Recaps

Rom presented his research into a Machine God symbol to Per-12 and the other Sages, but Per-12 revealed his treachery and unleashed scrap code fused with daemon whispers into their data space. Rom used a recently recovered data package to interrupt the attack, but Per-12 intensified the assault and left Rom struggling to hold it back.

• Rom explained his research and claimed that reciting a Machine God symbol could make the universe answer, though a different method was needed to avoid its terrible cost.
• Per-12 praised Rom's discovery, then released scrap-code aggregates from a servo-skull and trapped the Sages inside the data space.
• Per-12 dismissed the Sages' faith in the Corpse Emperor and introduced dark code carrying fragmented daemon whispers into the space.
• Rom recognized the attack as Dark Mechanicum corruption while the scrap code infected the data space and overwhelmed the Sages' firewall.
• Rom deployed his recovered data package, interrupting the infection and weakening Per-12's control over the space.
• Per-12 released more scrap code, and Rom struggled to resist with the fragmentary antivirus device.

Rom and the other magi escaped the scrapcode assault on Agrippina Forge World, while Tzeentch’s plans shifted under Khorne’s impatience. The Khorne warbands charged toward Cadia ahead of schedule, forcing Abaddon to join their attack as the Word Bearers continued their ritual.

• Rom and the magi disengaged from the data-space, destroyed Magos Per-12, and prepared to fight their way through the approaching Intelligent Control Legion.
• Carl Bohar learned that his avatar had been destroyed but copied the rune needed to meet the Machine God.
• Tzeentch infected Agrippina Forge World with more Obliterator Virus, expecting the Imperium to send reinforcements from Cadia and leave it vulnerable to Abaddon.
• Khorne lost patience with Tzeentch’s preparations, attacked him, and ordered his warriors to begin the war.
• Abaddon learned that Khorne’s warbands had broken formation and were charging toward Cadia, then ordered the Word Bearers to continue their ritual and prepared to join the attack.

The Intelligent Control Legion devastated Agrippina Forge World while Magos Rom’s forces abandoned manufactorum districts, deepening the despair that opened a Warp rift and spread Chaos across the sector. As Imperial fleets rushed to seal it and Cadia lost defenders, Kaiser Whitefang fought in District Eight and asked Wodhaus when the daemons would appear.

• The Intelligent Control Legion used plasma mortars and Hunter-pattern automata to overwhelm Skitarii forces, forcing Magos Rom to abandon districts the Titans could not defend.
• Abandoned industrial slaves turned to underground cults, whose rituals and the Legion’s slaughter helped open a Warp rift on Agrippina.
• Chaos spread through the Agripinaa Sector, while fleets led by Kaiser Whitefang, Kor'sarro, and Colvin headed for Agrippina to seal the rift.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus, Titan Legion, Knight Houses, and half of the Iron Hands stationed on Cadia withdrew, while Cadia High Command insisted its defenses remained strong.
• In District Eight, Kaiser Whitefang watched plasma mortar fire destroy a Vostkani tank company and asked Wodhaus how soon the daemons would appear.

Wodhaus's forces battled the remaining Automata while the Raven Guard, White Scars, Space Wolves, and Vostroyans moved to destroy the ritual sustaining a Warp rift. Kor'sarro Khan brought Talina to the blood-and-steel summoning ring, where she discovered Khorne shrine warships surging toward the breach.

• Wodhaus deflected a lightning cannon blast into a Vorax Automaton, allowing Vostroyan tank crews to damage it, while Archmagos Iteration explained that the remaining Automata could not simply be buried by collapsing the factory complex.
• Vostroyan Rough Riders drew the Automata's fire as Colvin and the Raven Guard ambushed them with electromagnetic bombs, and the White Scars and Space Wolves joined the attack.
• Kaiser Whitefang leapt from Kor'sarro Khan's bike and cleaved an Automaton in half as the Vostroyans launched their full assault.
• Kor'sarro Khan carried Talina toward the ritual's core, and Talina promised she could close the rift and bring reinforcements.
• Kor'sarro Khan tossed Talina onto the summoning ring, where she noticed Khorne shrine warships charging toward the breach.

Talina failed to seal the portal and the warships' macro cannon shells caused a devastating blast across the industrial zone. After the survivors weathered the storm, Colvin reported that Kor'sarro Khan seemed to be in trouble, while the fate of the portal remained unclear.

• Talina absorbed part of the blood pool, then warned Kor'sarro Khan that she could not seal the portal and urged him to retreat.
• Macro cannon shells squeezed through the portal and exploded, unleashing a catastrophic shockwave and firestorm throughout the industrial zone.
• Wodhaus and Talina raised shields to protect the Vostroyans and nearby White Scars from the blast.
• Kaiser Whitefang found surviving soldiers and the Iterative Grand Sage, who warned them not to use engines or lights while autonomous war machines might still be nearby.
• Colvin arrived with Raven Guard and said Kor'sarro Khan seemed to be in dire straits, while Wodhaus's question about the Blood God's army went unanswered.

Abaddon rejected Carlos's attempt to divert the Black Legion toward Agrippina, choosing to continue the 13th Black Crusade toward Cadia because he distrusted the demons' motives. Carlos reported Abaddon's decision to Tzeentch, who ordered him to keep stirring conflict on Agrippina.

• Abaddon executed the sorcerers who had opened a portal into Agrippina's underground and ordered the fleet away from it.
• Carlos urged Abaddon to attack Agrippina, but Abaddon fired at him and refused to change course for the forge world.
• Abaddon told Telemachon Lyr that he distrusted the demons and feared they would betray the Black Legion, then revealed he still had plans involving the Blood of Shadows Warband.
• Carlos turned crew members into crystal statues as he stalked the Vengeful Spirit, then secretly informed Tzeentch that Abaddon had kept his original battle plan.
• Tzeentch told Carlos to keep causing trouble on Agrippina and let the Black Legion continue toward Cadia.

After waking from a week-long coma, Wodhaus learned that Chaos forces had devastated the underground complex and inflicted heavy losses on the Imperium. He joined Creed and the others at the foremost battle line as they prepared to support the next assault.

• Wodhaus awoke on the front line, where a Techmarine repaired his armor as Chaos forces continued their assault.
• Wodhaus recalled that Khorne warriors protected by anti-witch Blood Relics had nullified his psychic attack and wounded him.
• Creed told Wodhaus that Kor'sarro Khan was covering the Skitarii retreat, while Kaiser Whitefang led tank companies toward the Dome Mining District to recover Titan wreckage.
• Creed explained that a Chaos-restored macro cannon had destroyed a Warlord Titan and caused heavy Imperial casualties, but its recoil also killed many Chaos troops.
• Wodhaus, Creed, and the others advanced to the foremost battle line, where they found blood-soaked ruins and soldiers firing from behind vehicle wrecks.

Wodhaus and his allies fought through a chaotic battle as Imperial forces and Khorne’s armies collided beneath the Mark of Khorne. The chapter left Wodhaus puzzled by a group of pink-armored Battle Sisters fighting beside Kaiser Whitefang at the breached mobile fortress.

• Two Space Wolves joined Wodhaus after escaping a collapsing building and warned him that the battle had become a chaotic struggle for survival.
• Vostkani tanks and Skitarii advanced against the mutants, but Khorne’s warriors and daemons emerged beneath the Mark of Khorne and met the Imperial assault.
• Wodhaus slapped Creed to restore his clarity after the Mark of Khorne drove him to shout, “Blood for the Emperor, skulls for the Golden Throne.”
• Bloodletters and Flesh Hounds attacked Wodhaus’s group, and three Space Wolves formed a defensive line while Kasrkin shot down a charging Flesh Hound.
• Kor’sarro Khan led the White Scars in a motorcycle charge as Wodhaus saw Kaiser Whitefang’s Space Wolves defending a breach in the damaged Adeptus Mechanicus mobile fortress.
• Wodhaus noticed pink-armored Battle Sisters fighting beside Kaiser Whitefang, and a Space Wolf admitted their presence and behavior seemed strange.

Battle Sisters of the Merciful Full-Faith Holy Sisterhood defended the mobile fortress and captured a Khorne daemon for torture while Kaiser Whitefang kept the Space Wolves fighting. The chapter revealed that the Sisters were Slaanesh daemons summoned by Talina, and Kaiser rejected one Sister’s offer of help.

• The Battle Sisters fought off Khorne daemons at the fortress breach, and a Space Wolves missile brought down a minotaur daemon whom the Sisters bound and carried inside.
• Sisters in white gauze nailed the captive daemon to an armor plate and tortured him while praising the Emperor.
• The Iterative Archmagos admired the Sisters’ fighting skill, while Kaiser Whitefang checked on the Space Wolves and helped exhausted brothers endure the fighting.
• A high-ranking Sister offered Kaiser Whitefang help, but he coldly refused and turned away from her attention.
• Kaiser recalled that the Sisters were Slaanesh daemons summoned by Talina, who preached the Emperor’s mercy as the Mother of the Emperor through their sisterhood.

Kaiser Whitefang watched Slaanesh daemons fight Khorne daemons while the God-Emperor and Tzeentch contested the course of fate around Cadia. The God-Emperor chose to ring a great bell as Agripinaa Forge World neared destruction.

• Kaiser Whitefang objected to Slaanesh daemons executing Chaos cultists, so they shifted their targets to Khorne daemons.
• Slaanesh told the God-Emperor about the daemons’ victories and slogans, then left to tease Khorne when he showed little interest.
• The God-Emperor and Tzeentch struggled to direct Yarrick’s fleet and the pursuing Ork fleet while Tzeentch spread turmoil across the Imperium.
• The God-Emperor and Tzeentch debated whether their forces would be sealed within the Warp, and the God-Emperor described the exchange as profitable.
• The God-Emperor watched Slaanesh and Khorne daemons battle at Agripinaa Forge World, then rang a great bell as the planet’s destruction threatened the Webway.

A bell in Trazyn’s museum rang out a message from The Emperor telling him to check on Agrippina, wrecking the gallery and forcing Trazyn to leave his work with Orikan. On Agrippina, Trazyn found a world close to collapse and an exhausted Imperial force fighting near a daemon tower.

• The bell shattered artifacts in Trazyn’s museum and conveyed the message, “Go check on Agrippina.”
• Trazyn ordered the museum cleaned up, then bickered with Orikan as they traveled through a portal to Agrippina.
• Trazyn and Orikan emerged beneath ruins after Warp interference disrupted their teleportation, and Orikan estimated that the planet had one week before becoming a shrine to Khorne or Slaanesh.
• Trazyn summoned a Bloodletter from the blood-soaked soil, and Necrontyr warriors killed it with Gauss Rifles.
• Trazyn and Orikan found an exhausted Imperium force assaulting a skull-and-iron tower as armored war machines emerged from its gates.

Trazyn and Orikan used the Blackstone Array to seal the rift created by Agrippina's destruction, while the God-Emperor protected Cadia’s people from the towers’ soul-draining effects. As the rift closed, a sinister voice appeared beside Orikan, and he risked everything to rewind time.

• Trazyn’s Necrons arrived as reinforcements, helped defeat the daemons, and covered the Imperium’s evacuation from Agrippina.
• Wodhaus explained that the Imperium was holding the planet to delay a greater daemon incursion, while Trazyn revealed that Bacon had sent him a message.
• After the Imperials withdrew, Khorne and Slaanesh’s daemons fought over the planet until it shattered and tore open a rift.
• Trazyn activated the Blackstone Array, and the God-Emperor shielded Cadia’s people as the towers gathered energy to stitch the rift closed.
• A sinister voice taunted Orikan, who used his temporal devices and C’tan shards to cast a rewind spell as the voice acted too.

The Deceiver restored the Void Dragon’s consciousness to sabotage Orikan’s attempt to seal the Eye of Terror. The Void Dragon took control of Orikan’s time-tech rune and made the rift at Agrippina begin opening again, leaving Trazyn to discover Orikan incapacitated.

• Orikan watched Blackstone Array energy draw the Webway inward and reflected on the Necrontyr’s lack of manpower and arrogance.
• The Deceiver showed Orikan the Void Dragon’s sarcophagus and inserted the True Word [Matter] into it.
• The awakened Void Dragon seized Orikan’s time-tech rune, erased his command, and ordered it to “Accelerate.”
• Trazyn watched the rift at Agrippina begin to heal, then saw it reverse and release growing Warp corruption.
• Trazyn called to Orikan and found him motionless, his living metal body glowing red and cracked.

Trazyn and the Silent King responded to Orikan’s distress as the Void Dragon broke free beneath Mars and the God-Emperor struggled to contain its power while fighting the Chaos Gods. Tzeentch unleashed a spell that sent Biel-Tan into Khorne’s heart, then destroyed himself, leaving Rokasna and Carlos to pursue a hope that had never existed.

• Trazyn found Orikan overheated and unresponsive, while the Silent King ordered part of the dynasty fleets to return and investigate.
• The Void Dragon escaped its sarcophagus beneath Mars, forcing the God-Emperor to empower the Dragon Guard and restrain stars erupting from the C’tan.
• Nurgle and the Chaos forces exploited the weakened defenses, spreading disease, attacking Cadia, and fueling rebellions across Imperial worlds.
• Tzeentch told the God-Emperor that he was the Lord of Hope, then opened a Gate of Hope that sent the Biel-Tan Craftworld through Khorne’s heart.
• Tzeentch self-destructed, and Rokasna emerged from the Well of Eternity as Carlos bowed to him and Tzeentch directed them to seek their own hope.

Lin Fan and the Primarchs crashed into Biel-Tan, where a breach in the craftworld’s dome let Khorne’s demons pour inside. As the defenders rallied, Lin Fan charged into the horde to draw Khorne’s attention while the Primarchs and local forces prepared to fight back.

• Lin Fan and the Primarchs emerged from the wreckage of a shattered Wraithbone spire as demons flooded through Biel-Tan’s broken dome.
• Slaanesh revealed that Tzeentch had detonated his Authority of Hope, driving Khorne into a frenzy against Slaanesh.
• Lin Fan flew through the demon horde to draw Khorne’s attention, while Perturabo told the Primarchs to handle their own task.
• Konrad Curze left to retrieve the cartoons and videotapes in his lounge, killing Bloodletters that blocked his way.
• The Primarchs moved to rally Biel-Tan’s forces as ships and ground troops fought back against the demons.
• Expeditionary soldiers led shaken Aeldari to a fortress, where a sergeant ordered artillery to destroy an ominous tombstone-like target.

Lin Fan fought through Khorne’s daemons alongside Slaanesh’s host while the two Chaos gods battled across the Warp. After the first daemon army fell, Khorne summoned more forces, and Shaalaxi explained that Slaanesh needed to break through them to wound Khorne.

• Lin Fan found the Biel-Tan Craftworld embedded in Khorne’s enormous, pulsating heart and saw the gods’ forces battling in the Warp.
• Lin Fan threw Oedmeir’s nuclear bomb into Khorne’s daemon ranks, destroying the lower-ranked daemons but leaving stronger ones alive.
• Slaanesh sent Shaalaxi and a daemon army to Lin Fan’s side, weakening her resistance against Khorne’s storms.
• Lin Fan and Shaalaxi’s host killed Khorne’s eight greatest Exalted Bloodthirsters and routed the first daemon army.
• The Deceiver observed that Lin Fan’s strength did not seem to come from Khorne’s blessing, while Khorne summoned more legions.
• Shaalaxi told Lin Fan that breaking through Khorne’s lines could let Slaanesh wound him, but warned him not to attack Khorne’s heart.

Lin Fan broke through Khorne’s eight walls and subdued Angron long enough for Slaanesh to attack Khorne’s storm. As Slaanesh weakened the storm, she began feeding on Khorne instead of simply destroying it.

• Lin Fan smashed through the eight brass walls, cleared a path to the storm, and found Angron guarding it.
• Lin Fan tore out Angron’s Butcher’s Nails, but they regenerated because they were bound to Angron’s soul.
• Lin Fan broke Angron’s fingers and threw a nuclear bomb into his mouth, leaving him kneeling and unable to fight for a time.
• Shalaxi merged with the Slaaneshi daemons to form a clawed hand, and Slaanesh plunged it into Khorne’s storm.
• Slaanesh sensed Khorne’s weakness and began greedily feeding on him, despite the conflicting powers hurting her.

Lin Fan stopped Slaanesh from consuming Khorne completely, leaving both gods weakened and the Warp dangerously still. He returned to Biel-Tan Craftworld after its eight-day defense and found only Angron’s Butcher’s Nails and blood, then located the central command headquarters.

• Lin Fan found Shalaxi and Slaanesh bloated from feeding on Khorne’s power and persuaded Slaanesh to stop before she destroyed herself.
• Khorne and Slaanesh fell silent and weak, and Lin Fan suspected Tzeentch’s scheme had left Nurgle poised to grow stronger.
• Lin Fan searched for Angron, found only the Butcher’s Nails floating in a pool of blood, and collected both.
• Lin Fan returned to Biel-Tan Craftworld after the defenders had endured eight days of fighting and learned that Space Marines had led the counterattack.
• Lin Fan used Perturabo’s coordinates to find the central command headquarters.

Lin Fan reported that Slaanesh had defeated Khorne and brought back Angron’s Butcher’s Nails, prompting the Primarchs to debate how the Nails had survived and what could be done with them. The chapter ended with Perturabo and his brothers unable to decide whether Angron could be restored safely.

• Lin Fan told Perturabo that Slaanesh had weakened Khorne, Tzeentch’s plans remained unknown, and he intended to deal with Cadia before presenting Angron’s remains.
• Fulgrim opened the blood-soaked bag and revealed Angron’s original Butcher’s Nails, which Perturabo inspected after leaving his command device.
• Rogal Dorn questioned how the Nails remained after Sanguinius had torn them out, and Fulgrim explained how memories and the Warp could shape a daemon’s form.
• Perturabo recalled his past clashes with Angron, while Lin Fan reminded him how both The Emperor and Horus had exploited his willingness to take unwanted assignments.
• Perturabo asked whether a daemon ritual could reshape Angron without making him attack friend and foe alike, but the other Primarchs had no answer.

Trazyn tried to save Orikan from the Void Dragon’s lock by inventing a way to connect the Butcher’s Nails to Orikan’s body and bind Angron’s consciousness to him. Lin Fan approved the plan, but Trazyn struggled to figure out how to carry out the difficult modification.

• Trazyn brought Orikan to Lin Fan and explained that the Void Dragon had locked Orikan’s core, which he could not unlock.
• Trazyn decided to deceive Lin Fan with a fabricated plan using the Butcher’s Nails, Blackstone, and Ferrus’s living-metal arms as supporting lore.
• Trazyn claimed that reversed-polarity Blackstone could let the Warp oppose the Void Dragon and might bind Angron’s consciousness to Orikan’s body.
• Lin Fan accepted Trazyn’s proposal, and Trazyn took the Butcher’s Nails from Fulgrim and used Blackstone to keep them from dissolving.
• Trazyn realized he did not know how to modify Orikan and worried that Lin Fan’s scrutiny would expose his lack of expertise.

Lin Fan explained the Void Dragon’s history and its connection to Blackstone, while Konrad Curze revealed that it might be the Machine God imprisoned beneath Mars. Rogal Dorn resolved to return to Terra to protect the Emperor, and Lin Fan prepared to go with him before Trazyn attacked him from behind.

• Lin Fan told Perturabo and the others that the Void Dragon could manipulate matter and that the Aeldari had made the Blackstone Fortresses to suppress its power.
• Yvraine ordered an Aeldari scholar to revise the histories of the Void Dragon, while Perturabo theorized that the Eye of Terror and Cadia’s Blackstone Spires had served as a psychic breach and valve.
• Jaghatai and Rogal Dorn worried that the Adeptus Mechanicus might worship the Void Dragon, and Konrad Curze suggested it was the Machine God imprisoned beneath Mars.
• Lin Fan said the Emperor had once beaten and enslaved the Void Dragon, but Rogal Dorn insisted the Emperor could no longer face it safely and decided to return to Terra.
• Lin Fan agreed to accompany Rogal Dorn after they dealt with Cadia, but Trazyn suddenly slammed his head into Lin Fan’s back.

Trazyn finished rebuilding Orikan with a body modeled after Angron and discovered that the revived Necron had an illusory heartbeat. Meanwhile, Angron briefly enjoyed freedom from the Butcher’s Nails before being swept into a new, unfamiliar place where he saw silent faces among shifting numerical forms.

• Trazyn shaped Orikan’s living-metal body to resemble Angron and embedded Blackstone ornaments that imitated the Butcher’s Nails.
• Trazyn detected a strange heartbeat in Orikan, who awoke, tore off Trazyn’s head, and was celebrated by the stunned collector.
• Angron wandered through a gray, narrow space and discovered that the Butcher’s Nails and their pain were gone.
• Angron heard Lin Fan’s voice, resisted being swept toward a war-torn galaxy, but was carried through an opening anyway.
• Angron hurtled across the Milky Way and arrived in a space of shifting numerical pixels, where he perceived countless silent, nonhuman faces.

Angron encountered the machine spirit of Leman Russ in a strange space made of alien bodies and numerical code, where the machine responded unpredictably to signals. After the machine spirit marked him as infected and began an antivirus procedure, Angron used an alien’s warning to decode the Butcher’s Nails, drawing Khorne’s attention as red chaos entered the space.

• Angron saw alien bodies assembled into black cubes and watched the cubes respond to commands with varying levels of compliance.
• Angron resisted a force pulling him away by gripping streams of numerical code.
• An alien body broke free from a cube and collided with Angron, and its terrified consciousness spoke in his mind.
• The machine spirit noticed Angron, assessed him as a high-level threat, and prepared an antivirus procedure.
• Angron followed the alien’s warning and decoded a strand of numerical code, which revealed itself as the Butcher’s Nails.
• Angron felt Khorne drawing nearer as the machine spirit identified the infection, and a streak of red chaos entered the space.

The God-Emperor descended into the Void Dragon’s domain through Khorne’s breach and battled the Void Dragon while taking control of Angron and his Butcher’s Nails. As the Emperor struggled to contain the conflict and confront the spreading plague, he began burning Angron’s soul.

• Khorne broke into the Void Dragon’s space to claim Angron, and the Void Dragon fought back with Blackstone Spires.
• The God-Emperor entered through Khorne’s breach, severed the Butcher’s Nails’ influence over Angron, and transferred their pain onto himself.
• The Void Dragon attacked the Emperor through Angron, but the Emperor’s golden flames burned through the Void Dragon’s defenses.
• The Void Dragon used data linked to Imperial weapons and the souls of Adeptus Mechanicus priests to obstruct the Emperor’s flames and unleash Warp energy.
• The Emperor sensed Yarrick restarting the Fortress of Arrogance with the Orks’ Waaagh! field and focused on stopping Nurgle’s expanding plague.
• The God-Emperor apologized to Angron and began burning his soul, intensifying Angron’s hatred.

The God-Emperor unleashed his power against the Void Dragon, drawing strength from the Imperium’s believers while trying to spare Angron. As the Deceiver tried to restore the Void Dragon’s sealed memories, Aurora interrupted him and attacked.

• Khorne left the battle, and the God-Emperor’s flames overwhelmed the Void Dragon’s fragment.
• The Void Dragon called on the Adeptus Mechanicus priests, who answered with worship that strengthened him.
• The God-Emperor drew on the Imperium’s faith, but the chaotic beliefs strained his body and threatened Angron.
• The God-Emperor blasted the Void Dragon on Mars with a beam of golden light.
• The Deceiver showed the Void Dragon an ancient contract and a fortress to prompt him to remember a hidden alliance.
• Aurora froze time, revealed herself to the Deceiver, and drove her spear into his chest.