Motif · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Atrocities

A class of spell — 'an act of fiendish cruelty', by Florin's dictionary — that a synergy tower can amplify over a whole battlefield: War Crime, from the Legendary 1914 box, castable three times ever, only on Scolopendra levels, combining spells 'in a creative way' and never killing directly. Donut's three on the ninth floor — a Rolling Battle Formation of eighty thousand people and two gods, a corpse field torn into fleshers, and War Crime with a paw she swings herself — make her the Oak Fell, Champion of Nekhebit, level 135.

Segment appearances

• Chapter 15 — The Rolling Battle Formation Ball
• Chapter 29 — The Bamboozle
• Chapter 40 — Little Günter; a dragon chain
• Chapter 59 — Operation Ruin
• Chapter 61 — The War Mage Rebellion
• Chapter 65 — Bear Witness
• Chapter 66 — Rolling Battle Formation
• Chapter 68 — The Grease Monkey
• Chapter 69 — Interlude — Several days earlier; Interlude — Rosetta; Zarogoths
• Chapter 73 — An act of fiendish cruelty
• Chapter 74 — Bijanbi
• Chapter 75 — Stayfast Ink
• Chapter 76 — The Oak Fell
• Chapter 78 — The Scavenger's daughter is with us now
• Chapter 79 — Tart
• Chapter 81 — Executive Order 11905
• Chapter 82 — Ursensus

Progression

War Crime arrives in the Legendary 1914 box, bleeding and crying (ch. 27, ch. 29); Carl keeps its card in his scratch pad and reads a dictionary — 'an act of fiendish cruelty' (ch. 73, ch. 74). The Nest's synergy goes to Atrocity spells (ch. 61). The first: a Rolling Battle Formation of eighty thousand and two gods (ch. 66). The second: You're Not Done Yet on a corpse field, 'What a naughty kitty' (ch. 69). The third: War Crime with Bijanbi and Astral Paw, and the paw swung by hand through Li Na's chains until the screaming stops (ch. 76). The AI's card promised a class: the Oak Fell, Champion of Nekhebit (ch. 76).