Szeth moves through the last of the Honorbearers, killing his sister and then the Truthwatcher when her trap fails. He confronts his father, Neturo, and finally gets the answer he had wanted for years: Neturo had known about the new god early on, joined the Honorbearers hoping Szeth would uncover the truth, and then was gradually overtaken by what he served. Realizing that his parents were flawed people rather than absolute moral authorities, Szeth accepts both their love and their failure, then gives his father a merciful final death.

Afterward, Nightblood keeps feeding and begins consuming Szeth as well. Szeth briefly decides that he wants to die by his own choice, but he stops because doing so would betray what Kaladin has taught him about choosing better. Szeth throws Nightblood away, yet the sword continues draining everything around it until Kaladin, nearly spent and unable to act physically, tells Nightblood that it is not a thing and can choose. Nightblood accepts that lesson, stops, and refuses to kill its friends, but the relief is immediately followed by a deeper catastrophe as the spren cry out and the soul of the world seems to tear.

In Shadesmar, Shallan recovers on a platform outside Urithiru with Pattern, Testament, and the wounded spren tied to the Ghostbloods. Pattern explains that Ba-Ado-Mishram has escaped back into the Cognitive Realm and carried them along with her. Shallan sees the stormlike clash between Dalinar and Odium in the sky, then brings the wounded spren to Sja-anat, who claims she was acting for survival and to secure favor with her sister Mishram. Sja-anat warns Shallan to return to the Physical Realm, but before Shallan can rejoin everyone, one of the Oathgate spren screams and Renarin and Rlain vanish in light.

Elsewhere, Dalinar tells Taravangian that he renounces his oaths and breaks Honor’s entire contract with Odium rather than continue a contest that Taravangian has twisted into disaster. Dalinar insists that keeping an oath or uniting people is not automatically righteous unless the ideals behind those acts are worthy. Honor’s power tears free of him in confusion and pain, and Taravangian realizes that the bond restraining Odium to Roshar has ended. In his fury and triumph, Taravangian attacks and vaporizes the Stormfather, causing Dalinar immense grief even as he senses that something of Tanavast finds redemption in Dalinar’s choice.

Dalinar’s real objective then becomes clear: he has forced Taravangian into a moment of temptation. Knowing Taravangian fears weakness and will reach for more power if it is offered, Dalinar waits as Taravangian claims to understand Honor and seizes its power as well. Honor accepts him, though small pieces split away, and Taravangian Ascends into something new and more dangerous: Retribution. Dalinar uses this transformation as the Sunmaker’s Gambit, drawing the attention of the wider cosmere to Taravangian as a universal threat and buying Roshar time; then, instead of surrendering to the storm, Dalinar hears someone in pain and forces himself back up to fight once more.