Recaps

Guilliman learned that the Iron Hands had betrayed Ultramar and devastated much of the Five Hundred Worlds, including Calth, while Macragge still resisted and Lady Euten remained there. After Lion El'Jonson warned him against rushing into a losing battle, Guilliman ordered his forces divided to reinforce Macragge and join the Dark Angels and Blood Angels strike teams against the traitors.

• Guilliman received a flood of distress signals revealing that the Iron Hands had invaded Ultramar, Calth had fallen, and only Macragge and a few other regions still held out.
• Guilliman demanded an immediate course for Macragge and swore to kill Ferrus Manus.
• Lion El'Jonson identified the Iron Hands, Sons of Horus, Alpha Legion, and Thousand Sons as traitors and warned that Guilliman's current force could not defeat Ferrus Manus.
• Lion El'Jonson offered to pursue Ferrus Manus with Sanguinius while Guilliman reinforced Macragge and Ultramar's remaining defenses.
• Guilliman ordered the First Battle Group to rendezvous with the Dark Angels and Blood Angels strike teams and sent the main fleet with him to relieve Macragge.

Fulgrim sought a way to replenish the Emperor’s Children after Angron’s defeat and spoke with Ferrus Manus’s clone about the threat. After the clone offered to confront Angron, Fulgrim’s fascination with the prospect of fighting beside him deepened.

• Fulgrim recoiled from a painting of his former self and resolved to win another victory for the depleted Emperor’s Children.
• Fulgrim trusted Fabius Bile to create new warriors in his laboratory’s culture medium.
• Ferrus Manus’s clone contacted Fulgrim and advised him to withdraw into Ultramar while the Iron Hands faced Angron.
• Fulgrim recognized that the figure was not Ferrus Manus and asked how many clones existed, but the clone redirected the conversation.
• The clone promised to deal with Angron and his Legion, and Fulgrim eagerly said he wanted more and more to fight by his side.

Luther revealed that he had betrayed the Imperium and sold the Dark Angels’ secrets to the White Scars, then returned to Caliban to pursue an unknown goal. Aboard the Blade Storm, Jaghatai Khan used the stolen intelligence to plan a deception and mobile attacks against Lion El'Jonson’s approaching fleet.

• Luther ended his call with Lion El'Jonson, promised to watch over Caliban, and revealed himself as the Dark Angels’ traitor deputy commander.
• Luther disclosed that he had given the White Scars intelligence about the Dark Angels’ Excindio and Men of Iron, left Zahariel in command of the remaining traitors, and returned to Caliban alone.
• Jaghatai Khan studied the loyalist deployments exposed by the Warp and ordered Zahariel to send Lion El'Jonson false assurances before striking and retreating.
• Jaghatai Khan planned to harass the loyalist fleets as they advanced toward Ultramar and to target Sanguinius while Ferrus Manus pursued his objective.
• The loyalist fleets converged on Ultramar as hidden forces shifted into position for an imminent battle.

Lion El'Jonson received Jaghatai's plea for help in Ultramar but suspected the White Scars' unexpected arrival and attacked their fleet. Jaghatai revealed Zahariel beside him, leaving Lion facing the apparent betrayal of the Dark Angels' Chief Librarian.

• Guilliman led the Ultramarines fleet toward Macragge while the Dark Angels and Blood Angels pursued traitor ships.
• Jaghatai contacted Lion El'Jonson and claimed the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar were under siege, asking for support.
• Lion questioned why the White Scars were in Ultramar and asked whether Zahariel was with Jaghatai.
• After Jaghatai confirmed Zahariel was present, Lion ordered the Dark Angels fleet to open fire and accused Jaghatai of betraying the Emperor.
• Jaghatai revealed Zahariel beside him, and Lion accused the Chief Librarian of betraying them.

Lion El'Jonson learned from Zahariel that Luther had also rebelled and feared Caliban had fallen into their hands. He ordered the Dark Angels to pursue and destroy the Blade Storm at any cost, while Jaghatai's White Scars lured the fleet onward before scattering into cover.

• Lion El'Jonson confronted Zahariel, who accused him of betraying Luther and Caliban and condemned the Imperium for exploiting their home.
• Lion El'Jonson realized Luther had rebelled too and ordered the war in Ultramar ended so he could return to Caliban.
• Lion El'Jonson commanded the Dark Angels to unleash the Men of Iron and sealed weapons and destroy the Blade Storm at any cost.
• The Unyielding Truth and the Dark Angels fleet pursued the damaged Blade Storm, firing on it and destroying a traitor cruiser.
• Jaghatai ordered the Blade Storm to fire a token counterattack and withdraw as the White Scars fleet scattered behind asteroid belts and dust clouds.
• Lion El'Jonson ordered his fleet to catch the fleeing traitors and vowed to kill Luther and Zahariel.

Lion El'Jonson ignored Sanguinius's warnings and pursued the fleeing White Scars fleet, leaving Sanguinius to face the Iron Hands. A gigantic mechanical sphere created by Ferrus Manus emerged near the Red Tear, and Sanguinius prepared to confront his brother.

• Sanguinius warned Lion El'Jonson that the White Scars' retreat might be a trap, but Lion acknowledged the danger and chose to pursue them anyway.
• Lion El'Jonson revealed his confidence in the Dark Angels' hidden weapons and forces, then ordered Sanguinius to hold the position while he chased the traitors.
• The Dark Angels fleet accelerated after the White Scars and vanished into the warp, leaving Sanguinius to face the Iron Hands alone.
• Sanguinius detected a vast object approaching as it drew shattered planetary fragments into its gravitational field.
• Planet-sized mechanical tentacles and an enormous metal sphere emerged from the darkness, and Sanguinius recognized the creation as Ferrus Manus's work.

Guilliman returned to Macragge after breaking the Iron Hands blockade and saw the devastation left by the traitors’ assault. He entered the ruined Fortress of Hera, urgently seeking his adoptive mother, Lady Euten.

• Macragge's Honour and the battered Ultramarines fleet broke through the Iron Hands blockade, and the Loyalists retook the planet.
• Guilliman landed on Macragge and witnessed the ruined city, the dead, and the exhausted civilians and soldiers working to rescue survivors.
• Guilliman recognized the mortals’ fear and the Ultramarines’ grief over fighting former brothers, and resolved to lead a revenge expedition to protect the Imperium and destroy its enemies.
• Guilliman set aside his plans for vengeance and hurried to the Fortress of Hera to find out whether Lady Euten was alive.
• Guilliman crossed the damaged fortress and walked toward a door deep inside.

After the Fortress of Hera survived the fighting on Macragge, Guilliman reunited with the wounded Euten. She urged him to return to the people and his duties, and he left promising to take care of himself.

• Euten waited beneath the ruins of the Fortress of Hera, where an Iron Hands warrior had nearly reached her before Ultramarines killed him.
• Guilliman entered the hall, knelt before Euten, and greeted her after seeing that she was injured but alive.
• Euten touched Guilliman's face and told him he had lost weight.
• Euten reminded Guilliman that Macragge needed its Primarch and urged him not to delay the orders awaiting him at the front.
• Guilliman agreed to leave, told Euten to take care of herself, and departed while she watched him go.

Sanguinius led the Blood Angels fleet toward an enormous war machine and fought through its mechanical tentacles to reach a Ferrus Manus replica. After recognizing that the figure was not his brother, Sanguinius attacked as the planet revealed a hidden network of guns.

• Sanguinius flew toward the war machine while Raldoron ordered the Blood Angels fleet to follow and cover his approach.
• The war machine sent mechanical tentacles against the fleet, and Sanguinius severed them with the Spear of Telesto.
• Sanguinius found Ferrus Manus's replica on the planet's metal surface and concluded that it was not his brother.
• The replica declared that Sanguinius would die there and merged his hands with the ground.
• The planet revealed countless gun muzzles, and Sanguinius charged into their line of fire toward the replica.

Sanguinius fought the twisted being wearing Ferrus Manus's body on a metal plain, trading blows with his brother's Chaos-modified warhammer. Sanguinius recognized Ferrus Manus as an empty shell and vowed to release him, but Ferrus Manus charged again.

• Sanguinius broke through Ferrus Manus's barrage of weapons and attacked with the Spear of Telesto.
• Ferrus Manus blocked Sanguinius's strike and countered with an antimatter shock wave that melted away Sanguinius's chest armor.
• Sanguinius told Ferrus Manus he was not truly his brother, and the two clashed again at close range.
• Sanguinius wounded Ferrus Manus's shoulder, but saw the metal body repair itself unnaturally.
• Sanguinius vowed to release Ferrus Manus from his corrupted state, and Ferrus Manus charged again.

Sanguinius defeated Ferrus Manus in battle, only to discover that his opponent was a machine replica. A new replica emerged and challenged him again, leaving Sanguinius to face the next round of the fight.

• Sanguinius cut apart Ferrus Manus's black hole attack and destroyed the nanomachines sent after him.
• Sanguinius pierced Ferrus Manus's chest and neck, bringing the metal body down.
• Sanguinius discovered that Ferrus Manus's body contained only wires and steel, and a mechanical voice announced that his combat data had been recorded.
• A new Ferrus Manus replica emerged from a gate and challenged Sanguinius to round two.
• Sanguinius vowed to keep killing the replicas and charged at the new Ferrus Manus.

Sanguinius fought a second Ferrus Manus replica that predicted his movements and overwhelmed him with its Warhammer. After his weapons failed to stop the replica, Sanguinius declared what he fought for, and the two prepared to continue their battle.

• Sanguinius attacked the second Ferrus Manus replica, but Ferrus stopped his spear and used its combat data to anticipate and batter him.
• Ferrus Manus unleashed an antimatter shock wave that tore open spatial rifts, forcing Sanguinius to evade it from above.
• Sanguinius hurled the Spear of Telesto through Ferrus Manus's chest and charged with the Blade Encarmine, but Ferrus caught the blade and repaired his wounds.
• Ferrus Manus discarded both weapons and told Sanguinius that flesh could not contend with steel.
• Sanguinius said Ferrus could predict his movements but could never understand his heart, and the two Primarchs readied themselves to fight again.

Sanguinius realized he could not defeat Ferrus Manus on the metal planet and tried to draw him into the void, while Ferrus seized control of a Blood Angels warship and fired on him. After the ship’s crew destroyed their own vessel to disrupt Ferrus’s calculations, Sanguinius seized the opening and fled into space with the Blade Encarmine, pursued by Ferrus.

• Sanguinius dodged the commandeered warship’s bombardment and ordered Raldoron not to send reinforcements.
• The warship’s crew triggered the macro-cannon shells in its hold, destroying their vessel and disrupting Ferrus Manus’s calculations.
• Sanguinius seized the Blade Encarmine and flew toward the stars instead of engaging Ferrus Manus in close combat.
• Ferrus Manus pursued Sanguinius after transforming his weapons pack into jet thrusters.

Sanguinius lured Ferrus Manus away from the Five Hundred Worlds’ data network and led him across a barren death world, trying to disrupt Ferrus Manus’s predictive combat system. As an unexplained impulse urged Sanguinius to keep Ferrus Manus occupied, War Hounds warships arrived nearby and watched their pursuit.

• Sanguinius flew toward a death world with Ferrus Manus pursuing him, then plunged through its atmosphere and landed.
• Ferrus Manus crashed into the planet and confronted Sanguinius, who explained that an unpredictable, instinct-driven opponent could defeat his combat predictions.
• Ferrus Manus attacked, but Sanguinius flew away and used the death world’s changing terrain to disrupt the pursuit.
• Sanguinius felt an unexplained will urging him to keep Ferrus Manus occupied and instinctively trusted it.
• War Hounds warships arrived at the edge of the region and watched Sanguinius and Ferrus Manus race across the planet.

Angron arrived on a Death World where Sanguinius was fighting Ferrus Manus and joined the battle after Sanguinius revealed that Ferrus was a traitor. As Angron’s mysterious power surged, Ferrus’s calculations failed, and Angron prepared to attack at full strength.

• Angron followed an unexplained pull to the Death World and found Sanguinius fighting Ferrus Manus.
• Sanguinius called Ferrus a traitor, and Angron turned his fury toward Ferrus.
• Angron struck Ferrus with a punch that cracked his metal head and forced him back.
• Angron tore off his armor and discarded his Power Axe as he advanced bare-handed.
• Ferrus detected Angron’s strength rising beyond his models, while Angron felt Lorgar’s power burning within him.
• Angron told Ferrus he was about to find out what the power was.

Angron and Sanguinius battled Ferrus Manus, whose mechanical strength initially gave him the advantage. After enduring severe wounds and tearing off one of Ferrus Manus’s arms, Angron used his pain-fueled strength to trap Ferrus Manus’s head in his hands.

• Angron charged Ferrus Manus, survived a devastating antimatter blast, and knocked him down with a punch.
• Angron and Sanguinius attacked Ferrus Manus together, and Angron crushed his singularity launcher with his bare hand.
• Ferrus Manus gained the upper hand in a struggle over the warhammer, but Sanguinius struck while Angron seized Ferrus Manus and held him in place.
• Sanguinius’s blade pierced both Ferrus Manus and Angron, and Angron tore off Ferrus Manus’s arm despite his own abdominal wound.
• Angron’s strength surged with his pain, and he trapped Ferrus Manus’s head between his hands as the metal began to buckle.

Angron killed Ferrus Manus after promising to meet him again, then agreed to fight alongside Sanguinius in Ultramar while he awaited news of Lorgar. The chapter left Angron and Sanguinius preparing to leave the battlefield together.

• Angron crushed Ferrus Manus's skull and pulled the Blade Encarmine from their bodies.
• Angron beheaded Ferrus Manus with the Blade Encarmine, and Sanguinius confirmed that the traitor Primarch was dead.
• Sanguinius asked Angron about Lorgar, and Angron said Magnus had gravely wounded him and he had been taken to Colchis for treatment.
• Sanguinius invited Angron to stay in Ultramar and unite their forces against the traitors.
• Angron agreed to fight alongside Sanguinius in Ultramar until he learned Lorgar's condition, and Sanguinius led him toward the canyon's exit.

Ferrus Manus analyzed Angron’s combat data and rejected Vashtorr’s offer of power, insisting he would defeat his enemies through his own efforts. As he prepared to continue his analysis, an unknown force infiltrated his system and filled the main screen with ancient, unidentified writing.

• Ferrus Manus processed Angron’s combat data and identified forty-seven exploitable weaknesses while concluding that Angron’s increased strength had no known biological cause.
• Ferrus Manus asked his system to investigate Angron’s strength, but the analysis could not rule out unknown external forces.
• Vashtorr appeared on Ferrus Manus’s screen and offered him power and answers in exchange for a bargain.
• Ferrus Manus refused Vashtorr’s offer and declared that he would rely on his steel and data to defeat his enemies.
• An unknown force infiltrated Ferrus Manus’s system, replaced his data windows with ancient symbols, and left him staring at the screen.

Ferrus Manus discovered that the power beneath the Sotha Beacon belonged to an ancient being named Zahurash, who claimed to be a god born with the universe. After Zahurash invited him to descend to the beacon’s depths, Ferrus decided to go himself, hoping to learn about the unknown variables in Angron.

• Ferrus Manus questioned the corrupted Tech-Priests about the strange power interfering with their systems.
• The leading Tech-Priest said the power might come from the core beneath the Sotha Beacon and seemed older than the Warp.
• The presence stopped the garbled transmissions and identified itself as Zahurash the Overlord, a god of reality and one of the galaxy’s first living beings.
• Zahurash invited Ferrus Manus to find it at the very bottom of the Sotha Beacon.
• Ferrus Manus recognized the invitation as a possible trap but ordered the Tech-Priests to prepare for his descent.

Ferrus Manus and ten Iron Hands warriors entered the Sotha beacon and awakened the silver Overlord from its coffin. The Overlord demonstrated its power to warp reality, leaving Ferrus facing an enemy he recognized as an ancient God of Reality.

• Ferrus Manus led ten Terminators through the beacon’s seemingly endless passage into a cavern containing a giant silver coffin.
• Two Terminators hacked the ancient console, releasing a surge of white light that formed the Overlord.
• Ferrus Manus demanded to know what the Overlord was, but it warped the chamber and ignored his question.
• Ferrus ordered an attack, and the Overlord stopped the Terminators’ bolts before aging them into dust, grotesquely rebuilding them, and restoring them.
• The Overlord hurled the two Terminators into the cavern walls, and Ferrus recognized that he faced one of the galaxy’s oldest beings and a God of Reality.

Zahurash demonstrated his power to Ferrus Manus and claimed the Emperor was merely a weapon. He then asked to examine Ferrus Manus's mechanical backpack, leaving Ferrus tense and silent beneath the Pharos.

• Zahurash told Ferrus Manus that he was too weak to resist and that even the Warp could not rival Zahurash's control over reality.
• Ferrus Manus refused to surrender and demanded to know what Zahurash wanted.
• Zahurash said he knew of the war consuming worlds and dismissed it as insignificant beside the wars he had witnessed.
• Ferrus Manus asked whether Zahurash meant the Emperor, and Zahurash called the Emperor a weapon forged for a purpose.
• Zahurash asked to examine Ferrus Manus's mechanical backpack, and Ferrus Manus stood silently, tense and unwilling to retreat.

Zahurash tore Ferrus Manus’s mechanical backpack away and destroyed it, then remade it with a portion of his own power and fused it into Ferrus Manus. Ferrus Manus survived the agonizing transformation with a powerful new weapon, bound by Zahurash’s demand that he release him after the battle.

• Zahurash ripped Ferrus Manus’s mechanical backpack from his body and pulverized it into dust.
• Zahurash reshaped the dust into a larger, more complex backpack infused with silver light.
• Zahurash forced the new backpack onto Ferrus Manus and fused its tendrils into his body, leaving him in agony as his systems and power were rebuilt.
• Ferrus Manus rose after the transformation and discovered that Zahurash’s power had become a weapon anchored in his backpack.
• Zahurash told Ferrus Manus to release him once the battle was over, and Ferrus Manus remained silent.

Vashtorr let Zahurash sever his control over the Ferrus Manus replica rather than risk confronting the C'tan in Realspace. He turned his attention to Vulkan and Corax, whose weakened states offered new opportunities, as he prepared for a wider war across the Warp.

• Vashtorr felt Zahurash stripping his imprint from the Ferrus Manus replica and stopped his command to intervene, judging that Ferrus Manus would still serve his aims.
• Vashtorr withdrew the severed link and memorized Zahurash's identity and the changes to Ferrus Manus, vowing to settle the score once he could enter Realspace safely.
• Vashtorr watched a bound Khorne daemon's rage fuel his mechanical furnace and the weapons and daemon engines being forged within it.
• Vashtorr turned his attention to corrupted Nocturne and the weakened Vulkan and Corax, considering them potential targets for his forbidden technologies.
• Vashtorr declared that it was time to find the others and anticipated a war that would engulf the Warp.

Angron arrived at the Fortress of Hera and told Guilliman that Lorgar had been gravely wounded and sent back to Colchis, leaving their plans in jeopardy. As Guilliman waited for Lion El'Jonson to return before deciding their next move, he learned that the White Scars had escaped the First Legion's pursuit.

• Guilliman welcomed Angron to the Fortress of Hera and learned that Lorgar might not still be alive after being sent to Colchis with severe wounds.
• Guilliman told Angron and Sanguinius that they would have to rely on their available forces while they waited for Lion El'Jonson and his intelligence.
• Angron studied the tactical map while Sanguinius considered how to continue the war without Lorgar's forces.
• Lion El'Jonson reported that the First Legion had failed to intercept the White Scars, who had retreated into a warp storm.
• Guilliman ordered Lion El'Jonson to return to the Fortress of Hera.

After learning that Lorgar was gravely wounded and unable to join the fighting, Guilliman assigned his brothers separate objectives to continue the war. Sanguinius headed for Konor, Angron chose Nuceria, and Lion El'Jonson resumed pursuit of the White Scars as Guilliman named the campaign the Shadow Crusade.

• Lion El'Jonson returned to the Fortress of Hera after the First Legion failed to catch the White Scars, and learned that Lorgar and the Word Bearers could not fight.
• Lion El'Jonson and Angron grew angry over Lorgar's wounds, but Guilliman urged them to focus on winning the war without him.
• Guilliman ordered Sanguinius to reinforce the Adeptus Mechanicus on Konor.
• Angron told Guilliman he would go to Nuceria and clear traitors blocking the shipping routes.
• Lion El'Jonson vowed to keep pursuing the White Scars until they or he were dead.
• Guilliman named the campaign the shadow crusade.