Recaps

Pei Min woke to find that Rahn and the Altar had been destroyed, though he could not remember accomplishing the feats his comrades praised him for. Meanwhile, Lorgar revealed that the Emperor had witnessed his psychic projection, joked with him, and then departed after discussing the Word Bearers’ exchange with the Imperial Fists.

• Pei Min woke among the White Scars, who told him he had killed Rahn and destroyed the Altar.
• Ding Xiu helped Pei Min stand and rallied the White Scars to counterattack as the Cultists fled.
• Lorgar returned from possessing Pei Min and met the Emperor’s golden projection in the Contemplation Hall.
• The Emperor rejected Lorgar’s joking requests and asked how the Word Bearers were getting along with the Imperial Fists.
• Lorgar showed the Emperor footage of the Imperial Fists enduring the Word Bearers’ repeated prayers and joked that they were getting along happily.
• The Emperor departed after asking Lorgar to remind Angron and Curze to answer their communications, and Lorgar invited him to visit again.

Hercules defeated the Imperial Fists challenger with a single punch, then learned the warrior had served under Sigismund. He asked to meet Sigismund so he could challenge him.

• Hercules defeated Word Bearers Company Captain Paulus in match two hundred and forty-nine, reaffirming his reputation as the Legion's strongest warrior below the Primarch.
• An Imperial Fists warrior stepped into the arena and challenged Hercules, asking whether the title of the Word Bearers' strongest warrior was deserved.
• Hercules picked up a training Power Sword, but struck the Imperial Fists warrior with his fist before the sword could touch him, denting his armor and sending him against the arena wall.
• The Imperial Fists warrior admitted that Hercules was strong and confirmed that he had served under Sigismund.
• Hercules asked the Imperial Fists warrior to introduce him to Sigismund so he could challenge him.

Anna presented Lorgar with twenty Grail-type combat robots as personal guards and urged him to stop risking himself in battle. Rockefeller walked in on Anna sitting close to Lorgar, retreated without waiting, and ordered the nearby guards to leave them alone.

• Anna surprised Lorgar by revealing that she had completed a set of twenty Grail-type combat robots.
• Anna explained that the robots were armed and designed to serve as Lorgar’s personal guard, while Lorgar wondered whether they could be issued to troops.
• Lorgar thanked Anna and offered her time off to inspect the Forge World on Colchis, prompting her to complain that he should show his appreciation differently.
• Rockefeller entered to discuss the expeditionary fleet’s supply plan, saw Anna on Lorgar’s desk among the robots, and backed out of the office.
• Rockefeller told the two Word Bearers guards to withdraw, claiming their presence was interfering with Lorgar’s important official business.

Anna ended her prank, and Lorgar reunited with Angron and Curze aboard the ship. As they discussed their brothers and the Imperium, Lorgar resolved to save them from their destined tragedies, unaware that malicious beings in Heaven watched and mocked him.

• Anna dismissed the Holy Grail combat robots and teased Lorgar before following him into the corridor.
• Lorgar greeted Angron and Curze, and the three brothers walked together with Anna perched on Lorgar's shoulder.
• Angron asked whether the Emperor was transferring power to Mortal councils, and Lorgar said he cared more about the Primarchs staying united than retaining power.
• Angron embraced Lorgar and Curze in agreement, while Curze silently showed his support.
• Lorgar recalled the tragedies he wanted to prevent and resolved to save his brothers and other doomed warriors.
• Malicious gazes from Heaven watched Lorgar's vow and mocked his hopes.

Angron returned to Nuceria with Lorgar and Curze to visit Oenomaus, the old gladiator who had raised him. After seeing how Lorgar’s efforts had helped rebuild the planet, Angron reached Oenomaus’s residence and was greeted by his father.

• Angron told Lorgar that he wanted to visit Nuceria and see Oenomaus, and Lorgar and Curze agreed to accompany him.
• Lorgar gave Rockefeller command of the expeditionary fleet while the group traveled to Nuceria.
• Desh'ea welcomed Angron and assured him that Oenomaus was well and waiting at his residence.
• The group crossed Nuceria, where Angron saw how much the planet had improved since his last visit.
• Angron entered Oenomaus’s courtyard, and the old man recognized him and called his name with joy.

Angron reunited with Oenomaus on Nuceria and spent a quiet evening with his adoptive father, while Lorgar secretly strengthened Oenomaus’s failing body. The chapter ended with Angron supporting Oenomaus on a walk beneath the stars as Lorgar and Curze watched from the doorway.

• Angron embraced Oenomaus, and the old man welcomed him and asked whether he had been eating properly.
• Oenomaus invited Angron, Lorgar, and Curze into his modest home and asked about Angron’s brothers and family.
• Angron told Oenomaus that Nuceria was his home, and Lorgar promised to look after him and offered Oenomaus a place on the Great Crusade.
• Oenomaus declined to leave Nuceria, saying he wanted to remain where Angron could always return to him.
• Lorgar secretly used psychic power to heal Oenomaus and slow his decline, then suggested that Angron take him for a walk.
• Angron supported Oenomaus on a stroll beneath the stars while Lorgar and Curze stayed behind.

Lorgar explained to Curze that he worked to unite the Primarchs because they were brothers, prompting Curze to say he wanted to change something in the future. After Angron reunited with Oenomaus, Lorgar revealed he had extended the old man's life by thousands of years, and the brothers prepared to leave Nuceria.

• Curze asked Lorgar why he worked so hard to support and bind his brothers, and Lorgar answered that they were brothers.
• Curze quietly repeated Lorgar's words and said he wanted to change one thing in the future.
• Angron returned to the cottage with Oenomaus after their walk, and the old man told him to visit again when he could.
• Angron said goodbye to Oenomaus, then left the house with Lorgar and Curze.
• Lorgar told Angron that he had used psychic energy to give Oenomaus at least a few thousand more years of life, and Angron thanked him.
• Curze teased Angron about crying, and Lorgar urged the group to return before the Emperor complained about their absence.

Argel Tal completed the final assessment for formal admission to the Word Bearers by choosing between the present and the future. His choice sent him to join the Great Crusade front lines, though the Holy Word Overseer admitted he did not know what the choice meant.

• The Holy Word Overseer welcomed Argel Tal to the Word Bearers and announced a final assessment for the recruits.
• The Holy Word Overseer called Argel Tal into a dark room and asked whether he wanted to be in the present or the future.
• Argel Tal chose the present because he wanted to enter battle and serve the Legion immediately.
• The Holy Word Overseer ordered Argel Tal to wait at Port Three in one day for transport to the Great Crusade front lines.
• Argel Tal asked what the choices meant, and the Holy Word Overseer replied that he did not know.
• Argel Tal left the room and headed to the starport as ordered.

Magnus used a psychic crystal to envision an ideal future for the Imperium, where humanity prospered and he and his brothers stood united under the Emperor. As doubts about the Emperor’s warnings to the Thousand Sons intruded, the crystal shattered, leaving Magnus staring at fragmented reflections of himself.

• Magnus infused his crystal with psychic energy and watched a vision of the Great Crusade ending in a united, peaceful Imperium.
• Magnus imagined himself and his brothers honored by the Emperor and took pride in the Thousand Sons’ service to humanity.
• Magnus recalled the Emperor’s warnings about the Thousand Sons’ reliance on psychic power and wondered whether to restrain them or continue his research.
• The crystal cracked and exploded, destroying the vision as Magnus’s thoughts turned to the conflict with the Emperor.
• Magnus looked down at the crystal shards, where light and shadow reflected divided versions of his face.

Kelbor returned to Mars empty-handed after failing to persuade Lorgar Aurelian to surrender the Dark Age of Technology relics. Utio stripped him of his successor candidacy and research access, and Kelbor chose exile at the Forge World Hephaestus in the Colchis System.

• Utio confronted Kelbor about failing to secure the STC templates and relics from Lorgar Aurelian.
• Kelbor explained that Lorgar had refused to compromise and believed the Word Bearers could study the technologies more effectively and safely.
• Utio blamed Kelbor for damaging Mars's authority and reputation, then removed him from consideration as the next Fabricator-General.
• Utio revoked Kelbor's access to Mars's high-level research and offered to transfer him to a Forge World for an extended period of tempering.
• Kelbor chose the Forge World Hephaestus in the Colchis System for his exile.

Vulkan and the Salamanders answered Plaguebane’s distress signal and fought the xenos pouring from the planet’s underground tunnels. They rescued the surviving colonists after destroying the major emergence points and beasts, leaving the battlefield scorched and the disaster over.

• Plaguebane’s colonists sent a high-priority distress signal after xenos attacks devastated the planet’s defenses.
• Vulkan led the Salamanders in a relief force, landing in the infected regions and advancing against the creatures.
• Vulkan smashed a colossal Lamprey Xenos with his Forgehammer and ordered the Salamanders to protect evacuation routes and prioritize larger targets.
• The Salamanders methodically burned, shot, and sealed the xenos lairs until the major emergence points and largest beasts were destroyed.
• The Salamanders rescued the surviving colonists, who saw the battle was over.

After the Salamanders rescued Plaguebane’s survivors, Vulkan reminded them that protecting humanity was their duty and led his sons away. The Legion departed as the people watched, while a different atmosphere settled aboard their vessel.

• Plaguebane’s survivors emerged from their shelters and thanked the Salamanders for saving them.
• The Salamanders stood awkwardly as the people praised them and tried to approach their armor.
• Vulkan addressed the survivors, saying that protecting humanity was the Salamanders’ purpose and their only reward was seeing people survive.
• Vulkan bid the people farewell and led the Salamanders aboard the Landing Craft.
• The warship departed Plaguebane, and Vulkan sensed an unusual atmosphere aboard the vessel.

Omega returned to Terra, reported that the Cabal had tried to recruit him, and received the Emperor’s order to infiltrate the group. The Emperor and Malcador then confronted new threats, including a possible Ork catastrophe and the possibility that the Cabal would target Lorgar.

• Omega secretly entered the Imperial Palace and told the Emperor how he had deceived the Cabal to obtain Terra’s coordinates and a covert vessel.
• The Emperor ordered Omega to truly join the Cabal, earn its trust, and investigate its goals, structure, resources, and other potential targets.
• Omega accepted the order and withdrew into the shadows.
• Malcador reported that unusually large and organized Ork populations might be preparing a multi-system catastrophe.
• The Emperor worried that the Cabal’s next target might be Lorgar.

Rosha, a Night Lords Legionnaire guided by a severe sense of justice shaped by the Lectitio Divinitatus, targeted the crimes unfolding in the Upper Hive. He killed a noble who was about to abuse an unconscious child and disappeared with the corpse, leaving the girl asleep.

• Rosha watched an auction of children from the shadows near the Palace and reaffirmed his uncompromising mission to punish oppressors.
• Rosha entered an Imperial noble's residence after its lights went out as the noble reached for an unconscious girl.
• Rosha decapitated the noble with a swift sweep of his hand.
• Rosha quietly told the girl to keep sleeping and reassured her that it was only a nightmare.
• Rosha carried the noble's corpse into the shadows and vanished.

Rosha killed a chef who was preparing human meat for Upper Hive nobles by forcing his head into a pot of boiling oil. After the chef died, Rosha vanished back into the shadows.

• A chef chopped human meat in a kitchen serving Upper Hive nobles and discarded a severed finger as scrap.
• Rosha emerged from the chef’s shadow and grabbed him from behind.
• Rosha forced the chef’s head into a pot of boiling oil and held him there until he died.
• Rosha released the chef’s charred body, flicked grease from his armor, and disappeared into the shadows.

Rosha massacred the nobles at an illegal feast and freed a drugged girl, but a purple chitinous monster appeared and attacked him. The chapter ended with Rosha facing the creature as it stood between him and the girl.

• A masked host presented a restrained girl as the final course at a nobles’ feast and released purple mist into the hall.
• Rosha shot the host and the nobles’ guards, then trapped the fleeing crowd with an explosive blade storm and killed 104 people.
• Rosha alerted the Colchis Department of Doctrine forces that the hall was clear, then descended and began freeing the girl.
• A seemingly dead noble twitched, and Rosha shot him again as he opened the girl’s restraints.
• A purple blade swept through Rosha’s former position, and he evaded before aiming his Bolt Pistol and Power Klaw at the newly appeared monster.

Rosha fought three Slaanesh Daemons trapped with him inside a sealed hall, enduring their mind-altering music and perfume while killing them with weapons, furniture, and brute force. After crushing the last daemon, he stood in the bloodied hall as the purple figure remained hidden nearby.

• A purple figure sealed Rosha, three Slaanesh Daemons, and a girl on the dais inside a psychic force field, then withdrew to watch from between the warp and reality.
• The three Slaanesh Daemons attacked Rosha with claws, tails, hallucinogenic perfume, and mind-scrambling music; Rosha pierced one with his Power Klaw and shot another with his Bolt Pistol.
• After the wounded daemons knocked him down, Rosha stabbed and tore the first daemon's head off, then faced the last two with his pistol empty.
• Rosha used a heavy banquet table to stagger the last Slaanesh Beast, then pinned it down, tore off its tail, and battered it with furniture and debris.
• Rosha hurled the shattered Slaanesh Beast into a pillar and crushed its neck under his boot, saying, "The Primarch sends his regards."

Rosha fought off a surprise attack from the purple Warp figure and wounded it with his Sniper Bolter. The Holy Word Army burst into the Hall and destroyed the weakened enemy, leaving Rosha alive amid the wreckage.

• The purple figure struck Rosha from behind, but he dodged its blade and counterattacked with a broken stool leg.
• Rosha sprinted for his discarded Sniper Bolter, turned at the last moment, and fired at point-blank range.
• Rosha’s follow-up burst wounded the purple figure, though the Sniper Bolter ran out of ammunition.
• The Holy Word Army broke through the sealed gates, collapsing the purple force field and suppressing the Warp figure with their consecrated inscriptions.
• The Holy Word Army fired plasma and melta weapons until the purple figure disintegrated into ash and fragments.

Lorgar rejected Fabricator-General Utio’s demand for the Word Bearers’ technology and cut off Mars’s inquiry. Utio responded by approving exceptional support for the Iron Hands, aiming to put pressure on Lorgar.

• Lorgar ordered the Department of Faith to dismantle the corrupt hive-city nobility, monitor similar anomalies, and closely observe the wounded Night Lords warrior.
• Lorgar considered creating a special force to combat mental contamination and other anomalous threats, then received a formal inquiry from Fabricator-General Utio.
• Lorgar told Utio that the Emperor and the First Legion had already endorsed or supervised the Word Bearers’ technology, and challenged Mars’s grounds for questioning him again.
• Utio demanded the Cissel Mech System and “Superstar” Energy Weapon Platform schematics, but Lorgar said he had submitted them to an undisclosed faction within the Adeptus Mechanicus and ended the call.
• Utio dismissed conventional pressure as unlikely to work and approved the Iron Hands’ request for advanced bionics and augmentation components as a way to pressure Lorgar.

An unknown infiltrator used ancient phasing technology to enter the Law of Faith undetected and approached Lorgar’s private room. Lorgar sensed the intruder, while Anna prepared defenses and hoped to study the infiltrator, who reached the room and solidified behind Lorgar.

• A small, concealed vessel evaded the Law of Faith’s sensors, and a figure phased through the warship’s armor.
• Anna warned Lorgar that an intruder had entered the ship using unfamiliar technology.
• Lorgar searched the Law of Faith psychically and detected a gray, dim presence moving toward his room.
• Anna described the infiltrator’s technology as ancient and positioned twenty Grail combat robots around Lorgar’s room.
• The infiltrator passed through the warship’s defenses and entered Lorgar’s private room, where it solidified behind him.

A mysterious woman entered Lorgar’s private room and fought Hercules to a standstill, prompting Lorgar to identify her as a powerful psyker and perpetual. The chapter ended with twenty Grail combat robots surrounding her as Lorgar announced the duel was over.

• A woman in unfamiliar armor appeared in the Contemplation Hall, and Hercules readied his greatsword while Lorgar challenged her intrusion.
• Hercules attacked the woman, but she evaded his blows and countered with her Rapier.
• Lorgar recognized the woman’s unusual abilities as signs of a powerful psyker, and Anna identified her as a perpetual from around the sixteenth century.
• Lorgar clapped twice, and twenty Grail combat robots emerged and encircled the woman and Hercules.
• Lorgar declared the duel over and announced that the robots would join the fight.

Mary infiltrated Lorgar Aurelian’s flagship to recruit him, but after his Grail robots trapped her, she revealed that the Emperor was not a god. Lorgar laughed at the revelation, already knowing it, and left Mary surrounded as he mocked the Cabal’s attempt to sway him.

• Twenty Holy Grail Combat Robots attacked Mary with their Thermal Blades, and she dodged their strikes before her Rapier was swallowed by a robot’s nanometal.
• Anna explained how the robots’ special nanometal trapped Mary’s weapon, and Mary asked Lorgar to stop the attack.
• Lorgar halted the robots but kept Mary surrounded and demanded her identity, orders, and purpose.
• Mary identified herself and said she had come to recruit Lorgar and reveal that the Emperor was not a god.
• Lorgar laughed, deduced that Mary represented the Cabal, and dismissed the revelation as an obvious fact.

Mary questioned Lorgar’s disbelief in the Emperor, but a psychic clash revealed his Warp form as a radiant, six-winged figure resembling the archangel Michael and left her overwhelmed. She knelt before him, while Lorgar remained confused about her reaction and ordered her imprisoned for interrogation.

• Mary challenged Lorgar’s claim that he did not believe the Emperor was a god, and her emotional upheaval caused her psychic power to probe him.
• Lorgar instinctively repelled Mary’s psychic tendril, and she glimpsed his sacred, six-winged Warp form and identified him as Michael.
• The psychic contact ended, leaving Mary pale and terrified while Lorgar sensed something ancient stirring within his soul.
• Anna remarked on Mary’s shock, and Mary suddenly fell to her knees before Lorgar.
• Lorgar wondered if his Warp essence was so ugly that it frightened people, then ordered Mary locked up and interrogated about the Cabal’s plans.

Lorgar uncovered the Cabal’s plans by reading Mary’s memories, then killed her in a furious response to its threats against humanity and the Primarchs. The Emperor ordered Lorgar to return to Terra, saying the last of his brothers had been found and it was time to gather everyone.

• The Emperor contacted Lorgar and told him to deal with Mary himself.
• Lorgar restrained Mary with a psychic-suppressing cross and searched her memories.
• Lorgar learned that the Cabal sought to recruit Primarchs, had recruited two already, planned to destroy humanity, and intended to assassinate other Primarchs.
• Lorgar crushed Mary’s neck and skull, then ordered his forces to find and kill the Cabal’s nearby ships.
• The Emperor told Lorgar to prepare to return to Terra because the last of his brothers had been found.

The Cabal activated a contingency to kill Lady Euten and frame Lorgar and the Emperor, hoping to turn Guilliman and Ultramar against the Imperium. After capturing a Cabal ship and learning of an imminent attack on a Primarch’s loved one, Lorgar recognized Euten as the target and rushed to protect her.

• The Cabal leaders ordered Euten’s assassination and planned to blame Lorgar and the Emperor to provoke Guilliman and fracture the Imperium.
• Lorgar traced and immobilized a Cabal ship, boarded it, and overpowered its crew.
• Lorgar read a Cabal leader’s memories and found evidence of an imminent operation against a Primarch’s closest kin, but the target’s identity was encrypted.
• Konrad Curze described a vision of Ultramar burning, and Lorgar realized that Euten was the target.
• Lorgar ordered forces in Ultramar to protect Euten, prepared to travel to Macragge, and sent an urgent warning to Roboute Guilliman.