Chapter Summaries

Han Mingxuan planned investigations into the Dark Angels and Perturabo’s personal life on Olympia, while Lorgar sought guidance about the Imperial Truth and the Warp. After advising Lorgar to keep his understanding secret until the Imperium was ready, Han Mingxuan set out for the Dark Angels with Aequus.

• The Eighth Legion’s Council of the Long Night began researching and writing a book, and Lorgar and Perturabo came to see Han Mingxuan.
• Han Mingxuan told Perturabo he would visit Olympia, prompting Perturabo to order the Iron Warriors fleet to return there immediately.
• Lorgar asked Han Mingxuan whether the Imperial Truth was really true, and Han Mingxuan explained that it served as a lock against the Warp.
• Han Mingxuan advised Lorgar to keep exploring but remain silent until the Imperium was ready, and Lorgar accepted the burden.
• Han Mingxuan prepared to visit the Dark Angels, and Aequus showed him a book recording his actions among them.

Han Mingxuan and Aequus arrived aboard the Unyielding Truth, where Lion El'Jonson sought priority recruitment rights on Nostramo. Aequus interrogated a rebel warlord with increasingly brutal methods, drawing criticism from Luther as he left the prisoner to endure a strange device.

• Han Mingxuan met Lion El'Jonson and Luther aboard the Unyielding Truth, and Lion asked for priority recruitment rights on Nostramo.
• Han Mingxuan refused Lion's request but said the Dark Angels could compete for recruits when the Eighth Legion's second recruitment drive began.
• Lion asked Aequus to interrogate prisoners, but Aequus insisted that only Han Mingxuan could give him orders.
• Aequus tortured a rebel warlord with a revolver, drugs, and interrogation tools until the prisoner began to break.
• Aequus injected the prisoner again, activated a strange device, and left the interrogation room for thirty minutes.
• Luther condemned Aequus's dishonorable methods, and Aequus scoffed at him.

Lion El'Jonson asked Han Mingxuan to guide Aequus away from his ruthless methods, but Han instead advised him to use specialized Virus Bombs more selectively. Luther protested that the advice would turn Aequus into a weapon, while Lion and the Dark Angels were left stunned.

• Lion El'Jonson recalled Aequus's brutal methods and explained that he saw Aequus as a mirror of his own ideal self.
• Lion asked Han Mingxuan to advise Aequus, and Han said Aequus's methods were too extreme because indiscriminate bombardment damaged the planet.
• Han recommended that Aequus seek specialized Virus Bombs from the XIV Legion, and Aequus thanked him for the suggestion.
• Lion declined to add anything when Han asked for his opinion, but Luther accused Han of encouraging Aequus to slaughter people.

Han Mingxuan challenged Luther’s defense of the First Legion, arguing that its secret missions conflicted with its ideals of Chivalry. Lion El'Jonson recognized the Legion’s crisis and received a book from Han Mingxuan to help examine it.

• Luther accused Aequus’s influence of leading the First Legion away from traditional glory, and Han Mingxuan questioned whether the Legion’s harsh measures were necessary in the Great Crusade.
• Han Mingxuan argued that the First Legion’s secret missions and pursuit of honor left its members divided between reality and the ideals of Chivalry.
• Lion El'Jonson admitted that the Legion’s core problem was whether knights who had committed its deeds could still meet the standards of Chivalry.
• Han Mingxuan gave Lion El'Jonson a copy of The Nonexistent Knight and asked him to read it before they discussed the question further.

Lion studied The Nonexistent Knight and recognized himself in its protagonist, with Aequus as the impulsive young knight. After a month of reflection and meditation, Lion found himself in a thorn-covered forest, where he fought a silent armored knight and discovered another Lion inside its armor.

• Lion finished The Nonexistent Knight in less than a minute, then spent a month in his private chamber considering how its protagonist and Aequus reflected himself and his life.
• Lion meditated and revisited his past, then found himself on a thorn-covered path in a forest that smelled of Caliban.
• A heavily armored knight attacked Lion without answering his questions, and Lion fought it for nearly ten days despite having no weapon.
• Lion remembered Aequus's ruthless, unconventional approach and struck the knight with a Shoryuken, knocking off its helmet.
• Lion saw that the armor was momentarily empty before another Lion appeared inside it.

After overcoming a mirror image that embodied an idealized version of himself, Lion El'Jonson awoke from a month of meditation and decided to make Aequus one of his Scions. When Gene-seed failed to integrate with Aequus, the Lion ordered Apothecaries to implant his own stem cells, leaving Aequus's fate uncertain.

• Lion El'Jonson defeated his mirror image, rejected its rigid version of Chivalry, and destroyed the thorn-bound armor and sword blocking his path.
• After a month of meditation, Lion El'Jonson thanked Han Mingxuan and asked to speak privately with Aequus.
• Lion El'Jonson knocked Aequus unconscious and ordered Apothecaries to implant him with Gene-seed, but Aequus's internal system destroyed each attempt.
• When Aequus woke and protested the ambush, Lion El'Jonson knocked him unconscious again and ordered the Apothecaries to use his own stem cells instead.
• Lion El'Jonson's Apothecaries began a month of genetic implantation and modification, and they waited to see whether Aequus would survive.

Han Mingxuan and Luther discussed Lion El'Jonson’s isolation and his bonds with Curze and Mordred. Meanwhile, Lion’s attempt to implant his stem cells in Aequus triggered a dangerous immune reaction, and Aequus retaliated against the Apothecaries before attacking Lion over the incident.

• Han Mingxuan asked Luther about Lion El'Jonson and praised the closeness between Lion, Curze, and Mordred.
• Lion El'Jonson implanted his stem cells into Aequus, whose body violently rejected them as a gene-purification program activated.
• Aequus’s body began to crack, but a blue-gold glow appeared and his condition stabilized.
• Aequus emerged from the incubation chamber and smashed the three Apothecaries responsible for modifying him into a wall.
• Aequus accepted Lion’s offer of compensation but demanded it immediately and punched Lion in the face.

After Aequus exposed Lion’s attempt to claim him for the First Legion, Curze ordered the Council of the Long Night to withdraw its members from every legion. Lion set off for Terra to resolve the crisis, while the Night Haunter celebrated the chance to trap him there.

• Han Mingxuan interrupted Lion as he confronted Aequus, who showed his wound and revealed that Lion had tried to implant him with gene-seed and stem cells.
• Aequus threatened the Apothecaries embedded in the wall, while Han Mingxuan left with him and told Lion to explain matters to Curze himself.
• Lion told Luther that he and Aequus had made a deal, but Luther warned him that Aequus would find a way to avoid paying up.
• Curze heard Aequus’s account on the Evernight Network and ordered all Council of the Long Night members to leave their legion posts.
• After the Primarchs called to demand answers, Lion decided to go to Terra and persuade Curze to keep the Council stationed with the legions.
• The Night Haunter urged Curze to send Lion to the Military Department and declared that he would not be allowed to leave Terra.

Curze used Lion El'Jonson's return to appoint him Departmento Munitorum Minister and advance the Imperium's military reforms. Lion set aside his questions about Aequus to take up the post, while the Emperor and Malcador left for vacation.

• Curze told Roboute, Sanguinius, Malcador, and the Emperor that Lion El'Jonson was returning after the events on Aequus, and proposed making him Departmento Munitorum Minister.
• Curze cut Sanguinius's fruit supply in half, blaming the incident on Aequus and Sanguinius's suggestion to assign the Council of the Long Night's members to other Legions.
• Valdor welcomed Lion El'Jonson at Lion's Gate and escorted him to the Throne Room, where the Emperor presented him with his appointment as Departmento Munitorum Minister.
• Lion accepted the post despite having returned to speak with Curze, and Curze directed him to the Departmento Munitorum, where Renato would serve as his deputy.
• Lion's appointment gave the Imperium's military reforms their first true step, while the Emperor and Malcador departed to enjoy a vacation.

Perturabo returned to Olympia and reunited with his sister Kellifani, who was struck by how much he had matured. He gave her armor and said his uncle would soon visit, leaving Kellifani eager to meet the person who had changed him so deeply.

• Perturabo returned to Olympia and told Kellifani that meeting someone important, whom he greedily thought of as a father, had changed him.
• Kellifani welcomed Perturabo and gave him a flower wreath, while he apologized for staying away and explained that he had longed for a childhood he never had.
• Perturabo gave Kellifani an exquisite suit of armor, which she admired and trusted him to have crafted well.
• Kellifani refused Perturabo's offer of rejuvenation surgery, and Perturabo accepted her choice without anger.
• Perturabo said his uncle would soon visit Olympia and that Kellifani shared his views on rejuvenation, making her eager to meet him.

Perturabo decided that Olympia’s future had to begin with an honest apology and renewed construction, guided by the truth Uncle Han had taught him. He announced a meeting to discuss Olympia’s development, but the notice that followed left its people baffled and afraid.

• Kellifani learned that Perturabo admired Uncle Han and wanted to meet him, but Perturabo said Han was busy with the First Legion.
• Perturabo spent half a month reading the Evernight Code and considering how to face Olympia.
• Perturabo told Kellifani that he would apologize to Olympia and use his strength to bring it new life, crediting Uncle Han’s teaching for changing his outlook.
• The next day, Olympia’s city-states posted an announcement that Perturabo would hold a meeting about their future in three days.
• Olympians expected a harsh revision when an Iron Warriors Space Marine approached the notice board, but his bizarre announcement sounded unlike Perturabo.

Perturabo apologized to Olympia for his past atrocities and asked its people to trust him as he worked to rebuild their homeworld. When a commoner representative challenged his promise, a calm voice from the crowd vouched for him in the name of the Father of Night.

• Perturabo ordered Olympia to hold an election so every class could take part in the postponed conference.
• Perturabo asked Han Mingxuan to bring Nostramo's Evolutionists Sage to help persuade his sister to undergo the Imperium's Rejuvenat Treatment.
• Han Mingxuan arrived on Olympia with Angrak in secret and learned that Perturabo had called a conference attended by nobles, commoners, and slaves.
• Perturabo apologized to his people for breaking apart settlements, conscripting children, restricting culture and art, and committing other atrocities.
• A commoner representative challenged Perturabo to prove that his new order would not become crueler, and an unknown voice vouched for him in the name of the Father of Night.

Han Mingxuan publicly vouched for Perturabo and asked Olympia to give him a month to make amends through construction. Perturabo and the Iron Warriors began work, while Kellifani thanked Han Mingxuan and joked about how much he had changed Perturabo.

• Han Mingxuan addressed Olympia, promised Perturabo would become its greatest Builder, and asked the people to give him one month.
• Perturabo vowed not to disappoint his uncle, and the Iron Warriors rallied around Han Mingxuan’s expectations.
• After the meeting, Perturabo said he should have borne the people’s criticism himself, but Han Mingxuan told him to focus on changing Olympia.
• Perturabo led the Iron Warriors into intensive construction, ordering them to protect both the Legion’s honor and Han Mingxuan’s.
• Kellifani thanked Han Mingxuan for his influence on Perturabo and joked that Perturabo had become like a steel plate that could joke.

Over a month of construction on Olympia showed that Perturabo and the Iron Warriors had changed, and Kellifani agreed to cooperate with Angrak Augustu and the Evolutionists. Han Mingxuan found Perturabo ready to govern Olympia with a gentler approach, so he planned to leave in two days.

• The Iron Warriors worked efficiently on Olympia's reconstruction, and Perturabo enthusiastically joined them, moving Kellifani to tears.
• Angrak Augustu introduced Kellifani to the Evolutionists and proposed cooperation to ease the burden of managing Olympia while she searched for a successor.
• Kellifani agreed to cooperate with the Evolutionists and received contact details for Futia, Nostramo's Logistics Minister.
• Perturabo thanked Han Mingxuan for bringing Angrak to speak with his sister, and Han urged him to be patient about her resistance to rejuvenat treatment.
• Han asked Perturabo about governing Olympia and its remaining nobles and City-State lords, and Perturabo said he would use the Evernight Code with gentler methods.
• Han decided to leave Olympia in two days, while Perturabo privately wished he had persuaded his uncle to stay longer.

Han Mingxuan arrived in the Third Legion’s jurisdiction and was welcomed by Rylanor and Fulgrim. Fulgrim introduced him to the Legion’s leaders and warriors at a grand banquet, where the evening’s main entertainment was about to begin.

• Han Mingxuan traveled to the Third Legion’s jurisdiction, hoping to meet Rylanor, Lucius, and Akurduana.
• Rylanor greeted Han Mingxuan and explained how Fulgrim’s meeting with him had brought humility and steadiness to the Primarch.
• Fulgrim welcomed Han Mingxuan aboard the Legion’s flagship and shared a private joke with him.
• At the banquet, Fulgrim introduced Han Mingxuan to Kaisoron, Akurduana, Fabius Bile, and Lucius.
• The Emperor’s Children began their grand welcoming banquet, with its main entertainment still to come.

Han Mingxuan gave Fulgrim and Akurduana swords he had forged, then watched them perform a sword dance at the banquet. Afterwards, he asked the Silent King to ensure Akurduana would survive, guarding against Lucius.

• Han Mingxuan offered to join Akurduana's sword dance and gave Fulgrim two swords inscribed with philosophical texts.
• Fulgrim recognized that Han Mingxuan had prepared the swords for him, and Akurduana chose to use swords from his own collection instead.
• Han Mingxuan gave Akurduana a pair of swords named Purple Lightning and Blue Frost.
• Fulgrim and Akurduana performed a sword dance for Han Mingxuan, and Akurduana attached his new swords to his armor.
• Han Mingxuan asked the Silent King to keep Akurduana alive in case Lucius became an Eternal.

Slaanesh offered to put Fulgrim through trials that could awaken his Warp Essence, asking Han Mingxuan to spend six days alone with her in return. Han Mingxuan refused the bargain and instead began teaching Fulgrim a purification spell, leaving him to wonder whether its strange phrase was really profanity.

• Slaanesh appeared to Han Mingxuan and proposed trials for Fulgrim, with six days alone with her as the price for her help.
• Slaanesh said she would send Fulgrim back without daemonhood if he failed, but wanted to become Han Mingxuan’s spouse as compensation; the Silent King offered to destroy her.
• Han Mingxuan decided to find Fulgrim and called him to his room.
• Han Mingxuan gave Fulgrim a black eyepatch and a wisp of blue-gold power, then taught him a spell for resisting bad temptations.
• Fulgrim questioned whether the spell was profanity, and Han Mingxuan explained that it was a powerful purification spell.

The Emperor and Malcador met Oll Persson on Nostramo, where Oll revealed that Klein, a vanished Perpetual and Mystery Cult founder, had studied parallel worlds and created a world-destroying device. Oll wanted Klein’s alchemy formula to protect Nostramo, leaving the Emperor and Malcador with the mystery of Klein’s disappearance and his research’s connection to despair.

• The Emperor and Malcador fished on Nostramo, then gave away the Emperor’s catch near Hope Primary School.
• Oll Persson, disguised as a teacher, recognized the Emperor and led him and Malcador to a tavern filled with Perpetuals.
• Oll told the Emperor that Klein, a tavern regular and Mystery Cult founder, had gone missing.
• Oll explained that Klein studied parallel universes and had used Enuncia to create something capable of destroying the world.
• Oll said Klein’s notes pointed to despair and that the Perpetuals needed his alchemy formula to keep Nostramo safe.

The Emperor failed to locate Klein, found a cane linked to a Warp God, and learned from Tzeentch that Klein was being held in the Labyrinth until their plan began. Meanwhile, the Lion uncovered widespread corruption in the Departmento Munitorum and called Roboute, Curze, and Sanguinius for help, suspecting the Adeptus Mechanicus was behind its deeper problems.

• The Emperor searched Nostramo and the Peaceful Star System for Klein, then followed Oll Persson to Klein’s empty apartment and found a hidden wooden case containing a cane.
• The Emperor confronted Tzeentch in the Warp, who admitted that Klein was trapped in the Labyrinth and would be released after their plan began.
• The Emperor stored the cane in a secret Webway chamber and justified keeping Han Mingxuan entangled in the scheme for humanity’s future.
• The Lion confronted Renato about corruption in the Departmento Munitorum, but Renato warned that a full purge could provoke rebellion and cripple the Imperium.
• The Lion summoned Roboute, Curze, and Sanguinius, shared what he had learned, and wondered whether the Adeptus Mechanicus was the root of the department’s corruption.

Lion El'Jonson and his brothers planned to use the Necrons to pressure the Imperium into investigating the Adeptus Mechanicus and advancing military reform. Han Mingxuan agreed to arrange for Trazyn to appear, while Magnus volunteered the Thousand Sons and was told to bring Lorgar.

• Curze told Lion El'Jonson that the Emperor wanted his support for military reform, and Lion revealed an emergency agreement authorizing action against the Adeptus Mechanicus.
• Guilliman proposed bringing in the Necrons to pressure the Imperium, while Sanguinius and the others ruled out using an assassination ruse.
• Lion agreed to contact the Emperor, while Roboute left to speak with Corax and Sanguinius went to find Alpha.
• Curze asked Han Mingxuan to arrange for Trazyn to appear in the Imperium, and Han agreed to discuss the plan with the Necrontyr.
• Magnus volunteered the Thousand Sons to help investigate the Adeptus Mechanicus's Warp rituals, and Han instructed him to bring Lorgar and his Retinue.