Agent047

982 - "God, please wake me up if this is a dream."

My name is Zarnok Virellius Thalmarion Quen’Zai Elorath Draxil Omberon Kaelis Varneth Solarius Myrrh Caligo Xenthos A. Kryntari, and I’m scared shitless for my life.

I’m what Terra people would call a new-age otaku who had fallen in love with their stories, movies, manga, and nearly all forms of entertainment that they have come up with during their existence. I have dedicated the majority of my free time in VR to absorbing and enjoying as much as possible, and there was so much o...

981 - Controlled Release

When the scene of the attacks ended, the screen went black before the words [We have considered these actions as a declaration of war and have responded accordingly] appeared.

Those words caused panic among the people watching, as they realized that this was not a prank and the Conclave was now at war with the Empire.

However, if someone could hear what the majority were thinking, they would realize that the panic they were feeling was not because they were afraid...

980 - Stretching Their Muscles

BANG!!!!!

The door to the Pkago leader's office was kicked open, interrupting his participation in the joint call with the Conclave Central Command. He was amidst begging for either his troops to be returned or for another civilization to send reinforcements, but was receiving no positive response as the leaders continued bickering back and forth, with everyone wanting the direction of the meeting to go their way and their needs to be prioritized.

“Don’t you see that I’m in ...

979 - Sun Tzu

“Oh, God,” were the last words that came out of a planetary defense station soldier's mouth before his space station was destroyed.

With the appearance of new wormholes from all directions around the planet, a courtesy of the stealth mapping vessels sent out by the Empire, as the million avatars acted as a giant distraction. 

This time, the Empire sent more than just avatars. It brought ships to accompany them and help clear the route. The defensive force, designed under ...

978 - "Burn the heretic."

FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!!

Lasers and physical bullets were raining down on Gradiel, the capital of the Elara civilization, lighting up the space outside the capital planet as ships tried to deal with the avatars that came out of the VR tower. The strongest attacks were directed at the VR tower, but at the moment, they were failing to do anything due to the shields coming online and activating in their one-w...

977 - "They are scary"

{It is most likely not going to escalate any further until they are done dealing with the empire, so we advise you to entertain it at this stage and not attempt to kill them, as that would attract their attention back to you, and you risk becoming the main target for them to vent their anger and humiliation,} Little Protagonist advised Dreznor, who had just asked about the feasibility of them dealing with the Conclave’s probing forces that still remained even after their attack on the empir...

976 - Random Bullshit GO!!!!!!!!!!

“Okay, we have reached our challenge target. Ladies and gentlemen, I’m going to be attempting a perfect run, meaning clearing all objectives while capturing all of the soldiers in my section without killing any of them, collecting all of their information, gathering all of the available data, and any damage I receive will reduce my power output by one percent until I hit thirty percent. ...

975 - A Misunderstanding

“I must be dreaming or stuck in VR,” Bonga thought to himself as he continued running away, failing to do so effectively as he kept falling and crashing into things in his attempt to get as far away from the monster as possible.

Although he knew everything was a reality, what his eyes were seeing was causing his brain to consider hallucination as an option. The corridor he was trying to escape from was currently under fire from an Ultramarine, something he knew was just a character ...

974 - Plucking Fruits from a Tree

FLASH!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!!!! FLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Nuclear explosions of magnitudes higher than what Hiroshima experienced on those fateful days during World War II lit up space in different locations as various Conclave fleets, stuck within the empire’s now-declared forbidden zone, tried to clear everything in their vicinity to destroy the hidden Spatial anchors that were hindering them. Their sensors were already showing imperial ...

973 - A forbidden Zone

They say when it rains, it pours. That is what the Conclave was experiencing at the moment, as they were now trying to withdraw after losing a quarter of their ships without even realizing what hit them. This made it nearly impossible to avoid what they didn’t see coming, resulting in the order to retreat immediately being given fleet-wide by the next person in the command chain. 

He was informed just a few seconds after the joint computer network went through the command structu...

972 - Birth of Stars

The Conclave fleet started spreading to avoid contact with the missile-like objects, which constantly adjusted their flight path toward their targeted ships. This forced the Conclave fleet to disperse further, but the objects had countermeasures, as they too constantly adjusted their positioning in 3D space. This required the movements made by the Conclave ships to be more aggressive than the oncoming objects in order to continue keeping them at bay, all while continuously firing at them.

Pincer

TWIF! TWOF! TWUF! TWAFF! TWIF! TWOF! TWUF! TWAFF!

In the silence of space, thrusters in different areas of an attacking ship activated with millisecond intervals to ensure the ship's movements were predictable, while also fine-tuning its positioning in preparation for the next action half the imperial interceptor fleets were about to partake in. 

The thrusters divided the ships into their respective assigned action groups, with everything taking place while invisible to the e...

970 - In Space No One Can Hear You Scream, But They Can See You Burning

“Oh, God,” Ayaka said as she walked out of the stargate, feeling the large amount of poisoned mana being radiated from a distance.

Although she felt the radiated mana, what surprised her the most was the life force fluctuation happening in that direction; years of longevity were being expelled with each second, making her sure that whoever it was happening to was not having a good time.

“Miss Ayaka and Mr. Lee, please come with me,” a fully armored soldier said to them a f...

969 - Conclave's Assured Victory

[...........]

[..........]

[........]

[.......]

The system lines stopped the moment he triggered the knot in his soul, as if it were now trying to adapt to Aron’s actions.

With it also came a moment of silence and reprieve from the pain, but despite that, he didn’t feel relief as he was yet to know if it was a temporary fix or not. Soon, his body answered for him.

“Mhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh,” he groaned, trying to hold the shout in, knowing that the moment ...

968 - A Trillion Reasons

Ship after ship came and absorbed the mana Aron was expelling, as the situation didn’t seem to be subsiding at all.

As Nova scanned the collected mana that was delivered to one of the labs on Mars she was now commandeering. It took a few minutes before the first round of results started coming out.

{He is experiencing mana poisoning from the inside,} Nova said, realizing what the problem was after going through Aron’s mana, which had something that was not native to him or nor...

967 - “What is your pledge?”

The moment the avatar-making process started, the situation finally became clear. Although a large number of people chose to create their own avatars from scratch ot bring their imaginations to life, the majority of humans used the Universal IP option. Some chose to become Space Marines, others Hell Divers, clone soldiers, Jedis, Superman, and more. 

Every strong and famous character from any world of entertainment, be it movies, comics, anime, books, and more, was selected. The em...

966 - Creating and Choosing Avatars

“What?” Gululi asked in surprise, giving the same reaction as everyone else who was hearing the answer from their instance of GAIA.  

It was no surprise they reacted that way, as the empire was literally giving them an infinite money glitch in return for joining a war that held no risk to them at all. Plus, there was no need for everyone to fight, as there were many tasks requiring human participation, such as local logistics, security missions on captured planets, medical...

965 - INCENTIVES

By the tenth minute since the application portal was opened, a whopping eleven billion people had already registered, with the majority of the applicants coming from the Proxima star system. Happy and excited, they finally had the chance to help the empire instead of being on the receiving end.  

Although that was the main reason, they were also joining to take revenge for their killed comrades who were among the casualties of the empire, despite their side of casualties being...

964 - APPLICATION PORTAL READY

[PLEASE LOG OFF TO ALLOW FOR THE TIME DILATION TO BE RAMPED UP TO A 20:1 RATIO IN PREPARATION FOR THE WAR]

This announcement was sent to everyone in VR during the emperor's address, whether they were watching it or doing something else. A five-minute timer appeared in front of all users, counting down to the forced logout.

The empire could have ramped up the time dilation without logging everyone off, but by doing so, it effectively allowed the entire population to be offline for ...

963 - A Call to Action

In nearly all media devices across the empire, TVs, holograms, phones, and AR devices, the imperial government’s royal office seal appeared, accompanied by a one-minute timer counting down to the emperor’s address.

The closer the timer got to zero, the slower the empire seemed to move. Sports games, school lectures, tours, and even fights came to a halt as everyone turned their attention to the broadcast. Tension and fear gripped the citizens, fueled by the empire’s recent increas...

962 - Emotional Constipation

Mars, Stargate Base 47

Streams upon streams of people continued exiting the wormholes, some requiring tractor beams to soften their speed after being thrown as if they were cannonballs.

As their bodies passed through the Stargates, they were fully scanned, their imperial digital profiles updated with new information. For many, diverse tags were added to their profiles: #Needs targeted therapy for PTSD, #Currently in active denial, #Suicidal, #Saw his wife killed in front of him, #...

961 - The Rescue Operation

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Amidst the explosions and shaking inside the space station as the active shields were bombarded, a wormhole opened in one of the walls. People streamed in, screaming and running as fast as possible, not wanting to waste a single second inside the station after the horrors they had experienced.

Once the people in the room were all on the other side, a team of fully kitted soldiers entered and moved toward the barricaded door, the only exit ...

960 - In Action

BOOM

A snow avalanche was triggered as the black mecha, adorned with red highlights, straightened its knees that had buckled from breaking the fall from orbit. Its head rose from the cloud of snow dust created by the impact.

Ismail, now one with the mecha, reached back and drew a sword as tall as the machine itself, its colors matching the mecha's own.

He raised the sword as if it weighed nothing and pointed it toward the military base, which had been relentlessly firing upo...

959 - Bait and Switch

[Joint scanning the planet]

Ismail looked at the planet data that was being collected jointly by the ten mechas, who had appeared in different locations around the planet and were integrating it into a single comprehensive dataset.

[Basic Planetary Intelligence Dossier: Porku

Ownership: Elara civilization.

Type: Terrestrial

Population: 1.5 billion.

Rank: 54 among the Elara civilization's planets.

Strategic Importance: Medium

Security: Level 5 of...

958 - Dear Mana

{As you have already learned, our citizens are currently being held as hostages in their space stations, and the rescue forces will be moving in half an hour, which will also be five minutes after you start your missions,} an Athena sub-AI provided the mission briefing inside what looked like a large theater, as soldiers in their military dress uniforms sat at attention and listened.

Ismail, just a speck among the ten thousand mecha pilots present, sat at attention and wondered what the...

957 - A Masterpiece Ready for a Stage

The blare of a base-wide alarm ripped through the dormitory, causing the sleeping soldier to instinctively snap to attention before he could even process what was happening.

Once on his feet, it took him only ten seconds to become fully alert. He snatched his earpiece from the table and rushed out of the room, fitting it into his ear as he joined the scramble of soldiers heading toward their designated zones.

“What is the situation?” Ismail asked his military-assigned AI buddy...

956 - A Tit for Tat

Trade Hub.

“What are you doing?” a Bogomar shouted at the imperial soldiers. Their rifles were leveled at him and his family, who trembled as they clung to him while being escorted back to their room. “We came here under a Visa from the empire!  And it promised safety!”

The soldiers didn't respond. His family's terror elicited no change in their impassive stance as they continued their rhythmic march, indirectly forcing the Bogomar and his family to keep walking backw...

955 - The Brutality of War

It took only five minutes for John and Athena to return, but for them and the entire planning division, it had been a months-long, continuous project. In their time-accelerated instance, they had planned, run simulations to find flaws, returned to the drawing board, and refined the plan repeatedly. They did their best to minimize potential mistakes, and though the enemy's human element made them unpredictable, they worked tirelessly to account for every possible variable.

“So this is ...

954 - Releasing all of the Shackles

Distance is the chokehold of space warfare. With such a vast expanse between the wormhole entry points and the Solar System, it was impossible for the invaders to hide, no matter how stealthy they tried to be. Knowing this, they didn't even try. They had the numbers advantage from the start. Within ten minutes of the invasion's launch, more than one hundred and fifty fleets had already entered imperial territory.

For now, they moved in unison, attempting to secure advantageous positions...

953 - Operation Overwhelm

Nexus.

As the future hub for all inter-civilizational space travel, it was a bustling center of activity. Construction was ongoing, a constant effort to build a station massive enough to accommodate the projected traffic.

Furthermore, every civilization knew its absolute coordinates, as the Nexus was the starting point for the entire wormhole network. Since all civilizations were jointly providing materials and labor for its construction, the constant opening and closing of supply...