Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan fought through Khorne’s daemons alongside Slaanesh’s host while the two Chaos gods battled across the Warp. After the first daemon army fell, Khorne summoned more forces, and Shaalaxi explained that Slaanesh needed to break through them to wound Khorne.

• Lin Fan found the Biel-Tan Craftworld embedded in Khorne’s enormous, pulsating heart and saw the gods’ forces battling in the Warp.
• Lin Fan threw Oedmeir’s nuclear bomb into Khorne’s daemon ranks, destroying the lower-ranked daemons but leaving stronger ones alive.
• Slaanesh sent Shaalaxi and a daemon army to Lin Fan’s side, weakening her resistance against Khorne’s storms.
• Lin Fan and Shaalaxi’s host killed Khorne’s eight greatest Exalted Bloodthirsters and routed the first daemon army.
• The Deceiver observed that Lin Fan’s strength did not seem to come from Khorne’s blessing, while Khorne summoned more legions.
• Shaalaxi told Lin Fan that breaking through Khorne’s lines could let Slaanesh wound him, but warned him not to attack Khorne’s heart.

Lin Fan broke through Khorne’s eight walls and subdued Angron long enough for Slaanesh to attack Khorne’s storm. As Slaanesh weakened the storm, she began feeding on Khorne instead of simply destroying it.

• Lin Fan smashed through the eight brass walls, cleared a path to the storm, and found Angron guarding it.
• Lin Fan tore out Angron’s Butcher’s Nails, but they regenerated because they were bound to Angron’s soul.
• Lin Fan broke Angron’s fingers and threw a nuclear bomb into his mouth, leaving him kneeling and unable to fight for a time.
• Shalaxi merged with the Slaaneshi daemons to form a clawed hand, and Slaanesh plunged it into Khorne’s storm.
• Slaanesh sensed Khorne’s weakness and began greedily feeding on him, despite the conflicting powers hurting her.

Lin Fan stopped Slaanesh from consuming Khorne completely, leaving both gods weakened and the Warp dangerously still. He returned to Biel-Tan Craftworld after its eight-day defense and found only Angron’s Butcher’s Nails and blood, then located the central command headquarters.

• Lin Fan found Shalaxi and Slaanesh bloated from feeding on Khorne’s power and persuaded Slaanesh to stop before she destroyed herself.
• Khorne and Slaanesh fell silent and weak, and Lin Fan suspected Tzeentch’s scheme had left Nurgle poised to grow stronger.
• Lin Fan searched for Angron, found only the Butcher’s Nails floating in a pool of blood, and collected both.
• Lin Fan returned to Biel-Tan Craftworld after the defenders had endured eight days of fighting and learned that Space Marines had led the counterattack.
• Lin Fan used Perturabo’s coordinates to find the central command headquarters.

Lin Fan reported that Slaanesh had defeated Khorne and brought back Angron’s Butcher’s Nails, prompting the Primarchs to debate how the Nails had survived and what could be done with them. The chapter ended with Perturabo and his brothers unable to decide whether Angron could be restored safely.

• Lin Fan told Perturabo that Slaanesh had weakened Khorne, Tzeentch’s plans remained unknown, and he intended to deal with Cadia before presenting Angron’s remains.
• Fulgrim opened the blood-soaked bag and revealed Angron’s original Butcher’s Nails, which Perturabo inspected after leaving his command device.
• Rogal Dorn questioned how the Nails remained after Sanguinius had torn them out, and Fulgrim explained how memories and the Warp could shape a daemon’s form.
• Perturabo recalled his past clashes with Angron, while Lin Fan reminded him how both The Emperor and Horus had exploited his willingness to take unwanted assignments.
• Perturabo asked whether a daemon ritual could reshape Angron without making him attack friend and foe alike, but the other Primarchs had no answer.

Trazyn tried to save Orikan from the Void Dragon’s lock by inventing a way to connect the Butcher’s Nails to Orikan’s body and bind Angron’s consciousness to him. Lin Fan approved the plan, but Trazyn struggled to figure out how to carry out the difficult modification.

• Trazyn brought Orikan to Lin Fan and explained that the Void Dragon had locked Orikan’s core, which he could not unlock.
• Trazyn decided to deceive Lin Fan with a fabricated plan using the Butcher’s Nails, Blackstone, and Ferrus’s living-metal arms as supporting lore.
• Trazyn claimed that reversed-polarity Blackstone could let the Warp oppose the Void Dragon and might bind Angron’s consciousness to Orikan’s body.
• Lin Fan accepted Trazyn’s proposal, and Trazyn took the Butcher’s Nails from Fulgrim and used Blackstone to keep them from dissolving.
• Trazyn realized he did not know how to modify Orikan and worried that Lin Fan’s scrutiny would expose his lack of expertise.

Lin Fan explained the Void Dragon’s history and its connection to Blackstone, while Konrad Curze revealed that it might be the Machine God imprisoned beneath Mars. Rogal Dorn resolved to return to Terra to protect the Emperor, and Lin Fan prepared to go with him before Trazyn attacked him from behind.

• Lin Fan told Perturabo and the others that the Void Dragon could manipulate matter and that the Aeldari had made the Blackstone Fortresses to suppress its power.
• Yvraine ordered an Aeldari scholar to revise the histories of the Void Dragon, while Perturabo theorized that the Eye of Terror and Cadia’s Blackstone Spires had served as a psychic breach and valve.
• Jaghatai and Rogal Dorn worried that the Adeptus Mechanicus might worship the Void Dragon, and Konrad Curze suggested it was the Machine God imprisoned beneath Mars.
• Lin Fan said the Emperor had once beaten and enslaved the Void Dragon, but Rogal Dorn insisted the Emperor could no longer face it safely and decided to return to Terra.
• Lin Fan agreed to accompany Rogal Dorn after they dealt with Cadia, but Trazyn suddenly slammed his head into Lin Fan’s back.

Trazyn finished rebuilding Orikan with a body modeled after Angron and discovered that the revived Necron had an illusory heartbeat. Meanwhile, Angron briefly enjoyed freedom from the Butcher’s Nails before being swept into a new, unfamiliar place where he saw silent faces among shifting numerical forms.

• Trazyn shaped Orikan’s living-metal body to resemble Angron and embedded Blackstone ornaments that imitated the Butcher’s Nails.
• Trazyn detected a strange heartbeat in Orikan, who awoke, tore off Trazyn’s head, and was celebrated by the stunned collector.
• Angron wandered through a gray, narrow space and discovered that the Butcher’s Nails and their pain were gone.
• Angron heard Lin Fan’s voice, resisted being swept toward a war-torn galaxy, but was carried through an opening anyway.
• Angron hurtled across the Milky Way and arrived in a space of shifting numerical pixels, where he perceived countless silent, nonhuman faces.

Angron encountered the machine spirit of Leman Russ in a strange space made of alien bodies and numerical code, where the machine responded unpredictably to signals. After the machine spirit marked him as infected and began an antivirus procedure, Angron used an alien’s warning to decode the Butcher’s Nails, drawing Khorne’s attention as red chaos entered the space.

• Angron saw alien bodies assembled into black cubes and watched the cubes respond to commands with varying levels of compliance.
• Angron resisted a force pulling him away by gripping streams of numerical code.
• An alien body broke free from a cube and collided with Angron, and its terrified consciousness spoke in his mind.
• The machine spirit noticed Angron, assessed him as a high-level threat, and prepared an antivirus procedure.
• Angron followed the alien’s warning and decoded a strand of numerical code, which revealed itself as the Butcher’s Nails.
• Angron felt Khorne drawing nearer as the machine spirit identified the infection, and a streak of red chaos entered the space.

The God-Emperor descended into the Void Dragon’s domain through Khorne’s breach and battled the Void Dragon while taking control of Angron and his Butcher’s Nails. As the Emperor struggled to contain the conflict and confront the spreading plague, he began burning Angron’s soul.

• Khorne broke into the Void Dragon’s space to claim Angron, and the Void Dragon fought back with Blackstone Spires.
• The God-Emperor entered through Khorne’s breach, severed the Butcher’s Nails’ influence over Angron, and transferred their pain onto himself.
• The Void Dragon attacked the Emperor through Angron, but the Emperor’s golden flames burned through the Void Dragon’s defenses.
• The Void Dragon used data linked to Imperial weapons and the souls of Adeptus Mechanicus priests to obstruct the Emperor’s flames and unleash Warp energy.
• The Emperor sensed Yarrick restarting the Fortress of Arrogance with the Orks’ Waaagh! field and focused on stopping Nurgle’s expanding plague.
• The God-Emperor apologized to Angron and began burning his soul, intensifying Angron’s hatred.

The God-Emperor unleashed his power against the Void Dragon, drawing strength from the Imperium’s believers while trying to spare Angron. As the Deceiver tried to restore the Void Dragon’s sealed memories, Aurora interrupted him and attacked.

• Khorne left the battle, and the God-Emperor’s flames overwhelmed the Void Dragon’s fragment.
• The Void Dragon called on the Adeptus Mechanicus priests, who answered with worship that strengthened him.
• The God-Emperor drew on the Imperium’s faith, but the chaotic beliefs strained his body and threatened Angron.
• The God-Emperor blasted the Void Dragon on Mars with a beam of golden light.
• The Deceiver showed the Void Dragon an ancient contract and a fortress to prompt him to remember a hidden alliance.
• Aurora froze time, revealed herself to the Deceiver, and drove her spear into his chest.

Aurora wounded The Deceiver, who showed the Void Dragon the Mountain Array before vanishing. The Void Dragon seized the fortress, and the God-Emperor sent it to Cadia, while Angron was dragged back into the world and attacked Lin Fan.

• Aurora's spear wounded The Deceiver, and he told The Deceiver that Tzeentch sent his regards.
• The Deceiver showed the Void Dragon an image of the Mountain Array before dissipating, and the Void Dragon took control of the fortress.
• The God-Emperor used the Astronomican to send the Mountain Array to Cadia, where its weapons could strike the Black Legion.
• The God-Emperor mended Angron's injuries before Angron and Orikan were dragged away, then continued resisting Nurgle's assault.
• Oedmeir noticed an anomaly while rebuilding the Golden Ark's core with Delia and took over the work alone.
• Angron awoke among his brothers, tore apart a metal skeleton, recognized Lin Fan, and charged at him.

Lin Fan and Konrad Curze subdued Angron, who begged for death, while Konrad Curze led him away and told Trazyn that Orikan was dead. Orikan remained alive inside the core and sent coded information toward the Silent King’s fleet, where a technomancer began behaving strangely.

• Angron attacked Lin Fan, who restrained him with Trazyn’s help, but Angron repeatedly asked to be killed.
• Konrad Curze questioned Angron about his desire for death, then helped him up and led him away, declaring that neither brother deserved release.
• Konrad Curze told Trazyn that Orikan was dead and that the Necrons had died long ago, leaving Trazyn distraught.
• Orikan cursed Konrad Curze from inside the core, then used codes he had learned inside the Void Dragon to send out important information.
• At the Milky Way’s edge, a technomancer in the Silent King’s fleet began acting strangely, and the Silent King stopped his guards from cutting the technomancer apart.

The Silent King received Orikan’s encoded warning and redirected his fleet toward Mars, while Lin Fan and the Primarchs discussed Konrad Curze’s disturbing way of torturing Angron with cartoons. The survivors began preparing to regroup as the ark awaited repairs.

• The Silent King decoded Orikan’s tattooed data core, recognized its Peikun origin, and sent his fleet toward Mars.
• Lin Fan asked Fulgrim what Konrad Curze had done with Angron, and Fulgrim explained how cheerful cartoons drove Curze into madness.
• Fulgrim recalled that Konrad Curze had once tortured Vulkan, prompting him to explain Curze’s deep self-loathing and guilt.
• The Primarchs agreed Angron would likely endure Curze’s treatment, and Jaghatai hoped he would not be controlled by Khorne again.
• Lin Fan checked on Trazyn, who remained dazed by memories of Orikan, then asked Yvraine when the ark could move.
• Yvraine said repairs would take five days, and Lin Fan planned to gather the surviving Imperial forces as Jaghatai wondered about his sons.

Tovens survived the devastation aboard the Mechanical Ark after the fall of Agrippina Forge World and searched the wreckage for other survivors. He found Talina gravely injured and Wodhaus unconscious, with both in uncertain condition.

• Tovens climbed out of the corpses, found a lasgun, and recalled the desperate defense and evacuation from Agrippina.
• Tovens crossed the ruined deck, searching among the dead for survivors.
• Tovens found Talina vomiting blood and realized her internal injuries were likely fatal.
• Talina pointed Tovens toward Wodhaus, whom he found badly wounded and unresponsive in damaged power armor.

Tovens woke Wodhaus after the battle, and Wodhaus found Talina dying from Khorne’s power. Tovens shot Talina at her request, but she left behind a pocket watch that let her remain connected to him, and Wodhaus concealed its daemon aura.

• Tovens struck Wodhaus with a lasgun stock, waking him; Wodhaus restrained his reflexive attack and set Tovens down.
• Wodhaus found Khorne’s power ravaging Talina and said he could not deal with it.
• Tovens comforted Talina as she apologized for disgracing the regiment, then found a pocket watch with her photograph inside her vest.
• Tovens shot Talina in the forehead, and her body turned to water and ash, leaving her uniform, armor, and pocket watch.
• Wodhaus concealed the pocket watch’s daemon aura, and Talina thanked him through it.

Wodhaus and the other survivors searched the dead after the battle, while Colvin mourned the fallen and recognized Kavan Shrek as a future leader of the Raven Guard. A white-armoured force identifying itself as both the Lamenters and the Sons of Unity arrived and began treating the wounded with alarming needles.

• Wodhaus confirmed that no psykers, Navigators, or Astropaths had survived, while Colvin brought the wounded Kaiser Whitefang and Kor'sarro Khan to the survivors.
• Kor'sarro Khan taunted Kaiser Whitefang, who managed to answer that Khan would also need a Dreadnought after losing his legs.
• Colvin reflected on the Space Marines lost in the battle and decided Kavan Shrek could succeed him as leader of the Raven Guard.
• Iteration announced that a massive Aeldari ark was docked beside the ship, and a squad of white-armoured Terminators teleported in.
• The Terminator captain said his warriors were both the Lamenters and the Sons of Unity, then sent them to treat the wounded with medical needles.

After the Agrippina survivors were rescued and the damaged ships began repairs, Lin Fan’s expeditionary fleet brought the defenders to the Biel-Tan Craftworld to rest. Lin Fan arrived with a surprise, but an unidentified speaker objected when Kor'sarro Khan called him “Uncle.”

• A Lamenters Terminator treated Kaiser Whitefang and explained the medicine to Wodhaus, who realized Lin Fan’s reinforcements had arrived and hoped Cadia would survive.
• The expeditionary fleet rescued survivors, repaired usable ships, and salvaged parts from vessels too damaged to restore.
• The Lamenters invited the Space Wolves, White Scars, Raven Guard, Mechanicus archmagi, Knight House patriarchs, Vostroyan Rough Riders, and a Cadia delegation to relax aboard the Biel-Tan Craftworld.
• Lin Fan approached the gathered defenders, and Kor'sarro Khan greeted him as Uncle, recalling his connection to the White Scars.
• An unidentified displeased voice said it had nothing to do with Lin Fan.

Lin Fan introduced Perturabo, Dorn, and Fulgrim to Wodhaus and the others, while Jaghatai explained the returned Primarchs’ purpose and proclaimed hope for the Imperium. The gathering ended with everyone joining the Primarchs in a cry for the Emperor.

• Lin Fan teased that he had brought back someone else’s father, and Wodhaus realized he might mean Guilliman.
• Perturabo, Dorn, Fulgrim, and Lamenters appeared, and Wodhaus mistook Perturabo for Ferrus, provoking a menacing response.
• The chapter described how the Imperium’s legends and propaganda shaped what people knew about the Primarchs and traitors.
• Jaghatai announced the Primarchs’ return and spoke of his duty to protect humanity and his hope that the Imperium could improve.
• Jaghatai cried, “For the Emperor,” and the crowd and his brothers answered in unison.

The Biel-Tan Craftworld encountered Cadia’s reinforcements, whose Adeptus Mechanicus and Iron Hands forces were trapped in the Warp’s chaotic waves and on the verge of turning their guns on each other. After hearing what had happened at Agrippina, Iron Father Stunus realized his forces would not have changed the battle’s outcome, and was relieved he had resisted the Archmagos’s risky plan.

• The Biel-Tan Craftworld finished repairs and traveled toward Cadia through the region between reality and the Warp, where it encountered the lost reinforcements.
• The Archmagos proposed using psyker corpses to improve the fleet’s augurs and cogitators, but Iron Father Stunus rejected the plan and urged the ships to concentrate power on their Gellar Fields.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus and Iron Hands leaders argued until their fleets formed opposing battle lines, though neither side opened fire.
• The Biel-Tan Craftworld emerged from the Warp waves, and the Imperium fleets turned their weapons toward it as Stunus prepared the Iron Hands to board.
• A Mechanical Ark carrying Magos Rom’s declaration emerged from Biel-Tan, and its message persuaded the reinforcements not to fire.
• After learning that Agrippina had been destroyed despite the efforts of its defenders, Stunus concluded that the reinforcements could not have saved it and was glad he had refused the Archmagos’s plan.

Fulgrim decided to meet Ferrus Manus’s children and explain the truth about their father’s death, despite Perturabo warning that the Iron Hands would attack him. Stunus and Captain Vicks waited at the corridor between the two flagships as Fulgrim’s delegation approached.

• Fulgrim said he wanted to see the Iron Hands and speak with them, and Perturabo warned him how violently they would react.
• Lin Fan agreed to let Fulgrim go, arranging for Jaghatai and Chapter Master Colvin to accompany him.
• Fulgrim questioned why Colvin was coming, and Lin Fan said he would understand once they arrived.
• Stunus and Captain Vicks waited at the connecting corridor between the Mechanical Ark and the Iron Hands flagship.