The battle was over.
The able bodied were now piling the dead, while the weaker foot soldiers were digging the graves.
Irrespective of their race, everyone was getting the right to a proper burial as Regus did not deny his enemies of such a basic decency.
Long lines could be seen outside medical tents as potions and bandages were being passed around amongst everyone.
Friends from different divisions were looking for each other as a myriad of names could be heard being shouted out around the battlefield.
While the soldiers were looking for each other, the captains and lieutenants were busy compiling reports of losses in their own units.
A few of them were smiling happily for their units have came through unscratched, while many more were smiling bitterly.
The vampires did clinch victory today, but it wasn't without a cost for most, as the Victory came over the grave of a loved one.
Lord's could be seen talking to their generals, performing damage assessments based on reports and deciding on what needed to be done to save as many wounded as possible.
Some mingled with the humans and elves who had rushed to their aid.
Some even hugged them and thanked them for their help, but once the initial euphoria of victory passed by, war stories started to be discussed and that's when all hell broke lose.
There were 3 main stories that everyone talked about.
First- The story about their King, Regus Aurelius, the warrior unrivalled who defeated Satan in a legendary battle before making the most noble sacrifice in deciding to fight and hold back The savage king, The Mercenary King and Lucifer alone, so that the vampire army could retreat.
Second - was a mind bending story about Max Rajput.
His fight in the 'victory valley' where only two men slaughtered 200 god's and close to 2 million demons but still managed to walk out of the fight mostly unscratched having achieved their goal of delaying the massive army for 2 hours.
However, what was even more mind bending than this legendary battle was the fact that the demons claimed to be eyewitnesses of the fact that Max Rajput and Ravan Bloodfall were one and the same and that Max Rajput was a primordial vampire who could wield the power of blood!
Since the stigma surrounding primordial vampires was massively rooted within vampire society this was breaking news, however, luckily for Max, even this piece of shattering news were not the headlines for the day.
Third- and the headlines that everyone was talking about non-stop was the return of Shakuni The Terrifying.
The story behind how he returned, killed three monarch's and outmanoeuvred the universal queen who had personally manifested to hunt him became a situation straight out of a fairytale.
Even before his death, he was a figure who was surrounded by a shroud of mystery and was a talking point amongst the masses.
His title as ' Undefeated ' gave him a gravitas equal to that of a Monarch even though back then he was not officially one.
His death at the hands of Lucifer was also widely discussed and debated, but his return simply defied common sense.
Not only had he returned to complete his vengeance, he had returned as the strongest warrior in the universe to stop whom the queen had to manifest personally.
This tarnished the queen's image as a supreme entity while enhanced the hype of Shakuni who the people began to view as a man who had transcended the monarch's.
***********
( Meanwhile Max )
Max was sitting within his room inside the Aurelius fort as he awaited his impending judgement.
He was free for now, but he had no question in his mind that Regus had received the news about him allegedly being a primordial vampire and it remained to be seen as to how he reacted to it.
With the massive stigma that came with the prophecy, Max did not feel that he was in a good position in this whole ordeal.
He feared being imprisoned and stripped of his title as a Lord not for himself but because he trembled at the thought of Asiva giving birth to a new life in a hostile environment.
If he was forced into exile, if he was forced to leave the vampire society, he would never be allowed to live in peace outside.
There would be a constant threat of political assassinations looming over the head of himself and his family and it was not what Max wanted for his unborn child.
The crime of him hiding his identity could have been forgiven because of all the meritorious deeds he had performed for the vampire society, but the crime of being a primordial vampire could never be forgiven.
All his merits, all his accomplishments, all his policy decisions that were made for the betterment of his people, everything was on the cusp of being invalidated and Max knew exactly whom to blame for it.
Angakok the blood shaman god was the one who had made his life a living hell and had also murdered his master and irrespective of how things turned out here today, Max intended to get revenge on that man, one way or another.
**********
( Meanwhile Rudra )
The man who the entire universe was talking about had already buried his weapons and was now working on the fields as a humble farmer, trying to learn how to harvest lettuce.
The thrill of wielding a sword which had eluded him for years would most likely elude him for centuries more to come as Rudra sighed and accepted his fate of a boring life.
For a god whose senses were so extremely sharp, the slow mundane of house-life was like torture.
It dulled his senses, forced his brain to be less efficient and did not provide him with enough stimulus.
However, the hugs from his children and the sex with his wives more than made up for it as at the end of the day Rudra felt like a happy man.