On the forums, millions of players had already joined the event "The Great Riposte!"
Their first objective, they decided, was to chase the Federation soldiers from Monstinopolis, seeing as how it was an ultra-strategic city connecting two continents. Barely a hundred soldiers and a single combat mech were guarding it.
Apophis, seeing these plans, knew it would be the perfect place to strike a blow against the anti-Federation Eternals!
Only about a hundred players had joined the Federation, but they were mostly elite solo players. Apophis was more than confident that they could hold their own in the war.
However, when he inspected the players under his command, one particular detail made Apophis freeze in place.
Lotus was there.
Emma.
His girlfriend from his first life.
The woman he'd dumped in a fit of jealous despair, then spent the rest of his life regretting it as Neo-Crack held him in a tight grip.
At this point in the game, Lotus was a lvl 8 Engineer. It seemed that her skill as an individualistic solo player was already strong.
Lotus was a dark-skinned girl who had originally lived in India, though she later lived in Paris, like Apophis. Or at least, she had in their first life. Her face was calm and collected as she talked with a few other players about the upcoming mission, an expression which hid her caring and selfless nature.
In this new life, Apophis had decided that he would never rely on anyone else ever again if he could help it. He could only redeem his failure of an original life by amassing strength!
If he sought strength, Apophis believed, the rest would inevitably follow.
Yet, as he saw Lotus in this new life for the first time, Apophis's heart tightened. He wanted to rush to her, hug and kiss her, and catch up after the five years they hadn't seen each other—
Apophis's blood ran cold.
No, it hadn't been five years since they'd seen each other.
In this life, the two of them had never met.
In this life, they'd never fallen in love following his mother's sickness and death.
And in this life, they'd never drifted apart, and Apophis had never driven her from him.
Apophis was torn. This was an important event! He needed to focus on his role as commander of the Federation Eternals, but he could only focus on Lotus!
He realized that he still loved her terribly, and the possibility of starting over with her gave him a feeling of strange, manic happiness, like what a condemned prisoner must feel when he is told, at the last moment, that he is to be released! Somehow, this possibility of a new beginning filled him with a longing far greater than his desire for money or fame!
But Apophis took a deep breath and reminded himself of his purpose. He needed to rise higher than any other player, seize the strength to remain independent so that no one would control him and force him into pathetic weakness ever again.
He would take this opportunity to start over with Lotus… later. And this time, he wouldn't lose control. He wouldn't become weak. She'd never be as stronger than him as she'd been in their first life, and would never be tempted to spend time with other men due to Apophis's weakness and failures!
No. Apophis would never lose again, especially not when it came to love. For the moment, that meant he needed to focus on the mission and lead Lotus, and all the others, towards Monstinopolis. He'd lead them to victory and prove his worth to Lotus again.
***
About 20,000 players were camped in the forest near the ruins of Monstinopolis. They were so preoccupied with their own plans of attack that they were not at all prepared to be attacked themselves!
Apophis and his squad charged through the camps surrounding the city, wiping out low-level players and winning huge amounts of EXP!
After exterminating most of the enemy forces, Apophis received a notification.
*Level 11 achieved.*
Apophis ignored the notification completely—but realized that it was Lotus who occupied his mind, not the mission!
Lotus hadn't yet learned the same skills that she'd had in her first life, the ones which let her command an army of battle robots, but her Engineer skills were still quite impressive. She fought using explosives and mechanical armor she'd invented. It was amazing to behold!
But though she was powerful, and would obviously rise to be one of "Horus's" top players in this life as she had in the old one, she was still nowhere near Apophis's level.
That security filled Apophis with confidence.
No one could stop him now. He didn't care how many people he had to murder, how many planets he had to burn, how many friends he had to betray, or how many enemies he had to ally with.
Only the victory was important. The rest was just a bunch of meaningless details.
Consumed with this philosophy, Apophis cared nothing for the former allies that he slaughtered in the Federation's name, many of whom had charged by his side during the Siege of Tyo.
So it was that Apophis earned the reputation of a traitor, an infamous and honorless man.
On the forums, Apophis's reputation plummeted. The player who had once been known for protecting weaker players against tyrannical guilds—a reputation built on misunderstanding in the first place—was now seen as an antagonist to normal players.
Apophis became known as the "God of Death," a title used both as an insult and in begrudging respect.
Lotus, on the other hand, admired this commanding player named Apophis, not only for his power and fame but also for his independence of mind! Like her, he didn't seem to care what people thought of him!
After the extermination of the anti-Federation players around Monstinopolis, Lotus joined Apophis and spoke to him. "Thank you, Commander! It was a pleasure to serve under you for this mission. I hope we can meet again!"
Apophis, who was burning from the inside out, responded by planting a small kiss on her mouth! "Thank you, Lotus."
Shocked, Lotus didn't say a word as Apophis walked away from her.
Flustered, but not knowing how to react, she received an invitation to join the party of a few friends, which she quickly accepted.
For a long while after, Lotus thought to herself over and over, "Who is this Apophis? Did my fighting impress him? I really prefer to work alone… but if he asked me to fight alongside him again, perhaps I would take him up on it."
