"What…?"
"A war? What the hell does that even mean?"
"Are you serious? I really don't want to have to fight Shana..."
As the whispers rippled through the crowd, Shana began to explain the rules of this "war."
"Alright, I'll speak plainly from here on out," Shana's voice echoed. "To kick off this war, I got in touch with the representatives at Zaskar. This is what they put together for me."
In truth, the items had been prepared by Argo, but Shana seemingly preferred to let the public believe the game's developers were behind it. He held up two simple banners: one white, one red.
"Now, remind me—what's my name? That's right, Shana. As in Shana-ou. Naturally, that means we're doing this Genpei-style: the White Flag of the Genji versus the Red Flag of the Heike. I think you get the picture."
The moment Shana tapped a command on his console, a system-wide announcement blared across the world of GGO.
[Notice: The Limited-Time Event, 'GGO: The Genpei War,' has officially begun.]
"Oh man, he's for real... Shana actually moved the admins!"
"Wait, if those rumors were true, shouldn't Shana have been banned for harassment ages ago?"
"Dammit, I don't understand any of this!"
"One thing's for sure: we've got the numbers, but we sure as hell aren't the 'heroes' in this story!"
Shana ignored the chatter and continued his broadcast.
"Now, I'm going to need everyone to head to the East and West ends of this city. Of course, if you have no interest in the event, feel free to ignore me entirely. This is a Squadron-only event, so if you're a solo player who wants in, go ahead and form a temporary Squadron.
"Currently, the White Flag of the Genji is stationed in the East, and the Red Flag of the Heike is in the West. If you hate my guts, don't hesitate—grab a Red Flag. Just a heads-up: once a Squadron takes a flag, their designated 'Flag Bearer' must engage in at least one battle per day or face disqualification. Though, I'll give you a pass for today."
"Hey, what are we doing...?"
"Call a Squadron meeting! I'll be right back."
"My group's neutral for now. Depends on the rules."
While the average player hesitated, a segment of the crowd—thirsting for chaos—began sprinting toward the West, screaming about "War!" They were nothing if not eager.
"Each Squadron must appoint one person as their Flag Bearer," Shana explained. "A white or red flag icon will automatically appear over that player's head. If they die, their Squadron is defeated and eliminated from the war. So, do your best to protect them. Additionally, if your Flag Bearer isn't on the battlefield, your Squadron cannot initiate attacks on others—though you can still be attacked, so keep your guard up.
"As for the rest of you, if you die once, you're out. And to the non-participants: you cannot interfere with event players for the duration of the war. Be careful."
Hearing this, the players initially thought this was just a standard GGO event—a Squadron-on-Squadron melee that had nothing to do with Shana personally. His next words shattered that illusion.
"The event lasts one week. The first six days are field warfare. On the final day, we move to a Siege. I will be holed up in the fortress of the Old Capital, and it'll be your job to dig me out. Naturally, anyone on my side will be inside the fort with me.
"Every time you take down an enemy Flag Bearer, a 'Star' is added to your own flag. The Squadrons that survive until the end will receive a bonus payout based on their star count. And as for my flag? I've set its value to one hundred times the normal rate.
"To any Squadron who thinks they've got the guts: come and take it. The one who brings me down might just earn the title of GGO's strongest player. Especially you... You're tired of being called a 'fake BoB Champion,' aren't you? Right, ZeXceed?"
ZeXceed's face turned a violent shade of crimson. "Fine! I'll take that bait! Just don't come crying to me when I'm standing over your corpse!"
The crowd, however, seemed less interested in ZeXceed's pride and more in the "100x" bounty.
"Holy crap... I don't know the exact payout, but Shana wouldn't be stingy enough to make it pennies, right?"
"If Shana's giving us the green light, then let's get hostile! No regrets!"
With that final provocation, the power balance between the two sides ballooned to a staggering hundred-fold difference.
"That's the gist of it. The finer details are listed on the flags themselves; read them on your own time. You have one hour. It's 8:00 PM now, so we start at 9:00 sharp. If you have friends offline, tell them now. Though, I suspect this stream is already trending on every major video site anyway."
The feed cut to black. A second later, Shana flickered back onto the monitors.
"One more thing. This entire war is being recorded via the flags. They're high-end tech, equipped with recording functions. We'll be uploading the highlights daily to a site managed by Soleil. Even if you aren't playing, feel free to enjoy the show."
"Soleil? Did he just say Soleil?"
"Is Shana backed by the Soleil Corporation?"
"If he's got that kind of financial backing, the prize money is going to be astronomical!"
This time, Shana truly disappeared from the screens. In his place, a live counter appeared, showing the current Squadron count for the White and Red armies.
White Army: 1 | Red Army: 120
Since the "1" on the White side represented Shana's own group, it meant that, so far, every single Squadron had chosen to be his enemy.
"I know we have to choose, but..."
"It's Red, obviously. Look at those numbers! There's no way he wins."
"Even if Shana loses against these odds, it won't hurt his reputation. It's basically a suicide mission."
"Honestly, isn't this just Shana giving us a massive bonus payout?"
That sentiment became the consensus. The White Army's count remained stuck at one, while the Red Army's numbers climbed higher and higher.
"When things go this perfectly according to plan, it almost makes me worried," Shana muttered. "Can these people not think for themselves?"
"Does it matter?" Usu-shio Tarako countered. "We gave them the freedom to choose. Whatever happens next is their own responsibility. It's not like we forced them into being our enemies."
Yamikaze nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Let them pick whatever side they want. They can live with the pathetic consequences later."
As the clock neared 9:00 PM, Shana checked the stats. "It's time. What's the final tally?"
"8 against 211," came the reply.
"Aside from us, Tarako, Yamikaze, Dyne, and Eva... that leaves three groups on our side. Whoever they are, they've earned an invite to the World Tree Fortress. If they get in a pinch, we'll bail them out."
The clock struck nine. An official system announcement boomed across the digital sky.
[The event has now commenced. The event has now commenced.]
A roar went up from the players. But the roar was short-lived, cut off by what came next.
"Yo. You guys have had a lot of fun running your mouths lately, haven't you? Truly, I'm impressed."
Shana was back on the monitors.
"You brought this on yourself!" someone yelled at the screen.
"What, are you begging for mercy now?"
"You're an enemy to all women! Wash your neck and wait for us, we're coming for your head!"
Shana couldn't hear them, but the crowd was swept up in the heat of the moment. Even those who hadn't believed the rumors were shouting along, lost in the mob mentality. Shana continued, his tone inquisitive.
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