Recaps

Corax took control of Sharrowkyn and warned him to prepare for a war that might never end. Meanwhile, Horus believed Abaddon wanted a private reconciliation, unaware that the figure waiting for him was an impostor and that twenty-nine silent figures waited in the shadows.

• Corax watched Brutus leave through Sharrowkyn's senses and told Sharrowkyn to prepare for an endless war.
• Horus sent Aximand to arrange aid for Taal's people and rewards for the militia.
• A sergeant told Horus that Abaddon was waiting to speak with him privately, and Kaebo offered to accompany him.
• Horus reassured Kaebo and followed the sergeant to the reception room, where an Abaddon lookalike stood waiting.
• Horus entered without noticing twenty-nine figures concealed behind him, while the impostor's eyes briefly betrayed guilt and resolve.

Horus apologized to Abaddon for his past failures and asked him to fight at his side, and Abaddon agreed. As Horus spoke of sacrifice and his beloved sons, Abaddon apologized and stabbed him with a hidden dagger.

• Horus comforted Abaddon and admitted he had wronged him by changing the Luna Wolves' name and colors and failing to secure more for the Legion.
• Horus offered Abaddon wine and swore he hoped they would fight together for humanity; Abaddon accepted and agreed to join him.
• Horus spoke of sacrifice and named Sejanus, Loken, Aximand, Torgaddon, Brutus, and Abaddon as his beloved sons.
• Abaddon apologized to Horus, then pulled a dagger from his sleeve and stabbed Horus in the abdomen.

Brutus and the Ringwraiths ambushed Horus, overwhelming him with Chaos power and fatal wounds. As Horus died, he recognized Brutus beneath his disguise and asked whether even he would betray him.

• Brutus stabbed Horus in the abdomen while the thirty Ringwraiths unleashed Chaos power to disrupt his mind.
• The Ringwraiths and their contracted warriors attacked Horus inside a room sealed off from the outside world.
• Horus fought back, but his enemies repeatedly regenerated and continued to wound him.
• Horus collapsed into a chair as Chaos power and blood loss weakened his body and consciousness.
• Brutus drove a Dagger into Horus's heart, and Horus recognized him beneath Abaddon's disguise before dying.

Brutus brought the dying Horus to the Dark Eye beneath Talon, where Corax, possessing Sharrowkyn, began using its Warp power to purge the Black King's influence. The Dark Eye pulled Horus's consciousness into the Warp as four colored streams surrounded his body.

• Brutus ordered the Ringwraiths to take Horus through a portal to the Black Eye beneath Talon.
• Brutus laid Horus before the Dark Eye and pleaded with him to hold on while promising to purge the Black King's power.
• Corax, possessing Sharrowkyn, approached Horus, and Horus recognized his brother as his life faded.
• Corax spoke an ancient incantation that awakened the Dark Eye's carvings and summoned red, green, purple, and blue pillars of Warp power.
• The Warp power encircled Horus and drew his consciousness from his body into the Warp within the Dark Eye.

Horus faced the Chaos powers in the Warp, resisting their offers until they showed him visions of his relationship with the Emperor and a future of endless war. As Horus fell into darkness, Brutus watched his unresponsive body while Sharrowkyn said the Warmaster was about to be reborn.

• The four figures in the Warp urged Horus to join them, but he declared that he would never betray the Emperor.
• A sinister voice showed Horus memories of his early bond with the Emperor and suggested that the Emperor had come to neglect and use him.
• Horus saw visions of an oppressive Imperium consumed by endless war and struggled to resist the doubts they caused.
• Horus sank into darkness in the Sea of Souls as Brutus watched his motionless body beside the Dark Eye.
• Sharrowkyn told Brutus that Horus was undergoing a trial alone and was about to be reborn.

Horus endured a million years of torment in the Warp until the Four Gods broke through his mental defenses and reshaped his soul. After Brutus called to him, Horus awakened, healed completely, and declared that he had returned.

• Horus's mental defenses collapsed, allowing the Four Gods to envelop his soul in a cocoon of Chaos power.
• Before losing himself, Horus shed a tear that passed through the Warp and Realspace toward an unknown destination.
• The Four Gods altered Horus's memories and reshaped his soul into one more suited to their expectations.
• Brutus called to Horus as his wounds healed and his body was restored.
• Horus sat up, looked at Brutus, and said, "I'm back."

Abaddon prepared to apologize to Horus, but Justaerin Terminators arrested him for allegedly attempting to assassinate the Warmaster. Brutus said Horus had been gravely wounded and ordered Loken to keep the incident within the Legion.

• Abaddon rehearsed an apology to Horus and prepared to leave his room.
• Justaerin Terminators burst in, pinned Abaddon down, and accused him of trying to assassinate the Warmaster.
• Brutus arrived and accused Abaddon of attacking Horus, then ordered the Terminators to imprison him.
• Loken confronted Brutus as Abaddon was taken away, demanding to know what he was doing.
• Brutus told Loken that Horus was gravely wounded and ordered him to keep the matter secret from the other Legions.

Horus ordered Brutus to secure Aximand’s support while Abaddon was imprisoned and plotted to expose Brutus. Kaebo secretly pledged to help Abaddon escape, leaving Abaddon with renewed hope.

• Brutus reported that he had imprisoned Abaddon, and Horus told him to recruit Aximand while leaving Loken and the Word Bearers alone for now.
• Abaddon was taken to a cell aboard the Vengeful Spirit, where he decided Brutus had manipulated Horus and considered seeking help from Lorgar, Fulgrim, or Vulkan.
• Kaebo entered Abaddon’s cell, punched him to maintain appearances, and whispered that he would investigate and help him escape.
• Kaebo left after publicly denouncing Abaddon as a traitor, and Abaddon smiled as he waited for help.

The Khan assigned Ding Xiu and Pei Min to lead separate companies on rescue missions while the White Scars prepared to attack a xenos warlord in Segmentum Tempestus. He chose a swift frontal assault and set out to kill the warlord himself.

• The Khan told Ding Xiu and Pei Min to lead their companies to separate systems under attack and recited a poem from Ancient Terra before departing the bridge.
• The White Scars prepared a surprise assault on the Star System ruled by the xenos warlord known as the Lord of Plunder.
• The Khan planned a concentrated frontal strike to destroy the enemy command center before the xenos could react.
• Torghun Khan volunteered to lead the vanguard, but the Khan assigned him and Qin Xa to support him and went to face the warlord himself.

The Khan and the White Scars landed on grasslands that reminded him of Chogoris and charged the Lord of the Marauders’ cavalry. The Khan tore through the enemy ranks alone, leaving the battle ongoing as he turned back for another attack.

• The Khan saw that the planet’s golden grasslands resembled Chogoris and rallied the White Scars warriors.
• The White Scars’ Drop Pods landed as Marauder cavalry surrounded their position from every direction.
• The Khan mounted his Hover Bike, answered Qin Xa and Torghun, and ordered the White Scars to attack.
• The Khan charged into the cavalry and cut a bloody breach through more than a thousand enemies.
• The Khan turned back toward the Marauders and continued slaughtering riders as the White Scars followed into battle.

Abial the Undefeated watched the Khan fight in a false Chogoris landscape created by Khorne to ensnare and corrupt him. After Qin Xa saved the Khan from Abial’s ambush, the Khan pursued Abial into the dark heart of the trap.

• Abial rode his Flesh Hound down the mountainside as the illusion of green hills and clear streams transformed into a realm of skulls and blood.
• The Khan noticed the seemingly endless Marauder horsemen and his inability to contact the Blade Storm, realizing that something was wrong.
• Abial hurled a giant blade at the Khan, but Qin Xa knocked him clear, sacrificing the Khan’s bike and suffering a deep gouge to his chest plate.
• The Khan ordered White Scars warriors to carry Qin Xa away, then took another bike and charged after Abial.
• Abial lured the enraged Khan away from the battlefield, and the Khan pursued him into the darkness of the Khorne-made trap.

The Khan pursued Abial the Undefeated to a skull-paved plaza, where they began a fierce duel. The chapter ended with both warriors fighting at full strength, neither giving ground.

• The Khan chased Abial through the blood-soaked landscape and fired his motorcycle’s Bolter, but Abial’s Flesh Hound evaded every shot.
• The Khan and Abial stopped at a skull plaza and leaped from their mounts to begin their duel.
• The Khan’s first strike met Abial’s Giant Blade, and their weapons’ collision sent a shock wave across the plaza.
• The Khan attacked with a rapid storm of sword strikes, taunting Abial as he scratched Abial’s armor.
• Abial unleashed greater strength and speed, and the two continued clashing furiously without either yielding.

The Khan discovered that Abial’s Chogoris-like illusion concealed a trap meant to corrupt him, then fought back after Abial imprisoned him in a Warp-made arena. The chapter ended with hundreds of daemon-driven chariots surrounding the Deep Pit.

• The Khan recognized that the illusion was unraveling and rejected Abial’s offer to make him serve Chaos, declaring that he would never betray his father or humanity.
• Abial dropped the Khan into a Deep Pit surrounded by Chaos Warriors and sent a daemon-driven chariot to attack him.
• The Khan stopped the chariot’s charge with one hand and split it in half with his Tiger-Head Greatsword, destroying the daemon soul inside.
• Abial summoned hundreds of identical chariots around the Deep Pit and watched as they prepared to attack the Khan.

The Khan destroyed Abial’s chariots until exhaustion forced him to his knees, but he refused to submit. When Abial sent his Chaos Warriors into the pit, the Khan charged into their ranks and began cutting them down in vast numbers.

• The Khan destroyed 110 chariots before exhaustion made him kneel and gasp for breath.
• Abial taunted the Khan and said the Blood God’s command was to bring him over, while insisting he would not enter the pit himself.
• The Khan rose, rejected Abial’s trap, and declared his resolve to break the enemy ranks despite certain death.
• Abial offered the Blood God’s blessing to whoever killed the Khan, and the Chaos Warriors leaped into the pit.
• The Khan charged into the oncoming warriors, killing over a hundred at the front and tearing through the enemy ranks with his greatsword.

After the Khan slaughtered the Chaos Warriors in the Deep Pit, Abial asked Khorne to let him fight the Primarch. Khorne answered, and Abial descended to meet the exhausted but defiant Khan in battle.

• Abial watched the Khan kill hundreds of thousands of Chaos Warriors and admired his strength.
• The Khan emerged from the mound of corpses, wounded and exhausted, and challenged Abial to show his true strength.
• Abial prayed to Khorne for permission to fight the Khan, and thunder answered across the sky.
• Abial leaped into the Deep Pit on his Flesh Hound and brought his Giant Blade down at the Khan.
• The Khan met Abial's attack with the Tiger-Head Greatsword, and they began fighting as Khorne watched from Heaven.

The Khan and Abial fought for centuries in the Deep Pit, each driven to battle through exhaustion, pain, and grievous wounds. The chapter left them pinned by their weapons in each other’s bodies, facing one another as their blood mingled.

• The Khan continued fighting Abial despite his failing body, meeting his attacks with instinctive strikes and blocks.
• Abial grew enraged at the Khan’s calm, and they wounded each other at the same time with their blades.
• The Khan charged again, and the two warriors traded attacks without defending or dodging.
• Abial and the Khan fought until both were covered in wounds and too exhausted to move quickly.
• Abial’s Giant Blade pierced the Khan’s chest as the Khan’s Tiger-Head Greatsword pierced Abial’s abdomen, leaving them facing each other with both weapons embedded.

The Khan revealed that his soul had died long before Abial killed his body, and Khorne resurrected him with the soul of a powerful champion. As the Great Conqueror took control of the Khan’s body, the Khan found peace on the grasslands of Chogoris.

• Abial collapsed before the Khan, who revealed that Abial had killed his body, not Lorgar, and that his soul was already gone.
• The Khan died standing upright, still gripping his sword, while Abial knelt before him.
• Khorne praised the battle, drew the soul of an ancient champion from a blood pool, and forced it into the Khan’s corpse.
• The revived Khan opened his eyes with a savage, bloodthirsty light, and Abial hailed him as the Great Conqueror under the Blood God’s banner.
• The Khan lay peacefully in a vision of Chogoris, surrounded by its grasslands, mountains, streams, and familiar sounds.

The Khan returned to reality after Khorne reversed time, concealing the dark presence now inhabiting him from Qin Xa. Meanwhile, Lorgar’s unease about the Sons of Horus led him to send Caspar Royst to Prospero to investigate Magnus’s forbidden Warp research.

• Khorne restored the Khan and returned him to the battlefield, where he found his body intact and the White Scars clearing away the dead.
• The Khan hid his bloodthirsty smile, told Qin Xa he was tired, and ordered him to continue managing the aftermath.
• Lorgar grew uneasy about the Sons of Horus despite their reports that everything was normal, then focused his suspicions on Magnus’s Warp investigations.
• Lorgar sent Caspar Royst and several hundred Word Bearers to Prospero under the cover of a knowledge exchange to observe Magnus and report on his research.

At the Ancre Star System, Fabricator-General Utio reported that Gungnir was still years from completion, but claimed the weapon could strike any planet within the Imperium. Ferrus Manus heard the weapon’s range as Utio displayed a map of the Imperium.

• Utio stationed a vast Adeptus Mechanicus Fleet in the Ancre Star System and began constructing Gungnir beside a warp rift.
• Ferrus Manus appeared on the control hall screen and asked Utio about the weapon’s progress.
• Utio reported that Gungnir was at least fifteen years from completion, with one-third of its core components finished.
• Ferrus Manus asked about Gungnir’s strike range and power.
• Utio projected a map of the Imperium and declared that Gungnir could strike any planet within its domain, regardless of its defenses.

Ferrus Manus inspected the Pharos, an ancient xenos beacon whose energy and potential uses he wanted to control. After a Tech-Priest activated its consoles, the Pharos and countless distant connectors began glowing, and Ferrus went to investigate.

• Ferrus Manus arrived at the Pharos and considered how its navigation signal could support a network under his control.
• He reviewed the facility’s immense, shifting energy source and continued studying its strange symbols, which reminded him of markings beneath Medusa.
• Ferrus considered using the Pharos to send false navigation beacons to the Imperial Fleet.
• A Tech-Priest activated a control console, causing the Pharos’s consoles to glow green.
• An Iron Hands Legion Company Captain summoned Ferrus, who saw countless connectors across the mountains light up.

Abaddon had spent months imprisoned, cut off from Kaebo and the Word Bearers, until Loken and Torgaddon were thrown into his cell. The three learned Brutus had seized control of the Legion and replaced them on the Four Kings Council, leaving them to seek a way to contact the Word Bearers.

• Abaddon recognized Loken when the Justaerin Terminators shoved him into the cell and asked what had happened to Kaebo, Torgaddon, and Aximand.
• Loken explained that Brutus had sent the Word Bearers away, Kaebo had not responded, and Aximand had betrayed their plans in exchange for a promised promotion.
• Torgaddon was brought into the cell, and he and Loken suspected Brutus had manipulated the Warmaster into imprisoning them.
• Loken said Brutus had replaced Abaddon and himself on the Four Kings Council with trusted men, while the Word Bearers remained unaware of the changes.
• Torgaddon urged them to find a way to contact the Word Bearers, but Abaddon could only think of making their time in prison more comfortable.

Horus ordered the purge of dissenters in the Sons of Horus Legion, then agreed with Magnus to stop Lorgar’s plot. At the Law of Faith, Lorgar told Anna to prepare fifty additional Wave Cannon test ships, leaving Anna to carry out his order.

• Brutus reported that Abaddon, Loken, Torgaddon, and numerous other warriors had been imprisoned, and Horus ordered them and the returning Word Bearers killed.
• Magnus contacted Horus, saying he planned a powerful spell to prove his psychic superiority over Lorgar.
• Magnus accused Lorgar of using psychic energy to deceive the Emperor and urged Horus to join him in exposing Lorgar’s scheme.
• Horus agreed with Magnus that they should stop Lorgar’s plot for the Emperor’s sake.
• Anna told Lorgar that she had selected one hundred capital ships for Wave Cannon tests, and Lorgar ordered her to prepare fifty more.

Magnus returned to Prospero and contacted a voice in a crystal orb, which showed him Lorgar’s secret military strength, Blackstone Fortress, and forbidden Men of Iron ally, Anna. Convinced he must expose Lorgar and prove himself to the Emperor, Magnus vowed to prepare the Grand Spell.

• Magnus returned to Prospero and used a crystal orb to contact a familiar voice in the Warp.
• The voice showed Magnus that Lorgar secretly controlled a Blackstone Fortress capable of severing Warp connections.
• Magnus learned that Lorgar had activated Anna, a forbidden Men of Iron, and made her his trusted assistant.
• The visions revealed that Lorgar secretly ruled the heavily fortified Colchis Star System and a thousand surrounding worlds.
• Magnus grew furious and decided to show the Emperor Lorgar’s secrets and the Warp’s supposed wonders.
• The voice urged Magnus to prepare the Grand Spell, and Magnus vowed to prove himself to his father.

In Prospero’s Library, Magnus tested the Word Bearers Librarian Royst and discovered that Lorgar’s psychic energy in the Lectitio Divinitatus shielded Royst from mental attacks. Envious of the freedom Lorgar had to use psychic power, Magnus took the book to study it.

• Royst greeted Magnus at the entrance to Prospero’s Library and showed him the Lectitio Divinitatus.
• Magnus subjected Royst to psychic pressure, but Royst’s psychic energy formed a barrier that let him resist it.
• Royst explained that Lorgar had given each Word Bearer a copy of the book infused with psychic energy to protect them from mental corruption.
• Magnus recognized Lorgar’s energy in the book and grew angry as he compared Lorgar’s freedom with the Emperor’s restrictions on his own research.
• Magnus took the Lectitio Divinitatus and strode deeper into the Library to study it.

Magnus prepared to cast a Grand Spell on Prospero, ordering Amon to gather the Legion’s strongest psykers and an identical double to oversee the Legion. The double was ordered to ensure that no Word Bearer left Prospero alive, while Magnus entered a sealed crystal chamber to begin the spell.

• Magnus placed the Lectitio Divinitatus on a Library shelf and met Amon.
• Magnus ordered Amon to gather the Legion’s most powerful psykers in the Central Hall.
• Magnus met a hooded figure who confirmed that preparations for the Grand Spell were complete.
• The hooded figure transformed into an identical Magnus and was told to oversee the Legion and let no Word Bearer leave Prospero alive.
• Magnus entered the crystal chamber, sat on its platform, and closed his eye as the door sealed behind him.