Recaps

Ghazghk and his Gretchin set out to rob the Necron ruler’s stronghold while Liu Zhipeng prepared the Khalifa System’s defenses against the Silent King’s overwhelming fleet. As the Necrons began charging the World Engines, Liu sent Ghazghk toward the Szarekh Dynasty’s central Crownworld.

• Ghazghk led hundreds of Gretchin in a battered asteroid and prepared to jump to the Necron ruler’s supposedly unguarded lair.
• Seventy-two hours later, Maran detected more than three thousand Necron warships entering the Khalifa System, including three World Engines and the Silent King’s flagship.
• Liu Zhipeng rallied the Imperial Fleet and ordered its forces to maximum combat readiness, concealing that he had expected the Silent King to bring his full force.
• The Silent King ordered the Necrons to blockade the system and charge the World Engines’ weapons to erase the Khalifa System.
• Liu Zhipeng psychically told Ghazghk that the main Necron force had been drawn away, and Ghazghk jumped toward the Szarekh Dynasty’s central Crownworld to steal its treasures.

Magos Maran split the Imperial Fleet into twelve battle groups and used short jumps to launch guerrilla strikes against the Necron forces in the Khalifa System. The Silent King adapted by disrupting their spatial jumps and deploying Flayed Ones, leaving Imperial ships facing boarders.

• Maran divided the fleet into twelve independent battle groups, and the Imperial ships escaped the World Engines’ first salvo with short jumps.
• The Hammer of God ambushed Necron ships near Khalifa Prime and the moon’s debris belt before jumping away from return fire.
• The twelve Imperial battle groups carried out repeated strikes, damaging or destroying nearly a hundred Necron ships while keeping most of their own fleet intact.
• Illuminor Zerath identified the Imperials’ short-jump technology as an unusual spatial reconstruction algorithm, and the Silent King ordered a grid-based encirclement and the capture of the high-energy entity alive.
• Necron interference ships reduced short-jump accuracy, and Flayed Ones boarded Imperial vessels through phase-shifting metal coffins.

Liu Zhipeng defended the Imperial Fleet’s warships from Flayed Ones boarding attacks, helping the twelve battle groups hold formation. After the Necrons saw him destroy the attackers, Szarekh rose from the Blackstone Throne.

• Maran ordered the Glory’s crew and Space Marines to defend the ship’s engines from Flayed Ones that had teleported aboard.
• Liu Zhipeng asked for the coordinates of the fleet’s most threatened positions, then vanished from the bridge in golden flames.
• Liu Zhipeng appeared aboard the Indomitable, destroyed Flayed Ones attacking its engine compartment, and healed a wounded Space Marine.
• Liu Zhipeng cleared threatened areas across the fleet, and the battle groups reported that their boarders had been eliminated and their ships remained operational.
• Zerath showed Szarekh a recording of Liu Zhipeng destroying the Flayed Ones, and Szarekh rose from the Blackstone Throne.

Liu Zhipeng battled Szarekh and the Necrons’ Ruling Throne, revealing a power that combined psychic force with C’tan-like reality manipulation. After Ghazghk told him he had gathered all the glowing blocks, Liu transformed into a golden supernova to shield the Imperial Fleet’s retreat from the Khalifa System.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered the Imperial fleet to withdraw and flew out to confront Szarekh at the Ruling Throne.
• Liu fought off Szarekh’s death ray and the throne’s weapons, then broke through its defenses with powers that the Necrons recognized as resembling those of the C’tan.
• Ghazghk told Liu Zhipeng that he had stuffed all the little glowing blocks into the big bag.
• Liu Zhipeng transformed into an expanding golden supernova and ordered the Imperial ships to evacuate the Khalifa System.
• Magos Maran led the fleet’s short jump to the edge of the Naphil Sector as Liu Zhipeng held back the Necron death fleet.

Liu Zhipeng unleashed a supernova to cover the Imperial Fleet’s escape, while Gretchin raided the Necron Crownworld and stole every C’tan Shard and Tesseract Labyrinth. Szarekh realized the battle had been a diversion and split his forces, sending part of the fleet home while he continued the pursuit.

• Szarekh ordered the World Engines to fire on the fleeing Imperial Fleet, but Liu Zhipeng released a burst of power that interrupted their weapons and let the fleet escape.
• A Crownworld alert told Szarekh that hundreds of thousands of Gretchin had breached the central vault and stolen all its Tesseract Labyrinths and C’tan Shards.
• Szarekh calculated that the Gretchin raid had been timed to draw him away from the Crownworld and recognized Liu Zhipeng as the diversion.
• Szarekh divided the Necron fleet, sending the First through Fifth Hunter-Killer Cohorts and three World Engines back to the Crownworld while he pursued Liu Zhipeng with the remaining forces.

Liu Zhipeng reunited with Ghazghk and absorbed all thirty-seven C'tan Shards while the Gretchin prepared a fortress to protect him. As Liu Zhipeng entered a radiant cocoon, Szarekh's fleet continued tracking the fleeing Imperial fleet, and an alarm sounded.

• Liu Zhipeng tore open a spatial rift and reached Ghazghk and the Gretchin on an unnamed barren planet.
• Ghazghk gave Liu Zhipeng thirty-seven C'tan Shards and showed him the defenses the Gretchin had assembled.
• Liu Zhipeng absorbed the shards and used his primordial divine flame to refine their wills as his primordial quickening devoured their power.
• Ghazghk and Sharpfang watched Liu Zhipeng become enclosed in a sun-bright cocoon.
• Szarekh's fleet tracked the Imperial fleet's spatial-folding traces, then an alarm rang at the edge of the fleet.

Szarekh and Imotekh confronted each other as the Sautekh Dynasty fleet blocked the Silent King's route, and their opposing claims to rule escalated into war. The chapter left the fleets locked in battle, with Szarekh's forces repelling the opening barrage and striking back.

• The Sautekh Dynasty fleet, led by Imotekh aboard the Absolute Dominion, appeared in front of Szarekh's fleet and blocked its course.
• Imotekh denounced Szarekh as a coward and rejected his claim to authority, while the Punisher called Imotekh a usurper and traitor.
• Imotekh ordered the Sautekh fleet to fire thousands of gauss annihilation beams at the Szarekh Dynasty fleet.
• The Punisher ordered the Royal Bodyguard to deploy the Wall of Sighs and the other ships to return fire, and the barrier stopped the Sautekh barrage.
• Szarekh's ships destroyed three Jackal-class frigates with precise attacks and sent Canoptek Scarabs to swarm the Sautekh fleet.

Trazyn halted the Necron civil war by broadcasting footage of a golden being eating C'tan Shards. Szarekh and Imotekh agreed to cease fire after learning that all thirty-seven shards in Szarekh’s vault had been stolen, leaving the Necrons united against the greater threat.

• Trazyn ordered the Light of Solemnace broadcast protocol activated to stop Szarekh and Imotekh’s fleets from destroying each other.
• Trazyn’s projection showed the golden being devouring several C'tan Shards, including shards of the Deceiver and Nightbringer.
• Szarekh ordered both fleets to cease fire after the Voice of the Triarch revealed that all thirty-seven C'tan Shards in his command vault had been stolen.
• Imotekh lowered his Storm Scepter and agreed that the Sautekh Dynasty would cease fire for now.
• Trazyn piloted his ship between the fleets and urged the two rulers to settle their dispute through discussion.

Szarekh, Imotekh, and Trazyn formed a fragile alliance and tracked the golden entity to a barren planet, where they found a reality-warping singularity and a god being born. Unable to use weapons that might tear reality apart, the Necron fleet advanced into low orbit to attack with conventional firepower.

• Szarekh and Imotekh agreed to follow Trazyn and formed the Three Kings Alliance against the golden entity.
• Trazyn led the combined Necron fleets, numbering more than five thousand capital ships, to the barren planet.
• The fleet detected a massive singularity on the planet, and Szarekh identified it as a god being born.
• Imotekh called for the fleet to destroy the planet, but Szarekh's Phaeron warned that strategic weapons could trigger a universe-wide Big Rip.
• Szarekh issued the Absolute Prohibition against reality-destroying weapons and ordered the fleet into low orbit to attack with conventional firepower.

Ghazghk's hidden asteroid fortresses ambushed the Necron fleet as it entered orbit, destroying its vanguard with a sudden barrage. Imotekh ordered the surviving warships to fire back after Trazyn identified the fortresses' impossible stealth system.

• Szarekh's Royal Fleet, Imotekh's Sautekh fleet, and Trazyn's Collection Fleet advanced toward the planet in a trident formation, and their scans detected no threats.
• Ghazghk revealed 120 asteroid fortresses around the Necron fleet and announced a shooting game before opening fire.
• The fortresses destroyed the Necron vanguard of 150 warships in thirty seconds, using weapons assembled from multiple civilizations.
• Imotekh demanded to know how the platforms had evaded detection, and Trazyn explained they combined T'au stealth fields with Necron Phase Folding through ork logic.
• Imotekh ordered every surviving Necron warship to fire at the fortresses.

Ghazghk’s Gretchin-held fortress platforms repelled the Necron fleet with stacked shields and waves of explosive drones, prompting Szarekh to intervene personally. The Silent King destroyed the platforms one by one, while Imotekh began his own attack.

• Ghazghk ordered the fortress platforms to stack their shields and concentrate fire, destroying or crippling several Necron ships.
• Szarekh ordered the Blackstone Disruption Matrix activated and sent Necron Warriors into the platforms, but Ghazghk’s explosive drone traps wiped out the invading troops.
• Szarekh decided to fight personally, and Trazyn and Imotekh also left their flagships to attack the fortresses.
• Szarekh disabled fortress thirty-seven’s shields, shattered it, and accelerated the Gretchin aboard until they crumbled to dust.
• Szarekh continued destroying the fortress platforms, while Imotekh attacked elsewhere with even greater violence.

Ghazghk destroyed much of the Necron fleet in a massive fortress self-destruct attack before Sharpfang and over a million Gretchin prepared to defend the Singularity on the planet. The ground battle began with the Gretchin firing a barrage of rockets at the descending Necron transports.

• Ghazghk activated the self-destruct sequences of the surviving fortress platforms, destroying nearly a quarter of the Necron ships and forcing Szarekh and Imotekh to retreat briefly.
• Szarekh ordered the Necron forces to land and stop the Singularity's apotheosis, while Sharpfang rallied more than a million Gretchin to defend the planet.
• Sharpfang reviewed the Gretchin's troops, weapons, and extensive trench defenses as the Necron transports descended.
• Sharpfang ordered the artillery to fire when the Tomb Scythes reached three thousand meters, and thirty thousand rocket launchers unleashed a huge barrage.
• The Gretchin rockets damaged several Tomb Scythes and brought one crashing to the ground, while Sharpfang ordered his troops to keep reloading.

Sharpfang’s Gretchin repelled the Necrons’ initial advance with concentrated rifle fire, then sent Vanguard Stitched Mechs into a brutal clash against the enemy’s heavy units. As the defenses faltered, underground mines activated beneath a hidden Praetorian squad approaching the command post.

• Sharpfang ordered nearly a million Gretchin to rise from the trenches and fire, wiping out the front ranks of the advancing Necrons.
• The Necrons deployed Phase Shields, Immortals, and Destroyers, whose heavy weapons blasted through sections of the trenches.
• Sharpfang sent forty-seven thousand Vanguard Stitched Mechs charging into the Necron heavy units, where both sides suffered severe losses.
• A report alerted Sharpfang that underground traps had activated beneath the Necron forces.
• A Praetorian captain led an elite squad underground toward the command post, and a mine clicked as the captain took another step.

Sharpfang and Ghazghk’s traps and giant mech challenged Imotekh as he joined the battle, but Imotekh crippled the mech. Sharpfang triggered a modified teleportation system, sending his cockpit directly in front of the Stormlord.

• Ghazghk’s smart mines detonated in the underground passages, destroying many Necron Praetorians.
• Imotekh entered the battle and struck down thousands of Gretchin with a lightning blast.
• Sharpfang ordered the activation of the Big Boss’s Fist and piloted the giant mech toward Imotekh.
• Sharpfang’s Railgun blast shattered Imotekh’s shield and wounded his shoulder.
• Imotekh sliced open the mech’s leg armor, making it collapse and leaving Sharpfang injured in the cockpit.
• Sharpfang activated the modified teleportation system, which placed his cockpit right in front of Imotekh.

Imotekh recoiled from a battered cockpit that teleported in front of him, only to discover it was packed with enormous Squig Bombs. The bombs detonated at point-blank range, engulfing him in a massive explosion whose mushroom cloud was visible from the Gretchin reserve position.

• Imotekh instinctively took half a step back as the battered cockpit appeared against his face.
• The cockpit hatch opened, and Imotekh detected 237 oversized Squig Bombs inside, including one with a flashing detonator.
• The detonator activated, and a voice wished Skullhead Boss good luck before the bombs exploded.
• The fusion and spore explosives melted Imotekh's faceplate and unleashed a chain reaction amplified by the Gretchins' belief.
• A huge mushroom cloud rose over the battlefield, and a Gretchin Technician remarked that the bombs had packed far more than a bit of a punch.

Sharpfang’s Big Boss’s Kiss devastated the Necron forces and left Imotekh badly damaged. Sharpfang rallied the Gretchin with news of his survival, while Imotekh prepared to issue orders to his army in a rage.

• The blast tore apart Necron troops, split the ground, and left Imotekh severely damaged at the center of a vast crater.
• Sharpfang teleported to the reserve position, injured but alive, and seized the communications device.
• Sharpfang announced that he had struck Imotekh with the Big Boss’s Kiss, and the Gretchin erupted in cheers and renewed their attack.
• Imotekh struggled to his feet, contacted his flagship, and began ordering his army to act as rage overtook him.

Imotekh ordered the Necrons to slaughter everything after Gretchin embarrassed him, despite the protocol’s severe inefficiency and losses. Szarekh judged Imotekh foolish, took control of the battle, and descended toward the battlefield as the Gretchin fled.

• Imotekh activated the Harvest Protocol and threatened an Overlord who tried to dissuade him.
• Necron Warriors poured from their warships and attacked indiscriminately, rapidly breaching the Gretchin’s second defensive line.
• The Voice of the Triarch reported that the Harvest Protocol was far less efficient and far more costly than standard tactics, and called Imotekh’s conduct extremely foolish.
• Szarekh ordered Imotekh’s forces to withdraw to the flanks and transformed the Blackstone Throne into a meteor aimed at the battlefield.
• The second defensive line collapsed, and surviving Gretchin retreated under fire until the sky suddenly darkened.

Szarekh used the Annihilation Matrix to erase the Gretchin’s second defensive line, while Sharpfang rallied the survivors to defend the sleeping Big Boss. Trazyn tried to seize the golden cocoon, but the protagonist emerged as a C’tan, destroyed him, and reached the front in an instant.

• Szarekh arrived on the Blackstone Throne and erased more than 150,000 Gretchin and their fortifications with the Annihilation Matrix.
• Sharpfang rallied the Gretchin at the third defensive line to hold their position until the Big Boss awoke, then armed himself and went to the trenches.
• Trazyn slipped past the battlefield’s defenses and approached the golden cocoon, intending to add the being inside to his collection.
• The protagonist’s hand burst from the cocoon, seized Trazyn, and destroyed his living metal body by grinding it into data.
• The protagonist emerged as a C’tan and crossed the battlefield instantly to confront the fighting at the front.

The golden protagonist returned to the third defensive line, erased the Necron army, and reunited with the wounded Sharpfang. After defeating Imotekh and countering Szarekh’s attacks, he appeared above the Dominion Throne as Szarekh activated its self-destruct protocol.

• The protagonist descended onto the battlefield and disintegrated the charging Necron army by altering physical laws.
• He praised Sharpfang, comforted him over the fallen warriors, and said their souls were with him.
• Imotekh attacked the protagonist, who broke his War Scythe and destroyed his energy core.
• Szarekh fired the Dominion Throne’s weapons, but the protagonist captured their attacks and hurled the energy back at the Necron forces.
• Szarekh activated the Throne’s Final Protocol, and the protagonist appeared above the Throne and pressed a hand against it.

After destroying Szarekh and the Necron fleet, Liu Zhipeng’s body collapsed from the imbalance between realspace and Warp energy, and he died in a supernova. He immediately reincarnated as a lucid chaos spawn in the Eye of Terror, where a greater daemon of Slaanesh’s attack triggered his transformation into an Abyssal Maw.

• Liu Zhipeng crushed Szarekh and his blackstone throne with one punch, then destroyed the Necron fleet by hurling the system’s asteroids and cosmic dust at it.
• Liu Zhipeng realized [Primordial Quickening] was turning against him because his realspace energy vastly outweighed his Warp energy, and he erupted into golden light and died in a supernova.
• Liu Zhipeng awoke as a writhing mass of flesh on a daemon world in the Eye of Terror and sensed that his soul craved Warp energy.
• A greater daemon of Slaanesh approached Liu Zhipeng and plunged its claws into his body, expecting to corrupt him.
• Liu Zhipeng’s [Primordial Quickening] drained the daemon’s Warp energy, reshaped him into an Abyssal Maw, and let him bite off half the daemon’s body.

Liu Zhipeng devoured a Keeper of Secrets, easing the hunger of his [Primordial Quickening] and transforming into a spherical Chaos Spawn. Drawn by the warp energy on a battlefield between Khorne’s and Slaanesh’s daemons, he launched himself toward the fighting.

• The Greater Daemon attacked Liu Zhipeng, but Liu’s [Primordial Quickening] drained its energy and swallowed it whole.
• Liu felt his soul’s agony ease slightly, though his hunger for warp energy remained.
• Liu’s body reorganized into a smooth, dark-purple sphere, and he discovered he could bounce rapidly across the ground.
• Liu saw Bloodletters and Daemonettes fighting across the Sulfur Plains and sensed the exposed energy of slain daemons.
• Liu ignored his caution and rocketed toward the battlefield at supersonic speed.

Liu Zhipeng devoured a battlefield full of Bloodletters and Daemonettes, resisting the latter’s soul-affecting songs, then found a concert of Noise Marines in the ruins. The Noise Marines mistook the approaching flesh ball for a gift from the Dark Prince.

• Liu Zhipeng bounced through the daemon battle, crushing and devouring Bloodletters and Daemonettes until none remained.
• The Daemonettes tried to ensnare Liu Zhipeng with their songs, but his soul’s defenses burned away Slaanesh’s influence.
• Liu Zhipeng spotted a group of Emperor’s Children holding a concert amid the ruins, with captive mortals suffering as their audience.
• Liu Zhipeng crashed into the concert venue at supersonic speed, and the Noise Marines stopped playing to look at him.
• The Noise Marine leading the group laughed and told his brothers that the Dark Prince had bestowed a gift upon them.

Liu Zhipeng absorbed the Noise Marines’ sonic attacks, grew into a huge flesh sphere, and devoured the squad. After burping up their helmets and a broken guitar, he sensed a vast Warp-energy shadow forming in the sky.

• The Noise Marines fired sonic weapons at Liu Zhipeng, whose flesh-ball body absorbed the sound and bounced to their music.
• The Noise Marines increased their weapons’ power, causing Liu Zhipeng to swell to nearly fifteen metres and fire golden blasts from his body.
• Liu Zhipeng crushed the Noise Marines’ formation, dragged them into his abyssal maws, and devoured all twelve.
• Liu Zhipeng burped up cleanly gnawed helmets and a broken electric guitar, then looked for more food on the planet.
• Liu Zhipeng saw an enormous shadow made of Warp energy taking shape in the sky.

Liu Zhipeng’s flesh ball fought Karathes’s Chaos army, devouring many Khorne Berserkers and scattering the rest. Tzeentch’s Thousand Sons then tried to bind it alive for study.

• Karathes ordered his Chaos army and Helbrute to kill Liu Zhipeng’s flesh ball.
• The flesh ball charged into the Khorne Berserkers, swallowed five, and resisted their chain weapons.
• The flesh ball spun like a meat grinder, flinging Berserkers aside and devouring half of the three hundred attackers.
• The remaining Berserkers tried to retreat, but the Thousand Sons mocked them and ordered the flesh ball captured alive.
• The Thousand Sons cast a psychic spell and wrapped the flesh ball in blue energy chains.

Liu Zhipeng’s fleshy sphere devoured the Thousand Sons’ psychic power and Karathes’s Chaos spells, shrugging off his attacks. A Helbrute then unleashed thirty seconds of heavy fire on the sphere, leaving the battlefield shrouded in explosions.

• A Thousand Sons sorcerer’s psychic chains connected to Liu Zhipeng’s sphere, which drained the power of more than a dozen Thousand Sons until they fell as dried corpses.
• Liu Zhipeng taunted Karathes, who attacked the sphere with a pillar of nine-colored flame, but the sphere emerged unharmed and belched after consuming it.
• Karathes unleashed a storm of Chaos spells, and Liu Zhipeng’s sphere sucked them into its mouth and rated the meal eight out of ten.
• A Helbrute arrived, locked onto the three-meter sphere, and bombarded it with its weapons for thirty seconds, creating a hundred-meter-deep crater.
• A Chaos Space Marine cautiously asked whether the bombardment had worked.