Hearing Cassius say he is running out of time as Obsidians load captives, Darrow sprints and then flies up the Spine toward the fight. Cassius launches a surprise attack, slicing through several guards and initiating a pella maneuver, expecting shock and disarray.

Instead, the Obsidians counter with drilled wedges and airborne hunters. Warned too late, Cassius evades a net but is smashed from the sky by a hammer and grounded. Darrow climbs high, then freefalls into the melee, killing three airborne braves in quick succession and shifting vertical levels to keep initiative.

On the ground, Darrow and Cassius cut through the remaining attackers, but two braves retreat into a transport and lift off. Cassius leaps inside before the doors close. Darrow lands on the hull, severs the coms array, then is thrown off as the ship bucks and nosedives. He regains control and tracks the transport crashing at a volcano’s foothills.

Retrieving his razor from the wreck, Darrow meets a concussed but jovial Cassius. Inside, they find caged Pinks and Green architects injured but alive, crying in relief. Darrow, who rushed in to save Cassius, recognizes Cassius’s selflessness and feels renewed respect. As Cassius asks about Darrow’s earlier theory to Diomedes, a rumble in the waste signals a new threat bearing down.