Recaps

The Emperor reassured Malcador that Lorgar and Anna would not betray humanity, though Anna remained a mysterious presence. Meanwhile, Armg and a Drukhari lord each set out to pursue Lorgar for their own reasons.

• The Emperor told Malcador that prophecy showed Lorgar and Anna would remain aligned with humanity, and he revealed a tarot vision identifying Anna with the High Priestess.
• Armg declared Lorgar a worthy opponent and ordered his Orks to prepare a vast WAAAGH to hunt him down.
• A Drukhari lord became interested in capturing Lorgar as a prized gladiatorial exhibit and ordered his private fleet to assemble.

Cadet Carmen toured the Colchis Holy Word Army air corps training base and discovered the retired One-Way Ticket aircraft, serial number 33027. The instructor explained its suicidal bombing role, while Carmen sensed a lingering will in the plane; she did not know she would one day lead aircraft like it into battle.

• The instructor welcomed the recruits to the air corps and led them through the hangar's aircraft displays.
• Carmen studied the aircraft and noticed a solitary, unlisted white warplane marked 33027.
• The instructor explained that the plane carried a massive bomb at extreme speed but had too little fuel and poor landing prospects for its pilot to return.
• Carmen felt the aircraft's lingering will grow clearer, then returned to the formation after the assembly whistle.
• Carmen left unaware that she would one day lead a squadron of 33027s against the traitors' fleet.

Lorgar reassigned Cassios to follow Hercules so Cassios could learn to work within a specialized tactical framework, despite Cassios's wish to remain in frontline combat. After Magnus warned that a massive Ork WAAAGH!!! was likely heading toward Lorgar's sector, Lorgar began planning for the coming confrontation while continuing to manage his workload.

• Lorgar ordered Cassios to leave his old squad and follow Hercules, but Cassios objected and asked to remain in a frontline Assault Squad.
• Lorgar explained that Cassios's poor coordination and repeated deviations from squad plans had prompted his Company Captain to submit seven reports, then confirmed the reassignment.
• Hercules tried to ask Lorgar about his relationship with Anna, but Lorgar dismissed him before he could finish.
• Lorgar reflected on the rumors about Anna spreading through the Legion, then returned to his paperwork.
• Magnus warned Lorgar that an enormous, purposeful Ork WAAAGH!!! was probably heading for his sector, led by a powerful figure associated with a crimson crescent.
• Lorgar began integrating Magnus's warning with fleet deployments, available forces, and sector defenses to prepare for the coming battle.

Klas Noda’s Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet encountered Amg the Starbreaker’s enormous Ork fleet emerging from the Warp. Klas ordered his forces to prepare for a desperate defensive battle as Amg launched a full charge, leaving the two fleets on the brink of engagement.

• Klas Noda’s fleet detected a massive Warp disturbance and watched a star-sized Ork junk fortress emerge into realspace.
• Over a million Ork vessels poured out around the fortress, and Klas sent distress signals requesting all available support.
• Klas ordered the Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet to maximum alert and prepared it for a defensive battle and breakout.
• Amg the Starbreaker recognized the Word Bearers’ insignia, celebrated finding Lorgar’s forces, and ordered the Orks to charge.
• Amg’s million-ship Ork fleet surged toward the Imperial fleet, and he planned to challenge the Emperor of Ullanor afterward.

The Imperial Fleet opened fire on the overwhelming Ork armada, with an automatic ammunition resupply system credited to Lady Anastasia enabling rapid, sustained Macro-cannon volleys. The Orks retaliated with a chaotic barrage that destroyed several cruisers and more than a dozen escort ships, leaving the battle raging.

• The Imperial Fleet formed for battle and fired Lances and repeated Macro-cannon salvos, destroying vast numbers of Ork ships.
• Klas Noda recognized that Lady Anastasia’s automatic loading and ammunition resupply system allowed the fleet to maintain its barrage.
• The Orks endured the Imperial attack and launched asteroid bombs, chained Missiles, and other irregular projectiles at the fleet.
• Imperial point defenses intercepted many incoming weapons, but Ork bombs struck the formation and destroyed several cruisers and more than a dozen escort ships.

Lorgar received a distress call from the Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet, which was under attack by an immense Ork force, and eagerly prepared to lead reinforcements. He left Rockefeller to handle the Legion’s administration as he headed for the battlefield.

• Rockefeller told Lorgar that Klas Noda’s Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet needed urgent help against at least a million Ork vessels and a star-sized scrap fortress.
• Lorgar abandoned his paperwork, took up his Greatsword, and ordered Hercules, Anna, and Cassios to assemble at Hangar One.
• Lorgar ordered Seras’s Third Chapter to gather available ships and told Evans to prepare a tactical plan within three standard hours.
• Lorgar left Rockefeller responsible for the Legion’s routine administration and hurried out to prepare for battle.
• Rockefeller watched Lorgar leave and faced the growing mountain of reports and files in despair.

Lorgar asked the Primarchs for urgent reinforcements after claiming he was surrounded by Orks, then clarified that his Chapter fleet was in danger. The Primarchs offered forces and argued over how to help, leaving Lorgar trying to restore order in the communications channel.

• Lorgar sent an urgent message saying he was surrounded by Orks, prompting several Primarchs and the Emperor to react with alarm.
• Lorgar clarified that his Chapter fleet was surrounded and promised to send the sector coordinates.
• The Emperor stood ready to mobilize the Adeptus Custodes, then called them back after learning Lorgar was not personally in danger.
• Angron, Curze, Perturabo, Lion El'Jonson, and Mortarion offered support, with several bypassing the Emperor to answer Lorgar directly.
• Angron and Curze argued over their rescue plans while Perturabo called them both useless, and Lorgar ordered everyone to quiet down.

Lorgar organized a relief force for Kras and escalated its mission from breaking the Ork siege to annihilating the entire Ork WAAAGH and its scrap-built Stellar Fortress. He ordered the Word Bearers fleet to jump toward the Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet, expecting the combined Space Marine force to exceed 350,000 warriors.

• Lorgar assigned Angron's War Hounds to lead the frontal assault and Curze's Night Lords to strike Ork command nodes, heavy weapons, and critical installations.
• Lorgar asked Perturabo and Mortarion to report any nearby forces they could spare, and thanked Lion El'Jonson for his offer while directing the Dark Angels to continue their original mission.
• Angron, Curze, Perturabo, Mortarion, and Lion El'Jonson acknowledged Lorgar's orders or replied that they would stay in contact.
• Lorgar rejected merely repelling the Orks and resolved to destroy their WAAAGH, its Stellar Fortress, and the Ork Overlord in the Star Cluster.
• Lorgar calculated that the assembled force could exceed 350,000 Space Marines and ordered his fleet to jump at full speed to Kras's last known coordinates.

Orks breached the Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet’s defenses and fought the Colchis Mortals Imperialis Militia aboard a warship. After an Ork Warboss threatened Lorgar, the soldiers killed him with melta and plasma fire, and both sides charged into renewed combat.

• Orks rode junk shells into the fleet, and one Ork bomb blew open a point-defense turret for Boyz to board the warship.
• The Colchis Mortals Imperialis Militia formed a corridor defense, but Ork Boyz, Stormboyz, and Shoota Boyz overwhelmed their positions with successive attacks.
• An Ork Warboss ordered his troops to aim at the soldiers and declared that he would kill Lorgar and use his head as a booze jug.
• Enraged by the insult to Lorgar, the soldiers concentrated their fire on the Warboss and destroyed him with melta and plasma weapons.
• The surviving Orks roared and charged as the human soldiers rushed forward shouting for the Primarch.

Kras and the Eighty-Third Expedition Fleet endured devastating losses as the Glory's Recompense sacrificed itself to destroy thousands of Ork ships and cripple their flagship. Reinforcements from several Legions arrived, and Lorgar contacted Kras, who stood ready for his orders.

• Klas Noda learned that the Glory's Recompense was overrun, then watched Captain Kais ram it into the Ork flagship and destroy thousands of enemy ships in the resulting explosion.
• Kras received a report that more than a hundred Imperial warships had been destroyed and hundreds of millions of lives lost, and resolved that their sacrifice had to achieve strategic value.
• Khârn announced that the War Hounds had arrived to reinforce the Word Bearers, followed by the Night Lords, Death Guard, and Iron Warriors.
• Imperial fleets emerged from the Warp and shifted the balance of the battle in the Eighty-Third Fleet's favor.
• Lorgar Aurelian told Kras, "I'm here, Kras," and Kras replied that he was ready for orders.

Amg spotted Lorgar aboard the Imperial flagship and roared a challenge, while Lorgar prepared to attack the Ork scrap Fortress despite the Emperor urging him to command from safety. Anna merged into Lorgar’s armor with a mysterious new upgrade, and Lorgar and Hercules leaped into the battlefield toward the Fortress.

• Amg sensed Lorgar aboard the Law of Faith and vowed to fight him as his Orks rallied around him.
• Lorgar ordered Hercules and Anastasia to prepare to board the Ork scrap Fortress, ignoring the Emperor’s warning to remain in command.
• Anastasia transformed into nanometal mist and merged with Lorgar’s armor, revealing that she had activated a new secret function.
• Lorgar enveloped himself and Hercules in psychic energy, then launched them both from the flagship toward the Ork Fortress.

Lorgar and Hercules crash into the Ork Fortress and fight their way through its factory, with Hercules killing a Warlord who attacks them. They continue toward the Fortress’s core as Lorgar orders Hercules to leave a few Orks alive for practice and destroy the rest.

• Amgr recognizes Lorgar and orders the Orks to stop firing so he can fight him himself.
• Lorgar and Hercules smash through the Fortress’s outer shell and charge through its interior, burning a path through metal barriers and Orks with psychic force.
• An Ork Warlord attacks Lorgar, but Hercules blocks the blow and knocks the Warlord through a production line.
• Hercules decapitates the Warlord with a single Greatsword slash after Lorgar orders him to clear the way.
• Lorgar tells Hercules to open a passage to the Fortress’s core, spare a few sturdy Orks for practice, and kill the rest.
• As Hercules advances through the factory, Lorgar talks with Anna about the foul air and notices more Warbosses charging toward them.

Lorgar tested the enhanced nanometal armor and discovered that Anna could reshape it into weapons and spread it through the floor to slaughter a vast Ork horde. He ended the chapter impressed by Anna’s capabilities and said he was growing fonder of her.

• Lorgar killed more than a dozen Ork Warbosses with his bare hands and learned from Anna that the armor increased his baseline strength by roughly fifteen to twenty percent.
• Anna showed Lorgar how to transform the armor on his hands into Silver Claws.
• At Anna’s direction, Lorgar drove the claws into the deck, and the nanometal spread beneath the oncoming Orks and impaled and shredded hundreds of them.
• Anna explained that she could form other weapons and armor, assist Lorgar’s movement and defense, and warn him of attacks.
• Lorgar watched the nanometal return to his armor and told Anna he was growing fonder of her.

Lorgar entered an Ork gladiatorial arena and faced Starbreaker Amg, who demanded a one-on-one duel. Lorgar accepted and advanced to fight him while Anna watched from the arena’s edge.

• Lorgar realized he had left Cassios behind and told him to wait at the rally point or join the later landing forces.
• Lorgar entered an arena packed with Ork Warlords, who roared at the sight of him.
• Starbreaker Amg arrived, challenged Lorgar to a fair one-on-one fight, and promised to let Lorgar and Anna go if he lost.
• Lorgar sent Anna out of his armor, and Amg stopped an Ork Warlord from attacking her so the duel would remain fair.
• Anna grew angry when Amg called her a humie and urged Lorgar to beat him; Lorgar began walking toward Amg to fight.

Lorgar and Amg fought an increasingly savage duel until a Drukhari force emerged from a Webway rift and interrupted them. Boris, an Archon, invited Lorgar to Commorragh for a threateningly described cup of tea, while his troops began surrounding him.

• Amg charged Lorgar with his Giant Blade, but Lorgar met the strike with psychic-powered fists and shattered the weapon.
• Lorgar acknowledged Amg's strength, and the two resumed their fight with fists, claws, and brutal physical attacks.
• As Lorgar and Amg battled across the arena, a Webway rift opened beneath the dome and Drukhari forces poured through.
• Boris introduced himself as an Archon and invited Lorgar to Commorragh at his master's command.
• The Drukhari advanced to surround Lorgar, while the Ork Warlords faced them across the arena.

Lorgar and Amge joined forces against Archon Post’s Drukhari after Post’s invitation turned into an ambush. When Post summoned a fleet of more than a million Drukhari ships and offered to spare Lorgar’s Legion if he surrendered, Lorgar drew his Greatsword and declared that he feared no one in numbers or backing.

• Lorgar questioned Archon Post about who had sent him, then kicked a rebar spike that narrowly missed Post and impaled three Sslyth mercenaries.
• Amge attacked the Drukhari, and Lorgar agreed to fight alongside him while Anna and the Ork Warlord joined the battle.
• Lorgar and his allies tore through the Drukhari forces, while Post ordered contingency two and summoned the Khrave Fleet through the Webway rift.
• More than a million Drukhari warriors arrived aboard warships, and Post offered to spare Lorgar’s Legion if Lorgar surrendered and returned to Commorragh.
• Lorgar drew his Greatsword, unleashed his psychic power, and declared that he had never feared his enemies’ numbers or backing.

Curze and Angron learned that a massive Drukhari fleet had joined the battle and that Lorgar might be trapped inside the Ork Fortress. After Seras alerted the Imperium, the Emperor ordered forces from across the galaxy to converge on Lorgar’s position, leaving the rescue effort underway.

• Curze warned Angron that Drukhari forces had emerged from Webway rifts and might be ambushing Lorgar inside the Ork Fortress.
• Angron ordered Curze’s ships to disrupt the Drukhari while the War Hounds attacked the combined Ork and Drukhari lines to open a route to Lorgar.
• Seras sent an urgent report about the Drukhari intervention and Lorgar’s possible encirclement to Imperial authorities, the theatre command, and the Imperial Palace.
• The Emperor ordered Perturabo and Mortarion to send available forces to Lorgar’s coordinates and instructed Constantin Valdor to prepare the Custodian Guard.
• Imperial Fleets and mobile forces across the galaxy received orders to converge on Lorgar’s position.

Lorgar and Amg entered Commorragh through the Webway and unleashed the Emperor’s golden power and the Ork gods’ psychic force in the Drukhari city. Their arrival shocked Asdrubael Vect, who blamed the injured Post for bringing them there.

• Lorgar suggested that he and Amg invade Commorragh, and Amg eagerly agreed.
• Lorgar knocked Post aside and entered the Webway rift, followed by Amg.
• Lorgar and Amg arrived in Commorragh, where Amg’s WAAAGH awakened manifestations of Gork and Mork.
• Lorgar unleashed golden psychic flames and manifested a projection of the Emperor’s will.
• Asdrubael Vect sensed the two powers erupting in his city and shouted at Post over their communications link.

Lorgar and Amg’s battle devastated Commorragh’s central districts, terrifying the Drukhari and threatening to draw Chaos into the Webway. Vect ordered Post to drive the fighters away, while Post became increasingly obsessed with Lorgar.

• Lorgar and Amg clashed in a battle whose shock waves and powers reduced millions of square kilometers of Commorragh to ruins.
• Vect feared their psychic disturbances would attract Chaos and destroy Commorragh if the fighting continued.
• Vect summoned Post and ordered him to get Lorgar and Amg out without endangering the city’s foundations.
• Post accepted the order but fixated on Lorgar, declaring that he wanted him.

Lorgar and Amg fought an increasingly powerful duel before agreeing to settle it with one final attack, but Archon Post’s ambush was cut short when Hercules arrived and crushed him. Hercules’s arrival with a band of Ork Warlords interrupted the duel just as Lorgar and Amg prepared to strike.

• Amg and Lorgar traded a fierce series of blows, each growing more excited as their powers clashed.
• During a pause, Lorgar ignored the Emperor’s urging to finish the fight and agreed to Amg’s challenge to decide the winner with their strongest moves.
• Lorgar drew on more of the Emperor’s power while Amg unleashed his full WAAAGH!!! energy, preparing for their final attacks.
• Archon Post appeared between them, intending to ambush the exhausted fighters, but Hercules charged in and crushed him before he could finish speaking.
• Hercules called out to Lorgar, and dozens of Ork Warlords followed him into the battlefield to rally behind Amg.
• Lorgar and Amg both halted their attacks as Hercules and the Orks’ arrival disrupted their duel.

Hercules and a band of Ork Warlords charged through the Webway rift into Commorragh, interrupting Lorgar and Amg’s duel. Amg admitted he could not yet defeat Lorgar and chose to remain in Commorragh to fight and train, while Lorgar prepared to leave with Hercules.

• Hercules burst into the Gladiatorial Arena and charged into the Webway rift before Anastasia could finish explaining where Lorgar was.
• The Ork Warlords mistook Hercules’s charge for an attempt to interfere with the duel and followed him through the rift.
• In Commorragh, Hercules and the Orks attacked the Drukhari forces surrounding Lorgar and Amg.
• Amg told Lorgar he was not yet strong enough to beat him and vowed to stay in Commorragh to fight and train until he could face Lorgar again.
• Lorgar accepted Amg’s decision and told Hercules it was time to leave.

The Drukhari fleet retreated as Imperial ships pursued, until Sanguinius appeared and destroyed the remaining enemy vessels. He landed aboard the Law of Faith, where Rockefeller and Seras recognized him, and he explained that he had come from Baal to aid the Word Bearers.

• The Drukhari fleet broke formation and fled as Imperial ships opened fire and destroyed many of its vessels.
• Sanguinius emerged from a destroyed Drukhari cruiser and attacked the fleeing ships with the Spear of Telesto and his psychic power.
• Sanguinius destroyed a group of Drukhari vessels and vaporized a Fallen Moon-class Battlecruiser with a focused beam from his spear.
• Sanguinius flew to the Law of Faith, where Rockefeller and Seras hurried out to meet him and recognized him as the Ninth Primarch.
• Sanguinius told Rockefeller and Seras that he had traveled from Baal after receiving summonses from Lorgar and the Emperor, and that he had come to aid the Word Bearers.

After Sanguinius arrived to aid Lorgar’s fleet, the two Primarchs met aboard the Law of Faith and pledged to support one another. Sanguinius gave Lorgar a quill made from one of his shed feathers, while Anastasia eagerly examined the angelic wings that inspired it.

• Lorgar hurried to the Bridge after learning that Sanguinius had arrived, as the Imperium’s fleets finished clearing the battlefield.
• Sanguinius apologized for being absent during Lorgar’s earlier tragedies and promised that the Blood Angels would remain to help secure the sector.
• Lorgar thanked Sanguinius and promised to come to his aid if the Blood Angels ever faced danger.
• Sanguinius greeted Anastasia, who asked whether he was really an angel and reached toward his wings before Lorgar stopped her.
• Sanguinius gave Lorgar a quill made from a shed feather, and Lorgar accepted it with gratitude.

Angron learned from Khârn that Captain Kallus of the Death Guard had died fighting Drukhari aboard a strike cruiser. He ordered the scene secured and Kallus’s remains treated with proper respect, then contacted Lorgar, whose first thought was that this was a good thing.

• Khârn reported that Captain Kallus had died defending a command deck from Drukhari Incubi and Archons.
• Angron confirmed the report and ordered Khârn to secure the scene and offer the Death Guard the War Hounds’ condolences and assistance.
• Angron decided to inform Lorgar and Mortarion and assess the consequences of Kallus’s death with them.
• Lorgar answered Angron’s call and thought that Kallus’s death was a good thing.

After learning that Calas Typhon had died, Lorgar considered how his interventions had made the future unpredictable and resolved to prepare the Word Bearers for any Legion’s betrayal. He left his meditation chamber to find Mortarion, intending to deliver Calas’s remains and assess the Death Guard’s loyalty.

• Lorgar learned of Calas Typhon’s death and recognized that it both weakened Mortarion’s path toward Nurgle and made the future harder to predict.
• Lorgar reviewed his contingency projects and accepted that the Word Bearers might have to face a rebellion by any of his brother Legions.
• Lorgar considered the danger of Roboute Guilliman, Sanguinius, or Lion El'Jonson turning against the Imperium, then stopped himself from spiraling into suspicion.
• Lorgar decided to find Mortarion and personally deliver Calas Typhon’s remains so he could observe the primarch and assess the Death Guard.