Micah confronts Bryce in the gallery, demanding she hand over Luna's Horn. He reveals that he deduced the truth: Danika had the Horn ground into powder, mixed with witch-ink, and tattooed onto Bryce's back while Bryce was too drunk to question it. The tattoo's script, written in a language of universes, is a command to activate the Horn through a blast of raw power. Micah believes that injecting Bryce with synth will repair the Horn embedded in her flesh, and that channeling his power into the tattoo will effectively "blow" the Horn, opening a portal to summon an army from another world—one he intends to use to crush the human rebellion and elevate himself to the level of the Asteri.

As the entire Summit watches via Jesiba's surveillance feeds, Micah physically brutalizes Bryce—throwing her into furniture and shelves—while delivering a full confession. He admits he killed Danika and the Pack of Devils: he blackmailed Danika into stealing the Horn by threatening to expose her after she recovered synth he had deliberately leaked into Lunathion's streets. When Danika hid the Horn instead of surrendering it, Micah waited until Philip Briggs was released from prison to serve as a scapegoat, then went to the apartment, disabled the pack with his power, injected Danika with synth, and watched her tear them apart before turning on herself. He summoned kristallos demons afterward to cover his tracks and spent two years searching for the Horn before realizing Bryce herself was the key.

Micah further confesses to orchestrating nearly every event of the investigation: he planted the idea in the Autumn King's mind to send Ruhn searching for the Horn, summoned kristallos demons to nudge Bryce and Ruhn toward the truth, murdered Tertian and the temple workers with synth injections, detonated the White Raven bombing to stir chaos and point suspicion at humans, and manipulated Hunt's guilt over the apartment building incident. He never intended to honor his bargain with Hunt. Ruhn realizes that his Starborn connection repeatedly drew him toward Bryce because she carried the Horn, even through the Archesian amulet's masking power.

Bryce, despite her injuries, deliberately leads Micah through his confession while the cameras record everything. Sabine recognizes what Bryce is doing. However, Micah produces a syringe of synth and injects it into Bryce's thigh over her screams. The synth begins healing her wounds, which means it is also repairing the Horn within her tattoo. Bryce grabs an enchanted book that creates a golden protective bubble, temporarily blocking Micah. But the Archangel seizes Syrinx and threatens to kill him, forcing Bryce to drop the book's protection. Micah carries Syrinx to the nøkk's tank and throws the chimera into the water as Bryce screams helplessly, her injured leg unable to bear weight.