Chapter Summaries

Lynn privately confronted Quinn before the operation and used psychic tendrils to rewrite his personality, making him obedient to the governor’s orders. Sorine watched the church but noticed nothing unusual, while Quinn left with only a vague sense that he had forgotten something.

• After the prayers, Lynn called Quinn into a study and demanded that he follow every order precisely during the next day’s operation.
• Lynn threatened Quinn by mentioning Brevis’s memory of his contribution, then restrained him with psychic power.
• Lynn sent tendrils into Quinn’s brain and restructured his memories, emotions, and personality.
• Quinn regained consciousness at the church entrance and left believing he should obey Lynn’s orders, though he felt he had forgotten something.
• Sorine, who had watched the church throughout the prayers, detected unusual Psychic Power but saw no one behaving strangely.

Lynn taunted Mountain Fatty Guga over a loudspeaker, provoking a rebellion in the Ork camp and forcing Gugga to put it down. Gugga then marched a massive Ork army to the Forbidden Wall and demanded to face the one who had insulted him.

• Lynn used a loudspeaker to call Gugga a coward and a disgrace to Gork and Mork, and an avalanche buried Orks on the distant mountainside.
• Gugga heard Lynn's taunt, and Orks in his camp challenged his right to lead.
• Gugga killed the rebels and stood atop their bodies, then decided to confront Lynn himself.
• After the first Ork attack was repelled, Gugga arrived before the Forbidden Wall with a huge army, including Gorkanauts and Morkanauts.
• Gugga pointed his power klaw at the wall and demanded to know who had insulted him.

Lynn taunted Guga into leading the Orks against the Forbidden Wall, where the attackers broke through its outer defenses and poured into a seemingly weak inner fortification. Suspecting a trap, Guga resisted at first but eventually joined the charge to confront Lynn.

• Lynn mocked Guga over the public address system and challenged him to come out and fight.
• Guga charged toward the Forbidden Wall, and the Ork army followed him in a massive assault.
• Lynn ordered his forces to proceed with their plan as Leo questioned the attack.
• After millions of Ork Boyz died, Guga and the war walkers reached Sector C8, where Guga tore open the outer wall.
• The Orks smashed through the inner wall's defenses, and Guga finally led his forces into the breach.

Guga's Orks stormed the Forbidden Wall's second defensive line, where human heavy weapons and six Imperial Knights decimated their forces. After the Knights destroyed the Gorkanaut and Morkanaut and sealed the breach, Guga led the enraged Orks toward Leo and Lynn as their Waaagh! Field surged to its peak.

• Guga saw a second wall lined with heavy weapons, but the Orks charged into its kill zone and were cut down by the defenders' guns and missiles.
• Six Knights arrived, with Quinn St. Garus destroying the Gorkanaut and Aiden Sangarus's gray Knight destroying the Morkanaut.
• The six Knights held the breach, preventing Orks from escaping the pocket while allowing more to pour in.
• Guga watched his war machines fall and, consumed by fury, led the Orks toward Leo and Lynn's position.
• The Orks charged through the fire as their Waaagh! Field climbed to its peak.

Lynn and Leo fought the Ork Warboss Guga as the defenders struggled to hold the second inner wall. Just as Guga overwhelmed them and the Orks breached the wall, Lynn’s timed plan took effect and the Peyton Virus threw the Ork army into chaos.

• As the Orks intensified their assault, Leo leapt from the command platform and attacked Guga, beginning a brutal duel.
• Lynn joined Leo, and with Rena’s support the two coordinated attacks that wounded Guga but failed to stop his growing strength.
• Guga’s Waaagh! Field surged, forcing Lynn and Leo back and leaving them battered as Mekboyz blasted a breach in the second inner wall.
• Lynn checked the countdown and told Leo that it was almost time.
• The Peyton Virus took effect among the Orks, causing many to collapse in pain and bringing their assault to a halt.

Lynn used a virus and Rena-san’s psychic power to kill Guga, turning the battle in the human coalition’s favor. As Lynn’s forces pursued the routed Orks, Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai followed them, hoping to meet the prophesied Ice Lord.

• Lynn revealed that he had infected the Orks’ starch jelly with a virus, and Hammond ordered the defenders to unleash their weapons and charge.
• Guga launched a desperate attack, but Rena-san helped Lynn stun him with a psychic shock wave, allowing Lynn to kill him with his Power Sword.
• Lynn raised Guga’s severed head from atop the Cold Front Super-heavy Tank and ordered the human coalition to charge, breaking the Orks’ morale and driving them back toward the Forbidden Wall.
• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai watched Lynn’s victory from the icefield and each concluded that he might be the Ice Lord of prophecy.
• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai’s groups joined as they followed Lynn’s army, while the two chieftains recalled their past love and the feud that had separated them.

After defeating the Orks, Lynn halted the dangerous pursuit across the Brevis Icefield and began an orderly withdrawal, confident that a special force would handle the remaining Orks. Two groups of Brevis barbarians then approached, and Lynn went forward to ask their chieftains why they had come.

• Lynn stopped the pursuit, explaining to Leo that the icefield’s terrain, Ork ambushes, and his exhausted troops made further advances too risky.
• Lynn ordered scouts to watch for counterattacks while the troops rested, replenished supplies, and burned Ork corpses and spores.
• Scouts detected about five hundred suspected Brevis barbarian cavalry, and the soldiers formed a defensive line before Lynn ordered them to lower their weapons.
• Xuezhao Yu of the Snow Claw Clan and Ice Fang Kuai of the Ice Fang Clan emerged with their riders and stopped at a distance from Lynn’s forces.
• Lynn walked forward alone and asked Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai what had brought them there.

Lynn won the allegiance of the Snow Claw and Ice Fang Clans by showing Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai a psychic illusion of the prophesied Dragon of Frost. He offered shelter and aid for their vulnerable people in exchange for their cavalry helping his forces eradicate the remaining Orks beyond the Forbidden Wall.

• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai said Lynn needed to prove he was the Ice Lord and worthy of their tribes' allegiance.
• Lynn overwhelmed the chieftains and their cavalry with psychic pressure, then conjured an illusion of the Dragon of Frost.
• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai knelt and pledged the Snow Claw and Ice Fang Clans to Lynn.
• Lynn offered to move the tribes' elderly and children into the plains within the Man River and provide food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.
• Lynn ordered the clans to muster most of their combat-capable cavalry and help his forces eliminate the Orks beyond the Forbidden Wall.

Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai accepted Lynn’s terms and left to prepare for the fight against the Orks, while Lynn organized the aftermath of the battle and made room for the clans’ people. After Rena absorbed the biomass, her affection passed 60 and she began speaking to Lynn, leaving their bond closer than before.

• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai agreed to Lynn’s offer, accepted his coordinates, and led their parties into the snow.
• Once beyond sight of Lynn’s troops, Ice Fang Kuai and Xuezhao Yu walked together and spoke wistfully about sharing a goal again.
• Lynn ordered the Ork remains burned, the Forbidden Wall repaired, and settlements and supplies prepared for the Snow Claw and Ice Fang Clans.
• Rena finished absorbing the biomass, and a system notification reported that her affection had reached 60.031.
• Rena spoke Lynn’s name and told him she wanted to be more like him, and Lynn welcomed her effort as they shared their joy through their psychic link.

After her affection for Lynn passed 60, Rena grew curious about human life and began asking him questions about food, snow, stars, and other sensations. She continued exploring the world around her, leaving their relationship marked by her growing interest in human experiences.

• Rena asked Lynn why Doudou ate so much, and Lynn explained how human, Ogryn, and Tyranid eating habits differed.
• Lynn explained snow to Rena while inspecting the Forbidden Wall's defenses, after secretly arranging for two suspicious soldiers to be dealt with.
• Lynn took Rena to the observation platform, explained the stars and galaxy, and recited a verse about the starry sky.
• Rena sampled synthetic steak, smelled an ice-blue flower, listened to Imperial military songs, and compared them with the Orks' Waaagh.
• Rena gently touched Lynn's skin and told him that his warmth felt comfortable.

Lynn explained to Rena why he would not massacre Brevis’s humans and why he treated her differently from other Xenos, while Inquisitor Sorine Vimlot continued investigating him. As Lynn struggled to organize five million newly arrived militia at the Forbidden Wall, Sorine stayed undercover and waited for evidence.

• Rena asked Lynn why he did not let her eat the troublesome humans, and he said his forces were not strong enough and that his conscience and duties as governor prevented him from slaughtering his fellow humans.
• After Lynn led troops against Ork remnants in an ice cave, Rena asked why he was kind to her despite being a Xenos, and Lynn recalled humanity’s betrayal by Xenos before telling her their fates were bound together.
• Sorine Vimlot watched Lynn and suspected he communicated with an unseen entity connected to the Warp or Xenos, but she found no conclusive evidence and continued her surveillance.
• The Vanguard’s IV Legion arrived at the Forbidden Wall with five million lower-hive militia, and Lynn began reorganizing the troops, coordinating with other forces, and managing supplies and political disputes.
• As Lynn worked late into the night, he relied on Rena’s cool touch for comfort when exhaustion overtook him.

Rena asked Lynn to leave the cramped command center with her, and they enjoyed a private walk across the ice fields. Meanwhile, Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai reached the coordinates Lynn had given them, witnessed a dragon’s appearance, and encountered eleven mysterious cyan-robed figures.

• Rena asked Lynn to take her outside, and Lynn arranged a false outpost inspection to evade Sorine’s pursuit.
• Lynn took Rena into the blizzard, warmed her in his palm, and wandered with her across the ice fields.
• After a week of travel, Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai found a twin-peaked iceberg shining with platinum light.
• An enormous azure dragon appeared above the gathered warriors, intimidating them before dissolving into the light.
• Eleven bald figures in cyan robes emerged at the mountain’s foot, and their leader asked Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai why they had come.

Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai accepted the Dragon of Frost’s demand for living sacrifices and led their clans in gathering offerings under the blue-robed emissaries’ direction. As the emissaries demonstrated their powers and supplies arrived from Hive City, the clans prepared to fight the Orks and awaited the Ice Lord’s orders.

• Divine Emissary One told Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai that awakening the Dragon of Frost’s power required sacrificing what the ice-field people cherished most, and they gave up their Ice-Ridge Land Beasts.
• Divine Emissary One sent emissaries with Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai to their respective clan territories.
• The emissaries won the clans’ trust by kindling wet firewood, defeating attackers, and healing a gravely ill woman.
• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai led their warriors on hunts, sending beasts, plants, and wandering Orks to the emissaries’ altar caves as offerings.
• Vanguard convoys from the Brevis Governor’s Office evacuated the clans’ elderly, children, pregnant women, sick, and wounded to the Man River plains.
• Hive City sent canned food to the clans, and the warriors prepared to repay the Ice Lord by fighting the Orks.

Lynn weighed Brevis’s food crisis against his plans for the swarm and the wildlings, while considering how to remove Inquisitor Sorine Vimlot before moving against the nobles. Later, Rena reported that Sorine had left the Forbidden Wall and was heading to the main hive.

• Lynn reviewed reports showing that Brevis had only two and a half months of food reserves for the Vanguard and wildling refugees.
• Rena reported that Snow Claw and Ice Fang had begun stockpiling food and that Rena Number Two’s new unit research was progressing, though digesting Ork spores remained unstable.
• Lynn explained that the swarm’s new warriors were part of his plan to help the wildlings fight Orks, but the food shortage threatened the arrangement.
• Lynn and Rena discussed targeting the nobles, but agreed Sorine Vimlot’s presence near the Forbidden Wall kept Lynn from acting freely.
• Later, Rena told Lynn that Sorine had left the Forbidden Wall and was heading toward the main hive.

Lynn suspected Sorine Vimlot’s apparent departure was a trap and refused to lower his guard, while Sorine secretly remained inside the Forbidden Wall and arranged to intercept him on an inspection trip. When an ice cliff blocked the convoy, Lynn approached her disguised among the soldiers and asked her to see him off.

• Rena reported that the Lictor was tracking Sorine outside the Forbidden Wall, but Lynn remained suspicious and insisted they follow their original plan.
• Sorine stayed hidden inside the Forbidden Wall, using a remote wraithbone frame to imitate herself outside while she studied Lynn’s travel habits.
• Sorine infiltrated Third Platoon of the Guard 7th Company and waited for an opportunity to join Lynn’s next inspection trip.
• An encrypted order sent the platoon to escort Lynn to the Seventh Outpost, and Sorine joined the convoy in disguise.
• When a collapsed ice cliff blocked the road, Lynn changed into a soldier’s uniform and walked toward Sorine’s squad.
• Lynn placed a hand on Sorine’s shoulder and asked her to see him off, revealing that he had found her.

On a Chimera transport, Lynn and Rena discovered that Sorine had disguised herself as a male soldier to investigate him. Sorine planned to launch an official Inquisition probe, while Lynn chose to let her continue infiltrating his guard detail.

• Sorine silently reviewed Lynn’s suspiciously saintly conduct and decided to investigate him with the Ecclesiarchy Archbishop Goodwin and High King Caladogon.
• The Chimera entered the Forbidden Wall, and Lynn told Rena he had suspected Sorine might be monitoring him in person.
• Rena admitted that her scans had failed to see through Sorine’s disguise, and Lynn soothed her while explaining that his outing had been a test.
• Rena recalled noticing that a soldier’s proportions and breathing did not match the male squad roster, but Lynn stopped her from using a deep psychic probe.
• Lynn sent a cloaked Ripper to examine Sorine, and Rena’s findings confirmed that the disguised soldier was female.

Lynn identified the disguised soldier as Inquisitor Sorine Vimlot and discovered the system could bind her as a high-value target. After trapping her in the Chimera, he revealed his Tyranid connection and used psychic chains to overpower her, leaving her helpless.

• Lynn confirmed that the disguised soldier was Sorine Vimlot and found her target profile through the system.
• Lynn told Rena that Sorine would resist force but could be controlled by exploiting what she feared others would discover.
• When the soldiers left the Chimera, Lynn shut its door and prevented Sorine from moving or using her psychic power.
• Lynn revealed himself and the Ripper, causing Sorine to realize that he was colluding with Tyranids.
• Lynn bound Sorine with violet psychic chains until her consciousness sank into confusion and she could no longer resist.

Lynn used psychic chains and the Forced Answer system to expose Sorine’s hidden love for her mentor, Abel Varo, and her hypocrisy in using xenos technology and psychic methods. Sorine defied him and threatened the Inquisition, but Lynn then showed her a video on a Dataslate.

• Lynn restrained Sorine with psychic chains and removed her helmet, revealing her silver hair and face.
• Lynn confronted Sorine about her crush on Abel Varo and used Forced Answer to make her confess that she had loved him for years.
• Sorine broke down in humiliation after her secret was exposed, while Lynn and Rena reacted with knowing amusement.
• Lynn pointed out that Sorine used xenos technology and psychic methods to earn Abel’s recognition despite condemning such practices.
• Sorine insisted she would never submit to Lynn and threatened that Abel and the Inquisition would destroy him and his Tyranids.
• Lynn laughed, took out a Dataslate, and played a video for Sorine.

Lynn used footage of Sorine’s covert killings with Xenos weapons to frighten her with the prospect of her mentor, Abel Varo, learning the truth. After confronting her and burning her Blackstone amulet with a Purity Seal, Lynn chose the close friendship route and ordered her to polish his shoe.

• Lynn showed Sorine footage of her using Xenos equipment and psychic black flames to kill Orks and human soldiers.
• Lynn threatened to reveal Sorine’s methods to Abel Varo, causing her to break down and beg him to stay silent.
• Sorine refused Lynn’s demand to obey him, so he slapped her and argued that she was the real heretic.
• Lynn exposed Sorine’s Blackstone amulet and burned it with a Purity Seal.
• Lynn chose the close friendship route and told Sorine to polish his shoe.

Lynn persuaded Sorine Vimlot to join him rather than remain bound by the Inquisition’s dogma. Days earlier, Rena Number Two’s Winged Tyranid Primes delivered broodmothers to Brevis’s clans, which produced new Frost Soldiers to defend them against the Orks.

• Lynn urged Sorine Vimlot to stay by his side, and she agreed to become a Lictor under his command.
• Ten Winged Tyranid Primes dropped blocks of blue ice at the Snow Claw and Ice Fang settlements, prompting tens of thousands of tribespeople to kneel in reverence.
• Xuezhao Yu and Ice Fang Kuai led their warriors to move the ice blocks into altar caves, where broodmothers consumed offerings, beasts, and Ork remains to produce biomass and genetic fragments.
• At dawn, new creatures emerged from the caves, equipped with either bone claws or biocannons.
• The blue-robed divine envoys named the creatures Frost Soldiers and declared them the Ice Lord’s guardians, though the tribespeople wondered if they could fight the Orks.