"Is everyone alright?"
Liam coughed as he dragged his boy up, looking towards his friends.
"Awesome! So strong!"
"And it was just a single punch! Incredible!"
Happy exclamations came from behind letting Liam know that Cyclone and Balm were indeed alright. The others also answered one by one. Although they took various amounts of damage due to the flying debris, no one had died. However, the same couldn't be said about the rest of the players. After the earlier war about twenty-five thousand players had still been alive in total. But now almost one thousand died just from the aftermath of a single attack.
Luckily the situation at the side of the NPCs was less drastic. Although everyone had pale faces the shields held on and there were no casualties. Yet many had vacant gazes unable to comprehend this level of power.
While everyone was still processing the situation someone managed to shake off his shock and move quickly. It was the devil Basnimn. His body flashed and he arrived above the remaining void chains.
"Oh no…"
The white demon felt his heart sink, weighed down by a feeling of helplessness. He had already switched to plan B. He never expected that the order faction could summon a titan to deal with the void king. Now there was nothing left to stop Basnimn from destroying the void chains. It had even become easier as the void chains lost their energy source.
While the white demon hesitated, Basnimn was already attacking with all his might. The first void chain snapped after two hits. The sound woke the white demon up, but it was already too late. Again summoning two clones Basnimn moved from chain to chain.
Soon, there were only three void chains left. At that moment the world again trembled. Deep roars echoed through the air. Everyone stared at the three bound high devils. Their bodies swelled and with a crisp sound the remaining void chains were destroyed. The high devils had been freed!
"The devils are free!"
"Doesn't this mean we have won?"
"Is the event over?"
"I don't believe it! How could the order faction win against us?!"
None of the players moved. Everyone waited for an announcement. They stared at the slowly levitating devils in the distance. Suddenly the white demon shivered. He felt that the three devils all locked onto him. Without delay he turned into a white light and tried to escape. However, the might of the three high devils couldn't be compared with Basnimn. In front of them the white demon was not fast enough.
Suddenly a towering tree stood in front of the escaping demon as if it had always been there. The white light was too slow to dodge and rushed into the tree branches where it instantly got entangled. At the same time bone spikes broke out of the ground and a heaven-covering blood hand came from the sky.
"NOO!"
The white demon shouted in despair as the two attacks reached him. Pierced by the bone spikes and crushed by the blood hand there was no surprise. The demon died without any chance to fight back, his body disappearing among the branches of the black tree.
"So fierce…"
The players stared at the three high devils with fear in their eyes. Some chaos faction players pondered how to escape if the devils would direct their anger at them. However, they quickly realised that the high devils had stopped moving. In fact, the entire world stood still. Only the players were still able to move. Just as confusion was about to spread, C's voice finally rang through the sky accompanied by glorious music.
"Players, this concludes the event 'War on the Void'. The three high devils have been freed. The order faction's objective has been accomplished. Congratulations to the order faction for emerging victorious!"
"Hahaha, this time we showed it to those chaos faction idiots!"
"Ha! Even though I died twice and couldn't participate any longer it was all worth it!"
"Look at their faces, haha!"
Players of the order faction everywhere erupted in joyful cheers. Not only those who followed the army into Hell, even the players below level 50 who had to stay behind celebrated happily. During the event the rest of the world had not been silent. There was turmoil everywhere with countless tasks for the players to solve.
Of course, the mood among the chaos faction was understandably bad. They could only console themselves with the fact that the points they had earned could still be exchanged for rewards.
"Players, again: congratulations to the order faction. For your glorious victory you will receive an additional 1000 points! I hope all of you made use of the opportunities to earn points during the event. Now, finally, it is time to choose rewards to your liking. After you have confirmed your choice, you will be sent out of Crunaboul. Fate of Crunaboul will enter a break for seven days. You can look forward to new stories in seven days!"
"Rewards! Rewards!"
"Let's see what good stuff you have!"
"Haha, I can't wait."
The atmosphere instantly got heated. With a thought the players received access to a long list of items. All the dazzling descriptions almost blinded them.
"I want all of it!", exclaimed Cyclone excitedly.
"That would be great…"
"Don't be hasty guys. Let's calculate carefully.", warned Silver Blade. Next to her Quickstep nodded, saying:
"Yes. Let's see how many points we have. I haven't been keeping track. It's… 5825 points! Not bad!"
Everyone grinned brightly as they checked their points, their numbers was similar to Quickstep's. The friends had already managed to gather 2705 points during the first phase of the event, the preparation stage. Afterwards they earned more than 2000 points through various tasks and passive income during the war, and now an additional 1000 points as reward for the victory.
With so many points in hand Cyclone swiftly browsed through the list, her eyes lighting up more and more. She realised that even the top weapons of unique category were only worth 2000 points. With their wealth they could redeem two unique items and still have some points left! Although Cyclone was somewhat disappointed that even such a large-scale event didn't offer any legendary weapons, two uniques could barely serve as consolation.
However, before any of his friends could recklessly spend all their wealth, Liam offered a reminder:
"Guys, there is one item you should get no matter the cost."
"Oh? Is there something important here, expert?", asked Balm curiously.
"Yes. There are eggs for some of the best flying mounts. Getting something comparable outside would be an enormous effort."
"Flying mounts?"
Everyone's eyes lit up as they remembered the racing quest a while back which allowed them to have a first experience with flying mounts. Since then, everyone was eagerly looking forward to their own flying mounts, which could be unlocked at level 60. Now, after making it through the war the friends were already level 59. They were so close…
"Expert, tell us. Which mounts should we get? A dragon? A phoenix? I want something really cool!"
Liam smiled noticing everyone's excitement. He explained quickly:
"First, filter the list for unique flying mounts. Then find something suitable for yourself. Don't get too caught up with appearances. And don't take the choice lightly. However, one detail is very important. You should choose a flying mount which has something along the lines of 'juvenile celestial beast' or 'with high growth potential' in its description."
"Juvenile? That doesn't sound too impressive. Why would we want to choose that?", asked Cyclone while following Liam's instructions. The veteran answered with a grin:
"Because mounts with something like that in their description can later be upgraded…"
"Upgraded? You mean…"
"Right. Legendary!"
This word caused everyone's hearts to skip a beat, and a certain fervour was rising in their eyes. If they were still unconvinced before, then naturally they were more than eager to follow Liam's suggestion now. Everyone's attention was fixed onto the list, searching for mounts which fit Liam's description. The rewards were extremely generous. Even for unique flying mounts the players could choose from more than 300. Thus, Liam allowed his friends to browse a little while he already locked onto the one he had been aiming for from the beginning of the event.
"Twin-tailed Celestial Fox…"
Liam had a content smile as he admired the mount. One had to say that C was quite accommodating. Although the items they were selecting were only eggs, there were pictures of the mounts provided. Liam admired the gorgeous fox with its smooth, white fur. There were tufts of black at the tip of its ears. Its starry eyes sparkled with intelligence. But the most remarkable characteristic of the fox were its two long, black and white tails which waved elegantly.
The fox had no wings but those weren't necessary. All celestial beasts could fly. Just like the Deer of Life Liam and his friends had encountered a while back.
Even among celestial beasts the Twin-tailed Celestial Fox was quite outstanding. Although it didn't have the raw might of dragons or phoenixes, the celestial fox was known for its tricky and unpredictable methods. It was a mischievous and clever beast. There were even some rumours that a Twin-tailed Celestial Fox played a role in the birth of the nephilim.