Chapter 73 of 89 · Book 7, This Inevitable Ruin

Chapter 73 — An act of fiendish cruelty

Book: This Inevitable Ruin · Part: The Peeling of Larracos · Previous: Chapter 72 — Diah · Next: Chapter 74 — Bijanbi · Floor: Floor 9 — Faction Wars · Series: the series

Opening

<Note added by Crawler Carl, 25th Edition>

Summary

A Cookbook note: Florin's bullet-holed 1800s dictionary defines Atrocity as 'an act of fiendish cruelty'; War Crime came in the Legendary 1914 box with Run, Little Günter, Run; 'never before have I prayed for a plan of my own creation to not be successful […] If I let her do this? What sort of monster am I?' Lucia walks off, then is yanked by an admin; Zev: the liaisons want to interview her now the dog is dead. Zev explains, more than he should: her entry was thought a glitch to correct, loot boxes to keep her safe once she was earning, and now the AI says it cannot extract her. The children are not all of Earth's — half of those who tried to enter, one wing of the kinder facility on the surface, physically; the Eulogist is another name for the AI of the center system; 'we think if she goes, they all go.' 'How many fucking children is it?' About 120,000. 'You almost let me kill her.' Carl: keep her off the field; she is a psychotic dead man's switch who just lost her bodyguard. Harpocrates beats Yarilo to death with the ball — 'Not my face. Anything but my face!'; the shaft goes from flail to mace ('THAT SHAKE WEIGHT THING MISS BEATRICE HAD') — 'A deity has fallen […] The heavens tremble with rage'; the Scavenger's Daughter looks away with eyes open. Shanty Town is flattened by the passage of gods. Li Na rides Harpocrates like a mount with Juice Box's changelings aboard. Samantha has found Louis in a secured cell; the Reaver castle is empty but for robots; Fang is not there. 'Warlord Agatha […] has been deemed to have abandoned her post'; Akuma is sole warlord; Victory: 'Don't even ask.' Up the bloody stairs because 'it just wasn't the same without her': Donut in the ghillie suit with her face pressed to the shield, tiara blazing, whispering 'Mommy is killing bad guys […] Gottcha' — a sniper. Level 65 to 74 in hours; hollow eyes that take a heartbreaking second to focus; then a meow, a barrel roll, and her old circle round his neck. 'My Magic Missile is level 15 now.' To Rend: 'I still think you're disgusting, but you saved my boy's life.' He belches in her face. Carl kills a splash gale tower with a rocket; Fopsy arrives unheard. The Ring of Divine Suffering lists no enemies in the ball; Ping finds Tagg and Fang in it, plus unaffiliated Saccathians, orcs, two nagas and an Operatic blob. Rosetta arrives on foot, wheezing, with Milk loosely bound and Edgar strapped to her back — 'you are significantly heavier than you appear'; 'At least you have your dignity' — and greets Fopsy: 'Get fucked. But I'm glad you're here to witness this.' Lucia's net is gone. Edgar unpacks the tattoo kit and Rosetta a pink Bic: 'Where do you want it?' Yarilo 'was the nephew or cousin or half-brother of Emberus. Probably all of those things.'

Characters

• Princess Donut — Level 74, a sniper's hollow eyes; 'Mommy is killing bad guys.'
• Zev — 120,000 children, one wing, the Eulogist is the center's AI.
• Lucia Mar — Pulled off the field for a liaison interview.
• Harpocrates — Kills a feral god with a god.
• Yarilo — 'Not my face.' Dead.
• Rosetta Thagra — Runs up the tower with a tortoise on her back.
• Edgar — 'At least you have your dignity.'
• Milk — Loosely bound, looking sadly at Donut.
• Agatha — Abandoned her post; removed as warlord.

Locations

• The Nest — Eight per cent; the sniper's parapet.
• Shanty Town — Flattened by gods.

Motifs

• Lucia's voices — 120,000 in one wing of the kinder facility; 'if she goes, they all go.'
• The Eulogist — 'Another name for the AI in the center system.'
• Atrocities — The dictionary, the 1914 box, and a prayer for a plan to fail.
• The gods — A god's death angers heaven; the Daughter looks away.
• Scars — 'Blood was so much more red when it was spilled from someone you loved.'