Hunt, exhausted and wounded, forces himself to keep flying while Ruhn screams in fury and fear over Lidia’s fate on the cliffs. Ahead on the sea, a metal hatch breaks the surface: a Depth Charger surfacing for their pickup.

Tharion appears on the narrow exterior deck, frantically signaling them to land directly in the hatch. Hunt, Baxian, and Ruhn barely make it aboard as pursuing angels close in from the coast. Ruhn, swaying and missing a hand, immediately demands help for Lidia, insisting Tharion must go because the ship cannot risk approaching the shore.

Realizing Hunt and Baxian are too injured to fly again, Tharion agrees. He strips without hesitation, dives into the ocean, and shifts into his mer form to swim toward the cliffs, while Baxian and Hunt pray and watch the shoreline.

On the mountain above the sea, Lidia—still fleeing—pushes her deer-shifter body up treacherous rock and root, pursued by her own dreadwolves led by Mordoc. She finds a ledge that wraps around the cliff face, only to realize it ends in a sheer drop with no route down and no path back.

Lidia shifts into humanoid form and faces Mordoc and two dreadwolves, Vespasian and Gedred, as they aim rifles and taunt her with Sofie Renast’s past. Knowing they will cripple her and deliver her to the Asteri, Lidia snaps off her silver torque, throws it away, tells them to “Go to Hel,” and sprints for the edge. She leaps into open air; a shot hits her chest mid-fall, and Lidia dies laughing as the rocks and surf rush up beneath her.