Apophis flew over the area of the destroyed Warhouse, the whole zone ravaged by the recent, the corpses of imperial soldiers and civilians and everywhere, in this landscape of destruction...
Down below, he immediately saw all the guild members below him, gathered in a defensive formation.
Apophis suspected he had a problem, for despite his intense battle with DungEater, he had seen his teammate's HP and energy drop dramatically, but more importantly, his teammate should have taken cover instead of standing there in such a dangerous zone.
Apophis saw that most of his team-mates were nursing themselves back to health, eating and drinking, everyone had tired faces...
Quickly, the people in his guild saw him.
Everyone got into fighting stance, as a reflex of fear, but when they saw Apophis's name, their relief was immense.
Chocolate stepped forward and said "Apophis! What a relief!"
Apophis replied, "What the hell happened? I saw your HP and energy fluctuating wildly in the interface!
Chocolat replied "The coalition members attacked us, then someone unexpected helped us..."
A surprised Apophis said nothing immediately, anger overwhelming him, after all he'd made a contract with the coalition, he mustn't threaten it during his duel, but he realized that the moment he'd shot Lucifer's body envelope, the contract had become null and void, But that didn't make it any less ferocious: a contract was certainly a commitment to the game system, but it was also, and above all, a contract of honor, and to betray it in a roundabout way was something really frowned upon in the gaming community.
Apophis finally replied, "Who helped you?"
Suddenly, a tall man in heavy futuristic armor approached and said "It's me".
Apophis couldn't believe it...Ceasar himself had helped them!? He'd betrayed his guild to help that rascal!
Apophis replied "I don't know how to thank you, brother...".
Caesar replied: "I'm only keeping my word! We formed an alliance to flee this planet, I've only respected what was agreed, unlike the other members of the coalition..."
Apophis replied "Well, you have my gratitude...Anyway, now that I've got my team back together and the star dragon has appeared as our diversion, we're going to get off the planet before the situation on Terra gets out of hand!".
Cesar gave a slight smile and said "No, my Renovatio staff has ordered us to take part in the battle for Terra, according to them the looting of the planet will allow us to make up for the weeks lost in farming and experience...".
Apophis then held out his hand and said "Well, I won't keep you, then... I think we'll meet again soon".
Caesar immediately understood Apophis's allusion: indeed, the great auction of the century was approaching, and rumors of a major PvP tournament were becoming more and more insistent, most players wouldn't miss it for the world...
Cesar shook hands with Apophis and said, "I can't wait to meet you there, brother!"
Caesar signposts to it's overbordered and left the Warhouse. Before leaving, he looked for a second at Apophis, who reminded him enorment of his former friends he had betrayed, then left to join the Renovatio members who were part of the raid waiting for him further on...
Suddenly, an explosion was heard, the ground shook and some of the debris on the ground was hurled into the air...
Suddenly Antanria and the other Eclipse members guarding her emerged from the hole.
Apophis had in fact left her in the basement of the Warhouse to protect her and prevent her being killed in battle, but unfortunately with the awakening of the stellar dragon the whole structure had collapsed, but Apophis had never been worried, after all Antanria and the other guild members escorting her were all C-rank ascensionists, their bodies could easily withstand the collapse of a building...
Antanria saw Apophis and said, "Father! You're safe and sound! I'm so happy!"
then she adds "I felt your energy pouring out across the planet!"
But Apophis didn't reply, instead sending him a stern look...
Antanria suddenly realized that she had blatantly disobeyed the orders he had given her and said, "Sorry Father, I know you said you'd come and get me, but there were so many twists and turns I didn't know what to do!"
Apophis also sent a dark look to the Hulk, who was supposed to be "protecting" her, but he turned away and looked at the ground instead.
Apophis smiled slightly and said "It's all right, we were going to leave anyway".
For his part, Apophis beckons the other members to come closer and says "Dear members! Here we are at last, we can leave Terra! Make your final preparations, we're leaving in five minutes".
Suddenly Lotus approached and said "Apophis! The Battle of Terra has become a major PvE and PvP event in game, and the quest for rewards for participating in the taking of the planet is truly extraordinary! 5,000 Galactic Credit and several pieces of 'Rare' quality stuff per person, not to mention the loot and plundering we'll be able to do! It'll be an excellent make-up for our time wasted here!"
Apophis replied, "It's true, they can be very good rewards in normal times, but you mustn't see the world of Horus as any other MMORPG. The looting of a planet the size of Terra is going to be phenomenal, and we must be prepared for the shocks it will produce!
Apophis continued, "Anyway! I'll explain my plan in more detail when we get back to Era, but we've got to get back to our ships and we'll have to cross a war zone, the likes of which you've never seen!"
Everyone looked at each other and wondered about Apophis's famous secret plan, but no one dared ask him to be clearer about his intention, after all, everyone had such blind faith in him...
The Eclipse players got ready, swallowing a few boost potions and other consumables before setting off to get out of the inferno.
