Pytha warns Lysander he will die if he joins the Iron Rain, as he is processed through injections, implants, and gear fitting among indifferent Peerless. Kalindora brusquely reminds Pytha of hierarchy and departs. In private, Pytha reveals she once served as an equites and has seen a Rain, challenging Lysander’s decision. Lysander argues he must earn a scar to gain a voice and impose order over chaos, claiming simulations show civilization will fracture if Darrow wins.

Pytha counters that Gold respects fear, not virtue, citing Lorn as death incarnate. She urges Lysander to inspire fear if he wants to survive and change the system; otherwise, he is doomed. Lysander insists he is not that man, and Pytha bleakly predicts his death.

During the Blood Benediction, children cut the assembled legions as Ajax exhorts the Terran-born Tenth. He names wanted Rising leaders and stokes fervor. Among the officers, Seneca au Cern, Ajax’s brutal Dux, sneers at Lysander and Seraphina; Kalindora explains Seneca’s reputation for going “Blood Red.”

Ajax unveils a deviation from orders: instead of supporting the Votum push on Tyche, the Tenth will strike Heliopolis to trap the enemy and secure the south’s factories and mines. Kalindora protests that Atalantia promised Scorpio support, but Ajax flattens the objection, signaling Atalantia’s real priorities. Ajax counsels Lysander to stick close and warns that a wolf howl means the Reaper’s approach.

Before boarding, Ajax and Lysander share a childhood ritual, vowing to honor their dead and reclaim their name through deeds. Lysander wishes Seraphina luck; she rejects fortune, claiming war as her destiny. Observing her rapture at the war machine, Lysander realizes she betrayed her father not from loyalty to the Rim but from a deeper hunger for war.