Editing Funeral of Escharum

{{Status|Canon}}
{{Under construction}}
{{Callsign}}
{{Battle infobox
|name=Destruction of the House of Reckoning
|image=
|prev= [[Battle of the Silent Auditorium]]
|conc=
|next=[[Raid on Rdomnai Keep]]
|conflict= [[Post-Covenant War conflicts]]
*[[Battle for Zeta Halo]]
|date= [[2560#June|June 4, 2560]]
|place= [[House of Reckoning (location)|House of Reckoning]], [[Installation 07]]
|result= '''Decisive UNSC victory'''
*House of Reckoning destroyed
*Unknown number of Banished forces and commanders dead
|side1    = *{{Icon|UNSC 2560}} [[United Nations Space Command|UNSC]]
|side2    = *{{Icon|Banished}} [[Banished]]
|commanders1    = *[[Master Chief Petty Officer|MCPO]] [[John-117]]
|commanders2    = *[[Blademaster]] [[Jega 'Rdomnai]]
*[[Legionmaster]] [[Ballas]]
*[[Warlord]] [[Val 'Hasumai]]
*[[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Chieftain]] [[Gallian]]†
*[[Captain (Covenant)|Captain]] [[Denakrium]]
|forces1  = *1 [[SPARTAN-II program|Spartan-II]]
**[[John-117]]
*1 [[Eris tactical nuclear weapon]]
*2 [[Aggressor Sentinel]]s
|forces2 =*[[Jiralhanae]]
*[[Sangheili]]
*[[Kig-Yar]]
*[[Unggoy]]
*[[Human]]s
*[[Lekgolo]]
*[[Kaelum Workshop Banshee]]s
*[[Riuctda Workshop Ghost]]s
*[[Eklon'Dal Workshop Phantom]]
*3 [[Banished dreadnought]]s
|casual1  = *Zero
|casual2  = *Heavy
**Gallian
}}
The '''Destruction of the House of Reckoning''' was a brief operation conducted by [[Master Chief Petty Officer|Master Chief]] [[John-117]] to wipe out a large number of Banished forces gathered for [[War Chief]] [[Escharum]]'s funeral. It resulted in an unknown number of Banished troops and commanders killed in the blast, with the only known survivors being [[Jega 'Rdomnai]] and his prisoner, [[Hospital corpsman|Combat medic]] [[Lucas Browning]].

==Background==
{{Main|Battle of the House of Reckoning}}

In the three days following the [[Battle of the Silent Auditorium]], the Banished's leadership would begin to deteriorate without Escharum, having begun broadcasting mass executions of prisoners through their comm towers and some turning on their [[Human]] forces. Despite this, they maintained a heavy presence on the ring and even retook some of the [[Forward Operating Base]]s the Master Chief had claimed. Eschurum's funeral would also take place over the three days, with rumors circling that a new leader for the Banished would be picked at its end.{{Ref/Novel|Id=EOD1|EOD|Chapter=1}} After taking a day to rest at [[FFG-611]], the Master Chief planned to use an [[Eris tactical nuclear weapon]] to wipe out any potential replacement to Eschurum and keep the Banished in chaos, per the [[Rubicon Protocol]]. Meanwhile, [[Joyeuse]] would use the [[encephalon]] taken from [[117649 Despondent Pyre]] by the [[Harbinger]] to take control of two [[Aggressor Sentinel]]s to transport the nuke.{{Ref/Novel|Id=EOD4|EOD|Chapter=4}}
{{Stub|section=yes}}

==Operation==
After being dropped close to the House of Reckoning by [[Echo 216]], Joyeuse was able to take control of two Sentinels in the cavern under the island the House of Reckoning was built upon. John would then give one the Eris-class nuke before making their way to the surface of an island fragment close to the House of Reckoning.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD4}} Joyeuse ordered the Sentinel with the nuke to leave it on the ground and piloted it past Banished defenses and to a vantage point high above the House. After John primed the nuke, he told her to wait until the funeral was over before sending in case they could get any useful intel. Joyeuse observed the various gathered member species of the Banished, notably seeing the [[Jiralhanae]] feasting around fires and engaging in combat in makeshift arenas to express their grief and rage to Eschurum's death, while Chief listened in on.{{Ref/Novel|EOD|Chapter=5}}

Atop the roof of the House of Reckoning, [[Blademaster]] [[Jega 'Rdomnai]], having survived his encounter with the Master Chief days earlier, would meet with four Banished commanders to potentially replace Escharum; [[Jiralhanae Chieftain|Chieftain]] [[Ballas]] of the [[Clan of the Ravaged Tusks|Ravaged Tusks]], [[Gallian]] of the [[Witch's Eye]], [[Warlord]] [[Val 'Hasumai]] and [[Captain (Covenant)|Captain]] [[Denakrium]].{{Ref/Novel|Id=EOD6|EOD|Chapter=6}} Each of them had their own advantages; both Ballas and Gallian had the most experience of the four and had the largest number of Jiralhanae backing them, Val 'Hasumai was more intelligent than the three brutes and had support from Sangheili, Kig-Yar, Unggoy and Humans,{{Ref/Novel|Id=EOD7|EOD|Chapter=7}} and Denakrium, while being the weakest of the three, hailed from the same clan as Escharum which gave him an edge in loyalty over the others.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD6}}{{Ref/Reuse|EOD7}} After which, Jega conducted an ancient funerary rite for Escharum, having carved symbols representing the three moons of [[Doisac]] onto Escharum's hand, forehead and torso over the three nights prior, tossed a horn carved from the spine of a ritual horn carved from the spine of a [[Thorn beast]] to Denakrium to sound and finally putting Escharum's body to cremation.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD6}}

As the funeral came to an end, John armed the nuke and ordered Joyeuse to move it to position. Ballas, Gallian and Val 'Hasumai then each made their calls to the Banished to pick them to lead, each promising revenge for Escharum's death. However, they would progressively more hostile toward humans with Ballas simply promising death to the Master Chief, Gallian calling for the death of all humans on the ring and Val 'Hasumai calling for them to destroy [[Earth]] to honor Escharum. Gallian spoke again and accused Escharum of not being brutal enough, noting all the Master Chief had killed and almost killed in the case of Jega. Enraged, Jega killed Gallian by splitting him in two with his [[Energy sword]], causing a fight to break out amongst the gathered Banished forces that the Blademaster quickly quelled. Jega told the crowd that he did not care who the new Banished leader would be, only that they honor Escharum's legacy to kill every human of the UNSC. At this, Brute guards bring forth [[Lucas Browning]] and Ballas called for his death in Escharum's honor, but Jega refused it.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD7}}

The crowd's cheers for Lucas's death almost made John charge out from his hiding place, but was stopped by Joyeuse. He instead ordered her to get him a better view of Lucas to identify him.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD7}}

Before Ballas could retaliate against Jega, Val 'Hasumai stepped in, recognizing Lucas as the [[Harbinger]]'s "pet", and began accused Jega of wanting to keep Lucas alive to get the secrets the Harbinger had shared with him. At this, the other Banished commanders began to turn on Jega, pointing out his apparent hypocrisy of not wanting to lead the Banished while wanting dominance and dishonorably speaking lies. In response, Jega grabbed Lucas and escaped on a Phantom. Chief ordered Joyeuse to have one of her Sentinels follow Jega and drop the nuke as soon as it was clear before calling Echo-216 for an extraction.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD7}}

The resulting nuclear blast obliterated the House of Reckoning. The number of Banished killed is unknown, as it was possible that some managed to make it out of the blast radius, though the resulting shockwave would likely have torn some ships out of the sky.{{Ref/Reuse|EOD7}}

==Aftermath==
{{Main|Raid on Rdomnai Keep}}

{{Stub|section=yes}}

==List of appearances==
*''[[Halo: Edge of Dawn]]'' {{1st}}

==Sources==
{{Ref/List}}

{{Engagements in the Installation 07 conflict}}
[[Category:UNSC victories]]