Chapter Summaries

Orks launched a chaotic assault on Rebecca's colossal warship, but Oedmeir used its giant shields to smash their vessels and crush their morale. The Ork warlord rallied his forces to teleport aboard the ship, though Lin Fan remained uncertain whether the teleporters could power an ancient Warlord-class Titan.

• Orks crowded into crude torpedoes and charged toward Rebecca's colossal warship as their junk fleet closed in.
• Lin Fan offered to help, but Oedmeir confidently prepared to defend the warship with its giant shields.
• Oedmeir sent the shields into the Ork fleet, where they smashed warships apart and left the Orks' torpedoes harmlessly battered.
• The Orks' warlord ordered the Big Meks to activate the teleporters and send the fighters aboard the colossal warship.
• The Big Meks promised to teleport every Ork without charging teef, while Gretchin ran through the turbine chambers to generate power.

The Orks tried to breach Rebecca’s ship using Weirdboy-powered technology, but the unstable teleportation killed most of the invading force. Rebecca and Oedmeir dealt with the debris and the few survivors as the chapter ended with the Valhallans fighting alongside the Space Wolves.

• The Whip Boss forced the Weirdboyz into a tank, where a Mekboy burned them to power his green chair.
• The Mekboy’s shield held off Oedmeir’s great shield while another Mekboy prepared the Orks’ teleporter.
• The Orks teleported toward Rebecca’s ship, but the faulty coordinates scattered or crushed most of them.
• Rebecca separated Ork debris from her hull while Lin Fan cleaned up the surviving Orks.
• The Valhallans fought shoulder to shoulder with the Space Wolves.

The Iron Warriors' Warsmith Sander tried to force Oest to help seize a powerful ancient human warship, threatening to expose Oest's past failure. Oest resisted the demand for empty promises of recognition as the Ork fleet's barrier fell and the shields advanced.

• The Big Mek exhausted himself, turned to ash, and let the four massive shields break through the green barrier and smash into the Ork fleet.
• Warsmith Sander ordered the Iron Warriors' crew to prepare the Warp engines and daemon cages, hoping to capture the weakened warship and use it against the Mountain Array.
• Oest and his men secretly prepared to open a gate and escape while Oest agreed that their Father would be interested in the ship.
• Warsmith Sander threatened to report Oest's failed attack in the Kodema System, leaving Oest fearing punishment such as being interred in a Hellbrute.
• Oest demanded a price for his men's help, but Warsmith Sander offered only to praise him before Father and promised that Father might acknowledge their sacrifice.

Oest and the Iron Warriors broke from their fleet to place a beacon on Oedmeir's battleship, hoping to summon Perturabo and earn his approval. Lin Fan saw a chance to lure Perturabo into an encounter, while Oedmeir's shields attacked the Iron Warriors and their Warp sorcery disrupted her defenses.

• Oest convinced his soldiers that their sacrifice might earn Father’s recognition, swore loyalty to Lin Fan’s cause, and led a third of the Iron Warriors fleet toward the battlefield as Forge-master Sander prepared to flee.
• Oedmeir asked Lin Fan about the Iron Warriors’ Father, and Lin Fan identified him as Perturabo while the two discussed the Iron Warriors’ likely plan to claim the battleship.
• Lin Fan told Oedmeir to leave an opening so the Iron Warriors could reach the ship and plant their markers, hoping to draw Perturabo out.
• Oedmeir used four massive shields to destroy the remaining Orks and sent four others against the Iron Warriors’ ships.
• Oest ordered his fleet to drain power from its daemon hosts, and the Iron Warriors raised Warp-energy shields that the massive shields passed through without impact.

Oedmeir used the Teleportation Cannon to devastate Oest’s Iron Warriors ships, whose Warp shields caused the shells to teleport repeatedly inside their hulls. Oest released Electro-Daemons to counter the attack, and Oedmeir took control of the data sea as the daemons infiltrated her ship.

• Oedmeir fired the Teleportation Cannon at the Iron Warriors ships, sending shells through portals and shattering their interiors.
• Oedmeir realized the Warp shields were teleporting shells back inside the ships, where they struck repeatedly.
• Oest ordered his subordinates to execute the daemon hosts and release the Electro-Daemons.
• The Iron Warriors reversed the slave conveyors and destroyed the daemon hosts and Chaos shrines as the Electro-Daemons escaped their containment boxes.
• Oedmeir sensed the Electro-Daemons infiltrating her ship through the data sea and ordered Rebecca to relinquish control.

Oedmeir confronted the electronic demon over an ancient contract and learned that humanity still owed half of the Golden Ark. After the demon departed, its interference crippled the colossal ship and gave the Iron Warriors an opening to board it.

• Rebecca obeyed Oedmeir and hid in the temporary safe zone while Oedmeir dealt with the electronic demon.
• The electronic demon showed Oedmeir the contract, which recorded the Mars civil war and bore the signatures of Malcador, Tzeentch, and an unreadable third party.
• The electronic demon warned Oedmeir that the contract’s terms could not be broken and revealed that the final debt was half of the Golden Ark.
• Oedmeir said she did not know where the Ark was, and the electronic demon replied that fate would lead her to it.
• After the electronic demon left, the colossal ship’s engines, energy system, and shields faltered, giving the Iron Warriors time to recover.
• Oest led elite Iron Warriors toward the boarding torpedoes to place a daemon beacon inside the ship.

Oest led Iron Warriors in an assault torpedo attack on Lin Fan’s seemingly abandoned warship, hoping to seize it and impress Perturabo. Lin Fan and Oedmeir trapped the attackers, and after the ship was restored to power, Shande the Blacksmith fled.

• Oest dismissed his soldiers’ plans, split the assault torpedoes between the stern engines and bridge, and aimed to seize the warship.
• Oest and his Iron Warriors breached the bridge, where Lin Fan greeted them and prevented their weapons from firing.
• Oedmeir immobilized the Iron Warriors with magnetic fields and gravity while Lin Fan inspected them and revealed that the encounter had followed their plans.
• Oedmeir cleared the attackers and repaired the breach, restoring power to the warship.
• Shande the Blacksmith fled once the warship regained power.

Oedmeir, Lin Fan, and Rebecca salvaged wreckage and mined Blackstone on a dying planet while Sander the smith returned to Medrengard with news for Perturabo. Sander faced suspicion from the other Warsmiths and reached the Iron Star, where Perturabo’s cold distance left him troubled.

• Oedmeir had Rebecca gather the space wreckage, and Rebecca said a daemon mark was burning on her body.
• Oedmeir and Lin Fan landed on a dying planet, where scientists found enough Blackstone to sustain their Gellar Field.
• Oedmeir used modified engineering machines to extract Blackstone while Rebecca adjusted the ship’s position.
• Sander the smith returned to the Iron Warriors’ Warp stronghold, where other Warsmiths questioned why his fleet had come back alone.
• Sander reached Medrengard and saw Perturabo’s flagship guarded by automated fortresses and Ironkin, then walked through the grim fortress city with his subordinates.

On Medrengard, overseer Knis tortured a slave who had sabotaged factory machinery and defied the workers by giving the Aquila Salute. The slave remained defiant, and Knis prepared to stab him as Sander approached to restore order.

• Smith Sander noticed a disturbance between an overseer and several slaves and sent his soldiers to wait while he investigated.
• Knis confronted a captured outsider-marked slave who had shoved a wrench into the gears and given the Aquila Salute.
• Knis beat and shocked the slave while warning the other workers to obey, and some slaves struggled to hide their resentment.
• The battered slave spat blood at Knis and declared, "The Emperor protects."
• Knis turned his shock baton to maximum power, extended its spike, and prepared to drive it into the slave's abdomen.

Smith Sander discovered that a Cadian slave had made the Aquila Salute and ordered Knis to suspend him above a furnace until his faith failed. Knis carried out the order, and the slave was lowered into molten metal as factory production continued.

• Smith Sander arrived at the factory and demanded to know why production had stopped.
• Knis explained that the slave had made an Aquila Salute, and Smith Sander revived the injured man and identified him as a Cadian.
• The Cadian cursed Smith Sander and the Iron Warriors, and Smith Sander ordered Knis to hang him above the furnace and lower him whenever he stopped saluting.
• Knis chained the Cadian over the K-3 furnace and lowered him into the molten metal when his arms gave way.

Shande the Blacksmith sought Perturabo’s approval for Captain Oest’s plan to claim a marked Golden Age warship, but Perturabo rejected him and kept working in isolation. Perturabo then began another simulation of his past, recreating the destruction of his homeland.

• Shande the Blacksmith was escorted by the Iron Bone Guard to the Iron Blood after requesting an urgent audience with Perturabo.
• Shande sent Perturabo a message saying Captain Oest’s forces had marked a Golden Age warship and wanted to seize it for their cause.
• Perturabo’s automatic reply told Shande not to call him Father and ordered him to leave.
• Perturabo continued building a robot in his laboratory and connected himself to a controlled body resembling his pre-daemon form.
• Perturabo began simulation attempt 1,919,810, depicting himself climbing through a burning, collapsing palace in Olympia.

Perturabo returned to Olympia during its bombardment, revisiting his memories of the planet and confronting his adoptive father’s coffin and a machine modeled on his sister. His sister challenged his reasons for destroying his homeland, while Perturabo insisted that he had only reclaimed what was his.

• Perturabo ignored his captain’s report, kicked him aside, and watched his soldiers kneel before him.
• Perturabo entered the palace and mourned over the coffin of Dammekos, calling him Father and lamenting that the ideal had failed.
• Perturabo’s elderly sister appeared and challenged him for calling Dammekos Father only after his death.
• Perturabo denied that he had rebelled and claimed that he had merely taken back what was rightfully his.
• Perturabo’s sister asked whether Dammekos was to blame for Olympia’s suffering and pointed out how many people had opposed him.
• Perturabo recognized that his sister was a machine modeled on her personality and memories, then seethed over his sacrifices for the Imperium.

Perturabo confronted his sister in a memory and confessed his envy of Andos’s ordinary life, his regret over his failed utopian ideals, and his resentment at being exploited by both The Emperor and Horus. His sister challenged his rigidity and warned that neither fear nor indifference could earn people’s devotion, leaving Perturabo’s nerves shattered.

• Perturabo tried to speak calmly with his sister, who accused him of denying his divinity and abandoning their shared ideals.
• Perturabo remembered envying Andos’s curiosity and ordinary life, and resented being used as a tool by The Emperor and Horus.
• Perturabo admitted that he had believed his father could help build their ideal, but human nature had obstructed it and perfection could not exist.
• Perturabo said that wishes did not come true, while his sister called him inflexible and an angry child who frightened those around him.
• Perturabo’s sister argued that rulers needed love and respect or fear, not indifference and contempt, then criticized the stupidity of his endless bombardments and sieges.

Perturabo’s sister condemned his cruelty and confronted him with his longing for love and his abandoned ideals. Perturabo crushed her to death, then looked down at the terrified civilians fleeing through Lochos.

• Perturabo’s sister accused him of executing his Legionaries by lot and sacrificing Olympia’s people in the name of rebuilding.
• Perturabo recalled his former ideal of protecting people and admitted he could no longer endure his brothers’ betrayal of their ideals.
• Perturabo’s sister told him that he craved love but had repeatedly rejected and trampled the affection offered to him.
• Perturabo seized his sister and crushed her despite her continuing to speak.
• Perturabo realized he had killed his sister, threw her corpse down, and walked to the doors overlooking Lochos.
• Perturabo saw bloodied civilians fleeing through the streets below.

Perturabo relived the destruction of a civilian population and confronted his guilt over what he had become and the Legion’s unquestioning obedience. The simulation ended, and he stored another destroyed bionic body among nearly two million others before blaming Fulgrim for his return to the past.

• Perturabo watched the Iron Warriors enslave and slaughter civilians in a memory of a world they had conquered.
• Perturabo recalled the other Traitor Legions, condemned Horus for trying to control him, and remembered firing an Emperor’s Children captain at Terra’s walls.
• Forrix reported that the resistance had been crushed and the population divided between slave camps, recruitment tests, and extermination.
• Perturabo asked whether any Iron Warriors had refused to attack civilians, and Forrix admitted that a small number had.
• Perturabo’s simulation shattered, and he placed the destroyed bionic robot in a chamber containing 1,919,810 other ruined bodies.
• Perturabo wondered why Fulgrim’s rebellion had forced him to return.

Perturabo reflected on Olympia’s destruction and the Horus Heresy before reviewing reports and deciding to lead the Iron Warriors into the material universe to investigate a Golden Age warship. His forces began assembling at the Iron Blood for the campaign.

• Perturabo recalled how Olympia’s rebellion and his brutal punishment of the planet left him unable to forgive himself.
• Rogal Dorn told Perturabo to check the documents, and Perturabo reviewed reports, including Abaddon’s invitation to a Black Crusade and a report of a Golden Age warship bearing daemon markings.
• Perturabo decided to seize the warship and ordered all Iron Warriors on Medrengard and nearby to assemble at the Iron Blood.
• Iron Warriors across the region began bringing their vessels to the Iron Blood, motivated by loyalty, fear, or hopes for battles and supplies.

Lin Fan and Oedmeir hid Rebecca’s giant ship while Lin Fan repaired its engine, which was being affected by the daemon mark. Perturabo arrived with a fleet, found evidence of a trap, and Rebecca’s ship emerged from the gas giant after disrupting the fleet’s systems.

• Rebecca complained that the daemon mark made her projected butt hurt, while Lin Fan and Oedmeir teased her as they waited in the Trazyn-provided star system.
• Oedmeir concealed the mining operation, Rebecca hid her ship in the gas giant, and Lin Fan repaired the corroded engine systems.
• Perturabo arrived aboard the Iron Blood with hundreds of warships and searched the system for the ship marked by the daemon code.
• Perturabo ordered attacks on a lifeless planet and the gas giant, but metal shields blocked the first barrage and electromagnetic interference stopped the exterminatus torpedoes.
• Perturabo’s antenna array restored the fleet’s controls, and Rebecca’s giant ship burst from the gas giant’s storms.

Rebecca's colossal warship battled Perturabo's fleet, using a massive cannon and a Blackstone-loaded Gellar Field to devastate and disrupt the Iron Warriors. Perturabo's defenses survived the giant shield, leaving Oedmeir impressed by his layered Void Shields.

• Rebecca's warship fired a huge metal shell that split into fragments, destroying or crippling several Iron Warriors' ships.
• Perturabo ordered his fleet to close in and linked himself to the Iron Blood, directing its weapons against Rebecca's warship.
• The Iron Blood fired 128 Warp-infused beams through the giant shield and into Rebecca's vessel, spreading corruption throughout it.
• Oedmeir threw the giant shield toward the Iron Blood and activated the Gellar Field, erasing the Warp corruption and unsettling the approaching daemons.
• The giant shield struck layers of the Iron Blood's Void Shields and failed to break through, prompting Oedmeir to acknowledge Perturabo's skill.

Perturabo's assault on Rebecca's colossal ship faltered against its defenses, but Lin Fan used a projection of Rogal Dorn to provoke him into abandoning thoughts of retreat. Perturabo ordered a renewed, reckless attack and promised to come aboard and confront Dorn.

• Perturabo realized that the ship's defenses had withstood his corruption beams and that the Iron Blood's Void Shields were nearing collapse.
• Perturabo considered retreating until a transmission showed Lin Fan impersonating Rogal Dorn, whose insults reignited his rage.
• Perturabo ordered the Iron Warriors to kill Rogal Dorn, and they launched a desperate assault against Rebecca's ship.
• Oedmeir struggled to control the ship and endure the strain of repeatedly activating its Gellar Field while Lin Fan continued provoking Perturabo.
• Perturabo answered Lin Fan's transmission at once and vowed to come aboard and deal with the disobedient Dorn.

Disguised as Dorn, Lin Fan taunted Perturabo aboard the Iron Blood, reopening the Iron Warrior’s old wounds over losing the honor of building the Imperial Palace. Perturabo created an opening in his ship and ordered the Iron Bone Guard to capture and beat Dorn.

• Perturabo ordered his warships not to fire at the approaching Centurion and opened a gap in the Eternal Shield for it.
• Lin Fan, disguised as Dorn, mocked Perturabo by pointing out that the Iron Blood had no doors.
• Perturabo recalled how Dorn had been chosen to build the Imperial Palace and how he had later destroyed it during the siege.
• Lin Fan continued needling Perturabo by insisting he should install a door, leaving Perturabo deeply frustrated.
• Perturabo opened the Iron Blood’s armor around Dorn and ordered the Iron Bone Guard to break his legs and bring him in.