Chapter Summaries

The Officio Assassinorum infiltrated Olympus Mons under Malcador’s command, positioning Callidus and Vindicare assassins to strike at Utio while Eversor and Vennam assassins waited in reserve. The ambush was poised to begin as Archmagos Somado reported that the preparations were ready and four disguised attendants approached Utio.

• Callidus assassins disguised themselves among Olympus Mons’s servants while Vindicare assassins took positions in the ventilation ducts, aiming at Utio.
• Eversor and Vennam assassins remained in reserve, ready to attack if the initial teams failed.
• An Archmagos and four attendants passed through security checks to reach Utio’s command center; the attendants were Callidus assassins in disguise.
• Three Vindicare assassins trained their Exitus Rifles on Utio from separate firing positions.
• Utio asked Archmagos Somado about the preparations, and Somado told him everything was ready as the four attendants stepped toward Utio.

Four temples of the Officio Assassinorum attacked Utio in the great hall after killing Archmagos Somado, but Utio’s defenses kept him alive as the assault escalated. Surrounded by more than a dozen assassins, he appeared trapped.

• Four Callidus Assassins disguised as attendants killed Archmagos Somado and charged at Utio.
• Three Vindicare Assassins shot down the Skitarii protecting Utio, while the Callidus Assassins cut into his armor.
• Utio activated his hidden weapons and fought back as the Callidus Assassins dodged his attacks and the Vindicare Assassins targeted his weak points.
• Utio’s defenses adapted, preventing the assassins from quickly reaching his vital areas.
• Vanus Assassins coated their blades with corrosive toxins, while Eversor Assassins bombarded Utio with explosives and attacked through the flames.
• More than a dozen assassins surrounded Utio, who continued to assess the battle with his red optical sensors.

Utio countered the assassins inside Olympus Mons, exposed the rebellion plan, and activated the Forge Temple’s defenses. After the alarm sounded, Valdor led the Adeptus Custodes into battle to retake the Forge Temple.

• Utio formed a nanometal staff and killed a Callidus Assassin with a shock wave.
• Utio triggered the Olympus Mons alarm, alerting the Adeptus Custodes that the assassination attempt had failed.
• Utio concluded that the rebellion had been exposed and ordered Olympus Mons sealed and unauthorized personnel killed.
• Utio activated the Machine God Guard, awakening Battle Automata prepared for combat.
• Valdor ordered two thousand Custodians to advance and take the Forge Temple from the enemy.

Valdor led the Adeptus Custodes’ assault on Olympus Mons, using a Dark Age of Technology device to sever the Adeptus Mechanicus’ anti-aircraft network before attacking the forge temple. He and fifty Custodians smashed through the temple dome and descended on Utio as he fought the assassin.

• Two thousand Custodians breached Olympus Mons’ perimeter and cut through its automated defenses.
• Valdor brought a signal-disconnection device that disabled much of Olympus Mons’ anti-aircraft network.
• Valdor and fifty Custodians leaped from their gunship and descended toward the forge temple while Custodian weapons ravaged the surface buildings.
• Valdor smashed through the temple dome, and the other Custodians poured into the hall behind him.
• Utio noticed the arriving Custodians while he was locked in combat with the assassin.

Valdor and the Adeptus Custodes took over the battle against Utio in the Temple. Valdor destroyed Utio’s mechanical body and severed its head, extinguishing its red optical sensors.

• Valdor wounded Utio with the Apollonian Spear, forcing him to retreat and fire twelve missiles at him.
• Valdor emerged unharmed from the explosions, while Utio retreated beside a pillar and prepared his remaining defenses.
• Valdor ordered the Callidus Assassins to withdraw as fifty Adeptus Custodes advanced on Utio from three directions.
• Utio tried to use the Temple’s equipment and pillars to slow the Custodes, but Valdor’s attacks tore apart his armor and disabled his nano-staff and right arm.
• Valdor pierced Utio’s chest, then severed his neck with the Apollonian Spear, destroying the mechanical body.

Utio awakened in a new body and began the long-prepared rebellion on Mars, unleashing Titan forces against Valdor’s troops and targeting the Imperial fleet. On Terra, the Emperor sensed a new threat in the Webway and ordered Malcador to gather psykers and awaken a hidden being in the Imperial Palace Black Cells.

• Utio transferred his consciousness into a new mechanical body beneath Mars and left the Temple rather than continue fighting Valdor.
• Utio sent a prepared command sequence across Mars, stripping Imperial departments of authority and placing armed forces under the Fabricator-General.
• Utio activated reserve Warlord Titans and millions of Titans Guards against Valdor’s advancing Adeptus Custodes, then ordered the Voice of the Omnissiah to target the Imperial Fleet.
• Malcador told the Emperor that Utio had rebelled and surrounded Valdor, and the Emperor ordered him to leave Mars to Dorn.
• The Emperor sensed a deep disturbance in the Webway and ordered Malcador to prepare a thousand psykers and awaken the being confined in the Imperial Palace Black Cells.

Orks poured into the Webway and clashed with the Daemon coalition, easing pressure on the Imperium’s defensive line. At the fortress, Helios and Kohler faced the spreading “Murder Syndrome” among the Imperialis Militia, while Helios resolved to hold the line until the Emperor’s orders arrived.

• Hundreds of millions of Orks charged into the Daemon coalition, disrupting its assault on the Imperium’s defensive lines.
• The Adeptus Custodes held their positions while the Imperium’s converted Aeldari city fortress housed tens of millions of Imperialis Militia.
• Helios observed that soldiers were hearing whispers, becoming withdrawn, and attacking their comrades, prompting officers to name the symptoms “Murder Syndrome.”
• Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence could sense signs of an unknown influence but could not locate the source of the whispers.
• Kohler warned Helios that the situation could not continue and asked when the Emperor would intervene.
• Helios said the Emperor had his own plans and committed to holding the defensive line until orders arrived.

In prehistoric Terra, a man murdered his brother in their cave, committing humanity’s first fratricide. The act’s betrayal and guilt stirred the Warp, where the daemon Drach'nyen began to form.

• A hunter silently watched his wounded brother in the cave before stabbing him through the throat with an obsidian spear.
• The killer drove the spear into his brother’s chest and tasted his blood as he stood over him.
• He lifted a large stone and crushed his brother’s skull, completing the murder.
• The murder’s sound and psychic imprint spread from Terra into the Warp, where a new consciousness began to coalesce.
• The daemon Drach'nyen was born from humanity’s first murder and betrayal.

Malcador awakened Turing, the forgotten Primarch of the Eleventh Legion, after nearly a hundred years in the Black Cells. Turing sensed that Terra was preparing for war, but Malcador left his questions unanswered and took him to meet the Emperor.

• Malcador ordered the Custodians to open Turing's life-support pod in the Black Cells.
• Turing awoke, knelt before Malcador, and learned he had slept for nearly a hundred years.
• Turing asked whether the Great Crusade and Lorgar's dream had succeeded, but Malcador answered with silence.
• Turing sensed Terra's military preparations and asked whether Dorn's fleet had been dispatched, but Malcador did not answer.
• Malcador told Turing that the Emperor wished to see him, and Turing put on a robe and followed the Custodians toward the Throne Room.

Malcador retrieved a black box from the Emperor’s Collection Vault and learned that it held humanity’s first healed femur and the ashes of its first fire. The Emperor ordered him to keep the relics ready for Lorgar when he returned.

• Malcador entered the Emperor’s Collection Vault and opened a black box kept inside a Stasis Field.
• Malcador found a fossilized, healed femur and ancient fire ashes inside the box, but could not identify them.
• Malcador brought the box to the Throne Room and asked the Emperor what it contained.
• The Emperor explained that the femur was the first in human civilization to heal and the ashes came from humanity’s first fire.
• The Emperor told Malcador to prepare the relics for Lorgar, and Malcador agreed before leaving the Throne Room.

Turing entered the Throne Room and reunited with the Emperor, learning that Horus had led a rebellion against the Imperium and that Lorgar remained loyal. The chapter ended with Turing asking the Emperor what he should do.

• A Custodian of the Imperial Palace Black Cells escorted Turing through the Palace to the Throne Room.
• Turing remembered how Lorgar's Psychic Flame had freed him from Dark Age of Technology control, leaving him half-mechanical.
• Turing saw the Emperor bound to the Golden Throne and called him Father.
• The Emperor told Turing that Horus and several of his brothers had rebelled against the Imperium.
• Turing asked which side Lorgar had chosen, and the Emperor said Lorgar stood with them.
• Turing resolved to stand with the Emperor and asked what he should do.

Custodian Tribune Helios launched an Imperial counteroffensive through the Webway, using the Godbreaker Legion’s Titans to punch through daemonic forces while mortal troops and elite warriors advanced behind them. The attack stalled amid endless reinforcements, and a black greatsword struck down the Warlord Titan Kratos.

• Helios judged that the Orks had opened a passage through the daemonic flank and ordered a counteroffensive before the route closed.
• Tens of millions of mortal troops advanced behind the Godbreaker Legion’s Titans to seize positions and block the daemons’ retreat routes.
• Kratos and the other Titans blasted through daemonic formations as the Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence guarded the advance.
• The Imperial forces pushed deep into the Webway, but the daemons kept replacing their losses and the battle settled into a grinding stalemate.
• Helios led several hundred Custodians into the daemonic ranks and cut a large opening through the enemy formation.
• A black greatsword pierced Kratos’s cockpit, and black psychic flames engulfed the Warlord Titan as it crashed to the ground.

Drach'nyen destroyed the Kratos and Hammer of Dusk before revealing his daemon form on the battlefield. Helios ordered the Imperial forces to withdraw while he and Kohler stayed behind to face him.

• Drach'nyen struck down the Kratos, and Helios ordered the Hammer of Dusk to fill the gap in the Titan line.
• The Hammer of Dusk fired missiles and bolts at Drach'nyen, then lost its Power Klaw and was destroyed by the Black Greatsword.
• Drach'nyen transformed into a winged figure and approached the Imperial lines as the Sisters of Silence prepared to fight.
• Helios ordered the frontline troops to withdraw because the Orks had breached the enemy's rear and the Imperial forces had achieved their objective.
• The Custodes and Space Marines covered the retreat while Helios and Kohler remained to confront Drach'nyen.

The corrupted Vulkan and the fallen Salamanders Legion entered the Webway to join the daemonic assault, while Drach'nyen escaped the Adeptus Custodes’ encirclement. A massive explosion then opened a breach behind the Custodes, revealing that another force had entered the War of the Webway.

• Skarbrand watched Vulkan emerge from the Warp Rift with seven Daemon Princes and thousands of fallen Salamanders warriors.
• Vulkan asked where the enemy was, and Skarbrand pointed him toward the golden figures fighting among the Orks and Daemons.
• Vulkan led the corrupted Salamanders Legion toward the battle with the Adeptus Custodes.
• Drach'nyen called the Imperium pitiful and vanished from the Adeptus Custodes’ encirclement.
• An explosion blasted open a breach in the Webway behind the Custodes, and Helios turned toward the newly arrived force.

On Gena Three, the Iron Hands and Vashtorr’s followers reopened an ancient Webway breach and sent the renegade Savage Beast Legion through it. The Titans attacked the loyalist defenders, overwhelming the battered Godbreaker Legion with fire.

• Bonaz oversaw the Iron Hands’ excavation of the buried Webway breach on Gena Three.
• Dark Mechanicum servitors and Vashtorr’s followers performed a ritual that opened the ancient archway.
• The Savage Beast Legion crossed into the Webway, and loyalist forces raised the alarm over an enemy Titan attack.
• The Flame Beast Titan and the rest of the strike group unleashed a barrage on the loyalist positions.
• The damaged Godbreaker Legion fought from cover but struggled to withstand the Savage Beast Legion’s superior firepower.

Flame Beast advanced through the Aeldari city, destroying Imperial defenders and defeating two Reaver Titans while Helios assessed its defenses. After the first two defense lines fell, the mortal commander learned that the Titan was less than ten kilometers from his headquarters, leaving the command room waiting for his decision.

• Imperial defenders withdrew into the Aeldari city's ruins as Flame Beast moved through the streets.
• Two Godbreaker Legion Reaver Titans ambushed Flame Beast from behind, but its secondary gun destroyed both after their melta fire failed to penetrate its void shields.
• Helios observed the exchange and considered Flame Beast's all-around shield coverage and formidable firepower.
• Flame Beast incinerated mortal troops trapped in a narrow alley despite their sustained weapons fire.
• A staff officer reported that the first and Second Defense Lines had been breached, and the commander learned Flame Beast was less than ten kilometers from headquarters.

Commander Ithilis agreed to sacrifice his remaining forces to distract the enemy Emperor-class Titan, giving Tribune Helios and twenty Adeptus Custodes time to board it and attack from within. The Imperial counterattack began as the Dawn Eagle-class Hover Bikes prepared to exploit the Titan’s diverted attention.

• Tribune Helios ordered Ithilis to keep the Flame Beast and its escorting Titans occupied with continuous fire for thirty seconds.
• Ithilis rallied his remaining troops and armored units to advance on the Emperor-class Titan and maintain the appearance of resistance.
• Helios prepared twenty Dawn Eagle-class Hover Bikes to fly through the Titan’s sensor blind spots and board it.
• Helios and nineteen Custodes mounted their bikes, ready to launch once Ithilis’s forces drew the Titan’s attention.
• An Aurelian-pattern Main Battle Tank fired on the Flame Beast’s Void Shield, starting the counterattack.

Captain Bohard and the Flame Beast slaughtered the Imperial forces attacking the Titan, and Ithilis was killed when the Titan targeted his tank. As the explosion’s smoke obscured the battlefield, Helios and his men approached the Flame Beast from the flank.

• Bohard ordered the Flame Beast’s crew to locate the gathering Imperial forces and prepare to attack.
• Ithilis committed every available unit to a charge, but the Leman Russ Tanks’ fire could not penetrate the Flame Beast’s void shield.
• Bohard used the Hellstorm Cannon to devastate the advancing tanks and infantry with a single salvo.
• Ithilis urged his troops forward and fired his Aurelian tank’s railgun, but the shot failed to overcome the Titan’s plasma shield.
• The Flame Beast targeted Ithilis’s tank and destroyed it, killing him in a beam of fire.
• Helios and his men used the explosion’s smoke to close in on the Flame Beast from the flank.