Chapter Summaries

Teresa agreed to be sacrificed to the Instrument of Desire to repay the Shroud Mentor Association, despite Sun Yun pleading with her to escape. The ritual opened a gateway to the Shroud, where the summoned god reached for Teresa and forced her to face it.

• Teresa told Sun Yun she accepted her fate because she believed her sacrifice was the price of what the Association had given her.
• Sun Yun urged Teresa to flee with him, but she refused to endanger him or let others pay in her place.
• Sun Yun and Teresa descended to the sacrificial site, where Grand Mentor Sophia explained the gods' distrust and instructed Teresa to call on the Instrument of Desire.
• The Association members prayed together, opening a gateway to the Shroud as purple mist filled the ritual space.
• A gigantic hand emerged from the mist and approached Teresa, then erased her hood and veil and forced her eyes open.

Teresa summoned a being from the Shroud, which recognized her resemblance to a woman connected to the Overmind and chose to spare and empower her. The Dark Prince made Teresa its instrument and promised protection for her and her people in exchange for her service.

• Teresa summoned a Shroud being, which seized her and threatened to devour her and everyone present.
• The being discovered Teresa was descended from the Usurpers and recognized her resemblance to the silver-haired woman who had influenced the Overmind.
• The Shroud beings recalled Chloe’s attack on the Hatchery and decided Teresa might help them reconnect with the Overmind.
• The being healed Teresa, gave her lavish clothes, armor, and a longsword, and elevated her beyond ordinary mortal life.
• The Dark Prince made a bargain with Teresa, marking her soul and promising protection and gifts in exchange for making her its instrument.

Teresa survived the Shroud’s descent and helped establish the church of the Lord of Desire, whose followers prepared to expand into isolated regions and conquer other civilizations. As the Antil Military Empire mobilized for a looming war, Kunmao returned to God of War Star and met an enthusiastic pilot named Shuiyi aboard a passenger spacecraft.

• Sophia found residual ash after the ritual, and Teresa released a force that filled the participants with psionic knowledge.
• Teresa told the participants what had happened, and Sophia yielded church authority to her as the followers established the church of the Lord of Desire.
• The Instrument of Longing empowered the Desire Church’s warships with Shroud engines, and its followers prepared to reach isolated regions and conquer civilizations.
• The Shroud Mentor Association divided into separate churches, while the Antil Military Empire expanded its forces and prepared for war.
• Kunmao returned to God of War Star as a legion commander and observed the Empire’s widespread mobilization.
• Shuiyi sat beside Kunmao on a passenger spacecraft, introduced herself as a pilot, and eagerly asked him about his service as a first-batch super soldier.

Kunmao talked with Shuiyi during their flight, but rejected her proposal to have a child with him, explaining that he was devoted to his family and that Super Soldiers could not reproduce with ordinary Antilians. He revealed that he carried his fallen brother’s Gene Seed and intended for his son to inherit it, leaving Shuiyi envious of his wife.

• Kunmao answered Shuiyi’s questions about the Empire and introduced himself, and she held his hand tightly.
• Shuiyi asked Kunmao to father her child, saying she feared the Empire’s coming survival crisis and wanted to leave behind offspring.
• Kunmao used his psionics to hold Shuiyi in her seat and told her that he was a husband and father first.
• Kunmao explained that Super Soldiers were reproductively isolated from ordinary Antilians and that their Gene Seeds allowed them to have descendants.
• Kunmao showed Shuiyi the storage case containing his brother’s Gene Seed and said he wanted his son to inherit it.
• Shuiyi sighed that she envied Kunmao’s wife.

Kunmao arrived on God of War Star and reaffirmed his resolve to defend Antill Civilization, while Zhang Han continued balancing the Swarm Consciousness. Abaddon explained the Swarm’s emerging theories about dark energy and the multiverse.

• Kunmao parted from Shuiyi after their flight and noticed many alien visitors arriving to trade technology and materials.
• After seeing Fengyu’s speech on a screen, Kunmao questioned whether Antill Civilization faced extinction and resolved to fight for its survival.
• Zhang Han struggled to manage the Swarm Consciousness as his Swarm grew to twelve star systems, over ten billion units, and more than two million vessels.
• Abaddon told Zhang Han that the Swarm’s research had clarified the nature of psionics and explained the universe’s expansion, the Big Freeze, and dark energy.
• Abaddon described the physical universe as a thin surface within a larger multiverse hidden in other dimensions.

Abaddon explained that the Shroud lay within the gaps of the universe’s dimensional membrane and could threaten cosmic constants if it broke through. Zhang Han chose to pursue cautious research into the Shroud, and he and Abaddon identified Demon Bug Laplace as the help they needed, though awakening him would require enormous energy.

• Abaddon explained that dark energy and psionics came from another dimension, and warned that the Shroud was a passage through the membrane separating it from the physical universe.
• Abaddon said that a breach could damage the universe and alter its cosmic constants, while leaving the galaxy would be safer but would hinder the Swarm’s evolution.
• Abaddon argued that studying the Shroud could let the Swarm break through dimensional restrictions and become a tier IV civilization, and Zhang Han sensed that the Swarm supported pursuing knowledge despite the danger.
• Zhang Han agreed to investigate the Shroud and psionics cautiously, and Abaddon said the Swarm could slow the Shroud’s intrusion by devouring intelligent beings or integrating them into its network.
• Abaddon asked for the help of a Zerg legend, and Zhang Han and Abaddon named Demon Bug Laplace, whose awakening would require energy equivalent to three Overmind bodies.

Zhang Han overcame his fear that Laplace might expose his human identity and ordered the Swarm to devote a Hatchery Star System’s resources to hatching him. Meanwhile, Fenghuo’s forces fought to defend Cadian against a Swarm Fleet specially adapted to counter Antilian warships, and the defenders came under crushing pressure.

• Zhang Han decided to hatch Laplace despite his worries and directed the Hatchery Star System to pour its energy and knowledge into Laplace’s egg.
• Fenghuo ordered Cadian’s Mjolnir Anti-Air Matrix to bombard the Swarm’s landing force, leaving only a million Warrior Bugs to reach the planet.
• Fenghuo sent the Third Super Soldier Warband and Fifth Mechanized Army to eliminate the landed Swarm.
• Fenghuo learned that the Antilian fleet had lost five thousand ships and suffered eight thousand more damaged after seven days of battle.
• The Swarm’s specialized fleet used Abaddon’s intelligence to improve its weapons and defenses against Antilian ships, intensifying the threat to Cadian.

Overlord Kereit launched the decisive phase of his assault on Fortress World Cadian, using hidden, engine-equipped meteorites to devastate its defenses. As Fenghuo scrambled to stop the impacts, Kereit sent Swarm forces to attack the Antilian strike fleet.

• Kereit ordered an all-out assault after his forces weakened Cadian's orbital defenses and shield generators.
• The Swarm spread thick green fog across Cadian, and Fenghuo ordered a Fusion Strike to clear the haze.
• Fenghuo discovered five enormous meteorites racing toward Cadian and learned their impacts could destroy most of its defenses and render the planet uninhabitable.
• Fenghuo activated Cadian's weapons and dispatched a three-thousand-ship strike fleet to destroy the largest meteorite.
• Kereit's Mutalisks and Scourge surrounded the Antilian fleet and began attacking its shielded warships.

The Antilian strike fleet broke through the Swarm blockade, but it could not stop the remaining asteroids from falling toward Cadian. Meanwhile, the Tenth Super Soldier Chapter landed on an asteroid with Antimatter Bombs and rushed toward a great rift to destroy it before impact.

• Antilian warships fought through Kereit's Swarm Fleet, sacrificing ships to open a passage while the Heavy Tachyon Lance shattered two smaller asteroids.
• Fenghuo prepared to evacuate Cadian and move military supplies, knowing the remaining three asteroids would hit and the Swarm would attack afterward.
• The Tenth Super Soldier Chapter landed on the giant asteroid with its Antimatter Bombs intact, and Langzhua ordered the soldiers to advance toward the great rift.
• Kereit spotted the Antilian troops and ordered nearby Swarm forces to attack them while Hatcheries produced Warrior Bugs.
• When Mutalisks and Scourge arrived, Langzhua manned a quad Heavy Bolter and ordered the anti-air weapons to protect the companies carrying the Antimatter Bombs.

Langzhua led the surviving super soldiers into the great rift to detonate the Antimatter Bomb, sacrificing his unit to weaken the asteroid threatening Cadian. The blast shattered the asteroid, and Fenghuo learned that the strike fleet had concealed the regiment’s mission and been completely destroyed.

• Langzhua led six hundred survivors deeper into the rift, where Zerglings poured from the Hatchery below.
• As ammunition ran low, Langzhua sent four hundred soldiers to hold back the Swarm while the remaining convoy pressed on.
• With elite Zerg units closing in and the optimal detonation point still far away, Langzhua detonated the Antimatter Bomb.
• The blast broke apart the largest asteroid as it entered the atmosphere, reducing its expected damage to Cadian by seventy percent.
• Fenghuo read the strike fleet commander’s final transmission and learned that the fleet had hidden the 10th Regiment’s mission and been annihilated.

Kereit’s Swarm fleet devastated Cadian with meteor strikes and orbital bombardment, then established a Hatchery at the north pole. Ten days later, the Sapphire Civilization fleet arrived to aid the Antilians, but its commander Zhang Zihao was alarmed by the projected cost of defeating the Swarm.

• Kereit’s meteors struck Cadian, destroying defenses and causing widespread devastation, while an Antimatter Bomb diverted one meteor to the north pole.
• Kereit sent one hundred thousand Swarm vessels to bombard Cadian and used diversionary landings to draw Antilian ground forces toward the equator.
• Three days later, Kereit established a secure Hatchery at the north pole, and the Swarm began producing millions of Warrior Bugs each day.
• Ten days later, Chen Hui’s Sapphire Civilization expeditionary fleet arrived in the Cadian system, and Fenghuo shared Cadian’s intelligence and sensor feeds with its commander, Zhang Zihao.
• Zhang Zihao reviewed the battlefield projections and learned that defeating the Swarm could cost the Sapphire fleet five to ten thousand vessels.

Zhang Zihao faced a Swarm fleet whose weapons could penetrate Field Shields, while Kereit prepared to fight his way out after failing to take Cadian. As Peacemaker demonstrated its powerful defenses in battle, Chen Hui spoke with Nalga in her laboratory and remained confident the Sapphire fleet could win.

• Zhang Zihao recalculated the battle and learned the specialized Swarm fleet could penetrate Field Shields, while he hesitated to risk Peacemaker at the front.
• Kereit decided to attack the Sapphire fleet blocking the Hyperspace Route, and Zhang Zihao asked Chen Hui to leave the bridge for her safety.
• Chen Hui returned to her laboratory, where Nalga was confined, and explained that the expeditionary fleet was fighting a much larger Swarm force.
• Peacemaker shook under attack and switched to backup power, but Chen Hui said its powerful Field Shields could ensure victory if Zhang Zihao used them effectively.
• Kereit and Zhang Zihao were both surprised by Peacemaker’s defensive strength: its shields resisted most Swarm weapons and bolstered nearby allied ships.

Kereit’s Swarm fleet overwhelmed the Sapphire expeditionary force’s wings, while Chen Hui used Protocol 382 to repel a Leviathan attacking the Peacemaker. Nalga offered to help end the battle if Chen Hui agreed not to go to the planet where her children lived, but Zhang Zihao rejected the idea of letting Nalga use the fleet’s Field Shield generators.

• Kereit ordered the Swarm fleet into a semi-encirclement, and after three hours the Sapphire fleets on the wings sent distress calls as their losses mounted.
• Zhang Zihao asked Fenghuo for reinforcements, but Fenghuo said the Antilian fleet could not launch and its ground defenses were under heavy attack.
• A Leviathan struck the Peacemaker, and Chen Hui urged Zhang Zihao to activate Protocol 382, which pushed the creature away.
• Nalga offered to help reduce Sapphire casualties if Chen Hui agreed not to visit the planet where Nalga’s children were; Chen Hui said she could try.
• Chen Hui asked Zhang Zihao to let Nalga use the Field Shield generators, but Zhang Zihao warned that doing so could endanger the entire fleet.

Chen Hui used the Field Shield generator to let Nalga contact the Swarm Network, and the Swarm fleet agreed to leave the Hyperspace Route peacefully. Nalga concealed how she reached the agreement while Chen Hui planned to cancel the expedition, and command of the planetary Hatchery passed to Nalga.

• Zhang Zihao authorized Chen Hui to use the Field Shield generator after she verified her authority.
• Chen Hui briefly activated the generator, allowing Nalga to contact Kereit and secure the Swarm fleet's agreement to cease fire and leave.
• Zhang Zihao cleared the Hyperspace Route, and the Swarm ships and Warrior Bugs withdrew without further attacks.
• Nalga told Chen Hui that the Swarm had simply agreed to her request, while concealing that she had told Kereit the Overmind had been resurrected.
• Chen Hui said she would try to cancel the expedition, and Nalga asked her to stop the Antilians from acting hostile after gaining command of the planetary Hatchery.

Sapphire's fleet and the Swarm reached an agreement over the Hatchery on Cadian, while the damaged expeditionary fleet rested and awaited orders. On Tabi Star, Arthur tried to settle into a peaceful life with Isabella, but she was called away to work as the Empire prepared its own starships.

• Sapphire's fleet agreed with Nalga to station monitoring troops in the Hatchery, and Fenghuo learned that an intelligent Ultralisk had helped avert war.
• Zhang Zihao backed canceling the expedition, and the fleet stayed on Cadian to recover while reinforcements headed there.
• Arthur woke beside Isabella and prepared breakfast using ingredients bought with contribution points in the transformed Darom Empire.
• Isabella received a message from the Mechanical Church and left, explaining that she was a grand engineer helping build the Empire's starships.
• A Harpy announced that all code monkey jobs were filled, leaving Arthur to consider learning new skills or joining a warband despite his wish to avoid fighting.

Ika and Emil oversaw Highlander warriors learning to shape essence marrow stone, while Isabella's team completed the Empire's first mortal-made frigate and awakened its machine spirit. In a dream, Zhang Han heard prayers to several gods, and strange prayers to the Rat God pulled at his consciousness as he reached out to them.

• Ika told the Highlanders that they had one day to shape essence marrow stone for the enlistment exam, and she scolded a warrior for mishandling it.
• Emil watched the trials with Ika and envied the armor made from essence marrow stone, while the Empire's engineers demonstrated their greater skill.
• Isabella and her team assembled a frigate, performed a ritual around it, and successfully started its engine.
• Zhang Han realized he was dreaming and heard prayers addressed to the Four-Armed Serpent God, the Dragon God, the Machine God, and the Rat God.
• Zhang Han felt the strange Rat God prayers pulling at his consciousness and intertwined his Psionic Threads with them.

Zhang Han encountered a world overrun by rats and empowered the swarm, turning it into an army of Skaven that overwhelmed a mechanized force. After the Rat Prophets sacrificed the dead, Zhang Han discovered the ritual strengthened his psionic power and connected him to the rats.

• Zhang Han watched a rat swarm attack a town until fighter craft drove it back with blue-flame bombs.
• A giant rat called on the Rat God and brought down a fighter craft with green lightning.
• Zhang Han commanded the rats to attack approaching reinforcements and infused them with green energy, causing many to mutate.
• The Skaven overwhelmed the mechanized army, and their Rat Prophets ordered the dead gathered as offerings to the Rat God.
• The Rat Prophets performed a bell-ringing sacrifice that sent energy to Zhang Han and drew energy back from him.

Zhang Han followed the retreating zombified rats underground as the Death Cult struggled to contain their attacks. Zulaman’s attempts to make the Xelorans compensate for the devastation failed, and he left Gestalt’s offer of aid unaccepted, forcing the Cult to face the rats alone.

• The Rat Prophets celebrated capturing eight females, then ordered the rats to retreat underground with their food and whatever weapons they could carry as missiles struck nearby.
• Zhang Han followed the rats underground, curious about their connection to him.
• After another settlement was destroyed, Zulaman blamed the Xelorans’ Shroud weapon and demanded compensation, but they denied responsibility and refused to pay.
• Zulaman’s protest to the Stellaris Council was returned because the Death Cult lacked independent diplomatic powers.
• Diplomat Five offered the Cult reconstruction aid but warned Zulaman against opposing the Xelorans, and Zulaman refused the offer to preserve face.
• The Cult remained unable to stop the rats, whose underground movement and narrow tunnels made the Death Cult’s ground forces ineffective.

Zhang Han discovered that the Rat Swarm had built an underground civilization and worshiped him as their god, since they were his clones. After he left, Rat Prophet Aike rallied the Swarm around a grand plan to destroy the world, while Zulaman remained unaware that the Skaven were preparing a coordinated attack.

• Zulaman considered using Fusion Strikes against the Rat Swarm but feared damaging Ascension Tower and decided to wait before asking the Alliance for help.
• Zhang Han explored the rats’ underground settlements, factories, and geothermal power plants, then found a temple containing a statue that resembled him.
• Zhang Han realized the rats were his clones, and the Swarm gathered around him, praying and seeking to return to his Psionic Entity.
• Zhang Han returned to the virtual space, leaving the rats agitated and fighting until the Rat Prophets restored order.
• Rat Prophet Aike declared that the Swarm must repay the Rat God by destroying the world and rallied them around an undefined “Grand Plan.”
• The Skaven began preparing to deceive their enemies and strike suddenly while Zulaman still hesitated over seeking help.

Zhang Han spoke with Kundera and agreed to cooperate against Zagara while continuing to build up his own strength. Kundera explained that Zagara’s rule threatened the Swarm Network and could drive the Swarm toward extinction.

• Kundera’s envoy told Zhang Han that Zagara had betrayed the Swarm, citing her destruction of a star and her treatment of Swarm forces as tools.
• Zhang Han contacted Kundera directly and offered to help defeat Zagara, insisting that they would later compete fairly for the position of Overmind.
• Kundera welcomed Zhang Han’s proposal and promised to fight him seriously in their eventual duel.
• Kundera said Zagara’s experience and resolve made her difficult to defeat, and proposed that Zhang Han absorb Hatcheries while he kept Zagara occupied.
• Kundera explained that Zagara’s selfish rule could destroy trust among the Nodes, fracture the Swarm Network, and lead the Swarm toward extinction.