Lore emerges from her hiding place. Wrath gave Iro’s people false information in order to force Lore to find him and bring the aegis. Lore ignores Wrath and addresses Athena “in a way she knew would infuriate him” (434). Wrath responds with threats, and Lore switches on her earbuds noise-cancelling feature. She pretends to falter under Wrath’s power, using the shield as cover to retrieve the flashlight Miles brought her and turning it up to its highest setting, momentarily blinding the gods. Lore strikes at Wrath’s exposed elbow, severing his entire forearm. Somehow in the process, she loses one of her earbuds.

Lore taunts Athena, telling her to take out Wrath while he’s vulnerable, but Athena moves to his side to stand with him. The final lines of the aegis’s poem mean the Agon has been a test, not a punishment. Zeus wanted the other gods to “prove our loyalty by ending the worst age of man” (437). Lore makes to attack the tank but stops when Wrath tells her it contains sea fire—a Roman chemical used to start a fire that water does not stop.