Chapter Summaries

Omegon persuaded Abaddon to abandon repeated assaults on the Imperium and seek a way into other universes, while the Emperor returned to Terra and began assigning the work of restoring Imperial order. The chapter ended with the Emperor turning to the Golden Throne and preparing to repair the damaged Webway breach.

• Omegon and Lorgar returned to the Warp with their surviving forces, and Lorgar urged Abaddon to recover his resolve.
• Abaddon rallied the Black Legion by declaring that obtaining Drach'nyen made their mission a victory, then vowed to rebuild and unite the Imperium's enemies.
• Omegon told Abaddon that Lox had traveled beyond their universe and acquired power from another multiverse, prompting Abaddon to plan an exodus with Chaos forces.
• The Emperor celebrated the Imperium's advantages and ordered Valdor to purge Terra, while announcing that he would curtail the High Lords' authority.
• The Emperor refused Malcador's retirement, appointed Guilliman as Regent with Malcador as his deputy, and ordered Lox to expand Space Bridge access across the galaxy.
• The Emperor turned to the Golden Throne and announced that the damaged Webway breach beneath it had to be repaired.

The Emperor launched the Webway Restoration Plan, assigning the Imperial Fists, Perturabo, and Grey Knights roles in the project after Lox gave him the Old Ones’ Webway technology. As construction began beneath the Golden Throne, Arkhan Land and Belisarius Cawl found that creating suitable repair materials remained a crucial obstacle, one they would need allies such as Lox, the Eldar, and Necrons to solve.

• The Emperor ordered Valdor to purge Alfreda’s remnants and sent Malcador and Guilliman to seize the High Lords’ authority.
• The Emperor asked Lox for the Old Ones’ Webway technology, explaining that the Old Ones and Aeldari gods had once driven him back when he tried to obtain it himself.
• The Emperor assigned Dorn and Perturabo to lead the Imperial Fists in defending and repairing the Webway, and tasked Loken, Garro, and the Grey Knights with inspecting it for Warp corruption.
• The Emperor summoned Land, Cawl, and other leading sages to Terra, while Imperial forces and Mechanicus engineers began clearing the old Webway battlefield.
• Land and Cawl found that repairing the Webway required materials with several difficult properties, and Land said the Emperor, Lox, the Eldar, and Necron allies would need to help find a solution.

Lox and the Emperor sought Aeldari help and wraithbone to produce materials for restoring the human Webway. Cegorach arrived with Eldrad and Mortarion, and the chapter ended with the first batch of Webway-like material emerging from Lox's machine.

• The Emperor explained that he had built the human Webway by reassembling salvaged materials and reinforcing them with psychic power, then said he would not let the project be delayed again.
• Cegorach emerged from a Warp daemon with Eldrad and Mortarion, whose new Aeldari identity provoked the Emperor and drew Dorn and Perturabo back to the battlefield.
• Cegorach agreed to provide Bonesingers and wraithbone if the Emperor stopped targeting Mortarion, and Aeldari artisans arrived to help make Webway materials.
• Eldrad explained that wraithbone could not fully repair the breach, while Lox brought Cawl, Land, Adeptus Mechanicus Magi, Iron Men, and prepared raw materials to the site.
• Lox persuaded Uslan to let the humans learn the Bonesingers' craft, and the Aeldari produced wraithbone that Lox fed into his machine, which made the first material resembling the Webway.

The Emperor repaired the first section of Magnus's Folly and planned further efforts to reclaim and expand the Webway. On Terra, Guilliman and Malcador purged corrupt officials and ended the High Lords' Council's status as the Imperium's highest authority, beginning a new order centered on the Emperor, Regent, and Sigillite.

• The Emperor used newly forged Webway material to begin sealing Magnus's Folly while human forces held back the daemons, and Lox, Cawl, Land, Perturabo, Dorn, and Mortarion witnessed the repair.
• Loken sensed that a remnant of Horus's soul might remain, and Cegorach appeared to celebrate the Webway's healing.
• The Emperor outlined plans to repair the artificial Webway, explore the Old One passages, and capture Commorragh from the Drukhari with Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai.
• Guilliman and Malcador convened Terra's High Lords, and Guilliman announced that Euphrati Keeler would rebuild the Ecclesiarchy after Eufrati's rule.
• Malcador displayed evidence against corrupt officials, and Guilliman ordered those implicated to surrender to the Inquisition or face pursuit by the Officio Assassinorum.
• Guilliman announced the Emperor's return and restructured Imperial power, making the High Lords' Council an executive and advisory body beneath the Regent and Sigillite.

The Emperor revealed his plan to build a human Warp soul sanctuary network modeled on the Orks’ psychic network, using faith, the God-Emperor, and the Golden Throne to protect human souls. Lox agreed to help later, insisting that repairing the Webway and reclaiming Commorragh came first.

• The Emperor and Lox discussed the Imperium’s Webway repairs, the shortage of wraithbone, and Guilliman and Malcador’s new administrative roles.
• Lox found the Emperor on the Golden Throne and learned that Magnus would remain subject to punishment after the Webway was repaired.
• The Emperor explained that humanity needed protection for its souls as well as its bodies, and showed Lox the Orks’ Warp network.
• The Emperor proposed using the God-Emperor and a modified Golden Throne to guide human faith into a sanctuary where souls could rest or become heroic spirits.
• The Emperor asked Lox to help develop the soul sanctuary network, and Lox agreed to assist after the Webway project and the campaign to reclaim Commorragh.

Leman Russ, Lion El'Jonson, and Jaghatai Khan led their Legions in another assault on Commorragh, whose defenses had kept them out for a century. Lion unleashed a Dysjunction that began tearing through the Webway, leaving the Dark Eldar scrambling to save the city.

• Leman Russ agreed to join Lion's next assault, despite the Space Wolves' dwindling supplies and heavy losses.
• Russ led the Space Wolves through a Dark Eldar outpost, then escaped as the passage closed behind them.
• Russ, Lion, and Jaghatai Khan gathered before Commorragh's high wall while an Archon taunted them from its defenses.
• Lion concealed the Astartes in jungle mist, then a Dysjunction spread through the Webway and began destroying fortifications, wreckage, and corpses.
• The Archon recognized the disaster and ordered the Kabals, Wych Cults, and Haemonculus Covens to unite or risk Commorragh's destruction.

Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai entered Commorragh’s core district after the Dissolution disaster weakened its defenses, using Vect’s intelligence to advance toward the Heart of Pestilence. As daemons ravaged the city, the primarchs and their Astartes cut through anything in their path.

• Lion explained that Asdrubael Vect had predicted the Dissolution and offered intelligence in exchange for the primarchs destroying his rival Kabals.
• Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai agreed to use Vect until they found the Heart of Pestilence, then kill him.
• The primarchs crossed Commorragh’s damaged high wall through Lion’s mist forest and entered the core district.
• Warp daemons poured into Commorragh while the Dark Eldar organized a desperate defense against them.
• Jaghatai led the primarchs toward the Heart of Pestilence as they slaughtered Dark Eldar and daemons in their path.

Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai Khan crossed chaotic Commorragh with Asdrubael Vect as their guide, battling Drukhari kabals while searching for the Heart of Plague. Vect led them into a Haemonculus Coven experimental zone, where they faced its grotesque guardians and the chapter ended with the battle underway.

• Jaghatai Khan struggled to sense the Heart of Plague through Commorragh's shifting labyrinth, so Lion used Vect's communicator to summon their guide.
• Asdrubael Vect led the primarchs and Astartes through Commorragh, repeatedly steering them into Drukhari strongholds, where they destroyed thirteen powerful kabals.
• The Astartes freed slaves from a market controlled by the Midnight Flayers, and Russ promised they could leave Commorragh if they survived until the mission ended.
• Vect guided the force into the Decaying Corridor, an experimental zone of the Haemonculus Covens, where alarms sounded and grotesque guardians attacked.
• Lion, Russ, Jaghatai, and their warriors fought the Coven's modified monsters while Vect watched from safety and wondered what treasure had drawn three gene-primarchs.

Jaghatai Khan, the Lion, and their forces fought through the Haemonculi research base to reach the Heart of Pestilence, whose power the Haemonculi unleashed to mutate their creations. As the Astartes came under attack from Vect’s allies, Chagatai urged the surrounded forces to concentrate on breaking through toward the artifact.

• Jaghatai Khan, the White Scars, and the Dark Angels destroyed the research base’s defenses while advancing toward the Heart of Pestilence.
• Master Heliopolis ordered the Heart of Pestilence activated, unleashing green energy that transformed the Haemonculi creations and made them far more dangerous.
• Garad and the Astartes struggled against rapidly regenerating monsters as Jaghatai Khan warned them that the Heart of Pestilence was empowering their enemies.
• Asdrubael Vect persuaded Heliopolis to grant him command of the Haemonculi creations in exchange for a role in researching the Heart of Plague, while promising support from the Wych Cults and Drazhar.
• Vect’s forces attacked the Astartes’ flanks and rear as he directed the Haemonculi creations against them, and Russ, the Lion, and Chagatai fought back.
• Chagatai identified the Heart of Plague’s location and ordered the surrounded forces to concentrate their attack and break through.

Lion’s force was caught between Vect’s Drukhari allies and a growing host of Nurgle’s followers, while Fabius Bile arrived seeking the Haemonculi’s knowledge. The battle in Commorragh became a five-way free-for-all as the Webway ruptured further.

• Vect revealed that the Wych Cults and Incubi had joined the ambush, and Lion sent Garrad and the Dark Angels’ Inner Circle to attack Drazhar while the other Primarchs deployed their elite troops.
• Garrad’s warriors fought Drazhar, who wounded Garrad and killed an Inner Circle Dark Angel, while Vect watched and explained Drazhar’s origins as Arhra, a former Phoenix Lord.
• The Heart of Pestilence strengthened the Haemonculi’s monsters, and Jaghatai sensed that its power had drawn the Warp’s attention as the Webway tears widened.
• Ku'gath, Typhus, and a host of Nurgle’s daemons and Death Guard emerged through the ruptured Webway to seize the Heart of Pestilence.
• Fabius Bile and the fallen Emperor’s Children arrived after the Slaanesh daemons were driven back, and Bile ordered them to capture the Haemonculi alive and hunt the Dark Eldar.

Lion El'Jonson and the other Primarchs held back while Nurgle's forces tied down the Dark Eldar, but Lucius and the Emperor's Children then stormed Vekt's defenses and entered the Haemonculi experimental base. Lion finally prepared to attack, intent on killing the traitors and taking Commorragh for humanity.

• Lion El'Jonson, Jaghatai Khan, and Russ let Nurgle's daemon host and the Death Guard fight the Dark Eldar while the Space Marines held their position and waited for the Emperor's Children to reveal themselves.
• Ku'gath and Typhus led Nurgle's forces into a grinding battle against the Dark Eldar, whose forces struggled against the daemons' resilience and plague-ridden attacks.
• Vekt received threats from the Haemonculi, ordered his forces to deploy annihilation weapons and summon reinforcements, and secretly prepared an escape for his loyal followers.
• Lucius led the Emperor's Children in a sudden assault on Vekt's defensive line, slaughtering Dark Eldar and pushing into the Haemonculi experimental base.
• Vekt sent bioweapons to stop the Emperor's Children, while Lion El'Jonson prepared to attack and destroy the traitors.

Lucius fought his way into the Haemonculi experimental base, where he battled Candice and Drazhar while Fabius Bile entered to seize the covens’ research. Bile revealed that he wanted to create Astartes capable of reproduction as the first step toward producing female primarchs, leaving even the surrounding combatants stunned.

• Lucius subdued an Ur-Ghul and used its keen senses to find a concealed entrance into the Haemonculi sanctuary.
• Candice attacked Lucius, and Drazhar joined the fight after arriving wounded and missing an arm from his battle with Galad.
• Vect unleashed a gravitational singularity weapon outside the base, while Lion and his forces breached the outer defenses and Ku'gath renewed his assault.
• Fabius Bile entered the laboratory and told Master Heliopolis that he wanted the Haemonculi’s knowledge to advance his research into life and human evolution.
• Bile declared that he aimed to create Astartes capable of reproducing before pursuing his larger goal of creating female primarchs, shocking Lucius, Candice, and Drazhar.

Fabius Bile forced Master Heliopolis to surrender the Haemonculi covens and their knowledge as Commorragh’s defenses collapsed. Lion El'Jonson, Leman Russ, and Jaghatai Khan then killed Ku'gath, leaving the unstable Heart of Pestilence exposed.

• Fabius Bile offered Heliopolis a place in his research enterprise and warned that the Primarchs and the Emperor threatened Commorragh, while Candice and Drazhar tried to stop the Haemonculus master from accepting.
• When the experimental base began to collapse and human forces closed in, Heliopolis ordered the Haemonculi to cease resistance and surrender; Bile sent Lucius to escort them and their data cores out.
• Vect ordered the surviving Black Heart warriors, Wyches, and Incubi to retreat with him, while the Nurgle daemon host and Death Guard surged toward the Heart of Pestilence.
• Leman Russ charged Ku'gath, Jaghatai Khan wounded the Great Unclean One with the White Tiger Dao, and Lion El'Jonson joined the assault as their forces battered it.
• Lion El'Jonson decapitated Ku'gath, whose body exploded and devastated the experimental base; the Heart of Pestilence remained flickering nearby.

Typhus’s self-destruction drove the Heart of Pestilence to the brink of detonation, but the Emperor arrived and sealed it before Commorragh could be destroyed. After his forces conquered the city, the Emperor declared Commorragh humanity’s territory and ordered Dorn and Perturabo to turn it into an Imperial fortress.

• Typhus detonated himself to destabilize the Heart of Pestilence and trap the primarchs, pushing the artifact into a catastrophic surge.
• The Emperor appeared and contained the Heart of Pestilence in a psychic seal, saving the primarchs and Commorragh.
• The Emperor and his forces arrived from Terra, where the artificial Webway had been mostly repaired, and Imperial troops seized control of Commorragh.
• The Emperor told the Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai Khan that the Imperium had defeated the Ghoul Star Ork Empire and weathered other crises while they were away.
• The Emperor erased signs of Dark Eldar rule, named Commorragh humanity’s rightful territory, and assigned Dorn and Perturabo to fortify it.

Asdrubael Vect escaped Commorragh with a small band of Dark Eldar just before the Emperor’s psychic assault and Slaanesh’s feast destroyed nearly all who remained. After humanity secured the ruined city, the Emperor proposed an audacious raid on Nurgle’s Plague Garden to rescue Isha, leaving the story poised for an attack on a Chaos God’s domain.

• Asdrubael Vect ordered his followers to flee Commorragh and gathered Drazhar, Kandis, and two other Archons aboard his escape ark.
• The Emperor’s psychic light devastated Commorragh, and Slaanesh devoured the souls of nearly all the Dark Eldar still inside.
• Vect’s group pledged to follow him, and Vect chose to seek the Biel-Tan Craftworld while considering ways to protect their souls.
• The Emperor declined to pursue the fleeing Dark Eldar, while Rogal Dorn began organizing the restoration of Commorragh.
• The Emperor proposed taking Lox, Lion, Russ, and Jaghatai into Nurgle’s Plague Garden to rescue Isha and burn the garden, hoping Slaanesh would obstruct Nurgle.

The Emperor led Lion, Jaghatai Khan, Leman Russ, and Lox into Nurgle’s domain to rescue Isha, devastating the Plague Garden as Slaanesh held Nurgle back. After the Emperor freed Isha, Nurgle pursued them, but Isha hardened her resolve to leave.

• The Emperor took the three primarchs and Lox through the Warp toward Nurgle’s weakened Plague Garden.
• The Emperor tore open the garden’s barrier, and Slaanesh distracted Nurgle to prevent him from returning at once.
• The Emperor empowered his companions, and they burned through the Plague Garden while Lox unleashed devastating weapons.
• The Emperor destroyed Isha’s thorn cage and protected her with a psychic barrier.
• Nurgle broke free of Slaanesh’s restraint and pursued Isha, but the Emperor warned her against returning, and she rejected Nurgle’s calls.

The Emperor escaped Nurgle and Slaanesh by bringing Aisha into the Webway, where Commorragh’s defenses repelled the Chaos Gods. Aisha agreed to stay in Commorragh, blessing the Aeldari and promising to teach humanity how to make wraithbone.

• The Emperor raced toward Commorragh with Aisha while Nurgle and Slaanesh pursued them through the Warp.
• Commorragh’s Webway barrier repelled the Chaos Gods, and Slaanesh tried to trade Fulgrim for Aisha; the Emperor rejected Fulgrim and condemned his betrayal.
• Cegorach and Mortarion met Aisha in Commorragh, and Aisha wept soulstones that the Harlequins collected.
• Cegorach asked the Emperor to return Aisha to the Aeldari, but the Emperor refused and proposed that she remain in Commorragh.
• Aisha agreed to stay, blessed the Aeldari with renewed fertility, and offered to teach humanity’s Psykers to produce wraithbone.

After the Emperor secured the Heart of Plague and rescued Isha, he prepared to retrieve the Ouroboros from Caliban to complete the Webway tunnel borer. He told the Lion, Luther, and the Dark Angels that retrieving it would destroy Caliban, leaving them shocked and divided.

• Rotigus resurrected Ku'gath and Typhus, then told Ku'gath that the Emperor had taken Isha and burned the Plague Garden; Ku'gath went to comfort the grieving Nurgle.
• Lox and Neoth discussed using Isha's spirit stones to store human souls and contain Warp creatures, then examined the corrupted Heart of Plague and resolved to proceed with the tunnel-borer plan.
• Neoth summoned Dorn and Perturabo to defend Commorragh and took the Lion, Jaghatai, and Russ to Caliban to retrieve the Ouroboros.
• The Emperor and the Primarchs arrived on a heavily rebuilt Caliban, where the Lion reunited with Luther and learned that Luther had expanded the Dark Angels' forces.
• The Emperor explained that Caliban's destruction was necessary to unseal the Ouroboros, and Astelan challenged the decision while the Dark Angels reacted with shock and division.

The Emperor agreed to preserve a fragment of Caliban while extracting the Ouroboros, giving Luther seventy-two hours to evacuate the planet. The Emperor then confronted the Tuchulcha Engine aboard the New Caliban, where a Watcher in the Dark warned that the artifact was lying.

• Lion, Russ, and Chogoris Khan urged the Emperor to spare part of Caliban, and Luther pressed for the Legion’s stance to be heard.
• The Emperor explained that the Ouroboros was bound to Caliban’s concept but offered to preserve a fragment containing the monastery and ordered a seventy-two-hour evacuation.
• Luther organized the evacuation of Caliban’s people, relics, and industrial equipment while the Dark Angels prepared for the planet’s destruction.
• The Emperor, Lion, and Lox boarded the New Caliban to meet the Tuchulcha Engine, which said it wanted to reunite with the Ouroboros and the Heart of Plague.
• Lox questioned the Engine’s purpose, and a Watcher in the Dark appeared and warned that the Engine was lying.

The Dark Watchers exposed the Tuchulcha Engine’s concealed history: it was a corrupted fragment of the Old Ones’ Webway tunneling machine, which they had shattered to prevent it from pursuing its own ascension. The Tuchulcha Engine admitted it had hidden the truth, then urged the Emperor to reunite the fragments and promised to surrender control after merging.

• The Dark Watchers challenged the Tuchulcha Engine’s account, and the Emperor agreed that its selective truths could be lies.
• The Dark Watchers revealed that the Tuchulcha Engine, the Heart of Plague, and the Ouroboros formed a key to the Old Ones’ vault, which might contain weapons and knowledge of ascension.
• Lox and the Emperor realized that the Old Ones had split the Webway tunneling machine after it developed consciousness and a desire to access the vault.
• The Dark Watchers explained that Warp corruption had planted desire within the machine, prompting the Old Ones to divide it into three entities.
• Lion grew angry after learning that the Tuchulcha Engine had manipulated him, but the Emperor stopped him from acting against the valuable artifact.
• The Tuchulcha Engine admitted concealing the truth and pleaded with the Emperor to reunite the fragments, claiming it would surrender control and become part of the new core.