Carl and Donut arrive on the ninth floor in Larracos, the central city for Faction Wars, along with thousands of other crawlers materializing across the city. Carl notes that the crawler count has dropped by more than 1,300 during the four days since the previous floor’s collapse, but confirms with Imani that the group survived the transition.

They land in a muddy, recently drained alley in a poor section of Larracos, near the corpse of a concierge shark. Carl receives messages from Florin and Quasar. Quasar warns that outside events have become legally and politically chaotic, and that Sensation Entertainment’s contract for a third season of the Vengeance of the Daughter storyline may be used against Carl despite Signet being gone.

Donut begins choosing a new class while Mordecai warns her to avoid deity-themed options because gods and god-related quests will be prominent on this floor. Carl suffers sudden pain and discovers soul poisoning from carrying too much stored soul energy in the Scavenger’s Daughter back patch. Because combat is restricted during the ceasefire, Carl uses Daughter’s Kiss on the dead shark, vaporizing it and releasing the accumulated energy, though the blast knocks both Carl and Donut into the mud.

More Faction Wars information arrives. Carl learns the Princess Posse has only fifty-eight approved soldiers, no officers, and many recruits awaiting approval. Eight enemy teams form a united alliance called the Bloc and declare war on both Team Retribution and the Princess Posse. Donut quickly accepts Team Retribution’s truce offer, making Larracos an allied city and allowing their team to remain there after the ceasefire if the alliance holds.

Cascadia announces the rules of Faction Wars: ten teams remain, with Team Retribution as the NPC defending team in Larracos and nine attacking teams outside the city. Crawlers may volunteer for armies during the sixty-hour ceasefire, but unaffiliated crawlers risk being hunted and conscripted afterward. The city will stay inaccessible until only four teams remain, then the final phase, the Peeling of Larracos, will begin; attackers must hold the throne room for six hours, while defenders must hold for a week.

Baroness Victory advises that one warlord should go to the Princess Posse stronghold to manage recruits and preparations while the other stays in Larracos to enlist crawlers. Donut insists on reaching a saferoom to open rewards and accessories, and Carl discovers she has chosen the Deathbed Hellcat class, a long-range sniper and assassin build that greatly increases her spell range, dexterity, invisibility, and instant-kill potential.