Date: February 12, 542 since the Fall of Zanra the Dishonored.
Kaedan's inner world was no longer quiet. The image of the five-year-old boy watching his receding home through the cracks of the cart flared up and dissolved in the roaring stream of silvery flame. That very "defective" essence, once rejected by his parents, finally found its true form. It was not chaotic — it was too dense for ordinary people, craving not submission, but absolute protection.
Kaedan stepped from the shadows. His left hand, which moments before had hung like a whip, was suddenly enveloped in a vortex of gray stone dust. A sound like the song of a hundred anvils rang out. The basalt vambrace did not simply restore — it grew anew, becoming more massive and acquiring a strange, noble sheen of polished silver.
"I... will no longer allow... things to break!" Kaedan roared, his voice gaining a metallic depth.
The burst of power within his Vessel was so powerful that the remnants of his shattered Order breastplate simply flew off. From Kaedan's very essence, a new Armor began to form. Silvery-black stone enveloped his shoulders, chest, and thighs, fusing into a single, seamless monolith. But the transformation did not end.
Plates began to grow above the neckline of the breastplate, rapidly rising towards the youth's face. They converged in the center, forming a massive helmet with a narrow T-shaped visor for the eyes. The moment the helmet clicked into place, completing the contour, a powerful vibration passed through the hall.
Kaedan had officially crossed the line. He had become a Pillar. His Indomitable Armor was complete, and now it gleamed with cold silver under the light of the Central Crystal. The density of his presence increased so much that gravity around him began to warp, causing small fragments of stone to hover in the air.
Meanwhile, Mirza had raised his cleaver for a decisive blow against Iskon, whose shield was already cracking. The Thunder Hammer's Blessing made the Orc almost a god of destruction. But in that second, as the blade was about to fall, a silvery barrier appeared between the Harbinger and his target.
Kaedan dashed across, taking the cleaver's impact on his crossed vambraces.
A deafening clang rang out, and visible waves of pressure radiated through the hall. The floor beneath Kaedan's feet sagged, but the youth did not budge an inch. His new, silver armor withstood the Harbinger's power. There wasn't a single scratch left on the stone.
"What the?.." Mirza stepped back, his amber eyes widening in surprise. "Stone boy... you finally finished your wall?"
Kaedan did not answer. Through the narrow slit of his helmet, his gaze, now also bearing a silvery hue, was fixed on the enemy. He felt his renewed energy circulating through the Armor, making him practically invulnerable to physical attacks.
Grak Axe, rising from his knees, wiped blood from his face and took a position to Kaedan's left. Iskon, staggering, took the position on the right.
"Three against one," Mirza grinned, his ritual scars flaring with new strength. "Now this truly looks like a legend! The Temple's Pillar, the Pillar of Silver, and a Harbinger of Order. Come on! Show me if your combined faith can stop the wrath of my Ancestors!"
Mirza lunged into the attack, but this time he faced different resistance. Kaedan became the immovable center of their defense. He took the Orc's most terrible blows upon himself, becoming the anvil against which the Harbinger's rage shattered. Grak and Iskon, using Kaedan's protection as cover, delivered swift, stinging counterstrikes.
It was the perfect balance: Iskon changed scale, Grak split space, and Kaedan simply remained unchanging. Mirza, for the first time throughout the expedition into the Temple, felt his power encountering an equally strong barrier. The three knights of the Order, acting as a single organism, began to even the fight against the Harbinger.
Above them, the Central Crystal pulsed with a dazzling rhythm. The Temple of True Balance watched this battle, and with each of Kaedan's strikes, each of Iskon's shields, they moved closer to the moment when old ranks would finally lose their meaning before the face of a new reality.