There's one moment in particular that has always really messed me up. And credit to John Shirley and his book "Broken Circle" for really pulling me into this scene:
Quote:
Exquisite Devotion brings Zo to a weapons-testing facility, where he has gathered several Sangheili High Councilors in the Gravitational Refinement chamber. He informs Zo that Torg and his Councilors have been executed on the ring for opposing the replacement of the Honor Guard, and he questions Zo's allegiance with these Sangheili and believes him to be a traitor to the Covenant. He also believes that Zo knows the whereabouts of the Arbiter, and to force Zo to confess, he tortures a Sangheili High Councilor by using localized gravitation to slowly crush his body. Though Zo insists he knows nothing of the Arbiter, Exquisite Devotion continues to torture the High Councilor, eventually crushing him to death.
The above is a quote from Halopedia regarding the scene I'm referring to. At some point during this scene, a Sangheili is being essentially flattened like a tube of tooth paste while his son screams in agony for him. It's an incredibly emotional and gruesome scene and I honestly felt sick reading it (mind you, my job has me seeing some pretty messed up stuff on a weekly basis). Nothing has ever come close to the visceral reaction I received from reading this part of "Broken Circle".