CRONOS I—WAR ROOM BUNKER
Marshal Androf, who was staring at the huge control panel used for directing the troops, was amazed. All the Orcs had just… stopped fighting. He whispered, "How?"
One officer said, "The information is confirmed. They're withdrawing from all lines of contact; there's no doubt about it! The Orc army is retreating to these ships landing nearby! What should we do?"
Androf was skeptical. Even if the Great Warlord Regnier was dead, that still didn't explain why the Orc armies were retreating. For the Orcs, when one leader fell, another usually took his place just as quickly.
Androf said, "Let our units form a compact and resistant front line. Make no pursuit of Orc troops! Also, send a message to Apophis immediately. Tell him that the Eternals must not pursue the Orcs, either."
***
PLANETARY EQUATOR—FISSURE
By this time, Apophis ascended and rejoined Jiraya and ThreeDog. Shortly after, he received the message from Azerof.
Jiraya said, "What the hell is going on?"
Apophis answered, "Regnier pledged his allegiance to me. He'll aid us in the creation of our own faction on Era."
The junior players were shocked! Though Apophis's reputation up to this point was already exceptional, this news was beyond anything they could have imagined!
Apophis added, "Well, let's get on the road to the bunker. But first…"
Apophis opened his command menu, which was finally enabled. This was proof that he was actually leading the Federation Eternal troops!
The first thing he did was to make his new role known. He sent a message to all Federation players.
"This is your new commander, Apophis! Thanks to the Eclipse Guild, the enemy commander, 'Regnier,' is dead. As a result, the Orc troops are fleeing! The battle is won! Please stay with the regular Federation troops until otherwise ordered."
***
All the players who received this message were shocked, especially since the message was signed, "Apophis, Commander-in-Chief." How was that possible?! Apophis in command? Eclipse killing the A-Rank Ascensionist commander?
And now the withdrawal of the entire Orc army and a decisive Federation victory?! This was all completely unbelievable!
Zelda, in the northern city of Nokfol, fumed with rage as she read this message! This whole time, she'd fought alongside her guild for the glory of 'Apophis?!' This was absolutely unacceptable!
Her face, which was usually that of an angel, grew cold and hard...
Pro-Streamer, who was with Zelda, saw the same notification. He immediately addressed his stream. "One word! Unbelievable! While the Hyrule guild was having fun messing with poor Orc soldiers, without any difficulty, the Eclipse Guild took on an A-Rank boss! Again, this is unbelievable! But more importantly, we just learned that Apophis is the Commander-in-Chief of the Federation players! I'll try to interview him, since he's on the planet!"
***
WAR ROOM BUNKER
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom One officer said, "Marshall, I can confirm that all regular Orc troops have left the planet in their landing ships. Only the surviving Orc-aligned Eternals remain on the planet's surface. They number about eight million Ascensionists."
Androf replied, "What is our troop count?"
The officer answered, "Very heavy casualties. We seem to have lost about one hundred million men, with ninety million more wounded and out of action. That leaves us with about one hundred and ten million operational men in our planetary force!"
Androf said, "Well then. Let us take care of the wounded quickly and let our soldiers who can still fight get some rest. We still have a dirty job to complete tomorrow, unfortunately."
The officers understood. It was now time for the command headquarters to comply with the Chancellor's order and eject all Eternals from the army.
Even though it was only thanks to the Eternals that the Federation had held on as long as it had. Without them, the battle would have been lost days ago.
Androf added, "Once you have completed your mission orders, try to get some sleep. It's been almost thirty-six hours since we've had the chance."
But just as Androf was about to go to bed, one officer shouted, "A fleet just exited hyperspace in the Cronos system!"
Androf was alert once more. "Who are they? Have the Orcs returned?!"
The officer answered, "No! Neither Orc nor Federation! Signature Unknown, Marshall!"
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