Recaps

Booker sacrificed his soul to destroy the daemons inhabiting the Men of Iron, inspiring the surviving soldiers to burn their own souls and fight. Lin Fan arrived and cut down the remaining Men of Iron, then found the ashes of those who had given everything.

• Booker told Jon, White, and the others about Krieg and their expedition’s hope of ending the war, then injected himself with the T-series Life Vaccine.
• Booker burned away his soul as he attacked the Men of Iron, destroying the daemons inside them despite their weapons and counterattacks.
• After Booker’s armor and shovel were all that remained, surviving soldiers took the vaccine and charged the Men of Iron while burning their souls.
• Lin Fan arrived, asked whether Perturabo was there, and used Drach'nyen to cut down the remaining Men of Iron.
• Lin Fan found the soldiers’ ashes in the wreckage and reflected on their fight against the apocalypse.

Lin Fan found Booker’s dog tag and searched for Perturabo, entering a forest domain where he absorbed a phantom lion. Lion El'Jonson sensed the lion’s death and mistook the intruder for Drach'nyen as he pursued him.

• Lin Fan took Booker’s dog tag after Jon identified Booker as an old Krieg soldier, then learned that Perturabo’s command headquarters had gone silent.
• Lin Fan traveled to the headquarters’ coordinates and found himself in a mysterious forest that he recognized as Lion El'Jonson’s domain.
• Lin Fan rescued fleeing Lamenters by sucking in and absorbing a gigantic phantom lion.
• Lion El'Jonson faltered while attacking Perturabo, allowing Perturabo to escape with his guards after releasing armor-piercing spikes.
• Lion El'Jonson sensed that one of his lions had died, mistook the intruder’s presence for Drach'nyen, and rushed toward the place where the lion vanished.

Lin Fan fought Lion, who mistook him for a mortal controlled by the daemon sword, while Perturabo battled Lion in the forest. After Lion withdrew into the canopy to watch his enemies, Lin Fan reunited with Perturabo and learned the state of the wider war.

• Lion charged Lin Fan, but Lin Fan dented his shield, broke his sword, and struck him with a series of attacks.
• Lion dodged Lin Fan’s slap by turning into mist, then hid in the canopy while Lin Fan called for him to come out.
• After hearing bolter fire, Lin Fan headed toward Perturabo, while Lion secretly followed and considered when to attack.
• Perturabo told Lin Fan that Abaddon’s legion had collapsed and that Degraded Ones, Men of Iron, and daemons remained major threats.
• Perturabo complained that Lion had attacked him from behind and killed over a thousand people in his command center, then joked that Lion had shown restraint.

Lin Fan and Perturabo confronted Lion El'Jonson, who mistook them for enemies and attacked with the Lion Sword. Corax restrained the Lion, but Dorn’s blunt explanation that Slaanesh had allied with the Imperium enraged him, so Lin Fan knocked him unconscious again.

• Lin Fan tore bark from a seemingly indestructible tree, hurting Lion El'Jonson and forcing him to dismiss the misty forest and appear before Lin Fan and Perturabo.
• Lion El'Jonson summoned Cypher and the Fallen Angels, received the Lion Sword, and charged Lin Fan, who kicked Perturabo out of the way and broke one of the Lion's legs.
• Cypher led the Fallen Angels to help Lion El'Jonson, but Perturabo blocked them while Corax bound the Lion with shadowy threads.
• Lion El'Jonson rejected Lin Fan's attempts to explain and called for the Imperium's fate, so Lin Fan appealed to the newly arrived Rogal Dorn.
• Dorn told Lion El'Jonson that Slaanesh was now an ally of the Imperium, prompting the Lion to accuse them of treachery before Lin Fan slapped him unconscious.

Lin Fan left Cadia for Terra to deal with the Golden Throne, stopping at the Mountain Array to disable its hostile AI and rescue the survivors. He and Cegorach then crossed into the Solar System, where Cegorach showed him the planets so they could find Terra.

• Lin Fan left Rogal Dorn and Perturabo to watch over Cadia and took the Lion Sword before heading for the Mountain Array with Cegorach.
• Cegorach located survivors inside the Mountain Array, and Lin Fan went to help them despite Cegorach questioning the detour.
• Lin Fan installed Trazyn's Virus Scarab in the Mountain Array's control system, paralyzing its AI and shutting down the structure.
• Lin Fan reached the survivors, told them he had opened a path and called for rescue, then left the Mountain Array.
• Lin Fan and Cegorach crossed into the Solar System, and Cegorach displayed the planets to help Lin Fan locate Terra.

Lin Fan reached the Golden Throne, where the Emperor had become the Dark King, and promised he could seal him rather than kill him. The Emperor wounded himself and exposed his golden heart, leaving Lin Fan to approach with the magic sword as the Imperium’s fate hung in the balance.

• Lin Fan traveled from Mars to Terra and fought off the corpse monsters summoned by the Dark King.
• Lin Fan encountered Aurora, Sanguinius, Valdor, and the Adeptus Custodes on their way to the Throne Room, and told them he could seal the Dark King.
• Lin Fan rushed ahead and found the Emperor on the Golden Throne, then promised to save him.
• The Emperor stabbed himself and exposed his golden heart, telling Lin Fan, “Do it.”
• Lin Fan approached the Emperor with the magic sword, preparing to seal him.

Lin Fan prevented Drach'nyen from killing the Emperor and left him alive but greatly weakened. Meanwhile, Tzeentch revealed that he was setting the conditions for another divine conflict, and Nurgle recognized signs of an ancient alliance against Tzeentch.

• Lin Fan split Drach'nyen's blade from its hilt and saved the Emperor from death.
• The Emperor survived but had lost much of his power, and he told Aurora and Valdor to keep their godslaying spears.
• Tzeentch toyed with the stolen dark power while Nurgle and Mork questioned his plan.
• Tzeentch restrained Nurgle, summoned Rokasna, and explained how order and non-order could lead the world toward the End Times.
• Nurgle sensed the Warp had grown unnaturally calm and recognized the conditions that had once led the other gods to unite against Tzeentch.

Tzeentch recovered a new Crystal Staff, seized Nurgle and Mork’s power, and began preparing the next stage of his plan with the Deceiver and Amalaga. After the war abruptly ended, Lin Fan gathered the surviving powers on Terra to discuss the crises still facing the galaxy.

• Tzeentch explained that the world’s collapse and remaining life would create a new Crystal Staff, then drew the staff from illusion into reality.
• Tzeentch defeated Mork and absorbed his power, then formed a humanoid body from the powers he had gathered while still lacking part of Slaanesh’s strength.
• The Deceiver and Amalaga prepared to experiment on the imprisoned Abaddon and Black Legion warriors, while Tzeentch ordered Ironhide to bring the Orks to the Milky Way’s center.
• Lin Fan saw the daemons and Degraded Ones vanish and the Orks and Vect’s forces disappear, then agreed with the Silent King that he had erased some things out of necessity.
• Lin Fan decided to convene a meeting, and a few days later he opened a conference on Terra attended by Primarchs and xenos.

Lin Fan gathered the Primarchs and representatives of the Imperium and alien factions to interrogate three prisoners about Tzeentch’s plans. Carlos was taken away by Isha after refusing to talk, while Carl Bohar was handed over to Trazyn for his data to be read.

• Cegorach brought Roboute Guilliman to the conference, where he sat beside Corax and reunited with his brothers.
• Lin Fan questioned the captured Changeling Carlos about Tzeentch’s plans, but Carlos refused to answer.
• Lin Fan threatened Carlos with Isha, who silenced him and dragged him into a nearby room.
• Lin Fan questioned Carl Bohar, then handed him to Trazyn to read his data.

Trazyn revealed Carl Bohar’s memories of the Degraded Ones, including their effort to raise a monstrous progenitor, while the Silent King warned that they were imitating the past as well as the present. Lin Fan explained that the universe had once been destroyed and urged everyone not to give up on rebuilding it, leaving Roboute Guilliman startled by a memory of a wife he did not know he had.

• Trazyn showed Carl Bohar’s memories, revealing the Degraded Ones wrapping a huge progenitor in layers of T’au skin.
• Rogal Dorn said Chaos warbands had been moving captives and corpses from Cadia to feed the progenitor, and the Silent King’s right-hand man warned that the Degraded Ones were imitating the past too.
• Lin Fan briefly explained how the previous Subjective One had destroyed the universe and thrown its laws into chaos.
• Angron and Perturabo voiced despair about the prospect of the universe’s end and future scarcity, while Rogal Dorn condemned Angron’s outlook.
• Lin Fan urged the gathered leaders not to abandon themselves or the world, and the Primarchs remembered the people and obligations that kept them going.
• Roboute Guilliman recalled his parents discussing his wife, then wondered when he had acquired one.

Roboute Guilliman and Yvraine confronted their lingering obsessions while Lin Fan interrogated Carlos about Tzeentch's plans. Lin Fan then beat the Void Dragon into agreeing to cooperate, leaving Isha to take him for further questioning.

• Roboute Guilliman and Yvraine recalled their unresolved feelings and grudges as the Primarchs watched them.
• Isha brought out the battered Carlos, who revealed that Rokasna mattered to Tzeentch's plan and that the Degraded Ones' development involved The Deceiver and the Observer.
• Carlos contradicted himself about whether he could see the past, so Isha dragged him back into the dark room.
• Lin Fan entered the Void Dragon's prison and used his model to give the C'tan a tangible form.
• The Void Dragon threatened to send technology back to the stone age, but Lin Fan beat him and sent him to Isha for questioning.
• After Isha returned the Void Dragon, he agreed to cooperate with Lin Fan.

Lin Fan and the others learned that Tzeentch had stolen part of the Dark Emperor’s power and launched it into the universe, while the Milky Way faced spreading cracks, Tyranid swarms, and vast Warp rifts. Aurora explained that he had committed atrocities and shifted between loyalty and heresy to keep Chaos and order balanced, revealing that Alpha Legion agents had infiltrated many factions to steer the galaxy toward equilibrium.

• The Void Dragon told Lin Fan that Tzeentch had stolen part of the Dark Emperor’s power and launched it from Terra using the Golden Throne and Ark Core.
• The Silent King’s star map showed the Milky Way’s cracked borders, fleeing swarm, and widespread Warp rifts converging near the galactic center.
• Aurora revealed that Vulkan was trapped in his secret room and was paying the cost whenever Aurora used the True Word “Stop.”
• Aurora said the Secret Cult had shown him futures in which either Horus’s victory or the Emperor’s eventual loss of control destroyed the galaxy.
• Aurora explained that he had shifted between loyalty and heresy to balance Chaos and order, then told Lin Fan that Lin Fan was the Alpha Legion and that his sons had infiltrated many factions.

Lion El'Jonson explained that he had slept after seeing a sliver of hope in Caliban's destruction and had used the Fallen Angels to preserve the Imperium's balance. When Azmodai declared that even the Lion's authorized Fallen Angels were heretics, he accused Lion El'Jonson himself of being the greatest Fallen Angel and demanded that he repent.

• Lin Fan asked Aurora and the bound Lion El'Jonson what they were plotting, and Aurora admitted that he had helped foment Caliban's rebellion to maintain the balance of power.
• Lion El'Jonson recounted the Loyalist Primarchs' disappearances, his suppression of Caliban's rebellion, and the visions of despair and hope he saw as the planet broke apart.
• Lion El'Jonson said he chose to sleep and let Cypher act, while Lin Fan and Aurora described the Fallen Angels as a muddled force used to maintain the balance of power.
• Aurora explained that the Fallen Angels included wrongly accused people and others driven into rebellion, prompting Cegorach to challenge Lion El'Jonson to question his descendants.
• Azmodai declared that the Fallen Angels were heretics even if Lion El'Jonson had authorized them, then called the Lion the greatest Fallen Angel and demanded that he repent.

Lin Fan confronted Tzeentch after she appeared disguised as Bai Huan and demanded a private conversation. Tzeentch revealed that she had glimpsed Lin Fan’s past and wanted to compete with him as a player rather than remain a pawn.

• Lion El'Jonson broke through his chains and knocked Azmodai unconscious after Azmodai called him a Fallen Angel.
• A fake Bai Huan appeared and asked to speak with Lin Fan alone, but Lin Fan immediately attacked her.
• The fake Bai Huan revealed her cosmic, void-like body, and Cegorach exposed her as Tzeentch.
• Lin Fan took Tzeentch’s hand and appeared with her in the room he had lived in before transmigrating.
• Tzeentch said she had glimpsed Lin Fan’s consciousness on Terra and wanted to become a chess player like him, even if only for an instant.

Lin Fan rejected Tzeentch’s attempt to force him into a contest that would decide the Milky Way’s fate, but she used his concern for its inhabitants to make him hold back. After learning Tzeentch had proposed a game in fifty years and was delaying the Tyranids, Lin Fan prepared to reveal her ambition and the truth of their world to the others.

• Tzeentch explained that she had bound herself to the Milky Way’s souls and bodies, then warned Lin Fan that he could not recreate the worlds and lives he had erased.
• Tzeentch showed Lin Fan Booker’s dog tag, and Lin Fan stopped attacking her rather than risk harming the inhabitants of the Milky Way.
• Tzeentch set a meeting fifty years later at the center of the Milky Way and gave Lin Fan golden dice from The Deceiver before vanishing.
• Lin Fan returned to the conference hall and asked The Emperor and the Silent King about the Milky Way; they reported that daemons were using Tyranid flesh to hold back the pure white void.
• Isha brought the unconscious Carlos into the hall and asked what Tzeentch was trying to do, prompting Lin Fan to explain her ambition and reveal that their world was like a skirmish map.

Lin Fan told the assembled leaders that their world was shaped by higher-dimensional players and revealed that Tzeentch had challenged him to a game at the center of the Milky Way. With fifty years to prepare, Lin Fan considered what the galaxy’s future would hold whether he won or lost.

• Lin Fan explained that Tzeentch had discovered their world’s higher-dimensional nature and was threatening the Milky Way to force a game between them.
• Perturabo lamented that their lives and sacrifices could be rewritten by higher beings, while Konrad Curze laughed at his realization.
• Lin Fan told the leaders that Tzeentch had completed his preparations and given them fifty years to gather forces before their confrontation at the galaxy’s center.
• Lin Fan revealed that Tzeentch had provided a complete Webway map, promised to withdraw his forces and restrain Warp infiltration, and expected the Emperor to endure for fifty years.
• Leman Russ rejoiced that the Emperor could leave the Golden Throne, while Magnus worried about facing him again.
• Lin Fan considered that either victory or defeat would leave him to confront further threats and prepare for subjective creation.

Lin Fan set out with the Silent King and Trazyn to study the Milky Way and prepare to save its worlds before Tzeentch's explosion. Meanwhile, Oedmeir repaired the Ascension Throne, and The Emperor began to regain his body as the Primarchs watched.

• Lin Fan decided to memorize the planets recorded by the Silent King's Brilliant Star Map and traveled with the Silent King and Trazyn to free Orikan and begin his preparations.
• Isha left to guide the Aeldari in planting more Trees of Life, while Oedmeir took The Emperor's holy statue toward the throne room.
• Oedmeir connected her consciousness to the Ascension Throne and began repairing its tangled code.
• The throne returned its stored power to The Emperor, and his body gradually regrew flesh, nerves, blood vessels, muscle, and skin.
• Leman Russ wept as The Emperor recovered, while Angron, Konrad Curze, Magnus, Lorgar, Fulgrim, Perturabo, and Mortarion watched with varied unease.

The Emperor rose from the Golden Throne and reunited with his gathered sons, who struggled to respond to his return after ten thousand years apart. Vulkan's exuberant embrace overwhelmed the Emperor, while Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson began fighting as they rushed to intervene.

• The Emperor rose from the Golden Throne and addressed the Primarchs, who met his return with silence and sorrow.
• Sanguinius pointed out that Vulkan was missing, and Aurora went to bring him back.
• Aurora returned with Vulkan, who charged forward and tightly hugged the Emperor.
• Vulkan roared and squeezed the Emperor with immense strength, alarming the other Primarchs.
• Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson rushed to stop Vulkan, collided, and began grappling with each other.
• Perturabo prepared to step over Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson, but noticed Rogal Dorn moving forward too.

The Emperor and the Primarchs reunited amid bickering, rough embraces, and a glimpse of Vulkan’s altered condition. After settling the scuffle, they joined forces to open the Throne Room doors and continue their work.

• Perturabo shoved against Dorn as both tried to reach the Emperor, while Guilliman freed the Emperor from Vulkan’s crushing grip and was nearly crushed himself before Corax rescued him.
• Aurora knocked Vulkan down and explained that Waaagh! energy had made him act like an Ork when excited; Vulkan recovered and greeted his brothers and the Emperor.
• The Emperor knocked Lion El’Jonson and Leman Russ unconscious to stop their fight, and Dorn then put Perturabo to sleep after Perturabo continued provoking him.
• Dorn dragged Perturabo away, while Vulkan carried off Lion and Leman Russ, and the Primarchs turned their attention back to the work ahead.
• The Emperor struggled to push open the Throne Room doors, and Fulgrim, Sanguinius, Ferrus Manus, Guilliman, Jaghatai, Vulkan, Aurora, Magnus, Lorgar, and Corax joined him.

The Emperor opened the gate with the Primarchs and returned to the Imperium, where his appearance lifted the spirits of the Adeptus Custodes and Space Marines. As the Primarchs began rebuilding and rallying their forces, Guilliman and Perturabo spread news of the Emperor’s return while keeping the coming end of the Milky Way from ordinary people.

• The Emperor opened the gate with the Primarchs and glimpsed Malcador’s outline beside the Golden Throne before the Primarchs crowded him out.
• Oedmeir watched the gates close and continued adjusting the Golden Throne as the Emperor returned to his work.
• The Adeptus Custodes and Space Marines saw the Emperor outside the throne room, and Bjorn wept at the sight.
• Rogal Dorn stayed on Terra to organize relief and reconstruction, Jaghatai patrolled around Cadia, and Corax returned to the Raven Guard before planning a visit to Deliverance.
• Guilliman returned to Macragge, announced the Emperor’s return, and declared a festival while privately choosing not to reveal the Milky Way’s impending end.
• Perturabo returned to Cadia and told the exhausted soldiers that their sacrifices had helped the Emperor rise from the Golden Throne.

News that the Emperor had risen from the Golden Throne gave battered soldiers and civilians hope, though many struggled to believe it. Mortarion returned to his restored flagship and let the Death Guard choose whether to follow the Emperor, while he remained unable to decide what to do himself.

• Soldiers, medicae sisters, and civilians reacted to the announcement that the Emperor had risen, and a mother promised her child that his father and brother had joined the Emperor on Holy Terra.
• Mortarion left the Imperial Palace in a daze after meeting the Emperor and returned to his flagship.
• Mortarion found that Isha had restored his flagship and the Death Guard after Tzeentch took Nurgle's power away.
• Mortarion told the Death Guard that the Emperor would accept them and said those who wished to follow him could leave freely.
• When the Death Guard asked what Mortarion himself would do, he admitted through his confusion that he could not accept being absolved so easily.

Mortarion struggled with guilt over his fall to Nurgle, but the Death Guard reminded him of his past and agreed to return to Barbarus. Meanwhile, Lorgar asked The Emperor to spare the surviving Word Bearers until the war fifty years later, and The Emperor accepted.

• Mortarion reflected on his life and his unwanted fall to Nurgle as the Death Guard recalled how he had freed them on Barbarus.
• Several Death Guard veterans knelt and asked Mortarion to return to Barbarus, and he agreed despite questioning what they would do there.
• The fleet turned back toward Barbarus, and Mortarion read the books Lin Fan had taken from Cegorach for him.
• The Emperor asked Magnus and Lorgar about their Legions; Magnus said the Thousand Sons had become ashes, while Lorgar feared the surviving Word Bearers would not be accepted by the Imperium.
• Lorgar asked The Emperor to let the surviving Word Bearers die in the war fifty years later, and The Emperor granted his request.

The Emperor assigned the Primarchs their next duties and finally rested while Oedmeir adjusted the Golden Throne. Meanwhile, Lin Fan and the Silent King reached the Brilliant Star Map, ready to begin using it.

• The Emperor sent Magnus to find Yvraine and learn how to reverse the Rubric spell, then attached a strand of his consciousness to Magnus to keep him out of trouble.
• The Emperor had Fulgrim take Konrad Curze somewhere quiet, while Angron left without saying goodbye.
• Ferrus Manus asked Sanguinius to help manage the Golden Throne and the Imperium’s affairs, and Oedmeir scratched the Emperor’s back before he fell asleep.
• Oedmeir said she would deal with the creatures in the underground prison after finishing her work on the Golden Throne.
• Lin Fan and the Silent King arrived at the Brilliant Star Map, where Trazyn welcomed the restored Orikan with gruff remarks.
• Lin Fan examined the Brilliant Star Map and agreed to begin.

Lin Fan used the Brilliant Star Map to survey worlds across the Imperium and reflect on the people whose lives had changed during the wars. He contacted Delia on Big Canteen, promised to return, and continued searching the stars for other stories worth remembering.

• Lin Fan followed Orikan’s advice and began exploring familiar planets on the Brilliant Star Map, seeing Terra, Cadia, Landis, Krieg, and Big Canteen recovering in different ways.
• Lin Fan remembered his early days with the Kasare Regiment and the ordinary people, including Old Jock and Damian, whose lives still mattered to him.
• Lin Fan asked the sorcerers to use Necrontyr equipment to send his voice directly to Delia on Big Canteen.
• Delia asked Lin Fan about the battle at Cadia, and Lin Fan told her they had won temporarily but would face another hard battle in fifty years.
• Lin Fan told Delia he would come back, and she smiled before he turned his attention to other planets.

Isha asked the Aeldari to spread her Tree of Life across the Milky Way to protect lives and neutralize Slaanesh’s influence. Yvraine left with Magnus to save his sons, while Yilafren set off to contact the scattered Craftworld Aeldari.

• Isha restrained Yilafren and embraced Yvraine, whose comfort was disrupted by the uncontrolled desire in Isha’s presence.
• Isha explained that planting the Tree of Life on planets across the Milky Way would bring protection and neutralize Slaanesh’s power.
• Isha instructed Yvraine to have Yilafren contact the Aeldari and use their Craftworlds to spread the Tree of Life.
• Magnus arrived and asked Yvraine to use a soul spell to restore his sons, who had been reduced to ashes.
• Isha told Yvraine to help Magnus first, and Magnus teleported away with her.
• Isha put Yilafren aboard the Void Phoenix Fighter, and Yilafren flew toward the Webway to contact the Aeldari.