Recaps

Abaddon defeated Makro after Henry left the arena, humiliating the Justaerin Terminator and prompting Horus to receive an urgent report that the squad had been beaten. Meanwhile, Brutus kept his distance from Abaddon aboard the Oathbreaker, while the Legion’s old-guard and new-guard officers grew increasingly tense.

• Henry withdrew from the arena and left Makro for Abaddon to face.
• Abaddon caught Makro’s thrust, ripped off his helmet, crushed it, and warned him before leaving him defeated among the fallen Justaerin.
• Horus received an urgent communication reporting that an entire Justaerin Terminator squad had been beaten.
• Brutus remained aboard the Oathbreaker after transferring from the Vengeful Spirit to avoid clashing with Abaddon.
• Younger officers misread Brutus’s transfer as Abaddon forcing him out, worsening tensions between the Legion’s old and new guards.

Brutus received a report from Terra proposing restrictions on the Space Marine Legions, and his anger led him to consider a more thorough solution. As the ring Soren had given him began glowing with four colors, Brutus slipped it onto his finger.

• Brutus stared at Soren's black ring and was interrupted by a Company Captain delivering an encrypted report from Terra.
• Brutus read that Terra planned to limit the Legions' authority and transfer more power to its bureaucracy.
• Brutus denounced the restrictions, smashed a dataslate, and sent the Company Captain away.
• Brutus considered pressuring Terra with other Legion commanders, asking Warmaster Horus to intervene, or finding a more thorough solution.
• The ring glowed with four colors of psychic energy, drawing Brutus into a trance, and he put it on his finger.

Brutus put on the ring and was shown the Emperor abandoning the Thunder Warriors, then a future in which Lorgar and the Adeptus Custodes slaughtered the Primarchs and Legions. As the Warp swallowed him, voices urged him to act to prevent the visions from coming true.

• Brutus's ring awakened and drew his consciousness into the Warp, where he witnessed the Thunder Warriors' deaths during the Unification Wars.
• Brutus saw Ushotan challenge the Emperor before the Adeptus Custodes killed him and his warriors.
• Brutus feared the Emperor would eventually discard the Space Marines and Primarchs just as he had abandoned the Thunder Warriors.
• Brutus witnessed a future where Valdor killed Horus, Lorgar beheaded the Primarchs and burned Cthonia, and the Emperor presided over the slaughter.
• The Chaos Storm overwhelmed Brutus, while voices told him the visions were inevitable unless he acted to stop them.

In the Warp, Brutus learned that the Emperor was destined to become the Dark King and destroy reality, and that he had been chosen to stop him. He awoke with Isildur’s twenty-nine rings and prepared to recruit allies.

• A unified voice told Brutus that the Emperor sought godhood as the Dark King and that Brutus was the only hope of stopping him.
• Brutus resolved to save everyone and was told to spread the truth while waiting for an emissary.
• Isildur appeared in the Chaos Storm, named himself Brutus’s Ringwraith and chief of the thirty Ringwraiths, and gave him twenty-nine rings to distribute to worthy people.
• Brutus awoke in his lounge, found the twenty-nine rings on his desk, and gathered them into a metal box.

Ferrus Manus used a dangerous Warp-powered network to contact Vashtorr and learn what would happen to his transformed brothers. After Vashtorr warned him that Lorgar and the Word Bearers were closing in, the connection killed the Tech-Priests, and an urgent message about an Ark Mechanicus reached the Iron Fist.

• Ferrus Manus activated the Warp-powered device, forcing the connected Iron Hands warriors and Tech-Priests to endure its destructive surge.
• Vashtorr appeared on the corrupted screen and told Ferrus Manus that his brothers would become immortal by becoming one with steel.
• Ferrus Manus insisted that he and Vashtorr were trading partners, and Vashtorr warned him that Lorgar and the Word Bearers threatened his plans.
• Vashtorr ended the connection, and the Adeptus Mechanicus priests burst into flames and burned to ash.
• Ferrus Manus smashed the console in anger, then received a highest-priority communication request about an Ark Mechanicus.

Utio, Fabricator-General of Mars, delivered fourteen specialized Warlord Titans to Ferrus Manus in exchange for access to the Iron Hands Legion’s research into Forbidden Technology. Ferrus Manus agreed to show Utio the technology and led him toward the Iron Blood.

• Ferrus Manus approved the Fury of the Forge’s docking with the Iron Blood.
• Utio presented Ferrus Manus with fourteen Titans: seven close-combat Nightmare-class and seven siege-focused Nemesis-class variants.
• Ferrus Manus asked what Utio wanted, and Utio demanded access to the Iron Hands Legion’s Forbidden Technology research in exchange for the Titans.
• Ferrus Manus agreed to show Utio the technology and led him toward the Iron Blood.
• Utio refused to let a Skitarii commander accompany him and followed Ferrus Manus alone.

Sharrowkyn received Corax’s order to watch over and guide the target, while Corax prepared for the final Ritual with four divine artifacts. Bella told Corax that he still needed a great shadow steed, and he left the hidden chamber promising to return.

• Corax told Sharrowkyn that the Ringwraith had found the target and ordered him to protect and guide the target until the appointed moment.
• Sharrowkyn used the Nemesis Blade to find his way and silently advanced toward the target.
• Corax entered a secret chamber aboard the Shadow of the Emperor, where four divine artifacts lay on an Altar and the Mark of Chaos had merged with him.
• Corax asked Bella what was still needed to complete the Ritual, and Bella named a great shadow steed as the final sacrifice.
• Corax pleaded to learn where the steed was, but Bella promised to wait for him until he found it and completed the Ritual.
• Corax regained his composure, promised Bella he would return, and vanished into the shadows.

Giselle detected a distress signal from an uncharted planet during a warp passage, and Corax ordered the Raven Guard fleet to investigate. After the fleet reached the barren world, Corax prepared to descend alone, accompanied by Bella's spectral figure.

• Barto told Corax that Giselle had detected an anomalous distress signal and wanted to report it personally.
• Giselle explained that she had found the weak signal from an uncharted planet while searching warp turbulence for a navigational route.
• Corax ordered the fleet to set course for the planet and investigate who was calling for help.
• The Raven Guard fleet emerged from the warp and reached the barren, gray-brown planet.
• Corax told Barto to keep the fleet in orbit and went to the hangar to descend alone.
• Bella's spectral figure appeared beside Corax as he entered the Drop Pod and said the moment had finally come.

Corax followed Bella across a desolate plain and descended into a vast pit scorched by Psychic Flame, where he found the remains of a strange battle and its dead black-armoured warriors. As he investigated the gnawed corpses, a giant black horse emerged from the darkness and confronted him.

• Corax landed in a Drop Pod on a barren plain, and Bella appeared to guide him onward.
• Corax discovered a vast pit with vitrified walls bearing traces of Psychic Flame and slid down to its bottom.
• Corax found corrosive green slime, strange remains, and torn blue paper scattered across the pit floor.
• Corax examined twisted black-armoured bodies and noticed that something had bitten and eaten them.
• Corax heard hooves and growling, then faced an enormous black horse carrying a half-eaten corpse in its jaws.

Corax befriended the enormous Warp creature and named it Dholga, then realized it had merged with the Shadow of the Emperor. Bella told him that all six artifacts had been gathered and that Giselle was the final sacrifice.

• The enormous black horse stopped attacking when Corax touched his blade and pressed its head affectionately against him.
• Corax sensed that the horse was a powerful, shape-shifting Warp creature and named it Dholga.
• Corax returned to the Shadow of the Emperor and discovered that Dholga had become one with the warship.
• Bella told Corax that the six artifacts were assembled and Giselle had to be sacrificed.

Ferrus Manus showed Utio the Leviathan, a planet-sized war machine that could consume matter for energy and crush enemy warships with its tentacles. He led Utio to its central console, where Utio connected himself to the machine to explore its hidden core.

• Utio examined a hologram of the Leviathan as Ferrus Manus explained how it consumed stars, meteors, and other matter to power itself.
• Ferrus Manus revealed that the Leviathan was outside the viewport, where it dwarfed the Iron Hands fleet in orbit.
• Ferrus Manus took Utio to the Leviathan's surface and explained that its tentacles had been modified to crush enemy warships.
• Utio saw the heavily augmented Iron Hands and Imperialis Militia working throughout the megastructure.
• Ferrus Manus offered Utio data cables to access the Leviathan's core, and Utio plugged them into the ports in his skull despite sensing possible danger.

Utio connected to the Warp through a data cable and received forbidden knowledge from Vashtorr, who claimed to be the Omnissiah and corrupted the Adeptus Mechanicus networks. Utio awoke fanatically devoted and hurried to Mars to build the weapon Vashtorr had given him, while Ferrus Manus watched with quiet satisfaction.

• Utio convulsed as Warp energy surged through the data cable and transformed his body and processors.
• Utio saw Vashtorr in a vision, mistook him for the Omnissiah, and knelt before him.
• Vashtorr filled Utio's processors with forbidden fabrication knowledge, gained access to the Adeptus Mechanicus's secrets, and spread Chaos Scrapcode through its networks.
• Vashtorr gave Utio the complete manufacturing process for a small Warp weapon before the connection ended.
• Ferrus Manus severed the cables, and Utio awoke declaring that he had seen the Omnissiah and received a weapon.
• Utio rushed toward the Leviathan's hangar to return to Mars and build the weapon while Ferrus Manus watched him leave with a faint smile.

Vulkan forged a dark red sword in the Fireforged’s furnace while his shadow transformed into an enormous seven-headed dragon. When he finished the blade and set down his hammer, the shadow returned to normal, leaving Vulkan unaware of what had happened.

• Vulkan hammered an iron blade into a one-handed sword in the furnace.
• With each hammer blow, Vulkan’s shadow stretched and grew additional heads and a monstrous body.
• On the seventh blow, Vulkan’s shadow became a huge seven-headed dragon.
• Vulkan inspected the finished sword and set down his hammer, causing the dragon-shaped shadow to shrink back to normal.

Fulgrim compared the Purple Longsword forged by Ferrus Manus with the Laer Blade and decided to give the Laer Blade to Akurduana. After Akurduana accepted it as a token of Fulgrim’s trust, an unseen purple psychic thread crept up his arm.

• Fulgrim admired the Purple Longsword Ferrus Manus had made and found its craftsmanship superior to the Laer Blade’s.
• Fulgrim laid the two swords together, unaware that faint purple psychic energy entered the Laer Blade.
• Fulgrim summoned Akurduana and presented him with the Laer Blade as a weapon and sign of trust.
• Akurduana pledged lifelong loyalty to Fulgrim, the legion, and their ideals, then accepted the sword.
• A purple thread crept up Akurduana’s arm as he held the Laer Blade, and he did not notice it.

Akurduana trained Lucius and Chelast in a two-on-one sword fight, teaching them how to coordinate and fight a stronger opponent. He defeated them but praised their teamwork and told them to rest before continuing tomorrow.

• Akurduana hung the Laer Blade in his collection room and took two training swords to the Gladiatorial Arena.
• Lucius and Chelast agreed to attack Akurduana together, and Chelast briefly noticed a faint sulfurous smell around their teacher.
• Lucius and Chelast launched coordinated high-and-low attacks, but Akurduana evaded them and tapped Lucius's shoulder to demonstrate his opening.
• The students renewed their assault with improved coordination, while Akurduana calmly parried and dodged their attacks.
• Akurduana disarmed Lucius, held his sword at Chelast's throat, then praised their progress and ended the training session.

Magnus watched visions of Lorgar's attack on Davin and concluded that Lorgar was deliberately holding back, despite wielding power that seemed comparable to his own. Lorgar's apparent freedom to use the Warp deepened Magnus's resentment and uncertainty, leaving him torn between embracing it and heeding the Emperor's warnings.

• Magnus asked Ahriman how Lorgar was doing, and Ahriman showed him images of Lorgar setting a moon ablaze over Davin.
• Magnus judged that Lorgar was deliberately restraining his power and said his psychic energy resembled the Emperor's.
• Ahriman questioned why the Emperor permitted Lorgar to use psychic powers and the Warp while restricting Magnus.
• Magnus recalled the Emperor's warnings and questioned why Lorgar could use the Warp while he could not.
• Two manifestations of Magnus argued over whether he should accept the Warp or heed the Emperor, leaving Magnus overwhelmed and uncertain.

Magnus questioned why the Emperor warned him against exploring the Warp while allowing Lorgar to wield immense psychic power, and resolved to master the Warp himself. He embraced the path represented by his other self, while the apparition urging him to heed the Emperor faded away.

• Magnus angrily asked Ahriman why Lorgar could use psychic energy freely while the Emperor restricted him.
• Magnus recalled Lorgar using psychic power on Davin to set a moon ablaze and destroy it with the planet.
• Magnus decided that he could master the Warp and prove to the Emperor that his exploration served the Imperium.
• Magnus walked toward the apparition representing his willingness to embrace the Warp, leaving the apparition representing his father's counsel behind.
• Magnus vowed to become the Primarch best suited to wield psychic energy, and the Warp-embracing apparition merged into him.

Mortarion rested on Barbarus while recovering from his wounds, enjoying the sunlight and remembering his resistance to the Great Crusade. Garro brought footage of Lorgar using psychic energy, but Mortarion dismissed Magnus’s attempt to sway him and warned him to keep the Sons of Haemorrhoids away.

• Mortarion and Vorx harvested wheat on Barbarus while Mortarion enjoyed the sunlight and recalled freeing its people from the Xenos rulers.
• Mortarion remembered that the Emperor had ordered him to return to Barbarus to recover after he killed a Xenos lord.
• Mortarion reflected on his hatred of the Great Crusade and recalled telling Barbarus’s people not to kneel to him.
• Garro brought Mortarion a Dataslate with footage of Lorgar using psychic energy, sent by Magnus.
• Mortarion refused to watch the footage and told Garro to warn Magnus to keep the Sons of Haemorrhoids away.

Months later, Brutus’s Great Astartes-ism spread through the Sons of Horus and into other Legions as Isildur instructed him to lure Horus to the Black Eye and gravely wound him to free him from the Black King’s control. Brutus accepted the plan and welcomed Belzebub and Rahab aboard the Oathbreaker.

• Brutus’s Great Astartes-ism spread through the Sons of Horus and reached warriors in the Emperor’s Children and White Scars through the Warrior Lodges.
• Isildur told Brutus to prepare the Black Eye on Talon and bring Horus there after gravely wounding him.
• Brutus objected to harming his father, but Isildur explained that the Black Eye could cleanse Horus of the Black King’s control.
• Brutus accepted Isildur’s plan to gravely wound Horus and take him to the Black Eye.
• Belzebub and Rahab arrived aboard the Oathbreaker, and Brutus welcomed them as allies.

Sharrowkyn infiltrated the underground shelters beneath Crescent Province on Talon and enslaved a foreman to help him find the buried Black Eye. He left Entres ready to excavate in the direction he chose and report anything unusual.

• Sharrowkyn entered the shelter tunnels in Crescent Province, where the ancient Black Eye lay buried beneath the underground network.
• Sharrowkyn ambushed Entres, the foreman of the Sector Seven construction crew, and used Warp power to control his mind.
• Sharrowkyn ordered Entres to excavate in a designated direction and report anything unusual he found.
• Entres agreed to obey Sharrowkyn, who departed and planned to summon him when needed.

Imprisoned and crippled, Dammekos heard a mysterious voice offer him revenge against Perturabo. The voice directed him to a black Ring hidden in his meal, and he took it.

• Dammekos endured the pain of his injuries and nursed his hatred for Perturabo and the Imperium in his cell.
• A voice sounded inside Dammekos’s mind and asked whether he wanted revenge.
• Dammekos answered that he wanted to kill Perturabo, and the voice told him to put on a Ring.
• A black-eyed guard brought Dammekos’s meal, with a black Ring concealed in the broth.
• Dammekos took the Ring from the bowl and felt its strange vibration reach his mind.

After several years aboard the Vengeful Spirit, Lorgar left Horus and returned to his Legion aboard the Law of Faith, promising they would fight together until the end of time. Horus then learned that Brutus and his troops were trapped on Taal by an Aeldari Craftworld and set out with Abaddon to rescue them.

• Lorgar told Horus he had to leave and returned to the Law of Faith, where Seras and the Word Bearers were waiting to go home with him.
• Lorgar and Horus said farewell, and Lorgar promised they would fight side by side until the end of time.
• After Lorgar departed, Horus received Brutus's urgent message that an Aeldari Craftworld had surrounded his forces on Taal near a powerful Aeldari Artifact.
• Abaddon offered to take the Justaerin Terminator Force ahead, but Horus decided they would go together to rescue Brutus and his troops.

An Aeldari invasion overwhelmed Taal’s defenses as Brutus directed the mortals and fought off attackers. After an Eldar Warlock wounded him and pursued him into the underground bunkers, the Warlock declared that prophecy had brought him to kill Brutus.

• Brutus ordered the mortals to withdraw into underground bunkers and artillery to bombard the Aeldari landing zone in sector A63.
• An Aeldari plasma cannon destroyed Brutus’s command shelter, and Brutus shot down two Aeldari warriors who charged him.
• Brutus saw Taal’s tanks and artillery emerge from the bunkers to attack the Aeldari landing forces.
• An Eldar Warlock attacked Brutus, dodged his Bolter fire, and struck his shoulder with a Chainsword.
• Brutus fell down a shaft into the lowest bunker level, and the Warlock followed and kicked him into a wall.
• The Eldar Warlock removed his helmet and told Brutus that prophecy had brought him there to kill him.

Brutus survived the Eldar Warlock’s attack when Isildur summoned a Chaos creature that killed and devoured the Warlock. Brutus emerged from the bunker to find the Aeldari craftworld burning and the Vengeful Spirit overhead, signaling that reinforcements had arrived.

• Brutus spat corrosive fluid onto the Eldar Warlock’s armor, and the enraged Warlock prepared to attack him.
• Isildur summoned a Chaos creature and appeared as a Black-Robed Figure, while the Eldar Warlock’s Chainsword and Fusion Gun failed to harm them.
• The Chaos creature pierced and devoured the Eldar Warlock as Isildur told Brutus that he owed him his life.
• Brutus climbed out of the damaged bunker despite his injuries and exhaustion.
• Brutus saw the burning Aeldari craftworld falling toward the ground and the Vengeful Spirit in orbit.

After Horus’s victory on Taal, Abaddon struggled with feeling displaced from the Legion and Loken urged him to reconcile with their father. Meanwhile, Brutus secretly received a dagger meant to purge the Black King’s psychic energy from Horus and transformed himself to look like Abaddon.

• Horus celebrated the destruction of the Aeldari Craftworld and was hailed by Taal’s people as the Great Guardian of Taal.
• Abaddon watched the celebration alone, grieving the changes to the Legion and his loss of his former place among his brothers.
• Loken gave Abaddon wine and encouraged him to speak with Horus, who had been waiting for him.
• Brutus left the celebration and met Sharrowkyn underground, where Sharrowkyn gave him an ancient black dagger.
• Sharrowkyn covered Brutus in Chaos energy, changing his appearance until he looked like Abaddon.