Chapter Summaries

Angron restored order to the Imperium’s occupied territories and joined Leman Russ in preparing an eastward campaign, while Ainz consolidated his secret control over the six central nations. Ainz’s human-livestock policy spread through four nations, and Demiurge used trained humans and lavish meals to further influence their ruling classes.

• Angron stopped Leman Russ from destroying the Butcher’s Nails and told him he wanted to keep them as a reminder of his past.
• Leman Russ informed The Emperor that Angron had recovered, and The Emperor stopped Magnus from entering the portal because his soul still threatened the other world.
• Angron reorganized the occupied territories, taught Khârn and the other World Eaters captains about administration, and entrusted the remaining World Eaters to Leman Russ as the Imperium advanced east.
• Ainz used Demiurge’s advice and the Guardians’ efforts to gain control of the six central nations and implemented a policy turning humans into livestock in four of them.
• Albedo reported that the Ork Federation’s fragmented cities made a unified policy impractical, while Demiurge used trained humans and sumptuous dishes to sway nobles across the nations.

Ainz stirred the demi-human nations into war to gather souls for the True Dragon Lords’ Wild Magic, while moving Nazarick into the Far East and learning that the Dragon Emperor demanded he restore the world’s magical rules. Ainz requested a personal meeting, believing information extracted from the Space Wolves might help persuade him.

• Demiurge urged the demi-humans to invade the human nations west of their lands, furthering Ainz’s plan to harvest souls and corpses for the war against the Imperium of Man.
• Ainz prepared parasite eggs to control the demi-humans and sent Aura and Mare to keep moving Nazarick east across the Spine of the World.
• Albedo described the gathered True Dragon Lords and their formidable forces, leaving Ainz anxious about whether they would remain his allies.
• Albedo told Ainz that the Dragon Emperor would end the alliance unless Ainz restored the world’s magical rules.
• Ainz asked Albedo to arrange a meeting with the Dragon Emperor and said information interrogators had extracted from the Space Wolves might help convince him.

Ainz persuaded the Dragon Emperor that the Imperium of Man could restore magic and agreed to serve as the main force while dragonkind gathered. Meanwhile, Leman Russ sent Imperial troops to meet the six nations’ expeditionary force and ordered a test attack against the advancing Orks, leaving mobilized soldiers bracing for battle.

• Ainz released a Space Wolf for the Dragon Emperor to examine, and the Dragon Emperor restrained him with Wild Magic and searched his soul.
• Ainz claimed that the Imperium of Man possessed the World-Class Item Five Elements Overcoming and had used it to alter magic, prompting the Dragon Emperor to consider an alliance.
• The Dragon Emperor asked Ainz to lead the coming war while dragonkind assembled, and Ainz agreed before returning to the Great Tomb.
• Leman Russ received reports of the six nations’ forces and ordered the 4th Auxiliary Legion and four Mobilization Corps to test the Orks’ strength.
• Imperial troops established a defensive line and aimed heavy artillery at the approaching Ork army, while mobilized soldiers prepared nervously for the impending battle.

The Imperium of Man destroyed an Ork army and prepared a three-pronged campaign against the demihuman kingdoms, while the World Eaters invaded the Argland Council State. The World Eaters crushed the Council State’s forces as cities fell and its human population began rising against demihuman rule.

• The Imperium of Man’s artillery and conscripts wiped out an Ork army in roughly ten minutes, while Ainz and his allies focused on the souls left on the battlefield.
• Leman Russ divided the Imperium’s forces into northern, central, and southern armies, all set to converge on the Ork Federation.
• Leman Russ sent Khârn and the World Eaters to attack the Argland Council State, where humans and demihumans lived together.
• The World Eaters crossed the northern mountains and slaughtered Lizardmen, Goblins, and Ogres while sparing only humans who did not resist.
• The Council State assembled wyvern riders, mages, and heavy infantry, but the World Eaters defeated them and advanced from city to city.
• As the World Eaters approached Lomako City, reports spread that humans in the Imperium’s loyal cities had risen against demihuman rule.

The Imperium of Man continued conquering the continent while the Platinum Dragon Lord abandoned the Council State, valuing the souls of the dead over rescuing survivors. After the Imperium exterminated an Ork tribe, Demiurge used Ainz’s Revenge Orb to turn a surviving young Ork into an undead bent on vengeance against humanity.

• The Platinum Dragon Lord led the dragons away from the collapsing Council State, which became Imperium territory with only a few thousand survivors.
• The World Eaters joined the northern legion after the City Alliance had already fallen, while the central legion struggled to find mountain demihumans and the southern legion wiped out Ork tribes.
• Imperium conscripts destroyed a small Ork tribe and killed its women and children, including Orks who had been spared by hesitant soldiers.
• A young Ork survived the burning corpses, grieved for his parents, and vowed to gain the strength to take revenge on humanity.
• Demiurge gave the young Ork a Revenge Orb, transforming him into a level 45 Death Summoner undead.

Ainz and Demiurge armed vengeful xenos and demi-humans with power that shortened their lives, while the Imperium’s forces unknowingly killed them in great numbers. After discovering that parasites forced enemies to fight to the death, Leman Russ realized the deaths were gathering souls for the True Dragon Lords and summoned Magnus.

• Ainz gave Demiurge access to the Great Tomb’s supplies, including Revenge Orbs, and ordered him to choose enemies with deep hatred for the Imperium of Man.
• Demiurge empowered a little Ork with a Revenge Orb and marked his palm with a rune that absorbed souls; the Ork raised corpses and sent them after the Imperium.
• As doomed avengers attacked Imperium outposts and villages, Angron told Leman Russ to keep his attention on the front, where the Space Wolves quickly destroyed an army of ogres and Minotaurs.
• Leman Russ questioned why enemy forces never retreated, and tech-priests revealed that insect parasites forced their hosts back into battle whenever they tried to flee.
• Leman Russ connected the parasites and mass deaths to the True Dragon Lords’ soul-gathering magic, then ordered his adjutant to summon Magnus.

The Emperor reluctantly decided to send Magnus to the other world to help Leman Russ confront enemies gathering souls, while worrying that Magnus would use psychic power. Perturabo grew impatient with being ignored and headed to question the Emperor, unaware of the plan involving the only partly resurrected Angron.

• The Emperor received Leman Russ’s request for Magnus’s help and worried that the enemies’ collection of souls might attract the Chaos Gods.
• The Emperor summoned Magnus, who eagerly agreed to go and claimed he would solve the problem with his intellect rather than psychic power.
• The Emperor revealed that Angron had been resurrected but could move only his head, and Magnus realized his father had a troubling plan for him.
• Perturabo, frustrated by the Emperor’s silence, marched toward the Emperor’s palace to demand an explanation for the defensive line and the other Primarchs’ presence.

Perturabo received Magnus’s headless corpse from the Emperor and was ordered to throw Magnus’s head through a mysterious white door. Convinced that the Emperor intended to eliminate him and the other Primarchs, Perturabo ordered his forces to prepare for war, but Magnus suddenly laughed.

• Perturabo nearly left without seeing the Emperor, but the doors burst open and Magnus’s headless corpse flew toward him.
• The Emperor admitted that he had killed Magnus, took the corpse, and ordered Perturabo to carry Magnus’s head to sent coordinates.
• Perturabo feared that the Emperor would purge him and the other Primarchs, and he struggled to decide whether to obey or rebel.
• Perturabo imagined pretending to submit while planning to flee and warn his brothers, but he changed his mind when he saw a pale white door.
• Perturabo ordered his guard to put the Steel Legion on a war footing against the Emperor, then Magnus’s severed head burst into laughter.

Magnus explained to Perturabo that his severed head was the result of a prank gone wrong, and Perturabo beat him before sending him through the gate. Magnus landed in another world among the Adeptus Mechanicus, while Perturabo returned to his defense duties.

• Magnus convinced Perturabo to halt the Steel Legion’s advance and explained how his head had been severed during a psychic mishap.
• Perturabo realized Magnus had staged the scene to prank him and kicked and struck Magnus’s head in anger.
• Perturabo’s kick sent Magnus’s head through the gate, and The Emperor praised Perturabo for teaching Magnus a lesson.
• Magnus’s head crashed into an Armiger Knight in another world, and an Archmagos ordered the Skitarii not to fire yet.

Magnus arrived at Leman Russ’s camp as a severed head fitted with mechanical legs, offering to help investigate the souls disappearing from the dead. Leman Russ reluctantly accepted his help and carried him to a recently conquered city to examine the corpses.

• Magnus awoke and ordered the Archmagos to take him to Leman Russ.
• Leman Russ worried that enemy forces were collecting something from corpses and that newly conscripted troops’ souls were vanishing.
• The Archmagos brought Magnus’s head to Leman Russ, who was shocked to see him mounted on spider-like mechanical legs.
• Leman Russ tried to freeze Magnus in a bucket of ice, but Magnus escaped and insisted that he had come to help investigate the missing souls.
• Leman Russ removed Magnus’s mechanical legs, silenced him with fur from his cloak, and carried him to a recently conquered city to inspect the dead.

Leman Russ halted the offensive against the parasite-infested city of Za. Hagir while his forces rested and awaited ammunition. He brought Magnus’s head to the ruined palace to investigate the dead, and Magnus confirmed that their souls were gone but could not determine where they had gone.

• Leman Russ’s forces struggled against parasite hosts and growing Bone Chimeras and Flesh Aggregates as they purged Za. Hagir with dwindling Promethium.
• The Adeptus Mechanicus prepared production equipment and an STC template in Imperial territory, promising basic ammunition in five days.
• Leman Russ halted the advance to let his forces rest and address pressure at the front and unrest in the rear.
• Leman Russ brought Magnus’s head to a charred corpse in the ruined city and urged him to investigate it.
• Magnus sensed that the corpse’s soul was gone and explained that souls in their world ultimately returned to the Warp, but he could not track where these souls had gone.

Magnus admitted to Leman Russ that he had used captured enemies in experiments, and Russ warned that Magnus’s ambition could lead him to sacrifice innocents. Magnus proposed linking the strange world to the Warp so its dead could not fuel Wild Magic, and he and Russ prepared to return while Tzeentch discovered Magnus’s missing eye.

• Leman Russ questioned Magnus about his experiments, and Magnus admitted that he had conducted comparisons using prisoners he considered evil.
• Leman Russ warned Magnus that his experiments could lead him to broaden who he considered a sinner and harm innocents.
• Magnus privately considered his plan to sacrifice vast numbers of alien souls to create a communication signal, but denied having dangerous intentions to Leman Russ.
• Magnus could find no sign of where the world’s souls went and said he could no longer hear Jaghatai’s voice.
• Magnus suggested strengthening the connection between the world and the Warp so its dead could not gather souls for Wild Magic, and Leman Russ said they should return to consult The Emperor.
• Tzeentch found Magnus’s eyeball in the Warp and, unable to understand why Magnus had disappeared, prepared to meet with the other gods.

Tzeentch discovered that Angron had been silent for a long time while Khorne and Slaanesh were distracted by the Warmaster competition. He warned Nurgle that something was wrong, but the chapter ended before Nurgle learned what he had found.

• Nurgle arrived at the gods’ meeting alone and told Tzeentch that Khorne and Slaanesh were watching the Warmaster competition.
• Khorne cheered Sanguinius’s xenos extermination campaign and celebrated as Sanguinius killed a xenos king.
• Slaanesh watched Sanguinius and browsed books about the Primarchs and the Emperor, while Tzeentch glimpsed their titles.
• Tzeentch tried to alert Khorne that Angron had been silent, but Khorne brushed him aside.
• Tzeentch went to warn Slaanesh, then explained his discovery to Nurgle and said something was wrong.
• Nurgle stopped picking at his body and asked Tzeentch what was wrong, while suggesting their plan to make Horus Warmaster and bring down the Imperium.

Tzeentch and Nurgle suspected the Emperor was concealing his plans for Sanguinius, Magnus, Angron, and the redeployed Legions, while Ainz supplied Demiurge with a Wild Magic item to intensify attacks behind the Imperium of Man’s advance. The chapter ended as Demiurge sent transformed extremists to destroy a city fortress where Angron was meeting Imperium veterans.

• Tzeentch told Nurgle that Sanguinius’s Warmaster competition and his loss of contact with Magnus suggested the Emperor had altered the plans.
• Nurgle said Mortarion’s Legion faced mounting war pressure and that the Emperor had secretly redeployed several Legions, then promised to have Typhus investigate.
• Tzeentch considered using Kor Phaeron and Erebus as a backup plan and looked toward the despairing Lorgar.
• Demiurge asked Ainz for support to turn the Imperium of Man’s rear into a second battlefield, and Ainz sent him a Wild Magic item that drove its user insane.
• Demiurge offered the item to his anti-Imperium extremists, who volunteered to use it, then ordered them to destroy a newly built city fortress.
• Angron, able only to move his head, received a group of Imperium veterans in the city.

Angron visited veteran administrators to ease their resentment over leaving the front lines and reflected on the wrongs he had done to his Primarch Guard, the Devourers. The people of the otherworld welcomed him for the safety and abundance his rule had brought.

• Angron went to meet veteran officers who had become bureaucrats and hoped to persuade them to accept their administrative work without resorting to force.
• Angron walked with the aid of electronic muscle bundles while the twelve Devourers kept pace beside him.
• Angron remembered how he had once scorned the Devourers, who had remained loyal despite the Legion's ridicule, and struggled to make amends to them.
• Angron considered placing the World Eaters under Leman Russ's command so he could reflect on how to repair his relationship with the Legion.
• The new citizens cheered Angron, grateful for the security, food, and protection his rule had provided.

Angron’s ceremony was interrupted by an undead assault, which escalated when Jaldabaoth unleashed strange, seemingly bolter-proof monsters against the Imperials. As the Devourers prepared to defend him, Demiurge wondered why Angron had not made his move.

• Angron praised the veterans for their administrative work before alarms announced more than two hundred thousand undead approaching the eastern wall.
• Pits opened in the plaza, and wraiths and death knights attacked the crowd, but the Devourers and Imperial troops quickly destroyed them.
• Jaldabaoth appeared above the plaza and summoned magma-filled meteors, then vanished when the Devourers fired plasma bolts at him.
• More pits opened and released enormous grayish-white monsters whose flesh resisted bolter fire, while Angron rejected Jaldabaoth’s appeal for sympathy.
• The monsters charged the Imperials as the Devourers prepared to protect Angron, and Demiurge questioned why Angron had not acted.

Demiurge abandoned his planned assault on the city because his fear of Primarchs made him expect any strategy to fail. After suspecting Angron might be unusually weak, he transformed into his True Demon Form and attacked a Devourer, leaving Angron’s response uncertain.

• Demiurge reflected on his abandoned plan to sabotage the city defenses and launch an undead assault, blaming his fear of Primarchs.
• Demiurge watched Angron remain among his guards instead of fighting and wondered whether the Primarch was hiding a weakness.
• Demiurge provoked Angron and concluded that he should attack the Primarch’s descendants instead.
• Demiurge activated True Demon Form, greatly increasing his size and power.
• Demiurge rushed a Devourer and punched him through a house.

Demiurge struggled to overcome the Devourers’ armor and Angron’s interference, eventually discovering that Angron appeared frail and launching an Infernal Sun at him. Angron countered with an astonishing simultaneous casting of 153,000 Water Bullets.

• Demiurge fought off the Devourers’ coordinated attacks, but Angron dispelled his Word of Power and disrupted his negative magic.
• Demiurge drained his distant servants to transform, then used Ainz’s armor-piercing sword and several defense-weakening items against the Devourers.
• Demiurge damaged the Devourers’ armor and endured their attacks, but none of them fell.
• Demiurge summoned an Infernal Sun, and the Devourers formed a defensive line before Angron.
• Demiurge realized Angron was genuinely frail and hurled the Infernal Sun at him.
• Angron told the Devourers not to protect him and cast 153,000 Water Bullets simultaneously, startling Demiurge.

Angron defeated Demiurge and learned that the enemy was gathering the souls of the dead in the Far East. He told Leman Russ, who rejected Magnus’s suggestion to destroy the world in order to preserve it for The Emperor.

• Angron overwhelmed Demiurge’s Evil Sun with a massive wave of Water Bullets, then killed him by spitting through his head when Demiurge tried to capture him.
• Angron learned from Demiurge that the enemy was preparing a plan in the Far East and had taken the souls of those killed during the conquest there.
• Angron reported his discovery to Leman Russ by holographic projection, and they discussed how Demiurge’s body had vanished after his death.
• Magnus suggested using Titans to devastate the world and kill its remaining life, but Leman Russ insisted on preserving the planet as The Emperor had ordered.
• Leman Russ criticized Magnus for prioritizing his own desires, angering Magnus.

Angron, Leman Russ, and Magnus organized a rapid assault to stop the enemy from gathering souls for powerful Wild Magic. Leman Russ led a vast force east toward the enemy’s lair, while Ainz resurrected Demiurge at the Great Tomb.

• Angron, Leman Russ, and Magnus agreed to concentrate their forces and strike before the enemy completed its plan, but The Emperor forbade Space Marines from using magic.
• Angron arranged to send supplies forward, while Leman Russ assembled elite troops and armored vehicles and ordered the remaining forces to withdraw to Imperium-controlled territory.
• Leman Russ gathered twenty thousand Space Marines and five hundred thousand Imperial auxiliaries for a fast assault, despite having supplies for only about a week of intense fighting.
• Leman Russ rallied the army and led its armored column east, ordering the troops to avoid delays and push straight toward the enemy’s heart.
• Leman Russ sprinted ahead and smashed through a city’s walls, clearing the way for the advancing force.
• Ainz used the Great Tomb’s gold coins to resurrect Demiurge.