Once aboard the MK.1, Apophis took command again.
Though they would soon need to return to Grand Admiral Azerof, Apophis would first send a message to Hyrule. It would be one of the stepping stones to writing his name and that of his guild in the MMORPG history books!
In "Horus," each planet had only one resurrection point, with very few exceptions, such as the starting planet of Tyo. Even if a player died in space, they would reappear on the nearest habitable planet at its resurrection point.
This mechanic led to one of the greatest abuses in video game history, the mass spawn kill! So long as you could trap your enemy in their graveyard and no one could stop you, you could simply kill them over and over, causing them to lose a level and an item each time!
For many players, this led to total annihilation. It was, of course, harassment, but unlike many other MMORPGs, there was no system in "Horus" to prevent this from happening.
The only way to combat it was to disconnect from the game and hope your enemy would be gone by the next time you logged on, but a determined and coordinated enemy could completely shut down your ability to play the game permanently.
With all this in mind, and knowing that most of the Hyrule players would not have any experience with respawning on another planet, Apophis flew the MK.1 towards Planet Asure's resurrection point. As they approached, part of the Hyrule army was already visible, having respawned.
They seemed to be standing around and waiting for their allies to come back as well. In addition, two of the escaped Hyrule corvettes had regrouped here and were clearly preparing to pick up the humiliated players.
This was Apophis's chance to send a message to every other guild in "Horus."
He began a live stream titled "Eclipse Sanctions Hyrule."
At the beginning, only a few people noticed it, but word quickly spread that the famous Apophis was streaming some guild business! Thousands of people quickly joined the stream, and in mere minutes, the view count had reached 100,000!
And then Apophis began his assault.
At Apophis's command, the MK.1 and the Federation ships unleashed a barrage of bombs on the Hyrule corvettes parked on the ground!
The respawned players were terrified and ran in all directions, but it was no use! Just as Hyrule had tried to bomb the players of Eclipse while they were helpless on the ground, so Apophis returned the favor against their own respawned members on the planet surface. The carnage was so absolute that even his own crew members felt sorry for the slaughter, almost forgetting the unfairness Hyrule had just tried to use against them!
Colonel Ralfot was very impressed by the resurrection power of the Eternals, of course. Despite all the bombing, the Eternals reappeared instantly on the ground again. He had witnessed this power on satellite feeds while orbiting Planet Era, of course, but seeing it up close was truly incredible!
Many more viewers joined Apophis's stream as the seconds passed, and soon more than a million people were eagerly watching this humiliation being dealt to one of the SuperGuilds that made the game so frustrating for normal players!
More than that, though, this was the first time many players had seen spacecraft being used in warfare! Players saw how much more power a single ship had compared to even an army of high-level players, and they quickly realized how valuable such weapons would prove to be as the game continued.
On Asure, the Hyrule players eventually realized that disconnecting was the only way to stop losing so many levels and items. One by one, they stopped respawning.
Apophis was more full of rage with every passing moment, and seeing these players trying to outsmart him was infuriating!
He used his new powers to set fire to the respawn point and the surrounding area for a vast distance, charring the few players still connected.
He might not be able to destroy the respawn point itself… but he had the power of black flames now. So long as he still lived, they could never be extinguished, and any player who respawned on this planet would die over and over and never be free!
The stream viewers didn't understand how Apophis's powers worked at first, but then people slowly began figuring it out as they realized Apophis wasn't having to spend any effort or energy to keep these flames active at such a vast distance.
Shock filled the chat stream! Apophis had just declared war on a SuperGuild containing several hundred thousand members. As the power of the corvette missiles had just proved, even one player's power simply couldn't compare to so many resources! Surely this was an insane thing that Apophis had just done!
***
MILLIONS OF LIGHTYEARS AWAY
Many people sat watching a giant screen which displayed Apophis's infamous stream.
Many famous players were among them, including Zelda and Link, the leaders of Hyrule. Everyone bore the same serious expression.
Link was in a terrible mood. His guild had just been publicly humiliated by a player who had, before the launch of "Horus," been completely unknown in the MMORPG scene.
However, some of this anger was also toward Zelda, who had asked him to give Apophis a beating to teach him some humility. As one of the 7 Gods, what was he supposed to do? Refuse? And now look where that had gotten their guild. What would the shareholders think?
But more practically, the other SuperGuilds might take advantage of this sign of weakness. Perhaps they would openly attack Hyrule, and if even two other SuperGuilds teamed up, Hyrule wouldn't be able to protect themselves.
In most MMORPGs, wars between Superguilds were extremely rare, as they usually weakened both sides. In fact, to ensure the dominance of the SuperGuilds in MMORPG gaming, other SuperGuilds often stepped in to help struggling SuperGuilds not fall apart!
However, if a SuperGuild lost respect, their rivals had occasionally been known to annihilate it and then share the profits among themselves.
Link couldn't do much to Zelda, so he'd need to make sure Apophis and his tiny "Eclipse" suffered the full brunt of his wrath…
***
PLANET ASURE
As the MK.1 left the atmosphere and entered hyperspace, Apophis received a notification.
*The player "Link" has placed a 100,000,000 GC bounty on your head. Your current bounty is 115,000,000 GC.*
