The players of Toxic finally arrived at Mario's corpse, staring at the crater in shock.

They didn't understand how the situation had changed so completely. Their last perception of the fight had been Mario's overwhelming advantage and yet she had died only moments later. How could this happen?

Then they saw the Federation soldiers and understood Lotus's trap.

This infuriated them, but there was nothing they could do. Any attack they made would count as helping Mario in the duel, and would result in her being banished from the game.

All they could do was look at one another and grind their teeth in frustration.

Meanwhile, Lotus was recovering from the exceptional fight she'd just won. Her heart pounded as she contemplated that she would certainly have lost if not for the success of her trap.

Once she had recovered, Lotus ordered the Federation soldiers and the Eclipse players to take control of Tyo's remaining military infrastructure.

Because this was the only place on the planet with modern communication and detection technology, Tyo had been Lotus's top priority. Without starting here, it would've been impossible to reorganize the Federation forces in garrison to reconquer the planet.

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However, within an hour of taking control of the city, the Federation soldiers informed Lotus of something terrifying.

The planet was completely surrounded by a huge fleet!

Lotus's first thought was that a flood of Federation reinforcements had arrived to take back the planet, but then a soldier informed her of the message being broadcast on repeat.

"This is the Great Warlord Regnier, Lord of the Qorus, Oairas, and Quitiras systems, Viceroy of the Orc Empire. I wish to make contact with the Eternal named Lotus. This is the Great Warlord Regnier..."

Everyone was horrified! The Orc Empire?! What were 'they' doing here, a million light years away from the front line?!

Most of all, why did they want to speak with a specific player?

All over the planet, players with radios were picking up this signal and discussing it with excitement and fear.

Era was probably the most player-populated planet in the whole galaxy, so the message carried dangerous implications. The forums quickly filled with threads about the topic.

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"WTF, Eclipse is being chased by the Orc empire?"

"These people again, always causing trouble for the rest of us!"

"Lord Regnier, please destroy this damned guild!"

The players as a whole felt that Eclipse was monopolizing the game too much. They were so tiny that it wasn't just that they held so much power.

Jealousy was the first step to hatred, and the exorbitant taxes Apophis had instituted as soon as he was appointed military governor had deeply tainted Eclipse's reputation for the players.

So despite the terrifying presence of the Orc fleet, it was a source of savage glee to many players on Era!

***

Lotus eventually decided to respond to the broadcast message.

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However, she took some precautions and encrypted her message's location data so that it couldn't be traced. Finally, she responded as Regnier had, on the public frequency.

"This is Lotus, Chief of the Eclipse guild. What do you want from me?"

Regnier replied, "I have been sent by Lord Apophis to help you reclaim this planet. Please inform me how I can help you, Chief Lotus."

Lotus was stunned!

However, even her amazement was nothing compared to the astonishment of the players listening in!

Regnier was considered as one of the most powerful and important NPCs of the game. How on Earth had Apophis succeeded in making Regnier his vassal?!

On the forums, stupor quickly transformed into hateful fear. Some guilds wanted to fight back, but most recommended leaving the capital cityperhaps even the planet altogether. Surely remaining would only risk another nuclear holocaust!

Lotus was skeptical of Regnier's claim, but sent a quick message to Apophis, who confirmed it.

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Well, that certainly changed things! Now the mission of regaining control of Era would be incredibly easy.

So Lotus sent the coordinates of several strategic locations to Regniercommercial zones, farms, urban centersdetermined to make everyone realize exactly how terrifying a threat Eclipse really was. Never again would a rebellion rise against them on Era!

Regnier accepted the coordinates, bombed the areas that Lotus had indicated, and prepared to land his troops on the planet.