Dead Man Walking: Living By Day, Dead By Night

The battle between Elysium and Gravestone ended shortly after the death of Carolus. Zane gave the cultists an out, despite the fact that their infantry was surrounded by his horde, and had sustained heavy losses.

Not only that, but the number of casters and archers that had survived among the crusader's forces had been nearly devastated in their entirety. Out of the 5,000 soldiers brought to Tahoe by the Cult of Elysium, maybe a tenth of them had survived.

The only reason the cultists surrendered was because Zane showed them the head of their commander. After enduring such a loss, the more rational members of the crusading army threw their weapons by the wayside and got on their knees, fully accepting that they had been defeated.

Why had Zane not entirely finished off the enemy army, despite his own forces being reduced to around 20% of their original numbers after emerging with a Pyrrhic victory? Because he didn't want to start a blood feud with Elysium.

As far as Zane knew from the intelligence reports that his scouts had gathered, Elysium was a massive settlement. It was more like an actual city within the wasteland, and he simply didn't have the means to wage repeated battles against the Cult, which outnumbered his entire settlement 200 to 1. Because of this, Zane left the survivors, and their new commander with a simple message.

"Tahoe is ours, but if your people desire free and plentiful water, we are more than willing to give it to you for free as compensation for your losses on this day."

With this said, he let his prisoners of war walk free, so that they could return to their master and assure her that Zane did not wish to make an enemy of the cult.

---

While the forces of Elysium returned to their home to lick their wounds, and forward Zane's message to their goddess. Zane himself found that he gained quite the harvest. Tahoe was his, and he could manage the area on his settlement management menu.

Not only did he have the entire area of what had been Carson city under his control, but he also had Fallon NV, and Tahoe as well. To put it simply, his territory had expanded far beyond his means of managing it.

But that was a concern for a later time. For now, Zane had more serious matters to dwell on. In the battle for Tahoe, Zane's horde had been reduced from 2,000 Ghouls to about 750. All the hard work he had put into fostering its growth was thoroughly devastated by Elysium's army.

As for the awakened survivors beneath his command, their numbers had been reduced by about half. In the hours following the hard fought battle, they were buried outside Gravestone. A memorial service was held, for which the remaining citizens of the town who had not partaken in the battle said their farewells to those who had been their neighbors for but a short time.

It was only after the ceremony was over did Zane withdraw to the bunker, where he found Maya waiting for him with a fresh beer in her dainty hands. Zane was covered in blood and guts. From the two battles that had taken place on the same day. And yet Maya did not shy away as Zane took the beer from her grasp.

Instead, the young girl hugged him as he drank its contents, shocking him to the point where he began to cough. It would appear Maya had figured out roughly what he and the girls had been up to, and she appeared to have been worried about him, despite her seemingly mute state.

Thus, Zane patted the girl's head, assuring her he was alright.

"I'm fine Maya, anyway, you should go take a shower now that you are covered in this filth…"

Maya nodded her head, and ran off towards her room, seemingly happy over the idea that she provided some comfort to Zane. After which Zane and the girls went their separate ways, taking a shower in their own rooms, before returning to the mess hall where they discussed the most important matter at hand.

Angelica was the first to bring up the question. She had done her best throughout the battle to save the wounded awakened, but many of them had perished on the spot, or from their wounds, before they could be evacuated to where she was hiding.

Still, she did manage to save at least one hundred lives, and because of this, she was less depressed than she otherwise would have been had she appeared useless on the battlefield like she feared she may have been.

"So… Who gets the blood crystal?"?

There was only one blood crystal which Angelica was referring to when she said this, and that was the one that Darren had dropped. Zane, however, was confident in who should get the blood crystal and immediately made his decree as if it were a law written into stone.

"Obviously it should be Olivia. She dealt the final blow. And without her, we may have struggled long enough for Elysium to interfere. Does anyone disagree with this proposal?"

None of the girls voiced a sentiment of discontent, and because of this, Zane looked into his inventory and manifested the blood crystal seemingly out of thin air as he handed it to Olivia. Olivia's eyes opened wide as she gazed upon the rare device, which they had fought so hard to obtain.

It was a rather large and spherical crystal that had a diamond cut to it. Despite this, it had an appearance as if it was made out of translucent and shimmering gold. Its shine was so bright that it might even illuminate the darkness should they turn off the lights.

In the moment Olivia stared deep into the Golden Hue, she could have sworn something was calling out to her, forcing her if you will to swallow the crystal on the spot. And she was about to do so, when Zane's voice snapped the mature silver haired beauty back to reality.

"Anyway. Olivia, you'll be sleeping with me tonight, so make sure to consume that crystal before going to bed. As for our losses today. Do not weep for the dead, for they are in a better place. Instead, we need to focus on recovering our strength.

So tomorrow, after we discover what Olivia's new ability is, we will venture back into New Reno and try to replenish those Ghouls, which I have lost in this battle. Does anyone have any questions before we go rest tonight?"

None of the women gave voice to their thoughts, and instead, they all went their separate ways.

---

The forces of Elysium returned to their home, battered, bloodied, and bruised. Their mighty army had been defeated in the face of an inferior force, and their general had died in the process. To say that they had disgraced their goddess with this defeat was an understatement.

And the woman was furious when she learned of what had happened. Gravestone had managed to field so many high-level soldiers? How was this even possible? Weren't they supposed to have a population of roughly 1,000? Had their scouts reported incorrectly?

It was truly a failure of intelligence that had cost her this battle. Had she known that their strength was so great, she would have dispatched twice the number she had done to assure an overwhelming victory.

Because of this, the goddess dismissed her servants, all except for one as she got herself nice and drunk before flipping out into an intoxicated rage.

"Those miserable bastards! How fucking dare they! How dare they steal that lake from me! How dare they kill my general! Do you have any idea how far this loss will set us back? It will take me forever to raise another talent as great as Carolus!

That bastard… I'll skin him alive!"

When the Goddess made this threat, a cold hand was placed on her shoulder. When she looked over to see who had dared to touch her flesh, she saw the piercing gaze through her aide's white shawl that sent shivers down her spine.

It was only after seeing this chilling sight did the Goddess avert her gaze and apologize for her brash words.

"I'm sorry… I didn't know…. If the leader of Gravestone wishes to negotiate … Then… Then I will take him up on his generous offer. That is acceptable, yes?"

The servant in the white shawl silently nodded her head, and released her hand from the Goddesses' shoulder, causing the woman who claimed divinity to sigh in relief. Shortly thereafter her aid left her quarters, causing the woman to break out the fortified wine which she tried to drown herself in, but to no avail.

Ultimately, the Second Battle of Tahoe, as it would come to be known, had far-reaching consequences for humanity, as two of its most powerful factions west of the Rocky Mountains had a severe depletion in strength as a result of it.