Apophis and Joker finally reached a manhole which would lead them to the sewers.
Apophis opened the manhole cover and stepped inside. Joker followed, but loudly exclaimed, "What are we doing here?" Then he noticed something strange: Apophis was taking off his armor and his clothes until he was completely naked.
Joker was surprised! "Brother, what are you doing?! I'm not gay!"
Suddenly, the wall of the sewers started to shake!
Joker prepared to fight, but Apophis put his hand on his shoulder. "Calm down and hold your breath," he said.
A moment later, a huge wave burst around the corner and engulfed Apophis and Joker.
***
Orbit of Planet Terra—Azerof's Capital Ship
Azerof was sitting on his golden throne, discussing strategy with several of the fleet admirals, when suddenly Admiral Hazh cleared his throat to indicate he desired to speak.
Azerof said, "Excuse me, my lords… an urgent matter." He turned to Hazh. "What do you want, Admiral?"
Hazh answered, "We've encountered a complication in the containment mission on Terra."
Azerof answered, "A complication?"
Admiral Hazh nodded. "All the signals belonging to the Eternals in the area of the Temple of Valor have disappeared."
Azerof's eyebrows narrowed. "Disappeared?! What do you mean?"
Admiral Hazh replied carefully, "The sensors of our ships detect almost no more Eternals in the area. The scan's results dropped from about two million Eternals to about a hundred thousand in a few minutes. It would seem that the Eternals who we believed to be trapped in the area somehow managed to escape."
Azerof reflected on this. Despite his most recent knowledge about them, the Eternals were still a rather mysterious race to him. He understood their cycle of life, death, and reappearance only in a superficial way. He had no real idea what their source of power was which made this possible, or how exactly it functioned.
Azerof wondered if there might be particular conditions that allowed them to resurrect somewhere else, instead of being confined to the Temple of Valor, as he'd assumed. Perhaps they could even choose to resurrect on other planets in certain situations.
This would be the worst situation for Azerof! He'd still been planning furiously to control the Eternals in some way. He still considered their existence as both a great opportunity for his empire but also as one of the greatest threats. If they could truly choose to resurrect outside his influence, then all his plans might be worthless.
Azerof thought back to his defeat on Cronos I. The resurrection of almost ten million elite Eternals on Terra after that battle… well, it was a divine gift that he'd promised himself he would not let escape his grasp!
His plan was to recruit every Eternal possible and to integrate them in the regular army. Unfortunately for him, the Eternals, being immortals, couldn't be threatened with capital punishment or permanent destruction. Therefore, the usual possibilities of negotiation were very unfavorable—something Azerof was keenly aware of.
There was the possibility of recruiting them as mercenaries, but money was sorely lacking—especially now that he was at war in the four corners of human space. It wasn't as though the Eternals were mere human soldiers who would be content with low pay!
After a few moments, Admiral Hazh said, "What are your orders, My Lord?"
Azerof replied, "Sift through every corner of the planet. I won't let them escape!"
Admiral Hazh answered, "My Lord, our fellow citizens are still sheltered throughout the planet. A global scan will be impossible. We must use our short range sensors, which will take quite a long time, considering the population of Terra—"
Azerof snapped, "Then start right away! Don't waste time!"
Admiral Hazh replied even more carefully, "But, Majesty... wouldn't it be wiser to try to negotiate with them rather than ravage another area and lose millions or billions in Galactic Coins? Perhaps this warfare isn't the wisest course of action."
Azerof sent a dark look at Hazh. "Do. As. I. Command!"
Admiral Hazh swallowed hard and replied, "Yes, Lord. Forgive me." Admiral Hazh left the command deck and returned to his personal office located in another part of the ship. He sat at his desk and pressed a button which activated a large hologram. It depicted several other figures.
"We have a problem," said Hazh. "It seems that Azerof won't relent in his hunt for the Eternals..."
***
Terra—Industrial Zone South
Apophis opened his eyes. The heavy blast of water dragged him around an enormous water tank for almost ten minutes before finally exploding him into an enormous water treatment basin.
He saw around him thousands of players swimming in Terra's waste water. The overhead pipes seemed to be continuously pouring millions of cubic meters of water into the basin where they were all swimming.
This had been Apophis's plan. From his first life, he knew about Terra's unique, fully automated wastewater treatment system. Every half hour, the system evacuated the waste water from the megacity's buildings to vast retention basins in the south of the planet, in the immense industrial zone of Terra.
For normal humans, the water pressure and the lack of air would have quickly killed anyone who was sucked in. Of course, the players had reinforced bodies which could resist all these forces for a long time.
In their old life, this had been a famous technique to escape the authorities on Terra, since they couldn't follow without dying!
Apophis and Joker came out of the tank quickly, like most of the players who were arriving around them. The smell was nauseating, and some players threw up as soon as they came out of the tank. Unfortunately for them, it was impossible for them to suppress the sensation of nausea in the game settings.
On the other hand, Apophis's ~~Waterbending~~ Esper Skill allowed him to create and manipulate water at will. This allowed him to clean himself and the surrounding players. A few other Espers also had this Skill, though none of them had anywhere near as many Skill Points in it as Apophis, so they weren't able to help as much.
Joker finally understood why Apophis had removed his clothes, to keep them from being damaged or soiled by the water. He wished that he'd done the same. Even after Apophis cleaned him off, it seemed that some stains would never come out! With a sigh, Joker asked, "What's the next step of our plan?"
Apophis answered, "Well, first we have to regroup."
As he spoke, chaos was occurring all around him. Thousands of players were continuously emerging from the water treatment tank, then undressing, cleaning their clothes and armor, and trying to get their bearings.
Suddenly, Apophis saw a blue dot appear on his mini map, the sign of a friendly NPC! Without another thought, Apophis raced to that location and found a woman in her underwear who was cleaning her dress.
Apophis rushed towards her and took her in his arms before exclaiming, "By the gods! You succeeded in escaping, Antanria!"
Antanria was also delighted to see Apophis. She embraced him tightly in return and said, "Don't leave me behind anymore!"
Apophis replied, "You know that sometimes I have no choice. I don't want to lose you in battle."
Antanria answered, "I have trained hard to strengthen my Ascensionist body. I will not be a hindrance anymore!"
Apophis still knew this was a bad idea, but muttered the old expression, "What a woman wants, God wants." After that, his mind drifted to another matter. He still needed Antanria to clear up the mystery of the Zetark disappearance.
So Apophis answered at last, "Well, you'll accompany me to the battlefield if you want, but if I tell you to run, you run!"
Antanria grinned and answered, "Thank you, Father!"
Joker was surprised by this relationship that Apophis had with an NPC, but Joker wasn't a classic-era gamer. He remembered the announcement to the game server that Apophis had resurrected the Zetark species, and many questions rose to his mind. However, he said nothing. Observation, he knew, was often the best way to learn from someone.
Soon Apophis found his guild mates—Chocolate, Hulk, Jiraya, Lotus, ThreeDog, White, and others.
They were finally all together again!
Hulk made a light joke to Lotus. "What should we call you now? Guild leader, or supreme commander?"
Lotus smiled and answered, "You can call me Emma."
Apophis glanced at Lotus strangely. This sudden assumption of responsibility by Lotus brought back very bad memories of his old life. He could feel a lump of sadness growing in his throat as he saw events like this happening again. However, he summoned all his courage and said, "Congratulations, Emma!"
Lotus replied with a warm smile. "It's all because of you, and you know it!" She moved towards him, seeming as though she wanted some kindness and tenderness from him…
But Apophis ignored her completely, preferring to go and joke with Hulk.
Her face fell. Why was Apophis acting like this?
During this time, the Terra player chat room was filled with messages of joy at the escape from Azerof's army and bombardment.
"We survived! I managed to keep my level!"
"Wow! Great! Best plan ever! Thanks Lotus! Love you!"
"Lotus! Divine angel who saved my account, my heart belongs to you forever!"
Even among the representatives of the guilds, there was a general sensation of euphoria. They'd finally—more or less—managed to escape from Azerof's clutches. Of course, everyone unanimously recognized that Lotus's plan had worked perfectly, which reinforced their confidence in her.
