Havana's coastal cliffs glowed under a blood-red sunrise, the Dawn Crucible lab—a fortified Spanish fort reborn as a hunter's sanctum—crouching amidst crumbling ramparts. Ruoxi stood in a mangrove thicket, sea salt stinging her scars, her side and ribs healed but heavy beneath her tactical gear. The phoenix tattoo pulsed—heart-driven, balanced, the pact's truth—"choice, sacrifice, heart to bind"—alive after Kyoto's fire. Mei's hand trembled in hers, the girl's faint tattoo sparking, her courage a mirror to Ruoxi's own. The book's golden hum and Sister Lan's phoenix feather weighed in her pack, anchors against Elena Marquez's ritual to break the pact.