Black Feathers Scattered at Parting closes out A Rekviem for the Underworld, the Chapter VII Act IV Archon Quest that arrived with Version 7.1 on September 23, 2026. It is the longest of the act’s three parts, and it ends with two separate boss encounters against Ronova, Arbiter of the Heavenly Principles, split by a forced defeat and an escape sequence through the Afterlife.
Quick answer: Finish Etched in Time, attend Marionette’s tea party, rest at Podvorye Restaurant, then head to Rankova Zorya. You fight Ronova twice — the first loss is scripted.
Unlock requirement: Finish Etched in Time first
The quest will not appear until you clear Etched in Time, the second subquest of A Rekviem for the Underworld. That act itself is gated behind White Night, Like A Dream Upon Waking, the Chapter VII Act III Archon Quest. There is no World Level or Adventure Rank gate beyond finishing the story in order.
Full objective list
The quest runs in a fixed order with no branching objectives. Here is everything the quest log will ask of you, start to finish.
- Attend Marionette’s tea party
- Head back to Podvorye Restaurant to rest.
- Go to Rankova Zorya
- Talk to Mitya
- Confront Ronova
- Defeat Ronova, the Ruler of Death
- Escape the Afterlife
- With her power gone, Ronova can now be defeated.
- Talk to your companions, then talk to Paimon
Snezhnograd: Tea party, notebook, and the trip to Rankova Zorya
First Ronova fight: The Life bar mechanic
You cannot win this one. The objective is to knock Ronova’s HP down to roughly 80%, after which she kills the Traveler and sends you to the Afterlife regardless of how well the fight is going.
Your party is locked to three trial characters here, so your own roster and builds do not matter.
| Trial character | Role in the fight |
|---|---|
| Traveler (Cryo) | Main control |
| Odette | Support |
| Vesna | Support |
The mechanic to watch is the Life bar. Ronova dislodges your Life, and it drains steadily until you die early. To refill it, run to the apparitions of your active character that spawn around the arena and approach them. Keep collecting until the bar under your HP is full, then go back to attacking.
Ignoring the apparitions ends the encounter on Ronova’s terms before you reach the damage threshold, which restarts the sequence.
Escaping the Afterlife: Follow the Seal of Life
You awaken amid the red, ruined structures of the Afterlife, with no map markers to guide you. The Seal of Life serves as your only navigation, hovering ahead and indicating the way. Follow its path to stay on course.
When the path breaks and you hit a gap or a blocked route, stop moving and wait. The Seal of Life builds the solution for you — a bridge, a platform, or a working mechanism — and only then can you continue.
The route recreates set pieces from past journeys across Teyvat. You activate elemental travel rings, climb fractured stone walkways, and ride a glowing spiritway lifted straight out of Natlan. One stretch hands you a Geo construct beneath a collapsed staircase to get back on the path.
The last obstacle is the only real puzzle. Line up the Prime Ice Constructs so their laser beams connect end to end. Completing the chain unlocks the staircase leading to the upper gate, and passing through it drops you back onto the snowy battlefield, where your companions are lying unconscious.
Second Ronova fight: Use Pierro’s Eye of the Fatui
Ronova returns overhead and warns that death will be eternal. The battle becomes winnable only after two allies intervene: Dainsleif restrains her with blue Abyssal chains, and Pierro appears carrying a glowing purple Delusion. He says the Eye of the Fatui was completed in time, then its beam breaks through her protective shield.
Meanwhile, within Zapolyarny Palace, Rhinedottir understands that the Tsaritsa has used all six Gnoses to distort time inside the hall. This disturbance removes Ronova’s Authority and sends her to the battlefield in mortal form.
For phase two, Pierro joins you on the field. Lean on his Eye of the Fatui and his lightning Delusion attacks — they do far more damage to Ronova than your standard rotations. When her health is low enough, Pierro finishes the job with a volley of energy spears that drives her off the field.
Quest rewards
| Reward | Amount |
|---|---|
| Primogem | 30 |
| Mora | 71,450 |
| Memory of Piercing Frost | 1 |
| Hero’s Wit | 5 |
| Mystic Enhancement Ore | 11 |
The Memory of Piercing Frost is the act’s namesake item and only drops from this quest, so it cannot be farmed elsewhere.
How long it takes
| Pace | Black Feathers Scattered at Parting | Full Act IV |
|---|---|---|
| Speedrun | 50 mins – 1 hr | 1 hr 35 mins – 1 hr 55 mins |
| Normal | 1 hr 20 mins – 1 hr 45 mins | 2 hrs 25 mins – 3 hrs 15 mins |
The speedrun figures assume auto-dialogue and skipping through conversations. Normal pace covers watching every cutscene and talking to the optional NPCs that appear after major scenes.
How to confirm the quest is complete
After the fight, speak with your surviving allies around Pierro and Dainsleif, then leave Zapolyarny Palace and finish the conversation with Dainsleif on the upper balcony before he departs Snezhnaya. The final talk with Paimon triggers the closing cutscene, in which Ronova returns to a celestial pillar and cracks its stone casing open.
You are done when the screen displays the Chapter VII: Act IV completion card for A Rekviem for the Underworld and the rewards land in your inventory. At that point Black Feathers Scattered at Parting disappears from the active quest log, and no further subquest in the act is queued behind it.
