Recaps

Li Qinwu pursued the fleeing Chaos Warlord into the inner city, where the Warlord attempted to force his ascension into a Greater Daemon. As the transformation began, Li Qinwu attacked and drove his Power Sword through the Warlord’s throat.

• Li Qinwu fought through the Chaos soldiers, climbed onto the rooftops, and pursued the Chaos Warlord into the inner city.
• The Chaos Warlord plunged into the blood pool and begged Khorne for power before the ritual was complete, but no blessing came.
• After the Chaos Warlord denounced Khorne, the incomplete ritual released Warp energy that transformed his body toward that of a Greater Daemon.
• Li Qinwu spotted the transforming Warlord, leapt from the wall, and struck him with his Power Sword.
• Li Qinwu tore through the Warlord’s face and shoulder, then used the creature’s chest for leverage to pierce its throat.

Li Qinwu fought the Chaos Warlord as it transformed into a towering Greater Daemon, but his attacks barely hurt it and Khorne's domain suppressed his Psychic Power. Just as he prepared to die and return with a fleet, the Warlord's ascension went wrong, and Li Qinwu realized it was turning into a Chaos Spawn.

• Li Qinwu wounded the Chaos Warlord, but it healed rapidly as Warp energy gathered around it and its body grew larger.
• Li Qinwu dodged the Warlord's attacks and repeatedly stabbed its rear, provoking agonized screams before it kicked him away and wrecked his Power Armor.
• Li Qinwu stripped off his damaged armor, smoked a cigarette, and charged again, but his sword could not pierce the Warlord's metallic scales.
• Li Qinwu kept striking the Warlord while it begged for the transformation to stop, then noticed its body growing asymmetrically and sprouting red tentacles.
• Li Qinwu laughed and told the Warlord it was turning into a Chaos Spawn because it could not withstand the Chaos Gods' blessing.

Li Qinwu killed the Chaos Warlord after Khorne's excessive blessing transformed him into a Chaos Spawn, while Luca's Knight Mech and troops slaughtered the Chaos forces inside the city. As Li Qinwu prepared to join the fighting, Khorne's attention turned to him and a torrent of Warp energy flooded his body.

• Khorne's blessing mutated the Chaos Warlord into a Chaos Spawn, and Li Qinwu cut apart its body and severed its head.
• Luca led his Knight Mech and two Squire Mechs into the city, where they attacked the Chaos soldiers and blocked escape routes.
• Luca discovered that the Chaos soldiers had slaughtered all 150,000 people in the city and desecrated their corpses.
• Luca's three-thousand-strong army joined the assault, hunting down the Chaos soldiers as the Knight Mech smashed through buildings.
• Li Qinwu prepared to leave and kill more Chaos soldiers, but Khorne's gaze settled on him and a tide of Warp energy poured into his body.

Li Qinwu resisted Khorne’s attempt to corrupt and claim him, while the God-Emperor intervened and pulled him to safety. He woke in a tent with Khorne’s Blessing still active, but discovered the God-Emperor’s Blessing was continually clearing its corruption.

• Khorne’s power began transforming Li Qinwu into a Daemon, but the God-Emperor’s golden Psychic Power restored his body and protected his mind.
• Li Qinwu rejected Khorne and chose to follow the God-Emperor, who appeared as a dark-skinned, golden-crowned girl beside him.
• Khorne retaliated with a sneak attack that struck Li Qinwu and left him unconscious.
• Li Qinwu woke in a tent and noticed that his body had grown larger and stronger.
• Li Qinwu checked his system and found Khorne’s Blessing increased his Strength and Endurance while adding one Corruption point per second.
• Li Qinwu saw that his Corruption value kept returning to zero and discovered a God-Emperor’s Blessing above Khorne’s Blessing.

After receiving blessings from Khorne and the God-Emperor, Li Qinwu recovered with greatly increased strength and learned that Luca had protected his reputation. He joined the city’s looting and opened the baron’s underground treasury, revealing its contents.

• Li Qinwu discovered Khorne’s permanent mission to sacrifice 888 valuable enemies for a second-stage blessing, while the God-Emperor’s blessing removed his Corruption.
• Li Qinwu found that his attributes had risen and his body had grown to 2.2 meters tall.
• A Tech-Priest told Li Qinwu he had been unconscious for two days and that the city’s Chaos army had been destroyed; Luca had suppressed rumors and vouched for his loyalty.
• Li Qinwu dressed in clothes prepared for his new build and went to loot the baron’s castle.
• Li Qinwu cut through the Ceramite door protecting the underground treasury and opened it.

Li Qinwu found a Psychic Sensing Device in the Baron's underground Vault that could serve as a beacon for his future Vault, then gave Luca’s troops the weapons stored there. After Luca’s soldiers looted Baron City and burned it, Luca described the God-Emperor to Li Qinwu.

• Li Qinwu searched the Baron's Vault, found a Psychic Sensing Device, and learned that it could let him locate a device hidden in the Warp.
• Li Qinwu told Luca’s Tech-Priest to distribute the Vault’s guns and cannons among Luca’s soldiers for their journey into space.
• Luca’s 3,000 soldiers took the city’s food supplies and withdrew from Baron City.
• Luca set Baron City ablaze, burning its corpses, graffiti, and other remains.
• Li Qinwu asked Luca about the God-Emperor, and Luca recalled the Emperor’s grandeur and the charge of Knight Mechs and Angels into battle.

Li Qinwu traveled with Luca toward Royal Court Mountain, learning about Luca’s ancient Knight Mech and discussing plans to build a future of his own. As they neared the mountain, refugees appeared on the road, fleeing several pursuing Squire Mechs.

• Luca explained that his Knight Mech’s Throne Mechanicum carried memories of an ancestor who fought alongside the God-Emperor, then played a Requiem for the city’s 150,000 dead.
• Li Qinwu and Luca continued toward Royal Court Mountain, and Luca asked whether Li Qinwu was an Inquisitor.
• Li Qinwu explained that he worked for an Inquisitor under contract while building toward owning a ship and becoming a Rogue Trader.
• Luca proposed investing his entire fortune in Li Qinwu’s venture in exchange for at least half the shares, and Li Qinwu agreed.
• As Luca’s troops entered Royal Court Mountain’s jurisdiction, an ominous mood spread through the ranks.
• The troops saw refugees fleeing along a muddy road while several Squire Mechs pursued them.

Luca confronted two High King Family Squire Mechs for slaughtering fleeing civilians, then destroyed them when they ignored his orders to stop. The massacre ended, but Luca had killed Royal Court knights and was branded a traitor.

• Two High King Family Squire Mechs pursued fleeing civilians and killed hundreds by trampling them.
• Luca challenged the pilots, identified himself as a Freeblade, and ordered them to stop slaughtering the Royal Court's people.
• The pilots refused to obey Luca and continued killing civilians, claiming he had no authority over them.
• Luca charged the Squire Mechs, crushed one with his Power Fist, and killed its pilot.
• The second Squire Mech attacked Luca, who cut it in two with his Hell Chainsword.

After learning that High King Les had joined Chaos and forced civilians into mass slaughter, Luca led his forces toward the Golden Bridge to protect the people fleeing Royal Court Mountain. The chapter ended with Luca rallying his army to confront Les's daemon forces and evacuate the civilians.

• Luca's Tech-Priests questioned civilians hiding beneath a tree after Luca defeated two Armiger Knights.
• A civilian said Les had conscripted young men and forced them to fight in groups, killing those who fled or showed cowardice.
• The civilian explained that Les had declared yeomen to be slaves and sent village by village to be forced into slaughter.
• The civilian said loyal lords and Knight Houses were covering nearly one million civilians as they crossed the Golden Bridge, while Les's daemon army attacked them.
• Luca condemned Les and ordered his army to go to the Golden Bridge, evacuate the civilians, and stop the daemon army.

Luca reached Golden River and saw Loyalist forces struggling to protect millions of civilians from the Khorne Daemon Army. After explaining his family’s generations of loyalty to the God-Emperor, he prepared to cross the bridge and join the battle.

• Luca’s army reached Golden River and saw panicked civilians fleeing across Golden Bridge as Loyalist soldiers fought the Khorne Daemon Army.
• Luca asked the bridge guards for permission to cross and fight, while Li Qinwu warned him that Chaos could kill him.
• Luca told Li Qinwu that his family had served the God-Emperor for more than a thousand generations and described the Emperor as humanity’s liberator.
• The Tech-Priest returned with word that Luca’s force had five minutes to cross, and Luca rallied his three thousand soldiers to follow him over the bridge.

Luca brought his army across the bridge to reinforce the Loyalist Faction and learned how his brother Les had fallen to Khorne. The chapter left the defenders preparing for a decisive battle against Les’s invading forces.

• Luca led his three-thousand-man army across the bridge while his white Knight Mech charged toward the front line.
• Li Qinwu joined Luca at the battlefield, where three Knight Errants welcomed Luca back.
• Luca asked the Knight Houses what had happened after he left the Royal Court, and Li Qinwu learned that Khorne’s influence had spread through Glory Star’s dueling culture.
• After their father’s death, Luca defeated Les in a duel but spared him, then renounced the throne and left the Royal Court.
• Les became High King, obsessed over his defeat and neglected the kingdom while pursuing deadly duels until Khorne blessed him.

Luca accepted the Patrol-class Knights’ acclaim as High King just as the Chaos army launched its assault on the Loyalist force protecting a million civilians. Li Qinwu fought among the infantry for more than half a day, and his cold-weapon proficiency passed 300.

• Three Patrol-class Knights asked Luca to claim the crown, and Luca agreed to lead them against the Chaos forces.
• The Chaos army launched a full assault from three directions while the Loyalists held the line and civilians crossed the Golden Bridge.
• Li Qinwu fought in the infantry ranks, repeatedly stabbing charging enemies with his Power Sword as the Loyalist line slowly fell back.
• After fighting for more than half a day, Li Qinwu checked his system and saw that his cold-weapon proficiency had exceeded 300.

Li Qinwu and a small group of green warriors were surrounded and nearly wiped out, but Li Qinwu survived and defeated two Chaos God challengers. The Chaos God army still surrounded him as he taunted them to send another fighter.

• Li Qinwu realized that his small group of roughly four or five hundred green warriors had been cut off and surrounded by the red-clad Chaos God army.
• After half an hour of fighting, only Li Qinwu and seven green warriors remained atop a mound of corpses.
• The Chaos God soldiers formed a clearing and sent out a great-axe warrior, hoping to use the survivors as opponents in duels for promotion.
• Li Qinwu swiftly severed the axe warrior's hands and legs, impaled him with a spear, and challenged the Chaos God army to send another fighter.
• When a burly warrior charged, Li Qinwu speared him through the throat, mutilated him, and pinned him to the ground before taunting the army again.

Li Qinwu fought the Chaos Gods soldiers while Luca defeated the last rebel Knight Mech with the help of his dying ally. As the evacuation across the Golden Bridge neared completion, Luca’s brother Frais appeared in a Monarch Knight Mech and confronted him.

• Li Qinwu impaled more than twenty Chaos Gods soldiers after cutting off their limbs, while the green-robed warriors fighting beside him were killed.
• Luca’s green Knight Errant charged the red Knight Mech to create an opening, but the enemy destroyed the mech and killed its pilot.
• Luca seized the red Knight Mech’s Chainsword with his Power Gauntlet and drove his own Chainsword into its abdomen, killing its pilot.
• Luca saw that civilians were crossing the Golden Bridge in an orderly evacuation that might finish ahead of schedule.
• Frais emerged from the forest in a Monarch Knight Mech and called out to Luca, who recognized him and demanded to know how he dared show his face.

Luca fought his younger brother Frais in a duel after Frais revealed his overwhelming King Knight Mech and challenged him. Luca was thrown aside and narrowly dodged another whip strike, leaving the battle still underway.

• Frais confronted Luca in his King Knight Mech, demanding a rematch to prove his earlier defeat had been luck.
• Luca charged Frais in his faster Vanguard Knight Mech and dodged the King Knight's long Power Whip.
• Luca grabbed Frais's Power Spear with his Power Gauntlet and struck the King Knight's chest with his Chainsword, but the armor resisted the attack.
• Frais used the King Knight's strength to fling Luca more than forty meters into a field ridge.
• Luca rolled clear as Frais's Power Whip smashed into the ground where he had been lying.

Luca battled Frais, whose Chaos blessing had transformed him and the King Knight into one nearly invulnerable being. Frais overwhelmed Luca and drove his Power Spear through the Vanguard Knight’s chest.

• Frais explained that winning 888 duels had earned him a blessing that fused his body with the King Knight and strengthened its armor and weapons.
• Luca caught Frais’s Power Whip and crushed part of its energy conduit, shortening its effective reach.
• Frais struck Luca’s Vanguard Knight repeatedly, cracking its armor and causing Luca intense pain through their nerve link.
• Luca tried to saw through Frais’s blessed Power Spear, but Frais spun the King Knight and flung him into the ground.
• Frais wrapped Luca in the Power Whip, trapped him, and drove the Power Spear through the Vanguard Knight’s chest and out its back.

Frais impaled Luca’s Vanguard Knight with the Power Spear, but Luca counterattacked before being flung across the battlefield. Li Qinwu fought through the Chaos soldiers to reach Luca, who finally answered that he was alive but his mech was badly damaged.

• Frais drove the Power Spear through Luca’s Vanguard Knight, but Luca seized the spear and tore into Frais’s Monarch Knight with his Chainsword.
• Frais spun his mech until Luca lost his grip and was hurled more than four hundred meters into a field.
• Li Qinwu saw Luca’s fallen mech, fought through the Chaos Warriors, and rushed to check on him.
• Li Qinwu called to Luca as Frais’s Monarch Knight approached, and Luca’s Electronic Eye activated to confirm he was alive but his mech was badly damaged.

Li Qinwu and the badly damaged Vanguard Knight faced Frais’s Monarch Knight Mech for one final charge to protect the civilians. Li Qinwu briefly pierced Khorne’s suppression with Psychic Power, allowing Luca to destroy Frais and his mech.

• Li Qinwu urged the injured Luca to stand, and Luca refused to retreat because Frais would pursue the remaining civilians.
• Luca said the Vanguard Knight could make one last attack, and Li Qinwu promised to help break through the Monarch Knight’s Demonic Armor.
• The Vanguard Knight and Monarch Knight charged toward each other as Luca and Frais prepared for their final clash.
• Luca caught the Monarch Knight’s Power Whip with the damaged Power Gauntlet, while Li Qinwu forced a narrow opening in Khorne’s domain and channeled golden Psychic Flame into the Chainsword.
• The golden flame blinded Frais and stripped away the Monarch Knight’s Chaos protection, allowing Luca’s Chainsword to pierce its armor and grind Frais and the corrupted Throne Mechanicum to pieces.

Li Qinwu survived the battle and discovered that Luca’s body had been vaporized, though Luca had continued fighting as an Electronic Ghost after uploading his consciousness into the Vanguard Knight. Holding Luca’s whistle, Li Qinwu looked toward the Golden Bridge after the civilians and Loyalist Faction warriors had evacuated.

• Li Qinwu awoke surrounded by Chaos God soldiers, who watched him without attacking.
• Li Qinwu inspected the wrecked Knight Mechs and tried to reach Luca inside the Vanguard Knight.
• Li Qinwu forced open the cockpit and found it empty, then realized the Power Spear had vaporized Luca and that Luca’s Electronic Ghost had fought on through the mech.
• Li Qinwu found Luca’s whistle in the charred cockpit and looked toward the Golden Bridge, where the evacuees had escaped.

Li Qinwu died after a brutal battle with the Chaos forces, revived aboard the Inquisitor’s warship, and asked whether the fleet had enough Macro Cannon shells. Half a month later, the fleet attacked Royal Court Mountain on Glory Star with a massive bombardment.

• Li Qinwu charged the Chaos Warlord despite his exhaustion, was stabbed through the abdomen, and bit off the warlord’s nose before the warrior killed him.
• Li Qinwu revived aboard the warship and went to speak with the Inquisitor, ignoring Catwoman along the way.
• Li Qinwu asked whether the fleet had enough Macro Cannon shells, and the Inquisitor said it had enough to flatten a hundred mountains.
• Half a month later, the Inquisitor’s fleet arrived above Glory Star and aimed its guns at Royal Court Mountain.
• The fleet began bombarding Royal Court Mountain with laser fire and hundreds of thousands of Macro Cannon shells.

After the fleet destroyed Royal Court Mountain’s hidden Formation Eye, Glory Star’s Chaos Corruption fell and the Loyalists began purging the remaining Chaos forces. Li Qinwu went to salvage Knight Mech wrecks and asked Luca’s chief maintenance technician whether Luca had any descendants.

• The fleet bombarded Royal Court Mountain until a Macro Cannon shell destroyed the buried ritual array and freed Glory Star from Khorne’s domain.
• Inquisitor Thraxol ordered his million troops to join the local Loyalist Faction in clearing the planet within a month.
• With communications and firearms restored, Loyalist forces tracked down and killed Chaos followers across Glory Star.
• Li Qinwu took engineering vehicles to Royal Court Mountain to salvage Knight Mech wrecks.
• Li Qinwu found Adeptus Mechanicus attendants tending Luca’s ruined Vanguard Knight and asked its chief maintenance technician whether Luca had any descendants.

Li Qinwu arranged to take Luca’s ownerless Knight Mech to an Industrial World for repairs, then claimed four Chaos Knight Mechs as well. After burning the King Knight Mech, he left the maintenance master stunned when its Chaos Value fell to zero.

• Li Qinwu learned that Luca had no eligible heirs, and the chief maintenance master agreed to work under him.
• Li Qinwu ordered the maintenance crew to haul Luca’s Vanguard Knight onto the Shuttle so it could be repaired at an Industrial World.
• The chief maintenance master warned Li Qinwu that four abandoned Chaos Knight Mechs were severely corrupted and that the King Knight’s corruption value reached several thousand.
• Li Qinwu had soldiers smash Holy Wine bottles against the King Knight, add fuel, and burn away its Chaos-tainted exterior.
• The chief maintenance master scanned the charred King Knight and discovered that its Chaos Value had dropped to zero.

Li Qinwu salvaged Knight Mechs near Royal Court Mountain and accepted Knight Les and his three thousand highly educated soldiers into his service as the Glory Regiment. Les then revealed that a Chaos warlord held Li Qinwu’s sword and armor in a nearby mountain.

• Li Qinwu recovered several Knight Mechs and ordered the Adeptus Mechanicus to rebuild three Armiger Knights from damaged machines.
• Knight Les arrived with Luca’s three thousand soldiers and pledged their loyalty to Li Qinwu, asking to continue their planned journey into space.
• Li Qinwu accepted Les’s oath and established the Glory Regiment, appointing Les as its commander.
• Les told Li Qinwu that a Chaos warlord held his sword and armor in a forested mountain twenty kilometers away, where an elite force would be needed to clear out the rebels.

Li Qinwu wiped out the Chaos guerrillas on Glory Star, recovered his equipment, and left Luca’s whistle at the Emperor Shrine before joining the campaign to aid the neighboring Industrial World. After the Inquisitor secured Knight Mechs from Glory Star’s nobles in exchange for concealing the planet’s Chaos uprising, Li Qinwu approached an old Knight with a threat.

• Li Qinwu led three thousand Power Armor guards through the forest, captured the noseless Chaos Warlord, and recovered his equipment.
• Li Qinwu had the Chaos Warlord killed and placed Luca’s whistle on the Emperor Shrine’s offering table.
• The Inquisitor’s forces spent a month purging Glory Star, killing more than eight million Chaos fighters and lowering the planet’s Chaos reading to a safe level.
• The Inquisitor secured ten Knight Mechs and more than thirty Squire Mechs from local nobles by promising to conceal the High King’s betrayal and help select a successor.
• Li Qinwu learned why the Knights were joining the campaign against the Orks and threatened an old Knight with the secret of the High King’s allegiance to Chaos.

Li Qinwu used Glory Star to take on ten years of Agricultural World 496B’s taxes, then returned to the Lower Hive to check on the planet’s worsening condition. He learned that scavengers were trying to repair and sell the wrecked Scimitar Frigate near his homeworld.

• Li Qinwu persuaded Glory Star’s knightly lords to shoulder ten years of Agricultural World 496B’s taxes and planned to restructure more of the planet’s debt on other worlds.
• While the Inquisitor prepared to leave for the Industrial World, Li Qinwu had the chief maintenance engineer assemble three usable Squire Mechs and list what was needed to repair the rest.
• Li Qinwu took a pill, died, and revived in the Lower Hive before secretly meeting planetary governor Zeppelin at the Governor’s Palace.
• Zeppelin told Li Qinwu that the Century Debt Repayment System was underway, but Agricultural World 496B’s vegetation and soil were being depleted to produce grain.
• Zeppelin revealed that captains near the planet were seeking help to repair and sell the wrecked Scimitar-class Frigate, angering Li Qinwu.