Chapter Summaries

Lion El'Jonson and Horus gathered their forces in the Beta-Garmon Cluster for an evenly matched war, as reinforcements assembled around both primarchs. Horus welcomed his allies but failed to notice their distrust and division, while Forrix and the Iron Warriors were left feeling ignored.

• Lion El'Jonson mobilized more than ten billion Imperial troops and assembled a vast fleet and allied forces at Beta-Garmon.
• Horus's rebel forces gathered at Beta-Garmon and received reinforcements from Mortarion, Forrix, Lorgar, and Fulgrim, while Magnus sent Ahriman with a thousand Thousand Sons.
• Horus celebrated the arrival of his allies, unaware that Mortarion despised his Warp power and Lorgar was studying the wound left by the Dionysian Spear.
• Fulgrim remained bored and distracted, while Lorgar privately entertained the idea of replacing Horus.
• Forrix and the Iron Warriors realized Horus was ignoring them and doubted their chances of reaching Terra with his allies.

Horus unleashed the Blackstone Fortress against Lion's fleet, demonstrating its ability to destroy shielded battleships and split an asteroid. Lion ordered his Thundercloud-class warships to encircle the rebels while the Fortress recharged.

• Horus ordered the Blackstone Fortress to attack Lion's fleet and brought captured Space Wolves prisoners before him.
• The Blackstone Fortress's vortex cannon destroyed Lion's bait fleet and split an asteroid in the Beta-Garmon system.
• Horus slaughtered the Space Wolves prisoners while Ahriman watched and recognized Chaos's growing influence over Horus.
• Lion ordered his Thundercloud-class warships to spread out and encircle the rebels, relying on the Blackstone Fortress's recharge time.

Lion El'Jonson led the Imperial fleet in testing the Blackstone Fortress's defenses with a massive torpedo barrage, but its advanced shields and automatic psychic defenses repelled the attack. He ordered a prolonged engagement and sent the Sky Eagle to intercept the enemy Gloriana formation as the opposing fleets prepared to clash.

• Lion reviewed the scouting ships' data and learned that even Thundercloud-class planetary warships could survive no more than three hits from the Blackstone Fortress's main cannon after their shields failed.
• Lion ordered the fleet to fire void torpedoes and full-power lance arrays, then planned to use the planet-killer cannons once the enemy's shields were breached.
• The Blackstone Fortress raised its advanced violet void shields, which rapidly repaired damage and blocked nearly all of the torpedoes.
• The Blackstone Fortress activated concealed psychic beams and destroyed the torpedoes that had passed through its shields, nullifying the Imperial barrage.
• Lion ordered continuous fire, assigned the New Caliban and the Tears of Angels to engage the fortress, and sent the Sky Eagle to intercept the enemy Gloriana formation.
• Lion spotted the Word Bearers' and World Eaters' warships, including the Threefold Litany, and prepared to challenge them again.

Lion El'Jonson's fleet battled the Blackstone Fortress as its awakening consciousness strengthened its defenses and fought back. Elsewhere, Jaghatai Khan exploited Horus's strained command to pressure the traitor fleet, but Ahriman ordered the Infinite Splendor to use the Iron Blood as a shield against the Eagle of the Firmament's attack.

• The New Caliban and Tears of the Angels attacked the Blackstone Fortress from opposite directions, prompting the ancient relic to awaken and reinforce its defenses with Warp energy.
• The Blackstone Fortress and the loyalist warships exchanged devastating fire, while Lion El'Jonson sought openings to damage its true body.
• Jaghatai Khan led a smaller fleet against Horus's six capital ships and recognized that Horus's command was impaired by Russ's spear wound.
• Jaghatai's Eagle of the Firmament aimed its planet-killer cannon at the traitor fleet, forcing Horus to choose which ships would bear the attack.
• Ahriman ordered the Infinite Splendor to maneuver behind the Iron Blood and let the Iron Warriors' flagship take the incoming fire.

Ahriman cut the Ten Thousand Radiances off from Horus’s commands and maneuvered it away from battle, forcing the Iron Blood to change course. Chagatai Khan seized the opening and struck the Iron Warriors’ flagship with the Sky Eagle’s planet-killer cannon, leaving the Iron Blood badly damaged as Horus ordered the fleet to cover its retreat.

• Ahriman erased Horus’s order, shut down the Ten Thousand Radiances’ communications, and refused to follow the Warmaster’s commands.
• The Ten Thousand Radiances changed course without warning, forcing the Iron Blood to maneuver aside to avoid a collision.
• Chagatai Khan ordered the Sky Eagle and three Gloriana-class ships to concentrate their fire on the enemy fleet’s exposed position.
• Forrix redirected nearby ships to shield the Iron Blood as the Sky Eagle’s planet-killer cannon struck, vaporizing dozens of vessels and badly damaging the flagship.
• Horus ordered the other warships to close in and cover the Iron Blood’s withdrawal.

The Iron Warriors and Thousand Sons began withdrawing from the core battlefield as their faith in Horus faltered, while the primarch-led fleets remained locked in a costly stalemate. With neither side able to win quickly through ship-to-ship combat, both prepared to use boarding assaults to break the deadlock.

• Fricks rejected Horus's order to send the damaged Ironblood back against the enemy flagship and withdrew the Iron Warriors toward the outer battlefield.
• Ahriman approved of the Iron Warriors' retreat and said Horus would pay for accepting the Warp's blessings.
• Jaghatai Khan maneuvered the Sky Eagle to protect Leman Russ's damaged Hrafnkel from concentrated rebel attacks.
• The capital ships and void fortresses remained locked in a stalemate as commanders searched for a way to end the war of attrition.
• Astartes from both sides assembled in boarding torpedoes and assault craft to attack enemy ships.

Lion El'Jonson postponed a risky boarding assault on the Blackstone Fortress after learning that Lox's Mechanicum fleet had arrived. Lox brought a rapidly expanding Iron Men force to Beta-Garmon, preparing to unleash it against the traitors.

• Lion El'Jonson discussed a boarding assault on the Blackstone Fortress with the wounded Leman Russ, who warned him not to risk himself.
• A crewman reported that Lord Lox's fleet had arrived behind their lines, and Lion postponed the boarding operation until he could assess the reinforcements.
• Lox studied the battle data aboard Arkhan Land's Ark Mechanicus and sensed the rebels' growing Warp fluctuations.
• Lox used gravity generators to stabilize a metal-rich asteroid as Mechanicum ships towed it toward the battlefield.
• Lox explained that Iron Men and nanobots were turning the asteroid into a vast factory carrier, rapidly multiplying his legion beyond the Warp's corrupting reach.

Lox transformed the Iron Men Planet into a vast production center that built millions of industrial Iron Men and tens of thousands of war Iron Men. Meanwhile, Ahzek Ahriman divined the futures of the Beta-Garmon conflict, but an unseen Warp presence concealed the outcome that troubled him.

• Lox's Iron Men built mines, refineries, foundries, and factories that converted the planet's resources into more machines and war supplies.
• The foundries produced tens of thousands of armored war Iron Men equipped with powerful ranged and close-combat weapons, ready for deployment.
• The Radiance of Ten Thousand Fathoms and the Ironblood stayed at the edge of the Beta-Garmon conflict as their Legions prioritized their own survival.
• Ahzek Ahriman sensed danger and sacrificed human thralls to perform a psychic divination of possible futures.
• Ahriman saw futures in which Horus either defeated the Imperial fleet or lost his forces, but an unseen Warp will obscured the future that worried him.

Lox sent the Iron Men Legion and Endryd Haar’s Emperor’s Fangs in a surprise assault on the Thousand Sons flagship, the Boundless Radiance. The Iron Men and Astartes began advancing through the ship, while Ahriman remained unaware of the attack.

• Ahriman considered withdrawing the Thousand Sons from the war after a troubling premonition, but he did not realize Lox’s fleet was approaching.
• Lox detected the Boundless Radiance and ordered the Iron Men Legion and Emperor’s Fangs to prepare for a large-scale teleportation assault.
• Lox teleported one thousand Iron Men onto the Boundless Radiance first, followed by Endryd Haar and the Astartes.
• The Iron Men cut themselves free from sections fused into the ship during teleportation and destroyed the daemon-haunted paintings guarding its corridors.
• The Iron Men advanced through the flagship, killing mortal defenders with plasma and Gauss fire, while the Emperor’s Fangs followed behind them and returned fire.

Iron Men and the Emperor’s Fangs boarded the Radiant Glory, where the Iron Men devastated the Spire Guard while repairing battle damage. As the Fangs split off to prove their worth, Frikx ordered the Iron Warriors to support the Thousand Sons flagship against the newly arrived Mechanicum fleet.

• The Iron Men advanced through the Radiant Glory, killing Spire Guard defenders with precise fire while engineering units repaired damaged sections of the ship.
• Endryd Haar sent War Hounds toward the plasma reactor, while Broken Hound led the Emperor’s Fangs away from the Iron Men to pursue another assault route toward the command deck.
• Lox realized that he had misjudged the Astartes’ pride, and the Iron Men detached units to continue shielding them.
• Frikx detected the Mechanicum fleet surrounding the Radiant Glory and learned that it had launched boarding attacks against the Thousand Sons flagship.
• After weighing the Iron Warriors’ grievances against the Thousand Sons, Frikx ordered them to support the Radiant Glory and fire their weapon arrays at full power.

The Iron Warriors attacked the Light of Ten Thousand Radiances under cover of fighting the Imperial fleet, killing Thousand Sons and crippling their flagship. Ahriman reached the boarding battle and found Iron Men slaughtering the mortal auxiliaries, then confronted the machines himself.

• The Iron Blood opened fire on the Light of Ten Thousand Radiances and the Mechanicus escorts, with some shells striking the Thousand Sons flagship from behind.
• Lox used the Mechanicus ships' linked Void Shields to withstand the Iron Warriors' bombardment while the Light of Ten Thousand Radiances suffered heavy damage and system failures.
• Ahriman realized that nine Thousand Sons had been killed by Iron Warriors fire and charged toward their position, vowing revenge.
• The Thousand Sons demanded accountability, and the Iron Warriors claimed they had executed the captain responsible for the supposed misfire.
• Ahriman reached the battlefield and found Iron Men massacring the mortal auxiliaries before they concentrated their weapons on him.
• Ahriman called the Iron Men abominable and rose into the air, counterattacking with psychic arcs.

Ahriman and the Thousand Sons fought off the Iron Men boarding the Magnificence of a Thousand Suns, but the machines adapted to his psychic attacks and forced them to retreat. As Ahriman removed his damaged helmet, Endryd Haar ambushed the Thousand Sons from the shadows.

• Ahriman blocked the Iron Men's arc and Gauss weapons with a psychic shield and destroyed one with psychic lightning.
• The Iron Men adapted by forming Faraday cages to divert Ahriman's lightning, while siege-pattern Iron Men broke his shield with their power fists.
• Ahriman used force fields and psychic fire to crush and burn Iron Men, but more machines teleported aboard the Magnificence of a Thousand Suns.
• Ahriman led his battle-brothers in a fighting retreat to protect the flagship's relics and knowledge.
• Endryd Haar lunged from a blind spot as Ahriman removed his damaged helmet and called on the traitors to face judgment.

Endryd Haar ambushed Ahriman with help from Raven Guard veterans, interrupting the Thousand Sons sorcerer's powers and driving him into close combat. Haar rejected Khorne's invitation but received the Blood God's blessing anyway, and the two Astartes continued their savage fight in the warship corridor.

• Endryd Haar and Raven Guard veterans sprang from hiding while Ahriman was briefly vulnerable after removing his helmet.
• Haar's roar disrupted the Thousand Sons' concentration, and his power fists shattered Ahriman's psychic shields.
• Haar rejected Khorne's invitation, but Khorne bestowed a blessing that strengthened him and let him break through Ahriman's time-stop field.
• Ahriman redirected Haar's fists at the cost of an arm and much of his armor, then pulled away from the attack.
• Ahriman asked whether Haar was a World Eater, and Haar identified himself as a War Hound before charging again.
• Haar and Ahriman fought savagely in the narrow corridor, each driven by hatred and a desire for vengeance.

Ahriman tried to persuade Endryd Haar to join the World Eaters, but Haar rejected him and attacked. Ahriman summoned a Lord of Change to fight Haar aboard the Radiance of Myriad Lights, and Haar charged the Greater Daemon.

• Ahriman introduced himself to Shattered Hound and tried to convince him to join the World Eaters by invoking Angron.
• Haar removed his helmet and paused, giving Ahriman time to prepare a summoning ritual using nine mortal Psykers.
• Haar denounced Angron as the traitor who destroyed the War Hounds Legion and charged Ahriman.
• Ahriman used the nine Psykers to summon a Tzeentchian Lord of Change aboard the Radiance of Myriad Lights.
• The Lord of Change found that the Iron Men resisted its corruption, while Haar charged it with his power fists.

Lox entered the battle aboard the Radiance of a Thousand Suns and used his Omnissiah-given power to free Harl from Khorne’s influence and empower his armor. When the Lord of Change attacked Harl, Lox crushed it beneath an immense gravity field, leaving it exposed to the Broken Hound’s fist.

• Ahriman summoned a powerful Lord of Change to support him against the Broken Hound.
• Lox left Arkhan Land’s Mechanicus Ark and teleported aboard the Radiance of a Thousand Suns to help Harl.
• Lox dispelled Khorne’s blessing from Harl and restored and empowered the Broken Hound’s armor.
• Harl resisted the Lord of Change’s psychic assault and charged the Greater Daemon.
• Lox created stacked field generators that pinned the Lord of Change beneath a thousand times normal gravity as Harl’s fist struck toward it.

Lox used his authority to crush and burn the Lord of Change, while Ahriman’s summoned daemon’s psychic shriek killed three Thousand Sons. Endryd Haar battered the daemon for eight minutes before it banished him into space, but Lox pulled him back and advanced with the Iron Men as the Lord of Change declared that he was not human.

• Lox pinned the Lord of Change with a thousandfold gravity field, crushed it with falling metal, and scorched it with molten iron.
• The Lord of Change’s psychic shriek killed three Thousand Sons, driving Ahriman to unleash lightning and break the metal binding the daemon.
• Lox made Haar immune to the gravity field and strengthened his power fist, allowing Haar to pummel the Lord of Change at close range.
• After more than eight minutes of fighting, the Lord of Change banished Haar into space and confronted Lox, claiming he was not human.
• Lox dragged Haar back to the battlefield as Iron Men broke through the Thousand Sons’ defenses and gathered behind him.

Lox used the Omnissiah’s power to cleanse parts of the Light of Ten Thousand Zhang while resisting the temptation to become a god. After his Iron Men countered the Changeling’s Chaos Scrapcode, the daemon opened a Warp portal and fled, leaving Ahriman facing Lox’s forces alone.

• Lox realized he could use the Omnissiah’s power to manipulate gravity and magnetism, and he partially cleansed the corrupted battleship.
• Lox decided to use his power cautiously rather than risk losing his humanity by ascending to godhood.
• Lox reshaped the ship and armed his Iron Men as the Changeling prepared to attack them with Chaos Scrapcode.
• Lox let a small amount of scrapcode infiltrate an Iron Man to test his Blackstone anti-psychic field, which destroyed the corruption when the Iron Men passed it to their central node.
• The Changeling opened a Warp portal, claimed it would fetch reinforcements, and escaped, leaving Ahriman alone before Lox’s Iron Men.

Tzeentch’s Greater Daemon abandoned Ahriman, leaving the Thousand Sons to face Lox’s forces without Magnus. Ahriman teleported the Thousand Sons away from their doomed flagship, while Lox ordered the remaining traitors killed and the ship’s library preserved.

• Tzeentch’s Greater Daemon fled after telling Ahriman to fetch reinforcements, and Ahriman cursed the Changer of Ways.
• Lox learned from Ahriman’s reactions that Konrad Curze had lured Magnus away by claiming to know the location of his final soul fragment.
• Lox decided not to destroy the Thousand Sons outright, since their survival could help bring Magnus to Terra and free the Emperor from the Golden Throne.
• Ahriman used his psychic power to teleport the Thousand Sons Astartes away from the Light of a Thousand Suns, sacrificing the flagship to save them.
• Lox ordered the Iron Men Legion and Haar’s Emperor’s Fangs to kill everyone remaining aboard and preserve the Thousand Sons’ library after purging its corruption.

After the Iron Men Legion defeated the Thousand Sons, Lox joined Lion’s fleet as it struggled against an awakened Blackstone Fortress. Eldrad Uslan proposed entering the fortress to awaken its own consciousness, and Lion assigned Corswain to escort him.

• The Iron Men Legion forced Ahriman to abandon the Thousand Sons’ Gloriana, while Lox reconsidered whether to spare the retreating traitors.
• Lox contacted Lion and arrived with reinforcements as Lion’s fleet remained locked in battle with the Blackstone Fortress.
• Lox asked Eldrad Uslan to explain the fortress’s weaknesses, and Uslan identified its defensive Warp field as a stress response.
• Uslan proposed that Space Marines escort him to the fortress’s central control core so he could awaken its consciousness.
• Lion ordered Corswain to lead a force of Deathwing and Dreadwing warriors to escort Uslan on the mission.

With the Iron Warriors and Thousand Sons retreating, Lox and Lion El'Jonson prepared a strike against the Blackstone Fortress. Lox took command of the relic warship Infinite Loyalty and led a mixed Astartes force toward the fortress.

• Lox told Lion El'Jonson that the Thousand Sons had fled, the Iron Warriors were retreating, and the Glorious Light had been captured.
• Lion El'Jonson took command of the Adeptus Mechanicus fleet, and Lox warned him not to sacrifice its forces recklessly.
• Lox agreed with the Ulthwé seer to attack the Blackstone Fortress, bringing the Emperor's Children and Iron Men alongside Corswain's Dark Angels.
• Endryd Haar and the Blackshield Astartes joined Lox, forming a force of three thousand warriors, while Corswain brought nearly fifteen hundred Dark Angels veterans.
• Lox awakened and took control of the Machine Spirit aboard Infinite Loyalty, which then raced toward the Blackstone Fortress at twice its conventional speed.