Chapter 27

After Katia kills Hekla in a fierce battle aboard the train, Carl and his group use resurrection and duplication spells to secure Hekla's body and loot her legendary repeating crossbow. They escape the station by driving the train in reverse while fending off stage-three monsters. Carl then convinces Silfa, Hekla's fairy healer, that Hekla had planned to sacrifice her to manipulate Carl's emotions, revealing the depths of Hekla's manipulation. Li Jun arrives and Carl recruits him to help transport rescued people to Station 36 for a coordinated defense.

Hekla's body collapses after being defeated, triggering a system notification. As her faction members rush in, Donut makes a desperate tactical decision: casting Second Chance on Hekla's corpse to revive her, then Clockwork Triplicate to create three copies of the undead Hekla. This buys time as the party attempts to loot Hekla's body, though the copies are gradually destroyed by magical attacks from the daughters. Carl drives the train into reverse and accelerates away from the station as stage-three monsters attack. During the escape, the door is blocked with Hekla's corpse, which is torn in half—the crossbow remains on the other side of the door.

Inside the engine car, Katia struggles with shock over killing Hekla. Carl discovers Silfa, the fairy healer, hiding in the mantaur apartment and tries to convince her that Hekla's intentions were sinister. Carl presents evidence that Hekla deliberately shot Katia with invisible bolts and had orchestrated circumstances to use Silfa as bait to provoke Carl into attacking her, thereby justifying an orchestrated counterattack that would have forced Donut to join Brynhild's Daughters. Silfa is devastated, revealing that Hekla's death has caused the party to collapse as people leave with Eva as the new leader. Carl releases Silfa to rejoin her daughters.

Katia reveals she successfully looted Hekla's repeating crossbow—a unique, female-only weapon that gains +25% damage and firing speed for each female party member (up to thirty). Later, Li Jun arrives and Carl briefs him on the plan: to drive the train to Station 75, detach this engine car, and have Li Jun drive the remaining train back to Station 36, where Imani's group is defending against wrath ghouls. Carl intends to continue to the end of the line to rescue more trapped people.