Recaps

Lox helped Guilliman investigate strange apparitions on Macragge and traveled to Sotha to study the Pharos, whose activation revealed its Necron origin and awakened a tomb world. As Necrons attacked, Trazyn captured Lox and showed him Solemnace while recounting the Necrontyr, Aeldari, and Slaanesh, still intent on adding Lox to his collection.

• Lox developed Mustafar’s production base, welcomed Magos Bakr Dillen’s research presence, and began gathering Untouchables for a force against Psykers, recruiting Dulles Van Lentin into experimental armor.
• Guilliman summoned Lox to Macragge to investigate apparitions, which proved to be quantum-resonance projections, and the Pharos later let Barabas Dantioch communicate from Sotha.
• Lox joined Dantioch on Sotha, explored the Pharos, and identified its quantum pulse engine as Necron technology before scanning it with a specialized STC.
• The scan awakened Necrons beneath Sotha, while Dantioch activated the Pharos and sent a beacon through the Ruinstorm as isolated Imperial ships began converging on Macragge.
• Lox and the defenders fought Necron forces, discovered that fallen Necrons transmitted data for resurrection, and used time-loop ammunition to disrupt their recovery.
• Trazyn the Infinite entered Lox’s command center, froze the battlefield with a stasis field, and took Lox through a pocket-dimension rift to Solemnace.
• Trazyn showed Lox the museum’s collections and explained the history of the Necrontyr, the Aeldari, and Slaanesh while trying to persuade Lox to join his collection.

Lox learned the truth behind Pharos and helped its beacon guide loyalists to Macragge, where Guilliman gathered forces to oppose Horus and sought Blackstone for a human navigation system. An Alpha Legion assassination attempt left Guilliman wounded, and he asked Lox to take charge if he died.

• Lox refused Trazyn’s offer to become an immortal deputy curator and asked instead about the Age of Strife, then returned to Sotha after Trazyn sent him through a dimensional rift.
• Lox and Dantioch decoded Pharos’s data, discovered its Warp-independent communication and navigation functions, and learned from the Chief’s projection that Lox should gather other civilizations’ technology.
• Pharos’s beacon guided Fafnir and Gantula’s forces through the Ruinstorm to Macragge, where Guilliman welcomed loyalist survivors and won their pledges to fight Horus.
• Fafnir told Guilliman that the Space Wolves had destroyed Prospero under altered orders, and Guilliman allowed them to remain near him while admitting to Lox that he was building a Second Empire.
• Lox explained Pharos and the Necrons to Guilliman, who ordered a search for Blackstone across the Ultima Segmentum and warned against disturbing possible Necron tomb worlds.
• Ventanus arrived from Calth, but Alpha Legion assassins posing as his warriors attacked Guilliman, and Lox escaped the chamber and alerted the Victrix Guard while Guilliman fought the attackers.
• The Victrix Guard broke into the sealed room and killed the surviving assassins after Guilliman was struck by toxin-laced bolts, and Macragge went into lockdown as doctors treated him.
• Guilliman recovered from the attack and told Lox he had wanted to see whether the Five Hundred Worlds could endure without him, then asked Lox to take responsibility for his realm if he died.

Lox and Guilliman strengthened Macragge’s defenses, explored new weapons and intelligence plans, and confronted the deaths and dangers gathering around them. As Guilliman’s rule expanded and his brothers remained absent or dead, Macragge’s leaders prepared to crown him Emperor of the Second Imperium.

• Guilliman rebuked Auguston for demanding blame over the attack, named Lox his closest adviser, and heard Ventanus introduce the surrendered Word Bearer called the Hermit.
• The Hermit explained that he had rejected Lorgar and the Word Bearers, and Guilliman ordered him to atone by helping expose their plans and provide knowledge of the Warp.
• Lox and Guilliman planned to use Blackstone and the Hermit’s rituals to gather intelligence, while Lox appointed Ventanus to lead counter-infiltration efforts and observed how Macragge’s civilian life was improving.
• Gantula and the White Scars toured the Hera planetary dockyard, where Lox showed them the Thundercloud, a planetary-class warship, and the transforming Tengu Mech.
• Lox identified the corpse that had fallen onto Macragge as Vulkan, and Guilliman grieved in private before ordering the news concealed from the Salamanders.
• Lox and Dantioch launched the Seed Project to survey the galactic fringe with automated exploration ships, while Pollux and Auguston agreed on major improvements to Macragge’s orbital defenses.
• Guilliman defended the Librarius against Fafnir Bloodbond’s objections, and a feast and debate over Rune Priests led the Space Wolves to set aside the Edict of Nikaea dispute for Russ and the Allfather to decide.
• Lady Yottan told Guilliman that Macragge’s governors and ministers would crown him Emperor of the Second Imperium the next day, and Guilliman silently accepted the coming coronation.

Lion El'Jonson arrived on Macragge seeking an alliance with Guilliman, but the brothers' meeting unraveled when Konrad Curze escaped and attacked Hera Fortress. Veronica stopped Curze, and the Lion left after warning Guilliman about forbidden technology.

• Lion arrived at Macragge, where Guilliman welcomed him cautiously and staged a military parade before their meeting.
• Lion and Guilliman discussed their loyalty and the possibility of uniting their brothers, but Curze escaped from the Invincible Truth and triggered the launch of the Dark Angels' drop pods.
• Lion confessed that he had brought Curze to Macragge, and Guilliman imposed martial law as Ultramarines and Dark Angels searched for the Night Haunter.
• Curze evaded the search and infiltrated Hera Fortress, where he killed Captain Celsus and fought Auguston and Holguin.
• Dantioch used the Pharos beacon to pull Pollux from Hera Fortress to Sotha, while Curze fought Guilliman and Lion in the Memorial Hall.
• Curze wounded Lion and set off hidden bombs, but an awakened Iron Man teleported the explosives and structure away.
• Lox released Veronica's protocol restrictions, and she subdued Curze with her disintegration-field fists before placing him in stasis.
• Guilliman ordered the wounded treated, and Lion warned him about forbidden technology before leaving Macragge with Holguin and the surviving Dark Angels.