The Combat phase is divided into two Segments. If after the second combat segment, the Defender still holds the Node, the Attacker must retreat back to her Node of Origin. If the Node of Origin is no longer controlled, i.e. the Great Old One does not have at least one Cultist token in the Node (or in the case of the Serpent People, one Servitor), then the remaining forces are destroyed as the mystical Gate between the Nodes closes and their forces are cast into the Void.
At the end of a combat, any pieces belonging to the victor over the Node’s Stacking Limit (5 Cultists, 3 Servitors) are discarded to the Void.