Chapter Summaries

Li Tang endured ten thousand years of slaughter and isolation in the Blood-Colored Wasteland, surviving the trial and returning to the Terra laboratory after only a week. The Emperor recognized his transformed power, agreed to proceed cautiously with the other gene-seed samples, and named him the Firstborn of the Twenty-First Legion: Doom Slayer.

• Li Tang nearly succumbed to exhaustion and rage in the Blood-Colored Wasteland, but remembered his determination to stay alive and resumed fighting while counting the seconds.
• Li Tang endured decades and then thousands of years, growing stronger until the demons feared him; he resisted loneliness and used the demons to hone his skills.
• After ten thousand years, Li Tang understood the trial's purpose, declared that he had endured it, and watched the Blood-Colored Wasteland collapse into the rune mark on his chest.
• Li Tang awoke in the Terra laboratory after one week in reality, and Plato told him how long he had been unconscious.
• The Emperor saw that Li Tang's life had changed and ordered the remaining gene-seed to be implanted, but Li Tang warned that the trial could kill everyone; the Emperor agreed to select candidates in an orderly manner.
• The Emperor ordered armor for Li Tang, told the Custodes to conceal his existence, and named him the Firstborn of the Twenty-First Legion, Doom Slayer.

Doom sensed a mysterious connection and learned that his father, King Norwick, had returned in grave condition. Norwick invested Doom as Warlord and tasked him with continuing the war against the Orks with half the army.

• Doom lost a sparring match to Harlan after sensing a distant presence linked to a superior and subordinate.
• Harlan worried about his unexplained return to peak strength and complained about the genetic inspectors’ scrutiny.
• Doom and Harlan discussed King Norwick’s worsening health and the possibility of returning to the battlefield.
• Flano Norwick hurried to the training grounds and told Doom that their father had returned and was waiting in the council hall.
• Doom reached the council hall and found King Norwick frail and receiving a sustaining infusion.
• Norwick invested Doom as Warlord and gave him the Sword Seal, ordering him to hunt down the remaining Orks with half the army.

King Norwick explained why he was sending Doom to the front against the Orks while Ennio sealed off the City of Truth: the gods were using the city to target Doom, and Norwick needed time to protect his son and Nul. Doom departed to join the front-line troops, while Ennio accepted the blockade mission and awaited reinforcements.

• Norwick told Doom that Ennio would lead half the Night Watchers to seal off the City of Truth, while Doom went to destroy the Orks.
• Doom accepted his father's orders, met Ennio at the council chamber, and left to prepare with Harlan and Flano before bidding farewell to his mother.
• Norwick ordered Ennio to block every route out of the City of Truth, destroy anyone who escaped, and guard the Night Watchers against psychic influence.
• Ennio agreed to hold the blockade until Doom returned from the front and reinforced him for a new operation.
• Norwick told Ennio that they had to protect Doom until an outside power matured, then declared that he had cast his dice against the gods.

King Norwick secretly told Harlan that gods were watching him and ordered him to kill Doom if Doom turned toward them. After Harlan swore to protect Nul, Norwick had the Psionic Master seal their conversation in Harlan’s mind, while the master sacrificed himself to conceal the secret.

• King Norwick asked Harlan whether he would break the Third Oath and kill Doom to uphold the First and Second Oaths, and Harlan pledged to protect Nul.
• Norwick raised layered barriers and revealed that gods existed in the Warp, were watching Harlan, and had been speaking inside Norwick’s mind.
• Harlan swore to kill Doom if he turned toward the gods, and Norwick arranged for the Psionic Master to bury the oath and their conversation in Harlan’s mind.
• The Psionic Master erased his own memories of Norwick’s plans, then burned himself and his soul to ash.
• Norwick put away the ancient sphere and lowered the barriers as the gods’ murmurs returned to his mind.

Doom and Harlan raced through a canyon and wiped out a camp of three thousand Orks, while Doom began connecting Isaac, the City of Truth, and faith to the existence of gods. The chapter ended with Harlan taunting the white figures who arrived after the battle.

• Doom killed a ten-Ork patrol barehanded, ate an Ork's brain, and learned that three thousand Orks were gathered in a nearby valley.
• Harlan charged through the Ork ranks on his motorcycle, cutting down enemies with its weapons before pulling away.
• Doom leaped into the camp and slaughtered the Orks at extraordinary speed as Harlan watched from a hill.
• Doom recognized a strange gaze watching the battle, then recalled Isaac's words and reasoned through a connection between him, the City of Truth, faith, and God.
• Doom killed all three thousand Orks in one minute, and Harlan shouted at the white figures arriving outside the valley, “You're too slow!”

Doom reached the Night Watchers’ mobile command center and used King Norwick’s Sword Seal to assume command as Warlord. He halted the ongoing operations, expanded the battlefield projection’s range, and introduced a numerical command system, leaving the Night Watchers ready to receive his orders.

• Doom and Harlan Ogilvy left a valley where Doom had single-handedly killed a company of Orks, then continued toward the battlefield command center.
• Doom presented the Sword Seal at the War Fortress and ordered the Night Watchers to finish their immediate work, rest, and stand by.
• Doom directed a Forge Technician to simplify the battlefield projection so it could scan a much larger area, and he devised a numerical system for issuing orders.
• Erica von Stern arrived furious at the halted advance, but she apologized after seeing the Sword Seal and recognizing Doom’s authority.
• Doom had couriers distribute the numerical commands and gave the Night Watchers two hours to learn them.
• The Night Watchers confirmed the command transfer, and Doom’s first orders were transmitted to the forces.

Doom used relic technology to direct the Night Watchers and systematically gather the scattered Orks into one place. With seventy thousand Orks assembled, he finished the first stage of his plan and ordered Haran Ogilvy to lose.

• Doom began issuing digital commands that coordinated the Night Watchers' movements, supplies, and fire support across the battlefield.
• The Night Watchers followed Doom's orders, eliminating small Ork groups while avoiding larger ones and guiding the Orks toward a plain.
• Erica asked what Doom was doing, and Haran guessed that he was using the Night Watchers like a net to gather the Orks.
• Doom gathered seventy thousand Orks on the plain and declared the first stage of his plan complete.
• Doom summoned Haran Ogilvy and ordered the Champion Swordsman to lose.

Doom used the Orks’ psychic field to stage a legend-making battle, intending to make Harlan Ogilvy seem invincible and turn the Greenskins’ belief against them. After Harlan defeated every challenger, the Orks lost their nerve, until a timid voice challenged him.

• Harlan agreed to sacrifice his hard-earned honor for Doom’s plan, and Doom brought him and Erica to the Ork gathering point.
• Doom explained that he would create an Ork legend and ordered Erica to follow his tactical instructions.
• Doom arranged the Night Watchers, Rangers, and Erica’s snipers to herd and confuse the Orks while killing their largest fighters.
• Harlan entered the Ork horde, challenged its fighters, and became the focus of the Greenskins’ belief after Erica spread the call to kill him and become boss.
• Harlan killed challenger after challenger for ten minutes, and the Orks began to believe he was invincible before a timid voice challenged him.

Doom engineered a duel in which the timid Ork Gu Ya appeared to defeat the human champion, causing the Orks to hail Gu Ya as their boss. Doom confirmed that the new boss was drawing scattered Orks toward his position.

• Doom arranged for Gu Ya to challenge Harlan, while Erica concealed herself nearby with a conversion device.
• Gu Ya charged Harlan, who used Basic Swordsmanship to make each clash look like the wooden club had knocked his lightsword aside.
• The Orks credited Gu Ya’s apparent victories to Gork and Mork, cheered for him, and called him their boss.
• Harlan staged a final defeat and retreated as Erica’s Wraiths threw smoke bombs; the Orks lifted Gu Ya into the air as their humans withdrew.
• Gu Ya grew larger as the Orks’ belief in its status as boss took hold.
• Scouting Rangers reported that Orks across the southern hemisphere had changed course and were advancing toward Doom, who confirmed that Gu Ya’s birth had drawn them through the psychic field.

Doom drew the Orks into a fortified war zone by making Gu Ya their boss, then used a six-month war of attrition to contain and weaken them while the Core Forge eliminated Orks and spores across Nul. After the Forge Master confirmed the cleanup was complete, Doom ordered the Night Watchers to rest before launching the final attack at sunrise.

• Doom explained to Harlan that he had made Gu Ya the Ork boss to attract the scattered Orks and prevent a more dangerous leader from emerging naturally.
• The Night Watchers built fortifications around a designated war zone while Gu Ya and the Orks constructed their own stronghold; Doom ordered the troops to use only crystal weapons.
• Doom's forces lured Orks into the war zone, wore them down, and secretly eliminated challengers to Gu Ya while the Core Forge burned and inspected the Orks' migration routes.
• After six months, the Orks stopped receiving reinforcements and grew exhausted, while Gu Ya gained strength and realized Doom had trapped his people.
• The Forge Master reported that Nul was clear of Orks and spores, and Doom ordered the warriors to rest before attacking at sunrise.