the Beast Emperor at the cost of Sissy P’s life, Qin Xa confronted him and warned him that his growing reputation could become a constraint. Gusa left Super WAAAGH Planet with followers to build the Crimson Battle Axe tribe, rescue Sissy P, and eventually return to Ullanor.

• The Greenskins fell into chaos after the Beast Emperor died, and Qin Xa suspected Gusa had killed him; the primarchs prepared to counterattack and investigate the Eldar before the teleport Beacon activated.
• Qin Xa teleported into a shack and found Gusa carrying Sissy P’s dead body, then learned that Gusa had killed the Beast Emperor with Sissy P’s help.
• Qin Xa knocked away Gusa’s weapons and choked him while warning that his power and reputation depended on deception, the Butcher’s tolerance, and the stories Greenskins told about him.
• Gusa asked how to bring Sissy P back to life, and Qin Xa told him to find a skilled Ork healer who could retrieve and bind its soul.
• Gusa said he would first try to save Sissy P, then build a disciplined tribe named Crimson Battle Axe and eventually fight his way back to Ullanor; Qin Xa let him leave through the portal.

After the Greenskin assault weakened, Qin Xa gave Olya research data that could help her and her sister return to Nuceria Prime. An Eldar attack interrupted their quiet moment, and Qin Xa captured an attacker whose soul revealed a Farseer.

• Qin Xa recorded his plans for Gusa and packaged his Greenskin research onto a chip for Olya.
• Qin Xa told Olya the chip could help her and her sister become research representatives on Nuceria Prime, and she accepted it as a gift.
• A Psychic Premonition warned Qin Xa of an Eldar sniper, and he raised a barrier before destroying the watchtower and thwarting the attacker's explosive artifact.
• Qin Xa and the Space Marines intercepted the Eldar squad, captured one warrior, and brought him to the dungeon.
• Farr reported the Eldar's shifting locations, and Qin Xa invaded the captive's soul, finding himself before a Farseer.

Qin Xa defeated the Thuantar Craftworld Farseers’ psychic trap and used their connection to locate the Eldar hiding across the planet. As Angron prepared to pursue them, the Primarchs began forging custom armor and a spear for Qin Xa.

• Qin Xa and the Farseer exchanged views on prophecy before the Farseer and his allies tried to overwhelm Qin Xa with a prepared psychic trap.
• Qin Xa revealed that he had no Soul Projection, seized the Farseers’ Soul Projections, and turned the lead Farseer into a beacon that exposed the Eldar’s locations.
• Qin Xa told Angron and Fulgrim that only some of their forces were needed to attack the Eldar, unless the Eldar could lead them to Thuantar Craftworld.
• Angron asked his brothers to make Qin Xa weapons and armor, while Perturabo teased him for not asking directly.
• Fulgrim measured Qin Xa as Vulkan, Ferrus, Perturabo, and the other Primarchs designed custom armor and a long spear for him.

Qin Xa reviewed and approved a unique Terminator armor and psychic-enhancing spear designed by the primarchs, with Fulgrim adding decorative details. The primarchs agreed to begin crafting the equipment in exchange for Qin Xa helping each of them once in the future, provided the favor served humanity and was reasonable.

• Qin Xa examined the armor blueprints, including Perturabo's neural-linked helmet and psychic-powered breastplate, and approved the defensive systems and modular design.
• Angron offered Perturabo Nuceria's mental-link technology, while Qin Xa approved the armor's other features, including its shields, anti-gravity devices, and cyberwarfare defenses.
• Qin Xa approved the long spear, whose disintegration-field tip and psychic-amplifying features complemented his abilities.
• Fulgrim showed Qin Xa his silver, gold, and white decorative design for the armor and spear, and Qin Xa accepted the aesthetic changes.
• Fulgrim, Perturabo, Ferrus, and Vulkan asked Qin Xa to help each of them once in the future in return for the equipment, and Qin Xa agreed under conditions that the favors support humanity and remain reasonable.

Qin Xa received a formal armoring ceremony aboard the White Knight, donning his newly forged power armor and spear before preparing to test them on Little Nuceria. After he departed, four primarchs assessed his mysterious past and debated where his gene-seed came from.

• Qin Xa bathed, dressed in a robe sewn by the Captain's family, and walked through a ceremonial gathering to the armory.
• Quadrant and Brown's Servo-skulls fitted Qin Xa with silver-dominant power armor, and Quadrant presented him with a heavy long spear.
• Qin Xa thanked the primarchs, agreed to help their Legions against powerful Greenskin enemies, and left to test his equipment before the planned Exterminatus.
• Angron departed to prepare fire support for Qin Xa's ground operation, while Ferrus, Fulgrim, Perturabo, and Vulkan stayed behind to discuss the Emperor's vague instructions to judge Qin Xa.
• Ferrus, Fulgrim, Perturabo, and Vulkan concluded that Qin Xa had a secret past involving prolonged contact or warfare with Greenskins, then speculated about his unknown gene-seed origins.

Qin Xa led a two-hour assault on the Eldar stronghold to test his Terminator Armor while his team gathered data and fought their way toward a Webway Gate. After a powerful Farseer emerged and fled through the gate, Qin Xa stopped Kamas from pursuing and ordered the group back to their ship.

• Qin Xa led the Librarians, Brown, Quadrant, and the Olena Sisters into the snowstorm to attack the Eldar and test his Power Armor.
• Qin Xa followed a psychic beacon to the Eldar stronghold, where his armor withstood heavy fire as he slaughtered Eldar Warriors and the Olena Sisters studied its psychic systems.
• Qin Xa killed a Dark Eldar wearing a Shadow Field, and Quadrant collected the artifact while observing the battle.
• Qin Xa led the group toward the Webway Gate as the Librarians protected their companions, and Varius reported that one hour and forty minutes remained.
• A powerful Farseer emerged from the Webway Gate and immobilized everyone except Quadrant, but Qin Xa freed his people and traded insults with it.
• The Farseer fled through the gate, and Qin Xa stopped Kamas from pursuing, warning that the escape was bait and ordering everyone back to the ship.

Qin Xa learned that Thuantar Craftworld had baited a Webway gate with a route leading directly to the Craftworld, but rejected entering the Eldar trap and ordered the White Knight to break away from the fleet. After Doomsday destroyed Little Nuceria, Qin Xa set course for Thuantar, where he expected a Greenskin fleet led by Gusa to attack.

• Qin Xa told Angron that the Webway gate led directly to Thuantar Craftworld and warned that entering the Webway would risk being trapped.
• Qin Xa refused to take half the 12th Legion and ordered the White Knight to leave the Legion fleet for the 00913 System.
• Qin Xa told the Captain that the White Knight would destroy Thuantar Craftworld, then revealed that a Greenskin fleet would give them a chance to strike amid the chaos.
• Doomsday entered orbit around Little Nuceria and fired its Planet-Sculpting Beam, causing the planet to collapse.
• Qin Xa recalled seeing Gusa direct a Greenskin attack on Thuantar Craftworld, hoping to obtain a warship and escape the Ounus Sector.

Qin Xa had the White Knight painted purple so it could approach the Ork fleet around Thuantar Craftworld unnoticed, then led a team into the Craftworld. After confronting the Farseer, Qin Xa was invited to meet the Great Farseer, though he warned that he might still destroy the Craftworld.

• Qin Xa and the Librarians used psychic power to cover the White Knight in purple, explaining that Greenskins treated purple as a color of invisibility.
• The White Knight reached the Ork fleet around Thuantar Craftworld without drawing notice, and Qin Xa led his team through a snowstorm into the Craftworld.
• Qin Xa observed Orks attacking Eldar elsewhere in the Craftworld, then confronted the Farseer who had tried to lure him into the Webway.
• Qin Xa questioned the Farseer about the Yin-Yang Symbols worn by the Eldar, and the Farseer prepared to fight him.
• Laizhe arrived and told the Farseer that the Great Farseer wished to see Qin Xa, who accepted the invitation while warning that he might still destroy the Craftworld.

Qin Xa met the imprisoned Great Farseer, Destiny, who explained how his Prophecy had split the Thuantar Craftworld and led it toward destruction. After sensing Destiny’s mind, Qin Xa chose to take him to the Infinity Circuit, leaving the fate of the other Eldar unresolved.

• Laizhe led Qin Xa and the humans through the Portal, then ordered the resentful Farseer to use his Prophecy to help defend the Craftworld from the Orks.
• Qin Xa’s group emerged in a prison and met Destiny, the weakened Great Farseer whom the Eldar had imprisoned before seeking his help.
• Destiny explained that his Prophecy had foreseen Angron destroying the Craftworld, dividing its people and driving them into a civil war that left them vulnerable to the Orks.
• Destiny declared the Craftworld doomed and said its people would end their own lives so their souls could enter the Infinity Circuit.
• Qin Xa condemned the Eldar for creating their conflict with Angron, then asked to sense Destiny’s mind before deciding his fate.
• After sensing Destiny, Qin Xa decided to take him to the Infinity Circuit.

The Great Farseer gave Qin Xa an Eldar device and Soul Guardian Stones in exchange for help placing his people’s souls in the Infinity Circuit, then spoke of the suffering and decline that awaited all living beings. Qin Xa recognized that the Farseer’s warning matched the future he had witnessed, and he led the group toward the Infinity Circuit while worrying over humanity’s fate.

• The Great Farseer gave Qin Xa a Wraithbone device that used Pocket Universe technology and offered ten Soul Guardian Stones to the humans.
• Laizhe killed the Eldar who had chosen to enter the Infinity Circuit, preserving each soul in a Spirit Stone as the Great Farseer explained the Eldar Paths to Qin Xa.
• The Great Farseer warned Varius that every race endured suffering and that humanity’s ascendant era would eventually give way to decline; Laizhe then killed him and preserved his soul.
• Qin Xa told Laizhe he would ensure the Eldar’s safety and followed him toward the Infinity Circuit with the Spirit Stones.
• Qin Xa brooded over the future he had witnessed as Varius and the other Librarians imagined a peaceful life after humanity’s troubles ended.

Laizhe led Qin Xa and the others toward the Soul Core so they could return the Spirit Stones to the Infinity Circuit, explaining the Eldar’s heightened senses and their catastrophic past along the way. As the group fought through Greenskins inside the temple, Gusa sensed Qin Xa’s arrival and called him the Butcher.

• Laizhe explained that the Craftworld’s Wraithbone framework formed the Infinity Circuit and that its Soul Core could gather souls and separate from the Craftworld.
• Laizhe described the Eldar’s heightened senses as a curse that had driven their ancestors to extreme forms of pleasure and amusement.
• Qin Xa’s group reached the temple amid fighting, and he had Laizhe put the Spirit Stones in Quadrant’s storage compartment while promising to honor his pledge to the Great Farseer.
• Qin Xa used Psychic Sight to spot Gusa directing the Greenskins and learned that Eldar forces were retreating deeper into the temple for reasons Laizhe did not understand.
• Qin Xa trapped the Greenskins’ tank shells in a psychic spatial cycle, and Brown killed the charging Nobs.
• Gusa sensed Qin Xa approaching, identified him as the Butcher, and wondered how he had reached the Craftworld.

Qin Xa’s group reached the Craftworld’s Soul Core and prepared to send its Spirit Stones into the Infinity Circuit, but the Farseer tried to stop them. Qin Xa killed him instantly and wondered why he had offered no resistance.

• Qin Xa ordered the group to prepare for a possible Warlord-class Ork and told Olya that Gusa had revived Sissy P with a mechanical neck.
• Laizhe led Qin Xa and the others through a hidden door to the Soul Core, where he explained the temple’s psychic spatial technology and described an ancient race that used technology to alter reality.
• Laizhe placed the Spirit Stone container into the Soul Core’s device and explained that the souls would gradually merge into the Infinity Circuit.
• The Farseer arrived with blood-covered Eldar Warriors and vowed to stop the Spirit Stones’ rebirth and kill Qin Xa’s group.
• After the Librarians mocked and insulted the Farseer, Qin Xa crushed him with psychic power before he could attack.
• Qin Xa questioned why the Farseer had died without offering any resistance.

Qin Xa and his companions separated Thuantar Craftworld’s Soul Core and Infinity Circuit, leaving Laizhe behind as its Grave Keeper before returning to the White Knight. As the ship entered the Immaterium and headed toward the main fleet, Qin Xa saw a luminous creature in a psychic storm that looked back at him.

• Qin Xa killed the Farseer, and the Eldar Warriors fell as empty suits of armor; Laizhe then activated the pillar to separate the Soul Core and Infinity Circuit.
• Laizhe explained that he would remain behind as the only one able to operate the Soul Core, while Qin Xa and the others bid him farewell and teleported back to the White Knight.
• The Captain ordered the White Knight to evade nearby Ork ships and prepare for Immaterium travel after learning that Qin Xa and the others had returned.
• Qin Xa questioned why the Orks seemed to be trying to detect the ship’s communications signal, then watched the White Knight leave the Ork fleet and enter the Immaterium.
• Qin Xa spotted a luminous creature inside a psychic storm, and the creature met his gaze.

As Qin Xa’s warship was battered by the Immaterium, a dead Farseer appeared and revealed that he had trapped his followers’ souls in an Agony Circuit to shield himself from Slaanesh. Qin Xa ordered the ship to leave the Immaterium while he stayed to stop the Farseer, who began hurling drifting wreckage at the vessel.

• Qin Xa identified the warship’s shifting appearance as psychic erosion, while the Captain recognized its former names, the Fury and the Indomitable.
• The Farseer appeared through the holographic display and taunted Qin Xa, who sensed the Farseer’s soul anchored in the Glimmering Ornament.
• Qin Xa discovered that the Agony Circuit used the Farseer’s followers’ suffering as fuel and that the souls were resisting him.
• Qin Xa ordered the Captain to take the warship out of the Immaterium and prepared to stay behind to kill the Farseer.
• The Farseer dragged immense wreckage through the Immaterium and attacked the warship as the Captain maneuvered to evade it.
• Qin Xa recognized an abandoned 40K-era warship ahead as the vessel he had traveled on after becoming a Grey Knight, and the White Knight could not avoid the collision.