Server Announcement: "The violence against the population of Tyo has triggered a galactic war. You must choose a side between 'The Eternals' and 'The Federation of United Planets.' Choose carefully—you cannot easily change sides later."
The situation on Era was catastrophic.
Once a resplendent planet, Era was now nothing but a radioactive desert. The destruction of 95% of the urban centers, as well as the annihilation of the native population, had caused the game economy to almost completely vanish. The only value GC had left among players came from players choosing to trade it among themselves..
At its peak value, a single Galactic Coin had once been worth 4.6 real-world credits.
Now, it took 4 GC to equal even a single credit. In a matter of minutes, the real-world value of GCs was almost nine times smaller than it had once been, as soon as those watching in the real world understood the situation!
Many players were furious with Horus and its developers, who were blamed for allowing—or even planning—such a catastrophic event. What had previously been a lucrative game was now a complete waste of time!
Not everyone was purely obsessed with money, however. For many players, the new game experience was really fun! The game had turned into an apocalyptic survival game like the old Fallout series, with the planet's monsters having undergone serious radiation mutations, increasing their levels.
And, of course, many players were unconcerned with the drop in the value of GC. "The market rises and falls!" they said to each other. "We'll just be patient. The devs have definitely planned another event soon that will make GC even more valuable than before, so let's carefully hoard GC while everyone thinks it's worthless!"
All of that discussion happened in the first few hours after the players respawned, of course.
The immediate consequence of the nuclear bombardment was that all players and Tyottings in Tyo—and all across Era—were instantly killed.
Apophis, a good distance outside the city at the time, saw the blinding nuclear flash and recognized it for what it was. But thanks to his ~Susanoo~ Skill, he was able to throw up the shining purple skeleton at just the last moment.
He saved both his life and Antanria's, but it was far too close a close call for his liking. Even though the skeleton protected them from nearly all the light, heat, and air pressure, both of them were still blinded for several minutes, and their skin was covered with mild sunburns.
But, according to the inspection menu, neither of them had suffered any radiation poisoning, nor had they taken much damage. "We need to get underground as quickly as possible," Apophis said to Antanria.
Since all players who weren't in a Dungeon or deep in a cave structure had been wiped out in Apophis's first life, there was no witness or record in that first life whether there had only been one nuclear bombardment. It was very possible that a second wave of bombs had been hurled down while all the players were respawning, perhaps to hit some targets which had escaped the first orbital assault.
Not wanting to risk even this small chance, Apophis wasted no time in heading with Antanria to the Zetark shipyard.
***
In orbit around Planet Era, Admiral Azerof stared down at the sinister spectacle he had caused on the ravaged surface.
Admiral Azerof belonged to the cause known as the Human Supremacists.
The Human Supremacists were a subversive and mostly secretive political force which believed that humanity should form a human-centric, xenophobic empire and drive all xenos—the human term for aliens—out of human territories.
The Federation of United Planets, despite being renowned as the civilization of humans, was made up of only 56% humans. They had a solid constitution, based on a long history of egalitarian philosophy and politics, which guaranteed the rights of non-humans in the Federation.
For Azerof and other Human Supremacists, this was a vile heresy that must one day be overturned.
Back when the Zetark Empire ruled most of the galaxy, humans were placed just below the Zetark species in the Empire's hierarchy. Humans could own thousands of xeno slaves and were permitted to occupy some of the most profitable professions in the Empire.There were some among the modern Human Supremacists who justified this by claiming that Zetark and humans were actually the same species, so the Zetark were to be admired, unlike all the other xeno species.
Others among the Human Supremacists thought no more of the Zetark than any other xeno species, however.
When the Zetark Empire fell long ago, humans tried to replace them as lords of the galaxy. Unfortunately for those efforts, humans were numerically inferior to the xenos who made up the rest of the galaxy. To maintain some power, the human coalitions were quickly forced to change their professed ideologies.
Once-vicious human nations then publicly declared xeno species to be equal to humans and founded the egalitarian state which would come to be known as the Federation of United Planets. The Federation was only moderately powerful compared to other starfaring empires. It survived mostly because of its many alliances and powerful military.
As a Human Supremacist, Azerof sought a solid position from which to attempt a coup in the Federation… with the end goal of establishing an Imperium of Humanity, of course.
What better opportunity would Azerof find compared to this? The opportunity to manipulate these Eternals, who were all humans with the power of Ascension? To him, the weak people of Tyo were nothing! Their lives were meaningless compared to the possibility of regaining the lost glory of humanity!
But first he had to ensure that the rumors were true: that these "Eternals" truly lived up to their name. If not, then he would have simply wiped out a force that might threaten human civilization.
But if they really were "Eternal…"
The vice admiral spoke up. "Admiral! We're detecting a resurgence of the natives… No! Not the Tyottings. Only the Eternals. They're still alive, despite the nuclear bombing!"
Admiral Azerof smiled thinly and replied, "Prepare to land and begin our ground assault. Spare every Eternal who surrenders or shows willingness to join us."
Their landing craft descended into the atmosphere, landed on a scorched plateau, and then unloaded the Federation ground troops.
The real war was finally beginning.