Chapter Summaries

Guilliman landed on plague-ravaged Parmenio to confront Mortarion, but Liang Bing struck first and overwhelmed the Daemon Primarch with her spatial abilities and Godslayer Weapon. As Guilliman’s Primaris forces tore through the disorganized Death Guard, Mortarion tried to escape the battlefield.

• Guilliman landed on Parmenio with elite Primaris Space Marines and faced Mortarion’s waiting army.
• Liang Bing teleported to Mortarion and wounded him with her Godslayer Weapon, preventing his body from regenerating.
• Mortarion attacked Liang Bing with plague energy and his scythe, but she evaded his assault and fought back.
• Guilliman led the Primaris warriors into the Death Guard ranks, exploiting the chaos after Mortarion was wounded.
• Liang Bing continued to suppress Mortarion while Guilliman’s forces overwhelmed the Death Guard, prompting Mortarion to try to flee.

Liang Bing nearly killed Mortarion, but Chaos Titans arrived and bought him time to escape. Typhus seized the Galatan Starfort while Guilliman ordered a counterattack and learned that a young girl at Tylos might be an Emperor’s Saint.

• Liang Bing destroyed Mortarion’s attempt to open a Warp passage and battered him until Chaos Titans intervened with concentrated fire.
• Typhus obeyed Nurgle’s order to support Mortarion but diverted the Terminus Est and a plague assault force to seize the Galatan Starfort.
• Mortarion escaped under cover of the Titans and his followers, while Liang Bing halted her pursuit after the Void Apocalypse warned that the starfort was firing on friendly ships.
• Guilliman learned that Typhus had seized the Galatan Starfort and ordered Felix to lead a force to retake it and kill Typhus.
• Sicarius reported that a young girl at Tylos repelled Nurgle’s corruption, and Guilliman ordered him to protect her and bring her in for authentication.
• Guilliman ordered the Imperium Titan Legions to attack the Chaos Titans as the battle for Parmenio intensified.

Guilliman’s forces defeated the Death Guard on Parmenio and reclaimed Galatan Starfort, while Mortarion and Typhus fled toward Iax. After Liang Bing identified a mysterious girl as a vessel for the Emperor’s power, Guilliman ordered her protected and led the loyalists toward the final battle on Iax.

• Guilliman’s warriors routed the plague army on Parmenio, forcing the wounded Mortarion to flee toward Iax.
• Felix reported that the loyalists had retaken Galatan Starfort, though Typhus had escaped with the Terminus Est and his plague fleet toward Iax.
• Sicarius brought a girl whose presence purified corruption to Guilliman, and Liang Bing identified her as a bearer of the Emperor’s power.
• The girl asked Guilliman if he was the person from her dreams who needed help, but Guilliman told her the future had changed and ordered her kept away from the front lines.
• Guilliman rallied his forces and ordered the fleet to advance on Iax to end the plague.

Hua Wei divided his resources between the Tyranid-threatened Baal System and the political and military efforts in Ultramar while keeping Hilling Star's transformation underway. He sent new units to both fronts and left the transformation plan progressing steadily.

• Hua Wei decided to invest twenty million Emotion Points in each front rather than abandon Baal or Ultramar.
• He bought eleven Armored Scorpions and upgraded them for unmanned control by Dina aboard Spirit of Fire.
• He summoned Pandora, Chasing Wind, Flowing Cloud, Kay Lennos, Aila Vesta, and Unicorn, assigning them to support Liang Bing, Obi-Wan's team, and the Valkyrie Squad.
• Hua Wei assessed that the new forces could help Baal withstand the Tyranid vanguard and strengthen the Ultramar expedition.
• He turned his attention back to Hilling Star as its transformation continued advancing.

Obi-Wan welcomed Jedi reinforcements Kai Lennos and Ella Vesta aboard Macragge's Honour, where Guilliman discovered that the Hilling Empire's young Grand General Pandora had joined them. Pandora demonstrated her frightening strength and eagerness to destroy things, while Liang Bing dismissed orders for her to return to Hilling Star; the force prepared to continue toward the battle in X.

• Obi-Wan greeted Kai Lennos and Ella Vesta as reinforcements from the Hilling Empire and introduced them to Guilliman.
• The Jedi reacted with reverence when they saw Pandora, whom Liang Bing identified as the Hilling Emperor's sister and the empire's Grand General, sent to the front with her Divine Power sealed.
• Guilliman addressed Pandora as a little princess, and she struck him across the command room until Liang Bing caught him and warned everyone not to call Pandora little, short, or a kid.
• Pandora asked to fire Macragge's Honour's main gun, but Liang Bing promised her bigger targets and more cannons at X instead.
• Chasing Wind and Flowing Cloud reported that Queen Kesha had ordered Liang Bing to return to Hilling Star and apologize to the Supreme Wisdom, but Liang Bing refused and stayed to support the front.

Guilliman arrived at Iax with reinforcements and launched a counteroffensive against Nurgle’s forces. Orbital bombardment cleared the way for the Imperium’s final assault on the Cauldron of Corruption, where Mortarion, Typhus, and Ku'gath awaited.

• Guilliman landed near Iax’s central medical district, where Calgar reported that the defenders had held with help from Priest Mathieu and his believers.
• Calgar told Guilliman that Ku'gath, Mortarion, and Typhus had gathered in the Cauldron of Corruption while Nurgle’s forces still occupied much of the planet.
• Guilliman led the Imperium’s ground forces into a counteroffensive as the Primaris warriors, Ultramarines, Sisters of Battle, and Mathieu’s followers advanced.
• Mortarion and Typhus blamed each other for their setbacks while Ku'gath warned that Godblight could not be completed without Guilliman’s blood.
• Galatan and Macragge's Honour bombarded the Cauldron of Corruption as Guilliman declared that Iax would be the traitors’ end.
• The Imperial forces charged across the scorched ground toward the Cauldron of Corruption for their final assault.

Pandora’s devastating cannon and the Emperor’s intervention break Nurgle’s assault on Iax, while Liang Bing captures Mortarion and Pandora destroys Ku’gath. The Imperium wins the battle, Typhus escapes, and Liang Bing prepares to study her new Primarch specimen aboard the Apocalypse.

• Pandora summons a powerful cannon and tears a huge breach through Nurgle’s forces, sending the daemon army into disarray.
• Nurgle draws the battlefield into a fragment of his garden, corrupting Imperial warriors and pinning Liang Bing while Pandora’s cannon fails to pierce his divine barrier.
• Mathieu advances toward Nurgle’s cauldron, and a golden phantom shatters it, burns away the garden fragment, and drives Nurgle’s power from Iax.
• Liang Bing confines Mortarion and has the Apocalypse retrieve him, while Pandora kills Ku’gath and Typhus slips away.
• Golden light purges Guilliman’s corruption and repairs his Armor of Fate as Mathieu turns to ashes.
• Aboard the Apocalypse, Liang Bing orders Mortarion restrained in her laboratory and prepares to study him; the Imperium completes its victory on Iax.

Dante and Anders organized the defense of the Hades System into three delaying rings to slow Leviathan’s Tyranid swarm before it reached Baal. The Imperials held through successive retreats and Exterminatus strikes, while Guilliman prepared to bring reinforcements through the Nachmund Gauntlet.

• Anders advised Dante to use layered defenses, withdraw before forces were trapped, and destroy planets the Tyranids were about to overrun.
• Dante divided the Hades System into outer, middle, and inner defensive rings, assigning fleets, ground forces, and Librarius Phalanxes to each.
• Leviathan’s vanguard attacked, and Imperial raiders ambushed Tyranid bio-ships before withdrawing as the middle-ring defenses engaged the swarm.
• Dina controlled eleven Armored Scorpions that disintegrated Tyranid organisms, while Space Marines, Skitarii, Imperial Knights, and the Valkyrie Squad reinforced the fighting.
• As defensive lines reached their limits, Imperial forces retreated and carried out Exterminatus, destroying planets and denying the Tyranids biomass.
• Guilliman received Dante’s message and began reorganizing his forces to cross the Nachmund Gauntlet and reinforce him.

After Iax, Guilliman prepared to reinforce Baal against Leviathan and visited Mortarion aboard the Apocalypse. Liang Bing agreed to join the campaign, leaving Guilliman alone with his captive brother to talk.

• Guilliman ordered Calgar to lead the Ultramarines to Vigilus while the rest of the fleet repaired and resupplied for the journey through the Nachmund Gauntlet.
• Guilliman received permission from Liang Bing to visit Mortarion and arrived at her laboratory aboard the Apocalypse.
• Guilliman found Liang Bing torturing and studying Mortarion, and silently watched before asking to speak with his brother.
• Guilliman asked Liang Bing to accompany the fleet to Imperium Nihilus, and Pandora eagerly agreed to fight the Tyranids.
• Liang Bing left the laboratory with Pandora and her companions, and Guilliman approached Mortarion to begin their private conversation.

Hua Wei oversaw Hilling Star’s rapid development and completed a subtle foundational upgrade. He considered ways to contact Abominable Intelligences and convert Necrons, then chose to save his Emotion Points and build strength before pursuing those ambitions.

• Hua Wei watched Hilling Star’s orbital ring, spaceport, and infrastructure take shape as its Emotion Points passed 50 million.
• Hua Wei upgraded himself and learned the system had modestly improved his health, cognition, and energy affinity without causing pain.
• Hua Wei considered recruiting an Abominable Intelligence, but abandoned an immediate attempt after the system warned that it would fail; he planned to investigate suspected Iron Men signals later.
• Hua Wei discovered the Mind Cube and Lifeweave machine, which could turn willing or incapacitated Necrons into organic women while preserving their memories and placing them under his control.
• Hua Wei decided to reserve his Emotion Points and treat Necron conversion as a long-term strategy while Hilling Star continued to develop.

Guilliman found Vigilus consumed by a chaotic multi-sided war and learned that Abaddon’s device threatened the Nachmund Gauntlet while an ancient weapon stirred beneath the planet’s eternal sandstorm. He split his forces to confront both threats, sending Felix and the Jedi to find the weapon while the fleet and Calgar prepared to attack Abaddon.

• Guilliman received Calgar’s report that Genestealer Cults, Chaos forces, Orks, Drukhari, and covert Craftworld Aeldari were ravaging Vigilus as Abaddon destroyed the Blackstone deposits.
• Obi-Wan warned Guilliman that Abaddon’s device could collapse the Nachmund Gauntlet and amplify Chaos, then sensed an ancient weapon awakening within the planet’s eternal sandstorm.
• Guilliman ordered Felix to lead a task force to locate and secure the weapon, destroying it if necessary.
• Obi-Wan sent Kai Lennos and Aila Vesta with Felix to use their Force senses to find the weapon.
• Guilliman ordered the fleet to prepare a saturation bombardment of the Blackstone Mine and directed Calgar to launch a full assault on Abaddon’s forces.

Chasing Wind and Flowing Cloud attacked Harken Worldclaimer’s forces on Vigilus, while Felix led his Primaris company and two Jedi into the Eternal Sandstorm Zone to investigate a dangerous energy source. The Dark Angels followed them toward an ancient fortress, with the White Scars reporting that both groups appeared to share an objective.

• Chasing Wind and Flowing Cloud destroyed Harken’s Heldrake with an Apocalypse Judgment beam and drove him to flee toward Black Legion territory.
• The two angels stayed behind to fight the remaining Chaos Raptors as Harken escaped.
• Felix encountered a tense Dark Angels squad in the sandstorm and learned that White Scars were observing them from the dunes.
• Kay Lennos sensed an ancient fortress about fifteen kilometers away, and Felix led his force toward it.
• The Dark Angels followed Felix’s group into the storm, while a White Scars scout reported their movements to the Khan.
• An ancient creation inside the fortress began emitting a more dangerous energy hum as the groups approached.

Felix and the Jedi allies fought through a Black Legion ambush at Vigil Fortress to destroy the Void Claw, with help from Dark Angels and White Scars forces. The Dark Angels vanished after the battle, leaving Felix determined to report their suspicious behavior to the Regent.

• Felix’s squad entered Vigil Fortress and was ambushed by the Black Legion and apparent Dark Angels, while Kai Lennos sensed the Void Claw gathering energy above them.
• Kai Lennos shielded the squad as Aila Vesta broke through enemy lines, but Harken Worldclaimer arrived with reinforcements and halted their advance.
• Dark Angels attacked the Fallen Angels inside the fortress, and White Scars forces joined the battle, giving Felix’s squad an opening to reach the top level.
• Felix’s warriors and the Jedi attacked the Void Claw, causing it to overload and collapse into wreckage before it could unleash its destructive power.
• Felix found that the Dark Angels and Fallen Angels had disappeared, ordered their strange behavior recorded, and led the survivors and Jedi toward the fleet.

Pandora confronted Abaddon in the Blackstone Mine and destroyed the key Blackstone node before overwhelming the Chaos Warmaster and his guards. She vanished after blasting Abaddon into the hull of the Vengeful Spirit, leaving his fate unknown.

• Abaddon prepared the final Blackstone Crowns to seal the Nachmund Gauntlet when Pandora appeared and ignored his offer to join Chaos.
• Pandora taunted Abaddon, and his warriors’ barrage destroyed the Blackstone Crowns beneath her instead of harming her.
• Pandora caught the Talon of Horus and flung Abaddon into a rock wall, then teleported among his Terminator guards and killed them.
• Abaddon unleashed his power and struck Pandora with Drach'nyen, but a cannon barrel appeared and blocked the sword.
• Pandora fired a destructive beam that launched Abaddon into the Vengeful Spirit, leaving him embedded in its hull with his fate unknown.
• Pandora called Abaddon not tough, blamed Bingbing, and vanished from the ruined mine.

Liang Bing surveyed the devastation Pandora had caused and reported that Abaddon’s Blackstone Crown network had failed. After Felix revealed the Dark Angels’ hidden purge on Vigilus, Guilliman ordered the planet secured and the fleet to Baal, while a Dark Angels squad concealed its secrets and awaited orders from Caliban.

• Liang Bing learned that the Blackstone Crown nodes had failed and left Abaddon for the Black Legion to deal with.
• Felix reported that the Void Claw had been destroyed and that Dark Angels factions had used his mission as cover for an internal purge.
• Guilliman praised Felix’s squad, vowed to address the Dark Angels, and ordered Calgar to secure Vigilus.
• Guilliman sent the Imperial fleet toward Baal to aid Dante and his sons.
• The Dark Angels squad hid evidence of the Fallen Angel and sent encrypted intelligence to Caliban for the Supreme Grand Master.

As Shield of Hades neared collapse under Leviathan’s assault, Liang Bing opened a wormhole to bring Guilliman’s fleet to Baal. Pandora’s devastating cannon strikes disrupted the Tyranid swarm, and Guilliman ordered a landing assault to begin the counterattack.

• Dante reported that the Hades System had fallen and Shield of Hades was nearing its limit, prompting Guilliman to demand that his fleet reach Baal faster.
• Liang Bing summoned Apocalypse and opened a wormhole, allowing the fleet to bypass the dangerous Warp route.
• On Shield of Hades, the Astra Militarum, Sisters of Battle, Skitarii, Space Marines, and their allies struggled to hold the fortress city as the Tyranid assault intensified.
• Pandora fired destructive beams from Apocalypse, annihilating huge concentrations of Tyranids and briefly throwing the swarm into confusion.
• Guilliman arrived with the fleet and ordered the landing forces to deploy onto Shield of Hades.

Guilliman's reinforcements stabilized the Shield of Hades defense while Pandora devastated the Tyranid swarm, but the Hive Mind exploited her reluctance to harm humans and forced her to withdraw. As the Imperial line recovered, a specially evolved Hive Overlord awakened and advanced toward Apocalypse to eliminate Pandora.

• Guilliman arrived at Shield of Hades with Primaris warriors, relieved Dante's exhausted defenders, and established a new line.
• Pandora blasted huge swaths of Tyranids and vaporized Lictors, Shieldbugs, and part of the battlefield with her Destruction cannon.
• The Hive Mind sent the swarm into close combat with human soldiers, preventing Pandora from firing safely, and Liang Bing ordered her back to Apocalypse.
• Pandora punched a hole through an orbiting Hive Mothership before withdrawing, while Guilliman's forces cleared Tyranids and stabilized the defensive line.
• The Hive Mind awakened a powerful Hive Overlord, which marched toward Apocalypse and targeted Pandora.

The Hive Overlord coordinated the Tyranid swarm into a devastating series of traps and attacks, then crippled Guilliman with a psychic assault and a direct strike. Pandora interrupted the Overlord’s killing blow and fought it in close combat, leaving the creature badly battered and the Hive Mind unable to assess her threat level.

• The Hive Overlord reorganized the Tyranid swarm, lured human forces into ambushes, and concentrated attacks on key defenses, inflicting heavy casualties.
• Guilliman ordered the forces to hold their positions, then led an elite Ultramarines unit against the swarm threatening Shield of Hades’ plasma reactor.
• The Hive Overlord’s psychic assault slowed Guilliman, broke the Jedi’s Force barrier, and struck him down before it could deliver a killing blow.
• Pandora arrived with Liang Bing, blasted a huge swath of Tyranids, and challenged the Overlord to fight her.
• The Overlord dodged Pandora’s cannon shots and attacked at close range, but Pandora shattered its bone blade with a punch and battered its head, joints, and limbs.
• The Hive Mind failed to assess Pandora’s strength or devise an evolutionary response as she continued overpowering the Overlord.

Pandora erased the Hive Overlord and nearby Tyranids as they attempted a biomass-fueled self-destruction, but Liang Bing warned Guilliman that the swarm had hidden eggs and genetic seeds and that a larger Hive Fleet could follow. Guilliman and Dante ordered Shield of Hades turned into a bomb and began evacuating toward Baal to prepare for the swarm’s arrival.

• The Tyranids fed themselves into the ruined Hive Overlord and buried eggs and genetic material underground, causing the Overlord to regenerate and begin self-destructing.
• Guilliman warned that the Overlord’s destructive energy threatened the battlefield, but Pandora erased the Overlord, its energy, and nearby Tyranids with a gesture before departing to sleep.
• Liang Bing told Guilliman that the buried seeds could hatch again and that the defeated swarm was only a vanguard whose destruction would draw a larger Hive Fleet toward the planet.
• Guilliman and Dante ordered Imperial forces to stop rebuilding defenses, plant nuclear warheads across Shield of Hades, and evacuate personnel and gene-seed reserves to Baal.
• Guilliman declared that the Imperium would make its final stand in the Baal System as Liang Bing watched the approaching threat and Pandora slept aboard Apocalypse.

Hua Wei upgraded the system, advanced to Three-Star strength, and gained Luke Skywalker, the Doom Slayer, and a Forerunner fleet to support the Hilling Empire. He scheduled their arrival at Baal for the climax of the battle, where they would reveal the Empire’s military power to the Imperium of Man.

• Hua Wei spent 1E Emotion Points to upgrade the system to level two, unlocking Seven-Star summons and unit trait upgrades.
• Hua Wei upgraded himself to Three-Star, gaining a major increase in physical strength and senses.
• Hua Wei opened the gift pack and received two Six-Star summoning tickets and a Forerunner fleet summoning card.
• Hua Wei summoned Luke Skywalker as the fleet’s commander and the Doom Slayer to hunt demons, then set the fleet’s arrival point near Baal.
• Hua Wei discovered that Pandora’s second form could be unlocked for 50 million Emotion Points and scheduled his new forces to enter at the climax of the Battle of Baal.