The first thing that met Chion's eyes was not clarity, but absence.
Entire sections had been blacked out — smothered beneath Primarch seals and Council locks, leaving only scraps to pick through. He did so gladly.
His eyes found the first Black Campaign.
The Blackwater Breach. A localised nightmare. Over twenty-one thousand dead, marking the only recorded incident in which the Evernight Walls had sustained a breach from the Dead Sea. The casualty report was a grim inventory: dismembered bodies, missing personnel, shattered reinforcements, severe damage dealt to all four Primarchs involved in containing it.
And at the centre of the disaster stood Viren. Not merely present — listed in the top five percent of campaign success contributors. Three-Blade honours. Permanent scarring. A missing right arm.
And a heavy title to repay him for what he'd lost for it: The Great Northern Gates.
Chion absorbed the information quietly and moved on.
Next came the Moonfall Incident — another enterprise orchestrated by the Primarchs. Most of the details had been purged, but the broader picture remained clear: an alliance between the Empire and the Single Moon Clan of Telesto, with the sole objective of eradicating the Dual Moon Clan that opposed them. According to the report, all Primarch personnel pulled out halfway through the conflict, leaving the two factions to exhaust one another. Only then was a legion sent back in to finish the survivors.
No honours. No title. No damage taken from fighting what the Primarchs casually labelled exhausted cultists.
The irony of it made him smile faintly as his gaze moved to the next campaign.
The Blood Gulf Incident.
A younger cousin to the Blackwater Breach — only this time, they were prepared. Five Primarchs, a brutal siege, a full eradication campaign. It had produced enough bodies to earn Viren nine honours, fewer scars, and the very title his house now bore: The Iron Veil.
Neat. Truly. Though useless to dwell on.
He moved to the next.
The White Cleansing. His gaze flicked briefly toward Violet, finding her equally puzzled. Neither of them had ever heard of it, and the sheer volume of seals stamped across the document had rendered the text entirely black.
Curious, but useless. He turned the page.
The Warforge Incident. Two Primarch seals. A campaign run strictly by the Matriarch of House Evergarden, backed by the Patriarch of the Evernight. Details completely purged. Null casualties. Null damage.
Also useless.
And finally — The Siege of Vallhala.
Forty-seven thousand casualties, smothered in thick black ink and loose justifications for the war against the Ragna Clan. What remained was a meticulous breakdown of the damage his senior had sustained — trauma that, by all medical accounts, should have left him dead.
Unfortunately, the man had made a full recovery.
So, also useless.
Chion moved through the Red Campaigns quickly. Less censored — a stray detail or two worth noting — until he reached the bottom of the stack.
The Blue Campaign.
The shift in tone was almost absurd. A diplomatic expedition to the Central Continent. Trade negotiations with the Sol Dynasty. The acquisition of a Sol-Glass Crystal — a token earned only by buying the favour of the Sol Emperor himself. Its purpose? A dowry for House Noctis. Apparently, Viren's chosen match would only grant him an audience once he'd successfully secured it.
How troublesome. An entire military campaign dedicated to a courtship.
Chion closed the file with mild disbelief and turned to the final two segments of the Black Box.
First: the Combat Doctrine Assessment.
As expected — an ocean of bureaucratic admiration masquerading as military analysis. Entire pages drowned in tactical terminology, psychological profiling, and strategic speculation. The Clan had, however, thoughtfully highlighted the portions that actually mattered.
His eyes moved down the page.
Preferred Engagement Mode:
Breach and annihilate. Sustained high-pressure assault. Hostile psychological environment maintained throughout engagement window. No withdrawal protocol recorded across fifty-three — Irrelevant.
Endurance:
127% above standard threshold. Prolonged engagement categorically favoured. Attrition strategy inadvisable. Subject has demonstrated operational capacity beyond —
He skimmed past the rest, pausing only where the figures mattered.
Maximum Current Output:
Documented exceeding O-Critical during the Blood Gulf Incident. Standard operational ceiling established O-below Critical threshold. Surge capacity confirmed under combat stress. Replication of conditions inadvisable without —
Destructive Capability:
City-wide collateral deemed possible within fifteen minutes. Containment protocols require minimum safe distance of —
Maximum Combat Duration:
Twenty-nine hours before initial symptoms of collapse. Extended operations viable without resupply. Subject has previously engaged for —
Spell Mastery:
Capable of sustaining seven concurrent spell structures without measurable degradation. Multi-thread casting confirmed across multiple —
Tactical Designation:
High-Value Vanguard Asset. Breach Priority. Siegebreaker. Deployment authorisation restricted to —
Equipment Requests:
Mantle Blade Modification — Siege Hammer… Approved. Specifications: [SEALED]
Armour Customisation — Reinforced Astral Silver… Approved. Specifications: [SEALED]
FINAL ASSESSMENT: Rank IV — SUPREME
Useful. Very useful.
He opened the very last folder.
Hallmark Spell Assessment and Classification.
His eyes found the first spell. Just the first.
Spell Identity: Giant's Gambit
Source: Well of Endless Night
Grade: Saint
Type: Reinforcement
First Hymn: Through fire, through Blood and Ruin, I stand Above you.
Collected Hymns: 5 / 7
Chion paused a moment. A Saint-grade spell with five Hymns secured? That wasn't a problem; that was a big problem.
Spells were graded into seven distinct ranks: Standard, Sovereign, High Sovereign, Pseudo-Saint, Saint, Titan, and Divine. This grading system followed only two measures: how efficiently a spell killed, and how much destructive potential it carried at its base.
The more Hymns a Highblood collected, the greater the efficiency — less current required to cast — but more importantly, the more versatile the spell became.
And Giant's Gambit was a rather horrid reinforcement type. It guaranteed the user would always be physically stronger than whoever they were facing, regardless of the opponent's inherent power or numbers. The only exception was if the baseline strength margin between the two combatants was too wide to bridge.
Which, in Chion's case, it wasn't.
Oh well. He hadn't planned to overwhelm him with raw strength either way.
He moved on. Another reinforcement spell. A third, then a fourth, a fifth — before stopping at seven.
How was he even scarred in the first place?
The eighth spell was a High Sovereign transformation type with six Hymns collected: The Shadow of Cronos.
His jaw twitched slightly. He moved on.
Four emitter-type spells followed. All Sovereign Grade, with the sole exception of a single Standard Grade asset.
Perfect. A human siege fortress with cannons.
This should be interesting.
He shut the folder.