Thune summons Ren to his spartan tent for the eastern advance briefing, revealing that 37 brands have reduced him to near-mechanical precision. Ren probes for the human behind the weapon and receives the haunting admission: I was a farmer. I think.

Thirty thousand wardens march to the Dark Citadel for the decisive assault on the imprisoned Void Walker. Gregory and Tam share poignant farewells as Tam hands over his contingency succession plan; Bryce says a likely-final goodbye to Abigail; Mina finalizes the mage circles.

Asha val Mechas discovers monitoring Station Fourteen has gone silent with clean cessation, not malfunction. A patrol finds shadow-ground: blackened, cold, changed soil over 200m diameter with the station itself vanished.

Lethane summons Ren and confesses she always knew other gods existed — maintained the lie for unity. No apology: 'Make sure it's worth the cost.' Then Callum faces his personal cost: Sister Dael arrested for distributing heretical texts.

Intelligence from multiple fronts converges on a single point in the Sunderlands called the Crucible, identified as the source of the demonic plague and all boneglass networks. Lethane declares an all-or-nothing campaign to destroy it.

Ren leads the group into a silent abandoned village where residents have vanished without violence. He discovers boneglass veins glowing in the foundation walls and warm ground beneath the cellars—evidence that the town has been consumed by the boneglass network.

The army crests a ridge to see the Fortress of Bone — the consumed city of Thornwall, eight thousand inhabitants, now a crystalline nightmare of boneglass spires and organic walls. Ren assesses 200+ demons with coordinated command unlike anything encountered.

Kate holds Thorne while evidence goes public worldwide. She understands his deepest fear is irrelevance, not prison. Thorne attempts manipulation through family threats and philosophical arguments about exposure being temporary, but Kate counters with the permanence of documented truth.

Sarah Mitchell, a 73-year-old terminally ill Catholic, requests Void cessation instead of Heaven. Her husband Gerald objects. Heaven exercises absolute veto over her soul via baptismal covenant. Marcus contests the veto and demands God examine Sarah, citing the Reeves precedent.