Chapter Summaries

After the battle on Ork V, Boss Slick learned that the Tyranids had stripped the planet of most usable resources and gathered Mekboys to find ways to supply the Orks’ war effort. The chapter ended as Dio proposed drilling to the planet’s iron-and-nickel core, a plan that could undermine the planet’s magnetic field and prevent it from becoming habitable.

• Boss Slick promised Mighty Big Boss II they would fight together again before the machine released him to teleport away.
• Bad Gambler reported that the Tyranids had consumed most of Ork V’s water, air, and easy-to-mine resources, leaving geothermal energy and deep mineral deposits.
• Boss Slick told Bad Gambler to keep surveying and called several dozen talented Mekboys together to devise ways to obtain materials for the war.
• The Mekboys proposed converting Gargants into salvage ships, and Boss Slick assigned the proposer to salvage and repair Ork warships while forbidding the recovery of Tyranid remains.
• Dio joined the discussion uninvited and proposed using his Dio Cannon to drill through Ork V to its iron-and-nickel core, though exploiting it could destroy the planet’s magnetic field.

Boss Slick developed a way to build Ork Rocks from Ork V’s rock and salvaged materials, while preparing for the Tyranid assault. The Great Devourer sent a million-strong fleet led by five World Devourers, and the battle for Ork V began.

• Boss Slick rejected Dio’s plan to strip Ork V and used salvaged materials to build a Matter Production Device that could produce energy and synthesize elements.
• Boss Slick ordered the Mekboys to build two more devices and mass-produce Ork Rocks, while telling Dio to develop the C'tan Shard Cannon before he could fight the Tyranids.
• The Great Devourer hatched ten Command Variants of Planetary World Devourers and prepared reserve cocoons to replace losses.
• The Tyranid Fleet divided into three sections and advanced on Ork V, with five World Devourers leading the assault.
• Boss Slick deployed his Ork Fleet across the center and wings, and the Tyranids and Orks began a fierce battle across the Star Sea.

Boss Slick led the Orks in breaking the Tyranid encirclement attempt, killing a Synaptic World Devourer and surviving another assassination by the Great Devourer. Trazyn watched the battle footage while Afentis demanded action, but Trazyn said Boss Slick had become a god and revealed that someone had targeted the Silent King.

• Boss Slick piloted Mighty Big Boss II and led ten thousand Ork warships against the Tyranid Synaptic World Devourer on the left flank.
• Boss Slick killed the Synaptic World Devourer, then defeated three Facehugger World Devourers and killed the Slaughter Tyrant during an ambush.
• The Great Devourer struggled to regain control of the Tyranid Fleet, allowing Boss Slick to lead a Waaagh! that nearly routed the Tyranids before reinforcements arrived.
• Trazyn watched footage of Boss Slick fighting while Afentis urged him to use a damaged World Engine to attack the Orks' Screw Clan.
• Trazyn told Afentis that Boss Slick could no longer be manipulated and might be considered a god, then said someone had set their sights on the Silent King.

Trazyn told Afentis that Imotekh had declared war on the Silent King and explained his plan to shape the Orks’ future by giving the last Krork specimen to Ghazghkull Thraka. He and Afentis agreed to conceal their crimes as Trazyn anticipated a clash between Ghazghkull and Boss Slick.

• Trazyn told Afentis that Imotekh had rebelled against the Silent King, driven by radical plans to defend the Necrons and intervene across the galaxy.
• Trazyn explained that he collected history and wanted to witness the rise of powerful Ork leaders.
• Trazyn revealed a hologram of the last Krork and proposed using a World Engine’s Singularity Gate to influence events.
• Afentis realized Trazyn intended to give the Krork specimen to Ghazghkull Thraka, not Boss Slick, to provoke a conflict between them.
• Afentis warned Trazyn to erase the specimen’s memories, and Trazyn promised to leave no loose ends.

Trazyn prepared a powerful suit of armor as a gift for Boss Slick before leaving with Afentis. Meanwhile, Ghazghkull Thraka invaded Armageddon, conquered Ullanor, and faced the last human defenders gathered in its rainforest.

• Trazyn projected a suit of armor forged for the Krork, compressed it into a sphere, and prepared to give it to Boss Slick.
• Trazyn told Afentis they were leaving, and they hoped their ultimate goals would align.
• Ghazghkull Thraka led an elite Ork fleet from Octarius into the Armageddon System and crushed its Listening Station.
• After more than two years of fighting, the Imperium’s defenses collapsed, and Ghazghkull Thraka killed the Space Wolves and placed Ragnar’s head on his Boss Rack.
• Ghazghkull Thraka renamed Armageddon Prime Ullanor and looked toward the rainforest where Ogryns and Catachan Jungle Fighters had gathered to defend it.

Ghazghkull Thraka’s occupation of Ullanor threatened to draw more Orks into a future Great Waaagh, while Cornwall used his Rogue Trader identity to secure the Agamennus family’s support on Vigilus. He left with protection and intelligence, but still needed the Adeptus Mechanicus to obtain warships.

• At least thirty thousand Catachan Jungle Fighters and other Imperial forces prepared to keep fighting the Orks in Ullanor’s jungles as Ghazghkull Thraka moved on.
• Ghazghkull Thraka used Weirdboys to spread news of his victory across the Waaagh! Field, potentially drawing Orks from surrounding sectors into a Great Waaagh.
• The Agamennus family welcomed Cornwall to Vigilus and thanked him for bringing supplies and military equipment.
• Cornwall asked the Agamennus family for help establishing a trading house, building a merchant fleet, and avoiding trouble from local powers.
• Cornwall secured the family’s protection and intelligence, while the representatives offered to connect him with the Adeptus Mechanicus about warships.

Cornwall, a Chaos cult leader on Vigilus, tracked down Pex, whom he had believed dead, and offered him worlds and protection in exchange for loyalty. Pex refused to pledge allegiance but agreed to discuss a transaction, leaving the two former enemies open to cooperation.

• Cornwall worried that his master had stopped answering his prayers as he worked to unite the mortal cults on Vigilus.
• Cornwall spotted Pex in the upper Hive City and followed him into the lower levels, where Pex confronted him.
• Cornwall and Pex recognized each other and traded accusations about their pasts and allegiances.
• Cornwall offered Pex worlds, psychic protection, and help with his plans on Vigilus if Pex joined his master.
• Pex ordered his brood to stand down and agreed to transactions with Cornwall, but refused to pledge allegiance to an unknown power.
• Cornwall accepted Pex's terms and smiled as they prepared to begin a transaction.

Pex prepared the cult to seize control of the Nachmund Gauntlet and negotiate with Mathieu’s approaching fleet, despite his doubts about Cornwall and the Imperium. Meanwhile, the Tyranid swarm struggled against the Orks at Octarius, and the great devourer concluded that Tzeentch had manipulated its emotions.

• Pex secretly met with the church’s god and discussed his plan to take control of the Nachmund Gauntlet so the cult could negotiate with Mathieu’s fleet.
• A mutated cultist reported that Mathieu’s fleet had departed Red Earth, and Pex ordered the bishops to gather as turmoil approached Vigilus.
• At Ork V, Ork mechs attacked Tyranid Bio-ships, destroying one before the victorious mech accidentally blew up its own Krakka Teleporter.
• The great devourer considered retreating from the costly war but could not accept defeat by the Orks.
• The great devourer recognized its abnormal emotions and blamed Tzeentch for influencing the swarm consciousness.

Boss Slick and the Orks fought back against the Tyranid Swarm as the Great Devourer targeted Ork V’s production facilities. A World Devourer destroyed a Matter Generator before its own attack triggered a catastrophic fusion-energy explosion that killed it.

• Boss Slick used Trazyn’s shape-changing armor to create a giant green sword and cut a Tyranid Bio-ship in half, while Mighty Big Boss No. 2 killed another.
• Two planetary-scale World Devourers broke through the defensive line and charged toward Ork V to attack its Matter Production Devices and Ork Rok Manufacturing Plant.
• Dio fired his upgraded Dio Cannon, destroying one World Devourer and badly wounding the other, but the survivor crashed into Ork V and caused massive earthquakes.
• The surviving World Devourer crushed a Matter Generator and bit through its casing, allowing corrosive acid to damage the reactor’s magnetic containment system.
• Fusion energy erupted through the damaged generator and blew up the World Devourer, destroying the Matter Generator as well.

After Boss Slick mocked the Emperor of Mankind and condemned the Imperium, the Emperor asked him to come to Terra and kill him, promising power and protection in return. The Emperor’s command took hold of Boss Slick’s human soul, leaving him struggling against the urge as the No. 2 Mech and Ork Fleet shielded him from the Tyranids.

• Boss Slick watched the World Devourer’s destruction and taunted the Emperor about the Imperium’s failures while fighting Tyranids.
• The Emperor answered Boss Slick, admitted his mistakes, and asked him as an ordinary human to come to Terra and kill him completely.
• The Emperor promised Boss Slick his remaining power, help with ascending to godhood, and protection for those he cared about.
• The Emperor’s voice vanished, but his command to go to Terra and kill him remained engraved in Boss Slick’s mind.
• The No. 2 Mech sheltered Boss Slick while the Ork Fleet drove back the Tyranids, and Boss Slick tried in vain to erase the command.

Boss Slick tried to resist the concept the Emperor had engraved in his soul and used his vambrace to shield himself from its influence. The armor showed him a vision of the Old Ones fighting the Chaos Gods and binding the galaxy with rules, but the memory ended before he could learn more.

• Boss Slick prayed to Gork and Mork, who told him that abandoning his human soul was the only way to escape the concept bound to his race.
• Boss Slick realized that his black vambrace could shield him from hostile psychic influences, and it showed him a vision of the Old Ones confronting the Great Rift.
• The Old Ones sent energy warships into the rift, while warriors from the races they had uplifted and the Necrons joined the battle against the daemonic flood.
• The four Chaos Gods emerged and corrupted the fighters, but the Old Ones protected them with white stones and declared that time could not be changed.
• The Chaos Gods united to spread Chaos beyond the galaxy, but a universal rule bound them to the galaxy where they had been born.
• Boss Slick tried to recall more of the vision, but a restraining power cut off the memory.

Boss Slick used the Tears of the Old Ones to clear the Emperor’s concept from his judgment, then called the Ork fleets trapped in the Warp to Octaria. The massive reinforcements poured into the battle against the Tyranids, turning the fleet melee in the Orks’ favor.

• Boss Slick pressed the Tears of the Old Ones to his forehead, shielding his mind from the Emperor’s concept.
• Boss Slick heard the calls of Orks trapped in the Warp and guided them toward Octaria with a green star.
• Hundreds of thousands of Ork warships emerged above Ork V and joined the battle against the Tyranid Fleet.
• The Ork and Tyranid fleets became entangled in close combat, where rams, chainsaws, and fangs replaced careful aiming.
• The Great Devourer chose to maintain the melee, while Boss Slick’s powerful Waaagh! Field strengthened the arriving Ork fleets.

Boss Slick fought the Tyranids and struggled to direct the Ork forces as they charged into battle. He encouraged Crooked Mouth to join the fight and learned the Mighty Big Boss No. 3 Mech was ready to bring its improved weapons and drone platform to the war.

• Boss Slick watched Ork and Tyranid warships destroy one another, then ordered the Screw Clan fleet to target Tyranid ships inside its formation and adjust its deployment.
• Boss Slick left the No. 2 Mech and teleported to the rear logistics planet where Orks were clearing the World Devourer's corpse and rebuilding the Matter Generator.
• Crooked Mouth offered to finish the construction work and send the No. 3 Mech to Boss Slick, but Boss Slick insisted that Crooked Mouth go fight instead.
• Boss Slick psychically urged Crooked Mouth to enjoy the Waaagh! and take the No. 3 Mech, leaving the rest of the work to him.
• The chapter described the No. 3 Mech's Phase Longsword, Lance system, Macro-cannon shield, and drone platform, which could fight, repair the mech, and manufacture more drones.

Crooked Mouth’s Mighty Big Boss Unit Three helped the Greenskins crush the Tyranid assault, inspiring Boss Slick to promise a prize draw for a Mighty Big Boss mech. Boss Slick then began repairing the damaged Matter Generator by channeling energy from the Waaagh! field into it.

• Crooked Mouth used Unit Three’s weapons and drones to destroy Tyranid ships and beasts, earning the Greenskins’ praise.
• Boss Slick sensed the Boyz’ excitement and envy for Crooked Mouth’s mech, then promised a Mighty Big Boss prize draw for every million Tyranid Bio-ships destroyed.
• The Boyz’ enthusiasm surged into a greater Waaagh!, sharply increasing casualties across the Tyranid fleet.
• Boss Slick reviewed the construction work and examined the damage to the Matter Generator, using his mechanical authority to reconstruct how it had been destroyed.
• Boss Slick drew energy from the Waaagh! field and poured it into the Matter Generator to begin its repair.

Boss Slick restored the Matter Generator as the Great Devourer prepared new attacks across the Octaria System. Inquisitor Sahansen learned that the Ork-Tyranid war had grown to a scale that threatened to overwhelm the Imperium if its fighters turned outward.

• The Matter Generator and Boss Slick recovered, and the Orks praised Boss Slick as the machine repaired itself.
• The Great Devourer positioned Planet Four as a fortress and pushed Number 1 toward its star as part of a larger plan against Boss Slick.
• Inquisitor Sahansen worried over the Ordo Malleus investigation into his use of civilians, some of whom had become Chaos Cultists.
• Sahansen reviewed intelligence gathered by dying Kill Teams and learned that Orks and Tyranids were massing across the Octarius Sector.
• The intelligence showed thousands of warships fighting and being destroyed each minute across hundreds of star systems.

Inquisitor Sahansen concluded that Imperium Nihilus could not withstand the Tyranids and Orks, and urged Terra to evacuate its people and resources. Before he could finish organizing the evacuation, Inquisitor Levinie arrived with two Grey Knights to confront him about a serious problem among the civilians he had sent to the battlefield.

• Sahansen recognized the Ork leader as a new Beast and reviewed records of the War of the Beast for a way to destroy the Waaagh! field.
• Sahansen petitioned Terra to abandon Imperium Nihilus, warning that defeating the Orks would only strengthen the Tyranids.
• Sahansen began suppressing the news and organizing an evacuation while awaiting new orders.
• Levinie entered Sahansen's study with two Grey Knights, and Sahansen put aside his plasma gun.
• Levinie told Sahansen that she no longer suspected him of Daemon possession but had found a serious problem among the civilians he sent to the battlefield.

Levinie and the Ordo Malleus questioned Sahansen about Zhang Jiao, a noble he had ennobled whose rebellion was spreading across several worlds. Sahansen learned that Zhang Jiao’s followers wielded strange Warp power and proclaimed the Emperor dead, and Levinie pressed him for any intelligence that could explain the threat.

• Levinie told Sahansen that Chaos power had increased and appeared connected to civilians he had sent into battle, then presented a file on Zhang Jiao.
• The Ordo Malleus’s investigation revealed that Zhang Jiao had started a rebellion across several worlds and defeated Imperial forces through ambushes and the capture of a Navy warship.
• The Rebels wielded red-and-yellow Warp power, wore yellow headscarves, and received growing blessings from the Blood God despite treating yellow as sacred.
• Sahansen read the Rebels’ proclamation that the Corpse Emperor was dead and the Yellow Heaven would rise, then erupted in fury and nearly collapsed.
• After an Assassin treated Sahansen, Levinie asked what he knew about Zhang Jiao, the minor noble he had personally ennobled.

Sahansen helped Levinie and the Grey Knights investigate the Daemon Zhang Jiao, whose true name they uncovered as Cheng Mingrui despite powerful Chaos interference. The Ordo Malleus departed to lead a major suppression, while Sahansen resolved to secretly plan the evacuation of people from dangerous Imperium Nihilus.

• Sahansen remembered Zhang Jiao asking what it meant to be alive and suspected the commoner had vowed to destroy the powerful.
• Levinie and the Grey Knights used Sahansen’s memories to return to the investiture site and locate Zhang Jiao’s former workplace.
• A Grey Knight’s psychic search encountered overwhelming Chaos power, forcing the Knights to call for reinforcements as the miners were killed to prevent corruption from spreading.
• More than thirty Grey Knights and eventually an entire company joined the effort, stabilizing the psychic ritual and discovering the Daemon’s true name: Cheng Mingrui.
• Levinie and the Grey Knights left to organize a major suppression, while Sahansen accepted that he could not join them and resolved to secretly prepare an evacuation.

Cheng Mingrui taught the Yellow Turban rebels about warfare and education while discussing his stolen true name and beliefs about faith and war with Khorne. He prepared to explore his new understanding of the gods further with Khorne.

• Cheng Mingrui taught the rebels the strategy of drawing out enemy reinforcements, then dismissed them so he could speak with Khorne.
• Khorne told Cheng Mingrui that the Cursed One's followers had stolen his true name and might be planning a targeted strike against him.
• Khorne offered sacrifices, Angron, and his daemonic army to protect Cheng Mingrui, but Cheng Mingrui insisted that courageous, educated people—not weapons or blessings alone—won wars.
• Cheng Mingrui argued that the rebels' faith in Yellow Heaven was true and promised to show Khorne what true faith meant.
• Khorne questioned Cheng Mingrui's choice to teach ordinary people, and Cheng Mingrui defended education as the foundation of a capable army.
• Cheng Mingrui reflected that his connection with Khorne had helped him perceive the nature of gods more clearly, then sat down to discuss his discoveries further.

Cheng Mingrui discussed the Chaos Gods and the role of knowledge in strengthening soldiers, while Khorne concealed part of his memories to protect him from approaching reality too closely. The viewpoint then shifted to Hols at the edge of the Tarrok System, where he asked his unseen father whether he was doing the right thing.

• Cheng Mingrui reasoned that the Chaos Gods represented concepts and speculated about the Blue-Skinned Monster and Nurgle.
• Khorne stopped Cheng Mingrui from discussing Slaanesh and sealed away his memories of their conversation.
• Cheng Mingrui argued that knowledge gave soldiers lasting courage and showed Khorne footage of the Yellow Turban Army defeating Astra Militarum troops.
• Khorne promised to support Cheng Mingrui, who insisted he would meet the challenge himself.
• Hols cruised near the edge of the Tarrok System in an Ork warship, found a concealed entrance, and asked his father whether he was doing the right thing.