Numb with grief after Ragnar’s death, Darrow rides with Sefi’s Valkyries to the perilous Valkyrie Spires. Aja’s body is not found, stoking Sefi’s rage. Sefi nearly executes the wounded Cassius but relents; Cassius is bound and hauled away. At the aerie, blind slave-handlers receive the griffins. Armed Valkyries argue over whether the Golds are guests or heretics; Darrow, Mustang, and Holiday are disarmed and shackled.

Thrown into a cell, they confront failure. Holiday insists Ragnar was the plan; Mustang picks her manacles but Darrow refuses to flee, vowing to honor Ragnar by winning the Obsidians. He insists the only path is through Alia, despite Mustang’s warning that Obsidians prize strength and Alia may be complicit with the Golds.

They are brought to a vast throne room where Alia Snowsparrow sits colossal, cradling Ragnar’s corpse. Speaking flawless HighLingo, Alia condemns the spreading “heresy” that promised a Stained son would return with a savior, and admits to hunting and crucifying Ragnar’s followers—the seven bodies outside. She demands their identities, scoffs at Darrow’s claim to be Ragnar’s brother, and learns Ragnar died free.

Alia accuses Darrow, a Red in a Gold’s body, of scheming to bind the Obsidians to his cause. Mustang counters, declaring herself a sovereign warlord, asserting the “gods” are mortal, and offering alliance to make a new world. Alia performs final rites for Ragnar, then challenges Mustang with whether to fear a god or a mortal with a god’s power.

Alia reveals she already knows the gods are mortal and rejects their offer. Declaring her duty to protect her people, she vows to send Darrow and his companions to Asgard in chains for judgment, names Sefi her heir, and resolves to bury Ragnar in the ice, ending their bid for an Obsidian alliance.