Chapter Summaries

Clone Fulgrim wounded the original before Fulgrim killed him, and Horus and Sanguinius engaged the empowered primarch in a fierce stalemate. While they fought, Cegorach seized the chance to attack the unconscious Slaanesh, leaving the god-slaying blade poised over her heart.

• Clone Fulgrim stabbed Fulgrim in the abdomen, but Fulgrim struck him down and pierced his heart with a daemon sword.
• Horus and Sanguinius empowered their weapons with the Mind Cube and charged Fulgrim together.
• Fulgrim fought off both primarchs, and their battle reached a destructive stalemate.
• Cegorach emerged from the ruins and focused on the unconscious Slaanesh.
• Cegorach drew a god-slaying blade from his cane and drove it toward Slaanesh's heart.

Pandora and three powerful companions arrived in Commorragh and stopped Cegorach just as he was about to kill Slaanesh. Pandora recognized that Slaanesh had split her godhead and stripped away most of her Chaos essence, while Cegorach realized his chance to strike had been lost.

• Pandora, the Void Dragon, Sara Noga, and Igelania descended through a hole they had torn in the Webway and brought the fighting in Commorragh to a halt.
• Pandora questioned Cegorach about his performance, but Cegorach ignored her and continued his attempt to stab the unconscious elven woman.
• Sara Noga froze Cegorach in place and brought him before Pandora, preventing the assassination.
• Cegorach shouted that the woman was Slaanesh, shocking Fulgrim, Horus, Sanguinius, and the other witnesses.
• Pandora examined Slaanesh and concluded that she had split her godhead and removed most of her Chaos essence.
• Cegorach despaired as he realized he had lost his rare chance to kill or seriously wound Slaanesh.

Pandora revived the weakened Slaanesh, who revealed that Aha had sent her to seek the Hilling Empire’s protection and join the Imperium. Pandora directed her to Terra for an Inquisition review, while Xilegao remained sealed and Slaanesh worried about her uncertain future.

• Pandora examined the unconscious Slaanesh and prepared to revive her as Xilegao begged her to kill Slaanesh and offered the Eldar’s knowledge vault and Webway secrets as payment.
• Pandora dismissed Xilegao’s offers and restored enough of Slaanesh’s energy for her to wake.
• Slaanesh thanked Pandora, explained that Aha had sent her to seek protection and join the Imperium, and agreed to undergo the Inquisition’s review on Terra under Liang Bing’s oversight.
• Slaanesh taunted Xilegao, who tried to detonate part of his divine core, so Pandora ordered Sara Noga to strengthen the seal on him.
• Igelania warned Slaanesh away from Pandora, and Slaanesh resigned herself to completing the review process while fearing what awaited her.

Pandora sent Slaanesh to Terra and left Sanguinius and Horus to deal with Fulgrim, while Xilegao vowed to continue the Reaper Plan. Fulgrim was killed with the clone’s help, and the Imperial fleet departed Commorragh for Terra with the clone and Fulgrim’s remains.

• Pandora opened a gate to Terra for Slaanesh, then left with the Void Dragon, the Outsider, and Igelania; Sanguinius and Horus refused her offer of help.
• Xilegao escaped after vowing that the Reaper Plan would continue and that Fulgrim’s fallen original in the Warp must die.
• Fulgrim tried to flee, but Horus and Sanguinius cornered him as the injured clone secretly began to recover.
• The clone restrained Fulgrim at the crucial moment, allowing Horus to pierce his chest and Sanguinius to behead him.
• The Imperium’s forces defeated the remaining Slaanesh daemons, while Yvraine resolved to go to Terra and Horus and Sanguinius spared the surviving Drukhari.
• Horus ordered her forces to bring the clone and Fulgrim’s remains aboard, and the Imperial fleet sailed for Terra.

Horus and Sanguinius discovered that Hilling had dispatched its Seventh Expeditionary Fleet to the Imperium of Man, while the fleet arrived at Terra and overwhelmed its leaders and conspirators. The fleet’s presence ended a plot against Guilliman, and Slaanesh was relieved he had surrendered before facing it.

• Horus and Sanguinius watched a livestream showing the Seventh Expeditionary Fleet heading for the Imperium of Man and were stunned by its immense scale.
• Guilliman followed Liang Bing’s instructions to clear the Solar System, then watched the Hilling fleet emerge through a stargate and fill Terra’s skies.
• Liang Bing told Guilliman that Kesha had sent the Seventh Expeditionary Fleet to help clean up the Imperium, and Guilliman welcomed its overwhelming support.
• An Inquisition representative and an Adeptus Astra Telepathica representative arrested the conspirators in Terra’s secret chamber, while the other plotters renounced their scheme.
• Slaanesh saw the fleet arriving near Terra and congratulated himself for fleeing and surrendering earlier.

The Hilling fleet arrived above Terra, and its commanders met with Guilliman in the Imperial Palace. On Hilling Star, Hua Wei summoned new Inquisition members, who immediately took Slaanesh into custody.

• The Sovereign-class Planetary Battleship emerged from the stargate above Terra, dwarfing the planet.
• Hilling Empire officers reported to the Strategic Command Center, where General Kent von Stirling reunited with Guilliman and promised the fleet’s support.
• Hua Wei opened the Slaanesh and Laughing God gift packs, obtaining Shub-Niggurath and Primordial Spirit Mio, then assigned Mio to the Inquisition as a clerk.
• Hua Wei summoned Puni as a senior inquisitor and sent him to Terra to receive Slaanesh.
• Puni and Mio appeared before Slaanesh and formally took her into custody for examination.

Slaanesh arrived on Terra in a weakened elven form seeking protection from the Hilling Empire, while Puni began assessing her and Guilliman consulted the Emperor about what to do. As the Emperor prioritized the Abyssal threat and left Slaanesh’s fate to Hilling, Guilliman prepared to coordinate with Hilling about the awakened god Ghroth.

• Slaanesh told Puni that she had shattered her godhood to escape the Abyss and wanted to join the Hilling Empire.
• Puni brought Slaanesh and Mio to Terra, where Adeptus Custodes escorted them to the strategic command center.
• Slaanesh recognized Liang Bing and whispered that she had come to join her, leaving Liang Bing shocked by her identity.
• Guilliman received Sanguinius's report identifying the elf as Slaanesh and learned from the Emperor that Darth Vader had awakened Ghroth in the Abyss.
• The Emperor told Guilliman to let Hilling decide whether to accept Slaanesh and ordered him to share the intelligence about Ghroth with Hilling.
• Liang Bing pulled Slaanesh aside and asked how she had ended up in her weakened elven form.

Slaanesh underwent a deep Inquisition scan and received temporary protected status under the Hilling Empire after naming Lady Pandora as her recommender. Guilliman then warned the Hilling personnel about Darth Vader and Ghroth, while Luke began adapting to a psionic crystal and Slaanesh asked if she might obtain similar power.

• Liang Bing brought Slaanesh to her isolated laboratory, where Puni and DOOM confirmed that her godhood was shattered and found no hidden contamination or Abyss residue.
• Slaanesh asked Liang Bing to recommend her, then first cited Aha before correcting herself and naming Lady Pandora as the one who had sent her.
• Ling recorded the recommendation, and Slaanesh received preliminary approval for temporary protected status pending further assessments in Imperial territory.
• Guilliman warned the Hilling personnel that Darth Vader was awakening Abyss gods and that Ghroth's contamination threatened the Warp and material universe.
• Luke accepted a certified psionic crystal from Puni and began trying to absorb its power as Slaanesh recognized its refined Abyss energy and asked whether she could obtain such power someday.

Luke used the Psionic Crystal to ascend into a godlike life form and prepared to depart. In Nurgle’s domain, Typhus returned with a damaged fleet and the Revelations of Gla'aki, then was sent to repel the Abyssal contaminants pursuing him.

• Luke absorbed the Psionic Crystal’s power, fused the light and dark Force within him, and transformed the lingering Abyssal power in his body.
• Guilliman congratulated Luke on becoming a god, while Slaanesh wondered whether the Hilling Empire’s path to godhood offered the freedom she sought.
• Typhus returned to Nurgle’s domain with only a fraction of his fleet and reported that Abyssal forces had devastated regions beyond the Warp.
• Typhus felt tempted to keep the Revelations of Gla'aki but suppressed the urge and handed the grimoire to Nurgle.
• Nurgle ordered Typhus to stop the Abyssal contaminants following him, and Typhus led the surviving Death Guard to confront them.
• Vashtorr mutated in his confinement as tentacles grew from his body and his gaze turned dark crimson.

Luke completed his ascension and prepared to enter the Warp, but the Seventh Fleet mobilized as the war against the Abyss began. At the Great Rift, a maddened Khorne attacked Lan, whose strikes damaged the Blood God only briefly as Abyssal contaminants surged behind him.

• Luke's ascension ended, and he prepared to leave everyone and confront Darth Vader in the Warp.
• Kesha ordered the Seventh Fleet to seal the Great Rift, clear hostile forces from realspace, and prepare for the Abyss war.
• Puni, Doom Slayer, and Guilliman joined preparations to enter the Warp or support the coming battle.
• Khorne emerged from the Great Rift in a state of madness, with Abyssal contaminants following the path he had carved.
• Lan struck Khorne with annihilation arrows and C'tan Blades, but Khorne rapidly healed and continued attacking.
• Kesha recognized that Khorne's abnormal recovery threatened Lan and the Great Rift as more contaminants flooded toward it.

Kesha and the defenders struggled to contain the Abyssal contamination as Lan fought Khorne, while the Great Rift destabilized and mental attacks intensified. The Hilling Empire's Seventh Fleet arrived just as the defensive line neared collapse, halting the assault and allowing Kesha to transfer command to General MacArthur.

• Great Old Ones and Abyssal contaminants surged toward the Great Rift and attacked the blockade held by Hilling and the Imperium of Man.
• Kesha ordered the Imperium fleet to withdraw to a reserve line and directed the Heavenly Blade Legion and Angel Guard to destroy the contaminants.
• Mental contamination overwhelmed soldiers and weakened the defenders, while Kesha suspected a supreme existence of the Abyss had projected its will into the battlefield.
• Lan considered unleashing the full power of his C'tan origin to defeat Khorne, despite the risk of devastating the unstable Great Rift.
• The Hilling Empire's Seventh Fleet arrived and saturated the Great Rift exit with firepower, stopping the contaminant assault.
• Kesha transferred command of the Seventh Fleet to General MacArthur and ordered it to maintain fire suppression and reinforce the blockade.

Inquisitor Puni, Doom Slayer, Secretary Mio, and Luke arrived at the Great Rift as Lan prepared to unleash his full strength against Khorne, and Doom Slayer took over the fight to settle an old debt. On Terra, Horus and Sanguinius convinced Guilliman that the Imperium must fight alongside its allies, and they prepared to go to the front while Guilliman stayed behind.

• Inquisitor Puni, Doom Slayer, Secretary Mio, and Luke arrived with the Seventh Fleet, giving Kesha and Lan reinforcements at the Great Rift.
• Doom Slayer told Lan he had an old debt to settle with Khorne, and Lan withdrew to let him face the Lord of War alone.
• He Xi examined the Fulgrim Clone's life-support pod and said she needed further analysis to determine whether he could recover.
• Slaanesh provoked Horus in Liang Bing's laboratory, and Sanguinius and Guilliman restrained Horus before escorting her out.
• Horus and Sanguinius criticized Guilliman for leaving the Imperium's allies to fight alone, and Guilliman agreed that the Imperium should join the battle.
• Sanguinius told Guilliman to remain on Terra to coordinate the Imperium, and Guilliman agreed to contact his brothers while she and Horus went in the Imperium's stead.

Lion El'Jonson and Perturabo joined Guilliman's planned expedition against Chaos, while Vashtorr mutated into a godlike Dark Young entity in Nurgle's Garden. The newborn Dark Goat Vashtorr fixed its gaze on Isha, and Nurgle regarded the creature with grave interest and greed.

• Headmaster Kieran helped Lion El'Jonson awaken his essence, and Lion agreed to join Guilliman's expedition.
• Perturabo reunited with his revived sister, shed his Chaos corruption, awakened his essence, and volunteered for the war.
• Guilliman confirmed Sanguinius, Horus, Lion El'Jonson, and Perturabo as the four Primarchs leading the expedition, with Calgar and more than a million Space Marines joining them.
• The Imperium fleet assembled at Terra and sailed toward the Great Rift battlefield.
• While Nurgle studied the Revelations of Gla'aki, the Dark Young transformed Vashtorr, seized control of his body, and ascended to godhood.
• Dark Goat Vashtorr awakened Nurgle with its godly presence and fixed its gaze on Isha, while Nurgle watched it with grave interest and greed.

Nurgle mistook Black Goat Vashtorr’s transformed body for a new god of life and tried to claim its power, but Vashtorr fought back with savage growth that threatened to corrupt Nurgle. Nurgle defeated and captured the wounded Vashtorr, planning to refine its essence in a grand ritual, unaware that Vashtorr’s final strike had marked him with another will.

• Nurgle welcomed Vashtorr and tried to draw it close, believing the Revelations of Gla'aki had transformed it into a god of life.
• Black Goat Vashtorr attacked Nurgle and absorbed the decay in his swamp, turning it into fuel for its rampant growth.
• Nurgle unleashed the Garden’s plagues and the ultimate plague from his divine cauldron, breaking Vashtorr’s barrier and rotting its body.
• Vashtorr shattered its evil eye into a blood arrow that struck Nurgle and forced twisted life to proliferate in his flesh.
• Nurgle seized the wounded Vashtorr and prepared to refine its essence in a ritual, while Vashtorr’s final imprint silently marked him with another will.

Darth Vader left Tzeentch's Realm to seek the Abyss, persuaded that doing so would erase the last remnants of order within him. As Doom Slayer battled Khorne at the Great Rift, Puni, Lan, and Luke set out to locate the source of the contamination, while Mio and Kesha stayed to hold the front.

• Tzeentch urged Vader to embrace the Abyss, and Vader departed for the Warp's darkest region.
• Doom Slayer endured Khorne's brutal attacks as his wounds rapidly regenerated, while Lan worried about the imbalance between them.
• Mio reassured Lan that Doom Slayer could not easily be killed, and Puni said they needed to destroy the source of the contamination.
• Lan offered to guide Puni toward the contamination's likely location, and Luke joined them, hoping his bond with Vader would help locate the rift.
• Puni, Lan, and Luke left the battlefield to search for the source, while Mio and Kesha stayed behind to support the fight and protect the defenses.

The Silent King brought the Necrons’ remaining soul fragments to Liang Bing, who began rebuilding their people in living bodies. Meanwhile, Hua Wei unlocked new Abyss forces and a C’tan Path system, while leaving the Chaos gods in place to generate emotion value.

• Guilliman put the battered Necron fleet on high alert until Liang Bing told him that Szarekh had come in peace to fulfill their agreement.
• Szarekh presented Liang Bing with the Necrons’ last soul remnants, gathered after he had purged the internal traitors and unified the dynasties.
• Liang Bing used the Lifeweave machine and Mind Cubes to reconstruct the Necrons’ souls and grow new living bodies as Szarekh and Guilliman watched.
• Hua Wei opened the Nurgle gift pack and obtained Nyarlathotep, completing the Abyss system and unlocking seven-star Outer Gods.
• Hua Wei opened the Necron Dynasties’ reward and received the C’tan and Path system, including its Emanator forces and inheritance paths.
• Hua Wei decided not to eliminate the Chaos gods yet because the universe still needed them to produce emotion value.

The four Primarchs reached the Great Rift and saw the Hilling Empire’s fleet holding back its endless horrors while an unseen warrior fought Khorne. After learning that Abyssal contamination was spreading through the second defensive line, they committed their forces to purging infected areas and strengthening the Imperium’s defenses.

• Horus, Sanguinius, Lion, and Perturabo joined the second line of defense instead of charging into the battle at the Rift.
• A commander from Cadia and an Imperial Navy admiral warned the Primarchs that Abyssal contamination could transform ships and worlds without warning, forcing the defenders to exterminate contaminated areas.
• Horus ordered the Imperium’s forces to eliminate infiltrating threats and reinforce their defenses, and Sanguinius and Lion agreed.
• The Imperium sent a million Space Marines to purge marked contamination sites while its fleet formed a denser interception network.
• The four Primarchs and their warriors watched the Hilling fleet hold the Rift and the unseen fighter battle Khorne as they carried out their defensive mission.

Liang Bing warned the four primarchs about Abyss contamination and revealed that their lost brothers were in extreme danger. The primarchs left the expeditionary force to reinforce the defenses and entered the Warp to search for and rescue them.

• Liang Bing explained contamination levels, equipment protections, and when the primarchs and their soldiers should retreat.
• Liang Bing warned that the abnormal Abyss contamination put the primarchs’ lost brothers at grave risk and urged an immediate rescue mission into the Warp.
• Horus and Sanguinius agreed that the expeditionary force would continue clearing and defending the second line while the primarchs split into two search teams.
• The four primarchs and their elite troops boarded fast ships and entered the Warp to find their missing brothers.

Lorgar’s shaken faith and curiosity about the Abyss drove him to seek answers after he briefly read the Necronomicon, but Corax stole the book before he could study it. Lorgar set out for Slaanesh’s domain, unaware that Corax’s shadow had secretly boarded his flagship.

• Lorgar hid in his sealed world while Corax hunted him and news of the Hilling Empire’s victories further undermined his faith in Chaos.
• Lorgar’s followers brought him the Necronomicon, and its whispers compelled him to open it and glimpse forbidden knowledge.
• Lorgar lost control while reading and killed a Word Bearer who tried to rouse him.
• Corax snatched the Necronomicon before Lorgar could study it further, leaving Lorgar furious but fixated on the Abyss.
• Lorgar decided to seek the Abyss through Slaanesh’s domain and departed aboard his flagship, while Corax’s tiny shadow slipped aboard unnoticed.

Leman Russ tracked a new source of madness through the Warp toward the Abyssal rift as Abyssal contamination spread into the Webway beneath Terra. The Emperor strengthened the Webway’s defenders and summoned Ferrus Manus, but his divine power appeared to draw an even greater threat toward them.

• Leman Russ noticed that mutated daemons were acting erratically and tracked their shared source toward the Abyssal rift.
• In the Webway, daemon attacks dwindled as eerie whispers grew louder, and strange monsters began emerging from the darkness.
• An Adeptus Mechanicus sage and other defenders fell to madness despite the Sisters of Silence, forcing the Adeptus Custodes and Grey Knights to hold the front line.
• The Emperor summoned the Binding Legion, led by Ferrus Manus, to stabilize the defense and sent Trajan a warning to inform Guilliman of the Abyssal contamination.
• The Emperor released more of his divine power, empowering the defenders, but the whispers grew more frenzied and seemed to attract a larger threat toward the Webway entrance.