Chapter Summaries

Colonel Grimm’s forces discovered that the 99th Regiment had destroyed the Orks’ main ground force by detonating the grain-processing plant, while the blast threw Viridia Prime into darkness. In orbit, the Ork fleet collapsed into infighting after its warlord died, allowing the Imperial Navy to begin destroying it.

• The vox operator told Colonel Grimm that the devastating blast had come from the surface, and the dust storm revealed the Iron Temple had become a vast, magma-lit crater.
• Commissar Friedrich declared the Orks’ main ground force destroyed, while Colonel Grimm ordered a battlefield sweep and advanced into the wasteland.
• Orks aboard the Big Smash realized that Ironjaw Bonecrusher Grak and hundreds of thousands of Boyz had vanished in the blast.
• Ork bosses fought one another for control, and the fleet splintered into rival groups trying to seize command or flee.
• The Imperial Navy opened fire on the disorganized Ork fleet, beginning a one-sided battle in orbit above Viridia Prime.

Death Korps of Krieg soldiers found Alexander von Lawrence and 351 other survivors of the 99th Regiment beneath the ruins of the Central Control Room. A postbattle report celebrated the regiment’s victory over the Orks while warning that Alexander’s influence and “Fireplace Theory” might be heretical, prompting an uproar among Imperial authorities.

• Krieg soldiers detected faint life signs in the crater and dug more than a dozen survivors of the 99th Regiment from the rubble.
• The wounded survivors called Alexander their “eldest brother” and asked whether he was alive; rescuers found him unconscious beneath a console, clutching the regiment’s banner.
• Commissar Friedrich ordered medics to save Alexander, who had lost his left arm and suffered life-threatening burns.
• The postbattle report confirmed the destruction of the Ork forces and orbital fleet, but recorded that the 99th Regiment had only 351 survivors and had ceased to exist as a formation.
• Colonel Grimm praised the regiment’s sacrifice, while Friedrich’s assessment warned that its survivors treated Alexander as a sacred leader and recommended Inquisition scrutiny.
• The contradictory report caused an uproar among the Imperium’s highest authorities.

Alexander awoke in a medical convent after weeks in a coma, badly injured and missing his left arm. After receiving a powerful combat prosthesis from the Adeptus Mechanicus and enduring its painful connection surgery, he tested his new steel arm just as an unexpected visitor entered.

• Alexander woke after twenty-seven days and learned that his injuries had cost him his left arm.
• A Hospitaller presented the Punisher Mark VII combat prosthesis built for Alexander by the Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Alexander underwent painful treatment and surgery to connect the mechanical arm to his nerves.
• Alexander controlled the prosthesis for the first time and felt its crushing strength.
• Someone other than the Hospitaller entered Alexander's room.

Alexander reunited with the surviving soldiers of the 99th Regiment, then faced Inquisitor Valerius, who ordered him to come in for questioning over suspected heresy and unauthorized tactics. As Valerius’s psychic pressure struck the ward, a warm, powerful force rose from Alexander’s bed and dissolved it.

• More than three hundred surviving soldiers of the 99th Regiment gathered around Alexander and saluted him, and he welcomed them home.
• Inquisitor Valerius entered the ward with Stormtroopers and announced that he was investigating Alexander for unauthorized tactics, inciting abnormal sentiments, and possible heresy.
• The soldiers formed a barrier around Alexander and protested when Valerius ordered him to get dressed and come with him.
• Valerius unleashed psychic pressure to silence the agitated soldiers, but a warm force rising from Alexander’s bed effortlessly dispelled it.

Alexander negotiated for the wounded soldiers to receive full honors and care before agreeing to accompany Inquisitor Valerius. On Holy Terra, Roboute Guilliman reviewed the report of Viridia Prime’s defense and its extraordinary losses and tactics.

• Alexander’s abilities unsettled Inquisitor Valerius as Alexander agreed to go with him only after demanding proper care and recognition for the surviving soldiers.
• Valerius accepted Alexander’s demands and promised to oversee them personally.
• Alexander told the soldiers to heal and stay alive, then left the ward under Valerius’s escort.
• Roboute Guilliman read the encrypted report on Viridia Prime’s defense and paused at its account of the regiment’s tactics and sacrifice.

Guilliman decided to meet Alexander von Lawrence after reading about his dangerous but effective “fire-place-theory,” and ordered Cawl to retrieve him from the Inquisition. Alexander arrived on Holy Terra under Ultramarines protection and came face to face with Guilliman.

• Guilliman judged the fire-place-theory to be powerful but potentially dangerous to the Imperium and decided to assess Alexander in person.
• Guilliman summoned Belisarius Cawl and ordered him to get Alexander out of Inquisitor Valerius’s custody.
• Cawl intercepted Valerius’s cruiser near Terra and informed the Inquisitor that Guilliman wanted to meet Alexander.
• Alexander arrived on Holy Terra and was escorted through its defenses by Ultramarines veterans.
• Guilliman walked from his throne to meet Alexander, who stood trembling before the Primarch.

After Alexander met with Guilliman, the 99th Regiment was officially honored, replenished, and assigned to the Indomitus Crusade, while Alexander received a promotion to Legion Commissar. Reunited with his rebuilt soldiers, Alexander welcomed their new commander, Colonel Valerius Carsten, whose contempt for the regiment set up an immediate clash.

• Guilliman issued an edict naming Alexander a hero, preserving the 99th Regiment, granting it top-priority replacements and equipment, and promoting Alexander to Legion Commissar.
• The edict assigned the reorganized 99th Regiment to the Fourth Fleet battle group of the Indomitus Crusade, prompting speculation about Alexander's meeting with Guilliman.
• Alexander reunited with the 351 surviving soldiers at a rehabilitation center and greeted them as they saluted him with their new prosthetic limbs.
• Colonel Valerius Carsten arrived to take charge of the regiment's military affairs and training, regarding the soldiers as an undisciplined mob and Alexander as a dangerous cult leader.
• Alexander welcomed Carsten to the regiment's “warm and loving family,” and Carsten visibly bristled at the greeting.

Commissar Alexander turned Colonel Carsten’s attempt to suppress the 99th Regiment’s devotion to the “Fireplace” into a confrontation, while the Imperium’s absurd supplies and recruits overwhelmed the new commander. Alexander made light of each disaster and began adapting the regiment to its unwanted equipment, leaving Carsten facing a bitter reorganization.

• Colonel Carsten warned Alexander that he would stamp out the regiment’s personality cult, and Alexander rallied the veterans to roar a hostile welcome for their new commander.
• The regiment received ornate ceremonial uniforms, primitive flintlocks, and three thousand undisciplined criminals and vagrants as replacement troops, driving Carsten toward despair.
• Alexander turned the uniforms into a fashion show, then had the veterans use them for shooting practice.
• Alexander formed a weapons research group and modified the flintlocks with laser sights, high-explosive ammunition, and chainsaw bayonets.
• Alexander treated the replacement troops with patience and warmth, unlike the overwhelmed Colonel Carsten.

Alexander won the loyalty of more than ten thousand Hive City recruits by encouraging them to embrace their hatred and join his new family. Over the next six months, he transformed the 99th Regiment into a disciplined army on the outside and a fiercely devoted cult within, while Colonel Carsten failed to stop him.

• Alexander listened as Zora described his brother’s death and his own life on Terra, then told the recruits to turn their hatred into vengeance.
• Zora knelt before Alexander, and more than ten thousand recruits followed, pledging themselves to his new family.
• Over six months, Colonel Carsten made the 99th Regiment outwardly disciplined while Alexander spread his Fireplace Theory and trained the recruits to see one another as family.
• Alexander’s veterans became Battle Priests, teaching brutal combat skills and fostering the regiment’s devotion to its family and murderous resolve toward its enemies.
• Carsten repeatedly threatened to report Alexander, but Alexander defended his methods as loyal interpretations of Imperial teachings, leaving Carsten unable to challenge him.

Alexander and Colonel Carsten received orders to take the Pride of Cadia 99th Regiment to Malakbel, where the Hymn Engine was expected to draw Angron and the World Eaters into battle. After a perilous Warp voyage, the regiment reached the system and was summoned to meet Admiral Abukhensis aboard the Glory of Terra.

• A Thunderhawk delivered Admiral Abukhensis's order for the Pride of Cadia 99th Regiment to embark for garrison duty in Malakbel, and Alexander anticipated the coming battle with Angron.
• During the Warp voyage, a powerful storm destabilized the Gellar Field, but Alexander steadied the regiment and urged them to face the danger together.
• The transport arrived at an orbital station in the Malakbel system, where Alexander saw the Hymn Engine shining on the planet below.
• A liaison officer summoned Alexander and Colonel Carsten to the Glory of Terra to meet Admiral Abukhensis.
• Alexander and Colonel Carsten entered the flagship's bridge, where Admiral Abukhensis awaited them before a vast star chart.

Alexander asked Admiral Abukhensis to deploy the 99th Regiment, the Pride of Cadia, at the Hymn Engine’s final line of defense against Angron. He explained that his soldiers no longer feared death and had come prepared to sacrifice themselves in an attempt to destroy the Red Angel, and Abukhensis accepted their offer.

• Admiral Abukhensis welcomed Colonel Carsten and Commissar Lawrence, then asked what they could contribute to the coming war.
• Alexander confirmed that the enemy was Angron and requested that his regiment defend the Hymn Engine’s final line.
• A Mars Fleet captain accused Alexander and his troops of cowardice, and Alexander agreed that ordinary soldiers would fear Angron.
• Alexander said his soldiers had given their souls to their “fireplace” and would sacrifice themselves with explosives to destroy Angron.
• Admiral Abukhensis accepted Alexander’s request and thanked him for the regiment’s sacrifice.

Alexander prepared Malakbel’s ancient fortress as a trap while Angron and the World Eaters arrived to destroy the Hymn Engine. Angron descended onto the planet and led his forces against the Imperial defenders, beginning a battle the chapter described as a one-sided massacre.

• Admiral Abukhensis secretly delivered plasma explosives to Alexander, who turned the fortress beneath the Hymn Engine into a sacrificial array.
• Angron’s flagship, the Conqueror, and a vast World Eaters fleet emerged from a Warp Rift and engaged the Imperial fleet.
• Angron saw the Hymn Engine, was overwhelmed by memories of Nuceria, and launched himself toward Malakbel.
• Angron crashed onto the planet, and World Eaters and cultists followed in Drop Pods before charging toward the Hymn Engine.
• The Astra Militarum and Space Marines opened fire as the ground battle began.

Angron smashed through Malakbel’s defenses and summoned a daemonic host, but the Hymn Engine’s golden power wounded the Bloodthirsters and banished lesser daemons. As Angron charged the final fortress, Alexander prepared to address the Fourth Fleet, whose bridge received his urgent communication amid reports of catastrophic losses.

• Angron tore through the Astra Militarum’s defensive line and summoned eight Bloodthirsters and a legion of daemons through a crimson portal.
• The Hymn Engine unleashed a golden psychic wave that destroyed lesser daemons and wounded the Bloodthirsters and Angron.
• Angron hurled his axe into the fortress gate, used it as an anchor, and charged the fortress with his daemonic servants.
• Alexander watched Angron approach and told Colonel Carsten that their guest had arrived; Carsten drew his Power Sword as Alexander contacted the Fourth Fleet.
• Admiral Abukhensis received reports of massive losses, the fall of the outer defenses, and the destruction of General Marcus’s fleet.
• Alexander von Lawrence’s highest-priority communication appeared on the flagship Glory of Terra’s main screen.

Alexander persuaded Admiral Abukhensis to evacuate the fleet before the Hymn Engine’s destruction could turn survivors into Khorne’s slaves. As the fleet began retreating, Alexander and his ten thousand followers prepared to sacrifice themselves against Angron and his eight bloodthirsty servants.

• Alexander told Admiral Abukhensis that the fortress and Hymn Engine could not be saved and urged the fleet to retreat.
• Alexander warned that the Hymn Engine’s destruction could infect the survivors with Khorne’s hatred and drive them to slaughter one another.
• Admiral Abukhensis ordered every mobile ship to retreat and assemble at the emergency jump point.
• Alexander told his ten thousand followers that they would shield the retreating fleet and ordered them to prepare their explosives.
• Angron and eight of his servants broke through the Engine Room’s blast doors and entered Alexander’s fortress.

Alexander and the 99th Regiment sacrificed themselves in a mass assault that destroyed Angron’s eight Bloodthirsters and nearly banished Angron from realspace. Just as Angron was about to disappear, a golden greatsword thrown by the will on the Brass Throne pierced his chest.

• Angron entered the Engine Room and found ten thousand soldiers ready to charge him and his daemons with explosives.
• Alexander led his 351 loyal veterans through the soldiers’ sacrificial assault to reach the Bloodthirsters.
• The remaining veterans detonated their explosives, destroying all eight Bloodthirsters and severely damaging Angron.
• Angron resisted being banished from realspace, but began to turn transparent.
• The will on the Brass Throne hurled a golden Holy Greatsword into realspace, and it pierced Angron’s chest as he was about to vanish.

Angron destroyed the Hymn Engine, unleashing a psychic curse that turned much of the surviving Imperial fleet against itself. Alexander von Lawrence and his regiment were posthumously honored for saving the Fourth Fleet, while Liu Zhipeng received a new ability and prepared to begin his fourth life.

• Angron struck down the Hymn Engine, spreading Khorne's blood-red psychic plague across the Malakbel System.
• The curse drove surviving Imperial mortals to attack their own comrades, while the Sisters of Silence, Grey Knights, and Adeptus Custodes resisted it.
• The battered Imperial Fleet returned to Terra with less than forty percent of its original strength, and Alexander von Lawrence was posthumously canonized as the Imperial Saint [The Burned-Out].
• Alexander's 99th Regiment, the "Pride of Cadia," was honored as the [Emperor's Fireplace].
• Liu Zhipeng's system awarded him [Undying Spark] and fused his three permanent passive abilities into [Primordial Fire].
• The system announced that Liu Zhipeng's fourth life would begin shortly.

Liu Zhipeng began his fourth life as an Ork Boy in the Big Iron Jaw tribe and discovered that Ork teef could serve as valuable wealth. After he sparked a tribe-wide brawl over teef, he slipped away with his two trophies to pursue his ambition of becoming the strongest Ork.

• Liu Zhipeng awoke as an Ork Boy in the Big Iron Jaw tribe on an unknown wasteland planet.
• After another Ork Boy shoved him, Liu Zhipeng knocked him out with a punch.
• Liu Zhipeng broke two tusks from the unconscious Ork and pocketed them as his starting capital.
• The other Orks copied him, triggering a tribe-wide brawl as they fought to take each other's teef.
• Liu Zhipeng slipped away with his teef and set out to become the strongest Ork.

Liu Zhipeng built up his teeth by repeatedly beating and robbing Ork Boyz, then traded them at Big Wrench’s Mek workshop for heavy armor and powerful weapons. After he emerged looking like a formidable fighter, Big'un approached and asked to follow him.

• Liu Zhipeng targeted Ork Boyz near his size, defeated them with precise strikes, and took their teeth while leaving them alive.
• The tribe’s lower ranks began calling Liu Zhipeng the “Tooth Puller” and avoided him whenever they saw his iron pipe.
• Liu Zhipeng visited Big Wrench’s Mek workshop and traded more than half his bag of teeth for a Choppa, a Shoota, and “Eavy Armour.
• Liu Zhipeng left the workshop transformed into an armored fighter, and Big'un asked to follow him.

Liu Zhipeng built the Big Tooth Gang into a wealthy, disciplined force before a WAAAGH! led by Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka swept across the planet. He brought his gang to join the invasion, then chose an auxiliary lift instead of fighting through the chaotic boarding ramp.

• Liu Zhipeng recruited Big Guy and founded the Big Tooth Gang by demanding teef as a pledge of loyalty.
• Liu Zhipeng led the gang in tactical ambushes against other gangs, attracting recruits and growing into a rising power in the Big Iron Jaw tribe.
• Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka arrived with his fleet, and the planet's Orks were swept up in a WAAAGH! and rallied to join him.
• Liu Zhipeng agreed to take the Big Tooth Gang to war, and they reached the boarding point beneath Ghazghkull's ship.
• Liu Zhipeng rejected the bloody crush on the main ramp and directed the gang toward an auxiliary lift he called the VIP entrance.

Liu Zhipeng used bribery and cunning to establish the Big Tooth Gang aboard Bonecrusher Saraka’s warship, then launched a dirty attack on the Ironhead Gang. His gang overwhelmed the incapacitated rivals and began its climb toward power aboard the ship.

• Liu Zhipeng bribed the Gretchin operating the auxiliary lift, allowing the Big Tooth Gang to board the warship ahead of the Orks fighting over the main ramp.
• Liu Zhipeng secured a spacious cargo hold for his gang and announced his ambition to become the toughest, richest, and most cunning Ork aboard.
• Liu Zhipeng sent thieves to map the ship’s gangs and chose Ironhead’s gang near Engine Room Three as his first target.
• Liu Zhipeng’s elite Boyz sneaked into the ventilation ducts and scattered chili spore powder over Ironhead’s gang while they celebrated.
• Liu Zhipeng led the Big Tooth Gang into the blinded, coughing Ironhead Gang and launched a one-sided assault.