Recaps

Doram reunited with Leki and Heinrich after more than a hundred years, discovering that Heinrich had risen to lieutenant general in the Penal Legion. The three old friends agreed to celebrate together.

• Doram ordered the mess hall to serve the soldiers a feast, along with all the stored booze and cigarettes.
• Doram stepped into the corridor, where Leki found him and greeted him after more than a hundred years apart.
• Doram and Leki recalled their time together after the Rangdan campaign and agreed to share a drink.
• Heinrich appeared, revealed his lieutenant general rank in the Penal Legion, and joined Doram and Leki for their reunion.

Heinrich invited Doram and Leki to his office, where his medals and stories revealed his long service in the Penal Legion. As the three old friends parted before battle, they promised to meet again if they survived—or in hell if they did not.

• Heinrich brought Doram and Leki to his battleship office, where they were stunned by his wall of medals.
• Heinrich explained that his service had earned a descendant the right to settle on Terra and that he had returned to the Penal Legion because regular military life bored him.
• Heinrich showed Leki and Doram the Skull Regiment's badge and described its reorganization and improved supplies.
• The three friends drank and reminisced about their battles, lives, and hopes for the future.
• Leki wondered whether they would survive the coming battle, and Heinrich promised they would finish the liquor if they returned.
• Doram, Leki, and Heinrich raised their glasses and pledged to meet in hell if they died.

Johnny and Oll Persson discovered that a new recruit was only sixteen and considered sending him back to the recruiting office. After hearing why the boy had enlisted, they decided to keep him in the unit and assign him to logistics, away from the front.

• Johnny drank with Oll Persson and lamented that he was the only one of his friends serving as mobile infantry on Colchis.
• Johnny and Oll Persson approached a young recruit eating ice cream and pressured him to reveal his age.
• The recruit admitted he was sixteen, and Johnny angrily condemned the recruiting office for enlisting a child.
• The recruit explained that his eldest brother had died by suicide after being rejected from military service, and begged to remain enlisted.
• Oll Persson proposed placing the recruit in logistics, and Johnny ordered him to stay with Sergeant John from the Communications Squad and keep away from the front.

Anna ordered the Word Bearers fleet to prepare for an attack after the Warp disrupted communications around Colchis. The Astropath died after warning Rockefeller of shadows over Colchis and a vision of two falling stars, while Anna rallied the bridge crew in Lorgar’s name.

• Anna ordered messages sent to nearby systems to watch for fleets approaching Colchis that did not belong to the Word Bearers.
• The Astropath convulsed and died after the Warp disrupted communications, warning Rockefeller that shadows covered Colchis and describing two falling stars.
• Anna ordered the fleet to combat readiness and instructed it to fire immediately on any unidentified warship.
• Rockefeller concluded that someone had deliberately created the Warp storm to isolate the Millennium World and prevent escape or outside aid.
• Anna urged Rockefeller and the bridge crew to remain calm and make any invaders pay dearly in Lorgar’s name.

Corax and Bella planned to break the Millennium World’s protective veil by massacring its believers, while seeking Lorgar’s intact corpse for a ritual to restore Bella to life. Corax assigned Pius Vex to steal Lorgar’s remains as he prepared to attack Colchis.

• Bella explained that Heaven could not envelop the Millennium World unless the believers’ faith was weakened through mass death and suffering.
• Corax transformed Kingbane into the Talon Blades Eridu, which contained the daemon Uz’uhak and the souls of Eridu’s dead.
• Corax asked when Bella could be revived, and Bella told him that Lorgar’s intact corpse and Giselle’s soul were needed for her ritual.
• Corax chose Pius Vex to infiltrate the ship carrying Lorgar’s corpse and seize it.
• Corax prepared to attack Colchis with the traitorous Adeptus Mechanicus and promised Bella they would soon meet again.

Eloil led a renegade Adeptus Mechanicus fleet into the Millennium Worlds, expecting an easy victory, but the Garrison Fleet ambushed it as it emerged from the warp. The defenders held the advantage until Eloil’s Ark Mechanicus arrived, prompting Maccallus to order concentrated fire on its engines.

• Eloil led Xana II’s fleet toward the Millennium Worlds, unaware that the region contained a thousand worlds.
• The Millennium Worlds’ Garrison Fleet ambushed the renegade fleet with concealed batteries and Anna-modified battleships, destroying many escort frigates.
• Maccallus reported the attack to Anna, who ordered him to hold position and said the Seventh and Ninth Fleet would flank the enemy.
• The Garrison Fleet continued firing while the renegade ships emerged from the warp, keeping the disorganized fleet under pressure.
• Eloil and his Ark Mechanicus Steel-forged Inferno arrived with light cruisers around it, and Maccallus ordered the defenders to target the ark’s engines.

Eloil’s Ark Mechanicus destroyed the Glorious Body with an unknown Stress Wave weapon, killing everyone aboard. Maccallus ordered the Millennium Herald’s Wave Cannon to fire at the enemy’s main warship, and the cannon began its attack.

• Eloil ordered the Ark Mechanicus to attack the defense fleet with its unknown weapon.
• The weapon sent a Stress Wave through the Glorious Body’s shields and armor, killing its crew and leaving the battleship adrift.
• Maccallus failed to reach the Glorious Body and confirmed that it had gone silent.
• Maccallus ordered the Millennium Herald to activate its Wave Cannon and target the enemy’s main warship.
• The Millennium Herald charged its Wave Cannon, and Maccallus gave the order to fire.

Archmagos Eloyir watched an unknown weapon destroy his flagship and much of his fleet, then ordered a shift from frontal assault to slaughter meant to weaken Millennium World's faith. While the golden veil repelled Chaos daemons, the Raven Guard Fleet slipped through it from the south.

• Eloyir transferred his consciousness to a backup body as an unknown weapon fired at the Ark Mechanicus.
• The beam pierced the Ark Mechanicus and destroyed more than a dozen Adeptus Mechanicus warships, killing many of their crews.
• Eloyir reassessed his invasion and ordered his forces to use butchery to weaken the Power of Faith protecting Millennium World.
• The golden veil burned and destroyed Chaos daemons that tried to force their way through it.
• The Raven Guard Legion's Fleet secretly passed through the veil from the south.

Anna and Rockefeller organized Colchis’s defenses against the Raven Guard invasion as Fabor Hess brought the Superstar to meet the approaching threat. A probing missile salvo revealed the Raven Guard warship Shadow of the Emperor, and Hess prepared to fight.

• Anna ordered the Superstar to the southern front and had Rockefeller reinforce the defenses there.
• Anna established three defensive layers for Colchis, with a contingency to evacuate survivors if the defenses failed.
• Fabor Hess prepared the Superstar and its forces for battle as the ship approached the combat zone.
• After sensors detected an invisible energy source, Hess ordered a test salvo of missiles toward it.
• The explosions revealed the Raven Guard warship Shadow of the Emperor, and Hess ordered the Superstar to prepare for battle.

Corax sent the living Shadow of the Emperor toward the Word Bearers' Superstar and entered the attack himself. The Superstar's weapons could not damage the black warship, and Hess prepared its ultimate weapon as the Shadow of the Emperor drew near.

• Corax sensed the Shadow of the Emperor's hunger and ordered it to charge the Word Bearers without evading fire.
• Corax dissolved into black fragments and vanished from the bridge, saying he would kill his way inside.
• Hess ordered the Superstar to concentrate its lances and macro-cannons on the Shadow of the Emperor after its Void Shield began to weaken.
• The Shadow of the Emperor absorbed the lance beams and rapidly repaired the damage from macro-cannon shells.
• Hess ordered the Superstar's ultimate weapon to prepare to fire at the approaching Shadow of the Emperor.

Corax infiltrated the Superstar and hunted Word Bearers through its lower decks, devouring their flesh to absorb their memories and learn the ship’s defenses. When the alarm exposed him, he abandoned stealth, transformed into a Chaos monster, and charged toward the command center.

• Corax emerged from the shadows in the Superstar’s lowest compartments and killed Barannikov, a patrolling Word Bearers sergeant.
• Corax devoured Barannikov and absorbed his memories, learning the Superstar’s layout, patrol routes, and defensive weaknesses.
• Corax hunted isolated Word Bearers throughout the ship, killing them and consuming their flesh and memories.
• The alarm detected Corax, and the Superstar sealed its passageways as combat personnel were ordered to prepare for battle.
• Corax transformed into a monstrous predator, smashed through the fire doors, and raced toward the command center, killing warriors who tried to stop him.

Corax fought through the Word Bearers and their mortal forces aboard the Superstar, slaughtering wave after wave while his Chaos power continued to grow. He plunged back into the crowd, driven by an escalating need for death and souls.

• The alarms sounded aboard the Superstar, and the Word Bearers and Imperialis Militia mobilized to confront Corax.
• Corax faced the Word Bearers on sector A deck and became intangible as their Bolter fire passed through him.
• Corax appeared among fifty Space Marines and killed them with a sweep of his Talon Blades.
• The 655th Armoured Regiment arrived in Dracosan transports and opened fire, but Corax moved through the soldiers and killed hundreds.
• Holy Word Army soldiers attacked with autocannons, but Corax disoriented them with a shriek and slaughtered them.
• Corax felt Chaos power intensify within him and charged into the crowd again to feed his need for slaughter and souls.

Zagris led Lorgar’s Anti-Daemon Squad and a vast army in a coordinated defense against Corax, using blessed weapons and the Lectitio Divinitatus to suppress and pin him. The chapter ended with the army unleashing every weapon against the restrained Primarch.

• Zagris rallied twenty Word Bearers Librarians in Cataphractii Terminator Armour and ordered them to restrain Corax while the army prepared to attack.
• Corax emerged carrying a Word Bearers warrior’s corpse and questioned why the defenders refused to flee.
• Zagris struck Corax with golden psychic lightning, and the squad fired blessed bolts that irritated him and weakened his Chaos power.
• Zagris used thousands of copies of the Lectitio Divinitatus to conjure golden swords that pierced Corax’s shell, pinned him, and sealed his Chaos power.
• Zagris ordered the army to kill Corax, and tanks, turrets, and other weapons opened fire on him.

Corax accepted the Chaos Gods’ offer to escape the Lectitio Divinitatus and broke free as Zagris and the Librarians charged him. Meanwhile, Hess prepared to destroy the Superstar with Corax aboard, but the scripture’s words restored his resolve and sent him toward the fight.

• The Lectitio Divinitatus bound Corax in reality while the Word Bearers’ weapons battered and burned him.
• Chaos voices urged Corax to surrender the last of his soul, and Corax agreed in order to regain his strength.
• Dark Flames burned away the Lectitio Divinitatus and shattered Corax’s golden restraints as Zagris ordered twenty Librarians to attack.
• Hess ordered the Superstar’s engines overloaded, then questioned whether sacrificing the ship to kill Corax was the right choice.
• Hess prayed before Lorgar’s statue, read the passage “Into the dark night, the morning star awakens,” and left the command room with renewed resolve.

Corax killed Zagris, but the Librarian’s final words enraged him and left him vowing to find his soul. As Corax approached the Engine Room, Hess prepared to sacrifice the Superstar in an attempt to kill him.

• Corax tore Zagris apart after the dying Librarian accused him of betraying his brothers, his father, and everything he once protected.
• Corax searched for Zagris’s soul, found nothing, and vowed to track it down and make it suffer.
• Hess prepared to overload the Superstar’s engines, telling the Tech-Priest that sacrificing the warship was worthwhile if it could kill Corax.
• Hess waited at the Engine Room door with his Power Sword as the fighting outside grew closer.
• Corax reached the Engine Room and smashed open the iron door before Hess.

Hess confronted Corax in the Engine Room as the warship’s engine overload threatened to destroy them both. Corax tried to break Hess by claiming his Primarch was dead, but Hess stood firm and condemned Corax for betraying his honor and family.

• Hess realized that Lorgar’s guidance had taught him how to face death, and he calmly prepared to meet Corax.
• Corax tore open the Engine Room door, resisted the Mortals’ gunfire, and killed several of them with a shock wave from his Talon Blades.
• Hess challenged Corax with his Power Sword, and Corax taunted him about trying to kill a god with the warship’s engine overload.
• Corax claimed Hess’s Gene-Father was dead, but Hess insisted that he was watching the battle.
• Corax boasted that neither the explosion nor Hess’s faith could harm him, and Hess declared that his courage and soul were nobler than Corax’s.
• Hess accused Corax of betraying his brothers, father, honor, and identity, and told him that he was the one who had lost everything.

Corax killed Hess in the Engine Room as the Superstar sank into the Warp, but Lorgar took control of Hess’s body and revealed that he had returned. Lorgar trapped Corax in golden flames and claimed his soul was stronger in the Warp.

• Corax attacked Hess and shattered his Power Sword before pinning him to the wall with his Talon Blades.
• As Hess died, he saw the Warp engulfing the Superstar and whispered, "Sink into the night, and welcome rebirth..."
• Corax believed Hess was dead, but Hess seized his wrist and spoke in Lorgar’s voice.
• Lorgar revealed himself through Hess, engulfed Corax’s arm in golden flames, and explained that the Warp strengthened his soul.
• Lorgar called Corax a stray dog and held him fast.

Lorgar seized Corax as the Superstar overloaded, then used a golden psychic vortex to consume Corax, the warship, and his own phantom. The Chaos Gods rebuilt Corax in the Warp, but his damaged soul left him unable to contend for the divine seat of corruption and destruction.

• Lorgar caught Corax by the throat and overwhelmed the Chaos power within him with golden psychic energy.
• The Superstar overloaded, and Lorgar halted its destruction before turning the explosion into a golden psychic vortex.
• The vortex swallowed Corax, Lorgar, and the Superstar, shredding Corax's body and soul before it vanished.
• The Chaos Gods reconstructed Corax in the Warp but regarded him as a failed pawn and focused their attention elsewhere.
• Corax awoke with a permanently fractured soul, disqualified from competing for the divine seat, and was ordered to return to his duties.

Corax returned to the Shadow of the Emperor after his defeat by Lorgar and resolved to gain more power. He sacrificed Giselle to the Chaos Altar, where its artifacts restored his strength, and ended the chapter convinced that he was safe in the shadows.

• Corax woke aboard the Shadow of the Emperor and blamed his failure against Lorgar on his weakness, suppressed powers, and the Chaos Gods’ abandonment.
• Bella comforted Corax as he said he needed to draw in more power.
• Corax met Giselle at the Chaos Altar and touched her face because she resembled Bella.
• Corax killed Giselle with his Talon Blades and her blood activated the Altar’s Chaos Runes and surrounding artifacts.
• Corax absorbed the artifacts’ power, felt the Chaos Gods watching him again, and claimed Lorgar could not reach him within the shadows.
• Corax closed Giselle’s eyes and told her she would become part of his power.

Eloil began his assault on Sosavia with a massive nuclear bombardment to prepare for a landing. Soroth survived underground and led the Colchis defenders to launch an armored counterattack against the enemy at the Horsehorn Plains.

• Eloil chose industrial Sosavia as a forward base and assembled a million Skitarii and the Griffin God-Titans Legion for the invasion.
• Soroth urged the Colchis militia to hold their positions and ambush the attackers at their landing zone.
• When thousands of nuclear missiles fell, Soroth ordered the soldiers into underground shelters as the bombs devastated Sosavia.
• The planetary governor raised the Hive City's void shields, but the countryside and its people suffered the nuclear strikes.
• Soroth learned that the enemy would land at the Horsehorn Plains, about a hundred kilometers away, and ordered the armored regiment to mobilize for a counterattack.

Soroth led the 54th Regiment’s armored forces in a counterattack after the nuclear blasts, with Word Bearers Land Speeders helping them target the Adeptus Mechanicus Titans. The militia’s tanks broke into the Skitarii ranks, but the battle continued.

• Soroth ordered five thousand tanks and armored vehicles to advance toward the Horsehorn Plains through dust and disrupted navigation systems.
• Eng, a Word Bearers Space Marine, told Soroth’s tank force that Land Speeders would mark the enemy Titans for concentrated fire.
• The Land Speeders launched Hunter-killer Missiles at the Void Shield of the foremost Warlord Titan and evaded its antiaircraft fire.
• Soroth’s tanks opened fire on the Skitarii formations, tearing gaps through their ranks.
• Soroth ordered his gunners to keep firing and deny the Skitarii a chance to recover.

As the Adeptus Mechanicus and Corax's Raven Guard attacked Colchis, Anna reorganized Millennium World's defenses amid the loss of contact with the Superstar. When the Warp storm began to recede, Vulkan contacted the defenders, promised to alert the Emperor, and set out with his fleet to aid them.

• Anna reassigned the Garrison Fleet's duties and reorganized the defenses after losing contact with the Superstar.
• Anna learned that Corax's Legion had invaded Colchis while the Adeptus Mechanicus attacked from the frontier.
• Rockefeller reported that the Warp storm was receding and Warp travel might soon become possible.
• Vulkan learned that the Adeptus Mechanicus and Raven Guard had betrayed the Imperium and agreed to send a ship to Terra with the news.
• Vulkan ordered his fleet to Colchis at maximum speed and prepared its warships for battle.

Vulkan led the Salamanders fleet into the warp to reinforce Colchis, where Corax and the Adeptus Mechanicus had attacked the Word Bearers. The fleet was trapped in a region of Nurgle’s corruption, and Vulkan saw the immense silhouette of the Chaos God awaiting him.

• Vulkan ordered the Fireforged to enter the warp for Colchis and told the Communications Officer to warn Terra and summon Dorn, Horus, and Fulgrim.
• Vulkan explained the attack on Colchis to Waldo, who prepared the Word Bearers aboard the ship for battle.
• The Fireforged shuddered, the Navigator convulsed and began to decay, and the fleet was forced off its route into a corrupted region of the warp.
• Vulkan saw a vast figure stirring a boiling pot and realized the fleet had entered the Garden of Nurgle.

Vulkan and the Salamanders fleet arrived in the Garden of Nurgle, where Festus revealed that the Pills he had given the Legion had secretly infected them with a dormant Virus. Festus offered Vulkan and his warriors conversion and eternal life, but Vulkan refused and prepared to fight.

• Nurglings and a Great Unclean One welcomed the Salamanders fleet as it entered the Garden of Nurgle, and Vulkan ordered his Legion to prepare for battle.
• Festus appeared on Vulkan's bridge and revealed that he had given the Salamanders the stabilizing Pills on Hope Star.
• A Salamanders warrior transformed into a monster as Festus explained that the Pills had also infected the Legion with a dormant Virus he could activate.
• Festus offered Vulkan and his sons immortality and peace in exchange for joining Nurgle.
• Vulkan refused to betray the Emperor and his Legion, then raised his warhammer and challenged Festus to fight.

Festus showed Vulkan the destruction of Nocturne and threatened the Salamanders with plague unless Vulkan accepted Nurgle. Vulkan attacked Festus, but Festus regenerated and demanded that Vulkan choose between conversion and despair.

• Festus used a console to show Nocturne’s people and Salamanders being consumed as the planet transformed into a living creature and vanished into the Warp.
• Vulkan charged Festus with Dawnbringer and smashed him into slime, but Festus re-formed unharmed.
• Festus explained that he was an extension of Nurgle’s power in the Garden and could not be harmed by Vulkan’s strength.
• A plague struck the Salamanders, forcing them to their knees as Festus offered to heal the Legion and rebuild Nocturne if Vulkan converted.
• Festus warned that Vulkan and everything he cared for would be consumed by plague and rot if he refused, then demanded his choice.