The enemy rat swarm had outnumbered them ten thousand to one, yet their casualty rate was only three percent. Even counting the Resistance Army and the other defenders, it remained below ten percent. By any measure, it was an epic victory.
For any power other than one of the Thirteen High Kings, that achievement would have been enough to boast about for years and become a regional hegemon.
But then, the rats here were only One Percent of the North's forces of Chaos, not even counting the demons. Put that way, there did not seem to be much to celebrate.
Whatever the case, they had survived the hardest stretch. Now they could savor the bitter fruit of Victory.
The 158 soldiers lost in the war had been covered with white cloth, ready to be sent back to Free City. The six missing had yet to be found... They were not truly missing. No one could find their remains among the piles of rats.
The militia helped clear rat corpses from the City Wall while searching for the soldiers' remains. But if anyone had fallen outside the wall... there was almost no chance of finding them.
At noon, Femi, Jack, the Berserker, and the others stood before the Portal for a brief farewell ceremony.
Frank watched solemnly as the fallen cavalrymen were placed in coffins and sent home with the wounded.
They were dead, but they would live on.
Every member of the Hellfire Legion had signed a Contract to become Undead after death and continue guarding Free City. If even one of these 158 became a Heroic Spirit, it would ease the grief of losing their comrades.
After the fallen soldiers were sent back to Free City, the Resistance Army dead remained.
They had been braver still, and their deaths