Recaps

Lorgar received word from the Emperor that Malcador had sent an expert to help him find the Cabal. Nibelung arrived, demanded a one-on-one fight with Lorgar, and claimed he had once killed a dragon by dragging it off a cliff.

• Lorgar considered whether he needed help dealing with the Cabal, but decided to meet Malcador's chosen expert.
• Nibelung kicked in Lorgar's newly repaired office door and strode past the guards and Primarchs to sit across from him.
• Nibelung asked Lorgar if he was the best fighter there and said he had been sent to help find the Cabal.
• Nibelung demanded that Lorgar's best fighter face him one-on-one.
• Nibelung claimed he had killed more people than Lorgar had seen and revealed that his legendary dragon-killing had involved dragging the beast off a cliff.

Nibelung chose to fight Lorgar in a one-move duel, but Lorgar’s overwhelming psychic power stopped him before he could attack. Nibelung conceded, and the confrontation ended without a strike.

• Nibelung refused to fight Cassios, Grom, and Anna, then challenged Lorgar.
• Lorgar accepted and took a relaxed stance as Curze left to find a doctor in case Lorgar beat Nibelung to death.
• Nibelung drew a sword from his cane and proposed deciding the winner with one move.
• Lorgar unleashed golden psychic energy, revealing the six-winged form of his soul and leaving Nibelung unable to strike.
• Nibelung returned his sword to the cane, conceded defeat, and sat back down.

Nibelung revealed how he could locate the Cabal’s hidden base and explained how agents could enter it. Lorgar planned a covert strike and selected Anna and Grom as possible infiltrators because Space Marines would be detected.

• Nibelung marked the Cabal’s current base on the star chart and explained that he knew its location because he remained an active field agent.
• Nibelung described how field agents used a lengthy key to cross the dimensional barrier around the Cabal’s base warship.
• Lorgar planned to send a small team to destroy the spatial device, then have the Legion launch a boarding assault.
• Nibelung warned that the base’s scanners would detect genetically modified beings, ruling out Space Marines and Primarchs as infiltrators.
• Lorgar considered Anna and Grom for the mission and asked Anna if she wanted to go; she said she had no right to refuse.

Nibelung brought Anna and Grom to the Cabal’s hidden mobile base after opening a passage through space. The guards let them enter, though Grom immediately got wedged in the aircraft hatch.

• Anna and Grom complained about the foul, oversized robes the Cabal wore to conceal themselves.
• Nibelung reached the apparently empty star system and opened a fissure in space with the Cabal’s secret key.
• Nibelung’s aircraft crossed the fissure and landed aboard the Cabal’s enormous hidden warship.
• Two Cabal guards questioned Nibelung about bringing Anna and Grom, then allowed the newcomers into the base.
• Anna exited the aircraft and assessed the landing pad, while Grom got stuck in the hatch and Nibelung ordered the guards to pull him out.

Anna, Grom, and Nibelung entered the Cabal base, where Anna secretly explored its layout and located the Dimension Generator. They encountered Nibelung’s old rival, who directed them to the waiting group before watching them disappear behind a heavy door.

• Two Cabal guards struggled to pull Grom free from the aircraft hatch while Nibelung mocked him and Anna sent gray mist to scout the base.
• The guards freed Grom, and Nibelung led Anna and Grom from the landing pad into the base.
• Anna recalled some of her mist after it mapped the entrance area, while another portion found the Dimension Generator and began preparing to crack it.
• In a corridor, Nibelung encountered a much younger Perpetual who had fought him in past wars and was now a high-ranking Cabal member.
• The rival told Nibelung that everyone was waiting, and Nibelung, Anna, and Grom went through the heavy metal door as the man watched them.

Anna and Nibelung met Lord Gulan and the Cabal’s senior members at their hidden base, where Gulan offered non-Perpetual newcomers an immortal mark with a lethal side effect. Anna then pulled the base into real space, revealing that the Word Bearers’ fleet had surrounded it.

• Nibelung led Anna and Grom into the Cabal’s vast hall and introduced them to Lord Gulan.
• Gulan rebuked Nibelung for returning after twenty thousand years with little to show for his efforts.
• Gulan explained that non-Perpetual newcomers could receive a mark granting immortality, but erasing it would destroy them completely.
• Anna plunged the hall into darkness and told Lorgar that she had finished.
• Anna dragged the Cabal’s base warship out of its dimensional hiding place, where the Word Bearers’ fleet had it surrounded.

Anna and Nibelung turned on the Cabal during a meeting, killing guards as Gulan ordered them attacked. As Anna fought deeper into the warship, Rockefeller and the Word Bearers landed on its deck and began their assault.

• An Aeldari Ranger recognized Anna as the daemon who had helped Lorgar destroy a Craftworld, and Anna killed him with a transformed blade.
• Gulan ordered the guards to kill Anna, but Grom crushed one guard while Nibelung revealed he had never been loyal to Gulan and killed another with the sword hidden in his cane.
• Anna transformed into liquid metal and impaled the first wave of Cabal guards with spikes, then changed into gray smoke that disintegrated the next wave.
• Anna re-formed and continued deeper into the Cabal warship.
• Word Bearers Drop Pods crashed onto the warship's deck, and Rockefeller led the Terminators out and ordered them to attack and leave no survivors.

Rockefeller led the Word Bearers’ assault on the Cabal base, directing the companies as they overwhelmed the defenders. As he advanced through the ship, he learned that the Primarch had arrived in person.

• Rockefeller and fifty Cataphractii Terminators attacked the Cabal guards with heavy weapons and advanced through the base.
• Rockefeller rallied the Legion warriors, broke through a sealed hatch, and killed the guards behind it.
• Drop Pods and Melta Bombs opened paths into the base for more Space Marines to land and attack.
• Rockefeller coordinated the companies’ movements and ordered the Third Company to maintain formation and help encircle the retreating enemy.
• Rockefeller received a message that the Primarch had arrived in person.

Lorgar fought his way through the Cabal base to confront Gulan, the Cabal’s leader. After striking Sharad unconscious with a single slap, Lorgar continued toward Gulan, his sole target.

• Lorgar arrived at the Cabal base aboard a Thunderhawk Gunship and told Rockefeller to handle the remaining enemies.
• Lorgar walked through the battle and burned hundreds of Cabal guards with golden Psychic Flame.
• Lorgar entered the hall where Nibelung and Sharad were fighting, and Sharad abandoned the duel to attack him.
• Lorgar slapped Sharad through more than a dozen walls, leaving him unconscious in the rubble.
• Lorgar fixed his attention on Gulan and walked toward him.

Lorgar confronted Gulan over his claim to be one of the Old Ones and killed him after exposing his ignorance. He told Nibelung that the Cabal would no longer run rampant among the stars.

• Lorgar seized Gulan, pinned him to the floor, and threatened him with a greatsword.
• Lorgar questioned Gulan about the C'tan, the Space Slann, and the Half-Dragons, and Gulan could not answer.
• Lorgar declared that Gulan had no right to claim the name of the Old Ones and beheaded him with the blade.
• Nibelung asked whether it was over, and Lorgar said the Cabal would no longer run rampant among the stars.
• Nibelung remarked that he seemed to be out of a job.

Lorgar recruited Nibelung into the Word Bearers despite Nibelung’s insistence that he was selfish and afraid to die. After Nibelung accepted, Anna complained that Lorgar had time to recruit him but not to help with her research materials.

• Lorgar offered Nibelung a place with the Word Bearers, explaining that the Legion welcomed people like him.
• Nibelung warned Lorgar that he would leave for better pay or safer work and would not risk his life for loyalty or honor.
• Lorgar accepted Nibelung’s conditions, and Nibelung shook his hand and joined the Legion.
• Nibelung asked Lorgar not to call him Primarch and walked out, joking that he had joined a pirate crew.
• Anna complained that Lorgar had not sent anyone to help with her research materials, and Lorgar promised to call Rockefeller and the others.

Ferrus Manus received a purple metal ingot from Corax’s envoy and decided to forge it into a sword for Fulgrim. After shaping it in the furnace, he finished the blade and prepared to pack it for his brother.

• A Raven Guard Legion warrior told Ferrus Manus that Corax had sent him a rare purple metal ingot as a gift.
• Ferrus Manus examined the metal and decided it would make a perfect gift for Fulgrim.
• Ferrus Manus heated the ingot in his furnace and forged it into a sword.
• Ferrus Manus finished the elegant purple longsword, admired his work, and went to prepare packing materials for it.

Omega returned to the Imperial Palace battered after Lorgar, Angron, and Curze attacked him, then told the Emperor that Alpha had joined the Cabal. The Emperor ordered Omega to conceal what he knew, and Malcador cautiously discussed the loyalty of Lorgar and Horus.

• Omega arrived injured at the Emperor’s study and explained that Lorgar had beaten him, while the Emperor asked whether Omega had harmed Lorgar.
• The Emperor asked whether Omega had identified the Primarch joining the Cabal, and Omega named his brother Alpha.
• The Emperor told Omega to pretend he knew nothing and continue his usual duties until contacted through special means.
• After Omega left, the Emperor asked Malcador who else might be involved, and Malcador said Lorgar was unquestionably loyal and Horus should be as well.

Lorgar met with the representatives of a thirty-system human theocracy to seek peaceful submission to the Imperium. The negotiations ended abruptly when the envoys revealed that their peace offering was a drum made from the skin of twenty slaves, and Lorgar crushed his teacup.

• Lorgar decided to negotiate with the human theocracy before considering military force.
• Lorgar and Seras boarded the Law of Faith and met three robed representatives over tea.
• The representatives offered to accept Imperial administration only if the Imperium left their faith untouched and sent no troops or officials into their territory.
• Lorgar rejected those conditions, demanding Imperial religious restrictions and the stationing of troops and officials.
• Lorgar learned that the thirty-system nation had a population of just over 120 billion and questioned the figure.
• The envoys presented Lorgar with a skin drum made from twenty slaves, and Lorgar crushed his teacup.

After Seras killed the three envoys, Lorgar declared war and the Word Bearers began boarding the enemy ship. While searching for something aboard, Lorgar discovered nearly twenty thousand people imprisoned in tiny cells and felt the Word Bearers’ fury rise at their suffering.

• Seras shot and killed the three envoys after Lorgar crushed his teacup.
• Lorgar declared that negotiations had broken down, and Seras authorized an all-out assault across the fleet.
• The Word Bearers boarded the enemy warship using Thunderhawks, Assault Craft, Drop Pods, and Melta Bombs.
• Lorgar walked through the fighting and tore open a sealed door to investigate what lay behind it.
• Lorgar found nearly twenty thousand abused and starving people confined in tiny cells, and they mechanically wiped his armour as the arriving Word Bearers sensed his wrath.

Lorgar interrogated the prisoners about the people held below, killing those who gave evasive answers and learning that about five hundred trillion people were being treated as cargo and tools. After identifying the Divine Emissary as the person in charge, Lorgar condemned their False God and ordered that no prisoners be left alive.

• Lorgar questioned the prisoners about what was below, killing each person whose answer failed to identify them as people.
• The thirty-fourth prisoner admitted that those below were people, and Lorgar killed him after accusing the prisoners of knowing the truth.
• A prisoner told Lorgar that about five hundred trillion people were being held there.
• The prisoner identified the Divine Emissary as the person in charge, and Lorgar kicked him into a wall, gravely injuring him.
• Lorgar denounced the prisoners' False God and ordered the Word Bearers to leave no survivors.

After Zantia died, the ruler of the Palace learned that the Imperium of Man had killed her and dismissed it as no threat. He ordered the Crusade Army and Knight Order to confront the Imperium, sending them with the Holy Relic.

• A messenger reported that Zantia had died, and the ruler ordered the sacrifices to begin again and another emissary to be chosen.
• An official asked whether another hundred million sacrifices would be needed, and the ruler asked who had killed Zantia.
• The messenger named the Imperium of Man, and the ruler declared that God was on their side and that the Imperium was nothing to fear.
• The ruler admired the Palace’s wall of bones, then ordered the Crusade Army and Knight Order to deal with the Imperium.
• The ruler told the messenger to take the Holy Relic.

Johnny and Oll Persson carried rescued civilians to the Yukikaze’s medical deck, where Johnny confronted the cruelty inflicted on them and was urged to rest. He then overheard a roll call for the pilots preparing to strike the enemy navy first.

• Johnny carried dozens of rescued civilians to the medical deck before exhaustion forced him to collapse.
• Oll Persson took over the rescue work and told Johnny that faith could sustain the oppressed while enabling the oppressors to excuse their cruelty.
• Johnny thanked Oll Persson, tucked away the cigarette he had been given, and headed toward the rest area.
• Johnny stopped outside a briefing room and listened as pilots including Erich Hartmann, Gerhard Barkhorn, Günther Rall, Otto Kittel, and Dick Best answered roll call.
• The pilots were assembled as the first wave tasked with breaking through the enemy air defenses and opening the way for the main fleet.

Gerhard Barkhorn and the Imperial Navy’s pilots prepared to defend the Yukikaze as enemy ships approached, while the legendary Manfred von Richthofen arrived in his crimson fighter. After the scramble order, more than a hundred fighters launched into space to meet the enemy.

• Gerhard Barkhorn waited in his Thunderbolt fighter and warned the impatient Norensen to stop complaining about the delay.
• A crimson Lightning bearing a black falcon emerged, and the personnel recognized its pilot as Manfred von Richthofen, the Red Baron.
• The pilots and ground crews went to combat readiness when the red alert sounded and the Commander ordered a scramble.
• More than a hundred Imperial Navy fighters launched from the deck and headed into space.

Lorgar declared war on Reincarnation Heaven, a human theocracy built on slavery and living-machine technology. The Imperial fleet and fighters crushed its defenses, with the enemy forces facing destruction and no escape.

• Lorgar declared war on Reincarnation Heaven and ordered its armed forces destroyed, its slaves freed, and its regime erased.
• Imperial intelligence gathered extensive information about Reincarnation Heaven's theocratic rule, brutal slave system, and living-machine military.
• Richthofen led Imperial fighters in wiping out the enemy's fighter formations.
• Imperial warships devastated Reincarnation Heaven's defenses with lance strikes and macro-cannon fire.
• Imperial formations spread out to surround the enemy fleet and prevent any escape.

The captain of the Bloodwheel Heaven’s capital ship ordered a blood-soaked ritual to call on a divine power as Imperial fire destroyed the ship and its crew. The ritual unleashed a tormenting chorus of death, but the Word Bearers silenced it before Lorgar entered the battle and charged the enemy ship.

• The captain and the divine emissaries performed a ritual aboard the Eternal Purification while a macro-cannon shell blasted through the ship and set its crew ablaze.
• The captain ordered the emissaries to continue the ritual, and they repeatedly stabbed themselves to fill the Altar with blood.
• The Altar awakened the bones across the ship, whose sounds of death tormented Mortals aboard Imperial warships.
• The Word Bearers arrived on the bridge and their presence silenced the supernatural sounds, freeing the crew from their torment.
• A lookout announced that Lorgar had joined the battle, and Lorgar flew toward the enemy ship with his greatsword ablaze.

Lorgar investigated the ancient psychic Ritual animating bones and corpses aboard the enemy warship, discovering that the dead were trapped within their bodies. As the skeletal horde closed in, he drew his Lectitio Divinitatus.

• Lorgar crashed onto the Bridge and confronted the bloodied divine emissaries preparing a Ritual at the Altar.
• The divine emissaries chanted, animating bones and charred corpses into monstrous creatures that charged Lorgar.
• Lorgar shattered a skeletal creature with a punch, then watched it reassemble and concluded that psychic energy sustained it.
• Lorgar examined another creature and suspected the souls of the dead had been imprisoned inside their bodies.
• Lorgar lowered his Greatsword, faced the approaching horde, and took out his Lectitio Divinitatus.

Lorgar freed the souls trapped in the animated skeletons with the Lectitio Divinitatus and confronted the Divine Emissaries responsible. He merged with a towering golden angelic figure and demanded to know what they had done to humanity.

• Lorgar used the Lectitio Divinitatus and his golden psychic energy to dismantle the skeletons and release the souls bound within them.
• A Divine Emissary attacked Lorgar with psychic blades, but the strikes barely scratched his Power Armour.
• After the last skeleton and soul disappeared, Lorgar turned on the frightened Divine Emissaries as his golden aura surged with rage.
• A six-winged angelic figure formed from golden psychic energy behind Lorgar, and he merged with it while raising his blade.
• Lorgar shouted, "What have you done to humanity!"

Lorgar killed the Divine Emissaries aboard the ship and allowed the captain to complete the ritual summoning. When the summoned being emerged from the rift and recognized Lorgar, it tried to flee, but he seized it and dragged it out.

• Lorgar burned the Divine Emissaries to ashes, leaving the ship captain alive beside the Altar.
• Lorgar urged the captain to continue the ritual, and the captain hastened the summoning while threatening him.
• The Altar opened a rift, and an enormous twisted figure crawled out and demanded to know who had summoned it.
• Lorgar identified himself and charged at the figure, which recognized him and tried to retreat into the rift.
• Lorgar grabbed one of the figure's tentacles and dragged it bodily out of the rift.

Lorgar savagely beat Kasara, shoved it back through the Warp rift, and pursued it into the Warp. Kasara regained its strength and grew to planetary size, but Lorgar charged at it with his flaming greatsword.

• Kasara emerged from a Warp rift and was immediately attacked by Lorgar, whose golden flames suppressed its powers as he stomped on its face.
• Kasara tried to crawl back through the closing rift, but Lorgar lifted and slammed it into the floor before dragging it to the rift.
• Lorgar shoved the wounded Kasara back into the Warp, where the Chaos energy healed its injuries and restored its strength.
• Lorgar followed Kasara into the Warp, and Kasara grew larger than a planet while preparing to fight him.
• Lorgar charged at Kasara and swung his flaming greatsword, sending a torrent of golden fire toward its enormous body.