In a dystopian world, mercenaries from a special unit trained in the art of the Reversed Thirteen Mercies have been sent to an oppressive jungle island as punishment for their war crimes in the Kinotra Prison. The narrator, for example, specializes in the Reversed Eleventh Mercy, the forsaking of the rebellious, instead of the original benevolence to forgive the sins of righteous rebels. He maintains that his men only performed the atrocities out of service for their country. Public opinion turned on them, however, after a whistleblower published photographs of the unit performing spells that are defiled versions the Bible’s Thirteen Mercies to torture prisoners. Though his identity is unknown, the narrator believes the betrayer is also on the island. Knowing there is no escape from the wretched island, the narrator laments the group’s failure to commit the final Reversed Thirteenth Mercy to completely eradicate the enemy. 

On the island, the men’s only prison guard is an old woman called Nobody. She transforms into a crocodile and preys on them at night.  

General Steng, convinced their sojourn on the island is not a form of punishment but a mission, attempts to capture and kill Nobody. Once she is caught in his net, the general takes her picture with a camera, revealing himself to be the group’s betrayer. He specializes in the Reversed Thirteenth Mercy, the mercy of filth. His mercy, when complete, would transfer all of his men’s sins onto the enemy. But his mission fails, for the old woman announces herself as the Thirteenth Mercy, the Cleansing of Sin. 

Upon her declaration, the water level rises in a primordial flood, washing away the soldiers and their enemies.