The Ancient Vampire Lords, Book III
Attack on Cerberis, Chapter III

Soul Reaver explains the situation thus far to Clutchfiend and Kalana. Realizing he may be needed here, Clutchfiend decides to remain, but sends Kalana to deal with a group of troublesome Chaos Lords. She opens a Warp Gate and leaves through it, while Clutchfiend continues to watch the proceedings through Soul Reaver’s scrying spell. He is convinced of Jihon’s innocence, and vows to fight to protect him if it should come to that.

Meanwhile, the judging blood continues to trickle. It flows red, red again, and then black…

Anger growing inside of him at this farce of a trial, Jihon suddenly blurts out that if he should be found guilty, he will demand a Trial by Fire. Realizing his error, Fei smoothly interjects before the Council can act. He says that there is no need for a trial, that Tamrissa and Jihon are clearly guilty… and that Jihon has clearly gone mad, as evidenced by his proposal. He proposes that he himself will be allowed to kill them in a duel in the Upper Umbra's colosseum.

The Council agree, but both Fei and Soul Reaver suspect there is more to this than meets the eye - they are planning something. Jihon and Tamrissa are led off into their cells, and Fei meets with Soul Reaver and Clutchfiend. He introduces a friend of his, Thaimes, the Commander of War; apparently he is trustworthy and will help them.

Languishing in his cell, Jihon attempts to use Thisias’ bone-armour ability to free himself from his handcuffs. As his body violently allows the Daemon-bone armour to burst from it, the handcuffs shatter… but Jihon also finds himself naked. His efforts prove to be futile however, as guards rush to the cell to investigate the noise. Tamrissa, realizing that Jihon has been found out, quickly improvises and manages to reduce the guards' suspicions at finding Jihon unchained. However, not leaving anything to chance, the guards decide to chain both Jihon and Tamrissa to the wall so they will not cause further trouble. Luckily though, they give Jihon some clothes.

In the meantime, Thaimes conspires with the companions, forming a plan as to how to rescue Jihon and Tamrissa. He tells them they will need a diversion - one of them will need to open a Warp Gate to the Lower Umbra at the West Gate of the city as Fei fights Jihon and Tamrissa. The creatures that emerge from the Lower Umbra will create enough of a diversion to allow the companions to slip everyone quietly into the Lower Umbra and out of the Council’s reach.

Kelvack, having recovered his strength, rejoins the companions, and Clutchfiend sneaks to the prison to speak to Jihon through the barred window to the outside world. Clutchfiend is amazed to see Jihon without his mask, but Jihon assures him that he is himself.

As they have their reunion, Soul Reaver slips unnoticed through the city toward the West Gate, but has a bad feeling about all of this…

Clutch contacts Kalana and orders to her to return, deciding she may be needed. He promotes a space marine commander to take her place, and orders the fleet to Ion- Bomb the surface of the planet where the Chaos Lords are hiding.

Suddenly, Fei senses something nearby… a disguised Spiritseer, sent to monitor the thoughts of the companions! The Spiritseer tries to flee, but Fei catches him and has Thaimes erase his memory. This proves that the Council is up to something, and is suspicious of the companions. Thaimes then has to take his leave to lead his patrol back into the city…

Jihon and Tamrissa are suddenly freed from their cells and led to the colosseum to be publicly executed. The Council sits, unmoving, almost uninterested, in the top stands overlooking the sandy arena. Although Fei intended to ‘deal with’ the companions himself, the Council trick him and, under the guise of trying to protect his safety, bring in a second combatant to ‘help’ Fei kill the prisoners - a cyborg named Edge Solomy. Fei is not amused by the Council's trickery… but there is nothing he can do. The battle is joined as Clutchfiend watches on in rage. Deciding he will not stand for this treachery, he summons a Voidwraith in preparation for the battle he feels may be coming. The Voidwraith exerts its influence on the other wraiths that have been summoned to watch over the battle, and they come under its control.

Meanwhile, a mighty battle rages between Jihon and his old foe, Edge Solomy. However, Jihon proves too strong, and Edge is slain.

As this is happening, Soul Reaver waits at the West Gate as ordered - he is to remain here until Thaimes leads his troops through the Gate. They arrive and Soul Reaver hides himself until they have gone through the city… and then attempts to open a Warp Gate as ordered.

But he has been tricked.

The creatures that step from the Warp Gate are not from the Lower Umbra - they are the Council! They reveal to Soul Reaver that the Spiritseer that Fei found was watched by two others… and each of those was watched by two more… and each of THOSE were watched by a further two. The Council apparently had long been suspicious of Fei’s loyalty, and now had proven his guilt. The ‘Council’ watching the battle were simply Shapeshifters - the real Council had waited within the Warp to divert Soul Reaver’s Warp Gate and attack… and attack they do. Soul Reaver is smashed violently away and slams into a building, which collapses on top of him.

The Council then teleport to the arena to deal with Fei - their sudden attack knock him senseless. Clutchfiend and his wraiths spring into action, as do Jihon and Tamrissa. However, the Council seems to outmatch them, and the wraiths are quickly obliterated, Jihon knocked unconscious, and Clutchfiend buried beneath a pile of rubble.

To Tamrissa’s surprise, someone she knows runs into the arena: it is Brigid Bliant, daughter of Council member Barram. Although Tamrissa clearly doesn’t like her, Brigid offers her aid. Apparently even she disapproves of the Council’s methods now. As the battle turns even more chaotic, the bloodthirsty audience spills from the stands and joins the fight against the companions.

Regaining consciousness, Fei stands back up and vows to kill the Council for this. Thaimes arrives just in time to help, and his formidable skills allow him to hold even the Council itself at bay. Meanwhile, as Clutchfiend digs himself out of the debris he is buried under, Kalana arrives with reinforcements. Masses of space marines drop from shuttles that appear overhead. They enter the arena to join the bloody battle.

As the battle rages, Jihon awakens again, and asks Kalana to find a suitable host for Thisias’ soul - this will let him resurrect Thisias. Kalana singles out a dangerous enemy soldier, and Jihon unleashes Thisias’ soul, which forcefully dives into the warrior. The warrior’s own soul is ejected and Thisias takes over his body, manifesting himself anew. Now re-born, Thisias joins the battle against the Council.

Tamrissa meanwhile duels with Gavina, one of the Council members. As they fight, Brigid uses her ability to transform into a vicious panther, and together, Tamrissa and Brigid manage to slay Gavina. The raging Fei, in the meantime, slays another Council member.

Elsewhere, Soul Reaver finally manages to heave away the last piece of rubble pinning him to the ground. He attempts to summon Daemons from Inferno to come to his aid, but finds an Etherial Barrier blocking his attempts to open a Warp Gate - it seems the Council has made sure that while this battle rages, nobody can enter and nobody can leave. Abandoning this effort, Soul Reaver uses a Teleport spell to bring himself to the arena, where he immediately slays three thuggish spectators and then turns on a horned Council member.

Thisias and Jihon ask Kalana to come with them - they have a new Triton they want to use for this battle, but they will need a third pilot. They make a run for an open area where they can summon the Triton. However, Jihon suddenly stumbles. The heat of battle is causing his power to start rising uncontrollably. His many, many years of training have caused Jihon to command mighty energies, but he now no longer has the mask to help him contain them. He does not know how to suppress this energy without it. It continues to grow, and Jihon has the chilling fear that once he loses the ability to contain it, the resulting explosion may lead to the destruction of the entire Upper Umbra…

The battle continues to rage as, the old Council member, Pillaire, engages Clutchfiend in a magical duel…