Rin finds Chaghan on Khurdalain’s north wall as civilians evacuate the doomed city, leaving the Militia to defend a strategic position with no civilian support, hospital, food, or supply base. Chaghan observes that losing civilians means losing the war effort. Rin, still marked by Altan’s palm print, asks Chaghan to help her reach the gods because she wants to wield power like Altan’s.

Chaghan agrees after Rin admits that Jiang’s warnings no longer hold authority for her. He doses Rin with a dangerous psychedelic and guides her into the spirit realm. At the gate to the Pantheon, the Woman appears more corpse-like than before and warns Rin that the Phoenix’s fire will consume her and bring hell to earth. Chaghan identifies the Woman as someone who should have been trapped in the Chuluu Korikh, but the Woman claims that as a Speerly her ashes remain free and that Rin needs her protection.

Rin rejects the Woman’s warning, insisting that Khurdalain is already hell and that she needs power to save people like Nezha. The Woman says Altan is beyond redemption but Rin can still be saved. When Rin demands power instead of salvation, Chaghan attempts to banish the Woman in the Hinterlander language. The Woman burns and shatters, and Chaghan pulls Rin away before the encounter can continue.

Chaghan brings Rin to a Divinatory, a mental/spiritual place where the Talwu, goddess and Guardian of the Hexagrams, answers questions through cast coins. Rin asks what the Phoenix wants her to know. The resulting Twenty-Sixth Hexagram, the Net, speaks of movement, misfortune, fire, sorrow, an abandoned people, a campaign, decapitated enemies, and evil. Chaghan interprets the reading as evidence of a hidden trap and realizes the Federation’s true target may not be Khurdalain.

After returning to their bodies, Chaghan brings Rin to Altan and urges him to summon the Cike and leave Khurdalain. Chaghan argues that Khurdalain is only a distraction and that Mugen’s real objective is Golyn Niis. Altan initially resists because Khurdalain is the final front protecting the heartland, but he agrees to verify the warning by interrogating the captured Federation soldier.

In the warehouse cellar, Altan tortures and threatens the prisoner, using physical pain, fear of Speerly fire, and false promises of mercy. The prisoner finally reveals that Khurdalain was never the main goal: other Federation fleets have sailed south, found the mountain pass, and are cutting toward Golyn Niis, the war capital. After extracting the truth, Altan kills the prisoner despite promising release. Altan accepts that Chaghan was right, while Rin is sickened by the brutality and by Altan’s inhuman transformation.