Eris, Eris, what a name, a name for discord, a name for far cold orbits where no living thing should dare to go. I like this name.

Let me give you a gift, Eris. Let me tell you about the power in the logic of the sword:

A Shredder or a Boomer is a powerful weapon, but it kills acyclically. You see? It sends out harm and it takes nothing back. The bolt passes away into nothing. A sword, though, a sword is like a bridge, a crossing-point. The sword binds wielder to victim. It binds life to death. And when the binding is done—the sword remembers. When the Boomer's fire has burnt away into axion and neutrino scatter, the sword goes on, hungrier and sharper.

Understand that this nightmare logic underpins His nightmare world, and you will see why the ascendant blade has so much power there. Whenever in our passage we find ourselves in need of power—remember that the greatest authority here is a blade made keen by eons of use.

This is the world the Hive craves: a universe creased by the edge of the sharpest sword.