The Atlas Complex

After Libby leaves, Callum picks the gun back up. Dalton wakes first, and Callum shoots him. When Gideon wakes as well, Callum turns the gun toward him. Parisa tells him not to shoot him. They catch up on what just happened. Then, Callum gets a text from Wyn saying that the Caines have Tristan. He tries to call Alys, but she hangs up on him. He leaves the house and hurries to the pub to find him. On the way, he realizes how much he actually cares for Tristan. Inside, he finds Tristan. Callum experiences a final moment of clarity before he is shot.

Nothazai pulls Sef Hassan, the fifth of Ezra’s group, aside and tells him that what he’s doing will benefit everyone who shares their goals. While Sef plays along, he is skeptical of Nothazai’s intentions. Sef prides himself on his integrity compared to his colleagues’ deceitful tactics. He knows that the archives will not easily give up their secrets to Nothazai but does not say this to him.

Callum arrives, and Tristan realizes that Callum was never going to try to kill him. This thought distracts him from disarming Adrian’s gun long enough for his father to shoot Callum in the head. Adrian then says that he can protect Tristan, but Tristan will have to work for him. They argue, and Tristan gets the gun. Adrian tries to offer Tristan a better deal, but Tristan rejects the idea of being a weapon for his father at all.

The chapter then presents a series of scenarios. In the first scenario, Tristan successfully destroys the bullet before it hits Callum and transforms the gun into a bomb, which detonates. The next scenario has him return to Libby at the manor house, and the two of them have sex with the knowledge that this still isn’t permanent. Callum manages to shoot Adrian first in the next scenario, and in the following one, Tristan kisses Callum and then kills him with a letter opener. Tristan refuses Atlas’s offer in the next, and in the one after, he tries to stop Libby from killing Atlas. The scenarios break down further, with more deaths and increasingly implausible situations, as well as some from Atlas’s perspective. The scenarios end. Tristan reiterates that he wants nothing to do with his father and then shoots him.

Reina waits for Aiya Sato in her Tokyo apartment. When Aiya arrives, Reina tells her that she wants to come back to the Society to do good. Aiya, however, challenges Reina’s perceptions and says that the Society chose Reina because of her selfishness rather than any inherent ability to save others. She advises Reina to focus on what she can control rather than futilely attempting to change the world. Reina leaves the apartment and goes to Aoyama Cemetery. Amidst the sakura (cherry blossom) trees, she sees Li waiting for her. In the end, they don’t attack but instead give her a silent warning that others will come for her eventually.

Reina returns to the manor house and reflects on how little it has changed as well as how empty it is. Parisa is waiting for her outside.

Libby visits Belen, who is hospitalized and facing investigation for war crimes. She reveals that she has early-stage frontotemporal dementia, caused by Nothazai messing with her brain. Libby offers to help her, but Belen dismisses this. They ultimately part ways with a mix of gratitude, resignation, and some unspoken forgiveness.

Libby stops at the Los Angeles Regional College for Magical Arts, her former campus from the 1980s. She observes the changes it has undergone and feels like a ghost among the student population. Later, she arrives at her childhood home and sneaks inside. She recalls the routine of visiting her sister, Katherine, every day after school and the pain of losing her. In her sister’s room, she finds Katherine’s journal and reads it.

Parisa stays at the manor house, unsure of what she's waiting for but feeling a need for change. She reflects on the cyclical nature of her life, which is always evolving but never truly moving forward. She contemplates Atlas’s death and the questions it raises about power and mortality. In her solitude, Parisa reads and rearranges the rooms for something to do. Eventually, she realizes that someone else has come to the house and finds Reina.

Upon learning of Nico’s and Atlas’s deaths from Parisa, Reina spirals into a suicidal state, believing that she has no more meaning and has wasted her life. She begins to intentionally give away her life to the earth. Parisa intervenes and urges her to stop. She reassures Reina and invites her to stay at the manor house with her to heal together, which Reina accepts.

James Wessex watches Tristan approach over the security monitors. His arrival heralds a confrontation that James knows he cannot win. Despite his attempts to maintain control, Tristan effortlessly disarms James both literally and figuratively, leaving him powerless in his own office. Tristan demands that James lift the bounty on his head, leveraging his newfound powers to coerce compliance. James begrudgingly agrees. As Tristan exits, James is left to the realization that, despite his wealth and influence, he has failed, and his empire will soon crumble due to his own inadequacies, just as Eilif predicted.

Now alone, Gideon finally embraces the dream world over reality for the first time. He occasionally visits Parisa and Max in their dreams. While wandering, Gideon encounters a version of Nico. Gideon is uncertain if this Nico is real or not but chooses to embrace the moment regardless.

Nothazai, originally named Edwin Sanjrani, was considered a miracle before his birth due to his mother’s cancer and previous miscarriages. Despite being born into a privileged life, Edwin feels burdened by his ability to see the flaws in everything, especially in human bodies. He becomes a biomancer and hopes to use his abilities to help humanity. However, he eventually becomes disillusioned with the world and realizes that it cannot be saved. After he becomes the Caretaker, he finds Libby in the reading room. They both make requests of the archives. Nothazai is denied, while Libby is finally given a book containing the answer as to whether she could’ve saved her sister.

The Epilogue discusses the thoughts of Atlas, Alexis, and Ezra in their final moments. Each finds solace in simple pleasures or memories. The chapter returns to the duality of human nature as both good and bad and emphasizes the importance of seeking knowledge and a better world while cautioning against the pitfalls of selfish ambition and the pursuit of glory. Its final line, directed at Libby, says that the answers she seeks lie beyond the confines of the book.