When the chapter 24 opens, the immortal beast is talking to Colonel Martin Wall, who has just returned from battle. The two of them discuss the fact that the Union army has failed to advance on Fort William. The immortal beast tells the colonel that he has had extensive training against enemy incarnates, and that he knows how to defeat them. He also tells him that he does not believe he has met the incarnate Centaurus. He says that the story they are going with is that some thing like this. Any small unit of soldiers facing him will not be hit by his arrows. He adds that even though he is attacking alone, it is as if there were ten of them. The end he cannot escape, he says, be filled with terror. He tells the captain that seeing him brings him back, and he wonders if the steel wire is a trap. The captain replies that he did not chase him too far, but that he had felt his strength growing since at war by leaps and bounds.