Chapter Summaries

Plot and events

• The Sector Fortress of Bakka, a crucial Imperial Navy stronghold, is cut off from the outside world. Ships carrying news of Horus’s rebellion have disappeared, while battered Imperial vessels continue arriving with reports of traitor atrocities and daemons.
• Fear is spreading among the fortress’s mortal personnel. Attempts to flee or foment panic have been met with executions, which contain unrest but further damage morale.
• Ultramarines Captain Cestus and Space Wolves commander Harald discuss the growing crisis. Harald questions whether the rebels’ Warp powers might be “magic”; Cestus insists on the Imperial Truth, then ends the debate and turns to practical preparations.
• A Word Bearers warship requests permission to dock. Cestus hesitates over whether the Legion is loyal, but Harald argues that if the Word Bearers have betrayed the Imperium, no Legion can be trusted. Cestus orders the ship to wait at Dock 9 and prepares to meet it.

Character developments and interactions

• Cestus is disciplined and composed, relying on the Imperial Truth to preserve resolve. Though he recognizes that executions cannot solve the morale crisis, he focuses on what he can control and remains cautious about the arriving Word Bearers.
• Harald is more willing to confront the possibility that Warp phenomena are real. His pointed remark about the Imperial Truth—and his confidence in the Word Bearers—challenges Cestus’s certainty.
• Their exchange shows mutual respect but a growing tension between Cestus’s need for doctrinal certainty and Harald’s willingness to question it.

Significant themes

• Faith versus evidence: The Imperial Truth denies supernatural forces, but reports from the battlefields increasingly contradict it.
• Fear and fragile morale: Repression can silence dissent, but it cannot restore confidence.
• Isolation and uncertainty: Bakka’s severed communications leave its defenders unable to distinguish allies from enemies or know what is coming.
• Loyalty under suspicion: The Word Bearers’ arrival makes clear that even trusted Imperial forces may no longer be beyond doubt.

Summary

Biberus arrives at Dock Nine with a force of more than a thousand Space Marines and one capital warship, sent by the Word Bearers’ lord to reinforce the defenders of Bakka. He believes Horus is likely to attack the strategically vital world and use it as a staging point for an invasion of Segmentum Solar.
Cestus and Harald meet Biberus at the dock. Both notice the ancient Lucifer Dreadnought accompanying the 616 Chapter, and its presence makes them suspect the Chapter has a deeper history than it appears. The Dreadnought identifies himself as Ninutal, a veteran of the Second Legion. Biberus and Cestus discuss the threat to Bakka, and Cestus accepts the Word Bearers’ support without demanding further explanation. Harald offers to show the newcomers the Sector Fortress’s defences, while Cestus leaves to answer an urgent summons.
At Command Headquarters, Cestus learns that the Navigators have sensed a vast shadow approaching.

Character developments and interactions

• Biberus presents himself as a composed, dependable commander. He gives the scale and purpose of his force plainly, emphasizing cooperation rather than boasting.
• Cestus acts pragmatically, weighing the strategic importance of Bakka and accepting allied support. His sudden departure suggests a new, urgent threat.
• Harald recognizes the Lucifer Dreadnought as a relic of an ancient era. He shares his suspicions about the 616 Chapter with Cestus, then takes responsibility for orienting Biberus’s force.
• Ninutal introduces himself as a firstborn of the Second Legion, reinforcing the impression that the 616 Chapter has an unusually ancient and complicated past.
• Cestus and Biberus establish a straightforward military alliance; Harald and the two newcomers begin coordinating around the fortress’s defences.

Significant themes

• Alliance amid Imperial fracture: In a divided Imperium, solidarity between forces matters as much as military numbers.
• The weight of history: Ninutal’s archaic design suggests that old wars and forgotten legacies remain present in current conflicts.
• Strategic uncertainty and looming danger: Bakka’s importance makes it a likely target, while the Navigators’ warning hints at a threat beyond ordinary military movements.

Key plot points and events

• The Shadow of the Emperor, once the Raven Guard flagship, has become a Warp-corrupted vessel surrounded by daemons. None dare approach it closely because Corax is hidden within.
• Since Lorgar banished him into the Warp, Corax has been consumed by shame, rage, and a hunger for power and revenge. He also longs to rebuild the Raven Guard, most of whom were destroyed by Lorgar’s Word Bearers.
• The Legion’s survivors have become Chaos-mutated, half-mad creatures, more like Corax’s slaves than Raven Guard warriors.
• Vashtorr enters the ship intending to bargain with Corax. He claims to possess an artifact capable of resurrecting the fallen Raven Guard and restoring the Legion.
• Corax’s warriors surround Vashtorr, but he calmly demands to see their master, promising an offer Corax cannot refuse. The artifact’s price remains undisclosed.

Character developments

• Corax is presented as a powerful but broken figure, still fixated on his defeat and willing to risk much to reclaim his Legion and avenge himself.
• Vashtorr emerges as a calculating manipulator who has studied Corax’s desperation and plans to use his desire for restoration as leverage.
• The Raven Guard survivors have lost their former identity, transformed by Chaos into corrupted, unstable followers.

Significant themes

• Despair and temptation: Corax’s losses make him vulnerable to promises of renewed power.
• The cost of ambition: Vashtorr’s offer appears miraculous, but the implied price suggests restoration will demand a sacrifice.
• Corruption and lost identity: The surviving Raven Guard have become monstrous versions of the warriors they once were.
• Isolation and abandonment: Corax’s former attention from the Chaos Gods has faded, leaving him seeking a new source of power.

Character interactions

• Vashtorr confronts Corax’s mutated warriors without fear, addressing them as “slaves of Corax.”
• The warriors silently assess and threaten Vashtorr, but he insists on meeting their master and announces his offer.

Plot points and events

• In a Warp vision, Corax encounters a nearly identical version of himself: the Raven Lord, who identifies himself as the Emperor’s nineteenth son and vows to destroy Warp abominations.
• The two Coraxes battle amid ravens and shadows. The Raven Lord overwhelms and destroys the Chaos-corrupted Corax, whose power comes from the Four Gods.
• Corax wakes aboard the Shadow of the Emperor, shaken by the vision. Seeing his still-corrupted Raven Guard warriors confirms that their condition—and the conflict surrounding it—remains real.
• A warrior enters and announces that a guest has arrived, ending the chapter on a brief cliffhanger.

Character developments

• The vision presents Corax as divided between his Chaos-corrupted self and an uncompromising, purifying counterpart.
• Waking from the dream, Corax is visibly distressed, but he quickly reorients himself to the grim reality around him.

Character interactions

• The two versions of Corax confront one another first as enemies, then as judge and condemned. The Raven Lord shows no anger, treating his counterpart as an abomination to be eradicated.
• In the waking world, a Raven Guard warrior respectfully addresses Corax and brings news of the visitor.

Significant themes

• A self at war: The encounter dramatizes a struggle between Corax’s identity and the corruption threatening to redefine it.
• Purification and judgment: The Raven Lord’s oath frames the fight as a mission to purge the Warp’s corruption, even when its target is another version of himself.
• Dream versus reality: The vision ends, but the Chaos-corrupted Legion remains, underscoring that Corax’s real burden has not been resolved.

Plot points

• Corax meets Vashtorr in a Warp-corrupted chamber, making clear that his priority is restoring the Raven Guard and recovering Bella—not Vashtorr’s creations.
• Vashtorr reveals the Host of the Departed, an ancient Old Ones’ device he has modified to draw souls from the Warp and return them to bodies. He claims Corax can use it to resurrect his Legion without preparing bodies.
• Corax doubts the possibility: his warriors’ bodies are gone, and their souls have been lost or eroded in the Warp. He also recognizes that Vashtorr’s offer must carry a price.
• Vashtorr demands that Corax seize the Word Bearers’ Blackstone Fortress, also known as Vaul’s Talisman, in exchange for the artifact and daemon engines.
• Corax accepts, though he says he will need help from his brothers. Vashtorr tosses him the device and awaits the outcome.

Character developments and interactions

• Corax is wary and emotionally guarded, but his longing to restore his Legion outweighs his doubts. His acceptance is weary yet resolute; he knows he is entering a dangerous bargain.
• Vashtorr presents himself as a calculating negotiator, revealing the artifact and its price without persuasion. His keen desire for the Blackstone Fortress hints at a larger ambition.
• Their exchange is a tense negotiation: Corax insists on his goal and asks directly for the cost, while Vashtorr makes a blunt demand and leaves the choice to him.

Significant themes

• Hope versus uncertainty: The artifact offers a chance to restore the dead, but its claim challenges the apparent finality of lost bodies and souls.
• The price of desperate hope: Corax trades a dangerous mission for the possibility of reclaiming his Legion.
• Power and ambition: Vashtorr’s offer is driven by his own long-standing desire for the Blackstone Fortress, making the bargain mutually useful but far from selfless.

Plot points and events

• Corax enters the Shadow of the Emperor’s ruined bridge, now saturated with Warp energy and inhabited by Chaos Spawn. The creatures instinctively yield to him, recognizing his authority.
• At the command station, Corax raises the artifact Vashtorr gave him and calls, “Return, my Legion!” The device opens and draws countless souls from the Sea of Souls toward the ship.
• The artifact does not distinguish Raven Guard souls from other dead souls or daemonic fragments. As the souls enter newly formed bodies, they fight for control, causing grotesque mutations and immense suffering.
• After the struggle, thousands of resurrected warriors reach a temporary, unstable equilibrium. They form an army of Chaos Space Marines, each body shared by Space Marine and daemon souls.
• Corax surveys the horrific result and walks deeper into the bridge without comment.

Character developments

• Corax acts with calm authority, commanding even the Spawn on the bridge. He achieves his goal of restoring his Legion, but the result is far more corrupted and costly than a simple resurrection.
• The resurrected Raven Guard regain bodies but not their former selves: their identities, wills, and physical forms are invaded and altered by other souls.
• Vashtorr is revealed—though Corax does not know it—to have concealed a crucial flaw in the artifact, making the resurrection indiscriminate.

Significant themes

• The cost of resurrection: The Legion returns, but in a horrifying form that blurs survival and destruction.
• Corruption and unstable identity: Space Marine and daemon souls coexist in bodies neither fully controls.
• Power and obedience: Corax’s psychic presence imposes order even on Chaos-tainted beings.
• Deception and unintended consequences: Vashtorr’s withheld information shapes the outcome, while the artifact’s lack of discernment turns restoration into mass mutation.

Character interactions

• The Chaos Spawn retreat from Corax, responding instinctively to his psychic dominance.
• Within each resurrected warrior, Raven Guard souls and daemonic intruders battle for control; their conflict settles only into a fragile balance when they face Corax.
• Corax gives no words of welcome or explanation to the returned Legion. He simply observes them, then leaves them standing in ranks behind him.

Key plot points and events

• Corax commands the Warp-mutated remnants of the Raven Guard aboard the Shadow of the Emperor to break free of the Warp and return to realspace.
• Though he remains obsessed with hunting Lorgar, Horus contacts him and orders him to join Mortarion at Bakka. Corax agrees, believing Lorgar’s Word Bearers will also converge there.
• Horus oversees the surrender of an industrial world but intends its submission to serve the Traitor war effort rather than spare its people.
• Brutus, a member of Horus’s Four Kings Council, orders the sacrifice of ten billion inhabitants to generate a Warp Storm and disrupt the Loyalist fleet.
• Chaos-corrupted Mechanicus priests turn factories into slaughterhouses and ritual sites. Civilians are slaughtered, transformed into servitors, or fed into devices that fuel the rituals.
• As Corax and Mortarion approach Bakka, Brutus’s mass sacrifice helps form a vast Chaos trap. Bakka emerges as the focal point drawing opposing forces together.

Character developments and interactions

• Corax now leads a powerful, daemonic force that he still regards as his legion, despite its transformation. His hatred of Lorgar remains central, but he accepts Horus’s orders when they align with his pursuit.
• Horus directs Corax toward Bakka and treats the surrendered world as a strategic resource, showing his cold, calculating command.
• Brutus reveals the scale of his cruelty and strategic purpose: he values civilian lives only as fuel for a Warp-powered weapon.
• Corax and Horus interact through a brief, distorted transmission; Corax complies without abandoning his own vendetta.

Significant themes

• Corruption and transformation: The Raven Guard have become monstrous, yet Corax still claims them as his own.
• Human life as expendable material: Billions are sacrificed to advance the Traitors’ military plans.
• War as a web of converging forces: Bakka becomes a strategic and supernatural pivot, drawing Corax, Mortarion, and the Word Bearers toward a coming confrontation.

Plot points and events

• Commander Cestus prepares Bakka’s defenses as alarms report a major Warp incursion. He orders the Mandeville Point minefield activated, the fleet into battle formation, and the Star Fortresses’ weapons unlocked.
• Rebel ships emerge chaotically from the Warp and trigger hundreds of mines. The blasts and debris destroy several leading destroyers and damage others.
• Imperial and rebel fleets exchange volleys of Macro-cannon and Lance fire, causing heavy losses on both sides.
• The Star Fortresses join the battle with Nova Cannons. Their devastating shots destroy a rebel Despoiler-class battleship, briefly making it seem the Imperials have the advantage.
• The apparent retreat is a feint or prelude: thousands of traitor Legion capital ships emerge behind the first wave, revealing the true scale of the invasion.
• Cestus faces the overwhelming force without breaking composure. Biberus reports that Star Fortress Vellado has locked onto its targets and will hold the line. Cestus orders the defenders to fight for the Emperor to the last moment.

Character developments and interactions

• Cestus remains controlled and decisive amid escalating danger, issuing precise orders and ultimately accepting that the defense may end in annihilation.
• Biberus stands watch over Vellado and speaks with calm resolve, affirming the fortress’s commitment to block the enemy.
• Their brief exchange establishes a shared determination: neither commander intends to abandon Bakka.

Significant themes

• Duty and sacrifice: The defenders commit to holding the line even against vastly superior numbers.
• Deception and false hope: The initial rebel force appears to be the main attack, but is only a screen for the massive invasion.
• Scale and devastation of war: Mines, fleet weapons, and Nova Cannons turn space into a battlefield of catastrophic destruction.
• Composure under pressure: Cestus’s steady command and Biberus’s confidence contrast with the alarm and fear around them.

Summary

Key plot points and events

• The Endurance emerges from the Warp far from Bakka Fortress and holds position instead of advancing toward the battle.
• Mortarion brushes aside Storas’s questions, saying the battlefield is not yet suited to the Death Guard. He has issued no orders to prepare an attack.
• In private, Mortarion tells Vorx that he has no wish to aid the Imperium or fight for Horus. He plans to wait until both sides are weakened, then join only if it serves the Legion—or withdraw with as much of its strength intact as possible.
• Mortarion also orders that certain unnamed individuals must not survive to appear in the next battle. Vorx understands and accepts the order.
• Naberius and Storas speculate about Mortarion’s allegiance. Naberius’s Ringwraith, Solemnace, taunts him, and Naberius ends by vowing to find a way forward.

Character developments

• Mortarion is revealed as calculating and self-protective rather than committed to either side. He prioritizes the Death Guard’s survival and treats the wider war as an opportunity to be exploited.
• Vorx remains a quiet, trusted confidant who accepts Mortarion’s strategy and lethal orders without protest.
• Naberius stays guarded and analytical, trying to infer Mortarion’s intentions. His exchange with Solemnace hints at frustration or a deeper personal burden.
• Storas openly questions Mortarion’s inaction but is intimidated into silence by the Deathshroud.

Character interactions

• Mortarion repeatedly shuts down Storas’s challenges, then uses the Deathshroud’s presence to force him and Naberius away from the private conversation.
• Vorx asks when the Death Guard will join the battle, prompting Mortarion to explain his plan and issue the order against the unnamed targets.
• Naberius and Storas discuss whether Mortarion will remain loyal to Horus; Solemnace interrupts with a taunt, which Naberius angrily rejects.

Significant themes

• Self-preservation over loyalty: Mortarion refuses to sacrifice his Legion for someone else’s cause.
• Opportunism and uncertain allegiance: His plan is to act only when the balance of power becomes clearer.
• Command and coercion: Mortarion’s authority ends debate, backed by the silent threat of the Deathshroud.
• Mistrust and hidden motives: His delay leaves others guessing, while Naberius searches for a way to understand—or counter—him.

Plot and events

• During the Battle of Bakka, Traitor reinforcements overwhelm the Imperial defenders. The enormous Sons of Horus battleship Herald of Destruction threatens to break the Imperial line.
• Rather than reinforce the defense, Harald leads a Space Wolves strike force around the enemy fleet’s front and attacks the battleship from the rear. He judges that ordinary fleet combat cannot stop it; the Wolves must board it and destroy its command and weapons systems.
• Frigates distract the battleship’s guns while the strike cruisers close in. One cruiser rams its flank, opening a breach, and drop pods carry Breacher Squads through the damaged hull.
• The Space Wolves fight the Sons of Horus in the ship’s corridors. Harald leads from the front, cuts down several traitors, then uses his warriors’ shield wall for cover before leaping into the enemy ranks and fighting toward the bridge. The chapter ends with him still advancing; the outcome of the boarding assault is unresolved.

Character development

• Harald proves willing to risk his force in a bold, high-stakes attack rather than accept a slow defeat. His faith in Russ and the Allfather, confidence, and delight in close combat shape both his strategy and his leadership.
• The Space Wolves are portrayed as fearless, tightly bonded warriors who embrace sacrifice and fight with pack-like ferocity.
• Cestus remains composed on the command channel even as the Imperial situation worsens, underscoring the strain of the wider battle.

Character interactions

• Harald rallies his warriors with appeals to Russ and the Allfather; they answer with a coordinated assault and shared battle cries.
• Space Wolves shield-bearers protect Harald from concentrated bolter fire, allowing him to launch his attack.
• The boarding action pits the Space Wolves directly against the equally fanatical Sons of Horus, whose cries of loyalty to the Warmaster mirror their opponents’ devotion.

Significant themes

• Sacrifice and duty: The Wolves accept extreme danger as the price of turning the battle.
• Courage versus conventional strategy: Harald rejects a defensive response for a daring strike at the enemy’s center.
• Brotherhood and pack warfare: The Wolves’ teamwork supports Harald’s individual aggression.
• The brutality and exhilaration of war: The battle is depicted as savage, costly, and—especially for the Space Wolves—deeply tied to their identity.

Key plot points and events

• Commander Cestus learns that Harald’s assault force has boarded the Renegade battleship Herald of Destruction. Though the maneuver seems nearly suicidal, he orders every available reserve into the fight and concentrates Imperial fire on the enemy ships threatening Harald’s force.
• Aboard the battleship, Harald leads the Space Wolves through smoke-filled corridors, killing several Sons of Horus warriors as they push toward the engine room.
• A Contemptor Dreadnought blocks their path and devastates the front of the assault with its autocannons. Harald orders his warriors to find cover and waits for an opening.
• When the Dreadnought pauses to reload, Harald throws his power axe into its shoulder mechanism, disabling one arm. He then tackles the machine off balance and brings it down.
• With his pack attacking, Harald smashes through the Dreadnought’s observation window, tears his axe free, and kills the veteran inside, silencing the machine.

Character developments

• Harald is established as both ferocious and tactically resourceful: he uses the Dreadnought’s reload cycle, targets its machinery, and exploits its imbalance rather than relying on brute force alone.
• Cestus commits fully to supporting Harald despite recognizing the extreme danger of the boarding action.
• The Space Wolves suffer heavy losses but regroup and rally behind Harald once the Dreadnought is grounded.

Significant themes

• Courage and sacrifice: Harald’s assault risks his force and himself, while Cestus commits the remaining fleet to give it a chance.
• Improvisation under pressure: Harald turns a brief reload window and the Dreadnought’s mechanical vulnerability into an opportunity.
• Brotherhood and leadership: Harald’s command keeps the pack moving, and his attack creates the opening for his warriors to join the fight.

Character interactions

• Cestus and his adjutant coordinate the fleet’s response, with Cestus choosing to support Harald rather than abandon the assault.
• Harald commands his warriors to follow and take cover, then leads the counterattack against the Dreadnought.
• The Space Wolves emerge from cover and charge alongside Harald, helping secure the kill after he disables and brings down the machine.

Harald led the surviving Space Wolves to the bridge and fought Dragul, commander of the Sons of Horus' 145th Company. After Harald used a Bolter to try to turn the duel, Dragul tackled him and pinned him beneath a Power Sword at his throat.

• Harald gathered just over a hundred Space Wolves who could still fight and led them toward the bridge.
• The Space Wolves pushed through light resistance and forced open the bridge entrance, where Dragul ambushed Harald and killed two warriors.
• Harald and Dragul exchanged taunts and fought while their Legions clashed across the bridge.
• Dragul outmaneuvered Harald and wounded his arm, but Harald grabbed a fallen Bolter and fired all twenty rounds at him.
• Dragul shielded himself with a corpse, charged through the blood mist, knocked away Harald's Power Axe, and pinned him to the floor with a sword at his throat.

Harald and the surviving Space Wolves fought the Sons of Horus in the vacuum of the shattered bridge, where Harald killed Dragul and saw the Word Bearers arrive to attack the traitor fleet. As Harald tried to report the reinforcements to Cestus, Corax emerged from the shadows and stabbed him through the chest.

• A macro-cannon fragment breached the bridge, venting it into space and killing or sweeping away many warriors.
• Harald and fewer than twenty surviving Space Wolves secured themselves and resumed fighting the Sons of Horus in the vacuum.
• Harald grappled with Dragul, crushed his face, and killed him by stabbing his throat with a metal shard.
• Harald put on his helmet, contacted Cestus, and spotted the Word Bearers fleet arriving to attack the traitor fleet's flank.
• As Harald began to tell Cestus that the Word Bearers had arrived, Corax appeared behind him and pierced his chest with a black blade.

Corax killed Harald aboard the Shadow of the Emperor and set his sights on Lorgar as the Word Bearers arrived at Bakka. Meanwhile, Raven Guard warriors emerged from the shadows inside Star Fortress Vellado, forcing Biberus and the 616 Chapter to fight for control.

• Cestus repeatedly called Harald, but Harald lay dead on the bridge after Corax stabbed him and kicked his body aside.
• Corax watched the Word Bearers fleet arrive, vowed to find Lorgar, and disappeared into the shadows.
• Biberus received Cestus's order to take command if anything happened to him, then sensed danger as the fortress lights and temperatures shifted.
• Warp-mutated Raven Guard warriors seeped from the shadows and attacked the defenders, while Biberus fought one of them.
• Ninutal charged in his Lucifer Dreadnought and crushed Biberus's attacker with his gravitic weapon.
• Biberus and Ninutal joined the 616 Chapter's defense as Raven Guard warriors continued emerging throughout the fortress.

Lorgar sensed Corax at Bakka and went to confront him, but found Bella aboard the Shadow of the Emperor instead. He exposed Bella as Be'lakor and demanded to know where Corax was.

• Lorgar ordered Hercules to reinforce the Star Fortress, sent Seras and Royst to support Cestus, and told Curze to hold position.
• Lorgar left the bridge in a burst of golden light to find Corax.
• Aboard the Shadow of the Emperor, Lorgar struck Bella and hurled her into a wall while demanding to know where Corax was.
• Bella unleashed a powerful psychic storm, and Lorgar saw through her disguise to identify her as Be'lakor.
• Lorgar threatened Be'lakor and demanded Corax's whereabouts, while Bella remained silent and wary.

Lorgar used Bella to draw Corax to the Shadow of the Emperor and attacked Be'lakor while promising to kill him repeatedly. Corax arrived to save Bella, but Lorgar caught him by the neck before he could strike.

• Lorgar realized Bella could serve as bait for Corax and slashed at her.
• Bella commanded the Chaos Spawn to attack, but Lorgar's golden psychic light destroyed them and engulfed her.
• Bella's scream reached Corax on the Bakka battlefield, and he rushed toward the Shadow of the Emperor.
• Lorgar advanced on Be'lakor and vowed to kill him again each time Chaos resurrected him.
• Be'lakor began trying to escape Bella's form as Lorgar raised his sword to strike.
• Corax attacked Lorgar from behind, but Lorgar caught him by the neck and stopped his sword.

Bella escaped into the shadows as Lorgar kept Corax in his grip, but Corax transformed and slipped free. Lorgar then overwhelmed Corax in battle and hurled him into space, before stepping through the breach to pursue him.

• Bella retreated into the Bridge's shadows while Lorgar held Corax by the neck.
• Corax dissolved into black mist and feathers, escaped Lorgar's grasp, and taunted him from the darkness.
• Lorgar battered Corax with golden-flame punches, preventing him from escaping or counterattacking.
• Corax lunged at Lorgar with his Talon Blades, but Lorgar dodged and drew his Greatsword.
• Lorgar's Greatsword shattered Corax's guard and sent him through the Shadow of the Emperor's hull into space.
• Lorgar stepped through the breach to pursue Corax among the stars.

Biberus struggled against Raven Guard warriors whose daemonic remnants could only be destroyed by intense heat, until Hercules arrived and cut through the attackers with his reforged greatsword. The battle shifted when Corax crashed into the fortress, badly beaten and unable to rise.

• Biberus discovered that the Raven Guard warriors regenerated unless flame, plasma, or melta weapons reduced them to ash, and he switched to a flamer.
• A huge mutated Chaos Space Marine charged through the fighting, but Hercules arrived and cleaved him in two with his reforged greatsword.
• Hercules advanced through the Raven Guard, banishing hundreds of them back to the Warp with broad, powerful strikes.
• Corax crashed through a breach into the fortress and lay broken on the deck, looking toward the figure at the edge of the void.

Corax lay gravely wounded after Lorgar defeated him, while Mortarion kept the Death Guard out of the battle despite repeated pleas for reinforcements. When Mortarion sensed Lorgar on the Bakka Battlefield and his calculations changed, he ordered the fleet to prepare for a warp jump, leaving Naberius to wonder whether the Death Guard would finally join the fight.

• Lorgar taunted the badly wounded Corax, who realized Mortarion's promised reinforcements had not arrived.
• Naberius repeatedly pleaded with Mortarion to send the Death Guard to aid the Raven Guard and Sons of Horus, but Mortarion refused and marked their requests as read.
• Mortarion relied on numerology to predict that deploying would bring the Death Guard a fatal loss, and he waited for the other forces to exhaust themselves.
• Mortarion sensed Lorgar's presence on the Bakka Battlefield, which altered his calculations.
• Mortarion ordered the Death Guard fleet to prepare for a warp jump to Bakka, and Naberius was stunned by the sudden change.

Mortarion arrived at the Bakka Battlefield and saw Lorgar pursuing the wounded Corax while the Sons of Horus withdrew. After killing Naberius and Storas for urging him to intervene, Mortarion ordered a communications link with Lorgar.

• Mortarion's Death Guard fleet emerged from the Warp and found the Raven Guard under heavy Word Bearers fire as the Sons of Horus retreated.
• Mortarion spotted Lorgar chasing the wounded Corax through the wreckage with a flaming greatsword.
• Naberius urged Mortarion to help Corax, but Mortarion sensed corruption emanating from the Shadow of the Emperor and ignored him.
• Mortarion crushed Naberius's head, extinguishing the Ringwraith Solemnace before it could awaken.
• Mortarion killed Storas with Silence after Storas drew his sword.
• Mortarion ordered his crew to connect him to Lorgar.