The jarls clear a circle for the ashvar duel as Volsung Fá is armored in massive spiked pulseArmor and handed a towering warsaw. Cassius and Sevro finish cleaning Darrow’s gear and press last-minute tactics: thrusts over slashes, avoid being pinned, and never use gravBoots under the dome. Darrow chooses to dual-wield Bad Lass and Pyrphoros, taunts Fá to confess his allegiance to Atlas, and both combatants are ritually painted before the shielded dome descends.

At the start, Fá invokes Ragnar and launches with gravBoots, ricocheting off the dome for a crushing overhand strike. Darrow slips beneath the arc but is shocked by Fá’s speed and force in low gravity. Initial exchanges show Darrow’s slashes are useless against the thick armor, while Fá’s sweeping blows rattle Darrow and herd him toward the shield.

Resisting the temptation to go airborne, Darrow levers the warsaw up, slips inside, and commits to thrusts. Bad Lass bites into Fá’s stomach plating while Pyrphoros glances off his helmet, but Fá’s mass crashes into Darrow, reversing momentum and sending him stumbling. In the collision, Darrow feels a spike bite his thigh.

Darrow retreats to the center, realizing Bad Lass is stuck in Fá’s armor and that the spikes are Onyxium and poisoned. Pain and itching spread as Fá laughs, asserting the venom has already decided the duel, leaving Darrow compromised early in the fight.