Recaps

Lox and Guilliman imprisoned Konrad Curze in the Shadow Prison, where Lox witnessed his extraordinary regeneration and tested the psychic restraints. The Untouchable remains quieted Konrad’s visions, but he insisted that his prophesied death was inevitable.

• Lox and Guilliman concluded that Curze had deliberately allowed Auguston and the others to restrain him while pursuing another objective.
• Lox and the Adeptus Mechanicus confined Curze in a heavily fortified underground cell, surrounded by a stasis field and Untouchable remains.
• Lox released the stasis field and watched Curze regenerate his shattered face, leaving him puzzled by the Primarch’s seemingly impossible recovery.
• When Curze failed to wake, Lox shocked him with the cage’s high voltage, and Curze sat up and demanded to know why they had not killed him.
• Lox explained that thirteen Soulless remains suppressed Curze’s psychic powers, and Curze said his prophesied end would come regardless of their efforts.

Lox interrogated the imprisoned Konrad Curze, using knowledge of his past and his jealousy of Guilliman to probe his psychological defenses. When Lox appeared in person, Konrad’s psychic powers erupted despite the Untouchables’ suppression, and he was overwhelmed by vivid visions that included the Emperor behind Lox.

• Lox reviewed Konrad’s history on Nostramo and began questioning him in the adamantium prison while Guilliman watched.
• Konrad called himself Night Haunter, accused Lox of changing his prophecy, and claimed he had foreseen killing Euten in Macragge.
• Guilliman reacted furiously to Konrad’s threat against Euten, while Lox identified Konrad’s jealousy of Guilliman’s upbringing as a sensitive subject.
• Lox used Pharos to transport his true body from Sotha to Macragge and confronted Konrad face-to-face.
• Konrad’s psychic power surged through the suppression of thirteen Untouchable skeletons, and he saw the Emperor standing behind Lox.

Konrad Curze’s prophetic power surged and showed him the Emperor watching Lox from the future, overwhelming him with a vision of divine power. After hearing a faint plea about the future, Curze fell silent in his cell, seeming calmer but looking at Lox strangely.

• Veronica activated its weapons as Konrad’s psychic power rose, while Guilliman and Lox prepared to flee if he lost control.
• Konrad saw the future Emperor watching Lox and felt the Emperor extinguish his attempts to learn more about the mortal.
• Konrad struggled with his guilt, pain, and desire for his father’s forgiveness as the Emperor’s presence faded.
• Konrad heard a faint voice call to him about the future, then crouched silently as his psychic lightning disappeared.
• Lox shut off the cell’s high-voltage current and noticed that Konrad seemed less mad but was looking at him strangely.

Lox challenged Konrad Curze to take responsibility for his actions instead of hiding behind prophecy, while Guilliman demanded to know why he had betrayed them. Konrad claimed he would die at a Callidus assassin’s hand and said he hated the Imperium’s injustice and his Legion’s criminality, leaving his motives rooted in a warped sense of justice and despair.

• Konrad told Lox that another presence in his prophecy, not his own psychic power, had broken through the Untouchable bones’ confinement.
• Lox argued that Konrad used prophecy to excuse his choices, and Konrad insisted the future’s broad course could not be changed.
• Guilliman demanded to know why Konrad had betrayed them, and Konrad said fate ordained that a Callidus assassin would kill him.
• Konrad denied that he had rebelled, saying he despised the Imperium’s injustice and the criminals in his Legion, though he considered himself an accomplice to their crimes.

Lox and Guilliman confronted Konrad about his crimes, but Konrad revealed that Vulkan was immortal and might have resurrected. Guilliman hurried to check Vulkan’s body, while the Lion independently arrived at the secret Ultramarines base where it was being kept.

• Lox accused Konrad of seeking his own death while leading the Night Lords in massacres, and Konrad did not deny it.
• Lox and Guilliman decided to leave Konrad imprisoned, but Konrad silently told Lox, “Vulkan is immortal.”
• Lox realized Vulkan might be a Perpetual and urged an immediate trip to the base outside Macragge where his body was held.
• Guilliman flew to the base in his Thunderhawk, hoping Vulkan had revived and fearing Konrad’s words were another cruel deception.
• The Lion, accompanied by Holguin and Redloss, followed his instincts to the secret Ultramarines base, suspecting Guilliman was hiding something.

Vulkan resurrected in the secret base but awoke in a furious, confused state, breaking out despite the Ultramarines’ efforts to restrain him. He burst through the base’s final defenses and attacked the Lion, who had just arrived.

• Valentus Dolor and Apothecary Edmond discovered Vulkan’s charred body regenerating and alerted Guilliman.
• Vulkan revived, recognized no one, and smashed through the reinforced glass as Dolor ordered the guards to release anesthetic gas.
• Vulkan broke free, battered the Ultramarines aside, and repeatedly shouted Night Haunter’s name.
• Vulkan took a warhammer and Guilliman’s armor, then forced his way through the base’s blast doors.
• The Lion heard Vulkan’s roar and faced him as Vulkan swung the warhammer at him.

The Lion fought the maddened Vulkan, who attacked while consumed by hatred for Konrad Curze. The Lion wounded Vulkan repeatedly, but Vulkan’s rapid regeneration and overwhelming strength left the Lion struggling to stop him.

• Lion recognized the arriving Vulkan and deflected his brother’s warhammer, then warned him to calm down.
• Hoguine, Redloss, and Valentin Dolorlo’s Ultramarines gathered nearby as the Lion used his speed and patience to evade Vulkan’s attacks.
• The Lion struck Vulkan in the chest with the Lion Sword, but Vulkan ignored the wound and kept roaring Konrad Curze’s name.
• The Lion drove the Lion Sword through Vulkan’s chest, but Vulkan trapped the blade in his flesh and smashed the Lion’s shoulder guard with his warhammer.
• Vulkan pulled the Lion Sword from his chest as his wound rapidly healed, leaving the Lion shocked by his regenerative power.

The Lion fought the mad Vulkan and nearly killed him before Guilliman intervened and helped subdue him in a stasis vehicle. Guilliman took the displeased Lion into the base to discuss why he had hidden Vulkan’s presence, while Dorlok and Hero settled their wager by exchanging gifts.

• The Lion charged Vulkan, reclaimed the Lion Sword, and wounded him while avoiding his attacks.
• The Lion brought Vulkan to one knee and prepared to kill him, but Guilliman blocked the strike with a bolt from the Hand of Dominion.
• Guilliman landed between his brothers, and he and the Lion subdued Vulkan with restraining cuffs and confined him in an experimental stasis vehicle.
• Guilliman called the Lion into the base to discuss his concealed knowledge of Vulkan, and the Lion followed reluctantly.
• Dorlok offered Hero his power armor, and Hero gave Dorlok his relic plasma pistol.

Guilliman and Lion learned that Vulkan had survived but had been driven insane by prolonged torture, likely at Konrad's hands. They agreed to cooperate in treating him with psychic methods, while Lox hoped to trade for Dark Angels relic technology.

• Guilliman and Lion argued over hiding Vulkan's death and Curze's whereabouts, then blamed Konrad for Vulkan's fate.
• Lox examined Vulkan and determined that torture had left him physically vigorous but mentally shattered.
• Guilliman ordered that no expense be spared to save Vulkan, while Lox warned that his wounds were mental or spiritual and recommended psychic treatment.
• Lion offered the Dark Angels' Order of Sandalwood to help treat Vulkan, and Guilliman proposed an exchange of knowledge between their legions.
• Lox looked forward to trading with the Dark Angels for relic technology, especially technology from the Dark Age of Technology.

Lox negotiated with Lion for access to the Dark Angels' secret vaults, hoping to study their Dark Age of Technology relics and restore lost human knowledge. Lion agreed to let him enter the Invincible Reason's vaults under strict supervision.

• Guilliman released the Invincible Reason from surveillance, and Lion, Guilliman, and Lox left Vulkan in stasis while they waited at the Orbital Platform.
• Lox asked Lion to let him study the Dark Angels' relic technology, arguing that he could restore the knowledge and share it with both Legions.
• Lion challenged Lox's motives, and Lox offered the Dark Angels a Thundercloud planet-class warship, a planetary void fortress, and repairs for their fleet.
• Lox warned that the Invincible Reason was in his Hera space dock and that he could enter its vaults without Lion's consent.
• Lion agreed to grant Lox access to the secret vaults, requiring him to report every action and forbidding him from touching the most dangerous relics.

The Unyielding Truth was released from its confinement at Hera Shipyard and carried Stannis to the orbital platform where Lion El'Jonson awaited Lox and Guilliman. Lion then escorted them through the Dark Angels' heavily guarded flagship to the vault containing most of the First Legion's relic technology.

• Stannis watched the Unyielding Truth's restraints withdraw and ordered its crew to restore the ship's systems.
• The Unyielding Truth left Hera Shipyard and docked at the orbital platform where Lion, Lox, and Guilliman were waiting.
• Guilliman accompanied Lox aboard the Dark Angels' flagship and teased Lion about the treasures in the First Legion's vaults.
• Lion led Lox and Guilliman through the flagship's secured corridors, passing armed patrols and lethal automated defenses.
• A Dark Angel in Terminator armor opened the vault doors and revealed the Dark Angels' relic technology to Lox.

Lox explored the Dark Angels’ vast vault aboard the Invincible Reason, where the Lion showed him dangerous relic technologies and explained their origins. Lox asked to see the STC templates directly, and the Lion agreed, admitting he had let him wander because he had not asked sooner.

• Lox sensed that the vault occupied a spatial bubble, and the Lion explained that Dark Age technology had expanded the space inside the Invincible Reason.
• The Lion showed Lox the Silicon Virus, a relic from the Ghoul Stars that had turned life in an entire star system to stone, and Lox asked to study it.
• Lox encountered the dangerous Extinction Relics, warned the Lion that their corrupted artificial intelligence could turn against the Dark Angels, and then dropped the argument.
• Lox asked the Lion where the STC templates were, and the Lion said he would show him because Lox had not asked before.

Lox explored the Dark Angels' vault of forbidden technology when the Dark Watchers revealed themselves and led him to a biologically modified human brain containing an STC. Lion recognized the relic as a trophy from a destroyed human civilization and feared Lox would unlock its value for himself.

• Lion sensed the Dark Watchers approaching and tried to hurry Lox past them before Guilliman noticed.
• A Dark Watcher appeared before Lox, and Lion stopped Guilliman from attacking it, explaining that the beings were Caliban natives and allies of the Dark Angels.
• The Dark Watchers telepathically invited Lox to follow them into a concealed space, where they pointed out an STC preserved in a container.
• Lox recognized the STC as a biologically modified human brain and believed analyzing it could solve major problems in biological technology.
• Lion recalled that the brain came from a civilization the Dark Angels had destroyed and worried that Lox would make the relic useful beyond the Legion's control.

Lox obtained Moravik's Cube and other technological relics from the Dark Angels in exchange for equipment and supplies. Back on Macragge, he was called away from analyzing them to meet Elina Vella, whose child appeared to be in trouble.

• The Dark Watcher defended helping Lox and led him to Moravik's Cube, a relic containing psychic technology.
• Lox recognized Moravik's name and realized the cube, along with a modified brain in a cultivation tank, could provide valuable technical knowledge.
• Guilliman and Lion negotiated an exchange in which the Dark Angels received weapons, ships, armor, and other supplies for technological relics.
• Lox returned to Macragge eager to analyze the relics, but Zairo brought word that Elina Vella wanted to see him about her child.
• Lox agreed to meet Elina Vella.

Lox learned that Elina Vella’s two-year-old daughter, Joy, was a powerful Beta-grade Psyker and met the mother and child. With Joy’s abilities likely to grow, Titus left her fate to Lox.

• Titus told Lox that his preliminary assessment placed Joy at Beta grade or higher and warned that she could become dangerous if her powers ran out of control.
• Lox ordered Dulles’s squad to stay alert and went with Titus to see Elina and Joy.
• Elina pleaded with Lox to give Joy a chance to live, while Lox had Titus take the sleeping girl into his arms.
• Titus confirmed Joy was a Beta-grade Psyker who could sense the nearby Untouchables and left the decision about her fate to Lox.

Lox and the Librarians tried to suppress Joy’s immense psychic power, but their efforts triggered her rapid growth and awakening as an Alpha-class Psyker. After Joy devoured the Warp daemons drawn to her, Titus concluded that she was too dangerous to leave alive.

• Lox brought Joy to the monastery, where Titus and the Librarians connected her to a psychic suppression device as Alina watched.
• Joy resisted the Librarians with psychic lightning until Alina’s cry distracted her, allowing Titus to suppress her power with an obsidian circlet.
• Lox told Alina that Joy was a psychic genius whose sleeping sickness might stem from her body’s inability to withstand her power, and that Psykers could not be cured.
• Joy’s psychic activity surged, and she rapidly grew into a young maiden as Titus recognized her as an Alpha-class Psyker.
• Joy’s soul shone brightly in the Warp, attracting daemons; Titus fired at her, but she destroyed the bolts and devoured the daemons that tried to flee.
• Titus witnessed Joy kill the Warp daemons and decided that, for Macragge’s safety, he would have to kill her.

Joy’s uncontrolled psychic powers threatened the Ultramarines as Warp creatures emerged around her. Lox used Lowell McKen’s notebook to drive the Warp corruption from Joy, and she fell asleep in her parents’ arms.

• Lox warned Alina that Joy’s psychic power could no longer be contained and urged her to calm her daughter.
• Joy flew to Alina, then attacked Titus with psychic lightning when she saw him as a threat.
• Joy’s anger unleashed telekinetic destruction, while the Librarians formed a psychic restraint network around her.
• Lox opened Lowell McKen’s notebook and recited its words, causing it to shine with golden light that drew dark Warp corruption from Joy.
• Joy calmed down and fell asleep as Alina and her father comforted her.

Lox arranged for Joy, an Alpha-level Psyker, to be cared for and trained, then showed Guilliman the Book of Rowell and argued that faith in the Emperor could wield power against the Warp. Guilliman began reconsidering the Imperial Truth as Lox prepared to leave Macragge for Sotha and explore the galaxy’s fringe.

• Lox reported Joy’s situation to Guilliman, who supported his decision to try to save her.
• Lox explained that Chief Librarian Titus would watch over Joy and train her to control her psychic power.
• Lox presented the Book of Rowell and argued that faith had empowered it to drive back Warp evils.
• Guilliman reconsidered whether Lorgar’s teachings about faith could be true and decided to consult the hermit.
• Lox refused Guilliman’s attempt to assign him more work and announced that he would travel to Sotha to investigate reports from the fringe.
• Guilliman wished Lox a safe journey, and Lox left to gather people and prepare for the expedition.

Lox visited the White Scars to recruit their warriors for an expedition to the galaxy’s easternmost reaches, where his forces were searching for Blackstone. Captain Gantula agreed to join the operation, though limited transport capacity meant only one group could travel for now.

• Lox traveled by skimmer to the White Scars' territory and was greeted by Qin Xin, who summoned Captain Gantula.
• Lox told Gantula and Qin Xin about the Seed Project and the search for Blackstone at the eastern edge of the Ultima Segmentum.
• Lox asked the White Scars to accompany him because their vehicle and aircraft skills were needed to support the frontier forces.
• Gantula accepted the invitation on behalf of the White Scars and said they were eager to leave Macragge and serve their purpose.
• Lox explained that Pharos could transport only one group, and Qin Xin pressured Gantula to take him by threatening to reveal the captain's Tengu Mech engine modifications.

Lox prepared to teleport the White Scars and Ultramarines to Sotha, but Fafnir’s Space Wolves insisted on joining them. After learning they had abandoned the tedious task of monitoring Guilliman to one pack member, Lox agreed to take the hunting pack along on the condition that they obey orders.

• The White Scars prepared to travel to Sotha without their Tiangou vehicles because the Pharos could not transport large equipment.
• Lox questioned Gantula about the Space Wolves who had inserted themselves into the deployment, and Gantula explained that Fafnir had insisted on joining the expedition.
• Fafnir asked Lox to take his hunting pack to Sotha and explained that Guilliman’s nonstop paperwork had driven the Wolves away from their surveillance duty.
• Fafnir said one Space Wolf had stayed behind to continue monitoring Guilliman while the rest searched the Five Hundred Worlds for possible traitors.
• Lox agreed to take Fafnir’s pack to Sotha after ordering them to obey orders and not act on their own.

Agent John was captured by Narek, a renegade Word Bearer who wanted help killing Lorgar, and revealed that he had been sent to assassinate Vulkan with the Fulgurite Spear. They agreed to cooperate temporarily, though John remained suspicious of Narek, and followed him into a sewer tunnel.

• Narek captured John and restrained him with ropes and a psychic suppression collar.
• Narek refused to pursue Lox and demanded John's help killing Lorgar, while John explained his mission to assassinate Vulkan.
• John told Narek that Vulkan was imprisoned in a secret base outside Macragge and guarded by Ultramarines.
• Narek cut John's restraints and proposed that they help each other; John kept the Fulgurite Spear until he completed his mission.
• Narek revealed that he had betrayed the Word Bearers to save the legion from Lorgar, and led John into the sewer while John remained wary of him.

Lox returned to Sotha and laid out plans to use it as a forward base for finding Blackstone and expanding humanity’s reach. After Dantioch reported three planets that might contain Blackstone, Lox and the Space Marines prepared to investigate them.

• Dantioch and Pollux discussed the arriving reinforcements, and Pollux said he would stay on Sotha to keep watch over the Warsmith and Pharos.
• Lox returned through Pharos and assured Pollux that the Night Haunter had been captured and imprisoned on Macragge.
• Lox explained that Sotha would serve as a forward base for searching for Blackstone and preparing for a possible war to reclaim Terra.
• Dantioch reported that probes had found three planets that might contain Blackstone and more than twenty planets with signs of life.
• After a day of rest, Lox and the Space Marines departed Sotha aboard the Red Alert and five light cruisers to investigate the suspected Blackstone planets.

Lox’s expedition reached DX-114 and discovered a primitive civilization of blue-skinned xenos. After observing them hunt, use tools, and make fire, Lox ordered the fleet to begin exterminating them.

• Lox brought the fleet out of the Warp near DX-114 and ordered the crew to assess the planet from orbit.
• Hill introduced the target world, while Lox’s forces deployed stealth and scanning systems and prepared for possible psychic threats.
• Lox showed the gathered commanders images of the blue-skinned xenos, and the Tech-priests expressed interest in studying them.
• The expedition watched the xenos hunt with wooden spears, butcher their prey, and cook meat over a fire.
• Lox judged that the xenos civilization had to be destroyed, and Gantula and the Ultramarines prepared to attack.

The exploration fleet studied and exterminated the weak blue-skinned inhabitants of DX-114, whom Fafnir named the Tau, while the Space Wolves developed a taste for eating them. Lox tolerated their hunting until a vicious incident finally enraged him.

• Adeptus Mechanicus Biologis sages dissected captured xenos and discovered their humanlike anatomy, unusual senses, and physical weaknesses.
• The White Scars, Ultramarines, and Space Wolves spent a week wiping out most of the planet’s xenos population.
• Gantula’s Tengu-piloting White Scars swept through the xenos efficiently, but refused to take their heads as trophies because the hunt brought no honor.
• Fafnir and his Space Wolves tasted the xenos, named them Tau after their death screams, and developed several ways to prepare their flesh.
• Fafnir urged Lox to try Tau meat, but Lox declined, suspecting the Wolves had gone exploring partly to find snacks.
• Lox had tolerated the Space Wolves’ eating habits until a vicious incident made him furious.

Lox investigated why the Tau on planet DX-114 seemed to have developed unusually quickly and learned from Magos Lawrence that their genes showed signs of deliberate editing. The fleet had found no Blackstone, but Lox now suspected the Tau were a genetically engineered species.

• Fafnir persuaded mortal auxilia veterans to eat Tau flesh, and several suffered severe cobalt poisoning before doctors and Apothecaries treated them.
• Lox reprimanded Fafnir and ordered Barabas Dantioch to beat him and send the Space Wolves back to their cruiser.
• Fafnir continued promoting Tau meat aboard the cruiser, asking Mechanicus priests to remove its cobalt and his cousins to preserve Tau specimens.
• Lox reviewed Magos Lawrence's report and was alarmed that the Tau had apparently advanced from ocean-dwelling ancestors in only fifteen hundred years.
• Lox summoned Magos Lawrence, who showed him genetic anomalies and concluded that the Tau were likely a genetically engineered species.