Recaps

Yarrick killed the military-industrial entrepreneurs and ordered the Planetary Defense Force to slaughter the nobles who had obstructed the war effort. When Magos Kaos intervened to enforce the Steel Treaty and protect Von Ozke, Yarrick charged him in battle.

• Yarrick shot the two entrepreneurs after they claimed their factories were already sacrificing profits for the war.
• Hundreds of Planetary Defense Force soldiers stormed in and killed the nobles, while Yarrick confronted the surviving Von Ozke.
• Yarrick contacted Domisilon, who reported that the operation was going well, as Flamethrower Reid interrupted to boast about killing noble guards.
• Von Ozke invoked the Steel Treaty, and Magos Kaos stepped between him and Yarrick, declaring that the treaty must not be violated.
• Yarrick drew his boltgun and power sword and charged Magos Kaos, shouting, “For the Emperor!”

Yarrick killed Feng Ozke with Tech-Priest Sage Kaos's help, then purged Hades Hive's nobles and took temporary control as its residents and the Adeptus Mechanicus backed him. Five days later, regrouped Orks advanced on the hive while industrial relocation remained unfinished, and Yarrick went out to fight.

• Kaos feigned defeat and signaled Yarrick to kill Feng Ozke, then explained that the Steel Treaty had obliged him to protect the family until Yarrick proved too strong to stop.
• Yarrick and his forces wiped out Hades Hive's nobles and magnates, while the Adeptus Mechanicus recognized his temporary authority and the residents accepted his administration.
• Domisilon joined the administration, and Flamethrower Reid became Yarrick's guard and helped train Planetary Defense Force troops in street fighting.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus guided the relocation of factories to the lower hive, but many facilities remained unmoved.
• Five days after the purge, reconnaissance reported that Orks were charging toward Hades Hive, and Yarrick set out with Reid to meet them despite unfinished factory relocations.

Bored Orks rampaged through evacuated Hades Hive, while Yarrick's forces ambushed them and defended the relocation of Dehalan Industrial Zone's facilities. The Orks regrouped under their boss, and the Planetary Defense Force continued its defense around the industrial zone.

• The Orks entered Hades Hive, found little useful scrap, and began smashing buildings out of boredom.
• A sniper killed an Ork, prompting its companions to brawl over eating it instead of reacting to the attack.
• The Ork boss broke up the fight, ate the dead Ork, and ordered the Boyz to search for scrap.
• Planetary Defense Force troops ambushed scattered Orks in the hive districts around Dehalan Industrial Zone.
• Yarrick's Lasgun-armed troops established defensive positions around Dehalan Industrial Zone to protect the relocation of its industrial facilities.

New recruit Dovell faced his first Ork assault at Crossroads Fortress, where veteran soldiers helped him overcome his fear and drive the attackers back. After the defenders rested, three Ork Dirty Tanks advanced on the fortress, leaving Dovell stunned by their crude weapons.

• Dovell cowered during an Ork attack until his veteran sergeant ordered him to take cover and fight.
• The sergeant slapped Dovell into action, and Dovell fired his Lasgun, wounding an Ork as the fortress defenders repelled the assault.
• The Orks retreated after leaving hundreds of corpses in the streets, while Dovell and the other soldiers rested.
• The veteran spotted Ork tanks approaching Crossroads Fortress and ordered the soldiers to prepare anti-armor weapons.
• Three Dirty Tanks fired on the fortress, and Dovell stared in disbelief at the holes in one tank's cannon barrel.

Dovell and the rookie squad defended Crossroads Fortress, destroying two Ork tanks and driving back the attackers. As Dovell slept through the continuing artillery fire, the Ork leader Bunglak planned a surprise night assault on the fortress gate.

• Orks attacked Crossroads Fortress with three Dirty Tanks, and Dovell ducked incoming fire and killed charging Boyz from a firing slit.
• A rocket crew hit an Ork tank, detonating its ammunition and destroying it, while a second rocket disabled another tank.
• Bunglak's remaining tank withdrew under red smoke, ending the battle temporarily after the defenders killed hundreds of Ork Boyz.
• Dovell ate a protein bar and an energy bar, purified dirty water, and fell asleep as artillery continued outside.
• Bunglak resolved to attack the fortress gate under cover of darkness with his Boyz and their big choppas.

Bunglak led an Ork attack on Crossroads Fortress, using a chaotic distraction and cardboard-box camouflage to get close to its gate. After the ambush failed and his Boyz were killed, he charged the gate alone and began hacking it open as the fortress soldiers rushed to defend it.

• Bunglak ordered the Orks with guns to fire at the fortress while he and the axe-wielding Boyz snuck forward in cardboard boxes.
• Crossroads Fortress soldiers woke and opened fire, killing the exposed Orks and forcing Bunglak to flee through the rubble.
• Bunglak hurled his axe at an Ork who was returning to camp, then charged the fortress shouting, "Waaagh! for the Emperor!"
• The fortress heavy bolter jammed as Bunglak reached the sealed gate, and he began hacking at it with his axe.
• The veteran sergeant took his chainsword and followed the soldiers as they hurried to defend the gate.

Bunglak smashed through the fortress gate and slaughtered soldiers while mistaking their resistance for the fighting style of the “Stomach-Shakers.” After defeating the veteran sergeant and turning a rocket back on its launcher crew, Bunglak suddenly shriveled and died, leaving the surviving soldiers to tend the sergeant and repair the gate.

• Bunglak broke through the gate and killed several soldiers despite their concentrated lasgun fire.
• Bunglak fought the veteran sergeant, who struck his armor with a chainsword before Bunglak broke both of his arms and sent him crashing into a wall.
• Bunglak caught an anti-tank rocket and hurled it into the fortress ceiling, then boasted of his strength.
• Bunglak suddenly weakened, shriveled into a skeleton, and collapsed dead.
• The soldiers carried the sergeant to the medical room and began repairing the gate.

Commissar Yarrick’s point defenses and snipers slowed the Ork advance toward the Dehalan Industrial Zone while its defenders held their positions. After Lede reported driving back an attack, Yarrick went outside and found the enormous Ork corpse his gang had brought back.

• Yarrick observed the battle from a forward bunker and relied on fortified buildings, snipers, and point defenses to wear down the Orks.
• Lede’s gang members used their hive knowledge and traps to ambush Orks and delay their advance.
• Domisilon kept the industrial district’s production lines running and refused Sage Kaos’s offer to become an apprentice priest.
• Lede reported that his fighters had repelled Orks attacking near the south gate and the Promethium Pipeline.
• Yarrick followed Lede outside and was stunned by the huge Ork boss corpse they had brought back in an armored vehicle.

Dakka Bang Bang led his ork boyz in a furious assault on a Defence Force position, where their music-empowered fire nearly overwhelmed the defenders. After Lede killed the ork bard and Chimera reinforcements turned their guns on the orks, Dakka Bang Bang decided to attack from another direction.

• Dakka Bang Bang charged from the promethium pipelines and led his heavily armed boyz in a barrage against the Defence Force position.
• An ork boy played wild electric guitar music, strengthening the boyz' shooting and making their fire tear into the defenders' bunkers.
• Iron Fist Squad arrived in several Chimeras and opened fire, while Dakka Bang Bang stopped one transport with an explosive shot.
• Lede fired his meltagun at the ork bard, ending the music and removing its boost to the orks.
• Dakka Bang Bang fired at Lede and the Chimeras, then led his boyz back toward the pipelines to attack from another direction.

Lede killed the heavily armored Ork boss Dakka Bang Bang after evading his attacks and planting a melta bomb on his chest. Afterward, a soldier reported that the troops had found something strange, and Lede went to investigate.

• Lede melted Dakka Bang Bang's ammunition box, but the Ork charged him after discovering it was ruined.
• Dakka Bang Bang battered one Chimera and killed the gunner in another by throwing his big gun through its turret.
• Lede dodged Dakka Bang Bang's attacks, stuck a melta bomb to his chest armor, then fired a melta shot into the opening behind his ammo box and killed him.
• A soldier told Lede that the troops had found something strange, and Lede went with him to see it.

Lao Ganma offered the Imperials Ork intelligence in exchange for his life, but Commissar Yarrick distrusted him and began torturing him for answers. Lao Ganma passed out under interrogation, leaving Yarrick without useful information.

• Lao Ganma begged the guardsmen for mercy and offered to reveal the Orks' plans, but insisted on speaking to Gut-Shaker.
• Lede brought Lao Ganma to Commissar Yarrick, who ordered Lede to parade the dead Ork boss through the streets.
• Yarrick decided Lao Ganma might know valuable intelligence and ordered a set of interrogation equipment brought in.
• Yarrick electrocuted Lao Ganma while questioning him about Ork commands, but Lao Ganma's answers were only Waaagh! and he swore by Gork.
• Lao Ganma passed out, so Yarrick sent a guard to fetch the medic and prayed for the Emperor's forgiveness.

After the Flame was delayed by a Warp storm, Lin Fan spent time eating and drinking with the Space Wolves before finding Delia repairing a door. Delia’s nervousness around Lin Fan caused her to overheat, and the chapter ended with them embracing while Slaanesh watched in frustrated silence.

• Lin Fan drank Fenrisian mead with Kaiser Whitefang and sparred with the Space Wolves, who eventually stopped after their training rods shattered against him.
• Lin Fan met Delia repairing an automatic door and learned that the Flame’s operational efficiency had recovered to 57%.
• Delia froze and began smoking when she noticed Lin Fan watching her work, so Lin Fan hugged her and checked whether she was all right.
• Delia asked Lin Fan not to call other Tech-Priests and stayed in his arms, while Lin Fan wondered whether she had fallen for him.
• Slaanesh watched Lin Fan and Delia embrace and complained when they did not kiss, prompting Khorne to threaten him for making noise.

The Genestealer Patriarch mourned the loss of its followers and searched the Flame for a chance to rebuild its forces. It ambushed Lin Fan and Delia, but Delia's rage at the attack turned the tables on the would-be hunter.

• The Patriarch recalled how its Four-Armed Emperor followers had fought the daemons before being overwhelmed, leaving it to hide from both daemons and Imperial forces.
• After months of failing to find isolated hosts, the hungry Patriarch sensed Lin Fan and Delia near an automatic door and crawled toward them.
• Lin Fan held Delia, whose body was smoking and temporarily unable to move, while she secretly recorded the embrace.
• The Patriarch lunged at the pair, and Lin Fan blocked its claws with his chainsword, but the attack severed Delia's tail.
• Delia screamed in fury over her ruined tail and interrupted recording, making the Patriarch sense that its life was in danger.

Delia unleashed her fury on the Genestealer Patriarch and killed it after Lin Fan let her fight alone. After the Battle Sisters cleaned up, Delia returned to her quarters, pleased by her embrace from Lin Fan and hopeful for another chance.

• Delia transformed her arms into weapons and attacked the Patriarch, whose wounds only made it faster.
• Delia refused Lin Fan's help, leapt into battle, and cut off the Patriarch's claws before pinning and dismembering it.
• After half an hour, Lin Fan stopped Delia from tormenting the dead Patriarch and asked her to call the Battle Sisters to clean up.
• Lin Fan reported Delia's feat to the higher-ups, who sent Battle Sisters to clear the scene; they praised Delia and suggested she would make an excellent sister.
• Lin Fan and Delia repaired the damaged automatic door and returned to the garrison, where Delia went to her quarters and fell asleep imagining more time with Lin Fan.

Slaanesh tried to corrupt Delia after she killed a Genestealer Patriarch, but the Emperor’s lingering power blocked his possession, so he entered her dreams instead. Meanwhile, General Westad learned of Delia’s victory and began seeking rewards and honors for the 37th Regiment.

• Slaanesh ordered his followers to destroy the Genestealers and watched Lin Fan and Delia through the Wailing Lens.
• Slaanesh sent a projection into Delia’s quarters, but the Emperor’s golden power repelled it.
• Slaanesh decided to enter Delia’s dreams and influence her toward corruption.
• General Westad read the report that Delia had killed a Genestealer Patriarch in the Flame’s mid-deck.
• General Westad recalled his own deadly encounter with a Patriarch and began drafting an application for rewards and honors for the 37th Regiment.

The author explained revisions to the protagonist’s early setup, the story’s focus on ordinary Astra Militarum soldiers, and plans for character designs. The chapter ended with a passage introducing Tokman, a Custodes guarding the Shadow Vault beneath Terra.

• The author said the protagonist’s early power level had been revised to make his setup consistent and allow him to grow.
• The author described the original plan to tell the story of the Imperium through an Astra Militarum soldier and apologized for focusing on Armageddon and Yarrick before the protagonist appeared.
• The author announced that they might draw character designs or scenes on skipped-update days and promised an extra update.
• The narration described the Shadow Vault’s dangers and Tokman’s long service guarding it for The Emperor.

Delia dreamed that she approached Lin Fan on the Golden Throne and nearly touched his mechanical body, but she woke before she could reach him. Back in Middle Deck, Area A134, she was given a blood-red axe and attacked the chieftain she had killed earlier.

• Delia performed a consecration ritual in her dream, then found herself before the Golden Throne and followed Lin Fan’s summons.
• Lin Fan embraced Delia and revealed the intricate mechanical body beneath his robe, while Slaanesh planned to corrupt her.
• Delia woke after falling from the throne and realized she was back in Middle Deck, Area A134.
• Delia picked up a blood-red axe that told her to look behind her, where the chieftain had appeared again.
• Delia charged the chieftain and cut off his left leg with the axe.

Khorne disrupted Slaanesh’s attempt to corrupt Delia’s dream, and Delia attacked Slaanesh’s projection with Khorne’s battle-axe. After Delia woke to her alarm, the gods’ rivalry escalated into another vast daemon war, while she remained unaware of the conflict she had sparked.

• Khorne’s interference shattered Slaanesh’s dream and placed his battle-axe in Delia’s hands, protecting her with golden light.
• Delia attacked Slaanesh’s patriarch disguise, and their clash with Khorne left Slaanesh wounded before both gods withdrew.
• Delia’s dream returned to Lin Fan on the Golden Throne, but her alarm woke her and she silenced it by striking it with her mechanical hand.
• Slaanesh tried to rally his servants, but Khorne’s spear destroyed the Wailing Lens in Slaanesh’s hall.
• Slaanesh retaliated by sending the weapons in his palace toward Khorne’s throne, triggering a large daemon war that Delia knew nothing about.

Isha lived in Nurgle’s Garden, where the god kept her captive but treated her with genuine care, using her healing powers and feedback to refine his diseases. After drinking another bowl of Disease Soup, she praised it as clean and hygienic, delighting Nurgle and his gathered daemons.

• Nurgle rescued Isha from Slaanesh and brought her to his garden, where she repeatedly drank his Disease Soup to keep its illnesses from spreading.
• Nurgle used Isha’s healing and sensations to improve his plagues, hoping to create a perfect blessing for all life.
• Nurgle finished preparing a new soup and gave Isha a basin-sized bowl to taste.
• Isha drank the soup, assessed its effects, and told Nurgle and the watching daemons, “Clean and hygienic, brothers!”

Tzeentch, fearing the Subjective One would soon threaten Chaos, chose the T'au Empire as a new place to delay him and ordered the Kasare Legion deployed to the Damocles Gulf. Meanwhile, Lin Fan sensed that something had set its sights on him, then was summoned by the Space Wolves to help with an important matter.

• Tzeentch concluded that his warp storm over the Armageddon Sector would only delay the Subjective One briefly and decided to make the T'au Empire his next plan.
• Tzeentch considered using the Fate Die to help the T'au hold out and ordered his hidden Imperial followers to send the Kasare Legion to the Damocles Gulf after Armageddon.
• Lin Fan sneezed during lunch, sensing that something had set its sights on him, while Commissar Aude and Colonel Mark reacted to his distraction.
• After finishing his meal, Lin Fan was summoned by a communications trooper to the Space Wolves' hall to help with an important matter.

Tzeentch sent Carlos to stir Slaanesh and Khorne against the Subjective One, while Slaanesh grew bored and summoned Lucius for entertainment. Lucius tormented an Aeldari team and took a Soul Stone before answering Slaanesh’s call.

• Tzeentch ordered Carlos to visit Slaanesh and Khorne and turn their attention toward the Subjective One.
• Carlos tried to descend Tzeentch’s crystal staircase, fell down it, and limped away to carry out his task.
• Slaanesh watched the universe through the Wailing Lens, grew bored with the Commorragh spectacles, and accepted a Daemonette’s suggestion to send Lucius after a target.
• Lucius tortured an Aeldari Howling Banshee, taunted her with a Soul Stone, and watched her die before spitting the stone back out.
• Slaanesh called Lucius, who walked toward the rift he had opened.

Lin Fan joined Wodhaus Ice Wolf's force to destroy a Chaos altar aboard a space hulk that emerged near the fleet. Warp interference scattered their boarding torpedoes, and Lin Fan's group became trapped inside the hulk's hull, where Delia hinted that his embrace could help them cut their way out.

• Wodhaus explained that a Chaos altar would appear near the fleet and asked Lin Fan to accompany his Space Wolves and the Battle Sisters because his company had resisted corruption.
• Lin Fan assembled the 3rd Company, a squad of Tempestus Scions, and Canoness Gevisiting's Battle Sisters after the fleet detected a Warp rift and a massive space hulk emerged.
• Wodhaus, Bennett Wolf Claw, Kaiser White Fang, three Grey Hunters, Lin Fan's troops, and Gevisiting's forces boarded torpedoes to reach the hulk, but Warp interference scattered them across it.
• Lin Fan's boarding torpedo lodged inside the hulk's outer hull, and Delia located a passageway twenty meters away while Old Jock freed the trapped soldiers.
• Delia said her thermal cutter could break through the wall faster if Lin Fan hugged her, so Lin Fan embraced her as Old Jock and the soldiers teased them.

Lin Fan and the 3rd Company explored an Ork-styled derelict and encountered Warp-bound Ork dead souls that their weapons could only temporarily disperse. The Emperor told Lin Fan to find and destroy the ship’s Warp node, so Lin Fan led the squad through the spirits toward the other side of the hall.

• Lin Fan asked Delia whether she had detected the other units, but her auspex showed no trace of them.
• Lin Fan and his squad found a hall filled with fresh-looking Ork corpses, whose bound dead souls began rising.
• Old Jock fired a grenade at the corpses, dispersing the phantoms temporarily but leaving the bodies unharmed.
• Lin Fan asked the Emperor for help and learned that destroying the ship’s Warp node would free the dead souls and anyone they bound.
• Lin Fan led the 3rd Company through the hall, firing at the Ork spirits until they reached the far door.
• Lin Fan kicked down the door and claimed it had collapsed from disrepair, while Delia recognized his strength.

Lin Fan reunited with Canoness Gevisiting’s force and explained that destroying the Warp node could free the trapped souls and restore the fallen Sisters. Gevisiting’s Emperor icon revealed the node’s direction, but Ork and Imperial souls surrounded the allied group.

• Lin Fan led his exhausted soldiers through a space hulk filled with attacking Ork souls and followed gunfire to Gevisiting’s position.
• Lin Fan’s group joined Gevisiting, the Battle Sisters, and the Tempestus Scions, while Annis covered their approach with flames.
• Lin Fan told Gevisiting that destroying the Warp node could release the trapped souls and restore the fallen Sisters.
• Gevisiting prayed with an Emperor icon, which transformed into a golden needle pointing toward the Warp node.
• Ork and Imperial souls converged on the group and completely surrounded them.

Lin Fan and his companions followed the sacred icon to a Chaos altar, where a trap froze everyone but him. Lucius appeared and attacked Lin Fan, leaving the two alone in the blood pool.

• The bound souls of forgotten Imperial soldiers turned on the Ork souls, and Lin Fan’s group paid their respects before continuing.
• Canoness Gevisiting led the group to a door marked by the sacred icon and used a blessed rocket to destroy it.
• Gevisiting sent a Servo-skull to inspect the altar, but Lin Fan entered the blood pool himself after finding nothing inside.
• A ripple from the red skull froze Gevisiting and the others, while Lin Fan remained able to move.
• Lucius appeared, revealed that a stasis field had no effect on Lin Fan, and attacked him in the blood pool.