Finally, the day arrived when those individuals whose courage had been proven beyond doubt, whose stamina, endurance and strength had seen them through the Astartes trials were ready to be added to the ranks of the I st Legion. For near a solar decade the battles would rage, some nine Space Marine Legions taking part in the fighting, and ravaging Human colonies across the northern sectors of the Imperium. Of those Legions caught up in the fighting many would suffer serious losses, the Space Wolves marking the loss of some 5,000 Astartes breaking the siege of Xana alone and the Dark Angels, gathered once again in almost their full number, bore a toll of their own.

Better to Die than Be Killed: With a doomsday virus having been tampered with, and unwilling to sacrifice the planet to escape their base, the squad in Angels of Darkness decide that it would be better to kill themselves than show weakness when their power armor fails to sustain their lives. Following a suicide bombing of an Astartes convoy, the Lion used the I st Legion to establish martial law on Macragge. Certain that Curze was hiding within the rebellious Illyrium region, the Lion advocated the use of a massive orbital saturation bombardment of the region to ensure Curze's death. They could not afford to let the Warmaster acquire the substantial supplies and ordnance needed to fortify the world of Isstvan V against the approaching Loyalist strike force. But the Sarosi delegation had also brought a hidden nucleonic device aboard their shuttle, intending to assassinate the fleet's entire command structure, including El'Jonson, in one fell swoop; however, Luther and a junior Librarian named Zahariel El'Zurias managed to eject the shuttle into space, causing only minor damage to the flagship. Luther admitted to Zahariel that he had discovered the device earlier and had briefly considered allowing it to kill his oldest friend, largely because of the jealousy that had begun to grow in his soul.There, they were greeted by Roboute Guilliman and Sanguinius, whose Blood Angels Legion was also guided to the Realm of Ultramar by the Pharos.

Hope Spot: He doesn't comment on it, but Belial seems to have taken Boreas's words closer to heart. In Master of Sanctity he splits his forces in the battle of Tharsis, leaving a transport escorting a captured Fallen vulnerable in favor of having troops left over to defend the Imperial citizens.

Dark Angels books

Only a small honour guard of the I st Legion would accompany the Emperor to Caliban, for the Legion was still scattered to war zones During his duel with Luther on Caliban, Lion El'Jonson suffered a severe psychic blow which left him mortally wounded. He was then briefly pulled into the raging Warp vortex. Luther survived the contest, but proved mentally unhinged and was taken prisoner by the Dark Angels. The Thousand Sons, bitter at what they perceived as their betrayal by the Emperor, now willingly became the ninth Traitor Legion. The council of Traitor primarchs made their plans for the next step in their war against the Emperor and then each Legion went its way according to its assigned role. Caliban is destroyed in a great conflagration during the final battle between El'Jonson and the Arch-traitor Luther. warriors, perhaps a third of the Legion, each marked by the new beginning they were pledged to, adorned with the winged sword of Lion El'Jonson's Dark Angels instead of the grim marks of an age now ended.

Lion El'Jonson after his awakening in the Era Indomitus of the 41st Millennium. After ten thousand standard years, even a primarch begins to show signs of physical aging.In the wake of these revelations, Imperium Secundus was abolished by the three primarchs as an unfortunate mistake. The three primarchs led their Legions in an attempt to breach the Ruinstorm and reach Terra to defend the Emperor now that they knew He still lived. Five of the primarchs, including four who had fought at Isstvan V, met in person, including Horus, Fulgrim, Angron, Mortarion and Lorgar. Three appeared through the use of hololithic emitters that transmitted their signals through the Warp, including Perturabo, Konrad Curze and Magnus the Red, who had only recently joined the Traitors after the Scouring of Prospero when the broken remains of his XV th Legion had been transported by Tzeentch into the Eye of Terror to the Planet of the Sorcerers. He learned to keep silent, lest he grant advantage to those that stalked him, he learned to fight only when he could win, lest he be wounded too gravely to survive, and he learned that once battle was joined it could end only in death, that the strong would survive and the weak would fall. He fought for his life with nothing but his bare hands and a determination so inhumanly strong that it served him better than any iron-forged blade. In 008.M31, the Dark Angels received intelligence from an astropathic message from the nearby Perditus System about Traitor movements. They immediately moved to intercept. Upon arrival, they interrupted the month-long conflict between the Iron Hands 98 th Clan-Company, led by Casalir Lorramech and a large Death Guard contingent, led by First Captain Calas Typhon. Regardless of whether the Lion had stalked the world-forest of Caliban for a Terran decade or a century, that time had left its mark upon him. The lightless depths beneath the forest canopy teemed with horrors, rapacious killers that often emerged from the deeps to hunt among the towns and villages of Caliban's slowly-dwindling Human population. There, amongst the most foul monstrosities imaginable, the Lion spent his childhood.