The Chapel reaches the illusionist’s house by boat, and Jakob immediately shows how much his body is failing him when he can barely get ashore and has to accept Sunny’s help. At the top of the steps they discover the first magical obstacle: the house appears to have no door at all. Because they cannot proceed without sorcery, they reluctantly take out the prepared severed head so Balthazar can speak through it from the balcony above, while Brother Diaz watches in horror at the necromancy and feels his faith in clear moral boundaries eroding.

From upstairs, Balthazar grandly dispels the illusion and reveals the hidden front door. Baptiste kneels to pick the lock and boasts about her skills, but Vigga simply turns the handle and opens the already unlocked door, embarrassing her. Inside, the house is less spectacular than expected at first glance: a dusty hall, old paintings, and suits of armour. Jakob urges caution because the house is known to be dangerous, but Vigga pushes forward, impatient to get deeper inside.

The group enters a grand dining room where a rotting banquet has been left untouched, flies swarm over the food, and two corpses lie in a corner, each apparently having stabbed the other. Runes are painted on the walls, but no one can read them. Faced with several exits, Vigga chooses a hallway and the others follow, only to discover that they have somehow walked in a circle and returned to the same dining room. Sunny, with her sharper senses, is the first to register the flies and the repetition clearly, and the group realizes they may not only be unable to go farther in but may also be unable to get out.

They consult the talking head again. Balthazar demands a description of the runes, but Vigga is illiterate and Baptiste knows only some runes, not these. Frustrated by the others’ ignorance, Balthazar shifts from trying to interpret the symbols to identifying the broader mechanism of the trap. He concludes that the flies are central to an illusionist’s ward: an insect-based enchantment that folds space and distorts memory and the senses, powered by decay and putrefaction.

When Alex presses him for an explanation and Rikard needles him from the sidelines, Balthazar gives a smug summary of the ward and declares that destroying the insects should break it. He then begins an elaborate spell, presenting it as the answer to the house’s magic. Privately, however, Balthazar is not focused on rescuing the others at all. He is using the moment to start a ritual of his own design meant to break the Pope’s binding on him, and despite some suspicious stomach trouble, he revels in the feeling that his full powers are returning.