Gabriel recounts a freezing, desperate ascent back up San Michon, fueled by the ancien blood Celene gave him and anger at the Order's betrayal. Reaching the Armoury courtyard before dawn, he resolves to destroy what he once served, then sneaks into the forge to warm himself and arm up. He takes two longblades, one bearing the Angel Gabriel and another depicting the Angel Mahné, and outfits himself with a tunic, greatcoat, bandolier, and silver-heeled boots before heading for the Cathedral’s dusk doors.

Inside, Sister Chloe recited the Rite while Dior lay strapped to the altar in white robes, trusting Chloe. Gabriel interrupts, shouting for Dior’s release, and Greyhand orders his capture. The first wave—Fincher, de Séverin, and a youngblood—attack in the aisle. Gabriel, drawing on his skill and newfound strength, kills the youngblood and de Séverin, then outwits Fincher’s mind-reading with a false feint and fatally impales him, leaving Fincher dying with his own silver fork buried under his chin.

Winter, Greyhand’s hawk, claws Gabriel as the sisters in the loft volley silver shots, and a silverbomb goes off near him. Through smoke and pain, Greyhand charges, and master and student duel fiercely among the pews while Chloe races through the Old Talhostic text and Dior struggles against her bonds. Greyhand lands a thrust that pins Gabriel to a pillar, but Gabriel drags himself along the blade, seizes Greyhand by the throat, and kills him by boiling and burning his flesh to ash with his vampiric power, then pulls free the sword as Winter screams.

Gabriel scatters more silverbombs to disrupt the loft and limps toward the altar as Chloe raises a silversteel knife over Dior. When Chloe declares the act ordained, Gabriel drives a sword through Chloe’s chest, pinning her to the podium and the open tome. Chloe dies still insisting on divine plan; Gabriel rejects it and turns to Dior, slashing her bonds. Dior collapses into his arms, shocked and asking why Chloe would have killed her. Gabriel explains the Rite demands the Grail’s lifeblood to end daysdeath.

Gabriel kicks over the podium; Chloe’s body and the ancient book crash to the floor. He lifts a candle to burn the tome, and when Dior asks if the Rite might work, he says he does not care and drops the flame. Together they watch the vellum burn and the ritual turn to ash. Gabriel commits to finding another path to end the endless night and defeat the Forever King, refusing a price he deems too high.

Standing before the Redeemer’s statue amid smoke and blood, Gabriel looks to Dior—now his chosen cause—and, with the monastery’s bells and dawn looming, tells her it is time to meet his sister, referring to Celene who resurrected him below.