A note attributed to Crawler Herot argues that controlled people can be pushed off a false path by a small, well-placed disruption. The chapter then jumps to fifteen days earlier, when Carl consults Quasar about getting help for the changelings. Quasar proposes the spell Zerzura, which can move an entire town and its NPCs down one floor at the end of the level, and says every major faction would support Carl using it because the spell reliably creates violent spectacle.

Quasar explains the cost of that help. On the Scolopendra levels, Zerzura skips floors, so if cast now it would send the changelings straight to the ninth floor as Carl wanted. But the town would land in a random, usually terrible location, often crushing monsters or mercenaries; everything killed would immediately rise as powerful revenants called the Children of Inpewt, and those revenants would relentlessly hunt every marked villager and the caster until all were dead or transformed. Carl realizes that using the spell could save the changelings from the collapsing floor while also exposing children like Bonnie and vulnerable changelings like Ruby to a deadly chase. Quasar says they should negotiate for mercenaries carrying both a teleport spell and Zerzura, and Carl starts thinking about extra protection, including the Dreadnoughts.

Seventy hours before the Butcher’s Masquerade, the system announces that the brambles are closing in, praises the crawlers’ unusually low casualty rate, and confirms that the hunters have suffered massive losses. It also reveals that the old seventh floor has been redesignated as the eighth and that a newly finished floor called the Great Race will now come next, with the Valtay Corporation credited for helping complete it. The announcement lays out Masquerade rules: top-50 crawlers receive plus-one invitations, all invitees will be teleported to a castle ballroom thirty hours before floor collapse, hunters will attend in a separate but interactable mirrored space, and no weapons, inventory use, or magic will be allowed in the ballrooms. Because of the bramble event, crawlers will not be returned afterward and must leave through the castle’s southern exit.

Sixty-six hours before the Masquerade, Donut excitedly tells Carl that she has been accepted into both the pet beauty contest and the talent competition. Since the earlier plan to use Big Tina as the main act was rejected, Donut decides to sing herself with Kiwi, Tina, and the rest of the crew as backup dancers, while Mongo competes in the beauty contest. Around them, Katia, Imani, Louis, and others gather in the saferoom while Elle reports that she cannot reach the Desperado Club objective and is told to return. Louis, now much higher level and burdened by his blood-guild mechanics, says he soon needs to go back out and refill his blood bar with help from Firas and Britney.

Carl studies a detailed map of Queen Imogen’s castle and briefs the group on how the party will work. He explains that the crawler and hunter ballrooms are far apart on different floors, with servant staging areas below them; Samantha adds that these are goodwill ballrooms designed so enemies can mingle without true physical danger, then derails the meeting with sexual comments to Louis. Looking at the numbers, Carl concludes that facing all remaining hunters after the party would be suicidal and states that he wants the hunter count reduced to under 250 before the event begins. The chapter ends with a new complication: Donut says Prepotente has messaged her, claims he has a present for her, sounds angry, and is already on his way because she told him their location.