Chapter Summaries

Art Student gave Tina a Flame Sword and ordered her to distribute 82 more to qualified senior officers, along with newly developed weapons for field testing. After Tina left with the four Judgement Custodes, Art Student learned that all his experiments were finished and found himself with unexpected free time.

• Tina returned the Flame Sword to Art Student, who told her to keep it and produced more than a thousand identical swords.
• Art Student set aside 82 Flame Swords for qualified senior officers and instructed Tina to deliver them to officers such as Gray.
• Art Student explained that each Flame Sword would bind to its user's genetic data and return to him if its user died.
• Art Student asked Tina to bring newly developed weapons to the military for soldiers to test and evaluate.
• After Tina departed with the four Judgement Custodes, Art Student asked Gaia about unfinished experiments and learned that none remained.

Art Student used a meteorite to upgrade the Lord of the Stars flagship, enlarging and strengthening it. He then began transforming a second meteorite into a shipyard for building Gloriana-class Battleships.

• Art Student piloted the Lord of the Stars to Kuiper Planet, and Mendeleev followed in the Radiance of the Stars.
• Art Student reshaped a meteorite over fifty kilometers wide into steel dust and merged it into the Lord of the Stars flagship.
• The flagship grew from twenty-five to fifty-five kilometers in diameter and gained a thicker hull, more turrets, and stronger weapons.
• Mendeleev and his crew watched the transformation and praised the Lord of the Stars.
• Art Student transformed a second, larger meteorite and created shipyards inside it capable of building Gloriana-class Battleships.

Art Student expanded the star sea’s shipyards, including one capable of building four Gloriana-class Battleships at once, but the shortage of specialized personnel kept the new facilities from being used. He told Mendeleev that production would likely take more than a decade unless an emergency required him to build the battleships personally.

• Art Student built and enlarged shipyards across the star sea, but left them largely idle because there were too few construction robots and trained personnel.
• Art Student appeared on the bridge of the Radiance of the Stars, where the crew greeted him reverently before returning to their duties.
• Art Student told Mendeleev that the largest new shipyard could build Gloriana-class Battleships.
• Mendeleev asked whether they could begin building the battleships, and Art Student explained that insufficient specialized personnel would delay production for more than a decade.
• Art Student assured Mendeleev that he would build Gloriana-class Battleships himself if a critical need arose, and Mendeleev acknowledged the importance of cultivating talent.

Governor Seth and Provence Sector officials learned that Holy Terra had finally replied to their plea for help against the heretics, three years after the message was sent. They entered the Astropathic Court together, eager to hear what the reply said.

• Seth worried that the heretics were attacking nearby Imperial systems and that Provence Sector lacked the ships to stop them.
• A slave told Seth that Holy Terra had replied to the Astropathic message sent three years earlier.
• Seth hurried to the Astropathic Court, where Minister of War Carl, Bishop Yifan, and Inquisitor Kulo also gathered.
• The Court's Servitor confirmed their identities and opened the steel gates for the four officials.
• Seth led the others through the Court's gates and down its dim corridor, still awaiting the message's contents.

Yiluo told Seth, Bishop Yifan, Carl, and Kulo that Holy Terra had committed major military reinforcements and Mechanicus forces to the crusade against the heretics. The High Lords also ordered them to uncover the heretics’ strength and leaders or face an Inquisition investigation, and the four pledged to send out their intelligence personnel.

• Yiluo greeted Seth and the other officials before the Emperor’s statue, and Seth asked what Holy Terra’s reply contained.
• Yiluo reported that the High Lords would send fifteen Emperor’s Angels Chapters, twenty million elite Astra Militarum soldiers, a naval fleet, and support from several Knight Houses.
• Yiluo added that the Adeptus Mechanicus would dispatch a Titan Legion and Knight forces from Segmentum Pacificus.
• Yiluo relayed the High Lords’ order to investigate the heretics’ scale, leaders, and principal rebels, warning that failure could bring an Inquisition investigation.
• Kulo and Minister of War Carl promised to deploy their intelligence agents, and the four officials vowed to complete the mission.

Kairos Fateweaver struggled to devise a way to sabotage the otherworldly stowaways’ plans because he could not use psychic power to predict their soldiers. He decided to trick Slaanesh daemons into fighting them while he stayed out of the conflict.

• Kairos Fateweaver received the Lord of Change’s order to sabotage the stowaways’ offensive against the Dalavan Galaxy.
• Kairos Fateweaver found that he could not divine the pasts or futures of the stowaways’ soldiers and worried he would fail his mission.
• Kairos Fateweaver decided to have other daemons interfere with the stowaways instead of acting himself.
• Kairos Fateweaver rejected using Nurgle and Khorne daemons, then chose to set up Slaanesh daemons as cannon fodder.

After dreaming that armed giants executed him, Isel woke in terror and wondered whether the nightmare foretold what was to come. Seeking clues, he retrieved an ancient book hidden beneath the Emperor’s statue.

• In his dream, Isel begged the giants to spare his life and offered them weapons, soldiers, and the wealth of the Dalavan Galaxy.
• The giant mocked Isel’s offers, ordered the giants to fire, and they shot him dead.
• Isel woke after falling from his bed, realized he had dreamed his death, and ordered two guards who rushed in to leave.
• After washing, Isel reflected on the dream as a possible prophecy and decided to seek clues.
• Isel bowed before the Emperor’s statue, opened its hidden compartment, and took out an ancient book made from human skin.

Isel followed the human-skin book’s instructions to summon the Lord of Wisdom’s incarnation, believing the ritual would save him from death. After sacrificing fifty-eight civilians, he saw black figures emerge from a blue rift above the ritual lamp.

• Isel prayed over the human-skin book and found a message warning that death drew near and that one method could avert it.
• Isel opened the book again and read instructions to sacrifice fifty-eight mortals by flaying them to summon an incarnation and receive help.
• Isel decided the lives of fifty-eight commoners were an acceptable price and recruited Servitors to carry out the ritual.
• Isel and the Servitors flayed fifty-eight civilians, arranged their corpses in the basement, and lit a lamp made from human fat.
• Isel prayed to the God of Flaying as the lamp swayed, then watched a blue spatial rift open and pitch-black figures emerge.

Sestian, a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh, possessed Isel and disguised himself as the governor after devouring her soul and memories. He began gathering Dalavan Galaxy officials under his psychic control, preparing to use them in his plans to summon more daemons.

• Sestian answered Isel's summoning, devoured her soul, and took over her body.
• Sestian discovered Isel's memories and dismissed her belief that the Lord of Wisdom had guided her.
• Sestian decided to summon his daemon followers, which required a grand sacrificial ritual and enough mortals.
• Sestian changed his appearance to resemble Governor Isel and returned to the governor's residence.
• Sestian psychically controlled Isel's subordinates and had them summon officials from across the Dalavan Galaxy.

Sestian trapped the people summoned to Governor Isel’s residence in a deadly illusion and fed on their terror. As victims died and their blood formed a rune, he tore open a rift between the material universe and the Warp.

• Officials and officers gathered at the Governor’s residence, puzzled by Sestian’s unusually broad summons.
• The residence’s gates slammed shut, and Sestian greeted the assembled people before unleashing terrifying visions.
• A commander rallied the officers into a defensive circle while Ecclesiarchy fanatics resisted the illusion through faith.
• The illusion began to inflict real wounds, and many people collapsed and died as Sestian enjoyed their screams.
• Sestian gathered the victims’ blood into a rune and used its blue radiance to open a rift between the material universe and the Warp.

Sestian opened a Warp rift and unleashed daemons that possessed and slaughtered the survivors in the governor's mansion. The rift closed after more than a thousand daemons remained, and Sestian sent them across the planet to gather more souls and flesh.

• Sestian's Warp rift poured daemons into the governor's mansion, where the survivors mistook them for another illusion.
• The daemons possessed a man, tormented him for his negative emotions, then tore apart and devoured his soul after he died.
• The Warp rift closed when Sestian's sacrifices could no longer sustain it, leaving just over a thousand powerful daemons in the material universe.
• Sestian ordered the daemons to gather souls and flesh and make the world the realm of the Prince of Pleasure.
• The daemons rushed from the mansion across the planet, obeying Sestian despite wanting to keep the souls for themselves.

Mo Tuo and Wood welcomed Tina, who arrived with an important mission from the Lord of the Stars. She gave them Flame Swords, semi-divine artifacts capable of killing demons permanently, and began explaining their power.

• Mo Tuo and Wood learned that Tina had arrived at the star system with a small fleet and a mission from the Lord of the Stars.
• Mo Tuo and Wood went to greet Tina and escorted her fleet into formation.
• Tina arrived on the battleship’s bridge with four Judgement Custodes and presented Mo Tuo and Wood with Flame Swords.
• Tina explained that the Flame Swords were semi-divine artifacts that could kill demons forever.

Tina gave Mo Tuo and Wood demi-artifact Flame Swords and warned Wood against questioning the Lord of the Stars. She then gathered the senior officers on a desolate planet to distribute the swords and test new weapons, leaving the officers assembled and eager for the demonstrations.

• Tina explained that the Flame Swords could completely destroy demons, and Wood's doubt prompted her to accuse him of questioning the Lord of the Stars.
• Mo Tuo defended Wood, and Tina warned that she would execute him if he blasphemed again; Wood promised it would not happen.
• Tina announced that all senior officers would receive Flame Swords and that they would test new weapons developed by the Lord of the Stars.
• Mo Tuo agreed to gather the officers, while Wood arranged a testing site to demonstrate his loyalty.
• Mo Tuo, Wood, John, and other senior officers assembled with Tina on a desolate planet, each holding a Flame Sword as they prepared to test the new weapons.

Tina demonstrated the adapted Gauss Rifles to the Fifth Fleet, showing how their energy beams disintegrated ceramite steel and explaining their ammunition capacity and Posu Energy Bars. After Mo Tuo tested the larger rifle, he identified its main weakness: it could fire only once every three seconds.

• Tina unveiled the large and small Gauss Rifles and demonstrated the smaller rifle disintegrating a ceramite steel target.
• Tina explained that the larger rifle was for Space Marines, the smaller one was for Defense Force and naval soldiers, and their Energy Bars supported different numbers of shots.
• Tina demonstrated the larger Gauss Rifle and showed how its Posu Energy Bar fit into the weapon's grip.
• Mo Tuo asked Tina about the rifle's weaknesses and tested the larger model by firing at distant targets.
• Mo Tuo discovered that the Gauss Rifle could fire only once every three seconds, and Tina confirmed that this was its limit.

Mo Tuo, Tina, and John discussed the Gauss Rifle’s slow rate of fire and how it should be used. Tina recorded John’s suggestion to arm combat robots with the rifles, then revealed another unusual weapon from the crate.

• Mo Tuo complained that the Gauss Rifle fired too slowly for Space Marines, and Tina explained that powerful energy weapons risked overheating if fired faster.
• Mo Tuo concluded that Gauss Rifles should be issued in limited numbers and used according to their strengths.
• John suggested equipping combat robots with Gauss Rifles so they could charge enemy defenses without fear of casualties.
• John admitted that he had borrowed the idea from the Necron Dynasty, and Tina said she would report it to the Lord of the Stars.
• Tina recorded John’s proposal and took another unusual firearm from the crate, featuring a flared muzzle, dense coils, and a large energy supply device.

Tina demonstrated the Roarer, a powerful sonic gun that shattered targets at a distance but produced punishing recoil. She showed John that a weaker version was available for Defense Force soldiers.

• Mo Tuo asked Tina about the strange firearm, and she identified it as a sonic gun before telling everyone to maximize their helmets’ noise cancellation.
• Tina fired the Roarer at targets thousands of meters away, sending out a sonic wave that stirred up the sand and left the nearby soldiers reeling.
• The sonic wave shattered more than a hundred ceramite targets, while Tina trembled from the weapon’s recoil.
• John noted that the gun’s power came with demanding physical requirements, and Tina explained its penetrating force and the need for proper technique.
• Tina revealed a less powerful sonic weapon for Defense Force soldiers, and John accepted that version as sufficient.

After completing construction of the third star system, the Fifth Fleet set course for the Dalavan Galaxy, the final target of its first expedition. A deep-space scan revealed that Dalavan I Hive World was overrun by unknown life signatures and Industrial World II contained demons, leaving the fleet facing a potentially devastated system.

• Tina returned toward the Star Sea Galaxy with detailed reports on the Gauss Rifles and Sonic Guns.
• Mo Tuo and Wood confirmed that the third star system had completed basic construction and could sustain itself, with forces left behind to defend it.
• John urged the Fifth Fleet to continue its liberation mission, and Wood ordered the fleet to set sail for the Dalavan Galaxy.
• The Fifth Fleet made a dimensional jump and entered the Dalavan Galaxy, where its deep-space radar triggered an alarm.
• Wood analyzed the radar data and reported that Dalavan I Hive World held more unknown life signatures than humans, while Industrial World II had a smaller number of demonic signatures.
• Mo Tuo and John feared that Dalavan I Hive World had been overrun by demons and that few people remained alive.

Wood briefed Mo Tuo and John on the daemon invasion in the Dalavan Galaxy, where Hive World One had been overrun and Daravan II Industrial World still contained daemons. Mo Tuo chose to destroy all life on Hive World One with Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedoes, then personally lead a force to eliminate any surviving daemons, while John took command on Daravan II.

• Wood reported that fewer than one million humans remained on Hive World One amid more than ten million daemons, while nearly a thousand daemons were on Daravan II Industrial World.
• Mo Tuo and John agreed that Hive World One could not be saved and that rescuing its survivors would cost too many soldiers and risk bringing back people whose minds had been damaged.
• Mo Tuo decided to use Atmospheric Incinerator Torpedoes to eradicate life on Hive World One rather than destroy the planet itself.
• Mo Tuo vowed to lead a team into Hive World One after the bombardment to purge any surviving daemons.
• Mo Tuo assigned John to command the battle on Daravan II Industrial World, and John agreed.

Sestian realized Kairos had clouded his mind while an unfamiliar Star Navy Fleet approached Hive World One. Though the fleet’s arrival put him in danger, Sestian welcomed the prospect of a real battle and vowed to take revenge on Kairos when he returned.

• Sestian searched Hive World One for the source of his growing unease but found no threat among the planet’s survivors and Slaanesh daemons.
• Sestian discovered faint psychic energy enveloping him and recognized Kairos had been manipulating his thoughts.
• Kairos mocked Sestian and sent him information about the Star Navy Fleet entering the Dalavan Galaxy.
• Sestian learned the fleet was approaching and, rather than fear it, looked forward to fighting it.
• Sestian cursed Kairos and promised to find a way to kill him after he returned.

Captain Wood ordered an atmospheric incineration torpedo to destroy Hive World One, killing its survivors and Slaanesh daemons. After the flames died, Mo Tuo led the Space Marines to deploy and eliminate any remaining life on the corrupted planet.

• Wood ordered the Star Navy Fleet to launch an atmospheric incineration torpedo at Hive World One.
• Sestian saw the torpedo coming and retreated to a safe area of the Underhive.
• The torpedo ignited the planet’s atmosphere, burning the survivors, Slaanesh daemons, and cities until the surface was left scorched and ruined.
• Mo Tuo ordered the cruiser into orbit after the fires died down.
• Mo Tuo told Darryl and the thousand Space Marines of Fourth Battalion to enter drop pods and kill every living thing on the planet.
• The Space Marines boarded the drop pods, roaring, “For the great Lord of the Stars!”