~~~

The siege was fast but brutal. The PRISM mages were able to clear the site even with limited manpower: they had been greatly agitated by a conflict with M.A.G.E., who had been forced to leave defeated. No converts of the Children of Evolution survived the assault, and the two commanding Viols preferred to commit suicide rather than surrender to the authorities. The artifact in question was nowhere to be found, but in one of the rooms the mages discovered a whole library of forbidden literature and materials.

A few hours later, the governmental wizards clinked their glasses filled with exquisite red wine in the break room of the HQ. Tired but content, Aoi and Hitomi were telling Shiningreel about the operation in detail while Elio and Elia launched a fighting game on the console. Shadow settled on the chair away from everyone: an e-book interested him much more than the social gathering. Izumi sipped his drink with pleasure, but he appeared much less relaxed than everyone else.

“Something’s bothering you?” Hitomi asked the investigator.

“I would not dare to darken the mood. Today we’ve won a great victory by striking one of the most dangerous criminal groups in the city... and once again showing M.A.G.E. who has the upper hand. May this night be peaceful.”

“Oh, come on,” the Summoner waved her hand, feeling a bit tipsy. “We are a team. Tell me, what is that? The missing artifact? We have no proof it existed in the first place.”

“It is a shame that we haven’t found out what the true goal behind the Children of Evolution is.”

“Money? I believe they’ve raised quite a bit.”

“This reason sounds plausible, yet why would they raid the M.A.G.E. manor, then? Was there something of interest? Are there any other groups of converts that were not present tonight? In addition, I am considering the possibility that the true founder is still on the run. On the radar, we clearly saw two Violets and one Celestial.”

“It might have been one of the victims?”Aoi guessed. “Just wait for the full report.”

“None of the Cursed falls under the description provided to us by the mayor’s daughter. Tomorrow I intend to bring her to the morgue for identification. And if it turns out that none of them is familiar to her, we will need to continue the search. This leader of the Children is cunning and extremely dangerous.”

“If he is still out there, he must be very, very angry. What a perfect moment to go wild,” Shadow sighed.

~~~

“Mother of Light, you are all good-for-nothing.” Dasnor Hunt facepalmed to emphasize how much he was irritated by his teammates who kept on laughing their asses off over Dammit’s jokes.

“Just look at these losers,” Viktor said as he appeared in the pub hall with a bottle of whiskey in his huge hands. “Owned by the cops? That’s what you can expect if Big Daddy isn’t there to carry you all.”

“I missed you so much, Tin Can!” the Celestial whined. “You’re the only one who’s not a damn squishy in our party!”

“YOU were the one who sold us for Foxgirl’s titties, asshole!”

Rebecca punched the healer jokingly, and he pretended her blows were indeed painful.

“Is it me or someone’s said buffs are OP after all?” Sacred joined the group alongside the Amber.

“Give us some music, Mister Smartypants,” Beckz grumbled. “Need to cheer up a bit. Are you a bard or what?”

“That’s not what you call a qualified Exorcist these days.”

“But you can sing, so who cares!”

“Well, I’m nowhere near Frejya, but I sure know a couple of tunes.”

While the enchanter got lost somewhere in the room behind the bar, Viktor plopped down on the couch next to the others and poured scotch in each of his teammates’ glasses. The mages waited for Sacred, clinked their glasses together, exclaimed “To PvP!” and sipped the divine spirits. The enchanter tuned the guitar he’d brought from the back room and played the first line of a famous drinking song. The inconsistent magic choir supported his initiative.

One sunny day Assassin grouped with Warrior and Wizard

They took one Summoner and Tank to beat a giant lizard

They dragged a newbie Cleric down inside the Den of Demon

One random hit was just enough to make the monster see them

The party panicked straightaway and Wizard missed his curses

The raid boss got as mad as hell and spawned his loyal forces

The dragonlings were small and cute, but full of grim devotion

They bit so hard the party used all their stock of healing potion

Each time the chorus came in, everybody sang it—Dasnor included.

Full team wipe it is to be

Good luck my party-o

Good luck my party-o

I have just one HP

The Wizard threw some fireballs and tried to keep his distance

But Dragon had one hundred points of magical resistance

Assassin failed his double jump, his destiny was tragic

And Summoner got spirits wrong, then he ran out of magic

Crusader yelled “You bloody noobs! It’s damaging my image!”

He spit and used his precious scroll which cast “Escape to Village”

So Cleric wailed in agony at Dragon going savage

He cried “How lame is DPS, there’s not enough of damage!”

“As always!” Dammit shouted, and the gang almost failed to sing the next chorus because of their laughter.

Full team wipe it is to be

Good luck my party-o

Good luck my party-o

I have just one HP

The Warrior was kiting boss, he ran and ran in circles,

And nobody could stop him from trashtalking in the process:

“Hey Cleric, can you fucking heal, I have +6 on armor

My sword is of the top grade tier, I am the best of farmers!”

“Oh, here comes Dammit’s solo!” Viktor warned Niji, winking. The healer cleared his throat and sang his part, sometimes off key intentionally.

The Cleric was in fact a Thief got banned as bug abuser

He learned all skills available not reading how to use them

He rezed his fallen mates five times and went on with his squealing

“You all, stop breaking line of sight or there will be no healing”

Niji was agitated so much she almost spilled her new portion of whiskey. After the chorus, everybody moved to the next verse:

There was no mana left at all when Caster was accusing:

“We have no buffer in the team—and this is why we’re losing!”

Nobody ever could expect what happened thereafter:

The monster was amazed so much that he died out of laughter

Sacred slowed down the pace, and the singers hushed a bit as well while he carefully performed the final part:

They picked their loot then set the camp to celebrate and revel

The trophies were a total trash as penalty of level

They suddenly remembered Bard who messaged them directly

He stood beside a teleport and asked...

“Where to, exactly?” Sacred finished.