As Diomedes exposes the false Helios, the impostor releases a neurotoxin, dropping Diomedes, Zagria, and the Dustwalkers. Bridge allies are slaughtered outside the shroud. The impostor spares Diomedes’ life only to hood and paralyze him, then assumes Dustmaker’s systems via the Cestus while a Gorgon tech deploys a Helminth virus through the fleet.

Answering a tightbeam, a locust-swarm visage linked to Volsung Fá acknowledges Atlas as Allfather. Atlas then calls Dido au Saud and, without preamble, executes her by firing Dustmaker’s main guns and atomics into Dragon Song’s unshielded belly, breaking the dreadnaught’s back. With Rim shields down for stealth, Atlas orders every Dustmaker weapon to target engines across the formation, crippling ships as the armada returns fire.

The trap deepens: massed torpedoes erupt from Kalyke’s hidden launchers, and Fá’s fleet—repurposed Republic ships, Ascomanni craft, four dreadnaughts, and Pandora—surges into the fray. Rim ships choose to stand and fight rather than flee, and the battle descends into orchestrated carnage under Atlas’s guidance.

Recovering as his tox leech metabolizes the poison, Lysander decides he cannot stop the battle but can save Diomedes. He wounds Atlas with a thrown razor, drags Diomedes to an escape pod, and launches him into the chaos. Gorgons recapture Lysander, rip out his leech, and beat him down; Atlas coldly notes Lysander has likely doomed Diomedes by casting him into that maelstrom.

Planting charges, Atlas’s team withdraws. Dustwalkers attempt to detain them, but are massacred after the Gorgons feign surrender. Lysander’s own Praetorians reveal their allegiance to Atlas and greet him by name. Atlas spares Lysander despite Atalantia’s orders, and his men hood Lysander with a black egg as they board their shuttle.