Chapter Summaries

Imperial forces ambushed Bone Uncle’s Ork convoy and battled his powerful bodyguards. Though Kaiser and the others badly wounded Bone Uncle, he rallied and counterattacked until Lin Fan challenged him directly.

• Imperial artillery crumpled the ground around Bone Uncle’s convoy, and Imperial troops emerged to engage the Orks.
• Kaiser, Wodhaus, the Canoness, Lin Fan, and their allies fought Bone Uncle’s heavily armored Bosses, with Kaiser killing one after Wodhaus stunned it.
• Lin Fan distracted Bone Uncle, allowing Kaiser to attach a meltabomb that tore open Bone Uncle’s armor, but Bone Uncle retaliated and wounded Kaiser.
• Wodhaus shielded the attackers as the Grey Hunters and Blood Claws targeted Bone Uncle, while Bennett knocked him down with his Crozius Arcanum.
• Bone Uncle roared about Orks never being slaves, broke Wodhaus’s shield, killed a Grey Hunter, and battered Bennett and the Blood Claws.
• Lin Fan punched Bone Uncle’s power claw and called him out as his true opponent.

Lin Fan and Bone Uncle vanished together after Tzeentch intervened, leaving the Imperials to finish the battle and record Lin Fan as dead. Six months later, Armageddon’s war had turned in the Imperials’ favor, and the chapter ended with Lin Fan’s destination still unknown.

• Lin Fan shattered Bone Uncle’s armor and heart, but Tzeentch’s dice caused both of them to disappear from the battlefield.
• Gevisiting and Delia mourned Lin Fan’s disappearance and slaughtered the remaining Orks, while the other Imperial forces routed their enemies.
• The Departmento Munitorum recorded Captain Soap as missing and requested a posthumous Star of Terra for his achievements.
• Six months later, Blood Angels reinforcements helped the Space Wolves and Imperial forces drive the Orks into Armageddon’s Equatorial Forest.
• Von Strab died after his Chimera plunged him into the Acid Sea, and Commissar Yarrick applied to retire.

Dovell traveled to New Heglas Hive to return dog tags that belonged to its fallen defenders, hoping to bring the dead home. Joseph told him about the hive’s suffering and introduced him to Annie as the three continued toward the war memorial.

• Dovell arrived in New Heglas Hive and asked a local man where he could find the cemetery or war memorial.
• Dovell showed the man the bloodstained dog tags and explained that he could not identify their owners.
• Joseph invited Dovell to walk with him and described the horrors Heglas Hive’s survivors had endured under the Orks.
• Joseph showed Dovell the damage to his body from captivity and warned him about the Orks’ slave pits.
• Annie joined Joseph and Dovell, and Joseph introduced her as his future wife.

Dovell visited the Unknown Heroes Monument and attended its dedication Mass, while Yarrick refused Domisilon’s plea to rule Armageddon and prepared to leave. The chapter ended with a brief, chaotic exchange between two Aeldari and Asheshae.

• Joseph and Annie brought Dovell to the Unknown Heroes Monument, where he grieved for the dead and accepted Joseph’s offer of a place to stay.
• Three days later, Sisters and Ecclesiarchy priests held a Mass at the monument and installed a golden Aquila as the people of Heglas Hive prayed.
• Within the Warp, the Emperor watched Armageddon’s worshippers and lamented what had happened.
• Domisilon urged Yarrick to govern Armageddon, but Yarrick said he was only a commissar and insisted on leaving.
• Domisilon angrily called Yarrick a hero before accepting his departure and telling him not to return.
• Asheshae and the two Aeldari argued over the humans, ending with Asheshae calling for someone to hit his mother.

Lin Fan wandered through the Webway with Little Yi until Jaghatai Khan sped past on a grav-bike and Lin Fan’s unexpectedly sturdy neck caused the Khan to crash. The injured Khan charged at Lin Fan, leaving their confrontation unresolved.

• Lin Fan explored the Webway with Little Yi, who recorded its features and recalled her first owner, Otoshi.
• Lin Fan worried about finding an exit and vowed to confront Tzeentch after rebuilding a Golden Age fleet.
• Little Yi detected a fast-moving vehicle carrying three heat signatures, and Lin Fan prepared for a possible attack.
• Jaghatai Khan sped by on a grav-bike, and Lin Fan called out to him as the Khan’s blade cut into his neck.
• Lin Fan’s neck and the blade disrupted the grav-bike’s balance, sending the Khan crashing far down the Webway.
• Lin Fan found the battered Khan, who drew his curved blade and charged at him.

Lin Fan and Little Yi encountered Jaghatai Khan in the Webway, where Lin Fan survived the Khan’s attack and Little Yi claimed they came from humanity’s ancient golden age. As the Khan confronted the memory of Horus’s envoy, he saw through the Chaos deception and turned his fury toward Horus and his corrupted fleet.

• Jaghatai Khan attacked Lin Fan, but his scimitar and kick barely harmed him and damaged the weapon instead.
• Lin Fan introduced himself as Captain Soap, and Little Yi appeared as a mechanical head and claimed they were survivors of humanity’s former glory.
• Jaghatai questioned why Lin Fan wore Imperial armor, while Lin Fan explained that Tzeentch had sent him into the Webway after a battle on Armageddon.
• The Khan remembered the visions Horus’s envoy had shown him and began to question the envoy’s apparent face.
• Jaghatai tore away the envoy’s disguise, saw the Chaos corruption beneath it, and smashed its head apart.
• Jaghatai looked toward Horus’s allied fleet and saw its ships revealed as grotesque, corrupted vessels, with Horus watching him from the flagship.

Lin Fan explained to Jaghatai Khan how the Imperium’s cruelty fed the Warp and argued that ordinary soldiers fought for the people and hopes they loved, not only for the Emperor. Remembering the oppressed people he once led and the courage of mortals still fighting, the Khan wept with self-reproach, leaving Lin Fan surprised by how strongly his words had affected him.

• The Khan asked Lin Fan why he could speak of the Great Enemy without fear, and Lin Fan explained that the Warp and its gods reflected the emotions and conduct of living beings.
• Lin Fan criticized the Imperium’s oppression and endless wars, and the Khan lamented that the Great Crusade had often preserved cruel rulers instead of improving the lives of ordinary people.
• Lin Fan challenged the Khan to consider the Astra Militarum soldiers’ fears and the personal hopes that drove them to fight.
• The Khan remembered leading oppressed people on Chogoris and reflected on how he had withdrawn from the Imperium while his sons and countless mortals continued to resist its darkness.
• The Khan closed his eyes and shed a tear of self-reproach, while Lin Fan wondered whether his persuasive words could sway even the T’au.

The Khan reflected on his regrets and found renewed hope in Lin Fan’s plan to use Little Yi to help rebuild the Golden Age. When their wrecked vehicle proved impossible to repair, the Khan carried Lin Fan through the Webway to seek help elsewhere.

• The Khan emerged from his painful reflections with renewed hope and thanked Lin Fan for his words.
• Lin Fan explained his vague plan to develop Little Yi and build a force that could influence the Imperium, while Little Yi described her limited abilities.
• The Khan said a Drukhari competition called the Bottom Line might offer information about nanite swarms.
• Lin Fan, the Khan, and Little Yi returned to the crash site and found the Drukhari Reaver grav-bike ruined beyond repair.
• The Khan decided to seek help from someone he knew, picked Lin Fan up, and raced through the Webway.

The disguised Khan and Lin Fan crossed Commorragh’s brutal slums to visit the Khan’s enslaved Haemonculus, who repaired vehicles under threat to the vessel holding his soul. The Haemonculus, Gukalad, was forced to acknowledge his role as an auto mechanic.

• The Khan and Lin Fan endured repeated ambushes while walking through Commorragh’s slums, and the Khan described his disgust with the Drukhari.
• The Khan led Lin Fan into a butcher’s chamber guarded by a flesh amalgamation and confronted its hidden master.
• The Khan used a black stone containing the Haemonculus’s soul to frighten him by threatening to speak Slaanesh’s name.
• Lin Fan questioned why a Haemonculus was repairing vehicles, and the Khan explained that forcing him to do work he hated was his ultimate humiliation.
• The Haemonculus introduced himself as Gukalad, but the Khan’s threat made him declare that he was an auto mechanic.

The Khan considered entering Bottom Line and had Gukalad prepare a high-speed anti-gravity motorcycle while Gukalad explained the race’s gruesome rules. After the Khan punished Gukalad for his descriptions, Lin Fan asked whether they could simply kill the other racers, and Gukalad began to object.

• Gukalad assembled a high-speed anti-gravity motorcycle as the Khan asked about entering Bottom Line.
• Gukalad described the race’s rules, which rewarded racers for tormenting opponents without killing them.
• The Khan dragged Gukalad away and beat him for describing vile acts to Lin Fan.
• Gukalad used insect-like limbs and a replacement throat to repair himself after the beating.
• Lin Fan suggested killing everyone in Bottom Line, and Gukalad started to explain why that would not work.

Lin Fan and Khan prepared to enter Commorragh’s Bottom Line Competition, while Gukalad finished a Drukhari motorcycle for them. After Khan used an Omni-Twist Device to change his appearance, Lin Fan’s attempt to use it drew Gukalad’s eager attention to his flesh.

• Gukalad explained that the Bottom Line Competition lasted for months or years and that pleasing Victor mattered more than winning.
• Lin Fan and Khan planned to hunt Drukhari contestants while waiting at Gukalad’s repair shop.
• Gukalad presented Khan with a black, elaborately carved motorcycle, and Khan covered it in white paint.
• Khan revealed that he had killed a blind Coven and taken its Omni-Twist Device, then used it to transform into a Coven warrior.
• Little Yi woke briefly, said she needed high-energy food to recover, and went back to sleep.
• Lin Fan tried the Omni-Twist Device without changing form, and Gukalad begged to carve his body before Lin Fan shot him in the eye socket.

Lin Fan and Khan set out for the Bottom Line matches, but Khan secretly returned to confront Gukalad and reclaim a soulstone. After Lin Fan sent Gukalad’s soul to Slaanesh and dispersed the daemon’s projection, Scourge units descended to investigate the forbidden psychic disturbance.

• Lin Fan watched Commorragh’s gruesome news while he and Khan waited for the Bottom Line matches to begin.
• Khan rode off with Lin Fan, then used Primarch-level stealth to sneak back and seize a soulstone from Gukalad.
• Khan beat Gukalad and gave both soulstones to Lin Fan, who called on Slaanesh and watched Gukalad’s soul get devoured.
• Lin Fan threw his sacred icon at Slaanesh’s shadow and dispersed its projection.
• Scourge units detected the psychic disturbance and descended to find whoever had broken Commorragh’s rules.

Lin Fan and the Khan fought their way toward the finish line, where Lin Fan’s volkite gun devastated the Drukhari pursuing them. As the violence reached the arena, Vect sent Arendnar to restore order and wondered whether the disturbance might become a new opportunity.

• The Khan drove through Commorragh’s lower levels while Lin Fan shot down Scourges with a volkite gun.
• Lin Fan and the Khan raced toward the finish-line track as the Khan bragged about his speed.
• Vect watched the competition with invited Archons, Haemonculus councillors, and Incubi guards while the gathered leaders secretly negotiated.
• Explosions and burning Scourges outside the Black Heart Spire drew the nobles’ attention to the central screen, where they saw the slaughter in the arena.
• Vect dismissed Arendnar’s protest, then ordered him to go uphold order in Commorragh.
• After Arendnar and the other Archons left, Vect wondered whether the chaos presented a new opportunity.

Lin Fan and Khan fought off a Scourge pursuit through Commorragh while other Drukhari attacked the Scourges from the streets. A flirtatious Reaver rider caught up with them, and Khan accused Lin Fan of being distracted by her before threatening to throw him off the bike.

• Lin Fan and Khan used the city’s spires and buildings for cover while Lin Fan shot down pursuing Scourges with his fusion gun.
• Other kabals and Hellions ambushed the Scourges with Splinter Rifles, forcing some to crash and killing their captain when Lin Fan hit him with a fusion beam.
• A Reaver rider caught up with Khan and flirted with him and Lin Fan as they sped through the city.
• Lin Fan raised his fusion gun toward the rider, who teased him about being interested in her.
• Khan accused Lin Fan of thinking with his lower body and threatened to throw him off the bike.

Yilafren became fascinated with Lin Fan after tasting his skin and joined him and Khan in the Bottom Line Competition. After Khan shot at her and she escaped, she declared that they were a team called the Kissing Squad and challenged them to catch her.

• Yilafren dodged blast lasers on her Raider bike and kissed Lin Fan, savoring the sensation.
• Khan demanded that Yilafren transfer Lin Fan to him, while Lin Fan wrestled with his attraction to her.
• Khan and Lin Fan emerged from the spires onto the Bottom Line Competition’s crowded racetrack, where Charalad announced the contestants and their kills.
• Yilafren asked to join Khan and Lin Fan, and Khan fired at her with his splinter pistol.
• Yilafren barely dodged Khan’s shot, named their team the Kissing Squad, and sped away, prompting Khan to swear he would catch her.

Khan and Lin Fan pursued Yilafren through the race while Charalad’s announcements drew the racers’ attention to them and revealed Khan’s slaughter of a Scourge squad. Amara attacked the racers and nearly killed Yilafren, but Khan intervened, leaving Yilafren to continue as his prey.

• Khan chased Yilafren on his motorcycle and told Lin Fan not to open fire because he wanted to catch her himself.
• Charalad announced Khan’s arrival and his slaughter of an entire Scourge squad, making the white motorcycle the focus of the race and a target for noble factions.
• Amara turned her Venom around and slaughtered racers to reclaim the spectators’ attention.
• Amara attacked Yilafren, who found a way to dodge but expected to lose an arm.
• Khan fired a searing beam at Amara, forcing her to retreat onto the Venom before she could strike Yilafren.
• Yilafren blew Khan a kiss, and Khan told Lin Fan that Yilafren was his prey.

Lin Fan and the Khan fought Amara and Martens as Yilafren taunted both sides. Yilafren destroyed Venom and mocked the Khan, while an even angrier voice sounded behind the group.

• Amara stopped chasing Yilafren and attacked Lin Fan and the Khan with Martens and Venom.
• Lin Fan fired his melta gun at Amara, while the Khan dodged Venom’s dark lance and predicted its movements.
• The Khan shot Venom and damaged its armor, forcing Amara and Martens to retreat while covering their escape with a turret.
• Yilafren accelerated her Raider motorcycle with a gemstone and sliced Venom in half with its grav-blade.
• Yilafren mocked the Khan, and an even angrier voice came from behind the group.

Lin Fan and the Khan were trapped by Alundenaer’s Star Entrails Kabal and fought off its capture attempts. Alundenaer began to suspect that their presence was part of a purge planned by Vect, but still decided to capture and torture them.

• Alundenaer led the Star Entrails Kabal’s aircraft and skiffs in pursuit of Lin Fan and the Khan, while Lin Fan warned the Khan about the Voidraven Bomber’s destructive weapons.
• The Khan admitted the motorcycle could not outrun the Kabal and prepared to fight as Alundenaer ordered the Raiders to take them alive.
• The Raiders ensnared the motorcycle and fired at its riders, so the Khan used Lin Fan as a shield while Lin Fan returned fire with his meltagun.
• Alundenaer saw Lin Fan survive the attacks and wondered whether their arrival was connected to a new purge orchestrated by Vect.
• Alundenaer decided to keep up appearances by capturing and torturing Lin Fan and the Khan, while privately dismissing a rival’s ability to challenge him.

Khan tore through the Drukhari skiffs while Lin Fan fought to survive the aerial assault. The chapter left Khan and Lin Fan falling toward the void as Little Yi entered deep termination mode and the Drukhari moved in to capture them.

• Khan leapt aboard a Raider skiff and slaughtered its Kabalite warriors before destroying several more Drukhari vessels.
• Charalad praised Khan’s efficient killing, while Archon Alundenaer ordered the Raven fighters to use lethal force and preserve Khan’s corpse.
• A Raven fighter’s darklight lance destroyed the skiff beneath Khan, sending him falling as Lin Fan tried to rescue him.
• The Drukhari threw a shatterfield grenade that shattered Lin Fan’s bike and reduced his blastgun to powder.
• Little Yi reported that her system integrity had fallen below 25 percent and entered deep termination mode as attack craft descended with a shatter-net.

Lin Fan forced Yilafren to rescue Khan by threatening her soul with a Soul Stone, and she sped away with him on her motorcycle. Arendnar failed to stop their escape and faced growing unrest as rival Archons watched his Kabal falter.

• Yilafren caught Lin Fan, but he trapped her soul in a Soul Stone and threatened to destroy it unless she saved Khan.
• Yilafren accelerated away with Lin Fan on her motorcycle, leaving the paralyzing nets around Khan shattered.
• Arendnar watched the motorcycle escape and the broadcast host revealed Yilafren's identity and the Cosmic Fragment in her engine.
• Arendnar fired a sickle missile at the media tower, killing Charalad and the other people inside.
• Arendnar ordered his crew to pursue Yilafren and prepared to turn the Voidraven's weapons on them if they betrayed him.
• Arendnar glared at the rival Archons gathering nearby as they waited for his Kabal to collapse.