In Maius 1787, the Undying deploy the first nullium bomb, turning a feared but limited substance into a devastating weapon. Tiny fragments can strip alchemists of resonance, forcing manual surgery and slow chelation instead of rapid alchemical healing. The Resistance hospital has prepared technically, but morale collapses as fighters fear being left without the power their entire society depends on.

Ilva remains shaken and ineffective after Luc’s capture, but Luc abruptly reclaims public leadership. At Althorne’s assembly, Luc appears in white and gold, physically diminished but spiritually blazing, and gives a speech that transforms fear into conviction. His renewed authority leads to an immediate counteroffensive, and Luc’s new battalion helps seize a district of the West Island, strengthening morale and making the Council reluctant to oppose him.

As battles continue, the hospital fills with nullium casualties, infections, shortages, and disease. Helena works exhausting shifts and avoids thinking about Kaine except when necessary, but privately studies Wagner’s strange nine-point array and wonders how to reverse what was done to Kaine. Remembering Soren’s death and the energy that passed through her, Helena experiments with dying patients and discovers that obsidian can hold a strange death-surge energy distinct from a trapped soul.

After successfully channeling a dying nullium patient’s final energy into obsidian, Helena returns to her lab and finds Lila devastated. Lila reveals that she has been hiding a lifelong secret: she is a vivimancer, which explains her remarkable recoveries and her ability to know she is pregnant. The father is Luc, and Lila confesses that she came because she thought Helena could end the pregnancy, but now she wants to wait and possibly keep it.

Helena challenges the danger of Lila having a baby during war while facing a tribunal and losing her paladin status. Lila explains that if she steps down, Sebastian will replace her and she may command her own unit, but a pregnancy could also reshape the scandal into a love story and provide Luc with a symbolic heir. Lila refuses to tell Luc unless the pregnancy continues, and Helena, though uneasy, agrees to consult Crowther because he is the most practical person able to arrange secrecy or quarantine.