Chapter Summaries

Bonecrusher Mag Uruk Saraka descended onto the battlefield and destroyed the defending Gundams, but Liu Zhipeng confronted him and effortlessly stopped two Imperial assassins. The chapter ended as Saraka swung his Power Claw at Liu Zhipeng, who answered with a punch.

• Red Comet, White Devil, Lightning, and Infinite Freedom fought through the Ork forces until Bonecrusher Mag Uruk Saraka crashed through the planet's shield.
• Saraka tore Infinite Freedom and Lightning apart, killed their Gretchin pilots, and shattered the defensive line.
• Liu Zhipeng crossed the battlefield to confront Saraka, while a hidden Wendigo assassin fired an Executioner Bullet at him.
• Liu Zhipeng stopped the bullet and erased a Callidus Assassin who had approached from behind in Sharpfang's disguise.
• Saraka charged Liu Zhipeng with his Power Claw, and Liu Zhipeng met the attack with a punch.

Liu Zhipeng defeated Saraka and ended the Waaagh! field, then left Sharpfang to finish off the disoriented Orks and flew toward the City of Hope to confront the T'au Empire. Gork and Mork then revived Saraka as their divine avatar, and the Gretchin's weapons failed to stop him.

• Liu Zhipeng overpowered Saraka with golden-flamed punches and killed him with a blow through his chest.
• The Waaagh! field vanished, leaving the Orks confused and powerless, and hundreds of billions of Gretchin hailed Liu Zhipeng as the Big Boss.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered Sharpfang to wipe out the remaining Orks and flew toward the City of Hope to make the T'au Empire pay for its betrayal.
• Gork and Mork poured their divine wills into Saraka's corpse, healed him, and raised him as their avatar.
• Sharpfang ordered the Gretchin forces to fire, but their weapons could not penetrate Saraka's emerald divine radiance.

Saraka unleashed a new WAAAGH! that gave the Orks reality-defying weapons, and they overwhelmed the Gretchin. After the last Gretchin died resisting, the First Wall fell completely.

• Saraka's WAAAGH! empowered the Orks' weapons to alter reality, and the Gretchin's defenses collapsed.
• Sharpfang ordered the remaining Gundams to attack Saraka, but Saraka destroyed the Red Comet and White Devil with conceptual powers.
• Orks surrounded Sharpfang after the Royal Guard fell, and he detonated a gauss grenade while charging them.
• Gretchin across the planet sacrificed themselves with gauss grenades, and hundreds of billions died fighting the Orks.
• The First Wall fell completely.

Liu Zhipeng learned that the First Wall had fallen and turned back toward the City of Hope as Saraka’s divine Ork fleet began its crusade. As the Gretchin fleet returned to defend their home, Liu Zhipeng and the City of Hope’s last guards prepared for a final battle.

• Liu Zhipeng felt the souls of the fallen reach him, saw Saraka’s godlike power, and realized the First Wall had fallen.
• Saraka rallied the Orks into a unified fleet and launched it toward the City of Hope.
• Qingliu and Suisxing watched the fleet’s advance and feared the force they had helped unleash.
• Gretchin guerrilla fleets returned and formed a defensive line against the Orks, while Liu Zhipeng arrived at the City of Hope.
• Ghazghk reported that the City of Hope’s defenses and final gift were ready, and Liu Zhipeng exchanged a silent oath with the Imperial Guard.
• The Gretchin fleet engaged the Orks, beginning a desperate battle in the void.

Iron Guts led the Gretchin fleet in a suicide attack against the vastly larger Ork armada, fighting to protect the City of Hope. The fleet was annihilated, and the Orks advanced toward the planet.

• Iron Guts ordered the Gretchin warships to charge their dimensional engines and jump into the center of the Ork fleet.
• Iron Guts rallied the Gretchin to defend their home and the dignity the Big Boss had given them.
• The Gretchin ships appeared inside the Ork formation and opened fire at point-blank range.
• Iron Guts ordered the Unyielding to ram an Ork cruiser, and its reactor and engine detonated, destroying the cruiser and nearby vessels.
• Gretchin warships detonated across the battlefield, but the Orks replenished their losses with more ships.
• The Gretchin fleet fell silent, and the Ork armada reached orbit around the City of Hope.

The Ork fleet corrupted the City of Hope and launched a ground invasion, while Liu Zhipeng rallied its defenders against the WAAAGH! influence. As the battle overwhelmed the city, Pip sacrificed himself with a Gauss Grenade and felt his soul carried toward the Lighthouse.

• Gork and Mork corrupted the planetary shield, and Liu Zhipeng shut it down before the green energy could turn it against the defenders.
• Green light warped the city and transformed a Gretchin soldier into an Ork, while Liu Zhipeng used the primordial divine flame to strengthen his people's resistance to corruption.
• Ork landing forces descended on the City of Hope and attacked its defenders across the streets.
• Pip and his squad fought from a fortified ruin, but a giant Ork crushed their Katyusha Squig and charged their position.
• Liu Zhipeng's words restored Pip's resolve, and Pip leaped at the giant with a Gauss Grenade, sacrificing himself as his soul rose toward the Lighthouse.

Liu Zhipeng confronted Bonecrusher Saraka and was destroyed by the combined power of Gork and Mork, but his death summoned countless Gretchin souls and forged a new Divine Realm from their faith. The system awarded him the permanent ability miracle probability and prepared to begin his ninth life.

• Orks across the planet stopped their rampage and knelt as Bonecrusher Saraka arrived in a Drop Pod to face Liu Zhipeng.
• Liu Zhipeng fought Saraka's incarnation, resisting his conceptual attacks with the Lighthouse and Golden Judgment.
• As Gork and Mork's power descended through the Warp, Saraka struck Liu Zhipeng with an overwhelming blow that erased his body.
• Countless Gretchin souls across the galaxy answered Liu Zhipeng's final summons and merged into his soul, creating a golden Divine Realm.
• A pure-white egg appeared beside the Lighthouse, and the system granted Liu Zhipeng the permanent passive ability miracle probability before beginning his ninth life.

On Slaughterhouse III, Liu Zhipeng’s sacred fire strengthened and protected his pregnant mother, Sarah, as she became a leader in the miners’ resistance. The chapter leaves Sarah and the resistance preparing to use her child’s revelation to infiltrate the guarded power furnace.

• Liu Zhipeng’s soul fire purified Sarah’s meager food and restored her strength, healing her wounds and sharpening her senses.
• Sarah’s growing reputation as someone blessed by the Emperor made her a core member of the underground resistance.
• Jonas proposed sabotaging the central power furnace in Mining Sector Three, but the resistance members feared the heavy guards and patrols.
• Sarah revealed a brief patrol gap near a drainage pipe and said that Hope had told her about it.
• Liu Zhipeng used his Soul Radar to analyze the sounds, airflow, and vibrations around him and quietly passed the tactical information to Sarah.

Sarah’s unborn son, Liu Zhipeng, used Miracle Probability to save the resistance from an Ork patrol and Sarah from an overseer’s whip. With Sarah leading increasingly effective attacks, the resistance grew into a serious threat to Slaughterhouse III’s ruler, Bash Bigboot.

• As Ork patrolmen neared the resistance’s hiding place, Liu Zhipeng activated Miracle Probability, causing a Squig to distract them until they left.
• When Grok attacked Sarah with his whip, he slipped and accidentally strangled himself with it.
• The slaves came to believe the Emperor was protecting Sarah, and her standing among them rose.
• Guided by Sarah, the resistance blew up the Orks’ ammunition depot, contaminated their water, and laid traps.
• Bash Bigboot became enraged as the resistance’s attacks caused increasing trouble.

The Sons of Sorrow Chapter arrived at Slaughterhouse III to rescue the enslaved humans, and their assault triggered a mine collapse that trapped Sarah as she went into labour. With Liu Zhipeng’s power, Sarah killed an Ork Warboss just before giving birth, and the Space Marines found the newborn amid the rubble.

• Bash ordered the Orks to execute over a thousand human slaves each day until the resistance surrendered its leader.
• The Sons of Sorrow Chapter arrived aboard the Daughter of the Storm and began an assault to free the human slaves.
• A mine collapse separated Sarah from the crowd and trapped her as her labour began.
• An Ork Warboss threatened Sarah and her unborn child, so Liu Zhipeng lent her his power and Sarah killed the Ork with a thrown stone.
• Sarah gave birth amid the rubble, and the Sons of Sorrow Chapter broke through the rock wall and found the infant.

The Sons of Sorrow found Sarah and her glowing newborn beside a slain Ork Warboss, and Lion El'Jonson discovered the child had Astartes-like vital signs. When another Ork force attacked, strange accidents repeatedly turned the battle in the Space Marines’ favor, and they defeated the attackers while trapped in the mine.

• The Blades of Mourning entered a collapsed mine cavern and found Sarah holding a radiant newborn beside a dead Ork Warboss.
• Sergeant Malakai recalled how an unexplained power had restored Cassian’s weapon and freed Volrag during the earlier fight.
• Lion El'Jonson examined the child and reported that his vital signs matched those of an Astartes recruit nearing final implantation.
• A new Ork force entered the cavern, and Malakai ordered the Sons of Sorrow to defend Sarah and the child.
• A Gretchin’s Stikkbombs landed among the Orks, and further bizarre mishaps disrupted their attacks as a collapse sealed the Marines’ retreat.
• Cassian killed the last Ork, ending the battle with the Sons of Sorrow still trapped in the mine.

Malakai’s squad rescued Sarah and her miraculous baby but became trapped underground as an overwhelming Ork fleet advanced on Slaughterhouse III. Captain Astado and Jason chose to defend the eight million liberated people, and Malakai’s squad received orders to return to the fight.

• Malakai reported to Captain Astado that his squad had rescued Sarah and her child but could not escape the collapsed mine.
• Astado told Malakai that no engineering support was available and warned that a massive Ork reinforcement fleet was approaching.
• Karen warned that the Sons of Sorrow lacked the ships to evacuate the eight million liberated citizens.
• Jason declared that the Chapter would not abandon the people, and Astado ordered the forces to form defenses around the main hive city.
• Astado ordered the Daughter of the Storm into high orbit to confront the Orks’ first attack, and the Space Marines swore to fight for the Emperor and Sanguinius.
• Malakai’s squad received the orders from the bridge while still trapped underground.

Malakai and his squad escaped the collapsing mine with the glowing baby and Sarah, whose presence seemed to bring miraculous good fortune. They reached the Hive City's underground fortifications, where Malakai brought the baby to the Chapter headquarters as an Ork fleet was due to arrive in less than three hours.

• Malakai held the baby and felt his old injuries and heavy spirit ease as a violent tremor threatened to bury the mine.
• Malakai spotted a working emergency passage, led his squad and the unconscious Sarah inside, and escaped the collapse.
• The squad found an abandoned lift whose backup power miraculously started, carrying them to sector B-7 of the underground fortifications.
• Mortals hailed the glowing baby as holy, while Malakai went to report their escape to the Chapter's senior officers.
• With less than three hours before the Ork fleet arrived, Malakai entered the headquarters carrying the baby, and everyone fell silent.

Malakai brought a newborn to headquarters after the infant seemed connected to a strange turn of events in the mine, and Karen suspected the child might be a Warp creature. When Jason brought the infant near the damaged communications console, it came back online, leaving the Sons of Sorrow with a witnessed miracle and renewed hope.

• Malakai reported the squad’s experiences in the mine and the Ork Warboss’s bizarre death to Jason and Karen.
• Apothecary Lion El'Jonson confirmed the infant was human and free of Warp corruption, though his vitality was inexplicably strong.
• Karen objected to trusting the infant, but Jason argued that the Chapter had to cling to any possible hope.
• Jason asked Malakai to bring the infant to the damaged communications console to test his theory.
• The console restored its signal as the infant approached, and Captain Astado contacted headquarters from the Daughter of the Storm.
• Jason touched the infant’s forehead and felt hope return.

Jason named the infant Saul and proposed using a captured Ork ship to evacuate eight million people from the planet. Though Karen and Lion El'Jonson warned that the plan was dangerously uncertain, Jason convinced Karen to commit to it, and Malakai was assigned to protect Saul and his mother.

• Jason asked Malakai for his true name, but Malakai could not bring himself to reveal it.
• Jason named the infant Saul, and Saul's touch healed Malakai's pain and restored clarity to his damaged eye.
• Jason told Captain Astado that the Sons of Sorrow could use a captured Ork ship to evacuate eight million people.
• Karen and Lion El'Jonson objected that repairing and relying on Ork technology was too dangerous, but Jason argued it was their only chance.
• Karen accepted the plan, and Jason ordered Malakai and his squad to guard Saul and his mother.

Jason persuaded the traumatized mechanics to help repair an Ork warship by showing them Saul, and Hector discovered that its engine was barely alive. The survivors and Space Marines began turning the ship into an ark for eight million people, despite clashing over the mechanics’ strange methods.

• Jason asked the former Ork workshop mechanics to repair an Ork ship, but they recoiled in terror at the idea.
• Jason showed the mechanics the sleeping Saul and urged them to face their fear to protect the hope he represented.
• Hector agreed to help and said the ship’s engine was still breathing, but he needed tools, welding torches, and red paint.
• Jason ordered the Space Marines to clear the junk from the warship so they could build an ark for eight million people.
• The Sons of Sorrow Techmarines worked with Hector’s crew, whose instructions to sing to wires and hammer energy conduits baffled and alarmed them.

Hector’s team struggled to repair the Ork cruiser while Karen and the Sons of Sorrow held off an overwhelming Ork assault. Saul’s radiant aura finally awakened the ship’s engines, though the battle was still raging around them.

• Under Hector’s team’s guidance and Saul’s uncanny luck, the mechanics revived parts of the damaged ship as the Orks closed in.
• Karen learned that the Orks had broken through the second defensive line and demanded the ship launch, but an Ork landing craft arrived before it could fly.
• Karen and the remaining Sons of Sorrow charged the Orks to buy Hector ten more minutes, while Malakai rescued Cassian from a Gretchin attack.
• Saul’s golden halo erupted with light, and the ship’s energy core changed color and began to pulse.
• Hector and the mechanics celebrated as the ship’s engines rumbled back to life.

The Ark of Hope launched as Karen and the Sons of Sorrow fought through the Orks and boarded the unstable vessel. Inside, Lion El'Jonson treated Sarah after her difficult birth while Malakai guarded her sleeping baby.

• Karen fought Ork Warboss Glazgnak, who fell into a waste pit before the Ark's engines vaporized him and the Orks around him.
• Karen ordered the Sons of Sorrow to board the rising Ark of Hope as the Orks surged after them.
• Malakai helped Cassian restart his broken Heavy Bolter, then fought his way back to the ship and reached the ramp just before it tilted back into place.
• The Sons of Sorrow guided panicked civilians through the shaking cargo holds as the Ark climbed.
• Sarah awoke in the medical area, saw that Malakai was guarding her baby, and received a healing injection from Lion El'Jonson.

The Ark of Hope’s unstable Warp passage left its eight million passengers exposed when the Gellar Field failed. As daemons attacked the ship and its people, baby Saul awakened and released a vast golden flame that swept into the Warp.

• Lion El'Jonson told Sarah they were on their way home along a rough road.
• Hector and a Sons of Sorrow Techmarine argued over the unstable Ork Gellar Field generator in Gork's Workshop.
• The Gellar Field failed, allowing Warp daemons to invade the ship and torment its passengers.
• Company Captain Karen ordered everyone to guard their minds, but Warp corruption overwhelmed mortals aboard the vessel.
• Saul awoke in Malakai's arms, cried out, and unleashed a golden flame that made the daemons outside the Ark of Hope shriek in terror.

Saul’s golden power protected the Ark of Hope through the Warp, and the ship emerged safely near Optera with eight million mortals aboard. As Saul grew on the Sons of Sorrow’s homeworld, his abilities and apparent capacity to repair corrupted gene-seed divided the Chapter over how he should be honored and raised.

• Saul’s golden light cleansed the Warp creatures and shielded the Ark of Hope, while Karen and the Space Marines paid their respects to him.
• Hector announced that the Ark had detected a stable beacon, and it emerged from the Warp near Optera, homeworld of the Sons of Sorrow.
• Phoros and the Chapter’s Honor Guard welcomed the Ark and its crew at Optera’s largest starport.
• Saul displayed extraordinary intelligence and strength as a child, and at five he defeated a Scout in a simulated battle.
• Lion El'Jonson discovered that Saul’s blood stabilized gene-seed damaged by the black rage, prompting the Sons of Sorrow to debate whether to venerate Saul as a Living Saint or train him as their greatest warrior.