CHAPTER 200(Half-Dead But Persisting)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

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pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

Stirring awake Welf releases a deep groan as he slowly opens his eyes.

"Mmm...what---" he abruptly stops speaking as he notices the familiar blurry surroundings.

Laying flat on his back comfortably wrapped in a blanket he was currently staring up at the ceiling of their specially made tent.

Looking around he notices both Yang and Thalie's equipment boxes on the other side of the tent along with his, their bedrolls already packed away as he's the only person in the tent.

Trying to sit up he feels a stinging pain in his shoulder and back accompanied by a bombardment of memories from before he entered Mind Down.

"Where the hell..." Welf wonders for a moment before Yang enters the tent, wearing casual clothes and eating a ration bar.

"OH, hey! You're awake," Yang greets him with a smile as he sees Welf sitting up.

"Yeah, what the hell happened at the end of the fight? How long was I out?"

A few minutes later both men and Thalie are sitting outside the tent at a picnic table Yang made on their raised plateau in this safe zone. Down below them is a massive coral forest of floor 101, no green leaves at all only different types of coral from a bright kaleidoscope of colors.

"So after the fight, you guys just brought me to floor one-hundred and one safe zone and that's it?" Welf asks.

"Basically," Yang confirms. "You've been sleeping for about a day so when you're ready we should get back to Babel, our gear is in no state to be used in combat," he finishes slightly nervously.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Welf asks, noticing the uneasiness in Yang's voice.

"Well... Most of my armor was destroyed, both of your armor needs full repairs. Plus..." he hesitantly reaches out and withdraws two items from his inventory. In the tense silence, Mosoka clatters to the table. With one of the prongs missing and the stump melted shut from the base the sword now has a strange off-balance design rather than appearing as a tuning fork. Welf watches in silence as Yang quickly withdraws the missing rod as well and places it beside the rest of the weapon in a few large pieces. "Mosoka didn't make it in one piece, still works but you'll have to give it a look," he says.

Welf doesn't respond immediately, eyes wide as dinner plates as he inspects the weapon and all its pieces in a way only a smith really could.

As he's doing his inspection Thalie speaks in an upset manner, "at least you got some pieces of yours, Liberty was completely melted by that damn monster," she says harshly.

"Well, it was inside the skull when the attack went off," Yang reminds her.

Thalie rolls her eyes at him, "yeah yeah, either way, I'll need a new weapon too."

Welf's head snaps to her as he hears this, "Mosoka should work fine still, but any ideas for what you want?"

"Yeah, Yang was actually describing something to me while you were out, said my 'falling with style' gave him an idea during the Tiamat fight."

"Sounds like it'll be fun to make," he gives her a small smile in anticipation of the new project.

Welf's suddenly cheerful mood doesn't go unnoticed by his team as Yang quirks a brow at this shift," you're taking Mosoka nearly being destroyed really well, you ok man?"

"Yeah, actually. It's just that, the way I see it, I made Mosoka to see this adventure to the end right. If it's at its limit that means we're almost done," he gives Yang a slightly forced smile. "Well? What do you think?"

"Yeah, I can feel it too. We're really damn close, won't be much longer now," Yang says while looking in the direction of the tunnel to the lower floors.

"Exactly," Welf says while picking up a shard of Mosoka, "plus, the fact that now I can study the cross-section of Mosoka and better understand how it works really helps a lot too," he gives them a mischievous smile.

"What're you saying?" Thalie asks. "You may be able to replicate Mosoka now?"

"After I study this for a while, potentially, I mean even Hephaestus's appraising eyes couldn't understand what was at the core of Mosoka, it could take me a while," he admits.

"Obviously she can't understand," Yang says. "Gods will never be able to understand, it's against their nature."

Both his friends give him strange and confused looks, not quite sure what the hell he was talking about.

"What do you mean 'gods will never be able to understand'?" Welf asks.

"Mmmm," Yang taps his chin a few times as he tries to formulate his thoughts into words, with a snap of his fingers he beings to speak as the idea comes to him. "Ok, so you know how I study plants, animals, and environments, right?"

"Yeah," they both confirm at the same time.

"Right well, what do you think I was most amazed by during my studies?"

"Weird animals?" Thalie asks.

"Cute animals?" Welf asks.

"Desperate things," Yang says with a look that said he was aware of how strange it sounded. Giving them a moment to be confused he immediately continues, "life finds a way, that's just how it is. No matter how bad things get, life wants to persist, right? Every plant and animal is desperate to survive, we'll adapt and sacrifice and overcome, and persist. We'll find a way, why do you think that is?"

Both his allies share an unsure look between each other before turning back to him, signaling for him to explain, which he gladly does. "It's because this is all we've got. This one precious chance is all we have and we don't want to let go of it, life never wants to give up on that chance no matter how many disasters it has to overcome. But if you knew, that if you just gave up now you'd go back to some higher world and reform to start it all over again, why would you really care? Could you ever really care as much as us?"

Welf's eyes widen in realization, "you think because they're immortal they can't understand the need to fight for survival."

"Exactly, the desperate desire to live, that's what Mosoka is. You knew you'd be hilariously outmatched down here and you made it to even the odds. A last-ditch effort showing how incredible nature, and especially people, can be. Because nothing makes the impossible as possible as our desperate desire to survive, and gods will never understand that."

"Hmm, I never even thought of that," Thalie admits. "I suppose by definition as immortals the gods can't be all-knowing then, even in heaven, they'll still lack this experience."

"The desperate desire to survive huh," Welf gives it time to sink in as he observes his weapon and all its pieces on the table. "The only thing we have that they could never understand...at our lowest point we can make the impossible possible, that's what you said right?"

"Yeah, life finds a way after all," Yang says with a small smile, seeing a fire blazing in the smith's eyes as inspiration takes hold of his mind.

"So," Welf turns to Thalie, "what kind of weapon did Yang recommend you get now?"

With a certain excitement in her eyes, Thalie jumps into an explanation "it's basically a fancy spear right, but Yang told me it's called a..."

---Guildmaster Royman's Office...

Sitting behind his desk, buried in a mountain of paperwork the guild master, as always, dutifully does his job.

As he moves onto the second stack of papers for this morning a gentle knock sounds from the door to his office.

"Come in," he calls out without even looking up from his work.

"Sir," an older gentleman wearing a guild uniform enters holding a sealed cylinder, red and gold with the Rakia symbol on it. "The declaration from Rakia has arrived."

Royman immediately sits up in his chair and sets his work aside, eyes locked onto the scroll that could very well cause a serious ruckus for Orario.

"Thank you, that will be all," Royman says as the man hands over the case and quietly exits the room. Taking the case he carefully checks the seal. After ensuring that it hadn't been tampered with he breaks it and opens the case, unscrewing the top to retrieve the ornate scroll of war declarations from within.

According to the Wartime Neutrality laws on the continent, if any city-state intends to declare a formal war then all other city-states must be given proper formal notice of at least six weeks.

This international law was declared over a thousand years ago simply because having powerful adventurers means a king could decide to invade another city on a whim and have his army at the gates within a day.

It would only cause escalation and more bloodshed since everyone had powerful adventurers that ordinary armies couldn't match, this law prevents most countries from declaring war simply because the opponent would receive a declaration and have time to amass allies.

Atleast most opponents would, Rakia had no such allies on account of their bigoted ways, and their chosen target was just as bad it seemed, a one-on-one with no third parties was guaranteed it seems.

Reading the contents of the scroll Royman first sighs in relief at the news, then a pit forms in his stomach at the thought of burning trees once again illuminating the horizon of the view from Babel.

"Well, at least Orario won't be getting involved, our neutrality will persist..." he mutters quietly as he places the declaration back into the case and closes it. "May the heavens protect my people," the High Elf says, a small prayer for the protection of the soon to be warring Elven forests...

END CHAPTER---