Darrow rides the Necromancer north toward Red Reach as Atalantia’s atomics turn the horizon into mushrooming suns. Colloway (“Midnight”) sync-pilots through a swarm of ripWings while Darrow calls Harnassus for LongMalice support. After brutal evasive maneuvers and a volley that shreds their pursuers, they reach a battered but intact Red Reach shield amid desperate Blue pilots intercepting falling warheads.

They divert to Skyhook Eleven beneath a mountain cleft to rearm. Pitcrews scramble starShells and Drachenjägers; Arcosian Knights land to join them. As a coordinated “nuke flower” forms, Rhonna cannot reach cover, so Alexandar scoops her into his starShell. A Red pitman is trapped in Darrow’s closing canopy. With an omega-atomic falling, Darrow patches into Central Command and delivers final words as soldiers grip Martian soil.

The omega-atomic detonates. Light and heat vaporize men and metal; the shockwave smashes the skyhook and hurls debris across the mountains. The trapped Red is burned away before Darrow’s eyes. When the fireball climbs, the Plains of Caduceus—and with them Darrow’s Second Army—are ash. Darrow reels but steadies as Rhonna rises alive from fried armor.

With long-range coms failing, Darrow orders Colloway to reach Kydon and tell Thraxa to break off for Tyche. He vows to ensure Tyche remains theirs. Inside the mountain garage, he musters the Helldiver Legion’s Drachenjägers and Howlers, declaring that of the Second Army, only they remain. He outlines the plan: the First Army will strike at the Children, then fall back to Tyche, where these survivors must hold the siege.

As enemy iron pours from the sky and the storm thickens, thousands of engines ignite. Darrow leads the columns of Drachenjägers and starShells, rallying them with “For the Republic! For Mars!” and rides out to contest Tyche.