Chapter Summaries

Evan received the Emperor’s command through a Custodian, who ordered Belisarius Cawl to devote his resources to forging Blackstone Spires, while Evan’s fleet fought Vigilus and celebrated his birthday. After learning that Christina had prepared new armor for him, Evan set course for Langjuxu, where he found a lifeless system occupied only by her and unmanned T’au equipment.

• A Custodian met Cawl aboard the evacuating Mechanicus transport and ordered him to forge Blackstone Spires, warning him not to probe too deeply into the Emperor’s power.
• Evan and Ina celebrated the anniversary of their meeting with a cake while the fleet fought Vigilus using holographic decoys.
• William read Christina’s message to Evan, revealing that she had made him new Power Armor and needed the Blank bones from his current suit.
• The Tech Mogul questioned Evan about Malcador’s orders and his fear of leaving the anti-psyker field, but Evan refused to explain.
• Evan’s fleet traveled to Langjuxu, where he found the planet evacuated, the system filled with unmanned T’au equipment, and Christina as its only living being.

Evan returned to Langjuxu, where Christina reunited with him, imprisoned him briefly, and began repairing his power armor while the Custodian investigated the facility. After four years of repairs, Evan kept Lian Leilo’s distant expedition as a secret fallback, and Christina unveiled his new armor.

• Evan arrived at Langjuxu with the Beiwei Army, and the Custodian tested Christina’s automated robots by cutting them apart.
• Christina greeted Evan through the facility’s speakers, then revealed that her body was an Iron Coffin that grabbed him and hauled him into the Krork enclosure.
• Christina removed Evan’s armor and restored his strength, while he ran across the facility and she designed a more imposing replacement suit.
• The Custodian discovered the imprisoned Krork Weirdboss, returned the next day with equipment, and formally challenged Evan.
• During four years of repairs, Evan kept Lian Leilo’s expedition beyond the Astronomican as his last fallback, while the Crimson Tide’s flagship replenished supplies.
• Christina finished Evan’s new power armor and began decorating it, prompting another argument before its true form was revealed.

Evan received Christina’s ornate new armor while Guilliman investigated the missing Crimson Tide and learned that the Raven Guard Expeditionary Force had been attacked near Fengyan Star. Tzeentch and Vashtorr arranged a trap for Guilliman by sending Fel Centurions and Perturabo against the Nemesis Chapter.

• Christina fitted Evan with customized armor over three months, and Evan returned to the White Scars amid jokes about its decorations and Ina’s attempt to ride on his back.
• Guilliman concealed his ties to the Crimson Tide while reviewing reports about unrest in Segmentum Pacificus and rejecting the Inquisition Grand Master’s proposal to send the Ordo Hereticus after the rebels.
• A Custodian told Guilliman that a prophesied psyker girl was on Fengyan Star, prompting him to prepare the Pharos for a journey to the Raven Guard Expeditionary Force.
• The Raven Guard reported that Crimson Tide forces had cut off their Warp route to Fengyan Star and trapped the Nemesis Chapter’s main force, apparently targeting its Gloriana-class battleship.
• Tzeentch and Vashtorr planned to use Fel Centurions and Perturabo’s forces to draw Guilliman into battle, while Perturabo prepared an enclosed battlefield designed to prevent Alpharius from hiding.

Evan’s advance drew Imperial and Chaos forces into a shifting chain of ambushes, while Lorgar broke out of the Eye of Terror and struck the Space Wolves. As Guilliman redirected forces toward Lorgar, Evan’s flagship encountered Vashtorr in the Warp and emerged into a new trap.

• Evan sent the Light of the People through quiet regions to draw attention, while Guilliman refused the Chapter Masters’ request to deploy the Phalanx and kept the Imperial forces in place.
• Tzeentch arranged for Lorgar to escape Corax’s hunt, weakening Tzeentch’s influence in realspace as Lorgar led the Word Bearers into an attack on the Space Wolves Expeditionary Force.
• Lorgar boarded the Space Wolves’ Gloriana-class Battleship Rafkhel, and Guilliman decided to reinforce Fengyan Star and confront him.
• Tzeentch persuaded Vashtorr to shift Perturabo’s ambush toward Segmentum Obscurus, while the Crimson Tide changed course toward the Fengyan Star shipping lane.
• Evan took the Light of the People into the Warp to answer Guilliman’s orders, but Vashtorr attacked and forced the flagship to jump into realspace.
• Evan found unidentified warships emerging around the Light of the People as a huge metal plate thrust through a vast portal.

Evan’s Light of the People fought Perturabo as the Daemon Primarch attacked its outer armor and breached the shipyard. Perturabo entered the trap and was met by a fake Sanguinius wielding the Sword of Gleikvhand.

• Perturabo mistook the Light of the People for Alpharius’s vessel and attacked it with drones, artillery, and a teleportation assault.
• Evan and Enke identified the attacker as Perturabo and ordered the flagship’s defenses and troops to fight back.
• Perturabo breached the outer armor, released Mechanical Gnats, and pushed into the shipyard while Evan sent Space Mantas into combat.
• Perturabo broke into the shipyard and dodged behind the unfinished Phantom Dragon-class warship, entering the ambush.
• The Phantom Dragon-class warship fired a full broadside, destroying much of itself and the shipyard wall, as Perturabo emerged in a smaller form before a fake Sanguinius holding the Sword of Gleikvhand.

The Lamenters' Gene-Father, the False Archangel, fought Perturabo while the Lamenters and Evan tried to save him. The Sanguinor merged with the Archangel, who rose renewed and shattered the Sword of Gleikvhand as he faced Perturabo.

• Perturabo attacked the False Archangel inside the Phantom Dragon-class Battleship, while the Sword of Gleikvhand froze his machinery and the Archangel fought with reckless fury.
• Perturabo battered the Archangel out of the battleship, and the Lamenters felt their Gene-Father dying as Evan sent Beiwei Army warriors carrying Aeldari toward him.
• The Beiwei Army warriors and Space Mantas fought Perturabo and his drones, while the Lamenters collapsed in grief and Vashtorr offered Perturabo a Combat Servitor.
• Perturabo dragged the mortally wounded Archangel toward his machinery, but the Lamenters prayed, the Archangel's body burst into flame, and the Sanguinor appeared through a warp rift.
• The Sanguinor merged with the Archangel, whose renewed power drove back Perturabo and whose Rubric flames and sacred frost transformed his ruined body.
• The Archangel swore loyalty to the Ninth Legion, struck Perturabo, and shattered the Sword of Gleikvhand before descending into the mortal world.

Sanguinius’s Sanguinor fought Perturabo to the brink of defeat before Vashtorr pulled the wounded Daemon Primarch into the Warp, and the Sanguinor left Maturio a blood crystal and the Sacred Sword. Ka’Bandha then invaded the Light of the People, where Maturio and the defenders fought to hold him back as Evan mobilized the Chapter.

• Sanguinius’s Sanguinor used the Sacred Sword to wound Perturabo, but Vashtorr and Tzeentch intervened and dragged Perturabo into the Warp before the final blow could kill him.
• The Sanguinor’s remains condensed into a blood drop, which became a Crimson Blood Crystal containing one hundred Blood Angels gene-seeds, and he entrusted the Sacred Sword to Maturio before returning to the Warp.
• Ka’Bandha entered the Light of the People and attacked the defenders, while Maturio used the Ruby and Sacred Sword to block him before being sent flying.
• Evan ordered the Chapter to commit its strength against Ka’Bandha and put William in command, while Kazhaniv led Terminators to strike the daemon army from behind.
• Ka’Bandha broke through the defenders, killed many Dawn Angels, and fought the Custodians until he noticed that no more of Sanguinius’s sons stood between him and the bearer of the blood.

Evan and the Adeptus Custodes fought Ka'Bandha and banished him, though Evan was left badly injured and the Guardian Spear vanished with the daemon. As the battle subsided, a Custodian took the Sacred Sword from Evan, leaving him stranded on the battlefield.

• Ka'Bandha broke through the corridor and fought the Custodian while the hidden warriors attacked through the opening, until Evan arrived carrying the Key of Helrek and the Sacred Sword.
• Evan and the Custodian coordinated their attacks against Ka'Bandha as the daemon's whip released bloodletters and reinforcements joined the battle.
• Evan charged Ka'Bandha and punched the Guardian Spear through his chest, then used the Sacred Sword to split the daemon open while the Tech Mogul struck his neck with a reassembled Power Axe.
• Ka'Bandha was banished to the Warp with the Guardian Spear still embedded in him, and Evan collapsed from his injuries and the Belisarian Furnace's aftereffects.
• A Custodian took the Sacred Sword from Evan while he lay unable to move, and Commissar Vlorus reported that the Custodian had ordered others to leave him there.

Evan and the Adamantium Warriors survived the daemonic assault, then continued toward Fengyan Star despite heavy losses and a damaged flagship. As the wider war shifted around the Eye of Terror, the Adamantium Warriors approached Fengyan Star, where Victor and the besieged Nemesis Chapter were still fighting the Iron Warriors.

• Evan used his armored body as cover while the Adamantium Warriors repelled the Blood God's forces, and Kazhaniv defeated an Exalted Bloodletter with his Lightning Power Claws.
• The daemons withdrew, and the survivors assessed their losses before deciding to continue the operation toward Fengyan Star through Realspace.
• Evan recovered enough to communicate with Situval, who confirmed the mission would proceed while the Light of the People prioritized rebuilding its Space Mantas and warships.
• Lorgar searched Imperial worlds for Webway information as the Space Wolves struggled to contain the Word Bearers, while Tzeentch manipulated Perturabo into preparing an ambush for Guilliman.
• Sisyphus led three Wind and Cloud-class Battleships carrying a full-strength Chapter of Adamantium Warriors toward Fengyan Star, with Hylikeus as his deputy.
• The Nemesis Chapter remained trapped aboard its flagship as the Iron Warriors attacked, and Victor continued holding a junction atop a mound of corpses.

Victor fought the Iron Warriors aboard the Lawful Talon, then joined Sisyphus and Hylikeus to reach the boy sealed in a crystal coffin. They evacuated the boy on the Blank Shield as the warship shook, while the Warp seethed with rage.

• Victor fought through the Iron Warriors’ assault, but a Stasis Bomb froze him until Sisyphus arrived and killed the four surviving attackers.
• Poison gas killed the mortals in the area, and Hylikeus proposed blasting open a wall to vent it into space.
• Victor, Sisyphus, and Hylikeus crossed the refugee rooms and found a little boy in a crystal coffin.
• The coffin shattered when Hylikeus brought the Anti-Psyker Shield close, and Victor ordered him to protect the boy without explaining the mission.
• As wreckage struck the Lawful Talon, Hylikeus placed the boy on the Blank Shield and carried him away.

The Emperor concealed a second twin while entering the first boy’s soul, and Chaos forces converged on Fengyan Star in pursuit of a stolen Warp object. The battered Lawful Talon faced overwhelming daemonic corruption as the Adamantium Warriors prepared to escape, while the White Scars flagship arrived to help recover the ship.

• The Emperor hid one twin inside Hylikeus’s Blank Bone Shield while using the other as a vessel to steal something from the Warp.
• The Nemesis Chapter received reinforcements, and the old Dreadnought helped the warriors and an Adamantium Warrior counterattack the Iron Warriors.
• Vasily received orders to search for a concealed Warp object and learned that daemons and Greater Daemons were converging on Fengyan Star.
• Slaanesh’s, Tzeentch’s, Khorne’s, and Nurgle’s forces arrived as reality around the system began to break apart, prompting Vasily to withdraw from the Lawful Talon.
• Sisyphus told the surviving Nemesis warriors that the Lawful Talon would be brought inside a giant ship modeled after the Phalanx, while corruption spread through the battleship.
• The White Scars flagship arrived with Space Mantas after a dangerous passage, and a message ordered the Iron Hands to prepare to repair another Gloriana-class Battleship.

Evan led the Light of the People through a Warp-borne daemon assault, blasting a path out with its main cannon and escaping into turbulent Realspace. The ship emerged near a Necron conflict, where General Zahadrek’s subordinate conscripted it to fight the Oruscar Dynasty.

• The Light of the People smashed through a Daemon Nest, then flung surviving Khorne daemons into Malice’s realm as Annos swallowed four super-battleships into the Shipyard.
• Evan ordered damaged warships dumped from the Shipyard as projectiles, and the Light of the People scattered them into the surrounding Chaos fleet while circling Fengyan Star.
• Victor and the Tech Mogul secured the little boy in Sergeant Hylikeus’s quarters, while Evan prepared the main cannon to break through the daemon encirclement.
• Evan fired the main cannon into the crowded daemon forces, obliterating the Plague Army and opening a corridor through the Warp Storm; the Light of the People accelerated through it.
• A treasure-seeking Slaaneshi daemon slipped into the Shipyard but was detected and destroyed by a Custodian, while Slaanesh sensed a Librarian who had once entered its realm.
• The Light of the People returned to Realspace and drew the Oruscar Dynasty’s attention; after a Necron warship broke its psychic shield, General Zahadrek’s subordinate conscripted Evan’s ship against the Oruscar Dynasty.

Evan maneuvered through a battle between Necron dynasties, using the conflict to gather intelligence and escape with the Light of the People. He then reached a Genestealer-occupied world, where he traded supplies between rival hive cities and pushed them to mine local resources.

• Evan asked the Sautekh Dynasty warship for enemy weaknesses and drew the Oruscar Dynasty vessel into combat while the Light of the People evaded attacks and lured Daemons into the battle.
• A massive Necron cruiser arrived, and Evan fled toward General Zahadrek's territory, later telling the Custodian that Tyranid forces could distract the Necrons' main army.
• Evan ordered preparations for production and repairs, then directed the Light of the People to a world where four Genestealer Cults were fighting over their hive cities.
• Evan's forces exchanged food and basic supplies for goods from the Genestealer factions, while rival envoys competed for shipments and fought in the trading hall.
• Evan blasted open a mountain range with rich mineral deposits and ordered the Genestealer envoys to mine it and provide more resources.

Evan ordered the Nemesis Chapter’s Gloriana-class Battleship repaired and gave the displaced survivors a Battle Barge, while the Crimson Tide headed to the Iron Hands’ repair base. Elsewhere, a warp breach awakened Anwar Dewin aboard a Blood Ravens ship, where he took up Forgebreaker and startled the Chapter’s Librarians.

• Evan rewarded the most successful Genestealer Cult traders, and the Crimson Tide began repairing the Nemesis Chapter’s Gloriana-class Battleship with salvaged turrets and equipment.
• The Nemesis Chapter’s hardliners confronted the Adamantium Warriors, but the Chapter Master persuaded them to abandon their challenge after the defenders revealed their weapons.
• Evan ordered the Nemesis survivors to receive a Battle Barge and directed their Techmarine to join the Gloriana’s restoration, while Enke prepared to oversee the repairs.
• The Light of the People reached the Iron Hands’ hidden repair system with the Lawful Talon, surprising the Hammonk Clan Chief with the arrival of another Gloriana-class Battleship.
• Mephiston guided an Imperial fleet through a gap in the warp storm, and a Gellar Field failure aboard the Blood Ravens’ Observer Battle Barge awakened Anwar Dewin.
• Anwar escaped the Blood Ravens’ relic display and picked up Forgebreaker before Angel DeWyn confronted him.

Anwar, a Grey Knight returned from the warp, joined the Blood Ravens and helped their ship reach a battle against Lorgar’s Word Bearers. After mistaking the Space Wolves’ corrupted Thirteenth Grand Company for daemons, he fought them and the Word Bearers’ forces, then drew the attention of a Bloodthirster.

• Anwar emerged in the Blood Ravens’ Relic Chamber, where the company Chaplain explained that their fleet had become separated from the crusade and asked him to guide them back.
• Anwar protected the Navigators from the warp storm, killed a collapsed Navigator, and used the Navigator’s blood to help the surviving Navigator locate the Astronomican.
• The Blood Ravens’ ship reached a battle where Lorgar’s forces were attacking Imperial Star Fortresses, and Anwar took an Exorcists’ Daemon-slaying Sword before teleporting to the Third Star Fortress.
• Anwar attacked a Space Wolves Werewolf, mistaking the Thirteenth Grand Company for corrupted warriors, while fighting daemons and Word Bearers alongside the Wolves.
• A Bloodthirster’s arrival drove the Werewolves into a frenzy, and Anwar unleashed overwhelming psychic power that crushed one Werewolf and burned many daemons.
• The Bloodthirster noticed Anwar, struck its battle-axes together, and singled him out as its opponent.

Anwar Dewin and the Space Wolves defeated a Bloodthirster as Guilliman’s fleets arrived to confront Lorgar. Meanwhile, Evan learned of a civil war and an assassination attempt that left Xiao Lan mortally wounded in stasis, then ordered his disappearance concealed.

• Anwar Dewin fought the Bloodthirster while the Sky Claws and Wolf Priest supported him, and together they banished the daemon at the cost of several Space Wolves.
• The Wolf Priest treated the survivors and offered to help Anwar recover, while Anwar prayed with renewed hope for humanity’s future.
• Guilliman ordered an attack on Lorgar’s Word Bearers as Imperial fleets, including the Imperial Fists’ Gloriana-class battleship and Hrafnkel, encircled them.
• Evan learned that Lian Leilo’s forces were purging a religiously motivated rebellion led by the Pale Nomads and suspected the rebels had outside support.
• Evan received word that a Vindicare assassin had shot Lian Leilo and Xiao Lan, who was placed in stasis after his Belisarian Furnace failed to save him.
• Evan ordered a search for a powerful Flesh-shaping Psyker and directed that Xiao Lan be reported missing in the Warp.

After Xiao Lan was assassinated, Evan ordered the Crimson Tide to mobilize and attack the Imperium’s sanctuary worlds, presenting their response as a furious rebellion while preparing to strike the Solar Sanctum. As Guilliman’s forces fought Lorgar and Anwar battled Word Bearers, the Crimson Tide’s war effort expanded across Segmentum Pacificus.

• Evan ordered every Crimson Tide world to mobilize, gave the forces three years to assemble, and directed Lian Leilo to attack reachable sanctuary worlds.
• William urged Evan to strike before the full muster, and the Beiwei Army confined William while Evan continued issuing orders from the chained Silver Throne.
• Lian Leilo began interrogating a Pale Nomads leader, declared that the Crimson Tide would fight every faction, and appointed Sergeant Felicisco to take charge of neophyte training.
• Guilliman remained away from the Macragge's Honour while Alpharius planned to use Custodes and Sisters of Silence to counter Lorgar and seize the Three Holy Litanies.
• Anwar fought a Word Bearer’s Slaaneshi daemons and was dragged toward a corrupting swamp before a plasma torpedo struck the corridor.
• Anwar discovered Chaos inscriptions on a Sister of Battle, burned the living trap away, and continued through the battlefield.

Anwar and a mixed group of Space Wolves and Blood Ravens fought through the Ramisis Star Fortress, where the Word Bearers' botched ritual had summoned a mysterious creature. As the fortress rammed the Three Holy Litanies, the group escaped onto the battleship's hull and pushed inside, while Alpharius and the Adeptus Custodes launched their assault and Titus discovered the Primarch was missing.

• Anwar tracked a Rune Priest through the blizzard, and Space Wolves warriors ambushed him before capturing a Blood Raven and forming a five-man squad.
• The squad found a ritual site where a summoned creature was killing Word Bearers, and Anwar helped damage the altar while the Rune Priest learned the Space Wolves planned to sacrifice their section of the fortress in a collision with the Three Holy Litanies.
• Anwar, the Rune Priest, and the Blood Raven sheltered behind the creature during the explosion, then the Blood Raven used a Relic to transport them onto the Star Fortress's outer hull.
• The Ramisis Star Fortress's arm struck the Three Holy Litanies, and Alpharius and the Adeptus Custodes used the disruption to board the battleship.
• Lorgar ordered the Word Bearers to restore the battleship's systems as Alpharius and the Custodes advanced, while Titus awoke to find the Primarch gone and a note instructing him to guard the fake Primarch.

Alpharius and the Custodians fought through the corrupted Three Holy Litanies to confront Lorgar, while Anwar's squad followed their route. The clash began with Lorgar mistaking Alpharius for Guilliman, and Sanguinius's voice called out over the battlefield.

• The Custodians breached the Three Holy Litanies, lost track of Alpharius, and advanced toward the ship's heavy weapons storage area.
• Alpharius cut through Word Bearers and the ship's corrupted passages as Lorgar prepared sacrifices and awaited the Imperium's forces.
• Anwar led his squad through the wrecked ship, identified the Custodian shuttle, and followed the route toward the heavy weapons depot.
• A possessed Terminator force attacked the Aquila-pattern Custodian, but Lorgar's spell overwhelmed the Pariah Halo before Alpharius intervened.
• Alpharius struck Lorgar with the Emperor's Sword, revealed himself, and ordered the Custodians to kill Lorgar's followers as Anwar's squad charged toward the fighting.
• Lorgar attacked Alpharius and summoned daemons while Sanguinius's voice asked Guilliman where he was and said he was dying.

Lorgar used the deaths of his Primarch Guard to empower his banner and trap Alpharius in a vision aboard the Vengeful Spirit. As Alpharius fought through the apparent illusion, Angel DeWyn and the Wolf Brothers confronted Lorgar in the Land of Mist.

• Alpharius, disguised as Guilliman, provoked Lorgar into revealing his bitterness over the Imperium's faith before turning the duel against him.
• Lorgar sacrificed his Primarch Guard to empower his banner, pierce reality, and pull Alpharius into the Vengeful Spirit.
• Alpharius mistook Rogal Dorn and other figures aboard the ship for daemonic illusions and fought them while the warped battlefield collapsed around him.
• Lorgar used Alpharius's memories of the Vengeful Spirit to deepen his illusion and make him doubt what was real.
• The Blood Raven and the Wolf Brothers reached Lorgar as Angel DeWyn approached with the book of the Grey Knight Daemon's secrets.