Chapter Summaries

Leo St. Garus returned to life after a black sun cleansed the Chaos-tainted Warp around his soul. He discovered the St. Garus Family’s hidden Castellan-class Knight, Wrath of Holy Judgement, and prepared to use it against the forces threatening his family and planet.

• Leo’s soul was pulled back from the edge of the Warp by a black sun that silenced the Chaos whispers.
• Leo awoke in the underground warehouse with his fatal wound healed and a cold, familiar power coursing through him.
• Leo followed the family insignia deeper into the warehouse and uncovered the St. Garus Family’s secret war machine.
• Leo revealed Wrath of Holy Judgement, the family’s legendary Castellan-class Knight once piloted by its High Kings.
• Leo celebrated the discovery and resolved to defend St. Garus against Luna, the Chaos Cultists, and the Thousand Sons Sorcerers.

Leo found his missing grandfather, Caladogon St. Garus, inside the Wrath of Holy Judgement’s cockpit, where Chaos corruption transformed him into a monster. As Leo fought the creature, it revealed that Caladogon had accepted the Lord’s gift ten years earlier.

• Leo opened the Wrath of Holy Judgement’s cockpit and found his missing grandfather, Caladogon St. Garus, sitting inside.
• Caladogon tried to warn Leo away, but dark red tentacles erupted from the seat and transformed him into a Chaos creature.
• Leo punched the creature and fired his laspistol, but its flesh regenerated and tried to consume him.
• Leo emptied his laspistol, then drew his activated tactical dagger and vowed to kill the creature.
• The creature mocked Leo and revealed that Caladogon had accepted the Lord’s gift ten years earlier.

Leo confronted a Chaos abomination that had infested the warehouse and the Wrath of Holy Judgement, then unleashed golden holy flames that burned the creature and revealed his power frightened it. As he stabbed the abomination, it defended its corruption by claiming that joining Chaos offered Caladogon and the St. Garus family a path to eternity.

• Leo realized the Chaos abomination had spread through the warehouse and was trying to assimilate him into its mass of flesh.
• Leo deduced that the creature needed a St. Garus descendant to unlock the Wrath of Holy Judgement and gain control of it.
• When the tentacles attacked, Leo felt the black sun’s power surge through him, and the abomination reacted with shock and fear.
• Golden holy flames erupted around Leo, burned the Chaos growths off the Knight, and shielded him from the tentacles.
• Leo charged the abomination and drove his power shortsword into its core, while it argued that the Imperium’s sacrifices offered no hope and Chaos promised the family eternity.

Leo fought the Chaos flesh inside the Wrath of Holy Judgement until Caladogon briefly regained control and revealed that he had spent twenty years imprisoning Orian, his father and the former High King, within the mech. Caladogon asked Leo to kill them both and entrusted St. Garus to him, but Orian seized control again as the shoulder cannon prepared to fire.

• Leo's holy flames held back the Chaos flesh, but the mech's shoulder cannon began targeting him while tentacles trapped his legs.
• The flesh and cannon abruptly froze as Caladogon struggled through the mass and told Leo he had come.
• Caladogon explained that Aurean St. Garus, known as Orian, had survived his mortal wounds by accepting Chaos and later tempted Caladogon to do the same.
• Caladogon revealed that he had used his body and the Wrath of Holy Judgement to imprison Orian for twenty years, until Luna's ambush left him too weak to keep control.
• Caladogon asked Leo to kill them both and take charge of St. Garus, but Orian regained control and the shoulder cannon began charging again.

Leo purified the Chaos corruption in the Wrath of Holy Judgement, ending Orian and Caladogon’s suffering and fulfilling his grandfather’s wish. He claimed the High King’s authority, mastered the Knight suit’s Machine Spirit, and prepared to enter the battle outside.

• Leo remembered his grandfather and drove his holy-flame-covered dagger into the heart of the flesh, destroying Orian and freeing Caladogon.
• Leo vowed to safeguard St. Garus and protect Brevis, then sat in the High King’s pilot seat and passed the genetic authorization check.
• Servo-skulls connected Leo to the Throne Mechanicum, beginning the Ritual of Becoming.
• Leo defeated the Wrath of Holy Judgement’s Machine Spirit in a psychic contest and branded it with his identity.
• The Knight suit awakened, and Leo opened the storehouse gate as the battle outside continued.

Dominic Ventria’s battleship, the Gemstone, remained trapped in a Warp vortex as its Gellar Field weakened and Thousand Sons forces boarded. Dominic led his Celestial Lions guards toward Hangar Three to kill the enemy sorcerer, reaching the hangar as the sorcerer and his forces stood ready.

• The Gemstone’s Gellar Field fell to thirty-seven percent, and Brother Thorn died as the ship’s remaining Psykers struggled to sustain it.
• A Chaos frigate breached the Gemstone’s port bow, and the crew identified the boarders as a Thousand Sons warband.
• Dominic left Lady Link in temporary command of the bridge and led four Celestial Lions Terminators toward the boarding force.
• Dominic’s group passed through corridors full of dead and corrupted Imperial soldiers as the Warp drove the survivors mad.
• Dominic ordered his guards to circle behind the enemy through a maintenance passage and entered Hangar Three, where a Thousand Sons Sorcerer, nine Rubric Marines, daemons, and cultists awaited them.

Dominic and the Celestial Lions were overwhelmed by a Thousand Sons sorcerer and his forces until thirteen black-armoured warriors emerged from a rift and destroyed the Chaos forces. The sorcerer fled toward his frigate as the warriors pursued him.

• Dominic led the Celestial Lions into battle against the sorcerer, Rubric Marines, and cultists, but their formation and dwindling protection left them outmatched.
• A Celestial Lions guard sacrificed himself with a Melta Bomb, and Dominic ordered the bridge to begin the ship's self-destruct sequence.
• A rift opened in the hangar wall, and thirteen black-armoured warriors wreathed in pale flames emerged, frightening the daemons.
• The warriors annihilated the daemons, cultists, and all nine Rubric Marines, burning their bodies and souls away.
• The sorcerer summoned his Disc of Tzeentch and fled toward the Chaos frigate docked in the hangar.

Dominic’s battered fleet escaped the Warp through a passage burned open by pale flames, while the Profane Barrier around Brevis was breached. The Gemstone and surviving Imperial ships emerged into realspace, and Karen ordered the fleet to support the ground forces.

• The Legion of the Damned pursued the Chaos frigate and killed the sorcerer aboard it.
• The Chaos frigate became a ball of pale fire, burning a passage through the Warp to realspace near Brevis.
• Dominic ordered the Gemstone to steer through the passage after the navigator confirmed its coordinates and the Gellar Field began recovering.
• The pale flames burned a huge hole through the Profane Barrier surrounding Saint Garus Castle and Midtown.
• The Gemstone and surviving Mars-class Battlecruisers emerged from the breach into realspace.
• Karen ordered the Imperial warships to charge their main guns and attack the Chaos positions in Midtown.

The Imperial Fleet broke through the Profane Barrier and bombarded the Chaos forces in Midtown, allowing the Imperial Army to counterattack. Rena, acting through Isolde, ordered a full assault to destroy Midtown’s Warp rifts while Atia pursued Lynn in Uptown.

• The Chaos Adeptus Mechanicus magos failed to stop pale flames from widening a breach in the Profane Barrier and watched the Imperial Fleet enter.
• The Imperial Fleet bombarded Chaos positions in Midtown, and Brevis’s allied forces charged forward and reclaimed lost ground.
• Rena observed that the Chaos forces had weakened because Atia had left Midtown with his elite troops to capture Lynn in Uptown.
• Rena ordered all combat units to attack and destroy every Warp rift in Midtown, cutting off the Chaos forces’ retreat.
• Rena contacted Priest and ordered the Plague Cleansing Cult to commit all its members to battle despite the risk of their identities being exposed.

Rena fought Atia above Uptown, overwhelming him with psychic attacks and forcing him to rely on the Brazier of Ten Thousand Souls. When her assaults and physical attack left him unable to fight back, Atia tried to evade her and waited for Luna to capture Lynn.

• The Plague Cleansing Cult warriors poured into the Lower City and helped Midtown's counterattack break the Chaos forces' defensive line.
• Rena attacked Atia with a powerful psychic strike, which he blocked with the Brazier of Ten Thousand Souls.
• Rena unleashed repeated psychic spells, steadily draining the brazier's spectral flame as Atia struggled to defend himself.
• Atia tried to flee toward Lynn, but Rena lunged at him with her claws.
• Atia's Warp Ray attacks barely affected Rena's scales, so he evaded her and hoped Luna would capture Lynn.

Lynn was cornered by Luna’s forces at Saint Garus Castle as his troops and Dragons of Frost were overwhelmed. With Luna closing in, he activated Grip of Domination despite its warning that repeated use could deepen his Warp corruption.

• Luna attacked Lynn from a Heldrake while Pink Horrors and Nosac Warriors overwhelmed his remaining defenders.
• Luna’s psychic lightning killed one Dragon of Frost, and two Chaos Knights charged Lynn’s position.
• Lynn dodged the Chaos Knights’ attacks, but Luna swooped down to seize him.
• The Grip of Domination skill appeared, warning Lynn that using it risked Warp corruption.
• Seeing the wounded Dragons of Frost and remembering Rena’s fight against Atia, Lynn chose to use the skill and activated Grip of Domination.

Lynn used Grip of Domination to seize control of Luna’s Heldrake, which destroyed a Chaos Knight and badly injured Luna in the resulting explosion. As seven more Chaos Knights closed in while Lynn struggled with the power’s toll, an unknown bright-yellow Knight intervened with a barrage.

• Lynn used Grip of Domination to take control of Luna’s Heldrake and break her link to it.
• The Heldrake struck a Chaos Knight’s Volcano Cannon, triggering an explosion that destroyed the Knight and blasted Luna into nearby ruins.
• Lynn suffered severe pain from using Grip of Domination and realized he could not summon the power again without risking collapse.
• Luna ordered the seven remaining Chaos Knights to attack Lynn as the Chaos forces began losing ground.
• A heavy barrage forced the Chaos Knights to halt, and a gigantic bright-yellow Knight appeared through the smoke.

Leo arrived in the Wrath of Holy Judgement and rescued Lynn from Luna’s Chaos forces. After Luna ordered her Knights to attack, Leo’s holy weapons destroyed the nearby daemons and Cultists, leaving the battle unresolved.

• Lynn nearly collapsed from the strain of repeatedly using the Grip of Domination as Chaos Knights closed in on him and the wounded Dragons of Frost.
• Leo emerged from the ruins piloting the Wrath of Holy Judgement and condemned Luna for betraying the St. Garus Family.
• Leo fired the Knight’s blessed plasma cannons at two Chaos Knights, burning through their shields and damaging their Chaos-corrupted armor.
• Luna recognized the walker, but rejected her brief regret and ordered four Chaos Knights to hold Leo while three others killed Lynn.
• Leo shielded the Wrath of Holy Judgement from the Knights’ fire and launched holy missiles that burned away the nearby daemons, Cultists, and Chaos flesh.

Lynn was on the verge of being overwhelmed by Luna’s forces when Ork reinforcements descended onto Brevis and turned their weapons against Chaos. Strange Hand Dou arrived at Saint Garus Castle to protect Lynn, leaving the battle newly contested.

• Luna summoned more daemons and sent her three remaining Chaos Knights to attack Lynn while Leo remained occupied with four Knights.
• Hundreds of Ork drop pods fell through the Profane Barrier and landed mostly in Chaos-controlled territory, where the Orks attacked daemons instead of Imperial defenders.
• Dominic discovered that the newly arrived Orks bore an unfamiliar cloud emblem crossed by a slash and used unusual biological weapons.
• A massive Ork drop pod struck the plaza before Saint Garus Castle, and Doudou emerged to fight the Chaos forces.
• Doudou tore apart a Chaos Spawn and melted a Helbrute’s mechanical arm with his Tyrannofex acid cannon, and Lynn recognized him as Strange Hand Dou.

The Hokage Clan’s Orks arrived in Midtown and turned the battle against Chaos, with Toothy leading the charge in a six-armed rock mech. As Lynn recovered and Doudou cleared the way, Toothy slowed incoming fire with a green sound wave and reached a Helbrute.

• Doudou called out to Lynn, then led the modified Orks into the fight against the daemons.
• Toothy emerged in a chainsaw-wheel mech and launched the Hokage Clan’s rock show, driving the Orks into a frenzy.
• The Imperial Fleet, Imperial Army, Plague Cleansing Cult, and Orks overwhelmed Chaos as the Warp Rift’s output diminished.
• Doudou’s modified Ogryns attacked Chaos Spawn while the small Dragons of Frost protected Lynn.
• Toothy used a green sound wave to slow the Helbrutes’ fire, then rode through the barrage toward one of them.

Toothy destroyed two Helbrutes while Tyranid Gargants joined the ground battle against the Chaos Knights. Rena defeated Atia in the sky, leaving the Chaos forces under pressure on both fronts.

• Toothy transformed his instruments into weapons and tore apart two Helbrutes with a rapid spinning attack.
• Three Tyranid Gargants arrived and attacked the three Chaos Knights with acid cannons and close-combat weapons.
• Luna ordered the Chaos Knights to fire on the Gargants, but the Knights became locked in a fierce three-on-three fight.
• Atia fled from Rena on his damaged Disc of Tzeentch and called for Luna, who could not respond after being thrown away by an explosion.
• Rena struck Atia with a psychic attack, destroyed his flying disc, and killed him with her claws as he fell toward the castle.

Atia’s remains became an avatar of Tzeentch, whose power devoured soldiers’ souls and tore the Saint Garus Castle battlefield from Brevis into an interstice at the edge of the Warp. As the forces trapped there faced an alien void, the avatar declared its divinity.

• The Thousand Sons Sorcerer’s fall weakened Chaos’s Warp Domain and barrier, allowing the Imperial Fleet and army to attack the disorganized Chaos forces.
• Rena sensed that Atia’s body remained unnaturally intact and prepared to destroy it, but its eye opened with immense psychic power.
• A blue vortex formed from Atia’s remains, drawing in light and extracting the souls of Imperial soldiers while Lynn, Doudou, Toothy, and Rena struggled against its pull.
• The vortex collapsed in a shock wave that shattered the darkness and transformed the sky and ground around Saint Garus Castle into a floating island in a boundless void.
• Dominic learned that the castle area had been torn from Brevis into an interstice at the edge of the Warp, where the avatar of Tzeentch formed a vast wing and proclaimed, “Witness my divinity!”

Tzeentch's avatar began a ritual that trapped the battlefield and consumed souls while Rena tried to reach it. Lynn recognized his power as his own and rose to fight beside her.

• Tzeentch's avatar arranged the meteorite fragments and fixed its attention on Lynn as the battlefield's inhabitants were immobilized or stripped of their souls.
• Luna recognized the blue figure as Tzeentch's avatar and faced the consequences of having served it.
• Lynn realized the power he had attributed to the system had always been his, and resolved to act before everyone died.
• Rena repeatedly charged the avatar, but an invisible force reset her to her starting point each time.
• Lynn used the Sword of Valenia to stand and prepared to fight alongside Rena.

Lynn fought off Tzeentch's escalating attacks as his body rapidly transformed and grew stronger. When Tzeentch trapped him beneath a colossal hand, Rena broke free of her spatial restraints with a massive Psychic Power surge, while the avatar revealed that her intervention had been part of its calculation.

• Tzeentch's avatar attacked Lynn with waves of Psychic Power, and Lynn dodged them despite his exhaustion and damaged Power Armour.
• Lynn's body rapidly grew stronger, and his perception sharpened enough to discern the attacks' paths, though he suppressed an urge to control them.
• Tzeentch matched Lynn's increasing speed with denser attacks and devastating blades, apparently testing the limits of his new body.
• Tzeentch vanished and trapped Lynn beneath a colossal rune-covered hand that sealed off every escape route.
• Rena broke through her spatial restraints with a Psychic Power scream and surge, and Tzeentch reacted with surprise before revealing a smug, calculating expression.

Tzeentch trapped Rena in a psychic net that drained her power and began devouring her independent soul, while Lynn failed to reach her. Rena weakened in the net as Tzeentch believed both she and Lynn had fallen into his grasp.

• Lynn realized Tzeentch had slowed his attack to lure Rena closer and warned her through their mental link.
• Rena ignored Lynn’s pleas and charged at Tzeentch to save him.
• Tzeentch formed a psychic net that absorbed Rena’s psychic flames and restrained her.
• The net began draining Rena’s strength and eroding her independent consciousness.
• Lynn charged toward Rena, but Tzeentch’s psychic barrier struck him back.
• Rena’s struggles weakened as Tzeentch continued seizing her soul.