Chapter Summaries

Cheng Mingrui used Boss Slick's Ship to devastate the Tyranids attacking the Orks on Number 3, then led his Mechs and newly equipped Boyz in a counterattack. After the native Orks accepted him as their boss, he promised rewards for killing Tyranids and urged them to join his Great Waaagh.

• Cheng Mingrui sensed that Ork forces remained on Number 3 and chose not to join the space battle, leaving it to his subordinates.
• The Tyranids overwhelmed the defenses of the last Lance fortress and began destroying the Ork Fleet in the river channel.
• Cheng Mingrui turned Boss Slick's Ship's guns toward the planet and bombarded the Tyranids for half an hour, clearing roughly eighty percent of their ground forces.
• Cheng Mingrui addressed the planet's Orks through the Waaagh! field and teleported down with his Mech legions, followed by waves of heavily equipped Boyz.
• The Ork forces crushed the Tyranids, and the native Orks accepted Cheng Mingrui as their boss after he killed a Swarm Overlord.
• Cheng Mingrui promised the Boyz weapons and Mechs for each Tyranid head they brought him and urged them to fight.

Cheng Mingrui's Orks retook Number 3 as their fleet devastated the Tyranid Bio-ships, forcing the swarm consciousness to retreat and gather reinforcements. When Kidd and Dio pursued the retreating fleet into a trap, Cheng Mingrui prepared Boss Slick's C'tan Shard Cannon to strike the Tyranids as their three groups aligned.

• Cheng Mingrui rallied the Number 3 Orks with the promise of new weapons, and they counterattacked the remaining Tyranids underground.
• The Ork warships overwhelmed the Tyranid fleets in space, destroying hundreds of Bio-ships and forcing the swarm consciousness to abandon Number 3.
• The swarm consciousness retreated toward Number 2 and Number 1 to assemble its surviving ships and prepare a larger battle.
• Hols reported that Kidd and Dio had pursued more than a thousand retreating Bio-ships, and Cheng Mingrui teleported back to Boss Slick's Ship.
• Cheng Mingrui saw the retreating Tyranids closing in on reinforcements from both sides and positioned Boss Slick's Ship to fire the C'tan Shard Cannon when the three fleets lined up.

Hols used the C'tan Shard Cannon to destroy most of the Tyranid Fleet in the Starting Point System, after which Cheng Mingrui conquered the system and built up his forces. Elsewhere, Guilliman wounded a Great Unclean One at the Battle of Parmenio while Mortarion remained absent.

• The Swarm Consciousness drew its Tyranid fleets together to encircle the Ork warships, but Hols fired the C'tan Shard Cannon through all three fleets and destroyed three thousand Tyranid Bio-ships.
• Cheng Mingrui led two billion Orks to conquer the second and third planets in the Starting Point System, wiping out the remaining Tyranids within a month.
• Before it perished, the Starting Point System's Swarm Consciousness sent its intelligence to the Great Devourer, while Cheng Mingrui ordered reconnaissance and began building Ork Roks and warships.
• Several Ork pirate fleets joined Cheng Mingrui's forces after encountering Boss Slick's Ship.
• At the Battle of Parmenio, Guilliman slew a Great Unclean One with the Emperor's Sword, but the daemon wounded him before dying.

Mortarion trapped Guilliman and tried to force him to embrace Nurgle, but a mysterious girl unleashed the Emperor’s power and saved the Imperial Regent. Mortarion fled, leaving Guilliman victorious but bewildered by the girl’s sacrifice and the golden message he received.

• Mortarion arrived after the Great Unclean One’s spell trapped Guilliman, then taunted his brother and declared that he would make him embrace Grandfather’s power.
• Guilliman rejected Mortarion’s offer and vowed to protect humanity despite his anguish over the Imperium’s state and his brothers’ betrayal.
• A girl in white stopped time, transformed into a golden sun, and used the Emperor’s power to destroy daemons and break the spell holding Guilliman.
• Mortarion fled through a Warp portal with the surviving daemons, and Guilliman slew those that remained as the Imperium won the Plague War.
• Guilliman questioned the dying girl, who asked whether she had helped him, but she died before answering his questions.
• A golden concept left Guilliman a sentence in his mind as he stood confused amid the victory on Parmenio.

Mathieu met with Guilliman, who questioned him about the Octarius war and ordered him to lead a powerful expeditionary fleet there. Guilliman charged him with monitoring the Orks for dangerous individuals and reporting any threat that might spiral out of control.

• Mathieu entered Guilliman's chambers, where Guilliman confronted him for arranging an innocent girl's sacrifice.
• Guilliman asked Mathieu about the Octarius Sector, and Mathieu described the Tyranids' growing advantage over the Orks and the weakness of the Unbroken Defensive Line.
• Guilliman wondered whether Octarius held the threat that would destroy humanity, but kept his suspicion about the Orks to himself.
• Guilliman ordered the reorganization of scattered Space Marine Chapters into legions and said he would form a powerful expeditionary fleet with Sisters of Battle and Adeptus Custodes.
• Guilliman appointed Mathieu to lead the fleet to Octarius, instructing him to watch the Orks and report exceptional or dangerous individuals.

On the Ulthwé Craftworld, Autarch Yriel Aeshalia remained frustrated that its leaders rejected her plans to fight the Tyranids in Octarius. When young Farseer Osuwiss arrived, Yriel mistook her glance for a psychic insult and challenged her to a duel, leaving Tyranda Gale trying to explain the misunderstanding.

• Guilliman wondered why the Emperor had urged him to kill the Orks of Octarius, then read Lorgar's Book, confident that the forces he had deployed could hold the sector.
• Yriel Aeshalia reflected on how she had risen from refugee status to a position of influence on Ulthwé, while still seeking vengeance for the Tyranid destruction of Malan'tai.
• Yriel grew frustrated after the Ulthwé leadership rejected her proposal to send a fleet to aid the Orks against the Tyranids.
• Yriel saw Osuwiss and her companions arrive at the spaceport and mistook Osuwiss's glance for a hostile psychic intrusion.
• Yriel challenged Osuwiss to a duel, and Tyranda Gale stepped in to apologize and explain that they meant no offense.

Yriel challenged Osuwiss’s prophecy and Parker Pan defended her by demanding a duel. After Parker Pan defeated Yriel, she accepted Osuwiss’s Prophecy of Destiny and offered to help the pair on Ulthwé.

• Yriel accused Osuwiss of using psychic power carelessly, and Parker Pan apologized, explaining that Osuwiss had not learned to control her strong talent.
• Osuwiss insisted that she was searching for a Prophecy of Destiny and revealed that she had foreseen change among the Orks of Octarius and chaos in the fate of all races.
• Parker Pan drew his rune sword and challenged Yriel to a duel of Khaine to defend Osuwiss’s prophecy.
• Parker Pan and Yriel fought with their weapons, and Parker Pan won when his sword came to rest at Yriel’s neck.
• Yriel accepted her defeat, apologized to Osuwiss, and offered to assist her and Parker Pan during their stay on Ulthwé.

Osuwiss told Autarch Yriel about her prophecy linking the Aeldari’s fate to enormous Orks, and Yriel explained the Octaria campaigns and the Tyranids’ growing advantage. The chapter ended with Yriel proposing that the Aeldari secretly help the Orks defeat the Tyranids.

• Osuwiss recounted her prophecy and explained that her search had led her to Octarius, where she sensed the Threads of Fate entangling every race.
• Yriel described how the Tyranids adapted to the Orks, then lost their assault on Octaria when Ghazghkull Thraka arrived with his army.
• Yriel told Osuwiss that Ghazghkull had left for Armageddon, allowing the Tyranids to recover and begin the Second Octaria Campaign.
• Yriel admitted she wanted the Orks to destroy the Tyranids, which had destroyed her home.
• Yriel proposed secretly guiding the Orks and helping them gain the advantage over the Tyranids.

Yriel persuaded Osuwiss to lead followers in a fleet bound for the Octarius Sector, and Osuwiss accepted after sensing that the plan matched her prophecy. The viewpoint then shifted to the Great Devourer, which weighed threats across the sector and focused on containing the Orks, Aeldari, and Necrons.

• Yriel offered to bring Malan'tai refugees before the Ulthwé Craftworld council and recruit them as Osuwiss's followers, while warning that the council would take no decisive action.
• Parker Pan reassured Osuwiss, who sensed the threads of fate and agreed that Yriel's proposal fulfilled part of her prophecy.
• A sizable Aeldari fleet prepared to depart for the Octarius Sector as war raged between Orks and Tyranids.
• The Great Devourer deployed Tyranid fleets to watch for Aeldari in the north and Necrons in the east, while considering attacks on human territory in the south and west.
• The Great Devourer assessed the newly powerful Ork clan's weapon and losses, and prioritized killing the Ork Great Warboss in the Octaria System.

Cheng Mingrui chose to split his Ork forces into independent flotillas to attack Tyranid systems and spread Boss Slick’s fame. As he prepared to send the Nobs out with fleets of their own, Boss Copperhead asked to stay and Waaagh! with him.

• Cheng Mingrui weighed attacking a nearby Ork System against holding a Big Brawl, then decided on a third plan.
• He told the Nobs he would divide them into flotillas, each with its own fleet to attack a Tyranid system.
• Cheng Mingrui planned to use the flotillas to weaken the Tyranids and unite the Ork systems into a rear base under Boss Slick’s influence.
• Many Nobs cheered at the chance to command their own fleets, but Boss Copperhead asked Cheng Mingrui not to send them away.

Cheng Mingrui let Orks choose whether to leave and lead their own Waaaghs or stay and help develop the Starting Point System. As construction continued and fleets departed, he watched Dio enter the Warp and wished him well.

• Cheng Mingrui asked the Heavy Nobs who wanted to stay, then promised those who followed him that they would have to obey orders.
• Cheng Mingrui had Kuka invite the Boyz to organize Gargant fleets and leave, while he stayed to develop the system's three habitable planets.
• The Screw Clan opened mines and workshops, equipped its Orks, and began building a space shipyard and an Ork Rock Shipyard.
• Dio chose to leave with a fleet of twenty Gargants, while Kidd stayed with Cheng Mingrui.
• Dio watched Boss Slick from his flagship and secretly hoped to earn victories that would make him proud.
• Cheng Mingrui watched Dio's fleet enter the Warp, wished him a smooth journey, and then returned to work.

Cheng Mingrui inspected Shipyard Three’s warship production and brought his Ork Rok in to test a modified Dimensional Rumble Cannon. He proposed using a phased array to focus its oscillation waves into a longer-range, more powerful beam, and Crooked Mouth began calculating the design.

• Cheng Mingrui finished the asteroid’s fifth thruster, teleported to Shipyard Three, and asked Crooked Mouth about production.
• Crooked Mouth reported the shipyard’s current output, and Cheng Mingrui ordered a nearly finished Ork Rok sent out for the Boys to complete.
• Cheng Mingrui cut ahead of the rocks waiting to enter the shipyard and brought his Ork Rok inside to test a new weapon.
• Cheng Mingrui explained the Dimensional Rumble Cannon’s high energy use and limited range, and Crooked Mouth suggested building a few specialized assault ships.
• Cheng Mingrui proposed a phased array to focus the cannon’s oscillation waves, and Crooked Mouth began calculating the design as Cheng Mingrui displayed a virtual model.

Cheng Mingrui developed and tested a new Dimensional Rumble Cannon, then spent a year building up the Starting Point System and assembling a large Ork fleet. With the system ready and the Tyranids threatening a nearby system, Cheng Mingrui's fleet set out and arrived to find the Tyranids fighting the Drukhari.

• Cheng Mingrui designed a Dimensional Rumble Cannon that could switch between penetrating fire and close-range area damage, and Crooked Mouth began building an experimental warship.
• The cannon's test ship sank a Heavy Cruiser with a vital hit, so Cheng Mingrui built a hundred cannon-equipped battleships and fitted Boss Slick's Ship with a large cannon.
• Over the next year, many Nobz and Warbosses left the Starting Point System with ships, while Cheng Mingrui expanded his fleet and established an asteroid defensive perimeter.
• Cheng Mingrui learned that the Tyranids had defeated the Greenskins in a nearby system, but Drukhari pirates had attacked the Tyranids and escaped with Ork slaves.
• A vast Ork Fleet emerged from the Warp in pursuit of the Drukhari, found the Tyranids instead, and attacked them.

Cheng Mingrui left Rambo in charge of defending the Starting Point System while preparing to lead nearly two thousand Ork warships to the Fengrao Star System. He agreed to bring Hols along, and the chapter ended as a massive Tyranid Norn Queen began to give birth.

• Cheng Mingrui ordered Rambo to fortify the Starting Point System and made him responsible for the Orks who remained there.
• Hols insisted on joining Cheng Mingrui, and Cheng Mingrui agreed after Hols said he wanted to stay with him despite being afraid of dying.
• Cheng Mingrui told the Orks to answer to Rambo after his departure, and Rambo resolved to expand the Screw Clan's influence.
• Cheng Mingrui set out for the Fengrao Star System with nearly two thousand Ork warships, using an enhanced Inertialess Drive to shorten the journey to five months.
• In the Fengrao Star System, a huge Norn Queen finished feeding and began opening its lower abdomen to reproduce.

Rottooth Boss commanded the Ork defenses in the Fengrao Star System as a massive Tyranid fleet attacked, hoping to break through the separated strongpoints. The swarm consciousness began clearing the Orks’ unpredictable minefield under heavy fire, and the battle remained unresolved.

• New Tyranid Bio-ships emerged from the Norn Queen in a brood of over a thousand and joined the swarm fleet.
• The Orks fortified Fengrao II with orbital shipyards, planetary anti-aircraft guns, Space Fortresses, and a large pirate fleet.
• Rottooth Boss, convinced that Gork and Mork might have chosen him, prepared to face ten thousand Tyranid vessels before his fortress.
• The swarm consciousness exploited the distance between the Orks’ defenses and sent suicide locusts and Acid Cannon Bio-ships to clear the minefield.
• Ork mines detonated among the Tyranids as Nova Cannons, Lances, and Torpedoes struck the fleet, inflicting heavy losses.

The Tyranids broke through the minefield and attacked Fengrao II from orbit and on the ground, while Rottooth Boss held the Ork fleet in formation. A stealthy assault by super-giant Bio-ships struck his command room and disrupted the Ork fleet, pushing the space battle into close-quarters combat.

• The Swarm Consciousness sent heavily armored Bio-ships to clear the minefield, allowing thousands of Tyranid vessels to surround Fengrao II and suppress the Orks.
• The Tyranids attacked the Ork defenses at the poles and deployed more than a billion Warrior Bugs, seizing the equator and advancing toward the poles.
• Rottooth Boss ordered his warships to hold position and destroyed a rebellious vessel to stop the Orks from charging without orders.
• Super-giant Tyranid Bio-ships launched a concealed attack on Rottooth's command room and disrupted the front line of the Ork fleet.
• Rottooth blasted apart the Bio-ship biting his command room, but the Tyranid vanguard entered the Ork formation and began close-quarters combat.

Rottooth Boss detonated the left-flank Space Fortress to devastate the Tyranid fleet, then learned that Number 1 was under siege as well. As he weighed his next move, Cheng Mingrui appeared above Fengrao V.

• Rottooth Boss activated the left-flank Space Fortress's self-destruct system, destroying the fortress and at least two thousand Tyranid Bio-ships.
• Rottooth Boss ordered a Waaagh! counterattack, and the Orks inflicted heavy losses on the Tyranid fleet as it retreated.
• A Weirdboy warned Rottooth Boss that Tyranids were besieging Number 1 and had destroyed its orbital defenses and shipyards.
• Rottooth Boss considered whether to reinforce Number 1 or defend Fengrao II after the Tyranid fleet withdrew with only a little over a thousand Bio-ships.
• A mysterious voice challenged Rottooth Boss to prove he was the strongest boss, and Cheng Mingrui appeared above Fengrao V.

Cheng Mingrui’s fleet destroyed Tyranid forces on Fengrao V and then advanced toward Fengrao IV. The Tyranid Swarm Consciousness began evacuating and reinforcing its remaining strongholds as the Orks closed in.

• Cheng Mingrui used Boss Slick's Ship to bombard Fengrao V, burning away half a continent of Tyranid bio-buildings.
• More than twelve hundred Ork Roks cleared Tyranid space units from Fengrao V while Cheng Mingrui prepared to move on.
• The Tyranid Swarm Consciousness abandoned its plans to conquer the system and divided its forces between delaying the Orks and evacuating biomass.
• The Swarm Consciousness raised Spore Towers on Fengrao IV and began transforming the Norn Queen on Fengrao III into a cocoon.
• Cheng Mingrui led Boss Slick's Ship and the Ork Roks to Fengrao IV to begin an attack.

Cheng Mingrui led the Ork fleet through the Tyranid Spore Towers’ acid barrage by ordering the Roks to plunge into Fengrao IV, where they destroyed the Swarm’s defenses and began conquering the planet. The Swarm Consciousness ordered a retreat and left a thousand bio-ships behind to target Boss Slick’s Ship while the Norn Queen’s evolution accelerated.

• The Tyranid Spore Towers launched concentrated acid meteors at Cheng Mingrui’s Ork fleet, damaging several poorly built Roks.
• Cheng Mingrui ordered the Orks to point their ships downward and charge through the meteor shower instead of evading.
• Boss Slick’s Ship blocked acid barrages with its Force Field Shield and slowed its descent to avoid devastating Fengrao IV.
• The Ork Roks crashed across Fengrao IV, destroyed the Tyranid defenses, and spread a green tide that overwhelmed the Swarm.
• The Swarm Consciousness ordered the Tyranid fleets to retreat early and left one thousand bio-ships behind to attack Boss Slick’s Ship.
• The Swarm Consciousness accelerated the Norn Queen’s evolution, and her cocoon revealed oversized teeth and fangs.

Cheng Mingrui and Hols cleared the Tyranids from Fengrao IV while Cheng Mingrui coordinated the assault on other worlds. After finding Boss Slick's Ship damaged by its crash, he used Hols's psychic power to begin repairing it, hoping to reach the Tyranids' third planet soon.

• Rottooth Boss learned that Boss Slick had driven the Tyranids into retreat and set out to challenge him for taking over the fight.
• Cheng Mingrui and Hols slaughtered Tyranids on Fengrao IV, protected by Hols's defenses and backed by Cheng Mingrui's power.
• Cheng Mingrui ordered Kidd to stop bombarding Fengrao V, leave two Kill Team Nobs to handle the remaining bugs, and take the Boys to Fertile III.
• Cheng Mingrui found Boss Slick's Ship's hull more than eighty percent intact but estimated repairs would take at least ten days.
• Cheng Mingrui had Hols transform into an Ancient Aeldari and channel psychic power into him, then used Structural Mechanics to begin healing the damaged warship.