As the Didact careened through the quantum link en route to the Domain, he braced for the battle awaiting him. Thanks to the efforts of the sub-monitors he had found the way back, but unfortunately Cortana hadn't left the Halo in pursuit as he'd hoped.
The Ur-Didact was a Promethean, a class of warriors considered elite even amongst the rest of the Warrior-Servant rate:
An elite class within the rate of Warrior-Servant.
Prometheans devote their entire lives to war and had unique mutations (augmentations) that overall meant they had few equals within the entire ecumene (Forerunner Empire), with each Promethean having boundless strategic skill:
An elite class within the rate of Warrior-Servant, the Prometheans were a fellowship who had devoted their lives to the art of war, to the near-exclusion of all else. Though not technically a separate rate, the Promethean mutations and imprinting methods wqere profoundly distinct from those of their fellow Warrior-Servants and set them apart from all other Forerunners. Utilized only for military actions of the utmost importance and severity, the Prometheans had few physical equals within the ecumene. Each Promethean was a paragon of remarkable ability and willpower, backed up by living and artificial minds with a depthless strategic acumen. Their historic contribution to Forerunner military power was immeasurable.
Until he was ambushed by the Master Chief, he'd never been wounded by a Human before. This includes in the Forerunner-Human Wars, which lasted for over 1,000 years, with the final one being waged continuously for 53 years:
Absently he rubbed the phantom ache in his right eye -- the Spartan's blade had dug in deep. The first direct wound he'd ever received from a human. Not as advanced as their ancient human ancestors, of course, but the present-day warrior was not so unlike the Lord of Admirals or the other exceptionally gifted humans he'd once fought.
Noted to be without equal amongst the remainders of the Warrior-caste:
Without equal among Prometheans during the final years of Forerunner civilization, the Didact was the Protector of Ecumene and a devout upholder of the Mantle.
Considered the Forerunners' greatest warrior:
The Gravemind repurposed the Forerunners' greatest warrior into a weapon to sow chaos during their darkest hour, and so the Didact was returned to the ecumene where he sought to find a solution to the Flood that would not involve wiping out all life in the galaxy.
Noted to be the greatest tactical opponent Ancient Humanity's Lord of Admirals (the highest position in the Ancestors' military command structure and their greatest tactician and warrior) had ever faced. Forthencho had fought the Flood, at this point:
But Charum Hakkor would be cut off from the rest of their empire, preventing reinforcements and supplies from being brought in, but even in such dire circumstances the Lord of Admirals -- commander of the Ancestors' forces -- was able to match wits with his greatest opponent, the Didact.
Called the greatest of the Warrior-Servants:
The child of one of the greatest Warrior-Servants of all time, and is noted to possess her strength and abilities:
And when they attempted to silence his father, they were brought up against the impenetrable shield of one of the greatest Warrior- Servants in existence, from a family with a long lineage of greatness and strength.
His mother.
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"I knew your mother. As did Bitterness. She was the best of us all. You have her remarkable strength and fortitude, and your father's formidable driving force."
Considered to be Humanity's greatest enemy, even moreso than the Flood or the Covenant:
The Master Chief had unwittingly been brought here to release Humanity's greatest enemy.
Easily defeats Black Team and then Blue Team. He would have killed the latter had 859 Static Carillon not saved them:
The Warden Eternal suggests that in his prime, the Didact might have been equal to a Cortana with the power of the heavily damaged yet still virtually limitless Domain at her fingertips:
With a slow laugh, the Warden walked around the Didact, dragging the tip of his sword along the barren ground. "You think yourself far more significant than she thinks of you. Perhaps once you were her equal, but no longer. Cortana will not return here. She has what she wants. The Domain. The Mantle. Halo."
Holds his own against the Warden Eternal in their true form, landing multiple hits, briefly driving it back and then ultimately defeating it with the help of the Ancestors (Ancient Humanity) and Forerunners gathered in the void. A single copy of the Warden is capable of taking on either Blue Team or Fireteam Osiris, and killed countless Forerunner and Ancestor essences:
The Didact gritted his teeth, then refocused on his enemy, settling his thoughts. His fingers flexed on the blade's hilt. And then he advanced on the Warden.
With a massive swing, their blades met, the contact creating a frequency so low and powerful that it was felt across the area more than it was heard. They met with precise motions, the speed creating a blur of orange, red, and gray as the Didact dodged in and out of the Warden's reach, testing his ability, identifying his weaknesses, and so far finding none.
Even though the tendrils of the seal held the Warden's legs immobile, he was several meters taller than the Didact and his reach covered the entire circle, his moves striking lightning-quick and with enough force to clear the seal of Haruspis's rock scrapings.
The Didact came up behind the Warden and swung, extending his right arm fully, the riftblade's tip slicing effortlessly through an alloy calfplate before blocking the Warden's incoming thrust.
His heart hammered, his body hummed, and the Didact let ingrained memory take over. Those early days with Silence on the training pad hovering over the River Dwoho, the constant staff work until his hands bled . . . strike, block, parry, duck, spin, thrust . . . teaching countless others, including his own children and wife. The dance filled him, energized him, brought him to a state of intense focus.
The Warden was bigger and stronger, so he had to be quicker and smarter. Suddenly the Warden launched a furious attack, twisting and turning his body, the seal's grip expanding, loosening, and finally breaking.
The Didact leapt back, just evading the Warden's deadly blade. The Warden was free now, though still confined by the circle it seemed, and unable to shift in and out of reality. The Didact blocked several attacks in a row, the force sending him to one knee. Before another came, he rolled and swung wide, catching the Warden in the back, slicing through the edge of an alloy plate and into his hard-light, quantum body.
The Warden roared.
Breath coming fast, the Didact stumbled as he blocked a ferocious blow. His armor was taking a beating, several plates sliced to shreds by the Warden's attacks. He felt the burn of assorted slashes, but in the heat of battle, there could be no pain.
Soon that would change. Soon it would all come down to endurance.
And on that front, the Warden could outlast him indefinitely.
He had to end it before he grew too fatigued. And to do so would require risk.
The Warden struck over and over, reducing the Didact to blocking and evading.
Once again, memory invaded the Didact's mind:
Nomdagro. Sitting on the edge of the training pad, legs hanging over, bruised and bloodied, chest heaving after an intense session with several cadets his senior. And Silence sitting down beside him, scanning Shadow's many injuries.
"Did you win?"
He grunted affirmatively.
"Good. Then that is all that matters."
But he almost hadn't won that fight. "What happens when I know I'm losing? When I know I cannot win?"
Silence clapped a hand on his back. "You must take risks, Shadow, rely on the environment, those around you. Use whatever you have at your disposal. . . ."
His muscles trembled, but he knew he had to advance. He had to end it now.
With the last of his strength, the Didact pushed forward in a flurry of strikes, spending what was left of his energy and, in doing so, losing hold of his emotions. Anger swept in, carrying with it old betrayals, old hurts and torments that stung fresh. But these things did not weaken him. They supplied strength where he was lacking. With every strike and block, every labored breath, all the pent-up rage and hurt and grief and trauma he had endured, all the moments of his life when he'd been imprisoned, wronged, his choices taken from him, rose up. Even before the Gravemind, he had always moved forward, always doing what he thought was right, what was required of him, allowing his resentments and rage to build, never asking for aid -- just shoving it all away, deep into his very psyche.
His fierce, relentless attack finally put him within the Warden's grasp, setting the stage for a very foolish risk. He blocked a return strike, and, in a blur, the Warden grabbed the Didact's wrist with one hand and picked him up by the throat with the other. His feet dangled off the ground. His armor crushed around his wrist. The blade dropped to the ground, inert.
The Didact had put himself in harm's way, had taken a calculated risk, relying on those around him to rise to the occasion and provide him with the distraction he needed --
The Warden suddenly jerked back as a streak of gray slammed into his body.
And another, and another.
Pummeled by essence after essence diving into his form, the Warden's massive hand around the Didact's throat weakened. He fell to the ground, rolled out of danger's path, snagging the hilt of the quantum blade. As soon as his hand wrapped once more around its grip, the shadowy blade flared to life and the Didact surged forward.
Using all his might, he leapt and shoved the blade into the Warden Eternal's chest with both hands, and then dragged it down through his torso.
The Warden's pained, indignant roar shook the Didact's eardrums as the massive construct dropped to his knees. Instantly, a self-generated rescue portal began to open behind the Warden, but with one last swing, the Didact sliced at the Warden's armored head diagonally, severing it in two.
Lungs on fire, the Didact stumbled back, dropping the blade as the Warden Eternal slowly fell, disintegrating before he hit the ground. Glittering fragments floated up, filling the sky, burning away like dying embers until there was nothing left.
Has access to what appear to be constraint fields. These are Forerunner energy fields that can be projected for a variety of purposes, including forcefields to protect against smashing through Hard Light buffer fields, designed to protect against rapid depressurisation in space:
I ran as fast as the armor allowed -- very fast indeed, through a sluggish maze of recovering monitors and sentinels, across the plaza surrounding the amphitheater hemisphere -- up onto a broad ledge looking out over the rim of equatorial disk -- where I was intercepted by a guard, who spun me into a constraint field.
For an awful moment, I thought I was back in the hands of the Master Builder's troops, until I saw the face of Glory of a Far Dawn, and noticed that on her other side, she was also dragging the First Councilor, the First Observer of the Court -- Splendid Dust himself -- in another field.
Our trip across the plaza ended when, with a sudden leap, the female Warrior-Servant propelled us through the weakened buffer field -- which threw a sparking glow around us -- and beyond the gravitational gradient, out into empty space, with nothing to stop our fall for at least a hundred kilometers.
The Ur-Didact can exert constraint fields of enough power that even the Master Chief in Gen-1 Mark VI armour - which amplifies his strength by a factor of five - couldn't resist at all and was nearly crushed to death. What makes this even more impressive as it seems the constraint fields can bypass Mjolnir energy shields, which act like a second layer of protection:
He also uses them to ragdoll him:
He can project energy beams that one-shot S-IIs in Gen-2:
Can communicate via telepathy (it was undetectable to Cortana):
Cortana: "Nicely done, Chief. Two more to go."
Ur-Didact: "Your actions tread between honor and foolishness."
John-117: "Cortana, are you hearing him?"
Cortana: "No. Didact?"
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Ur-Didact: "The Mantle of Responsibility for the galaxy shelters all, human. But only the Forerunners are its masters."
John-117: "Cortana, where's this coming from?"
Cortana: "Where's what coming from?"
John-117: "The Didact's voice."
Cortana: "I'm not picking up anything, Chief."
John-117: "He's there. Keep trying."
Can use a scanner strong enough to forcibly review a victim's memories, even the likes of the Master Chief's:
Appears to have total control over the artificial world of Requiem, dissolving the cover the Master Chief was hiding behind:
Repeatedly displays the ability to levitate and fly: