Chapter 66

Carl learns about Eris's Ceremony of Chaos, a one-time ritual that summons tens of thousands of mortals as invulnerable witnesses to a god battle. When the spell goes awry, all the witnesses—including allies Katia, Elle, Imani, and others, plus the entire Reaver army—end up in a massive pile at the Dream Castle. As chaos erupts across multiple battlefronts, Donut executes a desperate plan using Rolling Battle Formation to move the pile to safety, accidentally combining thousands of people (and two gods) into a single enormous rolling ball.

Carl and his team receive reports of Eris casting the Ceremony of Chaos, a goddess-exclusive ritual that creates invulnerable mortal witnesses. Mordecai explains the spell pulls thousands of people into a giant pile, protecting them from collateral damage during god battles but leaving them vulnerable if the invulnerability is turned off prematurely. Donut reports approximately 80,000 people piled at the Dream Castle alongside the Reaver army, including named allies. The situation worsens when Meatus, a feral god, gains unintended invulnerability from Eris's panicked casting. Meanwhile, Louis reports heavy combat losses, including Party Planner's death, and crash-lands in Reaver territory while being tracked. Samantha abandons her pursuit of Yarilo to rescue Louis. Carl faces an agonizing choice between helping Louis and the pile versus continuing the assault on the Madness Castle. He decides to trust his team and press forward with the castle operation. Donut then casts Rolling Battle Formation—an atrocity spell from the skunk wizard's hat—which transforms the entire pile, including the two gods and a gremlin, into an enormous rolling ball she can control remotely. The spell lasts until it takes sufficient damage, leaving the situation highly unstable.