The final battle as the keep falls. Defenders show restraint despite having power to slaughter. Gregory dies. Sir Martin and Marcus arrive to witness and participate. Hank refuses to use devastating power, choosing humanity over victory.

Petro writes letter to Suzanne explaining what he learned, that he can't come home, apologizing for lies about executions. Tells her he loves her and sets her free. Suzanne receives news from Martin that Petro betrayed mission and sided with demons.

A classified testimony from Marcus Chen, sole survivor of the Herald's Fortune salvage mission, reveals contact with an ancient alien station. Chen's crew found thousands of corpses—victims of an unseen alien presence. One by one crew members collapsed as their minds were consumed.

Assault on Aram's anchor site - the most fortified position of the campaign. Niccolo's Aramaic invocation cracks the visible wards. Petrillo leads the physical assault. Abigail maps the focal stones through the tether, lasting 43 seconds before corruption overwhelms her. The stones fall one by one.

At dawn on the rooftop, Arthur delivers an unprecedented personal confession to Petrillo: he has spent his career confusing sacrifice with escape, because dying felt simpler than living without a mission.

Belphegor forces three simultaneous crises. Haatim makes impossible allocation calls - Dominick and Petrillo to water treatment demons, Arthur and Frieda to possessed hostage situation, himself alone to a church where Belphegor delivers a chilling message: he has mapped Haatim's decision-making...

Callum reveals translations showing the world had many gods, the church monotheism is political strategy, and boneglass is a vast living network whose demons are a healing response to a wound. Ren admits his boneglass sensitivity and the fused demon encounter.

The Dark Citadel assault calls for volunteers for a suicide mission protecting Lyria ritual. Ten thousand step forward; Gregory selects 550 permanently injured warriors who cannot fight conventionally.

Petyr breaks the chambers eleven-minute silence by voicing the unspoken conclusion: someone must replace Aethis. The archive reveals that the Progenitors attempted 203 alternatives including the Architects and the Shepherd AI which all failed because the system requires living conscious judgment.