Chapter Summaries

At the Attilan Star Fortress, Master Hamir and the military staff assessed the damage from Black Bolt and Maximus’s battle and planned a raid to seal the portal. They prepared to locate it precisely and mobilize forces while leaving the two Inhumans to be dealt with later.

• Master Hamir watched high-speed footage of Black Bolt and Maximus’s battle as officers discussed the campaign’s military logistics and the damage the fight had caused to the Star Fortress.
• Deputy Nelson asked Master Hamir for Kamar-Taj’s calculations and ordered the staff to plan a raid to seal the portal before the monsters overwhelmed the supply lines.
• Master Hamir said the portal’s location had been divined at great cost by Dimensional Rift veterans and warned that Kamar-Taj needed those survivors for future work.
• Master Hamir said Kamar-Taj could not track Black Bolt and Maximus without the Emperor’s intervention, and Amon urged the staff to focus on the portal first.
• Master Hamir reported that Kamar-Taj and City of Immortals technicians were using a three-dimensional model to determine the portal’s coordinates, while Deputy Nelson said Commander Aparajita would receive orders for a confidential mission.
• Deputy Nelson proposed a mobile force and Helicarrier reserves for responding to Black Bolt and Maximus, and the staff agreed to ready teleportation equipment while Kamar-Taj Arcanists countered interference.

Black Bolt lay dying after being impaled, while a strange voice spoke to him. Maximus was transformed by Aether Energy, and the Rebirth Cult descended into the lower decks to pursue its new goal of ascension.

• Black Bolt lay trapped on a rebar rod as creatures closed in, and he heard a familiar voice tell him that death was part of the cycle.
• Maximus staggered through the lower deck as runes and black flames overwhelmed him and transformed his body.
• The Rebirth Cult continued operating after Maximus disappeared, with High Priestess Phylira leading its members down the Star Fortress stairways.
• High Priestess Phylira proclaimed that the cult would enter the divine kingdom and begin its path of ascension.

The Emperor showed Constantine the cultists and Aether-corrupted Black Bolt and Maximus as they surveyed the Attilan Star Fortress, while explaining the wider cosmic conflict. Meanwhile, Gene-modded Warriors fought creatures released from an Inhuman laboratory, and Soflorn identified them as modified Alpha Primitives carrying Human Race genes.

• The Emperor guided Constantine through visions of the fortress, showing Phylira leading Mutants in worship of a Nuclear Fuel rod and explaining how their sect had reshaped its beliefs.
• The Emperor showed Constantine that Black Bolt Blackagar Boltagon and Maximus had been transformed into demonic hosts by Aether Energy.
• The Emperor told Constantine that the Ether Plane's chaotic entities were consuming themselves and that humanity had one chance to become a player in the cosmic contest.
• Deputy Nelson reported that the rapid strike force was ready and that Commander Aparajita's transports were expected to rendezvous in about fifteen minutes.
• The Fifth Knight Squad fought monsters awakening from a smashed incubation chamber after an Inhuman researcher was killed.
• Senior Researcher Soflorn identified the creatures as upgraded Alpha Primitives carrying Human Race genes, enraging the Gene-modded Warriors.

Sergeant Vatzman and the Sixth Knight Squad fought through the Gene Laboratory while Senior Researcher Soflorn gathered research data. When controlled Psychic Mutants attacked with lightning, the Gene-modded Warriors countered with a heat-ray rifle, leaving the creatures burning in the corridor.

• Sergeant Vatzman and the Gene-modded Warriors slaughtered Alpha Primitives as Senior Researcher Soflorn unlocked the laboratory doors.
• Soflorn spotted a smaller humanoid creature and ordered his assistant to collect samples and retrieve the laboratory data.
• Psychic Mutants attacked with lightning that battered the squad’s shields and disrupted their weapons.
• Soflorn identified mechanical implants at the Psychic Mutants’ heads and concluded they were controlled as a psychic array.
• Sergeant Vatzman ordered the scholars to follow safety protocols and commanded the squad to close in with melee and melta weapons.
• A heavy weapons operator fired the Mars-Omega heat-ray rifle, burning five Psychic Mutants to ash and setting others alight.

Sergeant Vatzman ordered the researchers to collect data and samples from a dangerous Attilan laboratory before it was incinerated, while keeping them under guard. As Aether creatures attacked the Gene-modded Warriors’ defenses, Commander Aparajita sent the Third and Fourth Knight Squads to reinforce Vatzman.

• Sergeant Vatzman barred unauthorized personnel from the laboratory and assigned cleared researchers to collect its psionic machinery data and gene samples.
• Senior Mechanical Researcher Charlotte recalled studying a blood-powered iron box, while Senior Researcher Soflorn admitted he had little experience with advanced psionic gene research.
• Sergeant Vatzman ordered the laboratory’s contents collected and said the Fifth Knight Squad would incinerate the site once it was cleared.
• Commander Aparajita ordered the Intelligent Control Legion to support the defensive line as Aether creatures surged against it.
• After learning that psionic mutant organisms had appeared in the laboratory, Commander Aparajita decided to send the Third and Fourth Knight Squads to reinforce Sergeant Vatzman.

Aparajita prepared to leave the Inhuman Research Institute and join the Emperor as the human assault overwhelmed the Attilan Inhumans. The Emperor arrived on the front lines, destroyed the Aether entities, and led his forces into the ruined residential district to finish the campaign.

• Aparajita received word that the transport aircraft had delivered two armored automated fortresses, then ordered his guard and two Knight Squads to escort him to the aircraft.
• An assassin delivered the Rogue Clan Matriarch’s head to the Emperor, marking the collapse of the Inhuman dynasty.
• Jiaying watched as the Emperor declared that the war and the civilization’s history were about to end.
• The Emperor’s psychic aura weakened the Aether entities, while his arrival brought calm and healing to the human defenders.
• Aparajita and the Gene-modded Warriors joined the Emperor, who led them and the First Secret Regiment into the Inhuman residential district to hunt down the fleeing Aether creatures.

As the convoy advanced, Amon and Hammurabi discussed the mortal forces’ vulnerability to Aether entities and the need to protect them from knowledge of the encounter. The Emperor left Tita to interpret his silence, then summoned Master Hamir to discuss Kamar-Taj, ordering Constantine to remain.

• Amon warned Hammurabi that human soldiers depended on the Emperor’s psychic aura and might be corrupted by Aether Energy.
• Supiluliumas confirmed that he had recovered the two assassins sent to the Attilan Star Fortress, whose disguises and Skrull-based modifications made them valuable assets.
• Tita considered confessing her actions to the Emperor, but he gave her no answer, and she returned to her own Armored Personnel Carrier smiling.
• The Emperor told Dinah he did not want Tita’s ideas to take effect and said he wanted Master Hamir at his side to discuss Kamar-Taj.
• The Emperor summoned Master Hamir and instructed Constantine to listen to the entire conversation.

Constantine and Master Hamir discussed the Sorcerer Supreme’s disappearance and the malfunctioning Planetary Defense System as the Emperor prepared to close the portal in Attilan Star Fortress. The convoy entered the fortress’s Aether-corrupted lower decks, where the Emperor stepped out to clear a path and guide the troops onward.

• Constantine deduced that Dark Magic had harmed the Sorcerer Supreme and caused the Planetary Defense System to malfunction, while Master Hamir explained that she had gone to stop an Aether storm.
• The Emperor said Athena would go to Kamar-Taj and shifted the discussion to the portal in Attilan Star Fortress, while Regent Victor von Doom prepared for political fallout from the lunar war.
• The Emperor defended splitting the Aether entity between Black Bolt and Maximus, arguing that weakening and dividing its power gave humanity a chance to resist it.
• The convoy advanced into the corrupted lower decks, where Aether Energy distorted the environment, swallowed light, and made the route map unreliable.
• The Emperor ordered the convoy to follow the vehicle ahead, then stepped out, burned away the fleshy growths, dispersed the miasma, and told the troops to light the flames as he guided them forward.

The Emperor’s convoy advanced through the Attilan Star Fortress as Black Bolt and Maximus fought like maddened beasts in its depths. Constantine met Catherine and another Praetorian, who told him the battle was a dreamlike mission that could be repeated until they drove the two Beasts out.

• The Emperor guided the convoy through the slippery lower deck, reassuring the mortal soldiers with his psychic radiance.
• Black Bolt and Maximus tore into each other, their bodies and minds corrupted by the entity seeking to become whole.
• Maximus spoke of their shared origin and urged Black Bolt to return with him to a dream, but Black Bolt attacked and nearly shattered his skull.
• Constantine entered the battlefield and found Black Bolt and Maximus suspended in time beside a vast fissure.
• Catherine appeared in golden armor and explained that she was an Aether-born remnant of the first fallen Artificial Human.
• Catherine and a fellow Praetorian told Constantine to drive out the two Beasts, warning that the battle would repeat in the dream until their mission was complete.

Constantine, Catherine, and the Praetorian Guards fought Black Bolt and Maximus in the dreamlike battle aboard the damaged Plasma Reactor. They crippled both beasts and separated Maximus from the silver greatsword, but Maximus was still alive and insisting they return to Heaven.

• Constantine and Catherine attacked Maximus while Black Bolt struggled beneath the deck, and a second Praetorian Guard joined the fight.
• Black Bolt burst through the deck in molten iron and unleashed a sonic blast, while Constantine recognized that Maximus’s silver greatsword had fused with its arm and was sustaining its regeneration.
• Catherine and a hidden Battle Sister wounded Black Bolt with white flames and explosive sniper fire, while the Praetorian Guards pinned Maximus and severed the arm holding the sword.
• Maximus charged Catherine, but a plasma blast exposed his heart, and Constantine and the other Praetorian Guard pinned him to the deck as he shouted that they should return to Heaven.

Constantine relived a battle against the corrupted Black Bolt and Maximus, learning that their memories and deaths were bound to a dream shaped by observation. The Emperor revealed that repeated attempts had led to this version of events, and Constantine accepted a weapon to help establish the outcome as reality.

• Constantine saw Maximus's memories of Medusa, his rivalry with his older brother, and the murder of his parents as he attacked the mutated beast.
• Constantine and the Praetorian Guard crippled Maximus, while Catherine and Battle Sister Vera fought Black Bolt; Vera overloaded her Plasma Handgun and destroyed the beast.
• Constantine questioned whether the battle had truly happened, and the Emperor explained that the Aether entity had lost its anchor and was now nearly powerless.
• Constantine contacted Master Hamir to raise defenses, then asked Catherine how many times they had attempted the battle.
• Catherine said it was the ninth attempt and explained that the Emperor had repeatedly changed variables until the observers could complete the sequence.
• The Emperor handed Constantine the lance from the dream and told him to use observation and subjective will to establish objective facts.

Constantine, Catherine, and Vera learned that the Emperor intended them to pursue an Aether entity across time, using the true name Constantine had discovered. After showing Constantine one possible future, the Emperor summoned Catherine into a material body, leaving Master Hamir astonished at the feat.

• Catherine offered Maximus's and Black Bolt's severed heads to the Emperor and said their mission was not complete.
• Catherine and Vera explained that the Aether entity could only be destroyed at the end of time, and Constantine agreed to guide them because he knew its unutterable true name.
• Vera told Constantine that the Emperor had saved her and shown her the future, while Constantine accepted that his fate had been arranged for the mission.
• Constantine recalled a possible future battlefield where human armies fought the Aether entity, and the Emperor explained that the future was only one possibility and that Constantine could gradually recover the memories.
• The Emperor summoned Catherine into a material body, and Catherine told Constantine that she remembered their battle as a future rather than her present past.
• Master Hamir touched Catherine's armor and realized the Emperor had created a material body from a memory.

At a diplomatic dinner, Regent Victor von Doom proposed sharing alien research and creating a joint facility while explaining the Moon’s role in humanity’s future. The Emperor arrived as the Regent discussed his immortality, leaving the guests facing the leader whose departure for the battlefield had been kept secret.

• Regent Victor von Doom showed diplomats images of Latverian lunar equipment and proposed impartial scientific awards and shared research into alien materials.
• Regent Victor von Doom proposed a joint research facility for extraterrestrial biological samples and said the Moon would serve as a springboard for colonization.
• A Norwegian diplomat asked why the Emperor was absent, and Regent Victor von Doom described him as an immortal who had reached North America when it was called Vinland.
• The Emperor entered the hall in golden armor and objected to stories about axes splitting skulls.

The Emperor used an alien captive and news of the Lunar War to warn diplomats that humanity faced an imminent extraterrestrial threat. After returning to the castle, he heard Countess Karkov report signs that Wakanda was investigating the war and a missing space telescope, then ordered her to keep quiet about it.

• The Emperor told diplomats that the Outer Space Treaty could not prepare humanity for alien attacks and displayed a captured alien.
• The diplomats speculated about the Yugoslav Federation’s military resources and the unknown support behind its campaign.
• The Emperor returned to his office and met Countess Karkov, who reported that the Regent’s mercenary operation had left no evidence.
• Countess Karkov warned that Wakanda’s chip imports had declined and that a Wakandan space telescope was missing from the cooperation records.
• The Emperor thanked Countess Karkov, told her to keep the discovery secret, and sent her back to the banquet.

The Emperor and Regent Victor von Doom discussed concealing the danger Behind the Curtain as Aparajita’s convoy advanced into Attilan Star Fortress to seal its portal. Catherine used the Emperor’s power to cleanse the fortress’s corrupted passages while Aparajita fought its monsters, and the Emperor declared him fit to serve as his champion.

• The Emperor asked Regent Victor von Doom to oversee the sealing of Attilan’s portal and keep the Gene-modded Warriors ignorant of the truth Behind the Curtain.
• Aparajita led the armored convoy deeper into Attilan Star Fortress, where its soldiers fought grotesque creatures emerging from walls of flesh.
• Aparajita killed an obese monster with his Execution Axe and destroyed the fleshy opening that had birthed it with a Plasma Grenade.
• Catherine walked ahead of the convoy, using the Emperor’s power to turn foul mist into water and dissolve flesh covering the fortress’s machinery.
• The Emperor told Regent Victor von Doom that Aparajita would be his champion because he could make ruthless choices for humanity’s survival.

Regent Victor von Doom and the Emperor weighed the political consequences of the Inhuman campaign while the Emperor investigated the sealed Kamar-Taj headquarters. The Emperor revealed that he had returned to Earth partly to rescue the wounded Athena and learn what had happened to the Sorcerer Supreme, who had intervened during the campaign’s most dangerous moment.

• Victor von Doom argued that the Emperor’s harsh plans were necessary to protect humanity from the Inhumans’ spreading psionic mutations, while warning that starting the Greek War would risk World War III.
• Victor von Doom discussed foreign diplomats’ fears of the Emperor and the need to delay the Greek War while integrating European and North American territories.
• The Emperor told Amon that he had returned to Earth to deceive Kamar-Taj and investigate its sealed headquarters, where he could not trust the Arcanists.
• The Emperor recalled rescuing the injured Athena from the Brahmaputra River and treating her wounds before she described Kamar-Taj’s defenses attacking her.
• Athena said the Sorcerer Supreme had been injured, and the Emperor revealed that the Sorcerer Supreme had blocked the most dangerous moment of the Attilan campaign.

Salomon explained that the beings Behind the Curtain had used the Attilan campaign to approach him, while he waited for Victor to retrieve intelligence through the portal. At Attilan Star Fortress, Catherine and the allied forces fought through the corrupted core as Constantine ordered Tita to escort Catherine down to the bottom of the fusion reactor.

• Salomon told Athena that the beings Behind the Curtain had used the Attilan campaign to demonstrate their power and invite him to cooperate, and Athena urged him to return to Kamar-Taj.
• Salomon refused to recall the Combat Unit until he had assessed the Sorcerer Supreme’s state of mind and said he was waiting for Victor to obtain information through the portal.
• Commander Tita ordered Aura’s troops to attack warm areas of the flesh walls to stop monsters from gestating and directed the escort team to find Constantine.
• Aura and Aparajita’s forces cleared a path through the monsters, allowing Tita’s Sisterhood to charge into the enemy ranks and link the battlefield’s two ends.
• Constantine spotted a figure in a dark green cloak, then asked Tita to take over Catherine’s escort and lead her down to the bottom of the fusion reactor.

Constantine led the Sacred Guard and a handpicked Gene-modded Warrior squad through the Maintenance Tunnel toward the portal, while Catherine confirmed that the phantom was Regent Victor von Doom. Victor followed them carrying the Emperor’s War Banner as Aparajita joined the mission, and the group pressed on through the creatures.

• Constantine warned the Praetorian Guard that the phantom might be a deception, but Catherine identified it as the Regent and said he was helping close the portal.
• Constantine asked Aparajita for an elite squad to form an outer defensive line, and Aparajita agreed to lead his guard squad there himself.
• Victor von Doom followed Constantine’s force through the battlefield, carrying the Emperor’s War Banner and reporting his approval to the Emperor.
• Constantine selected Zigris, Kassel, Chris, and other decorated Gene-modded Warriors for the mission after reviewing the squad’s combat records.
• The Sacred Guard led the force down the Maintenance Tunnel as the Sisterhood surrounded Catherine, while Aparajita and Constantine argued about how to fight.

Aparajita challenged Constantine over the Sacred Guard’s secrecy while their forces fought through the Aether entities, then took command of the mixed unit and led the Gene-modded Warriors and Sisterhood toward new coordinates. Constantine opened the final airlock and revealed that his dream had been a prophecy shaping reality; he entered the battle with Maximus and Black Bolt, declaring this the 129th and final repetition.

• Aparajita demanded that Constantine disclose the mission’s intelligence and warned that the Gene-modded Warriors would seek an explanation at court.
• The mixed unit advanced as the Gene-modded Warriors and Sisterhood fought alongside the Praetorian Guard, while the convoy held off the Aether entities behind them.
• Aparajita took command of the First Legion and other armed personnel, sending them toward the Regent’s coordinates while the Sacred Guard continued its original mission.
• Constantine opened a giant airlock with the Emperor’s key, and the Gene-modded Warriors and Sisterhood departed before the Sacred Guard proceeded alone.
• Constantine explained that his dream was a prophecy that had shaped reality, then entered the battle with Maximus and Black Bolt and said it had repeated 129 times.

Amon witnessed the Emperor’s dreamlike reconstruction of Constantine’s battle against the mutated Maximus and Black Bolt, then learned the Emperor intended to take a small group to Kamar-Taj. Bayonetta and Jeanne arrived to oppose his plans, while Priestess Phylira led her followers farther into the Star Fortress toward the supposed Gate of Heaven.

• The Emperor repeatedly rewound and refined a vision of Constantine fighting Maximus and Black Bolt until Amon understood the battle’s ideal sequence.
• Amon warned the Emperor that attacking Kamar-Taj would risk exposing their forces, but the Emperor said he needed only a few people and asked for his shield.
• Bayonetta and Jeanne entered the castle through a mirror, and the Emperor refused to turn aside from his mission despite their warning that the matter concerned Earth’s safety.
• The Emperor told Bayonetta and Jeanne he would raise a weapon against them if necessary and ordered them to return to the island.
• Priestess Phylira urged her mutant followers down the rusted stairs toward the Gate of Heaven as they began to suspect they had walked the same route before.