Chapter 311: Next Destination

Even Yaliza didn't seem like he wanted to oppose. It didn't matter to him who ruled. All he wanted was for their cause to succeed. 

"Stay here. I'll take a short round to see how many of us are still alive," Kellian told Tristan before he turned into a shadow and disappeared. 

He was going to see what the situation was. How many of them were dead, and how many of them were injured. 

Yaliza also got into the action as he called the pilots to bring the helicopters here. It was time to go back and evacuate this place.

They weren't in any position to have another big battle, and if they stayed here for longer, they would undoubtedly have to face the Hunter Union. 

Kellian counted the Variants and told them to stand at the center of the city. As for the ones that were dead, he believed that it wasn't worth it to take their bodies back. 

He also noticed the ashes where Varant and Raia were supposed to fight and hands and legs that were cut. From the clothes, it seemed like the hands and legs belonged to Varant. 

Moreover, Lucifer had arranged them in such a way that it would make it seem like the ash nearby was his as well and that he decayed after his hand was cut. 

As the ground was covered in water because of the rain, Kellian could see the ashes floating. 

"Where's Raia's body?" He wondered, frowning. There weren't any remains of Raia here either. 

Frowning, he looked in the direction of Lucifer, who had started coming down now that he became the ruler of Variant Uprising. 

Kellian decided to ask Lucifer about it later. For now, he continued his count. 

Out of hundreds of Variants, Variant Uprising had only seventy-five remaining. Most of the others were dead, which mostly included the weaker members. 

But this certainly meant that they had suffered a lot, and it was going to take some time to recover. 

Lucifer landed near Alicia, who was still unconscious, but it seemed like the rain had started to wake her up. 

She slowly opened her eyes as she sat up. She looked around curiously.

Unlike before, there wasn't any dust anywhere as everything had settled down. But she could also see that no fighting was going on. She couldn't help but wonder if the war was over. 

She also noticed Lucifer standing before him. 

"What happened? The last thing I remember is hugging you, and then... I don't remember anything. What happened after that? Did we win the war?" She asked Lucifer.

"We did win the war. Anyway, we were attacked when we were hugging. It was something strange which put you to sleep. Fortunately, it didn't kill you," Lucifer replied with an honest face. 

"Really? Did you also fall asleep? How are you up before me?" Alicia asked, curious. 

"I think it's because of my healing. It protected me from it. But don't worry, I killed the guy who did it. But you really missed the most important part of the war because of that. We did win, but we also lost a lot," Lucifer sighed as he looked down. 

From the way he behaved, it seemed like he was really sad about what had happened. 

"W-what happened?" Alicia asked as she stood up. "Is my father...?"

"Vega is still alive, don't worry. But Raia is dead. He died fighting Varant. Varant is also dead. But we certainly lost someone important," Lucifer answered, sighing again. 

Alicia went silent, hearing about this sad news. She couldn't help but feel a heart-wrenching pain because of this tragic news. 

She always remembered Raia as her idol and the person who fought for their safety. She didn't even know that it was all a lie, and Raia was actually much different than she knew. 

"Who will lead us now?" She asked. 

"I'll be doing that. I'm taking his place since that's what he wanted. And I'll keep his dream alive," Lucifer replied as she sat on the ground, not worrying about the water which was on the ground. In any case, his clothes were already wet. 

Using Wrath of Heaven had wholly exhausted him. He decided to rest before doing anything else. 

"Are you feeling hungry as well?" He asked Alicia. "I feel like I'll die of hunger. In all this destruction, there's not even a single kitchen left."

"So many of our people died, and you're concerned about food?" Alicia asked, unable to believe that he was actually serious. 

"Don't compare apples and oranges. You always need to be concerned about food. More people die because of food that they die in war," Lucifer replied lazily. 

Vega, Dion, and Isona also approached Lucifer. Even they were surprised at how fast things changed. The war ended, and Lucifer was now the new leader.

They didn't know how to talk to Lucifer anymore. Could they actually talk like before? He was in a higher position now.

"Greetings to the new Leader. What're our commands?" It was Vega who ultimately spoke, signifying that they needed to be respectful. Even though it was the Variant Uprising, discipline was important. 

Lucifer took a deep breath as he prevented the smile that was trying to creep up his lips. It sounded odd, but at the same time, it sounded pleasing. 

"Collect all the men. The ones that need medical attention give them that and send them back to the Uprising base," Lucifer commanded. 

Without stopping, he continued, " As for the ones that can still fight, tell them to get ready for another battle. After having dinner in the next city, we'll depart for the next destination," Lucifer explained. 

"Next destination?" Came the surprised voice of Kellian, who had appeared nearby. Yaliza and Tristan were also there by now. 

The other S-Rank Warlocks had also formed a group around their young leader. 

"That's right. We can't sit idle after one victory. We need to take out the base of APF as well. We need to control that place. Only a few remnants of APF should be there now. This would be the best time to finish them once and for all," Lucifer replied. 

"But the men need rest. We just fought. Shouldn't we wait?" One of the Warlocks asked. 

"We can't. That would give APF the chance of getting ready. They'll even take the help of Hunter Union. We need to take them out now and remove all remains of that place," Lucifer replied. 

"That would disconnect the Hunter Union from the outside world. They can't move their Guilds that are protecting the Dungeons. They'll be trapped in the Royal Capital," he further explained as he made a circle in the water. 

"That's when we can take them out as well. It all hinges on removing the infrastructure support and intelligence structure of APF. Otherwise, we'll be back to square one," he let out, giving his final bit of input.