Two groups faced each other in a courtyard of Silver Oak University. One group all appeared calm as the even mixture of humans and undead goblins stood staring at the opposite group.
The other group, who were all humans, had a mixture of expressions on their faces. The swordsman in front had settled on a look of rage after Sylas's question, but hadn't spoken again.
The nine people behind them had expressions of fear, unwillingness, and hesitation as the silence lengthened.
"Well, does he speak for your group?" Sylas broke the silence after a moment.
The red-headed bowwoman was hesitating, her eyes dashing between the swordsman, her group behind her, and Sylas.
Sylas felt a foreign mana touch him before dispersing. He was confused for a moment before noticing Sam, Swain, Diana, and Jackie each shudder within moments of each other.
'She's [Analyzing] us.' Sylas thought as he began to get angry. 'She wants to fight.'
The red-headed bowwoman's expression dropped as she failed to read anything, but the other humans' levels. She could see the goblins' stats, but she wasn't comforted by them either.
"He…" the bowwoman began to speak but paused after the first word. The swordsman cut through the silence with his arrogant tone. "Of course I speak for the group. If you won't leave your supplies then I'll make sure you won't leave at all. Attack, Gabriella!"
"Justin! Wait!" Gabriella tried to call out to the swordsman, but her words fell on deaf ears as Justin ran alone towards the party.
Swain stepped in front and met Justin's wild sword swing with his axe, easily deflecting the blow, but Justin wasn't planning on stopping at Swain. He kept dashing until he reached the line of Sylas and the Gobs who Sylas had commanded to step forward.
The party's attention was mostly on Justin as he charged into their lines except for Shammy. Shammy had a standing order to protect Sam so he stood beside her during the confrontation.
Sylas's attention was pulled off Justin's mad charge as he heard a whistle approaching his location. 'Fuck! An arrow!' He glanced at Gabriella to see her bow being lowered as its string was still humming.
He snapped his head back towards his party when he heard a thud behind him. Shammy had stepped in front of Sam, taking an arrow in her place. Sylas realized the projectile was intended for Sam and lost all reason.
He screamed "KILL THEM!" as he whipped his wand towards Gabriella and shot a [Rotting Bolt]. There was no time for her to dodge as the black blob landed directly on her chest, instantly annihilating her chest and starting to eat through her flesh.
Diana and Swain had jumped into action as Sylas screamed. Both surrounded Justin as the Gobs sprinted towards the other group.
Shammy recovered and was able to send a [Fireball] into the group before the Gobs reached their targets.
Gabriella was on the ground clutching her chest and screaming as the rest of her group was being annihilated by the undead goblins. She could feel the rot slowly spreading as it ate through her thin defenses.
After giving his orders, Sylas ignored the fight and ran to Sam's side. Her face was pure panic and anxiety after narrowly avoiding an area to her abdomen.
He cupped her face with his hand and rested her forehead on hers. "It's okay, I'm here. It's okay." He pulled her into his embrace after a second and could feel her shivering.
Sylas felt rage pour throughout his body as she shivered. He could see his goblins massacring the other group with ease as Shammy sent several [Fireball]s into their midst.
Swain and Diana had brought down Justin within a few seconds, but hadn't killed him. Justin was on the ground with Swain's axe resting on his chest as he watched his group die one by one.
Sylas didn't notice as his undead returned to his side as he held Sam. The one sided massacre was over. The other group didn't stand a chance and yet they were the provokers.
It was silent as Sam composed herself enough to pull away from Sylas and take in the sight around them.
Justin was now crying with a look of anger painted on his face as he stared at Sylas. The other nine humans were lying unmoving on the ground as puddles of blood pooled around them.
Sylas walked over and crouched next to Justin. Diana had already taken his sword so Sylas was safe when Swain removed the axe.
"You did this. Your greed did this. You could've just walked away, but you tried to hurt my wife. This is what you deserve." Sylas softly said to Justin.
Sylas wasn't sure why he even spoke to Justin now. Maybe the words he spoke were supposed to make Justin realize his mistakes. Perhaps they were just to comfort himself by pinning all the blame on Justin, but Sylas didn't care for now.
He sent a mental command to Gob 3 and started walking towards the remains of the nine people. He could mentally picture it as Gob 3 walked over to Justin as Justin started to plead, "No, stop, please, don't! I'm sorry! Plea-".
His words were interrupted as Gob 3 finished his order by bringing the dagger down and into Justin's throat, ending his life.
Sylas stood in front of the remains, casting his gaze across them. He had done this. The blood flowing out of each of the bodies was something he caused. He may not have drawn the blood with his own hands, but his commands had ended these ten lives.
A choking gasp sounded and Sylas easily pinpointed its source. He knelt down next to Gabriella. The rot had exposed her ribcage and was spreading across her skin and shirt. She was drowning in her own blood as her lungs were attacked.
"I… so… rry." Sylas heard between gasps as Gabriella took her last breath.
Sylas shook his head as he grabbed her bow and maneuvered the quiver off her back. He walked back over to his party who were silently watching him.
"I'll do it." Sylas said as he put the bow and quiver into a wagon. The party gave him confused looks when he spoke.
Sylas looked at them before continuing. "I'll do what's necessary." Their faces started to show signs of understanding.
"I won't ask you to do it. I'll take responsibility. It was my call to kill instead of disarm. I'll take the burden of ending the lives of humans. I can do it. Don't worry about it."
He finished with a smile, but received a reaction he didn't expect. Sylas thought the party might look at him differently since he had just committed murder. He thought they might run away from him thinking they were next or he was crazy.
What he didn't expect was to see tears in Sam and Swain's eyes as they approached and wrapped him in a bear hug. Diana had a look of resolution on her face while Jackie was still standing motionless while staring at Justin.
Sylas broke down in the warmth and comfort of his wife and his best friend's embrace. He wasn't lying when he told them he would do whatever was necessary for their survival, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt a little piece of his soul when he did so.
Taking Brock's life had barely affected him as he fully believed Brock shouldn't have even been referred to as a person. But this group. This group he had felt. This group was likely struggling to survive. They were so weak.
They were likely fully out of supplies and hadn't eaten since the beginning of the Integration three days ago. Sylas shook his head to remove himself from the downward spiral.
'The cafeteria was right here. They could've just gone in and got food. They attacked first.'
This time Sylas knew his words weren't trying to make himself feel better about his actions. They were justifications and were accurate.
"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves." Sylas brokenly sang. Sam and Swain chuckled as their tears stopped after hearing Sylas.
Those were lyrics from one of Sylas's favorite musicals and they both had heard the song many times. The trio looked at each other with a small smile while their tears streaks dried on their cheeks.
Sylas took a step back and cleared his throat. "I meant it. I'll do whatever's necessary. I'll shoulder the burden for you."
He watched as Swain got an angry look and then punched his arm hard enough that Sylas took a couple steps back to dissipate the momentum of the blow.
"No you won't. This is the only time you're shouldering the burden alone. Next time I'll be right next to you." Swain proclaimed as his anger turned into a smile. A rush of mana was felt at the end of his words before his smile became even larger.
Swain burst into laughter as he shared a screen with the party.
[You have made a solemn vow to stand beside Sylas Redstone. The System has recognized the vow and your previous efforts. You have been rewarded with enough mana to reach level 10, Tier 1, and obtain a class. Defend your vow.]
The party grew smiles as they read through the notification. The second member has officially reached Tier 1 and can specialize through a class.
"Well, don't keep us in suspense. What's your class?" Sylas excitedly asked his best friend.
Swain pretended not to hear Sylas until Sylas walked towards him with a fist raised. Sawin raised his hands in surrender while laughing.
"I'm a Defender now." Swain said, but didn't appear to be expanding on the topic as he just looked at Sylas and grinned.
Sylas shook his head lightly, "So other than tanking the floor, did it give you any specialties?"
Swain laughed. "Well, I now have proficiency in swordsmanship and shield wielding which allows me to learn them faster than before."
Diana handed Swain the new sword and Swain looked between the sword and his large axe before sighing and laying the axe in a wagon.
"Now we just need to get you a shield." Sylas voiced. "Then you can put your proficiencies to use."
"Yeah, about that…" Swain paused before a shield appeared in his left hand. "Apparently [Challenger's Call] is supposed to be learned when you gain the Defender's class, but I already had it so I got this instead." He held up the shield as he spoke.
Sylas chuckled, "You're a regular old sword and board now. Anything else? Check your stats too."
Swain shook his head, "Nah, no more skills or items." He paused as he browsed his stats, "But all my physical stats have improved with Strength and Vitality improving the most. Intelligence went up a bit too."
"Great! Unless someone else wants to vow loyalty to me in the chance they level up, let's get going." The party laughed as the minions grabbed the wagons and were ready to move again.
Sam noticed Sylas looking at the remains with a pensive look and asked him what he was thinking about.
"Well…" Sylas took a deep breath, "I have two more slots for minions, but I don't know if I want to use them on these guys. Partly because they're human and partly because they're kinda weak."
The party contemplated the moral question of raising the dead humans for a few moments until Sam spoke up. "We have the bow and none of us want to use it, right?" She looked around to see the party all nodding.
"Then raise the bowwoman. She was an enemy so she's not really different from the goblins in the grand scheme of things."
Sylas slowly nodded as he thought about the situation. Sam was right about Gabriella being an enemy so there wasn't a real downside of raising her. He didn't kill her just to raise her afterall.
With conviction, Sylas walked towards Gabriella's body and spoke "Heed my summons." He felt mana leave his core and snake through his mana channels until it left through mouth.
'Hmm, different skills have different exit points for mana. Interesting.'
Sylas's thoughts were interrupted as a body stood in front of him. He watched as her rotting skin rippled and started to regrow. He shifted his vision behind him as her chest was fully regrown.
"Can one of you bring a new top for her?" Sylas asked the girls. They looked confused, but Sam brought a new top over. As she approached, Sam could now see past Sylas's body and saw the exposed breasts of Gabriella.
Sam gave an admonishing glare at Sylas as he stepped aside to allow her access to Gabriella. "This is hard with her shirt already being there, mostly, and her not helping me." Sam said as she tried to remove the rotted shirt.
Feeling that the command was much better as a mental one, Sylas had Gabriella take off her shirt and then put the new one on, which earned another glare from Sam and a burst of laughter from Swain who had understood what was happening.
Sylas sheepishly smiled and said "Well, let's get going now!" as he ran over to the party and got his undead to start walking towards the exit of the university.
A/N: Please read Author's Note below for information on a Rank rework.