Chapter 74

Carl and his team devise a desperate spell combination plan using Donut's War Crime ability to separate and eliminate the enemy forces. After initial resistance, Donut agrees to receive a magical tattoo on her flank that will enable the spell, with Carl promising to get a matching one later.

With the War Mage team closing in and only five hours remaining before they secure victory in Faction Wars, Rosetta proposes using Donut's War Crime spell in combination with a Dinner Bell variant (renamed Bijanbi) and Wall of Fire to separate and eliminate the massed enemy forces. The plan leverages the Synergy tower's amplification and the fleshers already attached to enemies as a finisher, since War Crime cannot kill directly. Carl initially questions the necessity, suggesting they could simply locate and kill the enemy leaders Tagg and Fang, but Rosetta argues this approach minimizes casualties among their own forces. She explains that the alternative plans (Wall of Fire and Laundry Day) risk harming their own soldiers and the fleshers. The spell requires a magical tattoo to be applied by Edgar with ink created by Milk, which will capture the essence of a fallen crawler and allow the learning of spells or skills. Donut resists the idea of getting a tattoo, particularly on her body, but Carl persuades her by framing it as a badge of honor and offering to get a matching tattoo himself later. After Rosetta shaves a patch on Donut's right flank, Edgar prepares to apply the tattoo, eventually revealing he will be drawing a dog. Throughout the chapter, messages from Li Na indicate increasing urgency as Harpocrates resists her commands and the lava continues filling the city.