Perseus felt his blood boiling with rage when Neatwit sent him flying backwards, however, there was not much that he could do about it.
Having continuously fought AceKing and his underlings and then having made the frustrated decision to unleash a powerful tier5 sword strike to kill Rocky, Perseus had already expended a lot of his energy and was no longer near his peak potential.
While Neatwit was no different, having fought through a sea of enemies in the war, he carried himself in a way that was imposing and domineering, giving Perseus the psychological impression that his opponent was fresh while he wasn't.
To make matters worse, just as he was recovering from Neatwit's first attack, a Tower Administrator Announcement, threw him completely off his game.
"Tower Administrator Announcement : The 21st floor of the Tower Of Ascension has been successfully captured by the coalition of 'True Elites' guild and 'The Church Of Cowards'.
The new Floor Master of this Floor is Climber 'Karna'.
This floor will fall under his purview from now, and cannot be re-challenged for another 45 days".
The floor administrator's voice boomed throughout Floor21, as all its natural born residents were informed about the change in power.
"What? My useless army fell so fast?" Perseus questioned, as although he had mentally prepared himself to lose this war, he had not expected it to happen so quickly.
"All my planning is for nothing. Rocky Yadav is running away.... I'm stuck here fighting you.... My father hates me and The floor I've ruled for a decade is now no longer mine.
I have failed everyone.....
I am a failure" Perseus said to himself as he seemed to spiral out of control.
For a moment, Neatwit hesitated on whether he should attack such a vulnerable and mentally unstable opponent or not, as currently, Perseus's stance left him open for a lot of attacks. Experience tales at m v|l e'-novelhall.net
Rational and cold-blooded, Neatwit firmly believed in returning kindness tenfold and enmity a hundredfold. This unwavering principle left no room in his mind for pardoning a criminal like Perseus.
"I see.... So in the end, this is what the true nature of the world is" Perseus said, sounding disappointed as he picked up his sword once more and faced Neatwit with an attitude that was nothing like his usual arrogance.
Fighting like an already dead man with nothing to lose, Perseus decided to give this last fight everything he had, and accept his fate of soon becoming a dead man.
*********
( Meanwhile Rocky )
Carrying Riva over his back, Rocky managed to safely exit the prison, thanks to Neatwit's timely intervention.
Not dallying around, he started to make his way towards the Elites base camp, hoping to find a warm bed for his sister so that she could finally have a safe and warm night's sleep.
As he reached the Elites base-camp, there seemed to be a festive atmosphere all around him, with the soldiers staying back at the boot-camp celebrating the guilds victory in capturing the floor after hearing the floor administrator's announcement.
Many, after seeing Riva cheered even louder and tried to come up to her to have a chat, however, Rocky blocked them all off and insisted that his sister needed some rest before she could interact with others.
Apparently, everyone seemed to be excited about Riva's safe return and their guilds victory over the evil Olympians, however, if there was one person who was not happy about this situation at all, it was Rocky.
The letter left behind by Escanor made it impossible for Rocky to celebrate alongside the rest of the Elites to the point where their celebrations sickened him.
Once he placed Riva over a soft mattress and covered her with a bedsheet, Rocky began to pray that the apothecary experts within the guild would be able to replicate the Olympian medicinal formula, because if not... then this whole victory would be for nothing.
With Riva, now addicted to drugs and a shadow of her former confident self, to Rocky this victory felt like an event which came 6 months too late, as when his sister was suffering the most.... When she needed him the most, when she still resisted the enemy with all her might.... Rocky was probably busy eating good food and living a decent life within the university for nourishment of young talents.
A fact that made Rocky's skin crawl and his stomach roll over, as he felt like he had failed his sister, although he had successfully rescued her today.