Chapter Summaries

The Emperor’s slight movement toward rising alarmed Chaos and the Primarchs, while Slaanesh resumed its attack on Gamma World. Lion El'Jonson and Horus both set out for the Imperium to confront the Emperor before he might become a Chaos god.

• Slaanesh halted its assault when the Emperor seemed about to rise, then ordered the attack to continue after he remained still.
• Lion El'Jonson sensed the Emperor’s plans and ordered the Angels of Absolution to return to the Imperium, despite lacking a way to travel through the Webway.
• Roboute Guilliman’s Imperial Guard also headed toward the Imperium, while Horus moved faster and began his own return.
• Horus believed humanity needed to shape its own future rather than depend on a god, and he feared his next meeting with the Emperor might be with a cold Chaos god.
• Horus told his followers they could stay behind if they wished, but they pledged to return with him despite the danger.

Horus prepared to return to Terra with the Sons of Horus, while Malcador refused his request to see the Emperor, whose humanity was fading as he pursued humanity’s salvation. Horus accepted that he could not change the Emperor’s course and resolved to contribute to the Imperium instead.

• The Sons of Horus affirmed their loyalty to Horus and agreed to follow him back to the Imperium without shame.
• Horus told the remaining Sons of Horus to finish their assigned tasks and promised to protect those who returned with him from punishment.
• Horus boarded Gamma World's ship, sent word to Terra, and asked that Malcador be informed of his return.
• Malcador continued directing the Imperium’s affairs and refused Horus’s request to meet the Emperor, fearing the meeting could disrupt the Emperor’s plan.
• Horus understood that the Emperor was focused on humanity’s salvation and chose not to pursue a meeting, despite his desire to atone and see his father again.

As the Emperor's divinity rapidly consumed his humanity, he ordered the Adeptus Custodes to send the Emperor's message through the warp gate on Molech. Malcador began planning how to act on the order and strike at the enemy.

• The Emperor, losing his humanity, ordered Trajan and the Adeptus Custodes to go to the warp gate on Molech.
• Trajan assigned a squad of Adeptus Custodes and six Sisters of Silence to escort the blood carrying the Emperor's consciousness, and ordered Space Marines to help.
• The Adeptus Custodes delivered the Emperor's command to Imperial officials, who initially doubted it, then agreed to relay it.
• Malcador received the order and considered attacking the enemy's core rather than spending time assaulting Molech directly.
• Malcador calculated possible tactics and weapons deployments as he prepared to carry out the Emperor's command.

Malcador summoned Imperial forces to the Molech stargate, where they witnessed Sanguinius fighting Chaos beyond it. The stargate ruptured and unleashed daemons into the material world, leaving the assembled warriors to fight.

• Malcador sent a psychic order calling Imperial forces to the world beyond Molech's stargate, and warships across the Imperium changed course to obey.
• The Aeldari eased access to Webway gates near Molech, while the Atlantian Spears arrived and waited for the stargate to open.
• The stargate revealed a vast battle between Chaos forces, where the Atlantian Spears saw the divine Sanguinius and other legendary figures fighting.
• The stargate cracked and exploded, dragging nearby warships toward it as Chaos daemons poured through the breach.
• Imperial warriors saw humans fighting among the daemons and prepared to battle the emerging Chaos forces.

Grey Knights and Gamma World's forces fought through swarms of Chaos daemons as the Four Chaos Gods ravaged the battlefield and trapped the defenders inside vast Warp maelstroms. The Space Marines charged toward the gods seeking a breach, while Warp energy began mutating those outside the ruin.

• Grey Knights arrived and charged into the Chaos daemons, while Gamma World's defenders judged the reinforcements insufficient.
• The Four Chaos Gods unleashed devastating Warp attacks, destroying warships and overwhelming forces across the battlefield.
• The Four Gods raised deadly storms and maelstroms that enveloped the ruin, trapping Gamma World's forces and blocking anyone from entering or escaping.
• A force field protected the ruin's defenders from some Warp effects as Adeptus Custodes continued fighting amid the daemons.
• Space Marines charged toward the Four Gods, hoping to break through their encirclement.
• Outside the battlefield, torrents of Warp energy caused people's eyes to mutate into violet crystals.

Horus returned to the stargate and used his power to reopen it, leading his warriors into the Warp as Magnus tore open Tzeentch’s storm. Meanwhile, Cisrain escaped the ruined city with the Eternal Spear of Primordial Chaos secured.

• The Space Marines could not cross the energy blocking the stargate, and Horus’s arrival drove the Atlantian Spears and other warriors into a frenzy.
• Horus drew in the radiating Warp energy and altered its laws, reopening the stargate before leading his warriors through it.
• The Four Gods noticed Horus’s power and runes as he entered the Warp, and Horus faced them with hatred.
• Magnus and the Thousand Sons tore open Tzeentch’s storm to make a path toward Horus.
• Cisrain and his men fled the mutated central ruins with the Eternal Spear of Primordial Chaos secured.

Gamma World received a signal from the lords trapped near the City of Ruins and prepared its fleet and Noah’s Ark for war. As Gamma World drained power from the Chaos Gods and its warships arrived, Gork and Mork entered the battle with a massive Ork tide.

• Gamma World received a response signal through the Webway and ordered the returning First Fleet to begin its transition.
• The chiefs prepared Noah’s Ark and reinforced the fleet, but delayed migration until the lords returned with the soul device.
• Gamma World activated Noah’s Ark’s soul-extraction database, creating a fifth Great Maelstrom that tore power from the Four Chaos Gods.
• Gamma World’s warships arrived at the City of Ruins and fired anti-Chaos weapons at the Chaos forces.
• Gork and Mork appeared amid the Chaos forces, bringing a massive Ork tide into the Warp.

Cisrain and his allies exploited the Chaos Gods’ distractions to escape the Warp through the stargate while ambitious powers rushed toward the possibility of godhood. After the Four Gods realized Cisrain had escaped, a tremendous disturbance shook the Warp and heralded the Human Emperor.

• Gork and Mork attacked Tzeentch while Slaanesh struggled against attacks on his palace and forces.
• Horus protected the Adeptus Custodes as Magnus opened a psychic passage through Tzeentch’s vortex, sacrificing his soul to Lorgar.
• Cisrain used the warships as a decoy while Adeptus Custodes approached the stargate, and Lorgar fled with Magnus’s soul.
• Cisrain freed Vashtorr, whose desire for godhood helped draw Vashtorr and other ambitious powers into the ancient sacrificial battlefield.
• The Four Gods destroyed Gamma World’s warships but discovered Cisrain had escaped through the stargate.
• A disturbance shook the Warp, and the Four Gods cried out, “Human Emperor!!!”

As the Emperor prepared to rise, Gamma World extracted humanity’s souls into Noah’s Ark and fled the collapsing galaxy. The Ark reached a universe without the Warp, where its survivors awakened and began planning peaceful new lives.

• The Emperor’s impending rise triggered apocalyptic upheavals across Terra and spread fear throughout the Imperium.
• Malcador oversaw the final preparations on Terra, while Gamma World loaded humanity’s soul data into Noah’s Ark and prepared to depart.
• Gamma World extracted souls across the galaxy, including those near Lion El'Jonson and Roboute Guilliman, while Malcador chose to remain behind.
• After humanity’s souls were gathered, Horus returned to the Emperor and joined him on the Golden Throne as the Emperor rose.
• Noah’s Ark crossed into a new universe without Warp fluctuations, and its awakened inhabitants discussed preserving souls and pursuing peaceful lives.