On the frozen slope beneath an angel statue and Gabriel’s tower, Gabriel confirms an immense undead force is approaching. With only two dozen defenders, morale falters until Gabriel delivers a stark speech about seizing a single defining moment of heroism. Aaron echoes his resolve, and the group prepares for a desperate stand.

Gabriel orders Prioress Charlotte to form a firing line along the ridge with alternating volleys while he, Aaron, and Baptiste launch a frontal disruption to buy time for the blackthumbs to set black ignis charges beneath the heavy snowpack on the north ridge to trigger an avalanche. Charlotte warns it will be a slaughter, but Gabriel commits, declaring his friends the hill he will die on. Aaron insists on joining, and Baptiste arms himself with a silversteel warhammer as Brothers Noam and Clement take charge of the charges.

Before the charge, Gabriel and Aaron take deep doses of sanctus provided by Charlotte, entering a heightened state as Astrid watches. They strip to their silver armor, their freshly inked aegis tattoos from Astrid glowing—roses, serpents, angels, and a lion flaring into a widening circle of light. Baptiste proclaims their faith, and the three descend into the dark toward the Dead, laughing with bloodhymn-fueled fury.

The undead—wretches in the clothes of their former lives—surge forward in chaotic numbers. Within the radiance of the silver ink, the attackers recoil and falter, and Gabriel’s and Aaron’s silversteel weapons scythe them down. Above, the sisters’ silvershot cracks through the storm while Gabriel spots Noam and the blackthumbs laboring at the snowpack to place the explosive barrels.

In the height of battle, Gabriel feels an overwhelming psychic intrusion: the mind of a Forever King. He perceives a snow-pale, ageless monarch walking behind the horde, surrounded by his dread bloodline. The Forever King’s silent message—“I see thee”—freezes Gabriel’s heart, and Aaron confirms he feels the presence too, revealing the true scale of the threat bearing down on them.

Screams from the ridge break Gabriel’s focus. He looks back to see torchlight and the silhouettes of the blackthumbs, then a familiar figure moving like a red-wrapped shadow among them, cutting them down. Gabriel recognizes Laure Voss, who has infiltrated the rear and begun killing the smiths, imperiling the avalanche plan that was their best hope to halt the undead ascent.