Is this really a Game?!

Reign and the others had agreed a while ago that there would be little use for the underground city after they had taken control over the entirety of Doncaster, and thanks to the players venturing deeper inside and fighting against the ants, there was little danger to be found.

The ants had been taken care of by the players, and even though Reign and the others had initially wanted to be the ones to take charge and get rid of them, the players took it upon themselves to do so after they had become stronger.

Realizing that the ants were not that big of a threat after they had taken control of the city, Reign and the others decided that allowing the players to use them as a farming spot would be for the best.

The queen of the ants was still alive, not because the players were unable to kill her, but because they wanted to keep her alive so that she could give birth to more ants that they could kill. She was a peak Tier I being when they found her, and after so much time had passed, she had become a Tier II being.

It seemed that the barrier was different below Doncaster as the queen and her ants faced no penalties for reaching such a high level of power. With the ability to create many ants, the queen had become somewhat of an ally to the players that used the ants to train and level up.

The underground city was mostly deserted, and the cemetery that had been built there was much larger now. All the dead players would be placed there, and that was where the funeral for those that had died while defending Doncaster was held.

Everybody went to the funeral, everyone except for Reign who had still been unconscious that day.

On the second day after the battle, Reign opened his eyes. He was in his room, inside the main building of the territory.

Reign slowly got up and sat on his bed, remembering what had happened before he collapsed. He got up and got dressed before leaving his room.

Nobody was inside the building, so he walked out and was immediately met with stares.

The players quickly ran to him, all worried about him and his current state. This wasn't the first time Reign had lost consciousness, but each time it happened, it was because Reign was dealing with a problem that nobody else in the territory could deal with, and the players would always feel a sense of guilt over not being powerful enough to help him.

Nobody knew about the plan Reign had made and how he had masked himself for days after initially returning to Doncaster. The players knowing this could lead to some of them resenting Reign as their friends had died during the battle, not to mention that not all would see the real reason why Reign had stayed hidden as nobody knew about the attack beforehand.

They all thought that Reign had arrived the day of the battle and that he had only stayed low in order to see how the battle was progressing and to see if there was a traitor amongst them. Greenie and Aelrinder had told them that they had suspected that someone in the territory was a traitor since the enemy seemingly always knew when Reign and the others were gone and what was the best way to test them and attack.

Knowing that there was a traitor in the territory was what made Reign and Wolf hurry up with their evolution and arrive so quickly. The information that Greenie had given them was half-baked, but it was believable. The players understood why Reign and the others had kept their challenge a secret and had only told a select few before departing for their challenges.

Reign was immediately bombarded with questions.

How was he?

How did he feel?

Was anything wrong?

Should he already be out and not rest a bit more?

Apologies from many of them over how they weren't useful to him at all during the battle.

The questions and apologies came nonstop and Reign was quickly overwhelmed by them.

He told them all that he was alright and that everything was ok. He told them not to say that they were useless as everyone had a part during the battle, even those that didn't fight at all as they were the ones that had given the army the motivation needed to go against such a powerful enemy.

He also felt an extreme sense of guilt. After all, all those that had died had only died because of his choice. He was the one that decided to stay hidden and allow the enemy to attack them, all while knowing that they would have many casualties because of that.

Still, he didn't feel as if his choice was wrong, just that their deaths were partly his responsibility. He also knew full well that had he not done this, there might have been many more deaths in the future.

It still didn't ease his guilt. But it didn't mean that he would simply kneel down and beg the dead and those alive for forgiveness. After all, everything he had done was in order to protect them and the territory. The less they knew about this, the better it would be as sometimes, ignorance is bliss.

It was much easier to accept the deaths of the players as selfless sacrifices that were made to keep everyone safe, and not as a move on the chess piece that Reign had played against the enemy to finally bring them down.

He excused himself and asked the players if they knew where Greenie and Wolf were.

"Oh, Wolf is at the prison, he has been interrogating the traitor and those captured for the last two days, Greenie went out to the borders to inspect the holes in the barrier." One of the players said while Reign nodded at her before disappearing from the spot and making his way to the prison.

Compared to when Reign had entered the prison for the first time in order to put the draif leader inside, it was now much larger.

There were five floors visible, and a further 4 that were underground. The underground floors were for the stronger enemies that were captured and would be captured in the future.

There was a plan to make a sixth and seventh floor and in the end, the seven floors were planned to have enemies that were Tier 0 all the way to Tier VI while the four that were below would be for Tiers VII, VIII, IX, and X.

Of course, that would be for much later and if there was even a chance that they would ever capture a Tier IX and X being, which Reign did doubt would happen.

For now, however, the underground area was reserved for Tiers III and IV while the rest would be on the upper floors.

Wolf was underground, he had built a special room that was right in the middle of the building. There was a large hole in the middle of the building, both above and below the ground and everyone would be able to hear the screams and pleas of those that were inside.

He had made it so everyone could see the room and connect it to despair. Every time they woke up and made their way over to the bars of their cell, they would be able to see the room that was seemingly floating and would always be visible to them all.

Upon making his way over to the room and crossing the narrow path that was made to access it, Reign looked around him.

He was able to see the old demon and Carlos were inside their cells below him. Both of them glanced at him before turning their eyes away.

They had sensed just how powerful Reign was during the battle for Doncaster, and both of them knew that even five low-grade Tier IV beings wouldn't be enough to deal with him. He was a being that had clearly outgrown them all and was many times more powerful than any of them.

Reign knocked on the door of the room and waited for a couple of seconds before the door opened and Wolf's face was shown.

He was wearing a lab coat that was drenched in blood. He had two transparent gloves on him, and both were of course drenched in blood while a pair of pliers and a saw were held in them.

"Yo, get in," Wolf said before looking at the prisoners around them, making them all turn their heads away upon seeing his enthusiastic smile.