Before Apophis could deliver the final blow, a person came out of nowhere!
They teleported in front of him and blocked Apophis's sword with their hand, creating a small shock wave that shattered the ground at their feet.
Apophis had no choice but to step quickly back.
The newcomer was a woman wearing a white mask and a red cloak, and she stood between Apophis and Lucifer's fallen body.
What surprised Apophis the most was the skill with which she'd intercepted his attack. It was a kind of instant teleportation skill that Apophis had never seen before, so he inspected her immediately.
Gael [Player] [Esper] [lvl: ???]
Apophis couldn't remember a player with that name from his former life, despite knowing the names of nearly all the game's elite and professional players by heart.
Then Lucifer, who was still lying in a pool of blood, said, "What are you doing here, Guild Leader?"
Guild leader?! Had Apophis just hallucinated those words?! That is, the guild leader of Lord Of War?!
This player was a legend. In his former life, she'd led the guild Lord Of War to the top of "Horus," and had even ruled at the top of an interstellar empire of thousands of solar systems when the guild was at its peak.
In SuperGuilds, guild leaders usually only served as administrators. They never participated in battles or raids, but were shadowy players who only had characters so they could make money.
Therefore, to see a guild leader on the front lines was an exceptional sight. Especially 'this' guild leader!
Normally, guild leaders rarely exceed lvl 10, since it made no sense to funnel the guild players' EXP to accounts which never fought, but apparently Gael was an exception.
Apophis knew that she was higher level than him, since that was a requirement for it to be hidden from him, and her Strength stat was enough to stop his sword with her bare hands. Gael was not to be underestimated!
Gael tilted her head towards Lucifer and spoke with scorn in her voice. "You poor fool! I watched your fight and watched you lose miserably. You'd better train more quickly and do more Nightmare dungeons to get stronger. Stay this weak, and you can forget about your year-end bonus!"
Lucifer, usually an arrogant person, was now in a very submissive position. He spoke as though he were addressing his mother, who was scolding him for not doing his chores! "I'm sorry,".
Gael snorted and looked back at Apophis from behind her mask. "Anyway, I'll take care of this one." She used a strange, advanced Esper skill, snapping her fingers and restoring Lucifer instantly!
His limbs reappeared as though Apophis had never torn them off, and Lucifer rose as though nothing at all had happened, despite the huge pool of his blood still covering the ground.
Apophis was in trouble.
Lucifer had already been a horror to face with his ~Light Mastery~ skill.
Against two players of this caliber, at the same time, while Apophis was almost out of energy…
Well, the odds were certainly against him.
Gael and Lucifer now stared at him together for a moment until Lucifer suddenly lifted his hands in a pyramid shape again.
"What are you doing?" Gael snapped at once.
Lucifer flinched. "I'm giving you a hand..."
Gael glared at him. "You misunderstand. You lost your fight. Your energy didn't return simply because I restored your body. You would only hold me back as I tried to keep him from killing you again. No… I will demonstrate my fighting skills to him and show him that it is in his best interests to negotiate."
Lucifer gritted his teeth in frustration. "But… He killed Ceasar and Zelda, as well as our escorts! He used a skill of incredible power that ravaged an entire continent! He's too dangerous to be left in this state! The smart thing would be to spawncamp him down to lvl 1, so that he can never threaten our interests again!"
Gael didn't bother answering.
Instead, she sent a group invitation to Apophis to show her pacifistic intentions.
Apophis had grown more and more surprised by the turn of events over the past few moments, but accepted the group invitation and then stepped closer to Gael.
"Good fight," she said with genuine admiration in her voice.
"Thank you," Apophis answered, but kept his tone bored. "Unfortunately, Lucifer was far too easy to be a challenge in PvP combat. I hope someday I can find an opponent who will allow me to cut loose and have some fun..."
Though he had hoped to provoke an insulted reaction from Gael, Apophis was unsettled at the complete lack of emotions which he could discern from behind the mask. He was usually good at determining what kind of person he was speaking with, but that was impossible here.
Gael ignored his remarks. "Well, what would get you and the Federation supporters off the planet today? Money? Equipment? Skills? Ships? Tell me what you want, and we'll make it happen."
Apophis gave an exaggerated smirk. "Oh, we probably have more money than you. In terms of equipment, our guild clears Nightmare and Ironman dungeons every day, so I doubt you have anything of value to offer. Your word earlier, 'negotiation,' gave me an idea. How about we create a contract between us? Between your guild—and the future faction of the Coalition of Eternals—and the future faction which I myself will lead."
Gael might have narrowed her eyes, but it was difficult to tell behind the mask. "I'm listening..."
Apophis continued, "I want the contract to state that no member of a Coalition guild will ever return to my faction's space if they leave without our permission. If they do so, the Coalition will do everything to eliminate them. Secondly, all Coalition players are forbidden to attack my faction's players in open PvP. Consensual duels are fine, of course."
Lucifer smiled at the naivete of these demands, and Gael was quick to respond. "Enough joking, Apophis! Your conditions are totally ridiculous! Why stop there? You might as well ask Lord of War to provide individual bodyguards for each of your players! Come on. Be serious and offer conditions that a sane person would actually accept."
Apophis gave this some careful thought.
The problem was that Apophis 'wasn't' kidding. He really desired these conditions. They were the most effective way to protect his guild.
He tried another approach. "Well, if you consider 'that' unreasonable, then I ask that you accept my guild as a full member of the Coalition of the Eternals… but with the full right to self-govern, independent from any superiors."
This new proposal deeply shocked both Lucifer and Gael!
Up until this point, Apophis had seemed to support the Federation to such a degree that it was totally incomprehensible. He'd massacred hundreds of enemy players, destroyed a continent, and confronted Lucifer… only to join the very camp he'd done all this to fight against?
"I accept," said Gael at last, "but on one condition. You 'will' faithfully participate in the Coalition Defense Council."
Lucifer was surprised! "Shouldn't we discuss this with the other guilds first?" he asked Gael.
His leader simply tilted her mask at him again in an expressionless glare, and Lucifer fell silent.
Apophis knew this must be a trap. Becoming a member of the Defense Council probably involved obligations and responsibilities, which would make it much harder for Eclipse to remain independent as he desired.
If those obligations existed, and he agreed to join the council, Apophis would simply have to meet them. He had no choice in the matter.
Choosing peace with Lord Of War, let alone the greater Coalition, would still give his guild a significant advantage. It would allow Apophis to keep an eye on his rivals and to anticipate any hostile action from them.
So Apophis finally nodded."I accept. Send me the contract."
Gael did so.
Apophis examined the contract in detail, finally realizing why Gael wanted Eclipse to join the Coalition.
One rule of the Defense Council dictated that whenever a member was attacked by an outside entity, "...all members of the Defense Council will react to their utmost ability…"
Apophis now held a portion of the Federation's troops, which made him a threat, but also potentially an essential ally. He possessed quite a large number of troops, which he would be required to wield as a weapon against any enemy which attacked the Coalition.
However, outside of this, the contract also stipulated that the Coalition in general, as well as Lord Of War in particular, would recognize the sovereignty of Eclipse's territory.
Despite the risks added by joining the Defense Council, Apophis decided that the balance of advantages lay in his favor.
He accepted the contract's conditions and signed it.
But as soon as the contract was signed, a message appeared.
Server Announcement: The United Federation of Planets has just lost control of the inhabited planet "Cronos I."
Server Announcement: The United Federation of Planets has just lost control of the solar system "Cronos Prime," as well as the following 5 planets…
