Satou looked across the field and saw Gruk standing among the orcs—young face carrying grief that made him look decades older, holding his father’s war axe like a sacred artifact.

He wanted to speak. Wanted to address the settlement. But he realized with sudden clarity that he didn’t actually know the full scope of the losses.

He’d been fighting Khar’razoth for five days. Had been unconscious for some weeks recovering. The names, the numbers, the specific casualties—he’d heard fragments, seen the grief, but hadn’t received a comprehensive report.

Satou stepped forward to address the assembled settlement, and Lyra immediately moved to intercept him.

She approached quickly, her eyes meeting his with understanding. In her hands was a leather-bound folio—pages covered in careful script, edges worn from constant reference over the past weeks.

"The casualty report," she said quietly, voice steady despite the weight she was carrying. "Every confirmed death. Every loss. I thought you should know before you speak."\

She handed him the folio.

Satou took it, his enhanced perception allowing him to scan the pages rapidly even as emotion threatened to overwhelm him.

The first page listed the summary:

SETTLEMENT WAR CASUALTIES - COMPLETE RECORD

Days One Through Three:

Total Casualties: 330 (162 killed in action, 168 wounded)Remaining Defenders at Dawn, Day Four: 643

Day Four - The Fallen Heroes Assault:

Started Dawn: 643 defendersCasualties: 460 (287 killed in action, 173 wounded unable to fight)Remaining at Nightfall: 183 defenders

Day Five - Final Assault:

Started Dawn: 183 defendersCasualties: 146 (87 killed in action, 59 wounded)Remaining When Loki Arrived: 37 defenders

After Reinforcements (Final Push):

Additional Casualties: 23 killed in action

FINAL TOTALS:

559 Defenders Killed in Action400 Defenders Wounded959 Total Casualties

Satou’s clawed hand tightened on the pages. Nearly a thousand casualties. Five hundred fifty-nine dead. More than half his fighting force gone.

He continued reading. The next pages broke down casualties by race and detailed the most significant losses:

Casualties by Race:

Goblins: 253 killed, 187 wounded (440 total) Orcs: 158 killed, 109 wounded (267 total) Serpentfolk: 89 killed, 67 wounded (156 total) Demons: 59 killed, 37 wounded (96 total)

Plus 200 Corruption Specialists (killed in Pattern Seven’s Apocalypse Spell - Day Four) 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Notable Casualties - Champion Duels

Commander Vex’ahlia - Mutual elimination with Captain Theodore Ashford. Demon commander, three hundred years combat experience. Killed human field commander in exchange for her life.

Urgak - Former Orc Chieftain. Mutual elimination with Lieutenant Helena Voss. Avenged his people’s persecution before falling.

Skar - Serpentfolk Chief. Champion duel with Captain Marcus. Mutual elimination through accident—Marcus’s falling sword cut his throat after Skar’s spear found Marcus’s heart.

Thrak - Settlement Chief Engineer. Champion duel with Captain Hollis. Mutual elimination. Built every fortification that kept us alive. Fought with construction tools because he was never trained as warrior, but fought anyway.

Satou felt that one especially hard. Thrak had built this settlement’s defenses. Had given them the walls that let them survive as long as they did.\

He continued reading through page after page of names:

Day One Through Three Notable Casualties:

Grok - Orc warrior. Held stairway alone for five minutes against twelve human soldiers. Killed eight before falling. Body found with his war axe still gripped in dead hands.

Pix - Goblin archer. Sixteen confirmed kills before taking arrow through throat. Died defending Second Line walls.

Thorgak - Orc shock trooper. Sacrificed himself to save eleven wounded defenders during retreat from Second Line. Held chokepoint alone against thirty humans for three minutes.

Siss - Serpentfolk infiltrator. Killed eight human officers in night raid on Rest Camp Three. Died in combat during extraction.

Day Four Notable Casualties:

Mark - Goblin warrior. Killed by Fallen Hero—spine shattered on impact while defending eastern sector.

Grath - Orc veteran who’d survived three days of siege. Killed eighteen human soldiers in personal combat. Killed by Fallen Hero—neck broken.

Thrak’gor - Orc defender. Throat crushed by Fallen Hero during Third Line assault.

Tarak - Veteran goblin, informal leader among goblin defenders. Mutual elimination with Sergeant Kelvan. Survived eight battles before this final one.

Krix and Grix - Goblin twins. Fought back-to-back, killed four of six elite human soldiers attacking them. Died within seconds of each other, still protecting each other’s backs.

Viss - Serpentfolk warrior known for killing seventeen humans in personal combat over the siege. Killed two more officers before he fell.

Grumash - Orc laborer who used a post-hole digger as a weapon. Killed three soldiers before twenty arrows brought him down. Died standing, weapon still gripped in his hands.

Day Five Notable Casualties:

Kresh’gar - Orc warrior. Took three sword strikes—shoulder, side, leg—and still kept fighting through berserker rage. Held middle ring position for six minutes before wounds finally brought him down.

Thrak’mor - Orc shock trooper. Grabbed two human soldiers simultaneously and crushed them together. Killed nine humans before falling.

Vex’thar - Demon warrior. Centuries of combat experience. Killed eight soldiers in two minutes during inner ring defense. Fell to concentrated assault by twenty humans.

The pages went on. Name after name. Defender after defender. Each one a person who’d believed in what they were building here. Each one who’d fought to protect a settlement where all races could live together.

The final page noted simply:

Pattern Seven’s Apocalypse Spell: 200 corruption specialists killed in single casting. Seraphina’s reinforcements who came to help us. Traded two hundred lives to buy us one hour of time—one hour that let us hold until Lord Satou could return.

Satou closed the folio slowly, his flame-like eyes reflecting grief that went beyond words.

He looked at Lyra, seeing the exhaustion in her face, the weight she’d been carrying while he recovered, the burden of command that had aged her years in just five days.

"You documented all of them," he said quietly.

"Someone had to." Her voice was steady, but he could hear the strain beneath. "They deserved to be remembered. Every single one. Their names, their deeds, how they fell. Everything."

Satou nodded, then turned to face the assembled settlement, the casualty report held carefully in his hands.

His voice carried across the field—not magically amplified, just the natural authority of someone who’d earned the right to speak for the fallen: