Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan entered the orderly city within the Brass Citadel and learned how Khorne’s followers valued discipline, courage, and honorable combat. A proclamation announced that the Path to Meet the God would begin at the Brass Pillar Arena in 88,888 seconds, and Lin Fan watched the crowd cheer on command.

• The Brass Gate opened for Lin Fan after he defeated the Khorne daemons guarding it.
• Lin Fan walked through the orderly fortress-city, observing its traffic, warriors, and arenas where disputes were settled in combat.
• Lin Fan reflected on Khorne’s code of honor and discipline and compared it with the other Chaos Gods.
• A voice announced that the Path to Meet the God would begin at the Brass Pillar Arena in 88,888 seconds.
• The crowd stopped walking and cheered in unison for exactly eight seconds when instructed, leaving Lin Fan to remark that he had terrible manners.

Lin Fan entered Khorne’s arena after proving his strength by accidentally smashing a Blood Reliquary. He learned how the arena battles worked and prepared to fight as weapons appeared across the battlefield.

• Lin Fan copied another warrior’s strength test and shattered the Blood Reliquary, impressing the gatekeeping demon and drawing excited stares from the Blood God warriors.
• Lin Fan entered the arena and noticed its bare circular battleground and packed spectator stands.
• A Khorne Berserker challenged Lin Fan over his Imperium armor, and the two found common ground in their dislike of Tzeentch.
• The Berserker explained that arena battles followed a schedule while the Path of Audience with the Gods depended on Khorne’s mood and favored outstanding warriors.
• The arena announced that the battle was about to begin, and identical weapons appeared across the field.

Lin Fan fought Yekis Oma, a World Eaters veteran, in the arena and discovered that his opponent could not seriously harm him. Oma died after Lin Fan ended their duel, leaving Lin Fan wondering what he had meant to say.

• When the duel began, Yekis Oma gave Lin Fan a longsword and charged him with a two-handed axe.
• Lin Fan parried Oma’s first strike, dodged his follow-up attacks, and taunted him while blocking a punch.
• Oma headbutted Lin Fan and later struck his shoulder, but Lin Fan remained unharmed despite his armor being cut through.
• Oma removed his helmet, identified himself as a veteran of the World Eaters’ First Company, and challenged Lin Fan to finish the duel.
• Lin Fan pierced Oma with his longsword, and Oma died before Lin Fan could hear the end of his apology.

Lin Fan rested before facing the cloaked stranger, who manipulated events to make Valkyrie attack him and then killed her. Khorne exposed the stranger as Leman Russ, leaving Lin Fan caught beside the revealed Primarch.

• The cloaked man insisted that Lin Fan rest for thirty minutes before their duel and pointed out Valkyrie fighting across the arena.
• After Valkyrie defeated her opponent, the cloaked man pretended to defend Lin Fan’s recovery time while she left to find another foe.
• The cloaked man accused Lin Fan of planning to ambush Valkyrie, prompting her to attack Lin Fan with her whip and spear.
• Lin Fan’s body repelled Valkyrie’s weapons, and the cloaked man stabbed and killed her from behind.
• Khorne appeared above the arena and exposed the cloaked man as Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves.

Lin Fan and Leman Russ faced Khorne in the Blood God's Realm, and Lin Fan provoked Khorne into unleashing his fury across the galaxy. The chapter ended with Khorne's colossal blade striking toward them while the Emperor failed to answer Lin Fan's pleas.

• Leman Russ revealed that he had followed Lin Fan because he sensed the Emperor's aura, but admitted he had no plan to escape Khorne.
• Lin Fan claimed that Khorne had no reason to exist because Bloodhand Khaine was already the god of war and blood.
• Khorne calmly presented his case against Khaine, then rose from his throne and unleashed his rage across the Blood God's Realm.
• Khorne's fury drove violence and mass revolts across Imperial worlds, with Wenders World facing a devastating rebel assault.
• Khorne formed a massive crimson lightning greatsword and swung it toward Lin Fan and Leman Russ while the Emperor ignored Lin Fan's calls for help.

The Emperor fought Khorne while Lin Fan and Leman Russ watched the gods and their armies battle across the Blood God's Realm. After The Emperor ordered them to leave, Leman Russ accepted that he still had a mission and carried Lin Fan away at speed.

• The Aquila around Lin Fan's neck grew into a golden figure that clashed with Khorne and destroyed the Brass Pillar Arena with its shockwave.
• The Emperor held Khorne back and summoned the Legion of the Damned, which fought the Blood God's resurrecting warriors and Valkyrie.
• The Emperor told Lin Fan to take Leman Russ and leave, but Leman Russ initially refused to abandon his father.
• The Emperor reminded Leman Russ that he still had a mission, and Leman Russ agreed to leave.
• Leman Russ stopped Lin Fan, put him on his shoulder, and sprinted away.

Lin Fan and Leman Russ traveled through Chaos toward Kaldor Draigo’s prison, where Russ planned to use Lin Fan as a distraction while he freed the Grey Knight. As Khorne battled the Emperor and Tzeentch watched his plans unfold, Draigo’s seal broke and he escaped.

• Lin Fan and Leman Russ crossed the chaotic wastelands, and Lin Fan reflected on how his emotions affected his powers and on the Emperor’s silence.
• Leman Russ told Lin Fan that Kaldor Draigo had been imprisoned where the domains of Nurgle, Slaanesh, and Tzeentch met.
• Lin Fan learned that Russ intended him to draw away the daemon guards while Russ lifted Draigo’s seal, and the two approached the prison bickering.
• Tzeentch watched Khorne fight the Emperor and considered plans to weaken the other Chaos Gods.
• Tzeentch heard a seal break and realized that Kaldor Draigo had escaped again.

Lin Fan was exposed to three Keepers of Secrets after Leman Russ’s grenade stripped away his armor, while the daemons argued over him instead of completing their mission. The Three-God Seal Sanctum began shaking when Leman Russ slipped inside, leaving Rokasna to face the consequences of his colleagues’ inaction.

• Leman Russ left Lin Fan alone after tossing a grenade at his feet, and its explosion drew the demons’ attention while stripping away Lin Fan’s armor and ropes.
• Three Keepers of Secrets rushed toward Lin Fan, but they stopped to argue over who would claim him while Tzeentch’s Lords of Change reacted inconsistently.
• Rokasna flew over to remind the Keepers of Secrets about their mission, then agreed to help them divide Lin Fan into three parts.
• A flash of white light appeared as the seal sanctum shook, and the Keepers of Secrets abandoned Lin Fan to return to their posts.
• Rokasna learned that Leman Russ had slipped inside, while his two colleagues defended their failure to stop him as a good change.

Diego and Leman Russ fought the Greater Daemons gathered outside the seal site while Lin Fan struggled to reach the battle. Diego defeated the three Great Unclean Ones, leaving Lin Fan to face the remaining daemons alongside Leman Russ.

• Diego emerged from the seal site in Grey Knights Terminator Armour and charged the daemons, while Rokasna decided to regroup the troops.
• Diego blocked the Great Unclean Ones’ attacks with a psychic barrier and engaged them as three Lords of Change prepared spells.
• Leman Russ charged through the Lords of Change’s lightning using Diego’s coffin lid as a shield, while Lin Fan rushed toward the battlefield.
• Lin Fan hurled a massive Warp rock at the Lords of Change, but one redirected it and struck him with it.
• Diego killed two Great Unclean Ones and incapacitated Gakass with his Sword of Titan.
• Leman Russ told Lin Fan they could watch the fight, but Lin Fan prepared to face a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch.

Lin Fan, Leman Russ, and Diego confronted Rokasna as he began a ritual to draw power from the fallen daemons. Lin Fan used Inquisitor Vissi’s disc to break Rokasna’s warped corridor, restoring the Three-God Seal Sanctum.

• Rokasna attacked Lin Fan with psychic flames and tried to teleport him away, but Lin Fan walked through the flames and used Vissi’s disc to absorb the portal’s power.
• Rokasna activated a ritual using the remains of the slain daemons, knocking back Diego and Leman Russ and reshaping the sanctum into a looping corridor.
• Rokasna trapped Diego and Leman Russ with spells that halted their attacks and distorted space, while Lin Fan admired his magic.
• Leman Russ introduced Lin Fan to Diego as his little brother, and Lin Fan identified himself as Captain Soap of the 37th Regiment of the Kasare Legion.
• Lin Fan placed Vissi’s disc on the corridor floor, and it absorbed the Warp distortion, restoring the sanctum’s original layout.

Rokasna used a spell that repeatedly rewrote reality to evade Leman Russ and Diego’s attacks, while Lin Fan watched and envied his magic. The Lord of Change grew more confident as the battle loop continued, and Lin Fan translated only part of his boastful speech for Russ.

• Leman Russ and Diego attacked Rokasna, but he stopped their weapons with magic and countered with lightning and rock.
• Rokasna evaded their killing blow by splitting the sanctum into real and false projections, rewinding one and swapping reality with illusion.
• Lin Fan understood how Rokasna’s spell worked and admired his ability to reshape events, while Leman Russ and Diego prepared to attack again.
• Rokasna repeated the spell, trapped the warriors in another cycle, and boasted about his graduation and recognition from Tzeentch.
• Leman Russ grabbed Lin Fan and asked what Rokasna had said, and Lin Fan translated only that he was a Lord of Change before joking about his name.

Lin Fan helped Leman Russ defeat Rokasna and free Diego, then asked Diego to send him back to his mission at Armageddon. Lin Fan vanished through Diego’s portal, while Leman Russ remained in the Warp, waiting for Wolftime.

• Leman Russ hurled Lin Fan at Rokasna, whose timeline shield failed to stop him.
• Lin Fan headbutted Rokasna to death, lifting the prison’s seal and releasing Diego’s psychic light.
• Lin Fan asked Diego to send him back, and Diego explained a spell that could return him to a similar place or person.
• Diego drew a new magic circle after Lin Fan clarified that psychic speech still affected him, then sent Lin Fan through a pale rift.
• Diego told Leman Russ that Muka’s curse would take effect if he left the Warp, and Leman Russ continued waiting for Wolftime.

Kaiser Whitefang waited as Wodhaus risked his life to open a Warp gate, reflecting on the sacrifices and wars that had shaped him. Lin Fan’s sudden arrival disrupted the ritual, leaving Wodhaus badly injured and the Grey Hunters attacking what they believed was a demon.

• Kaiser Whitefang remembered his journey from an ice-world tribe to becoming a Space Marine and an old wolf.
• Wodhaus prepared to open a Warp gate, and Kaiser handed his mead jug to a Grey Hunter with orders for the others if he did not return.
• Wodhaus opened the gate while the Grey Hunters prepared to kill him if Chaos took control of him.
• Lin Fan appeared amid ash-gray psychic energy and disrupted the ritual, causing the gate to close and Wodhaus to collapse in pain.
• Kaiser charged the naked figure that looked like Captain Soap, and the Grey Hunters fired at it.

Lin Fan returned from the Warp and told Kaiser Whitefang and the Space Wolves that he had fought alongside Leman Russ, leaving them eager for every detail about their Primarch. On Mars, Archmagos Tala inspected the recovering Heart of Vengeance before privately sensing something through a strange metal limb.

• Kaiser Whitefang told Lin Fan that Wodhaus would not remember who had slapped him, while the Space Wolves prepared to return to their vessel.
• Lin Fan explained that Kaldor Diego had sent him back after they released Diego from his seal.
• Lin Fan revealed that he had fought alongside Leman Russ in the Warp, and Kaiser Whitefang and the Grey Hunters excitedly asked about their Primarch.
• Archmagos Tala reported that the Heart of Vengeance's machine spirit was recovering and that the battleship would be ready in 150 standard solar days.
• Archmagos Tala shielded his private chamber from intrusion, extended an unfamiliar metal limb, and asked, "Is that you?"

Lin Fan fell asleep after Kaiser brought him to the Space Marine monastery, then spoke with The Emperor in a dream about the Subjective Ones and the secrets Tzeentch had revealed. Khorne interrupted their conversation, and Lin Fan escaped as The Emperor prepared to fight him again.

• Kaiser gave Lin Fan clothes and a key to a meditation room, where Lin Fan quickly fell asleep.
• Lin Fan asked The Emperor what the Subjective Ones were, but The Emperor admitted he knew little beyond what Tzeentch had told him.
• The Emperor explained that he had beaten Tzeentch at cards and won a secret: the universe was an illusion controlled by Subjective Ones, with a greater darkness above them.
• Lin Fan concluded that Tzeentch and survivors of the War in Heaven, such as the Necrontyr or Aeldari, might know more about the Subjective Ones.
• Khorne's roar shook The Emperor's golden abode, so Lin Fan left the dream while The Emperor summoned the Legion of the Damned and faced Khorne.

Bone Uncle’s Orks reached Armageddon and began a planet-wide Waaagh!, with Hades Hive becoming the place to find the toughest Imperial defenders. Ughulhard led his Snakebites through the hive and confronted a Gut-Shaker, eager to claim the fight for himself.

• Bone Uncle and his Goff Tribe escaped their dying world aboard a space hulk and fought daemons during their journey through the Warp.
• Bone Uncle’s fleet arrived at Armageddon, crashed through the defenders’ orbital defenses, and began fighting across the planet.
• After a year of war, the Orks sought out Hades Hive for its especially determined defenders.
• Ughulhard led his Boyz through Hades Hive, shrugging off lasgun fire and tearing through Imperial lines with his Power Klaw.
• Ughulhard spotted a Gut-Shaker and ordered the other Orks aside so he could fight the defender himself.

Commissar Yarrick went to stop an Ork force threatening the artillery and killed its leader, Ughulhard, despite losing an arm and suffering a grave wound. Inspired by Yarrick, the Imperial soldiers routed the Orks, but Yarrick collapsed from blood loss as Lede called for a medic.

• Yarrick learned that an Ork force had broken through the defenses and ordered Lede to support other fronts before riding to the threatened line.
• Yarrick fought Ughulhard, who wounded him and severed his arm, but Yarrick killed the Ork leader with a sudden sword strike.
• The Ork Boyz lost morale and fled as Yarrick charged after them, inspiring the Imperial soldiers to drive the remaining attackers from the defenses.
• Lede arrived with the Iron Fist Squad and found Yarrick surrounded by slain Orks after the Imperial forces had won.
• Yarrick collapsed from blood loss, and Lede shouted for a medic.

Helsreach Port’s defenders, having evacuated most of the population, prepared to face the Orks in a desperate last stand. Herbert, a crane operator who had lost his wife and child, joined the defense to seek revenge, and the chapter ended as the defenders’ ambush struck the first Ork vehicles.

• Helsreach’s military and gangs purged the nobles and organized the residents, but the port could not withstand the Ork assault for long.
• Herbert returned home after the Orks destroyed it and found that his wife and child had been killed.
• Herbert welded shut his crane’s control cabin, joined the defense force, and resolved to fight for revenge.
• The defenders received warning of the Orks’ advance and took ambush positions along the ruined road.
• The gangs’ explosives and scrap-metal traps struck the Ork convoy, killing a Gretchin gunner as the battle began.

Ork artillery battered an Imperial street fortress until Virgil led gang scum to silence the guns with toxic bombs. The attack succeeded, and a gigantic mechanical colossus equipped with Kroozi Rockets appeared as the chapter ended.

• An Ork boss devised a curved-shot tactic, and the Orks hit the Imperial street fortress with a shell from their cannon.
• The fortress defenders contacted nearby gangs for help against the Ork artillery.
• Virgil ordered his gang scum to leave their ambush and move through the port toward the cannons.
• Virgil’s gang scum launched toxic bombs that knocked down the Orks and filled the area with deadly green smoke.
• A gigantic mechanical colossus equipped with Kroozi Rockets appeared.

Orks overwhelmed the Imperial defenses at Helsreach Port as gang members, soldiers, and workers fought back in desperate assaults. Herbert used the port crane against the Orks, but after the Stompa fired on it, he focused on the enemy machine.

• Ork armor and artillery broke through the port’s defenses, and the colonel led the last defenders out of their bunker.
• Gang members leaped into the Orks’ ranks with suicide bombs, while Imperial soldiers charged with bayonets.
• The Orks dropped their guns and fought the human forces in melee, and port workers joined in with heavy machinery.
• The Stompa’s Big Mek ordered his crew to fire on the fighting humans, but the Orks refused and agreed to attack the port crane instead.
• Herbert swung the crane’s hook at the Orks until the Stompa fired shells into the crane, drawing his attention to the enemy machine.