After Luc dies, Helena leaves Sebastian and Luc hidden in an alley and tries to reach Lila through the fallen city. Resistance territory is overrun by necrothralls, and Helena considers using reanimated bodies as cover but finds the guards too heavily armed. As Helena searches for another route, necrothralls herd Helena through the streets until an Undying in black catches Helena and knocks Helena unconscious.

Helena wakes in the former suite of the Hevgotian ambassador with Kaine leaning over Helena. Kaine tells Helena that the war is effectively over: the Undying have taken the city and Resistance Headquarters, and the remaining factions are trapped. Helena tells Kaine that Luc is dead and explains Morrough's possession of Luc and the accident that killed Luc. Kaine concludes bitterly that the war has been driven by ancient brothers fighting for godlike power.

Helena insists on rescuing Lila because Luc made Helena promise and because Lila carries a Holdfast child whom Morrough will want. Kaine initially refuses and reveals that Helena has been unconscious far longer than Helena realized; Kaine had found Helena, left Helena hidden, and returned to his post after the Undying infiltrated Headquarters. Helena offers to leave Paladia permanently and do anything Kaine asks if Kaine rescues Lila. Kaine accepts the terms and orders Helena to stay in the suite while Kaine goes alone.

Kaine returns with Lila unconscious, bruised, missing Lila's prosthetic, and bound in crude alchemy-suppressing cuffs. Kaine says the Undying had already moved Lila from the Tower to Bennet's lab, and Kaine rescued Lila from there. Helena then realizes that Kaine exposed Kaine's cover to retrieve Lila: entry records will show Kaine accessed the controlled lab and was the only one to leave alive. When Helena tries to undo the danger to Kaine, Kaine invokes Helena's promise, insists Helena must leave, and drugs and transmutes Helena's body to calm and weaken Helena.

Helena, still sedated, persuades Kaine to fetch Shiseo under the pretense that Shiseo must learn how to use the remaining obsidian. When Kaine returns with Shiseo, Helena manipulates Kaine into taking Lila across the river first on Amaris, buying several hours. After Kaine leaves, Helena tells Shiseo that Helena actually needs supplies and time to build a different kind of bomb. Helena plans to destroy West Port Lab so the Undying will believe Lila died there, protecting Lila and concealing Kaine's rescue.

With Shiseo's help, Helena constructs multiple volatile bombs using metal, flour, carbon disulfide, white phosphorus, and ground obsidian. Shiseo reveals that Shiseo is the Emperor's half brother and offers to carry out the mission because Shiseo may survive capture, but Helena refuses because Helena needs necromancy to plant the bombs. Helena leaves Kaine a note and an obsidian knife, then climbs out the window with the rucksack of bombs while the Eternal Flame's beacon is extinguished over the city.