Recaps

Vulkan struggled to choose between surrendering to Nurgle to save his sons and remaining loyal to the Imperium. After Waldo died trying to intervene, Vulkan rejected Festus and Nurgle, leaving the Salamanders still suffering from the plague.

• Festus transformed two Salamanders into Plague Marines to pressure Vulkan into accepting Nurgle's offer.
• Vulkan's plague-stricken sons urged him not to surrender, even as the corruption spread through the Fireforged.
• Waldo burst onto the bridge and urged Vulkan to resist, but Festus's power mutated him and tore him apart.
• Vulkan steadied himself, faced Festus, and declared, "I choose to reject you. Now and forever!"

Vulkan fought Nurgle’s forces in the Garden while disease weakened him and two Great Unclean Ones closed in. Meanwhile, Festus used Chaos power to awaken the seven hundred and seventy-seven dead Salamanders aboard the Fireforged.

• Nurgle sent Vulkan plunging into his Garden, where the swamp and its Virus began corroding his armor and body.
• Vulkan fought off waves of Chaos spawn, striking down a Great Unclean One and crushing Nurglings, Beasts of Nurgle, and plague flies.
• Yelgrus and Mortrax confronted Vulkan as the Virus made him cough blood and weakened his organs.
• Vulkan refused Yelgrus’s offer to turn him into a plant in Nurgle’s garden and vowed to burn rather than become its fertilizer.
• Festus entered the Fireforged’s lower-deck morgue, where the remains of seven hundred and seventy-seven Salamanders had decayed inside their coffins.
• Festus poured Chaos power into the coffins, and all seven hundred and seventy-seven lids opened as rotting hands reached out.

Festus transformed the first 777 fallen Salamanders Legion warriors into Nurgle’s servants, naming seven of them Chosen Champions. He sent the corrupted warriors to invade Colchis and fight their former brothers.

• The first transformed warrior emerged from his coffin, and Festus named him Malgor, Grandfather Nurgle’s blade.
• The next six warriors rose with grotesque new forms, and Festus named them Ebolos, Aedes, Lassa Fever, Nipah, Yersignia, and Vario Lax.
• The seven warriors became Nurgle’s first Chosen Champions of the Salamanders Legion.
• The remaining 770 fallen warriors rose transformed, bringing the total to 777 corrupted Salamanders.
• Festus showered the warriors with green light to strengthen them and sent them to invade Colchis and prove their loyalty against their former brothers.

Nurgle personally overwhelmed Vulkan, separated his soul from his body, and imprisoned the soul in his Garden while turning the body into a Chaos-controlled shell. As the warp storm subsided, the Salamanders Legion entered the Defense Line.

• Vulkan weakened as he fought the Chaos Abominations in Nurgle's swamp, and Nurgle decided to intervene personally.
• Nurgle drew Vulkan into an enormous Cauldron and separated his soul from his body.
• Nurgle imprisoned Vulkan's soul in the Garden of Nurgle, believing that it would eventually submit to him.
• Vulkan's soulless body rose from the Cauldron transformed by Chaos, carrying a corrupted warhammer and wandering the Garden.
• The warp storm began to subside, and the Millennium World's Fleet made way for the Salamanders Legion to enter the Defense Line.

The Salamanders Legion betrayed the Colchis Garrison Fleet, joining Corax and the traitors in a devastating assault. Anna ordered an orderly retreat to the Second Defense Line and broadcast a call for resistance, while Corax prepared a general offensive against Colchis.

• The Salamanders Legion ambushed the Word Bearers fleet, destroying warships and revealing that Vulkan had turned traitor.
• Corax called on his forces to renew their assault and board the enemy mothership, declaring that he would kill Anna.
• Anna ordered the Wave Cannon warships to withdraw and directed the main fleets to retreat to the Second Defense Line under cover from Rogue Trader fleets and naval mines.
• Anna broadcast a final directive across Millennium World, urging its people to hold their posts and declaring that Colchis would never fall.
• Corax dismissed Anna's call as futile and ordered his officers to prepare a general offensive.

Gennal von Lorasga prepared Hesoral’s people for the rebel invasion, evacuating children and skilled workers while organizing the remaining citizens to defend the Hive City. When the enemy shot down the evacuation transports, he led the guards and officials toward the front to fight for Lorgar and Colchis.

• Gennal ordered a Lasgun and told officials to evacuate children and skilled workers while the rest joined the Planetary Defense Force.
• Gennal watched transports leave Hesoral and told a young guard that they did not need to win, only to shed their last drop of blood.
• The last child boarded a transport, but green beams from the sky destroyed it and the other evacuating ships.
• Gennal loaded his Lasgun, declared that they had nothing left, and called on everyone to fight for Lorgar and Colchis.
• Gennal left the elevator for the battlefield, and the guards and officials followed him with their weapons raised.

Vulkan led the Chaos-corrupted Salamanders in an assault on the Imperium’s defenses, destroying most of the defenders with an orbital bombardment. Tank commander Farris and his crew made a final attempt to kill Vulkan, but he survived and killed them, calling their sacrifice meaningless.

• Vulkan arrived with the Plague Marines as the corrupted Salamanders advanced through his Toxic Miasma.
• Imperial artillery devastated the first wave of Chaos-tainted mortals, but a green orbital bombardment destroyed the Imperial defenses and killed most of the soldiers.
• Tank commander Farris found his surviving Leman Russ crew and decided they would attempt a Primarch Hunt against Vulkan.
• Farris’s crew drove toward Vulkan and fired an armor-piercing shell at his head.
• Vulkan caught the shell, survived its explosion, and hurled it back, destroying the tank and killing its crew.
• Vulkan watched the burning wreck and called the crew’s sacrifice meaningless.

Vulkan turned the conquered Agri World into a source of Nurgle’s forces while preparing to exploit the Raven Guard’s attack for a wider strategic victory. He sensed an approaching brother and another hostile presence as Anna and Rockefeller regrouped at the Holy Truth star fortress and Corax prepared an assault.

• Vulkan used his corrupted warhammer to spread Nurgle’s power across the planet, transforming surviving defenders into Plague Zombies and vehicles into Chaos abominations.
• Vulkan watched the hive cities become factories that turned civilians into new members of Nurgle’s legion.
• Vulkan planned to let Corax’s Raven Guard breach the Word Bearers’ defenses, then use the opening to deliver a decisive blow.
• Vulkan sensed a brother approaching with rage and hatred, then detected a second hostile presence emerging from the shadows.
• Anna and Rockefeller arrived at the Holy Truth star fortress to coordinate the defense as Corax prepared an assault aboard the Shadow of the Emperor.

Corax rejected a costly assault on the second Defense Line and used the corpses and gene-seed of Word Bearers to disguise his aura before infiltrating Anna’s star fortress. He reached the fortress unseen, but Anna detected the intrusion and prepared a legion of battle automatons to confront him.

• Bella warned Corax that his depleted forces could not survive a direct assault, and he abandoned the plan to break through the second Defense Line by force.
• Corax and Bella used Chaos Magic, the Word Bearers' corpses, and their gene-seed to give Corax the aura of a Word Bearers warrior.
• Corax slipped through the star fortress's Void Shield and surveillance systems, then moved toward its Command Center.
• Anna detected an unknown energy inside the fortress and left Rockefeller in command while she went to deal with the intruder.
• Anna ordered Rockefeller to activate the fortress's defenses, seal its passages, and deploy her battle automaton legion.

Corax entered the Star Fortress and fought Anna after she revealed that she had prepared Blackstone Artifacts to suppress his Warp powers. Surrounded by her modified Battle Automatons and stripped of his supernatural abilities, Corax faced the threat of being overwhelmed.

• Corax realized the deserted Star Fortress was a trap but continued onward to confront the enemy.
• Corax destroyed a Grail Battle Automaton that attacked him, then faced nineteen more automatons surrounding him.
• Anna appeared and taunted Corax while explaining that his power came from the Warp and Chaos.
• Anna activated two Blackstone Artifacts, suppressing Corax's Warp power and forcing his body into a solid, vulnerable state.
• At Anna's command, modified Battle Automatons poured into the corridor and surrounded Corax as he searched for a way to escape.

Anna used Blackstone and Battle Automatons to overwhelm Corax, stripping away his Warp powers and brutally tearing his body apart. As Corax lay shredded on the floor, Anna remained wary and scanned for signs of danger.

• Corax struggled through a corridor packed with Battle Automatons, unable to use his Warp powers under Blackstone suppression.
• Anna told Corax that his strength depended on borrowed powers, then used Blackstone to pin him down as the automatons attacked.
• Corax broke free of an electrified whip, but three combat Men of Iron trapped him in Laser nets and severed both his arms.
• The Men of Iron pinned Corax down and flooded his body with liquid metal, which Anna solidified into spikes that pierced and shredded him.
• Anna watched Corax's remains warily and scanned the surrounding space for suspicious signals.

Corax transformed into a Chaos-powered raven and attacked Anna, claiming the gods had granted him command over time, space, and causality. Curze emerged from the shadows to protect Anna and confronted Corax, invoking Lorgar's oath before attacking him.

• Corax reformed from his scattered remains in black flames and transformed into a monstrous raven-like figure.
• Anna attacked Corax with nanometal particles, but his wounds healed through control over time.
• Corax evaded the Men of Iron and swooped toward Anna as the Blackstone Artifact began to crack.
• Curze emerged from Corax's shadow and stabbed him through the abdomen, placing himself between Corax and Anna.
• Curze told Corax he came bearing Lorgar's oath, then turned into a shadow and lunged at him.

Corax fought Curze while Anna left to return to the command room, where Rockefeller and the Word Bearers suddenly felt Lorgar's immense pain through their gene-seed link. Rockefeller lost control to rage and called for the traitors to be killed.

• Corax raged at Curze for invoking Lorgar, and Anna stopped Curze to ask why Lorgar had fallen into a coma.
• Curze told Anna to leave and face Corax alone, so she ordered the Men of Iron and Blackstone Artifacts to support him before heading to the command room.
• Curze and Corax fought through the corridor as Curze predicted Corax's attacks and wounded him, while Corax repeatedly reversed time to heal himself.
• Anna returned to the command room and found Rockefeller directing the Fleet's defense against the rebel Adeptus Mechanicus and Salamanders fleets.
• Rockefeller felt Lorgar's agony through their gene-seed link, and the pain spread to every Word Bearer.
• Rockefeller's reason gave way to rage, and he commanded the Word Bearers to kill the traitors.

Rockefeller and the Word Bearer officers were overwhelmed by visions of Lorgar’s death and Magnus’s betrayal, while Anna knocked them unconscious to stop their rampage. On the front line, a wounded Word Bearer awakened with golden psychic power, slaughtered Plague Marines, and burned away into golden ash as his soul returned to Lorgar.

• Rockefeller relived Lorgar’s death and Magnus’s betrayal, and golden light drove him and the other Word Bearer officers into a furious frenzy.
• Anna knocked Rockefeller and the other officers unconscious before they could leave the command room.
• Plague Marines found a wounded Word Bearer beneath rubble, but golden light from his eyes froze and weakened them.
• The Word Bearer killed several Plague Marines with golden psychic flames, declaring his devotion to Lorgar and Colchis.
• The Word Bearer dissolved into golden ash in the Toxic Miasma, and his soul returned to Lorgar.

Baldwin led the Holy Word Army into a crusade after a burst of golden light and apparent wings inspired his soldiers to charge. As the Word Bearers’ apparent resistance to Chaos drove back the enemy, Anna struggled to coordinate the disconnected forces and received a warning that Warmaster Horus had rebelled.

• Baldwin ordered an attack on all fronts and raised his Power Sword, as golden light and radiant wings appeared around him.
• The Holy Word Army soldiers took the light as a sign from Lorgar and charged toward the enemy behind the Word Bearers.
• Anna managed deployments from the Star Fortress command room and learned that the Word Bearers’ charge had pushed the enemy back toward the Third Defense Line.
• Anna found that nearly all units commanded by Interstellar Space Marines had lost contact, while the Word Bearers showed signs of madness and unusual resistance to Chaos.
• Aakton contacted the Word Bearers’ internal channel and announced that Warmaster Horus had launched a rebellion.

As the Metis neared Colchis, Henry and the escaped Word Bearers suddenly went berserk, forcing the Luna Wolves officers to restrain them. The ship emerged into a war-torn Colchis system, where Aakton ordered everyone to prepare for battle.

• Henry became enraged near Colchis, and Abaddon, Torgaddon, Loken, and Kaebo struggled to restrain him.
• The escaped Word Bearers also showed golden eyes and patterns, trembling and muttering incoherently.
• A mortal communications officer briefly picked up a distorted signal mentioning Macharius, a crusade under Lorgar's command, and reclaiming something, but dismissed it as warp interference.
• Aakton contacted the Word Bearers' channel and heard roars and sounds of violence instead of a response.
• The Metis exited the warp into the Millennium World system and found Colchis engulfed in battle.
• Aakton ordered the crew to prepare for battle.

Aakton and the loyalist Sons of Horus aboard the Metis sought an alliance with Anna to defend Millennium World, revealing Horus’s rebellion and learning that Vulkan had also turned traitor. The chapter ended with Aakton offering his crew’s help as Anna disclosed that Lorgar had fallen into a coma.

• Anna threatened to destroy the Metis unless its Sons of Horus crew identified themselves, and Aakton introduced himself as a loyalist bearing intelligence.
• Aakton told Anna that Horus had betrayed the Emperor, attacked loyalists aboard the Vengeful Spirit, and allied with Corax of the Raven Guard.
• Anna revealed that Vulkan and the Salamanders had joined the traitors and were attacking Millennium World alongside the Raven Guard and renegade Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Aakton offered the Metis and its crew to help defend Millennium World, then explained that the loyalists did not know whether Terra had learned of Horus’s rebellion.
• Anna and Aakton exchanged intelligence about the rebellion and the berserk Word Bearers, and Aakton asked to find Lorgar.
• Anna told Aakton that Lorgar had fallen into a coma, and Aakton reaffirmed that his crew would help protect Millennium World.

Curze and Corax fought to a stalemate in the Star Fortress until Bella warned Corax that a terrifying presence had arrived and their mission to seize Lorgar's corpse had failed. Corax fled to the Shadow of the Emperor for the ascension ritual, while Curze wondered if the one they feared had finally returned.

• Curze and Corax battled in the corridor, countering each other's foresight and control over causality.
• Curze wounded Corax and taunted him about Bella's death, provoking Corax into a furious, renewed attack.
• Bella urgently told Corax to return to the Shadow of the Emperor for the ascension ritual because someone had arrived.
• Bella informed Corax that the mission to seize Lorgar's corpse had failed and warned that they would all die if they delayed.
• Corax fled the Star Fortress, and Curze stayed behind, wondering whether the approaching figure had finally returned.

Curze told Anna that Lorgar was dying from wounds inflicted by Magnus and brought him to Colchis on the Emperor’s guidance. As Lorgar’s battered ship reached the system, Anna prepared to use the Shroud to save him, and the Word Bearers welcomed their father home.

• Curze arrived at the command room and told Anna that Lorgar was gravely wounded and dying.
• Anna questioned why Curze had brought Lorgar to besieged Colchis instead of Terra, then decided to use the Shroud she and Lorgar had found.
• Curze sensed Lorgar breaking through the Warp toward Colchis, though his body was near its limit.
• Lorgar’s damaged warship entered the Colchis System protected by golden psychic energy, and the Word Bearers hailed him as their father.
• Hercules guarded the unconscious Lorgar aboard the ship and said they were home.

A heavily guarded Word Bearers warship carried the gravely wounded Lorgar through the Warp toward Colchis while Curze set other forces on secret missions. The escort continued in orderly fashion, leaving Hercules and Nibelung watching over Lorgar.

• Seras and Librarian Royst prepared Lorgar for the journey, with Royst wrapping him in a psychic shield and Word Bearers, War Hounds, and Night Lords warriors assigned to guard him.
• Curze departed alone to follow his visions, leaving Sevatar to hide the Night Lords Fleet and await his signal.
• Curze directed Angron and his Legion toward a separate mission and ordered Evans to take the Word Bearers expeditionary Fleet into hiding.
• The warship traveled safely through the Warp as its crew maintained their stations and Royst reinforced Lorgar's shield.
• Nibelung teased Grom about his drinking, prompting Grom to smash his bottle and leave the Lounge.
• Nibelung joined Hercules at Lorgar's bedside and assured him that Lorgar would recover.

The Four Chaos Gods agreed to attack the warship carrying Lorgar’s body, hoping to seize him while the Emperor’s attention was divided. Pius and his Raven Guard warriors infiltrated the vessel as the Daemons waited for an opening in the Emperor’s protection.

• The Four Chaos Gods agreed to form an alliance and raid the warship, each intending to claim Lorgar for themselves.
• The Gods mobilized their Daemon armies and sent them to wait near the boundary between the Warp and Realspace.
• Pius brought his small craft alongside the warship and prepared to board with a Chaos-imbued Power Sword.
• Pius and his Raven Guard warriors transformed into shadows, evaded the ship’s defenses, and slipped through a maintenance hatch.
• The Daemons watched the infiltration and waited for Pius to create a breach in the Emperor’s protection.

Pius and the Chaos-infected Raven Guard infiltrated the ship compartment to seize Lorgar's corpse, but Nibelung detected them and Hercules and Royst repelled their attack. Pius's sniper shot failed to harm Hercules, who found his hiding place.

• Nibelung sensed Chaos in the ship compartment and warned the others as Pius sent Kha'Hamur to attack him.
• Royst struck Kha'Hamur with a golden psychic dragon and drove the Warp creature into a wall.
• Pius ordered Chaos-mutated Raven Guard warriors to attack Hercules, who killed them with a single greatsword swing.
• Pius considered destroying the Gellar Field generator, then shot Hercules in the forehead with a Chaos-enhanced sniper rifle.
• Hercules survived with only a faint mark and located Pius in the shadows.

Hercules killed Pius, and Royst banished Kha'Hamur after Pius's death weakened the Warp creature. The surviving Raven Guard destroyed the Gellar Field generator, leaving the warship exposed to the Warp as Daemons and Chaos forces surged toward it.

• Pius ordered his warriors to destroy the Gellar Field generator, but Hercules seized him as he tried to escape through the shadows.
• Hercules smashed Pius to the floor and crushed his head, killing him.
• Royst grabbed the weakened Kha'Hamur and burned it away with golden psychic fire, breaking the black ring in the process.
• The surviving Raven Guard warriors destroyed the Gellar Field generator at the cost of their lives.
• The Gellar Field collapsed, drawing the attention of Warp creatures and Chaos forces, whose surging tides rushed toward the unprotected warship.

Ang'grath and eight other Bloodthirsters boarded the warship to seize Lorgar's corpse, but Hercules and the Word Bearers fought back. Hercules battled Ang'grath while Royst destroyed one of the daemons, and the remaining attackers continued their assault.

• Ang'grath charged into Lorgar's hospital compartment and attacked Hercules, who stood guard beside the bed.
• Hercules initially struggled to withstand Ang'grath's assault, then counterattacked and fought him in a fierce clash.
• Eight more Bloodthirsters boarded the warship while daemons of the other Chaos Gods held back and waited.
• Royst confronted one Bloodthirster, blasted open its chest with Golden Psychic Energy, and broke off one of its horns.
• Royst drove the broken horn into the Bloodthirster's eye and unleashed his psychic power, disintegrating the daemon and blasting it into the warp.

Valkia abandoned Nibelung for the stronger Hercules, but Khârn intercepted her and joined Nibelung in fighting her. As the battle spread across the warship, Hercules continued to hold off four Bloodthirsters while the defenders struggled to reorganize.

• Valkia overwhelmed Nibelung, then targeted Hercules after deciding he was the stronger opponent.
• Khârn blocked Valkia’s spear with his plasma pistol and stood between her and Hercules, giving Nibelung time to recover.
• Valkia and Khârn exchanged declarations of intent to kill and clashed, with Nibelung joining the fight against her.
• Hercules held off Ang'grath and three other Bloodthirsters while Word Bearers warriors fired on the daemons.
• Seras ordered Argel Tal to reorganize the Defense Line, and Argel Tal left the fight to carry out the order.
• Seras and Cassios fought another Bloodthirster as battles continued throughout the warship.