Chapter Summaries

Ralph and his Iron Warriors gene-seed squad defended Warehouse One from traitor Iron Warriors, holding the food stores through fierce underground battles. As Situval prepared the counterattack, Ralph’s squad answered his call with their ancient battle cry.

• Situval ordered Ralph to hold Underground Warehouse One until the traitors withdrew, and Ralph reluctantly obeyed.
• Ralph’s squad destroyed the first traitor assault force and its mole drill, then moved to a lower level as more enemies broke into the warehouse.
• Warehouse defenders planted bombs while the mortals struggled to endure the fighting; an explosion killed a young soldier who had tried to adjust one of the bombs.
• Ralph’s squad charged a traitor shield formation with explosives, triggering a blast that crushed mortals beneath tonnes of food and scattered the enemy Astartes.
• Situval heard Ralph’s squad shouting their battle cry and called to Ralph as the Crimson Tide began its counterattack against the Titans at the fortress walls.

The Imperial forces broke the Iron Warriors’ siege with a fleet counterattack, a fortress cannon, and Titans emerging from a hidden base, while Vasher’s forces dwindled and retreated. Evan then took the newly built Wind and Cloud-class Battleship into battle, crippled enemy ships, and left it prowling for another attack.

• Situval’s squad killed the remaining Iron Warriors in their area, and Ralph and the other survivors prepared to counterattack using contingency plan one.
• The fortress’s concealed warship-scale cannon destroyed a Marauder Titan and damaged a Warlord Titan, while the anti-psyker warriors joined the counterattack.
• Annos and the Light of the People ambushed the Iron Warriors fleet as the Calixis fleet escaped, and more than nine hundred Dawn Angels joined the assault.
• The Light of the People shattered enemy ground forces, thirty-six Titans emerged from a hidden base beneath the Yellow River, and the Iron Warriors’ survivors took defensive positions.
• Evan boarded Haituo’s Wind and Cloud-class Battleship, called the Pipi Shrimp, and charged into the enemy fleet, crippling a cruiser and striking Vasher’s Battle Barge with torpedoes and Lances.
• The Wind and Cloud-class Battleship broke through the enemy line and turned at the edge of the system while its crew reloaded its weapons.

Evan led a counteroffensive that devastated the Iron Warriors’ fleet and ground forces, but a thousand-ship Legion force arrived and forced the loyalists to retreat. Evan rescued the Lamenters by taking them aboard Wind and Cloud One, leaving the Mother of Tears and its crew behind as the enemy closed in.

• Evan used Wind and Cloud One to cripple enemy battleships and strand two flotillas while the Light of the People and the Dawn Angels captured or destroyed much of the fleet.
• The Iron Warriors’ ground forces were routed as orbital fire and the Underhive’s counterattack drove them back, while the shipyard devoured 180 enemy vessels.
• The Mother of Tears arrived and attacked seven Dark Mechanicum ships, but the survivors escaped through a Warp rift before Maturio could receive Evan’s reply.
• A thousand warships entered the system, forcing the loyalist fleet to evacuate; Evan, the Light of the People, and Maturio’s Battle Barge were caught away from the retreating forces.
• Evan brought Wind and Cloud One alongside the Mother of Tears and made the Lamenters board, while Larior sedated Maturio and carried him to a boarding pod.
• Evan accelerated away with the Lamenters aboard as the enemy engulfed the Mother of Tears, leaving its mortals and remaining angels to resist.

Perturabo led the Iron Warriors in a month-long bombardment and underground assault on Oslosa 24, while Li Anjun and the defenders fought from beneath the ruined planet. When Guilliman arrived with a vast Imperial fleet, Perturabo welcomed his former brother with a barrage and prepared to face him.

• Perturabo ordered the Iron Warriors to pursue the Wind and Cloud-class Battleship and examined captured Anti-psyker Armour, then took personal command of the fleet.
• Li Anjun rallied the defenders to abandon surface positions and fight underground as the Iron Warriors destroyed Oslosa 24’s surface with exterminatus weapons and orbital bombardment.
• Perturabo’s forces tracked and sealed the defenders’ tunnels, using detectors and Tyrant-pattern Tunnellers to attack their underground positions.
• Li Anjun ambushed a Tyrant-pattern Tunneller with a melta bomb and an Anti-Vehicle Bomb, then withdrew when the Iron Warriors received word of a new target.
• Guilliman arrived aboard the Macragge's Honour with more than a thousand Imperial warships as Perturabo ordered the Iron Warriors to welcome him with their barrage.

Guilliman led the Imperial fleet to Oslosa 24, where Ultramarines and surviving defenders fought to reclaim the planet from Perturabo's Iron Warriors. After learning that troops still held out beneath Perturabo's fortress, Guilliman set out to confront his brother, while Tzeentch prepared to intervene and Lady Euten remained missing.

• Guilliman assembled more than two thousand warships and attacked Perturabo's fleet, while the Sons of Dorn and other Imperial forces engaged the Iron Warriors.
• A commissar led exhausted defenders out of their buried tunnels, and Ultramarines arriving in Drop Pods overwhelmed the anti-air positions as Calgar killed an Iron Warriors commander.
• Guilliman ordered his forces to restore the void shields over the Hive City, then descended to the planet after the shields came online and Titans entered the protected area.
• Perturabo descended to his ruined fortress and lured Guilliman toward it, while Guilliman learned that defenders still held out underground near the fortress.
• Guilliman committed to attacking Perturabo's fortress, as Tzeentch prepared Magnus to strike during the coming duel and continued to wonder where Lady Euten had gone.

Evan rescued the Lamenters from the Mother of Tears and joined Maturio in choosing to take the Eternal Mountain to support Guilliman. On Oslosa 24, Guilliman led an assault through tunnels beneath Perturabo’s fortress, only for Perturabo’s Throne Mechanicum to teleport them into the middle of a vast minefield.

• Evan confronted the Lamenters aboard the Wind and Cloud-class Battleship, persuaded them that their surviving warriors mattered more than the Mother of Tears, and reunited with Maturio.
• Evan explained the Light of the People shipyard and divided the Lamenters between fleet harassment and a mission to carry an important passenger; Maturio chose the latter and agreed to follow Evan.
• Guilliman’s forces attacked Perturabo’s army across Oslosa 24, while Guilliman used a tunnel network to enter the fortress with Li Anjun, another Librarian, and the Victrix Guard.
• Guilliman’s assault force fought through Iron Warriors blockades and reached Perturabo in the fortress’s control hall, where Guilliman charged the Primarch on the Throne Mechanicum.
• Perturabo’s Throne Mechanicum teleported Guilliman, Perturabo, the Victrix Guard, and the Iron Circle Automata to a sand-choked plain surrounded by a vast minefield and hidden artillery.

Guilliman and Perturabo fought across a bombardment-ravaged battlefield, with Perturabo wielding the Fire of Cutting and later transforming the Throne Mechanicum into a daemon engine. After Guilliman’s Armour of Fate shattered and his limiters broke, he vanished from Perturabo’s sensors and struck from multiple directions.

• Guilliman and Perturabo were teleported away from their forces as the Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs disabled nearby machinery, leaving the Imperial troops exposed to continued artillery fire.
• Perturabo drew the Fire of Cutting from the Throne Mechanicum and battled Guilliman, whose Emperor’s Sword eventually cracked the weapon and forced Perturabo to retreat.
• The Crimson Tide’s anti-psyker warriors tunneled beneath the battlefield and destroyed an Iron Circle-controlled Artillery Battery while attacking others.
• Perturabo revealed the Fire of Cutting’s hammer form and pinned Guilliman beneath the Throne Mechanicum’s bombardment until the throne transformed into a daemon engine.
• The transformed throne shattered Guilliman’s Armour of Fate, releasing his remaining limiters; Guilliman vanished from Perturabo’s sensors and attacked the warped machine from multiple directions.

Alpharius revealed himself as the Primarch who had impersonated Guilliman and fought Perturabo on Oslosa 24. Perturabo was dragged back into the Warp, Magnus’s attempt to capture Alpharius failed, and Evan arrived as Alpharius awoke and declared the Alpha Legion loyal.

• Alpharius fought through Perturabo’s mechanical war machine and stabbed the wounded Lord of Iron with the Emperor’s Sword.
• Vashtorr empowered Perturabo’s machine and tried to corrupt Alpharius, but the Emperor’s psychic power destroyed the machine and left both Primarchs badly wounded.
• Magnus attacked Perturabo through a Warp rift, shattered his body, and sent him back into the Warp.
• Magnus tried to trap Alpharius in a Nine-Dragon Cage, but Evan’s arrival shattered the dragons and closed the Warp rift.
• Evan approached Alpharius, whose pain began to ease as the Blank remains around him suppressed the Warp’s influence.
• Alpharius awoke and whispered, “The Alpha Legion... forever loyal.”

Evan revealed his secret plan to Alpharius, whom he mistook for Guilliman, and proposed using anti-psyker armor and the Imperium’s faith to free and resurrect the Emperor. He ended by offering to start a rebellion that would let the Primarch crush his political enemies, while Alpharius recognized the scheme as familiar Alpha Legion work.

• Evan tried to take Alpharius’s weapons and forehead diamond, but Alpharius woke and wounded him with a punch against the Necron Crossblade.
• Alpharius disguised himself as Guilliman, and he and Evan established trust by recalling their meeting aboard the Phalanx.
• Evan identified himself as the Crimson Tide’s founding Chapter Master and told Alpharius he planned to overturn the Imperium and restore the Great Crusade era.
• Evan explained his theories about the Emperor, the Golden Throne, the Webway, and how anti-psyker warriors, Necron technology, and the Ecclesiarchy’s faith might enable the Emperor’s return.
• Evan offered to launch a rebellion so Alpharius could use the conflict to eliminate his political enemies and reunite the Imperium, while Alpharius thought the Alpha Legion had already been doing that.

Evan and Alpharius negotiated a rebellion cover and Imperial reinforcements while the Emperor’s forces rescued Guilliman and drove Perturabo’s Iron Warriors from the Oslosa 24 system. After the Imperium departed, Evan began rebuilding his forces and preparing for the still-advancing Blood Legion.

• Evan gave Alpharius a token to present to the Emperor, proposed using an apparent rebellion to expose Imperial traitors, and agreed that Guilliman would decide whether to approve the plan.
• Alpharius warned that Evan’s forces might not remain loyal after his death, then agreed to consult the Emperor and arrange reinforcements with an Adeptus Custodes overseer.
• The Emperor sent warriors to find Guilliman, while Evan escaped into the tunnels and the Imperial forces rallied under Guilliman’s return as Perturabo’s Iron Warriors retreated.
• Hecassos led the Iron Warriors’ withdrawal, but the Light of the People and its Space Mantas attacked the fleeing fleet, leaving Hecassos with only about four hundred warships.
• Evan returned to Oslosa 24 after the Imperium left, ordered efforts to restore the planet and expand the Underground Factory, and redirected production toward Space Mantas and Wind and Cloud-class battleships.
• Evan prepared for the Blood Legion’s continuing advance while hoping Guilliman could hold it back.

Evan brought the Light of the People to Auber Quill, where he learned how the planet’s forty-year lifespan and the Iron Warriors’ raid had left its people starving. He led his warriors into suspected Aeldari ruins, where they fought the local Exodites as their Spirit-Mirror Elder tried to understand why prophecy had failed.

• Evan positioned the Light of the People in orbit around Auber and captured an abandoned IV Legion warship, while the Crimson Tide’s Wind and Cloud-class Battleship entered orbit.
• Evan landed with his warriors, met a herding family, and learned from the Department of the Interior that the Iron Warriors had taken the food and local officials had hunted the old and hungry to preserve supplies for the young.
• Evan received food for the locals and took a mutton-hauling Transport Craft toward the southern hemisphere, then had Space Mantas carry his warriors to the ruins.
• Evan’s warriors found a hidden passage and encountered Exodite guards; Evan killed one, and the Dawn Angels charged into the settlement and fought its defenders.
• An Exodite intelligence officer reported the invasion to the Spirit-Mirror Elder, who ordered the guards to defend the Blue Ring and began a ritual, but found that no prophecy came.

Evan and the Astartes overwhelmed the Exodites’ caverns, defeating their psychic defenses and driving the Spirit-Mirror Elder to use the Echo of Fate to break the seal on the Webway Gate. As Evan confronted the Elder and three Wraithlords, the seal’s hidden chains began to tremble under the psychic assault.

• Evan broke through the Exodites’ Divine Array by nullifying its psychic power and destroyed the spirit stone at its core, forcing the survivors to flee.
• Rogier and the Space Wolves routed the Exodite defenders in the cavern passages as Astartes captured the surrounding caverns and killed the Spirit-Mirror Elder’s leading protectors.
• The Spirit-Mirror Elder possessed a guard, escaped toward the monument, and summoned three Wraithlords through the Webway Gate.
• The Spirit-Mirror Elder resolved to sacrifice the souls within the Echo of Fate to overwhelm the seal and open the Webway Gate.
• Evan arrived as the Spirit-Mirror Elder overloaded the Echo of Fate, while the Wraithlords advanced and Astartes opened fire.
• The psychic force flooded the hidden chains across the Webway seal, making them shake as the Spirit-Mirror Elder declared himself free.

The Crimson Tide survived the Webway Gate’s catastrophic psychic blast, secured the entrance, and then traveled to Spetoris to trade metal for food. Their arrival coincided with a Lanternjaw attack, and Nian Cijin realized the beast was fleeing from something beneath the sea.

• The chains around the Webway Gate shattered, unleashing a psychic storm that destroyed the underground settlement and crippled the Aeldari and Wraithlords, while the Spirit-Mirror Elder escaped through the Gate.
• Ralph entered the Webway with several veterans, returned unharmed, and reported that it stretched far beyond what they could see; Evan assigned Librarian Adams and a hundred battle-brothers to guard and cautiously explore it.
• After the Crimson Tide found nothing else worth salvaging, Evan took the Wind and Cloud-class Battleship to Spetoris to exchange metal for food and deliver supplies to Scintilla.
• A Lanternjaw attacked Little Anse’s fishing vessel as the ship approached Enkydan, and a missile from the Wind and Cloud-class Battleship killed it.
• Nian Cijin rejected the governor’s offer to arrest the fishing crew and warned that the Lanternjaw had been fleeing from something deeper beneath the sea.

Rogier recruited Little Anse after the Astartes intervened in a fight on Spetoris, and the Crimson Tide went on to restore order and deliver supplies across the Calixis Sector. Two years later, the chapter’s fleet and Guilliman’s forces prepared for war against the Blood Legion as Guilliman addressed the commanders.

• Rogier defeated Little Anse in a chaotic duel, then brought him aboard the Light of the People as a promising recruit.
• Nian Cijin arrested Spetoris’s officials after they tried to seize the Ans Family’s Lanternjaw, and the Wolf Brothers marched into Enkydan City.
• Evan’s forces reached Scintilla, broke up the disorder, distributed food, and began rebuilding the ruined hives with help from Ralph and the Iron Warriors.
• Over two years, the Light of the People returned supplies to worlds across the Calixis Sector, while Annos produced more than sixty Wind and Cloud-class Battleships.
• The Nemesis Chapter’s attacks failed to stop the Blood Legion, which grew stronger by recruiting corrupted Imperial warriors, while Guilliman rallied the Imperial commanders for the coming war.
• Guilliman addressed the commanders aboard Macragge’s Honour, announcing victory over the IV Legion before an Adeptus Custodes member silenced the cheering.

Guilliman’s forces pursued the Blood Legion to Vostroya, where Cypher and False Sanguinius had helped the Vostroyan Firstborn defeat the Genestealers. As the battle spread across the system, Khârn and the World Eaters attacked the Imperial fleet, and the chapter ends with Guilliman confronting Bloodthirsters aboard the Space Hulk.

• Khorne redirected the Blood Legion toward Vostroya after hearing reports of False Sanguinius, while Guilliman sent forces in pursuit.
• Cypher and False Sanguinius helped the Vostroyan Firstborn defeat the Genestealers, then disappeared as the Blood Legion split into fleets and attacked nearby subsectors.
• Guilliman ordered his forces toward Vostroya, where Khârn’s World Eaters attacked the planet and Imperial warships.
• A Bloodthirster boarded the Eternal Mountain, and Kazhaniv and Maturio fought it through the ship and into a wrecked escort vessel.
• Khârn boarded the Macragge’s Honour and fought the Custodian, who struck him back with Radiance as Khorne’s blessings transformed Khârn.
• Guilliman boarded the Space Hulk and called for Angron, but Bloodthirsters emerged and attacked him, Titus, Sicarius, and the Victrix Guard.

Khârn and the Bloodthirsters ravaged Macragge's Honour until Celestine returned and helped drive back the daemons, while Guilliman ordered a withdrawal. Evan's fleet reached the Calixis Sector, encircled the scattered Blood Army forces, and prepared to attack.

• Khârn fought a Custodian across Macragge's Honour until a mortal macro-cannon crew fired on him, hurling him into an ammunition explosion that sent him back toward the Space Hulk.
• Kazhaniv killed the Bloodthirster attacking him with a golden, empowered Lightning Claw, and a Shadow Wasp Fighter rescued him and Maturio from their drifting escort ship.
• Celestine returned from the Warp, joined Titus, and helped him banish a Greater Daemon before carrying surviving warriors back to Macragge's Honour.
• Celestine evacuated Guilliman and the surviving warriors as Guilliman ordered Macragge's Honour to withdraw; Celestine then appeared on Vostroya to fight the World Eaters.
• Evan brought the Light of the People and fifty-nine warships behind the scattered Blood Army forces, declared that his fleet had them surrounded, and ordered an attack.

Guilliman recovered from his grievous injuries aboard the Crimson Tide’s ship while Lady Euten cared for him, and Evan led the Crimson Tide into a series of devastating attacks against the Blood Legion. After breaking the enemy’s Chain of Iron Ships formation, the fleet regrouped beside the Light of the People and prepared to strike again.

• Guilliman collapsed in Lady Euten’s room after hiding his injuries from the crew, and she cared for him while he rested for ten hours.
• Guilliman drank and ate while Lady Euten described how the Crimson Tide had treated her, then left to find the kitchen.
• Evan used four battleships as bait while thirty-two Wind and Cloud-class Battleships ambushed and destroyed the World Eaters’ eight warships.
• The Crimson Tide’s fleet raided the surrounding subsectors, evading encirclement with realspace jumps and devastating enemy fleets with repeated attacks.
• Khorne gathered eighty-eight warships above an Imperial feral world, but the Crimson Tide’s successive charges and reinforcements shattered the Chain of Iron Ships formation.
• Evan killed a World Eater who had teleported into Wind and Cloud One, then ordered the fleet to regroup beside the Light of the People and prepare its weapons.

Evan led the Light of the People and eighty-one warships through the Blood Legion’s encirclement, then used the Light of the People’s main gun to annihilate the enemy flagship and much of its fleet. After the blast destroyed the star system and badly damaged his ships, Evan fought Khârn aboard his battleship and drove him into a Warp Rift, retaining the Bloodspawn Axe and Khârn’s severed arm.

• Evan learned the Blood Legion was encircling his fleet and ordered his forces to attack the enemy’s main fleet rather than break out.
• The Wind and Cloud-class Battleships punched through the Blood Legion’s defenses and opened a corridor for the Light of the People.
• Annos powered the Light of the People’s main gun with the captive Exodites, and its blast destroyed the Skull Throne, most of the enemy fleet, and the star system.
• The blast severely damaged Evan’s fleet, while Khârn and other World Eaters boarded the surviving ships.
• Evan fought Khârn, using his anti-psyker armor and the ship’s acceleration to weaken him before tearing off his arm and hurling him away.
• A Warp Rift swallowed Khârn, leaving Evan with the Bloodspawn Axe and Khârn’s attached arm.

After recovering from his duel with Khârn, Evan woke to find a mysterious, deranged Sanguinius and Cypher aboard the Light of the People. He assigned the Lamenters to protect the Archangel as the fleet withdrew, then learned that Chaos had been weakened but new threats were spreading across the galaxy.

• Evan fell unconscious after Khârn was taken away, and Situval rebuilt his body while the Blood Legion turned its attention toward Vostroya and Celestine.
• The Imperial forces arrived at Vostroya as the Lamenters and Crimson Tide withdrew, and the Light of the People swallowed the Eternal Mountain and its escort before fleeing.
• Cypher and False Sanguinius entered the Eternal Mountain, where False Sanguinius attacked Kazhaniv and triggered a fierce fight with the Lamenters before Cypher escaped with him onto the Light of the People.
• Evan woke a month later and learned that Cypher and the deranged Sanguinius had been captured; he ordered the Lamenters to make the ship their monastery and protect their Gene-Father.
• Evan received reports that the fleet was withdrawing toward the Calixis Sector and that Chaos had suffered major losses, while a corrupted Carcharodons Dreadnought led the Mechanical Shark Warband into his territory.

Evan’s forces consolidated their control of the Calixis Sector, reorganized their Astartes and set out to retrieve Cancero before launching an assault on an Aeldari Craftworld. The chapter ended with the Crimson Tide’s invasion intensifying as Aeldari defenders counterattacked amid the ruins.

• Evan sent Nian Cijin with warriors and ships to deal with the enemy, then ordered the troops back to their assignments as the fleet approached the Calixis Sector.
• By Chapter Era 272, the Crimson Tide had established preliminary control over the Calixis Sector, while Xiao Lan struggled to train thousands of Neophytes and obtain enough Power Armour.
• Evan received Cancero’s letter and ordered Lian Leilo to return to Segmentum Pacificus, retrieve Cancero, and build a Primaris army on the border.
• Evan authorized Primaris Ascension for eligible warriors and used information from Eulusia’s memories to direct the Crimson Tide toward the Aeldari Craftworld.
• Evan’s forces launched a surprise assault on the Craftworld, landing troops, bombarding its defenses, and overwhelming its surprised Aeldari defenders.
• Aeldari warriors, Titans, and Howling Banshees counterattacked, but the Crimson Tide continued fighting through the devastated Craftworld.