Collum and the four remaining knights—Bedivere, Dinadan, Dagonet, and Nimue—shuffle along the steel road through bitter cold and snow, eventually reaching a humble fieldstone chapel atop a flat mountain peak, blazing with holy white light. Inside, the air is warm and smells of roses, and Collum feels enveloped in divine grace. Behind a samite-draped altar stands Saint Longinus—formerly the Roman soldier Lucius who pierced Christ's side—guarding the Holy Lance. Nimue has vanished, barred from entering because she once treated with the old gods.

Longinus prepares to bestow the Lance, promising it will reveal Britain's rightful king. Before he can finish, Ysbaddaden the giant tears off the chapel roof and Morgan le Fay bursts through the door in green armor, declaring she will break the chain of succession and end God's authority over Britain. With a clap she fixes the knights' weapons to the floor, blinds Bedivere with dust, and pins Dagonet to the wall. Nimue descends from the broken roof and duels Morgan magically, but fairy knights seize her and Morgan silences her with a leaf.

Fairies, gods, and magical beasts flood the chapel. Five angels fall from the sky to defend the Lance, then five more, joined in song proclaiming the spear is God's alone to bestow. Longinus fights with the Lance behind an overturned altar. The rainbow angel is downed by a dragon; Palomides, now serving Morgan, battles a golden-armored angel. Dagonet hamstrings her with his magical knife but is beaten to death and impaled with his own blade.

A radiant young woman descends, calling for peace, and the Lance floats to her hand. Before she can speak fully, the blinded Ysbaddaden gropes through the dark, seizes the fallen spear, and snaps it in two. A blinding shock wave levels the battlefield and kills the giant.

Collum wakes in ruins at dawn. A scorched black angel tells him the spear is broken and cannot be mended—nothing will happen now, only empty time, and no one can know who would have been chosen king. The angels ascend. Collum finds Dinadan, Nimue (her voice restored), and Bedivere, who comforts the weeping Longinus. Collum covers Dagonet's body with the samite cloth. Morgan has won simply by not losing; the age of Arthur will never return.