On a triumph, Ikurei Conphas dismounts beneath the Xatantian Arch, Martemus at his side. He thinks that not even Xatantius I had pacified the Scylvendi. His victory over them convinced Conphas that he is more than a man. Priests of Gilgaöl smear Conphas’s limbs with lion blood and wash it off, cleaning his symbolic wounds. To Conphas’s surprise, they are followed by Shrial Priests who anoint him in oil and proclaim him Shield-of-the-Tusk. He thinks that Skeaös had arranged this to tap into the Holy War fever. The Scylvendi are as heathen as the Kianese.