Recaps

Lin En stopped at Asphodex to transfer Cecilia and Iron Hammer onto his fleet, then set course for Cretacia, where Gabriel’s home world had gone silent. Before they reached it, Lin En suddenly fell into an unending sleep and could not be woken.

• Lin En brought the fleet to Asphodex and revealed that he had arranged to transfer Cecilia and Iron Hammer’s military registrations to his fleet.
• Cecilia worried about the Inquisition and other authorities, but Lin En insisted he would protect them; Cecilia agreed to come, and Iron Hammer eagerly joined him.
• The fleet left Asphodex for Cretacia, whose communications had gone dark and whose remaining defenders might face Chaos, mutated beasts, or the Red Thirst and Black Rage.
• Gabriel watched Cretacia’s disconnected marker in silence as the fleet raced toward the Hades System’s Mandeville Point to enter the Warp.
• The next day, Lin En could not be woken after going to bed normally, and he fell into an unending sleep.

Lin En suddenly fell into an unexplained, deathlike sleep, leaving the three Chapters and their allies unable to wake him. The Adeptus Custodes sent an urgent report to Terra, while the chapter ended by introducing the Necron Nikzashi Dynasty and its ruler, the Megalith King.

• Iron Hammer found Lin En unresponsive and summoned the Adeptus Custodes and Cecilia.
• Valerian and the other Adeptus Custodes confirmed that Lin En was alive but could not wake him.
• Phoros, Gabriel, Sentoyor, and the Apothecaries examined Lin En but found no cause for his condition.
• The Adeptus Custodes contacted Terra for help, while Phoros prayed for Lin En's safe return and vowed loyalty.
• The narrative shifted to the previous day and described the Necron dynastic order, identifying the Megalith King as ruler of the Nikzashi Dynasty.

The Aeldari envoy persuaded Boulder King and the Nikzashi Dynasty to help ambush Lin En, the Emperor’s human envoy, by revealing his ability to disintegrate Living Metal. The Aeldari predicted Lin En would pass through the sector in one day, leaving the Necrons preparing to attack him.

• Boulder King learned that an Aeldari envoy had reached the Nikzashi Dynasty’s hidden Throneworld and ordered him brought in.
• The Aeldari envoy proposed that the Necrons help kill a human envoy of the Emperor named Lin En.
• The envoy explained that Lin En resisted psychic power while wielding it, and showed Boulder King an image of him standing amid Tyranid corpses.
• Boulder King initially rejected the proposal, arguing that the Necrons could avoid humanity by sleeping until biological species died out.
• The Aeldari envoy warned that Lin En would gain the ability called Living Metal Disintegration, convincing the Nikzashi Dynasty to join the ambush.
• The Aeldari envoy said the Farseer had foreseen Lin En would pass through the sector in one day.

The Nikzashi Dynasty sent a Deceiver Shard to ambush Lin En, and it transported him from his fleet to what appeared to be his old college dormitory on Earth. The Megalith King watched the scene in confusion, while Lin En realized he had been gone long enough for his roommate to fear him.

• The Megalith King released a Deceiver Shard from its Blackstone cage to attack Lin En's fleet.
• The Deceiver Shard bypassed the fleet's defenses and entered Lin En's mind as he slept.
• Lin En awoke in his old college dormitory without his armor, weapons, psychic power, or system, and wondered what had happened to his companions and Cretacia.
• Wang Peng entered the dormitory, saw Lin En, dropped his lunch, and ran away.
• The Megalith King watched Lin En's unfamiliar world on a screen, and the Aeldari envoy guessed it was a backward agricultural planet.

The Megalith King and the Aeldari envoy watched an illusion of Lin En’s human world, while Lin En was reunited with his family inside a convincing vision. After his mother stabbed him, Thirty Days healed his fatal wound, and he escaped the illusion with Dimensional Slash, falling into a dark void.

• The Megalith King questioned the Aeldari envoy about Lin En’s mind, and the envoy said the Emperor’s proxy was protected by a barrier linked to the human Emperor.
• Lin En’s family and friends rushed into his dormitory and embraced him after he returned from being missing.
• Lin En’s mother stabbed him in the back while the crowd around him turned into expressionless figures.
• Thirty Days activated automatically and healed Lin En’s fatal wound, revealing that the dormitory was an illusion.
• Lin En used Dimensional Slash to shatter the illusion and fell into a pitch-black void.

Lin En escaped a dark illusion by unleashing his psychic power, only to find himself drifting in space. His Power Armor’s life-support systems kept him alive, and he sent out a psychic signal for Phoros and the others to find him.

• Lin En swam through the endless void and feared the chaos his disappearance had caused aboard the ship.
• Lin En rejected the illusion of his college dorm room, kicked Wang Peng, and tried to destroy the false surroundings with Dimensional Slash.
• Lin En unleashed a Psychic Storm with all 240 points of his psychic power and shattered the Dark Illusion.
• Lin En emerged into the vacuum of space, where his Power Armor sealed around him and restored life support.
• Lin En sent out the Little Astronomican’s psychic signal and waited for Phoros and the others to find him.

Lin En was rescued from drifting in space, only to be attacked by Cecilia and Iron Hammer aboard the ship. Phoros shot them dead, and Lin En was left reeling as a mysterious figure appeared in a reflection and asked whether he knew who it was.

• The Night Goddess and three Battle Barges found Lin En drifting in space, and Phoros carried him aboard while Cecilia and Iron Hammer checked him for injuries.
• Lin En told Cecilia that he had been trapped in an illusion, but Cecilia suddenly attacked him, and Iron Hammer joined her with a maintenance wrench.
• Phoros entered the cabin and shot Cecilia and Iron Hammer, killing them before Lin En could stop him.
• Phoros told Lin En that Cecilia and Iron Hammer had been corrupted by Chaos, while Lin En stared at their bodies and sensed that something was wrong.
• Lin En noticed a smiling human figure in the cabin wall’s reflection, and it asked whether he knew who it was.

Lin En realized he was trapped in successive illusions, shattered layer after layer with Psychic Storms, and nearly exhausted his psychic power. Dante broke through the illusion with the Spear of Telesto and flew down toward him.

• Phoros raised his gun at Lin En, and Lin En realized the apparent rescue aboard the warship was another layer of illusion.
• Lin En unleashed a Psychic Storm and destroyed the illusion, only to find himself back in the void.
• Lin En broke through further illusions of Bolomite and Baal, rejecting the false figures and places drawn from his memories.
• Lin En continued destroying illusion after illusion as his psychic power dwindled and the boundary between illusion and reality blurred.
• Dante used the Spear of Telesto to pierce the illusion from outside and flew down toward Lin En.

Dante entered Lin En’s layered illusion by piercing it with the Bīgong Spear and reunited with him. Lin En explained that they were trapped and planned to use the spear’s power with Dante’s help to break through the nested illusions.

• Dante emerged through a rift, but Lin En stopped him and demanded proof that he was real.
• Dante mentioned the Craftworlds, convincing Lin En, who then took a photo with the Bīgong Spear.
• Dante explained that the spear had brought him into the illusion after he learned Lin En was unconscious and hurried to find him.
• Lin En told Dante that they were trapped in layers of illusion and that the Bīgong Spear had already pierced a hole through them.
• Lin En and Dante agreed to combine their strength with the Bīgong Spear to break through the remaining illusions.

Lin En and Dante escaped the Deceiver Mephet'ran's layered illusion, only to find the C'tan Shard waiting in space. They attacked it together and reduced it to an almost invisible remnant before turning toward the Megalith King.

• Lin En and Dante combined the Bīgong Spear, Dimensional Slash, and Psychic Storm to shatter the illusion.
• The system confirmed that Lin En had escaped, and warned him that the Deceiver C'tan Shard was ahead.
• Lin En identified the Deceiver Mephet'ran Shard and told Dante that the Necrons were likely behind the attack.
• Lin En trapped the Shard with Psychic Storm and empowered Dante with Emperor's Gaze as they attacked.
• Lin En and Dante repeatedly struck the Shard until it nearly disappeared, then looked toward the Megalith King.

Megalith King activated the World Engine and vanished with the Necron Tomb World before Lin En and Dante could reach it. Lin En learned the system could track the Necrons, but he held back from pursuing them because humanity could not yet withstand their power.

• Megalith King ordered the World Engine activated after the Necrons' signal showed Dante and Lin En attacking the Deceiver Shard.
• Dante carried Lin En through the Necrons' barrier, but they watched the Tomb World fold through spacetime and disappear.
• Lin En lamented that the Necrons had escaped and asked the system whether it could track their jump.
• The system confirmed it could locate the Necrons but warned Lin En that humanity was not strong enough to fight them.
• Lin En decided not to pursue the Necrons immediately, recognizing that war with them would endanger humanity.

After reaching one hundred million kills, Lin En drew Psychic Overload, a brief ability that raises his psychic level by one tier, and grudgingly accepted that he still could not challenge the Necrons. He woke back in his room and told Phoros to contact Dante, who had been with him while his soul was outside his body.

• The system announced Lin En had surpassed one hundred million kills and unlocked a gold-guaranteed draw.
• Lin En drew Psychic Overload, which boosts his psychic level by one tier for thirty seconds once a day.
• The system warned Lin En that the Necrons and the Silent King were still beyond his strength, so Lin En added them to his Book of Grudges.
• Lin En woke in his room, where Cecilia, Iron Hammer, two Adeptus Custodes, Phoros, and others gathered around him.
• Lin En told Phoros to contact Lord Dante or the Blood Angels, explaining that his soul had been outside his body while he was with Dante.

Lin En explained his return to Dante and learned that the Blood Angels were clearing Genestealers from Baal. He warned Dante that Niades was in danger, prompting the Chapter Master to rush there with the Blood Angels to prevent the fate that awaited the sleeping Dreadnought Ignis.

• Lin En told Phoros and Dante that Dante had entered the illusion with the Bīgong Spear and helped bring Lin En’s soul back.
• Dante reported that the Blood Angels had divided Baal into sectors and were eliminating the Genestealers, who were retreating underground.
• Lin En told Dante to focus on a complete investigation and blockade of Niades, claiming the Emperor had revealed the threat to him.
• Dante ordered the Blood Angels fleet to return to Baal and sent every available company to blockade Niades.

After surviving the C'tan Shard's illusion, Lin En reassured his protectors and refused to return to Bolomite, insisting that the fleet continue to Cretacia. He admitted he missed his parents, but chose to keep helping others rather than go home.

• Valerian scanned Lin En and confirmed that he was unharmed but exhausted, while Lin En told Valerian and Carl not to blame themselves for the C'tan Shard's attack.
• Phoros, Gabriel, and Sentoyor knelt and asked Lin En to return to Bolomite to recover, but he insisted they continue to Cretacia because the Flesh Tearers' homeworld had gone dark.
• Lin En encouraged the three Chapter Masters to overcome their guilt and ordered their Chapters to proceed to Cretacia at full speed.
• After the others left, Lin En told Cecilia that the illusion had shown him his parents searching for him and admitted that he missed home.
• Lin En told Cecilia he would keep working to save thousands of people, even if that meant putting off his return home.

Lin En and the Space Marine fleet reached Cretacia, where a Great Rift and dense storm clouds obscured the planet. He ordered a heavily armed landing and descended with the Flesh Tearers as the craft entered the storm, leaving the surface situation unknown.

• Lin En recovered during the voyage while Iron Hammer, Cecilia, Phoros, Gabriel, and Sentoyor looked after him.
• The fleet arrived at Cretacia and found a Great Rift nearly encircling the planet, while dense clouds and Warp interference blocked scans of the surface.
• Gabriel began slipping into the Black Rage, but Lin En used Purification and Indomitable Will to calm him before ordering the landing.
• Lin En assigned the Lamenters to the second wave, the Blood Knights to reserve, and ordered the warriors and ground vehicles prepared for descent.
• More than two thousand Astartes from three Chapters boarded Landing Craft, and Lin En met Kallon, captain of the Flesh Tearers' First Company.
• The Landing Craft passed the debris field and entered Cretacia's storm-filled atmosphere as the pilot warned the warriors to prepare for landing.

Lin En and the Blood Angels and Flesh Tearers found that Cretacia had been devastated by boiling rain caused by the Warp Rift, but its fortress and residents had survived. They evacuated the planet’s people to Bolomite while the world remained uninhabitable, and Lin En later reported the situation to Dante.

• Lin En led the landing force onto Cretacia, where boiling rain and scalding steam had turned the surface into a lifeless, muddy wasteland.
• Lin En confirmed that the Warp Rift had caused the environmental disaster, contacted the orbital fleet, and learned that the Flesh Tearers Fortress and its residents were safe.
• Gabriel guided Lin En and the warriors into the fortress, where the garrison reported that the refugees had enough supplies for now but could not survive outside.
• Lin En decided to evacuate Cretacia’s residents to Bolomite, and Phoros arranged for Landing Craft to carry them to the ships in orbit.
• Gabriel and the Flesh Tearers escorted the residents aboard the Landing Craft, helping the elderly, children, and wounded, while Lin En urged them to move quickly through the boiling rain.
• Dante called Lin En during the return journey, and Lin En explained what had happened on Cretacia.

Lin En returned to Bolomite with the rescued Cretacian refugees after helping the Blood Angels eliminate the Chicken Thieves on Baal. The Lamenters welcomed him home while bitterly lamenting that they had been left behind during the fighting.

• Lin En told Dante that the Cretacian refugees were safe and heading to Bolomite, where supplies and personnel from the High Lords Council would support them.
• Dante said the Blood Angels had purged Niades and wiped out the Chicken Thieves, and Lin En urged him to keep clearing them from Baal.
• Lin En and Dante parted ways as their fleets headed for Bolomite and Baal, respectively.
• After a calm half-month voyage, Lin En's fleet arrived at a Bolomite that had been rebuilt with new engineering ships, cleared land, and transport routes.
• Sentoyor silently reminded Lin En that the Blood Knights also needed a homeworld, prompting Lin En to consider finding them a planet in the Maelstrom.
• The Lamenters left to guard Bolomite greeted Lin En with resentment over missing the battles, and Lin En and the others laughed at their bitter disappointment.

Lin En and the others visited the new Lamenters settlement on Bolomite and discovered that the Chapter had rapidly built an imposing fortress and a residential district for settlers. The group began inspecting the district as the refugees from Cretacia prepared to move in.

• Lin En reassured the Lamenters who had stayed behind that they would join a future battle, then led them and the others toward the new settlement.
• The group arrived at the Lamenters Fortress and marveled at its enormous ramparts and completed main structure.
• The squad leader explained that the Lamenters and later-arriving civilians had built the fortress with supplies from the High Lords Council.
• Gabriel admired the fortress, and Sentoyor silently looked to Lin En until Lin En decided he would build another one.
• Lin En chose to inspect the residential district before the fortress so the people from Cretacia could settle in.
• The group entered the orderly district of two- and three-story houses, where flower beds and paved streets were still new.

Lin En welcomed the Cretacian refugees into Bolomite and settled into a wheelchair-bound recovery at his sister Cecilia’s Governor’s Palace. While Cecilia and Iron Hammer organized the city’s reconstruction, Lin En watched the Astartes help the civilians and remained confined to the palace.

• Lin En invited the Cretacian refugees into Bolomite, where they marveled at the city and its lights.
• A squad leader asked Lin En to name the city, and Iron Hammer mocked his suggestion of No-Cry City by proposing Lin En City.
• After the refugees were settled, Lin En moved into Cecilia’s completed Governor’s Palace and was ordered to rest for seven days.
• Cecilia directed Bolomite’s reconstruction while Iron Hammer oversaw the industrial district and sought missing supplies.
• Lin En watched the Astartes help civilians rebuild, and a Flesh Tearer received dried fruit from a little girl before his brothers fought over it.
• Iron Hammer called up to Lin En to help, but Lin En blamed Cecilia for keeping him indoors and threw his water bottle downstairs.

After learning that Orks had enslaved three million civilians on Slaughterhouse III, Lin En approved a rescue operation. He sent the Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights under Phoros’s command while he stayed behind on Bolomite.

• Phoros brought Lin En intelligence that Orks had taken three million civilians to the mines on Slaughterhouse III.
• Lin En recalled the Lamenters’ disastrous rescue in the original story and resolved to prevent the same outcome.
• Lin En summoned Gabriel, Sentoyor, and Phoros and ordered all three Chapters to launch a full-scale rescue under Phoros’s command.
• Lin En told Phoros he would remain on Bolomite, leaving the Chapters to fight without him.
• Phoros pledged to bring the civilians home safely, and Lin En urged him to stay alive.

Lin En outfitted Phoros and the Blood Progeny with overwhelming supplies for their mission to rescue three million civilians from Orks on Slaughterhouse 3, then teased the warriors by promising customized Dreadnoughts if they were badly wounded. After the fleet departed, Lin En and Iron Hammer secretly followed it, leaving Cecilia furious.

• Lin En ordered Iron Hammer to gather weapons, medical equipment, and Stasis Fields for the Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights.
• Phoros and the warriors loaded the supplies aboard their landing craft as Lin En instructed them to bombard the Orks and preserve the wounded in Stasis Fields.
• Lin En told the warriors he would put those who could not be saved into customized Dreadnoughts, prompting them to insist they would win and flee for their ships.
• The fleet departed for Slaughterhouse 3, and Lin En admitted to Iron Hammer that he was worried.
• Lin En and Iron Hammer secretly took a small spacecraft to follow the fleet, and Cecilia learned of their departure and threatened to break their legs when they returned.

Iron Hammer took Lin En off Bolomite in a small spacecraft, but Valerian and Carl caught up and boarded to protect him. As they tried to leave the planet, the orbital defense array locked onto their ship, leaving Iron Hammer panicking and the others facing imminent danger.

• Iron Hammer piloted his old spacecraft away from Bolomite with Lin En, who feared Cecilia would discover his escape.
• Iron Hammer spotted a Landing Craft following them, and Lin En reluctantly answered its communication request.
• Valerian and Carl confronted Lin En, reminded him that he was supposed to remain on Bolomite, and insisted on joining him to protect him.
• Valerian and Carl boarded Iron Hammer's spacecraft, while Lin En claimed he only wanted to watch Phoros and the others from a distance.
• The spacecraft triggered Bolomite's orbital defenses by departing without authorization, and Iron Hammer panicked as the defense platforms locked onto them.

Lin En used the system to bypass Bolomite’s orbital defenses and secretly follow Phoros’s fleet to Slaughterhouse III Planet. After three days, Phoros’s reconnaissance revealed a heavily fortified Greenskin force, and he ordered an orbital bombardment.

• Lin En asked the system to block the orbital defenses and fleet scans, allowing Iron Hammer to pilot their ship safely away from Bolomite.
• Iron Hammer followed Phoros’s fleet toward Slaughterhouse III Planet while Lin En and the Adeptus Custodes rested during the journey.
• Phoros ordered reconnaissance drones to scan Slaughterhouse III Planet after his fleet arrived.
• Phoros and his officers discovered that a warlord’s disciplined Greenskins had fortified the mines and surrounded them with numerous troops and weapons.
• Phoros ordered the fleet to target the surface fortifications with three volleys from its Lances and Macro Cannons.

The Imperial fleet bombarded the Greenskin defenses on Slaughterhouse Three before launching a ground assault to reach the mine. The Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights landed and began clearing the area around the entrance.

• Phoros ordered the fleet to bombard the Greenskin fortifications, triggering explosions that flattened the surface defenses while leaving the mine entrance intact.
• Lin En watched the bombardment with Iron Hammer, Valerian, and Carl, praising the fleet’s firepower and its priority of protecting people over saving money.
• Phoros waited for the smoke to clear, then ordered the Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights to launch their assault.
• The Landing Craft descended through the atmosphere and landed near the mine entrance as the Astartes fired on the surviving Greenskins.
• Sentoyor led the Blood Knights in a flank charge, cutting down Greenskins and calling for Sanguinius, the Emperor, and his lord’s glory.

Phoros led the Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights in defeating the Greenskin garrison and entering Slaughterhouse Mine Number Three to rescue its captive civilians. He freed the survivors, and the planet’s Chaplain learned that the Emperor had sent the Astartes to take them home.

• Phoros coordinated the Chapters’ assault, sending the Lamenters toward the mine entrance while the Blood Knights flanked the Greenskins and the Flesh Tearers followed.
• Phoros led Lamenters veterans to the mine entrance, where he spotted civilians imprisoned in cages and confirmed the companies’ positions over comms.
• The Astartes cleared the surface and charged into the mine, with Gabriel splitting the iron doors and leading the Flesh Tearers into the tunnels.
• The Lamenters, Flesh Tearers, and Blood Knights advanced through the mine and found hundreds of thousands of starving civilians on its first level.
• Phoros broke the civilians’ locks, ordered the cages opened, and watched as medical teams treated the survivors.
• The planet’s Chaplain knelt before Phoros, who helped him up and said the Emperor had sent them to take the civilians home.