Diem reaches Lumnos City and realizes the fire is not at the palace but at the Benette armory, which the Guardians attacked using the blueprints she stole. With her medical supplies taken by the Guardians and no backup from the palace healers, she feels responsible and tries to get past the Royal Guard perimeter anyway.

Diem spots Luther near the burning armory and calls to him until he reluctantly comes over. Although Luther appears suspicious and warns her away, Diem pleads to help the wounded. Luther lets her through the linked magical barrier inside a protective dome, questions her missing supplies, and leads her to the worst casualties.

Diem tends the burned Descended guards with little more than comfort, water, alcohol, and makeshift bandaging. She soothes a horribly burned man until he loses consciousness, steadies a female guard in shock, and finally finds a dead female guard. Overwhelmed by guilt, Diem closes the dead guard’s eyes and performs the Rite of Endings.

Diem overhears Luther and two Descended allies debating whether anyone can be saved from inside the unstable armory. Because the entrances are blocked and further magic could kill survivors or collapse the building, Diem volunteers to crawl through the damaged front opening. Luther refuses, citing the danger and Diem’s mortality, but Diem publicly challenges his duty as a leader until he angrily allows her to go.

Inside the armory, Diem crawls through smoke and extreme heat in search of survivors. In a storeroom marked for blades, Diem finds empty shelves, overturned crates, scattered knives, and murdered guards, realizing the Guardians did more than bomb the armory: they killed guards while stealing weapons. This discovery forces Diem to confront the difference between righteous vengeance and the brutal costs of war.

As smoke, heat, grief, and guilt overwhelm Diem, she breaks down beside the dead. Diem believes her healer’s vow, her family, her relationship with Henri, and her future have all been destroyed by her choices. Convinced she deserves punishment for the blood on her hands, Diem collapses and surrenders to the darkness inside the burning armory.