Vis races after Emissa using her tracker and finds Aequa confronting a shaken Marcellus. Aequa explains Emissa vomited her tracker to use as a decoy, recruited Valentina and Tem after eliminating Prav, and—with Titus—set a diversion while Emissa slips for the Heart atop the eastern tower. Marcellus confirms the plan and timing.

Vis orders Aequa to warn Callidus, but Marcellus abandons them, dropping medallions and a black bead. Sensing an approaching threat, Vis hides with Aequa as two Anguis operatives arrive with a tracking plate, retrieve Emissa’s and Marcellus’s medallions, and smash them before leaving. Aequa departs south to reach Callidus, while Vis heads alone toward the towers.

Using a new, pulsing awareness of nearby foes, Vis infiltrates the fortress and reaches a walled courtyard, where he finds Valentina, Tem, and Titus crucified on stone spikes with their skulls crushed—matching the earlier massacres. Emissa is not among the dead, to Vis’s conflicted relief.

A tall, slender Anguis man with a scar from forehead to chin appears, the same figure Vis saw with Relucia at the Festival of Pletuna. He outlines a broader conspiracy: Military intends this massacre to justify new powers, seize control of the Academy, and scapegoat a Hierarchy faction, while Veridius will bury Solivagus’s gate to keep it hidden. He vanishes and reappears with a blade at Vis’s neck, calling them kin and urging Vis to “claim your prize,” noting others do not know to spare him.

When Vis resists, the man reveals that a woman important to Vis is also atop the tower and alive, offering her safety if Vis wins, and warning Vis to prepare to lose his arm. After the man disappears, Vis ascends to the battlement and finds a huge guard lounging with the Heart of Jovan, while a second presence—likely Emissa—hides among crates. The guard recognizes Vis, calls him “Catenicus,” and his eyes flood to black as the confrontation begins.