Micah pins Bryce facedown on the library stairs, exposing the Horn tattooed on her back. As Syrinx drowns in the nøkk's tank above, Micah blasts white-hot flame directly into the Horn. The power absorbs into the ink, sending agony and ice through Bryce's veins, causing a violent outward ripple that shatters the glass upstairs. However, no portal opens. Micah notes the result as "interesting" and prepares to try again—even contemplating carving the Horn from Bryce's flesh.

Bryce recalls how she pieced together the truth: after the kristallos attack at the docks, she realized her back tattoo was not any Midgardian alphabet but the actual Horn itself. She traced Danika's final movements to the tattoo shop, the one unchecked location, and understood that the kristallos had attacked both her and Hunt because of proximity to the Horn's scent. As Micah draws a knife to cut the Horn from her skin, Bryce desperately reaches for a book on the shelf—a dark purple volume that responds to her plea and slides toward her fingers.

She whips the book open and a blast of greenish light rockets Micah across the library toward the bathroom, where Lehabah has been hiding. The fire sprite uses another book's power to slam and seal the bathroom door, trapping the Archangel inside. The improvised prison won't hold long—minutes at most—but it buys Bryce precious time.

The Summit leaders watch via Declan's camera feed. Hunt, restrained by Sandriel, begs the Archangel to intervene, but Sandriel refuses, claiming she has no authority in Micah's territory. Hunt curses her. Bryce, her thigh wound sealed by the synth coursing through her, sprints for the tank stairwell, grabbing Micah's dropped knife and strapping it to her leg. Lehabah reports that Syrinx appears limp and lifeless in the water.

At the top of the tank, Bryce hyperventilates to load her lungs with air, then dives into the dark water after Syrinx, gripping the feeding platform's chain as it descends. She has no magic, no immortality, and the synth is slowly destroying her from within—yet she plunges in to save her friend. Flynn observes that this is effectively Bryce's Ordeal, the trial she never completed to earn full citizenship.