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Before dawn, Vin flies to Kredik Shaw and sees skaa forces converging. She crashes through the throne room window to attack the Lord Ruler, burning the Eleventh Metal to reveal his past self, but her plan to strike the shadow fails. Kar, an Inquisitor, subdues her as the Lord Ruler summons his servants.

A second Inquisitor arrives, rips a hidden spike from Kar’s back, and kills him—revealing their weakness. The newcomer is Marsh, alive and turned Inquisitor, who charges the Lord Ruler and tries to find a similar spike, but the Lord Ruler has none. The Lord Ruler’s overwhelming Allomancy hurls Vin and Marsh aside, and he breaks Vin’s leg.

The Lord Ruler proclaims himself God, but Vin, struggling, realizes from the Eleventh Metal that he is Rashek, a Terrisman who usurped the true hero. She notices the bracers piercing his upper arms and deduces they store his power. As he crushes her with impossible Pushes, Vin burns iron, draws upon the mists, and rips the bracers free, flinging them out into the city.

Deprived of the bracers, the Lord Ruler rapidly ages and weakens. Sazed arrives and aids Vin; Marsh recovers. The Lord Ruler crawls toward the window as cheers rise from the city below. Marsh says he has slain the other Inquisitors and will control the Ministry. The Lord Ruler warns that by killing him they doom mankind.

Leaning on Sazed’s spear, Vin delivers Kelsier’s message of hope, then thrusts the spear through the Lord Ruler’s heart, ending his reign as the people celebrate a new order.