Chapter Summaries

Hua Wei was transported from his rental room into the Warhammer 40K world and awoke amid a plague-ravaged battlefield. As a Plague Marine pursued him, a mechanical prompt spent his initial emotion points to create a teleportation channel, and Hua Wei lost consciousness.

• Hua Wei heard a recruitment advertisement, then an uncanny distortion pulled him out of his rental room and into darkness.
• Hua Wei woke in a bloodied, toxic wasteland and recognized a swollen attacker as a Nurgle plague zombie.
• Hua Wei saw the zombie threaten a man and infant before a Death Guard Plague Marine approached his hiding place.
• Hua Wei fled toward collapsed debris, drawing the Plague Marine's attention and pursuit.
• A mechanical prompt announced that it would use Hua Wei's initial emotion points to construct a teleportation channel, and Hua Wei blacked out.

Hua Wei awakened on an unknown planet in the early M42 era and used his system to send a Spartan squad to Macragge during the Chaos invasion. The Spartans joined the Ultramarines’ defense as the Armor of Fate’s activation neared completion.

• Hua Wei discovered his summoning system and learned that he was on an unnamed planet outside the Milky Way while Macragge faced a Chaos invasion.
• Hua Wei received six Spartans, implanted memories identifying them as the Hilling Empire Reach Defense Force’s Seventh Special Operations Squad, and deployed them to Macragge.
• The Spartans arrived at the outer defensive line, scanned the battlefield, and followed Carter’s order to assist the blue-armored Ultramarines.
• Jane sniped a Chaos warrior while Carter, Emile, Jorge, and the other Spartans attacked the enemy and identified weaknesses in their armor.
• The Ultramarines coordinated with the Spartans as the defense reached a temporary stalemate, and the Armor of Fate’s light surged inside the Sanctum.

Hua Wei collected Emotion Points while watching Guilliman awaken and devastate the Chaos forces, but the system limited his reward because his summoned units had not taken part. As Saint Celestine questioned the hidden Spartans, Guilliman returned from battle and fixed his attention on them.

• Hua Wei spent Emotion Points on food and water, then lamented that he could not afford a powerful unit.
• The Stasis Field shattered, Guilliman awakened, and Hua Wei’s balance rose to 6,400 Emotion Points before the system explained why the reward stopped.
• Guilliman cut through the Chaos Legion, while Carter ordered Noble Squad to withdraw and record his abilities.
• Saint Celestine sensed the Spartans and descended near them; Carter marked her as a suspected friendly unit as she asked who they were.
• An explosion interrupted the Spartans’ standoff with Celestine, and Guilliman returned from battle and turned his gaze toward Noble Squad.

The Spartans were captured by Imperial forces after the battle and questioned by Guilliman, while Cawl and the others investigated their origins and technology. Imprisoned and cut off from the Hilling Empire, Carter secretly communicated that their armor’s AI backup protocol was active and would take over in three hours.

• Imperial forces disarmed and detained Noble Squad, and Cawl discovered Carter’s genes were remarkably pure.
• Celestine said the Spartans’ souls bore no taint, but Greyfax demanded they be investigated.
• In the interrogation room, Carter identified Noble Squad as the Seventh Special Operations Unit of the Reach Defense Force of the Hilling Empire.
• Guilliman, Celestine, Greyfax, and Cawl examined the Spartans’ armor and debated the scale and credibility of the Hilling Empire.
• Cawl concealed that the MJOLNIR Armor’s AI core was Abominable Intelligence.
• Carter and Emile exchanged Morse code, revealing that the armor’s backup protocol was active and the AI takeover would begin in three hours.

Guilliman sent Greyfax and Celestine to question Carter and his Spartans about the Hilling Empire, while Hua Wei used a costly projection to intervene. The Spartans escaped detention in their restored MJOLNIR Armor, leaving them facing the Imperium’s armed authorities.

• Evelyn told Guilliman that Aeldari history contained no record of the Hilling Empire, and he referred the matter to the Inquisition.
• Greyfax questioned Carter about his origins, and Celestine noticed that the Spartans seemed to recognize her as something familiar but different from their idea of angels.
• Hua Wei spent 10,000 Emotion Points to create a Hilling Empire general’s holographic projection and transmitted it through the MJOLNIR Armor.
• Cawl’s laboratory received the projection, and the armor activated its Lone Wolf Protocol as six suits broke free and rushed toward the detention sector.
• Carter ordered his squad to prepare as the six suits smashed through the cell door and armored the Spartans.
• Greyfax ordered Carter’s group to disarm while Celestine watched them and the Ultramarines held their fire.

Guilliman confronted the Hilling Empire after Carter’s Spartans broke out of detention, and General Kent threatened war unless the Imperium treated them fairly. The two sides began cautious talks, leaving the Spartans free under guard as Guilliman awaited the Empire’s promised supplies and a stable Beacon Channel.

• Guilliman arrived at Sector D-7 and found the Spartans holding their positions while Greyfax and Celestine stood ready outside their cell.
• Carter reported that his squad had been transported through an unknown spatial vortex, and General Kent warned that mistreatment of the Spartans could lead to war.
• Kent introduced himself, described the Hilling Empire’s wormhole-based communications, and authorized Carter to share basic information while entrusting the Spartans to Guilliman.
• Carter explained the Hilling Empire’s government, territory, artificial intelligence laws, and likely civilian supplies during a meeting with Guilliman, Evelyn, and Cawl.
• Guilliman let Carter and his squad stay at Glory Fortress under honor-guard surveillance, then rejected Greyfax’s objections and decided to wait for the Hilling Empire’s next move.

Hua Wei spent Emotion Points on supplies, a safehouse, drones, and armor upgrades after realizing his survival and promise to the Imperium were at risk. Meanwhile, Carter sparred with Cassius and showed the Ultramarines how resilient the Spartan was, leaving Guilliman impressed and Greyfax suspicious.

• Hua Wei learned that his lack of shelter and physical weakness put him in danger, and that failing to provide the promised aid could destroy the Hilling Empire’s credibility.
• Hua Wei bought drone systems for the Spartan Squad, upgraded their Mjolnir Armor, and turned his doghouse into a safehouse.
• Cassius challenged Carter to a hand-to-hand spar, and Carter spent much of the fight dodging and striking at openings.
• Cassius landed a heavy punch that sent Carter to the ground, but Carter rose unharmed and acknowledged the Space Marine’s superior physical abilities.
• Guilliman was surprised by the Spartans’ toughness, while Greyfax called them heretics.

Guilliman led the Imperial assault to purge Plague Garden while Carter’s Spartan Squad recorded the fleet and battlefield, evaluating Guilliman as a Six-Star Legendary Tier combatant. Greyfax intercepted their assessment and began questioning what the Hilling Empire’s power scale revealed about the Spartans and their empire.

• Guilliman ordered the Imperial fleet to destroy Chaos forces in orbit and establish a landing zone on Plague Garden.
• Carter’s Spartan Squad recorded the orbital battle and assessed Guilliman’s command abilities while Greyfax secretly monitored them.
• Three days later, Guilliman led the ground assault across the Foul Plains, cutting through Nurgle’s forces and destroying a Daemon Lord.
• Carter and the squad analyzed Guilliman’s combat footage and agreed that he met their Six-Star Legendary Tier standard.
• An Imperial recorder captured the squad’s evaluation and sent it to a database, where Greyfax read the encrypted fragments and wondered whether the Hilling scale reflected a real power hierarchy.

Guilliman and the allied forces fought off an Iron Warriors ambush, with Carter's Spartan Squad helping stabilize the battle lines. After the fighting, Carter condemned Guilliman's reckless charge, and Guilliman ordered his furious Ultramarines to stand down.

• Iron Warriors Drop Pods struck the allied forces' flank, and Carter's Spartan Squad joined the Ultramarines in repelling the ambush.
• Carter's squad and an Ultramarines Honor Guard held the high ground, eliminated Iron Warriors heavy threats, and rescued beleaguered Imperial troops.
• Guilliman charged alone into the Iron Warriors' assault, and his advance exposed Ultramarines and Astra Militarum units to deadly crossfire.
• Carter led the Spartans to stabilize the collapsing flank, and Guilliman destroyed the final Hellbrute to contain the assault.
• Carter publicly rebuked Guilliman for endangering his troops, prompting enraged Ultramarines to aim their weapons at the Spartan Squad.
• Guilliman ordered his sons to put down their weapons and clear the battlefield.

Hua Wei exchanged two million Emotion Points for 500,000 survival supply packs after persuading the system to offer a one-time discount. Meanwhile, Carter condemned Guilliman’s battlefield decisions, leaving Guilliman silently confronting the flaws in his command.

• Hua Wei persuaded the system to exchange 2,000,000 Emotion Points for 500,000 Basic Survival Supplies Packs, leaving him with 143,850 points.
• Carter criticized Guilliman’s reckless charge and recorded his poor battlefield self-control as an extremely high risk in the evaluation file.
• Greyfax reviewed the recording of Carter rebuking Guilliman and reconsidered her view of the Hilling warriors and their Imperium.
• Guilliman listened silently to Carter’s criticism and reflected on the warrior instinct he believed was a curse.

Carter ignored Greyfax’s attempt to question him, while Guilliman and the Imperial leaders studied the Spartans’ battlefield footage and discovered that their armor had been dramatically upgraded. Guilliman concluded that the Hilling Empire’s reconnaissance squad might represent only its ordinary forces, leaving him and the others shaken by the scale of its unknown military power.

• Carter brushed past Greyfax without answering her question about provoking Guilliman, and his squad entered their quarters.
• Guilliman, Calgar, Cawl, and Celestine reviewed the Spartans’ battle footage and found that their armor, shields, mobility, and drones exceeded earlier scans.
• Celestine suggested Carter’s authority allowed him to unlock hidden equipment and support, and Guilliman agreed that the squad’s apparent strength might be only its baseline.
• Guilliman realized Carter had described the Spartans as a reconnaissance squad and warned that they might be ordinary troops rather than a main combat unit.
• The commanders protested Guilliman’s conclusion as Cawl’s models failed, while Greyfax feared what the Hilling Empire’s true front lines might be like.
• Guilliman reflected on Carter’s anger over reckless command decisions and looked toward Terra with a new sense of insignificance and reverence for the unknown.

Hua Wei gained more than 400,000 Emotion Points after Imperial leaders reacted to his armor upgrade, and he planned to save them toward summoning a Five-Star powerhouse. Meanwhile, Carter explained Hilling’s military doctrine and history to Celestine and Cawl, revealing that the Hilling Empire had spent centuries fighting the Tyranids and was also battling a secret threat called the Void.

• Hua Wei woke to more than 400,000 Emotion Points, largely earned from Guilliman, Calgar, Greyfax, Cawl, and Celestine reacting to the armor upgrade, and decided to save them for a Five-Star summon.
• Guilliman directed the follow-up purification operation from a command node, deploying personally only for decisive strikes, while the Spartan Squad observed Imperial forces and recorded their tactics.
• Carter told Celestine and Cawl that Hilling’s standardized training, real-time information sharing, and coordinated tactics could have reduced casualties during the Iron Warriors raid.
• Celestine explained that the Imperium had once pursued rationality and efficiency but had turned to faith and strict technological restraints after devastating disasters.
• Carter described Hilling citizens’ long, healthy lives and revealed that the empire devoted more than seventy percent of its military strength and resources to its ongoing war against the Tyranids.
• Carter disclosed that the Hilling Empire also fought an older, more incomprehensible threat called the Void, a secret known only to its highest authorities.

Evelyn deduced that the Hilling Empire had been holding back the Tyranid main force beyond the galaxy for three hundred thousand years, shielding the Milky Way. Guilliman accepted the theory, ordered the revelation classified, and resolved to reassess the Imperium’s relationship with the Hilling Empire and its role in the war.

• Evelyn explained that the Spartans possessed exceptionally strong psychic barriers and that Eldar prophecies described Tyranid fleets far larger than those the Imperium had encountered.
• Evelyn concluded that the Hilling Empire was fighting the Tyranid main force beyond the galaxy and acting as a barrier between it and the Milky Way.
• Cawl said the Hilling Empire’s society, military strength, and technology fit the demands of a civilization fighting a total war.
• Guilliman agreed that Evelyn’s analysis was credible and recognized that the Imperium had benefited from the Hilling Empire’s sacrifices while distrusting its emissaries.
• Guilliman ordered the discussion kept secret until Terra and resolved to reassess the Imperium’s relationship with the Hilling Empire and its role in the war.

Hua Wei spent one million Emotion Points on a five-star summon and chose Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi over Prinz Eugen and Master Chief. Obi-Wan was being generated and sent to the designated coordinates, leaving Hua Wei eager to introduce the Jedi Master to Guilliman and the Imperium.

• The system alerted Hua Wei that he had 1,136,220 Emotion Points, earned from widespread belief in false stories about a Tyranid war.
• Hua Wei opened the five-star summoning interface and spent one million Emotion Points to reveal three candidates: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Prinz Eugen, and Master Chief.
• Hua Wei nearly chose Prinz Eugen, then controlled himself and considered Master Chief before deciding Obi-Wan's Force and mentor persona would suit the Imperium.
• Hua Wei summoned Obi-Wan Kenobi, and the system began generating his physical body and preparing to deploy him with supplies.

General Kent’s forces delivered five hundred thousand survival-supply packages through a wormhole, and Obi-Wan Kenobi arrived as the Hilling Empire’s diplomatic envoy. Guilliman welcomed him aboard Macragge’s Honour, where Imperial leaders faced the prospect of first contact with the Jedi Order.

• Carter received General Kent’s orders: his team would remain in Imperium territory and guard the Hilling Empire’s diplomatic inspector.
• General Kent opened a wormhole and sent five hundred thousand standard survival-supply packages into the Void near Macragge’s Honour.
• Guilliman ordered Calgar to organize the transfer of the supplies, while transport crews began unloading the floating cargo mountain.
• A transport formation spotted a robed man walking through the Void, and Guilliman ordered a Thunderhawk to bring him aboard without attacking.
• The Spartans identified the newcomer as Obi-Wan Kenobi, a High Jedi Master, and saluted him as he introduced himself as the Hilling Empire’s envoy.
• Guilliman welcomed Obi-Wan and invited him to a banquet for an initial exchange.

At a welcome banquet, Obi-Wan learned that the Tyranids threatening the Imperium were only a small swarm by the Hilling Empire’s standards, though Guilliman explained that the Imperium could not easily concentrate its stretched forces against them. Guilliman invited Obi-Wan to Terra to reveal the Imperium’s buried history, and Obi-Wan accepted the journey.

• Guilliman hosted Obi-Wan and the Imperial leaders at a banquet, using food from devastated worlds to describe the Tyranid threat.
• Obi-Wan asked Guilliman about the Tyranids and classified the known swarms as Remnant-class or a Small Hunting Pack under the Hilling Empire’s system.
• Obi-Wan urged Guilliman to unite available forces and destroy the swarm before it could grow, but Guilliman explained that the Imperium was overstretched by countless wars and lacked resources.
• Obi-Wan asked how the Imperium had fallen into its desperate state, and Guilliman described its history as buried and forbidden, with its deepest truths locked away on Terra.
• Guilliman invited Obi-Wan and the Hilling Empire to Terra to learn the Imperium’s bloodstained history, and Obi-Wan accepted.

Guilliman held a grand parade on Macragge to celebrate Ultramar’s victory and rally hope across the Imperium, but Obi-Wan detected corruption in a crown presented to him. After Obi-Wan warned him through the Force, Guilliman resisted the crown’s influence and uncovered a plot by Fulgrim, leaving him prepared for a dangerous voyage to Terra.

• Guilliman agreed to hold a parade on Macragge and invited Obi-Wan to attend as an envoy of the Hilling Empire.
• At the parade’s climax, Obi-Wan sensed Chaos corruption in the Star of Hope crown and warned Guilliman through the Force as it was placed on his head.
• Guilliman overcame the crown’s attempt to ensnare his will and secretly ordered a Grey Knights squad to capture the official who presented it.
• The captured official transformed into a daemon, and an amulet on its chest let Fulgrim taunt Guilliman and invite him to a future meeting.
• Guilliman destroyed the amulet and daemon with the Emperor’s Sword, then thanked Obi-Wan and warned that the voyage to Terra would not be peaceful.

Guilliman led the expeditionary fleet toward Terra, but the loss of the Astronomican left them stranded in a Warp storm. Obi-Wan foresaw an unavoidable Chaos ambush, and Guilliman ordered the fleet to emerge at the original exit point and fight its way through.

• Guilliman left Calgar in charge of Ultramar, while Evelyn joined the expedition as the Aeldari representative.
• The fleet entered the Warp, where a storm cut off the Astronomican and Astropaths received desperate distress signals from across the Imperium.
• Guilliman ordered the fleet to exit into realspace, and Obi-Wan foresaw a Chaos ambush waiting at their emergence point.
• Obi-Wan warned that a powerful malicious presence had distorted the future and made the ambush unavoidable.
• Guilliman ordered the fleet to return to the original exit point with shields and weapons ready, and the ships burst into realspace.

Guilliman led the ambushed expeditionary fleet through a Chaos Warp Maelstrom while resisting demonic torment and searching for a way out. As supplies dwindled and Guilliman neared collapse, Obi-Wan shielded his mind with the Force, buying the fleet time to escape.

• Guilliman ordered the fleet to return fire, and its prepared battle line survived the Chaos ambush despite losing several escort ships and transports.
• Magnus's psychic Maelstrom seized the fleet, while Red Corsairs boarded its ships and Guilliman fought them off with the Emperor's Sword.
• A dying Red Corsair taunted Guilliman about war erupting again in Ultramar, and Warp visions and whispers began eroding his will.
• Guilliman led the fleet through raids on corrupted outposts, but Obi-Wan warned him away from a living planet that would have devoured them.
• As supplies ran low and the Maelstrom's corruption weakened Guilliman, Obi-Wan used the Force to shield his mind from the Warp.

Guilliman's battered fleet followed an Eldar's coordinates to the Ixion Debris Field, where the Astronomican's light confirmed a possible route out of the Scarlet Maelstrom. A Tzeentchian ambush trapped Guilliman in a ritual, and Obi-Wan revealed his Lightsaber and charged to save him.

• An Eldar figure told Guilliman that the Ixion Debris Field held a rift out of the Maelstrom, and Obi-Wan sensed danger but agreed there was a glimmer of hope.
• Guilliman ordered the fleet to the Ixion Debris Field, where the navigator detected the Astronomican's light among countless wrecks.
• Chaos forces ambushed the fleet, and Kairos Fateweaver led a boarding assault on the Macragge's Honour.
• Guilliman charged Kairos while Imperial forces fought the boarders, but Tzeentchian daemons formed a ritual circle and bound him with psychic chains.
• Obi-Wan drew his blue Lightsaber and charged toward Guilliman to break the ritual's hold.