Chapter 1

Carl and his team arrive in Larracos on the ninth floor and learn the rules of Faction Wars, a competition between 10 teams to control the city's castle. Carl discovers he has soul poisoning from accumulated soul energy and must manage his new role as Warlord of the Princess Posse while navigating complex political alliances and recruitment demands.

Carl, Donut, and their companions materialize in a flooded alleyway in Larracos after the previous floor's collapse, finding that over 1,300 crawlers have died in their four-day absence. Carl receives troubling messages from his attorney Quasar regarding contract complications with Sensation Entertainment demanding a third season of the Vengeance of the Daughter show despite the main character's death. Carl discovers he is suffering from soul poisoning due to accumulated soul energy in his Scavenger's Daughter back patch and must disperse it immediately. He uses his Daughter's Kiss skill to annihilate a dead concierge shark in the alley, which temporarily solves the problem. Donut reaches the city with her new Deathbed Hellcat class, a long-range sniper and assassin class with invisibility abilities. Carl learns the mechanics of Faction Wars: ten teams (nine attacking, one defending NPC team called Team Retribution) compete to control the castle in the city's center. The ceasefire lasts 60 hours, during which only Team Retribution members and allies can remain in the city. After the ceasefire, Faction Wars begins, with the final phase "The Peeling of Larracos" commencing when only four teams remain. Defending team must hold for one week to win; attacking teams need only six hours. Warlords can be killed to eliminate their teams, and there are 293 stairwell chambers that will open later. Donut impulsively accepts a truce offer from Team Retribution without consulting Carl, officially allying the Princess Posse with the defending NPC team and renaming their alliance "Ferdinand and his Bird" after Ferdinand, the NPC warlord. Baroness Victory, their adjutant, advises that one warlord must go to their stronghold's flag room to prepare for recruits while the other remains in the city to enlist crawlers. Cascadia makes the official Faction Wars announcement, seeming unusually intoxicated or emotionally unstable.