The army launches a full assault on Greyhollow, a larger demon-occupied market town. Ren observes ninety minutes from a drainage culvert, then assists perimeter security while the branded vanguard dismantles forty-plus demons in twenty minutes.

Team gets Thorne recording at Pike Place Market, releases to public. Recording goes viral. But Lyle discovers Thorne is purging evidence from his compound using military-grade data destruction.

Daniel Reeves, a former accountant permanently manifested by derivative Divinity who continuously perceives all possible deaths of his loved ones with no available treatment, presents his cessation case to Marcus; after reviewing comprehensive medical documentation, Marcus concludes Reeves is...

Wilson searches northern mining tunnels (a diversion by James) while the community center is attacked. He finds Sarah Mitchell, a newly-turned vampire used as bait, and stakes her at her own request.

Traq spends three days interfacing with the archive, learning the entity's consumption model and its vulnerability to chaotic consciousness. He discovers a cognitive defense protocol that can make Vanguard implants invisible to the entity at the cost of 30% efficiency.

Niccolo discovers 14 documented encounters with void-entities spanning 900 years — all failures. Every fighter confronted the entity alone and either died or was consumed. But the pattern reveals why: isolated approaches can't cage a pre-structural entity.

Alternate Marcus arrives from a rigid timeline as an Orthodoxy scout. The two Marcuses confront each other philosophically — certainty vs choice, structure vs possibility. Hope identifies the alternate's timeline as dying. The alternate reveals he was sent to gather intelligence for a strike force.

Nigel finds signal from Kate three days before telling Lucas. Monitors nexus coordinates. Discovers biosignature match: Kate's consciousness persists in seal.

Kate accepts what she might have to become. Not today. Not soon. But someday. The Hollowing whispers: "You understand now. The door always opens eventually." Kate: "Not for you."