Gradus brings Alice to the gates of Dis, brushed past the guard Shade Parmenides, and into a courtyard where robed scholars submit dissertations to an irretrievable slot and wait without feedback. Debate swirls about who judges their work and whether victims’ forgiveness matters, but no answers appear.

In the Writing Bazaar, Alice encounters frantic copyeditors, a confessional bookseller, and Nessus, a deity hawking ghostwritten essays for a price. Gradus warns all of it is distraction by design. They skirt Laplace’s Demon, whose determinism seduces Shades with blame-free explanations. Pressed, Gradus admits he has never seen a dissertation pass and suspects the task is a cruel, endless exercise. Alice privately confronts her own culpability for Peter’s death and doubts that confession alone could ever suffice.

Gradus steers Alice into a workshop chaired by dour Shades dissecting Professor Bent’s manifesto, which blames and demeans his wife while rejecting confession. Gertrude, a severe woman Shade, interjects to question the value of reincarnation and argue for remaking Hell rather than escaping it. The discussion devolves into scorn and then a scuffle.

Embers begin falling like stars, igniting the bazaar. Shades sprint toward the flames in delight, welcoming pain because it breaks monotony. Cerberus bursts through the walls; volunteers beg to be mauled, and the beast obliges. Gradus explains pain here is only sensation, and the crowd’s ecstasy is preferable to dead time.

Gertrude remains calm, rejecting both writing and reincarnation as weak escape. She invites Alice to the Rebel Citadel, promising a way out. Gradus urges Alice to refuse, but Alice, stung by his manipulations and drawn by Gertrude’s resolve, takes Gertrude’s hand. They open a hidden door to a spiraling stair, and Alice chooses to follow.