Chapter Summaries

Konrad Curze tried to reach Fulgrim as the Nightfall plunged toward the Warp rift, while Lion El'Jonson fought him and Sevatar sabotaged the ship. Fulgrim fled rather than choose between his brothers, and the Nightfall began breaking apart in an explosion.

• Konrad Curze fought Lion El'Jonson in the Nightfall's dark corridors, then set fire to a compartment and continued toward Fulgrim.
• Corswain realized Sevatar's plan as they fought in the command room, while Fulgrim prepared to withdraw after his sons planted bombs.
• Curze reached Fulgrim through the flames, but Fulgrim cut him and then recoiled from both Curze's pleading and Lion's contemptuous gaze.
• Fulgrim ran away, leaving Curze weeping beside the Lion as the Nightfall plunged toward the Warp rift.
• Sevatar broke the command console's safety lock, and an explosion tore through the Nightfall as it began to come apart.

After eight weeks of fighting on Baal, Sanguinius learned that Lion El’Jonson and Konrad Curze had arrived, not the allies he had hoped for. He found the two primarchs still brawling aboard a wrecked ship and prepared to fight them himself.

• Sanguinius woke from a brief rest and learned that fleets from the First Legion and Eighth Legion had appeared at Baal.
• Curze destroyed a Gloriana-class battleship, and Lion struggled to hold onto him as the damaged ship was torn through the Warp.
• Lion and Curze fought across a wrecked compartment as its gravity, air circulation, and temperature systems failed.
• Sanguinius entered the compartment and destroyed its gravity system, but Lion and Curze immediately charged at each other again.
• Sanguinius drew his sword as the two primarchs continued fighting, deciding that a battle was needed.

Sanguinius interrogated Konrad Curze and Lion El'Jonson by drinking their blood and witnessing their memories. He ordered both the Night Lords and Dark Angels to remain on Baal to prevent further conflict within the Imperium.

• Sanguinius declared that none of the primarchs had intended to betray the Imperium, then beat Konrad Curze into silence while confronting Lion El'Jonson about the fighting.
• Sanguinius drank Konrad Curze's blood to view his memories, and the experience left him trembling and speaking of the God-Emperor.
• Sanguinius restrained Lion El'Jonson when the Lion tried to reach his sword, then drank his blood and saw his memories.
• Sanguinius ruled that the Night Lords and Dark Angels had to remain stationed on Baal, saying the Imperium could not endure more internal conflict.
• Sanguinius called Konrad Curze guilty and warned that Lion El'Jonson might be guilty as well, then told the Lion to learn the phrase “For the God-Emperor.”

Sevatar followed Sanguinius to Konrad Curze’s cell, where Curze was praying before a grotesque statue of the God-Emperor and raging over Fulgrim’s forgiveness. Sanguinius entered the cell and began confronting Curze, declaring that he must atone for his sins.

• Sevatar recalled how Amit had rescued him and how Sanguinius had accepted the surviving Night Lords despite their brutality.
• Sanguinius led Sevatar through the prison to meet Konrad Curze alone.
• Sevatar found Curze praying before a statue stitched from Servitor corpses and feared Sanguinius would judge the Night Lords fallen.
• Curze raged that Fulgrim was gone and that she had no right to forgive him for his crimes.
• Sanguinius bent open the cell bars, entered, and told Curze to get out and atone before slapping him silent.

Sanguinius decided to confront Curze’s visions with him and wagered that Curze would atone if Sanguinius endured the prophecy. They shared blood and fell unconscious as the vision began.

• Sanguinius pushed Curze into the collapsing statue and told him the Imperium needed a beacon of faith to save its people.
• Curze recalled how he and Lion El'Jonson had helped drive Fulgrim into hell despite his attempts to prevent it, and wondered whether resisting fate had doomed the galaxy.
• Sanguinius admitted that Curze’s blood had shown him a glimpse of fallen Fulgrim and proposed that they face Curze’s prophecy together.
• Sanguinius wagered that Curze would help extract Gene-seed with his Legion Commander if Sanguinius endured the vision, while Curze would win if he did not.
• Curze began prophesying about Horus, then bit Sanguinius’s wrist as Sanguinius bit him in return.
• Sevatar found both Primarchs unconscious outside the cell and questioned what he had witnessed.

Sanguinius accepted his role as a divine ruler and prepared to found the First God-Empire, believing faith could give humanity hope and strength. He then realized that his ascension would look like a betrayal to Horus and could drive his closest friend to fall.

• Sanguinius stood on Baal with Lion El'Jonson as Warmaster and Konrad Curze as Judgement, and resolved to use them to govern the Imperium's dark side.
• Sanguinius accepted that he was a god and decided to proclaim the Emperor divine so faith could sustain humanity.
• Sanguinius recognized his Blood Angels' bloodlust but resolved to restrain himself and set an example for his sons.
• Sanguinius remembered his close bond with Horus and realized that founding a new Imperium would seem to Horus like betrayal and condemnation.
• Sanguinius understood that Horus might be released from the Warp and fall after discovering that Sanguinius had become Emperor.

Sanguinius witnessed Horus's despair in a prophecy, confronted a monster wearing Horus's form, and struck it down to end his suffering. He awoke from the vision and enforced his judgment on Konrad Curze, who had to keep his promise.

• Curze wept as he recognized the truth beneath Sanguinius's appearance and regretted ignoring his counsel.
• Sanguinius saw Horus revisit his appointment as Warmaster, then collapse under guilt over the Imperium's fall.
• Horus accused Sanguinius of abandoning him and admitted he could not forgive Sanguinius or himself.
• As Horus began to succumb to sleep, Sanguinius suspected he was an impostor and attacked the monster wearing his form.
• Sanguinius awoke from the vision, broke Konrad Curze's jaw again, and told him it was time to keep his promise.

Sanguinius left Konrad Curze and chose to continue fighting, while Curze told Lion El'Jonson that Sanguinius had killed Horus to secure a safer future. In Ultramar, Guilliman and Angron discussed the war effort and the provisional government as Guilliman kept expanding and administering the Ultramarines' domain.

• Sanguinius left the cell after seeing that Konrad Curze could still fight, and told Lion El'Jonson he had made his decision before departing to battle.
• Konrad Curze emerged with Sevatar and told Lion El'Jonson that Sanguinius had killed Horus and chosen a painful future; Curze then left with Sevatar.
• Lion El'Jonson ordered his Angels to return and led the Dark Angels into the darkness.
• Guilliman expanded Ultramar's medical, agricultural, and military resources while the Ultramarines and Death Guard cleansed plague-ridden worlds.
• Angron encouraged Guilliman and affirmed that he and Mortarion trusted him to manage the Imperium's logistics.
• Guilliman told Angron that Malcador had approved a provisional government and that Mortarion would participate.

As preparations began for Sanguinius’s inauguration, Corswain watched the Archangel’s followers groom his bloodied wings and wondered whether faith could be real. Konrad’s visions, Sevatar’s uneasy efforts to keep him calm, and the Lion’s report of another doomed sector left Sanguinius balancing ceremony, purges, and the need to preserve people and resources.

• Amit mocked the exhausted Sevatar, while Corswain tried to keep the Legion commanders focused before the inauguration.
• Sanguinius arrived, and his followers cleaned and adorned his glowing wings as Corswain reflected on the possibility that faith had power.
• Konrad crashed into the preparation room in a bloodied, prophetic state, and Sevatar helped the crowd tend to him before using Sanguinius’s suggested word, “Pluto,” to quiet him.
• The Lion reported that the Seventh Sector could not be saved and said it would require Exterminatus.
• Sanguinius urged the Lion to preserve people and answer reachable distress calls, while defending Konrad’s harsh purges of traitors and cultists.
• Sanguinius continued preparing to appear as a flawless Archangel, intending to establish an idol for the Imperium’s faith.

Malcador, Angron, Guilliman, and Mortarion prepared for a ceremony while worrying about the Imperium’s collapse and the peril facing The Deceased on Cadia. Mortarion arrived through the mist and warned Malcador that the Warp itself had changed.

• Malcador reflected that the Emperor had planned for the possibility of the Imperium breaking into a loose confederation, while the Astronomican remained dark and the Warmaster was missing.
• Malcador considered the danger on Cadia, where the White Scars and Raven Guard were trying to protect The Deceased, and hoped Mortarion could help them reach it.
• Mortarion emerged from the mist, and Angron checked that his changing form had not altered his personality.
• Guilliman arranged for Mortarion to stand out of the way at the ceremony, while Mortarion let his sons adjust his disguise.
• Mortarion told Malcador that the Warp had become unstable because the Warp itself had changed.

Sanguinius announced the establishment of the Second Imperium on Baal and urged humanity to preserve its purity and loyalty against daemonic corruption. The chapter ended with the people cheering as Sanguinius stood beside Lion El'Jonson and Konrad Curze, while Guilliman tried to keep Angron and Mortarion from disrupting the ceremony.

• Sanguinius addressed the people gathered on Baal, warning that the galaxy was hellish and that daemons sought to corrupt human souls.
• Sanguinius asked humanity to preserve its purity, loyalty, and pride, and blessed the people in the God-Emperor's name.
• Azkaron handed Sanguinius his spear, and Sanguinius declared the Second Imperium established.
• Lion El'Jonson and Konrad Curze stood beside Sanguinius as the people answered his declaration with cheers and vows.
• Guilliman tried to maintain decorum while Angron and Mortarion crowded together to hide Mortarion's enormous wings.

John, a nobleman's son turned Auxilia soldier, returned with an invasion force to his corrupted homeworld, hoping to avenge his family and find Lilia. He charged into battle wearing the necklace Lilia had given him, resigned to dying on his native soil.

• John prayed, maintained his weapons, and recalled leaving his noble family behind to escape his homeworld's fall to daemons.
• John remembered that the Shadow had purged his fellow refugees on Baal, but spared him when he pleaded for it to leave Lilia's necklace untouched.
• John boarded a transport with the Auxilia force and returned to his homeworld, hearing daemons, Psykers, and what he thought might be Lilia's voice.
• John checked his plasma gun, clutched Lilia's necklace, and shouted for the God-Emperor as he charged through the hatch first.

Sanguinius told the Archangel how Horus’s wounds, Warp contact, and the legion’s sacrifices led Horus to speak of the Emperor’s death. Mortarion then showed Malcador a guiding light in the Warp that pointed toward Cadia, which Malcador recognized as connected to Fenris and Magnus.

• Sanguinius knelt before the Archangel and recounted Horus’s betrayal, his illness, and the legion’s growing unrest and theism.
• Sanguinius explained that the legion sacrificed a primarch’s mortal friend to revive Horus, but Horus later collapsed again after the Emperor’s Children arrived.
• Sanguinius said Horus contacted entities in the Warp and returned changed, speaking of the God-forsaken, the Usurpation of the Minions, and the Death of the Emperor.
• Mortarion led Malcador to his observatory and showed him a star whose trail through the Warp pointed toward Cadia.
• Malcador recognized the guiding light as connected to Fenris and Magnus.

The prophecy proved true, and Magnus had been right, but those who believed in her soul had already fallen asleep.

• The prophecy came true.
• Magnus was shown to have been right.
• Those who believed in her soul had fallen asleep.

The Emperor realized Tzeentch had helped empower The Deceased into a threat capable of injuring the gods, and ordered the Astronomican extinguished to keep the creature from reaching Terra. With the beacon gone, Russ’s fleet lost its navigational bearings and headed for Fenris, while the interlude showed the Warp entities mocking and summoning the Underking.

• The Emperor concluded that The Deceased had not been confined to the Eye of Terror and ordered the Astronomican extinguished.
• The Emperor realized Tzeentch had secretly helped feed and strengthen The Deceased, leaving him furious and wary of risking injury while building the Webway.
• Russ discovered that the Astronomican had gone out and that most of his fleet’s Navigators had died or broken down.
• Russ learned his fleet was near Fenris and ordered it to dock there.
• Warp entities mocked the Wolf King and called for the Underking to come to them.

Leman Russ brought Magnus to Fenris, where the planet’s strange Psychic Power unsettled her and warned her that it was dangerous to Psykers. After Magnus promised not to cause bloodshed, Russ sent her to prison and wondered whether Fenris had accepted his authority.

• Magnus sensed that Fenris was alive and that its strange Psychic Power made it difficult for her to move.
• Leman Russ shoved Magnus into the snow and told her she was on Fenris, then prepared to send her to a dungeon.
• Magnus warned Russ that Fenris was unfriendly to Psykers and had somehow warned her.
• Russ told Magnus that Fenris would accept her if she sought shelter temporarily and promised to leave without causing bloodshed.
• Magnus promised, and the cold wind eased as Russ sent her back toward the dungeons of The Fang.
• Russ asked Breaker, Kova whether he had angered Fenris, then reflected that the planet’s Soul had spoken to Magnus too.

Leman Russ decided to seek answers from Fenris at Siltier Gate, while a mysterious wolf pup drew the imprisoned Magnus into a prophecy. Magnus was pulled into the vision despite desperately wanting to remain a quiet prisoner.

• Leman Russ brooded over being stranded on Fenris, then decided to visit Siltier Gate and ask the Soul of Fenris whether he could return to Terra.
• A sinister howl rang over Fenris as the powers of two entities began to intertwine.
• Magnus sensed something in her dungeon but resolved to stay put and avoid interfering with her father's plans.
• A wolf pup appeared in Magnus's cell and told her that Fenris needed her, then bit her and forcibly dragged her into a prophecy.

Magnus was summoned by the Soul of Fenris, which revealed that his fate was bound to the planet and showed him the growing Underking pursuing Lan Yu toward Fenris. He realized the threat was real and that he could no longer avoid acting, as the Underking was being led toward the Webway.

• Magnus found himself in Fenris’s psychic domain and tried to persuade the Soul of Fenris to send him back to his imprisonment.
• The Soul of Fenris told Magnus that his fate was entwined with Fenris’s and struck him into the river, giving him Fenris’s vision.
• Magnus saw the Underking pursuing Lan Yu and feared that the monster had come to claim him.
• The Soul of Fenris explained that the Underking was not coming for Magnus and showed him the Webway gate beneath Fenris.
• Magnus saw the roads being built in the Imperial Palace and realized that the Underking was being led toward the Webway, leaving him certain he could no longer do nothing.

Neos confronted Tzeentch over the corrupted card and the danger the Null Field posed to humanity. Tzeentch revealed that Fenris had replaced Prospero in his hand, leaving Neos to wait as their game continued.

• Tzeentch laughed as the Emperor's Underking/Master of the Silent Sisterhood card cracked and transformed into the Oblivion Fool.
• Neos warned that he would let the Null Field consume humanity's hope rather than accept a certain defeat, but Tzeentch insisted their game should continue.
• Neos considered how the lost Astronomican, Fenris, Magnus, and the Crimson Sinners had upset his predictions, then said, "Skip."
• Tzeentch revealed cards depicting Fenris, Magnus's Eye, Loyal Wolf, and fratricide, explaining that Prospero had transformed into Fenris when the Emperor burned it.
• Tzeentch celebrated the chaos caused by the Null Field and the death of their wild card, believing the board now favored him.

Leman Russ entered the Netherworld through Siltier Gate to complete his journey before summer ended, while Magnus realized Fenris could not save her soul or persuade Russ. Magnus secretly bargained with the Lord of Change for power, freed herself from her shackles, and escaped her cell.

• Leman Russ reached Siltier Gate as a blizzard approached, and his Rune Priests warned him to return from the Netherworld before summer ended.
• Magnus realized the Lord of Change was watching her and had anticipated her attempt to stop its plans with Fenris.
• Magnus asked Fenris to protect Russ from falling, but Fenris said it could not change Russ's heart or protect Magnus's soul.
• Magnus concluded she would have to decide her own fate and asked Fenris to ensure Russ remained on Fenris.
• Magnus secretly offered Russ's death and Fenris as sacrifices to the Lord of Change in exchange for power, knowledge, and freedom.
• The Lord of Change restored Magnus's Psychic Power, and she removed her shackles and stepped out of her cell.