Recaps

Saladin fought Angron with grappling techniques, eventually breaking his arm, but Curze struck from behind and stabbed him through a gap in his armor. The chapter left Saladin bleeding and his grip on Angron broken.

• Saladin evaded Angron’s attack, threw him onto the corridor deck, and watched him tear off his damaged armor.
• Saladin and Angron collided in a contest of strength, and Saladin gradually gained the advantage.
• Saladin exploited an opening to twist Angron’s arm behind him and break his forearm.
• Curze ambushed Saladin from behind and drove his Lightning Claw into the gap between Saladin’s shoulder and breastplate.
• Saladin’s body stiffened from the wound, and he released Angron.

Takidin and the Second Legion warriors tried to reach Saladin, but Khârn and Skolzne blocked them while Angron and Curze overwhelmed Saladin. Angron demanded to know where Lorgar was, but Saladin refused and, despite his broken spine and grievous wounds, managed to stand again.

• Takidin charged to aid Saladin, but Khârn struck him aside and joined Skolzne in holding back the Primarch Guard.
• The War Hounds and Night Lords fought the Second Legion warriors in the passageway, preventing them from reaching Saladin.
• Angron and Curze battered Saladin until Angron broke his spine and left him lying in a crater.
• Curze ordered Angron to keep Saladin alive so they could learn where Lorgar was, but Angron punched Saladin and demanded the answer.
• Saladin said he did not know where Lorgar was and would not tell them even if he did.
• Saladin lunged at Angron, escaped his grip, and painfully stood despite his broken spine and shattered armour.

As Saladin lay dying, an awakened power healed his wounds and transformed the battlefield into a sea of sand. He emerged with sand soldiers and a giant griffin at his side, facing Angron and Curze.

• Saladin’s life force faded as his broken body lay amid the battle, but a power awakened within him and began repairing his injuries.
• Konrad Curze foresaw Saladin’s transformation as a threat and appeared behind him to strike at his neck.
• Yellow sand poured from Saladin’s wound, and a psychic blast turned the nearby deck into quicksand that trapped Angron and disrupted Curze’s foresight.
• The ship and nearby battlefield matter disintegrated into sand, which formed ranks of ancient soldiers and a gigantic griffin around Saladin.
• Saladin recovered his stance, formed a new sand scimitar, and pointed it at Angron and Curze.

Commander Biberus learned that Gokbuli and the First Great Company had joined Saladin’s rebellion, while he expected Emil’s Second Great Company to follow. Cut off from the Word Bearers, the loyalists fought a desperate retreat to Saar City as the traitors and Rangdan forces closed in.

• Captain Zask reported that Gokbuli and the First Great Company had joined the Rangdan Xenos and Saladin’s loyalist militia in attacking the 3rd Company.
• Biberus concluded that Emil would also side with Saladin and ordered that the traitors must die.
• Dirham reported that the Word Bearers and Commander Saolis had not answered, and that interference had sealed off the region around the traitor flagship Soul of the Yellow Sands.
• The 3rd Company and rebel forces fought across the Planet as Zask ordered the loyalists to abandon their outer positions and fall back to Saar City.
• Gokbuli directed the rebel assault on Saar City, ordering concentrated fire on the eastern spires and a Terminator attack through the southwestern sewage conduits.

Trapped aboard the Spirit of the Yellow Sands as the fleet battle began, Saolis and his Word Bearers searched for a way back to their ship. They discovered a long-sealed chamber containing a dormant Dreadnought, which Saolis hoped could guide them.

• The Law of Faith opened fire on the Lord of the Yellow Sands' escort ships, confirming that the Word Bearers and the Second Legion rebels were at war.
• Burn urged Saolis to reach a hangar, but Saolis pointed out that they had no map and would likely be overwhelmed in the vast enemy ship.
• Burn discovered an unmarked door in the storage area and cracked its obsolete electronic lock.
• Saolis and the Word Bearers opened the door and found an ancient Dreadnought that had been inactive for more than ninety years.
• Saolis told his men that they had found their guide.

Saolis and Burn awakened a ninety-year-sleeping Lucifer-pattern Dreadnought, who greeted them with cheerful chatter and memories of the early Great Crusade. His mood changed when Burn revealed that Saladin had allied with the Rangdan Xenos to attack Imperial Worlds and slaughter humans.

• Saolis asked Burn to awaken the ancient Dreadnought, and Burn identified it as a Lucifer-pattern machine from the Unification Wars or early Great Crusade.
• Burn cut the obsolete nutrient and neural connections, recited an invocation, and activated the Dreadnought.
• The Dreadnought woke, asked about the Emperor and the Imperium, and casually described a dream in which he killed and ate a Xenos's brains.
• Saolis and Burn explained that they were Word Bearers trapped aboard the Second Legion warship Lord of the Yellow Sands after Saladin's rebellion.
• The Dreadnought dismissed the rebellion as a minor dispute until Burn said Saladin had joined forces with the Rangdan Xenos.
• The Dreadnought fell silent, his red eye lenses frozen.

Ninutal agreed to guide Saolis and the Word Bearers through the Soul of the Yellow Sands to reach a hangar and escape. When Rebel Forces discovered them, Ninutal and the Word Bearers killed the attackers and headed for a hidden passage.

• Saolis asked Ninutal to guide the Word Bearers through the unfamiliar ship, and Ninutal agreed, recognizing its old layout.
• As the group prepared to leave the storage compartment, Rebel Forces warriors entered to search it, and Ninutal attacked them without warning.
• Ninutal killed several Rebel Forces warriors while Saolis ordered the Word Bearers to fire from cover, overwhelming the attackers.
• Ninutal led the Word Bearers out of the compartment and pointed them toward a secret auxiliary passage that bypassed the main lifts and patrol areas.

Saolis and the Word Bearers fought to escape a corridor assault by Rebel Forces and Cataphractii Terminators. They broke through the enemy formation with a Plasma Grenade and retreated into Ninutal’s breach, with Saolis carrying a wounded comrade.

• Ninutal tore open a breach in the corridor wall as Saolis and the Word Bearers formed a firing line against the approaching Rebel Forces.
• Cataphractii Terminators arrived, and their heavy weapons and the Rebel Forces’ advancing shield formation trapped the Word Bearers under fire.
• Saolis shot a Rebel fighter reaching for his Plasma Grenade, and its blast tore a gap in the shield formation.
• Saolis ordered the surviving Word Bearers through the breach, then carried a wounded warrior with a severed leg toward it under renewed fire.

Saolis and Ninutal led the Word Bearers into a hangar and escaped aboard two Transport Craft, but missiles struck both ships and sent them plunging toward the rebel Planet. At Saar City, Company Captain Zask ordered his forces to hold the breached defenses for three hours, then spotted Gokbuli.

• Ninutal and Saolis led the Word Bearers to two Transport Craft and fought their way aboard as pursuers attacked.
• The two Transport Craft escaped the hangar, but Cataphractii Terminators fired missiles that crippled both ships and sent them crashing toward the rebel Planet.
• At Saar City, Company Captain Zask's forces faced an assault by traitors, including tanks, Space Marines, and Imperialis Militia.
• After his adjutant reported that the right flank had been breached, Zask ordered the Imperialis Militia to hold for three hours.
• Zask fired at an approaching traitor and recognized Gokbuli.

After their craft crashed near Saar City, Saolis and the surviving Word Bearers escaped Rebel Forces under Ninutal's cover, leaving the mortally wounded Burn behind. Burn used his final moments to detonate a grenade against the traitors who found him.

• Zask spotted two burning craft falling toward the battlefield as he confronted Gokbuli.
• Ninutal shielded Saolis and several Word Bearers during the crash, but Burn suffered fatal injuries.
• Saolis gave Burn a Bolt Pistol and a Plasma Grenade before leading the survivors away.
• Ninutal disabled a Rebel Forces Leman Russ with a boulder, giving Saolis's group time to destroy it and flee southwest.
• Burn recalled Colchis and its skies as three traitors entered the wreckage and approached him.
• Burn detonated his Plasma Grenade, engulfing himself and the traitors in blue-white light.

Romans struggled to capture Saar City and tried to provoke a captured Word Bearer, but the prisoner's calm declaration of loyalty to Lorgar enraged him. Romans killed the prisoner and raised his head and armor as a banner, still refusing to believe every Word Bearer shared his resolve.

• Romans complained that Gokbuli's tactics were delaying the assault on Saar City.
• Romans threatened a captured Word Bearer with death while taunting him about the doomed defenders.
• The Word Bearer declared that he felt no anger or fear and affirmed his loyalty to the Word Bearers Legion and Lorgar.
• The Word Bearer challenged Romans by asking what traitors like him stood for.
• Romans killed the prisoner, attached his head to the Word Bearers breastplate, and raised it as a banner while shouting that not every Word Bearer could be like him.

Saar City's defenders sacrificed themselves to destroy the rebels' tanks as Gokbuli ordered a final assault despite orders to withdraw. Word Bearers Drop Pods descended toward the city, and Gokbuli soon noticed a towering figure among the vanguard.

• Saolis and the surviving grey-armoured warriors reached the shattered fortress and were assigned to reinforce its defensive lines.
• Doram rallied the defenders as fifty Imperialis Militia soldiers strapped on explosives and charged the rebels' Leman Russ Tanks.
• The fifty soldiers destroyed or disabled at least four tanks in a suicide attack, buying Saar City only a few minutes of respite.
• Gokbuli received orders to withdraw because Word Bearers reinforcements were approaching, but he commanded his forces to launch one final all-out attack.
• Word Bearers Drop Pods descended toward Saar City, and Gokbuli spotted a towering figure among the vanguard troops.

Hercules descended into Saar City and tore through the Rebel Forces, driven by fury over his father’s death. After crushing their assault and destroying several tanks, he spotted Romans wearing his father’s severed head on his chest.

• Hercules’s Drop Pod crashed into the fighting, and he emerged under a barrage of traitor fire that barely damaged him.
• Hercules killed the advancing traitor warriors with his Greatsword and charged through their ranks.
• Hercules dodged a Fellblade Tank’s shell, overturned the tank, and destroyed it by carving through its belly armour.
• Hercules broke through the Rebel Forces’ line and wrecked a Kratos assault Tank.
• Hercules saw Romans beside a Rebel firing position, wearing his father’s severed head on his breastplate.

Hercules killed Romans and drew the traitor forces’ attention away from the loyalist line, while Gokbuli’s attempts to stop him failed. After Hercules hurled a burning Sicaran tank wreck near Gokbuli’s command node, Gokbuli ordered all units to retreat.

• Hercules killed Romans with his Greatsword and shouted “For Lorgar!!!” to draw the traitor warriors’ attention toward him.
• Gokbuli learned that Hercules and his squad had killed most of the company captains committed to the urban assault, and he sent in an elite swordsman squad and ordered the tanks to attack.
• A report confirmed that Hercules had killed all twenty members of the elite swordsman squad before they could reach him.
• A wrecked Sicaran Main Battle Tank crashed near Gokbuli’s command node, and he saw Hercules still fighting in the city.
• Gokbuli ordered all units to disengage and retreat to the designated rally point.

As the traitor fleet withdrew from Saar City, Rockefeller defended the Law of Faith from a desperate ram and learned that enemy Astartes had boarded the ship. Anastasia annihilated the boarding squad and absorbed a Rangdan device, leaving its technology’s significance unknown.

• Rockefeller ordered the Law of Faith to destroy a damaged Second Legion Battle Barge attempting to ram the ship.
• The ship detected six Second Legion traitors boarding the lower decks with Rangdan Time-Flow Manipulators, and Anastasia told Rockefeller to leave them to her.
• The traitor squad advanced toward the power conduit junction, planning to plant Melta Bombs and sabotage the reactor.
• Anastasia enveloped the six intruders in Gray Smoke and disintegrated them and their armor.
• Anastasia picked up a surviving Time-Flow Manipulator component, absorbed it into her hand, and drifted toward the upper decks.

Saladin overwhelmed Angron and Curze with a psychic desert, then withdrew when Takidin warned that Lion El'Jonson's flagship was approaching. Rockefeller's team recovered the Primarchs and survivors, but the boarding assault failed and the Imperium suffered heavy losses.

• Saladin transformed the bridge into a devouring desert, trapping Angron and Curze in quicksand and raising the dead as Sand Guard.
• Saladin urged Angron and Curze to reject the Emperor and join him, while Takidin reported that Lion El'Jonson's flagship was nearing the combat zone.
• Saladin collapsed the desert into a space-warping sandstorm that hurled Angron, Curze, and nearby warriors out of the Soul of the Yellow Sands, then ordered his ship to flee.
• Rockefeller led a rescue team and recovered Angron, Curze, and the surviving boarding troops; Angron's many wounds healed rapidly.
• Khârn and Skolzne were admitted to intensive care, and the failed boarding assault had cost the team more than half its strength.

After Saladin and the Second Legion vanished, the Imperium launched a galaxy-wide hunt while Lion El'Jonson vowed to destroy them. Lorgar returned to the battered Word Bearers and knelt before his senior officers, accepting full blame for the battle's losses.

• The Imperium assembled expeditionary fleets to search for Saladin and the Second Legion, while Lion El'Jonson and the Dark Angels pursued them with particular fury.
• Lorgar returned to the Law of Faith, burdened by remorse for leaving his sons and for the losses they suffered in battle.
• The Word Bearers welcomed Lorgar enthusiastically, but he passed through their ranks without smiling or greeting them.
• On the Bridge, Evans, Rockefeller, Seras, Atlas, Klas Noda, and Sebastian gathered to receive Lorgar.
• Lorgar drew his ceremonial longsword, knelt before his officers, and declared that the battle's losses were entirely his fault.

Lorgar accepted his sons’ renewed allegiance on the Bridge, and the Word Bearers welcomed him back as their leader. On the War Hounds’ Medical Deck, Angron and Curze eagerly fought to be the first to see Lorgar until he appeared at the chamber door.

• Lorgar admitted his mistakes, vowed to kill Saladin and the Second Legion’s traitors, and asked his sons to stand with him again.
• Rockefeller and the assembled Word Bearers knelt and declared that the honor was theirs, and Lorgar accepted their loyalty.
• Angron struggled to leave his Medical Pod so he could see Lorgar, while the War Hounds Apothecaries tried to keep him from worsening his injuries.
• Curze argued with Angron over who should see Lorgar first as their injured Legions’ medical staff watched.
• Lorgar appeared in the Medical Deck chamber, and Angron and Curze called out to him together.

Lorgar addressed the gathered Word Bearers, War Hounds, and Night Lords after their defeat on the Rangdan battlefield, vowing to avenge their losses and destroy Saladin and the Rangdan. His speech and golden psychic power rallied the assembled Legions, leaving them united in renewed vengeance.

• Lorgar admitted that the Legions had suffered defeat on the Rangdan battlefield because they had underestimated their enemy and their own preparations.
• Lorgar declared the defeat a brief truce and vowed to hunt down Saladin and eradicate the Rangdan.
• Lorgar raised his fist, releasing golden psychic energy that swept through the sanctuary and stirred the warriors' fervour.
• The Word Bearers roared their support for Lorgar, and the War Hounds answered with cries for their Legion.
• Angron raised his axe and roared, while Curze drew his Lightning Claws and saluted Lorgar.

Lorgar and Angron received the weapons Vulkan had forged for them aboard the Law of Faith. After testing their new blades and thanking Vulkan through Athelles, they left eager to use them in battle.

• Athelles welcomed Lorgar and Angron aboard the Law of Faith and led them to the secured compartment holding their weapons.
• Lorgar lifted and tested the 2.3-meter Greatsword, whose weight exceeded three hundred tonnes, and praised Vulkan's craftsmanship.
• Angron inspected and swung the pair of heavy battle-axes Vulkan had forged for him.
• Lorgar asked Athelles to convey his and Angron's gratitude to Vulkan, and Athelles relayed Vulkan's confidence in the Greatsword's edge.
• Lorgar secured the Greatsword to his back, Angron attached his axes to his waist, and the two left the compartment.

As the joint hunt for Saladin continued, Lorgar secretly gathered overwhelming forces while keeping much of the Word Bearers' strength concealed. Saladin's Fleet then struck the industrial world Vienna, and Lorgar ordered an immediate return to defend his recruiting worlds.

• Lorgar covertly redeployed a Word Bearers Fleet, raising the forces under his direct command to 180,000 Space Marines.
• The chapter described the wider military strength Lorgar could secretly summon, including Legion forces, auxiliary troops, Titan Legions, and Knight Houses.
• The star fortress Steadfast Faith detected a large Fleet emerging from the Warp, with signatures matching Saladin's traitor Second Legion.
• The fortress sounded the alarm and mobilized its defenders as the traitor Fleet raced toward Vienna.
• Lorgar learned that Saladin had bypassed the blockade and attacked his recruiting worlds, then ordered his forces to turn back and reinforce them.

The Second Legion’s traitor forces attacked Vienna’s Hive City, but the Colchis Auxiliary Army’s determined defense turned the assault into more than ten days of brutal attrition. A Rebel Forces officer failed to persuade the defenders to surrender and ordered another charge through the breach.

• The Second Legion and its Imperialis Militia landed around Vienna’s Hive City and quickly destroyed the outer defenses.
• The traitors’ initial assault stalled at the city’s heavily fortified walls, where Colchis soldiers repelled them and inflicted heavy casualties.
• For more than ten days, both sides fought repeated attacks and counterattacks across the ruined battlefield.
• A Rebel Forces officer called on the defenders to surrender, but a Colchis veteran refused and shouted his allegiance to the Emperor and Lorgar.
• The officer ordered his troops to prepare demolition tubes and flamethrowers for another assault through the breach.

After thirty days of siege, Imperial reinforcements led by Lorgar arrived at Vienna and overwhelmed the traitor fleet. Lorgar rejected Saladin’s expected attempt at persuasion and vowed to kill him, then charged directly at the Second Legion flagship.

• The traitors pressed their assault on Vienna’s battered defenders as ammunition and strength ran low.
• Lorgar led a vast Imperial fleet into the system, followed by battle groups from the War Hounds, Night Lords, Dark Angels, and Space Wolves.
• The Imperial fleet’s first barrage devastated the Combined Fleet’s vanguard and tore through its formation.
• Saladin requested a private conversation with Lorgar and taunted him about persuading him to return to the Imperium.
• Lorgar told Saladin, “I’ll just kill you,” and ended the call.
• The Law of Faith accelerated straight toward the Soul of the Yellow Sands, and Saladin watched its approach as alarms sounded.

Lorgar and Hercules teleported into the Soul of the Yellow Sands to confront Saladin, but found themselves trapped in a vast ambush. Surrounded by overwhelming forces, Lorgar drew his blood-ignited Greatsword and challenged Saladin to test his predictions.

• Lorgar ordered Anastasia and Rockefeller to protect the Law of Faith while he took Hercules on a small strike against Saladin.
• Lorgar used psychic teleportation to bring himself, Hercules, and the heavy Anti-Psychic Device into the Soul of the Yellow Sands.
• Saladin revealed that he had anticipated Lorgar's attack, while Mago emerged beside him as the Second Legion and Rangdan forces surrounded the newcomers.
• Lorgar showed no fear, drew Vulkan's Greatsword, and set its blade alight with his Primarch's blood.
• Lorgar faced Saladin and told him to give it a try.

Lorgar unleashed overwhelming golden Psychic Energy against Saladin’s forces, while Hercules defended the Cross whose purification field weakened Saladin. After destroying thousands of enemies, Lorgar ended the assault with his Greatsword aimed at the terrified Saladin.

• The Cross released a purification field that dissolved Saladin’s psychic power and prompted him to order his troops to destroy it.
• Hercules planted himself before the Cross and held off the traitors’ attack as Lorgar charged through their ranks with sweeping Greatsword strikes.
• Lorgar cut a charging Fellblade in half, blocked Mago’s ambush, and kicked the Rangdan Warmaster through enemy cover.
• Lorgar planted his Greatsword in the floor and unleashed a sphere of golden energy that turned nearly every enemy within several hundred meters to ash.
• Lorgar raised his Greatsword toward Saladin and the few surviving soldiers.