Chapter 76 of 78 · Book 5, The Butcher's Masquerade

Chapter 76 — Cage Fight Extreme

Book: The Butcher's Masquerade · Part: The Butchering · Previous: Chapter 75 — Sic 'em · Next: Chapter 77 — The mask · Floor: Floor 6 — The Hunting Grounds · Series: the series

Opening

The elf castle was gone. All of Signet’s tattoo warriors were gone.

Summary

Everyone is frozen in midair: the castle has gone to the ninth floor with Signet's tattoos, the changelings, Kiwi and Tina, and the rest hang in a stacked cube over the brambles. AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck' plays as boss music: 'Four teams enter! One team leaves!' The crawlers, with Donut top-billed; seventy-five hunters of over a thousand, half of them listed as homeless or in refugee camps; Queen Imogen, High Elf Fallen Cleric Sorcerer, shunned by her goddess for the worst party since Persepolis; and Diwata, a Level 250 Immortal wearing Circe Took's face, a nymph half-born and burning in her flames. Orders: blunt force on Imogen, Florin leading; Katia, Imani and Donut on Carl for the god. The brambles dome over.

They drop into a pit the size of the castle's footprint. Hunters fall and plink out, Imogen hits like an asteroid, a lightning bolt crisps dozens of nymphs, and Bianca cuts through the swarm with Prepotente throwing potions. Carl takes an arrow through the forearm into his chest and is about to pass out when Donut's mass heal jolts him awake. A flaming sambhur flung by Imogen drives its antlers through Dmitri and Maxim — 'I miss my cat,' Dmitri said. Katia gives Carl the Apothecary beanie and goes back to help Bautista and Tran.

Carl's answer to the god is Laundry Day, boosted to fifteen with Pawna's Cries and Pawna's Tears: it cannot strip a god, but the god is the armour, and a spell aimed at the driver of soul armour works. Diwata becomes an antlered bear and returns to the Halls of Ascendency; Circe Took, unprotected, is torn apart by a dozen of her own children, shrieking Carl's name. A stronger lightning zeroes Donut, and her cockroach skill saves her. Zabit, the last hunter, goes invisible; Carl remembers the trap belt, casts Tripper, and Zabit is torn in half by his own mine. The brambles close from above. Gwen lies dead with Cleiton beside her; Tran is legless. The crawlers heave, Imogen's shield fails, and she kneels in a black nimbus. Carl throws a hobgoblin disco ball at her head and shouts 'Your jacket!' at Britney; the lightning takes the butterflies from her jacket, and they explode, shattering eardrums. Prepotente leaps from Bianca with a bubbling potion in each hand. '» Winner!' '» Quest Complete. The Vengeance of the Daughter.'

Characters

• Queen Imogen — Corner three; killed by the beat, and by Prepotente's potions.
• Diwata — Corner four; stripped from her driver and sent home.
• Circe Took — Eaten by her own children, screaming Carl's name.
• Carl — Two arrows, a broken drum, a head-butt; Tripper for Zabit; the god plan works.
• Princess Donut — Top billing; Laundry Day 15; love vampire; cockroach.
• Prepotente — Bianca's rider; the final blow, off-page.
• The Popov brothers — Killed by a flung, burning sambhur; 'I miss my cat.'
• Gwendolyn Duet — Dead in the pit.
• Cleiton — Dead beside her.
• Tran — Legs gone.
• Zabit — The last hunter, halved by his own trap.
• Katia Grim — Gives up the beanie; goes back to help Bautista and Tran.
• Imani — A beacon of counterspells on the way down.
• Florin — 'Heave!'
• Britney Proskurina — The jacket's last butterflies take the lightning.
• Tserendolgor — Flamethrower; Garret eating elves.
• Elle McGibbons — Mercy for a raptor.
• Louis and Firas — Unconscious beside Firas.
• Mongo — Donut's mount, healed and riding.

Locations

• The high elf castle — Its footprint: a pit domed by brambles, the cage.

Motifs

• The System AI — Boss music, corners, portraits, 'little bitches'; a shrieking announcer.
• The gods — Soul armour and its driver; Diwata sent to the Halls of Ascendency.
• The hunters — Homeless and refugee planets on their cards; the last one dies by his own trap.
• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — Tin's 21st edition wrong about god invulnerability.
• Sponsorship — The sponsor's note on Laundry Day; a promised replacement potion.
• Gehenna Bramble — A dome and a tomb.
• The Vengeance of the Daughter — Quest complete.