Rhone visits Lysander’s cell aboard Atlas’s black ops torchShip, the Lethe, on Io. He justifies his loyalty to House Lune, confesses to poisoning Lysander on Phobos by tainting his cloak, and admits Atlas contacted him after Phobos to prevent Lysander joining Diomedes. He insists Lysander hear Atlas out.

As Gorgons celebrate news that Demeter’s Garter has been breached from within, Lysander meets a mutilated Atlas in the medBay. Atlas’s carver Xanthus has reinstalled his eyes; Helios au Lux lies dismembered behind glass. After extracting Sungrave’s defense codes, Atlas orders Helios euthanized, clearing the way for Fá’s forces to enter through Raa family tunnels. Lysander secretly palms a scalpel but listens as Atlas offers answers.

Atlas confirms Fá once served as a Gorgon named Vagnar Hefga and that Atlas spent twelve years crafting him into a messiah to unite Ascomanni tribes. He weaponized their greed and hate, sent Xenophon to sway Sefi and the Volk toward Fá, and helped disseminate helm-cam footage via Atalantia’s contacts to push the Rim into war. He denies orchestrating Lysander’s encounter with Seraphina and the Vindabona.

Expounding his doctrine of “autophagy,” Atlas argues civilization must excise the Rim’s divisive “cancer.” He says Atalantia planned to let Obsidians rule for three years before arriving as savior, but proposes Lysander instead, praising his unifying bent. He threatens to kill Lysander and replace him with a doppelgänger named Lepidus and reveals Gorgons aboard the Lightbringer, poised to murder Cicero if needed. Atlas claims Darrow is spent and Mars vulnerable via Valeria’s ships.

Torn between morality and the chance to prevent mass death, Lysander rejects genocide but wilts under Atlas’s ultimatum. To avert a wider slaughter and preserve a path to reform, he accepts the role of Atlas’s chosen “savior.” Atlas answers, “Hail Lune, bringer of light.”