Brother Diaz and Baptiste barely manage to bar the Basilica doors as Lady Severa approaches with the rune-controlled Vigga and a group of Palace Guards. Inside, Brother Diaz appeals to Patriarch Methodius for sanctuary and support for the newly crowned Empress Alexia, but Methodius admits he already knows Severa is a sorceress and prefers an arrangement that preserves the Eastern Church’s independence rather than submit to reunion with the woman-led Western Church. When Methodius orders his clergy to open the doors for Severa, Brother Diaz finally rejects compromise and knocks the patriarch unconscious with a punch.

The broken door gives way almost at once, and Vigga and Severa enter the Basilica while the guards spread through the nave. Severa, speaking in eerie unison with the controlled Vigga, offers surrender and threatens a slow death if Brother Diaz and Baptiste resist. At that moment, one of the guards reveals himself as Balthazar in disguise; using a spell of air and matter, he tears the rune-cloth from Vigga’s forehead and breaks Severa’s control. Vigga returns to herself, Balthazar proudly announces his return, and the pair immediately turn the situation around, with Balthazar asking Vigga to provide him with corpses to animate.

Meanwhile, at the top of the Pharos, Alex realizes she and Sunny have run out of room to flee and tries to persuade Sunny to save herself. Instead, Cleofa, Athenais, Placidia, and Zenonis arrive and close in, contemptuous of Alex and curious about Sunny’s unseen nature. The handmaidens debate whether to burn, freeze, or throw Alex from the tower while considering taking Sunny apart to understand her. Before they can act, a storm of bats swirls into the gallery and forms Baron Rikard, who calmly interrupts their attack and prepares to confront the four sorceresses.

Elsewhere, Jakob reaches the throne room and finds Duke Michael seated on the Serpent Throne. Michael openly embraces ambition, deceit, and revenge, arguing that people never truly change and taunting Jakob about the enormous bloodshed in Jakob’s own past. Jakob learns Alex is upstairs with the handmaidens and, despite age and pain, advances to face Michael in a direct fight. The encounter turns their ideological conflict into a personal duel between two men who both know what evil costs.

Back in the Hanging Gardens, Vigga and Balthazar lead a brutal counterattack, with Vigga killing guards and Balthazar immediately raising the fresh dead to fight for him. Brother Diaz and Baptiste follow in horrified awe as the battle rolls from the Basilica toward the Athenaeum. On the lawn outside, Severa hurls fire, but Balthazar uses a prepared diagram to absorb and rebound the flames with greater force, burning guards and forcing Severa back to the steps. As the surviving guards flee and Severa retreats, she orders the Athenaeum’s barred pens opened: Empress Eudoxia’s failed experiments, the "leftovers," are being released. Realizing too late what that means, Balthazar dives under the dropping entrance gate and into the Athenaeum just before it slams shut.