Suddenly, the entire tower shuddered. The walls twisted and groaned as if coming to life, and outside, Lak Ahm's creations thrashed in a frenzied response to her wrath. Vines snaked through cracks in the floor, coiling up. With a surge of her remaining power, Lak Ahm seized control of every vine, root, and tendril within the tower. The Ursangs, closing in, stopped as the floor itself crumbled beneath them, forming a gaping chasm that split the room in two.
"Whoa… this is insane," Halfral muttered, his voice oddly detached.
Gadaric turned on him, "You—you were a puppet of Erlik all along!?"
Halfral blinked, confusion clouding his face. "What… what are you talking about?"
Satifa shook her head, a grim understanding dawning on her. "You didn't know, did you?"
"Didn't know… what?" Halfral's gaze grew vacant, his mind unsteady, as if parts of him were unraveling.
"You're dead," she said softly. "You've been dead this whole time."
Lak Ahm, her eyes blazing with hatred, surged forward. Vines twisted around her arm, coiling into a spear-like form. "You rapists, you murderers—you are not welcome on my lands!" she roared, plunging the spear into Halfral's chest.
The impact shattered Halfral's head, clay fragments spraying across the room. But in that instant, a wave of memories flooded from his broken form—coupled with the spear formed from memories as well. The images spilled into the minds of everyone present, revealing Halfral's true past and the horrors he had inflicted.
They saw Halfral's life unfold: born in the rough streets of Nimud, he became a part of a ruthless gang, a life marked by cruelty and depravity. They watched him stealing, beating innocent people, and worse—brutalizing women, relishing in their fear. His murders were acts of twisted pleasure, the thrill of taking life driving him to new depths of evil.
Eventually, he was caught by the guards and executed, his soul cast into the river of the dead. But even in death, his torment wasn't over. Arslan, soaring above on his mighty Simurgh, had captured Halfral's soul along with other cursed spirits, offering them as a plaything to Erlik, his daughter. Halfral's soul had become a doll for the goddess of death, bound to a puppet to serve her whims.
The group was stunned, the weight of Halfral's brutal life and twisted afterlife settling over them like a dark cloud. This man they had traveled with, always laughing and seeming cheerful, even trusted to a degree—had once been a monster in life and a puppet in death. And now, as Lak Ahm severed his bond, his tormented soul drifted from the shattered body, pulled southward, destined to be bound into another puppet to amuse Erlik.
Lak Ahm stood trembling, her breaths ragged. The strain of controlling the tower and her monstrous creations had pushed her to the edge. She turned her gaze on the four remaining intruders, her expression twisted with contempt. "Human filth," she spat.
Without a word, Joan stepped forward and delivered a hard punch to Lak Ahm's face. Too exhausted to dodge, Lak Ahm stumbled, her head snapping back. As she fell, her eyes widened in horror—she realized, too late, that the vines still embedded in her body were pulling taut.
"No!" she screamed, but the vines wrenched free from her flesh with a sickening rip, severing her connection to the tower's roots.
In that instant, the entire structure began to crumble. The walls shook, cracks splintering across the floor as the divine power that held the tower together dissolved into nothing. Joan, Gadaric, Satifa, and Yosef frantically searched for an escape, but every path was blocked by falling debris.
Then, through the dust and chaos, they spotted Tara and the two surviving assassins preparing a last-ditch escape. Clutched in Tara's hand was the pendant they had fought so hard to find. She and her companions were setting up the teleportation spell devised by the Old Man of the Mountain.
Realizing this was their only chance, the four scrambled toward them, dodging falling stones and collapsing pillars. They barely reached the circle in time, joining Tara and her assassins just as the teleportation field activated.
In a flash of light, they disappeared from the crumbling tower, leaving the goddess and the ruins of her realm behind.