Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan tested whether tabletop rules could alter the effects of Necrontyr weapons and resurrection, showing the Necrontyr that his dice could make railgun shots behave unpredictably. He then set up a concealment trial for a Deathmark, whose advanced detection and rifle made the hidden scarabs and their cover seem pointless.

• Lin Fan used Tzeentch's golden dice to make one T'au railgun hit and pierce a living-metal cube while the other missed, despite both shots being fired at it.
• Lin Fan tested resurrection rules on more than a hundred Necrontyr warriors, but only a few dozen revived after he rolled poorly.
• Lin Fan created walls and trenches to hide scarabs, then ordered Szeras's awakened Deathmark to hunt them.
• The Deathmark used his detection equipment to locate a scarab through its cover and vaporized both with a Gauss Rifle.

Lin Fan tested how tabletop game rules affected Deathmark and the Void Dragon, discovering that dice could control their actions and even let railguns grievously wound a C’tan. After several experiments, he and the Necrontyr established limits on which units and how many battlefield pieces the rules could affect.

• Deathmark’s Gauss Rifle repeatedly failed or missed as Lin Fan’s dice and turn rules interfered, and a scarab tore off both of Deathmark’s legs before Lin Fan ended the test.
• Lin Fan challenged the Void Dragon to face twenty-four T'au Empire Hammerheads, and the dice disrupted the Void Dragon’s attack and control over the railguns.
• The Hammerheads’ railgun barrage struck the Void Dragon despite his disintegration field and knocked him unconscious.
• Lin Fan and the Necrontyr conducted further experiments, finding that the rules required familiar game pieces, could affect varied battlefields, and were limited to several hundred units.

Lin Fan prepared for his coming battle with Tzeentch while Tzeentch assembled an army and built a battlefield at the center of the Milky Way. On Terra, The Emperor summoned Lin Fan and the Primarchs, where Sanguinius announced that the God-Emperor was about to return.

• Lin Fan considered whether knowledge from before crossing worlds could help him create a more stable world, then decided to focus on defeating Tzeentch.
• Tzeentch and The Deceiver prepared a battlefield at the center of the Milky Way, while Tzeentch gathered Orks, Tyranids, daemons, and Degraded Ones for his army.
• Trazyn told Lin Fan that The Emperor wanted to see him on Terra, where Rogal Dorn was overseeing reconstruction.
• Lin Fan joined The Emperor, Oedmeir, and the remotely projected Primarchs in the Throne Room, where Leman Russ and Magnus argued before The Emperor stopped them.
• Sanguinius announced that the God-Emperor was about to return.

The Emperor told the Primarchs that he and Isha planned to temper the God-Emperor’s fanaticism by reshaping the faith around life and hope, while Lin Fan suspected Isha had a mischievous plan of her own. As Isha and several Primarchs departed to guide the God-Emperor’s rebirth, Jaghatai tried to hide what he was writing from Guilliman.

• Jaghatai and Fulgrim questioned whether the God-Emperor would become extreme after The Emperor left the Golden Throne.
• The Emperor explained that he and Isha would use her power and the Trees of Life to soften the Imperium’s fanatical religion, while Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus helped protect the effort.
• Lin Fan suspected Isha’s influence might change the God-Emperor in an unexpected way, and Isha left with Sanguinius, Ferrus Manus, and others to guide the rebirth.
• Guilliman noticed Jaghatai working at a desk and offered him detailed advice on policies to increase birth rates.
• Jaghatai called Kor'sarro Khan into the room, saying he needed an assistant to record Guilliman’s advice.

Jaghatai tricked Kor'sarro into recording Roboute Guilliman’s political documents while secretly longing to write down his own ideas. Meanwhile, Isha used the Tree of Life and the prayers of a planet’s people to help the God-Emperor emerge, leaving Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus shocked by what they saw.

• Jaghatai pressured Kor'sarro into taking notes by threatening to exclude him from future duties and competitions.
• Roboute Guilliman dictated political policies while Jaghatai secretly focused on his hidden drafts.
• Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus visited the phantom beneath the Golden Throne and discussed faith and the Warp with Isha.
• Isha decorated the Golden Throne and enclosed the phantom in a flower bud, channeling the Tree of Life’s energy into it.
• The people of a planet gathered before its Tree of Life and prayed, sending power to Isha and the God-Emperor.
• The flower bud opened, and Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus were stunned by the God-Emperor’s appearance as Isha claimed she had made him gentler and more controllable.

The God-Emperor returned in a female form after merging with Isha, shocking the Primarchs and turning their gathering into a chaotic discussion about the Emperor’s past. The God-Emperor offered milk as a reward for service to the Imperium, and Konrad Curze approached her, longing for a mother’s care.

• The God-Emperor emerged from the flower bud, and Isha greeted her as they joined together and walked to the Throne Room with Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus.
• Isha presented the female God-Emperor to the Primarchs, while Leman Russ and Lorgar reacted with shock and the Emperor greeted her calmly.
• Oedmeir revealed that the Emperor had once become a she-wolf who nursed children, prompting Magnus and the others to question him about it.
• Leman Russ asked whether he could qualify to be nursed, and the Emperor ordered Lion El'Jonson to take men to Fenris and punish him.
• The God-Emperor offered milk as a reward for contributions to the Imperium, and Konrad Curze leapt to her side, lamenting that he had never received a mother's care.

The reborn God-Emperor comforted Konrad Curze and announced that she would continue guarding the Golden Throne. Her return left the Emperor and the Primarchs struggling with the news, and the chapter ended with the Emperor teleporting away to escape the teasing.

• The God-Emperor praised Konrad Curze for killing evildoers and asked what reward he wanted, while Curze wept beneath her touch.
• Oedmeir teased the Emperor about his inability to show parental affection, then announced to the Primarchs that they now had a mother.
• The God-Emperor said she would keep guarding the Golden Throne, then departed to answer prayers and restore heroic souls.
• Lin Fan encouraged the Primarchs to seek the God-Emperor's affection, and Rogal Dorn declared that Terra needed paired statues of a father and mother.
• Valdor and Trajan arrived to investigate, while Oedmeir challenged the Emperor's explanation of his past female incarnation.
• The Emperor used psychic teleportation to leave after Oedmeir's question silenced him.

Oedmeir introduced Archmagos Cawl to the Primarchs and had him present his progress on Guilliman’s secret Primaris Space Marine project. Guilliman recalled commissioning the work after the Horus Heresy, and Perturabo teased him about keeping it hidden.

• Oedmeir sent Valdor and Trajan away, then summoned Cawl into the Throne Room.
• Lin Fan asked about Cawl’s altered appearance, and Oedmeir explained that she had captured and streamlined the Martian sages and Fabricator-Generals.
• Cawl reflected on how the Expeditionary Force’s technology and Oedmeir’s expertise had shaken his confidence.
• Cawl presented his progress on the Primaris Space Marine project entrusted to him by Guilliman.
• Guilliman recalled giving Cawl the Sangprimus Portum after the Horus Heresy, before Fulgrim cut him down and he fell into slumber.
• Perturabo teased Guilliman for secretly commissioning the project.

Guilliman and the Primarchs reviewed Cawl’s Primaris Space Marine project, debating its dangers and whether it should continue. Oedmeir stopped the project and took responsibility for the existing warriors, but Cawl revealed he had created one hundred thousand Primaris Marines, leaving Guilliman and the others shocked.

• Guilliman examined Cawl’s Primaris Space Marines while Perturabo condemned Guilliman’s past actions and Oedmeir objected to the project’s effects on their humanity.
• Cawl defended the Primaris Marines and his Redeemer Dreadnought research, but Oedmeir criticized his treatment of warriors as expendable resources.
• Vulkan urged the others to consider the desperate circumstances in which Cawl had worked, and Oedmeir proposed ending the Primaris project and planning for Space Marine retirement after the war.
• Cawl asked what would happen to the Primaris Marines already made, and Oedmeir said she would handle their genetic regression and told the Primarchs to claim veterans with ten-thousand-year-old identity codes.
• Cawl revealed that he had created one hundred thousand Primaris Space Marines, stunning Guilliman and the other Primarchs.

Lin Fan directed the Imperium to preserve some outdated Astra Militarum equipment, and The Emperor issued an edict mobilizing the armies toward the Milky Way's core. As the deadline set by Tzeentch approached, construction continued near the core while Yarrick, Cain, Erika, and Selina shared a quiet drink on Cadia and discussed what might come after the war.

• Lin Fan asked Oedmeir to cancel some legion upgrade projects and retain outdated equipment because of his Subjective One power.
• Oedmeir gave The Emperor an edict, which he approved and sent across the Imperium to mobilize its armies near the Milky Way's core.
• As Tzeentch's fifty-year deadline drew closer, Perturabo and Rogal Dorn built bases in the star systems near the core, and Dorn joined the work with the Imperial Fists.
• On Cadia, Yarrick and Cain drank together after construction, while Jurgen guarded a bonfire outside because of his smell.
• Erika joined Yarrick and Cain and described tensions with other surviving Krieg regiments, then Sister Selina arrived after helping rescue people from a collapse.
• Yarrick said he intended to keep hunting Orks for The Emperor, and the group reflected on how quickly the Black Legion's destruction and The Emperor's return had followed their earlier battles.

Cain and Yarrick joined a vast military gathering in an unknown star system, where the size of the assembled Imperial and allied forces revealed the scale of the coming war. Perturabo and Rogal Dorn coordinated the arrival of the Primarchs, and Corax reached the camp as the gathering continued.

• Cain and Yarrick learned their forces had been requisitioned, but the quartermaster denied Cain's demand for upgraded equipment and offered old gear instead.
• Cain and Yarrick arrived in the star system and saw Aeldari arks, immense fleets, and enormous Necrontyr void pyramids assembled for the coming battle.
• Yarrick warned Cain that the gathering might mark a final battle, and Cain realized its scale far exceeded what he had expected.
• Perturabo and Rogal Dorn contacted Lion El'Jonson and Leman Russ, who said they would arrive after some Space Wolves completed their trials.
• Corax arrived at the camp and told Perturabo and Rogal Dorn that he had been delayed by problems on Deliverance.
• Corax said Jaghatai had been asking him how to write melancholy poetry, leaving Perturabo puzzled about Jaghatai's activities.

The Primarchs gathered with their forces, while Lin Fan forced Sanguinius to reunite with Dante on Baal, ending the Blood Angels’ Black Rage. Jaghatai finally arrived late, apologizing for a delay caused by personal matters.

• Perturabo joked about Guilliman’s growing power as Guilliman entered, and Magnus, Lorgar, Sanguinius, and Ferrus Manus arrived with their Legions.
• Lin Fan confronted Sanguinius for neglecting Dante, struck him unconscious, and had the Necrontyr place him in Dante’s coffin.
• Dante awoke in Sanguinius’s embrace, and Sanguinius comforted him before knocking him back to sleep.
• The Blood Angels celebrated Sanguinius’s return as the Black Rage disappeared, while Trazyn recorded the reunion for his museum.
• Ferrus Manus scolded the Iron Hands over Medusa, then assigned them work to transform the planet and change their creed.
• The Primarchs wondered why Jaghatai was late until his fleet emerged from the Webway and he apologized for a personal delay.

The God-Emperor, The Emperor, and their allies gathered to plan the coming battle against Tzeentch, with Lin Fan refusing to fight directly but promising enhancements and intervention if Tzeentch cheated. Lin Fan met Tzeentch on the vast, distorted battlefield, where they agreed that victory would mean reaching the far end and defeating the incarnations of the gods.

• Sanguinius teased Jaghatai about delaying his departure, and Jaghatai admitted he hoped to become a historian after the war.
• The God-Emperor praised Konrad Curze for purging corruption, and Konrad Curze savored her approval.
• Oedmeir and the Necrontyr restored the Ascension Throne to the Golden Ark Core and gave it an isolated space to protect it from Tzeentch and The Deceiver.
• Lin Fan told the assembled allies he would provide enhancements but would not join the battle unless Tzeentch refused to play fair; the legions prepared to send vanguards led by Lorgar, Fulgrim, and Mortarion.
• When the countdown ended, Tzeentch revealed the battlefield and summoned Lin Fan to face her, then discarded her elaborate objectives after Lin Fan rejected them.
• Tzeentch set a simpler victory condition: Lin Fan's side had to reach the battlefield's deepest point and defeat the five divine incarnations.

Lin Fan examined the weakened Chaos gods before Tzeentch began the final act of the Great Game, unleashing a battle between the assembled civilizations. The Silent King committed the Necrontyr to a final war of atonement, and Imotekh the Stormlord received the order to attack.

• Lin Fan saw that the Chaos gods and their followers were diminished, while Tzeentch had grown dangerously unstable by absorbing the other gods' powers.
• The C'tan Observer urged Tzeentch to begin, and Tzeentch lifted the battlefield's restraints to start the final act of the Great Game.
• The Silent King awakened the Necrontyr's elite fleets and ancient legions, despite their lack of resources and lost technologies.
• The Triarch Council relayed the Silent King's decree, calling the Necrontyr's final battle an act of atonement, though most warriors remained silent.
• Necrontyr fleets advanced toward Tzeentch's forces as the assembled civilizations prepared for battle.
• Imotekh the Stormlord received the Silent King's command and ordered his forces to attack.

The Necrontyr fleet battled the Degraded Ones, Aeldari, and Imperium of Man, countering their star-based and spacetime attacks with Chronomancy and error rifts. With humanity’s spacetime engines destroyed, Aeldari troops teleported into Necrontyr warships and relied on agility against Gauss Rifles.

• The Necrontyr accelerated their Gauss arcs and used a captive sun to scorch the Degraded Ones’ warships.
• The Aeldari Pantheon’s arks shielded the Degraded Ones’ fleet, and the Phoenix Lords sent collapsing stars toward the Necrontyr.
• The Silent King used error rifts to swallow the Phoenix Lords’ attacks, but humanity’s spacetime engines reversed the effect and forced stars into the Necrontyr formation.
• The Chronomancers defeated humanity’s spacetime engines, whose ships self-destructed when their attempted reversals were locked in place.
• Aeldari troops teleported into Necrontyr warships and relied on speed and agility to evade Gauss Rifles.

The Necrontyr and the Degraded Ones fought a brutal battle, with the Silent King unleashing the Phaerons and their C'tan powers to turn the tide. As Tzeentch weighed whether to intervene, she questioned Lin Fan, who said it was not time yet, and she decided to test him.

• The Degraded Ones used guerrilla tactics to break up Necrontyr formations, but Destroyer Lords and Canoptek constructs rallied the Necrontyr forces.
• The Phaerons warned that their attrition would eventually leave them outnumbered, and the Silent King ordered them to open a path by using their C'tan powers.
• The Phaerons unleashed their powers, destroying Degraded Ones and tipping the battle toward the Necrontyr, though the energy cost threatened their reserves.
• The Primarchs watched the destruction and feared the Necrontyr could be impossible for humanity to defeat.
• Tzeentch asked Lin Fan whether he would show his power, and Lin Fan replied that it was not time yet.
• Tzeentch stopped shaking her dice and decided to test Lin Fan.

Tzeentch’s attack faltered when the Void Dragon destroyed the Degraded Ones’ warships, and Lin Fan’s railguns wiped out her Nightbringers. Tzeentch demanded to know how Lin Fan had done it, and his taunt left him considering whether her emotions could be exploited.

• Tzeentch’s interference caused a Necrontyr Phaeron to lose control of C’tan power and die, prompting the Silent King to seize control of the dynasty.
• The Void Dragon joined the battle and destroyed the Degraded Ones’ warships by making metal burst from within their hulls.
• Tzeentch sent more than a hundred Nightbringers to surround the Void Dragon, but Lin Fan completed a check while the Void Dragon aimed ten thousand railguns at them.
• The railguns fired and annihilated the Nightbringers, leaving Tzeentch shocked and furious.
• Lin Fan told Tzeentch to surrender if she wanted to unlock fewer CGs, then considered whether taunting her could make her reckless.

The Imperium and its allies began deploying for a vast landing campaign against Tzeentch, while the Primarchs prepared to lead separate armies. Fulgrim and Lorgar departed to atone in battle, and Mortarion volunteered for the next landing wave.

• Tzeentch canceled production of more Nightbringers as the Necrontyr fleet advanced and the allied civilizations prepared to land.
• Trazyn relayed the Silent King's plan to cut off enemy reinforcements, while Rogal Dorn worried that the battlefield was too vast for the Imperium's forces and supplies.
• The Emperor's forces divided into more than a dozen armies, and the Primarchs joked about the campaign resembling Great Crusade 2.0.
• Fulgrim and Lorgar confessed their sins to The Emperor, who ordered them to begin their atonement in battle.
• Fulgrim bid farewell to Ferrus Manus and gently comforted Konrad Curze before leaving with Lorgar.
• Ferrus asked to join the second landing wave, but Mortarion claimed it for himself.

Mortarion left the fleet to protect his Legion and Barbarus as Fulgrim and Lorgar began the landing operation. Tzeentch's Deathmarks could not fire anywhere near the landing zone, leaving her frustrated and considering other forces.

• Mortarion bowed to The Emperor and departed, while the Imperial fleet split into groups for the landing operation.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus dropped metal plates to form walls around the landing zone, as Fulgrim and Lorgar prepared their Legions behind them.
• Tzeentch sent hundreds of thousands of Deathmarks to attack the landing zone, but they shattered when they tried to fire.
• Tzeentch repeatedly moved Deathmarks closer, but they remained unable to shoot even beneath the metal walls.
• Tzeentch considered using Orks or Zerg swarms instead, frustrated that the battlefield had countered her Deathmarks.

Tzeentch struggled to control the Degraded Ones and bypass battlefield rules while the Imperium forces built their defenses. The Deathmarks finally attacked, and Fulgrim led the Emperor’s Children in counterattacks as the battle began.

• Tzeentch continued suppressing her inner divine power while directing the Degraded Ones and lamenting the Silent King’s destruction of their production zones.
• Tzeentch ordered the Deathmarks to break through the metal walls, but the walls resisted their attacks, so she sent them through pocket dimensions instead.
• Fulgrim and Lorgar waited with the Imperium forces as Aeldari Bonesingers fortified their positions, until Fulgrim spotted and shot a Deathmark emerging from a rift.
• Deathmarks attacked from scattered rifts, and Fulgrim led the Emperor’s Children in supporting threatened positions while Sisters urged the soldiers to stand firm.
• Fulgrim’s forces endured the Deathmarks’ neural attacks and struck back, with the Emperor’s Children’s resistance helping them tear through the attackers.