In the lavatory, Loredana vomits as her civil credits continue to plummet. Convinced that she’s about to die, she vows to live a more meaningful life if given a second chance. The credits stop dropping just before they reach the threshold for execution. When she emerges, Jerome explains that he’s a Brasscoat—an agent for the Office of Civil Integrity. His job is to hunt down Heretics. He knows that her credits are being sabotaged, so he offers her a deal and gives her an Aegis, which instantly restores her credits and saves her from arrest.

In exchange, Jerome recruits Loredana for a classified assignment. She is to infiltrate the network of student Heretics at Grandmaster during the next school year, and she’s forbidden from telling anyone except her parents. Jerome explains that the Aegis is a special model for informants; it can be concealed beneath her Blood ring and hides her true civil-credit status. After leaving Jerome’s suite, Loredana discovers that the Aegis has lifted her weapons restriction and granted her millions of civil credits. Before she leaves, Henry admits to being the one who whistled a warning to her when Vincent confronted her on the train platform. Loredana thanks him for his help.

It’s now the night of the Mensur, when the Green and Blue fencing champions, Jack and Edmund, will duel each other in a formal, nonlethal bout. Before the Mensur, Jack and Dickie visit Loredana and Charlotte, concerned about Charlotte’s recent request to leave Edmund’s entourage. Charlotte announces that she’s through with Jack because he never protected her from Rosamond. She reveals Rosamund’s many abuses. Jack is shocked and contends that she should have told him earlier. The fight deepens as he accuses Charlotte of trying to crawl into Edmund’s bed on the same night she professed her love for Jack. Horrified, Dickie denounces Charlotte. 

After Jack and Dickie leave, Charlotte confesses to Loredana that she sabotaged her relationship with Jack because she couldn’t trust herself to have the strength to leave him otherwise. She hadn’t planned on making a pass at Edmund but acted impulsively while she was high on Bliss. As the two women reaffirm their friendship, Loredana’s Pinkie delivers her family saber, which she hasn’t been allowed to carry until now due to her weapons restriction.

Hours before the Mensur, Loredana learns that Jack is too drunk to fight in the duel against Edmund. She intuits that the argument with Charlotte sent him back into his alcohol addiction. Loredana asks Harrison to let her fight in Jack’s place, but Harrison refuses and names William as the challenger. The Greens travel by hoverboat to the Sailing Strip, a large platform on the Luminescent Lake where the duel will take place. At the Sailing Strip, Loredana and Charlotte sit in the back to avoid Edmund’s notice.

Once they arrive and begin preparing for the duel, a loud, unexplained bang from the direction of the energy shield alarms everyone. The crowd shrugs off their alarm, and the duel begins. Edmund quickly demonstrates his superior skill, landing four touches on William before missing his attempt at a fifth and allowing William to land his first touch.

William celebrates the moment by delivering a grave insult to the watching Blues. Outraged, Blue Grandmaster Lily Burton escalates the match to a death duel. Vincent invokes his right to enter the duel in William’s place, tying his life to his brother’s.

Bound by the terms of the duel, Edmund and Vincent fight, and Edmund ultimately kills Vincent. Hostilities explode between the Green and Blue Fraternities. Enraged, Harrison draws his saber on the Blues, and a massive brawl erupts. However, the fight is cut short when two Ranger jets breach the energy shield and attack the Sailing Strip. One jet is destroyed by campus defenses, but the other strafes the platform, causing casualties before it’s also shot down. Amid the chaos, Greens and Blues come to each other’s aid, their fight forgotten for the moment. Loredana and Charlotte help evacuate the wounded, including Vincent’s body. As Loredana boards a hovercraft, she sees Edmund below, calling her name and frantically searching for her among the dead and injured.

Loredana and Charlotte return to their dormitory and watch news reports on the Ranger attack, which occurred at 34 sites across the Civilized World. The newscaster, Benjamin Bogart, frames the Blues as the sole heroes of the incident and mentions the potential revival of the Vanguard Program. Later, Loredana has a nightmare in which Edmund slaughters the Greens.

The next morning, Loredana learns that William, whose life Edmund spared after the dishonor of the duel, is now on a destructive spree, burning through his civil credits. Loredana reflects that the other Blues will never stand for Edmund’s decision to show William mercy. Her thoughts are interrupted by an urgent call from her sister Vivian, who tearfully informs her that Harrison has been arrested.

Loredana and Charlotte rush to the Copper Headquarters, trying to find Harrison. Loredana contacts Sergeant Croft, who informs her that Harrison is being held by the Brasscoats and will likely be offered a plea deal. Professor Jerome confirms this via text message, advising her that any deal offered will be brutal.

Soon after, Harrison is released. He tells Loredana that he accepted a deal that requires him to spend the summer in “civil rehabilitation” and postpone his wedding to Vivian. Despondent, he leaves. A distraught Charlotte then disappears from the hovercar. Realizing that Charlotte is heading to confront Rosamund at the beach, Loredana races to intercept them.

Charlotte challenges Rosamund to a death duel, but her lack of fencing skill dooms her to a quick failure. Wounded and overwhelmed, she waits for Rosamund to deliver the final blow, but Loredana fights on her behalf, just as Vincent did for William. Loredana successfully disarms Rosamund just as Edmund arrives.

To everyone’s shock, Edmund doesn’t defend his sister or fight Loredana; instead, he pushes Loredana’s blade down and retracts his own saber, sliding it into her scabbard to leave himself weaponless. At that moment, a vengeful William, who had been following Loredana, now attacks the unarmed Edmund. Loredana uses her personal shield to protect Edmund from the blow. Thwarted, William turns his rage on Rosamund, severely wounding her before the watching Blues descend upon him and viciously beat him. As chaos erupts, Edmund tells Loredana to run and promises to find her later. Loredana takes the injured Charlotte to the hospital. A notification comes through her Bond, announcing that William is dead. When Charlotte awakens, she asks if Loredana loves Edmund, and Loredana admits the truth.

When Loredana returns to her suite late that night, she finds Edmund waiting for her. He confesses that he offered her Bliss not as revenge but because if he could make her hate him, she would have a strong reason to shun him and would be protected from their impossible romance. He realized that his confession of love gave her no room for her own choices. Now, Loredana affirms her love for him, despite the risk of being branded a Vulgar. 

Moved by her words and his fear of losing her during the recent attacks, Edmund says that he will stay with her if she still loves him. Loredana explains that her government assignment requires her to avoid all contact with Blues for the foreseeable future. She asks him to wait for her, and he agrees. Edmund asks for the records of the Section Twenty-Seven attack, promising to investigate who was behind it. They share a final kiss in the shower, and he leaves to check on Rosamund, who’s in the hospital recovering from her dueling injuries.

The next morning, Loredana finds her father in her suite, waiting to surprise her with his early arrival. They spend the day reconnecting. He explains that he never intended to be a politician, having dreamed of becoming a jazz musician. He reflects on his long, complicated friendship with President Reeve, noting that Reeve’s political strength lies in the fact that no one has ever discovered his “weakness.” When Loredana asks about Bruce’s own weakness, he tells her that he has four of them, implying that his wife and daughters are the “weaknesses” through which his enemies can threaten him.

Loredana attends the Ovation Ceremony with her father and is thrilled to win the Green award for Political Theory & Governance, seeing it as confirmation that she should follow in Bruce’s footsteps. The ceremony is abruptly interrupted by a campus-wide alert: President Reeve has signed an emergency decree repealing the Bliss Prohibition Act. Simultaneously, Loredana learns that the charges against Irene have been dropped and that her ankle monitor has been removed.

As the amphitheater erupts into chaos, security guards evacuate Bruce and Loredana. In the courtyard, Loredana watches Irene take Edmund’s lighter from his jacket pocket and use it to light a cigar, signaling that the dropped charges have left her untouchable. The guards place Loredana and her father in a different hovercar than the one they arrived in. As the vehicle speeds toward the airport, a sniper opens fire, and her father is shot in the head and shoulder. The guards scream for a medevac, and Loredana desperately clings to his hand as he loses consciousness.