The Heralds of Resurrection Beast Number Seven reach the Mithraeum in the evening, arriving as the ghostly vanguard of a murdered planet from Dominicus’s domain. Harrowhark waits alone in her darkened room with Gideon’s great sword laid before her, prepared for the attack but still alienated from the weapon and what it represents.

The first impacts strike distant parts of the Mithraeum, and Augustine, God, Mercymorn, and Ortus communicate over the comms as they track where the Heralds land. At first the attack feels anticlimactic because Harrowhark cannot hear or feel the earliest impacts, but another strike hits nearer the habitation ring.

The Heralds’ proximity triggers a wave of unnatural terror. Harrowhark experiences it as a nauseating smell, panic, bodily revulsion, itching, and the sensation of things crawling on her skin. Harrowhark forces herself to breathe through it and regains control, while Ianthe screams over the comms.

God explains that the fear will continue until the Heralds breach the station, and Mercymorn estimates that breach is still more than an hour away. As the assault continues, the Mithraeum grows darker and colder, and Harrowhark feels the repeated impacts and the tearing of the hull despite the shuttered room.

With frost forming on Harrowhark’s body and the comms announcing ten minutes until breach, Harrowhark accepts the approach of death. The chapter ends with Harrowhark moving toward the coming confrontation with grim, almost intimate resolve.