Darrow hounds Fá across the archipelagos to the island of Hades as a vast audience of Obsidians and Ascomanni gathers. Exhausted and bleeding, Fá offers ships, helium, and lives to buy escape. Darrow promises to spare Fá if he confesses. As Diomedes, Cassius, Volga, and Lyria arrive, the crowd’s clanging demand for justice grows.

Fá confesses he is Vagnar Hefga and that Atlas au Raa raised him among the Ascomanni to unify them as a weapon, with Atalantia meant to follow and restore order. He refuses to reveal Atlas’s location, preaching duty and fear of chaos. He sheds his armor and kneels, baiting the Volk with talk of crowns, while Diomedes’ question about the murdered Raa children goes unanswered.

To prevent a coronation by execution, Darrow declares Fá no king and invokes the laws of the ice, making the judgment a family matter. He calls Volga forward. Confronted, Fá admits acting for his brother and a promised peace. Volga drives the gauntlet into his chest and tears out his heart, ending the false reign. The Ascomanni slip away, and the Obsidians are left leaderless.

Sevro seizes the moment, announcing a 24-hour truce and a mediated vote: each jarl gets two votes, one personally and one from their braves, with strict ashvar enforcement and Darrow off the ballot. Darrow displays readiness to fight any dissent, deterring immediate bloodshed and setting the terms for succession.

On the Pandora, Athena tends wounded while Diomedes condemns Darrow’s gamble as risking chaos and an Ascomanni escape. Darrow counters that only Volk cooperation can clear the Garter. Sevro and Cassius then don arms—Sevro taking back the Twilight Helm from Cheon—and lead Black Owls to free Victra’s enslaved crews, with Darrow and Diomedes following into the fight.