Chapter 333 — The Hierarch
Regret's throne drifted backward.
His eyes remained fixed on the giant.
Honor Guards lay scattered across the command deck.
Reinforcements continued pouring into the chamber.
Yet Gaius kept walking.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Regret gripped the controls of his throne.
"Stay back!"
Gaius continued forward.
The twin gravity cannons fired.
WHOOOOM!
The blast struck Gaius squarely.
His armor shook beneath the force.
His boots slid across the deck.
Several meters.
Gaius stopped.
He looked down at the scorched floor beneath his feet.
Then back at Regret.
The Prophet fired again.
WHOOOOM!
This time Gaius lowered his shoulder and walked directly into it.
The force pressed against his armor.
His muscles tightened.
The deck cracked beneath his boots.
But he kept moving.
One step.
Another.
Regret stared.
"Fire!"
The cannons discharged again.
WHOOOOM!
Gaius pushed through the blast.
The distance between them continued to disappear.
Regret's expression changed.
The human was not being driven back.
He was walking through the weapon.
Gaius accelerated.
Regret immediately activated the throne's teleportation system.
The air distorted.
The throne vanished.
Gaius stopped.
His Observation Haki spread through the command deck.
He found him.
Behind.
The throne reappeared.
Regret fired immediately.
WHOOOOM!
Gaius twisted aside.
The blast tore across the deck.
He charged.
Regret teleported again.
Gaius turned before the throne had fully materialized.
Again.
The throne vanished.
Again.
It reappeared.
Gaius was already waiting.
Regret fired.
Gaius raised his arm.
The gravity blast struck his gauntlet.
The force pushed his arm backward.
Gaius forced it down.
He stepped forward.
Regret's eyes widened.
He teleported again.
Gaius followed.
The Prophet was beginning to panic.
Every attempt to create distance failed.
The giant kept finding him.
And each time the throne moved, Gaius was closer.
Regret fired both cannons at once.
WHOOOOM!
The combined blast struck Gaius.
The force finally drove him backward.
But only for a few steps.
Gaius dug his boots into the deck.
His body stopped.
He looked up.
Then he charged.
Regret tried to teleport.
Gaius was already there.
His massive hand slammed into the throne's energy shield.
BOOM!
The shield flared.
Regret's eyes widened.
Gaius struck again.
BOOM!
The shield rippled violently.
Again.
BOOM!
The entire throne shook.
Regret desperately tried to move.
Gaius seized the side of the throne.
The engines screamed.
The throne surged backward.
Gaius did not.
His feet planted against the deck.
The enormous warrior pulled.
The throne slid toward him.
Regret shouted.
"Release me!"
Gaius pulled harder.
Metal groaned.
The throne's engines strained against him.
They could not overcome his strength.
Gaius ripped the throne from its position and slammed it into the deck.
CRAAAAASH!
The energy shield flickered.
Regret was thrown sideways.
Before he could recover, Gaius caught him.
One enormous hand closed around the Prophet.
Gaius lifted him effortlessly from the deck.
Regret struggled.
"Release me!"
Gaius looked down at him.
The difference in size was enormous.
Gaius held the Hierarch's head in one hand, lifting him completely off the ground.
Regret's feet hung uselessly above the floor as he struggled in Gaius's grip. The Prophet was one of the highest-ranking figures in the Covenant, yet in Gaius's hand he was helpless.
Regret clawed at Gaius's wrist, trying desperately to free himself.
Gaius simply looked at him.
Then his other hand closed around the Hierarch's long neck.
Regret's struggling intensified.
Gaius tightened his grip.
There was a sharp crack.
The Hierarch went limp.
Gaius held him for another moment.
Then he released him.
Regret's body dropped heavily onto the deck.
THUD.
The Covenant soldiers stared.
Then the screams began.
"The Hierarch!"
"THE HIERARCH IS DEAD!"
"Kill the humans!"
The command deck descended into chaos.
They had spent the entire battle trying to reach Regret.
Every time they pushed forward, the Ultramarines stopped them.
The Bladeguard held their line.
Titus and Metaurus cut down those who broke through.
The Dreadnought had slaughtered entire groups that tried to force their way toward the Hierarch.
They had fought for him.
Not merely as their commander.
As one of the Hierarchs.
A holy figure.
A chosen leader of the Covenant.
And now he lay dead before them.
Gaius looked down at the body.
Then he raised his head.
His Conqueror's Haki erupted.
There was no restraint.
No attempt to contain it.
It poured from him like an ocean.
The pressure swept across the command deck.
Covenant soldiers froze.
Weapons slipped from trembling hands.
Several Sangheili staggered.
Jiralhanae dropped to their knees.
Then bodies began hitting the deck.
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The weaker soldiers simply lost consciousness.
Even those who remained standing were visibly shaken, struggling to keep their feet beneath the overwhelming pressure.
The Ultramarines regrouped around Gaius.
Metaurus looked down at Regret.
He understood immediately.
The body would be needed.
He bent down and lifted the fallen Hierarch.
The Prophet's body hung heavily in his arms.
Gaius looked across the remaining Covenant.
Their weapons were still raised.
But none of them fired.
They were staring at him.
At the golden giant.
At the dead Hierarch.
At the warriors surrounding him.
Gaius's voice carried across the command deck.
"I gave your kind this warning before."
The soldiers remained frozen.
Gaius looked from one warrior to another.
"Your civilization will be purged."
No one answered.
The pressure of his Haki continued pouring over them.
The Covenant warriors stood tense and silent.
Gaius turned away.
He began walking.
The soldiers in his path hesitated.
One stepped backward.
Another followed.
Then another.
The formation opened.
A path formed through the Covenant ranks.
No one gave the order.
No one needed to.
They simply moved aside.
Gaius walked through them.
Titus followed.
Metaurus carried the body of the dead Hierarch.
The two Bladeguard came behind them, shields still raised.
The Dreadnought brought up the rear, his massive footsteps shaking the deck.
THOOM.
THOOM.
The Covenant continued to give way.
None dared stand in their path.
The Ultramarines walked through the command deck without another shot being fired.
Behind them remained the dead, the wounded, the unconscious, and the shattered command center.
And at the center of it all lay the body of a fallen Hierarch.
The Covenant had watched their leader die.
Now they could do nothing but watch his killers leave.
~~~
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