Carl rushes into the saferoom and briefly sees Mordecai reading Anne of Green Gables to Ruby. The quiet scene makes Carl recognize that the war’s huge stakes are also destroying small, personal lives; if Donut dies, Mordecai will likely lose Ruby and the other children forever. Carl pushes the thought aside because the group has only minutes, then uses the doggie door to reach the Larracos gate with Rend, Bigs, Jamal, and the survivors from Burcu’s team.

The group emerges on the Larracos College of Magic campus as the city is under siege and its defense towers are thirteen minutes from activation. Carl sees fires, smoke, stalled water, incoming lava, and swarms of obsidian Zarogoths attacking lower levels. Donut remains in the Nest tower, where Harpocrates has arrived at the city edge and Yarilo is approaching with the ball; Rosetta and Carl warn Donut to leave before Harpocrates uses a devastating spell, while Li Na reports that golden ogre-form changelings are blocking Harpocrates from crossing into Shanty Town.

At the college gate, Semeru dwarves battle Zarogoths while Donut’s magic missiles support them from above. Carl learns that Zarogoths are generated mobs made from corrupted soul energy and liquid bodies; they are sadistic, attack in swarms, use pain rays, and die once enough black fluid leaks out. Carl realizes their main purpose is to delay the defenders, and Donut warns that the lava will soon fall over the city edge.

Donut then spots the hidden antenna or generator only through a reflection: it is inside the Piccadilly Theater on the ninth level, shielded and positioned where Donut cannot shoot it directly. Carl tells Donut to stop wasting time and jump to the college before the god breaks through. At the same time, Juice Box, Britney, Ferdinand, and other changeling officers enter through the gate, and Carl proposes pushing to the railing so he can throw explosive waffle makers at the theater.

Juice Box urgently asks where Louis is, revealing genuine fear for her husband. Carl checks Louis’s status and finds Louis alive but paralyzed and bound in the Reaver castle. Carl sends Samantha to rescue him, and Juice Box promises Samantha help obtaining any body she wants if Samantha brings Louis back intact, hinting that Juice Box knows Samantha’s true identity.

As Carl prepares for the assault, messages from the Nest tower report an intruder. Donut suddenly cannot leave because a net has appeared around the tower. Toyotomi identifies the attacker as a female crawler with a dog, and death notices attached to urgent messages from Toyotomi, Sergeant Bret S, and Bomo show the tower guards being killed as the chapter ends with Donut trapped.