12 Beta -12- Aftermath

Julius' eyes shook open.

He looked to his right.

Although now should've been the time for rest and glory he knew something was off.

And as his eyes scavenged the system screen he confirmed it.

The quest was still being processed.

Meaning.

Julius cursed.

"The Revenant hasn't died."

Lucius looked to his right with tired eyes.

"What are you talking about-."

A ghastly breath ran down Lucius' spine.

Lucius turned around only to see nothing, suddenly blood gathered in his mouth once more.

"Guh."

Lucius vomited another mouthful of sour blood.

Julius looked around in caution.

"I could've sworn it was nearby-."

A static sound trembled in Julius' ears.

Above both Julius and Lucius silently stood the Revenant.

Its helmet opened backward revealing its scorched black face.

Its chest had been torn apart and a shining yellow core was barely hanging on with the aid of a few dying flesh threads.

A violet flame began brewing within its mouth.

Its violet eyes had fully dimmed.

Lucius held his right hand up.

"Just stay dead."

"Light seal."

A seal of light held back the violent violet flames forcefully.

The Revenant kept pushing the flames down its mouth even as failure became imminent.

Woosh.

The sound of passing winds tore through Julius' ears as the Revenant slowly faded away. Its wing had long shrunk back into its body and it had lost its right to stay out of its territory.

Particles of black flooded the air before falling into the ground below like blackened ashes.

Now only the bottom half of the Revenant remained, its core was open and free for the taking.

Lucius panted as he finally released the light seal.

{Congratulations: Quest has been passed.}

{Reward: 1 0 Wisdom Skill}

{You have gained 1 roll for 0 Wisdom skills.}

Although Lucius was sick and his mouth was dripping blood he stood up.

Julius breathed heavily.

"What... are you... doing? You need to rest-."

Lucius ignored Julius starkly.

He mechanically walked over to the standing corpse of the Revenant and struck his hand deep within it, wrapping his fingers around the core.

A sound of ripping ensued.

The core was yanked out moodily.

The rest of the core faded away into black dust.

{Lucius Elwater has absorbed the core of a 1W Revenant gaining the title of {First-Victor} and making him the only current player to have proof of defeating a Revenant.}

Julius looked at his screen in surprise.

"Guess you've earned it."

In full honesty, Julius had gotten through the fight pretty unscathed whilst Lucius had used a detrimental skill and had caught some illness from what Julius could pick apart.

Nevertheless, Julius felt a small gap form within his relationship with Lucius at that moment.

Julius muttered grimly.

"Could've at least asked."

Lucius looked back as if he had been in a world of his own.

"Oh sorry. I tranced out for a second. The mana poisoning is worse than I thought."

Julius stood himself up and brushed himself down.

"I see."

Lucius' eyes darted around awkwardly.

"It's probably a good time to head back."

Julius nodded.

"Sounds good to me."

His hair had become oily and stuck to his forehead. Sweat had slung itself all over his face.

As the two walked back to the room full of the others they ran into Dian.

Unlike his usual petty and rude self, Dian had a look of concern on his face. He looked just as tired as Lucius and Julius if not more.

"You guys... have you seen Grit?"

Lucius sighed.

"Yeah."

Dian smiled widely.

"That's great. In that case, where is he-."

"We saw him die."

Dian's eyebrows furrowed.

"What are you talking about?"

Lucius met Dian eye to eye.

"Grit died long before he ran away. The Grit you knew and spoke to was a fake, a mimic. Formed by one of the Revenant's impressions of a drunken bastard from the village most likely."

Dian took a step back, his breath faltering.

"That can't... be true. Grit was a human. If he was a revenant then why did he get slashed?"

Lucius smiled weakly.

"It was an act, to lower your guards. You and everyone else in that room would've been dead by now if the Revenant didn't need to borrow its partner's abilities."

Dian's tongue slithered. His expression contorted stubbornly.

"How do you even know all this? This doesn't make any sense."

Lucius shrugged calmly.

"Check your system."

Dian slowly and warily opened his system.

There lay Lucius' absorption notification.

Dian froze.

"You... killed that thing?"

"How?"

Lucius grimaced.

"With a bit of magic and a few pints of good luck, even the world can be in the palm of your hand."

Dian shook.

"Come back. I have something that has to be told to everyone."

Lucius weakly patted Dian on the shoulder.

"No worries, we already planned too. It's safe to leave now. The corruption has no owner. It will slowly uncorrupt over the coming years if not months."

A melancholy atmosphere had formulated.

The three strode back to the grey stone room by the edge of the village in silence.

Alexander was at the door. His eyebrows danced as he saw Dian.

"What's up? Did you find Grit-."

"Dead."

"Eh?"

Dian scoffed.

"Grit died. He didn't even die in the attack that should've killed him. He died long before we noticed. Grit was a mimic. And Grit wasn't the Grit we knew. The real Grit is a total stranger to us."

Alexander backed down, losing his liveliness.

"Oh."

That shallow sound was all that persevered through his mind.

Lucius came to the front.

"We can't let Grit's death be in vain. How much longer can we stay here with our current supplies."

The two twins peeped up.

"2 days for food and 2 for drinks. But it's mostly wine and moldy bread."

Lucius nodded.

"I see. In that case, we should probably leave tomorrow-."

"No."

Dian's voice resounded through the room coldly.

"We need to hold a funeral for Grit."

Lucius' eyebrows furrowed.

"But we don't have the time-."

Dian met eyes with Lucius and Lucius almost took a step back. Dian's eyes were seething and burning with an impalpable raging emotion.

"It doesn't matter. If you really don't want to put his death to shame then at least acknowledge his death properly."

"Acknowledge that he lived and died."

"Unless you're just trying to use Grit's death as a stepping stone to your next achievement."

Lucius put his hands out calmly.

"Look. I really don't think now's the time to argue-."

Dian almost yelled his next words but held himself back just barely.

His words scorched Lucius' expression.

"I saw you as we walked here."

"Grit died, before your very eyes."

"And you... you..."

"You were fucking smiling."

Lucius froze.

Dian ruffled his hair in frustration.

"Is this a game to you?"

"No-. Don't even answer. It probably is. Getting a cheat-like ability so swiftly. Being able to beat the revenant before anyone else. Being able to calmly propel yourself through each and every situation as if they couldn't be further from you whilst I'm over here ranting like a loser mourning over some dude who wasn't even a dude and was actually a mimic trying to devour me the whole time."

Dian ran out and shut the door behind him.

Lucius laughed abruptly.

"I think we all need some rest."

Alexander and the twins nodded heading to their places in the village separately.

Julius shook slightly as only he and Lucius remained in the room.

Lucius was far too powerful. It was frightening as a matter of fact.

He could receive notices from his system that essentially allowed him foresight into the future.

From this point on Julius concluded that he wouldn't be able to defeat Lucius. A sneak attack or a direct attack would both prove futile. And as Julius stay stuck in his place as a LVL 1 he would only watch Lucius in battle from further and further aback.

Lucius sighed.

"Have a good rest, Julius."

Julius replied slowly.

"You too."

The door swung shut.

Just as Julius had decided to sleep in the room alone as it was comfortably warm, he received a ping from his system.

{You may now roll for your 1 Random 0 Wisdom Skill}

Julius laughed darkly.

"Might as well get this out of the way whilst I can."

{Roll? Yes/No}

Julius hit yes instantly. His finger went numb from how hard he was pressing down.

{Rolling...}

Ting.

Julius looked down in surprise.

{You have 3 options to pick from. You may only see their names. Beware that no refunds are available.}

{1. Burstwave}

{2.Force.}

{3.Both+Flaw.}

Julius cackled to himself depressingly.

"I don't think I can receive a flaw worse than my current one."

{Option 3 selected.}

{You have received 2 skills.}

{Warning. Burstwave (A-) Has been deemed as too generous for the difficulty of the mission. Sealing its state into a lesser ability.}

{You have lost Burstwave (A-) }

{You have gained Shockwave (D+) }

{Description: An extremely inefficient mana transfer in which an exponential amount of mana can be sent out in the form of a shockwave. Either in the form of an outward dorm or a straight-forward wall.}

{You have gained Force (B-) }

{Description: A mystical ability that has not been researched upon further due to its blatant ineffectiveness and weak potential.}

{Warning: This is not your flaw. In reconciliation with your new power, you have been banned from rolling random 0 wisdom skills for 1 Year. This is to follow the orders of equality that have been installed heavily within the system.}

{You have gained a flaw.}

{Napoleon's betrayal.}

{Your luck has been halved.}

Julius looked down at his system with a blank face.

"Eh."

And so he fell to the ever so warm hand of sleep.

Both sides of his pillow were warm that night.

So he threw it away.

Julius didn't need an actual bed.

He didn't need a pillow or two.

Never mind all that, he just slept on the barren floor without anything else. No sheets, no blankets, no covers.

Just like the miserable days.

Julius attempted to fall asleep but something wedged itself before himself and the phenomenon known as sleep.

Julius could not shake off a screeching feeling in his mind.

Although they had prevailed over the Revenant, Julius felt like far more had been killed off on their side.

Dian's relationship with the group. Lucius' role as leader had almost been forcefully implanted into play at this point. It didn't feel the same anymore.

For better or for worse.

Julius grinned to himself calmly.

'Well. At least I'm not picking crumbs anymore. At least I'm not being a worthless waste of space within the midst of a rubbish-filled apartment anymore.'

And a thought lingered on Julius' mind for half a second.

"...What part of me deserves this life?"

"I wasn't exactly a generous soul in my last life. I was just unlucky, sad and helpless."

Julius shook the thought of his mind instantly.

"I'd better stop thinking off such grim topics. Does anyone truly deserve anything?"

"Let's just sleep."

"Yeah."

"That sounds like a much better idea than being gloomy and sad again."