Oraya watches from her bedchamber window as the expected mass Rishan troop departure never materializes. The Bloodborn left days earlier, but not in the numbers she anticipated, and the Rishan remain stationed in Sivrinaj. Growing uneasy, she tries to use the blood mirror to warn Jesmine, but the mirror shows only mist—Jesmine has already moved, and the attack is underway. Oraya's dread builds as she realizes the conditions have shifted from their original plan.

A massive explosion rocks the armory, sending a plume of white and blue Nightfire smoke into the sky—a deliberate recreation of the Moon Palace attack. Oraya watches Hiaj soldiers dive through the clouds into the wreckage and resolves to get down there immediately. She pounds on her locked door, finding not her usual guard Ketura but an inexperienced young Rishan named Killan. When he refuses to let her pass, Oraya summons her Nightfire, overpowers him easily, knocks him unconscious, drags him into her room, and locks the door behind her.

Wearing Killan's stolen cloak and carrying his sword, Oraya navigates the chaotic castle down to the stables, where she takes a horse. As she rides through Sivrinaj's human districts to avoid checkpoints, she encounters Septimus on a dark street. He speaks casually to her without explicitly acknowledging her identity, directing her toward a clear road. Oraya takes the path he suggests, unable to stop and analyze whether he recognized her.

Arriving at the armory's outskirts, Oraya finds a scene of devastation. Jesmine has committed to destroying the armory rather than holding it, unleashing Nightfire and even summoned demons in an echo of the Moon Palace assault. Rishan forces are fighting back fiercely. A dying Hiaj soldier lands at Oraya's feet, triggering a painful memory of her father Vincent's death. When her horse bucks and bolts after hearing a demon's scream, Oraya recovers Killan's sword and charges on foot into the burning armory to find Jesmine and her soldiers.