Recaps

Mardell tried to steal Lorgar while the Word Bearers and Khorne’s daemons fought, but Royst’s ward repelled him and the two forces drove him into the warp. With both sides weakened, Slaanesh’s forces moved to claim Lorgar, led by Shalaxi Helbane, who approached the warship.

• Mardell crept to Lorgar’s sickbed, intending to take his soul and use his body to rise in power.
• The Khorne daemons and Word Bearers noticed Mardell and charged him together to keep him away from Lorgar.
• Royst’s psychic array activated beneath Lorgar’s bed and blasted Mardell away.
• The Khorne daemons and Word Bearers attacked Mardell alongside one another, and a Bloodthirster kicked him through the warship’s breach into the warp, where he vanished.
• Seeing both forces weakened, Slaanesh’s daemons prepared to seize Lorgar, and Shalaxi Helbane emerged and approached the warship.

Shalaxi entered the warship and moved to claim Lorgar, defeating Ang'grath and trapping Hercules along the way. After she pierced Argel Tal beside Lorgar's sickbed, Lorgar's finger twitched unnoticed.

• Shalaxi entered the warship and declared that she had claimed Lorgar's body while Ang'grath kept the mortals occupied.
• Ang'grath abandoned his duel with Hercules and charged Shalaxi, but she bound him with her robe-tentacles and pierced his heart with her Soul-Piercing Spear.
• Hercules attacked Shalaxi from behind, but she evaded his greatsword and trapped him in chains of purple psychic energy.
• Shalaxi approached Lorgar's sickbed, but Argel Tal stepped in her way and fired his bolter at her shield.
• Shalaxi pierced Argel Tal with her spear, and he collapsed beside Lorgar as Lorgar's finger twitched unnoticed.

Argel Tal met Lorgar in a golden hall, where Lorgar gave him his remaining strength and sent him back to help the Legion resist the Warp invasion. Argel Tal awakened beside Lorgar just as Shalaxi was about to reach him and confronted her with golden fire.

• Argel Tal entered a golden hall filled with Word Bearers warriors, who guided him to Lorgar.
• Lorgar told Argel Tal that he should not die yet and transferred his strength into him.
• Lorgar said he would return when the time was right and sent a glowing human soul with Argel Tal.
• Shalaxi approached Lorgar's prone body and reached out to touch him.
• Argel Tal revived, healed beneath golden light, and raised psychic flame against Shalaxi to protect his father.

After Zagris joined Argel Tal, his power combined with Lorgar’s to turn the fight against Shalaxi. Lorgar’s apparent death sent Hercules into a furious assault, and Ang'grath rose to join the attack as Shalaxi prepared to resist.

• Zagris told Argel Tal that he would share his psychic energy, experience, and memories with him.
• Argel Tal struck Shalaxi with golden psychic energy, sending her crashing into a wall.
• Lorgar’s apparent death shook the Word Bearers, and Hercules charged Shalaxi while mistaking her for Magnus.
• Hercules seized Shalaxi, battered her face, and knocked her Soul-Piercing Spear aside.
• Argel Tal stabbed Shalaxi through the back with a sword of golden psychic energy.
• Ang'grath recovered from the wreckage, healed his wounds, and rose to attack Shalaxi.

Hercules mistook Ang'grath and the other red-skinned Bloodthirsters for Magnus and brutally killed Ang'grath. Shalaxi and the daemons of Nurgle and Tzeentch retreated, while Argel Tal prioritized taking Lorgar to Colchis and Hercules turned on the remaining Bloodthirsters.

• Hercules mistook Ang'grath for Magnus, dropped Shalaxi, and attacked Ang'grath as the Word Bearers swarmed Shalaxi.
• Hercules beat Ang'grath into the floor while Shalaxi fled into the warp storm, and the daemons of Nurgle and Tzeentch withdrew as well.
• Argel Tal suppressed his urge to fight and headed for the bridge, determined to deliver Lorgar to Colchis.
• Hercules declared that Lorgar's soul was in agony, then tore Ang'grath's head apart.
• Hercules mistook the remaining Bloodthirsters for more Magnuses and charged them, leaving them bewildered.

Hercules and his allies defeated the Khorne daemons aboard the warship, and the Emperor’s Golden Light guided it through the Warp toward the Colchis System. Beneath Terra, the Emperor committed himself to the Golden Throne to contain the Webway breach, leaving Malcador with a cryptic promise about Lorgar.

• Hercules savagely killed the Bloodthirsters and Bloodletters aboard the warship, then collapsed as his rage ebbed.
• The Emperor enveloped the warship in Golden Light and guided it through the Warp toward the Colchis System.
• Malcador questioned the Emperor as daemons poured through the Webway breach beneath Terra and the Imperial advance force entered the passage.
• The Emperor told Malcador that Lorgar would prepare something that would let him speak throughout the Galaxy.
• The Emperor sat upon the Golden Throne as Malcador watched through tears.

Lorgar’s return restored the Word Bearers’ order and let the Millennium World’s defenders counterattack, forcing the traitors onto the defensive. At the base, Anna proposed wrapping Lorgar’s body in an ancient Shroud and placing it in Colchis’s catacombs while everyone waited for him to revive.

• Lorgar’s arrival halted the Word Bearers’ madness, and they restored their communications and defenses.
• The Holy Word Army and Colchis Auxiliary Army launched Operation Fortress, reclaimed positions, and forced the traitor forces to retreat into a stalemate.
• The Salamanders dropped Virus Bombs on several planets, devastating their ecosystems to slow the human armies.
• Hercules brought Lorgar’s body to the base and carried it with Anna and the Word Bearers officers into the Underground Chamber.
• Abaddon questioned how Lorgar could be revived, and Anna proposed wrapping his body in a Shroud and placing it in the Ancient Catacombs beneath Colchis.
• Abaddon accepted that he had no better plan and had to trust Anna’s judgment.

Anna and the Word Bearers wrapped Lorgar in the Shroud and concealed his body in a hidden chamber, trusting that he would rise again. They left the tomb knowing they would have to defend Colchis and buy him time.

• Valkyrie warned Anna that using the Shroud to resurrect Lorgar was too risky, while Argel Tal insisted that Lorgar’s death was only temporary.
• Abaddon urged the others to take the initiative against their enemies, but Argel Tal said they had to protect Lorgar’s body and wait for his return.
• Rockefeller considered Anna’s record and trusted her plan, then agreed to begin the ritual.
• Anna and the Word Bearers wrapped Lorgar’s body in the Shroud and carried him into a concealed chamber deep inside the tomb.
• Anna explained that hiding Lorgar there would give him time to return even if the traitors captured Colchis, and Hercules stood by the chamber entrance and called to his father.

Bella used three divine artifacts to complete Corax’s daemonic ascension aboard the Shadow of the Emperor. Corax emerged as the Everchosen and vowed to kill Lorgar.

• After Pius failed to stop Lorgar’s return to Colchis, Bella began the ritual to make Corax a daemon.
• Bella’s psychic energy awakened the Eternal Mark of Chaos on Corax’s back, reshaping his body through unbearable pain.
• The Armor of Morkai melted into Corax’s body and became a second skin.
• The Crown of Dominion merged four Chaos powers into Corax’s consciousness and commanded daemons of every Chaos God to obey him.
• Corax completed his ascension as a true Everchosen, while an immense raven projection appeared in the Warp.
• Corax declared that he would find and kill Lorgar, promising they would meet again soon.

Corax confronted Vulkan aboard the Fireforged, but Vulkan rejected his authority and insisted the Salamanders Legion would remain under his command. As the battle for Millennium World turned against the traitors, Vulkan hinted that he still had one option to seize the world.

• Corax boarded the Fireforged, and the Nurgle Daemons yielded to the power of the Crown of Dominion.
• Corax found Vulkan forging a Warhammer in Plaguefire and tried to assert his authority as leader of the Gods' Legion.
• Vulkan refused to obey Corax and declared that the Salamanders Legion would never belong to him.
• Vulkan left the forge with the finished Warhammer while Corax restrained his anger and followed him to the bridge.
• Vulkan assessed the losses in the battle for Millennium World and warned that Lorgar might return from death.
• Vulkan told Corax that they still had one last option, but did not reveal what it was.

Vulkan and a Nurgling prepared a vast Nurgle ritual to help Corax conquer the Millennium World and kill Lorgar. The chapter ended as Vulkan gave the order to begin, with the sacrifices and ritual components assembled.

• A Nurgling appeared on Vulkan’s shoulder, ignored Corax’s Crown of Dominion, and explained that the ritual required seven hours, seven marks, seven sacrifices, seventy-seven planets, and 7,777,777 souls.
• Vulkan ordered the Nurgling to begin, and it drew marks in the Warp that corrupted planets and transformed Raven Guard warriors.
• Corax tried to stop Vulkan, but Vulkan told him the warriors’ sacrifice was the price of victory, and Corax accepted the cost.
• The seven marks drew in seventy-seven devastated planets and the souls of 7,777,777 Emperor-believers from Nocturne as seven Raven Guard warriors succumbed to Nurgle.
• After the Nurgling declared everything ready, Vulkan ordered the ritual to begin.

Vulkan revealed his plan to use the Daemon Planet Nocturne to bypass the Second Defense Line and attack Colchis while the Word Bearers pursued the Adeptus Mechanicus. As Nocturne emerged through a Warp rift near Colchis, Curze rushed to meet it, telling Anna he would face his destined death.

• Vulkan explained to Corax that he planned to teleport Nocturne and their Fleet behind the Second Defense Line and destroy Colchis and Lorgar's corpse.
• Anna, Curze, and the others left the base after placing Lorgar in the Underground Catacombs, as the defenders gained a brief respite from battle.
• A green rift opened at the edge of the Colchis Star System, and the Daemon Planet Nocturne emerged from it.
• Anna asked Curze whether his prophecies had foreseen Nocturne's arrival, and Curze said they had not.
• Curze ordered everyone to protect Lorgar, boarded a Thunderhawk Gunship, and told Anna he was going to meet his destined death.

Vulkan explained that Nocturne had emerged outside Colchis's defenses because Anna's psychic barriers would trap it if it appeared in orbit, while Corax prepared to face Curze. As Nocturne advanced and its barrier absorbed the Word Bearers' wave cannon fire, Anna approved Akrol's plan to slowly approach it with an explosive-laden warship.

• Corax questioned why Vulkan had brought Nocturne out at the edge of the Star System, and Vulkan explained that Anna's defensive network blocked a direct arrival above Colchis.
• The Word Bearers fired wave cannons at Nocturne, but its psychic barrier absorbed the beams and sent them into the Warp.
• Vulkan sensed Curze approaching and agreed to hold him off while Corax went to destroy Lorgar's body.
• Anna struggled to find a way through Nocturne's barrier as Akrol proposed approaching it slowly with a warship loaded with explosives.
• Anna entrusted the mission to Akrol, who pledged to die for Lorgar and signed off with, "For Colchis."

Curze flew a Thunderhawk Gunship through Nocturne’s psychic shield and crashed it into the planet to create an opening in Vulkan’s defenses. After emerging from the smoke and killing the plague marines nearby, Curze challenged Vulkan to face him.

• Akrol and his officers watched in shock as Curze’s Thunderhawk Gunship raced past their warship toward Nocturne.
• Vulkan opened a gap in Nocturne’s psychic shield, let the gunship enter, and ordered the shield closed behind it.
• Curze evaded Nocturne’s anti-aircraft fire and tentacles before deliberately crashing the gunship and overloading its engines to cause a devastating explosion.
• Curze used the smoke and shadows to ambush the plague marines, killing the twenty at the front with his arm blades.
• Curze called out to Vulkan and demanded that he come out and face him.

Vulkan confronted Curze on Nocturne, using his overwhelming strength, regeneration, and teleportation to dominate their fight. Curze escaped Vulkan’s attacks but could not meaningfully hurt him, leaving Vulkan to question the value of Curze’s prophecy.

• Vulkan approached Curze through Toxic Miasma, and Curze charged to avenge the loyal dead and betrayed brothers.
• Vulkan’s Plaguebearer struck the ground and left a massive crater as Curze vanished into the shadows.
• Curze ambushed Vulkan from behind and tore open his back, but Vulkan regenerated in less than a second.
• Vulkan teleported behind Curze and nearly struck his skull, forcing Curze to flee into the shadows again.
• Vulkan told Curze that Plaguebearer let him teleport and argued that prophecy was useless if Curze could not harm him.

Curze severed Vulkan’s hands to take Plaguebearer, but the weapon returned and Vulkan regenerated, forcing Curze to seek another way to defeat him. Meanwhile, the Raven Guard fleet launched a suicidal assault on Colchis, and the gods opened rifts that unleashed ten billion daemons as the defenders prepared for battle.

• Curze ambushed Vulkan, cut open his abdomen, and severed both his hands, knocking Plaguebearer to the ground.
• Vulkan regenerated his hands and summoned Plaguebearer back, explaining that Nurgle’s blessing made the weapon eternal and impossible to keep from him.
• Curze retreated into the shadows, realizing his plan had failed and that he needed new tactics.
• The Raven Guard fleet charged toward Colchis to draw enemy fire and create an opening for Corax and Vulkan, losing ships as the Word Bearers’ fleet attacked.
• The gods used the destruction of the Raven Guard ships’ warp engines to tear open rifts, sending ten billion daemons into reality as the forces on Colchis stood ready.

Ragash and Uma led Khorne’s daemons into the battle for Colchis as Argel Tal struck back against the invading horde. While Colchis armed its civilians and its fleets rushed home, Corax held the Raven Guard in reserve and threatened to crash Nocturne into Colchis if necessary.

• Ragash and Uma emerged from the Warp Rift and led the Khorne daemon legion toward Colchis.
• Argel Tal flew to the expanding rift and annihilated thousands of Bloodletters with a single Golden Light strike, forcing the rift to contract.
• Rockefeller ordered Colchis’s fortresses to fire on the descending daemons, and the supreme headquarters opened the armouries to arm civilians for the defense.
• Anna’s message reached the Garrison Fleet, which abandoned its pursuit of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet and raced back to the Colchis System.
• Corax refused to commit the Raven Guard, choosing to let the daemons and Word Bearers weaken each other before attacking.
• Corax told his officer he would use his psychic energy to crash Nocturne into Colchis if the Raven Guard could not take the planet.

Doram and the forces defending Colchis fought back against a massive daemon invasion across the planet and its Star Fortresses. Colchis’s Power of Faith weakened the Warp Abominations, allowing the defenders to hold their lines and even destroy a Bloodthirster.

• Doram watched the approaching daemons from a fortress as Nurgle’s Rot Fly Swarms breached the Star Fortresses in orbit.
• The Holy Word Army and Colchis Imperialis Militia formed defensive lines and destroyed the first wave of daemons with heavy weapons and Cissel Mechs.
• A Bloodthirster broke through the defenders’ fire and slaughtered thousands, but the soldiers held their positions and attacked its joints.
• An Aurelian Main Battle Tank vaporized the Bloodthirster with a melta beam, and its corpse dissolved into ash.
• The defenders continued fighting across Colchis as its Power of Faith weakened the daemons and enabled the soldiers to resist them.

Curze fought Vulkan on Nocturne, knowing he could not defeat the Nurgle-blessed Primarch but determined to keep him occupied. The chapter left Curze pursuing that sacrifice in hope of a prophesied blackstone warship reaching Colchis and bringing Lorgar’s resurrection.

• Curze and Vulkan battled across Nocturne while the living planet groaned in distress, and Vulkan briefly paused to comfort it.
• Vulkan repeatedly healed from Curze’s attacks and questioned why Curze kept fighting despite being outmatched.
• Vulkan struck Curze with his warhammer, forcing him to escape into the shadows as Vulkan began pursuing him.
• Curze revealed that he had gone to Nocturne to keep Vulkan from attacking Lorgar’s body or reinforcing other battlefronts.
• Curze recalled his prophecy of a blackstone warship arriving at Colchis, changing the battle, and bringing about Lorgar’s resurrection.

Marshal Clement oversaw Colchis’s defense as daemons descended from Nocturne, while Antioch Fortress’s weapons and underground supply network kept the attackers at bay. The battle remained a stalemate, with both sides waiting for a turning point.

• Colchis’s officers struggled with communications interference as they coordinated defenses against the daemon assault.
• Marshal Clement surveyed Nocturne’s approach and the descending daemons, then went to inspect the anti-aircraft positions.
• Clement learned that the defenders had enough ammunition to keep firing for at least fifty years and urged them to hold their positions.
• Clement descended into the underground railway network designed by Perturabo, which supplied the continent-spanning fortress system.
• The daemons and Imperial defenders continued their war of attrition as neither side could break the stalemate.

Nurgle’s Void Whale assault exposed a weakness in Colchis’s defenses, but the planet’s faith purged the corruption before it caused serious harm. Corax used the opening to teleport himself, Bella, and nearly a hundred thousand Raven Guard onto Colchis, where he ordered them to find and destroy Lorgar’s corpse.

• Nurgle sent corrupted Void Whales toward Colchis, and its Wave Cannons destroyed them, releasing a rain of plague-laden pus.
• Colchis’s city Defence Shields stopped most of the falling pus, while the faith of its believers purified the few drops that reached the soil.
• Corax ordered the Shadow of the Emperor to emerge from the Warp and enter orbit above Colchis.
• Corax used his psychic power to teleport himself, the resurrected Bella, and nearly a hundred thousand Raven Guard behind a Fortress Complex.
• Corax ordered the Raven Guard to find and destroy Lorgar’s corpse, then began the hunt.

Anna ordered the defenders to mobilize against Corax as he advanced through the Antioch fortress toward Lorgar’s tomb. Corax slaughtered the mortal defenders, but a Holy Word Army knight stood against him and died after planting the battle standard.

• A scout reported that one hundred thousand Raven Guard had appeared behind the Antioch fortress, and Anna ordered Rockefeller, Seras, Abaddon, and Hercules to intercept Corax before he reached Lorgar’s tomb.
• Anna took two Blackstone Artifacts into battle and left Marshal Clement in command of the defenses.
• Corax walked through the fortress defenders’ fire, annihilated tens of thousands of soldiers with a psychic shock wave, and killed a Word Bearers Company Captain who refused to reveal Lorgar’s location.
• Corax’s aura began mutating a Holy Word Army soldier, but a knight shot the soldier dead before he could become a chaos spawn.
• The knight declared his loyalty to Lorgar and charged Corax, who tore open his body; before dying, the knight planted the Holy Word Army battle standard in the floor.

Abaddon and the Luna Wolves fought the Chaos-tainted Raven Guard as they advanced toward Lorgar's crypt in Antioch Fortress. Abaddon confronted Soren, who claimed he had guided Brutus and helped bring about Abaddon's father's fall, and swore to tear him apart.

• Abaddon led Loken, Torgaddon, Kaebo, and the other Luna Wolves into the Raven Guard ranks, killing the corrupted warriors with his Power Axe.
• A winged Raven Guard warrior landed before Abaddon and unleashed a storm of sword strikes, which Abaddon parried.
• The attacker identified himself as Soren and said he knew Brutus and had guided him toward a new future.
• Soren claimed the gods had blessed him by making him a Daemon Prince and began to speak about Abaddon's father.
• Abaddon punched Soren across the face and vowed to tear him apart.

Abaddon killed Soren, the Daemon Prince he blamed for Horus's fall, after a brutal fight alongside Loken. Abaddon then turned his fury toward the remaining Raven Guard warriors.

• Abaddon dragged Soren to the ground and attacked him with his Power Axe, accusing him of causing Horus's fall.
• Black Legion warriors fired at Soren while Abaddon pinned him and wounded him with repeated axe strikes.
• Loken joined the fight and struck Soren with his Power Fist, but Soren's Chaos-strengthened body endured the blow.
• Abaddon seized Soren's head and crushed his skull, killing him as his body dissolved into Chaos energy.
• Abaddon called the remaining Raven Guard traitors and vowed to kill them all.

Corax returned to Colchis as a daemon Primarch and attacked the Word Bearers, despite the holy ground suppressing his Chaos power. After Rockefeller’s First Chapter joined the battle and began slaughtering the Raven Guard, Corax tore through the Terminators while Anna and Hercules advanced toward the battlefield.

• Corax struck Abaddon through several walls and demanded that Lorgar come out.
• Corax announced his return and killed mortals and Word Bearers as he advanced toward the fortress.
• Rockefeller led the First Chapter, equipped with Tyrant Terminator Armour, onto the battlefield to attack the Raven Guard.
• Corax shrugged off the Terminators’ gunfire and slaughtered them with his claws, shadows, and psychic blades.
• Word Bearers reinforcements charged Corax, while Anna and Hercules headed toward the battlefield.