Chapter Summaries

Han Mingxuan taught the young Konrad Curze to read and write on Nostramo while reflecting on how he had arrived in the Warhammer world and become Curze’s adoptive father. Curze’s prophecies still showed him disastrous endings, though he had begun coping better with them.

• Han Mingxuan corrected Curze’s Old Terra writing and taught him that wisdom meant mastering knowledge and understanding its uses.
• Curze read one of Han Mingxuan’s fairy tales, and Han Mingxuan noticed that Curze struggled with visions of terrible endings.
• Han Mingxuan recalled that he had arrived on Nostramo after a dream involving golden figures and Earth’s will, which had saved him from death and placed the infant Curze beside him.
• Han Mingxuan began raising and educating Curze, who learned quickly but struggled to write words such as wisdom, courage, life, and beauty.
• Curze grew to the size of a six-year-old and improved his writing, but his psychic curse continued to show him calamity and destruction.

Han Mingxuan taught Curze how to face his visions, but Curze used his awakened power to slaughter Ferros and the thieves who threatened his family. Afterward, Curze awoke before a mysterious door promising godlike power and confronted the monstrous figure tempting him to open it.

• Han Mingxuan told Curze to observe his frightening visions without following their thoughts, likening them to a thief entering an empty house.
• Curze overheard Ferros and his men planning to abduct or kill Han Mingxuan and Curze, and decided to root out the wicked thieves.
• Ferros prepared poison to kill the father and son, but Curze attacked the thieves with a book and slaughtered them.
• Curze passed out after the killings and awoke in a strange world before a door that promised absolute power.
• Curze questioned the monstrous figure urging him to open the door.

Curze rejected the Night Haunter’s offer of power, smashed through the mysterious door, and woke with a dramatically changed body. After deciding to build a force to protect Han Mingxuan, Curze left the labor camp and began planning to take control of the mining hive’s middle levels.

• Curze insulted the Night Haunter, then used Han Mingxuan’s bracelet as knuckle-dusters to smash the door, finding nothing behind it.
• The Night Haunter offered Curze a black crown, but Curze refused it and woke in the mine tunnel over 1.9 meters tall.
• The Night Haunter warned Curze that his sudden growth could bring trouble to Han Mingxuan, and Curze decided to avoid causing his father more problems.
• Curze asked the Night Haunter for advice, then stripped clothes from corpses, traded the bodies for nutrient paste, and left the labor camp after placing the nutrient blocks under Han Mingxuan’s pillow.
• Curze and the Night Haunter planned to seize control of the mining hive’s middle levels, beginning with deterrence.

Curze rejected the Night Haunter’s cruel methods but slaughtered the administrators of Mining Hive Three, bringing mining operations to a halt. Months later, he returned to Han Mingxuan, who welcomed him, gave him a handmade copy of The Art of War, and warned him not to trust Xenos.

• Curze argued that criminals should be taught to live by law rather than tortured, but then slaughtered the administrative district while the Night Haunter watched.
• Han Mingxuan found Curze’s mound of severed heads at the mine, and the Adeptus Mechanicus launched an investigation after discovering its people among the dead.
• Curze repeatedly killed groups of administrators whenever mining resumed, until the Skitarii hunted him and operations at Mining Hive Three stopped completely.
• Han Mingxuan waited at the mine with nutrient blocks until Curze returned on the third day after mining ceased and knelt before him.
• Han Mingxuan gave Curze a handmade copy of The Art of War and warned him to use Xenos if necessary but never trust them.
• Curze asked Han Mingxuan to come with him, but Han Mingxuan declined and told him to bring wine next time.

Curze took up the Bat of Eternal Night identity and led a campaign against abusive mining-hive managers and the Adeptus Mechanicus. After learning Mine Hive Number Four planned to activate the Final Efficiency Protocol, he went alone to confront its Archmagos, who questioned his identity and insulted his father.

• Han Mingxuan gave Curze a bat-shaped plate and urged him to use power to bring justice to the Planet of Eternal Night.
• Curze left a squad to guard his father and took the rest of his men to Mine Hive Number Four, where they secretly mapped the hive and began assassinating abusive managers and Adeptus Mechanicus members.
• Curze's men arranged the severed heads in a bat shape, prompting the Archmagos to order the Final Efficiency Protocol, which would turn people into wetware.
• After hearing about the planned protocol, Curze sent Sevatarion and the others back to Mining Hive Three and went alone to confront the Archmagos.
• Curze evaded a plasma attack and entered the Archmagos's palace, where he threatened the Archmagos for insulting his father.

Konrad Curze killed Archmagos Azil Sikas, stopped the Final Efficiency Protocol, and called on Quintus Hive City’s laborers to revolt. As the hive descended into chaos, Curze returned to Han Mingxuan with wine and meat.

• Curze executed Azil Sikas, used his head to pass iris authentication, and shut down the Final Efficiency Protocol.
• Curze broadcast a call for Quintus Hive City’s laborers to rise against their oppressors and promised supplies from Mining Hive Three.
• Sevatar told Han Mingxuan that Curze’s eight hundred followers had received gene enhancements, and Han began teaching him to read.
• Curze left the heads of noble and gang oligarch families beside bat symbols, while the upper level fought over power and the lower level rioted.
• Curze returned to Han Mingxuan and confirmed that he had brought wine and meat.

Han Mingxuan woke in Quintus Hive City's Upper Hive District after sleeping through three days of riots, then directed Curze to organize the city's affairs and recruit soldiers. He began punishing corrupt nobles, killing many before taking an interest in Shen, a young man who had objected.

• Han Mingxuan drank and ate with Curze, the Night Haunter, and Sevatar before passing out and sleeping for three days.
• Curze told Han Mingxuan that the riots had worsened and that he had been pursuing Xiao He's plan; Han assigned Curze internal affairs and ordered information gathered about the city's leaders.
• During a month of riots, Curze selected 4,200 recruits from Quintus Hive City's middle and upper levels, and 5,000 soldiers underwent genetic enhancement.
• Han Mingxuan reviewed the city's accounts and ordered Sevatar to execute nobles who screamed or vomited, killing about a third of those present.
• Shen pleaded with Han Mingxuan to stop, admitted he had been in a gang, and answered that he could read when Han called him Uncle.

Han Mingxuan directed Shen and the nobles to begin rebuilding Quintus Hive City through purges and an indefinite crackdown. He laid out nine laws for execution, arrest, exile, and reform, leaving Shen to implement them.

• Han Mingxuan appointed Shen to lead the meeting with Sevatar assisting, and the group ordered arrests, executions, and confiscations.
• The first purge subdued the riots and expanded Curze's resources, while Han Mingxuan began planning Quintus Hive City's reconstruction.
• Half a month later, Han Mingxuan told the nobles his crackdown would continue indefinitely and framed it as enforcing law.
• Han Mingxuan rejected the Imperial legal code as unsuitable and taught Shen that troubled times called for harsh laws.
• Han Mingxuan announced nine rules covering executions, arrests, exile, and reform, then tasked Shen with implementing them.

Han Mingxuan welcomed Curze’s accomplishments and later hosted a family dinner for Curze and his closest companions. His insistence that he truly regarded them as nephews gave the young men a sense of belonging and security.

• Shen wrote “Nine Laws of the Night Bat” on the paper, and the rules later became a guiding code for the Eighth Legion.
• Curze returned to Han Mingxuan with a report detailing his purges of gang members, Underhive warlords, and xenos monsters.
• Han Mingxuan praised Curze’s personal growth, told him to rest, and asked him to bring his core members to visit in three days.
• Han Mingxuan cooked a meal for Curze, Sevatar, Shen, Talos, Cyrion, and Agrid, then corrected them for treating the family dinner too formally.
• Han Mingxuan told the young men he regarded them as his nephews, and they were moved by the security and sense of belonging he offered them.

Han Mingxuan set out the Nine Laws of the Night Bat and put Curze and Shen in charge of purging and governing Quintus Hive City’s Underhive. The purge spread panic among the nobles, while people in the Underhive began to recognize the order the Eternal Night Justiciars brought.

• After dinner, Han Mingxuan gave Curze and Shen responsibility for the purge and governance of Quintus Hive City, telling them to leave the nobles alone for now and focus on the lower and bottom hive districts.
• Curze led a team into the Underhive, investigated the area, and began the Scouring under the Nine Laws of the Night Bat, eliminating gangs, criminals, Xenos, Cultists, and the Corpse Guild.
• A month later, as the purge disrupted the nobles’ Underhive interests, Cyrion warned a noble that the middle and upper hive districts must not interfere with the operation.
• The nobles kept quiet, fearing the Eternal Night Justiciars and knowing they were not free of guilt under the Nine Laws.
• Underhive residents saw that the Justiciars’ violence also brought order, and former gang members began helping maintain it.

Grand Duke Chris Tempatio learned that the Bat of Eternal Night had purged or exiled thirty million people, while the Adeptus Mechanicus remained inactive. Seeking help to protect his family, he visited Pationa in his secret chamber and struggled to ask her to carry out a task for the family.

• Chris learned that thirty million people had been executed or exiled and that researchers could not understand the Eternal Night Justiciar Legion's genetic enhancements.
• Chris asked about the Adeptus Mechanicus, then decided he would have to rely on himself to protect his family.
• Chris tore apart his portrait of Pationa, retrieved a hidden chip, and entered the family’s secret chamber.
• Chris joined Pationa for pastries, then convulsed with pleasure after eating one.
• Chris struggled to tell Pationa what task he needed her to perform, and she promised to do whatever the family required.

Pationa left after Chris ordered her to infiltrate an enemy’s circle and kill him, while Han Mingxuan tried to help Sevatar recover from the strain of his new ideals. Han’s questions about human nature left Sevatar asking to use the balance scale, and Han hoped to prepare him to help keep Curze from falling into madness.

• Chris ordered Pationa to infiltrate the old bat’s circle and kill him for the family, and she left without answering.
• Han Mingxuan recognized that Sevatar was overwhelmed by the conflict between his old life and his desire to save Nostramo’s people.
• Han placed a balance scale before Sevatar and asked him to judge whether saving the planet’s people was worthwhile from a gangster’s perspective.
• Han asked Sevatar to consider what made someone human and whether human nature was inherently good or evil.
• Han revealed that he hoped Sevatar and Shen could help guide Curze if he showed signs of madness.
• Sevatar asked Han for the balance scale.

Sevatar resolved his doubts about human nature, deciding that people needed moral guidance and strict laws, and he drove the Nine Laws of the Night Bat purge through the Hive City. With the purge complete, Curze planned to target the nobles and seize the Fourth Hive City, while suggesting Han Mingxuan take a break and build ties with other nobles.

• Sevatar concluded that human nature contained evil thoughts and required guidance, standards, and laws, and Han Mingxuan praised him for working it out.
• Sevatar accepted the scales from Han Mingxuan and left with Curze, determined to reshape the Hive City.
• Sevatar enforced the Nine Laws of the Night Bat so efficiently that more than a billion people were dealt with, three billion were exiled, and fewer than a billion remained.
• Curze told Han Mingxuan he would wait for the exiles to die off, take control of the Fourth Hive City, and begin dealing with the nobles.
• Curze suggested Han Mingxuan visit other parts of the Hive City, build relations with Upper Hive nobles, and take a break.

Han Mingxuan rejected the nobles’ attempt to make him govern Quintus Hive City under Imperial law and chose to establish a legal system of his own. He left the Tempatio Family’s invitation unanswered and ordered Curze to prepare a new facility in the Upper Hive, bringing people up from the lower levels.

• Curze brought Han Mingxuan a bundle of invitations from nobles and officials demanding that the Hive City be governed according to Imperial law.
• Han Mingxuan correctly guessed what the invitations said and learned that Chris Tempatio had invited them to meet at the Tempatio Family’s meeting room.
• Han Mingxuan told Curze not to attend the meeting and ordered him to build a new facility in the Upper Hive instead.
• Curze reported that the Eternal Night Justiciar Legion controlled the lower hive and the Underhive, and that its auxiliary forces had grown to tens of thousands.
• Han Mingxuan told Curze that they needed laws of their own, since Nostramo was effectively independent and Imperial law was unsuitable.

Han Mingxuan and Curze created a legal code for Nostramo, and the Eternal Night Justiciars began studying and teaching it. Their growing force and the improving lower hive left Curze’s reforms gaining momentum, while the middle and Upper Hive remained troubled.

• Han Mingxuan dictated several legal codes, and Curze adapted them to Nostramo over three months.
• Curze revised the laws and learned that his forces had grown by thirty percent as people joined the Eternal Night Justiciars.
• Curze discovered that the Justiciars lacked legal knowledge and relied too heavily on moral judgments.
• Han Mingxuan suggested combining the six legal works into one code, and Curze arranged for copies to be printed and distributed.
• The Justiciars eagerly studied the code and taught it to new recruits as the lower hive and Underhive gradually improved.

Curze’s legionnaires asked Han Mingxuan to autograph five thousand copies of the Evernight Code, and Han spent the following weeks signing them and answering their letters. He discovered that one book belonged to Lemur Solus, whose unusual name and densely written pages caught his attention.

• Shen told Curze that the legionnaires wanted Han Mingxuan’s autograph, and Han agreed to sign their books.
• Sevatar brought Han a stack of books three meters high, and Han set a limit of two hundred signatures per day.
• Han spent much of the next month signing five thousand books and replying to the legionnaires’ messages, learning more about them.
• Han found a book labeled with the name Lemur Solus and noticed that its owner had filled both the front and back endpapers with writing.

Han Mingxuan found a long, troubled letter addressed to an uncle and wrote a compassionate reply, then wondered whether its author was Konrad Curze. When Curze did not recognize the letter and his Xenos companion refused to appear, Han grew alarmed and asked Curze to describe him.

• Han Mingxuan read the lengthy letter describing its writer’s despair and wrote back with reassurance and advice.
• The Justiciar Legion members celebrated receiving handwritten, signed letters, while Shen warned them not to trade away copies with writing mistakes.
• Han Mingxuan visited Curze in his modest room and asked about the letter.
• Curze misunderstood Han Mingxuan’s question and suggested that his father find a companion, revealing that he had not written the letter.
• Han Mingxuan asked to meet Curze’s Xenos companion, but the bat-like creature would not appear, so Han asked Curze to describe him.

Han Mingxuan met the Night Haunter within Curze and urged him to see himself as human and begin again. The Night Haunter promised to guide Curze, and Curze woke unaware of what they had discussed.

• Curze told Han Mingxuan about the xenos, and Han Mingxuan asked to meet the Night Haunter.
• Han Mingxuan welcomed the Night Haunter as his son, scolded him for calling himself inhuman, and asked him to consider starting over.
• The Night Haunter revealed his towering form, and Han Mingxuan reassured him that he could still find redemption.
• Han Mingxuan asked the Night Haunter to help teach Curze, and the Night Haunter swore to honor his trust.
• The Night Haunter returned to Curze, who woke as Han Mingxuan told him to trust the older figure as a brother.

Curze prepared to take control of Nostramo and planned to confront its nobles after uncovering their crimes. His investigation raised suspicions about Pationa Tenpatio, who received a court summons while keeping the transformed Chris hidden in a secret chamber.

• Curze vowed to prove himself to his father by conquering Nostramo, then ordered Sevatar to investigate the nobles invited to meet them.
• A week later, Curze learned that the nobles were guilty of crimes and ordered the Council of the Long Night to investigate Chris Tempatio and his adopted daughter, Pationa.
• Curze decided to pressure Pationa at the nobles’ meeting, while the Night Haunter approved of his judgment.
• Pationa received a court notice requiring her to appear the next day and ordered preparations for the journey.
• Pationa entered the secret chamber, where Chris was hidden in a form that no longer looked human.

Pationa Tenpatio took control of the Tempatio Family after Chris died, while Han Mingxuan and Curze convened Quintus’s nobles to discuss governing the Hive City. Curze rejected Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus law as irrelevant to Nostramo and revealed the Evernight Code.

• Pationa told Chris that the Bat of Eternal Night had begun acting and instructed him to kill it for the family; Chris died as she watched.
• Han Mingxuan and Curze dressed formally and headed to the court to meet Quintus’s nobles, while the Night Haunter coached Curze.
• Han Mingxuan introduced Curze as the one who would handle the meeting, and Pationa led the nobles’ discussion.
• The nobles presented a proposal for governing the Hive City and cited Imperial law to defend their rights.
• Curze dismissed Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus rules as having no authority over Nostramo, then set the Evernight Code on the table.