Victory Or Loss

Kan'na heaved a sigh as she rolled to sit on the ground. Massaging her temples she spotted Travis sprint towards a direction. For a moment she wondered if they were under attack, but spotted no enemies.

Mira supported Givale as they moved to join Kan'na. With a face twisted from pain Givale asked, "Do you know where Akiol went?"

"A weird teleportation took effect. Wasn't able to discern the coordinates in time, but he should be fine.", Kan'na replied.

"That's good."

Mira gently let Givale sit on the ground. The Rot in their bodies was now beginning to fade now that the wielder of the Truth was gone. Ryolu and Opportunity moved to join them, Ryolu limping with her broken leg and Opportunity carried Tilia.

Opportunity's various buff effects faded one after the other, revealing her tattered clothing. Her armor was long gone from the Rot, as was everyone else's. Tilia's armor looked like a single hit would make it break into pieces. Laying Tilia onto the ground Opportunity sat down as well.

A silence spread across the group. As they caught their breaths and organized their thoughts Opportunity was the first to ask, "Right so, is this a victory or a loss?"

Ryolu answered, "Victory."

Kan'na laughed, "In some ways yes. I think Akiol won't consider it as a win though."

"Why not?"

"The cost of victory. If the price is too high he doesn't count it as a win."

"We all benefited."

"The others did not."

"Weaklings shouldn't-"

Opportunity reached up and tugged at Ryolu's shirt. Frowning Ryolu stopped her statement and crossed her arms.

Kan'na raised an eyebrow but opted to not ask for more information. Examining the rest she found her attention moving towards Givale and Mira. Currently Givale was holding Mira's face and thoroughly inspecting his eyes. The signs of the Hydra had mostly disappeared, there was still this instinctual fear looking at him but that was the only noticeable thing. Seemingly satisfied she let go of Mira, "Don't use that technique for a while okay? It's getting harder for you to regain control."

Mira nodded solemnly and massaged his shoulder. Remembering the Hydra head he frowned for a moment before purging the memory. Kan'na took this opportunity to ask them, "So what about you two? Victory or loss?"

Givale didn't think on the question for too long, "Victory."

However Mira disagreed, "It's not a victory or a loss."

"Why not! We helped defeat a Fourth Stage!", Givale argued.

"We survived mostly.", Mira rested his head on his hand.

"Surviving is winning!"

Opportunity agreed with Mira, "Surviving is surviving, I wouldn't call it winning. Although I had fun."

"There's that too.", Kan'na chuckled.

Raising a finger Kan'na made mana turn into a magic circle. Flicking it towards Tilia it rested onto her head and spun. Tilia suddenly sprang up in a shock, "I-"

She looked about and frowned, "We won?"

"Just discussing that actually. The Undead King was defeated, Akiol and the Slime King have gone somewhere. Dot booked it to who knows where. So that leaves us, the few still standing."

"I see.", Tilia let her body relax.

"So you count is as winning right?", Givale asked.

"I suppose so."

Ryolu and Givale nodded along. It was definitely their victory. Thus everyone's attention turned to Kan'na. Opportunity asked, "What about you?"

"I learned quite a bit, and gained insight on what I should do next. For me personally it's a win. However for the raid in general? Utter failure.", Kan'na provided her opinion simply.

"You guys might gain the ire of the Guilds for this.", Opportunity mused.

"Akiol made no promises."

Opportunity laughed at the response. She wasn't entirely sure if the Guilds would take such a comment in stride. 

"You all have seen better days.", a voice called.

Kan'na looked back, "Jarvis! Glad to see you made it out okay. By the looks of it your companions are unscathed as well?"

"Kiro was the only one who really saw action. The Rot hit us as well, but we held on just fine. Speaking of. . .", Jarvis lifted his book and the pages flipped. 

Color flew from a page and revealed Bo and To. The two birds spun about before Bo flew towards the group. A golden shine descending from his feathers. Basking in its warmth the group found their wounds slowly mending back together. To this Kan'na raised an eyebrow, "Taking Yielya's job?"

"Hardly. This can only be done out of combat. An ability representing both Sunrise and Sunset."

"A Skill meant for the start and end of something eh?", Kan'na already figured out the rest.

The healing was slow but steady, and their pain was beginning to fade. Jarvis eyed the condition of everybody and asked, "So Akiol and Yielya didn't make it out?"

"Akiol made it, something happened with him and the Slime King. The two vanished once the fight was over.", Tilia answered.

"Slime King? I missed out on something as grand as that?", Jarvis felt a pang of regret.

"If you had participated I don't think you would have the same opinion."

"Possibly.", Jarvis didn't deny.

Opportunity smacked her leg, "You should've seen it though. That Dot guy even joined us. It was awesome."

"I'm aware, he made a comment about how hard you all were fighting while I was looting."

"You saw him?", Opportunity asked.

Before he could answer Kan'na added her own question, "What did you loot?"

Jarvis answered both questions simultaneously, "Kiro found the vault of the Undead King. I followed her there to see what was inside, mostly old relics and a few things of value. I found the Tome of Dead, which I took. Apparently Dot knew about it as well because he was really quick to enter it. Took some weird item and left, he seemed to be in a hurry."

"A book?", Kan'na was intrigued.

Jarvis shook his head, "Something happened to it, I didn't get to read it properly. It mentioned holding a bit of the power the Witches used to create the undead."

"Interesting. Reanimation magic isn't very complicated, but I am interested on how they managed to have the undead keep their personalities without a soul."

Opportunity ignored the Tome and instead focused on Dot, "So that's why he left so quickly. It's a possibility that's the reason why he was here in the first place. How elusive."

Givale piped up, "He's quite good too! He managed to put up a decent fight against Akiol."

Kan'na laughed, "A shame he's not very sociable!"

Ryolu pointed out something else entirely, "He's certainly more knowledgeable than he looks. He was the first to recognize that the Undead King wielded a Truth. Even I wasn't able to spot it that quickly."

"You've been growing rusty anyways, your leg is proof of that!", Opportunity pointed out.

Ryolu didn't outright deny this, but still harrumphed. The group continued to converse as time progressed. As their wounds healed they discussed various aspects of the battle and their opinions. Meanwhile just a distance away a certain undead was walking through the battle.

"To think Torch just self destructed everything. Aren't those mechanical soldiers expensive or something? That guy just threw money at the problem.", the undead's gruff voice spoke with a hint of annoyance.

Their rotted face made a grimace, "To think the King lost as well. . . Damn."

Walking to a point they paused. Turning to their left they tilted their head, "That's. . ."

Picking up a rusted scepter they tossed it about in their hands, "His scepter? I thought they would've looted it already."

Examining the scepter the undead was surprised at a sudden series of notifications.

< Congratulations! You have found an Artifact! >

< Unlocking special equipment slot. . . >

< Done! >

[Dead's Command]

Rarity: Legend Creating

The scepter of the Undead King. Used to lead his army to victory. Now that the Undead Throne is empty, there is an opening for a new King. 

This Artifact is part of a unique set (1/2)

Only by gathering the set can the Artifact unlock its full purpose.

-End-

"An Artifact with as a set?", the undead player scratched their head.

Word of Artifacts has already spread, and the general consensus was that you could only equip one. Not that anyone was complaining about this limitation due to the absurd rarity of an Artifact. The undead player had never heard of an Artifact being part of a set.

Through their wonder the undead player already knew what the second part of the set was. It had to be the crown, there was no doubt in their mind. Problem was, the crown was nowhere near where the scepter was.

It was very likely the ones responsible for the death of the Undead King had taken it as a reward already. The undead player stuck the scepter in their bag and crossed their arms. Browsing through the saved screenshots they had regarding rumor of the raid the undead player stopped at the image they were looking for.

"Six Lights. The ones who allegedly organized this raid. They're probably the ones who have the crown. . .", the undead player shook their head, "Six Lights should already be of Third Stage, I can't fight that."

Looking towards where the castle used to be the undead player nodded their head, "Okay fine. I'll rebuild. Then I'll take back the crown and settle the score."

Trudging back the undead player was already planning on how to restore the undead army, and the might of all those who lost. It was going to take a significant amount of work, but through this tragedy lay a shining opportunity. The undead may have lost this battle, but this isn't the end. 

The undead will only fall due to the rot of time.