Chapter Summaries

The Primarchs reunited with their Legion leaders and learned from Dante and others how the Imperium had changed the galaxy in their absence. Trajan then told Neos that Gaia might be adjusting the universe to restore the dead, giving Neos hope that Malcador could return.

• The Legion leaders teleported down from the fleet, bowed to Neos, and gathered behind their Primarchs.
• At Sanguinius’s request, Dante reported that the Great Rift had been repaired, the Judgment Ring monitored Warp threats, and the Legions had undergone Hilling modification and training.
• Dante explained that the Legions had defeated the main Tyranid and Ork forces, while the Experimental Agency preserved remaining specimens for experiments.
• Azrael and Calgar reported the Dark Angels’ defeat of the T'au Empire and Cawl’s return of more than a million Space Marines to the Legions.
• Trajan told Neos that the Aeldari had submitted to the Imperium under Isha and that Gaia might be trying to bring back souls that had gone dark.
• Neos wondered whether Gaia’s efforts could resurrect Malcador.

Neos launched a new crusade to expand the Imperium and ordered Odin to return Loki to Asgard and later deliver him for judgment. After learning that Earth’s new force had defeated Odin, Thanos abandoned a direct approach and planned to use other factions to create chaos while pursuing the Infinity Stones.

• Neos ordered the primarchs and their legions to begin conquering suitable worlds and told them to report powerful local entities directly to him.
• Neos tasked Odin with taking Loki to Asgard, disciplining him, and personally escorting him to the Imperial Judgment Mechanism; Odin swore he would show no favoritism.
• Thanos learned that the Chitauri had been defeated, Odin subdued, and Earth protected by a formidable fleet, leaving him unable to approach the Stones there directly.
• Thanos ordered Ebony Maw to spread news that Earth held multiple Infinity Stones so greedy powers would attack and test its defenders.
• Thanos contacted Ronan, offered to destroy Xandar in exchange for help finding the Power Stone, and formed a temporary alliance with him.

The Living Tribunal moved to intervene against the outsiders threatening the universe, but Pandora confronted it in its Judgment Sanctuary. She split its Justice, Necessity, and Vengeance aspects into separate beings, leaving them to fight while she departed.

• The Living Tribunal agreed that Neos and the Primarchs had become a threat to the universe and prepared to descend and eliminate them.
• Pandora detected the Tribunal's probe, resisted its power, and followed it into the Judgment Sanctuary.
• The Living Tribunal attacked Pandora with the powers of Justice, Necessity, and Vengeance, but she effortlessly stopped them.
• Pandora declared that she would arbitrate the Tribunal and forcibly separated its three aspects.
• Justice, Necessity, and Vengeance began fighting one another as Pandora left the sanctuary.

After the Hilling Imperium’s conquests alarmed the universe’s major powers and Earth drew attention for its Infinity Stones, Neos finished analyzing the Mind Stone and detected Uatu watching him. Neos entered Uatu’s concealed observation dimension and trapped him, leaving the Watcher unable to escape.

• The Hilling Imperium’s expansion prompted the Kree, Shi’ar, Skrull remnants, Sovereign Golden Race, and other powers to prepare for conflict or gather intelligence.
• Thanos spread news that Earth possessed at least three Infinity Stones, attracting the attention of ancient beings, the Celestials, and the Watchers.
• Neos completed his analysis of the Mind Stone, greatly increasing his mental power and sensitivity to observation.
• Neos detected Uatu recording him from a concealed observation dimension and turned toward the hidden Watcher.
• Neos locked Uatu and his observation dimension in place, then entered and confronted him.

Neos confronted Uatu and demanded that the Watchers choose between serving the Imperium and remaining neutral, while Uatu returned home to report the threat. On Earth, Star Ring Technology diagnosed Professor X's confusion as information overload and agreed to treat his spinal injury, leaving the X-Men uncertain how to heal his mind.

• Neos sensed Uatu's intentions and learned that the Watchers had sworn to observe without interfering.
• Neos warned Uatu that the Imperium intended to claim the universe and ordered the Watchers to choose whether to join its new order or become enemies.
• Uatu returned to the Watchers' homeworld, troubled by the threat and the challenge it posed to their neutrality.
• At Star Ring Technology, a staff member told Magneto Erik Lehnsherr and the X-Men that Charles Xavier's brain was physically sound but overwhelmed by excessive information.
• Cyclops Scott Summers calmed Erik and asked whether Charles's spinal nerves could be repaired.
• The staff member confirmed that Star Ring Technology could treat Charles's spinal injury, while the X-Men remained unsure how to restore his mind.

While Professor X’s body recovered from spinal repair, his mind remained trapped in a painful state, so Jean Grey and the others used Cerebro to enter his consciousness. They arrived in a strange mental world, where they would try to find and awaken him.

• Magneto, Jean Grey, and Mystique watched news of the Ultramarines and reflected on the threat facing Earth and the uncertain future of mutants.
• Professor X emerged from the medical pod with his body recovering, but he remained unconscious and visibly tormented by abnormal brain activity.
• A staff member suggested that a psychic could enter Professor X’s mental world and try to awaken him.
• Beast Hank proposed using Cerebro to link the group’s consciousnesses as anchors, and Magneto, Mystique, and Storm agreed to help Jean.
• Jean and the others activated Cerebro and entered the bizarre world of Professor X’s consciousness.

Charles Xavier and the X-Men entered Neos’s memories to rescue him, but the Emperor’s wars and the Chaos gods overwhelmed their minds. Neos’s golden Emperor form rescued them, and Charles awoke with a new understanding of Neos’s power and the universe’s darkness.

• Charles was overwhelmed by Neos’s memories of war and the Chaos gods, and began to lose his sanity.
• Jean Grey, Scott, Erik, Ororo, Raven, and Hank entered the memory abyss to save Charles, but Tzeentch’s corruption attacked them.
• Jean unleashed the Phoenix Force, but the Chaos gods devoured its flames and began corrupting the X-Men.
• Neos appeared in his Emperor of Mankind form and used golden light to dispel the Chaos phantoms and cleanse the X-Men.
• Neos returned Charles and the X-Men to their bodies in the Cerebro room, where Charles awoke shaken but clear-minded.

After experiencing ten thousand years of the Imperium of Man’s history, Charles and Erik reconsidered how mutants could survive and agreed to seek contact with the powerful newcomers. Meanwhile, Ronan attacked Xandar with the Power Stone, but Dante and the Blood Angels arrived and demanded that the fighting stop.

• Charles recounted his vision of Neos’s universe and the Imperium of Man, describing humanity’s wars against xenos and Chaos.
• Erik abandoned mutant supremacy as a goal and proposed seeking protection or cooperation with the Imperium.
• Jean agreed with Erik, explaining that the being and the little girl had subdued the Phoenix Force and helped her reconcile with it.
• Charles asked Erik to walk with him so they could seek answers together, and Erik agreed.
• Ronan used the Power Stone to overwhelm Xandar’s defenses and bombard the planet.
• Dante led the Blood Angels fleet into the battle and ordered both sides to cease hostilities or face the Imperium.

Ronan attacked the Blood Angels fleet with the Power Stone, but its ships withstood his blast and Dante ordered a devastating counterattack that shattered the Kree fleet. As Nova Corps ceased fire and sought contact with the newcomers, Dante prepared to confront Ronan himself.

• Nova Corps and Ronan's adjutant identified the arriving Blood Angels fleet as the feared Hilling Empire, but Ronan dismissed the warning and fired the Power Stone at a vanguard frigate.
• The frigate's shields endured Ronan's blast, and Dante declared Ronan's forces enemies of the Imperium and ordered the Blood Angels fleet to attack.
• The Blood Angels fleet destroyed Kree warships with coordinated fire and sent Astartes boarding forces into enemy vessels.
• The Nova Corps commander ordered her forces to cease fire on the Hilling Empire fleet and attempt to contact its commander.
• Ronan kept attacking with the Power Stone as Dante ordered his forces to leave the wielder of the anomalous energy source to him.

Dante and the Sanguinary Guard fought through the Dark Aster and confronted Ronan in its command hall. After their first exchanges revealed the Power Stone’s immense strength and Dante’s resilience, Ronan began gathering energy for an even more devastating attack.

• Dante led the Sanguinary Guard through waves of Kree soldiers and destroyed a heavy assault vehicle blocking their route.
• Dante and the Guards reached the command hall, where Ronan stood waiting with the Power Stone embedded in his warhammer.
• Ronan attacked Dante, and their first clash shattered the floor as Dante’s armor reported minor damage.
• Dante struck at Ronan’s flank, pierced his purple force field, and burned his armguard before Ronan unleashed a shockwave.
• Ronan knocked Dante into a wall with another hammer blow, but Dante rose apparently unscathed.
• Ronan raised his warhammer and gathered Destruction energy for a powerful attack.

Dante freed the Power Stone from Ronan’s Universal Weapon, but the resulting explosions destroyed the Dark Aster and sent the stone drifting into space. After the Blood Angels routed the Kree fleet, Nova Corps commander Ilani Rael contacted Dante and requested a face-to-face meeting.

• Dante used a micro-wormhole to reach Ronan and struck the unstable connection holding the Power Stone in the Universal Weapon, dislodging the stone.
• Dante kicked Ronan into a wall, knocking him unconscious, as the Power Stone’s uncontrolled energy triggered the Dark Aster’s destruction.
• Dante teleported himself and nearby guards back to the Red Tear, while the Power Stone vanished into the wreckage and drifted into space.
• Dante received reports that the Kree fleet was collapsing and that its ruling core was called the Supreme Wisdom.
• Ilani Rael contacted Dante on behalf of Xandar and requested a face-to-face conversation, and Dante agreed.

After Xandar accepted the Hilling Empire’s terms, Dante warned its leaders about the Imperium’s immense power and left them with a communications beacon. The Supreme Wisdom prepared the Kree Empire to create symbiote and Inhuman forces, while Thanos planned to visit the Grandmaster to pursue the Power Stone.

• Dante led the Sanguinary Guard into Nova Corps Headquarters and presented the Hilling Empire’s terms to Ilani Rael.
• Xandar’s senior leaders voted to join the Hilling Empire’s order, and Dante instructed them to prepare for the Imperium’s arrival before revealing that the Blood Angels were only an advance force.
• Dante gave Ilani a communications beacon and teleported away, leaving Xandar’s leaders shocked by the Imperium’s scale.
• The Supreme Wisdom ordered the Kree Empire to lift restrictions on Kree Symbiote research and begin mass Inhuman genetic activation and modification.
• Thanos dismissed Ronan as a pawn, identified the Grandmaster’s scrapyard as the Power Stone’s likely destination, and told Ebony Maw to prepare for their departure.

Wanda followed mysterious whispers to an Abyss crack in an abandoned factory, where her Chaos Magic widened the breach and unleashed a mental assault. The whispers brought back memories of her lost children and convinced her that opening the crack could reunite them, leaving her consumed by grief and preparing to reach it.

• Wanda followed faint whispers to a crack in space inside an abandoned factory.
• She attacked the crack with Chaos Magic, but it absorbed her spell, widened, and sent a torrent of hostile consciousness into her mind.
• At home, the whispers forced Wanda to remember her sons, her lost family with Vision, and the pain of their deaths.
• Wanda suspected that Strange, Captain America, and other companions had known about her loss and helped erase her memories.
• The whispers urged Wanda to open the crack and promised her children waited beyond it, driving her Chaos Magic out of control as she focused on the Abyss crack.

Wanda, driven by visions of her children, reached the factory and used her Chaos magic to force open the rift to the Abyss. The Abyss contaminated her and began spreading its influence, while Pietro collapsed unconscious and cosmic beings sensed the disturbance.

• Pietro found Wanda walking toward the factory in a delusional state and tried to stop her, but her Chaos magic threw him back.
• Pietro sent an urgent distress signal to the Avengers and followed Wanda to the factory.
• Pietro entered the rift’s range, was overwhelmed by the Abyss’s contamination, and collapsed unconscious on a highway.
• Wanda poured her power into the rift, expanding it into a vast black hollow that released streams of pitch-black gas.
• The Abyss’s energy transformed Wanda’s Chaos magic and began spreading outward from the factory.
• Eternity, Infinity, Galactus, and ancient demon gods sensed the foreign disturbance in the universe.

The Blood Angels attacked the Kree Empire fleet and discovered symbiote-mutated soldiers and monstrous creations aboard its ships. After Sanguinius ordered a final purification, the Blood Angels unleashed their Blood Rage and turned the battle decisively in their favor.

• Sanguinius and Dante assessed the Kree fleet’s coordinated attacks, and Sanguinius ordered that information about the Supreme Wisdom be sent through regular communications.
• Dante ordered the Blood Angels to teleport into Kree capital ships and seize or destroy their command nodes.
• Blood Angels squads fought through the ships and encountered Kree soldiers mutated by symbiotes, along with masses of symbiote flesh.
• Sanguinius condemned the mutated creatures and ordered Dante to destroy them and the ships carrying them.
• Dante commanded the Blood Angels to unleash their Blood Rage, and the enraged warriors overwhelmed the Kree defenders.
• Dante and the Sanguinary Guard struck the fleet’s core region as the Kree defensive line collapsed.

As the Shi'ar Empire prepared for the Hilling Empire’s advance, Sanguinius unleashed the power of Preservation to devastate the Kree fleet and force its retreat. The surviving Kree fled toward Hala, but Sanguinius’s attack on their jump point left the way open for the Blood Angels to pursue them to their homeworld.

• The Shi'ar Empress raised the diplomatic mission’s priority, put the fleet on alert, and planned to slow the Kree Empire’s collapse as a buffer against the Hilling Empire.
• Sanguinius left the Blood Angels flagship and spread the power of Preservation across her fleet, strengthening its shields and defenses.
• Sanguinius summoned tens of thousands of energy spears and devastated the Kree fleet’s forward line with successive attacks.
• The Supreme Wisdom ordered the surviving Kree forces to retreat to the Hala System under the Guardian Protocol.
• Sanguinius disrupted a forming jump point, causing spatial detonations among fleeing Kree warships before the survivors escaped through another jump point.
• Sanguinius sensed that she had broken through an inner boundary and declared that the Blood Angels would pursue the Kree to their final refuge.

As the Blood Angels prepared to destroy the Kree Empire, a Shi'ar delegation tried to threaten them into ending the campaign. The Supreme Wisdom arrived aboard the Hilling Supreme Fortress, erased Hala and the remaining Kree forces, then left the Shi'ar delegation pleading for peace with Sanguinius.

• Sanguinius rejected Kasa Roer's offer to mediate and dismissed his threat that the Shi'ar Empire might ally with the Kree.
• The Hilling Supreme Fortress appeared between Hala and the Blood Angels fleet, and its arrival stunned the Kree, Shi'ar, and Blood Angels.
• The fortress erased Hala, its billions of inhabitants, and every remaining Kree warship with a single beam.
• Bubble appeared on the fleet's screen, praised Sanguinius for defending the Imperium's honor, and then departed with the fortress to find His Majesty.
• Kasa Roer begged Sanguinius not to mistake the Shi'ar's threat for hostility and promised to persuade the Empress to follow the Hilling Empire's arrangements.

After the Hilling Supreme Fortress erased the Kree Empire, the Shi'ar Empress ordered her empire to prepare for conditional submission rather than fight. The Watchers discovered that the Living Tribunal had been divided and crippled, then agreed to join Neos as his eyes.

• The Shi'ar council split between war and surrender, and the Empress asked General Galvin whether the Tears of the Stars could damage the fortress; he could offer no hope.
• The Shi'ar Empress ordered the fleets to avoid firing on Hilling forces and to guide them to the capital, declaring that the empire would choose conditional submission.
• Uatu reported Neos's demand to subdue the Watchers, prompting their factions to debate resistance and surrender.
• Ikul led senior Watchers to seek the Living Tribunal's guidance, where they found its three faces battling one another in a ruined hall.
• Ikul concluded that the Living Tribunal had been defeated and divided, then announced that the Watchers would accept Neos's invitation and serve as his eyes.

Neos discovered that the Supreme Wisdom was Bubble and learned that Pandora had already destroyed the universe’s three-faced supreme existence. Hua Wei told Neos to wait for the remaining Infinity Stones and let Earth’s traitors and hidden gods gather before eliminating them.

• Neos sensed that gods beyond Earth were stirring up cults to search for the Infinity Stones, but hesitated to fight them and risk damaging Earth.
• Neos visited Hua Wei’s manor and met Bubble, whom Hua Wei introduced as the Supreme Wisdom.
• Bubble told Neos that he had not connected to the Imperium’s main network or obtained citizenship, while she and Pandora returned to playing on their phones.
• Neos asked Hua Wei for help against the universe’s supreme existence, and Pandora revealed that she had already played the three-faced machine to pieces.
• Neos prepared to attack the gods around Earth, but Hua Wei told him to wait for someone to deliver the remaining three stones and perform a finger snap.
• Hua Wei advised Neos to let humanity’s traitors reveal themselves and wait until the stones were analyzed and Neos ascended to godhood before wiping out the enemies in one sweep.

Thanos gathered five Infinity Stones, then traveled to Kamar-Taj to claim the Time Stone from Ancient One. She gave it to him willingly, trusting that he would understand why she no longer intended to stop him.

• Thanos used an alliance against Asgard to raid Nidavellir, where Eitri forged the Infinity Gauntlet, and escaped Odin with it.
• Thanos collected the Power, Reality, and Soul Stones, sacrificing Gamora to obtain the Soul Stone on Vormir.
• Thanos attacked a S.H.I.E.L.D. base on Earth and seized the Space and Mind Stones, leaving only the Time Stone unclaimed.
• Thanos entered Kamar-Taj and discussed his plan to erase half of all life with Ancient One, who challenged his idea of balance.
• Ancient One gave Thanos the Time Stone, explaining that she had retired, and told him he would understand her confidence in the Hilling Empire.