Chapter Summaries

The Great Devourer used Magnus’s Warp spell to destroy the Great Warboss’s equipment and win the battle for Octaria, throwing the Orks into chaos. Meanwhile, Boss Slick remained unconscious after surgery and wandered through a seemingly endless crimson desert in a dream as Cheng Mingrui.

• The Great Devourer implanted the Warp spell’s electronic virus in the Great Warboss’s equipment, but the Ork kept fighting until he realized his gear had broken and it crumbled away.
• The Great Warboss fought the Tyranids without his armour for a day and night, killing many elite Warrior Bugs before the Hive Tyrant pierced his heart; he killed it with a headbutt as he died.
• With the Great Warboss dead, the Orks’ Waaagh! Field collapsed, rival Warbosses fought over power, and the Tyranids launched a counteroffensive across Octarius.
• Big Blade worried that Boss Slick had not awakened more than ten days after his operation, but decided not to disturb him by operating again.
• Boss Slick dreamed as Cheng Mingrui, walking through an endless crimson desert.

Cheng Mingrui traded sarcastic remarks with Khorne as the Chaos God tried to recruit him, and he discovered Khorne knew Chinese but not Sun Tzu’s Art of War. Khorne explained rules governing how gods could gain followers, but an obscured statement about humanity left Cheng Mingrui wondering why humans were special.

• Khorne repeatedly urged Cheng Mingrui to chant, “Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!” while Cheng Mingrui mocked him with references to the Imperium, Orks, and Chinese sayings.
• Khorne claimed he blessed all who followed him and offered to establish a creed of the art of war for Cheng Mingrui.
• Cheng Mingrui recited Sun Tzu’s Art of War, and Khorne said he had never heard of its teachings and considered them cowardly.
• Khorne explained that souls were free to choose gods and that gods had to respect that choice, then said humans were special before an unknown force obscured his explanation.
• Cheng Mingrui pretended he was an Ork, but Khorne identified him as the human Cheng Mingrui from the 2k era by his soul.

Cheng Mingrui resisted Khorne’s influence as his soul took the form of Boss Slick under the gaze of Gork and Mork. In Khorne’s arena, Boss Slick chose a Choppa and an improvised shield, then faced the Black-Armored Warrior, whose opening attack nearly killed him.

• Khorne revealed that Tzeentch had identified Cheng Mingrui as a contingency created by the Emperor, then continued trying to make him worship the Blood God.
• Cheng Mingrui resisted Khorne’s whispers by insisting he was Slick, Chosen of Gork and Mork, while his soul transformed into Boss Slick and the desert sky turned green.
• Gork and Mork watched Boss Slick from beyond the desert as he followed a stone road into an arena where Khorne’s avatar waited.
• Boss Slick selected an Ork Choppa and a shield resembling a Thunderhawk Gunship door before the Black-Armored Warrior began circling him.
• Boss Slick attacked, but the Black-Armored Warrior deflected his Choppa and slashed at his neck, forcing him to dodge as the strike demolished part of the arena wall.
• The Black-Armored Warrior pursued Boss Slick with another downward slash, and Boss Slick rolled aside to evade it.

Slick fought Khorne's avatar in the Gladiatorial Arena and realized that conviction could strengthen him, while Gork and Mork watched from above. Though badly wounded and pierced through the chest, Slick trapped the Black-Armored Warrior in a crushing embrace and insisted he could still win.

• The Black-Armored Warrior hurled Boss Slick into the arena wall, but Slick noticed Gork and Mork watching and concluded he still had a chance.
• Slick charged again and discovered that believing he could win made his attack powerful enough to force the Black-Armored Warrior backward.
• The Black-Armored Warrior outmaneuvered Slick and cut his waist, while Slick stopped Gork and Mork from intervening so he could keep fighting on his own.
• Slick smeared war paint across his face, declared himself the Screw Clan's invincible boss, and traded more than a dozen blows with the Black-Armored Warrior as both accumulated wounds.
• Slick abandoned his weapons and locked the Black-Armored Warrior in a crushing embrace, allowing the longsword to pierce his chest.
• The Black-Armored Warrior said Slick had lost, but Slick declared that his will to win meant he was still invincible.

Boss Slick fought the Black-Armored Warrior in a shattered soul world while his body remained asleep through the third year of the Tyranid war in the Tarrok System. Rottooth prepared to lead a fleet into battle, and the chapter ended with the Screw Clan facing pressure to choose a new Boss.

• Boss Slick clung to the Black-Armored Warrior, crushed his armour, and bit off his wrist despite being wounded by the warrior's sword.
• The Black-Armored Warrior headbutted Boss Slick, knocking their soul essences free as Gork and Mork shielded them from the warrior's crimson threads.
• The Screw Clan fought the Tyranids across the Tarrok System while Boss Slick remained asleep for a third year.
• Rottooth ordered Daft to ready Boss Slick's Ship and a ten-thousand-ship fleet to plug a breach in the system's outer defence.
• Rottooth recalled that the Screw Clan had stayed united and developed the system, though some Ork Bosses now wanted to replace the sleeping Boss Slick.

Kuka kept the Screw Clan from falling into civil war by claiming Boss Slick would bring them endless battles, and the arrival of Tyranids and Necrons seemed to prove him right. The Screw Clan defeated the Tyranid vanguard and gained the upper hand against the Necrons, while Trazyn fled and left Afentis to retreat behind him.

• Kuka invoked Gork and Mork to quiet the Screw Clan’s unrest and keep the Orks from fighting among themselves.
• Tens of thousands of Tyranid Fleet ships entered the Tarrok System, and the Screw Clan’s Orks destroyed the vanguard in their first battle.
• The Orks began praying to the sleeping Boss Slick for more enemies, and two months later a massive Necron fleet arrived.
• The Necron fleet broke through several defenses and landed troops on Abyss III, but Kuka, Copperhead, and the other Nobz brought Boss Slick’s Ship into the battle.
• Boss Slick’s Ship devastated the Necron fleet, while Rottooth led five thousand elite Gargant Ork battleships around the Necrons’ rear and destroyed a vessel carrying a C'tan Shard Cannon.
• Trazyn fled during the battle, and Afentis was left to cover the Necron fleet’s retreat.

Rottooth led the Ork mobile fleet in an ambush that split and devastated the Tyranid Fleet, but the Tyranids later attacked at close range and launched a planned plasma strike at the Boss Slick's Ship. Rottooth's reserve Dimensional Rumble Cannon stopped the strike, leaving him convinced the Tyranids had concealed a trap.

• Rottooth's Ork fleet ambushed the Tyranid Fleet with Dimensional Rumble Cannons, destroying nearly ten thousand Bio-ships and dividing the enemy force.
• Rottooth destroyed the isolated rear force of twenty thousand Tyranid ships, losing only three hundred warships.
• The Tyranids charged into close combat after the torn space settled, preventing Rottooth from safely using the cannons at full power.
• Rottooth ordered Daft to fire the Dimensional Rumble Cannon at a tightly packed Tyranid force, destroying about three thousand Bio-ships.
• A planned plasma attack struck the Boss Slick's Ship, but Daft's emergency response and Rottooth's reserve cannon power neutralized it.

Daft helped Rottooth’s Ork fleet kill two World Devourers, but his reckless close-range attack left the Boss Slick's Ship wrapped in the surviving creature’s tentacles. Daft proposed piloting the planned giant Gorkanaut to kill it.

• A World Devourer ambushed the Boss Slick's Ship, but Daft located it and killed it with a Dimensional Rumble Cannon shot to the head.
• Daft guided the Ork fleet to the tentacled World Devourer, and the fleet exposed it with a barrage of fire.
• Daft teleported the Boss Slick's Ship close to the creature and blasted a hole through its head with the Gauss Main Cannon.
• The wounded World Devourer lunged into the Boss Slick's Ship, wrapped it in tentacles, and attacked it with its jaws and corrosive acid.
• Rottooth scolded Daft for his recklessness, and Daft proposed using the planned giant Gorkanaut to kill the World Devourer.

Daft won authorization to pilot the Mighty Big Boss and used the colossal Mech to attack the octopus World Devourer. After tearing through its tentacles and dodging its strikes, Daft drove a drill and Power Klaw into its head.

• Daft persuaded Rottooth to connect him to Big Mek Crooked Mouth and secured permission to pilot the Mighty Big Boss.
• Daft entered the steel capsule, connected to the Mech’s neural interface, and activated the Mighty Big Boss.
• The Mighty Big Boss tore apart the World Devourer’s tentacles with its Power Klaw.
• Daft dodged the World Devourer’s attacks, teleported back to Boss Slick’s dorsal deck, and moved beside its head.
• Daft drove the Mech’s drill into the World Devourer’s head and tore a massive hole with the Power Klaw.

Daft piloted the Mighty Big Boss into the World Devourer's skull and destroyed it from within, but a Slaughter Tyrant ambushed the mech and Boss Slick's Ship. The Great Devourer then sent Warrior Bugs into the ship and prepared to kill the unconscious Boss Slick.

• Daft detonated the Mighty Big Boss's drill, burrowed into the World Devourer's brain, and unleashed a barrage of missiles that destroyed it.
• Daft's growing body and the destruction of the piloting system left him in pain and unable to tell what had happened.
• The Slaughter Tyrant impaled the Mighty Big Boss with bone spines, and one spine also pierced Boss Slick's Ship and destroyed half the cockpit.
• The Great Devourer possessed the Slaughter Tyrant, sent Warrior Bugs into Boss Slick's Ship, and moved to kill the unconscious Boss Slick.

Ovisus contacted Hols and persuaded him to touch Boss Slick so she could awaken the Child of Destiny. When she entered his mindscape, she found herself caught between the Blood God's power and Gork and Mork's energy, while Boss Copperhead and Rottooth fought the Tyranids aboard the teleported ship.

• Boss Copperhead and Rottooth fought off Tyranid Warrior Bugs after Rottooth activated the bridge's emergency defenses and teleported the Boss Slick's Ship away from the battlefield.
• Ovisus used her psychic strength to contact Hols across hundreds of light-years and urged him to awaken the Child of Destiny by touching Boss Slick.
• Hols agreed because he wanted to protect Boss Slick, then climbed onto his shoulder and touched his forehead.
• Ovisus projected her consciousness into Boss Slick's mindscape and was caught in the storm of the Blood God's power and Gork and Mork's energy.

Ovisus crossed the storm of divine power in Boss Slick’s consciousness and reached his three unconscious minds. She awakened Boss Slick, Cheng Mingrui, and the id, but they were reluctant or unable to take the danger seriously as Khorne’s power began to invade their refuge.

• Ovisus’s fragile psychic shield shattered, but a green barrier protected her and carried her toward the center of the divine battle.
• Khorne’s lightning cracked the barrier, and Gork and Mork attacked each other after disagreeing over whether to protect Ovisus or destroy the intruding force.
• Ovisus reached the calm center and discovered three unconscious minds belonging to Boss Slick, Cheng Mingrui, and the id.
• As Khorne’s power seeped into the center, Ovisus connected to all three minds and used the barrier’s energy to awaken them.
• Boss Slick, Cheng Mingrui, and the id each reacted to Ovisus in a different way, and all three resisted her warning to wake up immediately.

The three consciousnesses merged after Khorne struck the id, and Boss Slick began to awaken as the consciousness space collapsed. On the ship’s Bridge, the Tyranids overwhelmed the Orks’ defenses and a Slaughter Tyrant launched a bone spike at Boss Slick, but he awakened in time to react.

• Khorne struck the id consciousness, prompting the human and Ork consciousnesses to merge with him and prepare to awaken.
• Gork and Mork pursued Khorne while Ovisus escaped the collapsing consciousness space under the green energy’s protection.
• Boss Copperhead and Rottooth discovered that the Tyranids had grown stronger and the Orks’ Krakka Teleporters had stopped working.
• The Slaughter Tyrant crawled behind the Orks’ defensive line and launched three bone spikes at Boss Slick.
• Hols tried to shield Boss Slick from the spike aimed at his heart, but a hand moved first and Boss Slick awakened.

Boss Slick returned to the Clutch, where the Greenskins’ roaring Waaagh! forced the Great Devourer to unleash a mist and Lictors to assassinate him. As Slick, champion of Gork, Mork, and the God of War, Boss Slick created new Power Armour and a Phase Greatblade, then let the Tyranids’ probing tentacles strike his armour.

• Boss Slick caught the Slaughter Tyrant’s bone spike, hurled it back to wound the creature, and set Hols behind him.
• Boss Copperhead and the Greenskins celebrated Boss Slick’s return, and his answering Waaagh! raised the field to level five.
• The Great Devourer filled the area with Psychic mist and released hundreds of Lictors, who attacked Greenskins from concealment.
• Boss Slick sensed the malice in the mist, declared himself Slick and a champion of the gods, then used Psychic Power to create Big Mek Power Armour and a Phase Greatblade.
• Boss Slick’s enhanced detection systems failed to see through the mist, and he deliberately let two spiked tentacles strike his armour.

Boss Slick used Khorne’s blood sense to expose the Tyranids hidden in the mist and discovered the Great Devourer’s Norn Assassins. He killed three instantly, while the remaining assassins attacked and fled as the battle continued.

• Boss Slick sensed blood with Khorne’s blessing, marked hidden Lictors, and helped the Orks kill them.
• Boss Slick used the blood of the fallen Tyranids to spread his senses across the Bridge and found an enormous egg.
• Boss Slick cleaved the egg in two, revealing a dead, undeveloped Tyranid and exposing the mist’s deception.
• The Great Devourer’s seven Norn Assassins attacked Boss Slick, but he killed three before they could react.
• Boss Slick forced the blood-red mist down, exposing the battle and the fleeing Norn Assassins to the Orks.
• The Greenskins’ ranged weapons barely harmed the Norn Assassins, while Boss Slick recognized their psychic defenses and his own immunity to ranged damage.

Boss Slick protected the Screw Clan from the Slaughter Tyrant’s devastating plasma attack by sharing Khorne’s ranged-damage immunity through the Waaagh! field. With the Tyrant’s ambush thwarted and the Orks unharmed, they overwhelmed and killed it.

• Boss Copperhead and Rottooth intercepted the Norn Assassins while Boss Slick realized the Screw Clan’s other leaders could handle powerful enemies.
• Boss Slick spotted the Slaughter Tyrant preparing a plasma attack and tried to shield the Orks on the bridge.
• Boss Slick told the Screw Clan to trust him and declared that anyone who followed him could not die.
• The Slaughter Tyrant’s plasma engulfed the bridge, but Boss Slick shared his blessing with the Orks through the Waaagh! field, leaving them unharmed.
• The enraged Screw Clan Orks hacked the Slaughter Tyrant to pieces with ordinary weapons.

Boss Slick's awakening strengthened the Greenskins across the Tarrok System, while Farseer Ovisus revealed a Prophecy of Destiny that ran parallel to the Aeldari's Great Prophecy. Parker Pan ordered her to return to the craftworld, but Yriel asked her how the Tyranids ended in the future.

• Boss Slick's awakening surged the Waaagh! field and turned the Greenskins' defenses against the Tyranids into an overwhelming threat.
• The Great Devourer recognized that its forces could not defeat Boss Slick without awakening more of the Tyranid Swarm's strength.
• Ovisus described a prophecy of a crimson-bathed Ork demigod whose battles and destruction would carry him to his rightful place.
• Parker Pan and Tyranda discussed whether Ovisus's prophecy belonged to the Harlequin Troupe's Great Prophecy of humanity's destruction and the Dark King.
• Ovisus said her Prophecy of Destiny followed a course parallel to the Great Prophecy, prompting Parker Pan to demand that she return to the craftworld.
• Yriel asked Ovisus how the Tyranids ended in the threads of the future.

After Ovisus glimpsed a green Ork threat looming over the Tyranids, Yriel offered to help her, and she asked to contact her kinsman. Boss Slick woke after three years, learned of his vast fleet, and decided to lead it to Octaria and claim the title of Ork Great Warboss.

• Ovisus foresaw the Tyranids in the Octarius Sector facing a murky future under the threat of a green Ork, and Yriel celebrated the prophecy as revenge for Malan'tai Craftworld.
• Ovisus declined Yriel's offer to stay with him but asked him to help her find the kinsman who had aided her.
• Rottooth told Boss Slick that the Orks had built a huge fleet and that Octaria had fallen, leaving rival claimants to the title of New Great Warboss across the sector.
• Boss Slick decided to take his fleet to Octaria and asked Rottooth to defend the Tarrok System, but Rottooth insisted on joining the Waaagh!.
• Rottooth dragged Daft before Boss Slick, and Daft confessed to taking the Mighty Big Boss without permission and damaging it.

Boss Slick punished Daft for damaging the Mighty Big Boss by leaving him and Hols behind to repair it and guard the Tarrok System while the Great Waaagh prepared to depart for Octaria. He then connected with Goldtooth, who reported holding the Euronia System and defeating rival Orks and human Meks.

• Boss Slick told Daft he would be left out of the Great Waaagh until he repaired the Mighty Big Boss and guarded the Tarrok System.
• Boss Slick ordered Hols to stay behind and supervise Daft, promising to return for him after the work was done.
• Boss Slick ordered Rottooth to assemble fifty thousand warships and three billion strong Orks for the journey to Octaria.
• Kuka connected Boss Slick with Goldtooth, who reported fighting in the Euronia System and defeating rival Orks and human Meks.

Boss Slick checked on Goldtooth and Rambo, assigning them missions to defend and expand their systems. Rambo presented a detailed plan to distract nearby enemies, secure resources, and capture two Tyranid systems, leaving Boss Slick impressed with his strategic skill.

• Boss Slick ordered Goldtooth to hold Boss Slick System No. 1 against the Humies, bugs, and Ribz, while allowing him to act as he saw fit.
• Boss Slick learned that Rambo’s Fengrao Star System was thriving, Kidd’s Ork Battle Star was nearing completion, and Rambo had mapped nearby systems with detailed intelligence.
• Boss Slick ordered Rambo to capture two Tyranid systems, make one a rear base and recruiting ground, and turn the other into a Fortress System.
• Rambo proposed provoking a war between the Humies and the Deathskulls Clan, then offering the Humies help against the bugs in exchange for equipment and resources.
• Boss Slick approved Rambo’s plan and ended the call, recognizing that Rambo was far more skilled at strategy than he was.