Marwen's Point battle - full Operation Deluge assault against third Void Walker. Maximum-force doctrine established. Mina nearly dies casting solo binding spell. 1,523 dead. Tactical doctrine codified for future battles.

At a priority council session, Damien presents twenty-two years of seal degradation data with clear visual charts. Daven challenges the diagnosis as single-source interpretation lacking independent verification and proposes a formal six-month study instead of emergency measures.

Six hours into the descent, Sword-Prior Thune's brands begin flickering as concentrated boneglass absorbs their divine power. His suppressed humanity surfaces in oscillating intervals: he was a farmer with a daughter who smelled of rosemary, a wife who painted their door green.

Simultaneous demonic eruptions from below collapse all three eastern front positions in a coordinated gestation attack planted weeks earlier. Ren uses smoke and flash compounds to save retreating soldiers from a flanking ambush but cannot save two of his own scouts: Fennick and Tersen die at...

During his week of confinement, Ren confronts the consequences of overriding the abort as Sera and Ludo each explain why his choice was wrong. Rhythmic tremors begin emanating from beneath the city through the boneglass veins, spreading sickness.

Ren leads branded scouts Kael and Vane on a deep reconnaissance into corrupted territory south of the river, observing organized demon trails and discovering a demon settlement with crude organic structures and sixteen demons performing coordinated labor.

Kate and team infiltrate DataCorp HQ, Lyle corrupts 93% of AI backups. Arrested by police. Hale POV shows damage assessment and phone call to Richard Thorne, revealing the Hale-Thorne partnership that predates DataCorp - Hale builds the tech, Thorne builds the political infrastructure.

Torretti, the former Church assassin who killed Jonathan Kane twenty-five years ago, drives from Washington DC to Chicago carrying the Lance of Longinus.

POV shifts to James Wright. Already established in Yellowknife with precise knowledge of the hunters location at the Explorer Hotel, James reveals plans to Katarina Fischer - his 78-year companion turned in Vienna 1948.