Ephraim, having submitted a tactical brief on how the skuggi can neutralize Quicksilver’s mine security, watches Obsidian braves train in Venus’s Heart and stews over the potential genocide of a frontal assault. He and Pax discuss the likely consequences on Mars, the Republic’s fragility, and the limits of heroism, with Ephraim urging Pax to outlive the wars rather than emulate his parents.

Ozgard arrives and summons Ephraim to the Kjrdakan, explaining that Sefi has chosen Ephraim’s plan over Valdir’s. Skuggi units, including Freihild, are already en route to Mars via Phobos and ore haulers. Pax warns Ephraim not to bleed into the rib cage, explaining the ritual’s lethal stakes if the campaign fails.

In the opera house, Sefi slaughters an albino aurochs and Ozgard conducts a fervid ritual, igniting a fire within the carcass and reading the “firebones.” The war leaders begin the Lord Wager: lower-ranked commanders offer hair, but several drop single torcs—an insulting minimal stake—signaling doubt in the plan and in Ephraim.

Valdir pointedly offers a single torc and denounces Ephraim as a parasite, predicting the skuggi will die for nothing. Stung, Ephraim rejects the insult by cutting his palm and bleeding into the rib cage, seizing the highest personal stake and binding his life to the operation’s success.

Sefi then slices flesh from her arm and declares, “My way in victory. My head in defeat,” matching Ephraim’s pledge and formalizing the stakes. After the leaders depart, she tells Ephraim he will not accompany the skuggi and acknowledges that pride can blind and lead. She promises honor if they succeed, while both accept that failure means their deaths.