The Soldier's Hymn

Branded Sergeant Volsk publicly confronts Ren in the mess tent over his report recommending study rather than immediate purging of passive host settlements, and reveals his thief background to soldiers present. Ren stands firm on factual arguments about tactical intelligence.

Ren scouts a dead town with twenty-three passive gestation hosts performing preserved behavioral routines and discovers seven hosts engaged in synchronized devotion around a boneglass formation in the chapel.

Two days into the march, the army scouts Thornwell and finds seventeen early-stage gestation hosts including two children. A purge order is issued, but Brother Callum intervenes arguing the slower Cathedral Province conversion rate may allow reversal.

Ren observes the Hierophant Lethane Ashara deliver a masterful sermon to six thousand soldiers, using divine fire, theatrical staging, and channeled resonance to prepare the army to march into the Cathedral Province.

Ren scouts the Cathedral Province border, discovering the demons have adapted patrol formations and camouflage to counter the army methods from the southern campaign.