Chapter 15

Outside a Gray Company church in Arabak, Jiang, Daji, and Rin debate entry. Instead of force, they blend with the Nikara congregation. Daji mesmerizes a priest, steals keys, and sends Rin downstairs while she and Jiang remain as cover.

In the basement-turned-prison, Rin finds Kitay chained but largely unharmed. As Rin works the locks, footsteps approach. Kitay hides Rin beneath his cot just as Nezha arrives. Their tense conversation exposes Republican corruption, Hesperian meddling, Nezha’s lack of command, and his conviction that Rin is alive. Nezha courts Kitay’s help; Kitay refuses and indicts Republican atrocities. Nezha leaves, rattled.

When a young missionary stumbles on them, Rin pursues and kills him swiftly to protect their escape. They stage the body, slip upstairs after the sermon, and merge with the dispersing crowd. Daji has procured a laundry wagon; the group rides out of the city concealed beneath linens.

At camp, Kitay reports a southern stalemate near Arabak, minor northern holdouts, and Nezha’s exhaustion under Hesperian demands. The group debates strategy: Dog Province offers potential allies, and Jiang vows to break the southern blockade. Daji and Jiang agree to move the Southern Coalition north.

On watch, Kitay confesses shaken beliefs from Arabak’s technological prowess, wondering if Hesperian superiority is inevitable. Rin rejects this, insisting resistance is necessary. She outlines a three-phase war: retreat, stalemate, then counteroffensive with shamanic force. Finally, Rin reveals Jiang’s memory is returning and proposes traveling to Mount Tianshan to awaken Riga and reunite the Trifecta against Hesperia.