Chapter Summaries

Lox negotiated the Exodite Aeldari’s surrender and agreed to return their surviving Dragon Knights and take their world spirit, Iva, into safekeeping. As Uslan transferred Iva, Karen named Keen the new chieftain and killed himself, leaving Keen to lead his people.

• Lox questioned how the enormous world spirit could be moved, while Uslan explained his belief that humanity could help the Aeldari unite against Chaos.
• Karen, chieftain of the Pandora Aeldari, surrendered and demanded the return of the surviving Dragon Knights and the transfer of Iva.
• Lox accepted Karen’s demands, and the bound Keen returned to his people after seeing that they had surrendered.
• Uslan began severing Iva’s link to Pandora and shrinking the world spirit with psychic power.
• Karen named Keen the new chieftain, then killed himself with a ritual dagger.
• Uslan placed the compressed Iva in Keen’s hands and urged him to remember that Chaos was their true enemy.

As Eldrad Ulthran separated the primitive Aeldari’s World Spirit from Pandora, Slaanesh sensed Kallen’s self-sacrifice and sent daemons to claim his soul. The ritual was interrupted by a Warp rift, from which a violet-armored warrior of the Emperor’s Children emerged.

• Slaanesh noticed the purity of Kallen’s self-sacrificing soul and ordered daemons to bring him before the Prince of Pleasure.
• Eldrad Ulthran began separating Pandora’s World Spirit so the primitive Aeldari could take it with them.
• Keen accepted the loss of Pandora and showed a new calm as the Aeldari prepared to leave their homeworld.
• Ulthran sensed Slaanesh’s power strike at his soul and withdrew from the Warp in terror.
• A hidden surge of aetheric power opened a Warp rift near the site of Eva’s tree, briefly disorienting Lox and those nearby.
• Lox recovered and saw a violet-armored warrior of the Emperor’s Children step out of the rift.

A Warp rift brought Eidolon and 666 Emperor’s Children traitors into the Eldar ancestral land, where they confronted the Ultramarines and White Scars. After Eidolon ordered his warriors to attack, the battle began with a Noise Marine’s sonic assault incapacitating a White Scar.

• Usulan failed to seal the Warp rift, and the Ultramarines opened fire as Emperor’s Children traitors emerged.
• Eidolon appeared among 666 traitors, and the White Scars recognized him as the killer of Qin Xia.
• Eidolon mocked the White Scars and revealed that his forces had come to seize Eldar souls for the Lord of Pleasure.
• The loyalists identified the Noise Marines’ sonic weapons and prepared to fight the Emperor’s Children.
• Eidolon ordered his warriors to attack, charged a White Scar, and knocked him down with a subsonic wave.

Gantula and the allied forces fought Eidolon and the Emperor’s Children as Chaos reinforcements poured through a Warp portal. The battle continued across the battlefield, where the Aeldari joined the assault and Nykona Sharrowkyn and Illic Nightspear fought side by side.

• Gantula charged Eidolon, and Hill coordinated Ultramarines, Iron Hands, and Thunderhawk fire against the traitors.
• Gantula clashed with Eidolon, who taunted him and praised the Emperor’s Children’s allegiance to the Prince of Pleasure.
• Gantula and Qin Xin killed Emperor’s Children while allied forces and incoming Knights and tanks inflicted heavy casualties.
• Warp portals brought corrupted, flesh-covered war machines that exchanged fire with Lox’s Knights and tanks.
• Eldrad Ulthran led the Craftworld Aeldari into battle as Illic Nightspear and Nykona Sharrowkyn coordinated their attacks against the Emperor’s Children.

Gantula fought Eidolon amid the Emperor’s Children’s devastating sonic assault, but Qin Xin used a blank to disrupt the shrieks and kill Eidolon. With their commander dead, the Noise Marines lost heart and retreated.

• Gantula exploited Eidolon’s sluggish reactions, battered his armor, and burned his face, but Eidolon endured the damage and unleashed psychic shrieks through his modified throat.
• The Noise Marines’ combined sonic assault killed several Aeldari and damaged warriors, vehicles, and the battlefield, forcing Gantula to brace himself against the sound.
• Eidolon taunted Gantula and prepared to strike him down, but Qin Xin hurled a blank into the shrieking storm.
• The blank’s soulless field disrupted Eidolon’s psychic shriek, causing his throat implant and head to explode.
• Gantula and Qin Xin saw Eidolon fall, and the Noise Marines lost their will to fight and retreated.

After Eidolon’s death, Lucius took over a White Scar’s body and began reincarnating through anyone who killed him. He rampaged through the loyalist and Aeldari forces, seeking more souls to add to his Armor of Shrieking Souls.

• Uslan used his psychic powers to crush Noise Marines and cut down a Hellbrute.
• Gantula took Eidolon’s severed head as proof that the White Scars had avenged Qin Xia.
• A White Scar killed a scarred Emperor’s Child with a point-blank plasma shot, but Lucius then possessed the warrior’s body and armor.
• Lucius declared himself the Blade of the Unblemished and killed an Iron Hands artillery operator, returning in the operator’s transformed body after being blasted apart.
• Lucius charged through the loyalist positions, killed an Aeldari Aspect Warrior, and recalled killing Captain Solomon Demeter on Isstvan III.

Commander Hill and Lox learned that Lucius’s resurrection depended on the killer feeling satisfaction, while Usran warned that Lucius could otherwise return under the Prince of Pleasure’s favor. Barabas Dantioch confronted Lucius, killed him without taking pleasure in it, and vanished into the shadows.

• Commander Hill detected abnormal Astartes casualties as fallen loyalists mutated into copies of the enemies they had killed.
• Usran told Lox that Lucius could claim the soul of anyone who killed him while feeling even slight satisfaction, though Lucius could also resurrect directly if the Prince of Pleasure continued watching over him.
• Barabas Dantioch silently cut through traitors and descended on Lucius with his C'tan phase sword.
• Barabas Dantioch evaded Lucius’s swordsmanship, wounded him in close combat, and declared that Lucius was just a mad dog to be put down.
• Barabas Dantioch killed Lucius with his power sword and C'tan phase sword, felt no pleasure, and disappeared into the shadows.

Lox’s forces defeated the Emperor’s Children on Pandora, confirmed Lucius’s death, and secured the planet’s Blackstone deposits. As Lox prepared to return to Macragge, Barabas Dantioch revealed he had killed Lucius without feeling enough pride or satisfaction to be possessed.

• Hill confirmed that Lucius had been killed and had not resurrected, and the Loyalists burned the fallen Emperor’s Children to ash.
• Untouchables suppressed the Warp daemons, helping the Ultramarines and White Scars wipe out the traitors.
• The Loyalists counted their casualties, recovered their fallen Space Marines’ gene-seed, and collected the Noise Marines’ weapons and corrupted gene-seed for study.
• Lox approved the plan to keep Pandora’s forward base and exploit its Blackstone deposits, then began considering a return to Macragge.
• Lox asked Barabas Dantioch about Lucius, and Dantioch explained that killing him had felt as insignificant as killing a stray dog.

After completing the Pandora expedition, Lox prepared to return to Macragge with the Aeldari fleet through the Webway. Ulthran revealed that Webway routes also reached Macragge and Terra, and the chapter ended as the fleet entered a Webway gate.

• Lox boarded the Red Alert after three days of rest and refitting on Pandora, with the fleet carrying Blackstone, biological samples, and traitor gene-seed.
• Lox ordered his fleet to assemble and follow the Aeldari craftworld fleet, beginning their journey to Macragge through the Webway instead of the Warp.
• Ulthran told Lox that Webway routes reached Macragge and Terra, and warned that Warp-suppressing Blackstone Arrays could disrupt Webway exits.
• The Aeldari fleet led Lox's ships through a dangerous asteroid belt, where a Webway gate appeared in the void.

As Lox and Uthran traveled through the Webway toward the Solar System, Uthran revealed that the Horus Heresy was a ritual that would decide humanity’s future and might awaken a dark figure. He described the Emperor’s Great Crusade as a failed attempt at humanity’s ascension, leaving Lox demanding to know what ascension meant and when humanity had tried it before.

• Lox admired the Webway’s peaceful passage as Uthran explained that the Old Ones had created it to cross the galaxy while shielding travelers from the Warp.
• Lox asked whether they could use the Webway to reach Terra, and Uthran said the Horus Heresy was a galaxy-wide ritual with the Solar System as its altar.
• Uthran warned that the ritual might awaken a dark figure and that the Emperor’s victory or Horus’s victory would determine whether humanity survived independently or became a Chaos sacrifice.
• Uthran said humanity had attempted ascension before and that the Emperor’s Great Crusade was another attempt that had failed, provoking the Warp’s backlash and Horus’s rebellion.
• Lox pressed Uthran to explain ascension and identify humanity’s earlier attempt.

Uslan explained to Lox that civilizations ultimately pursued ascension, and that humanity, the Aeldari, and the Necrons had all failed in different ways. Lox realized the Emperor had sought humanity’s ascension, but Horus’s betrayal may have doomed that effort again.

• Uslan told Lox that ascension was the ultimate pursuit of every civilization and described humanity’s genetic and mechanical ascension attempts during the Dark Age of Technology.
• Uslan explained that Machine Spirits arose from humanity’s attempt to grant souls to machines, but both human ascension paths had failed.
• Uslan said the Necrons had cheated by transferring themselves into mechanical bodies, leaving soulless machines that merely believed they were still Necrontyr.
• Uslan admitted the Aeldari had failed at psychic ascension, and that their indulgence and depravity had caused the birth of the Thirsting Lady.
• Lox concluded that the Emperor had wanted humanity to ascend beyond the Warp, but wondered whether Horus’s betrayal had made humanity fail again.

Lox returned to Macragge with Uslan and learned that Sanguinius, Lion El'Jonson, and Roboute Guilliman had established the Second Imperium. Guilliman had made Lox Deputy Governor, leaving him stunned by the appointment.

• Uslan warned Lox that their Webway cooperation depended on him and urged him to prevent humanity from seizing the Webway recklessly.
• Lox and Uslan traveled through the Webway, where the Alaitoc Craftworld and Pandora's Exodite Aeldari split off to seek a new home.
• The Red Alert returned to Macragge, passed identity checks, and carried its Blackstone cargo to Mustafar for production.
• A mortal official told Lox that Sanguinius was Regent, Lion El'Jonson was Lord Protector, and Roboute Guilliman was Imperial Governor of the newly established Second Imperium.
• The official revealed that Lox had been appointed Deputy Governor, and Lox realized Guilliman had arranged the position without telling him.

Lox returned to Macragge in 009.M31 and learned that Guilliman had made him deputy governor of the newly established Second Empire. He brought Farseer Eldrad Ulthran to meet the primarchs, while Glord escorted them to the imperial palace.

• Lox learned that three days had passed since Sanguinius was crowned Emperor and that Guilliman had appointed him deputy governor.
• Lox complained that Guilliman had saddled him with more work, then introduced Eldrad Ulthran as the Aeldari representative seeking an alliance.
• An official described Sanguinius's coronation and explained that Guilliman had forbidden records of the event.
• Lox and Ulthran entered the imperial palace, where Glord welcomed them and led them toward Guilliman and Sanguinius.

Lox met Sanguinius at the restored court, where Guilliman explained the Primarchs’ plan to create a miniature backup of the human Imperium. Sanguinius remained grief-stricken over Horus’s betrayal and the losses at Signus as Lox prepared to tell them what he had obtained at the galaxy’s edge.

• Glaud led Lox through the palace to meet Sanguinius, who sat with Guilliman and his Sanguinary Guard.
• Sanguinius welcomed Lox as a brother after hearing Guilliman praise him, and Guilliman showed Lox his seat beside the Primarchs’ thrones.
• Guilliman explained that he and the Lion had recruited Sanguinius into their temporary miniature backup of the human Imperium.
• Sanguinius described how Horus had deceived him and how daemons Kyriss the Perverse and Ka’Bandha the Bloodthirster had attacked his Legion at Signus.
• Lox changed the subject and announced that he had secured the Blackstone needed to begin their plan.

Lox reported that his expedition had secured Blackstone on Pandora and introduced Eldrad Ulthran as an Eldar ally seeking to resist Chaos alongside humanity. After Ulthran showed the primarchs visions of the galactic war and the threat to Terra, the chapter ended with Lox urging humanity and the Eldar to unite.

• Lox told Guilliman that his fleet had found vast Blackstone veins on Pandora and that the materials had been sent to Mustafar for processing.
• Lox mentioned encountering the Tau but treated them as a lesser concern amid the larger crisis.
• Lox introduced Eldrad Ulthran, who offered an alliance between the Ulthwé Craftworld and humanity against the Warp's malicious entities.
• Ulthran showed Guilliman and Sanguinius visions of Horus's corruption, the war's devastation, and the siege of Terra.
• Guilliman and Sanguinius asked whether Terra still stood and whether the Emperor endured, and Ulthran confirmed that both did.
• Lox urged humanity and the Eldar to set aside their prejudices and fight together.

Uslan revealed that Chaos corrupted Horus after Eugene Temba wounded him and Erebus led him into the temple on Davin, prompting Guilliman and his brothers to see Horus as a victim and unite against the Warp. Lox, Uslan, Guilliman, and Sanguinius formed an alliance between humanity and the Eldar, while Lox realized Lion was missing.

• Uslan showed Guilliman, Lox, and Sanguinius that Eugene Temba wounded Horus with the corrupted Anathame and Erebus persuaded Horus's sons to take him to the temple on Davin.
• Guilliman declared that Horus had died in the temple and that Chaos had turned his body into a puppet, shifting the brothers' anger from Horus to the Warp.
• Guilliman apologized to Uslan for looking down on him and thanked him for revealing the truth about Horus's fall.
• Lox proposed an alliance between humanity and the Eldar, and Uslan, Guilliman, and Sanguinius joined hands with him to seal it.
• Lox noticed Lion was absent and asked where he had gone.

Lion traveled through the Ultima Segmentum aboard the New Caliban, his new flagship, while considering his authority as Protector and the dangers posed by Guilliman’s immense military strength. He remained wary of his allies but concluded that he could only be relieved Guilliman was loyal and his forces were under Lion’s command.

• Lion took command of the New Caliban, whose systems and Machine Spirit were being prepared under Captain Stannes and the Dark Angels’ Tech-priests.
• Lion reflected that his role as Protector made him the Second Imperium’s Warmaster, then reminded himself that he intended to supervise Guilliman rather than seek power.
• Lion reviewed Guilliman’s military strength and discovered that the Ultramarines had recovered to more than 250,000 under his command, alongside vast Titan, auxiliary, and fleet forces.
• Lion compared Guilliman’s strength with his own 20,000 Astartes veterans and recognized that the Dark Angels could not defeat the Ultramarines through force of arms.
• Lion considered Guilliman’s reserves and recruitment capacity overwhelming, and felt relieved that Guilliman remained loyal.

Lion led the New Caliban and a fleet to a human world overrun by Orks, then destroyed the planet rather than risk time and troops in a ground assault. After receiving a call from Macragge, he decided to end the cleansing operation and return there.

• Holguin reported that Orks had overrun the human planet and that clearing them with an orbital drop would cost the fleet casualties.
• Lion rejected a ground assault, and the New Caliban destroyed the Ork raider ships that attacked the fleet.
• Lion ordered the Dark Angels to cleanse the planet, and the New Caliban's cannon melted its surface and killed all life.
• Lion admired the New Caliban's destructive power and received a transmission from Macragge.
• Lion decided to return to Macragge after his brother called for him.

Lion returned to Macragge after Sanguinius summoned him to discuss a way to reach Terra, but his suspicion of Eldrad Ulthran nearly sparked a fight. Guilliman began to suspect Lion had concealed the true cost of his recent purges.

• An astropath delivered Sanguinius’s summons, and Lion led his fleet back to Macragge using the Tuchulcha Engine.
• Lion met Lox, Sanguinius, and Guilliman, then demanded to know whether they had found a route through the Warp storms to Terra.
• Eldrad Ulthran appeared, and Lion drew his sword while Holguin and Redloss fired at the Aeldari seer.
• Guilliman stopped Lion and Sanguinius explained that an alliance with the Aeldari could use the Webway to reach Terra.
• Guilliman praised Lion for destroying enemy factions, and Lion hid his guilt over the worlds his fleet had bombarded.
• Guilliman sensed Lion was concealing something and wondered why he smelled guilt.

Lion agreed to join the alliance with the Aeldari but reserved the right to withdraw if the Emperor opposed it. Guilliman, Sanguinius, and their allies outlined their vast forces for the return to Terra, leaving Uslan alarmed that the Webway could not accommodate them all.

• Sanguinius asked Lion to join the alliance with Uslan's Aeldari against the Warp, and Lion agreed conditionally while threatening to withdraw if the Emperor rejected it.
• Guilliman sarcastically challenged Lion's claims of loyalty, and Lox asked the assembled leaders how many troops they could bring to Terra.
• Guilliman pledged roughly three hundred thousand Ultramarines, hundreds of millions of mortal auxiliaries, Mechanicum forces, Titan Legions, and a formidable fleet.
• Sanguinius said only thirty thousand Blood Angels remained under his command but vowed to fight for the Emperor.
• Lox asked whether the Webway could transport their forces and supplies, and Uslan protested that it was too small.