Chapter Summaries

After Saul sacrificed himself to save the Star of Hope, the system fused his new Sorrowful Reflection ability with Miracle Probability into a dormant Primordial Quickening. Liu Zhipeng began his tenth life imprisoned as a C'tan Shard aboard a Novokh Dynasty flagship amid a battle with the Tyranids.

• Saul absorbed the Abyss Engine's divine power, saved the Star of Hope and its surrounding planets, and died as his brothers memorialized him on Optera.
• The system awarded Saul Sorrowful Reflection, which fused with Miracle Probability to form the seemingly dormant Primordial Quickening.
• Liu Zhipeng began his tenth life inside a spinning metal container and sensed both Tyranids and Necrons nearby.
• The container stopped, revealing a space battle between Tyranid bio-ships and Necron warships led by a Novokh Dynasty flagship.
• A Necron voice ordered C'tan Shard C-7749 to activate combat protocols, and Liu Zhipeng realized he had become a C'tan Shard.

Liu Zhipeng broke free of Galmak’s control while being launched into the Tyranid fleet, then killed a Hive Tyrant and turned toward the Necron Phaeron. Galmak ordered the Necron warships to concentrate fire on him.

• Galmak ordered C-7749 to attack the Arachne Hive Fleet and launched Liu Zhipeng at a Hive Tyrant.
• Liu Zhipeng crashed through the hive ship’s shield and used his shell’s defenses to destroy the Tyranids around him.
• Liu Zhipeng activated [Temporal Wraith] and destroyed the binding matrix controlling his shell.
• Liu Zhipeng emerged from the shattered shell, severed the Hive Tyrant’s arms, and beheaded it.
• Liu Zhipeng moved toward Galmak, who ordered every Necron warship to fire on him.

Liu Zhipeng crippled Galmark’s flagship and escaped the Necron fleet’s failed attempts to retrieve him, only to discover that [Primordial Quickening] was ravenously consuming his C'tan Power. He realized that feeding the embryo enough to finish developing might require consuming every star in the Milky Way Galaxy.

• Liu Zhipeng shattered the flagship’s bridge shield, hurled an energy ball inside, and escaped before it exploded, leaving Galmark to teleport to safety.
• With the flagship damaged and its command system crippled, the Necrons fell into disarray as the Tyranid Swarm attacked their warships.
• Galmark’s retrieval protocol failed repeatedly when [Temporal Wraith] blocked the spatial force trying to pull Liu Zhipeng back into containment.
• Liu Zhipeng tried to leave the battlefield and felt [Primordial Quickening] begin drawing C'tan Power from his body at a terrifying rate.
• Liu Zhipeng cut off the energy flow and realized that finishing the embryo’s development might require him to eat every star in the Milky Way Galaxy.

Liu Zhipeng traveled to Solemnace to steal C'tan Shards from Trazyn’s collection and grow his [primordial quickening]. After breaking into the central exhibition hall, he found Trazyn’s vast private collection but had not yet located the shards.

• Liu Zhipeng decided to seek C'tan Shards and chose Trazyn’s collection on Solemnace as his target.
• Liu Zhipeng used his memories and [Temporal Wraith] to bypass Solemnace’s spatial defenses and reach the central exhibition hall.
• Liu Zhipeng nullified the entrance’s scanning beams and Gauss Cannon fire, then blasted the locked door apart with C'tan Power.
• Liu Zhipeng entered the enormous central exhibition hall and saw Trazyn’s rare artifacts and captured xenos specimens.

Liu Zhipeng broke into Trazyn’s exhibition hall and devoured all seven C'tan Shards, greatly increasing his power and strengthening [primordial quickening]. Trazyn arrived to find his collection gone and confronted Liu Zhipeng.

• Liu Zhipeng reached the protected display of seven high-ranking C'tan Shards and triggered Trazyn’s defenses.
• Liu Zhipeng’s golden shield turned the weapons’ attacks back on themselves, disabling the defense system.
• Liu Zhipeng crushed the Deceiver’s shard and absorbed its energy, strengthening [primordial quickening].
• Liu Zhipeng devoured the remaining six shards, bringing his power to the equivalent of three combined shards.
• Trazyn entered the exhibition hall and reacted with shock and fury to the loss of his collection.

Liu Zhipeng ate Trazyn’s seven C'tan Shards and rejected Trazyn’s attempt to trap him as a collectible. When Trazyn attacked, Liu Zhipeng easily overpowered him and smashed through the collection hall, leaving Trazyn’s prized specimens ruined.

• Trazyn returned to his collection hall and discovered Liu Zhipeng had eaten his seven C'tan Shards.
• Trazyn recognized Liu Zhipeng as a uniquely conscious C'tan Shard and tried to persuade him to join his collection, but Liu Zhipeng refused.
• Trazyn used a super-tier Labyrinth Space to trap Liu Zhipeng, but it had no effect.
• Trazyn attacked with a Space-Time Cannon and Disruption Blade, but Liu Zhipeng blocked the shot and broke the blade.
• Liu Zhipeng punched Trazyn into a display stand, destroying the Silverwing Mantis queen, then dragged him through the hall and smashed more exhibits.

After escaping Trazyn’s ruined exhibition hall with seven C’tan Shards, Liu Zhipeng left Trazyn obsessed with capturing him. On Mars, Ghazghk’s Gretchin caused havoc to draw away the Adeptus Mechanicus defenses while Ghazghk infiltrated a forbidden zone, as Liu Zhipeng advanced beneath the planet.

• Liu Zhipeng smashed Trazyn’s displays, took seven C’tan Shards, and vanished, leaving Trazyn eager to capture and study him.
• Tens of thousands of Gretchin harassed Olympus Forge City, and their flying machines remained unaffected by the Adeptus Mechanicus’s electromagnetic pulse.
• Gretchin riding Mechanical Warhorses raided the Titan foundry district, while an explosive distraction helped more of them slip inside.
• Ghazghk calculated that most defenses had been redeployed, then directed Sharpfang and Snot to cause further trouble and disrupt communications.
• Ghazghk cut through an armored door, crawled through a ventilation duct, and climbed into a mechanical shaft as Liu Zhipeng passed through defenses deep beneath Mars.

Liu Zhipeng infiltrated the Adeptus Mechanicus’s forbidden zone on Mars and attacked the imprisoned Void Dragon shard to consume its energy. He left the shard badly wounded, with the battle still underway.

• Liu Zhipeng descended through Mars’s neglected underground passages and reached the Emperor’s golden seal.
• Liu Zhipeng passed through the seal after its psychic chains shattered against his ability.
• Liu Zhipeng entered the chamber and found the Void Dragon shard bound by golden chains.
• The Void Dragon sensed Liu Zhipeng and challenged him, but Liu said he had come to eat it for its energy.
• Liu Zhipeng battered the Void Dragon with punches that erased its defenses.
• The Void Dragon tried to fire a destructive energy sphere, but Liu thrust his hand into its mouth and detonated the energy inside it.

Liu Zhipeng drained the Void Dragon’s energy on Mars, crippling the planet’s power network, then escaped with Ghazghk. Trazyn was left trapped amid the chaos and blamed for the drained Void Dragon.

• Liu Zhipeng absorbed the Void Dragon’s energy until its body became an empty husk, advancing the soul embryo’s growth.
• The Void Dragon’s depletion crippled Mars’s energy network, shutting down forge furnaces, defenses, and other installations as Garman ordered troops to protect the core.
• Liu Zhipeng prepared to escape in Ghazghk’s Jump-Jump Engine aircraft, but Trazyn arrived and found the drained Void Dragon.
• Liu Zhipeng escaped through a spatial rift, while Mars’s troops mistook Trazyn for the culprit and opened fire on him.
• Liu Zhipeng reunited with Ghazghk beyond Mars and left the planet as chaos continued below.

Liu Zhipeng traveled with Ghazghk to Mandragora, the Sautekh Dynasty’s capital, intending to steal the C'tan Shards held there. He bypassed the planet’s defenses and reached the energy chamber beneath Imotekh’s central pyramid.

• Liu Zhipeng told Ghazghk they were heading to the Sautekh Dynasty to take Imotekh the Stormlord’s treasures.
• Ghazghk activated the Jump-Jump Engine and sent the Hope Rolls In to Mandragora.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered Ghazghk and the Gretchin to prepare the ship’s weapons and activate Party Mode if anything major happened.
• Liu Zhipeng transformed into golden light and passed through Mandragora’s detection nets and defensive cordons undetected.
• Liu Zhipeng sensed the C'tan Shards inside Imotekh’s central pyramid and traveled through underground energy conduits to its lowest-level energy chamber.

Liu Zhipeng found Imotekh’s hidden chamber of imprisoned C'tan Shards and recognized the dimensional labyrinth protecting it. Trazyn pursued him into the trap, and Liu Zhipeng turned to greet him as he entered its trigger range.

• Liu Zhipeng discovered that the chamber’s C'tan Shards were being drained to power the Dynasty and sensed that the room was suspiciously unguarded.
• Liu Zhipeng identified a Multidimensional Tesseract Labyrinth concealed in the chamber’s floor and walked toward the imprisoned shards instead of retreating.
• Liu Zhipeng approached a shard of the Deceiver and prepared to sever its energy shackles.
• Trazyn arrived in pursuit of Liu Zhipeng, failed to notice the dimensional trap, and became distracted by the collection of C'tan Shards.
• Liu Zhipeng smiled at Trazyn as the collector stepped within the labyrinth’s trigger range.

Liu Zhipeng devoured the C'tan shards in Imotekh’s trap while Trazyn was folded into a parcel by the multidimensional labyrinth. Liu escaped, leaving Trazyn’s cube to teleport to Imotekh, who confirmed the target had been captured.

• Liu Zhipeng touched the Deceiver shard and absorbed its will with Primordial Quickening.
• Imotekh ordered the Tesseract Labyrinth activated, and it trapped Trazyn while Liu remained unaffected.
• Liu shattered and devoured the remaining C'tan shards as Trazyn watched and protested.
• Liu escaped through a Jump-Jump Engine, while the labyrinth compressed Trazyn into a metal cube and teleported it away.
• The cube arrived before Imotekh, who identified it as the captured target, and his adjutant asked what it was.

Imotekh learned from Trazyn that a golden C'tan Shard had escaped dimensional restraints and devoured thirteen of his C'tan Shards. The two Necron Overlords formed an alliance to capture or destroy the golden being before it grew into a threat to their race.

• Imotekh released Trazyn from the cube and threatened him over the disappearance of thirteen C'tan Shards.
• Trazyn told Imotekh that a golden C'tan Shard had attacked him, devoured seven of his Shards, and stolen all thirteen from Imotekh's power chamber.
• Imotekh recognized the golden being as a major threat because it could resist Necron dimensional restraints and grow stronger by devouring C'tan Shards.
• Imotekh agreed to release Trazyn in exchange for his help tracking down and capturing the golden being.
• Trazyn and Imotekh formed a temporary alliance, agreeing that Imotekh could study the being while Trazyn collected its parts.

Liu Zhipeng returned to the Mandragora System and set his sights on the Silent King, Szarekh, planning to use the Calixis Battle Group as bait. Meanwhile, Kaspar Marlan led the fleet toward the isolated Zedos System, where its scans revealed something horrifying.

• Liu Zhipeng returned aboard The Hope Rolls In with the [Primordial Quickening] embryo safely stored and told Ghazghk that their next target was Szarekh.
• Liu Zhipeng showed Ghazghk the Calixis Battle Group insignia and identified the fleet as suitable bait for drawing out the Silent King.
• Kaspar Marlan learned that the Naphil Sector had fallen silent, the Astropaths were collapsing, and contact with the Imperial Fists and Adeptus Mechanicus reinforcements had been lost.
• Father Clement urged Marlan and the officers to continue their mission, and Marlan ordered the Calixis Battle Group to proceed to the Zedos System.
• The fleet reached Mesmok in the Zedos System, where its scans revealed a sight that horrified the bridge crew.

Maran and Kelia discovered that Necron Blackstone Obelisks had cut off Mesmok and the surrounding sector, and Maran ordered troops to destroy one. The landing force was ambushed by Necron Warriors, whose weapons overwhelmed the Seventh Infantry Regiment and its supporting tanks.

• Kelia identified the obelisks as Necron devices suppressing warp energy and said their arrangement formed a vast Gellar Field around Mesmok and the sector.
• Maran ordered the First, Third, and Fifth Armoured Regiments and the Seventh and Ninth Infantry Regiments to attack the nearest obelisk, with Evrell Stern and her Sisters accompanying them.
• Alexei led the Seventh Infantry Regiment onto Mesmok, where his soldiers found a towering obelisk, scorched farmland, and thousands of shriveled human corpses.
• Necron Warriors erupted from fissures around the troops, and their gauss rifles disintegrated soldiers while their bodies regenerated from damage.
• Alexei ordered a retreat as the Necrons surrounded the Seventh Infantry Regiment and destroyed or disabled tanks with their gauss rifles.

Liu Zhipeng appeared as a golden figure on the battlefield and restored the Imperium’s soldiers’ strength and courage. He destroyed the Blackstone Obelisk and defeated the Necron force, leaving the survivors to hail him as an angel of the Emperor.

• Fleet Master Maran learned that the obelisk’s interference field had disabled the fleet’s weapons, preventing orbital support for the ground forces.
• Liu Zhipeng appeared in a pillar of golden light, healed the soldiers, and urged them to charge as the God-Emperor’s Blade of Vengeance.
• Company Captain Alexei rallied the soldiers into a counterattack while Liu Zhipeng descended and cut down Necron Warriors whose bodies could no longer repair themselves.
• Liu Zhipeng drove his sword into the Blackstone Obelisk and destroyed its core, interrupting the Necrons’ retreat and melting those caught in the golden flames.
• The soldiers celebrated their victory, and Alexei said he did not know whether Liu Zhipeng was an angel but was grateful that he had saved them.

After Liu Zhipeng destroyed the Necron obelisk on Mesmok, the Imperium welcomed him aboard the Hammer of God as a saint. He introduced himself as Ember and joined Commander Marlan to discuss what came next.

• Necron Master Artisan Zerath ordered a second wave deployed to capture the golden figure who destroyed the Seventh Obelisk.
• Commander Marlan ordered medical and supply ships to Mesmok and prepared to welcome the figure aboard the Hammer of God.
• Evrell Stern invited Liu Zhipeng aboard, and he accepted as the soldiers knelt to see him depart.
• Commander Marlan welcomed Liu Zhipeng on the landing deck, where he gave the name Ember.
• Father Clement touched Ember’s golden light, declared it the Emperor’s light, and knelt with the other priests to pray.
• Liu Zhipeng told the priests to rise, and Marlan led him toward a conference room.

Liu Zhipeng gave the fleet a Short-Jump Engine design to counter the Necrons’ soul isolation network, then detected an enemy force teleporting through a dimensional rift directly above the fleet.

• Liu Zhipeng explained that the Necrons’ Blackstone Artifacts disrupted Warp Engines and other warp-dependent abilities and devices.
• Liu Zhipeng gave Archmagos Marcus-018 a design for a Short-Jump Engine that could bypass the dead zone’s suppression.
• Marcus-018 hailed Liu Zhipeng as the Emissary of the Omnissiah and worshipped him, while Commander Marlan pledged the Calixis Battle Group to his mission.
• Liu Zhipeng sensed an approaching threat, and the bridge reported massive spatial distortions directly above the fleet.
• Liu Zhipeng said the enemies had teleported through a dimensional rift rather than arriving by conventional travel.

Liu Zhipeng left the Hammer of God to buy Marcus-018 time to install Short-Jump Engines, then single-handedly destroyed the Necrons’ first attack group. Zerath became fascinated by Liu Zhipeng’s power and decided to capture him for the Silent King Szarekh.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered Marcus-018 and the Tech-Priests to manufacture and install Short-Jump Engines, then flew into space to buy them time.
• Overlord Maran ordered the fleet to activate its void shields, aim its guns at the Necrons, and build the new engines.
• Zerath ordered dozens of Scythe-class frigates to attack Liu Zhipeng and capture him alive.
• Liu Zhipeng blocked the frigates’ gauss beams with a golden shield and destroyed the entire attack group with golden lances.
• Zerath recognized Liu Zhipeng as a new and unknown variable, then resolved to capture him and present him to the Silent King Szarekh.

Zerath withdrew the Necron fleet after its vanguard was destroyed and prepared to trap Liu Zhipeng at the Khalifa System. On the Hammer of God, the Imperium’s forces bowed before Liu, and Lord Inquisitor Kelia Drasus began to accept him as the Ember Saint as the fleet regrouped above Mesmok.

• Zerath ordered the Necron fleet to withdraw using the Phase Shift protocol after concluding conventional firepower could not stop Liu Zhipeng.
• Zerath chose to travel to the Khalifa System with elite troops and War Constructs to prepare a trap for Liu.
• Liu returned to the Hammer of God, where the crew, Father Clement, and the Space Marines knelt before him.
• Kelia Drasus lowered her weapon and bowed to Liu, signaling an initial acknowledgment of the Ember Saint.
• Liu helped Commander Marlan to his feet and told him the battle was not over.
• The Hammer of God and the Calixis Battle Group rested and refitted in orbit above Mesmok.