Chapter 43

During a warlord council meeting, Odette substitutes for the injured Chaco as host. The meeting reveals that off-world teams are exploiting a loophole in communication bans by changing entertainment channel names to send coded messages. Carl proposes and passes an Emergency Action Item to close this loophole. The meeting culminates when Juice Box, the NPC warlord, transforms into a terrifying alien form and delivers an ominous warning about approaching ruin before vanishing through a wall.

The council meeting begins with Odette arriving as substitute host for the injured Chaco. She explains the current state of the competition: three teams defeated, seven remaining, including the unprecedented crawler team led by Carl and Donut, and an NPC team led by Ferdinand and Juice Box. Cascadia, the traumatized showrunner dealing with civil war in her home system, sits silent and drinking. Princess Vinata whispers cryptic warnings to Carl about his family being dead and suggests he join her faction, while offering to handle his "Katia problem." When Carl questions how warlords possess outside information despite communication bans, Odette reveals the loophole: teams can purchase a galactic news media upgrade and change program names to communicate coded messages, with each name change costing 30,000 credits. Carl and Juice Box both oppose Ferdinand using an Emergency Action Item to close the loophole, so Carl proposes instead that any communication loophole be automatically closed. His item passes. Cascadia then hints at additional loopholes through food menus, activity schedules, and massage NPCs, prompting the AI to express irritation. During Odette's subsequent interviews, Juice Box refuses to answer questions. When pressed, she makes a final statement denouncing the warlords and everyone watching for their exploitation of NPCs like her family. She then transforms into a terrifying midnight-black tentacled alien form—a change that visibly shocks even the hardened warlords and causes Architect Houston to react with apparent excitement. Speaking in a demonic voice, Juice Box warns that ruin is coming for everyone present and everyone watching before she walks through the wall and disappears, her form supported by hundreds of root-like legs rather than traditional limbs.