Chapter Summaries

The Word Bearers’ Warp-born planetary assault threatened to destroy the Imperial Fleet, but Corax intervened and closed the Warp opening. Meanwhile, Alpharius baited Lorgar during the Emperor and Horus’s battle, then ran toward a breach in the Vengeful Spirit to test the limits of Lorgar’s illusion.

• Anwar opened a passage through the mist, and the Blood Raven used his relic to carry the wounded warriors through as the Rune Priest held off their pursuers.
• A corrupted transport’s destruction triggered a vast Warp Rift, through which a shattered planet surged toward the Imperial Fleet.
• Corax attacked the Word Bearers’ sacrificial altar, killed the fanatics, and used its power to misdirect the planet and seal the Warp opening.
• Corax reached the four warriors in the mist, demanded to know where Lorgar was, and flew away when they could not identify him.
• Alpharius watched the Emperor and Horus fight while Lorgar mistook him for Guilliman, then ran toward a breach in the Vengeful Spirit to test the illusion.

Alpharius defeated Lorgar’s illusion and wounded him, but Corvus Corax pursued Lorgar into the Warp before Alpharius could reunite with his brother. Meanwhile, Evan devised a way to mine resources while avoiding Chaos and ordered diversions that complicated Guilliman’s advance; the chapter ended with Vlorus seeking answers about the Imperial Truth.

• Alpharius used the Emperor’s holy fire to shatter Lorgar’s false Terra, then struck Lorgar with the Emperor’s Sword and forced him back into the Warp.
• Corvus Corax arrived and pursued Lorgar through a Warp rift, leaving Alpharius unable to ask where his brother was.
• Evan escaped Chaos attacks at Stone City and realized the Light of the People could alter terrain to expose minerals on an uninhabited world for automated mining.
• Evan ordered forces in the Calixis Sector to launch delaying attacks on vulnerable Imperial Worlds, drawing Guilliman’s Expeditionary Force into a series of diversions.
• Guilliman redirected part of the Black Templars to reinforce Ecclesiarchy Worlds while the Expeditionary Force faced attacks across its route.
• Vlorus asked Evan how the Imperial Truth accounted for the Necrons and Tyranids, and Evan suggested asking its author before Vlorus went to find Kazhaniv.

Evan’s Crimson Tide began its revolt across Segmentum Pacificus while Perturabo’s ambush near the Eye of Terror continued to unravel. As Guilliman rushed back to defend the Solar Sanctum, the Crimson Tide struck the Hecarimo Iron Curtain and left its defenders overwhelmed and isolated.

• Perturabo grew impatient as Vashtorr’s trap waited for Guilliman’s fleet, until the Star Bears arrived and the IV Legion prepared an ambush at the Mandeville Point.
• Evan learned of Perturabo’s defeat, gathered the Crimson Tide, and set out to meet Lian Leilo’s forces before hostilities began in 885 of 42K.
• Ninety percent of Segmentum Pacificus stopped paying taxes, prompting Guilliman to recall his army and the Solar Sanctum’s War Council to debate how to counter the Crimson Tide and Alpha Legion.
• The Crimson Tide attacked the Hecarimo Iron Curtain with hundreds of capital ships, broke through the defenders’ void defenses, and cut off the fortress world from relief.
• The planetary defense commander watched despair spread among his troops and the world’s inhabitants as enemy reports confirmed that every force sent to help had been destroyed or captured.

Evan’s fleet advanced toward Hecarimo’s fortress world amid escalating Chaos corruption and a growing daemon invasion, while loyal defenders fought on the planet and boarding forces attacked the Nightveil and Omegon. The chapter left Sisyphus facing the wounded Greater Daemon Flag-Taker after its punch hurled him across the ship.

• Chaos corruption spread through the Crimson Tide and the fleet battle at Mandeville Point grew increasingly chaotic, while Evan chose to keep fighting rather than retreat.
• The Crimson Tide withdrew toward planetary orbit, and burning wrecks carried daemons onto the fortress world, giving its defenders a clear enemy to fight.
• Evan ordered Vlorus to concentrate fire on a nearby Slaaneshi fleet as the Nightveil and Eternal Mountain engaged its ships and daemons at close range.
• Chaos forces boarded the Nightveil, but Vlorus’s defenders and the Heavenly Heroes killed the attackers while the Librarian rushed from one fight to the next.
• Sisyphus’s Omegon fought a Khorne invasion led by a Bloodthirster, while Sisyphus ambushed Flag-Taker and was then knocked thirty meters back by the Greater Daemon.

Sisyphus lured the Flag-Taker into a trap while Nurgle’s Great Cauldron engulfed the Hecarimo Iron Curtain Line and Khorne’s forces broke through to attack him. As the Chaos gods clashed across the star system, Evan summoned the Sautekh Dynasty by claiming he had found a Possible Old One, and Zahadrek mobilized the Necrons.

• Sisyphus called Vlorus to lure the Flag-Taker toward the Omegon, where a Lance shot banished the daemon into the warp.
• Nurgle sacrificed 777 worlds to manifest his Great Cauldron and trap the Hecarimo Iron Curtain Line, while his plague corrupted planets and weakened rival forces.
• Khorne struck a breach in the cauldron and sent Bloodthirsters and Bloodletters through to battle Nurgle’s daemons as the other powers withdrew or waited.
• Evan realized the star system had been dragged into the Eye of Terror, and Victor arrived at the Silver Throne to tell him to settle grievances and avenge grudges.
• Evan ordered a message sent to the Sautekh Dynasty claiming the discovery of a Possible Old One, prompting Zahadrek to mobilize the dynasty and activate its world-destroying weapons.

Evan's fleet endured the Warp assault until the Sautekh Dynasty's Pariah Nexus arrived and weakened the Dark Gods, allowing the Light of the People to break through and destroy Karkarim. As Zahadrek prepared to bring Evan before Imotekh, Tzeentch entered the battle.

• The Crimson Tide struggled against Nurgle's cauldron and Khorne's attacks while Evan held back the flagship's main cannon and considered a fallback plan using Blackstone Spires.
• Khorne struck Nurgle's cauldron, and Imotekh sent the Sautekh Dynasty's Pariah Nexus and C'tan shards into the Warp to break it open and suppress its power.
• Evan refused to flee through the breach and instead ordered the Light of the People to charge toward Karkarim as Necron ships arrived and demanded the suspected Old One aboard the flagship.
• The Pariah Nexus weakened the Warp, letting the Light of the People fire its main cannon and Eightfold cannons to destroy Karkarim before retreating alongside Zahadrek's fleet.
• Zahadrek praised Evan, proposed granting him noble status, and prepared to take him before Imotekh while Nurgle and Slaanesh fought and Tzeentch made his entrance.

Evan helped the Sautekh Dynasty fight Tzeentch’s deceptions and the Chaos forces, but a devastating C’tan attack nearly destroyed Nurgle’s cauldron. He then faced Imotekh and the other Necron leaders, arguing that his anti-psyker technology belonged under General Zahadrek’s authority.

• Tzeentch used the Light of the People’s Hololithic Projection to trick the Necrons into attacking Evan’s flagship, but Evan exposed the deception and warned the fleet that daemons were impersonating friendly forces.
• Tzeentch’s Changelings attacked as Necron units, and Evan rammed toward the false projection after increasing the flagship’s Psychic Shield output.
• Vashtorr made a pact with Nurgle and reinforced the Plaguefather’s cauldron, while the Necrons and Chaos forces continued fighting across the system.
• The Storm King deployed Sahanlamo, whose four C’tan powers devastated the battlefield and struck Nurgle’s cauldron; Vashtorr helped prevent it from exploding.
• Evan met Imotekh in the throne hall, where he defended his achievements and challenged the other Necrons’ demand for his anti-psyker technology.
• General Zahadrek asked Evan whether he had given the technology to him, as the Necrons turned their weapons toward Evan.

Evan secured a ten-year wager for the right to govern worlds he conquered, then returned to Chogoris with the Crimson Tide’s main force and sought to meet the White Scars there. After the White Scars initially refused him entry, he landed in the wilderness, where his warriors fought mutated beasts and celebrated with the arriving Storm Seer.

• Evan convinced Zahadrek that the T'au under his rule were corrupted xenos and proposed a ten-year wager in which he would earn governing rights over the worlds he conquered without Sautekh military support.
• Imotekh approved Evan’s wager, while Zahadrek secured supplies for his campaign and then departed for the battlefield beyond the galaxy.
• Nurgle discovered his cauldron had been emptied by the C’tan Shard’s power, and Vashtorr traded information about the Shard for concoctions.
• Evan returned to Chogoris with the Crimson Tide’s main force, alarming the White Scars as Necron and Imperial fleets appeared near the world.
• Evan admitted he was the Red River, and Quanzhou Fortress refused his request to land; he instead met the White Scars in the wilderness.
• Evan and his warriors fought mutated beasts with blades, then gathered to roast the creatures and drink wine as the Storm Seer arrived.

Evan left Chogoris after meeting the White Scars and led the Crimson Tide toward the Solar Sanctum as Guilliman and the Chaos Gods maneuvered to shape the coming confrontation. The chapter ended with the Alpha Legion attacking the Antalis Node, where Hiber and the Salamanders' First Company stood ready to defend it.

• Evan welcomed the White Scars with roast meat, then fought and killed a Warp-corrupted lake beast that turned out to be a mutated turtle.
• Evan told the Storm Seer he planned to go to Terra, said farewell to the White Scars, and departed Chogoris with the Wolf Brother.
• Evan learned that the mortal fleet left near the Hecarimo Iron Curtain Line was fighting an Imperial fleet, while Guilliman ordered his forces toward the Antalis Node.
• Alpharius welcomed Evan's arrival, and Evan ordered the Crimson Tide to head directly for the Antalis Node despite the public message claiming Guilliman was returning there.
• The Chaos Gods chose to raise a Warp storm to delay Guilliman, while Guilliman ordered his stretched expeditionary fleet to reinforce the Antalis Node.
• Alpha Legion traitors sabotaged the Antalis Node's void shield, but Hiber and the Salamanders' First Company prepared to fight them.

Hiber’s Salamanders and Imperial allies hunted Alpha Legion assassins while Evan’s fleet was mistaken for the Crimson Tide and attacked after the Changeling impersonated the Emperor. Guilliman arrived to find the Omegon inside the fleet’s safety perimeter, and the Ultramarines fired on it before he could stop them.

• Hiber led the Salamanders and Solar Auxilia through the burning industrial zone, where the Letalis Storm Squad detected and killed an Alpha Assassin crawling through pipes.
• The Salamanders cornered the remaining assassins in a Mechanicus safe room, killed three, and unknowingly let a hidden Alpha Legion infiltrator escape by warp-jump.
• Hiber received news that the Crimson Tide fleet had entered the system, and the fortress’s defenders mistook Evan’s Light of the People for an enemy vessel and bombarded it.
• The Changeling manifested a giant image of the Emperor and urged the defenders to slay the rebels, prompting Evan to withdraw and wait for Guilliman.
• Guilliman’s fleet emerged from the warp beside the Omegon, and the Ultramarines opened fire on the Gloriana-class battleship before Guilliman could order them to cease.

Evan and Guilliman arranged a meeting after the Crimson Tide and Imperial fleets halted their bombardment, but suspicion and an Alpha Legion infiltration nearly derailed the Salamanders' approach. Hiber verified Guilliman's identity and welcomed Evan aboard a Salamanders ship, where the leaders prepared to meet.

• Evan and William halted the Crimson Tide's bombardment after both sides' fleets called for a ceasefire, and Evan opened a route for Guilliman's forces to reach Hiber.
• Evan and Guilliman exchanged formal greetings over a broadcast link while Lady Euten and other Imperial officials watched, then began private negotiations after their recorded courtesies spread across the galaxy.
• Hiber sealed the fortress world's spaceport and refused to trust the approaching Ultramarines until he could verify Guilliman's identity, while the Ultramarines worked to calm their own fleet and successor chapters.
• Ultramarines Terminators teleported onto Hiber's Thunderhawk, exposed an Alpha Assassin disguised as a Salamanders warrior, and helped Hiber's forces capture the infiltrator.
• Hiber confirmed that Guilliman was genuine and agreed to meet him aboard a Salamanders ship, where Pons Izak welcomed Evan and discussed their chapters' history and Adamantium Armor.

Evan explained how the Crimson Tide had grown into a vast force and outlined the plan to protect the Emperor’s humanity by channeling his accumulated faith through Blackstone and connected anti-psyker forces. Meanwhile, Leman Russ used a fragment of Magnus’s soul to deceive Magnus and revealed that the fragments could help bring the Emperor’s power into reality.

• Evan told Guilliman and the assembled Chapter leaders that the Crimson Tide could act beyond prophecy because its warriors followed his orders absolutely, and he described how the force had gained territory, ships, armor, and recruits.
• Guilliman explained that the coming threat involved a powerful Blood Legion assault and a great gathering of Orks, then privately described a plan using Blackstone Spires, Cawl’s devices, the Sisters of Silence, and the Adamantium Warriors to help the Emperor recover his humanity.
• Leman Russ mocked Magnus on the Planet of the Sorcerers through a false vision created with a fragment of Magnus’s soul, making Magnus believe Russ had used sorcery against him.
• Russ revealed that he had collected nearly half of Magnus’s loyal soul fragments and placed a newly found fragment in his Relic Bracelet.
• The new fragment said it could travel to moments near Magnus’s greatest achievements, including the future, and Russ proposed using the fragments to channel the Ecclesiarchy’s power into reality.

Azrael revealed the Emperor’s ancient decree disbanding the Hexagrammaton and restored the Dark Angels’ nine Hosts, while the Khan forced Vect to pilot Commorragh toward a Webway route near the Solar System. Guilliman and Evan recognized Azrael’s reported Necron attack as a cover for the reorganization and prepared a decree summoning him to Terra for supplies.

• The Khan captured Vect aboard Commorragh and ordered him to steer toward a nearby Webway node while questioning him about the ship that destroyed the city.
• Azrael told the Dark Angels that their covert campaign against the Crimson Tide had succeeded and chose to record its history aboard the Razor of Truth.
• Azrael opened Vault 092 and retrieved the Emperor’s decree, which ordered the Hexagrammaton disbanded and the First Legion’s nine Hosts restored.
• Azrael announced the return of the nine Hosts, and the guardians of the Razor of Truth saluted him.
• Evan questioned Guilliman about reports that the Dark Angels had suffered devastating losses to an unidentified Necron fleet.
• Alpharius identified Azrael’s supposed defeat as a cover for his reorganization, and Guilliman drafted a decree ordering Azrael back to Terra to collect supplies.

Evan and Guilliman simulated a chaotic battle over Terra’s defences before Guilliman assigned the Crimson Tide new duties and arranged for Evan to meet the Emperor. In the Eye of Terror, Abaddon tasked Felix Cross with developing gene-seed-based Aeldari war machines, sending him to recruit Fabius Bayer and then Honsou, who had captured an Imperial Fists warrior.

• Guilliman made Evan review Imperial petitions and simulate an attack on the Solar Sanctum, where Evan used sacrificial summons, feints, and reckless maneuvers against Guilliman’s forces.
• After the simulation, Guilliman assigned the Crimson Tide to defend several systems, made the Wind and Cloud-class Battleships a rapid-response fleet, and said he would escort Evan to meet the Emperor.
• Abaddon asked Felix Cross about his experiments, and Felix explained that he had created a fast Dreadnought using Astartes Gene-seed as a medium for Aeldari technology.
• Abaddon ordered Felix to find Fabius Bayer and told him to seek Honsou’s help in obtaining suitable experimental subjects.
• Felix arrived at Honsou’s arena world, where Skinless fought for status and Honsou’s Iron Army was being rebuilt with gene-seed from both Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors.
• Honsou greeted Felix, dismissed his claim to be Abaddon’s trusted confidant, and asked to see the new War Machines.

Honsou and Felix Cross went to find Huron and his Blackstone Fortress, while a Deathwatch squad followed them and uncovered the fortress. Blackhawk sent a warning before his ship was overwhelmed by daemons, and he survived long enough to tell Black Templars what he had found.

• Honsou rejected Felix Cross's request to join the Black Legion but agreed to seek Huron in exchange for new weapon technology.
• Blackhawk and two Deathwatch warriors pursued Honsou's fleet in a Viper-class Scout Ship, then lost the trail in the Mandeville Point's radiation.
• Honsou's vanguard awakened the defenders of Huron's Blackstone Fortress, and Huron's fleet rushed toward the confrontation.
• The Deathwatch squad spotted the Blackstone Fortress and sent an Astropathic Message before escaping through an emergency Warp translation.
• Daemons invaded the Viper-class Scout Ship, and Blackhawk fought them after his two companions were killed.
• The Legion of the Damned appeared as the ship fell apart, and Blackhawk later awoke to find a Black Templars warship had rescued him.

Blackhawk and the Emperor's Champion fought through the Blackstone Fortress to sabotage its energy conduits, where they encountered Lufgt Huron in a self-repairing wraithbone body. Blackhawk survived a fatal wound after the installed device healed him, just as Huron returned to attack.

• Blackhawk joined the Black Templars' boarding assault on the Blackstone Fortress and fought alongside the Emperor's Champion through its corridors.
• Huron underwent surgery by Felix Cross to place his Chaos Spawn body inside a wraithbone suit, then declared that he had returned as Lufgt Huron.
• Blackhawk and the Emperor's Champion reached an armory, where Huron attacked them and fought them with the suit's blades.
• Blackhawk impaled himself on Huron's attack to create an opening for the Emperor's Champion, who struck Huron through a wall into the Webway Gate chamber.
• The Emperor's Champion installed the device in the fortress's energy conduit and left Blackhawk for dead, but the device healed Blackhawk's missing heart.
• Huron charged back at Blackhawk, declaring that no one could stop him.

The Khan returned through the Blackstone Fortress’s Webway Gate as Trazyn seized Blackhawk, Huron, the Fallen, and others in a temporal exchange. The Khan reunited with stranded warriors and headed toward the Crimson Tide, whose Chapter Master Evan received their emergency signal and prepared to bring them home.

• The Fallen attacked Huron and Blackhawk, while Trazyn detached a section of the Blackstone Fortress and prepared to exchange its occupants.
• The Khan returned through the Webway aboard the Commorragh, and Trazyn trapped Blackhawk, Huron, the Fallen, Red Corsairs, and Black Templars in a Temporal Lock Device before the Maelstrom Cannon opened a Warp Rift.
• Ashlan, Dust, and Lepcher recovered from repeated temporal battles, while the Khan took control of the Hidden Terror and had Vect tow it toward the stranded warriors.
• The Khan met Ashlan and Lepcher, identified himself as their Primarch, killed Dust, and learned that the warriors had been trapped in a repeating scene near the Maelstrom.
• The Black Templars and Honsou’s forces withdrew as the damaged Blackstone Fortress and Warp Rift disrupted the battle and communications.
• Evan received an Ancient Signal from stranded warriors and told William to bring them home cautiously.

Jaghatai Khan and Vect escaped Commorragh aboard a captured Drukhari warship, but the Crimson Tide mistook the ship for an enemy and launched a boarding assault. The Khan tried to confront his sons and was surrounded by their forces.

• Jaghatai Khan beat Vect over their arrival in the Maelstrom and learned that the Hidden Terror was trapped inside a captured Drukhari warship.
• Ashlan discussed the Crimson Tide’s strength and watched the Khan ride off on his motorcycle with Vect, while the Primaris warriors struggled to keep pace.
• William recognized the Drukhari ship as possibly linked to the Crimson Tide’s past battle in Commorragh and ordered the Light of the People and its fleet to prepare for combat.
• The Crimson Tide surrounded the ship and launched boarding pods, while Ashlan identified himself and the Khan left to confront the attacking warriors.
• Jaghatai Khan struck a Lamenter, fled through corridors under heavy fire, and was tracked by the Crimson Tide’s forces until Adamantium Warriors and jetbikes encircled him.

Jaghatai Khan broke through the fighting in Commorragh, reunited with the Crimson Tide, and returned to their flagship, where his arrival sparked a grand welcome. After learning that Evan was on Terra under Guilliman’s watch, the Khan decided to head for the Solar System.

• Jaghatai used Ashlan’s appearance to distract the White Scars and escaped the encirclement by speeding toward the bridge, where he overwhelmed the Terminators and confirmed his identity.
• William recognized the Khan from his distinctive motorcycle, ordered the fighting stopped, and mobilized the flagship to welcome him.
• The Khan declared his past failures and cut off part of his hair as a warning, while the captured Vect and the Haemonculus remained in custody.
• William arranged a parade for the Khan, but Outlets recognized his Wildfire Battleplate and died after approaching him.
• Ashlan reunited with Kazhaniv and his old brothers, while the Khan learned that Evan was on Terra and decided to travel to the Solar System.

Jaghatai Khan ordered his fleet to Terra and prepared a feast after enduring the Custodians’ security checks and years of Harlequin food. Meanwhile, Belisarius Cawl tested Evan’s armor with Mephiston’s psychic power, and the experiment ended with Evan freed from his chains while Mephiston sensed his mockery of the Black Rage and Red Thirst.

• Jaghatai Khan ordered William to take the fleet directly to Terra, while the Black Templars defeated the leaderless Red Corsairs and some Chaos Warriors escaped into the Webway.
• The Khan endured a Custodian weapons check, demanded a star-filled holographic command room, and later called for a feast because he had not eaten a proper meal in ten thousand years.
• Head Chef Servo-skull Ternos continued overseeing the Crimson Tide’s kitchens while preparing for Xiao Lan’s possible return.
• Belisarius Cawl arranged a psychic test linking Evan, Ina, and other warriors with Psy-Transference Chains, then brought in Blood Angels Chief Librarian Mephiston.
• Mephiston unleashed a powerful psychic assault that heated Evan’s armor and burned Ina through the chains, while Cawl gathered data and connected his duplicate to the network.
• Evan’s restraints unraveled under the psychic force, and he stood free with a contemptuous smile; Mephiston sensed his mockery of the Black Rage and Red Thirst.