Kai narrates as he struggles up Plummet Mountain, exhausted, hungry, and still suffering from a hangover. He carries Andy on his back, borrowing Braxton’s strength to manage the climb, but Andy’s condition keeps worsening. Because Kai recognizes the signs of poison rather than ordinary injury, he keeps talking to her, teasing her and recalling old memories so she will stay conscious.

The ascent grows steeper, forcing Andy to cling to Kai with her legs around his waist while he scrapes upward with his hands. Kai nearly loses his footing multiple times, but the sight of the summit keeps him moving. His urgency comes from Andy’s fading strength and his belief that reaching the top will finally end the ordeal.

Kai hauls himself onto the plateau with Andy still attached to him, and Braxton arrives beside him. The summit is lined with watching Sights, and Kai quickly notices a tall wooden pole with a battered green flag at the far end. Before Kai can make sense of it, he spots another group climbing onto the plateau from the opposite side: Jax, Ace, and Paedyn.

A Sight then announces the trial’s final twist. The contestants were forced to cooperate to reach the top, but now the rules have changed and only one person can win by capturing the flag. Realizing their shared struggle was only another setup for spectacle, both groups fall into stunned silence before immediately turning on one another, plunging the summit into chaos.