Recaps

Horus and Brutus’s decapitation force became trapped deep inside the Ork fortress after Urlakk exploited the White Scars’ breached defensive sector and the Imperial siege collapsed into chaos. With supplies dwindling and reinforcements cut off, Horus rallied the survivors to keep fighting.

• Horus and Brutus led the battered Justaerin survivors in a grinding battle against waves of Orks inside the fortress.
• A month earlier, the White Scars’ defensive sector had been breached, allowing Ork fleets to overwhelm the Imperial blockade around Ullanor.
• Urlakk used the reversal in space to land more Orks and direct raids that severed supplies, isolated Horus’s force, and delayed Perturabo’s advance.
• As ammunition and equipment failed and contact with the other forces ceased, Horus recognized that his warriors were trapped and might die before reinforcements arrived.
• Brutus ordered the warriors to conserve ammunition and fight in melee, while Horus steadied a wounded Terminator and rallied the survivors to hold formation.

Commander Phrax and the Iron Warriors built Aegis Fortress on Ullanor and held it against overwhelming Ork assaults while rescuing scattered survivors. The Fortress remained besieged, and Phrax could only wonder whether the isolated Iron Hands were still holding out.

• Phrax halted the Iron Warriors Vanguard and built Aegis Fortress across Ullanor's wastes in one month.
• Phrax sent elite squads to rescue scattered Legion warriors and Imperialis Militia survivors, then assigned them to the Fortress's defensive sectors.
• Phrax fought Orks on Aegis's outer wall as wave after wave attacked the Fortress.
• Phrax considered breaking through the Ork encirclement to reach the Iron Hands but abandoned the plan because it risked the Fortress's forces.
• Phrax reaffirmed his duty to hold Aegis and hoped the Iron Hands could endure as the Fortress's guns continued firing.

As Vrax’s defenders faced the Ork assault at the Aegis Fortress, a strange breakdown among the Orks gave him a chance to unleash a massive bombardment. Iron Hands Thunderhawks arrived as the bombardment revealed metal-mutated Orks attacking their own, leaving the defenders with unexpected reinforcements.

• A sudden scream disrupted one section of the Ork horde, causing Orks and their war machines to turn on one another.
• Vrax ordered the fortress artillery to fire three rapid salvos at the disordered Orks, followed by more than a hundred Apocalypse missiles from the Titans.
• The bombardment annihilated millions of Orks and their war machines, leaving a vast scorched area before the fortress.
• As the dust settled, Vrax spotted abnormal Orks with metallic growths and mechanical limbs attacking their former comrades.
• Several Iron Hands Thunderhawks flew over the fortress, revealing that the Iron Hands Legion had arrived as reinforcements.

Uralk watched Horus’s Imperial defenders weaken and ordered his elite Ork behemoths to attack. Horus blocked their leader’s opening strike but was injured and faced dozens of powerful enemies.

• Uralk dismissed a Gretchin trying to report a message from Uruso and decided to kill Horus himself.
• Horus and his sons continued fighting the Ork horde in the fortress, protecting their position despite their exhaustion.
• Uralk’s towering elite Ork bosses charged into the square and surrounded Horus.
• Brutus warned Horus, but the tallest behemoth struck before he could reach him.
• Horus blocked the behemoth’s Chainaxe with Forgebreaker, but the impact drove him backward and made him spit blood.
• Horus steadied himself, faced the surrounding behemoths, and challenged them to attack.

Horus and Fulgrim faced Uralk’s overwhelming Ork forces on Ullanor and prepared to make a final stand, believing they could not escape or send word to Terra. Just as Uralk raised his Power Klaw to kill them, a magnificent golden light descended from the sky and disrupted the battlefield.

• Uralk confronted Horus and declared that the strong ate the weak, while Horus condemned him for threatening the Emperor’s glory.
• Fulgrim supported the exhausted Horus, and the brothers privately recognized the scale of Ullanor’s WAAAGH!!! and the need to warn Terra.
• Horus and Fulgrim concluded they could not break through the blockade and prepared to die together rather than surrender.
• Uralk raised his Power Klaw and ordered the final attack as his bodyguards tightened their encirclement.
• A brilliant golden light pierced Ullanor’s skies and descended onto the battlefield, causing time, space, and the WAAAGH!!! to falter.

Lorgar descended upon Ullanor in a vast display of golden psychic light, purifying the battlefield and driving back the Orks. He arrived above Horus and Fulgrim, then assured Horus, "I'm here."

• Golden light filled the sky over Ullanor, suppressing the Orks' psychic force and stopping the combatants in their tracks.
• Horus and Fulgrim recognized that the radiance came from Lorgar rather than the Emperor.
• Lorgar emerged from the light with six psychic wings and blasted nearby Orks backward with a psychic shock wave.
• Lorgar looked down at Uralk and then turned his attention to the wounded Horus.
• Lorgar greeted Horus and told him, "I'm here."

Lorgar received a torrent of golden psychic power from the Emperor and descended onto Ullanor to confront Uralk. He seized the ork Warboss and hurled him toward a nearby moon, leaving his fate uncertain.

• The Emperor gave Lorgar more golden psychic power after Lorgar demanded it so he could show off.
• Lorgar descended onto Ullanor, cleared away lingering taint, and told Horus and Fulgrim to rest.
• Lorgar challenged Uralk over his belief that the strong should devour the weak.
• Lorgar moved instantly to Uralk, seized him by the neck, and carried him to the edge of Ullanor's atmosphere.
• Lorgar hurled Uralk toward a nearby desolate moon at a speed far beyond solar escape velocity.

Lorgar subdued Uralk on a moon and brutally punished him for boasting about survival of the fittest. After ripping out and crushing Uralk’s spine, Lorgar left the Ork broken and near death.

• Lorgar hurled Uralk into a lunar surface, embedding him in a massive crater.
• Lorgar struck Uralk’s face and chest, shattering his armor and bones.
• Lorgar mocked Uralk’s claim about survival of the fittest and stomped on his face.
• The Emperor told Lorgar a riddle, and Lorgar answered by threatening to pull out Uralk’s spine.
• Lorgar reached into Uralk’s ruined torso, ripped out his spine, and crushed it into ash with psychic flame.

Lorgar crushed the dying Ork Warboss Uralk and dismissed his threat that a future Warboss would hunt Horus. He then began spreading Uralk’s remains across the moon as a vast, humiliating grave.

• Uralk, barely alive in the crater, cursed Lorgar and prophesied that a stronger Warboss would rise and kill Horus.
• Lorgar told Uralk that Horus’s fate was not his to decide, then lifted Uralk’s mangled body from the moon’s surface.
• Lorgar rejected the idea of smearing Uralk’s remains on his ship and decided to use them to cover the moon instead.
• Lorgar flew around the moon at immense speed while pressing Uralk’s body against its surface, leaving a widening trail of flesh, blood, and bone.

After Lorgar ended the battle on Ullanor, he reassured Horus that the terrible losses did not make him unworthy of being Warmaster. The Emperor then ordered Horus to return to Terra and announced that he had decided who would be Warmaster.

• Lorgar presented Uralk's severed head to Horus and recommended destroying the contaminated moon with Cyclonic Torpedoes or a Nova Cannon.
• Horus blamed himself for the loyal warriors lost on Ullanor and questioned whether he was suited to be Warmaster.
• Lorgar praised Horus's resilience and leadership, urging him to learn from the campaign and trust the Emperor's choice.
• Horus sought further reassurance from Lorgar, who gently stepped back and asked him to keep his distance while recovering.
• The Emperor contacted Horus, ordered him to return to Terra, and said he had decided who would be Warmaster.

The Emperor summoned the Primarchs to return to Terra, while Corax and the Khan remained absent for different reasons. Several Primarchs arrived at the Imperial Palace and gathered before the Helios Gate, where the Emperor awaited them.

• The Emperor sent the command to return to Terra through encrypted astropathic channels to every Primarch.
• Corax and the Raven Guard remained out of contact as they pursued covert missions, while the Khan declined the summons and continued frontier patrols out of guilt over Ullanor.
• Fleets from across the Imperium arrived at Terra and passed inspection before approaching the Imperial Palace.
• Horus Lupercal, Lorgar Aurelian, Fulgrim, Angron, Curze, and Perturabo assembled before the Helios Gate.
• The Primarchs waited in silence as the open gate led toward the Emperor, who was already waiting inside the Palace.

While waiting for the Primarchs’ conference, Lorgar visited Sanguinius in the Imperial Palace’s Central Ecological Garden and revealed why Terra could no longer retain natural water. After Sanguinius declined to explore below the palace, Lorgar headed there alone.

• Lorgar delegated the Word Bearers’ arrangements on Terra to Rockefeller and went to the Central Ecological Garden.
• Lorgar teased Sanguinius about eating two hundred bunches of Grapes in two hours.
• Sanguinius asked why water vanished from Terra, and Lorgar explained that a warlord sacrificed the oceans and stable water sources during the Unification Wars.
• Lorgar suggested exploring beneath the Imperial Palace, but Sanguinius declined and said he might welcome Guilliman.
• Lorgar left through a concealed service door and disappeared into the palace’s hidden depths.

Lorgar entered the Dark Cells with the Shadowkeepers’ authorization and visited his sleeping brother Turing, lord of the Eleventh Legion. After saying he hoped Turing would wake, Lorgar turned to leave as the chamber lights dimmed slightly.

• Lorgar arrived alone at the Dark Cells, where the Shadowkeepers blocked his way and sought the Emperor’s instructions.
• The Emperor authorized Lorgar’s passage, and the Shadowkeepers opened a hidden runic gateway to a deeper chamber.
• Lorgar found Turing suspended in an incubation tank, still asleep and bearing signs of extensive bodily modifications.
• Lorgar touched the tank, expressed his longing for Turing to wake, and promised to visit again.
• As Lorgar turned toward the chamber door, the lights dimmed slightly.

The Primarchs gathered at the Imperial Palace to consider the Great Crusade’s future and share what they hoped to do after the wars ended. As Lorgar and his brothers pledged to keep fighting together, Horus decided to follow Lorgar.

• The Primarchs assembled around a table commissioned by Roboute Guilliman, who asked Lorgar whether the brothers might reunite in peace after the Crusade.
• Guilliman asked the Primarchs what they hoped to do once the wars were over, and Magnus, Leman Russ, Mortarion, Rogal Dorn, and Perturabo described their plans.
• Lorgar said he would probably continue campaigning at the Emperor’s side until there was no need to fight.
• Konrad Curze and Angron pledged to follow Lorgar, and the assembled Primarchs turned their attention to Horus Lupercal.
• Horus said that he would follow Lorgar.

The Emperor arrived at the council and chose Horus over Lion El'Jonson as his candidate for Warmaster, addressing Horus as his beloved son. The chapter ended with the Emperor asking Horus whether he would accept the role.

• Leman Russ drunkenly declared that he would follow Lorgar, and Angron knocked him unconscious with a single punch.
• The Emperor entered, saw Russ sprawled across the table, and gave no reprimand.
• The Emperor announced that he had decided who would serve as Warmaster and considered Horus Lupercal and Lion El'Jonson.
• The Emperor chose Horus, called him his Centaurus and most beloved son, and asked whether he would serve as Warmaster.

The Emperor named Horus Warmaster, and Horus accepted the responsibility despite his shock and conflicting emotions. The Emperor announced that he would return to Terra after the coronation, leaving Horus to lead the Expeditionary Force.

• The Emperor named Horus master of the XVI Legion, the Luna Wolves, and declared him Warmaster and his most beloved son.
• Horus struggled to respond, then accepted the appointment and vowed to serve as Warmaster.
• The Emperor scheduled Horus's coronation for three days later and promised him a gift worthy of the office.
• The Emperor entrusted the Expeditionary Force and the Imperium's future to Horus.
• The Emperor announced that he would return to Terra to attend to his own affairs, leaving Horus both elated and uneasy.

The Emperor summoned Lorgar after Horus was chosen as Warmaster and gave him a teleportation Rune for visiting Turing in the Imperial Palace Black Cells. He also presented Lorgar with two ancient pistols, whose extraordinary powers left him stunned.

• The Emperor asked Lorgar whether choosing Horus as Warmaster had been the right decision, and Lorgar replied that the Emperor's judgment made it right.
• The Emperor gave Lorgar a Rune that let him teleport directly to Turing in the Black Cells without seeking authorization.
• The Emperor took two weapons from an old Wooden Box and gave them to Lorgar despite his initial dismissal of them as antiques.
• The Emperor explained that the red pistol fired miniature artificial singularities that collapsed their targets.
• The Emperor explained that the blue pistol fired conceptual psychic ammunition that could erase lesser Warp entities or banish stronger ones.
• Lorgar stared in shock at the pistols as the Emperor asked whether he liked them.

Horus celebrated becoming Warmaster with the Luna Wolves’ captains aboard the Vengeful Spirit and announced that his coronation would take place in three days. He called for the Legion to attend, while Abaddon remained absent as he recovered from his wounds.

• Horus announced to Brutus, Torgaddon, Aximand, and Loken that he had become Warmaster.
• Brutus and Aximand praised Horus, while Loken pledged the Luna Wolves’ obedience and service.
• Horus told Loken he would be his Sanguinius and told Brutus he would be his Horus.
• Horus regretted that Abaddon was still recovering and could not join them.
• Horus ordered the captains and every available Luna Wolves warrior to attend his coronation at the Imperial Palace in three days.

Terra hosted the opening of Horus’s Warmaster Coronation Ceremony with a vast military parade showcasing the Imperium’s strength. As Titans and Luna Wolves marched past, Lorgar watched from a viewing platform, and the crowds awaited Horus’s arrival.

• The Warmaster’s Coronation Ceremony began before billions of witnesses across Terra.
• Two Emperor-class Titans and ten Warlord Titans led the parade along Central Avenue.
• Fifty thousand Luna Wolves marched in disciplined formation as crowds cheered them.
• Lorgar watched from a Primarch viewing platform and explained why he had kept most Word Bearers out of the ground parade.
• The parade’s opening displays ended, and attention turned to Horus Lupercal’s expected appearance.

Horus Lupercal appeared at the Imperial Palace parade as the crowds celebrated his coming coronation as Warmaster. On the Primarchs’ viewing platform, Lion El'Jonson disparaged Guilliman, while Lorgar and his brothers discussed their loyalties and were joined by Lotara and Aili.

• Horus Lupercal walked onto the crimson carpet in understated armour, escorted by the Justaerin and the Four Kings Council.
• Lion El'Jonson voiced disappointment at not becoming Warmaster, then criticized Guilliman as ambitious; Guilliman reacted with awkward dismay.
• Angron complained that Lorgar had not been chosen Warmaster, while Lorgar gently rebuked him; Anna teased Guilliman about Lion El'Jonson's hostility.
• Anna asked Lorgar how he would respond to Horus commanding the Primarchs, and Angron and Konrad Curze declared that they followed only Lorgar.
• Lotara and Aili joined Lorgar, Angron, and Curze, and Anna teased Lorgar about his distinctive companions.

Anna and Lorgar teased Curze about the Night Lords being lolicons before the attention shifted to Horus’s coronation. Horus reached the summit, where the Emperor waited with a laurel wreath, leaving the crowning itself to come.

• Anna joked to Lorgar that the Night Lords were all lolicons, and Lorgar agreed as Curze silently glared at them.
• The gathering turned its attention to the final stage of Horus’s coronation ceremony.
• Horus began climbing the golden stairs as the crowds watched and choirs sang.
• Horus reached the summit and stood before the Emperor, who held a golden laurel wreath ready to crown him.

Horus accepted the Emperor’s Laurel Wreath and was publicly acclaimed as Warmaster, while Lorgar watched the celebration with a quiet sense that its perfection was fragile. The chapter ended with the close of volume two and an announcement that volume three would explore conflict beneath the Imperium’s glory.

• Horus called the Emperor father and declared himself ready to accept the responsibility of Warmaster.
• The Emperor named Horus his first-found son and placed the golden Laurel Wreath on his head.
• The Emperor raised Horus to his feet, addressed him as Warmaster, and led the crowd in acclaiming him.
• Fifty thousand Luna Wolves and the gathered people of Terra roared their loyalty to the Emperor and Horus.
• Lorgar watched the celebration and wondered how long its seemingly perfect unity could last.
• The author announced the end of volume two and previewed a third volume focused on hidden conflict beneath the Imperium’s glory.

At Horus’s coronation, the Emperor gave him Worldbreaker, a warhammer he had forged himself, and told him he was proud of him. During the private feast afterward, Lorgar withdrew from the gathering as Leman Russ’s rowdy drinking and the tense exchanges between Lion El'Jonson, Rogal Dorn, and Perturabo disrupted the celebration.

• The Emperor presented Horus with Worldbreaker and said he had forged it himself, then told Horus he was proud of him.
• After the public coronation ended, Lorgar stood apart from the private feast and waited for a chance to leave.
• Leman Russ drank an enormous barrel of mead, tossed it onto the floor, and howled with satisfaction.
• Lion El'Jonson condemned Leman Russ’s behavior as disgraceful while struggling to keep his composure.
• Rogal Dorn told Perturabo to move away from him, and Perturabo edged closer before both returned to their food in silence.

At Horus's coronation feast, Sanguinius and Roboute Guilliman worried about Corax's continued isolation. In a corridor, Lorgar confronted Fabricator-General Utio over Kelbor and the Treaty of Olympus, then revealed that Kelbor possessed records of Utio's secret projects, leaving Utio shocked.

• Sanguinius asked where Corax was, and Roboute Guilliman said Corax had appeared briefly at Horus's coronation before vanishing again.
• Sanguinius and Guilliman reflected on Corax's suffering after the tragedy on Deliverance and hoped he would not face more hardship alone.
• Lorgar left the banquet and encountered Fabricator-General Utio, who asked about his former apprentice Kelbor.
• Lorgar declared that Kelbor was now Kelbor of Colchis, while Utio said Mars had given up on him and warned Lorgar to obey the Treaty of Olympus.
• Lorgar gathered psychic energy but held back when Utio insisted he was only reminding him of the treaty.
• Lorgar revealed that Kelbor's body still held Martian records, including evidence of Utio's private projects, and Utio reacted with alarm.

Lorgar used compromising Mechanicum data to taunt Fabricator-General Utio, while several Primarchs surrounded him and threatened to kill him. Just as Utio faced an imminent attack, Constantin Valdor arrived and summoned him to meet Malcador about reviewing recent technical agreements.

• Lorgar revealed that he possessed data exposing Utio’s secret projects and other violations, and mocked him with it.
• Perturabo arrived with Angron, Konrad Curze, Mortarion, Lion El'Jonson, and Roboute Guilliman, surrounding Utio.
• Angron proposed killing Utio, Mortarion agreed, and Konrad Curze readied his arm blades.
• Utio appealed to Lion El'Jonson, who pretended to feel dizzy and left with Guilliman rather than intervene.
• Constantin Valdor arrived and told Utio that Malcador the Sigillite required an immediate discussion about reviewing recent technical agreements.