Chapter Summaries

Fabius Bile experimented on Qin Xa’s learning chip, trapping its copied consciousness in thousands of years of simulated isolation. Qin Xa escaped by hacking the chip and transferring himself into a machine, then killed Bile and fled the flagship as Super Little Qin.

• Fabius Bile used an ancient device to trap Qin Xa’s copied consciousness in the learning chip and subject it to thousands of simulated years.
• Qin Xa studied the chip, cracked its teaching program, and wrote code to access Bile’s laboratory systems and build a humanoid machine.
• Qin Xa escaped the chip by transferring his consciousness into a Servitor and confronted Bile, who shot the Servitor’s head.
• Qin Xa revealed his new machine body, seized Bile, and killed him while calling himself Super Little Qin.
• Super Little Qin took a jump pack and flew out of the flagship after looking at Angron’s coronation ceremony.

Super Little Qin took control of an Imperium transport and a pirate warship, then recruited their surviving sailors and prepared to flee beyond Imperium jurisdiction. The sailors named the ships Invincible Firepower and Super transport as they set sail for the Abyss.

• A Clarmo family Rogue Trader warned the pirates about an incoming Nuceria transport fleet, then left the transport and its prisoners to Super Little Qin.
• Super Little Qin revealed its metal body, killed the pirates aboard the transport, and freed the surviving sailors to help take back the ships.
• Super Little Qin armed the sailors and deployed combat robots, capturing the transport and wiping out the pirates on both ships over two months.
• Super Little Qin told the sailors it would use Intelligent Machines to operate the ships and head for the lawless region known as the Abyss.
• The sailors asked for ship names, approved Super Little Qin's suggestions, and set sail aboard Invincible Firepower and Super transport.

Qin Xa learned that Perturabo and the Iron Warriors had been ordered to fight the Hrud, so he redirected the White Knight fleet to support them. He also began organizing a psychic military academy aboard the White Knight to train more Librarians, and the chapter ended with him amused by two ships’ names.

• Qin Xa and Angron exchanged news through the Warp, including that Perturabo had taken the Iron Warriors to fight the Hrud in the Abyssal Campaign.
• Qin Xa changed the fleet’s route toward the Iron Warriors, while Angron planned to bring their assembled brothers to support them later.
• Qin Xa visited the Librarian recruits undergoing augmentation and used psychic spells to prevent some candidates’ bodies from rejecting their gene-seed or implants.
• Qin Xa ordered Varius to establish a psychic military academy aboard the White Knight and organize a wider search for Psykers to train as Librarians.
• The White Knight reached an Imperial system to resupply, and Qin Xa heard that the Captain was negotiating with ships called Invincible Firepower and Super transport.
• Qin Xa asked about Osiris, learned that the infant was growing quickly because of his psychic power, and privately decided the two ships’ names suited his tastes.

Qin Xa and the Librarians rescued an Iron Warriors ship from the Hrud, whose miasma aged everything around them. After destroying the Hrud, Qin Xa restored the aged Dantiok, while the Iron Warriors explained that their fleet had been devastated during its retreat.

• Qin Xa discovered that the Iron Warriors ship had been boarded by Hrud and led Brown and the Librarians in a teleport assault.
• The Librarians attacked the Hrud with psychic lightning, and Qin Xa halted their assault with a psychic shockwave before disintegrating them.
• Brown collected Hrud tissue for research as their corpses released toxins, and the Iron Warriors reported that the Hrud had destroyed the rest of their fleet.
• Dantiok arrived gravely aged and told Qin Xa that his company had been ambushed after answering two distress calls.
• Qin Xa used a lengthy psychic spell to restore Dantiok's aged cells and repair his gene chains.

Dantiok returned to the Iron Blood aged by the Hrud and was stripped of his Trident rank, while Qin Xa urged Perturabo to withdraw from the Kugan System. Perturabo agreed to avoid occupying Kugan, but news that the Kase System had fallen—and that its Warpsmith commander had been turned into a baby—left the Iron Warriors’ morale shaken.

• Qin Xa brought the aged Dantiok to Perturabo, who removed him from the Tridents without imposing further punishment.
• Qin Xa warned Perturabo that continuing the war in the Kugan System would bring the Iron Warriors heavier losses and urged him to regroup for reinforcements.
• Perturabo protested that his abilities were being questioned, then agreed to treat the attack on Kugan as an intelligence-gathering operation and ordered the fleet to withdraw if Qin Xa’s predicted threat appeared.
• An Iron Warriors squad reported that the Kase System had fallen and presented its Warpsmith commander, whom the Hrud had turned into a baby.
• Perturabo smashed the holographic display after seeing the transformed Warpsmith.

The Hrud’s time-warping power devastated the Gugan System, forcing Perturabo and the Iron Warriors to retreat before they regrouped with the other Legions. Angron confronted Perturabo over his rash attack and delayed deciding whether the united forces would fight the Hrud.

• The Hrud accelerated the Gugan System’s aging, turning its star into a red giant, and Perturabo ordered the Iron Warriors to retreat.
• Qin Xa teleported the Iron Glory away from danger, but refused to use psychic power to gather the scattered fleet because Perturabo would not promise to withdraw.
• Half a month later, the Forge Engine and the other Legions arrived, and the Primarchs criticized Perturabo’s decision to attack the Hrud alone.
• Angron asked Perturabo why he had left the route to Nuceria, and Perturabo said he had acted to keep Angron from being delayed and losing his claim to Warmaster.
• Angron told Perturabo that his resentment over difficult duties and lack of recognition had contributed to his choices, then said he needed time to study the Hrud before deciding whether to fight them.

Qin Xa arranged for Mechanicus researchers to work with Quadrant on technology to counter the Hrud, then visited a Hrud world through a Kramo family trade mission. He learned that the Hrud could communicate and saw humans living as their slaves and pets, leaving him with a more complicated view of the conflict.

• Qin Xa brought three Mechanicus heroes of the Abyss Campaign to Quadrant and asked them to help develop technology against the Hrud.
• Quadrant proposed devices that would protect vehicles and ships from Hrud temporal effects and use those effects to restore injured or altered Space Marines.
• Quadrant offered the three researchers full ownership of the invention, but Qin Xa urged them to follow Mars's attribution rules and include Quadrant.
• Qin Xa joined a Kramo family trade mission, where the family exchanged food for Hrud flintlock guns and secured permission for him to visit a Hrud world.
• Qin Xa teleported to the Hrud world, met a Hrud and its human intermediary, and learned that the Hrud had migrated from Gugan to survive and reproduce.
• Qin Xa saw Hrud worshipping statues alongside human slaves and heard one human say he preferred Hrud captivity to life under The Emperor.

Qin Xa heard a Hrud explain that the species survived and reproduced to prepare for its creator’s prophesied holy war, but an attack by Men of Iron interrupted their conversation. After helping the Men of Iron defeat two Hrud warships, Qin Xa learned that their engine-room sphere was the answer to what The Emperor wanted from the Hrud.

• A Hrud Xenos told Qin Xa that the Hrud avoided war and prepared for their creator’s return, while Qin Xa connected their history to the Old Ones.
• Men of Iron attacked the Hrud worldship, killed the Xenos speaking with Qin Xa, and warned him that the Hrud still required territory and resources.
• A Men of Iron commander revealed that it had repeatedly raided the Hrud for revenge and their faster-than-light engine, then invited Qin Xa aboard its Imperium-style warship.
• The Men of Iron asked Qin Xa to protect its ship from the Hrud warships’ first attack, and Qin Xa contained it in his Pocket Universe.
• The Men of Iron destroyed the two Hrud warships with torpedo-like weapons that countered the Hrud’s entropy-increase fields, then showed Qin Xa a sphere in the engine room as the answer to The Emperor’s interest in the Hrud.

Qin Xa met Super Little Qin, a copied version of himself who had built an iron man army to avenge the humans killed by the Hrud, and agreed that the Hrud could still threaten the Imperium. After returning to the legion, Qin Xa punished Garan for giving Bile a legion device, while the Standard Bearer added a separate disciplinary beating.

• Qin Xa learned that the Hrud faster-than-light engine consumed enormous fuel and aged the ship and its crew, then realized the iron man was a copied version of himself.
• Super Little Qin recounted how the Hrud killed or enslaved his followers and explained that he had built an iron man army to seek revenge.
• Qin Xa agreed with Super Little Qin that the Hrud remained a threat, promised to deal with Bile and Garan, and gave Super Little Qin a ride to resupply.
• After returning to the legion, Qin Xa made Bile delete his laboratory archive data and challenged Garan to a duel in the Arena.
• Qin Xa beat Garan for giving Bile the chip-reading device, then warned him not to use it and threatened execution if Bile failed to return it.
• The Standard Bearer judged Garan for giving away legion property and lashed him as Qin Xa left for the Command Deck.

Angron ordered preparations to contact the Hrud and offer them a chance to leave before resuming the war, while planning to use the campaign to address problems within the expeditionary force. He left the Command Deck with Perturabo still resentful but reassured of Angron’s support, and Qin Xa recognizing the campaign’s deeper purpose.

• Quadrant reported that anti-entropy technology had entered mass production, and Qin Xa announced that super-alloy weapons could let Space Marines kill Hrud without nearby anti-entropy devices.
• Perturabo questioned continuing the Abyssal Campaign, and Angron decided to contact the Hrud through the Klamo family before fighting them if they refused to migrate.
• Angron said the Night Lords would deal with Imperial rulers who sold people to the Hrud after the war, and the other primarchs left to prepare their forces.
• Perturabo accused Angron of risking his Warmaster title and asked why the Iron Warriors had borne the casualties alone, but Angron affirmed that his title rested on the support of his brothers.
• Angron told Qin Xa he intended to address the Night Lords’ internal problems during the campaign, while Perturabo would have to face the Olympia rebellion himself.

The World Eaters and allied Legions launched an orbital assault on Gugan to destroy the Hrud’s underground energy barrier, using anti-entropy devices to overcome its defenses. During the tunnel fighting, Orenst clashed with Jando Scalewalk over the treatment of human Slaves, while the Night Lords’ poor discipline left Shen unable to resolve the dispute.

• The fleets entered the Gugan System, and Orenst was assigned to lead the elite vanguard in an assault on the Hrud energy barrier.
• Qin Xa brought the White Knight above Gugan, where anti-entropy torpedoes neutralized the Hrud defenses and Orenst’s Drop Pod force wiped out the garrison.
• Orenst, Felix, and mixed Legion forces advanced into the tunnels, with Salamanders using Vulkan’s specialized Flamers to clear the Hrud passages.
• Jando Scalewalk questioned why the Night Lords had to fight and later fired on human Slaves, but Orenst blocked the shots and offered the survivors the World Eaters’ protection.
• Some Slaves accepted protection, while others revealed concealed explosives and were killed by Orenst; Jando criticized the Warmaster’s rules, and Shen reprimanded him without taking further action.

The Space Marines destroyed the Hrud defensive barrier on Gugan, and Angron oversaw a duel between Orenst and Zhan Duo after the World Eaters accused the Night Lords of insulting their Gene-father. Orenst won despite being badly wounded, and Angron ordered that Zhan Duo be saved.

• The Iron Warriors destroyed the Hrud defensive barrier device beneath Gugan, allowing the Imperial fleet to bombard the underground complex and the assault force to return to the surface.
• Zhan Duo and the Night Lords mocked Angron over a private channel, while the World Eaters recognized the insults and grew angry.
• Orenst demanded a duel with Zhan Duo to defend Angron's honor, and Angron accepted the challenge.
• Zhan Duo wounded Orenst with his longsword, but Orenst endured the injuries and beat him down with his fists and Battle Axe.
• The Standard Bearer declared Orenst the victor, and Angron ordered the Apothecary to save Zhan Duo, saying it was not yet his time to die.

The Imperium’s campaign against the Hrud advanced rapidly, while Curze explained why his attempts to reform Nostramo had failed. Angron persuaded Curze to work with him and Sevatar to address corruption in the Night Lords after their fleets reunited in three months.

• Quadrant deployed a time-and-space-altering artifact on Gugan, allowing the Iron Warriors to build facilities ten times faster, and Qin Xa reported that the Volpa Star Gorge had been retaken.
• Angron contacted Curze’s sub-fleet, where Kiel reported that the campaign was progressing smoothly and Sevatar revealed that Curze was on the planet’s surface killing Hrud.
• Curze recounted how Nostramo had relapsed into corruption, how Night Lords purges had been exploited by schemers, and why he believed he could not establish a new order there.
• Angron argued that Nostramo required practical reforms and urged Curze to begin by dealing with corruption in the Night Lords Legion.
• Curze agreed to work with Angron, and they planned to address the problem when the fleets reunited in three months for the decisive battle against the Hrud main fleet.

In the Hrudd system, Qin Xa and the White Knights Librarians tested coordinated psychic tactics aboard White Knight while Chaghatai commanded the wider Imperial fleet. White Knight devastated the Hrudd interception force and pressed its attack as the main fleets engaged.

• Chaghatai sent White Knight to flank the Hrudd fleet, while Kamas explained how the Librarians could coordinate psychic power to support void combat.
• Qin Xa linked the Librarians through his Psychic Sight and led them to use teleportation and a concentrated salvo to destroy the Hrudd interception fleet’s lead ship.
• Qin Xa and Tethys disrupted two Hrudd ships’ evasive maneuvers, causing them to collide and be destroyed by Torpedoes.
• White Knight pursued the retreating Hrudd ships, resisted an entropy shock with its anti-entropy device, and destroyed another enemy vessel.
• The Hrudd commander sent more ships to surround White Knight, while its Captain judged that the ship’s mission was to tie down enemies rather than fight the entire fleet alone.

The Imperium fleet destroyed the Hrud fleet and the remaining worlds in the system. Angron then took up the Night Lords Legion’s discipline crisis, deciding to purge the Legion and resolve its problems in the same system.

• Jaghatai commanded the Imperium fleet as it defeated the Hrud fleet, whose ships fought to buy time for their migrating people.
• Angron signed an order to destroy the Hrud-occupied worlds, and Cyclonic Torpedoes destroyed the planets where Hrud remained.
• Angron raised the Night Lords’ discipline crisis, as Guilliman, Leman Russ, and Vulkan described accusations and conflicts involving the Legion.
• Sevatar said the Legion’s decline began with its Nostramo recruitment, while Curze admitted he had little control over his sons.
• Angron asked Curze to authorize him to handle the Legion’s affairs and purge it, and Curze agreed to sign the documents.
• Angron declared that the Night Lords’ problems would be resolved in the star system as midnight approached for the Legion.

Angron and Konrad Curze used a psychic screening to isolate nearly eighty thousand Night Lords and sentenced them to death for their crimes. The execution continued inside a sealed checkpoint, where Angron, the Blood Drinkers, the White Knights Librarians, and the Divine Lord Titan overwhelmed the trapped Legionaries.

• Angron sensed the assembled Night Lords’ thoughts while Qin Xa identified those marked for execution, and psychic force pushed nearly eighty thousand into the checkpoint.
• Konrad Curze remained outside as Qin Xa teleported Angron and the Blood Drinkers inside, where Angron declared the selected Night Lords guilty and sentenced them to death.
• The Divine Lord Titan appeared and disabled the Night Lords’ Bolters while Angron, the Blood Drinkers, and the White Knights Librarians began the slaughter.
• Zhando watched his men and fellow Night Lords die before Yochula broke his charge, crippled him, and beheaded him.
• Yochula rejoined the Blood Drinkers’ formation and threw Zhando’s head at a Night Lord as the slaughter continued.

Angron left Guilliman to settle the Night Lords’ purge crimes, then Guilliman took command when Orks ambushed the Ultramarines’ attack on a Hrud worldship. He pursued Gusa, who defeated him and escaped through a vortex after warning that calamity was coming.

• Angron ordered Konrad Curze to rebuild the Night Lords with recruits from Terra and Nostramo and appointed Sevatar to form an eight-person council.
• Guilliman began preparing investigations and trials for the Night Lords while the fleet resumed its campaign against the Hrud.
• When disciplined, armored Orks inflicted heavy casualties during an assault on a Hrud worldship, Guilliman took command and went to the front lines.
• A massive Greenskin called Gusa attacked the Space Marines’ flank, then led Guilliman into a cave where they fought.
• Gusa overpowered Guilliman and withdrew into a vortex with a tall Gretchin, warning him, “Calamity is coming, primarch.”

Vulkan asked Angron for help addressing the Salamanders’ gene-seed implantation problems, but Angron warned him against involving Number Eleven and instead arranged for Garan to teach improved techniques. Angron then learned that Gusa had nearly killed Guilliman and discovered more about the Greenskin’s plans, leaving him convinced that Gusa’s actions were guided by a deliberate scheme.

• Vulkan told Angron he wanted to expand the Salamanders but worried that their gene-seed problems caused too many failed implantations.
• Angron advised Vulkan not to ask Number Eleven to alter the Salamanders’ gene-seed and decided to send Garan to teach their Apothecaries better implantation methods.
• Qin Xa told Angron that Gusa had nearly killed Guilliman, though Gusa had not intended to kill him.
• Angron read the captured Hrud’s memories and learned that Gusa had recruited Hrud tribes to fight Greenskins and planned to destroy Gork and Mork.
• Angron told Qin Xa that Gusa’s actions seemed planned rather than improvised, and they updated their assessment of Gusa’s aims.

Gusa relived the genetic memory of his ancient Ork ancestor, who died in a primordial war against the Necrons and the Nightbringer, then awoke aboard his warship. He led an assault on a planet under siege by another Greenskin tribe and descended toward the fortress, where a tall Iron Man led the defenders.

• Gusa’s ancestor emerged among billions of Orks, questioned the purpose of their mass mobilization, and joined their fleet as it traveled to an ancient war.
• The Orks fought Necrons as the Nightbringer killed Gusa and other Greenskins, and Gusa later recounted the memory to Sissy P.
• Gusa and Sissy P arrived in a new star system, where Gusa ordered Sissy P to command their fleet while he led an assault on the besieged planet.
• Gusa’s Blood Axe warship and its Hrud escorts attacked the Greenskin fleet, while Gusa’s assault squad teleported to the surface.
• Gusa saw humans, metal robots, and clever monkeys defending the fortress from the Greenskins, and spotted a tall Iron Man directing the defenders.

Gusa led the Blood Axe strike force to rescue a human fortress, where he reunited with Super Little Qin and explained his plan to destroy the Heart of Pestilence. He argued that confronting Chaos might undo the Old Ones’ failsafe and restore his race, and Super Little Qin agreed to help locate the artifact.

• Gusa’s Blood Axe strike force attacked the Greenskins besieging the fortress, and Gusa killed their warlord before the humans admitted him and his troops inside.
• Gusa revealed himself to Super Little Qin, who recognized him from their earlier fight aboard a warship.
• Gusa told Super Little Qin that he sought the Heart of Pestilence after learning of three dangerous artifacts from the Hrud, who had asked him to destroy them.
• Gusa explained that he believed the Old Ones’ failsafe could be undone by combining order with a purpose to fight Chaos, though he accepted that Greenskins unable to understand this might be eliminated.
• Gusa said an Eldar had directed him to Super Little Qin, and Super Little Qin agreed to help because he knew where the Heart of Pestilence was.