Recaps

Li Qinwu learned the history and locations of the two Knight Tombs and agreed to retrieve their Knight Mechs. He also agreed to let Catwoman Nova use his Shipboard Factory, then instructed Busi to delay the delivery of her rocket mines by half a month.

• Li Qinwu recovered the last two Baneblade Tanks and asked Catwoman Nova for the Knight Tomb locations.
• Catwoman Nova sent the locations, and Li Qinwu learned that each of the two cultural factions had fifty Knight Mechs in guarded tombs built from ancient colony-ship warehouses.
• Li Qinwu promised Nova he would take the Knight Mechs and end everything, then agreed to let her rent his Shipboard Factory.
• Busi told Li Qinwu that Nova wanted the factory to produce ten thousand Mine-Laying Rockets.
• Li Qinwu approved the production but told Busi to delay the first delivery until half a month later.

Li Qinwu arrived at Iron Shield Star and declared that he would not interfere in its civil war, but warned that the Black Crocodile Forces threatened the planet. He brought the rival noble factions together aboard the Fortune, where their hostile reunion left peace uncertain.

• Li Qinwu's arrival aboard the Fortune halted the fighting and alarmed both the Imperium and Adeptus Mechanicus forces, who sought to learn his intentions.
• Li Qinwu told the two representatives he would not interfere in the civil war but had come to prevent the Black Crocodile Forces from destroying Iron Shield Star.
• Li Qinwu guaranteed the safety of any Silver Shield Council and Flower Shield Council lords who attended his banquet, and both factions agreed to send representatives.
• The rival nobles boarded the Fortune, surrendered their firearms, and were allowed to keep their swords.
• The two factions entered the banquet hall and immediately began insulting one another, turning the gathering into a shouting match.

Li Qinwu hosted a banquet for the White Shield and Flower Shield nobles, but his extreme precautions against weapons, poisoned food, and overturned tables left them unable to eat and increasingly frustrated. When they demanded to know why he had summoned them, he began a history lesson about humanity’s origins, leaving the purpose of the meeting unrevealed.

• The White Shield and Flower Shield nobles argued and nearly drew their Power Swords until Li Qinwu entered and took the host’s seat.
• Li Qinwu told the hungry nobles to eat, then revealed that the banquet had no utensils and that the metal plates and glasses were welded to the tables.
• A military noble tried to overturn his table, but Li Qinwu had bolted every table to the floor to prevent anyone from gaining Green Shield.
• Li Qinwu explained that he had used antidotes in the food and wine to protect the guests and Ma Guoxiang’s reputation.
• A noble demanded that Li Qinwu explain the meeting, but Li Qinwu began recounting the origins of humanity, starting five hundred million years ago.

Li Qinwu warned Iron Shield Star’s nobles that a Terrifying Crocodile Beast was hunting ships for their Adamantium, though the Flower Shield nobles dismissed his story. The Silver Shield nobles connected it to a missing Baneblade Tank and giant tracks, and after the meeting Li Qinwu told Bruce Crocodile to prepare for a major move.

• Li Qinwu told the nobles how a Terrifying Crocodile Beast had devoured the Adamantium Keels of ships and evaded his pursuit.
• The Flower Shield nobles mocked Li Qinwu’s warning, while the Silver Shield nobles recalled reports of an Evil Dragon, a vanished Baneblade Tank, and enormous reptilian tracks.
• Li Qinwu urged the nobles to stay alert and notify him if they spotted the beast, but the Flower Shield nobles left without taking him seriously.
• The Silver Shield nobles questioned Li Qinwu about the beast before leaving troubled by the connection to their earlier reports.
• After the nobles left, Li Qinwu contacted Bruce Crocodile and told him to make his move on a large scale.

The White Shield Nobles confirmed that a giant creature had taken the Baneblade wreckage, then learned that the Black Crocodile Forces had attacked Valhalla. After overturning Spirit-Guarding City's armored vehicles, the monster burrowed into the burial mound, and the Knight Mechs rushed to the Spirit Elevator, where the Spirit-Guarding Knight stopped them.

• The White Shield Nobles investigated the Baneblade wreckage sites and found the wreckage gone and giant lizard footprints nearby.
• A soldier warned the nobles that the Black Crocodile Forces had appeared and was attacking Valhalla.
• The Black Crocodile Forces shrugged off Spirit-Guarding City's weapons, overturned its tanks and armored vehicles, and dug into Valhalla's burial mound.
• The Knight Mechs arrived and learned that the creature was burrowing toward the underground mausoleum to attack Valhalla.
• The Knight Mechs rushed to the Spirit Elevator, but the Spirit-Guarding Knight blocked their way.

Li Qinwu and Bruce Crocodile broke into Valhalla before the Knights could reach it, and Li Qinwu discovered the fifty preserved Hero King mounts. He left the golden Psychic Flame lighting the tombs as he stood among the ancient Knight Mechs.

• The King Knight told the Gravekeeper that an Adamantium-eating creature had tunneled into Valhalla and urged the Spirit Keeper to summon the Heroic Spirit Elevator.
• The Knight-Errant agreed to guide the Knights underground, and more than a dozen Knight Mechs struggled to turn the Great Elevator’s wheel faster.
• Bruce Crocodile tunneled through the earth, tore open Valhalla’s metal bulkhead, and carried Li Qinwu inside.
• Li Qinwu activated his Power Armor’s lights and used Psychic Flame to illuminate the tombs, revealing fifty sleeping Knight Mechs and their preserved pilots or memorial mannequins.
• Li Qinwu recognized several enormous, unfamiliar Knight Mechs as likely relics of humanity’s Dark Age of Technology and fixed his golden orb to the ceiling for light.

Li Qinwu removed the fifty ancient Knight Mechs from Valhalla to prepare them for humanity’s defense, while Bruce Crocodile staged their destruction. The Silver Shield nobles mourned a fake remnant of their ancestors, unknowingly worshipping a discarded foot from a Duke Knight Mech for generations.

• Li Qinwu declared that he would take the Knight Mechs from Valhalla and had Tech-Priests haul them through his Portal.
• Li Qinwu left Bruce Crocodile behind, and Bruce wrecked Valhalla and scattered metal scraps to make it look as if he had eaten the Mechs.
• The Silver Shield knights arrived, found the damaged hall, and attacked Bruce Crocodile after he spat out an Adamantium foot.
• Bruce Crocodile escaped through his hole, and the knights mourned the foot as the only remains of their fifty ancestors.
• The nobles later guarded and worshipped the foot, unaware that it had belonged to a Duke Knight Mech and had been planted by Li Qinwu.

Bruce Crocodile raided the Flower Shield Council’s Valhalla and carried off its fifty ancestral Knight Mechs, but a Lancer wounded him as he escaped. Bruce reached the ocean and swam away, then retaliated by hurling a boulder at the pursuing Lancer.

• After hearing that Bruce had attacked the Silver Shield Council’s Valhalla, the Flower Shield Grand Noble dismissed the warning until a messenger reported Bruce’s attack on their own tombs.
• Bruce and Li Qinwu opened a Portal underground and transported all fifty Flower Shield ancestral Knight Mechs away before the guards could respond.
• As Bruce emerged from the ground and tried to fly, the Flower Shield Grand Noble’s Lancer severed one of his wings, and surrounding Knight Mechs opened fire.
• Bruce dodged most of the weapons and fled north toward the ocean, while the Lancer pursued him and repeatedly fired until its Power Lance overheated.
• Bruce reached the sea and swam away; after the Lancer pilot hurled a reef boulder at him, Bruce threw it back and knocked the Lancer down.

Li Qinwu and Iron Skull Archmagos inspected more than a hundred Knight Mechs recovered from the tombs, including powerful and highly unusual ancient models. Seeing the collection’s military potential, Li Qinwu considered giving Agricultural World 496B Knight World status to gain autonomy and protect it from the Imperium’s greed.

• After Bruce Crocodile fled into the sea, the surviving Knight Mechs vowed revenge and sought help from the Silver Shield Council and the Inquisitor.
• Li Qinwu had Iron Skull Archmagos inspect the hundred recovered Knight Mechs, which included sixty King Knights and several rare ancient designs.
• Iron Skull Archmagos praised the Quadruped Knights, Bionic Knights, and massive Star Knight, while Li Qinwu speculated that the tombs had been sealed because the Knight Houses lacked pilots capable of controlling them.
• Li Qinwu concluded that ancient Knight Mechs had served both industrial and military purposes, unlike the Imperium’s dedicated war machines.
• Li Qinwu considered assigning pilots to the recovered Mechs and applying to make Agricultural World 496B a Knight World, gaining tax relief and greater autonomy.

Li Qinwu met nobles whose Knight Mechs had been stolen by the Black Evil Forces and offered to help them seek revenge in exchange for investment. He proposed marriage alliances for his sons, Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan, and revealed their exceptional Knight Mech synchronization potential.

• Li Qinwu learned that two Iron Shield Star factions had lost their Valhallas and Knight Mechs to the Black Evil Forces, then summoned their nobles to meet him.
• The nobles asked Li Qinwu to guide their revenge, and the Silver Shield Council and Flower Shield Council each offered a Knight Mech and pilot in exchange for his help.
• Li Qinwu asked whether the noble families had unmarried women capable of piloting Knight Mechs, then summoned Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan to the banquet hall.
• The nobles recognized Li Qinwu’s sons as prospective marriage-alliance partners, and the Silver Shield and Flower Shield grand nobles arranged for their houses to provide eligible women.
• Li Qinwu claimed that Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan had synchronization rates above ninety percent, astonishing the nobles with their potential as legendary pilots.

Li Qinwu discussed marriage prospects for his sons and then used the nobles’ suspicions about the Black Evil Forces to direct an investigation toward Everfrost Island. Bruce Crocodile received the next stage of the plan while hunting in the sea and preparing to head for the island.

• Li Qinwu encouraged Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan to meet noblewomen and develop relationships before they went down to the surface in Knight Mechs.
• Li Qinwu told the nobles that the Black Evil Forces might be preparing to open a Portal and asked which uninhabited island was the likeliest target.
• The nobles identified Everfrost Island as a likely destination, and Li Qinwu proposed investigating it and attacking if they found the Black Evil Forces there.
• Li Qinwu secretly contacted Bruce Crocodile and passed along the plan to cause trouble on Everfrost Island.
• Bruce Crocodile devoured a giant sea beast, grew to nearly forty meters, and received Li Qinwu’s order to go to Everfrost Island and act viciously.

Li Qinwu brought Bruce Crocodile to Everfrost Island to stage a monster threat that would force the two warring noble families to unite. After Bruce created a pillar of black fire, Li Qinwu prepared to begin the next step of his plan.

• Bruce Crocodile landed on Everfrost Island while the two Noble Councils prepared their Knight Mechs for battle.
• Bruce found a defensible mountain range and used his Psychic Power to ignite a pillar of black flames in the snow.
• Li Qinwu arrived by stealth Shuttle and approved the display before announcing that they would begin the next step.
• Li Qinwu reflected on the suffering caused by the war and rejected both direct appeals for peace and a revolution that could leave hundreds of worlds exposed.
• Li Qinwu planned to make Bruce Crocodile a lasting common enemy so the noble families would stop their civil war and strengthen their defenses.

Li Qinwu sacrificed himself to summon giant beasts on Everfrost Island, but his soul persuaded the Beast God, his old classmate, to provide the beasts without the required millions of souls. The Beast God granted the favor and returned to his work for the God-Emperor, while the summoned horde ran wild across the island.

• Li Qinwu entered Bruce Crocodile's black Psychic Flame and died, sending his soul into the Warp instead of straight back to the Emperor Shrine.
• The Beast God recognized Li Qinwu and realized he had offered only his own soul instead of the tens of millions required to summon the beasts.
• Li Qinwu reminded the Beast God that he had once recommended him to the God-Emperor and asked for help as an old classmate.
• The Beast God agreed to help just once, declared their debt settled, and sent Li Qinwu's soul back to the Emperor Shrine.
• The Beast God poured his power into Bruce Crocodile's Portal, summoning over a hundred giant beasts onto Everfrost Island at great cost to himself.

Li Qinwu told the noble houses that the Black Crocodile Forces had opened a Portal on Perpetual Motion Island and warned that they were preparing to escape after consuming Adamantium. As the nobles planned to bombard the Portal, Li Qinwu secretly made their long-range attacks impossible and blamed the obstacles on the enemy.

• Li Qinwu woke after six hours and learned that black monsters had emerged from a Portal on Perpetual Motion Island while the noble houses prepared an assault.
• Li Qinwu told the Silver Shield and Flower Shield nobles that the Black Crocodile Forces would tear open a Warp Rift and might return stronger after digesting the planet's Adamantium.
• The nobles said their icebreakers were carrying Knight Mechs and asked Li Qinwu to bombard the Portal before their forces arrived.
• Li Qinwu secretly created a Warp Storm that disrupted reality, then claimed the Black Crocodile Forces had disabled the warships' ground-targeting instruments.
• When the Flower Shield noble proposed firing indirect cannons by sight, Li Qinwu created thick White Fog around Perpetual Motion Island and blamed that on the enemy too.

Li Qinwu prepared to join the battle on Everfrost Island, bringing his sons, Luca, and his modified T'au Battlesuit to help end the civil war. The group set out to rendezvous with the icebreaker fleet, while Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan invited their new girlfriends to fight alongside them.

• Li Qinwu told the two nobles that he and his companions would personally take part in the battle, and reassured them by promising that his sons would marry on their planet.
• Li Qinwu prepared his modified T'au XK139 Battlesuit, which he had named the Heavy Cannon Knight, for transport to the icebreaker fleet.
• Li Qinwu summoned Luca and encouraged him to use the battle to adapt to his Knight Mech and Giant Sword, and Luca accepted that war would have broken out on Iron Shield Star regardless of his past choices.
• Three Camel-type Shuttles set out for the fleet and to collect Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan, who eagerly agreed to bring their new girlfriends along.
• Li Qinwu approved the girlfriends joining the expedition in their Knight Errants, expecting the shared battle to strengthen the couples’ relationships.

Li Qinwu and his companions demonstrated their unusual Knight Mechs to the assembled forces preparing to attack the Black Crocodile Forces. The nobles assigned Li Qinwu to provide fire support from the rear while the others guarded him.

• Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan showed the nobles how dexterously they could wield weapons with their Knight Mechs’ bionic arms.
• Luca demonstrated the reach and power of his Giant Sword, astonishing the assembled pilots.
• Li Qinwu emerged in the Heavy Cannon Knight, confirmed he could pilot it, and promised to provide fire support.
• The nobles considered Li Qinwu’s mental power and potential descendants as they discussed the campaign.
• More than three hundred Knight Mechs and over five hundred Armiger Knights prepared to advance through the fog toward the Black Crocodile Forces’ Portal.
• The nobles ordered Li Qinwu to fire from behind the line and assigned the young pilots and Luca to protect him.

The Knight Mechs landed on Everfrost Island and fought monsters that tried to block their advance across the ice. After reaching the snowy mountains, the formation faced a huge monster charge, with eight hours remaining before the Portal was completed.

• The Knight Mechs disembarked from the icebreakers and advanced across the ice in formation through the White Fog.
• Dozens of giant beasts attacked, and Armiger Knights killed more than a dozen of them with Hell Chainswords.
• Larger beasts smashed trenches through the ice, so the Knight Mechs destroyed them with artillery and detoured to reach shore.
• The Knight Mechs crossed several kilometers of coastline and entered rugged snowy mountains.
• The Flower Shield Grand Noble speculated that monsters would ambush from the mountains, and hundreds upon thousands of monsters charged down from both sides.

Luca helped the knights repel a monster assault by rescuing the Silver Shield Grand Noble and directing the defense. The knights bombarded the giant beasts from the front while Luca held the right side of the formation against monsters descending from the mountain.

• Li Qinwu, Li Dadan, and Li Zhongdan bombarded the monsters on the snowy mountains, slowing their charge as beasts broke through into the knights' ranks.
• More giant beasts charged from the front, and a monkey-like monster clung to the Silver Shield Grand Noble's Monarch Knight and damaged its armor and weapons.
• Luca rushed in and split the monkey monster with his Giant Sword, then introduced himself as Giant Sword.
• Luca told the Silver Shield Grand Noble to gather the team's heavy long-range weapons against the giant beasts and assigned the mountain attacks to the Inquisitor's forces and himself.
• The knights bombarded the approaching giant beasts while Luca advanced to the right side and slaughtered the monsters leaping down from the mountain.

After the Knight forces killed a thousand Warp-energy beasts, Li Qinwu concealed that the creatures would revive and the group advanced into another endless horde. His Heavy Cannon Knight opened a gap in the formation when he pretended its weapons had overheated, causing heavy losses before the second battle ended.

• The Knight forces defeated a giant magical beast and resupplied while thirteen damaged Knight Mechs were towed back for repairs.
• Li Qinwu told the Silver Shield grand noble that the beasts were made of Warp energy, but withheld that they would revive after being killed.
• The Knight forces encountered another horde less than five kilometers later and fought as the beasts charged through their fire.
• Li Qinwu used his Heavy Cannon Knight to destroy the beasts, then pretended his cannons had overheated after a Flower Shield noble praised him.
• The beasts surged through the resulting gap and broke into the Knight formation, and the battle ended with five large Knights and twenty small Knights lost.

The Grand Nobles’ forces reached the mountain pass five kilometers from the Portal, where the magical beasts’ relentless attacks overwhelmed their formation. Flower Shield Grand Noble proposed a flanking raid, and Silver Shield Grand Noble led thirty knights to find a trail they had both used years earlier.

• The Knight Mechs advanced toward the Portal as the magical beasts’ attacks grew more frequent, and Li Qinwu realized the beasts were respawning nearby.
• The knights reached a narrow pass five kilometers from the Portal, where a huge horde overwhelmed their firepower and damaged more than a hundred Knight Mechs.
• Flower Shield Grand Noble suggested sending a small team over a nearby mountain to attack the Portal from the side.
• Silver Shield Grand Noble stopped Flower Shield Grand Noble from leading the dangerous raid and reminded him that they had both hiked that trail in their youth.
• Silver Shield Grand Noble selected thirty knights and led them around the pass to search for the trail while Flower Shield Grand Noble stayed to command the front.

The Flower Shield Grand Noble’s force broke through the monster-held gap after the Silver Shield Grand Noble was ambushed on the mountain. Invoking the Silver Flower Family’s name, the Knights surged forward and fought their way between the mountains toward the black-flame Portal.

• The Silver Shield Grand Noble found the mountain entrance and led thirty Knights up the trail while the Flower Shield Grand Noble fought at the front.
• Monsters attacked the Silver Shield Grand Noble’s team from the summit and both flanks, and his comms went silent.
• The Flower Shield Grand Noble charged the monsters with full firepower, inspiring the other Knights to seize the gap.
• The Knights’ long-range plasma bombardment failed to destroy the distant Portal, so the Flower Shield Grand Noble urged them to advance toward it.
• The Flower Shield Grand Noble invoked the Silver Flower Family, stirring the older Knights’ memories of their united past and driving the force into a renewed assault.
• The Knights slaughtered the giant beasts and fought their way into the space between the two mountains.

The Flower Shield Grand Noble’s avalanche tactic buried the Knight Mechs, but the pilots survived and emerged to find the White Fog and magical beasts gone. Bruce Crocodile escaped through the Portal behind Psychic Shields, leaving the Flower Shield Grand Noble to watch it close.

• The Flower Shield Grand Noble proposed triggering an avalanche, and Li Qinwu relayed the plan to Bruce Crocodile, who sent giant burrowing beasts to set it off.
• Snow from both mountains buried the Knight Mechs and their pilots, who were later dug out alive by Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan.
• Li Qinwu told the Flower Shield Grand Noble that the enemies and White Fog had disappeared, and the group spotted Bruce Crocodile beside the open Portal.
• The Flower Shield Grand Noble and the King Knight fired on Bruce Crocodile, but Psychic Shields stopped or erased every attack.
• Bruce Crocodile wrote “Heh heh heh!” in the snow, stepped through the Portal, and vanished as it closed.

After the failed campaign against the Black Evil Forces, Li Qinwu warned the two High Nobles that the enemy would return and urged them to end their civil war. He proposed a joint wedding for his sons and their daughters, leaving the nobles to begin planning a shared celebration aboard his warship.

• The Silver Shield Grand Noble asked Li Qinwu whether the Black Evil Forces would return, and Li Qinwu confirmed that it would come back stronger after digesting the Knight Mechs it had devoured.
• Li Qinwu urged the Silver Shield Grand Noble and the Flower Shield Grand Noble to end their civil war, but both remained uncertain whether their factions and backers would allow peace.
• Li Qinwu suggested a wedding to lift spirits, and the two High Nobles agreed that their daughters should marry Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan.
• The High Nobles argued over which city should host the weddings, and Li Qinwu proposed holding both weddings aboard his warship as it passed their core cities and Valhalla.
• The two High Nobles approved Li Qinwu's plan for a joint wedding celebration aboard the warship.

As preparations began for his sons’ wedding, Li Qinwu met with representatives of the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus to propose ending Iron Shield Star’s civil war. He showed how the conflict had left nearly two hundred worlds without protection and promised to seek a fair solution, leaving the representatives uncertain but silent.

• More than ten thousand nobles prepared to attend the wedding, while workers converted the Fortune’s upper deck into a vast banquet hall.
• Li Qinwu met with representatives of the Imperium and the Adeptus Mechanicus, who had come to learn whether he intended to intervene in Iron Shield Star’s civil war.
• Li Qinwu showed them records of distress calls from nearly two hundred worlds and explained how the war had halted Iron Shield Star’s protection of the sector.
• Li Qinwu asked the representatives to remain silent at the wedding while he handled the conflict, and the Adeptus Mechanicus representative questioned whether his plan would favor the Imperium.
• Li Qinwu promised to use a fair method to restore peace and said he wanted world peace.

Li Qinwu used his sons’ wedding to offer Spirit Tea to the gathered nobles and ask them to end the civil war. The nobles and Imperium and Adeptus Mechanicus representatives waited to hear his plan.

• Li Dadan and Li Zhongdan held a grand wedding, while Li Qinwu joked that skyward braids boosted psychic strength and pilots’ connection to Games Workshop’s financial reports.
• Li Qinwu gave each bride a Rosarius and presented two tons of Spirit Tea to their families, claiming it increased psychic strength.
• The nobles grew excited about the tea’s potential to improve Knight Mech synchronization, and Li Qinwu said he had roughly a hundred tons more.
• Li Qinwu asked whether the nobles would keep fighting their own people after gaining strength from the tea, and the Imperium and Adeptus Mechanicus representatives watched for his plan to resolve the civil war.