Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

When the President commanded all three armies to prepare for war, the onset of the war was actually delayed. (1)

With the full mobilization of the entire Confederate army, the war had reached its highest intensity.

This type of war can cause devastating blows to both countries.

Iron Shroud had to readjust its strategies, and so does Impartial Goddess.

The troops deployment becomes more complex and takes longer to calculate.

Human brains can’t fathom the simulations being done by the two AIs, but they can tell one thing.

Iron Shroud had become much more careful.

Its movements were slowing down.

As for Impartial Goddess, her pace quickens, but she was even more careful about the clash of the frontline armies compared to Iron Shroud.

She knew that there were people doing everything they could to stop this war.

All of her calculations were to simply buy time.

The Fuxi Empire.

The desert palace villa.

People were moving in and out, passing various information and news.

The Royal Guards also moved back and forth, their blood-stained swords dragged on the ground creating skid marks.

Everyone turned a blind eye to this.

Thanks to the Emperor’s orders from before, every official had been summoned to the desert palace villa one by one.

Following that, orders were coming from the Empress one after another.

All officials who were pro-war or was close to the Emperor was instantly charged with treason by the Empress.

The Royal Guards moved from room to room, executing them on the spot.

A bloodbath was commencing.

The conference room.

The Empress was being protected by the hitman of the Hunter Association, staying a certain distance from the officials while seriously listening to the situations on various sides.

Standing there, she quickly and efficiently dealt with the Empire’s official business.

This was an extremely strange sight to behold.

Hitmen well-versed in the art of killing were tasked with protecting the Empress.

While the Royal Guards who were originally tasked with protecting the Emperor and Empress were now responsible for killing.

Empress Varona had issued another order.

Her Holo-Brain abruptly lit up.

An electronic voice came: [I am Iron Shroud, Your Highness the Empress, please look at the screen]

The fact that it didn’t report it verbally probably meant this was a secret message.

The Empress looked down.

Two lines of text appeared on the Holo-Brain.

[The Emperor’s life signs has disappeared and is confirmed to be dead]
[The war is continuing, Your Highness Varona, you are now in charge of the three armies]

The Empress was stunned.

She turned around, her back to the officials and slowly walked towards the Emperor’s throne.

She scowled, her graceful facial features started to contort, almost as if she was trying her hardest to control her voice.

Her body trembled, she took a deep breath to try and calm herself.

When the Empress sat down on the Fuxi Empire’s throne, once more facing the officials, she no longer had any expression on her face.

Everyone observed this, trying to think of the implications of the Empress’ actions.

Then they suddenly heard.

“His Majesty is no longer with us”

The Empress spoke with firm resolve.

The conference room fell silent.

After the immense fright, they quickly processed the pros and cons of this bad news.

People capable of standing in this conference room at this time were all people who supports the Empress.

Now that the Emperor was no longer here, who could compete with the Empress? 
At the moment, no such person exists in the Empire.

The officials had a look of joy in their eyes, yet their faces couldn’t make any expression other than sorrow. When two very different emotions mixed, it created for a ridiculous scene.

The Empress ordered Iron Shroud from her Holo-Brain: “I order the three armies to stand their ground and wait for orders, cease all active hostile behaviors”
“Furthermore, immediately request to speak with the Freedom Confederate’s President”

All the officials and guards in the room stayed silent, her voice was the only voice in the entire conference room.

Very quickly, the call reached.

“Greetings, Mr. President”
“Yes, this matter was Fuxi’s fault, fortunately it had yet to cause severe casualties”
“The originator of this had paid the corresponding price ——-yes, he has left this world”
“I want… peace, and you?”
…
The frontline.

Tick tick tick tick tick!

Zhang Bei Jia’s communicator suddenly started ringing nonstop.

“Connect!” he shouted.

[Order: Stand your ground and wait for orders, cease all active hostile behaviors]

Zhang Bei Jia instantly opened a cap on the dashboard and pressed the red button.

Bam!

The severely damaged black Mech finally collapsed.

In the very next moment, Zhang Bei Jia jumped from the black Mech and rolled to the ground.

“I surrender!”

He shouted loudly to the completely unscathed green Mech.

The Mech’s metal fist was just an arm’s reach away from his face.

The green Mech suddenly stopped.

The wind pressure pushed Zhang Bei Jia backwards a few steps.

“Surrender? As a military man, you challenged me to a life-or-death duel and you still dare to surrender?” the Martial Saint’s voice carried a hint of frosty killing intent.

“I’m the Empress’ subordinate, I’m following her orders to buy time and stop the war from erupting. Just now Iron Shroud had ordered the war to cease” Zhang Bei Jia hurriedly spoke.

He doesn’t dare to joke around.

If the Martial Saint suspected even a single thing, he’d immediately come forward and pummel him to a literal pulp.

“Empress Varona’s subordinate… so that’s why!”

Inside the green Mech came a sigh.

The Martial Saint’s killing intent disappeared.

——-so from the very start he only challenged me to delay the battle of the two armies.
He’s been enduring my onslaught of attacks from dawn until now.
Not a single soldier had stepped foot onto the battlefield, and no one has had to sacrifice themselves.
But is that really the truth?

While Zhang Zong Yang was thinking, a message came to his Holo-Brain.

It was a message directly from the President.

Only four words.

[The war is over]

Following that, a series of arrangements by Impartial Goddess showed up on screen.

Looking at the screen, Zhang Zong Yang slowly broke into a wide smile.

He pressed a button to open the green Mech’s cockpit.

Zhang Zong Yang jumped out from there.

He looked at Zhang Bei Jia on the ground, smiled and spoke amiably: “So sorry I misunderstood you, if that’s the case, then you’re a real hero”

The Martial Saint offered the Empire’s Marshal his hand.

The Marshal took the Martial Saint’s hand and stood up.

“Hero or whatever isn’t important, I almost lost my life there” Zhang Bei Jia sighed.

The Martial Saint laughed and spoke: “Thanks to your buying time, no one from either country had to die, I think this day will probably go into the history books”

“As long as you don’t keep bringing this up, I’ll be happy” Zhang Bei Jia said.

“I won’t blame you. As the Marshal of the Empire, you are not foolishly loyal but have clear judgment and understanding of the war. It is worth admiring” Zhang Zong Yang seriously spoke.

“Then ——–about my smoking, don’t say anything about that later” Zhang Bei Jia said.

“Smoking? Why would I care about your smoking? Go ahead” Zhang Zong Yang was a bit surprised.

“Then that’s fine” Zhang Bei Jia was finally satisfied.

He then put his hand behind his neck and grabbed something.

A face mask came off, revealing Zhang Ying Hao’s original appearance.

He lit a cigarette, took a deep drag and complained: “That Marshal was bullshit, as stubborn as a damn donkey, it’s quicker to just replace him rather than convince him”

Martial Saint Zhang Zong Yang opened his eyes wide from surprise.

But very quickly, he scowled as killing intent began to emit from his body again.

Zhang Ying Hao felt that so he only turned to look before running away immediately.

The Martial Saint’s angry voice came from behind: “Brat, you still dare to run? Stop right there!”

Zhang Ying Hao snapped back while running without looking back: “Only an idiot would stop now! You still want to lecture me in front of all these people huh Mr. Martial Saint!? I’ll remember this!”

Note:
(1) three armies: it’s implied that the three armies refer to the Land, Sea and Air force of a country, which every country should have.