TERRA—VALOR TEMPLE
The moment after Jiraya and ThreeDog respawned after their defeat in the fight against Lucifer, something shocked them.
The Valor Temple, the Federation respawn zone on Terra, had been destroyed, and so they had reappeared on top of a huge pile of concrete and steel!
Above them, they could see something of the night sky of Terra, but it was mostly hidden behind a huge fleet of warships, a fleet of hundreds of thousands, much more numerous than the original Azerof fleet.
The city itself was completely unrecognizable compared to the state they'd last seen it in.
Many buildings were gutted and the burned wrecks of flying cars and spaceships lay everywhere… but the worst thing was the frightening number of non-human corpses lying everywhere on the ground.
Forget Cronos I and all the carnage of war! 'This' was like a real horror movie even compared to that! Everywhere the Eclipse players looked, there was another corpse, such that they could hardly take a step without finding one under their feet.
In the streets, gunshots sounded out regularly and army patrols seemed to be everywhere.
Fortunately, when they had leveled to that point, Jiraya and ThreeDog had selected an evolution of Space Humans that were physically very close to normal humans, so Azerof's soldiers had no reason to think they were xenos on sight and attack them.
Before the battle, Apophis had informed them that if they died, they should seek out the other Eclipse players who had respawned before them, and then find Antanria at the Royal Palace of Terra, so the two of them quickly set out on this mission.
On the way, they saw several hundred xenos—as well as humans who had apparently resisted the attack—lined up against a wall before being violently and mercilessly executed by a firing squad.
A real purge was taking place on Terra.
But on the way to the hotel, the two Eclipse players ran into a group of soldiers guarding the elegant city district where the hotel lay. According to his name tag, the unit was led by a lieutenant named "Joy," who ordered them to halt.
ThreeDog said, "Hello, Lieutenant, what do you want from us?"
Lieutenant Joy replied, "Hello Citizen. This area is off-limits. Please turn around at once."
ThreeDog said, "Don't worry, we belong here. We just came from the Valor Temple. We were praying, but now we're just going back to our apartment in Zone 325."
Lieutenant Joy had very clear instructions that wealthy citizens should be well-treated, so he made his tone much more courteous even as he delivered the damning news.
"The egalitarian Cult of Valor, as well as all gods that promote interspecies mixing, have been repudiated and forbidden by the order of Grand Admiral Azerof."
ThreeDog quickly said, "We're sorry, and we didn't know! Rest assured, we're big supporters of the Supremacist cause, and we weren't aware that the Grand Admiral had banned that cult."
Lieutenant Joy nodded. "Of course, good Citizens. Please be careful to keep informed of the changes in the law to avoid unnecessary trouble in the future. Good luck."
ThreeDog gave a polite smile. "Thank you, Lieutenant."
The officer signaled for the barrier to be lifted and for the two players to be let in.
Of course, had the lieutenant realized who he'd just let through, he would've executed himself to save the trouble of a court martial!
ThreeDog and Jiraya followed Apophis's instructions and went to the Royal Palace hotel. To their surprise, they had very little trouble. The hotel had been completely untouched by the fighting, even retaining its functioning water and electricity.
However, when Jiraya and ThreeDog arrived at the 592nd floor and the elevator doors opened, they found a two-meter-tall man staring back at them.
Igor [SuperSoldier] [lvl: 100] [Rank: A]
Jiraya frantically hit the button to close the doors, but it was too late. The SuperSoldier moved swiftly to block the door.
Igor said grimly, "Good evening, Citizens. What business do you have on this floor?"
ThreeDog said hesitantly, "Sorry, Sir, the elevator seems to be malfunctioning. Probably because of all the fighting. The systems must have been damaged in some explosion or another nearby. This is the third time now that it's brought us to the wrong floor…"
For a moment, the two players thought Igor had bought this explanation—
But then he threw a punch towards Jiraya!
However, it seemed that Igor had misunderstood his enemy. The punch would've been impossibly fast to a normal human, but was far too slow to hit even weak Ascensionists.
Jiraya, being Rank C, dodged without difficulty.
He realized only a moment too late that Igor hadn't miscalculated at all.
By dodging such a weak attack that wouldn't have hurt him much, Jiraya had just revealed the truth of his identity.
Igor clenched both fists, raising them in a boxing stance. "Let me repeat my question," he said calmly. "What are you doing here… Eternal?"
ThreeDog spoke up quickly. "Sorry to mislead you, Sir. Considering everything going on, you can't be too careful. We're looking for some companions who are waiting for us here."
This caught Igor's interest.
"You are also the companions of Apophis?"
ThreeDog and Jiraya looked at each other with relief. They'd found an ally, it seemed!
Jiraya said, "Yes, we are—"
Igor slammed a fist into each of them, rendering them both unconscious in a split second.
***
Jiraya woke up to the sight of a beautiful blonde with blue eyes staring at him.
It was StarLight, and there were also the other members of Apophis's former group there. They all seemed to be stuck in a kind of house arrest.
However, one person was conspicuously missing: Antanria.
Jiraya said to StarLight, "Good God, what happened? Why didn't you fulfill the mission Apophis gave you? Where's Antanria?!"
StarLight responded, "We got to the hotel during Azerof's fleet's assault. Unfortunately, we were attacked by Azerof's special forces, led by a Rank-A named Igor. We couldn't do anything! We even tried to hide, but the soldiers knew exactly where to look."
Jiraya wasn't satisfied with this explanation. "Why didn't you inform Lotus or Apophis?!"
StarLight snapped, "What, you really think we're so stupid we didn't think to try something that basic? 'Obviously' we tried to let Lotus know. But Something strange is going on. Since we've been imprisoned here, every private message to a player outside this room has failed to send."
Jiraya pondered this. "Well, what are you doing now?"
StarLight said, "We tried to escape, believe me. But the walls are super-reinforced concrete and the door is armored to such an extent that none of our skills can break through. We're totally trapped."
But just as she finished speaking, that same armored door opened!
Three men entered the room, including Igor, who said, "You will follow us now. Try anything and you will be punished."
Apophis's former companions glanced at each other before following the NPC, who led them into a luxurious office…
Where Azerof was waiting for them.
So this was it. The players all realized that they'd completely failed at the mission Apophis had given them.
But to their complete surprise, Azerof smiled and said smoothly, "Welcome, dear companion of Apophis. I am Grand Admiral Azerof and am delighted to welcome the members of Apophis's clan. I have invited you here to propose a mission which I think you will find most interesting..."
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