The fleet of the Federation of United Planets arrived in high orbit above planet Era.
Admiral Azerof looked out the window at Tyo. It burned with a bright fire which could be seen from space. "Report!" he barked.
His first officer spoke up. "Yes, Admiral! The Eternals have penetrated Tyo, and have been putting the city to fire for over an hour!" As he spoke, the second officer adjusted a huge screen, bringing up satellite images of the burning city.
All across the ship, officers were talking loudly among themselves. After the fall of the capital, the Republic of Tyo simply did not exist anymore. Their mission was a de facto failure.
The second officer cleared his throat, glancing nervously at the screen where the fire was spreading more and more with every passing second. "What are your orders, Admiral?"
Admiral Azerof spoke carefully and deliberately. "I require a full report on the enemy forces. Scan the entire planet and prepare a bombing operation. Order our troops to prepare for an immediate landing!"
***
Meanwhile, Apophis had just rejoined Antanria upon the hill overlooking the massacre of Tyo.
At first, Antanria, seeing only a man covered in blood, became frightened and ran away! But Apophis quickly caught up with her and made her understand that it was only him. "Listen to me, Antanria!" he called out in her own language. That made her immediately calm down⦠or, at least, she was no longer panicking. Yet, even still, the Zetark princess was still very shaken by what she had witnessed.
Just then, Apophis saw the same server message which appeared to every player online, one which would go down in history.
Server Announcement: "The city of Tyo, the civilized capital of Planet Era and of the Republic of Tyo, has fallen. Because of the barbarity of the besieging players, news is quickly spreading throughout the galaxy that the race known as the Eternals are hostile savages. All players gain the Passive Skill [ Genocidal ], which allows all species to attack the user freely without losing Alignment or faction reputation."
This announcement caused the forums to explode with activity and the GC to credit exchange rate to plummet!
"Really?!" people asked in disbelief. "We get such a huge negative trait, just for killing NPCs?!"
"What the hell!" others complained. "I didn't even join the raid! Why should I be punished?!"
But this was only the beginning of the problems for the players!
***
Far above the planet, the second officer wiped sweat from his forehead. "Admiral, we're currently detecting 103,000,000 million Eternals. They're mostly occupying large urban centers, but I'm detecting a significant factor that wasn't mentioned in the initial report. Sir, their energy signatures indicate that all Eternals have attained the power of Ascension.*"
Admiral Azerof was shocked! However, he was quite self-disciplined and didn't let his reaction outwardly show. However, a sudden thought came to his mind⦠one which had very little to do with any kind of loyalty to the Federation.
"The situation is critical," he said at last. "Arm all nuclear warheads and prepare the ground troops for post-nuclear engagement! We must quickly eradicate the problem. Vice Admiral, provide your launch codes!"
The vice admiral hesitated. There was still a strong civilian population on the surface of the planet. The collateral damage would be catastrophic. This was wildly outside the scope of standard Federation battle doctrine!
Admiral Azerof eyed the hesitant officer, but his voice remained level and calm. "Vice Admiral, the situation is critical. If hundreds of millions of immortal and hostile super-soldiers leave the surface of this planet, the Federation of United Planets will not be able to resist. They will spread far and wide, and the resources required to hunt them down one by one will be immeasurable. We have no choice, Vice Admiral."
Feeling weak, unwilling to comprehend the magnitude of what he was taking part in, the vice admiral obeyed. He gave his commanding officer the other half of the access code to the ship's nuclear warheads, which had been broken apart so that no single man could command such devastating power on his own.
Admiral Azerof keyed the completed code into the main computer. For a moment, the decryption process seemed to pause, as though the computer itself was unwilling to go through with the coming genocide.
But, after all, it was only a computer.
Access granted.
Azerof set a target lock on each of the principal cities of Planet Era, then pressed the red button.
No one noticed the peculiar look on his face as he did so.Β
If they had, they might have expected the somber expression of a man who was making the weighty decision to sacrifice countless innocent lives for the greater good.
That expression was nowhere on Azerof's face. If his discipline slipped for just a fraction of a second, the expression on Azerof's face might have been called something else entirely.
Fascination, perhaps.
Or, more likely, ambition.
In just under thirty seconds, the four capital ships of the Federation fleet fired 2,900 warheads, each of which found their target in the main urban centers of Planet Era. The Tyottings had no ground-to-air defense systems. Why would they? Their only enemies for generations had been the earthbound monsters of Planet Era herself.
A planet which now blossomed with nuclear fire.
Almost no corner of the world was spared.
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*A person is said to have attained the power of Ascension if they have cosmic power and are at least rank D+.