Chapter Summaries

Aparajita and the Gene-modded Warriors attacked High Priestess Phylira’s Mutant procession before it could reach the portal. Meanwhile, the Emperor prepared to go to Kamar-Taj with Bayonetta, warning her that failure would force him to begin a more dangerous plan.

• Victor von Doom ordered Aparajita and the warriors to destroy the Mutants before they came within one kilometer of the portal.
• Aparajita led the knights and Tita led the Battle Sisters into position as High Priestess Phylira’s believers sang on the steps.
• Explosive rounds and flaming shells struck the procession, killing priests and Mutants as High Priestess Phylira took cover.
• The Emperor told Bayonetta he was going to Kamar-Taj to help the Venerable One reach Eternity, and Bayonetta insisted on accompanying him.
• The Emperor ordered Bayonetta to retreat to the island if he failed and warned that failure would bring forward a contingency plan and make a galaxy-wide war unavoidable.
• Jeanne explained that Bayonetta had used an Umbra Witches’ inherited artifact to break the anti-teleportation blockade, and the Emperor invited her to witness the end of the thread of fate.

Tita led the Battle Sisters and knights through a Mutant cultist procession, searching for the priestess who had opened a portal and hoping to capture her alive. Elsewhere, Constantine fought Maximus and Black Bolt, bringing both down before warning an unseen presence not to intervene again.

• Tita and the Battle Sisters attacked the Mutant worshippers with flamethrowers, bolt shells, and swords as the knights joined the assault.
• Tita told Aparajita that the cultist priestess was her target and that she wanted the woman captured alive.
• Tita spotted a beautiful, unmutated figure fleeing through the crowd, while Catherine swooped down to strike Mutants steadfast in their blasphemous faith.
• Constantine wounded Maximus and sent it falling into molten iron after it smashed through a steel support.
• Constantine evaded Black Bolt's psychic shriek, shot it down, and impaled it with his spear before a gunshot from inside the beast blasted it away.
• Constantine looked toward the darkness and told an unseen presence not to do that again.

Constantine defeated Black Bolt by drowning him in molten iron, while Tita and the Battle Sisters captured Priestess Phylira amid a battle against Mutant cultists. The Praetorian Guard reached Constantine, and Tita declared that the mission was complete and ordered the remaining Mutants purged.

• Constantine forced Black Bolt beneath the molten iron until the beast stopped moving, then waited for the area to show no life signs.
• Hannibal, Hammurabi, Derrick Xian, and the other Praetorian Guard entered and saw the damage Constantine had suffered and the remains of the battle.
• Tita and the Battle Sisters fought through the Mutants and pursued Priestess Phylira, whose demonic claw was stopped by Aparajita's shield.
• The Battle Sisters wounded and captured Priestess Phylira, restraining her so she could not continue her incantations.
• Aparajita urged Tita to finish the mission, but Tita said it was already complete and ordered the Sisters to purge the remaining Mutants.

Aparajita and the special operations squad brought the captured cult priestess, Priestess Phylira, to Regent Victor von Doom at the portal, while Catherine’s light protected them from the growing psionic corruption. Victor revealed that Phylira’s soul was the key to sealing the portal and removed her eyes as part of the plan.

• Aparajita reported that the squad had killed the cultists and captured their psionic leader, and Tita said the Sisterhood would put Priestess Phylira on trial.
• Hammurabi checked Phylira’s restraints before the squad followed Catherine down toward the portal, where Zigris detected mind-affecting sounds and Catherine warned that the psionic power was overwhelming her.
• Catherine’s radiance destroyed the corrupted Mutants they passed, while Constantine urged her to continue toward the mission.
• Regent Victor von Doom told the squad that his temporary spell sealing the portal would not hold and that he needed secrets from Phylira’s mind to close it permanently.
• Victor stopped Tita from killing Phylira, and Catherine explained that the priestess was both the portal and its key.
• Victor removed Phylira’s eyeballs and declared that her soul would be used to close the portal.

Regent Victor von Doom explained that Priestess Phylira had been reborn through Aether Energy, then told the Witches how the Celestials had shaped Earth’s history and why the Human Race was different. At the portal, the Regent and Catherine fought off invading entities while privately discussing the Emperor’s plan and the burden of protecting humanity from its truth.

• Regent Victor von Doom explained that Priestess Phylira’s soul had been immersed in Aether Energy and that she would eventually return Behind the Curtain.
• Tita accepted that Phylira’s treatment was the Emperor’s order, while Constantine and Catherine kept the deeper reasons for the decision secret.
• Bayonetta asked why the group was going to the moon, and the Emperor explained the Celestials’ three arrivals on Earth and their connection to the Inhumans and the Kree.
• Bayonetta foresaw devastation across countless worlds, but Amon embraced her as she smiled and cast the vision aside.
• Grotesque entities surged through the portal toward Catherine, and the Praetorian Guard, knights, Battle Sisters, Regent Victor von Doom, and Catherine destroyed them.
• Regent Victor von Doom told Catherine that humanity needed a noble lie and vowed to set aside his pride to uphold the Emperor’s plan.

Regent Victor von Doom and the Sacred Guard fought a colossal Aether entity while Catherine reached the portal and returned to the other side. The portal closed, and the Emperor explained that he had chosen the safer course because he did not want to fight the Sorcerer Supreme and another enemy at once.

• Jeanne interrupted Bayonetta and suggested that they return to Milia before she hurt herself playing a dangerous game, while Bayonetta proposed teaching her magic and weapons safety.
• Regent Victor von Doom revealed the nearly invisible Aether entity with blazing white flame and began cursing it using its true name.
• The Aether entity attacked the knights, killing one and severely injuring Aparajita and two others, while Constantine and the Sacred Guard struck its knees and protected Victor von Doom.
• Catherine and the Battle Sisters fought their way toward the portal, and Catherine stepped through after bidding them farewell.
• The witches sensed a psionic eruption on the moon that would conceal their movement, and the Emperor told Bayonetta that he had closed the portal to avoid making the Sorcerer Supreme another enemy.

The knights and Praetorian Guard battled a massive Aether Entity Aberration, sacrificing themselves to wound it while Aparajita and Constantine tried to bring it down. As the creature escaped toward Regent Victor von Doom, Bayonetta and the Emperor reminisced about their early dates.

• Aparajita and Constantine charged the armored beast while the knights fired at it and dragged their wounded comrades to safety.
• A knight sacrificed himself with a Plasma Grenade, giving Constantine time to stab the beast and Aparajita time to attack its head.
• Aparajita and the Praetorian Guard pinned the beast down and struck its weak points, but it summoned the Wind of Sorcery and escaped into the air.
• The beast healed rapidly and charged toward Regent Victor von Doom, while Aparajita's plasma bolt failed to harm it.
• Bayonetta and the Emperor recalled their second date, when Salomon lured dogs into a restaurant and escaped without paying.

The Emperor discussed his forebodings and preparations with Bayonetta as they traveled toward Kamar-Taj, while a vision of the battle against an Aether beast unfolded. The beast remained dangerous as Victor von Doom worked to seal the lunar portal, and Bayonetta pressed the Emperor about the growing number of breaches and psionically gifted humans.

• Amon told the Emperor that armed forces were ready near the landing site, while Bayonetta accepted his offer of a secluded hot spring only if he completed his task at Kamar-Taj.
• Bayonetta challenged the Emperor to reveal what his precognitive ability had shown, and he explained that prophecy did not determine an unchangeable fate.
• The Emperor reflected on his isolation and said the Venerable One carried daggers that had killed Morgan le Fay and served as a curse against witches.
• The warriors attacked the Aether beast with guns, blades, and explosives as it killed and injured several fighters, while Victor von Doom began stitching the portal closed with optic nerves.
• Victor von Doom's spell shrank the portal and weakened the beast, but it continued trying to reach him as the others fought to divert it.
• Bayonetta asked whether Kamar-Taj had recognized the connection between frequent breaches in the Material Universe and the rising number of humans with psionic talent.

Bayonetta and Jeanne traveled with the Emperor toward Kamar-Taj while Victor von Doom struggled to mend a breach in the Material Universe amid an assault by a powerful beast. Victor sealed the portal, weakening the invaders, and Aparajita killed the beast as the chapter ended.

• The Emperor rebuked Bayonetta for questioning Kamar-Taj's policies, then apologized and asked for quiet before they arrived.
• Constantine, Hammurabi, Tita, Aparajita, the Sisterhood, and the Praetorian Guard fought the beast while Victor von Doom chanted to repair the breach.
• The entity taunted Victor and claimed the Emperor belonged to the gods, but Victor insisted the Emperor was human and had free will.
• Victor completed the incantation and closed the portal, restoring the Material Universe's laws and weakening the beast and the Aetheric creatures.
• Constantine pinned the weakened beast down, and Aparajita pulled his axe from its forehead after killing it.

Aparajita and Regent Victor von Doom defeated a demon on Attilan and decided to preserve it for the Emperor’s interrogation while keeping the truth about Aether aliens secret. The Emperor brought two Witches to a fortified Psionic Academy outpost before proceeding toward Kamar-Taj, where a military assault was being prepared.

• Aparajita severed the demon’s head, and Victor von Doom bound its skull in a chain and declared it would be interrogated by the Emperor.
• Victor von Doom told Aparajita that records of the battle would be kept only in trusted minds, since ordinary people could not be told about Aether aliens.
• Constantine reported that resistance on Attilan had ended, and Victor von Doom ordered preparations to restore the Star Fortress and intensify assault-boarding training.
• The Emperor arrived with two Witches at a mountain outpost housing the Psionic Academy, where he had secretly stored thermonuclear warheads in case the Kamar-Taj operation went wrong.
• Amon ordered the First Secret Regiment to prepare for an airborne operation against Kamar-Taj, while the Emperor showed the Witches a library of confiscated magical texts.
• Jeanne asked about Monarch, and the Emperor said the wizard understood the cost of Aether power but still meant to escape.

Amon and the Emperor prepared a secret assault on Kamar-Taj, with thermonuclear weapons authorized as a last resort. The Emperor chose Wanda to accompany him and gave Bayonetta and Jeanne temporary authority to launch the weapons if the expedition lost contact with its base.

• Amon inspected his repaired Spear of the Garrison and coordinated with Amphitryon on plans to breach Kamar-Taj’s psychic defenses.
• Amon and Amphitryon discussed Wanda’s unstable evaluations and arranged to manage the risks of bringing her on the mission.
• The Emperor approved mountain-warfare plans and thermonuclear weapons, then ordered Amon to prepare equipment for Wanda.
• The Emperor assigned Wanda to accompany him and gave Bayonetta launch authority over the base’s thermonuclear weapons if necessary.
• Dinah entered in newly fitted Power Armor with Bayonetta’s Chainsaw Sword secured to its weapon mount.

Wanda Maximoff prepared to join the Emperor’s military operation against Kamar-Taj, where rising psionic instability led Amphitryon to equip her with a suppressor and stabilizer. A radiant woman who called herself the Emperor’s mother appeared aboard the Assault Transport and said she would crown him because the Sorcerer Supreme could not perform the ritual.

• Amphitryon told Wanda Maximoff to wear a psionic suppressor and stabilizer because she had failed to achieve an Alpha-grade result, and she refused his offer of Mechanical Implantation.
• Wanda Maximoff entered the Emperor’s office and saw him dancing with Bayonetta to “Por una Cabeza (One Step Away).”
• Bayonetta warned the Emperor that Wanda Maximoff’s close connection to the Ether Plane could make her exceptionally powerful and dangerous, and he promised to be careful.
• Wanda Maximoff boarded an Assault Transport with the Emperor and realized the large-scale deployment meant the operation against Kamar-Taj was not a brief, low-casualty visit.
• A blonde woman in Ancient Greek armor appeared, temporarily immobilized Wanda Maximoff, and identified herself as the Emperor’s mother, saying she would crown him in place of the Sorcerer Supreme.

Wanda Maximoff encountered Athena in a memory-like vision before the Emperor intervened, while Victor von Doom explained the mission’s stakes to Bayonetta and Jeanne. The assault force deployed around Kamar-Taj and prepared to break through.

• Wanda recognized Athena, who claimed the Emperor was her champion and tried to persuade him to accept his divine identity.
• The Emperor awakened, stopped Athena from manipulating Wanda, and warned her against acting without his permission.
• Wanda recovered from the vision and considered the magical equipment assigned to her for the operation.
• Victor von Doom told Bayonetta and Jeanne that the Emperor had promised to protect the Sorcerer Supreme’s return to the Sea of Souls, and he planned to keep the Emperor safe afterward.
• Amon watched Battle Sisters and Mortal Soldiers deploy near Kamar-Taj as Amphitryon escorted the Emperor in a golden Assault Transport.
• Amon ordered heavy weapons to be airdropped and the First Secret Regiment’s squads to prepare for the breakthrough.

The Emperor launched an assault on Kamar-Taj, weakening its shield with a hidden key and sending troops inside to seize the complex. The invasion left the First Secret Regiment and Battle Sisters advancing through the courtyards as Tatyana ordered medical aid for a badly burned Arcanist.

• The Emperor ordered Amon to continue the bombardment while directing troops to capture Kamar-Taj with minimal casualties.
• The Emperor turned an ornate key in the gray Monolith, weakening Kamar-Taj’s psionic shield and allowing the assault to begin.
• First Secret Regiment soldiers and Battle Sisters breached the gates, subdued apprentices, and took them to a guarded prisoner-of-war area.
• Squads Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, and Forty-One advanced through the courtyards as the Battle Sisters smashed protective nodes and suppressed resisting Arcanists.
• Tatyana shot and incapacitated a resisting instructor, then ordered a medic to treat another Arcanist burned by a Plasma Cluster.

Tatyana’s forces breached Kamar-Taj’s gates while Mordo organized the Arcanists to resist, convinced the Emperor’s disciple was a traitor targeting the Sorcerer Supreme. The Emperor and Amon advanced toward Kamar-Taj, where the Emperor intended to confront the danger despite suspecting the Sorcerer Supreme might be part of a trap.

• Tatyana led the Battle Sisters and First Secret Regiment through a thermobaric breach in Kamar-Taj’s gate, where they subdued resisting Arcanists and announced martial law.
• Mordo ordered the Arcanists to defend Kamar-Taj and protect the apprentices, insisting that the Emperor’s disciple planned to attack the Sorcerer Supreme.
• Mordo armed himself with the Dragon Fang Sword and dismissed Master Daniel’s suspicions that the Venerable One might know about the attack.
• The Emperor, Wanda Maximoff, and Amon traveled toward Kamar-Taj in an antigravity armored carrier while monitoring the assault.
• Amon warned that Mordo and the other Arcanists would resist, while the Emperor vowed to reach Kamar-Taj and uphold his oath to save the Sorcerer Supreme and humanity.

The First Secret Regiment and Battle Sisters fought their way through Kamar-Taj’s third courtyard, where young Arcanists resisted with Psionic magic. Tatyana ordered the advance toward Mordo’s position, while the Emperor, Wanda Maximoff, and Amon debated whether to capture or kill him.

• Kamar-Taj Arcanists trapped and burned First Secret Regiment soldiers with flaming spider silk, then charged the soldiers and Sisterhood with Psionic weapons.
• Tatyana killed attacking Arcanists, and reinforcements with Armored Personnel Carriers overwhelmed and subdued the inexperienced defenders.
• Tatyana ordered the troops to leave the wounded, restrain the Psionics, and advance to the fifth tactical objective to capture Mordo before he could retreat.
• Praetorian Guard Amphitryon approved Tatyana’s decision, revealed that he had activated the Emperor’s agents among the prisoners, and claimed command of the coming assault.
• The Emperor told Wanda Maximoff and Amon that Mordo would not surrender without learning the truth, but he feared the consequences of revealing it.
• Wanda Maximoff recommended killing Mordo, and Amon urged the Emperor to eliminate him to prevent any future threat.

Praetorian Guard Amphitryon crossed a warped courtyard and defeated a female Arcanist who had trapped him in an illusion, then reunited with his troops. As the Emperor and Wanda advanced through Kamar-Taj, the Emperor sensed the entity controlling the Sorcerer Supreme and prepared to confront it.

• Praetorian Guard Amphitryon climbed an impossible staircase through distorted time and space, then struck down the female Arcanist sustaining the illusion.
• Amphitryon contacted Tatyana, confirmed the others had not seen the Arcanist, and ordered the soldiers to regroup and continue advancing.
• Transport aircraft airdropped firepower fortresses into the captured courtyards as Amphitryon warned that the remaining Arcanists might command the Mirror Dimension.
• The Emperor unleashed his Psionic aura and challenged the entity manipulating the Sorcerer Supreme, while Wanda struggled to maintain her connection to the Sea of Souls.
• The Emperor apologized to Wanda for not taking control of the Eye of Agamotto sooner, and Wanda steadied herself with her staff as they continued toward the Sorcerer Supreme.

Mordo confronted the Emperor in his inner world, where the Emperor warned that an impostor wearing The Venerable One’s skin had entered the Material Universe and taken control of the Eye of Agamotto. Mordo demanded proof but left unconvinced, while the Emperor continued resisting a vast Aether storm and trusted Mordo would eventually choose to protect humanity.

• At Kamar-Taj, Mordo defended his loyalty to The Venerable One as Master Daniel questioned his judgment and warned that the Emperor had killed many Vampires.
• Mordo entered the Emperor’s inner world and saw a vast palace built upon the foundation of Kamar-Taj.
• The Emperor told Mordo that an impostor wearing The Venerable One’s skin had reached the Material Universe and seized control of the Eye of Agamotto.
• The Emperor showed Mordo the Aether storm he was resisting and said the impostor’s arrival threatened the Human Race, but Mordo insisted on proof.
• After Mordo returned, Amon told Wanda Maximoff that he had failed to persuade Mordo but trusted his loyalty would lead him to make the right choice.

Mordo rejected the Emperor’s demonstration of power and ordered Master Daniel to summon the ascetics, claiming the Sorcerer Supreme required their sacrifice. As the Emperor’s forces failed to break Kamar-Taj’s Psionic Barrier, the Emperor arrived and ordered Amphitryon to destroy the defenders’ will before he reached the final stair.

• The Emperor showed Mordo the Sea of Aether and revealed the Arcanists guarding the Dimensional Rift, but Mordo called the display an illusion and accused him of plotting against the Sorcerer Supreme.
• Mordo ordered Master Daniel to tell the ascetics that the Sorcerer Supreme required their sacrifice.
• Tatyana and the Emperor’s forces attacked Kamar-Taj’s Psionic Barrier with firearms, gunships, and rockets, but their strikes failed to breach it.
• An Arcanist reported that the bombardment had killed four Arcanists and torn apart eight souls, while fear spread among the defenders.
• The Emperor entered the courtyard and ordered Amphitryon to destroy the defenders’ will before he stepped onto the final stair.

Wanda Maximoff climbed toward Kamar-Taj with the Emperor and experienced memories and emotions carried through the Sea of Aether. After Amon activated her psychic suppressor, she regained her bearings and heard the Emperor insist that she still did not understand why he had brought her there.

• Wanda struggled up Kamar-Taj’s stairs as the Sea of Aether exposed her to the Emperor’s anger and the sacrifices of the ascetics.
• Wanda witnessed the ascetics’ memories and learned they had come to Kamar-Taj seeking hope amid poverty, war, famine, injustice, and superstition.
• Wanda relived a winter night in 1995 and watched the Emperor, disguised as a folklore professor, identify himself in a photograph and drive the Messenger of Chaos from the memory.
• Wanda questioned whether she trusted the Emperor’s prophecy because she believed it or because he was her teacher, then continued climbing in a feverish, disoriented state.
• Amon activated Wanda’s psychic suppressor, and she recognized herself and her purpose as the Emperor told her that she still did not know why he had brought her instead of Bayonetta or Jeanne.