Recaps

The Emperor fought through the Vengeful Spirit toward Sanguinius while his other sons faced threats across warped timelines. Meanwhile, Lox and Konrad Curze met the Chief in a parallel twenty-first millennium, where Lox learned Slaanesh had sent him there to give him a chance to save humanity.

• The Emperor sensed Dorn, Lion, Russ, Jaghatai Khan, and Sanguinius facing different dangers, but chose to continue toward Sanguinius, who was confronting Horus.
• The Emperor forced a path through a world of skulls, then discovered that Slaanesh had sent Lox and Konrad Curze to the twenty-first millennium of another timeline.
• Lox and Konrad attended the Chief’s lecture on the dangers of human genetic modification and followed him to a private lounge afterward.
• The Chief recognized Lox as a visitor from the future and identified Curze as an extraordinary creation related to Neos.
• Lox asked the Chief for help returning to the Emperor, and the Chief concluded that Slaanesh had sent him there because of his desire to restore humanity.
• The Chief told Lox that the parallel timeline was real and offered him the chance to begin again and save humanity.

Lox rejected Slaanesh’s tempting false timeline and fought the Dark Prince alongside Konrad Curze. Meanwhile, Lion El’Jonson awakened his forest-walking power on Fenris, returned to Caliban, and set out to find Leman Russ.

• The Chief explained that Slaanesh had sent Lox to a new timeline because Lox’s selfless love for humanity fascinated the Dark Prince, then invited him to join a plan to change the past.
• Lox recognized that the Chief was an illusion because he would never waste time, and he and Konrad Curze attacked the figure, revealing Slaanesh.
• Slaanesh offered Lox a place at his side and promised him a world where he could fulfill his hopes, but Lox rejected the offer and accused Slaanesh of trapping him in a birdcage.
• A Fenrisian shaman urged Lion El’Jonson to leave Fenris and awakened Lion’s power, allowing him to recover his true identity and cross vast distances through forests.
• Lion returned to Caliban, remembered his duty to the Emperor, and hurried through the forest to find Leman Russ.

Lion traveled through Caliban to prevent a coming conflict with the Knights of Lupus, then reached Aldurukh as Leman Russ confronted their leader, Sartana. The chapter ended with Russ declaring that humans and the great beasts could not coexist on Caliban.

• Lion recalled how Luther brought him out of the forests, regretted destroying the Knights of Lupus, and raced toward the Northern Wilds after finding signs of Russ’s campaign.
• Lion read a knight’s blood memories and learned that Luther had negotiated a truce with the Knights of Lupus, who had retreated to the Northern Wilds under Sartana’s leadership.
• Lion recognized the young knight Nemiel, told him his name, and teleported them both to Aldurukh to stop Sartana from dying in the coming confrontation.
• Lion and Nemiel secretly watched Leman Russ receive Sartana and three veteran knights at Aldurukh, while Russ sensed a familiar presence nearby.
• Sartana demanded that Russ withdraw from the Northern Wilds to protect its great beasts, and Russ warned that the Sirius Knights could not dictate terms before declaring that humans and great beasts could not coexist.

Lion revealed himself at the Order’s meeting and fought Leman Russ until the Wolf King recovered his memories. After learning that Caliban’s beasts absorbed Chaos corruption released by the dormant Ouroboros, Lion discovered that Ouroboros had to remain separated from Plagueheart and the Tuchulcha Engine.

• Saltana refused to reveal the Knights of Sirius’ secret, so Lion emerged, ordered the hall cleared, and challenged Russ to a fight.
• Lion and Russ brawled through the Order’s headquarters until Russ remembered that he was the Wolf King and embraced his brother.
• Russ named Lion his brother and joined him in questioning Saltana and Luther about Caliban’s hidden secret.
• Saltana explained that Caliban’s beasts absorbed Chaos corruption emanating from the dormant Ouroboros, and that killing the beasts could leave humanity exposed to it.
• Saltana revealed that the Dark Watchers guarded Ouroboros and warned that it must never reunite with Plagueheart and the Tuchulcha Engine.

Lion connected the Tuchulcha Engine to a possible plot involving three dangerous entities, then helped the Order and the Sirius Knights reconcile on Caliban. As Caliban prepared to face an unknown fleet, its ancient weapons brought down an Aeldari ship carrying Nurgle’s corruption, and the transformed Chagatai emerged to demand Lion’s submission.

• Lion realized the Tuchulcha Engine might have sought him out to unite with the Ouroboros and the Heart of Pestilence, so he resolved to reclaim and destroy it after the war.
• Saltana led Russ, Luther, and the Calibanite knights through Saint Grula, where they saw the Sirius Knights imprisoning great beasts, and Lion argued that humanity’s enemies extended far beyond Caliban.
• Luther spotted unfamiliar lights in the sky, and Lion identified them as ships in orbit before ordering Caliban’s people to evacuate and its knights to prepare for battle.
• Lion directed Luther and Saltana to activate ancient colonial-ship weapons, and Caliban’s defenses blasted an Aeldari Shadow Hunter-class frigate out of orbit.
• Lion investigated the crashed frigate and found human remains, Nurgle’s corruption, and a gateway from which the plague-ridden Chagatai emerged and demanded Lion submit to him.

Chaghatai Khan, empowered by the Heart of Plague, invaded Caliban to seize the Ouroboros and remake the galaxy through destruction and rebirth. Lion El'Jonson and Leman Russ struggled to stop him until the Emperor's radiance appeared and summoned them, offering hope that Chaghatai could still be reached.

• Chaghatai revealed that Nurgle had given him the Heart of Plague and explained his plan to destroy the galaxy so he could remake it.
• Chaghatai disclosed that the Heart of Plague, the Tuchulcha Engine, and the Ouroboros together formed a device that could create a Webway between realspace and the Warp, and said he had conquered Commorragh.
• Leman Russ arrived and tried to shake Chaghatai's resolve, but Chaghatai's plague army overran Caliban as Lion and Russ fought him alongside the planet's knights and beasts.
• Lion and Russ realized they could not win by prolonging the battle and sought to retreat and find their other brothers, while Chaghatai continued pressing his attack.
• A golden sun appeared above Caliban, healing the plague-stricken and restoring the defenders, as Russ recognized the Emperor's power and called on Chaghatai to surrender.

The Emperor’s Light freed the Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai from the illusory world on Caliban, while Dorn resisted Khorne’s attempts to corrupt him and was summoned away. Lox and Curze escaped Slaanesh’s palace and returned to the Vengeful Spirit, where the real battle remained close at hand.

• The Emperor’s Light rallied Caliban’s people and weakened Jaghatai’s Heart of Plague, allowing the Lion and Russ to destroy it and bring Jaghatai to the brink of death.
• Jaghatai recovered, reflected on how Chaos exploited existing desires, and joined the Lion and Russ as they bid farewell to Luther and Sultana before the Emperor’s Light carried them away.
• Khorne tempted Dorn with freedom and power, but Dorn reaffirmed his loyalty to the Emperor and humanity and fought off the Blood God’s daemons.
• Dorn mocked Ka'Bandha’s pursuit of glory until the Emperor’s Light rescued him, while Ka'Bandha began questioning his purpose.
• Lox and Curze fought their way through Slaanesh’s palace until the Emperor’s Light returned them to the Vengeful Spirit, where they sensed the enemy nearby.

Lox and the primarchs crossed the Vengeful Spirit with Oll Persson, Cyrene, and John, learning that the Emperor might become the Dark King as they fought through Neverborn alongside Constantin Valdor and his forces. Guided by Curze's visions and Lion's power, they reached Horus and found him killing Sanguinius, whom Curze pulled from his grasp.

• Lox found Dorn, then Lion, Leman Russ, and Jaghatai Khan emerged from the fog as the primarchs gathered.
• Curze saw Sanguinius in danger and urged the group to follow his visions instead of heading directly toward the Emperor.
• Oll Persson introduced Cyrene and John, and Cyrene and Oll revealed that the Emperor might become the Dark King.
• A Cthulhu-like monster and other Neverborn attacked, but the primarchs, Constantin Valdor, the Custodians, and the Sisters of Silence destroyed them.
• Curze's visions led the group to a hall where Horus had impaled the badly wounded Sanguinius, and Curze seized the Angel from Horus as Sanguinius urged them to flee.

Curze sacrificed himself to save Sanguinius from Horus’s fatal attack, and Lox preserved both Primarchs in stasis. The Emperor arrived to confront Horus, whose fractured mind fixated on his father as the battle began.

• Curze defied fate by taking Horus’s heart-piercing strike meant for Sanguinius, and Lox sealed both dying Primarchs in stasis fields.
• Horus overwhelmed the other Primarchs and killed Custodians until Valdor charged him with the Apollonian Spear.
• The Emperor arrived with Leto, Garviel Loken, and Kel Karthus, then forced Horus to release Valdor.
• The Emperor and Horus faced each other as the Emperor shielded the others from the duel.
• Horus recalled his early years beside the Emperor and became increasingly confused when the Emperor asked him, “Why?”

The Emperor confronted Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit, but Horus mistook his repeated question about why he had killed his son as a demand for submission. After Lox evacuated the critically wounded Sanguinius and Curze, the Emperor and Horus began fighting as their allies tried to intervene.

• Horus boasted that he had surpassed the Emperor, offered to share power with him, and claimed to have mastered the Chaos Gods while the Emperor repeatedly asked why he had killed his son.
• Kael Kardus condemned Horus, and Garviel Loken confronted his former father, urging him to resist Chaos, but Horus ignored them and demanded that the Emperor kneel.
• Horus realized the Emperor had not been looking at him and understood that the Emperor's question referred to Horus himself; enraged, he blasted the Emperor with Warp power.
• Lion El'Jonson told Lox to evacuate Sanguinius and Curze, but Lox sent their stasis field to Terra and chose to stay and fight alongside the others.
• Lion, Jaghatai Khan, Loken, the Custodians, and others attacked Horus while John provoked him by calling him a replacement for Oll Persson, drawing Horus's lethal lightning toward Oll.
• The Emperor shielded Oll Persson, then confronted Horus directly as father and son began their final battle.

The Emperor and Horus fought across the Warp and the timeline, using their past, their origins, and the betrayals of the Horus Heresy as weapons. Horus ultimately overpowered the Emperor and raised his weapons to execute him.

• The Emperor and Horus clashed in the Vengeful Spirit, unleashing power that threatened both the Warp and the material universe, while Lox resisted Slaanesh's attempt to tempt him.
• The Emperor trapped Horus in Cthonia and tried to exploit his past, but Horus showed no attachment and destroyed the world.
• Horus attacked key points in the Emperor's history, including humanity's birthplace and the Imperial Palace, while the Emperor restored them and confronted Horus with the betrayals at Isstvan III and Isstvan V.
• Horus accused the Emperor of creating the primarchs through a bargain at Molech and using them as weapons, then the two continued their battle across the timeline.
• Horus returned to the Warp and, empowered by the Chaos Gods, broke through the Emperor's attacks and transformations.
• Horus struck down the Emperor, shattered his armor, and raised the Worldbreaker and Talon of Horus to execute him.

Horus briefly broke free of Chaos after Loken stabbed him with the ritual dagger, and the Emperor killed him while holding him in a final embrace. With the Horus Heresy ended but humanity’s future uncertain, Lox prepared to depart.

• Horus believed he had killed the Emperor, then dismissed the Chaos Gods’ power and told Loken he would reshape the Imperium.
• The Emperor revealed that the slain figure had been Alpharius’s double, and the Chaos Gods restored enough power to Horus to keep him fighting.
• Oll Persson used the ritual dagger to breach Horus’s domain, while John used the Dark Tongue to separate the Emperor and Horus and buy Loken a chance to strike.
• The Emperor entered Loken’s body, and Loken stabbed Horus with the ritual dagger, severing Horus’s connection to the Chaos Gods and restoring his clarity.
• The Emperor held Horus and killed him with the dagger after Horus silently asked him to do so, then told his son that he forgave him.
• Lox spoke with the Emperor about humanity’s uncertain future and declared that he was leaving.

After killing Horus, the Emperor revealed that his wounds would force him into a long slumber on the Golden Throne to suppress the awakening Dark King. Before sleeping, he granted the loyal Primarchs kingdoms around their homeworlds to stabilize the Imperium, while Abaddon escaped toward the Warp to continue the war.

• The Emperor defeated Horus, and his surviving sons and loyal forces celebrated his victory as Abaddon lost hope and prepared to flee with Layak’s help.
• The Emperor showed his grievous wounds and explained that Horus’s power had damaged his essence, leaving him unable to prevent the Dark King from awakening without entering slumber on the Golden Throne.
• Lox teleported the Emperor and the others to Terra, where the Emperor ordered Malcador to activate the contingency plan and prepare him for the Golden Throne.
• The Emperor told the Primarchs that they would have to protect humanity in his absence and warned that their powerful realms could come into conflict with Terra and one another.
• The Emperor permitted the Primarchs to establish kingdoms around their homeworlds, with Terra remaining the Imperium’s core, and explained that the arrangement was meant to prevent humanity’s future fragmentation.

After the Emperor returned to the Golden Throne to contain the Dark King, Lox prepared to leave the Warhammer universe and seek allies and power across the multiverse. The primarchs and their followers offered companions and resources for his expedition, while they prepared to divide their forces and defend the Imperium.

• The Emperor assigned the primarchs responsibility for guarding and expanding the Imperium’s frontier sectors, and Dorn and Perturabo suspected that their opposing temporal flows were linked.
• The Emperor shared a cigarette with Oll Persson, thanked Malcador, and told him he was free to choose whether to govern or retire after the Emperor entered his slumber.
• Lox vowed to travel to other universes, and the Emperor climbed back onto the Golden Throne to suppress the Dark King while Magnus screamed as the Throne drained his psychic power.
• The primarchs left the Throne Room to restore the Imperium’s defenses and prepare their Legions to purge the remaining rebels and Warp daemons.
• Lion, Jaghatai, Russ, Dorn, and the other primarchs offered Lox Corswain, Qin Xin, Fafnir, Pollux, Sevatar, Azkaellon, Eannid Hill, and Janus, along with gene-seed and access to the Dark Angels’ vaults.
• Lox accepted the companions and support for his expedition, intending to seek allies and ways to save humanity beyond the universe.

Lox prepared to leave the Imperium and cross the Warp in search of another universe, entrusting Ganymede and the Iron Men to those who would remain behind. After nine months of travel through the Warp’s depths, the Emperor’s Compass stirred, suggesting he had found a passage between universes.

• Lox gathered five hundred veteran Astartes and visited Ganymede, where Arkhan Land and Belisarius Cawl gave him analyzed data, primarch genetic material, and Cawl’s AI clone.
• Lox took the Iron Man Veronica and said farewell to Adam, leaving him to protect humanity and discreetly expand the Iron Men, with the Five Hundred Worlds as a possible refuge.
• Lox boarded the Red Alert with his Astartes, Stone Men researchers, and preparations for the expedition, then departed Terra using the Emperor’s Compass.
• Malcador watched Lox leave and hoped his expedition would succeed, while the Emperor remained unresponsive on the Golden Throne.
• Lox guided the Red Alert deep into the Warp, where it traveled for nine months under the Emperor’s protection.
• The Emperor’s Compass stirred, and Lox realized he might have found a passage between universes.

Lox crossed the Well of Eternity aboard the Red Alert and arrived in a new universe whose Milky Way resembled his own but whose Warp was calm and uncorrupted. He began traveling toward Earth to confirm whether humanity existed there.

• Lox discovered that Kairos Fateweaver watched the Well of Eternity, then waited for Kairos to leave before piloting the Red Alert through it.
• As the Red Alert crossed universes, Lox's Omnissiah authority weakened to about half strength, and he glimpsed humans in the new universe.
• Lox emerged in an unfamiliar binary-star system, found that its star charts broadly matched the Milky Way, and ordered the Red Alert to travel to Earth.
• The Red Alert entered the new universe's Warp, where Lox found travel remarkably calm and safe.

After the Heresy, the loyalists cleansed the Solar System while the Emperor, Sanguinius, and Curze lay gravely wounded and Lox departed on a desperate mission beyond their universe. Guilliman arrived too late, learned what had happened, and was left to help rebuild the Imperium as its Primarchs prepared to return to their homeworlds.

• Adam led the Iron Men in crushing the traitors, while the Vengeful Spirit escaped the Solar System with Abaddon and other rebels aboard.
• Lion's forces cleansed Terra, Luna, and Mars, and Guilliman arrived with a vast fleet alongside Corax after the fighting had ended.
• Lion punched Guilliman and told him that the Emperor was on the Golden Throne, Sanguinius and Curze were near death, and Lox had left with Hill and other Astartes.
• Lion revealed that the Emperor had authorized Primarchs to establish autonomous kingdoms around their homeworlds, and Guilliman resolved to believe that he would see Lox again.
• Lion, Jaghatai Khan, and Russ planned to return to Caliban, Chogoris, and Fenris, while Guilliman learned that Mortarion and Perturabo were on Terra.
• Guilliman saw his sisters and younger brother in the Imperial Palace and screamed in shock.

Lox returned to the Solar System in the X-Men universe, found Earth in 1962, and established a hidden base inside Mars. After sending a disguised Iron Man to investigate Earth, he discovered that mutants and the X-Men existed in this reality, leaving him bewildered about where he had arrived.

• Lox observed that the local Warp was calm and unusually tolerant of psychic power, and considered whether spreading faith in the Omnissiah could restore his authority.
• The Red Alert emerged near Pluto, and Lox recognized the primitive Solar System and intercepted an early human message announcing Earth's location.
• Lox chose Mars as a concealed base site, tunneled into Olympus Mons, and began constructing facilities while leaving the planet's atmosphere and magnetic field untouched.
• Lox sent a disguised Iron Man to Earth and learned that it was 1962, during rising tensions surrounding the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• Lox searched human networks and found references to mutants, Charles Xavier, and the School for Gifted Youngsters, realizing he had landed in the world of X-Men.

Lox realized that mutant genetics could help advance his Space Marine enhancement program, then traveled to New York to meet Professor Charles Xavier and explore a peaceful way to work with mutants. The chapter ended with Charles welcoming Lox’s offer to tour the academy and provide funding.

• Lox considered studying the X-gene and incorporating mutant abilities into Space Marines or their power armor.
• Lox condemned Sebastian Shaw’s plan to provoke nuclear war and decided that he should be killed.
• Lox noted that Barabas Dantioch and the other thawed Astartes remained unconscious, then decided to contact Professor X and Magneto.
• Lox traveled by car to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters and met Charles Xavier and Raven.
• Lox offered to tour the school and provide funding, and Charles eagerly welcomed his proposal.

Lox toured Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters with Charles and Raven while considering how mutant X-genes could provide a safer way to harness Warp power. He revealed that dangerous mutants were already active in history and warned that Sebastian Shaw was working to start World War III, leaving Charles and Raven stunned.

• Lox concluded that mutant X-genes let mutants wield Warp energy more safely than conventional Psykers and decided mutants were valuable allies and subjects for study.
• Charles introduced Raven as Lox's guide, and the three toured the school while Charles tried to secure sponsorship and Raven grew jealous of their conversation.
• Lox praised mutants and discussed their place in society, winning Charles's trust and prompting him to wonder whether Lox represented a power across the Pacific.
• Lox told Charles and Raven about ancient mutant Apocalypse, whose ability to transfer his consciousness had kept him alive for millennia.
• Lox described James Howlett and Victor's healing and combat abilities, then revealed that Sebastian Shaw could absorb and release energy and planned to ignite World War III.

Lox joined Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters and taught Charles to use the conflict surrounding Sebastian Shaw to expose hidden enemies and strengthen mutants’ position. Charles grew convinced that Lox should lead the school, while Lox continued developing his influence over the mutants.

• Charles secretly probed Lox’s mind, encountered its overwhelming power, and collapsed; Raven revived him, and Lox urged Charles to comfort her.
• Charles invited Lox to stay at Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters, where Lox took a teaching role and provided one hundred million dollars for the school.
• Lox explained that Shaw’s actions could draw out the powerful interests behind him, and Charles agreed to help monitor the plot in Las Vegas.
• Lox taught Charles that mutants needed to demonstrate their strength to gain recognition and leverage, reshaping Charles’s views on how mutants should pursue their rights.
• Lox explained that opposing Shaw could unite mutants who hated him, including Erik Lehnsherr, and Charles offered Lox his position as headmaster.

Lox persuaded Charles to make X Academy an influential organization for mutants and helped him negotiate with the CIA for official backing. Charles, Lox, and Raven arrived instantly at Director Oliver’s office to discuss cooperation against Sebastian Shaw.

• Charles accepted an honorary principal title and followed Lox’s advice to recruit more mutants and build X Academy’s influence.
• Lox warned Charles that the CIA had discovered clues about Shaw’s Hellfire Club and predicted an agent would visit.
• Moira MacTaggert sought Charles’s help, but Charles demanded to negotiate with Oliver instead of dealing with her superiors.
• The next day, Molly returned with word that Oliver had agreed to meet Charles and had been appointed director of a new Mutant Affairs Division.
• Raven startled Molly by copying her appearance, and Lox teleported the group to Oliver’s office.

Charles secured an agreement making him a special consultant to the CIA’s new mutation department and Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters a partner, then joined Oliver’s team in searching for Magneto and Shaw. The team found Shaw’s yacht, where Magneto attacked it with a massive steel chain.

• Lox teleported Charles, Raven, Moria, and himself to Virginia, where they met Director Oliver.
• Charles traded intelligence about Shaw for a CIA consulting role and partnership status for Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters.
• Lox showed Oliver a demonstration of Magneto’s potential, and Moria found Erik Lehnsherr’s trail in Argentina and toward a New York harbor.
• Lox teleported Oliver’s agents to the harbor, where Charles sensed Erik and Shaw aboard a nearby vessel.
• Shaw’s allies raised a tornado that overturned the Coast Guard boats, while Lox secretly kept the officers from drowning.
• Erik used magnetic force to haul up a huge steel chain and wrap it around Shaw’s yacht, stopping and damaging the ship.

Eric helped destroy Shaw’s yacht but nearly drowned before Charles rescued him, and Lox secretly collected Eric’s hair for genetic research on Mars. At the CIA’s mutation division, Eric joined Charles’s effort to hunt Shaw, while Lox identified the scientist Hank McCoy as a valuable recruit.

• Eric used his magnetic power to tear apart Xiao’s yacht, but Shaw escaped aboard a nuclear submarine that Lox secretly marked with a nascent Machine Spirit.
• Charles rescued Eric from the sea, and Lox gave him a thermal blanket while secretly sending a strand of Eric’s hair to the Mars Base laboratory.
• Cawl One and the Stone Men analyzed the genetic samples from Eric, Professor X, and Raven, but their efforts to decode the X-gene remained limited.
• Charles reassured Eric that the CIA’s mutation division was not arresting him and explained that they intended to stop Shaw, while Eric revealed the Hellfire Club’s powerful mutant allies.
• Oliver showed the group the division’s supersonic aircraft and introduced Hank McCoy, whom Lox recognized as a promising research recruit.

Lox joined Charles and the others in using Hank’s modified radar to locate mutants, then set out alone to recruit those with unusual potential. He secured Darwin’s loyalty and blood sample and headed to meet Wolverine Logan.

• Charles revealed Hank’s mutant nature, and Hank demonstrated his strength before introducing the psychic amplifier he had built.
• Hank’s machine greatly expanded Charles’s telepathy, allowing him to map mutants and identify several powerful ones, though he could not locate Shaw.
• Charles split the group to recruit mutants, while Lox took a map and vanished to pursue distant targets on his own.
• Lox found Aman driving a taxi, gave him a fortune, named him Darwin, and requested a blood sample that Darwin willingly provided.
• Lox set off with Darwin to meet his next target, Wolverine Logan.