Chapter Summaries

Ronald, a Black Legion Chaos Space Marine hidden aboard the Flame, slaughtered a repair team and used their blood to prepare a Warp summoning trap. He detonated a Vortex Grenade, unleashing Demons aboard the ship and drawing more toward the expedition fleet.

• The repair team found a massive breach in a lower-deck compartment, and the sergeant discovered signs that it had been torn open by a powerful attacker.
• Ronald burst from the breach, killed the sergeant and the soldiers, and used their blood and remains to inscribe blasphemous runes.
• Ronald revealed himself as a Black Legion Chaos Space Marine who had infiltrated the Flame and sabotaged its lower decks to prepare a summoning trap.
• Ronald detonated a Vortex Grenade and escaped as Warp Demons emerged and corrupted the compartment.
• The Flame's alarms warned of Warp contamination, while Demons rushed through the breach toward the expedition fleet.

A Warp rift opened aboard the Flame, forcing Captain Vomit Mitter and General Westad to prepare a defense while Inquisitor Vissi identified a likely Black Legion ritual sustaining it. The chapter left Kasare Legion troops manning the gates as Demons rampaged through the lower decks and Space Wolves prepared to intervene.

• Captain Vomit Mitter ordered General Westad's troops to hold five gates while the crew sealed passages and adjusted the Gellar Field.
• Magos Rotakos determined that an external force, likely an exploding vortex weapon, had caused the Warp rifts and suggested using another vortex weapon to counter them.
• Inquisitor Vissi told Mitter that a Black Legion warrior had likely infiltrated the Flame and was sustaining the breach with a ritual, so they needed to destroy it.
• Mitter contacted General Westad and the Space Wolves for help reaching the lower decks, and the Space Wolves agreed to send boarding torpedoes.
• General Westad issued orders to his regiments and considered the likely losses among the 450,000 Kasare Legion soldiers aboard the Flame.
• Kasare Legion soldiers fortified the five gates as Demons fought through the lower decks, while hundreds of Leman Russ tanks and Tarantula turrets prepared to defend C0 Gate.

Demons attacked the C0 Gate, slaughtering soldiers and shattering the defenders’ morale before the first wave was driven back. Lin Fan and 3rd Company arrived to reinforce the position as another attack approached.

• Tarantula turrets and the Astra Militarum initially held off the Demons, but their vomit and energy bolts tore through the defenses and corrupted soldiers.
• The defenders destroyed the remaining lesser Demons, while Captain Biyue struggled with terror and grief amid the dead and wounded.
• Lin Fan and 3rd Company rushed to the C0 Gate after Kasare Legion Command ordered regiments to defend the Gates and advance toward the Warp rift at D1347.
• Lin Fan arrived to find the original defenders dead, then pulled Captain Biyue to his feet as Old Jock warned that the Demons were returning.

The Astra Militarum fought a second wave of daemons advancing behind massive walls of flesh and scavenged armor near C0 Gate. The soldiers destroyed the walls, but ammunition ran low as the larger horde closed in, leaving them preparing for close combat.

• Armored flesh walls and a horde of slow-moving daemons emerged from the passage, restarting the battle.
• Leman Russ tanks bombarded the foremost wall, but its flesh pulled embedded metal back into place as armor.
• The walls tore up the deck plates to rebuild their armor, and Astra Militarum officers ordered concentrated fire against their exposed flesh.
• Heavy weapons and tanks destroyed the walls before the daemons could reach the defensive line.
• The daemon horde pressed on as Lasguns overheated, autoturrets and heavy weapons ran out of ammunition, and soldiers raised their bayonets.

As daemons overwhelmed the battlefield, Lin Fan decided to reach the D1347 passage and destroy the ritual. With Inquisitor Vissi and Tempestus Scions holding his position, he used an Auspex and holographic map to find a waste pipe leading toward the lower decks and climbed inside.

• Lin Fan fought daemons beside Old Jock and learned that Tech-Priest Delia was with Colonel Mark and Commissar Aude, about three hundred meters away.
• Inquisitor Vissi’s armored vehicles and Tempestus Scions reinforced Lin Fan’s position after Captain Biyue was killed and the 3rd Company was close to collapse.
• Lin Fan told Vissi he planned to reach the D1347 passage and destroy the ritual, and she gave him an Auspex and holographic projector while her forces held the position.
• Lin Fan crossed the battlefield and found a secondary waste pipe that led toward the lower decks.
• Lin Fan tore through the wall, opened the pipe, checked his map, and leaped inside.

Kaiser Whitefang, Wodhaus Ice Wolf, and Wolf Priest Bennett Wolf Claw led Grey Hunters through the Warp in a boarding torpedo to reach the Flame and stop a daemon-summoning ritual. After Ice Wolf collapsed from the strain of the crossing, the Space Wolves fought their way through the lower deck, where daemons poured toward them.

• Wodhaus Ice Wolf steered the boarding torpedo through the Warp while Kaiser Whitefang and Wolf Priest Bennett Wolf Claw prepared to attack the Flame.
• Ice Wolf used his psychic power to shield the torpedo until it struck the Flame's Gellar Field, leaving him exhausted and confirming the prophecy's first condition.
• White Fang opened the damaged torpedo hatch, and Wolf Claw helped the Grey Hunters escape their seats.
• White Fang scanned the corrupted lower deck and spotted daemons closing in on the Space Wolves.
• The Grey Hunters fired on the daemons, then advanced as White Fang and Wolf Claw led the assault.

White Fang and the Grey Hunters fought through daemons aboard the ship as the Warp rift advanced, then came under fire from a traitor sniper. White Fang sent Bennett Wolf Claw and the others onward to complete the mission while he hunted the shooter.

• White Fang led the Grey Hunters against a Khorne minotaur daemon, using his plasma pistol Loyalty and Frost Axe to kill it.
• The Space Wolves cleared the lesser daemons and advanced toward compartment D1347 through the ravaged lower-deck residential district.
• A sniper shot pierced a Grey Hunter’s helmet, and White Fang fired at the attacker's position among stacked containers.
• White Fang ordered Bennett Wolf Claw to lead the others onward with smoke cover while he pursued the traitor sniper.

Ronald lured White Fang into the lower decks and tried to use Demons and collapsing wreckage to escape, but a Bloodthirster killed him before turning on the Space Wolf. White Fang faced the greater Demon alone, struggling to withstand its crushing attacks.

• Ronald detonated explosives that collapsed the living quarters, then carved runes to draw Demons toward himself and White Fang.
• White Fang caught Ronald and fought him through the ruins, but Ronald kept fleeing and drew power from the Warp to maintain his speed.
• A brass greatsword pierced Ronald, and the Bloodthirster that wielded it burned him to ash and smeared his remains across the blade.
• White Fang welcomed the Bloodthirster as a worthy opponent and swore to defeat it for the Emperor, Leman Russ, and Fenris.
• The Bloodthirster’s powerful strikes drove White Fang back, forcing him to deflect the blows as he fought to avoid being cut in half.

Lin Fan fought his way through the daemons near the D1347 passage and joined Bennett Wolfclaw’s trapped Space Wolves, who could no longer close the rapidly expanding rift. The chapter left the defenders surrounded by an overwhelming daemon horde as Lin Fan arrived to help.

• Lin Fan escaped from a Great Unclean One after cutting open its belly, then destroyed it with the Aquila given to him by The Emperor.
• Lin Fan heard gunfire and roars, followed them, and fought his way through daemons toward the Space Wolves.
• Bennett Wolfclaw ordered Kaiserd to cover Lin Fan with a Heavy Bolter, allowing Lin Fan to join the Space Marines’ formation.
• Lin Fan introduced himself as Soap, captain of the 3rd Company, 37th Kasare Regiment, and explained that he had come from the C0 Gate to seal the rift.
• Bennett Wolfclaw explained that destroying the Flesh Runes had triggered blue lightning that enlarged the rift and increased the daemon assault, leaving his squad trapped and low on ammunition.

Lin Fan and the Space Wolves fought through a daemon assault to close the rift with a holy statue, and Lin Fan unleashed golden power that destroyed the Keeper of Secrets. The rift vanished, leaving the survivors to conceal what they had witnessed while Bennett carried the exhausted Lin Fan to safety.

• Lin Fan gave Bennett the statue his parents had left him, and Bennett sensed its immense power of faith and ordered the Space Wolves to escort Lin Fan to the rift.
• Bennett and the Space Wolves fought through the daemons as Lin Fan followed with the statue, but a Keeper of Secrets emerged from the rift and struck them with its whip.
• Lin Fan attacked the Keeper of Secrets, grabbed its rapier, and broke it as golden flames burned the daemon and scattered the other daemons.
• Lin Fan threw the statue into the rift, and devout chants and threads of light sealed it shut, making the flames and daemons disappear.
• Bennett found Lin Fan alive beneath ashes, counted the dead and wounded, and ordered the survivors to keep the battle secret and undergo memory erasure.

Lin Fan woke aboard the Flame after three months unconscious and learned that the daemon incursion had devastated the fleet and the Kasare Legion. As the ship neared Armageddon, Kaiser Whitefang and Wodhaus learned that Lin Fan and his icon had closed the Warp rift and saved them.

• Bennett told Lin Fan that the Flame was about to emerge from the Warp near Armageddon and described the massive losses caused by the daemon attack.
• Lin Fan learned that the Kasare Legion had lost over 450,000 soldiers, many survivors had broken mentally, and Kaiser Whitefang had lost an arm.
• Bennett reassured Lin Fan that the dead had fought for the Emperor, then teased him until he relaxed.
• Kaiser Whitefang asked Lin Fan about closing the rift, while the events of the battle revealed that Wodhaus had helped him defeat the Bloodthirster.
• Bennett told Kaiser Whitefang and Wodhaus that Lin Fan and his icon had saved the squad and the Flame, and Wodhaus recalled the prophecy he had sensed on Fenris.

Rune Priest Wodhaus told Logan Grimnar of visions showing Cadia’s fall and a possible alternative in which an Astra Militarum sergeant led survivors through a mysterious portal. Logan sent Wodhaus to Armageddon under the cover of training psychic Blood Claws, where a massive Ork fleet had attacked.

• Wodhaus recounted visions of disasters across the Imperium and two possible outcomes for Cadia, then resolved to steer events toward the more hopeful one.
• Wodhaus asked Logan Grimnar to let him leave for Armageddon, and Logan revealed that a massive Ork fleet had attacked the world.
• Logan ordered Wodhaus to accompany Kaiser Whitefang and train newly inducted psychic Blood Claws while reinforcing Armageddon.
• Logan watched Wodhaus leave and prayed for guidance, troubled by the Imperium’s growing crises and the Space Wolves’ dwindling strength.

Vissi completed a secret report on Lin Fan’s destruction of a Great Unclean One and investigated the damage left by the battle. After learning Lin Fan had returned to his regiment, she summoned Gevisiting to entrust her with a sacred mission.

• Vissi investigated the lower-deck battlefield and concluded that Lin Fan had smashed through the ship’s alloy wall and likely destroyed a Great Unclean One, though its horned skull showed no trace of Warp power.
• Vissi sealed her report after noting that the Space Wolves had taken Lin Fan to a Space Marine medical ward and had concealed much of the battle’s evidence.
• General Westad’s propaganda praised Captain Soap’s courage and faith, and the Space Wolves showed no objection to Lin Fan receiving the credit.
• Gevisiting visited Vissi, who learned that more than half of the Order of the Devout Rose’s Battle Sisters had died defending the ship.
• Vissi told Gevisiting that she had a sacred mission for her, after learning that Captain Soap had returned to his regiment.

Commissar Yarrick confronted Governor von Strab over Armageddon’s failing defenses and the nobles’ wasteful banquet, then fought his guards after firing at the governor. He left the hall after von Strab threatened to send him to the most dangerous front, a prospect Yarrick welcomed.

• Yarrick entered von Strab’s banquet and demanded to know whether the governor had sent a distress signal to Imperial high command.
• Von Strab dismissed warnings about the Orks and their Titans, insisting the Planetary Defense Force and Titan Legions would prevail.
• Yarrick asked what would happen to the banquet’s replaced dishes, and von Strab said the food was too spoiled for the nobles to eat.
• Yarrick fired at von Strab, then killed the governor’s guards when they attacked him.
• Von Strab threatened to send Yarrick to the most dangerous front, and Yarrick left the hall saying nothing would please him more.

Private Joseph and the Astra Militarum prepared to defend Heglas Hive against the advancing Orks, enduring toxic conditions and massive artillery fire. The bombardment began, and the Orks answered with an even fiercer barrage as Joseph huddled in his trench.

• Joseph recalled the Orks’ invasion of Armageddon and the destruction they had wrought in the hive cities.
• Joseph and an unfamiliar soldier exchanged words of encouragement before the Orks approached the defensive line.
• The Orks charged into the minefield, where explosions erupted across their ranks.
• The Astra Militarum opened fire with Basilisks, Manticores, mortars, and howitzers, and Joseph took shelter in the trench.
• The Orks returned fire with inaccurate but relentless artillery that shook Joseph and the frontline positions.

Joseph and his fellow Astra Militarum soldiers fought off an Ork assault as red-painted buggies and Ork Boyz reached their trench line. The battle continued as more Orks charged toward Joseph’s position.

• Joseph’s sergeant ordered the soldiers to prepare while snipers picked off Ork buggy drivers.
• Out-of-control buggies crashed into other vehicles, but hundreds of Ork vehicles crossed the minefield and sped toward the first trench line.
• Ork Boyz leaped from the buggies into the trenches and attacked the soldiers with axes as both sides fought at close range.
• Joseph impaled an Ork that leapt into his trench, then shot another Ork threatening a fallen soldier.
• Joseph urged the rescued soldier to pick up his weapon and watched more Orks charging toward the position.

Joseph and a rookie fought through the Orks’ assault until a shell struck their trench, while the first defensive line collapsed. Sergeant Karmik’s central position was left without promised artillery support, and he lied to his soldiers that armored reinforcements were coming as the Orks charged.

• The Orks overwhelmed the first defensive position with gunfire and a close-range assault, killing Joseph’s comrade and driving Joseph and the rookie into their trench.
• Joseph killed an Ork that entered the trench and, with the rookie’s help, fought off another attacker before an Ork shell exploded between them.
• The first line of defense fell, and Sergeant Karmik learned that the central position would receive no fire support for twenty minutes.
• Karmik realized his troops had been abandoned as a rearguard while artillery withdrew toward Heglas Hive.
• Karmik told his soldiers that armored reinforcements would arrive, restoring their morale, then privately prayed for forgiveness as the Orks charged.

Ork Mekboyz improvised cluster rockets that blasted open Heglas Hive’s main gate, allowing the Orks to overrun the city. Three months later, Heglas had fallen, and the surviving Imperium forces fought on in its lower levels.

• The Mekboyz bound rockets together into crude cluster bombs and launched them at Heglas’s walls.
• A rocket lump evaded the anti-aircraft guns and destroyed half of Heglas’s main gate.
• The Orks charged into the hive as the Planetary Defense Force fled and fought its own commissars.
• Three months later, the Orks had stripped Heglas Hive, while the remaining Imperium forces battled in the lower levels and sewers.

Commissar Sebastian Yarrick tried to rally the gangs of Hades Hive against the approaching Orks after Governor Von Strab abandoned the main continent. He met the Chameleon Gang’s enforcer Lede and argued that the Imperium required Loyalty and the Imperial Tithe, not obedience to planetary rulers.

• Yarrick reviewed reports that Orks were advancing toward Hades Hive and Helsreach Port, then set out to meet the lower-level gangs.
• Yarrick’s party crossed the polluted underlevels of Hades Hive, where he destroyed a gang-made machine-gun turret with a bolt pistol.
• Flamethrower Lede confronted Yarrick with a meltagun and challenged his request for the gangs to fight the Orks.
• Yarrick told Lede that the Imperium cared about Loyalty and the Imperial Tithe rather than who ruled the planet, and swore that his claim was true.
• Lede questioned the amount of the Imperial Tithe, and Yarrick replied that Imperial commissars never lied.

Commissar Yarrick recruited the Chameleon Gang to help defend Hades Hive by promising to purge its nobles, then planned a new defense built around the hive’s underground terrain. Flamethrower Reid asked to join the Astra Militarum, and Yarrick offered him a place as his guard and instructor until the war ended.

• Lede showed Yarrick the Chameleon Gang’s disciplined enforcers and factories producing weapons, ammunition, and vehicles.
• Yarrick met Domisilon and secured the gang’s support by proposing they eliminate Hades Hive’s nobles.
• Yarrick left the stronghold with the gang conscripted and planned to move vital facilities inward while fighting the Orks at close quarters.
• Flamethrower Reid asked Yarrick to help him join the Astra Militarum, and Yarrick appointed him as his guard and instructor until the war ended.