Deep within the Brood Hive, the throne woven from flesh and insect carapaces slowly opened its eyes.
At the center of that nightmarish palace, a slender figure stood silently atop the writhing throne.
The Despair Witch wore a crimson gown that trailed across the sticky flesh floor, its hem flowing like a tide of blood.
She quietly watched the Knights charging out of the mist. There was no surprise in her eyes, only a faint trace of mockery.
"...You've finally delivered yourselves to my doorstep."
Her voice was soft, weary yet strangely satisfied, as though everything had gone exactly as she expected.
"How lovely... I was still wondering whether to waste more energy attacking the city... Let me see how long the Empire's iron will can struggle in the face of death."
With a slight movement of her slender fingers, countless monsters embedded with severed limbs and twisted spines surged toward the charging Knights.
Some had more than a dozen arms. Others had no heads, their bodies covered in gaping mouths. Still others had been assembled from the corpses of three or four fallen Knights, their severed arms retaining enough memory to repeat the sword forms they had practiced in life.
Their appearance triggered a chaotic resonance in the assaulting Knights' minds.
The faces of fallen comrades, the wails of infants, visions of their own bodies being torn apart... Everything seemed to fire directly upon their consciousness.
These creatures were enemies of the flesh and cancers of the mind.
Within the charging formation, some Knights had already begun growling in agony, their battle aura leaking out as they wildly swung their longswords, trying to dispel the hallucinations circling through their minds.
"Grit your teeth! Don't think about it!" Gaius roared.
Battle aura blazed around him, enveloping his body like flaming