Chapter 34

King Rust arrives at Carl's position to reveal that his daughter Princess Formidable is attempting to destroy the entire solar system by activating a failsafe at a monitor station orbiting Venus. After negotiating a ceasefire so that both armies can prepare for their imminent deaths, King Rust is suddenly decapitated by Rosetta, who emerges from invisibility and triggers the enemy forces to charge into battle.

Carl and Donut encounter King Rust in a strange emotional state, visibly distressed and contradicting his typical demeanor. Rust reveals that his daughter Formidable, using control of a Skull Empire warship, intends to reach an orbital monitor station and activate a system failsafe that will cause the sun to undergo a catastrophic reaction, killing everyone in the solar system and destabilizing the entire galaxy. He explains that Formidable believes this is necessary to prevent a potentially contagious AI insanity from spreading to the center systems, though analysts dismiss this as unlikely. Rust expresses respect for Carl and notes that he marched his army to this location specifically to die with honor rather than leave the burden of shame to his sons. He requests that Carl convince Formidable to stand down, asking him to speak on behalf of Earth's people. Carl and Donut negotiate a simple deal: Rust orders his armies to withdraw, allowing both sides a few hours to prepare for their deaths. Carl privately messages Zev to confirm the situation is true. However, Carl then reveals to Donut through private communication that the failsafe has already been deactivated—by Carl himself—and that they should pretend to go along with the withdrawal so they can later attack the retreating army. Just as Rust begins walking back to his camp, Rosetta suddenly emerges from an invisibility cloak, lands on Rust's yak, and decapitates him with a whip. The decapitated body falls to the ground while the head lands several meters away. After five seconds of stunned silence, the enemy forces roar in rage and charge toward Carl's position.