It was something that everyone expected to hear and at the same time, didn’t. They knew that Burnie was being chased down and who was doing the chasing from the information they had before. But it was hard to comprehend in their minds, one of the big four actually getting defeated so suddenly.
A war took years, months even. With how many people the Sunshield’s had and how many planets they owned, one would expect a slow demise, not to be wiped out within a couple of weeks. They couldn’t comprehend in their heads just how strong the Blades were.
But this event was starting to give the rest of them an idea. For Peter, Logan and Quinn, they had experienced a small part of it first hand.
“Everyone was keeping a close eye on each other, so it seems like not only the big three, which is now down to two, noticed the change.” Sam continued to explain. “I guess it was impossible for them to keep this a secret.
“However, all the Blades did was exterminate and get rid of all the Shelters and people on the Sunshields Planets, swiftly moving onto the next one. Usually, when one would take over a planet, they would take some of their people in and leave a token army behind. This would deteriorate others from attacking.
“But the Blades did no such thing. Leaving all of the Sunshield planets unclaimed. Since then, rumours had circulated around that Burnie had been defeated by an unknown medium-sized faction. People assumed that the battle was great and that faction now must be heavily injured. So factions that were once under the Sunshield’s control, and those not affiliated with anyone have started to come out from the shadows.
“Their goal is to claim these unclaimed Planets.”
“Have the military or the other families made any moves regarding this?” Paul asked. Having worked for the military in a high position himself, Paul could often predict the military’s movements, but that was when times were regular. At the moment, it was hectic, and when things got like this, Oscar himself usually liked to move out.
The supreme commander could be very unpredictable.
“The military’s movements have been a little strange. They have taken out two large spaceships similar to this one and sent them to the beast planet where the demon tier is meant to be located. It seems like they have no interest in what is happening to the big four, and are allowing people to do what they want without interfering.”
“I’ve never seen a demon tier weapon before in combat,” Linda said. “But the supreme commander is already meant to have one, right? Maybe they know it’s worth more compared to others and are risking everything on that.”
“That might be the case,” Sam replied. “Honestly, depending on who defeats the demon tier, it will be a great shift in power. As for the big two, they are too busy dealing with their own planets and preparing to hunt the demon tier as well. They don’t have time to care about the Sunshield’s planets. Most of them have already been fully explored. They are just ones where people can hunt for beasts up to the king tier level, which is no longer of interest to them.”
“These factions that are appearing are there anything we need to worry about?” Quinn asked.
The others started to look at each other for a second before answering, and looking back at Quinn. “Some of these factions are quite strong. Remember in the past, they tried to form an alliance, and they would have had enough power to rival the big three. However, in their early stages of development, they chose to step on the toes of Pure.”
“And what was with the strange looks you all gave each other before?” Quinn asked. It was so bluntly obvious they didn’t even try to hide it.
“Well, while you were away, a faction actually approached us. They are now on the Crows planet, setting up a base themselves. A little away from the land that had already been cleared.”
“What!” Quinn said, placing his hands on the table. “After everything we did to get that planet, we’re now sharing it!”
“Quinn, I know how you feel, trust me.” Blip said. “More of the Crow’s blood was spilt than anyone for that planet. We were the ones that cleared the land that they are safely parking their backsides on. The truth is, the Crow’s name never had much weight, to begin with and we are now going under the Cursed name. The second they found out our faction Rank was so low, they were swiftly content on staying here. If we refused, they were happy to fight for it.
“We just got out of fighting with the Sunshields; I didn’t want to make everyone go through with fighting another faction so soon. Without you, we didn’t want to make any rash moves either.”
The faction Rank also acted as a good deterrent against oncoming attackers. In the past, sharing a planet with many different factions was actually quite common. This would cause the odd dispute here or there, and when one learnt what faction they came from, they could look up their rank. If it was a high one, they would often not try to cause any trouble. This was all until the Civil war. It no longer became about faction Rank but instead about who you were allied with.
However, it looked like with the Sunshields out of the way, this was changing.
“How is this sharing with this faction going?” Quinn asked.
Hearing this question, Dennis and Megan had quite the displeased look on their faces.
“It’s a crap show,” Dennis complained. “They seem nice on the surface and then treat our people like crap. Following our people on hunts and stealing our kills. I’ve even had reports about them beating a few of our people and stealing crystals directly from them.”
Hearing this news was angering Quinn greatly; after everything they had gone through, they didn’t need this crap from another faction, but then he reminded himself that the others who are actually experiencing these things first hand, must be even more frustrated than him. After all, they were doing this for the sake of the people.
“You guys are strong, I can’t believe you would sit around and do nothing about this.” Quinn said. “Especially you Dennis, I’m kinda surprised you managed to keep your cool.”
“Yeah, if it weren’t for Meg Meg here, I probably would have blown a hole or two in a few of them.”
There was a brief second of silence, as they realised Dennis had called Megan, Meg Meg. It was a cute nickname, and judging by the way her face went red, there was probably something going on between the two.
‘Damn it! How did that old man get a girl? I’m at least as good looking as him, right, right!’ Nate thought.
“The factions themselves is not the problem,” Sam said. “The faction that is on the Crow’s planet is at a Rank B, called the Parasites. In all honesty, they probably would have had the same strength as the Crows from before. Because we are new in the system, we are still treated as a Rank F faction. It hasn’t been a month yet since our contribution points have been added up, so that should change in a couple of weeks. Still, we haven’t been able to go on as many hunts either. At most, we will get a D rank.
“With such a low ranking, once we get rid of them, another Faction will soon be on their way here thinking we’re easy targets.”
“Kick their arses, get our rank up, simple then, right?” Peter said.
“I wish it was.” Sam sighed. “With a single planet, the highest rank we will probably ever be able to achieve is B. This is not enough to deter anyone away. Especially during these times, at the moment, there is more fighting than ever between these medium sized factions as people think eventually one of them will come out as a winner.”
“A winner, to win what?” Quinn asked.
“Reports online, and on the internet is calling this whole thing a race. A race to get the third seat. If one can display enough dominance and unite these medium sized factions under their banner, they will become another well known name. Part of the big three. With two powerhouses out of the picture, there is now enough room for another.” Sam explained.
“I think it’s as simple as Peter said it is then,” Quinn replied. “We get that rank up, and we take that third seat. We become the big three. We needed to make a move at some point. And at the moment, while the other big leaders and military are too concerned with the demon tier beast, this will be our best chance.”
The others looked at Quinn, and smiled. There were no complaints from any of them; it would have sounded crazy or barbaric in the past for any of them to think of such a thing happening in their lives, but after witnessing what he had done, they could believe, he could do it.
*****
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