As soon as Volchik completes the ritual to open a portal into Angrboða's sanctum, the five mages pass through. A brass plaque engraved with a powerful glyph mystically assaults their sense of self and purpose, compelling Surya to toss away his pistol and Sequela to weaken the chain that supports the sacrificial victim. In the center of the room, a woman dangles from the ceiling by chains. A strange weight of doom descends upon Tommy as he passes through the portal, a counterpoint to the strength of destiny that Saint has seen in him. No one is exactly surprised that this Sanctum is a Demesne, or something enough like it that spells do not suffer Paradox. Undaunted, Tommy charges toward the chitinous Abyssal horror. Sequela turns the full might of her entropic magic against the plaque; its mystical compulsions will doom the Harbor Lights cabal if it is left unchecked. Saint lays the curse of the evil eye on the Abyssal monster, and then hurls Anahita just a short distance forward in time - enough to take her out of the fight briefly. Volchik spends his time countering what he can of Angrboða's and Anahita's spells.

Once Surya is free of the compulsion, he stands prepared for Angrboða's spells, but the Scelestus reaches into the pit of blood, pulls out a massive, squirming leech, and hurls it at Surya. Reflexively, Surya redirects the projectile with Forces magic, and it latches onto Angrboða instead. Saint's gunshots have injured the Abyssal mage, and it seems that the leech is countering Angrboða's unnatural healing factor, at least until he pries it off. The Abyssal warlocks land a few psychic assaults, but many more of their spells are countered - spells that would dominate or sequester the mages of the Harbor Light cabal, or spells that would teleport them out of danger. Pattern restoration, however, cannot be countered. The two Scelesti are very closely matched with the Harbor Lights mages, it seems, even though Angrboða is clearly a true master Mastigos - again and again, Surya and Volchik find the mental fortitude to unravel the pernicious magic of the Abyss (and Angrboða's armoring spell), and Anahita fails again and again to teleport herself to safety.

Finally, however, Angrboða collapses - though it is clear that his body is still trying to mend itself - and moments later Anahita is brought down as well. Only the Abyssal insect still stands; thanks to his Spirit armor, Tommy was able to ignore it and deal with other threats, such as helping Sequela smash the brass plaque. Once it is slain, the cabal searches the Sanctum while Surya does his best to finish incinerating the corpses. They free the girl from the chains, though she remains mercifully unconscious. They learn Anahita's name for the first time from notes that they discover; they also determine that these Scelesti are not connected in any particular way to the cult of the Red Word.

It takes some eight hours for Volchik to pierce the outward-only Ward that lingers on the Sanctum; Angrboða had apparently not cared who intruded, as long as they could not get away. The mystical foulness of the place is unbearable, and it is combined with the visceral foulness of the two burned corpses and a pit of blood. Just before Volchik ends the ritual, Surya unravels as much of the blood-Tass in the pit as he can with two castings and a significant exertion of his will.

Back in their own Sanctum once again, they make the woman as comfortable as they can on their couch, and go off to find their own beds.