Dalinar returns to the Emuli warcamp exhausted and believing his mission to Ishar failed. Messengers arrive announcing Urithiru and the Oathgates are restored, and the Stormfather confirms the Sibling is fully awakened. As Dalinar enters his quarters, he is pulled into a new golden-tinged vision.

Odium appears changed—glowing, furious, and claiming a stronger Connection to Dalinar. He interrogates Dalinar about Ishar. Dalinar bluffs, implying Ishar taught him dangerous Bondsmith truths. When Wit’s contract materializes, Odium recognizes Cephandrius’s hand and, enraged, explains he cannot break his word without exposing himself to Cultivation’s killing blow.

Dalinar presses for sweeping withdrawals of the Fused, Regals, and Voidspren if his champion wins. Odium refuses, citing the Everstorm and a defunct Oathpact as making such control impossible. Odium frames Roshar as a training ground for a coming war of gods and offers alternatives that free himself, which Dalinar rejects.

Odium proposes an imminent contest of champions: the tenth of Palah, at the tenth hour, atop Urithiru. Negotiations narrow. Odium offers to cease hostilities and even restore Alethkar; Dalinar insists on Herdaz too and that Odium remain bound to the Rosharan system. Odium counters that if he wins, he keeps all conquests and demands Dalinar’s very soul to serve him immortal, like a Fused.

Weighing inevitable attrition and slim chances in a conventional war, Dalinar decides this is the best path to save his people and reclaim Alethkar and Herdaz. He states final terms: the dated duel, no interference, Odium bound if Dalinar’s champion wins, with Alethkar and Herdaz restored; if Odium’s wins, Odium keeps his gains, remains bound, ceases hostilities—and takes Dalinar’s soul. Both agree. “It is done.”