With Hades Collective dealt with, Merrick and Alric were ready to wrap up the Faction War. Before they could, however, a system menu appeared before them. It was the War Officiant, from the grounds above the dungeon. Their helmet was down, silver eyes shone from inside the helmet. Merrick let out a sigh as the announcement started.
"Due to repeated abuse of the situation and rules regarding the Item Hunt, both Hades Collective and The Curious Glades have been placed under review. While it is normally allowed in the rules of an Item Hunt to target other players, it is only allowed as a way to stall them from getting the target item. Both Factions were warned on their behavior before the third round and in the third round, they continued the behavior."
Merrick found that fair. It might not have been as obvious but he had knowingly walked into the ambush to settle the score with Hades Collective before moving on to get the item. They had both ignored the War Officiant's warning, even if to the public it looked like Hades Collective was the only one that acted out.
The War Officiant continued, "Furthermore, since Hades Collective has lost all participants in the Faction War, they have no course to prove their repentance. A Faction Levy will be applied by the system at a rate determined by an Official Moderator after the Faction War is concluded."
Merrick could feel DeathX's annoyance at the announcement even though the Hades Collective Faction Leader was nowhere near.
"In the meantime, The Curious Glades have an opportunity to still complete the Faction War and win. Their punishment for ignoring my warning is that a Dungeon Levy will be applied to the current Faction War. The difficulty level of the dungeon will be raised from Co-Op Standard to Veteran Party and all enemies will be respawned with gear appropriate to the new difficulty level. If The Curious Glades are able to complete the new challenge, no further Levy's will be applied to the Faction."
Later, Merrick learned that the announcement went out to not only those participating in the Faction War, but anyone watching from the stands or from the comfort of their homes. It ended up being streamed online by an Adventurer as well. It served to give both good publicity for Mouseion's handling of bad player behavior and to psyche up the audience of other Faction Wars.
The announcement ended. It was time to move on. Merrick turned to Alric and asked, "Did you find the item?"
Alric nodded, "I'm not sure if it will move due to the respawn, but you're not going to like what I found."
"Lay it on me."
Alric held out a ledger instead of a direct answer, "Might be easier if you read for yourself. There is a lot to it…"
Merrick nodded and took the ledger, "What's the highlight?"
"The item, Colosseum Champion's Soul, is in the hands of a Death Knight."
Merrick sighed and thumbed through the ledger. He made a point to read closely enough that his Knowledge Archive would record the information for review later but he did not bother reading every sentence intensely. The ledger told a story that was actually quite tragic.
The Colosseum Champion had a name at one point, but they fought in the Colosseum and its bowels for so long that even the ledger did not have their name. The Champion had come to the Colosseum to recover their soul; it was lost in a gamble with the Old King of the Land.
It took years but they were able to fight their way through the ranks, complete all challenges laid out by the Colosseum Master, and then finally challenge the former Champion. When they won, the nameless fighter became the Colosseum Champion and they were able to regain their soul by challenging the Old King of the Land's Knight Champion to a duel in the arena. It was no contest, the Colosseum Champion won that fight like all others.
However, that was when they learned that they were unable to truly regain their soul. While they toiled in the Colosseum, the Old King had let his Mage turn the soul into a powerful magic sword. Unbeknownst to the Colosseum Champion, they had become a Death Knight.
With their soul in hand, they continued fighting as the Colosseum Champion until the Old Kingdom fell and the Colosseum itself fell into disrepair. Without a life to go back to and no purpose, the Colosseum Champion stayed behind and protected the treasury left behind when the structure was abandoned.
Merrick reached the end of the ledger and realized something that he had not yet. The Colosseum Champion was more than likely the dungeon's boss monster. It made sense that they would need to challenge the boss in the final round of the Faction War. However, with the dungeon's difficulty level going up, Merrick wondered how simple that would be.
This could be the dungeon that finally challenges him. He turned to Alric with a wide smile and said, "Alright, show me the way."