 In the video game Halo 2 ( 2004 ) , a member of the Covenant Prophet triumvirate , Regret , arrives at Earth with a fleet . Most of his fleet is destroyed ; Regret 's ship flees to another ring , Delta Halo , and is followed by the human ship In Amber Clad and the Master Chief aboard her . The Chief kills Regret before the majority of the Covenant fleet arrives at Delta Halo , along with the Covenant 's holy city of High Charity . The death of Regret leads the remaining Prophets to promote the Brutes as their guards , replacing the Elites . The Elites , outraged , threaten to resign from the Covenant high council ; in turn the Prophets give the Brutes carte blanche to kill the Elites , sparking a civil war . In the midst of these developments , the Flood are again released ; the High Prophet Mercy is killed by the parasite , while the last remaining leader , Truth , flees to Earth in a Forerunner ship , entrusting the activation of Halo to the Brute Tartarus . The Elites ally with the humans of In Amber Clad to stop the firing of the ring , but inadvertently set all the remaining Halo rings to be remotely activated from a location known as the Ark , placed outside the range of the Halo Array to protect certain species from the firing of the Halo rings , built as a foundry for the rings including replacing any that get destroyed . 
