Chapter 56 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 56 — Justice Light; the Nest

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: Open Hostilities · Previous: Chapter 55 — Head Banger; Milk · Next: Chapter 57 — Thirty-two boxes; the last prisoner · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

“Leave,” Justice Light said to Sneaky Tyler C, the lead sluggalo.

Summary

The Justice Light interlude. In the tunnels under the FUPA he sends his sluggalos up to join the Frothing Tunnel Moles for Operation Ruin, which starts when the timer ends, and keeps back Sick-Ass Worgo: 'Juice Box. Tell her we need to talk.' Worgo is a changeling, sent to kill him if he noticed. His theory: the fifth-floor Quetzalcoatlus quest removed the changelings' gating — and if one door is unlocked, others will be, which turned his 'overly complicated suicide plot' into something possible. Through the changeling as a relay, Juice Box reveals she has lived 'at least 400 different lives', though NPCs are meant to be recycled after twenty. Justice tells his story in full: the trap-shop lizard he killed in anger; the shopkeeper's indenture he took in penance; and the order to kill the gentle ice elves he guarded. Dante refused twice and was erased by a beam from the sky — 'he died free.' Justice refused once and lost his wing to a warning beam; ordered a second time, he did it, because he was afraid. 'There is no such thing as the point of no return.' Then his deduction: Juice Box's true purpose is the gods — 'so you and your kind can physically touch as many of them as possible.' She confirms: three lost in Club Vanquisher, one who touched Bast and died, one who touched a deity and 'is… wrong'. His offer: a way to touch a god and live, for honouring every deal and helping Operation Ruin. 'You are thinking much too small. That's not the war I'm talking about.' He shows her the trap he began designing the moment Carl found the Gate of the Feral Gods. His card: Trap Master, Skyfowl, author of the eighth edition. Alive.

Six teams remain, two hours to Phase Three. Operation Ruin — attack from above, below, the land and within, all at once — is set on three fronts, held by Florin's 101st, Tran's 102nd and Li Na's 107th. The Nest, a granite synergy tower will seat Donut open-air at its top with line of sight to the whole field. If tonight goes well, Katia eats the orchid afterwards — attendant on the twelfth, pregnancy, or a constitution boost — and behind it is the thing Carl refuses to think: neither can descend while the other lives. Milk has been kidnapped on Rosetta's word for interrogation. An interview shows seven celestial boxes from the club: Katia's Spiked Knee Pads of the Goddess Kina, awarded, Drick says on air, in the hope that she will give them to Carl; and Carl's Hairbrush of the Beefmaster, whose thirty hours of Shining Charisma, Speedster, Entourage and a quarter more constitution are too good to give up — so the hair stays long. The fifth floor's dead, and 'What gives me the right?' One hour and forty-five minutes.

Characters

• Justice Light — The interlude: the ice elves, the wing, Dante's death, and a deal with Juice Box; 'Alive.'
• Juice Box — Four hundred lives; a relay through a changeling's head; wants to touch gods.
• Jessica — A changeling who lived among ice elves, wearing Worgo and then Juice Box.
• Princess Donut — Purple, flags, a Mongo patch; 'We don’t steal!'
• Toyotomi — Built the Nest in two days; asked the same question three times.
• Katia Grim — Bacon for both pets; knee pads meant for Carl; an orchid after tonight.
• Carl — A screaming hairbrush; a divine item; 'What gives me the right?'
• Louis and Firas — Shown a video; near a breakdown; sent to Area 52.
• Milk — Kidnapped, on Rosetta's advice, and held at the FUPA.
• Splash Zone — His wife and mother-in-law missing with the old dancers.
• Jurgen — Talks to Heidi, who is not there.

Locations

• The FUPA — Tunnels beneath, a digger idling, eight traps.
• The Nest — Granite, Master Quality, the tallest thing outside the funnel; Donut's perch.
• Shanty Town — A ring of Semeru and White Dragons.

Motifs

• The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook — The eighth edition's whole story; 'there is no such thing as the point of no return.'
• The changelings — Gating removed by a ghost quest; slugs copied; 'only one of us has touched a deity, and that one is... wrong.'
• The gods — What the NPC team is really for: touching gods.
• The Gate of the Feral Gods — A trap designed since the day Carl found it.
• The Crown of the Sepsis Whore — The orchid tonight, and the third outcome unthought.
• Loot boxes — Seven celestial boxes the owners are suing not to pay for.