Chapter Summaries

Luther and Qin Xa formed a secret alliance between the Dark Angels and the World Eaters, and Luther arranged to provide Psykers and two Cruisers to Qin Xa. Before departing Caliban for Terra, Qin Xa entrusted an infant named Osiris to the Captain and his wife, with Kamas as the child’s mentor.

• Luther explained that he would establish the secretive Osiris organization on Caliban and make Kavak its head.
• Qin Xa and Luther signed a secret alliance agreement, and Luther offered Caliban’s Psykers and two Vengeance-class Cruisers to the World Eaters.
• Qin Xa declined Luther’s offer of a celebration because he needed to accompany Seyanus to Terra.
• The Captain discussed selling beast heads to raise money for the White Knight’s needs as the two Cruisers joined the fleet.
• Qin Xa asked the Captain and his wife to adopt the infant entrusted to him, named the child Osiris, and ordered the fleet to set sail for Terra.

More than thirty Calibanite Psykers underwent the White Knights Librarians’ selection process aboard the White Knight, passing its screenings and stress test. Qin Xa welcomed them into the Librarians, and the chapter ended with him ordering the selection procedure recorded as standard regulations.

• A naval officer escorted the Calibanites toward the Grand Library, where they saw Grand Librarian Tethys and learned that earlier screenings had already eliminated some candidates.
• Qin Xa brought the candidates into the Library, and the White Knight accelerated through the Immaterium as Varius explained that their assessment had continued throughout the journey.
• The Librarians discussed the candidates and chose apprentices, then subjected them to mental shocks to test the stability of their psychic talents.
• Qin Xa stopped the shocks, and Varius welcomed every candidate into the White Knights Librarians of the World Eaters Legion.
• Kamas led the new apprentices to their rooms, and Qin Xa ordered the Librarians to document the procedure as standardized regulations.

Angron removed Nuceria’s Archon and appointed a Space Marine to replace him, then welcomed Qin Xa and prepared to travel with him to Terra. Their fleet joined Seyanus near the Solar System and passed inspection, leaving Qin Xa gazing at Terra with a complicated expression.

• The Archon proposed naval standardization, but Angron dismissed him over his entanglement in blood ties and interests and appointed a Space Marine as Nuceria’s new Archon.
• Qin Xa arrived at Nuceria, embraced Angron, and learned that The Emperor had asked them to travel to Terra together.
• Angron offered four Cruisers and twelve escort ships to the Librarian fleet, but Qin Xa decided the warships should remain with the 12th Legion; Angron brought them along for the journey anyway.
• Qin Xa and Angron traveled toward Terra aboard the White Knight, and their fleet met Seyanus near the Solar System, where he explained the entry restrictions and mentioned Avida’s resolve.
• Seyanus completed the fleet’s inspection process, and the ships entered the Solar System near Pluto before continuing toward Terra.

Qin Xa and Angron arrived on Terra, where they saw its ruined surface and were escorted into the Palace. There, they reunited with Gilia, the Golden Age archaeologist Qin Xa had once rescued, who had become a Custodian.

• Qin Xa recalled his ancient Terran origins as the fleet approached Terra, then agreed to accompany Quadrant to Mars and meet people there, including Cawl.
• The Mechanicus intercepted the fleet near Mars and invited Quadrant to visit the Fabricator-General, Kelbor, but Qin Xa said he would go with him.
• Qin Xa, Angron, Seyanus, Avida, and their attendants descended to Terra, where they saw mutants scavenging in the deserts alongside protected, prosperous cities.
• An Imperial official welcomed the visitors, while the Custodes ordered Seyanus to stay near the Imperial Council Hall and directed Qin Xa and Angron to the Palace.
• Angron challenged the Custodian escort's dismissive manner before he and Qin Xa entered the Palace.
• Gilia revealed herself to Qin Xa and Angron as the Golden Age archaeologist they had met before, explaining that she had joined The Emperor's cause and become a Custodian.

Gillia showed Angron and Qin Xa her Custodes quarters before Malcador led them deeper into the palace to meet the Emperor. The Emperor discussed the coming Imperial Council accusation against the Fifteenth Legion and asked how Qin Xa thought Magnus should be handled.

• Gillia described the Emperor’s bio-alchemy and said she had adapted well to life as a Custodes.
• Malcador showed Angron and Qin Xa the palace prison, and they joked about escaping together if they were ever imprisoned.
• The Emperor met Angron and Qin Xa by psychic projection and said they would remain on Terra for a while.
• The Emperor told Qin Xa that Avida’s accusation against the Fifteenth would be heard at the Imperial Council, and Qin Xa insisted Avida would accuse Magnus.
• Malcador said Magnus had been slated for secret house arrest on Terra under his personal watch, and Qin Xa asked how the Emperor had planned to handle him.

Angron questioned why the Emperor and Malcador did not prevent Magnus from destroying the Webway, and learned that their visions showed possible futures rather than certain prophecies. Malcador began preparing Angron to become Warmaster, but Angron challenged whether the role suited him.

• Malcador explained that he and the Emperor observed possible futures, while Konrad Curze possessed true prophecy, and said Qin Xa represented an unknown variable that offered hope.
• Malcador revealed that Angron often became a bloodthirsty madman after receiving the Butcher's Nails in other futures, then announced that he would personally teach Angron to become the Imperium's highest military commander.
• Malcador told Angron that Oll Persson had been the first Warmaster and had betrayed the Emperor, and said Angron might hold the title if his performance and the timing were right.
• Malcador brought Angron to a guarded hall and gave him books about interpersonal relations, instructing him to read them.
• Angron questioned why he should become Warmaster, and Malcador provoked him by calling him cowardly and weak.
• Angron defended Qin Xa's influence on him and said his adoptive father had taught him to recognize his strengths and weaknesses, making him doubt that Warmaster suited him.

Malcador persuaded Angron to accept a coordinating role among the primarchs, though Angron demanded the right to withdraw. At the Imperial Council, Avida and Qin Xa testified against Magnus, and the council moved on to the Fifteenth Legion’s proposals.

• Malcador argued that Angron’s strength lay in coordinating his brothers, and Angron agreed to take on the responsibility while demanding autonomy and the right to withdraw.
• The Emperor and Qin Xa discussed Angron’s leadership potential and revealed that the accusation against the Fifteenth Legion had been used to draw Qin Xa away from the council meeting.
• At the Imperial Council, Seyanus presented the Astartes legions’ proposal and Avida testified against Magnus and the Fifteenth Legion.
• Qin Xa rose from the observer seats and identified himself as the second witness against the Fifteenth Legion.
• The presiding officer announced the council would proceed to the next proposal, the Fifteenth Legion’s plan for academic exchange between Prospero and Terra.

After helping Avida accuse Magnus, Qin Xa considered how to protect him and discussed with Malcador why the Imperium could not eliminate every future threat too early. Qin Xa then planned a visit to Mars and offered to take Quadrant there despite his banishment.

• Qin Xa escorted the shaken Avida from the council and considered ways to support him after his accusation against Magnus.
• Qin Xa and Malcador agreed that Magnus’s crisis had to be stopped, while Malcador explained why Kelbo Hal needed to become Fabricator-General despite opposing the Imperium.
• Malcador argued that acting against future enemies could turn present allies into foes, and Angron teased him about whether his emotions were genuine or a disguise.
• Qin Xa asked when the council concerning Magnus would be held, and Malcador said he would arrange safeguards to bring the Fifteenth Legion back to Terra.
• Qin Xa decided to visit Mars, then told Quadrant he would take him there despite Kelbo Hal’s order banishing him.

Quadrant returned to No. 3 Smelting Plant with Qin Xa and confronted the workers’ brutal living conditions and his past there. After Qin Xa secured the workers a day off, Zeth arrived, and Quadrant asked her to arrange a meeting with Belisarius Cawl.

• Quadrant and Qin Xa arrived at No. 3 Smelting Plant, where the exhausted workers applauded under the overseer’s orders.
• Quadrant asked the overseer to give the workers a day off, and Qin Xa used his standing and a message to Sage Kel to secure it.
• Quadrant showed Qin Xa the workers’ cramped drawer-like residences and recounted how Kelbo Hal had refused to improve their conditions.
• Quadrant told Qin Xa that his childhood friends had worked themselves to death and that their corpses had been used to increase metal’s carbon content.
• Zeth arrived at the smelting plant, and Quadrant asked her to arrange a meeting with Belisarius Cawl.

Quadrant reunited with Belisarius Cawl on Mars and revealed that he intended to sever his bond with Kelbo Hal. Qin Xa accepted Quadrant’s request to face Kelbo alone, and the two men prepared to settle their past at Smeltery No. 3.

• Quadrant and Cawl reunited at Smeltery No. 3, where they reminisced about their past before Cawl was called away.
• Quadrant told Qin Xa that he needed to resolve his relationship with Kelbo Hal, explaining that only one of them could die to end their bond.
• Quadrant described how Kelbo had both harmed and cared for him, and asked Qin Xa to understand and permit his decision to confront his former mentor alone.
• Kelbo arrived without guards, recalled how he had first taken Quadrant in, and challenged Qin Xa’s involvement.
• Quadrant stepped away from Qin Xa and declared that he would face Kelbo alone; Qin Xa evacuated the smeltery, leaving them to confront each other.

Quadrant challenged Kelbo Hal with weapons and successive android bodies, revealing technology that let him teleport and cast psychic attacks using psychic crystals. He left Kelbo facing an apparently endless supply of bodies and attacks.

• Quadrant fired his custom weapons at Kelbo Hal, but Kelbo's defenses deflected them before he crushed Quadrant's body with a gravity weapon.
• Quadrant reappeared in his original form as an android, then attacked Kelbo with psychic lightning and teleported to evade his gravity assaults.
• Kelbo's psychic defenses failed, and his gravity weapon crushed Quadrant again after Quadrant ran out of psychic crystals and could no longer teleport.
• Another android Quadrant appeared and revealed that ten more bodies were already being produced, allowing him to exhaust Kelbo's limited defenses.

Quadrant defeated Kelbo Hal in a duel that ended their master-disciple relationship, though Kelbo’s consciousness-transfer technology meant he might still live elsewhere. After leaving Mars, Quadrant gave Qin Xa his research, including psychic circuits and mass-controllable bionic bodies, and Qin Xa urged him to develop both technologies.

• Kelbo Hal confronted Quadrant about the advanced bionic body technology, and Quadrant demonstrated its programmable metamorphic material by destroying Kelbo’s automata soldier.
• Quadrant used psychic lightning supplied by Qin Xa to kill Kelbo Hal’s identity as his mentor, while acknowledging that Kelbo had learned consciousness-transfer technology and might survive in another body.
• Quadrant and Qin Xa left Foundry No. 3 with Kova, and Quadrant handed Qin Xa a suitcase containing records of his technological achievements.
• Quadrant explained how he had used rare Blackstone fragments to make Psychic Circuits that let people without psychic talent cast spells.
• Quadrant told Qin Xa he could control twenty bionic human bodies directly or create nodes to command an army, and Qin Xa urged him to develop the technology.

Qin Xa followed Malcador through the Imperial Palace dungeon, where Malcador showed him dangerous prisoners and artifacts and gave him the Lament of the Irrational for safekeeping. Afterward, Malcador explained the plans for Angron and the Warmaster role, leaving Qin Xa wary of the danger Chaos posed to the Imperium’s leaders.

• Malcador led Qin Xa into the Imperial Palace dungeon and showed him the cell prepared for Number Eleven.
• Malcador opened a containment room and revealed the Lament of the Irrational, a psychic crystal that drained nearby psychic energy.
• Qin Xa took the crystal and set it into the hilt of the Sirius Sword after Malcador gave him permission to keep it.
• Malcador instructed Qin Xa to memorize the dungeon’s entrance and layout so he could reach its artifacts during an emergency.
• Qin Xa asked about Angron becoming Warmaster, and Malcador said Angron could withdraw while his handling of Magnus would help determine whether he or Horus was chosen.
• Qin Xa warned that Chaos might target Angron, and Malcador said Qin Xa’s protection and the dungeon’s precautions would help guard against that danger.

Angron joined the primarchs aboard Rogal Dorn’s Eternal Crusader as their fleets prepared to capture Magnus. After winning support for a diplomatic first approach to Prospero, Angron assigned each brother a role in the mission, leaving the fleet ready to attack if negotiations failed.

• Rogal Dorn received Angron and Qin Xa aboard the Eternal Crusader and announced that the Master of the Administratum had appointed him commander of the joint operation.
• Angron met Mortarion and Typhon, and the primarchs gathered on the Command Deck as the fleet entered the Immaterium for Prospero.
• Mortarion urged the primarchs to prepare coercive measures, while Angron proposed that they enter Prospero alone and try to persuade Magnus to return without provoking the Thousand Sons.
• Dorn, Perturabo, and Leman Russ supported Angron’s proposal, and Mortarion accepted the majority decision despite his doubts.
• Angron assigned Russ to bring Rune Priests, asked Perturabo to study Prospero’s defenses, ordered Dorn to keep the Eternal Crusader ready, and tasked Mortarion’s Death Guard with protecting the delegation.

Angron and the other primarchs arrived on Prospero to take Magnus to Terra, and Magnus welcomed them without resistance. After Avida returned and joined Qin Xa, the primarchs settled into the Great Library of Tizca and planned to discuss the accusations against Magnus the next day.

• Magnus welcomed the arriving primarchs and introduced Amon and Ahriman, while Angron sensed Magnus's trust and willingness to go to Terra.
• Avida arrived on Prospero after publicly accusing his Legion and gene-father; Magnus forgave him, and Qin Xa accompanied him to the Great Library of Tizca.
• The primarchs admired Prospero's City of Light, and Magnus offered to send architects and artists to Nuceria before departing for Terra.
• Mortarion revealed that his sons had chosen rooms they could fortify in an emergency, and Angron praised his caution.
• Angron proposed discussing the accusations with Magnus the next day and asking him to return to Terra, while Mortarion warned that complications might arise.

Magnus debated Avida over their opposing beliefs about the Immaterium, while Avida blamed Magnus’s ideas for his brother’s death and vowed to oppose him. Before leaving for Terra, Magnus asked Qin Xa to protect Prospero, and Qin Xa promised it would not be destroyed.

• Magnus selected books as a gift for Qin Xa and told Avida he would not punish him for speaking against the legion.
• Avida angrily rejected Magnus’s cave parable and said he would spend his life opposing Magnus and the harm he had caused.
• Magnus and Avida argued over the dangers of exploring the Immaterium, with Magnus maintaining that benevolent entities were more common.
• After Avida left, Qin Xa refused Magnus’s offered books because he had accused him, but Magnus insisted they were not enemies.
• Magnus said he would face questioning and travel to Terra, then asked Qin Xa to protect Prospero from destruction.
• Qin Xa solemnly promised that Prospero would not be destroyed, and Magnus said he could now leave without worry.

Magnus abruptly lost control during questioning in the Pyramid of Light, trapping himself and the other primarchs behind a psychic barrier. As the Thousand Sons and Death Guard nearly clashed outside, Qin Xa shattered the barrier and found Angron and Magnus frozen in place.

• During Angron's questioning, Magnus spoke incoherently and seemed to experience shifting realities and time before roaring as psychic light burst from him and sealed the pyramid behind a barrier.
• Outside, Ahriman ordered the Thousand Sons back to their stations, but a warrior reported that the Death Guard had attacked them, prompting both Legions to arm and meet on the road to the pyramid.
• Typhon and Ahriman lowered their forces' weapons to approach the barrier together, but Ahriman was swallowed by it, leaving Typhon and the Thousand Sons facing each other in a tense standoff.
• Qin Xa arrived with Amon, ordered the assembled warriors away through a portal, and used the Sirius Sword to shatter the barrier.
• Inside the pyramid, Qin Xa found Angron and Magnus standing frozen while Ahriman stared blankly nearby, then went to examine Angron.

Angron entered Slaanesh’s realm while searching for Magnus and resisted the temptations of its ruler. As he escaped, Slaanesh revealed that Angron’s essence was Insight and claimed the Emperor had traded him to Chaos.

• Angron arrived in Slaanesh’s realm and was welcomed into a palace of lavish pleasures.
• Slaanesh’s attendants offered Angron warriors and sensual delights, but he compared the pleasures unfavorably to the gratitude of the Nucerians after their uprising.
• Angron rejected Slaanesh’s offer to become her prince and demanded to know where she had taken Magnus.
• Slaanesh said Magnus was with her brother, and Angron concluded that Magnus was in Tzeentch’s realm.
• Angron left the palace, and Slaanesh told him that the gigantic eye was part of him and that his essence was Insight.
• Slaanesh claimed the Emperor had made a deal with Chaos at Molech involving Angron, and Angron fled through the Immaterium.

Qin Xa entered the Immaterium to retrieve Angron and found Magnus with Avida, whose revelations made Magnus confront his responsibility for Avida’s death and Asar’s mutation. The three returned to their bodies in the Pyramid of Light and prepared to leave for Terra.

• Qin Xa found Angron fleeing the Realm of Slaanesh and learned that Slaanesh had already found him.
• Angron used his connection to the enormous eye to locate Magnus, and Qin Xa and Angron traveled through Tzeentch’s Domain to a cold celestial body.
• Qin Xa and Angron found Magnus listening to Avida, who explained the soul-swapping ritual and warned that Magnus’s communicating Spirit was a Chaos God.
• Magnus admitted that his mistakes had caused the tragedy, and Avida urged him to repent before returning to the frigid light.
• Qin Xa, Angron, and Magnus left the Immaterium together and awakened in the Pyramid of Light.
• Angron said everything was clear and the group agreed to return to Terra.

Aboard the Eternal Crusader, Sigismund challenged Angron’s Blood Drinkers to test their swordsmanship and teamwork. After seeing them defeat Sigismund through coordinated combat, Dorn and Angron prepared to part ways, with Angron bound for Nuceria to ready for the Ullanor counteroffensive.

• Dorn agreed to escort Magnus and the Thousand Sons to Terra while Angron returned to Nuceria to prepare for the Ullanor counteroffensive.
• Sigismund asked to spar with Angron’s Blood Drinkers, and Yochula faced him in a duel.
• Sigismund outmaneuvered Yochula and won their one-on-one spar by pointing his sword at Yochula’s throat.
• Sigismund challenged two Blood Drinkers at once, and Yochula and Kaut defeated him with coordinated attacks.
• Dorn praised the Blood Drinkers’ group-fighting strategy, and Angron and Dorn parted with plans to meet during the Ullanor counteroffensive.