Chapter Summaries

Lorgar entered Slaanesh’s Six Circles with Zardu Layak to find Fulgrim, while revealing that he intended to replace Horus as Chaos’s chosen leader. He forced his way toward Slaanesh’s palace and called out to Fulgrim.

• Lorgar and Zardu Layak entered Slaanesh’s realm, where Lorgar warned that their desires could be magnified and described the six circles surrounding the Palace of Pleasure.
• Lorgar sensed that Fulgrim was within the realm and learned that his brother had given himself over to Slaanesh.
• Lorgar told Layak that he believed Horus would lead Chaos to defeat and declared himself the gods’ perfect chosen one.
• Lorgar asked Layak to use Fulgrim’s true name after Lorgar gained control of his brother.
• Lorgar tore through the Six Circles, drove back Slaanesh’s daemons, and roared for Fulgrim.

Lorgar entered Slaanesh’s palace to persuade Fulgrim to return to the war against the Emperor, but Fulgrim refused and attacked him. The chapter ended with Fulgrim unleashing his true form and demanding that Lorgar leave.

• Lorgar and Layak entered the palace and found Fulgrim entwined with Nakari amid Slaanesh’s debauched court.
• Lorgar urged Fulgrim to return to the war, but Fulgrim mocked him and rejected any duty to Horus.
• Lorgar provoked Fulgrim by asking about Ferrus, and Fulgrim struck him into a wall before killing the other Word Bearer Astartes.
• Lorgar fought Fulgrim and argued that the war against the Emperor was a fight against lies, but Fulgrim said the war had nothing to do with him.
• Fulgrim revealed his true form, declared that he did not care about the war, and ordered Lorgar to leave.

Lorgar defeated Fulgrim by having Zardu Layak recite the daemon primarch’s true name, then took control of him and left Slaanesh’s realm with the Emperor’s Children. Back aboard the Trisagion, Lorgar planned to let Horus and Lion weaken each other before making his move, while plotting to gather other traitor primarchs to his side.

• Fulgrim overwhelmed Lorgar in Slaanesh’s Six Circles, but Zardu Layak recited Fulgrim’s true name and drained his power.
• Lorgar struck the bound Fulgrim and claimed him as a pawn, while Slaanesh allowed the confrontation to unfold.
• Layak controlled Fulgrim, reunited the scattered Emperor’s Children, and led them out of Slaanesh’s realm with Lorgar.
• Lorgar returned to the Trisagion and ordered his forces toward Beta-Garmon, intending to act after Horus and Lion had fought each other to exhaustion.
• Lorgar discovered that Konrad Curze had escaped Lion’s custody and planned to recruit him and other traitor primarchs for a rebellion against Horus.

Chaghatai Khan’s White Scars fleet detected Horus’s forces in the Beta-Garmon Cluster and discovered the Vengeful Spirit’s signal, then tried to withdraw. Their Warp translation failed, leaving them surrounded by Horus’s fleet and forced to fight their way out in realspace.

• Chaghatai Khan divined an omen of misfortune and warned Gantula, who told him reconnaissance had found Horus’s forces heading toward the Pacificus Sector.
• After a week of scouting through the Beta-Garmon Cluster, the White Scars detected the Vengeful Spirit’s signal, and Chaghatai ordered an immediate withdrawal rather than risk a decapitation strike.
• The fleet’s Warp translation failed at Mandeville Point despite its engines and instruments appearing normal.
• Horus’s rebel warships emerged around the White Scars from the Warp, revealing that Chaghatai’s fleet had been encircled.
• Chaghatai ordered the fleet to fight through Horus’s blockade and escape through realspace.

Horus psychically confronted Chaghatai and tried to persuade him to join the rebellion, insisting that he could use Chaos without becoming its servant. Chaghatai saw that Horus still had some goodness left, but Chaos overcame his doubts, and Horus threatened to kill him unless he surrendered.

• Horus appeared as a psychic projection aboard the Sky Eagle and claimed he had sealed the star system against escape.
• Chaghatai rejected Horus’s claim that they were still brothers and recognized him as a Warp monster wearing Horus’s identity.
• Horus justified his rebellion by describing his visions of the Emperor’s future and his desire to lead humanity to revival.
• Chaghatai reminded Horus of his happy years with the Emperor and argued that Horus himself might be the cause of the suffering he had foreseen.
• Horus wrestled with Chaghatai’s words, but Chaos suppressed his resistance, and he summoned the Talon of Horus and Worldbreaker to demand Chaghatai’s surrender or death.

Chaghatai fought Horus in a Warp realm, where he discovered the Chaos Gods behind Horus’s corruption and learned that Horus intended to overthrow the Emperor and rule humanity. Horus overwhelmed and captured Chaghatai, but the Khan refused to surrender.

• As Chaghatai prepared to fight Horus, Horus drew him into a dark Warp domain and declared it his world.
• Chaghatai summoned lightning and storms to resist the darkness, then recognized the four Chaos Gods behind Horus and cursed them for killing his brother.
• Chaghatai attacked Horus with the White Tiger Vicious Blade, but Horus caught the strike with the Talon of Horus and revealed that he had seized the gods’ power to become humanity’s new master.
• Horus easily sent Chaghatai flying, then pierced his shoulder with the Talon and lifted him while recalling their past brotherhood.
• Chaghatai refused to yield and spat blood onto the eye on Horus’s chest, declaring that he would rather die than become Horus’s captive.

Horus defeated Jaghatai and dragged him through a dark realm as his fragmented mind swung between memories and hatred, leaving the Khan near death and searching for a way to understand his own essence. Leman Russ arrived with the Space Wolves, armed with new knowledge of the Spear of Dionysus, and led a costly assault that breached the Vengeful Spirit.

• Horus subdued Jaghatai and spoke to him about their past while revealing his fractured, near-mad state.
• Jaghatai realized Horus had been consumed by Chaos and began reflecting on the Warp essence within the primarchs, but he could find no way to escape.
• Leman Russ returned from Fenris after completing Ergin's trials and learning that the Spear of Dionysus could restore its target to its primal state.
• Russ discovered that only he could dispel the Chaos power surrounding Horus, then rallied the Space Wolves to attack the Warmaster's fleet.
• The Space Wolves sacrificed ships and warriors to reach the Vengeful Spirit, where Russ led his warriors through a breach in its armor.

Leman Russ led the Space Wolves in a suicidal boarding assault on the Vengeful Spirit, directing packs through the corrupted ship as they fought to reach Horus. The Wolf King encountered a warped passage guarded by three concealed Contemptor Dreadnoughts.

• Leman Russ and the Space Wolves boarded the Vengeful Spirit, while the Hrafnkel bombarded the ship and most of the Legion's assault craft were destroyed.
• Leman Russ sent packs to hunt Horus and destroy the ship's armories, while Bjorn and the Long Fangs planted melta bombs in an ammunition depot.
• Bjorn fought beside Leman Russ and proved himself in battle as the wolves advanced through the Vengeful Spirit's corpse-filled corridors.
• Leman Russ followed the Rune Priests through the ship's warped, living interior toward Horus's throne hall, while the Vengeful Spirit attacked both intruders and its own crew.
• Leman Russ cleared away a poisonous mist and revealed three Contemptor Dreadnoughts blocking the wolves' path.

Leman Russ led the Space Wolves through a deadly ambush by corrupted Sons of Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit, destroying their Dreadnoughts and rallying his warriors. The Space Wolves pressed their attack with renewed morale as Russ called them to kill the remaining enemies.

• Leman Russ warned the Space Wolves about the Warp-corrupted Sons of Horus and advanced through their heavy Dreadnought fire with a psychic shield and the Spear of Dionysus.
• Leman Russ pierced a Dreadnought and used the Spear of Dionysus to purge the corruption from its dying occupant, granting the warrior a final death.
• Bjorn planted a melta bomb on another Dreadnought, destroying it in a searing explosion.
• Leman Russ impaled a third Dreadnought and shielded his sons when its reactor exploded.
• The Space Wolves roared for Leman Russ as their morale rose, and Russ raised the Spear of Dionysus and called them to kill the enemy.

Leman Russ reached the throne room of the Vengeful Spirit and began a life-or-death duel with Horus, interrupting the Warmaster as he attacked Jaghatai Khan's soul. Jaghatai returned to his body and ordered the White Scars to charge Horus's fleet and rescue Russ.

• Leman Russ fought through the Sons of Horus and reached the Vengeful Spirit's throne room, where he found an empty throne and sensed Horus hiding in another dimension.
• Russ saw Horus holding the dying Jaghatai Khan in the realm of souls and attacked him with the Dionysian Spear.
• Horus blocked Russ's spear with Worldbreaker, shattering the dark realm and returning Jaghatai's soul to his body.
• Jaghatai awoke among the Keshig, then ordered the White Scars fleet to attack Horus's combined fleet and save Russ.
• The White Scars accelerated the Heavenly Eagle toward the Vengeful Spirit as Russ and Horus began their fated duel.

Leman Russ fought Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit, using the Dionysian Spear to reach the brother still buried beneath Chaos's control. Russ left Horus wounded by the spear, and Horus briefly regained enough awareness to ask what he had done.

• Horus's Chaos-twisted perception erased his brief recognition of the Sons of Horus's mutations, and he again urged Russ to join him.
• Russ fought back with the Dionysian Spear while the two Primarchs unleashed opposing Warp powers aboard the Vengeful Spirit.
• As Horus gained the advantage, Russ realized he only needed to drive the spear into Horus and accepted the cost of doing so.
• Horus tore through Russ's armor and body, but Russ thrust the Dionysian Spear into Horus's abdomen.
• The spear expelled Warp energy from Horus, who staggered back and asked Russ what he had done.

The Emperor summoned Lox to ask him to support the Lion at Beta-Garmon, where Vashtorr and an expanded enemy alliance threatened the Imperium’s forces. He explained the primarchs’ Warp-born essences and revealed his connection to the Dark King, leaving Lox demanding to know what that had to do with Vashtorr.

• The Emperor sensed Leman Russ stab Horus with the Spear of the Wine God and grieved as Horus’s last kind soul began to awaken.
• The Emperor teleported Lox from Ganymede to the Imperial Palace and explained that Russ had awakened his primarch essence.
• The Emperor asked Lox to bring his Iron Men legion to support the Lion’s expeditionary fleet against an enlarged alliance that included Vashtorr.
• Lox challenged the Emperor for withholding information, and the Emperor explained the four vacant seats among Chaos’s potential gods and his bond with the Dark King.
• Lox questioned whether the Emperor was truly a god and whether he had destroyed humanity to ascend, and the Emperor denied that he served the Dark King.
• Lox asked what the Dark King had to do with Vashtorr.

The Emperor explained the Dark King, Vashtorr, and the Adeptus Mechanicus’ hidden origins to Lox before transferring the Machine God’s accumulated faith and the Omnissiah’s authority to him. Lox left the Golden Throne with new power and a mission to confront Vashtorr, while the Emperor feared that the gift might set his friend on the path to godhood.

• The Emperor told Lox that he would prevent the Dark King’s birth, which would also block Vashtorr’s ascension.
• The Emperor revealed that the Omnissiah’s role pointed to him, while the Machine God was the Void Dragon, whom he had defeated and imprisoned beneath Mars.
• The Emperor restrained Lox and asked him to take up the fight against Vashtorr, then transferred the faith he had collected and his Omnissiah authority to him.
• Lox gained heightened perception and understanding, and questioned whether the Emperor trusted him with such power.
• The Emperor sent Lox away from the Golden Throne to become the true Omnissiah, knowing the power might lead him toward godhood.

After receiving the Omnissiah’s authority from the Emperor, Lox discovered that he could command machines and set out to lead the Iron Men Legion and Ganymede’s forces to reinforce Lion El'Jonson at Beta-Garmon. His fleet left the Solar System and entered the Warp.

• Lox tested his new authority in his laboratory, making Ganymede’s machines run beyond their design limits.
• Arkhan Land recognized Lox as the source of the machines’ strange behavior, and Lox told him the Emperor had given him a mission.
• Lox formed armor from raw materials and ordered Land to gather the Iron Men Legion for the Beta-Garmon expedition.
• Lox considered the limits and dangers of his influence over machines and restrained himself from indulging in the faith flowing from the Adeptus Mechanicus priests.
• Lox assembled Iron Men, Skitarii, and loyal Knight Houses aboard a fleet of more than a thousand warships, then departed for Beta-Garmon.

Leman Russ used the Dionysian Spear to briefly free Horus from Chaos, and the brothers mourned together before Horus begged Russ to kill him. When Russ withdrew the spear, Chaos reclaimed Horus, who attacked his brother again.

• Russ drove the Dionysian Spear into Horus, weakening Chaos and allowing Horus’s free will to return.
• Horus confessed his guilt and apologized to Russ, and the brothers wept as their tears restored part of the Vengeful Spirit’s deck.
• Horus told Abaddon and the Sons of Horus to stop fighting, then begged Russ to kill him before Chaos could use his body again.
• Russ hesitated and pulled the spear from Horus’s body, allowing Chaos to surge back into the Warmaster.
• Horus seized the spear, struck Russ away with Worldbreaker, and declared that he would stop the Emperor even if he had to become more evil than him.

Leman Russ hesitated to kill Horus and was brutally defeated as the Warmaster’s Chaos power surged. The Space Wolves sacrificed themselves to protect Russ until Jaghatai Khan and the White Scars arrived and carried him away.

• Horus overwhelmed the wounded Leman Russ, declaring that he would kill Russ and then the Emperor.
• Horus savagely tore into Russ, leaving him near death as the Warmaster mocked his hesitation.
• The Space Wolves, including Bjorn, attacked Horus and formed a human shield around their fallen gene-father, but many were killed.
• The White Scars arrived aboard Tengu Mechs and used grappling hooks to retrieve the wounded Space Wolves.
• Jaghatai Khan carried the unconscious Leman Russ and Bjorn away while the Space Wolves’ sacrifice gave them time to escape.

Jaghatai Khan rescued the gravely wounded Leman Russ from the Vengeful Spirit and placed him in stasis aboard the Eagle of the Heavens. With the Space Wolves nearly destroyed and Russ unable to command, Jaghatai led the survivors away to reunite with Lion and Sanguinius.

• Jaghatai injected Leman Russ with emergency medicine, but it had no effect, so he brought Russ to the Eagle of the Heavens and placed him in a stasis field.
• Bjorn thanked Jaghatai for saving Russ, and Jaghatai said he had risked his life because the Legions were blood brothers.
• The Sons of Horus slaughtered the Space Wolves still trapped aboard the Vengeful Spirit, leaving the Sixth Legion with fewer than ten thousand warriors.
• Bjorn summoned the Space Wolves who had escaped to the Eagle of the Heavens and Hrafnkel, then reported that Russ had survived.
• Jaghatai ordered the survivors to rendezvous with Lion and Sanguinius, while Grinam urged them to avenge Russ and Bjorn warned him to prioritize the primarch's safety.
• Jaghatai fired the Eagle of the Heavens' planet-killer cannon through the rebel blockade, and the fleet escaped.

Chaghatai Khan’s battered fleet fled toward Beta-Garmon while Horus’s forces pursued, and a Blackstone Fortress’s devastating attack destroyed many Imperial ships. After months of sublight travel, the Skyhawk reached Lion El'Jonson’s forces, where Leman Russ needed urgent treatment and the final battle was drawing near.

• Chaghatai ordered the fleet to travel conventionally because Horus’s power had made warp jumps impossible, while pursuing rebels destroyed Space Wolves ships that fell behind.
• A Blackstone Fortress fired a psychic beam that destroyed more than a dozen Imperial warships, but the Skyhawk and the Hrafnkel escaped.
• Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal blamed the Blackstone Fortress’s operators for missing the fleet and executed them.
• Grinam Blackblood abandoned his objections after witnessing the enemy’s destructive weapon.
• After months of sublight travel, Chaghatai contacted Lion El'Jonson aboard the New Caliban and reported that Leman Russ needed treatment.
• The Skyhawk escorted the damaged Hrafnkel into the Imperial defensive zone as the forces prepared for the final battle.

Lion, Sanguinius, and Jaghatai heard Russ’s account of Horus’s overwhelming power and learned that Russ had discovered his own Warp nature. Lion chose to continue the defense of Beta-Garmon, ordering his brothers to stop the traitors there rather than retreat toward the Solar System.

• Lion and Sanguinius reached Jaghatai’s flagship and asked for a report on the battle, and Jaghatai recounted Horus’s ambush and Russ’s intervention.
• Sanguinius summoned healers to treat Russ, whose wounds resisted Primarch regeneration but were stabilized with advanced equipment.
• Russ told Lion that Horus’s consciousness had begged him to kill him, and he feared his hesitation had allowed Chaos to overcome Horus completely.
• Russ said he had understood his own Warp essence and warned that Horus, empowered by all four Chaos Gods, was beyond a Primarch’s ability to defeat alone.
• Russ, Sanguinius, and Jaghatai trusted Lion to choose whether to fight or retreat, and Lion ordered them to hold Beta-Garmon according to the original plan.

Lion divided the coming battle at Beta-Garmon into void and ground operations, then mobilized the Imperial forces after learning that Lox was bringing a Mechanicus fleet of over a thousand warships. As the fleets advanced toward Beta-Garmon II and III, Horus ordered the rebels to meet them and seize the system.

• Lion outlined the rebel fleet's Gloriana battleships and Blackstone fortress, and planned to use Imperial ships to learn the fortress's capabilities.
• Lion assigned Sanguinius to lead the ground assault against the traitor Titan Legions on Beta-Garmon II and III, while Jaghatai Khan joined Lion in directing void operations.
• Corswain read Lox's message announcing that he was bringing more than a thousand Mechanicus warships, including Ark Mechanicus vessels, to reinforce the Imperial fleet.
• Lion ordered full mobilization and sent the Imperial expeditionary force toward Beta-Garmon II and III, while Russ stayed behind to recover aboard Lion's New Caliban.
• Horus saw the Imperial advance and ordered his forces to answer the challenge and take Beta-Garmon.