A Guild epigraph frames oracular rule as the most dangerous form of government and presents the Guild’s aim as avoiding dependency rather than openly ruling. In Paul’s reception salon, Edric visits in his tank with a hulking aide named Scytale. Edric deliberately reopens the history of Duke Leto’s death and the Harkonnen feud, while Paul notices that Scytale’s stupid appearance is false and that his eyes suggest hidden intelligence.

Edric discusses the Face Dancers’ performance, including their imitations of Paul, Chani, and Stilgar, then turns the conversation toward Hayt and the possibility of destroying a god. Stilgar enters and becomes increasingly angered as Edric questions whether Paul has made himself into a god and whether Paul’s religion is a political fraud. Paul uses mentat analysis to test Edric’s motives and realizes Edric’s rhetoric is not mainly aimed at Paul, but at listeners such as Stilgar, the guards, and perhaps Scytale.

Paul counters by saying religious power was thrust upon him and invoking Alia as a goddess who could kill with a glance. Edric is shaken, and Paul ends the audience while stopping Stilgar from assassinating the Guild Ambassador. As Scytale pushes Edric’s tank out, Scytale offers a pointed thought: people may cling to an Emperor or a religion because they need a unifying symbol in an infinite universe.

After Edric leaves, Stilgar criticizes Paul for allowing danger so close, but Paul says he needed data. Korba then arrives with shigawire histories Paul requested. Instead of discussing Stilgar’s military computations for the Zabulon conquest, Paul orders Stilgar to study ancient rulers such as Genghis Khan and Hitler, using them to force Stilgar and Korba to confront the scale of Muad’dib’s Jihad: billions dead, planets sterilized, worlds demoralized, and religions destroyed.

Korba defends the Jihad as holy conquest, while Paul calls it darkness and begins guiding Stilgar toward a broader understanding of power and responsibility. Korba reports unrest at the reception and intrusions into the formal gardens, where Chani suspects Sardaukar are hidden among the Guild entourage. Paul orders Bannerjee to clear the strangers out, commands Korba to identify and quietly kill those Chani marks as Sardaukar, postpones the Zabulon computations, and ends the reception.