Heliopolis descends into massacre as Atalantia’s mechanized forces rout Darrow’s army. Lysander watches Kalindora evacuated by medici, guilty yet relieved she will live. Ajax arrives with Ash Guard, simmering with resentment. Lysander reports the enemy’s fragmentation—prisoners and legionnaires massed at the Mound, others in mountains and sewers, Atlas held in the Morning Star, and Darrow grievously wounded—then asserts he dealt the blow, tossing Darrow’s hilt to Ajax.

Cicero au Votum arrives with knights, salutes Lysander as Lune, and signals a political pivot amid the chaos. Ajax gathers Peerless to storm the Mound, seeking the glory of taking Darrow. Lysander declines to join, wary of assassination and content with earned credit for opening the gates. He waits with his battered Praetorians as the assault erupts inside.

While Rhone urges Lysander to claim the Reaper, Lysander preaches restraint and reflects on the hollowness of defeating a broken legend. The firefight escalates, then a particle beam shears the massive Helios statue, implying outside electronics and a new reinforcement. A lean, battered ship bursts from the Mound as Gold knights give chase.

Lysander recognizes the Archimedes. A white-armored knight reveals himself as Cassius, meets Lysander’s eyes, then seals the bay. The Archimedes cloaks and streaks skyward, pursued but escaping. Diomedes’s claim of Cassius’s death is exposed as false; Darrow slips the noose. Lysander feels exultant clarity: the war endures, and his contest with the legends is not over.