Lysander leads Praetorian cavalry through brutal street fighting on the Via Triumphia, methodically crushing LowColor resistance while searching for Darrow. As rooftop snipers trade fire, the Rising chants ‘Red Rain’ and Reds leap from buildings into the saddle ranks, sowing chaos. Lysander carves through attackers, refusing to rush blindly toward Darrow.

Thraxa Telemanus crashes onto Lysander, hurling him into an apartment. Avoiding close-quarters doom, Lysander turns it into a running engagement, stabbing her through a wall before fleeing back to the street. Rhone’s gunfire wounds Thraxa under the arm; a crashing horse disrupts the kill, and Reds drag Thraxa away toward escape.

Darrow then bulldozes forward behind Obsidians, exploding into Lysander’s Praetorians. Clipped by Kalindora’s horse, he recovers with whip-born acrobatics and duels Kalindora; she falls under his blows, left grievously wounded. As Lysander’s infantry pours in, the Rising line finally breaks into a rout. Reds mount Thraxa, and Darrow seizes a horse to withdraw.

Lysander pauses only to order aid for Kalindora—ignoring her plea to let Darrow run—then pursues, taking her razor. He challenges Darrow to a mounted duel and, using superior horsemanship, underhand-throws Kalindora’s razor through Darrow’s chest. Their passing clash shatters Lysander’s own blade and mangles his arm, but Darrow stays mounted and flees down an alley.

Praetorians think the Reaper dead, but Lysander judges the wound to the lung, not the heart. As his army floods the street, he lifts the broken hilt of Darrow’s slingBlade from the stones—a symbolic confirmation of Darrow’s grievous injury and Lysander’s hold over the battlefield.