Recaps

Harken’s Chaos Space Marines faced an expeditionary force armed with modified volkite weapons and trained psykers, while a Chaos sorcerer tried to break through their psychic defenses. The sorcerer was pinned in place as a thunderstrike missile descended toward his position.

• The expeditionary force’s sustained volkite fire shocked Harken and forced his Chaos Space Marines to seek cover.
• Harken’s sorcerer tried to read the mortals’ minds, but the psychic combat squad raised a shield against him.
• The sorcerer shaped his assault into a drill, and the squad’s counterattack shattered its tip.
• The sorcerer unleashed a blasphemous spell that battered the psychic captain, while the expeditionary commander found his position.
• The expeditionary soldiers launched a thunderstrike missile toward the sorcerer, and the psychic combat squad held his power in place as it descended.

Harken’s Chaos force lost its sorcerer after lightning missiles and Blackstone-assisted psyker tactics overwhelmed his shield. With the Deflagration Rifles silent, Harken prepared an assault, while Commissar Cain rose to lead the expeditionary force.

• Harken abandoned the Chaos sorcerer, who cut off his distant spell and suffered a backlash that mutated his organs.
• Lightning-strike missiles bombarded the sorcerer, and the psyker combat squad used Blackstone to open his shield and let the lightning through, leaving him severely injured.
• Harken found a piece of Blackstone in the soil and resolved to discover the source of the deflagration weapons and the force’s Blackstone research.
• Harken ordered his warriors to kill everyone in the position within eighty seconds after the Deflagration Rifles stopped firing.
• The expeditionary force celebrated taking down the sorcerer without casualties, and Commissar Cain rose as Harken’s forces began their assault.

Commissar Cain joined the expeditionary force on Biel-Tan and prepared for battle despite wishing he had stayed behind. When Warp Talons ambushed his position, he survived their attack through luck and Jurgen’s pungent presence.

• Lin Fan persuaded Cain to join the Biel-Tan expedition, and Cain accepted a middle-ranking role to avoid becoming a target.
• Cain inspected the defensive line alongside Jurgen as battlesuits advanced toward the enemy.
• Warp Talons burst through rifts and killed several soldiers, prompting Cain to draw his fractured Grey Knights sword.
• Cain accidentally killed two Warp Talons while stumbling and swinging his sword, drawing the rest of the squad’s attention.
• As the Warp Talons closed in, Jurgen’s stench cleared Cain’s head, and the attackers began kneeling or cutting into themselves.

Commissar Cain survived the Warp Talons’ attack with Jurgen’s help, though the expeditionary soldiers mistook his actions for heroic bravery. Meanwhile, Harken Worldclaimer continued assaulting the Imperium’s front line and prepared to exploit the Chaos sorcerer’s support to break through.

• Jurgen’s presence weakened the Warp Talons, allowing Commissar Cain to kill them with his broken longsword.
• The expeditionary soldiers praised Cain as a hero, and he organized them to reinforce the front line.
• Harken Worldclaimer’s forces struggled under the battlesuits’ plasma fire, so he relied on the Warp Talons to break through the middle defense.
• Harken adjusted his eighty-second declaration to exclude the time spent charging into the enemy position.
• A recovered Chaos sorcerer protected the Chaos Space Marines with a bloody brand, and they charged toward the Imperium forces before its protection expired.

Harken led the Chaos Space Marines through the expeditionary force’s defenses, but the stubborn soldiers and their battlesuits inflicted mounting resistance. As Commissar Cain arrived with reinforcements, Harken charged him and was caught in a barrage of Graviton Guns.

• Harken and the Raptors broke through the fire net and slaughtered expeditionary soldiers and battlesuit pilots.
• Harken destroyed nearly a hundred battlesuits but grew alarmed by the soldiers’ equipment and resistance.
• Harken saw Commissar Cain’s confident reinforcements arrive from the middle defensive line and realized the Warp Talons had failed to stop them.
• Harken launched himself toward Cain, intending to kill him and break the expeditionary force’s morale.
• Cain’s troops fired their Graviton Guns, slowing Harken as he struggled against the barrage.

Commissar Cain’s Cadia Special Group overwhelmed Harken’s Chaos Space Marines with battlesuits, shields, and advanced weapons. Harken remained pinned and threatened that the Warmaster would send reinforcements to crush them.

• Commissar Cain ordered the expeditionary soldiers to counterattack, and the Cadia Special Group encircled the Chaos Space Marines.
• A heavily mutated Chaos Space Marine fought off several battlesuits, but a Shield Drone saved one pilot from his chainaxe.
• The Chaos Space Marine dodged bolt fire and a deflagration beam before a battlesuit’s plasma rotary cannon mortally wounded him.
• The battlesuit pilot dismissed the Chaos Space Marine’s accusation that the soldiers depended on technology and melted his head with plasma bolts.
• Harken asked Commissar Cain who they were, and Cain identified them as the Cadia Special Group, 1st Regiment.
• Harken mocked the group’s equipment, Cain claimed they had found Lion El'Jonson’s arsenal, and Harken warned that the Warmaster would send more troops.

Commissar Cain and the Big Canteen Expeditionary Force assessed how their defenses and logistics countered Chaos invasions, while Harken invoked Abaddon as a threat. The chapter left Harken’s faith in the Warmaster confronting the expedition’s confidence that Abaddon was no match for its strongest leaders.

• Harken roared that Warmaster Abaddon was the force’s last hope, but Commissar Cain and the soldiers remained calmly amused.
• Commissar Cain recalled how the expedition’s command had analyzed Chaos Space Marine tactics, including their surprise attacks, corruption, and use of daemons.
• The Big Canteen’s officers and soldiers concluded that Chaos warbands were vulnerable before they could gather strength and exploit Warp magic.
• The expedition identified the Life Vaccine, psychic communications, rapid transport, and advanced equipment as major advantages against Chaos.
• The expedition recognized that training costs and a shortage of skilled personnel were its main weaknesses, while its Primarchs gave it formidable strength.
• The chapter compared Abaddon with Khârn, Rogal Dorn, Eldrad, and Fulgrim, concluding that Abaddon fell short of the power expected of a Warmaster.

Commissar Cain’s forces killed Harken, though a Chaos sorcerer escaped, while the expeditionary fleet prepared to confront the Chaos fleet. Yilafren and Yvraine discovered that Magnus’s spell had sealed the void into a maze, and Lin Fan asked Yvraine to strengthen it so Abaddon could not flee.

• Cain’s soldiers crushed Harken with Graviton Guns, and Cain pinned the Hell Spear with his broken longsword, banishing its daemon.
• A Chaos sorcerer killed the Chaos Space Marines guarding him and escaped through a collapsing warp gate before a thunderstrike missile detonated.
• The expeditionary fleet advanced toward the Chaos fleet, led by more than fifty Hope-class Warships and supported by Imperial ships.
• Yilafren sensed that the void had become unnaturally orderly, and Yvraine confirmed that Magnus had cast a spell forcing ships to travel in straight lines.
• Jaghatai welcomed the spell because it would prevent the Chaos fleet from scattering, and Lin Fan asked Yvraine to strengthen it to stop Abaddon escaping.

Lin Fan’s forces destroyed Abaddon’s reconnaissance fleet and reached the main battlefield, where Lin Fan boarded the Vengeful Spirit to capture Abaddon. After breaking through the ship’s defenses, he fought his way through a group of Beastmen.

• Yilafren piloted the Void Phoenix Fighter past Abaddon’s reconnaissance fleet after Lin Fan decided to leave it for Jaghatai and the others.
• The expedition fleet destroyed the Chaos cruiser and its frigates, and Jaghatai Khan ordered the fleet to continue without salvaging the wreckage.
• Lin Fan spotted the Imperial, Chaos, and Ork fleets fighting and ordered Yilafren to take him close to the Vengeful Spirit.
• Yilafren evaded the Vengeful Spirit’s defenses and launched Lin Fan into its Void Shield, which collapsed under the impact.
• Lin Fan punched through the Vengeful Spirit’s outer armor and killed Beastmen who charged him in a narrow passage.

Lin Fan fought his way through the Beastmen and Black Legion warriors aboard Abaddon's ship, then contacted Abaddon and threatened to drag him to prison. Abaddon sought Carlos's advice, and Carlos proposed banishing Lin Fan with a spell that required Iskandar Khayon's younger sister's soul.

• Lin Fan forced the Beastmen to show him the route to the bridge, killed their chieftain, and punched upward through the ship.
• Taremarus confronted Lin Fan with the Black Legion, but Lin Fan shattered his sword, stabbed him, and killed the attacking warriors.
• Lin Fan took Taremarus's communicator, threatened Abaddon, crushed Taremarus's head, and continued upward.
• Abaddon asked Carlos how to deal with Lin Fan, and Carlos recommended a spell requiring Iskandar Khayon's younger sister's soul.

Lin Fan fought his way through the Vengeful Spirit, defeating the Black Legion’s daemonic forces before Abaddon confronted him in a vast arena. Abaddon assembled his champions for the coming fight, while Lin Fan stood alone.

• Abaddon threatened Carlos after rejecting his suggestion, and Carlos gave him a tangled riddle for his sorcerers to decipher.
• Lin Fan advanced through the ship, killing Black Legion warriors and beasts raised by sorcerers.
• A Word Bearers priest summoned a Great Unclean One, but Lin Fan pierced the daemon, dragged out the priest, and tore him apart.
• Lin Fan killed the Possessed warriors, their Master of Possession, and the Warp Talons as the remaining Black Legion warriors retreated.
• Abaddon called Lin Fan into a huge circular arena and faced him with his helmetless champions.

Lin Fan attacked Abaddon and the Black Legion, using a concealed nuclear bomb to break their ranks and cutting down their warriors while their weapons failed to harm him. Abaddon challenged him with Drach'nyen, but Lin Fan got distracted by a strange thought and laughed, leaving the duel unresolved.

• Lin Fan repeatedly raised a spear of light to taunt the Black Legion before throwing it alongside an ultra-compressed nuclear bomb casing, which destroyed Abaddon's bodyguards and scattered the ranks.
• Lin Fan charged through the confusion and killed a Chaos Champion as the Terminators opened fire on him without damaging his armor.
• Abaddon considered Carlos's offer to take one soul, refused, and entered the fight with Drach'nyen after Lin Fan ignored his challenge and killed a Terminator.
• Abaddon pointed Drach'nyen at Lin Fan, whose thoughts wandered to the daemons that might have been born from humanity's first acts.
• Lin Fan chuckled, prompting Abaddon to withdraw, then apologized and said he had thought of something interesting.

Lin Fan used his consciousness to sever Abaddon's arms, then seized Drach'nyen while the Warmaster's warriors opened fire. Abaddon retreated for treatment, but his sorcerer warned that his arm might never be reattached.

• Lin Fan recalled Drach'nyen's history and decided to make Abaddon give up the daemon sword before risking contact with it.
• Lin Fan focused on Abaddon's missing-hand issue from a miniature and caused both of Abaddon's arms to fall off without any visible psychic power.
• Lin Fan snatched Drach'nyen from Abaddon's severed hand while the Warmaster's warriors fired at him.
• Abaddon retreated into a defensive ring, and his sorcerer failed to reattach his arm with sorcery.
• The sorcerer told Abaddon that his arm might never be reattached, but Abaddon remained ready to fight.

Abaddon learned that the Imperium had weaponized Blackstone, threatening the Crimson Path and the 13th Black Crusade. As he feared the Chaos Legions’ defeat and the sealing of the Eye of Terror, a voice offered him one choice in exchange for a soul.

• Abaddon removed the spell concealing his wound and saw that the pallor was spreading across his body.
• A Sorcerer arrived through a teleportation spell that consumed the corpses of Black Legion warriors and reported Harken Worldclaimer’s death.
• The Sorcerer told Abaddon that Imperial forces had killed Harken with unfamiliar weapons and used Blackstone to break his defensive spell.
• Abaddon realized the Imperium had discovered Blackstone’s Warp-dispersing properties, putting his plan to open the Crimson Path in jeopardy.
• As Abaddon feared the collapse of his crusade and the sealing of the Eye of Terror, a voice offered him one choice and said it wanted a soul.

Carlos tried to make Abaddon surrender Khayon’s sister’s soul by exposing his betrayals and showing him Khayon’s tortured condition. Abaddon refused, but the Mountain Array and Jaghatai Khan’s fleet appeared to devastate the Chaos forces, leaving him searching for Carl Bohar and the Dark Mechanicum.

• Carlos reminded Abaddon of his past betrayals, including Drecarth, his champions, and the warriors who witnessed his battle with Sigismund.
• Carlos showed Abaddon Khayon imprisoned and brutally mutilated by the Imperial Inquisitors, then urged him to surrender Khayon’s sister’s soul.
• Abaddon refused to give up the soul, believing the 13th Black Crusade could still succeed.
• Carlos lifted the information blockade, and Abaddon received reports that an unknown fleet of more than fifty enormous warships had broken through the Chaos encirclement.
• Abaddon saw Jaghatai Khan aboard one of the white-armored fleet’s ships as the fleet attacked from beyond the Chaos forces’ range.
• A Chaos fleet was torn apart by intensified gravity, and the Mountain Array emerged from a Warp rift; Abaddon demanded to know where Carl Bohar and the Dark Mechanicum were.

Abaddon saw a disastrous version of the battle and agreed to let Carlos use a soul for the ritual, while the real battlefield remained chaotic but less dire. Carlos extracted Izara’s soul from the Vengeful Spirit’s memory core and sealed it with an ancient parchment in an envelope that vanished.

• Abaddon watched the Dark Mechanicum fleet pass the Mountain Array, then saw the Orks attack and the Iron Warriors turn on one another as the Planet Killer broke apart.
• The narration revealed that Tzeentch’s daemons had shown Abaddon fragments of truth to manipulate him, while the Mountain Array fired on all ships and the Iron Warriors were divided by civil war.
• Carlos urged Abaddon to provide one soul for the ritual, and Abaddon agreed after persuading himself that Khayon would accept the sacrifice.
• Carlos reached Izara’s tank in the Vengeful Spirit, evaded her automated turrets, and told her it was time to collect payment.
• Carlos extracted Izara’s soul, sealed it with an ancient piece of parchment in an envelope, and made the envelope disappear.

Carlos used the Observer’s historical fragment to transform the Vengeful Spirit into its horrifying Warp form, trapping Abaddon and his forces inside. He broke Abaddon’s reason with taunts and a revelation about Drach’nyen, then hurled him out of the ship as he set out to drive him further into madness.

• Carlos revealed the Vengeful Spirit’s true Warp form, and the living ship spread terror across the battlefield.
• Abaddon realized Carlos had deceived him, called for Izara, and ordered his warriors to retreat toward the escape pods.
• Monsters overwhelmed Abaddon’s forces as he watched his warriors die, and Carlos named him the Great Failure.
• Abaddon charged at Carlos, but Carlos pinned him with psychic power and mocked him while his subordinates were devoured.
• Carlos claimed the Emperor had guided Abaddon to Drach’nyen because Abaddon’s destined failure delayed the Imperium’s destruction.
• Carlos sent Abaddon flying out of the Vengeful Spirit, intent on driving him further into madness.

Carlos used the Emperor’s tear to weaken Drach'nyen’s seal, but the sword broke into fragments and escaped into the Warp. Lin Fan hunted the fragments through warped battlefields and a sea of filth, while the hilt remained in the grasp of a mysterious yellow-green presence.

• Carlos fired the Emperor’s tear at Drach'nyen, and its psychic energy began stripping away the sword’s seal.
• Lin Fan swallowed Drach'nyen, but the sword split into fragments that scattered through the Warp.
• Lin Fan fought the Cadia dead transformed into armies, defeated a Warlord Titan, and devoured the largest sword fragment.
• Lin Fan recovered more than a dozen blade fragments while chasing them through bizarre Warp spaces.
• Lin Fan sank into a sea of filth while pursuing the golden hilt, which a yellow-green presence picked up from the earth.

Mortarion redirected the Death Guard toward Cadia after a dream revealed that Jaghatai Khan had returned. The chapter described the Legion’s vast forces, its conflicts with the Purifiers, and its grotesque farming practices for cultivating new warriors, leaving the Death Guard advancing toward the battle near the Eye of Terror.

• Nurgle gave Mortarion a sword hilt fitted into a withering flower bud as Mortarion prepared to lead the Death Guard toward the Eye of Terror.
• Mortarion dreamed that Jaghatai Khan had returned and changed his destination to Cadia.
• The chapter detailed the Death Guard’s seven Plague Companies, its 77,777 Space Marines, and Mortarion’s wish to expand the Legion to seven million.
• The Purifiers pursued mass extinction and repeatedly clashed with the Death Guard over their opposing visions for plague-ravaged worlds.
• As Nurgle’s power grew, the Death Guard expanded through fertile swamps and used grotesque agricultural methods to cultivate new warriors.

Mortarion rejected the daemon sword Drach'nyen, which Nurgle had sent him as a gift, and hung it on a wall aboard the Endurance. Meanwhile, Nurgle discovered Lin Fan in his broth and revealed his colossal true form to him.

• The Death Guard celebrated a newly transformed Space Marine as one of their own, while their growing numbers made Mortarion's ambition to raise millions of warriors seem possible.
• Mortarion received Drach'nyen from Nurgle, disliked its appearance and voice, and hung the sword hilt on the wall after failing to refurbish it.
• Nurgle noticed that his broth tasted too fresh, added dead skin and other substances, and stirred it before tasting a spoonful.
• Nurgle spotted Lin Fan in the ladle and called to him, while Lin Fan tried to locate the voice amid the Warp's filthy landscape.
• Lin Fan climbed onto Nurgle's finger and marveled at the god's immense true body, comparing it with the forms of the other gods he had encountered.

Lin Fan used pure old soup to cleanse Nurgle’s plague beasts and the land on his finger while Nurgle continued making soup. Nurgle noticed the spreading healthy growth and found Lin Fan standing inside a flower on his hand.

• Lin Fan vomited pure old soup onto Nurgle’s corrupted land, restoring patches of it and producing a refreshing fragrance.
• Nurgle spotted Lin Fan and sent hundreds of Beasts of Nurgle to attack him.
• Lin Fan fed the Beasts of Nurgle old soup, transforming them into clean pill bugs.
• Lin Fan ordered the pill bugs to restore the surrounding environment and spread plants across Nurgle’s finger.
• Nurgle noticed the healthy bugs and plants spreading across his hand, then saw Lin Fan emerge from a blooming flower.

Lin Fan faced Nurgle in his domain and weighed three ways to fight him, wary that the most certain method could erase souls on a vast scale. With The Emperor unable to help, Lin Fan purified a Great Unclean One and sent it into battle while searching for another solution.

• Nurgle questioned Lin Fan about the missing bone that held part of his power, while Lin Fan tried to locate him.
• Lin Fan considered devouring Nurgle's filth, using Old Tang to purify his daemons, or creating a pure-white subjective image, but feared the cost of the third method.
• Nurgle blamed Lin Fan and The Emperor, then intensified his assault on the Golden Throne and sent daemons toward Lin Fan.
• Lin Fan vomited Old Tang into the flower to strengthen it and control attacking daemons with its pollen.
• The Emperor told Lin Fan he could not help because The Deceiver was watching him, so Lin Fan purified a Great Unclean One and ordered it into battle.
• A jade-green crystalline tear floated before Lin Fan as he searched for a way to overcome Nurgle.

Lin Fan followed a tear through Nurgle’s domain to find Isha, who asked him to help her escape. After hearing that reinforcements were coming, Lin Fan broke the thorny shackle binding her ankle, and the injury began to darken.

• Lin Fan followed the tear’s guidance through Nurgle’s domain and reached Isha’s garden.
• Isha emerged from her tower, visibly afflicted by Nurgle’s plagues, and asked Lin Fan to take her out of the Garden of Nurgle.
• Lin Fan hesitated to break Isha’s shackle because it might alert Nurgle, while Isha said she had recovered much of her strength.
• The Emperor told Lin Fan that reinforcements would arrive soon.
• Lin Fan twisted apart Isha’s thorny shackle, piercing her ankle and causing her blood and wounds to darken.

Lin Fan freed Isha from her thorn shackles, and she prepared to leave Nurgle’s domain with him. Isha revealed that Old Tang’s purification power, the Tree of Life, and the Life Vaccine were connected to her, while fertilizer fell under both her and Nurgle’s authority.

• Lin Fan bit through Isha’s thorn shackles, and Nurgle sensed the pain and rushed toward them.
• Isha gave Lin Fan Wraithbone glasses so he could see Nurgle through the miasma, then blocked Nurgle’s corrosive droplets with a shield.
• Isha summoned a Wraithbone structure that purified the basin and made healthy plants grow as she prepared to leave with Lin Fan.
• Lin Fan asked whether Isha had caused Old Tang’s purification ability, and Isha admitted her power had recovered through him.
• Isha explained that planets with Trees of Life and people given the Life Vaccine were connected to her, while fertilizer was an area where her authority overlapped with Nurgle’s.

Nurgle tried to comfort the grieving Isha after rescuing her from Slaanesh, but his loving gestures and grotesque entertainments could not ease her sorrow over the Aeldari and Lileath. The chapter left Nurgle blaming himself as Isha remained silent.

• Isha reflected on how her acceptance of Nurgle's kindness differed from his understanding of life and decay.
• Nurgle drove back Slaanesh and brought Isha to his garden, where he arranged a grotesque room and offered her clothing.
• Isha repaired her torn clothes with materials gathered from the garden instead of accepting Nurgle's garments.
• Isha mourned the Aeldari consumed at Slaanesh's birth and grieved that she could no longer sense her daughter Lileath.
• Nurgle and his children offered Isha food, performances, and a requiem of poisonous plants, but she remained silent.
• Nurgle felt pained by Isha's silence and blamed himself for failing to comfort her.