With thirty-one hours left before ceasefire ends, Carl and Katia prepare for dangerous treatments in a newly built field hospital at the base. Mordecai explains that Katia’s session should last eight to ten hours, while Carl’s should be shorter but uncertain because Carl’s treatment is meant to target Shi Maria rather than Carl’s own memories.

Mordecai has prepared a compounded version of Glory Bound mixed with subdermal gel and Tough Love. For Carl, Mordecai adds Removal Order, hoping it will send Carl into Shi Maria’s worst memory and allow Carl to trap the entity there. Bucket Boy anxiously questions whether Removal Order can work on something so powerful, but Mordecai insists Carl’s head probably will not explode.

The chapter clarifies the stakes of both procedures. Katia must take Glory Bound again to confront the memory causing the drug’s physical effects and addiction, but waking Katia early could be fatal. Carl must undergo the process outside the safety of the guild because the toe ring protecting Carl must be removed while Carl is unconscious. Around them, the base continues frantic construction of a multi-layer anti-magic shield before the coming attack.

Rosetta, Edgar, Imani, Bautista, Bucket Boy, and others monitor the process. Carl worries that the convenient timing of Mordecai’s potion means the dungeon, the show runners, or the AI may be manipulating events. Still, Shi Maria is already speaking in Carl’s mind despite Carl’s Wisp Armor, leaving the group little choice but to attempt the cure immediately.

Mordecai applies the fizzing gel to Katia and Carl, then gives both a Potion of Somnolent Embrace to make sleep come quickly. As the potion takes effect, Katia reveals that her favorite memory and her worst memory are the same, meaning she expects to return to the same place as her first Glory Bound trip. Carl urges Katia to take Carl’s hand, but Edgar and Imani separate them because touching could confuse the dreams.

Even after Imani separates them, Carl’s consciousness briefly crashes into Katia’s mind and then brushes the minds of Imani, Mordecai, Rosetta, and Edgar. Carl senses Katia’s fear, shame, anger, and resentment over Carl allowing people to hurt Carl. As Carl tries to retreat from Katia’s dream and face the presences waiting behind Carl, a distant warlord notification interrupts: the Lemig Sortion is offering free passage to its headquarters to discuss peace.