Torn Battlefield

A far smaller force belonging to the reborn Band of the Falcon shreds the enormous Kushan army, leaving every onlooker stunned. Owen has no idea who this brutally efficient third party is, yet the banner overhead jolts a memory loose in him. Silat reads the same standard and works out that Griffith commands the newcomers, leaping down from his rocky vantage with a puzzled Tapasa trailing after.

Wave upon wave of Kushan infantry falls as the band cuts a path toward the emperor. Panicked handlers inside the wheeled fortress, a rolling palace, urge the elephant drivers to flee, but the beasts catch sight of Zodd and freeze in terror, refusing every command. Soon the mobile palace stands encircled, and the Holy See's side watches the operation unfold from a wary distance.

Seated on his throne, Ganishka observes a single warrior in a falcon-shaped helm cut down his elite guard with ease. Griffith raises his visor, and the gesture alone floods the emperor with dread. Griffith clarifies the source of that fear: as a member of the God Hand facing a mere apostle, he stands above Ganishka by nature, whatever the emperor's boasts of supremacy. Like so many others, Ganishka finds himself spellbound. Having slipped into the palace, Silat and Tapasa spy on the meeting through a small round opening behind the throne. Ganishka pours fog from his mouth and appears to dissolve, and when Griffith stretches out a hand, fresh terror drives the emperor into his fog state. Zodd and other apostles push forward to shield Griffith, but he waves them off. Rallying his nerve, Ganishka proclaims himself heir to all creation and vows to defeat the man before him.

The reborn Band of the Falcon routs the numerically superior Kushan force. Silat identifies Griffith as the army's leader from its banner. The elephants hauling the mobile palace refuse to move at the sight of Zodd, and the palace is surrounded. Griffith confronts Ganishka directly, cows him through sheer presence, and asserts his standing as a God Hand member over the apostle emperor. Silat and Tapasa infiltrate the palace and witness the exchange. Ganishka retreats into his fog form and declares his intent to beat Griffith.

This chapter belongs to the Millennium Falcon Arc and runs twenty-one pages. It first appeared in Young Animal issue four, published on February 9, 2007. The confrontation frames the God Hand's inherent superiority over ordinary apostles, a hierarchy made explicit through Ganishka's involuntary terror.