Ten months after No Peak established an office in Shotar, Wen accompanies Shae on a business trip to Leyolo City. Shae’s strategy involves providing police with intelligence on the rival Mountain clan’s barukan allies in exchange for official cooperation. Wen’s personal goal is to convince Pas Guttano, head of Diamond Light Motion Pictures, to release actor Danny Sinjo from his contract for a No Peak-funded film. Guttano refuses, even for a large sum of money, implying he’s under the control of a barukan gang. Wen leaves after making a veiled threat about Hilo’s displeasure.

That night, a man dressed as a police officer pulls over the car carrying Wen, Shae, and their bodyguards, Dudo and Tako. However, the stop is a ruse, and they are ambushed by jade-wearing barukan. In the ensuing fight, Dudo is knocked out, and Tako is shot multiple times and badly wounded while defending Wen. The attackers take Wen hostage, forcing Shae to surrender her weapon and jade. Both women are hooded and abducted. Hilo receives a ransom call in Janloon, demanding a fortune in jade and cash for Wen’s release. To get Shae back, No Peak must permanently withdraw from Shotar. Hilo agrees to the terms but warns the kidnapper of dire consequences if the women are harmed. The kidnappers respond defiantly, saying, “You may rule Kekon, but this is not Kekon” (480).

Captive in an empty room, Wen is horrified to hear the sounds of her wounded bodyguard, Tako. When she confronts the gang’s leader, demanding medical aid for Tako, the man shoots and kills Tako to silence him. In Janloon, the Kaul estate becomes a war room. An investigation, led by Hilo and Lott, quickly rules out the Matyos, the largest and most powerful of the barukan gangs, specifically because No Peak’s embedded spies in that gang didn’t know about the abduction. After members of the Leyolo City branch office examine all of Shae’s and Wen’s activities since arrival and account for everyone each had met, suspicion falls on Wen’s meeting with the film executive Pas Guttano. 

In Leyolo City, Hami Tumashon abducts Guttano, who confesses he feared Wen’s threat and called a smaller gang, the Faltas, for protection, inadvertently giving them Wen’s location. Hilo orders Guttano held captive, his life dependent on the women’s safe return. As the family waits in agony for the ransom exchange, Ru rushes home from college to comfort his young cousin, Tia.

The Faltas gang takes Wen to a foggy bridge, where she is exchanged for suitcases of jade and cash. She is met by Hami Tumashon and her nephew, Maik Cam. Hami explains that Shae will be released in a week, after No Peak’s withdrawal from Shotar is complete. However, having overheard her captors, Wen realizes it’s a trick and insists they warn Hilo that the Faltas will not return Shae.

Meanwhile, Shae, suffering from jade withdrawal, is held at another location. The Faltas leader reveals their true goal is information rather than ransom, telling Shae that the most valuable thing the Weather Man possesses is information and demanding the names of No Peak’s informants and police contacts. When she refuses, they chain her and the captive Dudo in a large bathtub and dump a vast quantity of jade from No Peak’s own vaults on top of them. The extreme overexposure to jade energy becomes an excruciating form of torture, pushing both Green Bones into overwhelming agony.

In Janloon, Hilo sits with a sleeping Wen, then has Anden drive him to the Ayt family mansion. The journey prompts a flashback to his youth, when he learned his grandfather planned to marry Shae to Tanku Din, the son of the Mountain’s Horn, to forge a peace that would diminish No Peak. To prevent this, a young Hilo concocted a plan. He feigned drunkenness to provoke the heavily-jaded Tanku into a clean-bladed duel and, using his sober skill and a surprise Channeling attack, killed him.

In the present, Hilo meets with Ayt Mada. He tells her the Faltas gang holds Shae and will kill her, arguing that Ayt is implicitly responsible as the gang expects her protection. He tells her that if he does not leave her mansion alive, Anden will go to the press to reveal that Shae saved Ayt Mada’s life and that Ayt Mada repaid her by letting Shae die—a catastrophic political move given the rise of the Koben family as a rival power base. Finally, in a desperate act of submission, Hilo kneels before his lifelong enemy. He swears on his honor, his life, and his jade that if she uses her influence to save Shae, he will withdraw No Peak from Shotar and leave it to the Mountain for as long as he is Pillar, and the debt to Shae for saving her life will be considered repaid.

The Faltas continue to torture Shae with jade overexposure, giving her small doses of shine to keep her lucid for interrogation. To spare her dying bodyguard, she reveals the names of two No Peak informants in exchange for shine to relieve Dudo’s agony. Her captors ask about a secret “Euman Deal” between the Mountain and the Matyos, but Shae knows nothing about it. The gang leader receives a call informing him that the Matyos have betrayed them to No Peak. He prepares to flee and moves to execute Shae, but is shot dead by the No Peak sniper, Vin Solunu. A joint force of No Peak and Mountain Green Bones, led by Lott, storms the house, killing the remaining Faltas and rescuing Shae and Dudo. 

A month later, Shae is recovering but can no longer wear jade. Hilo explains that Ayt secured the Matyos’ cooperation by killing a proposed anti-immigration bill they opposed. With this move, Ayt has consolidated her power, erased her debt to the Kauls, and secured Shotar for the Mountain. Despite losing her jade abilities, Shae reaffirms her commitment to her role as Weather Man.

For his birthday, Ru’s friend Dano takes him to a lounge in Mountain territory. The bartender, Tadino, is a branded Oortokon refugee who secretly belongs to the Clanless Future Movement. He has arranged for a woman named Juni to seduce Ru, knowing her violent and jealous boyfriend, the Mountain Fist Koben Ashi, will attack him and spark a new clan war. Bero, who’s sitting nearby, warns Ru that Juni has a boyfriend in the Mountain clan just as Koben storms in moments later. Koben brutally beats Ru.

Realizing Koben doesn’t know who he is, Ru reveals his identity as Kaul Hilo’s son and offers a clean blade duel. Koben turns his anger on Juni, accusing her of intentionally trying to get him in trouble with No Peak. Ru deftly defuses the situation by challenging Tadino, whom he correctly accuses of orchestrating the plot. In the ensuing bare-handed fight, Ru uses his martial training to dominate Tadino. Beaten and desperate, Tadino seizes Ru’s own talon knife and fatally slashes his throat. Horrified, Koben murders both Tadino and Juni to create a new narrative: that clanless extremists were solely responsible. He spares Dano and Bero, ordering them to spread this story.

Anden arrives at the Kaul estate late at night to inform Hilo that Ru is dead. Based on witness testimonies, the death appears to be a tragic accident resulting from a legitimate duel. The city expects a bloody retaliation, but after conferring with his advisors, Hilo orders No Peak to stand down. At Ru’s funeral, the Koben family, led by Councilwoman Koben Tin Bett, formally apologizes. Ayt Ato also attends and delivers Ayt Mada’s assurance of the Kobens’ innocence, functioning as a public exoneration. Koben Ashi and his two Fingers kneel before Hilo, offering their severed ears as penance. To prevent a war, Hilo accepts their apology.

At the gravesite, Hilo grieves that he raised his stone-eye son in such a violent world, wishing Ru had been a coward rather than fighting the duel. As the family turns to leave, Niko appears, having returned after a nearly three-year absence. He tearfully apologizes to Ru and kneels before Hilo, asking for forgiveness. Enraged by his long silence, Wen slaps him. In an act of penance, Niko tries to cut off his own ear, but Hilo stops him. Embracing his nephew, Hilo says Niko never stopped being his son and expresses hope that they can forgive each other.

During the final year of the Many Nations War, the Shotarian-occupied island of Kekon was important to the empire’s power. A rebellion by the One Mountain Society was on the verge of collapse after a failed assault on a fortified Shotarian base. Trapped and facing annihilation, the leader, Kaul Dushuron, devised a desperate plan. Sixty of his less-experienced followers gave their jade to Dushuron and his 19 chosen peers—20 Green Bones in total, himself included.

Overloaded with far more jade than their bodies could handle, these 20 warriors launched a suicide mission. In what became known as the “Charge of Twenty” (508), they attacked the base with superhuman savagery, killing nearly 300 soldiers before they were all slain. The ferocity of the charge shattered the morale of the Shotarian forces. Believing all Green Bones possessed such terrifying power, the remaining troops fled or surrendered when the main rebel army advanced. This victory turned the tide, leading to the Shotarian withdrawal from Kekon. At Kaul Du’s funeral, his comrade Ayt Yugontin praised his sacrifice and declared a new martial school would be built in his name.