Chapter Summaries

Frank demanded another mission from Guilliman, who agreed to assign one after arguing with him over the damage to a captured ship. Frank then headed with Inquisitor Bonavia to Terra Space Station for repairs.

• Guilliman reprimanded Frank for damaging a new-model ship, but Frank blamed the Orks and defended his actions.
• Guilliman offered Frank a month or two of rest, but Frank insisted on receiving a mission and called Guilliman slack.
• Guilliman promised to assign Frank a new mission the next day and ordered him out of his office.
• Bonavia questioned Frank about his argument with Guilliman, and Frank complained that he had received fewer missions.
• Bonavia said their ship and her nanomechanical parts needed repairs, so Frank ordered the ship’s computer to set a course for Terra Space Station.

Frank and Bonavia arrived at Terra Space Station, where Bonavia went to see an Aeldari doctor for scheduled nanomachine maintenance. Frank waited outside, leaving the reason for his dislike of the doctor unexplained.

• Frank and Bonavia docked at Terra Space Station and learned that a celebration for a healed Dreadnought Elder had drawn most people to Zone A.
• Frank used his authority to teleport them to Zone C and said he would wait while Bonavia visited the doctor.
• Bonavia entered the clinic and waited while the doctor finished treating an Astra Militarum soldier.
• The doctor recognized Bonavia and prepared her for maintenance after Bonavia requested to remain conscious.
• The Aeldari doctor began replacing and maintaining Bonavia’s nanomachines with specialized tools.

After Bonavia endured repairs without anesthetic, Doctor Yvraine teased her before meeting with Roboute Guilliman to discuss the Aeldari’s cooperation with the Imperium. Guilliman reaffirmed their alliance against Slaanesh, but Yvraine provoked him by mentioning a powerful deity and then kissed him before leaving.

• Bonavia endured painful repairs without anesthetic, and Doctor Yvraine asked whether she preferred men or women; Bonavia fled the operating room.
• Roboute Guilliman told Yvraine that the Aeldari had proved skilled at tracking Slaanesh cultists and that their cooperation would continue for humanity’s sake.
• Yvraine asked what would happen if the alliance ended, and Guilliman said the Aeldari could submit to the Imperium or face war.
• Yvraine alluded to a powerful deity protecting Guilliman, and he seized her by the throat for insulting an imperial hero.
• Guilliman confirmed that their agreement against Slaanesh remained in force, and Yvraine kissed him before escaping and calling him her friend.

Frank waited for his damaged Bolter to be repaired and received a new weapon as a substitute. While he waited aboard his ship, He Shenyan returned, and Frank recognized him.

• Frank asked the artisan to repair his Bolter, which he had used to kill seventeen Orks, but learned the repairs would take longer than he had before leaving Terra Space Station.
• The artisan took the damaged Bolter and gave Frank a new firearm with heavy bolt rounds and a seventeen-round magazine.
• Frank returned to his ship, where Bonavia went to rest and he waited for the ship's repairs to finish.
• A powerful pressure warped the ship's walls and disabled its systems, so Frank prepared to fight with his combat dagger.
• The pressure vanished, the ship's walls returned to normal, and He Shenyan appeared and greeted Frank.

He Shenyan sent Frank to Isstvan III to save people who should not have died there. After Frank rejected Guilliman’s planned mission, He Shenyan visited Guilliman and invited him to learn magic.

• He Shenyan offered Frank a mission to save people, and Frank agreed after seeing the slaughtered dead on Isstvan III.
• Frank told Guilliman he was abandoning the mission Guilliman had assigned him and going to Isstvan III instead.
• Guilliman repeatedly tried to contact Frank, growing angry when Frank rejected his calls.
• He Shenyan appeared in Guilliman’s office, explained that he had sent Frank to Isstvan III, and invited Guilliman to learn magic.

He Shenyan explained to Guilliman how magic differed from psionics and offered to teach him, revealing that ordinary mages could perform feats such as teleportation, healing, and creating food. Guilliman remained doubtful about his own talent, then realized He Shenyan wanted him to teach magic to others.

• Guilliman asked He Shenyan what magic was and whether it differed from psionics.
• He Shenyan admitted he wanted to teach Guilliman because he saw his talent and wanted him to become a teacher in his place.
• He Shenyan explained magic as a kind of science based on understanding and manipulating the world, and demonstrated turning fire into water and water into lightning.
• Guilliman said he understood the idea but doubted he could change his way of thinking enough to master it.
• He Shenyan listed feats ordinary mages could perform, and Guilliman stood up in shock to ask whether all ordinary mages could do them.

Steve Rogers led Imperial forces in a grinding war against the Orks, holding back their attacks while refusing to risk technology that could make them evolve further. After another costly battle, he reassured his officers and spoke with the Astartes Pablo, whose chapter was being kept in reserve for a critical moment.

• Steve Rogers ordered artillery support, then learned the position had fallen to an Ork ambush and refused to deploy war mechs.
• Steve fought the Orks with his flaming longsword and Psionic powers, hurling an incoming shell back at their heavy weapons position.
• The Orks retreated after the battle, and an officer reported seventy-one dead, one hundred and twenty seriously wounded, and one hundred and thirteen lightly wounded.
• Steve told the officer to stay calm and rest, and promised to requisition more medical pods.
• Pablo reported that no Astartes had been injured and joked with Steve about his chapter being like stone.
• Steve explained that Pablo's Astartes needed to conserve their ammunition for the stronger Orks and praised the Astra Militarum's efforts.

Steve and Pablo returned to a fortress position after the Astra Militarum fought the Orks, where Steve inspected new weapons and medical pods. Seeing hundreds of pods inside, Steve’s expression darkened and he told Pablo to ready his brothers.

• Steve and Pablo headed back to the Imperial Fists’ position while Astra Militarum soldiers collected the energy weapons’ magazines.
• The chapter described the Imperial Renaissance-R-1 Pattern, a cheap, powerful weapon that Guilliman had decided to adopt across the Imperium.
• Steve greeted the soldiers by name as he and Pablo reached a fortress built in twenty minutes with new technology.
• Steve and Pablo saw roughly seven hundred medical pods filling the fortress, a sign of the many wounded soldiers inside.
• Steve told Pablo to notify his brothers to prepare.

Steve admitted his mistake to the Crimson Fists and led them to confront the Ork boss. Elsewhere, Angron baited Khorne Demons into a death duel before escaping and destroying them with a beam from his ship.

• Steve gathered the five hundred Crimson Fists and acknowledged that he had wrongly kept them out of the fighting.
• Steve urged the Astartes to embrace their role as the Emperor’s Angels of Death, then used the Flame Sword to send them to the Ork boss’s location.
• Angron fought Khorne Demons on a rock, killing two while taunting them about their supposed warrior’s pride.
• Angron snapped his fingers to teleport aboard his ship, and a beam from above incinerated the demons on the surface.
• Angron mocked the demons for expecting him to fight them one by one, while a winged companion worried that he had dueled them without armor.

Sanguinius and Angron learned that Frank had claimed He had returned and set off for Isstvan III, while Klan headed to a Hive City to begin rebuilding the Inquisition. Elsewhere, Guilliman discovered he could wield mana and learned to enchant a weapon, leaving him facing He Shenyan’s offer to teach him Titan’s Might.

• Sanguinius scolded Angron for risking himself against Demons, and Angron promised not to do it again.
• Klan told Sanguinius that Frank said He had returned and sent him on a mission to Isstvan III; after hearing Fulgrim was there, Klan advised Sanguinius and Angron to change course and mediate.
• Klan teleported into a Hive City to investigate a gang and began killing its members as part of his work rebuilding the Inquisition.
• He Shenyan taught Guilliman to sense mana, and Guilliman drew a Light Spot into an iron rod, setting it on fire.
• He Shenyan praised Guilliman’s talent for enchantment and offered to teach him an improved Titan’s Might, making Guilliman uneasy.

Pablo and the Crimson Fists fought alongside Steve as he drove the Orks into retreat, until the Ork warboss Tugmo ambushed them and challenged Steve to a duel. As Steve fought Tugmo, Gork and Mork appeared to bless the Orks, while He Shenyan sensed the two gods’ intervention from across the galaxy.

• Pablo shot attacking Orks while Steve led the Crimson Fists through the rout, burning enemies with his sword.
• Tugmo ambushed Pablo and killed him, then shrugged off the Crimson Fists’ gunfire and challenged Steve.
• Steve ordered the Crimson Fists to spread out and fought Tugmo, but Tugmo’s armor and a WAAAGH! shielded him from Steve’s attacks and psionic power.
• The Orks rallied around Tugmo, chanting Gork and Mork’s names as Steve sensed the two immense gods watching him.
• Steve and Tugmo exchanged names and began their duel, while He Shenyan sensed that Gork and Mork had blessed Steve’s opponent and confronted the gods through the Warp.

He Shenyan told Guilliman that Steve had received blessings from two ork gods, then said the Emperor was in the Warp and Guilliman would soon be free of paperwork. The Emperor found Slaanesh, reclaimed a broken soul, and returned to reality with it.

• He Shenyan told Guilliman that Steve had been blessed by two ork gods and urged him to keep practicing enchantments and healing spells.
• Guilliman complained that no one else in the Empire could take over his paperwork, and the Emperor struck him for swearing.
• He Shenyan told Guilliman that the Emperor was in the Warp and would soon relieve him of political duties.
• The Emperor searched the Warp for his sons until one called out to him, leading him to Slaanesh's domain.
• The Emperor demanded his son from Slaanesh, endured Slaanesh's complaints, and took the broken soul back to reality.

The Emperor brought Horus's shattered soul to He Shenyan, who restored him to a childlike life, leaving The Emperor and Guilliman to face his return. Elsewhere, Steve defeated the Ork Tugmo, but the surviving Orks hailed Steve as their new boss.

• The Emperor returned to Macragge's Honour with Horus's soul, and He Shenyan told him Horus could be saved.
• He Shenyan formed a boy's body for Horus and warned The Emperor that Horus would suffer from missing memories and tormenting hallucinations until he forgave himself.
• The Emperor and Guilliman waited together until He Shenyan returned with the sleeping boy, whom Guilliman recognized as Horus.
• Steve defeated Tugmo in a prolonged duel, and Tugmo died after urging Steve to keep Waaaghing.
• The Orks cheered Steve as their boss, and Steve felt tempted to answer with a Waaagh.

Pedro Kantor questioned Steve’s decision to bring an Orc corpse aboard, while He Shenyan learned that Horus had awakened and that the Mechanicus were modifying the Vengeance. He met the newly restored Horus, whose fragmented memories and instincts left him confused by The Emperor’s guilt.

• Pedro Kantor objected to bringing part of an Orc corpse aboard, but Steve insisted and ordered the survivors to teleport away before the surface was cleansed.
• He Shenyan rested after rebuilding Horus’s body until The Emperor told him that Horus had awakened and wanted to thank him.
• The Emperor revealed that the Mechanicus were attempting to modify the Vengeance, prompting He Shenyan to leave his Pocket Dimension in alarm.
• The Emperor introduced Horus to He Shenyan, but He Shenyan’s arrival and reaction left Horus confused.
• Horus sensed The Emperor’s guilt and saw fragmented memories of people following him into battle, while Guilliman watched and received another Psionic slap.

Guilliman looked after Little Horus, who struggled with fragmented memories of his former life as they spent the day together. A brief return of the old Horus’s voice unsettled Guilliman, and the chapter ended with him hearing a rumor that Little Horus was his and Yvraine’s child.

• Little Horus asked Guilliman about his scattered memories and admitted he remembered an impulse to give up on living.
• Guilliman reflected that he could not forgive the old Horus but saw the boy as a different person, then gave him a puzzle toy while handling government documents.
• Guilliman approved plans for new crop cultivation bases on Terra as the Empire continued to recover.
• While Guilliman described lamb and rice to Little Horus, the boy briefly spoke in the old Horus’s voice and wondered whether they were white or black.
• Guilliman led Little Horus to dinner, and later became furious after Marius reported a rumor that the child was his and Yvraine’s.

Guilliman met with Belisarius Cawl to discuss Cawl’s request to study aboard the Vengeance and the progress of his planetary reshaping technology. He left Cawl’s application under review and demanded that the technology’s timeline be reduced to fewer than fifty years.

• Guilliman questioned Cawl’s request to study aboard the Vengeance, and Cawl listed the Glyph Array, a rumored self-aware Magic Array Hub, and Guilliman’s Personal Terminal as subjects of interest.
• Guilliman learned that Cawl had already researched the Glyph Array, causing a five-kilometer-radius explosion, and warned him against pursuing it without permission.
• Cawl reported that his Planet Reshaping Technology could restore dead worlds but would take one to two centuries to complete its work.
• Guilliman asked whether studying aboard the Vengeance could shorten the process, and Cawl estimated it could be reduced to seventy years.
• Guilliman demanded a timeline of under fifty years, then said he would approve Cawl’s application later, and Cawl bowed and left.

The Emperor and He Shenyan entered the Warp to investigate the Webway, and He Shenyan went inside to search it while the Emperor handled the threats outside. Lost in the Webway, Tamari followed a trail of dead Aeldari toward a strange, thudding sound.

• The Emperor explained that the Old Ones had created the Webway, and He Shenyan decided to enter it and investigate.
• The Emperor agreed to handle the other threats while He Shenyan slipped into the Webway.
• Tamari was dragged through a secondary Webway gate by an Aeldari, then killed the wounded attacker with his combat dagger.
• After exhausting his rations, Tamari wandered the Webway looking for an exit and came across a passage strewn with Aeldari corpses.
• Tamari followed the sound of muffled thudding and reached a sight that left him dumbstruck.

Tamari watched as the black-robed man massacred the Drukhari and their Ghouls with impossible strength and golden flames. The man advanced through the Webway, while Tamari remained hidden and watched in awe.

• The black-robed man killed Drukhari with blood-shaped projectiles and beasts as Tamari stayed hidden, unsure whether he was loyal or a traitor.
• The Drukhari released Ghouls and mocked the man, while Tamari prepared to shoot a Drukhari to help him.
• The man noticed Tamari and warned him not to act before blocking a Ghoul’s bite with his bare hand and punching through its body.
• The man crushed another Ghoul and punched through the Webway floor, but frightened the Demons gathering beyond the breach into retreat.
• The Drukhari prostrated themselves and called the man a god, as his golden flames burned them while he advanced and Tamari watched in awe.

Jaghatai Khan honored his fallen Scions and led the remaining White Scars deeper into the Webway as danger approached. Meanwhile, He Shenyan armed Tamari and used golden fire to transport them to a new location after sensing a faint call.

• Jaghatai Khan learned that seven more White Scars had died and ordered their ashes used to inscribe their names on his armor.
• Jaghatai Khan led the remaining 310 warriors onward, and they halted when he spotted an approaching battle.
• He Shenyan gave Tamari a specially modified lasgun and shield spells as they traveled through the Webway.
• He Shenyan sensed a faint call, ignited golden fire around himself and Tamari, and transported them to a new place.

He Shenyan joined Jaghatai Khan’s battle against the Drukhari, while Tamari’s Lasgun summoned the spirits of fallen Astra Militarum to fight beside him. After defeating the Drukhari, He Shenyan confronted Slaanesh, protected the survivors, and sent them away as the Chaos God expressed its desire for him.

• Tamari fired his Lasgun at the Drukhari, and golden beams and the spirits of fallen Astra Militarum joined his attack.
• He Shenyan appeared before Jaghatai Khan, introduced himself as a Mage, and struck down the Drukhari with a sword of lightning.
• The Drukhari corpses rose beneath a spreading net of blood as Slaanesh began to manifest.
• He Shenyan protected the gathered souls from corruption and used a Portal to send everyone away.
• Slaanesh reached through the Warp to kiss He Shenyan and said it looked forward to his fall or its own death.