Recaps

Leman Russ broke free of the Rotted Coffin Dragon Lord’s assault and battled the Dragon Emperor, driven by visions of Horus’s betrayal. As Angron and the others emerged, Russ shattered the Dragon Emperor’s God-Annihilating Spear and continued toward him.

• The Rotted Coffin Dragon Lord battered Leman Russ, but Russ blocked his killing blow and tore open the Dragon Lord’s body while repeatedly crying out about Horus.
• The Dragon Emperor prepared a Wild Magic strike that caught the Rotted Coffin Dragon Lord in its range, so the wounded dragon sacrificed his soul to unleash Soul-Slaying Breath against Russ.
• Leman Russ survived the Soul-Slaying Breath, and the Dragon Emperor ordered the dragons to retreat after realizing Ainz and the Great Tomb’s forces had fled.
• Leman Russ charged the Dragon Emperor, who used tens of millions of souls to create the God-Annihilating Spear and clash with Russ’s Dionysian Spear.
• Angron and the others emerged from the Depiction of Nature and Society, while the Space Wolves cursed Horus and Valdor explained that the Dionysian Spear might have shown Russ a vision of the future.
• Leman Russ shattered the Dragon Emperor’s God-Annihilating Spear and roared that he was coming to kill Horus.

Leman Russ drove off the Dragon Emperor but fell unconscious, and Angron led the battered Imperium forces through a prolonged battle against monsters pouring from a rift. After a Warlord Titan’s detonation only partially blocked the rift, Angron ordered a retreat to the portal to report to the Emperor, while Ainz had descended into complete madness.

• The Dragon Emperor survived Leman Russ’s attack by devouring souls, then fled as Leman Russ fell from the sky and warned that it would shatter.
• Angron took command, restrained the frenzied Space Wolves, and withdrew the Imperium forces from the Far Eastern Cliff to reorganize.
• Three days later, a rift opened above the Far Eastern Cliff and transformed corpses into monsters that attacked the Imperium army.
• Angron and the World Eaters fought alongside the Adeptus Custodes for six days before an Archmagos proposed detonating the Warlord Titan beneath the rift.
• The Warlord Titan’s explosion temporarily blocked the rift but failed to seal it, so Angron ordered the army to retreat to the portal and seek the Emperor.
• Ainz had fallen into complete madness within the Great Tomb.

After reviving the Guardians killed by Leman Russ, Ainz discovered that most had lost their emotions and seemed to have become lifeless NPCs, possibly because the Dionysian Spear had taken their souls. Ainz broke down under the weight of the war, but Albedo suddenly began moving again and offered to help.

• Ainz revived Shalltear, Demiurge, Albedo, Aura, Cocytus, and Sebas by spending a vast quantity of the Great Tomb's gold coins.
• Mare found that Aura and the other revived Guardians, except Shalltear, showed no emotions and responded to Ainz like NPCs.
• Ainz suspected that the Dionysian Spear had sealed the souls of the Guardians it killed.
• Ainz lashed out at Shalltear and Mare, then apologized and admitted he did not know how to recover the lost souls.
• Albedo began moving again and told Ainz that she could help.

Ainz discovered that the being controlling Albedo was the sentient System, which revealed that it needed his help to repel the Imperium of Man’s invading world framework. The System began explaining its subsystems and its role in governing magic and true randomness.

• Albedo revealed that she knew Ainz’s real name, Suzuki Satoru, and Ainz ordered Shalltear and Mare to prepare Nazarick’s final measure and leave him alone with her.
• Albedo identified herself as the System and explained that she had come to preserve her world framework, not to help Ainz personally.
• The System told Ainz that the Imperium of Man came from Warhammer 40,000 and that one of the colliding world frameworks would eventually suppress and erase the other.
• The System asked Ainz to help repel the invasion and introduced the Combat, Personality, and Environment subsystems.
• Albedo explained that she managed magic and was especially skilled at true randomness.

The Random System urged Ainz to eliminate the Dragon Emperor and the True Dragon Lords so it could erase Wild Magic and strengthen its control over the world. It revealed that victory might let Ainz reach his friends in other game worlds, and Ainz left determined to capture the Dragon Emperor alive.

• The Random System told Ainz that the Dragon Emperor and the True Dragon Lords threatened him and that their souls could be used to erase Wild Magic.
• The Random System showed Ainz the wounded Dragon Emperor hiding in his palace and explained that destroying Wild Magic could give it greater authority to aid Ainz.
• Ainz prepared to take Shalltear, Mare, and the Great Tomb's remaining forces to eliminate their former allies.
• Ainz asked whether his friends were well, and the Random System explained that other game worlds were connected through a network.
• The Random System promised Ainz could meet his friends if they won, and Ainz left to capture the Dragon Emperor alive.
• After Ainz vanished, the Random System gloated that it planned to burn this world and trap its enemies in hell.

Ainz betrayed the weakened Dragon Emperor and captured the surviving True Dragon Lords to give their souls to the Random System. After the Random System failed to open a path to another world, he demanded that Ainz kill Mare and Shalltear to generate stronger emotions, leaving Ainz horrified and refusing.

• Ainz pretended to offer the Dragon Emperor a cure, then attacked and killed many dragons in the celestial palace.
• The Platinum Dragon Lord tried to stop Ainz and use Wild Magic, but Ainz evaded his attacks and Mare and Shalltear captured him.
• Ainz seized the Dragon Emperor and the other survivors, animated the dead dragons, and brought their souls and possessions to the Random System.
• The Random System used ninety million souls to open a brief rift showing a chaotic ocean, but the attempt failed as another world's influence grew stronger.
• The Random System demanded that Ainz kill Mare and Shalltear in an extreme manner, and Ainz refused to harm the NPCs his friends had left behind.

The Random System pushed Ainz to sacrifice his loyal servants, using their deaths to strip away his remaining humanity and prepare him for war against the Imperium of Man. Ainz unleashed the Great Tomb and attacked the Imperium, while Angron and Leman Russ prepared a last defense near the portal.

• The Random System persuaded Ainz that Mare and Shalltear had to die for victory, and Ainz tortured them to death.
• At the Random System’s urging, Ainz killed the Pleiades Battle Maids and the homunculus servants, losing the last trace of his humanity.
• The Random System declared Ainz ready, and Ainz raised the Great Tomb from underground and sent it toward the Far Eastern Cliff.
• Ainz shattered the sky and unleashed Gorgons against the Imperium of Man, whose Primarchs temporarily closed the breach.
• The Random System brought wounded soldiers to Ainz, who tortured them, while Angron and Leman Russ prepared the final line of defense near the portal.

Magnus followed the Emperor’s map through the Webway, saw visions of a disastrous alternate fate, and tore a breach into reality. Meanwhile, Horus, Lion El'Jonson, and Sanguinius continued competing for Warmaster on Planet B-O1 alpha three, with Horus suspecting Sanguinius had come to keep the rivalry in check.

• Magnus followed the Emperor’s map through an unusually artificial stretch of the Webway while worrying about the Emperor’s battle against the daemons.
• Magnus touched the Webway barrier and saw visions of fallen Horus, a breach in Terra’s defenses, and a dark future caused by his own past arrogance.
• Magnus resolved to act cautiously, tore open the barrier, and slipped through a breach that would draw daemons into the Webway.
• On Planet B-O1 alpha three, Horus, Lion El'Jonson, and Sanguinius sat after exterminating a xenos civilization while their legions calculated campaign merits for the Warmaster contest.
• Horus resented Lion El'Jonson as a rival and reasoned that Sanguinius had joined the contest to prevent their rivalry from worsening.

Horus and Lion El'Jonson clashed over their Warmaster rankings and a disputed battle, while Sanguinius tried to keep the rivalry from turning violent. As Horus and Lion El'Jonson struck at each other, Magnus suddenly appeared.

• Horus and Lion El'Jonson argued over which Legion should lead an assault, and Lion El'Jonson beat Horus after Horus insulted his fallen sons.
• Sanguinius restrained Lion El'Jonson, and Horus resolved to support Sanguinius for Warmaster if the contest reached a deadlock.
• A tech-sage announced that Lion El'Jonson had 51 points, Horus had 50, and Sanguinius had 7.
• Horus accused Lion El'Jonson of taking credit for a Luna Wolves battle, and Lion El'Jonson explained that Abaddon had requested aid after falling into a xenos trap.
• Horus and Lion El'Jonson traded insults and punched at the same time, but Magnus suddenly appeared between them.

Magnus arrived with an urgent warning that daemons were besieging The Emperor, prompting Horus and Lion to mobilize their Legions and activate the Tuchulcha Engine. Sanguinius suffered a vision of Horus betraying the Imperium, then left Horus bewildered by insisting he was not Konrad Curze.

• Horus and Lion accidentally knocked Magnus unconscious when he appeared between them, and Sanguinius revived him with a massive dose of cardiac stimulant.
• Magnus told Horus, Lion, and Sanguinius that The Emperor was under siege by daemons and that Perturabo's Legion was close to defeat.
• Sanguinius sensed Chaos on Magnus and experienced a vision of a ruined Imperium and Horus grinning amid its destruction.
• Magnus explained that daemons were the Warp brought to life and relayed The Emperor's order to activate the Tuchulcha Engine.
• Lion ordered the Dark Angels Legion to mobilize, and Horus set aside his rank to join the effort.
• Sanguinius called to Horus, then told him, "I am not Konrad Curze..."

Horus, Magnus, and Sanguinius joined Lion El'Jonson as he prepared the Tuchulcha Engine to travel through the Warp and gather the Primarchs. After the fleet collected resources to restore the Engine, the Primarchs had to choose its next destination.

• Horus wondered why Sanguinius was watching him and Magnus, while Magnus mourned the Thousand Sons and Horus misunderstood what had happened to them.
• Lion El'Jonson showed the Primarchs the Tuchulcha Engine and gave it a star chart marking the Primarchs' locations.
• Lion El'Jonson presented the Engine with the Ouroboros and Plague Heart, which let it carve temporary tunnels through space instead of making Warp jumps.
• Lion El'Jonson led the fleet to gather Blackstone from a tomb world and Wraithbone from an Aeldari Craftworld, where Fulgrim led the assault.
• After more than ten days of collecting resources, the Primarchs considered where to send the Tuchulcha Engine next.

The Primarchs agreed to take the Tuchulcha Engine to Terra before joining The Emperor, while Konrad Curze urged Lorgar to use the Book of Holy Words to prepare the Imperium for the Warp’s enemies. The chapter left Lorgar stunned by Curze’s proposal that they needed a god to protect them, even if The Emperor did not want to become one.

• Magnus proposed that the Primarchs take Vulkan and the fleet to Terra to protect the Seven Hammers Amulet before supporting The Emperor.
• Lion El'Jonson and the Primarchs discussed missing brothers and Konrad Curze’s prophecies, then followed Sanguinius’s counsel and voted to proceed to Terra.
• The Primarchs killed Erebus, Typhus, and other suspected traitors to prevent Chaos from corrupting the Legions.
• The Tuchulcha Engine opened a Webway route to Terra as Konrad Curze awoke and called for preparations against the Warp’s enemies.
• Lorgar brooded over killing Kor Phaeron and realizing that his teachings had twisted his faith in The Emperor.
• Konrad Curze asked Lorgar to spread the Book of Holy Words, arguing that the Imperium needed a god to protect it.

The Primarchs gathered at Terra and used the God-Emperor’s power, summoned by their soldiers’ prayers, to fight the Warp Demons. As Malcador’s spell failed and the battle continued, the Emperor prepared to enact the next step of his plan and chose Sanguinius as a possible new master of the Golden Throne.

• Curze persuaded the Primarchs that prayers could empower their weapons against Warp Demons, and Horus ordered the army to memorize the Book of Holy Words and cry, “Long live the God-Emperor.”
• The Primarchs reached Terra, where Dorn agreed to defend the planet with Vulkan and activate the Seven Hammers Amulet at humanity’s darkest hour.
• The Emperor absorbed the warriors’ prayers and passed their power to them as the Primarchs led tens of thousands of ships through the Webway to reinforce Perturabo’s defenses.
• The Legions combined their forces to hold and counterattack the Demons, while Jaghatai and Alpharius also appeared on the battlefield.
• Malcador’s spell failed, and the Emperor caught him as he fell from the Golden Throne.
• The Emperor prepared to enter another world to prove something and considered Sanguinius as the throne’s next master.

The Emperor appointed Sanguinius as the Imperium's heir and crossed the portal to confront Ainz personally. As the Primarchs fought to hold the line, Ainz refused the Random System's warning to flee, and The Emperor arrived in the Throne Room while Tzeentch intensified the assault around the portal's star system.

• The Emperor told Sanguinius about the Warp, humanity's possible defeat, and his contingency plan, then gave him a golden halo and named him the Imperium's future ruler.
• The Emperor placed Magnus beside Malcador on the Golden Throne and entered the portal; Sanguinius put on the halo, making the vanished cold sun reappear in the Warp.
• Lorgar charged too deeply into the daemon horde, forcing Roboute Guilliman to rescue him before Lion El'Jonson arrived with the Dark Angels to free them.
• The Emperor appeared at the portal fortress, learned that Leman Russ had become violently paranoid and that Angron was caring for him, then departed to find Ainz in the flying tomb.
• Ainz dismissed the Random System's warning and ordered his forces to keep attacking, but The Emperor's voice reached the Throne Room as Tzeentch ordered the gods to intensify their assault around the portal's star system.

The Emperor destroyed Ainz and Tzeentch’s avatar in the Great Tomb of Nazarick, ending the Chaos corruption threatening the world. He then left Angron and Leman Russ to support the Imperium while he went to find something.

• The Emperor revealed his power and destroyed the Chaos Gorgons and Incubi that Ainz sent against him.
• The Emperor found Ainz in the Throne Room, learned that he was Suzuki Satoru, and killed him with golden fire after condemning his disregard for humanity.
• The Emperor confronted Tzeentch on Nazarick’s eighth floor and destroyed its enslaved defenders and World-Class Items along with its avatar.
• The Emperor left the collapsing tomb and told Angron and Leman Russ to return with the legion and help their brothers hold the line while he searched for something.

The Emperor discovered that the Overlord world was a game world and decided to search for the World-Class Item Five Elements Overcoming, hoping to use it against the Chaos Gods. As he searched and linked the two worlds, the Imperium’s defenders faced a desperate daemon assault, and Sanguinius welcomed returning Primarchs who joined the battle.

• The Emperor read a guild player’s diary, confirmed that the Overlord world existed beneath a narrative layer, and chose to keep fighting for his own world.
• The Emperor planned to find Five Elements Overcoming and use it to damage the psychic power of the Chaos Gods, then scoured the world with his radiance.
• Sanguinius endured the Imperium’s worsening defense as Magnus and Malcador maintained the Golden Throne’s barrier, then learned that Primarchs had returned through the portal.
• Angron learned that Sanguinius had become the Imperium’s new Emperor, gathered the World Eaters, and led them into battle against Khorne’s daemons.
• Leman Russ woke after touching the Emperor’s weapon, asked about Horus, and led the Space Wolves to fight beside the Luna Wolves while keeping Horus under watch.

Khorne reshaped the chaotic battlefield into orderly roads, forcing the Chaos armies and Space Marine Legions into direct combat while Tzeentch grudgingly followed his orders. As Horus and Leman Russ fought side by side against Khorne’s daemons, Tzeentch devised a new plan to provoke suspicion and betrayal among the Primarchs, targeting Fulgrim and Corax.

• Khorne grew furious at Tzeentch’s chaotic battlefield and hurled eight weapons toward the portal world, which shattered into roads that separated the Imperial forces from the daemons.
• Sanguinius followed Malcador’s instruction not to stop the weapons, and Khorne organized the armies of all four gods across the new roads.
• Horus awoke in a blood-soaked wilderness, where Leman Russ accused him of treachery and attacked him before Sanguinius’s message prompted them to fight together.
• Horus and Leman Russ led the Luna Wolves and Space Wolves in a joint charge against Khorne’s daemon army.
• Tzeentch abandoned his old approach and began planning to manipulate Fulgrim and Corax into creating mistrust and conflict among the Primarchs.

Fulgrim tried to wake the unconscious Ferrus after a battle had severed Ferrus’s connection to a machine flooding his brain with data. He improvised a way to transfer the data into an Iron Hands captain, leaving the captain unconscious and Ferrus still unresponsive.

• Fulgrim found Ferrus unconscious in the Iron Hands’ command post and learned that severed cables had disconnected him from a machine he had built to enhance his battlefield command.
• Fulgrim inspected Ferrus’s data cables, cut away the severed ones, and told the Iron Hands captains that someone needed to draw the data out of Ferrus’s mind.
• After an Iron Hands captain dismissed Fulgrim’s actions as artistic pursuits, Fulgrim complained that Ferrus had taught his sons to underestimate his abilities.
• Fulgrim made the captain connect a braided metal cord to Ferrus’s data port and discharge his armor’s electricity through it, causing the captain to fall unconscious.
• Fulgrim told the other captains that the cord had moved data out of Ferrus’s brain and threatened to use Emperor’s Children instead if they kept questioning him.

Fulgrim helped Ferrus awaken from his coma and covered for the Iron Hands captains after they used the braided wires to extract data from Ferrus's mind. The two Primarchs went to the front line, where Slaanesh's daemonic army began its attack.

• Fulgrim's taunts frightened the Iron Hands captains into using the metal wires, and they fell unconscious while extracting data from Ferrus's brain.
• Ferrus woke to find captains unconscious with wires in their noses, and Fulgrim told him they had used an untested method to wake him.
• Fulgrim led Ferrus away before he could question the captains further, then winked at them to show he had forgiven them.
• Fulgrim and Ferrus reached the front line, where Fulgrim heard a Slaanesh daemon tempt him while Ferrus heard nothing.
• Slaanesh's daemons sounded the attack horn and sent war chariots racing from the pink mist, with Daemonettes riding strange steeds.

Lorgar’s speech restored the Space Marines’ resolve against Slaanesh’s temptations, reminding them that they fought for humanity rather than personal privilege. After the demons fell, Fulgrim and Ferrus debated whether Lorgar had truly changed, while Lorgar overheard them and joked about becoming Imperial Pontiff.

• Slaanesh’s demons tempted the Space Marines with illusions of power and privilege, causing the warriors to waver.
• Lorgar challenged the warriors’ selfish thoughts and reminded them that Astartes fought for humanity’s future, not to enslave mortals.
• The Space Marines renewed their vows to fight for the Emperor and humanity, and their battle cries caused the Slaanesh demons to fall beneath the chariots.
• Ferrus questioned whether Lorgar had delivered the speech, while Fulgrim praised the change in his brother.
• Lorgar overheard them and denied that his speech had anything to do with becoming Imperial Pontiff, making Ferrus and Fulgrim laugh.
• Fulgrim asked Ferrus whether he had changed, then sighed when Ferrus did not understand the question.

Sevatar confronted Konrad Curze, who had withdrawn into the darkness and was waiting for an opportunity after seeing visions of the future. Curze feared that Fulgrim would fall after mistakenly killing Ferrus, but rushed out when Sevatar mentioned that Fulgrim and Ferrus were fighting Slaanesh’s daemons.

• Sevatar entered the blood-soaked darkness to urge Konrad Curze to leave and help the other Legions.
• Curze emerged and told Sevatar that he had seen the future and believed some of his brothers would betray them.
• Curze described a vision in which Fulgrim mistakenly killed Ferrus and fell to temptation.
• Sevatar reminded Curze that Fulgrim and Ferrus were allies fighting daemons together.
• When Sevatar identified the daemons as servants of Slaanesh, Curze grabbed him and hurried out.

Konrad Curze told Sevatar about a possible future in which Fulgrim killed Ferrus, then rushed toward the Emperor's Children and Iron Hands. As the daemons' song weakened the defenders at the Sixth Way of the Brass Road, Ferrus decided to destroy their raised platform himself.

• Konrad Curze told Sevatar that a daemon would control Fulgrim and make him kill Ferrus in the future.
• Konrad Curze named other Primarchs who might be vulnerable to daemonic control, and Sevatar suspected he was helping Fulgrim because he cared about him.
• Ferrus and the Emperor's Children and Iron Hands held their defensive line against Slaanesh's daemon host for six days and nights, despite dwindling ammunition.
• Ferrus ordered his warriors to use daemon bones to build combat platforms after the battlefield became impassable with corpses.
• Slaanesh's daemons sang from a raised platform, intensifying the defenders' fatigue, and Ferrus decided to attack and destroy it.

Ferrus and Fulgrim led their warriors through a demon-infested swamp toward the platform whose song weakened them. N'Kari and Carlos plotted to corrupt Fulgrim and turn him against Ferrus, and the chapter ended with N'Kari’s maidservants surrounding Fulgrim after the Primarchs became separated.

• Ferrus and Fulgrim compared weapons and agreed to lead their elite warriors toward the demons’ platform.
• Ferrus and Fulgrim carved a path through the swamp and demon horde as N’Kari watched Fulgrim.
• Carlos explained that the demons had corrupted Fulgrim’s sword and planned to make him kill Ferrus with the Laer Blade.
• Fulgrim drifted away from the formation while fighting, and Ferrus chose to charge the platform rather than call him back.
• N’Kari sent her maidservants to surround Fulgrim once Ferrus and Fulgrim were separated.

Fulgrim fought Slaanesh’s daemons inside a mist that distorted his memories, while Ferrus tried to reach him from outside. Just as the daemons seized control of Fulgrim and forced him to strike at Ferrus, Konrad Curze arrived and saved him.

• N'Kari trapped Fulgrim in mist and sent daemons wearing the faces of people he knew to attack him.
• Ferrus led the Iron Hands toward the platform, fought Carlos, and brought the structure down, entering the mist and finding Fulgrim.
• Fulgrim’s memories blurred as he fought for what seemed like centuries; he abandoned the rusted Flame Sword and used the Laer Blade to cut through the daemons.
• Ferrus and Fulgrim mistook each other for enemies and fought until Fulgrim recognized Ferrus when he shattered the Flame Sword.
• Carlos and N'Kari triggered the daemons hidden in the Laer Blade, which took control of Fulgrim and turned his sword toward Ferrus.
• Konrad Curze severed Fulgrim’s sword arm, broke the daemons’ control, and told Fulgrim he had come to save him.

Curze arrived in time to stop Fulgrim from killing Ferrus, then led the Primarchs to defeat the daemons and capture Carlos. With the battlefield under control, Curze prepared to help their brothers elsewhere and warned Fulgrim that Fabius would become a traitor.

• Curze knocked aside Fulgrim's cursed strike before it could hit Ferrus and declared that he had come to save Fulgrim.
• Curze defied Carlos's claims about fate, attacked the daemons, and drew N'Kari and the Slaanesh daemons into the fight.
• Fulgrim, Ferrus, and Curze defeated Carlos and the daemons, while the Night Lords tortured their captives.
• Curze explained how he recognized the daemons' weaknesses and said they needed to take an elite force to aid their brothers, including Lorgar.
• Curze identified Fabius as a future traitor, and Fulgrim warned the bewildered Apothecary that he would be watching him.