The light of dawn passed through the stained-glass windows of the Great Temple.
Golden beams slid across ancient corridors of white stone.
Silence dominated the interior of the sanctuary.
Only the distant murmur of prayers echoed among the high columns.
Priests and servants walked with their heads lowered.
None of them dared raise their voices.
At the center of that silence...
Footsteps echoed slowly.
Toc.
Toc.
Toc.
High Priest Gideon advanced through the long corridors.
Black robes slid softly over the polished marble.
The wide sleeves completely concealed his hands.
His expression remained serene.
The same discreet smile rested upon his lips.
As he advanced...
The priests interrupted their activities.
They respectfully inclined their heads.
Gideon merely continued forward.
Without slowing down.
At the end of the corridor...
Two immense white wooden doors rose before him.
The entire surface was covered by ancient sculptures.
The Wings of Sraosha.
The Judgment.
The Ascension.
Gideon remained motionless for a brief moment.
Then...
He pushed the doors open.
CRRRRRR...
The heavy sound of wood spread through the corridor.
The enormous prayer hall revealed itself before him.
Hundreds of dark wooden benches were arranged in perfect symmetry.
Tall pillars supported the temple's vaulted ceiling.
Long white curtains slowly swayed in the wind that passed through the colored stained-glass windows.
At the far end...
Rose the colossal statue of Sraosha.
The figure stood upright.
Imposing.
Vigilant.
Long stone robes descended to the base of the monument.
Its hands rested together before its body.
Like someone in eternal prayer.
The face conveyed absolute serenity.
Almost unshakable.
The sculpted eyes seemed to watch over the entire hall.
Like a silent guardian that never closed its eyes.
The presence of the statue remained unchanged.
Solemn.
Eternal.
At the feet of the statue...
A single figure remained motionless.
With her back turned.
Short, slightly disheveled silver hair rested against the nape of her neck.
A heavy black military coat descended below her knees.
Dark furs covered her shoulders.
Subtle golden details ran across the uniform.
At her waist...
Rested a saber.
On her right thigh...
A holster held a dark-metal Taurus RT838 revolver.
Gideon observed the figure for several moments.
The discreet smile did not disappear.
"Ekaterina Volkova Dragunova..."
"Former Elder of the Hive."
His voice echoed calmly through the temple.
"I confess..."
"It amuses me that the woman who made distrust into a philosophy..."
"has come precisely to me."
Silence remained for a moment.
Then...
Ekaterina slowly turned around.
The silver hair followed the movement.
It was then that the light from the stained-glass windows revealed her face.
The blue eye contrasted with the biomechanical structure covering the entire right side of her face.
At its center...
The artificial red eye glowed faintly.
A slow smile appeared on her lips.
"Gideon."
Her voice was firm.
Controlled.
"You continue to confuse necessity..."
"with trust."
The smile became almost imperceptible.
"I thought you had already learned that some people simply choose the lesser evil."
Gideon's discreet smile remained unchanged.
Without answering immediately...
He began to walk.
His footsteps echoed through the vast hall.
Toc.
Toc.
Toc.
Behind him...
The heavy temple doors closed once more.
CRRRRRR...
The deep sound of wood spread through the hall.
When silence returned...
Gideon stopped a few steps from Ekaterina.
"Tell me, Ekaterina."
His gaze remained serene.
"What did a researcher like you find..."
"that the Hive itself could no longer offer?"
Ekaterina held his gaze for several moments.
The discreet smile returned to her lips.
"I imagine you understand, Gideon."
"Conversations are a luxury I cannot afford at the moment."
She turned her eyes toward the stained-glass windows.
"After passing through one of the Hive's passages..."
"my location is no longer a secret."
Silence settled between the two once again.
Gideon merely nodded slightly.
"The information you provided me about the Five Awakened..."
"has been recorded in the Codex of the Fallen and the Ascended."
His voice remained calm.
"As promised, the passage will be at your disposal."
Ekaterina merely smiled.
Without saying a single word...
She began to walk.
As she passed Gideon...
The High Priest's voice echoed through the temple once again.
"Even so..."
She did not interrupt her steps.
"There is one matter..."
"that you should not ignore."
A brief pause.
"The Sixth Tide."
Her footsteps ceased.
Silence once again dominated the hall.
Without turning immediately...
Ekaterina spoke with absolute tranquility.
"The Sixth Tide was annihilated."
Gideon's discreet smile became slightly more pronounced.
He turned toward Ekaterina.
Their gazes met.
"It would seem..."
Gideon discreetly raised his hand.
He indicated one of the benches in the vast prayer hall.
"Since you left the Hive..."
"your information stopped accompanying you."
Ekaterina slightly raised an eyebrow.
"What do you want, Gideon?"
The High Priest remained silent for a brief moment.
Then answered:
"Everything."
A brief pause.
"I want every piece of information you possess..."
"about the Marquis of Vhaelor."
Ekaterina narrowed her eyes slightly.
"You still haven't lost that habit..."
"of wanting everything."
The discreet smile never left Gideon's lips.
Ekaterina's hand rested upon the revolver.
"I hope you still know how to distinguish a revelation..."
"from a sermon."
Her gaze remained unwavering.
"Because, if all of this amounts to nothing but words..."
"your succession will begin before nightfall."
Gideon did not answer.
His hand continued indicating one of the benches.
Ekaterina held his gaze for a few more moments.
Then...
She removed her hand from the revolver.
She walked toward one of the benches in the vast prayer hall.
Meanwhile...
Before the Second Wall...
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A violent explosion shook the entire long fortified passage.
The impact traveled through the wall like thunder.
Entire blocks of stone broke away from the battlements.
A new cloud of dust rose dozens of meters above the field.
Before it could even descend...
BOOOOOM!!
Another impact.
Even more violent.
The ground trembled once again.
Deep cracks crossed the ancient stone road for hundreds of meters.
Craters overlapped one another.
Deep impact marks spread throughout the entire passage.
In several places...
Large grooves cut through the stone as if a colossal blade had torn through the ground itself.
No part of that passage remained intact.
Upon the Second Wall...
The sentinels merely watched.
In silence.
Far below them...
Two figures crossed the field like true natural disasters.
BOOOOOM!!
The weapons collided once again.
The shockwave hurled fragments of stone in every direction.
Garrick spun the enormous warhammer, taking advantage of all the inertia from the previous impact.
Without interrupting the movement...
He turned the defense into a horizontal strike.
The heavy head of the weapon tore through the air.
WHOOOOM!!
Boran did not retreat.
He merely adjusted his stance slightly.
His forward foot sank several centimeters between the cracks in the stone.
His hips rotated at the exact instant of impact.
CLAAAAANG!!
The warhammer met the gigantic hybrid weapon.
Instead of receiving the full force head-on...
Boran channeled the impact through the structure itself.
Steel slid against steel.
Sparks spread through the corridor.
The warhammer's trajectory deviated by several centimeters.
Garrick smiled.
At that same instant...
He released one hand from the handle.
He spun his body.
Completely changing the weapon's axis.
The warhammer, which a moment earlier had been pushing to the right, plunged violently downward.
BOOOM!!
The stone exploded.
Fragments rose like projectiles.
Without even looking at them...
Boran had already pulled his weapon back.
The enormous mace covered in metallic spikes traced a short arc.
It was not seeking Garrick.
It was seeking the space he would inevitably need to occupy.
Garrick laughed.
He took advantage of the instant the mace crossed the space in front of him.
He propelled himself forward using the head of his own warhammer, braced against the ground.
His body traced an unexpected angle.
Escaping the blow by mere centimeters.
In the same movement...
The warhammer's handle violently struck the bandages wrapped around Boran's forearm.
THOOM!!
The giant did not even stagger.
His arm absorbed the impact.
Before Garrick could fully recover his stance...
Boran moved in.
Violently driving the shaft of his own weapon forward.
Garrick crossed the warhammer's handle before his body.
BOOOOM!!
The collision unleashed a violent shockwave that swept away all the dust around them.
The two slid only far enough to reorganize their footing.
Boran remained motionless.
His eyes rested upon Garrick.
"I expected more from one of the Five of the North."
His fingers subtly adjusted their grip on the weapon.
"If I had known I would find only this..."
"I would have left Dharmapala at the temple."
Garrick let out a brief laugh.
"Funny..."
The warhammer came to rest upon his shoulder once again.
"While you were praying inside a temple..."
"I was spending my time burying your allies."
Boran remained silent for several moments.
His eyes slowly traveled across Garrick's armor.
The heavy pale steel was covered in cracks.
Deep marks.
"I see."
With a single movement...
Boran spun Dharmapala.
The heavy weapon traced an arc before his body.
The deep sound of chains echoed through the passage.
The gigantic blade of the axe turned upward.
His eyes remained fixed on Garrick.
"Then I will allow..."
"you to be buried by my hands."
Garrick narrowed his eyes.
For a brief moment...
The air around Boran seemed to waver.
Like heat distorting the horizon.
The smile disappeared from Garrick's face.
The warhammer slid from his shoulder.
Both hands wrapped around the handle once again.
His left foot advanced half a step.
His knees bent slightly.
The weight of his body sank into his stance.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
Garrick had not even finished distributing his weight across his stance.
Boran was already before him.
Dharmapala descended from above like the blade of a guillotine.
WHOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Garrick's entire body contracted instinctively.
The warhammer rose to intercept it.
CLAAAAAAAAANG!!!
The metallic explosion traveled through the entire passage.
Garrick's boots sank several centimeters into the stone.
Cracks spread beneath his feet.
The gazes of the two met.
Garrick clenched his teeth.
The muscles in his arms bulged beneath the armor.
Veins stood out along his neck as his entire body struggled to withstand the impact.
On the other side...
Boran remained absolutely motionless.
His arm did not tremble.
His breathing remained steady.
Not even his expression had changed.
Dharmapala continued descending.
Centimeter...
After centimeter.
The warhammer's handle began to give way.
Garrick's knees bent involuntarily.
CRRRAAAACK!!
The stone beneath his feet cracked once again.
Boran observed Garrick without the slightest emotion.
"Rest."
His lips moved once more.
"गरुकभार कर्म." (Material Karma)
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The air exploded.
An invisible wave came crashing down upon Garrick like a mountain.
CRRRAAAAAACK!!
The fortified passage broke beneath his boots.
The cracks shot out in every direction.
Fragments were hurled everywhere.
A gigantic cloud of dust rose over the passage of the Second Wall.
Within moments...
The entire view of the field disappeared beneath the dust.