Recaps

Lorgar killed Erebus, reshaped the Word Bearers, and led them against the Flesh Editors before joining Guilliman to destroy their homeworld. The Legion then answered an Ork invasion of Dawn III, where Wilson faced the warboss Gul'dan aboard the Star Fortress.

• Lorgar awoke on Colchis, killed Kor Phaeron, and set out to find Erebus, whom he killed in the Covenant cathedral before beginning a purge of the Church.
• Lorgar captured Khisra, entrusted Colchis to Senatis, and joined the Great Crusade with a restructured Word Bearers Legion and a new code of duty.
• Lorgar sent the Word Bearers to Otheros, where Paulus rescued the surviving Ultramarines and the Legion boarded a Xenos warship to capture a prisoner.
• Lorgar extracted the enemy’s homeworld coordinates from the prisoner, then joined Guilliman in destroying Otlak and the Kaindrashi Unified Flesh.
• After Lorgar and Guilliman fought a friendly duel, the Word Bearers received word of the Ork invasion of Dawn III and sailed to aid its defenders.
• The Word Bearers attacked the Ork-held Star Fortress, and Wilson led the boarding force in killing an Ork Warboss before confronting Gul'dan.
• Wilson fought Gul'dan aboard the fortress, damaged its Warhammer, lost his Helmet, and challenged the warboss to continue fighting.

After the Word Bearers helped Bluewater Star repel the Orks, Lorgar sent Rogue Traders to locate a Blackstone Fortress, whose dangers killed their crews. Lorgar and the Dark Angels entered the fortress together, destroyed a hostile construct, and pressed deeper inside.

• Chaplain Endo and the Word Bearers fought through the Star Fortress as Wilson killed Gul'dan, then Imperial Army soldiers died covering civilians' retreat into the Middle Hive.
• General Bernardo confronted the nobles over their theft of defense resources, survived an Ork assault on the council chamber, and killed its Warboss before Wilson ordered a counterattack.
• Wilson and the Word Bearers helped drive the Orks from the Hive City, while Lorgar ordered House Horace punished and negotiated a future Auxilia levy with Bernardo.
• Chapter Master Colin destroyed Ursor the Bloody and the Orks' rallying point, while Lorgar ordered Bluewater Star's inhabitants slaughtered and began searching for a Blackstone Fortress through Rogue Trader scouts.
• Charles Fettman and Old John led expeditions into the fortress, where Ughul and Spindle Drones overwhelmed the crews, killing Fettman, Old John, Clawven, and the other survivors.
• Lorgar brought the Third Chapter to the fortress and accepted the Dark Angels' offer to share its technical discoveries, and Isas led the combined force inside using Quietus to disable Spindle Drones.
• Lorgar destroyed a charging construct after it killed and wounded Space Marines, then led the force onward without noticing a symbol of a twisted metal hand beneath the rubble.

Lorgar claimed the Blackstone Fortress, left to find Angron, and freed him and the gladiators of Nuceria before Angron joined the Great Crusade. Meanwhile, the Word Bearers investigated a Xenos outbreak on Rox and set out for the mine believed to be its source.

• Lorgar’s forces fought through Aeldari ambushes to reach the Blackstone Fortress’s Control Console, where Lorgar killed Laman and secured the fortress.
• Lorgar left Rockefeller to continue the Great Crusade and traveled to Nuceria with Seras to find Angron.
• Hercules and Frank survived the lethal Tenerum trial, killed a Three-Headed Hound with their fellow recruits, and reached the Rally Point before the deadline.
• Lorgar intervened when Angron was forced to fight Oenomaus, helped him defeat the arena’s soldiers, and enabled the gladiators to seize their freedom.
• Angron agreed to join the Great Crusade after Lorgar persuaded him, while the Emperor questioned Lorgar about Angron’s allegiance.
• Kran’s squad investigated the silent Hive City on Rox and discovered that Imitators had infiltrated a refuge at the Steelworks.
• Kran ordered the Word Bearers to purge the disguised Imitators, then quarantined Rox and sent his squad toward the Kloß Anker Mine as the Imperial Army held off the Xenos.

Kran’s mission uncovered the xenos origin of the infection, and the Imperium destroyed its home planet before turning to the Healing Brotherhood. Lorgar and Angron led the campaign against the Brotherhood, seized its biological weapon, and began the assault on its homeworld, where Lorgar went to confront its leader.

• Kran and the Word Bearers destroyed the infected biomass in the mine, then recovered the Dragon Kingdom ship’s logs, which revealed that Captain Zhao Hang had crashed on Rox and died trying to prevent the infection from spreading.
• Arut ordered Exterminatus against the suspected xenos homeworld, and Cyclonic Torpedoes shattered the planet into an asteroid belt.
• Lotara took command of the Imperial fleet assault on the Healing Brotherhood, while Angron and the War Hounds boarded its flagship and broke through its defenses.
• Angron defeated Iliya by throwing him into a destroyer’s plasma stream, and Lorgar learned that Angron could draw strength from nearby warriors’ emotions.
• Sergeant Griffins infiltrated the Brotherhood’s transport carrying the Decisive Battle Virus, while Alpha Legion agents and Imperial forces disabled the ship and seized its virus containers before destroying it.
• With the Brotherhood’s weapon shipment lost, Lorgar’s fleets captured its outposts and bombarded its homeworld, then prepared a ground assault.
• Lorgar and Angron led the attack on the Brotherhood’s homeworld as the Word Bearers and Colchis Auxilia fought through its defenses, and Angron’s forces entered the city, and Lorgar went to kill the enemy leader.