Chapter Summaries

Curze completed the assessment of the prospective Justiciar Legion law enforcers, passing Laxus and Weiss and granting the group candy and two days off. Han Mingxuan then hosted the Primarchs for dinner, where Curze brought every case of wine from the cellar into the courtyard.

• Curze questioned the candidates about morality and human nature, then passed Laxus and Weiss after asking whether they wanted chocolate.
• Curze welcomed the candidates into the Justiciar Legion as law enforcers and told them to uphold fairness as they joined the Imperial judicial system.
• Han Mingxuan gave the successful candidates candy and two days off, while the Primarchs accepted his invitation to dinner.
• The Primarchs' arrival silenced Terra's noble residential district, as nobles feared Han Mingxuan's hostility toward their class.
• Han Mingxuan assigned the Primarchs kitchen duties and told Curze to bring out the wine.
• Curze, Roboute, and Xiao Ma brought hundreds of cases of Immortal's Drunkenness into the courtyard, where Russ eagerly spotted them.

Han Mingxuan hosted a lively meal for the Emperor, the Primarchs, and their companions, while Russ tried to drink and the brothers prepared food together. As the gathering continued, the Emperor considered bringing Angron back, and the Eighth Legion celebrated its debate success by showing off to the other legions.

• Curze and his brothers helped Han Mingxuan prepare the meal, where they found the Great Angel making fruit salad with a cookbook from Nostramo.
• Han Mingxuan served cold dishes, but Lion El'Jonson stopped Russ from eating before everyone had arrived.
• The Emperor, Horus, Malcador, Mortarion, and Perturabo joined the gathering, and Curze gave Russ a jar of wine during their drinking game.
• The Emperor watched Han Mingxuan with his nephews and considered sending him to bring Angron back, then looked toward Dante and wondered whether his actions were right.
• Twenty thousand warriors of the Eighth Legion visited the other barracks with their Arbitrator Certificates and chocolate, proudly showing off their success.

Han Mingxuan gave gifts to the Primarchs and Dante, then told Curze he was leaving for Nostramo to find one of his brothers. Before departing, he ordered Curze to take control of the Legion, join the Adeptus Arbites, prepare for the Great Crusade, and arrange the deaths of Kor Phaeron and Erebus.

• Han Mingxuan gave Fulgrim the couplet from the construction site and gave Mortarion a copy of the I Ching.
• Han Mingxuan offered Russ and the Khan his remaining wine, gave Sanguinius fruit, and presented Dante with a book titled The Literary Pivot of Splendid Chapters.
• Dante felt memories of the past and future as he received the book, while the Emperor began to speak and Han Mingxuan interrupted him.
• After the party, Han Mingxuan told Curze that the Emperor had tasked him with finding one of Curze’s brothers on Nostramo, and that he would take Mortarion, his guards, and Endymion.
• Han Mingxuan instructed Curze to take control of the Legion, join the Adeptus Arbites, prepare for the Great Crusade, and target Kor Phaeron and Erebus; Curze agreed to take Sevatar with him.

Han Mingxuan took Mortarion and Sevatar to the Peaceful Star System before their planned journey to Nuceria, where they intended to bring Angron back. After learning that Imotekh was beginning to awaken, they traveled through a Necron portal and reached New Nostramo.

• Han Mingxuan told Mortarion he was taking him to Nuceria to bring back his brother and urged him to question his reliance on his toxic canister and respirator.
• Han Mingxuan refused Mortarion’s request to bring another person and set out with him, Endymion, Sevatar, and a guard of Sisters of Silence.
• The Emperor assigned the Sisters of Silence to accompany Han Mingxuan, but Han Mingxuan declined their protective measures and departed for the Peaceful Star System.
• Han Mingxuan contacted Trazyn, who said Jia’s body was nearly ready and that Imotekh, the Stormlord, had begun to awaken.
• Jia opened a phase-shifting portal, and Sevatar guided the ship through it; after two and a half days, the group reached low orbit over New Nostramo.

Mortarion arrived in the Peaceful Star System and felt its calming influence begin to ease the damage to his soul. As Nurgle considered how to reclaim him, Han Mingxuan prepared to begin the next step of Jia’s transformation.

• Mortarion removed his breathing apparatus and followed Trazyn’s group to the laboratory, where Trazyn said the pollution-damaged power core of his soul had begun turning again on the planet.
• The Will of Earth blocked Nurgle from reaching Mortarion and wounded him, while Nurgle learned from Tzeentch’s messenger that Mortarion would soon go to Nuceria, where the gods could approach him.
• Mortarion let down his defenses and rested in Light-Bathed Square as Han Mingxuan and Angrak discussed the system’s calming effect.
• Jia told Han Mingxuan that his body had reached its theoretically perfect state and that they could proceed; Han sent a golden thread into Jia, putting him to sleep, and asked Lao Xin to keep watch.

Jia adjusted to her resurrected body and left to handle something important while Mortarion found unexpected comfort in the new Nostramo. Han Mingxuan and Trazyn went to Food Street, where Jia reappeared with a striking change in temperament and planned to expand the Peaceful Star System.

• Jia emerged in a blue dress, mocked Trazyn, took his apple, and said she had something important to do before leaving.
• Mortarion told Han Mingxuan he was fine, then lingered in Light-Bathed Square, where Vita Talis gave him a wild chrysanthemum and encouraged him to be happy.
• Orikan arranged a welcome feast on Food Street, and Han Mingxuan and Trazyn arrived to find the street lined with food.
• Jia greeted Han Mingxuan with an unusually cheerful manner, while Trazyn hinted that he knew something about her.
• Jia felt relieved that Trazyn had not revealed what she had done and planned to use Necrontyr technology to remodel and expand the Peaceful Star System.

Han Mingxuan gathered allies and set out for Nuceria, where he warned Mortarion about the Warp’s evil gods and revealed the Emperor’s origin. The group continued toward Nuceria as Mortarion struggled to accept that the Emperor had been created as a tool.

• Han Mingxuan asked Jia to accompany him to Nuceria, and she agreed to bring Futia and her civil administration.
• Han Mingxuan, Jia, Futia, Mortarion, and Sevatar boarded the ship and discussed Nuceria’s high-rider rulers and gladiatorial bloodshed.
• Han Mingxuan explained to Mortarion that four evil gods inhabited the Warp, and Jia identified a machine virus affecting the ship’s systems.
• Sevatar placed the Evernight Code in the cockpit, and its pages opened to the Mechanised Production Management Regulations Act as its blue-gold light cleared the system errors.
• Han Mingxuan revealed that ancient human sorcerers and priests had sacrificed themselves to create the Emperor, leaving Mortarion shocked by the truth of his origins.

Han Mingxuan revealed that the Emperor treated the Primarchs as tools and explained that Erda had scattered them across the galaxy to keep them from being used. Mortarion learned who his mother was and was left confronting how her choices shaped his life.

• Han Mingxuan explained that the Emperor created and discarded the Thunder Warriors before making the Space Marines, while Kamon Gooderian admitted he had commanded the Thunder Warriors' XIV Legion and survived its final Scouring.
• Han Mingxuan told Mortarion that the Primarchs were people because they had a mother, then identified her as Erda.
• Han Mingxuan explained that Erda had made a deal with the Warp, opened a rift in the Emperor's laboratory, and scattered the newborn Primarchs across the galaxy.
• Mortarion nearly grabbed Han Mingxuan after he condemned Erda's choices, but Han Mingxuan calmly argued that her actions had led to Mortarion's suffering.
• Han Mingxuan told Mortarion that the world was bullshit.

Han Mingxuan brought Mortarion to Nuceria and urged him to choose for himself how to help Angron and liberate the planet. While Mortarion joined the Shadowbat Guard to contact his brother, Han Mingxuan and Jia attended a gladiatorial contest disguised as Rogue Traders.

• Han Mingxuan told Mortarion that he and his brothers had been wronged and encouraged him to act according to his conscience.
• Han Mingxuan explained that Mortarion needed to save Angron himself to understand the choices and dangers facing him.
• Han Mingxuan, Jia, Old Kamon, and Sevatar landed on Nuceria posing as Rogue Traders, while Mortarion and the Shadowbat Guard went to contact Angron.
• High-ranking knight Kairas Vegas welcomed Han Mingxuan and Jia and escorted them to a gladiatorial contest.
• At the arena, Han Mingxuan noticed Kairas was affected by dangerous neuroactive drugs, and the announcer introduced the undefeated gladiator An! Gron.

Han Mingxuan used his soul projection to soothe Angron and meddled with a Tzeentch-worshipping noble during the arena match. He and Jia escaped the noble’s trap and reached their estate, where Han Mingxuan invited Tzeentch to meet him that night.

• Han Mingxuan sent calming words into Angron’s mind, easing his turmoil as Angron recognized him and began the gladiatorial match.
• Han Mingxuan learned that the local noble Kairas worshipped Tzeentch and arranged for a Mindshackle Scarab to be placed on him.
• After the match, a Warp intrusion triggered Han Mingxuan’s security alarms, and he captured the psychic presence in the book within his consciousness.
• Kairas left Han Mingxuan and Jia at the arena, but his backup plan failed to follow them when they slipped away.
• Han Mingxuan and Jia reached the estate Kairas had prepared, where Han told the butler to invite Tzeentch to see his lifelike self-portrait at nine that night.

Mortarion joined Angron among the captured slaves on Nuceria, and Angron welcomed him into a plan to survive and escape. Later, Nurgle, Tzeentch, and a third Chaos god confronted Han Mingxuan over his interference in the world’s future and proposed negotiations.

• Mortarion was assigned the number seven after being captured and brought to the arena.
• Angron recognized Mortarion, calmed him with his innate ability, and offered to teach him gladiatorial techniques as part of a plan to escape alive.
• Mortarion agreed to wait and see whether Angron’s plan could succeed.
• Nurgle, Tzeentch, and another god visited Han Mingxuan, while a fourth remained at home.
• Han Mingxuan argued that he was teaching rather than gambling against them, and the three gods admitted they had come to negotiate terms.

Han Mingxuan refused the Chaos Gods’ demand to stop guiding his students, defending his ideals as he confronted them with a lamp that dispelled their darkness. After the gods left, Jia praised him, while Sevatar arrived and quietly retreated under Jia’s icy stare.

• Han Mingxuan rejected Tzeentch’s demand that he stop intervening in the three children’s lives, insisting that teaching them was his duty.
• Han Mingxuan defended idealism and a teacher’s responsibility while the Chaos Gods darkened the manor and threatened him.
• Han Mingxuan lit a lamp that banished the gods’ illusions, then challenged Khorne’s hypocrisy and declared that hope and resistance endured.
• Tzeentch, Nurgle, and Khorne departed after acknowledging Han Mingxuan’s resolve, and a similar lamp appeared in his consciousness.
• Han Mingxuan asked Jia to prepare for the next stage of the plan, but Jia instead praised him.
• Sevatar arrived, saw Jia staring at him coldly, and quietly left while Han Mingxuan called for help.

Jia confessed that she feared Han Mingxuan would not keep his promise to revive the Necrontyr, but he reassured her and promised to prepare for it when he had time. After asking Jia to find materials for a large drum, Han learned that Angron was about to face the Butcher’s Nails and fight Oenomaus in the arena.

• Jia admitted she regretted using one of the three revival spots on herself and had considered having Han Mingxuan father Necrontyr descendants.
• Han Mingxuan told Jia to trust him and revealed he could eventually revive up to half a Necron Dynasty world, though doing so would require a long recovery.
• Han Mingxuan said he would make preparations at Solemnace and asked Jia to find materials for a large drum.
• Slaanesh sensed Han Mingxuan’s experiences on Nuceria and vowed to make him fall in love with Her.
• Sevatar told Han Mingxuan that the noble planned to give Angron the Butcher’s Nails and make him fight Oenomaus in the arena.

Han Mingxuan prepared to protect Angron and disrupt the nobles’ plans on Nuceria, while Sevatar warned Mortarion that the planet might be a Warp Daemon’s lair. Mortarion accepted the warning and tried to reach Angron as unrest spread.

• Jia told Han Mingxuan that no ordinary drug could anesthetize a Primarch, so he gave Sevatar a jade pendant to protect Angron’s mind and ordered the Butcher’s Nails destroyed.
• Han Mingxuan directed Kamon to eliminate the nobles while sparing Kairas, and authorized Jia to deploy Mindshackle Scarabs if needed.
• Han Mingxuan went aboard a ship and began making a drum to encourage the coming fight against Khorne.
• Sevatar delivered Han Mingxuan’s pendant to Mortarion and warned him that the nobles planned to implant Angron with the Butcher’s Nails and that Nuceria might be a Warp Daemon’s lair.
• Sevatar urged Mortarion to face both science and religion with reason, then left him to respond to the unrest.
• Mortarion tried to give Angron the pendant, but Angron did not answer.

Angron learned that the nobles had drugged Oenomaus and planned to make Angron fight Mortarion, while Han Mingxuan’s sabotage crippled the Butcher’s Nails factories. Han then sent Trazyn a coded message ordering the Ogryn to prepare to attack the City of Truth.

• Angron told Mortarion that his recurring dreams had eased and accepted a jade pendant from him.
• Oenomaus suffered severe diarrhea during his match, and Angron discovered someone had given him a powerful laxative to influence Angron’s coming fight against his father.
• Mortarion reassured Angron that Oenomaus would remain useful to the nobles and therefore safe for now.
• The nobles discovered that their Butcher’s Nails factories had been sabotaged, with engineers incapacitated and those in charge missing.
• Han Mingxuan learned Angron’s next match would pit him against Mortarion in seven days and sent a Chinese message to Trazyn to have the Ogryn light up the City of Truth.
• Trazyn read Han’s message to Orikan, who wondered what Han meant by a red-skinned, one-eyed Ogryn giant.

Trazyn summoned Lorgar and Magnus to Nostramo, then led them through a portal toward Nuceria, where Han Mingxuan faced a Warp plot. As the fleets encountered distortions in time and communications, Trazyn called Imotekh for help, while Han realized that Kairas had secretly made a week pass.

• Trazyn told Lorgar to bring Magnus to Nostramo and said he was heading to Nuceria to retrieve Lorgar’s brother.
• Lorgar and Magnus brought their fleets to Nostramo, where Trazyn opened a portal that could take them to Nuceria.
• On Nuceria, Han Mingxuan confronted the openly acting forces of the Warp as Tzeentch blocked communications across the star system.
• Han lit a lamp whose golden light pierced Tzeentch’s barrier, and the fleets detected it as their ships’ time readings began jumping forward.
• Trazyn contacted Imotekh and asked him to rush to Nuceria to help Han.
• At the gladiatorial arena, Han recognized that Kairas had altered his sense of time and learned that a week had passed.

Han Mingxuan used the Mindshackle Scarab to control Kairas and watched as Mortarion and Angron were drawn into daemon-filled arenas. After Han’s gong broke the illusion, Mortarion faced his old tormentor Necare and vowed to kill him despite his immortality.

• Han Mingxuan controlled Kairas and prepared to watch the gladiatorial combat between Mortarion and Angron.
• Tzeentch opened the match, and daemons appeared in both arenas as Han struck his gong to reveal their true forms.
• Mortarion recognized Grandfather and faced a Greater Daemon transformed into his adoptive father, Necare.
• Necare taunted Mortarion with memories of his past and claimed Grandfather had granted him eternal life.
• Mortarion cut Necare in two, but Necare duplicated himself and insisted Mortarion could not change his fate.
• Mortarion vowed to kill Necare repeatedly and bring death to him and the past.

Mortarion resisted Nurgle’s attempt to claim him and awakened a faint authority over death, defeating Necare and Nurgle’s projection. After the lesson ended, his uncle told him to save Angron, and Mortarion found the arena transformed into a blood-soaked battlefield.

• Mortarion rejected Necare’s offer to return to Barbarus and crushed the respirator mask.
• The Warp answered Mortarion’s obsession with killing Necare, sending black light into his body and awakening the authority of death.
• Mortarion killed Necare, rebuffed Nurgle’s offer of love, and cut down Nurgle’s avatar and projection.
• Mortarion vowed to burn Nurgle’s garden and kill him, then learned that he had won his first practical lesson.
• Mortarion’s uncle told him to save Angron, and Mortarion left the arena to find a bloodied battlefield and a gate.

Sevatar faced Khorne’s courtroom trials and used ancient law and arguments about justice to expose Khorne’s ignorance. He ultimately condemned the criminals and declared that they were not human, so they had been sentenced to death from the start.

• Sevatar entered a courtroom where Khorne subjected him to trials about justice and judgment.
• Sevatar sentenced a deliberate murderer to death and cited the ancient Hammurabi Code, surprising Khorne.
• Sevatar addressed a second trial by arguing that law had to account for human sentiment to preserve stability.
• Sevatar called Khorne uncultured and declared that the nonhuman criminals had all been sentenced to death from the moment he took the judge’s seat.

Sevatar fought Khorne on Nuceria, using his faith in law and Han Mingxuan to wound the evil god before Khorne cast him out. Back aboard a nearby ship, he warned Lorgar and Trazyn that the Warp’s followers were trying to corrupt Mortarion and Angron, whose condition remained unknown.

• Sevatar drew his sword and challenged Khorne, wielding the scales and equipment Han Mingxuan had made for him.
• The scales balanced the battle, and Sevatar’s strike wounded Khorne through his will for justice and courage.
• Khorne hurled Sevatar out of Nuceria, while Tzeentch resolved to keep the Evernight Judges Legion off the battlefield.
• Sevatar appeared aboard a nearby spaceship, where he found Trazyn and Lorgar.
• Sevatar told them the evil gods had descended on Nuceria and were trying to corrupt Mortarion and Angron, whose condition was unclear.