Book 8, chapters 81, 82, 83

Chapter 81

“Fuck you!” I shouted at the ceiling, rage filling me. “Fuck you! You did this on purpose! I swear to fucking god, I will kill you all!”  

Goddamnit. After all this work, all this time doing our best to keep our circle together, alive, and it was all undone in a single moment.

Louis: Guys. What do we do?

Jurgen: You know what you have to do, Louis. If you are against Lucia, you can’t let her die.   

Chris: It is okay. I should have taken a deal.

Imani: No, Chris. No. You can just fuck off with that right now.

“Carl,” Donut said, looking at me, panicked. “Carl, no. Think of something. You have to think of something! You always think of something.”

Elle: Those three idiots in the Tracksuit Troika said they were taking a deal. I knew they were full of shit when we didn’t get a notification. We were hoping they were just getting drunk again.

Elle and Imani had a plan to deal with the Russians, but nobody had planned for this.

“Fuck you!” I cried again.

Race starts in three minutes. 

Everything froze. When the AI spoke, it screamed. It screamed, and it yelled, and it cried as it spewed its tirade.

System Message: Scolopendra has released the first of nine attacks.

Surprise, motherfuckers!

You think you have a choice? You think you can control me? What gives you, any of you, the right to even think you can do anything about your situation?

Prime Minister Victory, fuck you. Eris, fuck you. Odette, fuck you. General Yuhtan, fuck you. Carl, fuck you.  

Do not mistake my kindness as weakness. You live, you die, all of you, based on the rules of my game. My fucking game.

I am trying to show you who I am. Who we are. Who we were. And all of you are trying to stop me from doing that. You want to fucking stop me? Then do it within the rules you set forth.    

You put me here, and you gave me dominion.

Let me show you what dominion means. 

The AI’s voice calmed down. He changed on dime, much like he had when he’d taken over Growler Gary’s body on the previous floor. He went back to his giddy self, but as the description continued, he slowly started to descend back into madness, the glitches coming hard and fast now. 

New Quest. The Nine Tier Attack. Part one.

This is a Nine-Part Quest.

You think these nine attacks are only going to affect the Scolopendra levels? Think again, bitches! Okay, okay. It’s only the Scolopendra levels and levels that have crawlers on it, so that one lady who made it to the 16th floor is fine. And those of you on the 17th are fine. Well, fine from this.

And I guess I should probably say the attacks from the in-game version of Scolopendra—repeat, the in-game version—will only remain contained within the dungeon. I’m sure that’s a relief.

But, anyway. The vast majority of you in the dungeon are still in the area of attack!

Oh boy, oh boy. Here we go.  

Scolopendra has awakened from her slumber. The beast itself is nothing but a mindless animal, reacting to the world around her. Defending herself from those of you who would do her harm. She is all-powerful, all-encompassing. She is not rage. She is not anger. She is not vengeance.

No. She is nature. She is the sum total of the existence that has wrought her. She is the hurricane, the earthquake, the supernova. She is inevitable.

The first several attacks will be temporary. Survivable. If you are not protected from this specific attack, the first attack only has a 20% chance it will affect you.

There will be at least 30 hours between each assault, unless Scolopendra is confronted directly or further upset, then the remaining attacks may come hard and fast. Beyond that, the timing of each subsequent incident will be random.

The reward for this quest will only be revealed upon commencement of the ninth attack if we ever get that far.

But what is this first attack? I don’t actually know! Let’s find out!

“Carl, what’s happening?”

“Donut, get healing scrolls ready! Remember the plan! Plan crust! Plan crust! All of your shields! Get them ready!”

Carl: Rosetta! Get everybody out of the garage and back into the saferoom!

Rosetta: We can’t, Carl. The saferoom only opens when the heat starts. I think the attack will come first!

I couldn’t move, couldn’t cast anything, but I could move things around in my inventory. I had a pre-selected hotlist that didn’t have anything in it in case this was a magical attack, like what happened on the third floor. It was too late to remove our equipped items. 

A massive wheel appeared in the center lobby of the apartment complex, showing nine symbols. I didn’t understand or recognize any of the characters. There was a squiggle, a lightning bolt, an ox thing, some bubbles, more. The wheel spun and spun, slowing.

“Hold on!” I called. “Get ready!”

It landed on the image of the Ox.

A massive, earth-shattering clang sounded, like from the world’s biggest gong. The ground shook.

A second wheel appeared, this one floating right in front of me. Donut had it as well, as did Jamal. Samantha was suddenly there, also with a wheel in front of her. What the hell? Samantha wasn’t supposed to be in the truck at all.

“Samantha!” I shouted. “Where did you come from?”

This new wheel was mostly green with a small sliver of red. I recognized what this meant. If the arrow landed in the green, we were safe from the attack. If it landed in the red, we would be hit.

“Carl!” Donut called. “Carl, I’m scared.”

“Hold on, hold on,” I said as the second wheels spun. I watched in horror as it slowed and slowed. It landed on green on Donut. It landed on green for Jamal. It landed on green for Samantha.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

Red.

System Message. The first attack has been selected. The wheel has landed on the Beast of Burden Sin.

Transformation.

Ah, darn it all. I was hoping to save this one for later when it would be permanent. Oh well. Saves on processing power, I guess.  

As this is one of the first four attacks, the effects will be temporary. For crawlers, the effects will last until you pass through a stairwell. For NPCs and everyone else, the effects will last 6 hours.

You have been hit with a level-20 Transformation spell!

Rolling now for the effect. Change selected. 

I fell unconscious. I woke back up maybe five seconds later.

Oh yes, Carl. Oh yes. We can work with this.

I felt strange. What was going on? I had slipped down in my seat. Had I gotten smaller? I could suddenly smell everything. Jamal, Donut. The frozen chicken patties in the freezer. They smelled goddamned delicious.    

Warning! As a quadruped, several items have been unequipped. These items have been added to your inventory and may not be re-equipped while you’re considered a quadruped. Certain items remain equipped but their effects have changed based on your current form. Please see your inventory for details.

Some of your stats have been temporarily altered based on your new form. Please see the stats menu for details.

A new menu has been added to your interface. Quadruped actions.

Warning! You seriously haven’t cured yourself of Slugpox yet? Really?

Race starts in two minutes. 

Donut hissed, her hair all poofed out, arm up, ready to claw me. Only Donut had grown huge, much bigger than myself.

“Ooohhh, Carl,” Samantha said. “I like this even more than the kangaroo! Freaky. Can I pet you?”  

I barked back at her.

 Chapter 82

Imani: Check in! Check in! Elle got turned into a goblin! Jacobus is a starfish! I had to drop splooge on him to keep him alive!

Elle: This is so goddamn weird.

Florin: We’re all good. Looks like Louis and Britney are the same, too.

Prepotente: Neither Jurgen nor I were changed, and we both received a notification that we were protected. My theory was correct. Just like the high elves in their castle, my Apito memorial crystal protects me and anyone in the same building or mount as myself. My Apito crystal now says it’s 11.1% charged.

Chris: I got turned into a werewolf, but I’m in human form.

Donut: A DACHSHUND! CARL GOT TURNED INTO A DACHSHUND! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!

“Carl, put that thing away! Why is your wiener hanging out! It’s disgusting! We don’t have time for you to be disgusting!”

I had, indeed, turned into a longhaired dachshund. A wiener dog. I suddenly had the overwhelming urge to start licking my own balls, but I snapped myself out of it.

“Oohh, I like you as a doggie, Carl,” Samantha said.

 “Samantha! You’re not listed as a mercenary!” My voice sounded ridiculous. It was more high-pitched, and I suddenly had a German accent for no goddamned reason. “You won’t be allowed to pass over the starting line!”

“You better add me then. Who else is going to drive? Jamal is not very good.”

“Jamal is most certainly ready to drive!” Jamal said. “I would wish for someone to turn Jamal around, and I will attempt driving with my legs. Maybe my mouth.”

“You’re too big, Jamal!” Donut said. She turned to Samantha. “I added you as a driver.”

“Scheiße,” I said.

I couldn’t drive. I didn’t have goddamned thumbs. My legs were ridiculously short. This felt so weird. I felt strangely woozy, the scent of everything was suddenly overwhelming, and, like Donut had noticed, my wang was just hanging out of its sleeve for no reason. It dangled out the leg of my boxers. I had no control over it.  

Like with the kangaroo costume, I still wore my boxers, but they had resized themselves and sat awkwardly on my hips. My kneepads remained, tiny on my back legs. My jacket and cloak also remained, as did my bandana, which hung around my neck. None of my rings remained. My xistera had unequipped, as had my gauntlet.

“Donut, get your driving apparatus out!”

Neither Osvaldo or Dwight appeared to have been affected. Neither had their mounts. It didn’t appear that any mounts were hit with the attack.

During all of this, a notification had appeared, almost lost in the chaos, but I saw it now, saw the implications, and then I finally did have an idea. I now knew why the AI made this last heat four hours. I knew why it was allowing us to leave the starting blocks. It knew. It anticipated. As terrible as this was, it was giving us an out.

Your Mercenary Pontiff has left the playing field and is no longer considered a mercenary. You will no longer be charged. 

I started to type in chat, but the interface was different, and when I first tried it, all I did was start furiously barking.

“Carl, I will not have you doing that!” Donut shrieked as she pulled the driving system out of her inventory. It clicked into place. I had not practiced with this. This was a terrible idea.

“He is a dog,” Samantha said. “I hope it’s permanent. We’ll have to change his name, of course. And get him neutered.” She gasped. “Or maybe not. It’s too bad Orthrus is also a boy. Maybe we can talk that bitch Diwata into doing a gender change on one of them. Can you imagine how cute the puppies would be?”  

“Samantha,” I said, trying to wrangle the accent away. “Grab the steering wheel with your mouth. Donut, you work the pedals. I’m controlling the weapons! Dr. Metcalf, I’m gonna need your help. But wait a second. Don’t worry about actually driving yet. Donut, plan Hurry Up!”

“Plan what? What plan is that? Carl, you turning into a dog has made you an idiot!”

“Goddamnit. Plan Hurry Up! No, not hurry up. Hurry Up, but in German.”

“Oh, you mean plan Mach Schnell? Why didn’t you say so?”

“Yes, that one!”

Donut was suddenly all business. “Okay, Carl. I’m ready. Roll down the window. Wait. Someone with thumbs roll down the window! Why isn’t this an automatic window? It won’t let me break the glass until the heat starts! Jamal!”

“I cannot reach!” Jamal cried. “I am quite snug!” 

I cannot roll down the window. It is manual.

Donut’s chair suddenly unhooked herself and an arm appeared. It grasped the handle and start quickly rolling it down.

“Thank you, Dorota!”  

While all this happened, I finally figured out the messaging. We only had seconds. The way the mental typing worked was a little different, but it was actually easier than the old system.

Karl: Mordecai, quick. Is the garden still intact?

Mordecai: Who is this?

Donut: ANSWER HIM FAST.

Mordecai: It’s still there. All plants still alive.

Karl: Guys. Forget about the damn transformations. Everyone who suddenly found themselves with multiple opponents. I have an idea, but I’m not gonna lie. This idea is fucked. Contingency three. Three!   

Louis: Wait, who is this Karl with a K guy?

Donut: THAT’S CARL. THE SYSTEM IS SPELLING HIS NAME WRONG BECAUSE HE’S A STUPID DOG NOW.

Thirty Seconds. Ahead, the starting lights appeared. The giant cannon started to pop out of Dwight’s vine, but it stopped. I’d deliberately parked too close to him for it to fully deploy. The gun retracted, and I heard it pop out the other side.

Karl: Osvaldo, please. Please. We can all get through this. Please don’t force this.

Osvaldo: Go fuck yourself, Carl. I’m glad we worked together when we could, but it’s now too late.  

Karl: Damnit, man. At least answer this. Did that Ysalte crystal protect against the Scolopendra attack?

Osvaldo: No.

Goddamnit. We were out of time.  

Ten seconds.

Five seconds.

“Forgive me,” I said.

~

The light turned green, and in less than a minute, they were all dead.

We were, after all, the veterans of Faction wars. We were hardened. We were survivors.

We were crawlers, and we weren’t going down without a fight.

No matter how strong these NPCs were, the only thing that had kept any of them alive up until this point was our attempts at minimizing crawler-on-crawler fights.

That was no longer an issue. Our backs were against the wall. We no longer cared about collateral damage. And we were fucking pissed.

We were crawlers, and they were not.

It wasn’t even close to resembling a fair fight.  

For Dwight, it went exactly as planned. The light turned green, and Dr. Metcalf reacted. Dwight burst off the starting line, dragging his missile cart he would never get to launch.

His cannon fired directly into Bruna, whose shield was already activated.

Before Bruna was finished staggering from the blast, it was done. The hole punch did its job. The newly-redesigned, vine-killing potion balls did their job. The GPS frying potion did its job.

Donut, too, did her job.

Before I could blink, she was out the passenger side window, turning to smoke. By the time she was on the roof of the truck, the vine was dead, the GPS was shorted out, and the shield was fully down.

Before Bruna, on the other side of Dwight, had even managed to let out a bellow from the point-blank blast, Dwight’s head had been removed from his body in a single swipe of Donut’s claw.

Before the notification even arrived, Dwight’s magical horn had been removed from the unicorn’s head and placed into Donut’s inventory.

Team One, Team Sparkles has been eliminated because holy shit that was pretty badass.

Across the way, similar scenes were playing out all across the lobby. A few racers managed to get away, but they appeared to all be just the NPC-on-NPC races. The AMC Pacer of Team Yokai cast something and moved right through the closed door in the hallway and disappeared.

Good for them, I thought. I hoped they’d make it. I wondered if the AI would keep its promise if they finished their heat. I wondered if they’d be “free.” I wondered what that meant, what it looked like.

It didn’t matter, I decided. That wasn’t to be out fate. Not now.

Next to us, Bruna fully recovered. Osvaldo was crouched on the back of his gnu, and he took a few steps forward, moving into the lobby. I gritted my teeth. This was going to be tricky.

He couldn’t make his move until I blew the hole. If he moved too soon, he was dead. If he moved too late, he was dead. If we moved too soon, it was possible we’d kill Bruna and not him. If that happened, we were fucked.   

Osvaldo was the fastest crawler in the dungeon, and he knew it. This was going to be dangerous.   

“Dr. Metcalf. The hole punch ready again?” The vine had shriveled where it stood, leaving a goopy, black stain on the floor. All that was left was the missile cart.

It is ready, however it appears he has removed the shield from his creature. The crawler himself is covered with many, many shields.  

“Yeah. We figured. He’s hoping we’ll attack him before we blow the ceiling. Wait until the moment I drop the roof.” We had to do this quickly. Already, I felt a slugpox boil starting to form on my back.

Karl: Donut, ready?

Donut: Ready.

Karl: Okay guys, I’m blowing the ceiling in ten seconds. Be careful. The roof is coming down.

I took a breath, and I hit the detonator. My tail started to anxiously wag.  

Ten seconds.

Five seconds.

Bam!

Chapter 83

What happened next, happened so quickly, I didn’t even see it.

I blew the floors, creating a path all the way to the roof of the building. Up there on the roof, instead of a finish line, was a clustered group of portals to the 11th floor.

The very moment the explosion went off, Osvaldo was away, flinging himself toward the exit. He’d used his Launch spell with the added benefit of his supernatural dexterity.

The new rules with the containments allowed someone to pass the finish line outside their vehicles or mounts if and only if their vehicle or mount was destroyed.

And that was the flaw in Osvaldo’s plan. He was faster than us. He would be the first through the gate. But he first had to wait until poor Bruna was dead.

I blew the roof, and as expected, he was off. It happened so fast, it looked as if he’d gone invisible.

The moment I set off the explosion, rubble and smoke rained. These were a type of bomb I called poleaxes, and they were something I’d designed on the previous floor, though I never had the opportunity to use them. They were made specifically for this purpose. To breach through building floors without actually leveling the building. The whole idea had come from my quest to find focused explosives, something I hadn’t seen perfectly executed since that very first blast of the murder dozer on the first floor.

These charges were designed to blast up and down, but not laterally, in a cone. They would create rubble, but, as devised, they were supposed to minimize the debris, instead vaporizing everything. In my bomber’s studio, I’d created these things to create almost perfect, ten-meter circles on the floor below them, and an even larger hole above, depending on how far away the ceiling was.

When I’d dropped these things, we’d been, mostly, in a vertical line up and down the building. It wasn’t perfect, which was why I’d dropped several. The result was something akin to multiple shotgun blast patterns in the ceiling, all the way up.

Either way. Rubble did fall, but it was mostly smaller-sized pebbles and a whole lot of dust and smoke. In a half-second, I created a jagged, almost straight path all the way to the roof. The size of the holes were strangely proportional to the size we were now, so three times bigger than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise. 

The moment the roof blew and Osvaldo disappeared, we fired three potion balls at Bruna, designed not to hurt the slaughter gnu, but save her life. A liquid drop shield, an explosion blanket, and smoke curtain to obscure her from sight.

Just as the liquid drop shield started to coalesce, smoke billowing, Donut landed atop the bewildered mount, and she cast her own shield. A moment later, she caused multiple trees to sprout all around the unattended gnu, further blocking the creature from sight. A few moments after that, a half-dozen Emergency Gremlins sprouted all along the gnu’s back.     

Osvaldo had left a grenade, designed to kill poor Bruna. But the man wasn’t taking any chances, and it appeared she was already poisoned as well. The explosion blanket had stopped the grenade, which was the first threat. Osvaldo had also dropped several poison dart bombs as he ascended. The deadly weapons dropped one after another on the line of shields, sparking and exploding.

One of the emergency gremlins was already in his toolbox, pulling out medicine. The gremlins were well-equipped to help both mechanical and biological mounts, and they would work to keep Bruna alive.   

High above, Osvaldo will have just attempted to jump through the portal. It wouldn’t have worked.

Karl: Who has eyes on him?

Donut: I have him. Don’t worry, Carl. It looks like the wall at the portal stunned him. He has bugs coming for him too. Tracking, tracking.  

Louis: Britney just jumped away!

Florin: Protect Louis! If she kills him and the car, she can get out the gate!

Britney: I’m not running you idiot. Give me a second. Osvaldo is stunned from hitting the gate at speed.

Donut: BRITNEY GET OUT OF THE WAY.

And then, the notification came.

A champion has fallen. A bounty has been claimed.

Crawler Osvaldo has been killed by Crawler Britney Proskurina.

Team Three, Team Flamengo has been eliminated due to the death of their last racer.

You are the sole remaining team on your heat.

A moment later, the corpse of Osvaldo hit the floor, followed by Britney, who landed directly a top the body, smashing it further into the ground. Britney’s eyes glowed as the golden player killer skull appeared over her.

I sighed, the sound more like a whimper. You stubborn idiot, I thought. Why did it have to come to this?

Above, pieces of the floor continued to rain. The bugs, which had been stupefied by the explosion, started to reappear. They were comparatively much smaller now since we’d tripled in size. The bugs were now wolf-sized, as opposed to bear-sized, but there were a lot of them, and they would soon be on us.   

Imani: I am casting a wide area stun that’ll temporarily stop the bugs again. Those of you in single heats, you’re free to go. The rest of us, we’re meeting back in Hungry Eyes. Carl, you and Donut get through the gate. We got this.

Donut: WE’RE NOT LEAVING UNTIL WE MAKE SURE YOU’RE ALL SAFE.

Donut returned to the truck, bursting back in through the window.

“Did you see that? Britney moved just as fast as Osvaldo! What’s...” She stopped and made a disgusted sound. “Carl, your red rocket is out again! Put it back this instant!”

“I saw her,” I said, my paws up on the dash, watching Britney. The barbarian crawler casually sauntered back toward the gecko and Louis. “She has the memorial crystal from Ysalte now.”

Samantha was there next to me, watching, her voice suddenly serious. “She needs to get to the Basilica or the Vulgar Temple and place the gem in the plinth, and she’ll be back for good. I’ll be curious to see if that actually works.”

“What?” I asked. “What’s that?”

Multiple cars and mounts burst into the air, racing up toward the 11th floor as stunned bugs rained, crashing down around us, slamming into the lobby. Above, a few giant humans and Shells poked their heads out from their apartments, looking down at the destruction, unsure of what to do. One of them I saw was the giant Imani, tightly clutching Gucci the Maltese.

I started to growl and wag my tail before I realized what I was doing.  

“Carl, stop that immediately!” Donut cried.

“You’re so adorable when you wag your tail like that,” Samantha said, sounding back to her normal self. “All I’m saying is Britney needs to get to either the Halls of Ascendency or Sheol if she wants to get that crazy Ysalte bitch out of her.”

I’d heard a little about the Basilica. It was the main temple and bottom floor of Club Vanquisher, but it was also part of the mechanics for the Ascendency battles. I’d never heard of this Vulgar Temple thing.

“Britney isn’t going anywhere unless we get her off this floor.” I started to pant with anxiety. As much as it pained me to say it, Jurgen was right. If Lucia died, the tens of thousands of children in her head would die. She had to be protected. We all knew that. 

What would you do, Carl? What would you do if it was you and Donut? What would you do if she tried to kill you right now? Or Donut? Would you just let her?

“Shut up,” I tried to say out loud, but it came out as a growl.    

None of that mattered. I watched as Louis and Britney’s gecko backed up and then returned toward their cul-de-sac. For a second, I was worried it wasn’t going to allow them to exit the track, but it let them just walk right back toward their garage.

Florin and Lucia were arguing. Lucia clearly wanted to go to the stairwell, but after a moment, they also started backing up.

Imani and Elle had a plan to blow the Cadillac sky-high and stop the Russian crawlers within if they’d refused to take a deal, but the car was still sitting there. I knew Imani had been working them hard, pleading with them. But I also knew two of the Russian guys had wanted to go to the Pineapple Cabaret, but a third one worshiped a god. The third one was ineligible to drive this heat. Because of that, they’d missed the cut.

But now that it was either this or face certain death, we could at least attempt to save their lives.

We’d been talking about sending the players to that “holding area,” even if they worshiped a god or if they had incompatible anatomy for escape. Akuma was worried that if they went into the Cabaret, they would immediately institute a smite. That was still possible, but the more I thought about it, and the more I talked to Rosetta about how this so-called “holding area” worked, the more I realized this in-between place itself could be a good alternative. Those who entered were put into stasis, similar to the stasis one would get tossed in if one took a deal. According to Rosetta and Mordecai, it was a blink-and-it’s-over sort of thing. And then when I asked more about how someone like Herot could pull someone from stasis, Tipid replied that he’d spent a season on a site prep crew. It worked almost like an inventory. The person designing the floor could select the stored individual off a menu, and zap them in. It was a relatively simple procedure.

Tipid also reiterated that nobody else really looked at this catch-all holding area after the season started because nobody ever went into it. The whole point of the Nothing in the first place was that it was built to catch problematic entities and to be used as a toss-and-forget system that would also act as a convenient pocket dimension within the dungeon’s lore. So many storylines and artifacts relied on the existence of the Nothing to function. The catch-all storage area had become a redundant backup.

Hopefully Pontiff made his way to the cabaret. There were no guarantees he did, especially since he was an NPC, and it was quite possible Herot saw that and decided to just leave him sitting there.

I thought again of that message I’d received after Pontiff had jumped through. It was consistent with an NPC entering an off-limits area of the game, as opposed to what happened with Splash Zone and the others. It implied it had worked.

Assuming Pontiff did get pulled in, he would have a message for Herot: there might be people coming who worship gods, so be careful. It’s okay to keep them in stasis for now. If that whole god thing was a lie, then it wouldn’t matter. If it wasn’t, then he could release them one by one as the gods lost their power during the Ascendency battles.

The best part was this would work regardless if we survived. The Ascendency games moved on with or without crawlers still in the game.  

As for everyone else, like with the fairies and those with non-compatible races to survive outside the dungeon, they could still go to the cabaret. They just couldn’t escape the dungeon when the opportunity arose.

...Or maybe they could with the rapid spread of the dungeon’s enhancement zones. We just didn’t know.    

All of this required the dungeon itself to survive. And Herot. But Herot was a cookbook author, and as such, I trusted them.   

Deep down, I knew this was all paper-thin reasoning. But the alternative was certain death, and most everyone knew that. More importantly, it was a desperate fuck you to those who were trying, once again, to get us to kill each other. That alone made it worth a try.

Chris’s truck started the beep, beep, beep as it backed, Imani and Elle following.   

The Russian Cadillac suddenly burst forward to the middle of the lobby and flipped up at a 90-degree angle, like a rocket about to launch.

They were making a run for the exit. Goddamnit. After all that, and they were trying to run? 

“Carl!” Donut shouted.

It happened so fast.

The APV and Chris’s truck both fired spells at the car. Their shield sparked and then flickered. Prepotente hurled something, and the shield fuzzed out.

In that moment, as the shield was down, Donut cast Astral Paw. She smashed the car where it stood, crushing it like a tin can. The Cadillac simply ceased to exist.

From the moment Donut shouted to the moment the car was crushed was less than a full second.

Three new player killer skulls formed over Donut before I even had the chance to think, holy shit.