Isaiah was the only person that survived.

Aiden died before he reached the tunnel out of the square and Riva stabbed Grayson when the Healer tried to run while everyone was focused on tying up Isaiah. The red-haired man activated <Blink> to get out of his restraints, which let the others know they couldn't hold him.

Penelope slumped against the wall against 20F as she watched Frederica bark orders. Grief laced every word out of her mouth, but she stood tall as she directed traffic.

She looks better. Penelope glanced at the blue Elf sitting next to her. She's still hurting, but she seems more…

"Satisfied?" Jeru glanced at the portal to the next floor. "You know you're still going to have to do some tap dancing to get Rae to fall in line, and if you die again…"

I know. Penelope pushed the image of Derek's death to the back of her mind. I'm going to have to redo that fight all over again.

"You have to pick who to save." Jeru shrugged. "Being able to redo things and see the different responses allows you to choose the path forward that you like the best."

Isn't that just manipulating everyone to be what I want them to be?

"The burden of being the Looper." Jeru shrugged. "And also the responsibility. I know you think you can get everyone out of this alive, but what happens if you go back to the third floor and stop Rae's nephew from getting killed?" The purple-robed man pointed at the brown-haired Healer. "Grief can propel people to push themselves. Without her desire to be stronger, would Rae ever step out of her bubble to take a leadership role?"

Penelope chewed on the side of her cheek while she contemplated her answer.

"Whatcha doin'?" Circe dropped down in the space where Jeru had been sitting.

"Uh!" Penelope clamped her mouth shut as the blue Elf vanished.

"What?" Circe leaned forward and looked at the wall and floor. "Did I sit in something?"

"No, um…" Penelope swallowed. "I mean, I don't know. I was just deep in thought and you startled me."

"Don't you have, like, the best appraisal skill ever?" Circe bumped her shoulder into Penelope's arm. "Seriously, Pen. What's up with you?"

"That's…" Penelope closed her eyes. "I know I've seen people die before, but we killed them." She opened her eyes and forced herself to look into Circe's brown ones. "Doesn't that bother you?"

"They were killing each other, they tried to bait us into killing ourselves, and they killed the Oakman." Circe shrugged. "I don't see any difference between killing them and the other monsters down here that walk on two legs."

"That's…" Penelope's shoulders sagged as she looked away. "I don't know if I could do that."

"Kill a person to save your teammates?" Circe scoffed. "Come on, Pen. The only reason why you're conflicted is because as soon as we got the upper hand, they tried to run. If they'd fought us head-on, you'd have been right there smiting them with that holy power of yours."

"It's light magic, not holy…" Penelope muttered. Is there a difference?

"There is such a thing as Demonic Magic and there's a cult of people who worship the Light, which is a thing, so if you consider holy to be the antithesis of Demonic…"

I don't need a theological breakdown of your religions. Penelope groaned.

"Considering you're killing literal Demons, I wouldn't call any of this a theory." Jeru huffed. "Knowing who your enemy is, where they came from, and what they want is a critical part of figuring out how to defeat them."

Fine, you can fill me in on that later. Penelope forced a smile as she looked away. "Maybe."

"You're just feeling down because that thing got in your head." Circe grinned as she stood up and pulled on Penelope's arm. "Come on, there's a belt over here with your name on it."

Penelope's face contorted. "I thought none of the loot from the bosses worked for any of us."

Circe laughed. "Silly Pen, when did you even look at any of the drops?"

"Um…" Penelope shrugged. "I didn't get anything on the last floor, so I just assumed I wouldn't get anything this time either…"

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"Rae argued that her team could use the upgrades, but considering how you took on the Terror Bug all by yourself, Freddie thinks that you deserve its drop!" Circe skipped as she pulled Penelope's arms towards the group.

Once they arrived, Raelyn grabbed a belt off of the pile and tossed it at Penelope.

"Here." Raelyn shooed the pair away with her hand as she turned back to the pile of gear she was spreading out. "You earned it."

Fear Wrap Magic +3 Defense +3 Dark Resistance +15% Passive: No Fear - Immune to Fear

"Thanks…" Penelope swapped the belt out for the one she was wearing and passed the item over to Patrick, who had just returned with a load of gear. The anxiety that she felt from being at the edge of a crowd of people didn't diminish, but the urgency to get out of the circle ebbed into a dull throb.

"You would have thought that one of them would be wearing a decent hood." The balding man grumbled as he took the belt. "Sorry, Pen, but looks like you're going to be going down to the next floor in a first-floor hood."

Penelope touched the tough, black fabric around her head. "It's okay." I don't know that I could wear looted gear anyway.

"People die. Sharing their gear is a good way to let them help their replacements."

This isn't an ally falling in combat. Penelope grimaced as she watched the others appraising the gear that Patrick had just dumped. This is looting the bodies of—

"Your enemies?" Jeru completed her thought.

Not what I was going to say. Penelope grumbled. I just don't want people to start looking at their allies like loot bags that can be killed to get better gear.

"Jealousy and greed were always going to happen." Jeru sighed. "It's the gatcha system of looting that addicts people. And once there aren't any more monsters around to loot, people turn to the next closest thing."

That's disgusting. Penelope backed away from the crowd as an argument broke out over who should have received an upgrade. How are we supposed to work like this?

"Mutually assured destruction?" Jeru shrugged. "These fights can't be done solo and the farther down you go, the larger the group you'll need."

Until someone decides they don't want to play nice. Penelope glanced over at the portal and sighed. I guess we won't need the gate over the portal now.

"It still wouldn't be a bad idea, just to regulate who goes down deeper. You never know when you're going to get a group who thinks they can fight against level 21 Demons using the power of 'good' and will just throw themselves into a square."

I take it that's happened before?

"More times than I probably even know about and way too many times to remember all of them." Jeru lamented. "You'll see an uptick in that type of activity once the Elves get involved."

You're not really selling the need to get into town very well.

"It's the best path forward and one that you're going to have to go through eventually." Jeru huffed. "You were all about me guiding you and now you're complaining about the one major thing I'm telling you to do."

I'm just… Penelope sighed. Done with the infighting.

"What's wrong?" Circe poked Penelope's side.

"Wha-?" Penelope blinked as she realized that people were staring at her. "Oh, nothing, just thinking about the next floor."

"We've got enough gear to dress the backups in decent gear, still don't have enough people past level eleven though." Patrick grumbled as he brought another armload over. "I'm going to need someone to help me with the bodies and Aly…" He turned to look at her. "Could use your help burning the bodies."

"We're not going to have a funeral?" Penelope blinked as she looked over at the pile of bodies that had been Derek's whole team.

"Freddie wants to take care of Oakley by herself." Patrick nodded at the entrance they had walked through to get into the boss room. "She's going to use some of the wood from our crafting supply, but we can't carry all of that down to the next floor anyway." He pointed at the small stack of wood on the other side of the opening. "We've already got Eldri and Rockwell laid out on a pyre. If you want to pay your respects…"

There was a moment of silence as the group waited for someone to say something. After a few uncomfortable moments, Penelope peeled away from the group and walked over to the pair of dead allies.

Someone had tried to dress them up. Unlike the other team, her allies were wearing basic robes that they'd looted from the Shadow Demons. Both were Buffers, so cloth armor was already their usual clothes, but the plain, brown robes made them look like a pair of paupers who were about to be sealed away.

"Pat is going to make everyone have a moment of silence before the pyre." Circe gestured over at where the older man was giving instructions for how Aly was supposed to burn the bodies of the other teams. "But he wants that to be gone before we bring the rest of the people in." She lowered her voice. "We're supposed to tell everyone that Derek took his group down to the next floor and then we'll pretend they died there."

Penelope nodded as she stared at her fallen comrades. Rockwell still gave her the creeps, even in death, but these were people who had fought beside her and now they were part of the list of people that she planned on saving.

"Three isn't many compared to sixty." Circe patted Penelope on the back, then her hand slid around to try to wrap Penelope in a hug.

Penelope pulled away, breaking the contact and leaving Circe with a frown. "Stop."

"I was just trying to comfort you." Circe let out an exaggerated sigh. "A good hug does wonders."

"I don't need a hug." Penelope folded her arms in front of her as she walked away from the fallen allies. "I just need people to stop dying."

"We're headed in that direction already!" Circe chirped as she skipped behind Penelope. "I bet we can make it through this next floor without losing anybody!"

"I hope so too." Penelope glanced over at Raelyn's team and forced the memory of them being crushed under the trees out of her mind. "I hope so too."

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