Eden was in her infirmary back at her castle in a private room. The hospital was full of injured and the rest of her army had returned with Arthur. While she was unconscious she kept burning up and struggling to breath. It was as if she was still fighting in her mind. She had broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, torn muscles all over her body. Her insides were swollen from the impact of the kick and the landing. Her face was almost unrecognizable with how swollen she was. Expat rushed over to her castle as soon as he heard Eden was in a bad state. Corruption was already by her bedside when Expat entered. She stood up and walked over to him. Then she slapped him across the face. She didn't say anything, just gave him a stern look. Expat was enraged at first and then he calmed himself down when he noticed Corruption's eyes were slightly puffy and water was starting to collect on the bottom eyelid. He looked down and said, "I, I don't" "Save it! For when she is awake." interrupted Corruption. She walked back to her seat next to Eden. Erza was standing at the other side of the bed still guarding Eden silently. Onibat rushed into the room and made a sudden stop when he saw Eden's condition. He gritted his teeth and scowled. After a few moments of silence Onibat finally asked, "What the fuck happened?" Only Expat turned to look at Onibat with a solemn face. "I don't know, she was providing me with aid and then when I turn to look, she was already gone. I went to assist Arthur and try to find her. When Arthur suddenly fell on one knee he said 'Eden is in trouble'. I searched the battle logs if something was recorded, nothing was there besides her archer battle and defense on the camp where Arthur was fighting." Onibat began to breathe harder and said angrily,
"You rushed into battle didn't you! Eden had no choice but to support you! And now look at her! Some fucking help. You couldn't even protect her when she needed you the most. Some fucking strong man you are."
Maur was walking in when Onibat finished and said "I don't think your yelling is going to help Eden get better. Besides, if Eden was left in this condition, what do you think you could do? This is the reality of war." Onibat looked annoyed at Maur. Why was Maur siding with Expat, he asked himself. Notme and Ron were right behind Maur. Then after seeing Eden's condition, Notme punched the wall. "I'm with Onibat, why volunteer to go with Eden if he can't even be there when she needs it. She isn't careless like this motherfucker," said Notme as he pointed at Expat who was now getting irritated at them. "I have to agree with Maur on this one," said Ron and then continued, "This is war, Eden knew the risks and if she couldn't defeat this opponent, then Expat wouldn't be able to either. He hasn't gotten back to his previous power. They would have both ended up the same way or maybe dead with their power stripped. How did she survive such a brutal attack?" Maur looked at Erza curiously, this was the first time she was in plain sight. She wasn't sure if Erza was a knight of Eden's or something else. Maur began to walk to Erza to look at her more closely. She noticed she resembled Eden a lot, the difference was her eyes and hair. Then as she looked at the sword and shield in Erza's hand, something on her boot caught her attention. She drops blood by her heel. It wasn't splattered, like someone who was bleeding, stood or leaned in close enough to get some of their blood onto her. Maur was zoned out with his thoughts until he heard a commotion, Expat and Onibat were at each other's throats. Expat asked Onibat, "Who are you saying is not a man?" "I called you a pussy but same thing," said Onibat as they both were about to punch each other. "Stop," yelled Eden with a strained voice.
Corruption reached for a glass of water to hand to Eden to drink. Eden drank a little bit and then she pulled a healing potion from her desk. She recovered a little, her face was not swollen anymore. "Why were you unconscious for so long?" asked Maur. "My stamina dropped to zero and with all my injuries it slowed down the recovery for stamina," answered Eden. Expat tried to rush to Eden's side, but Onibat and Notme got in front of him before he could get closer. With their backs to Expat they greeted Eden. "It's not his fault, the opponent was strong. I think 100 times stronger than Jericho." Eden said while looking down at her hands and squeezing the blanket. She bit her lip when she thought of how easily he overpowered her. They all looked shocked at the comparison. "How did you survive?" asked Onibat, still amazed by what she said earlier. Maur looked at Eden, then at Erza's heel. Eden noticed Maur's eyes traveling and smiled. She knew Maur would catch on quickly, he was impressive after all. "I used my trump card. I have been testing the limits and glitches, but you can use your guide," said Eden. Notme looked around the room and asked, "where is yours?" Eden turned her head to look at Erza. "I wanted to share this information with you guys, but I wanted to trust you all first and test it out," said Eden as she took another drink of water. "Erza, you can relax, you don't have to guard me anymore. I need a status report on all my losses." Erza placed her sword away and the silver shield she had on her hand vanished. "But there was no battle report of you with the opponent on the alliance logs," said Expat as he was still trying to get in front of Onibat and Notme. I don't know how to explain that, but if you guys can wait for me in the meeting room, I will get dressed and see you there. Corruption, please stay behind." They all nodded and began to leave. Expat was still standing there refusing to leave, but Maur grabbed him by the arm and said, "Come on dude, you heard, she only wants to talk to Corruption. You'll get your turn, lover boy." Reluctantly, Expat followed Maur out the door.
"I'm sorry I made you worry about me," said Eden softly. Corruption shrugged her shoulders and said, "who said I was worried." They paused for a moment and then laughed. "But seriously, I am truly sorry for breaking my promise," added Eden. The night before the war, Eden had spoken to Corruption about stepping down as leader if she was to get defeated in battle. The team needed a strong person to lead so the neighboring alliances don't start poking around to see if they can plunder. Corruption had refused and made Eden promise to return safe, nothing that would worry her. "I also wanted to apologize for not telling you about Erza sooner" added Eden. Corruption shrugged her shoulders again and said, "I always knew there was something different about your guide. The way you kept her hidden and cloaked in a robe all the time. I figured that if it was important, you would tell me when it's time." Then Eden began to explain to her how Erza is her shield and how Odin told her eventually your guide's conscience is released. She didn't understand why the guide is removed and you get features instead. It sounded like a shitty deal to lose the original in exchange for part of them. Corruption looked at the fairy that was sitting by the window. Then she told Eden that the strange part about your guide is that mine can't come close to it. It has an instinctual response not to be near Erza. When Corruption arrived, her pixie fairy, Tinkles, was flying behind her but she reached some sort of forcefield that prevented her from getting closer. Then after a few tries, Corruption ordered it to sit in the far window. Eden looked pensive, then Corruption snapped her back to the present by reminding her that there was people waiting for them. Eden drank another recovery potion and switched outfits. She was still in her bloody clothes that were now dry. Since she was unconscious, she couldn't say a command to change. Before they left the room, Eden stopped Corruption and asked her, "Do you think I should tell them about their guides being prisoners and their conscious being trapped?" Corruption paused, " I think yes, but we have to wait a little longer to find out more information. We don't want them to freak out." Eden nodded in agreement and they both went to the meeting room.
In the meeting room, everyone was anxious to find out more about the war. They had had a sudden turn on the second day, which was shocking. Eden passed out her reports, but was missing the damage report from her fight with Odin, she wondered why. After marking their battles on the map, there was a staggered pattern. They looked at the power range of the opponents. It looked like they were all mostly in the same range. Expat shared his reports during Eden's absence in the battle and it was a noticeable leap in power for the type of opponents they fought. Maur then said, "it looks like they sent their weaker ones on the first wave and then once there was enough over confident ones, they sent in the calvary." Eden nodded while added, "during our time in the enemy territory, they took staggered positions to quickly identify the route of the enemy. I don't have any reports from the other people because they aren't sharing. They think we will use it against them I think." "Its useless hiding reports for that reason, its old report by the time you share it," said Expat. "I unfortunately don't have the report of the one I fought, I think it's because it has Erza in it. Unless the system administrator caught on to it and blocked a report from generating when she's a variable," said Eden while calling for her silver armor that appeared in the middle of the desk. It was broken and pieces were missing. Eden continued to talk, "this is what's left from my armor, the one that I thought was impenetrable. It only took one hit from the guy I fought." Everyone examined the pieces of metal. "Since there is no report, I will look like a liar if I was to say how strong this man was, but also it seems like something we shouldn't share." "So how did that guy leave you in one piece, Eden?" asked Ron. Well after I managed to activate my shield with Erza's help, he decided to spare me. I still don't know the reasons, but I have a hunch we will know in due time." They all nodded in agreement. "With that said, I believe we have a long way to go. We need to work more hard on our research and stats. I don't know what happens when you get slayed but I'm not looking to find out.