~Moon Rider~

---

The Black King was up to her limit in dealing with idiots. If these people couldn’t resolve the problems themselves and needed the will of their King to guide them, then she would gladly do so. Logging on and manifesting in the world of Deep Ground, she was immediately notified that Princess had left the Guild. Hypocrite. So much for her bullshit about being her “knight”.

Moon Rider made a mental note to have Dark Wraith personally hunt down the rogue Player because losing a mighty force like Eclipse Princess was only going to hamper them. And if Princess dared to think she was too incompetent to lead her Guild, then Moon Rider would strike her down herself. But for now, her anger needed to be directed towards another output.

Princess wasn’t the only berserker in Deep Ground, Moon Rider’s eyes taking a deadly gleam to them. Anyone who was an enemy would be struck down no questions asked so it was best no one got in her way. So she moved silently and calmly until realizing she was walking in the direction of the Throne Room where she heard the sounds of fighting.

A closer listen revealed the combatants to be Arms Slave….and herself? So the fake had decided to show itself again. Judging by the clash of weapons, others had joined the fray as well. But if this fake really was a copy of her, then she knew most of the attackers would be dead already, slain by the duplicate; and that got her thinking. Because if this copy really was an exact figure of her…

“Trying? And where has trying gotten you now little Slave?” the false Moon Rider said with glee, whirling around to strike out at both Arms Slave and the fools who still dared to think they could defeat her. Some of the Avatars were already dead as predicted while others chose to back off and rally help in some other way by contacting one of the other Sweepers and notify them of what was going on.

That was fine by this Moon Rider, who focused all of her attacks in slicing apart Arms Slave limb by limb. She moved in a ghostly fury, much too fast for him to handle before she saw her opening and launched forward to take the hit. One blow to the chest and the deed would be done.

“Say hi to Hell for me cause that’s right where I’m sending you-”

The sound of energy piercing flesh rang out and not from the expected source. The fake Moon Rider immediately halted in her momentum because a second purple lightsaber was coming right out of her chest. Trickles of blood spilling from the corner of her lips, she gave a hard gasp as she was kicked off of the blade and onto the ground, the attacker revealed: the real Moon Rider, who had used her Death Walk feat. After all, the system registered them both as the Black King so those kills were under her count as well.

“Greetings Arms Slave,” the real Moon Rider said while also patching herself over to Dark Wraith so she could hear the conversation in real time. “Now explain to me very quickly and simply about what is happening to my Guild,” she said, voice indicative that she was not going to tolerate an unacceptable answer.

Back in the Blue Guild, Panther had already logged out to tend to her sister IRL. Titania noted that she should probably log off too but not before settling this issue with the Ebony Strykers. So she sent a message to Panther in telling her to hold off for just a moment before waving a hand at Absinthe.

“Hey, hey, calm down! It’s just a little flesh wound :3. We still have to make sure Moon Rider doesn’t hate me for sending tanks to her Guild. And…who authorized that anyway?”

In the White Guild, things were a little less hectic but all the more exciting. The Ivory Masks would be receiving the famed berserker herself, the mad warrior in black. Stark Zealot said nothing as he allowed Princess to enter the Guild but kept watch over Nies to make sure she stayed put.

Back in the real world, Huntress could only chuckle as Itsuko exuded an enthusiasm so bright that she almost had to shield her eyes with her beret. But a nod was all the confirmation they needed from her to go have their play date. With that said, she led the way back to Itsuko’s but not before taking Train in her hands and gently petting the cat with a smile, though she did have to wag a finger to discourage him from going inside her shirt. Obviously she was a cat person.

---

"Hah... Hah... Gack!" Arms Slave fell to a knee. He didn't know if he was fighting well or just being tortured at this point. Moon Rider was literally tearing him limb-from-limb; he had lost three of his arms and his right leg was only being held together by his chains. He would have died if it weren't for a healer, but those fools... Arms Slave told them to get out, to leave the fighting to him. But Moon Rider chased them down and killed them. Even the ones who were within his Aura of Agony, supposedly protected from being harmed, were killed when they tried to attack Moon Rider and fell into her blade. His mockery was worse than when he was killed by Eclipse Princess. Or perhaps just as bad? Both did seem to completely disregard his ability to protect his allies. Or maybe it just spoke more about Arm's character that despite being designed as a tank, the only person he could protect was himself.

Right as Moon Rider was about to cut him and the others down, Arms Slave brought out a large staff. He couldn't it effectively at this range and with just one hand, but he could at least trip the others and spare them from getting killed. Once they were knocked down Arms Salve turned his head to see the blade come right to his face. "I-I couldn't win..." The warrior closed his eyes and expected to be taken back to the sanctuary. His second death today. He wondered how many times would he die for the Sweepers? Would he die until he was back to level three again? Would he still be worthy of trying to lead the Sweepers to greatness, when the greatest thing anyone would ever remember him doing was nothing but dying. What was he, a martyr? No... Just a fool who tried to fight against something far greater than him alone.

When Arms Slave opened his eyes he saw Moon Rider. Two of them in fact: one dead at his feet and the one who killed him. He was... Very confused for a moment. But slowly, he came to the realization that this one must have been a fake. A doppelganger who simply used the same weapons and likely was the same level as Moon Rider. That would explain why she never used any of her Avatar Abilities or even feats. If she did, she might have hinted to be a fake... Or was this still a trick? Was this just the same Moon Rider giving Arms Slave a false sense of hope, only to cut him down again?

This made Arms Slave laugh. Laugh so hard, that his leg fell off and he sat down. He was in no condition to run, to fight, or do any sort of resistance. It was a testament of his endurance that he was even alive after this brutal mutilation. But there was nothing to be proud of, now all he can do is follow the orders of his king before he would perish. Coughing a few times, Arms Slave meekly looked up to Moon Rider from his lowly position. "Treachery within the Sweepers. Ever since a large amount of the Sweepers joined the Ebony Strykers, other sweepers, their leaders, wanted to leave. There must have been some sort of disagreement... Now the leaders of the Sweepers are trying to destroy what we've built here. They've sown mistrust within the Ebony Strykers and it's Sweeper's, so that they would fight each other." Arms Slave was struggling to stay looking up, leaning against his staff so he could continue to give his message to Moon Rider. "They're trying to weaken us. They've allied with our enemies, and they're going to bring war. We need- Argh!" Another cough, and Arm Slave's head was getting dizzy. So much blood, so much pain. It was all too familiar, so he knew what was going to happen soon. So his final words had to be meaningful. He tried to think, though at this point the pain was making it hard to focus.

"I... Want to make the Sweepers great again. I was going to find the treasure Corpse Collector stole. Give them to you, and give it to Yuuno, show her that I'm not a monster. I wanted to show everyone that the Sweepers, and the Ebony Strykers, that we're... Good guys..."

Arms Slave collapsed onto the ground, blood pooling around his body. In the real world, Asahi mirrored his avatar, laying in the alley as he tried to staunch the bleeding in his guts. It seemed like he was always too late to save anyone. And now he was all alone when he needed someone to save him.

@TheWindel

---

The first thing Dark Wraith did was grab Paper Moon by the chin and brought his face close to hers. Despite wearing a mask that covered her face, even Paper Moon could feel her death glare from behind her dark helmet. "You talk way too much." Dark Wraith pushed Paper Moon back and rubbed the bridge of her nose, or where it'd be if she wasn't wearing a helmet. Strawberry Baby soon stepped in and made a quip, to which Dark Wraith was in no mood to humor. This was cutting in on her time with Yoshino, so she wanted to finish this quickly. Fortunately Dark Wraith had gotten a just if Paper Moon's battle orders before he went on his conspiracy tangent, so she knew what they were doing. Her Undead Thralls were helping however they could while Dark Wraith was trying to subvert the command of some of the turrents. A few have stopped shooting without getting destroyed as she was able to take back control, but she had to run additional safeguards to make sure they didn't just get hacked again.

As Dark Wraith was trying to regain her focus a popup appeared in her vision. Moon Rider was here and was sending her a video message. Dark Wraith scanned this message first to make sure it wasn't bugged, and once she ensured that it was clean she looked at it. It was a live feed of the throneroom. "Sonavabitch." Dark Wraith whispered under her breath when she saw none other than Arms Slave, his limps cut off from his body as she struggled to stand up. With his final breaths he confirmed what Dark Wraith feared: It was rebellion within the Sweepers. One, if not more, of her Erasers were trying to escape the Sweepers. Just as Paper Moon had guessed, albeit without all the facts, this entire fiasco wasn't just Eclipse Princess sparking a fire. The Erasers must have planted their own agents within the Ebony Strykers solely to destabilize her command over the Sweepers and the Strykers. The civil war, the turrets, the fake Moon Rider, it must have all been them.

For now, Dark Wraith ignored the fact that her brother had somehow managed to even get to the throne room before she did. Obviously he tried to fight the doppelganger and lost. If it weren't for Moon Rider's timely intervention, he would have died yet again. But seeing that he was alive and Moon Rider had sent her this live feed, Dark Wraith could safely say that dealing with the fake Moon Rider was no longer something she had to worry about. But the rest of the fires within the city was. She turned her head towards Paper Moon and Strawberry Baby. "First of all, the Cobalt Bruisers are here at my request. I realized that there was a civil war going on and I needed an outside force to get involved. The tanks were unexpected, but so was the sheer severity of this battle." Of course Dark Wraith would have pulled all the guns out just to have stopped Eclipse Princess and Arms Slave. But her own neglected allowed that to not only happen, but evolve into this. But now wasn't the time to dwell on regrets.

"Second, yes, the turrets were hacked. Likely someone with ties or skills similar to Corpse Collector herself. Whether or not it was an actual Sweeper or not is currently unknown." Dark Wraith did not intend to share the idea of rebellion among the others. Yes, it was fairly obvious that a hacker was involved. And the leaders of the Sweepers were hackers. But that information was suppose to be confidential, and all the more reason Dark Wraith had to fight the urge to kill Paper Moon and his big mouth right here and now.

Once she edged away from declaring herself an outlaw to waste the foolish rogue, she addressed his final concern. "As for Moon Rider, or her doppelganger, disregard her. She's been dealt with. Our priority now is to bring an end to all this fighting. Both sides think they're evenly matched, but with the combined forces of the Cobalt Bruisers and your entourage, we can outgun the insurgent fools into surrendering. And then... I'll deal with them." As she said this, the turrets finally stopped shooting back. This worried Dark Wraith because she wasn't finish clearing out the bugs in all the turrets. That meant whoever was hacking them had retreated. But they wouldn't go scot-free; there was always some evidence Dark Wraith could follow up on and figure out who the culprit of this mess is.

So for now her attention went to cleaning this mess. So now she was going to handle out orders. "Paper Moon, take you and your people and capture the sanctuary. As long as it's held in the hands of the insurgents they'll continue to fight this pointless battle until they've been given the death penalty. Do not attempt to engage them alone or against a larger force than yours; I need you and your players to remain mobile so I can have you move where I need you. I will accompany the Bruisers and help them quell the more major hot spots, and make sure they don't get the idea of occupying my city." Finally before Dark Wraith left she turned her head towards Strawberry Baby, who had been far too casual with Dark Wraith for her like.

"And to your question, I am your leader. If you have any idea what that means, then you should go with Paper Moon and make sure he keeps that mouth of his in check before I cut his jaw off." Of course Dark Wraith said this loud enough for Paper Moon, who was standing right next to her, to hear. Without another word Dark Wraith went to her large undead thrall, who scooped her into her hand and threw her towards the wall. Taking out the Grave Warden, she hooked onto the edge of the wall, pulling herself up and onto the battlement. The giant then threw the smaller, more agile avatar onto the wall, who was able to land easily. Dark Wraith proceeded to toss this avatar off the wall, to cushion Dark Wraith as she went down the wall using her scythe to slow her decent. When she landed, she landed hard on the undead thrall. Dark Wraith herself was fine, but she killed the thrall. This was thanks to her Lich Witch Robes, which transferred the fall damage Dark Wraith would have suffered onto the thrall she just landed on. Once she landed Dark Wraith walked towards the Cobalt Bruiser tanks.

"Broker of Fortune! We have business to discuss."

@Jedly@Lonewolf685

---

"Phew! Good thing we sneaked out before that crap began, right folks?" A Rogue, one of the Ebony Strykers that slipped off of the Black City before it began to burn into yet another conflict, this time by the Stryker's own hands, said to his two allies, a Warrior and a Healer as they finished felling a group of Dissolutions they found on the Faded City's outskirts, looting some precious EXP.

"Hey! Don't say that, some of our friends didn't escaped, you remember? I wonder if we will even have a home to go back to..." The Warrior, their group's lone female, said in a wistful tone as she counted the EXP crystals they had jus earned, dividing them as best as she could.

"But, that was kind of their own fault. Who the hell told them to try and join the fight? We're all noobs, the better we do is stay out of the way while we scrape whatever EXP we can." The Mage added to their discussion, being a realist, down to earth guy that could see that the Ebony Strykers were full of broken people, but none of them know a bit about team work. Meanwhile, the underdogs knew that the best they could do to survive is stick close to one another and hunt in the darkness, where they were saf-safe?

The groups chatter was cut short by the sounds of heavily armored footfalls as a figure, clad in full black armor walked to them, slowly. It didn't made a sound aside from its steps, in a very ominous way. "He-hey, who are you? If you're an Outlaw looking to get your kicks from, well... kicking the puppies, know that we will defeat you in the name of the Sweepers and the Ebony Stry-" The Mage, who seemed to be the group's leader, didn't even finished his face as the mysterious avatar closed the distance between them in the blink of an eye, punching a whole through the Mage's chest with her clawed gauntlets. "Who even are y-yo-you monster?" The mage said as he tied to grab to his silent killer, just before fading into a shower of colored polygons.

The other two would follow suit, no matter how much they tried to run, hide, or worse yet fight, their pursuer would always catch up to them. In the end, only the Warrior lasted, dying slowly as the black knight pinned her down against a wall, crushing her throat bit by bit. "Y-you don...t think this will be s-so easy, tr-trash." The girl kicked, trying to at least be defiant to the end. As her last act she tried to send a message to the few allies they still had on the Black City, but was never able to do so, as she die just as she was about to click the [Send] button. She stared blankly at the text hanging on her nterface, as she faded from DGO, just like her allies:

To: 10+ people (random Sweeper bunch).
From: Tornado Maiden.
Subject: Black Knight.
W-we're caught by... someone? She doesn't look like a normal Outlaw, we can't even read the name of of the avatar, everytime we try we only get an access denied message (maybe it's a hack?). T-take car----

---

Thomas carefully scanned his surroundings ducking into a nearby alley as a pair of sweepers ran past. Through the eyes of his puppet he watched them sprint by before the puppet resumed its journey. He needed to avoid detection which was difficult enough without concealing skills, but there were far more people moving than usual. Nevertheless, he'd managed to do it so far. His puppet was getting close to his current location.

A sudden flash of metal caused the puppet to duck and look up as a four-armed figure barreled over the rooftops. Arms Slave, a silhouette as infamous as his name.
"Where is he going like that?" Thomas thought.
Arms slave was heading in the same direction he was getting his puppet to go, which meant...

Thomas opened his eyes and his own vision overlapped onto his puppet's vision. He got up and quickly glanced outside, just in time to see Arms slave arrive at the black guild hall. But the apparent blue guild threat should've had sweepers tied down at the front line, so that meant that Arms Slave was either here for another reason entirely, or that Arms Slave was thinking the same thing that Thomas was thinking. There were other possibilities, of course, but Arms Slave's presence affirmed that Thomas was on to something. And besides that, this would be a good opportunity. Thomas pulled a cloak out of his inventory and went outside.

---

If there was any chance to infiltrate, it'd be now. A double layer of security made up of bulky meatheads and hidden assassins was a pain to deal with but the minion patrols were disrupted somewhat with Arms Slave's arrival, and he wagered that some of the hidden rogues were going to check it out too. Some or most would still keep watch but there was no better time.

Thomas headed out towards the guild hall under a brown hood, threading through shadowy areas. He got close to the guild hall but stopped before an exposed area. Several visible guards had gone inside; something was going on. Thomas inched around the side and abruptly made his way forward, straight towards the guild hall. For a few meters he thought he could get inside unmolested before a keen whistling sound grabbed his attention. The cloaked figure stepped back and a knife embedded itself into the ground in front of him. A shadow appeared behind the cloaked figure and manifested an arm, bringing a blade to the figure's throat.
"What are you doing here?" The rogue asked. "Not just anyone can visit the black king, you know."
The figure said nothing as a shadow appeared behind the shadow and brought a thin sword-wielding arm down onto the rogue. The puppet master hit the rogue with the hilt of his blade, knocking him into a state of unconsciousness.
"Gotcha." He said.
He couldn't kill the rogue as he wasn't an outlaw, and he was at the throne room of the black city anyway. He was pretty sure killing wasn't allowed there. So instead, he opted for unconsciousness. Poking the unconscious rogue with one foot to make sure he was out, he then took another cloak out of his inventory and put it on before he urged his puppet onwards and went to follow suit. He'd seen this particular rogue from the window who had stayed behind while 2 others nearby had gone in to see what the commotion was. He'd been waiting looking for a good spot to enter and he'd finally found it.

Jogging quietly, the 2 metal men stepped over the boundary of the black guild hall, finding a hidden staircase and walking up into the ramparts. They quickly found a door and went inside, to the throne room. It was dark, in the ramparts, but he had a good view. The puppet master moved slowly, he had no doubt that more rogues sat in wait in the rafters. He was in the space between the ground floor and the first floor, a mezzanine. He thought that there would definitely be patrols there, and he wasn't sure why he hadn't immediately been found. Looking over a nearby railing, he found out why.

Thomas watched it all. Arms Slave's confrontation with the Moon Rider, Moon Rider's mysterious powers, Arms Slave's odd behavior and seemingly the real Moon Rider coming in to save the day. He watched silently and recorded it all. As he watched, his eyes adjusted and he saw that the rogues patrolling the mezzanine were also watching the scene. They were doubtlessly confused about it all, but the whole scene confirmed Thomas's suspicions. There was indeed another hand at play.

Thomas's mind was in a whirl. Thanks to his vantage point he'd managed to overhear their conversation, and what surprised him the most (other than the 2 black kings) was Arms Slave (or Asahi, as he'd heard) and his surprise at the Moon Rider knowing his name. The fact that it was surprising was the issue. The only 2 ways of knowing someone's real identity in deep ground was to have them tell you about it or ask someone who knew. At least, those were the legal ways. The only possible solution he had that fit the criteria was that the fake Moon Rider was some sort of hacker. He was pretty sure that there was an ability to copy someone's avatar, but there was no way to know someone's real life identity. Getting to secured information and copying the black king's appearance, equipment and stats? A certain sweeper branch was infamous for hacking into deep ground to carry out their activities, but the sweepers were under the black king. So outside of the sweepers, who else could hack into the Deep Ground servers? No organisation he knew of, besides the erasers, who ran the sweepers. So it was either something done by a skilled individual or a secret organisation. But he couldn't say for certain.

As Arms Slave died, Thomas began to exit the black guild hall. He needed to do so, or else he'd miss his chance to leave. He couldn't log out in the throne room, that would've made for a sticky situation. He needed to get out while they were distracted. He rushed out carefully, back into the black city, and made his way back towards outer gate conflict, his head spinning with theories. A person with a grudge? A hidden strike made by another guild? The other guilds had a lot to benefit from in this whole escapade. And while there were few with actual grudges towards the black king, they couldn't be discounted just yet. While he had answered some of his question, the incident had raised a lot of new ones. He had a lot of thinking to do if he was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

@Lucius Cypher(probably)

"Just so you know, I'm not doing that again." He said, planting his lance in the ground.

Two on top and two in the tank. The improvised molotovs got them off the tank but they didn't do much damage. Even though it was proper alcohol, it looked like improvised molotovs still had a major damage penalty. The tank still burned for a while though. The two inside came out before the majority of it caught fire, but they still came out slightly singed. They were still ready to fight though.

"You don't have to worry about that, I got plenty of good shots." Candid Eye said, appearing from behind the burnt out shell of the tank. "You saw the announcement, right? Where're you going?"

"I'm not taxi-ing you again." Kosuke said, pulling his lance out of the ground.

"You're going for a round trip anyway, aren't you?" Candid Eye replied.

"It's the principle! I can't be a taxi if I don't get payed, can I?"

"I can do $5 per trip you've already given me if you want."

"…wait, isn't that like $250 all up? Isn't that a lot?"

"It's not that much."

Kosuke stared at him.

"Hey, I've got a lot alright? You remember my motto? Turns out a lot of people agree."

"…Yeah, ok, fine. Just get on already." Kosuke finished.

No point in arguing anymore, it seemed. In the two years he'd known him for, he'd always had a counter for everything. Every time he'd gotten caught, he had something ready, and the teachers didn't know what to do about him. But, even with his bad rep, he had some good qualities. If he promised something, there was no way he wouldn't deliver, but not because he was die-hard honourable or something like that. A combination of his memory, legit organization skills, and a realistic outlook meant he never made a promise he couldn't keep.

"Alright, we're going to the gates." Kosuke said, "Make sure you don't get my lance in those shots, yeah?"

Broker had been busying herself reigning in everyone who decided to break the battle line and find their own glory when a figure hurtled down the side of the wall without a scratch to show for it. A barked order stayed a deafening fusillade from rending her into a smoking crater and allowed Dark Wraith to approach unharmed. The hatch to the lead tank opened and out came the nameless driver who was thrown out by his collar, Broker’s hand remaining outside to beckon the Eraser closer so they could talk in private within the tank.

Dark Wraith walked towards the tank, unperturbed by the stares or presence of the army on front of her. She was in control here, and anyone who thought differently was going to be in a world of hurt. Once inside Dark Wraith put her weapon away, crossing her legs away laying her hands into her lap.

“One disaster after another. Until further notice, I will need to command you and your army here. I have many more questions for you, and I'm sure you have many for me as well. But time is of the essence. Of course, our previous arrangement is still in effect. Consider this a new contract.”

Within these enclosed spaces, Dark Wraith sent an image to Broker of Fortune. There was no name, no titles, nothing that mentioned what the image was. Only that there was a girl with red hair, a katana, and an intricate tattoo on her back. Dark Wraith didn't need to say anything about it because the picture alone said more than anything Dark Wraith would explain.

This was a picture of Retsu.

Broker let out a weary, expecting that she would be losing control of her army sooner rather than later. ”Sure, sure. You can have the army, though odds are it won’t be mine to give soon enough, so use it-” Then she received the picture that sent the Bruiser reeling back against the tank’s interior. She knew who the young woman was, and as of a few minutes ago she had a very good idea where she was and what awaited Retsu Goroshi once she logged out. The first words that slipped past her lips were remarkably profound.

”Wow, Yoshino is going to kick your ass once you log out.”

Sighing, Dark Wraith looked down. ”I know… I should have dealt with this earlier. I saw it coming and I thought maybe…” Dark Wraith’s hands clenched into fists. She stood up and turned her back away from Broker so she could regain her bearings. This was suppose to be Retsu and Yoshino’s night out for fun, and like a busy husband Retsu prioritized work over Yoshino.

Broker got up and followed Dark Wraith across the spacious tank to settle a hand on the Eraser’s shoulder. Considering her overly affectionate fixation with the Eraser now before her, it was troubling to see her so distraught...even if it was somewhat deserved. Broker had heard Yoshino’s side of the story, after all, so it was hard not to sympathize with the wife in the relationship. ”Err, sorry about that, you just caught me off guard, Retsu-chan. You really shouldn’t be beating yourself up for all of this. It was all so chaotic I doubt anyone had complete control through this entire debacle...umm, you can have this.”

Dark Wraith would receive a picture of her own. It featured a smiling bluenette wearing a sunhat and exposing a generous amount of cleavage along with the tattoo nestled between it. Given what Retsu knew of Kanbaru Otoko and the Broker of Fortune, it was an uncharacteristic picture for her but at least it was flattering in all the right places.

”If you need to talk to someone besides your girlfriend, I’m probably in the room next to yours, but we should sort things out online first. Now then, what are your order for the Cobalt Bruiser’s Pacification Force?”

There was just so much emotions going through Dark Wraith’s mind that she was trying to control. Anger at others, pity for herself, embarrassment from Broker, and also appreciation. It was… Nice to know someone cared. When Dark Wraith received Broker’s picture she nearly jumped. She’s always known that Broker was actually Kanbaru (Retsu was a hacker after all), but this would be the first time she saw Kanbaru at this angle. While she has seen her in person, she never realized how… Mature she looked.

Clearing her throat Dark Wraith shifted herself out of Broker’s hand. She appreciated the gesture but Broker was right; now wasn’t the time to brood. It was time for action. ”Right. There is still fighting in the city. I’ve sent a few of my players to secure the Sanctuary, but they’re outnumbered by both sides of the Sweeper and Strykers. So we’re going in so we can even the odds. Accept anyone who surrenders but keep a close eye on them. Show no mercy to anyone who so much as points a weapon at us.” Dark Wraith walked back to Broker of Fortune’s tank. As tempted as it’d be to ride out on top, that’d just make Dark Wraith into a sitting duck. She’d be inside and communicate with her own forces so they could coordinate their tactics.

Dark Wraith sent out party requests to the Ebony Strykers under her command. She would have done the same with the Cobalt Bruisers too, but there were far too many for Dark Wraith to request all of them. So she only sent a request to Broker and would use her to convey her orders through the rest of her forces. Once Dark Wraith was settled inside the tank she opened up a party communication line and started talking. ”Strykers and Sweepers, do not attack the Cobalt Bruisers. They are under my command. Follow Paper Moon to recapture the Sanctuary. No doubt that it’ll be heavily guarded, so do not engage them directly. The insurgents still fight amongst themselves, and I want you to weaken both sides until we can route them in a single strike. Don’t root yourself to a single location, and if you get pinned down get out ASAP. I need you all to stay on the move in case the battle in the city takes a turn for the worse.”

To Broker, Dark Wraith had different orders. ”We’re going to start by storming the market place. That’s where the highest concentration of insurgents and their tanks are located. We’ll send a few fast moving troops through the center to draw fire while the rest flank from behind. While the insurgents are gunning for the stragglers, we’ll take out their infantry, supports, and lastly their armor. I want to minimize collateral damage as much as we can, so make sure you tell your troops to watch their fire.” Dark Wraith produced a map of the city with active information about player location and even those who should be stealthed. While Dark Wraith was using a real item (City Map), she was using illegal programs to see everyone’s location. Fortunately only she could see it, so to the outsider observer she was just navigating.

The gates to the Black City opened, allowing the Cobalt Bruisers to enter the city without further resistance.

Broker of Fortune settled into the driver’s seat and started up the lead tank of CBPF, a chorus of reverberations signaling the rest of the force following suit. The Cobalt Bruisers had come to the Black City expecting trouble and had been disappointed up to this point, but as the gates opened before them they fell back into line behind Broker. She barked their new orders over the lines of communication, watching a detachment of light tanks dart forward to be the first through the gates and pave the way towards the markets.

It wasn’t the mighty invasion of peaceful intent they had first envisioned, but this would be just as lucrative for both Bruiser and Stryker.

Hellflame watched intently as the health bar of the warlock dropped rapidly, grinning eagerly. Hellflame could feel it. The moment of triumph. The satisfaction of an eliminated enemy. He was so focused on the health bar, however, that he failed to see one last threat. Before he could even react, he saw a brief flash of light emerging through the flames, then he felt an impact, and everything went black. At first, Hellflame was confused, not understanding what was happening. He was about to win. Then, a message appeared in front of Hellflame: "You are dead." Hellflame merely stared at the message for several seconds, not believing what he was seeing. Then, there came the shock and anger as he realized what this meant.

WHAT!?? Hellflame thought as he stared at the message, not believing his misfortune. He had spent so much time and effort on killing that warlock, all for this to happen? There was much frustration to be had, though Hellflame took a little comfort in knowing that the warlock had undoubtedly died as well. If the direct flaming didn't do it, at least the afterburn did. Once he calmed down, Hellflame wondered if he should just log off for the day. If he chose to respawn, he wouldn't be able to grind for exp. There were others at the fight nearby, though, so maybe they would revive him. Hellflame figured that there would be no harm in waiting, and so he decided to wait to see if anyone would actually bother to notice and revive him.

Nies Hellum stood, watching, and waiting contemplating what she was about to do. she was going to abandon the green guild, the green king had been nothing but kind to her. And why? to follow Eclipse Princess, Eris? The need to keep her safe, to follow her was there, and yet it wasn't the reason. So why? She stood there, thinking about it and probably looking to be an idiot. Yet this was necessary. She needed to decided just what she was going to do. Show the game for what it really was. Did she have to leave the green guild for that? Well, that had always been a stopping point, a begining point for her.

Slinging her staff over her shoulder, she knew she had already decided. Perhaps had decided what to do, even days ago, when she first met Eris. Sometimes, you just needed something to come along and kickstart slumbering ideas. She had never liked the way the game influenced real life, after all.

And she knew she wasn't just doing this because Eris was. She hadn't sought to become apart of the ebony strikers, after all. This felt different. And she was absolutely done with being scared. In both the game, and real life. She would join the white guild, not merely for herself, but to prove that her words were true to eclipse, and to do something for what she believed in. She didn't know what would actually happen, how to leave one guild, and join another.

Still, it seemed her decision was enough, to leave the green guild, while there was regret at not having at least messaged the green king, she felt liberated at the decision to do it. "I want to join, as well"

As the battles kept on raging everywhere around the Ebony Strykers sacred territories, with chaos and destruction spreading like a wild fire, a group of five players made their way through less crowded streets and back alleys on their way to the city's inner wards. "Avoid any unnecessary fights, we have to get to the rendezvous point as fast as possible or we will not be able to accomplish our objective." Their leader, a Healer named Argent Maiden, gestured to the area beyond the Market Place, where the hangars should be located.

"Let's take shortcut through the Sanctuary, we don't need to face opposition from their armored troops." Argent Maiden ordered a change of course once she noticed the tanks laying on the open area before them. However, they couldn't foresee that the Santuary was a heated battlefield as well, "That's still the fastest path, let's take cover somewhere and wait for an opportunity to come. I'm sure the Strykers will try to retake their respawn point sooner or later, when they do we use that chance to slip right in and cut a path to that War Machine. If we capture it before they move it outside the city, our mission will be successful."

"Well, looks like they accepted both of us." Eclipse Princess said as he came back to meet with Nies, by the White City's gate. Stark Zealot continued to observe their movement silently for some time, but eventually retreated inside the city, probably to stand beside his king once more.

Eclipse Princess clasped her hands around Nies', bringing the two of them closer while keeping her gaze fixed on Nies' eyes. "I really admire your dedication, Nies, but you have to keep in mind that what I'm may not be the right choice. If it turns to be so, I wouldn't like to see you get dragged to hell with me. Rather than that, if I go too far, I trust you to be the one to stop me."

"We have around two hours left before I go sleep. Maybe we can try to do a dungeon, or quest?" Eclipse Princess asked, still holding Nies' hands. "Anyway, I'll log off quickly, you don't need to come with me. Just wait here, I'll be back in less than ten minutes." Princess logged off of DGO, the expression in her face being the one of someone who had apparently forgotten something and went back to fix it.

Itsuko waited patiently as Hibiki set everything up, observing how the other girl had the skills Itsuko lacked, home skills. "Y'know, Hibiki, you probably could be a cool maid, if you wished to." Itsuko commented idly, before turning to look at Huntress and Train, "Huntress is really the best, huh? She really has this thing for cats, none can escape her."

"Oh? That's cool, even if that game has less planes than some of the older ones." The blonde said, even though she pounced on the controller, claiming "Tomcat!"

"Mmm... mmm..." Eris groaned, fellling an annoying poking sensation on her face as she woke up on the real world, once more. She could also feel the warmth of Cassandra right beside her, "I-I cannot-" Eris chastised herself as she noticed that she had, unconsciously, leaned on Cassandra while they were logged.

Even then, the poking never stopped and, once she was fed up with it, Eris turned on her bed to see the source of it (wondering if Cassandra let some animal in), only to find a shark toothed blonde that Eris didn't have a clue as to who she was. "And... you are?" Eris said, grabbing the girl's index finger, with a pretty pissed off look in her face. Luckily the girl looked more like a buffoon out of her place than a threat, so Eris decided not to reach for the knife she had under her pillow.

---

Morgan let out an awful sigh. She'd made a habit to visit the coffee shop instead of logging back in. She didn't know any of the new troubles that were brewing around the Black King. She still resented her for killing CC, but that wasn't going to change her loyalty. Morgan took a long sigh as she stared across the street at the Records office. She was ready for another attempt, perhaps early tomorrow. She left, bring her hot chocolate with her as she went shopping for better, newer supplies.

Now she went back home, shopping bags around her wrist and unaware of any peeping eyes that may have been spying; checking down the hall to see if there was any sign of the boy with the cat on the way by, there was none. So she just entered her room as usual. Packing away her bag of record retrieval stuff so she'd be ready to go, before cooking some curry for later. She really wanted to log back in, but she wasn't sure if she could face her king professionally anymore.

---

---

Welcome ♖, Fancy a game of chess?

It wasn't much, but the welcome message always brought a smile to her face when she logged in. Really, she'd love a game of chess. That's why she chose this name after all, but now was the time for her to relax. She still haven't figured out what the flashing notification was in the upper right corner. At first she thought it was something like an incoming attack notification, but it never went away even in safe zones. She even tried logging out and logging back in a few times to see if it would go away. Nothing work, so she seemed to ignore it for now. That is, until she found the open menu button and was able to highlight it herself. Even click it open. She was glad that this was a virtual world and no one could see her blush... that is what it was like, right? Either way, she read the message and hit the reply button. Better late than never.

To: Broker of Fortune
From: Rook
Subject: Re: Need a Ride?

Oh hey, ehehehe..

Sorry about the missed message. Dunno why the thing was flashing until I finally clicked on it. Still need me? or Whats the update.
I promise I won't leave you hanging again, k thx bai~ <3

She figured she'd better head over there regardless. It would take a while, but she didn't know what was up and she had nothing better to do. So she started walking.

@Lonewolf685@TheWindel

Strawberry Baby traced Dark Wraith’s arc as the second in command of her guild leaped high into the sky. She mentally saluted the girl for her steadfast temperament, aaaaand maybe due to the fact that she wasn’t heavily fond of the orange haired boy, who was currently glancing between Drauni and Regality in utter confusion. ”With pleasure, ma’am.” The Healer brought her head back down to level and spun herself around, digging the pivot of her into asphalt to face the assortment of boys and a lone girl who she was sure to write a fanfic about tonight. Ah, yes, Ken was going to spellcheck the living shit out of that piece of work. ”I like her! She’s my kind of person. Perfect for dealing with people~!” The redhead cheered in a more giddy tone than usual, which only perturbed Paper Moon that much more. The boy only made a weak whimper in response to the words laced with cheer and a lethal dosage of anthrax. ”W-was it something I said? Jeez, I didn’t call her fat, did I?”

Strawberry Baby practically bellowed at the player, much like the time she had found out that there was barely any delineation between his IRL and IG appearance. She enjoyed watching the Rogue stumble around like a chicken with its head cut off. ”No, no,” The girl gently placed her hand on his shoulder, so lightly that he barely even felt the palm’s presence, ”It’s just like she said, young sprout. You simply talk too much. You have to be succinct, concise, you must make a beeline to the point. If you say too much, we may be lost in the maelstrom of words and interpret them differently than intended, or take them completely out of context. And if that’s the case…” Suddenly, Strawberry Baby’s grip tightened tremendously around the boy’s shoulder, as if it was testing to see if it could shatter the entire region through prowess alone, ”only bad things can happen. So talk sparingly from now on, kay~?” The girl tipped off her mortifying explanation with a prim, entrancing smile, completely incongruous to the dialogue that preceded it.

Paper Moon remained there utterly motionless with his gaze frozen in line with her passive countenance. The boy then managed to regain control of his neck and turned his head over to Drauni and Nostradamus in rigid, measured movements. And then all at once overly romanticized terror besieged his face. ”MELVIN, WE’VE BEEN BAMBOOZLED!!” Drauni emulated the same expression from the safety of behind the other healer, ”YOU NOTICED IT TOO, RIGHT?! SHE’S NOT A TSUNDERE… SHE’S…”

”JUST TSUN!!!” The shriek cry’s trail led all the way into the provisional carrier. Everybody, including the Strykers who had met only a few scant moments of resistance, stared in unanimous dubiety at the rogue seeking refuge within the vehicle.

”Face meet palm. Palm meet face.” A pained sigh left the girl’s lips as she summoned every ounce of endurance to not send a meteor or a morbidly obese dissolution crashing down onto the vehicle. She quelled the ravine that formed between her furrowed brows and cleared her voice to permeate the awkward silence, ”Ehem. Moon, you’ve got a city to lead.”

Paper Moon suddenly shot up from behind the vehicle’s exterior, managing an uncomfortable grin as he faced the crowd of Strykers and Sweepers, backed by the armored trio. ”Right, right…” Just like that, the uncertain complexion smoothened out to his iconic disposition, brimming with vitality and absurdity. He placed a foot on the front of the vehicle and leaned forward on his upper thigh, ”Right! Okay people, sorry about that. Just came face to face with an earth-shattering revelation. The woman to my left is only a tsun. Not a tsundere. You have been warned.” Strawberry Baby gave an exaggerated eye roll as she thwacked the Rogue’s knee with her staff. She stared daggers at him to assure that he got the memo. ”Ow… Well, anything’s better than an arrow. N’ways, since whoever was operating the turrets has turned tail, we’ve got a new task ahead of us.”

Dark Wraiths voice raced through the darkness and reverberated in every individual’s ears. She essentially outlined everything Moon was planning to glaze over, which actually saved him some much needed breath.

Now that they were backed up by cerulean tanks and those of their own it wouldn’t be too arduous of a feat. Still, Moon was aware of all of the factors involved, and took them into account equally. Anybody who died on this mission would essentially be spawn camped until the structure was retaken. The boy toiled in the sea of numbers for a few moments before he glanced up at the miniature armada again, still grinning with confidence, ”Alright, here’s how this is going to go down. We’ll be utilizing guerilla tactics for this one. Hit and run, lure sentries and patrols, gradually whittle down the enemy’s numbers- y’know, the whole enchilada!” The Rogue pocketed his hands and nonchalantly stepped off of the vehicle, greeting the asphalt with the bottom of his boots for another time. ”We’ll have three groups operating on a rotational basis roughly around the perimeter of the Sanctuary, with a few deviations here and there just to confuse the blokes. One will be commanded by Regality and Nostradomus, another by Strawberry Baby, and the last by Leviathan and myself. I’ve got an eye in the sky, so I’ll direct you all accordingly, but I’ll leave direct confrontations up to your discretion.” Moon motioned towards the tanks waiting idly for their new objectives, ”Each group gets one tank, and… ten, twenty, thirty, for- how about fifteen reliable comrades?” Since time was of the essence they had to get a move on already. Moon brought his Harvest Carbine close to his chest and met the gazes of the players under his command.

His laxed eyes transitioned into a by far more narrow arrangement. He was, seemingly defying the fundamentals of reality, serious. ”This operation and many others will determine the outcome of this city’s future. Don’t waver in your resolve. Strike fast, strike hard. And above all else, look out for each other.” Moon nodded his head towards the vacant street behind him, ravaged by the effects of conflict, ”C’mon people, it's time to make history.”

Players began to coagulate into three distinct groups, balancing classes and builds as best as they could. They gravitated towards their respective tanks, ready to charge onwards.

@Mega Birb@Kimiyosis@Bombardier

~Moon Rider~

---

“I see,” Moon Rider said as Arms Slave finished his report. So traitors and scum still festered in her Guild? She supposed she had no one else to blame but herself for not foreseeing this but now was not the time for self-pity. Despite her only reaction being that of a slow blink, Moon Rider was enraged, the only indication of that being the fact that her lightsaber was still ignited.

“Yuuno? As in, Yuuno Kurogami, cousin of Yoshino Tsugumi? Well then. A noble cause for someone generally considered as trash in this game,” Moon Rider said with the shadow of a smile. She leaned forward to rest an assuring hand on the other Avatar’s shoulder before saying, “Be at ease then Arms Slave. You’ve done enough for both the Sweepers and this Guild. You’ve earned the right to rest well knowing that your King will finally act like the leader you all deserve.”

“King? Coming from a harlot like you, I’m not sure how valid those words are Moon Rider.”

The familiar sound of flesh being torn apart by the hot buzzing of purple energy froze Rider in place as a lightsaber, her lightsaber, slowly etched its way across the folds of Arms Slave’s neck. A final flick of the wrist popped the head clean off to send it flying, Arms Slave’s body dropping like a ragdoll onto the ground. Standing behind him was the injured but very much alive fake Moon Rider.

“You say big words, but you’re little more than a tyrant, Me. Sending that poor boy off with such sweet words right before death? It’s a wonder why many call us the cruelest of the Colored Kings,” the faker said, pointing her blade right at Moon Rider.

In response, the real one leapt back, brushing aside some of Arms Slave’s spilled blood from her cheeks. Her eyes glinted just a bit to reflect the dormant rage within. That had been the last straw for her and she would make this bitch pay. That much was clear by a killing intent so great around her Avatar, it thickened the air with a sharpness that could cut whole.

“Did I strike a nerve killing one of your subordinates? With the crap he was spouting, I just had to put him down like the dog he was. Good guys? Stop trying to glorify yourselves when you know you’re just a band of dirty thieves and murderers!”

As if reading each other’s minds, both Kings dashed forth head on. What resulted was a whirring display of double purple, blades humming in the air with both having the intent to kill. It was always rumored within the game that a duel between Colored Kings would always ensure that one of them would be dead by the end of their conflict. That fact remained true even now as the two Black Kings fought at a power and speed through skill alone, reminding all present why they were Kings in the first place.

Back in the Blue Guild, Mercury Titania shook her head. Things were certainly going to hell and back now weren’t they? She looked at her assistant before saying, “Hey Absinthe, you should probably log off now and go check on Yoshino Tsugumi. With all these troubles happening around her employer’s Guild, she might need a family hand to help her through this.”

Panther was about to raise her own concerns but was silent as her big sister gave her a look too. Titania’s smile didn’t waver and she said, “Sorry about this being a bad first day. I’ll find a way to make it up to you somehow. Just log off while I take care of business doing…Kingly stuff. That’s a word, right ;3?”

Azure Panther was unsure but did not disobey her sister’s orders, logging off and waking up in her bed. Sighing, she exited her room to go check on her still logged on sister but stopped dead at the sight before her. There was…some guy in their dorm? Who the hell was this?!? Bel’s boyfriend??!?!??

Within the White Guild, White Sun was grinning to herself with Stark Zealot at her side. Today was a most joyous occasion and she nodded to her companion sitting before her; none other than the Green King himself, Verdant Grin. This was too perfect. The last of her plans had fallen into place and soon, very soon, all of Deep Ground would know her ambitions publicly.

Back in the real world in Eris’ apartment, Dana was surprised to have her finger subsequently stopped by Eris’ hand. She sat there staring at her quarry before her facial features slowly morphed into a wide grin. Her shark teeth gleamed in full display with an eager nod to follow.

“Oh ho, hiya Eris! Name’s Dana, or Trash, or Super Trash, but don’t tell anyone I said that, ahaha! Your mom is totes bribing me to be your babysitter. Oh, and I think there was this girl who looks like a boy with coffee that just passed by now. Should probably go date her or something.”

Over at Itsuko’s residence, Huntress merely nodded, as if affirming that she was in fact the best. So she continued to play with Itsuko and Hibiki. Doing game things. Or whatever it was counted as video games in this world anyway. What, were they too hipster for Deep Ground? Nerds…

---

As Thomas and his puppet stalked away from the black guild hall, he checked the feed on his puppet and was somewhat alarmed to see a new enigmatic figure with some authority, one that he didn't recognize. He had a vague idea of who it could be, some suspect rumors about the secret leader of the sweepers, but when he dug around for info, he came up short and the credibility of the original poster was questionable. And it wasn't his point to chase up rumors anyway, he wasn't trying to make a tabloid. He'd rather rely on the facts he had, and the fact was that he had no idea who this new figure was.

Thomas, acting as his metal puppet, glanced around his surroundings once more, making sure that the black building was the same as it had been since he last checked in, before moving his puppet down. His avatar stumbled a little and he momentarily cut his skill to see that he'd bumped into a half destroyed wall. He clicked his tongue in annoyance before dodging around the wall to continue on his journey. He could walk while sharing his sight, technically, but he couldn't see small obstacles or things at a distance. His puppet made up for it somewhat, he could get it to notify him if it detected something within a certain range, but the range was limited so it only helped a little. Nevertheless, that was all he had to work with.

He turned his sense share back on. He directed his puppet to move out of the building into another one, slightly closer to the action itself. On a floor lower this time, because he was sure that they were talking about something important and he wanted to hear about it. On the second floor of a slightly shorter building, he settled his puppet and began listening. A quick check of the names of the amassed avatars revealed that the new figure's name was Dark Wraith, not that it meant much to him. He spotted a familiar face, paper moon, and the rest were strangers.
"Soldiers, I suppose." Thomas thought idly.

As he listened he was reminded of an elaborate chess game, or a strategy game, like command and conquer or something. It seemed an apt comparison as Dark Wraith was like the Queen while someone like Paper Moon was a bishop. Arms Slave was like a knight, or maybe a Rook, who went with the guild's best interests in mind. The pieces moved to react to the enemy's movements, in this case, an assault on the marketplace. Thomas was about to move his soldier to follow the detachment heading to the battlefield when he was interrupted by a tap on his back. He immediately stopped walking and cut his skill. As his vision returned to normal he was suddenly made aware of figures skulking ahead of him. Fortunately, he was in a particularly dark alleyway so he likely wasn't seen, but he stayed a safe distance away anyway.

A group of avatars he had never seen before moved urgently ahead, as if on a mission. He listened in on their leader, a girl by the name of Argent Maiden, as he shadowed them from what seemed to be a safe distance. It was somewhat difficult to make out what exactly she was saying but he'd got most of it. A rendezvous point and a hidden objective.
"They're not sweepers then." Thomas concluded.
If they were sweepers they wouldn't be heading to the sanctuary in such a large group. They also wouldn't be talking about taking a war machine. Thomas guessed that they didn't know the situation in the black sanctuary, they wouldn't be talking about it so easily if they did. This fact also highlighted the issue with the chess metaphor.

Thomas decided to shadow the group at a distance. He didn't need to hear them so much right now, he just needed to follow them. His puppet followed quietly behind him and he quickly checked back on his other puppet. The sweepers would soon move, so Thomas directed it to discreetly join the ranks. There were plenty of weirdos to blend in with and the puppet looked like any other player (due to Thomas's body armor) with no face. It would get some passing looks but it had a blade and a gun and it could fight, so they didn't need to care. Thomas took a few screencaps before switching back to normal vision.

As Thomas sat in the shadows, he thought about the whole situation some more. Dark Wraith and Paper moon and the rest may have been pieces but Chess only worked when you knew all the pieces were there. The black guild battle, as Thomas had taken to calling it, had many hidden factors that few knew about. And besides, chess only had 2 sides. The black guild was one side, the blue guild was on another and the enemies of the black guild were the other side, though he wasn't sure how many facets that particular side had.
"And chess never had bystanders anyway." Thomas thought.
He was a bystander, for now. He may have been chasing this for his own self interest but he wouldn't get involved unless he wanted to.

King, Queen or pawns, a journalist watches them all, and right now, he was a journalist.

@KoL

Phantom Regality

Phantom Regality crossed his arms and listened carefully to Paper Moon's orders, running over the plans in his head as he spoke. From what he grabbed, three groups were gonna be continuously assaulting the campers by the Sanctuary with tanks and small squadrons. And he, along with the masked healer close by him, was gonna be in charge of one of the squads. The Necromancer smirked ever so slightly and set himself in motion towards one of the tanks, used to a commanding position due to his usual power with micromanaging, and intending to make use of his experience here. He climbed aboard the iron mammoth he had approached and stood on the commander hatch, looking at the fifteen that had gathered around. He had to admit, these players looks significantly more capable than most he'd seen running around the place, quite a few of them equipped with heavy weaponry and even heavier armor. The boy smiled slightly and beckoned them onto the tank. "Men, women, and those in between, let's crack some fucking heads!" He heard a series of powerful "HOORAH's" followed by the squeaky voice of a small rogue that was near the front.

"Did you just assume my gender!?" The stealthy avatar was, for lack of a better word, triggered. "I'll have you know that I identify as a demig-"

Being as quiet as he possibly could be while the Assassin gave her rant, he hopped off the tank and found his way back to Nostradamus, then proceeded to pull him to the armored gun and got back on top of the cannon with him. He quickly looked over the vehicle, then opened up the hatch and gave the driver a thumbs up, and chuckled slightly. "Do me a favor and drive forward like half a foot or something." The vehicle's operator was all too happy to comply, having heard the mouse outside speaking. He tapped the gas pedal slightly and smirked as the sound of a light avatar getting on the side was heard. "Thanks man." He stood back up and shot the same gesture to Paper Moon, signalling that Squad One was ready.

That rogue was still ranting, albeit at a slower pace due to the readied state of the war machine 'she' was sitting on.

@Jedly@Bombardier

[center]


Interacting with:@KoL

[/center

Nies blinked as she was suddenly close to Eclipse, but that was all the surprise she showed, and she smiled as Eclipse spoke. "the thing is...it feels like the right choice to me. And...even if it isn't, it's something I need to do. Not just for you, but for myself. And if you do go too far...I will. But you do a pretty good job of stopping yourself anyway"

Nies squeezed her hand and nodded, and when she was alone, she let out a slow breath. Maybe one day she would realise the enormity of what she had done. But...right now...it did feel like the right choice. she had been stationary way too long. She knew some would see it as her just following Eclipse. let them think that. They'll soon figure out its wrong She thought to herself, hoping it was true.

Alone, she squirmed, feeling very vulnerable as she glanced about her. She knew she should be safe where she was, but was anywhere truly safe in the game anymore? Had it ever been? Shifting, she continued to look about her, making sure she could look at everything as she waited.

Nostradamus followed his gas-mask wearing acquaintance to the rearguard while sporting a concealed smile, for he had faith in him, even if the boy didn't sound certain about his own ability. They would all need to trust and believe in their allies, now more than ever. After Dark Wraith's appearance, Strawberry Baby caused a reaction among his allies that the plague doctor couldn't help but laugh at. While Drauni took refuge from her possible wrath behind him, muffled giggles made their way out of the medic's mask. Sadly, most of the joking eventually came to a conclusion as Moon started to talk battle plans, and Nos listened. He'd be commanding a squad and about fifteen men with Regality. Guerilla tactics. They will destroy the Sanctuary; he will destroy the Sanctuary. It was time for glory. As Moon put it, it was time to make history.

Nos hoorah'd with the rest prior to hopping onto the armored vehicle with Regality. A slight pang of jealousy hit him for a second, and he knew why. Now given the opportunity to lead, to play an important role beyond plain ol' medic, Nostradamus wanted to leave a bigger mark. He lusted after the same praise as Moon, Regality, and other heroes have received, and he could get it now.

"M-maid? Me? No way! I'm just cleaning up because that's what my parents taught me to do..." She said shyly as she picked up her controller and sat next to Itsuko. Since they would be playing the coop mode, specifically Ace of Aces, Hibiki decided to use the Nosferatu. It might have been a bit cheap to use a boss level plane for coop mode, but if this made was as hard as they said it was then she couldn't hold back either. Plus the Electromagnetic Launcher was a cool weapon. Train went back to trying to get close to Huntress, purring and pawing cutely and hoping to woo her with his charms.

While Huntress was choosing her plane or if she even wanted to play Hibiki chatted with Itsuko. "So Itsuko, do you have any plans tomorrow? If you're free, I was thinking maybe I could come over again and we could play. I could bring some of my dad's old games too!" Scooting over next to her new friend, Hibiki looked at Itsuko with big, innocent eyes.

@KoL@TheWindel

Arms Slave awoke in the sanctuary once more. To his surprise, the Sanctuary was much more crowded than it usually was. On occasion one might be able to find ten or so players hanging around the Sanctuary, most waiting for their friends. But here there were at least 50+ sitting across opposite sides of each other. The tension was thick enough to make a milkshake out of it. If it wasn’t for the Sanctuary’s Peacebond status effect, he was certain that these people would be at eachother’s necks. But why? Walking up to an isolated player Arms Slave tried to get some answers.

”What’s going on here?”

“Civil war man. There was an argument on the guild chat and suddenly everyone started fighting each other! People are trying to push the Sweepers out of the Ebony Strykers, but I don’t think it’s working. Right now they have PKers and tanks right outside the entrance ready to kill anyone who tries to escape.”

”Well then…”

Arms Slave knew that there was fighting but this was bad. Why can’t the Ebony Strykers just chill out for a week? Seems like every few days they’re having drama. Still, now wasn’t the time to rest. His body still felt the phantom pain of getting torn apart by Moon Rider, and he was pretty certain his actual body had fainted now. Arms Slave’s memories were starting to become sporadic and he couldn’t focus too well. ”Tch… Dying here for all places, what a way to go…”

Arms Slave started moving around the Sanctuary trying to gauge the numbers outside. He didn’t know who was a Stryker or Sweeper, but unfortunately if he plans to stop this siege, he’d have to fight both. He counted seven tanks total, and roughly thirty outlaws. He could tell there were two sides and one side had the most tanks at five, but he only saw ten players. The other had two tanks but more outlaws, most of them dug in at defensive positions on and around the buildings. And the tanks, Arms Slave recognized them as the looted wheel cannons from the last battle. It was a shame that they were wasting their hard earn loot on this petty civil war, but nothing Arms Slave can do about it now.

Taking out some warhammers Arms Slave debated taking on the tanks. He could take their attacks and they had far less outlaws who could shut him down with skills. But he couldn’t do it alone, and even if he did it would only give the opposing side an opening to fire at them, which may end up killing him too. No, he needed an opening. Something to catch their attention before he goes ham on them.

@Jedly@Mega Birb@Bombardier

---

Dark Wraith and her battalion wasted no time getting to the market. Three tanks had been sent to do hit-and-run right between the deadzone of the Ebony Strykers and Sweepers, dodging and weaving stray shots while returning a few of their own. While they failed to actually destroy any tanks, they got their attention and started to sow confusion. Meanwhile the rest of the tank battalion blitzed the flanks, using their superior firepower to break through the more crude barricades meant to stop the Stryker tanks. Dark Wraith made a mental note that they needed to seriously upgrade their equipment to Cobalt level if they hoped to actually use mobile armor in the coming battles. This was just sad.

That being said, the insurgents weren’t completely defenseless. What they lacked in firepower, the wheel cannons had mobility and a lighter frame. This allowed for some very unexpected acrobatics. With no regard for the destruction they caused, the wheel cannons pounced on the cobalt tanks by ramping off various structures, or even more insanely, propelling themselves into the air using their own cannon fire. And while the wheelcannons couldn’t hope to penetrate the armor with their guns, they could certain do massive damage with a head-on collision.It seemed to have been an intentional design for these new tanks to ram into enemies, both infantry and armor.

But while this was largely a tank battle, that didn’t mean one couldn’t rely on their avatar skills either. Dark Wraith made use of her Force Cage to block oncoming kamikaze wheel cannons and give them an opening to fire back. But once they made it halfway through the battlefield, Dark Wraith turned to Broker. ”This is where we part. Take care of the enemies here.”

@Lonewolf685

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A huge meteor flew through the cosmos, smashing right into anyone unfortunate enough to not be able to avoid it. How much damage it did was unknown; what could be said however, was that there were no survivors. Once the meteor passed the entire reality marble fell, and with it the rogue, Arkadius, and Hellfire’s Corpse. Outside the field the rogue was on her knees, tired and exhausted from channeling her spellcard. But seeing Hellfire dead, she dragged her body over to him and took out what looked to be a paper tailisman. She stuck it onto his forehead, bringing him back from the cusp of death at only 10% HP. The rogue herself wasn’t looking too hot at 20% health, most of it lost when she was being chased.

For a while she just laid there tired and exhausted before squeaking out a statement. ”T-thank you…”

@RoflsMazoy@Scarifar

(Just wanted to get this up. Gonna edit it after dinner)

On paper the plan was simple. Its straightforward form was intended to be carried out by people who exuded the same ethic, people with resolve and a goal to strive for. Operating with fifteen members of assorted classes and a tank each, the three platoons operated on a rotational route surrounding the sanctuary, utilizing walls of skyscrapers and city corner as cover. Paper Moon wasn’t a strategist by any stretch of the imagination, but then again, neither were his adversaries. As opposed to the players under his command, the Outlaws were just outright salty. They were angry, and anger tends to impend recklessness. Thus, Moon just had to keep a cool head and outsmart the opposition, which he did by slowly whittling down their numbers. Whenever an enemy group pursued one of the platoons, they would soon be another group of friendly players to their flank. It wasn’t something that would make mouths gawk and hit the floor, but it sufficed for the occasion.

A rocket set astray completely missed the tank and detonated as soon as its warhead hit the concrete, which just so happened to be next to Moon’s War Machine. One of the passengers almost met his end, had it not been for the Healer who had cast a protection spell upon impact. The vehicle flipped over onto its side and spilled its content out to the road, but thankfully its momentum had been killed off by its suspension and didn’t topple down on its former riders. Not even phazed by the attack Moon’s slim form suddenly appeared around the side of the vehicle and delegated to service the rocketeer’s forehead. The far off Outlaw anticlimactically fell to the floor in a motionless heap, soon to be trounced by his allies as they charged the group. They were caught in the middle of a four-way intersection, a rather shitty place to be in the middle of a heated firefight. As bullet pinged off the War Machine’s underside, Moon nonchalantly leaned back into cover to verify the status of the three Strykers who were riding with him. After confirming that they were in adequate capacity to continue fighting, the Rogue glanced back around the machine’s corner to watch the fast approaching Outlaws disappear in a plume of asphalt and fire sent sky high. The players holed up behind the inoperable War Machine breathed a collective sigh of relief as the platoon’s tank rounded the block corner with ten other players in tow, including Leviathan. Moon rose to his feet and motioned for the Strykers to follow, then quickly made his way over to the larger unit. ”Alright, our turn is here,” He motioned with his hand as he deftly leaped onto the tank’s angled frontal armor, directing the tank down a long strip that comprised an avenue, ”We’ll proceed with a couple more revolutions before we hit the Sanctuary. Hopefully Strawberry is flanking the group you guys lured. Alright, let’s get a move on.”

Meanwhile on Strawberry’s front:

”AAAAAAAAAAH!!, MY KNEE!! WHO USES AN ARROW IN A FUTURISTIC SETTING?!” Cried a Stryker as she nursed her leg, taking refuge within a random . The whole entire block was engulfed in heated gunfire sailing from both sides. While the main portion of Strawberry’s force remained on the street taking cover behind the tank and… Tanks, Drauni and the platoon’s other two Rangers laid into any body they could find. Since Moon had advised to incapacitate rather than eliminate, they were especially attentive to aim for the kneecaps, just as a little payback for their comrade crying in denial a few floors below.
Back on the street, Strawberry clicked her tongue as rounds whizzed overhead, her brow furrowed into a deep ravine due to the holdup. She leaned against the tank’s side, every shot that left its secondary armament rippled through her spine. ”Tch.” A clicked tongue elucidated her agitation, instilling a minute measurement of fear in the Strykers to her side. She was pissed that she almost didn’t notice the rickety pile of trash that they Outlaws had scavenged for the impeding battle. The cannon was recognizable at a first glance, its crude molded form basically embedded in her mind after how many of those things fired upon her last weekend. The chassis supported it from below seemed to have been thrown together with sub-par adhesive and looked like it could have out any second. It was obvious they had intended to be emplacements, but perhaps the Outlaws tasked with operating it had grown restless and wanted to sink their teeth into something. And as the cannon ball was ejected from the chamber, Strawberry Baby still remained undeniably pissed. She may have met a facefull if iron and a respawn screen, but a tank with an expandable shield charge in for the save and oriented his defense, emulating the form of their own vehicles angled armor. The projective bounced off of the Stryker’s shield with a demoralizing ping and continued onwards straight into an adjacent building, which just so happened to be containing a few Outlaws. ”HA! RUSSIAN BIAS!” The titan of a player bellowed in a haughty fashion as he pushed out his chest and array of muscles. Simultaneously the Stryker Tank’s cannon wheeled around and returned the greeting with an attack of its own. The tank shell bored deep into the assailing vehicle’s hull and blew up in a fiery display.

Strawberry wasn’t amused by the courageous exhibition of valor her comrade had put on. Instead, she clicked her tongue again and climbed onto the tank regardless of the little trails of light flying past her. To some of the players under her command she must have looked like a valkyrie, to others Jeanne D’Arc as her true self, while Strawberry Baby seriously didn’t give a flying fuck. Through hailing gunfire, the mage raised her hand and brought it down, ”Charge!” The order was succinct. Had she continued on she surely would have weaved in a few obscenities. But she wanted to keep it succinct to compensate for the lesser minds who must have been lost during Paper Moon’s speech. Her forces pushed the opposition down the city block. With every step forward the enemy took one back. Soon enough another group of Outlaws would soon receive word of the platoon and head straight for the position. But Regality’s and Nostradamus’ platoon were without a doubt behind, reading to outflank the flankers.

@Lucius Cypher@Bombardier@Mega Birb

"Hey Boss, is that you?" A voice shouted down.

Kosuke dropped in from above, with Candid Eye mysteriously missing. He worked directly under Arms Slave so he knew what he looked like. He heard that some sweeper commanders who organized the hit lists never showed themselves to other people, sometimes because they wanted to keep their identities a secret (which doesn't really work because you can see the sender but at least they don't see what you look like unless they happen to bump into you and then they realize that the reason you don't want people to see you is because your avatar looks like a hobo), or sometimes because they just wanted to do it for kicks. Either way, Arms Slave wasn't someone like that.

He was the type to jump right into things himself, which was partially why Arms Slave was only at the level he was after being an incredibly active sweeper for years now. He delivered a lot of hits himself and sometimes they didn't all go his way. You couldn't really tell what somebody had until they used it so there was always the chance your target could just turn on you and you'd die.

Anyway, this wasn't the time for that now. On his round trip with Candid Eye, he'd taken another couple of people out and turned all of the EXP into proper molotovs so he was better equipped for tanks than before. The way Arms Slave was eyeing the field, Kosuke figured he would be needing them pretty soon.

"I think I could go for some roasted tank right now," He said, pulling his molotovs out. "Just give the word, boss, and I'm in!"

@Lucius Cypher

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"It's over!" Arkadian said wearily, falling forward.

It'd been pretty tiring all things considered. He'd nearly died about 6 times before it was over, and Hellflame had actually died but he'd been revived. Arkadian didn't really now how respawning worked, actually. Supposedly you revived at a nearby Sanctuary if you had EXP, but was it instant or could you choose to stay if you thought you could be revived? Well, Arkadian didn't really want to find out the hard way. Maybe he'd ask later, there were other things to ask before that.

He pulled himslef up into a sitting position and he leaned back on his hands to catch his breath.

"Ughhh..." He sighed.

How did cardio even work in Deep Ground? Did his fitness in real life affect it? In that case he should've been pretty fine. He was fairly fit and he'd barely done anything... Or maybe he'd just done more than he thought he did, and he just didn't have a good grasp on how much it'd taken out of him.

Christopher jumped out of his lap and went over to the rogue. He seemed interested in her, and he also seemed to be ignoring Hellflame for now. Arkadian reached out as if to grab him back but he didn't feel like he was getting up anytime soon.

"If you don't mind..." Arkadian said, "Would you tell us what was going on there?"

@Lucius Cypher

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