Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses violence.

Daji, fearful of Riga’s unpredictability, watches through a spyglass as a genocide unfolds on Speer. Jiang, who loved the Speerly general Hanelai, is angry at Riga. Riga has used fear to control Daji and Jiang since they were children. Jiang and Riga start fighting with their powers. Fearing destruction, Daji puts a Seal on all three of them.

This chapter is a memorandum written about Nikan by Hesperian Major General Joseph Tarcquet. He details Nikara mining deposits and goods. He describes the Grey Company’s difficulty in converting people to Makerism. He reports that Vaisra has overthrown the remains of Daji’s Empire, and the Republic is weak and manipulable. He says their greatest threat is from the South’s “indigenous guerrilla movements” (203) led by Rin. She and Nezha are the only shamans Hesperia knows about, and they’ve been conducting research on Nezha to find out how to defeat Rin. Once she falls, they predict the South will fall.

Rin wakes up in a dirigible with Daji, who explains they’re going to Chuluu Korikh to free Jiang. A journey that would normally have taken weeks takes less than a day.

Republican soldiers carry Rin inside the mountain.