Chapter Summaries

Sammael withdrew the Dark Angels from the battle, leaving Kor'sarro Khan and the White Scars to face the horde alone. He then entered a secret meeting of the Inner Circle, where Azrael revealed that Cypher was in the Cadia Sector.

• Sammael ordered the Dark Angels to return to their Thunderhawk, abandoning Kor'sarro Khan and the White Scars amid the dead.
• Kor'sarro Khan cursed Sammael as the Ravenwing departed, while Sammael feared the consequences of delaying the hunt for the Fallen Angels.
• Sammael reached the battle barge and entered a hidden chamber, where he summoned the Dark Angels' Inner Circle.
• Ezekiel scrutinized Sammael's loyalty, found him pure, and withdrew his gaze.
• Azrael announced that Cypher, lord of the Fallen Angels, was in the Cadia Sector.

Azrael questioned Luther beneath The Rock about Cypher and his plans for Cadia. After enduring Luther’s memories and a Warp-induced breakdown, Azrael learned that Cypher was in Cadia’s fortress, waiting for the right moment.

• Azrael and the Inner Circle vowed to hunt the Fallen Angels across the unrest-torn worlds of the Cadia Sector.
• Azrael entered Luther’s cell beneath The Rock and demanded to know Cypher’s location and plans for Cadia.
• Luther mocked Azrael, recalled the Knights of Caliban and Lion El'Jonson, then suffered a Warp-fueled breakdown.
• Luther told Azrael that Cypher was in Cadia’s fortress, waiting for the right moment.

Azrael reflected on Luther’s prophecy and gathered the Dark Angels’ successor Chapters to defend Cadia while searching for Cypher. Aboard the Voice of the Father, Gegula was reborn after his mission failed and clashed with a Dark Mechanicum priest over the failure and the use of stored troops.

• Azrael left Luther’s cell after learning enough, but remained troubled by Luther’s prophecy that an overwhelming force had twisted an unavoidable fate.
• Azrael summoned the Dark Angels’ successor Chapters, which sailed near The Rock before heading to Cadia to help defend it and search for Cypher.
• Gegula and his plague brothers were reborn from swollen pustules aboard the Voice of the Father and began recovering in nourishment chambers.
• Gegula complained that a Wolf Priest had rejected his invitation, while his brother could only answer with a phlegmy breath.
• A Dark Mechanicum priest questioned Gegula for failing to request technical support and argued that deploying more degraded troops would have prevented the mission’s failure.
• Gegula rejected the priest’s accusation and punched his vox-caster.

Gegula distrusted the degraded forms packed aboard the plague ships, while Typhus used them as expendable troops to conquer a planet. Typhus left to spread Nurgle’s gifts elsewhere, and the Imperium later destroyed the infected world with Exterminatus.

• Gegula argued that the degraded forms were too unhealthy to fight, but the Adeptus Mechanicus priest dismissed his concerns and left.
• Gegula visited the hold of degraded forms, felt watched and unnerved, then fled and decided to return with others.
• Typhus watched the degraded forms overwhelm a fortress and learned that they had absorbed the Death Guard’s casualties.
• Typhus condemned Mortarion as sentimental and resolved to spread Nurgle’s gifts across the galaxy during the 13th Black Crusade.
• Typhus ordered his forces to withdraw from the conquered planet, taking the degraded forms’ remains for reuse in the factories.
• Weeks later, an Imperium fleet arrived and used an Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedo to burn the planet until only barren bedrock remained.

Warmaster Liss defended his decision not to reinforce Cadia in advance, while Creed worried that commanders had grown complacent despite signs of danger in the Eye of Terror. Creed then met Major Benedict and Aurora, a survivor of the 441st Regiment, whose remaining troops were being incorporated into his regiment.

• Liss told Creed that the Imperium's wars prevented an early return to Cadia and reminded him that he had protected Creed from punishment for questioning its defenses.
• After leaving Liss, Creed recalled past upheavals in the Eye of Terror and the belief that the God-Emperor had halted the threats against Cadia.
• Major Benedict and Sergeant Aurora approached Creed, and he recognized Aurora as a survivor of the battle at the Volod Factory District.
• Aurora handed Creed a document confirming that the 441st Regiment's survivors were being incorporated into his regiment and gave him her name.

Creed attended a regimental banquet, where officers debated battlefield tactics and some expressed doubts about Cadia. He watched Sergeant Aurora eat a staggering amount of food and wondered whether her appetite came from her time fighting without supplies or from her genes.

• Creed reviewed Sergeant Aurora’s impressive combat record and assigned her and her subordinates to the Cadian 8th Regiment’s 14th Heavy Weapons Squad.
• Creed ignored Kyle’s warning about his informal uniform and went to the banquet after Warmaster Liss’s opening remarks.
• Lieutenant General Tamas showed his resentment toward Creed, while an officer affirmed that Cadia would not fall and Creed said he hoped the officer was right.
• Warmaster Liss and a Mordian general turned the banquet into a lively tactical exercise, arguing over improvised battlefield terrain.
• Creed warned Sergeant Aurora not to eat too much, but she said she was only one-third full after consuming many steaks.
• Kyle suggested Aurora’s extreme appetite came from her year without supplies, and Creed speculated that it might be genetic.

Creed discovered that Wodhaus and Space Marines from three First Founding Chapters had summoned him to warn that the Vostroyan Rough Riders would betray the Imperium. Wodhaus told Creed that someone believed he was chosen by The Emperor, leaving Creed unsure whether he deserved that faith.

• Creed suspected an illusion in the corridor, destroyed his laspistol power pack, and attacked the false Adjutant Kyle.
• Wodhaus revealed the warehouse and calmed Creed, while Kaiser Whitefang explained that Creed's illusion countermeasures would fail against a powerful psyker.
• Wodhaus told Creed that the Vostroyan Rough Riders were traitors and must be destroyed, citing a warning from The Emperor.
• Creed questioned why the Space Marines had sought him out, and Wodhaus said someone believed Creed was chosen by The Emperor.

Creed and the Space Marines struggled to find proof that the Vostroyan Rough Riders had turned traitor without exposing their secret suspicions. Wodhaus arranged a test at Planet 0-B1, leaving Creed to face the risk of using a Chaos relic to reveal the truth.

• Colvin rejected Kaiser Whitefang’s suggestion to frame the Vostroyan officers, warning that exposing such a scheme would ruin the Raven Guard’s reputation.
• Creed worried that their secret plan to massacre allied forces made them look like traitors, but Wodhaus told him the Emperor knew about it.
• Wodhaus described a plan to disable the Vostroyan transport near Planet 0-B1 and enlist help from the Agripinaa Forge World through Kor’sarro Khan’s ties.
• Wodhaus revealed that Creed would test the Vostroyan Rough Riders by wearing a bloodstained eight-pointed Chaos relic, which could get him killed if they remained loyal.

Creed prepared to pose as a disgruntled officer to investigate the Vostroyan Rough Riders, while Wodhaus and Kaiser Whitefang equipped him with a Chaos-marked necklace and an unusual laspistol. Weeks later, Creed arrived near Planet 0-B1 for a friendly visit and exchange, where the Vostroyans began setting up camp.

• Creed weighed two possible reactions from the Vostroyan Rough Riders to his necklace, and Wodhaus explained that fate and daemonic rituals made the situation unpredictable.
• Creed agreed to feign dissatisfaction with Cadia's command and performed an angry tirade, prompting Colvin to doubt his behavior and Kaiser Whitefang to praise his acting.
• Kaiser Whitefang gave Creed a heavy laspistol and claimed it was a rapid-fire plasma weapon without the usual risk of overheating.
• Wodhaus transported Creed back to the corridor outside his office, where Adjutant Kyle found him dazed and Creed joked about Sergeant Aurora's appetite.
• Several weeks after receiving Warmaster Liss's orders, Creed's inspection team encountered the Vostroyan Rough Riders' escort near Planet 0-B1 and an Agripinaa Forge World engineering vessel.
• Magos Iteration ordered the Astra Militarum troops off the warship while its engine spirit was repaired, and the Vostroyans built a temporary camp and gathered stones for shooting targets.

Tovens, commander of the Vostroyan Rough Riders, waited on Planet 0-B1 while the Adeptus Mechanicus held the regiment’s heavy vehicles and shipped bricks to Agripinaa Forge World. After reaching headquarters, he reviewed the regiment’s Warp-travel losses and reprimanded his adjutant for forgetting his coffee.

• Tovens watched an Adeptus Mechanicus cargo ship collect bricks bound for Agripinaa Forge World and regretted that the regiment would miss Cadia High Command’s parade and welcome ceremony.
• Tovens traveled to Command Post No. 1 in a Chimera because the Tech-priests had detained the regiment’s heavy vehicles aboard the warship.
• An adjutant told Tovens that headquarters had been set up, and Tovens entered the bunker while his guards took their positions.
• Tovens found no coffee on his desk, and the adjutant hurried away to prepare it.
• Tovens read a report stating that 3,400 Warp-mutated soldiers had been executed and burned, then warned the adjutant not to repeat his mistake.

Tovens teased his adjutant, Talina, and made her remove her cap and respirator, revealing that she was a woman. After reflecting on Talina’s hard-won place in the regiment and his attraction to her, Tovens received news that a Cadian Shock Troops delegation had landed.

• Tovens ordered Talina to come closer and tried to pinch her ear, but she caught his arm and warned that she could report his conduct to the Commissariat.
• Tovens used the rest period as a reason to make Talina remove her cap and respirator, revealing her face and voice.
• The chapter recounted how Talina’s father secured approval for her enlistment and how she won a year-long trial against challengers to keep the adjutant’s post.
• Tovens recalled how Talina’s battlefield prowess had changed his opinion of her and fueled his fascination with her.
• Talina reported that the Cadian Shock Troops observation delegation had landed and that she had arranged a Taurus Armoured Car and escort.

Lord General Tovens welcomed Colonel Creed and the Cadian 8th Regiment at the Vostroyan camp, where Creed secretly suspected the Vostroyans of impending rebellion. The chapter ended with Creed praying over a scarlet broth as Tovens had devil-horn-shaped ingredients poured into his pot.

• Tovens welcomed Creed, Adjutant Kyle, Sergeant Aurora, and eleven Kasrkin soldiers as their transport landed.
• Creed and Tovens rode together in a Taurus Armoured Car, and Creed praised the Vostroyan fortifications while considering how difficult they would be to breach.
• Tovens privately decided that he wanted to arrange a combat exercise between the Vostroyans and the Cadian 8th Regiment.
• Creed attended a welcoming banquet but hid his disgust because he believed a prophecy foretold that the Vostroyans would rebel.
• Creed silently prayed over the scarlet broth, and Tovens directed a logistics officer to add shrivelled devil-horn-shaped pieces to Creed's pot.

Colonel Creed endured a Vostroyan Emperor’s Flame hot pot, suspecting the meal and its brass pot concealed something sinister. Tovens realized he had gone too far and prepared to offer Creed milder broth, but Creed laughed off his fears instead.

• Tovens watched as Creed struggled with the fiercely spicy broth and explained how Vostroyans had come to revere Emperor’s Flame.
• Tovens pressured Creed to eat the Grox meat, which Creed feared dipping into the suspicious-looking brass pot.
• Creed recalled that Chapter Master Colvin had found no evidence of wrongdoing among the Vostroyan Rough Riders and wondered whether the pot could still be suspicious.
• Tovens asked Adjutant Talina whether outsiders had ever eaten lightly spicy hot pot, and she confirmed Creed was the first.
• Tovens stood to apologize and offer Creed milder or clear broth, but Creed laughed and joked that he had mistaken the Vostroyans for Catachans.

Tovens remembered surviving Catachan's lethal jungle and its insect-based feast as he reassured Creed that Vostkani cooking would be unforgettable. Creed mistook the invitation and the medical team waiting outside as signs of a Vostroyan cult, and resolved to uncover its supposed traitors.

• Tovens recalled the dangers of Catachan, where lethal plants and animals killed many of the soldiers training with him.
• Tovens survived jungle warfare training by staying close to his Catachan instructor and later earned a jungle warfare medal.
• Tovens remembered being forced to eat insect dishes and drink Catachan liquor at the celebratory feast.
• Tovens praised Vostkani cooking to Creed, who suspected the meal was an attempt to recruit him into a cult.
• Tovens had Adjutant Talina summon an emergency medical team, and Creed suspected the people waiting outside were cultists watching his reaction.

Creed endured the Vostkani Emperor’s Flame to conceal his suspicions and preserve the Cadian regiment’s dignity, while Tovens mistook his pain for composure. Adjutant Kyle joined the meal to support Creed and collapsed after tasting mildly spicy meat.

• Creed demanded another plate of Emperor’s Flame and pretended that its heat did not bother him, convincing Tovens that he was calm and fearless.
• Tovens realized Creed would not be tricked into granting the Vostkani soldiers supplies or veterans, then watched Creed add even more of the fiery food to the pot.
• Creed forced himself to eat the meat and told Adjutant Kyle that the meal was a battle.
• Adjutant Kyle interpreted Creed’s endurance as a defense of Cadian honor and asked for a plate of Emperor’s Flame.
• Creed silently tried to stop Adjutant Kyle, but Kyle ate mildly spicy meat and fell from his chair clutching his throat.

Creed collapsed after enduring the spicy hotpot while Sergeant Aurora astonished the banquet with her appetite. Later, Deputy Talina accused Creed of being a traitor and showed Tovens a blasphemous talisman scar, recalling how her suspicions about the celebrated Maletof had once saved Tovens from a coup.

• Creed tried to use his hidden communicator to warn his superiors but could not, then watched Sergeant Aurora eat the hotpot before losing consciousness.
• Deputy Talina checked Creed, carried him away for treatment, and later ordered that he wake without nausea.
• Sergeant Aurora broke the planet's spiciness record, and Tovens praised her before returning to his office to write the Rough Riders' orders.
• Deputy Talina told Tovens that Creed was a traitor and revealed a blasphemous talisman scar on her arm as evidence.
• Tovens recalled how Talina had questioned Maletof's fanaticism and how her warning had made him wary before Maletof later attacked his command post.

Maletof's attack convinced Tovens that Creed and possibly other Cadians were traitors, so he planned to question Creed rather than arrest him immediately. Meanwhile, Wodhaus investigated a cryptic message about Agrippina, Archmagos Iteration secretly delivered an STC fragment, and Aurora sensed that fate had changed again.

• Maletof's soldiers attacked the command post, but Talina fought Maletof while Tovens survived behind his shield.
• Tovens decided to take Creed to the mines and question him, believing the attack revealed a wider network of traitors.
• Wodhaus sensed that Creed had survived and interpreted a message from Iteration about the reversed colors of Mars's sacred emblem among Agrippina's troops.
• Iteration gave a shadowy figure the message and received an STC fragment in return.
• Aurora sensed that fate had changed and wondered what Leon was doing.

Creed went with Tovens to the Mechanicus mine, where the two mistook each other for traitors and tried to uncover one another’s allies. Their conversation left Creed suspecting Tech-Priest Foskan and Warmaster Liss, while Tovens feared Creed’s organization had infiltrated Cadia and Vostkani.

• Creed learned that Adjutant Kyle remained unconscious while Sergeant Aurora was fine, then traveled with her to the Mechanicus mine alongside Tovens.
• Tovens led Creed into an abandoned room overlooking the mine, and the two began probing each other for names of traitors.
• Creed revealed an eight-pointed-star necklace, causing Tovens to believe Creed belonged to a Chaos cult.
• Tovens named Tech-Priest Foskan as the cult leader who had supposedly recruited Creed, and Creed feared the fifteen fortresses of Glory Basin were in danger.
• Creed asked after Tovens’s father, and Tovens said his father often spoke of Warmaster Liss, whom Creed then suspected of treason.

Sergeant Aurora fought Tovens’s guards and exposed Talina as a daemon, but Talina activated a communications beacon before Aurora could banish her. Wodhaus and Kaiser Whitefang teleported to the mines as weapons struck near Aurora.

• Creed and Tovens attacked each other while their soldiers clashed in smoke and gunfire.
• Sergeant Aurora incapacitated the Kasrkin and Vostroyan guards, then confronted Talina.
• Talina revealed her daemonic nature and claimed she had freed the regiment from the Blood God’s influence, but Aurora kept attacking.
• Talina activated a communications beacon and withdrew her daemonic form after Aurora stunned her with a holy relic.
• Wodhaus teleported himself, Kaiser Whitefang, and Terminators to Planet 0-B1, while three warships prepared to attack the Vostroyan Rough Riders.
• Aurora threw Talina aside and leapt away as a plasma blast and an electromagnetic shell struck her former position.

Aurora fought Wodhaus and the Space Wolves, breaking through their suppressive fire and disabling a Terminator’s power fist as Wodhaus rushed to complete a spell. With Aurora poised to kill Wodhaus, Talina awakened and unleashed her demonic form.

• Kaiser Whitefang caught the unconscious Talina as she pointed toward Aurora, while Wodhaus ordered Aurora to surrender.
• Aurora dodged the Terminators’ plasma fire and shot Kaiser Whitefang, but Wodhaus shielded him with antimatter crystals.
• Aurora attacked Wodhaus, slipping past the Terminators and destroying one Terminator’s power fist before hurling him into Kaiser Whitefang.
• Wodhaus neared completion of his spell as Aurora aimed her pistol at his head and held a dagger near his throat.
• Talina awakened beside the fight and unleashed her demonic form.