Silverwing City, Commerce Square.
As word spread that the major superpowers were out to make trouble for Zero Wing, the number of players in the Commerce Square dwindled steadily. Nobody wanted to be caught in the crossfire and become a target of those enormous factions.
This was especially true for the independent players who had been planning to join Zero Wing. One by one, they began to waver.
"I really thought coming to Silverwing City would let me join Zero Wing and really make a name for myself. What a waste of a trip this turned out to be."
"I heard quite a few Zero Wing members have already left the guild. They're scared of being singled out by those superpowers — too afraid to even step outside."
"If you're asking which guild is the strongest these days, it's got to be Holy Heart's Hand. Why don't we join them instead? That way, we won't have to worry about those Sacred Sculpture monsters anymore."
The players in the bar chattered amongst themselves, most of them planning to seek opportunities elsewhere. They had all but given up on Zero Wing.
In a corner of the bar, however, a handful of men clad in black cloaks sat in silence, listening to every word. Several of the younger ones wore faint smirks on their lips.
"And here I thought this Zero Wing guild she joined was something special," muttered a young assassin whose level had reached 122. The aura radiating from his entire body was so intense that even third-tier experts would have shuddered at the sight. "Looks like we were worried over nothing. Can't believe we actually came all the way to this sorry excuse for a place. This Zero Wing guild isn't even in the same league as a top-tier guild on the Divine Realm's mainland. I have no idea what kind of luck they stumbled on to get her to join — and she still won't agree to join us!"
"Easy, number six. This place may not look like much, but those super-guilds and superpowers do have some pretty impressive experts. This is a good chance for us to test them out and get a real read on the strength of the fighters around here." The cold-eyed, sharp-featured man at the head of the group chuckled softly. "As for Zero Wing — once we get back, we'll report everything to the higher-ups. She'll come around soon enough."
"Fair point." The assassin gave a thin smile. "If she decides to join us, maybe we'll even lend Zero Wing a hand."
Meanwhile, the representatives of the various superpowers stationed in Silverwing City couldn't help but grin as they watched the player population continue to shrink.
At this rate, it wouldn't be long before Silverwing City became a ghost town. When that happened, Zero Wing wouldn't even have enough funds to keep the guild running.
But just as the major superpowers and the mass of independent players were convinced that Silverwing City was about to turn into an empty husk, something unexpected happened.
Players began pouring into the streets — wave after wave of them, flooding every corner and alley of Silverwing City in staggering numbers. There were hundreds of thousands, and every single one of them radiated a powerful aura.
"What the—?"
"Why are Crimson Emperor and War Soul's Fall moving their people here?"
"Are those two guilds actually joining forces with Zero Wing against the superpowers?"
The players already in Silverwing City and the members of various factions stood rooted to the spot, utterly dumbfounded. They couldn't fathom why these two guilds had gone mad enough to concentrate such a massive force in Silverwing City — and the numbers were still climbing.
In less than half an hour, the combined player count of the two guilds had surpassed a staggering three million, transforming the once-desolate Silverwing City into a teeming hive of activity.
"Undying! Are you people at War Soul's Fall out of your minds? Spending your own guild's resources to prop up Zero Wing?"
"Crimson Emperor — are you really prepared to stand against all of us superpowers?"
The senior executives of the major superpowers couldn't hold back and immediately reached out to the leaders running this operation on behalf of War Soul's Fall and Crimson Emperor respectively. They knew Zero Wing had some history with these two guilds — allies, even — but the situation was entirely different now. Zero Wing was facing off against the combined might of every major superpower on the Eastern Continent of the Divine Realm. Siding with them now was a death sentence.
But what truly stunned the superpowers was that both War Soul's Fall and Crimson Emperor not only declared their support for Zero Wing — they went even further.
They issued a clear warning: if any superpower dared to make a move inside the city, neither guild would stand idly by.
And as if the actions of War Soul's Fall and Crimson Emperor weren't shocking enough, Zero Wing's own move came out of nowhere. The guild issued an internal directive ordering every member above level 100 to assemble in Silverwing City immediately.
In a flash, over two million Zero Wing members converged on the city.
The once-sprawling Silverwing City had become a gathering ground for the members of three major guilds — Zero Wing, War Soul's Fall, and Crimson Emperor. The city buzzed with a level of energy that dwarfed anything seen before, and the number of third-tier experts present was the highest of any guild city in existence — over ten thousand.