Chapter Summaries

Yriel uncovered the Reaper Host’s role in luring the Imperium into attacking Ulthwé and discovered hidden Ynnari warships waiting to strike. With too little soul left to intervene directly, he helped Hols defeat an Ultramarines Lieutenant, turning the battle in the Aeldari warriors’ favor.

• Yriel burned his soul to see Drukhari secretly destroying Spirit Stones and to witness a Harlequin persuading an Ultramarines Company Captain to attack Ulthwé with help from fleets across several sectors.
• Yriel traced the conspiracy back to Yvraine, but she sensed him and struck him out of his vision of the past.
• Yriel discovered that the Imperium’s besieging fleet concealed a much larger Ynnari fleet, which stood ready to attack Ulthwé and seize its Spirit Stones.
• Yriel realized he lacked the soul to destroy the invading forces, so he told Hols how the Ultramarines Lieutenant would move over the next three seconds.
• Hols twisted off the Lieutenant’s head, and the encouraged Aeldari warriors broke through the Ultramarines’ lines while Hols looked for trophies for his Boss Rack.

Yriel convinced Ovisus and Eldrad to evacuate Ulthwé through the Webway as the Imperium overwhelmed the Craftworld, while Hols fought beside its defenders. A month later, the Ultramarines left believing Ulthwé destroyed, and the Reaper Host arrived to claim its Spirit Stones.

• Yriel showed Hols the hidden Reaper Host fleet and sent Ovisus to the Infinity Circuit to persuade Ulthwé's leaders to flee.
• Eldrad watched an Aeldari Titan destroy two human Titans before it was destroyed, costing the souls that piloted it their lives.
• Yriel revealed the new Great Prophecy, Hols's identity as the Child of Destiny, and the Reaper Host fleet, prompting Eldrad to order an evacuation.
• Eldrad directed the Aeldari to retreat toward the Infinity Circuit while the Webway Portal opened, and Hols fought alongside them until they escaped.
• Yriel merged his soul with the Craftworld and used its remaining weapons against the Ultramarines; a month later, they departed, and the Reaper Host collected the Spirit Stones.
• The Harlequin who had informed the Ultramarines arrived near the Infinity Circuit and placed his hand upon it.

The Harlequin sacrificed every soul in Ulthwé Craftworld’s Infinity Circuit with Cegorach’s blessing, then escaped before Slaanesh’s daemons arrived. Slaanesh resurrected Lucius and sent him to join the Emperor’s Children, where Lucius began planning to rebuild his warband.

• The Harlequin found and sacrificed the souls hidden in Ulthwé’s Infinity Circuit, while Cegorach blessed him and urged him to finish and leave.
• The Harlequin and his subordinates escaped, and a massive Warp rift opened above Ulthwé an hour later as Slaaneshi daemons swarmed the craftworld.
• Losek followed Hols’s scent to the destroyed Webway Gate, but could not enter the Webway to pursue him.
• Slaanesh berated Losek and resurrected Lucius, then ordered him to deal with the Webway without divine help.
• Lucius accepted a Thousand Sons sorcerer’s offer to teleport him to the Emperor’s Children’s gathering point.
• Lucius arrived on a corrupted planet and considered recruiting subordinates and using his gene-seed reserves to rebuild his warband.

Lucius visited Miriael to reclaim his gene-seed, but she offered to help him capture Hols in exchange for his cooperation. Meanwhile, a captive female Aeldari escaped a Chaos warship under attack by corsairs and sent them a distress call before passing out.

• Lucius sought the gene-seed he had left with Miriael, who demanded a higher storage fee despite his offer to accept less.
• Miriael proposed that Lucius join her in capturing Hols from the Aeldari Webway to earn Slaanesh's favor, and revealed she had a suitable target ready.
• A captive female Aeldari used a shard of iron and a wire to kill a slave, free herself, and gather armor and weapons.
• The female Aeldari discovered she was aboard a Chaos warship being attacked by Aeldari corsairs and found her Banshee Razor and an escape pod.
• The female Aeldari killed a Chaos Space Marine who intercepted her, launched an escape pod, sent a distress call to the corsairs, and lost consciousness.

Miriael planned to use Lucius, reborn inside an Aeldari, to gain an agent in the Webway, while Boss Slick and Big Blade worked to activate their replica Squig Webway Gate. Boss Slick organized a massive Blood Bowl Squigball tournament with Waaagh! music, hoping it would infuse the gate with a soul.

• Miriael watched Lucius's escape pod get rescued by Aeldari Corsairs and hoped he would be reborn inside one of them as an agent in the Webway.
• Boss Slick and Big Blade found that their Squig Webway Gate closely matched the wraithbone version but lacked something needed to activate it.
• After Big Blade's head struck the gate, Boss Slick saw it flash on a psychic level and realized that a soul might be the missing element.
• Boss Slick and Big Blade built a complete replica gate, but it still would not open, so Boss Slick proposed a huge tournament with powerful players and Ork rock music.
• Orks across the star systems flocked to Boss Slick's tournament, named the Sneaky Cup Mighty Super Blood Bowl Squigball.

Boss Slick’s tournament broadcast stirred the Greenskins, while Inquisitor Sahansen evacuated valuable Imperial forces from Imperium Nihilus as defenses and society fractured. As the Slick Cup Super Blood Bowl tournament stalled over fragile Bitey Squigs, Boss Slick unveiled a new kind of ball.

• Boss Slick’s broadcast spread exaggerated legends about him among the Greenskins and helped halt their expansion near the Octarius Sector.
• Inquisitor Sahansen organized a mass withdrawal toward the Nachmund Gauntlet, abandoning ordinary civilians while evacuating military forces and other valuable assets.
• The Salamanders Chapter and the Lamenters stayed behind to protect Imperial civilians as Chaos Cults exploited the resulting power vacuums.
• Iron Claw’s round-of-thirty-two match ended in another stalemate when the Bitey Squig ball burst during play.
• Boss Slick announced a solution to the fragile-ball problem and introduced the Shape-Shifting Squig, invented with Big Blade.

Boss Slick introduced the Shape-Shifting Squig, then the eight teams gathered at the Ice Planet’s equatorial stadium for the quarterfinals. The chapter ended with the tournament’s strongest contenders revealed and the Screw Clan’s growing ranks of powerful Nobs described.

• Boss Slick explained that Shape-Shifting Squigs could absorb energy from the collective waaagh! field and grow fiercer during matches, while Ork Boyz mocked his explanation and called them little Mudballs.
• Grom led his team to victory in the final match of the round of 32, securing a place among the final sixteen and a chance to win a custom flagship.
• The remaining sixteen teams competed across the Ice Planet’s eastern and western hemispheres until eight advanced to the equatorial stadium for the quarterfinals.
• Ghazgitz introduced the quarterfinal teams and their championship prospects, including Kundra’s Blood Axes, Boss Copperhead’s Waaagh Upheaval Team, and Crooked Mouth’s Mekboy team.
• Ghazgitz announced that Grom would face Rottooth, the tournament’s top contender, and introduced the veteran Gork Grin Team, whose roster had been weakened by past battles.
• The Screw Clan’s Nobs had grown into a thousand-strong force, and eight-meter-tall Nobs had become common.

Bad Gambler wagered his remaining borrowed teeth on the struggling Gork Grin Team, unaware that its new recruit was Boss Slick controlling an artificial Ork body. As the quarterfinal began, Boss Slick fought Kundra evenly despite his weaker body, leaving Kundra searching for a way to win.

• Ghazgitz gave the Gork Grin Team only a 0.67% chance of winning the championship, and Bad Gambler bet a thousand Fierce Teef on them.
• A betting Boss warned Bad Gambler that the Gork Grin Team had lost a player and only recruited a replacement two days earlier, but Bad Gambler refused to withdraw his wager.
• The Gork Grin Team and Kundra's team entered the arena, where Kundra recognized that the short opponent facing him was dangerous.
• Boss Slick used an artificially created Ork Warboss body to enter the Webway and compete in the Slick Cup Squigball tournament.
• When Ghazgitz started the match, Boss Slick attacked Kundra and used his battle experience to counter Kundra's superior strength and speed.
• Kundra stayed calm despite being unable to overcome Boss Slick and began considering how to win.

Kundra charged toward the Gork Grin Team’s goal with the Bitey Squig, but Boss Slick’s double disrupted his advance and helped set off a chaotic scramble. The double eventually seized the squig and used skillful redirection to evade Kundra, scoring the winning goal for the Gork Grin Team.

• Kundra broke through the Gork Grin Team’s defense with the Bitey Squig while his teammates formed a shield around him.
• Boss Slick’s double grabbed Kundra’s ankle, bringing him down and drawing a beating from nearby Nobs.
• The Bitey Squig escaped, and players from both teams abandoned their positions to chase it across the pitch.
• Boss Slick’s double scooped up the Bitey Squig and raced toward Kundra’s goal as Ghazgitz mocked him and called him Little Slick.
• Little Slick redirected Kundra’s hands with a Tai Chi movement, then leaped into the goal with the Bitey Squig to win the match.

Boss Slick’s avatar, Slick, helped the Gork Grin Team defeat Crooked Mouth’s Mork Thinks About It Team after the Mekboys’ mechanical limbs failed under the influence of Boss Slick’s mechanical authority. The Gork Grin Team advanced to the final four, though Slick felt the victory was unfair.

• Bad Gambler and the crowd celebrated Slick’s speed, while Boss Slick noticed the Squig Webway Gate responding to the crowd’s Waaagh! and emotions.
• Ghazgitz favored Crooked Mouth’s larger, mechanically enhanced team over the Gork Grin Team, but Bad Gambler and other spectators cheered for the underdogs.
• The match began, and the Gork Grin Team’s smaller players were initially knocked aside by the Mekboys.
• The Mekboys’ mechanical limbs malfunctioned during the match, allowing the Gork Grin Team to overpower them.
• Slick grabbed the Bitey Squig and scored while Crooked Mouth’s mechanical leg fell apart, securing the Gork Grin Team’s victory.
• Slick realized that his true body’s mechanical authority had caused the machines to dismantle themselves, and he accepted the win despite feeling it was unfair.

Little Slick faced Boss Copperhead in the Slick Cup final, and their brutal clash ignited a Waaagh! among the spectators. As the Waaagh! Field strengthened every Ork, Little Slick finally struck Boss Copperhead hard enough to send him sliding backward.

• Ghazgitz introduced the final between Little Slick’s Gork Grin Team and Boss Copperhead’s Waaagh Upheaval Team.
• Boss Copperhead and Little Slick collided, and Boss Copperhead’s superior strength sent Little Slick flying and left him bloodied.
• The two teams ignored the Bitey Squig and fought one another in a brawl that matched the teams evenly.
• The Ork spectators erupted into a Waaagh!, while Duncehead and the Rock Boys began playing a rousing song.
• The Waaagh! Field boosted the Orks’ fighting power, and Little Slick punched Boss Copperhead hard enough to send him sliding several meters.

Little Slick and Boss Copperhead fought fiercely until their collision sent them through the Squig Webway Gate, where Hrud swarmed them. Boss Slick sent the Greenskins into the Webway, and the scattered Orks began fighting the Hrud.

• Little Slick struck Boss Copperhead, who praised the fight and then landed a punch that shattered Little Slick's left shoulder and arm.
• Little Slick charged Boss Copperhead again, and their collision carried them across the pitch and into the Squig Webway Gate.
• Boss Slick lost his connection to Little Slick after seeing Hrud swarm the pair, then urged the Greenskins to charge through the gates.
• Rambo rushed into the Webway, and the other Greenskins poured through after him, with the Webway scattering many of them to different locations.
• Boss Copperhead protected the injured Little Slick from the Hrud, while arriving Orks fought the Warrior Bugs with overwhelming strength.

The Screw Clan’s Greenskins poured into the Webway and drove back Honsou’s warrior bugs, while Boss Copperhead tried to save the badly injured little Slick. Little Slick woke after the Painboy fitted a pot-shaped device to his head, and Boss Copperhead charged him back into battle as the Honsou Norn Queen deployed larger warrior bugs.

• The Screw Clan’s Greenskins and their combat machines flooded into the Webway and pushed Honsou’s warrior bugs back.
• Boss Copperhead carried the Painboy to little Slick, and the Painboy repaired him with squig tendons, metal frames, and a makeshift soul receiver.
• Boss Slick noticed that the Waaagh! field was split by the Webway and ordered Crooked Mouth to pause the Orks’ advance.
• Little Slick woke, and Boss Copperhead led him back into the fight against the warrior bugs.
• The Honsou Norn Queen sent in larger warrior bugs that fired lightning, but Boss Copperhead blocked a bolt and crushed one bug’s head.

The Hrud Norn Queen recognized the Orks from ancient Hrud history and retreated as her forces lost ground in the Webway. Boss Slick and Little Slick struggled to contact scattered Ork forces, then began gathering more boyz to explore and eventually control the vast Webway.

• The Hrud Norn Queen recalled the Krork and the Genius Boyz Association, concluded her kin could not defeat the Orks, and ordered a retreat.
• Boss Copperhead praised Little Slick's fighting, while Little Slick asked him to pursue the bugs and left a few boyz and Weirdboyz behind to make contact with other Orks.
• Boss Slick told Crooked Mouth to send more boyz, heavy equipment, and Gretchin through the gate, and to have the Gretchin explore and build bases.
• Little Slick's five Weirdboyz found that the waaagh! field worked in the Webway but that contact with other Orks was difficult; they reached only one nearby force.
• Boss Slick calculated that the Orks were scattered across a region the size of a star system and ordered Crooked Mouth to gather enough boyz and equipment to fill it.

While Boss Slick planned a larger Squig Webway Gate, his core consciousness, Celestial Master Zhang Jiao, continued fighting on Ovisgral as Imperial forces suffered devastating losses. At a War Council, Levinie rejected Exterminatus and agreed to a Grey Knights plan to attack Ovis Fortress and banish Zhang Jiao.

• Boss Slick sought Big Blade's help building a larger Webway Gate while Little Slick and Boss Copperhead explored the Webway for a Forward Base site.
• Over five months, the Yellow Turban Army defeated three Astra Militarum armies and inflicted heavy casualties on six Green Ring Guardians companies.
• Levinie berated the Astra Militarum generals at an orbital War Council, while Rex described the cultists' extraordinary resolve in battle.
• Rex proposed Exterminatus, but Levinie explained it would not permanently stop the daemon and could turn mass deaths into a sacrifice to Chaos.
• Levinie announced that the Angry Ones Space Marine Chapter and two Astra Militarum armies would arrive in two days, and identified Celestial Master Zhang Jiao as the commander at Ovis Fortress.
• Grand Master Hawk proposed attacking Ovis Fortress so the Grey Knights could locate Zhang Jiao and banish him.

Levinie planned an assault on Ovis Fortress with General Hanks, Chapter Master Rex, and the arriving Space Marine reinforcements. Meanwhile, Zhang Jiao and Cheng Mingrui confronted the immense casualties of the Imperium’s campaign as Khorne urged Cheng Mingrui to accept the bloodshed.

• Levinie, Hanks, and Rex discussed besieging Ovis Fortress, and Rex offered only a company and a half of Green Ring Guardians.
• Levinie studied the fortress’s formidable defenses and began planning an assault with Hanks and Rex.
• Zhang Jiao reviewed casualty reports and considered how the Imperium’s destruction of cities had turned Ovisgral into a brutal battlefield.
• A Yellow Turban general vowed that the rebels would trade thousands of lives to resist the Imperium and raise Yellow Heaven.
• Cheng Mingrui admitted to Khorne that experiencing the deaths of twenty billion people had shaken him, and Khorne told him he would grow accustomed to the bloodshed.

Khorne told Cheng Mingrui that eight trials stood between him and godhood, beginning with an imminent test, and Cheng Mingrui vowed to fight alongside the mortals. As the battle for Ovis Fortress began, Krieg forces suffered heavy losses against the Yellow Turban Army, and the Angry Ones Chapter stepped in to lead the assault.

• Khorne warned Cheng Mingrui that his first of eight trials was approaching, withdrew some of his blessings, and agreed to leave the mortals’ blessings intact.
• Cheng Mingrui learned that Space Marines had ambushed his scouts and identified them as a new Chapter, then prepared for the attack on Ovis Fortress.
• Krieg artillery bombarded the fortress defenses, and successive formations of Krieg soldiers advanced through concealed bunkers at heavy cost.
• Yellow Turban Army soldiers fought the Krieg troops in close combat and unleashed manifestations of Yellow Heaven, including a powerful slash and talisman lightning.
• After the sixth Krieg formation was wiped out, a Space Marine of the Angry Ones Chapter stopped the commissar and sent Space Marines forward to take over the assault.

The Imperium’s forces spent months fighting through Cheng Mingrui’s fortress, suffering heavy casualties as the Yellow Turban Army’s blessings and defenses intensified. After the gates were brought down in an explosion, Yellow Turban Strongmen blocked the Space Marines’ advance, and a Space Marine killed one using a coordinated attack.

• Space Marines and Krieg soldiers broke through the fortress’s outer defenses over three months, losing a fifth of the Krieg forces and nearly a hundred Space Marines.
• The Grey Knights entered the battle, breached the fortress gates, and led the attack into its branching passages.
• Cheng Mingrui’s defenders used hidden sniper positions and bombs to inflict heavy casualties on the Imperial forces during three months of fighting inside the fortress.
• In the fourth month, an explosion collapsed the fortress gates, burying Imperial troops and cutting off those inside from their reinforcements.
• Yellow Turban Strongmen entered the passages and blocked the Space Marines, with one Strongman overpowering a Space Marine in strength.
• The Space Marine shot the Strongman in the knee and beheaded him with his Chainsword.

Cheng Mingrui led a charge against the Green Ring Guardians and confronted Rex in a narrow passage. He defeated Rex in two strikes and cut down the Guardians who rushed to save their Chapter Master.

• Rex’s Green Ring Guardians advanced through the passage, killing Rebel Army gunners and warning their squad to beware of mortals feigning death.
• Cheng Mingrui appeared behind the Guardians and killed a Scout with his Green Greatsword, then endured their concentrated fire before emerging from the dust.
• Yellow Turban Strongmen charged into melee with the Guardians while Cheng Mingrui attacked Rex with his greatsword.
• Cheng Mingrui overwhelmed Rex, cutting through his Power Armour and leaving him apparently dead.
• The remaining Green Ring Guardians charged to rescue Rex, and Cheng Mingrui killed each one with a single stroke.

Cheng Mingrui watched the Grey Knights annihilate the souls of John and the other militiamen, then transformed in fury and attacked them. The Grey Knights struggled to withstand him, and Hawk realized their Aegis armor offered no protection against Cheng Mingrui’s sword.

• Cheng Mingrui saw the Grey Knights’ psychic lightning burn John and the militiamen to charcoal and destroy their souls.
• Roughly thirty Grey Knights teleported in to surround Cheng Mingrui, who recognized the horror of their attack and grew furious.
• Cheng Mingrui transformed and charged the Grey Knights, while Hawk tried to weaken him by calling him by his human name.
• Hawk’s guards blocked Cheng Mingrui’s first strike, but the daemon cut down Grey Knights as Hawk joined the fight.
• Hawk discovered that Cheng Mingrui’s longsword could shatter Aegis armor and ignore its protective runes and scriptures.