Darrow gathers scattered legions to the Via Triumphia, distributing scarce gunpowder arms and improvising polearms while reflecting on those they failed. He seeds rooftops with snipers, stations Thraxa to execute a rooftop “red rain,” and tasks three Rat Legion Red brothers with armor-piercing gas rifles to kill Lysander on sight.

As enemy scouts appear across the Water Plaza, duels ignite on the roofs and bell towers. Darrow’s force drags vehicles into a barricade, but hoof thunder rises: Lysander has unleashed the Hippodrome’s sunblood cavalry. Darrow recalls their monstrous power and prepares the only counter he has.

The charge erupts, Lysander in white at the fore. Darrow orders “Line,” then “Flat,” turning his armored core into a razor-studded hedge. The wings are pulverized under tons of horseflesh, but the front hedge shreds the charge, littering the Triumphia with dying mounts and riders even as more cavalry wheel through the chaos.

Amid the stampede, Darrow is battered, his visor shattered; Kalindora slashes him as she rides past. Golds wreak havoc among the lowColors, showcasing the brutal physical gulf without technology. Howler positions are lost, rooftop elements falter, and the sniper fire ceases; Thraxa holds for Darrow’s signal while Lysander’s bodyguards carve lanes around him.

Seeing Lysander poised to become a unifying hero for tyranny, Darrow abandons empathy for resolve. He reshapes his razor to a slingBlade, summons the Reaper within, and charges back into the maelstrom, shouting, “For the Republic!”