Chapter Summaries

Uslan taught Qin Xa how to activate the Pocket Universe before the World Eaters fleet reached Kur. Angron and Qin Xa began the operation to destroy the Perfect City, and Mago's forces landed as the city's residents watched.

• Uslan activated Qin Xa's Pocket Universe and explained that it could hold a warship within its stable region.
• Angron and Qin Xa observed the Perfect City and prepared to destroy it, deploying World Eaters to patrol the city and seize key sites.
• Mago led the Second Chapter into a Drop Pod and noticed the Thirty-One Precepts had reappeared on his HUD.
• Mago and his guards emerged into a city square, where residents argued over whether they were angels or World Eaters.
• A Knight Titan landed behind Mago, and he ordered its pilot not to ready the weapons as more Drop Pods and Titans descended.

The World Eaters broadcast the Emperor’s order to destroy the Perfect City and begin evacuating its people while cutting communications to prevent organized resistance. Mago contained a volatile crowd at the city’s largest church without opening fire, separating the people and detaining influential priests with Security Automata.

• The World Eaters broadcast their mission and the Emperor’s decree, while holograms showed the order condemning Lorgar and demanding the Perfect City’s destruction.
• Nucerian troops and Space Marines blockaded the city, cut communications, and prepared orderly evacuations using Kiel’s backup measures.
• At the largest church plaza, Mago’s guard told the gathered people to return home, but priests denounced the broadcast and stirred the crowd into throwing objects and resisting.
• Mago called in Security Automata, which divided the crowd into smaller groups and detained influential priests without using their electric batons.
• Mago and his guards agreed that opening fire on civilians would have caused chaos, and the crowd was controlled without anyone dying.

Angron and Qin Xa used the Olena Sisters’ psychic abilities to make thousands of Perfect City’s believers board evacuation Transports, while Angron invited Erebus to oversee the evacuation on Khur. A Word Bearer named Erebus attacked the World Eaters flagship, then was shot by another Erebus who entered the Command Deck.

• Angron, Qin Xa, and the Olena Sisters subdued the gathered believers and sent them aboard Transports.
• Angron asked the Word Bearers to send an evacuation oversight group led by Erebus to Khur.
• Erebus persuaded his battle-brothers that the Emperor’s treatment of their Legion was a trial, and they prayed as the Invincible Faith approached Khur.
• Erebus ordered the Invincible Faith to attack the World Eaters flagship Resolute Determination, then killed the five battle-brothers with him and the Command Deck personnel.
• The Invincible Faith fired on the Resolute Determination, whose regional purple light curtain blocked the attack.
• Another Erebus entered the Command Deck and shot the bloodied Erebus, whose body melted as the newcomer inspected it.

Erebus recalled how a mysterious boy who looked exactly like him attacked him before he returned to find the Word Bearers dead and a civil war underway. Qin Xa arrived aboard the Invincible Faith, believed Erebus’s account, and sent a Word Bearers officer to halt the fleet’s preparations while he waited for the situation to settle.

• Erebus remembered meeting a boy on Colchis who attacked him and took on his appearance before Erebus killed him.
• Erebus stopped the Resolute Determination’s guns from firing, but its Void Shield began to collapse and a flash struck the ship.
• Qin Xa and Angron arrived on the Resolute Determination, where Angron asked Saling to pause the bombardment for half an hour.
• Qin Xa entered the Invincible Faith, restrained the Word Bearers outside, and found Erebus surrounded by the corpses of the Command Deck officers.
• Erebus explained that an impostor who looked exactly like him had killed the others, and Qin Xa believed him, calling the impostor Erebaty.
• Qin Xa sent a Word Bearers officer to tell the Legion’s commander to stop the fleet from gathering, then sat by the entrance to wait.

Erebus’s innocence was partly confirmed, and Angron promised to protect him until Erebati could be found. On Colchis, The Emperor ordered Lorgar to witness the destruction of the evacuated Perfect City, leaving the Word Bearers unharmed beside a vast crater.

• Erebus surrendered to the Word Bearers, and Qin Xa and Angron explained that Erebati had once been mistaken for him and might still be alive.
• Angron vouched for Erebus, and Lorgar ordered a Word Bearers officer to pardon him while the investigation continued.
• The Emperor ordered Lorgar to take the Word Bearers to Colchis, where they gathered to watch the empty Perfect City.
• The Emperor used a Lance strike to destroy the Perfect City, leaving Lorgar and the Word Bearers unharmed at the edge of a massive crater.

After the Emperor destroyed the City of Perfect, Angron and Qin Xa prepared the World Eaters Librarians for daemonic incursions on Colchis. During patrol, Erebus and Kharn encountered a winged figure that the civilians worshipped, and Kharn mistook it for an angel.

• The Emperor used psychic power to force Lorgar and the Word Bearers to kneel through the Lance bombardment and a storm, then ordered Angron to continue the Great Crusade.
• Angron sensed an Emotional Storm over Colchis, and Qin Xa assigned a newly appointed Librarian Codicier and the other Librarians to guard the worst-affected areas.
• Erebus patrolled the new city under a tracker while Word Bearers shunned him, and Kharn invited him to join the World Eaters as a joke.
• Erebus and Kharn found civilians worshipping a winged figure as armed World Eaters and Nucerian Soldiers surrounded them.
• Kharn called the figure an angel, but Erebus questioned why he would mistake an upright, blue-black birdlike being for one.

Erebus and the World Eaters captured a Changer of Ways after discovering that faith-related objects could harm and bind it. The capture sparked a confrontation between Varius and Lorgar over which Legion would take the demon.

• A demon appeared among civilians in Kur, mutated some of them, and attacked the World Eaters and Soldiers.
• Varius arrived to protect the Soldiers, while Kharn and the Astartes fought the demon and Erebus discovered that his Chainaxe could wound it.
• Erebus bound the demon with ritual rope, and Varius identified it as a Changer of Ways and ordered the capture kept confidential.
• Varius prepared to take the demon away, but Lorgar demanded that the Word Bearers handle it because Erebus had bound it.
• Varius defied Lorgar and raised his spear, ready to fight to the death rather than surrender the demon.

Lorgar questioned a daemon that claimed the Emperor was a god destined to become the Dark King, then left before the daemon could be taken away. He resolved to seek the truth and rejected Erebus's proposal to destroy the Perfect City, rebuking him for taking the Emperor's gifts for granted.

• Erebus stopped Lorgar and Varius from taking the daemon, and the group waited for Angron and the White Knight Master.
• The daemon spoke directly to Lorgar, identified itself as a daemon, and claimed the Emperor would ascend as the Dark King and destroy humanity.
• Lorgar dismissed the daemon's claims as lies and left with Erebus before Angron and Qin Xa arrived to prepare a banishment ritual.
• Lorgar considered whether the daemon's words might be true and decided he needed to verify them, while wondering how humanity should repay the Emperor's love.
• Erebus urged Lorgar to destroy the Perfect City as a glorious trial for the Word Bearers, and Lorgar called him greedy and foolish before walking away.

Qin Xa banished a wounded daemon in a ritual lesson, then traveled with Erebus to meet Horus and the Luna Wolves. He offered to help destroy the giant spiders beneath their current battlefield before joining Horus in a conference.

• Qin Xa supervised the Librarians as they used a cinnabar ritual array to banish the wounded daemon and taught the novices about psychic belief.
• Erebus arrived and explained that Angron had sent him to the Luna Wolves to report on the Legion and discuss the Imperial Council’s future power distribution.
• Qin Xa confirmed Erebus’s account with Angron and ordered him to remain aboard the White Knight and by Qin Xa’s side.
• Two months later, Horus told the Luna Wolves officers that he had refused the Emperor’s suggestion to rename the Legion the Sons of Horus.
• Qin Xa and Erebus arrived at the Luna Wolves flagship, where Horus welcomed Qin Xa and Abaddon bristled when Qin Xa pushed past him.
• After hearing about the giant spiders underground, Qin Xa offered to teleport a force below the surface and attack them from within.

Qin Xa led the Luna Wolves’ teleport assault, destroyed the Xenos leader, and established a teleport Beacon before returning to Horus. The Interex arrived seeking talks, and Qin Xa recognized the faction while keeping watch on Erebus, whose actions could still threaten peace.

• Qin Xa and Abaddon led one hundred Luna Wolves Terminators into the underground cavern, where Qin Xa’s psychic shockwave wiped out the attacking Xenos.
• Abaddon charged the surviving Xenos leader, but Qin Xa killed it before the two sides clashed and deployed a teleport Beacon.
• Qin Xa returned to the flagship, where Horus received word that an unknown human vessel had entered the system and invited its occupants to meet.
• The visitors revealed themselves as the Interex, a multi-species alliance, and Horus lowered the Luna Wolves’ weapons so they could talk.
• Qin Xa recognized the Interex and marked Erebus’ Soul Projection with psychic power, wary that Erebus could provoke a conflict.

Horus established peaceful contact with the Interex after withdrawing the Luna Wolves from their prison world, while Qin Xa coordinated with him on behalf of Angron. When the Interex revealed their fear of Chaos, Qin Xa told Horus and Erebus that the Chaos Gods and daemons were real, leaving Horus stunned.

• Horus ordered the Luna Wolves to withdraw from the Interex prison world and exchanged introductions with Mithras Thull.
• Horus and Thull arranged information exchanges, and Thull guided the fleet into Interex territory while Seyanus joined his warship.
• Qin Xa conveyed Angron's proposal for mutual information-sharing, and Erebus explained that the Word Bearers would be delayed by the City of Perfection incident.
• An Interex linguist's report revealed that the Interex feared kaos, which they associated with the Immaterium, destruction, and gods.
• Horus ordered further exchanges about the Imperial Truth, but Qin Xa told him that Chaos Gods and daemons truly existed, and Erebus confirmed that he had fought daemons.

Qin Xa warned Horus about Chaos and predicted that Erebus would cause conflict with the Interex by stealing a Chaos artifact, so Horus confined Erebus aboard the flagship. Erebaty later trapped Erebus in a psychic illusion, killed a sentry, and escaped by sending Erebus away in an escape pod.

• Qin Xa explained that Chaos fed on negative emotions and warned Horus to avoid supernatural schemes and heed the prophecy about a Xenos temple.
• Qin Xa predicted that someone resembling Erebus would steal a Chaos artifact from the Interex museum, so Horus ordered Erebus to stay in his office aboard the flagship.
• While confined, Erebus read Lorgar’s account of the Colchis church that had imprisoned orphans, then encountered Erebaty, who dragged him into a psychic illusion of his traumatic past.
• Erebus fought through the illusion and emerged into a corridor filled with the bodies of mutated humans, while a female sentry witnessed him.
• Erebaty stopped Erebus’s dagger, killed the sentry, and lured him into an escape pod that carried Erebus away from the flagship.

Erebus stole Horus’s contingency plan for exterminating the Interex’s Xenos and sent it to an Interex official, provoking a crisis during Horus’s peace talks. As Horus tried to calm the armed delegates, an explosion engulfed the museum holding Chaos Artifacts.

• Erebus photographed Horus’s plan for exterminating the Interex’s Xenos and secretly transmitted it to an Interex official.
• Erebus entered the Interex world through the Immaterium and headed toward its museum.
• Horus and Tull discussed peaceful relations and the Interex’s fears about the Imperium during their conference.
• An Interex bureaucrat presented Horus’s signed contingency plan, and Interex warriors surrounded Horus and his companions with weapons drawn.
• Horus ordered his warriors not to retaliate and waited for negotiations to resume, but an explosion set the forbidden-zone museum ablaze.

Erebus returned to the museum vault, where Qin Xa and the defenders guarded a Chaos artifact as Erebaty attacked. Qin Xa destroyed Erebaty’s soul projection with the Sirius Sword, though he remained uncertain whether the enemy was truly dead, and the Interex agreed that Erebaty threatened both them and the Imperium.

• Erebus emerged from the escape pod and Abaddon confirmed he was the original before escorting him to the museum vault.
• Qin Xa explained that Erebaty was targeting the artifact and that taking it would provoke war with the Interex, while Abaddon reported that negotiations had collapsed.
• Erebaty appeared at the vault and attacked the defenders, killing an Interex warrior and a Terminator and wounding Abaddon.
• Qin Xa absorbed power from Erebaty’s gemstone, shattered it, and used the Sirius Sword to pin Erebaty down and prevent his teleportation.
• Erebus tried to behead Erebaty, but Erebaty teleported away until Qin Xa struck him with the Sirius Sword, destroying his Soul Projection.
• Qin Xa warned the Interex that Erebaty was an enemy shared by both sides, and the Interex warriors agreed.

Loken sent Varius and Kova to retrieve Horus and the others, while Kova piloted a Gunship through the Interex defenses. After the museum incident was explained, Horus persuaded Tull to continue peace negotiations and proposed an accord protecting the Interex’s non-human allies; Tull agreed to send it to the Interex leadership for approval.

• Loken asked Varius to contact the White Knight Master and bring his primarch back, but Varius said the planet’s energy barrier blocked psychic contact and proposed using Kova’s Gunship instead.
• Kova used the Soul of the Firmament to evade the Interex defenses and brought Loken and Varius to the conference hall where Horus was negotiating with Tull.
• Horus refused to leave the conference while the museum incident remained unexplained, and Tull agreed to wait five Interex-standard minutes.
• Qin Xa arrived with the Interex warriors from the museum, who clarified what had happened, and both sides lowered their weapons.
• Horus explained that the contingency plan found at the museum was one of several preparations and promised to share the complete plan after negotiations.
• Horus offered to protect the Interex’s non-human allies through peaceful integration and an accord; Tull agreed to draft it for the Interex leadership, with Seyanus supporting Horus.

Qin Xa reassured Horus that the Emperor would accept Intrex’s Xenos citizens and helped him plan their integration into the Imperium. Days later, Qin Xa prepared to negotiate with Intrex representatives about taking custody of their Chaos Artifacts, accompanied by the talkative Torgaddon and the reserved Loken.

• Qin Xa told Horus that the Emperor would tolerate Intrex’s Xenos Races if doing so advanced the Imperium’s goals, and urged him to send Seyanus to Terra to secure their protection.
• Horus agreed to station Luna Wolves on Intrex and arrange for Qin Xa to take custody of the Chaos Artifacts; he also planned to continue the Great Crusade against a self-proclaimed Emperor.
• Qin Xa warned Horus that Seyanus would die if sent to fight the self-proclaimed Emperor, so Horus assigned Torgaddon to escort Seyanus to Terra instead.
• Intrex’s highest authorities chose Tull to represent the alliance in negotiations over joining the Imperium, while Horus spent his days working with him.
• Qin Xa met Torgaddon and Loken and led them toward the council chamber, where he planned to speak with the Intrex representatives about the Chaos Artifacts.

Qin Xa convinced the Interex that he could oversee their Chaos Artifacts and offered to train their Psykers in exchange for recruiting up to twenty into his Librarian corps. The Interex agreed to cooperate, and Qin Xa prepared to leave with Loken and Torgaddon.

• Qin Xa argued that the Interex could not reliably detect Chaos influence, citing Erebaty's attempted theft and the danger it posed of provoking a war with the Imperium.
• Qin Xa explained why the Interex's previous Psyker-training effort had failed and offered to train selected Psykers in exchange for recruiting up to twenty human Psykers into his Librarian corps.
• The Interex representatives approved Qin Xa's proposal and agreed to place the Chaos Artifacts in his care, while sending observers to learn from his oversight.
• The Interex proposed a Joint Chaos artifact Oversight Agency led by Qin Xa, and revealed that Uslan had advised them to listen to his views on Chaos.
• Torgaddon joked about Loken's coming mission, and Qin Xa told Torgaddon to watch over Seyanus before Torgaddon saluted him.

Seyanus diverted his Gloriana-class warship toward the 63-19 system to join the campaign against the self-proclaimed Emperor, despite Torgaddon warning that he would die there. Meanwhile, Abaddon began a decapitation strike against the Emperor, whose defense field stopped his Bolter rounds.

• Seyanus ordered his ship to the 63-19 system, and Torgaddon sent astropathic messages about their course to Abaddon and Qin Xa.
• Abaddon, Aximand, and Loken prepared the Luna Wolves' attack, and Abaddon chose to lead the decapitation strike himself.
• Abaddon and six Justaerin Terminators flew to the palace, where the Emperor's emissary led them to the throne room.
• Abaddon refused the jester's demand that he kneel and fired at the Emperor, but a defense field stopped the Bolter rounds.

Abaddon survived a disastrous assault on the palace but crashed in the frozen wilderness, where Qin Xa found him with two other Justaerin. Qin Xa scolded the Luna Wolves for their decisions, rescued them from pursuers, and left Abaddon injured but alive after his topknot was shot off.

• Invisible assassins attacked Abaddon and the Justaerin in the audience hall, while the Emperor’s defenses destroyed a Cruiser and blocked orbital and air strikes.
• Abaddon ordered a withdrawal, fought through the assassins, and escaped the palace with four surviving Terminators, but an electromagnetic attack crippled their Gunship and sent it crashing into the wilderness.
• Three days later, Loken, Aximand, and Torgaddon searched the snowfields for Abaddon and encountered Qin Xa beneath a tree.
• Qin Xa rebuked the Luna Wolves for allowing Abaddon’s decapitation strike and Seyanus’s arrival, then used his psychic power to pull Abaddon and two Justaerin out of the snow.
• When infantry and invisible assassins attacked, Qin Xa killed the pursuers with a blast of psychic energy, but noticed that Abaddon’s topknot had been shot off.

Qin Xa helped the Luna Wolves save Abaddon, incapacitated the Emperor through an assassin, and shattered the palace defenses with the White Knight. The other Legions arrived, and Lorgar killed the Emperor as Qin Xa prepared to return to the World Eaters.

• The Apothecaries revived Abaddon after Qin Xa handed them his severed topknot, and Qin Xa sedated him when he woke and attacked an apprentice.
• Qin Xa agreed to let Seyanus command the Luna Wolves, provided Seyanus stayed away from the fighting, and the Legion withdrew to prepare its attack.
• Qin Xa possessed an invisible assassin and used psychic power to twist the Emperor's neck, preventing him from issuing orders.
• Qin Xa released the White Knight from the Pocket Universe, shattering the palace defenses, while the Luna Wolves began their assault.
• The Word Bearers, Blood Angels, and Emperor's Children arrived, and Lorgar killed the Emperor with psychic lightning as Loken watched.
• Qin Xa thanked Seyanus and prepared to return to the World Eaters after learning the Legions had gathered at Nuceria.