Seizing just the right moment, the First Maiden raised her hand in command. Following her gesture, groups of five Maidens took to the air and disappeared, activating Veils. Hundreds of valkyries rode their birdies toward the enemy fleet, preparing to deal the final blow.
Meanwhile, new portals lit up in the sky of the Astral Plane: dozens, no, hundreds of them! Fully rigged astral ships sailed out of them, ready for combat. Even at first glance, the new fleet was enormous, boasting as many vessels as Pandorum’s armada. Two juggernauts came last, smaller ships swarming around them. The majority of the banners were light blue, emblazoned with crossed hammers. A new player had decided to join the game: Hird had finally made their choice.
The Pandas were surrounded on three sides. A small squadron that had just left Atrocity pressured them from the rear, the Silver Stronghold was ahead, and the incoming fleets of NAVY and Hird advanced from above. The sudden crossfire proved surprisingly effective. The allies joined forces, transferring command to a single raid leader, which allowed them to shift their targets and focus on specific enemy ships. Almost half a hundred heavy vessels opened fire. Unable to withstand the damage, the frigates and galleons — the heart of Pandorum’s fleet — started exploding one after another. The smaller ships — corvettes, clippers, brigs, and skiffs — quickly closed in on their opponents. The Americans also utilized bomb attacks they had perfected during the Bazaar operation. A wave of exploding skiffs loaded with Bells took over the top hemisphere of Pandorum’s navy. The fearless kamikaze going in for the kill were followed by a swarm of birdies that immediately locked horns with dragon riders in a furious struggle.
And then, the Maidens struck from the opposite side. Their attack was just as destructive as the allies’ fire. Hundreds of invisible shieldmaidens rained down on the ships unprotected by domes. Nobody could withstand the winged valkyries in melee, their weapons smiting everyone in their path.
The Pandas wavered.
A large battle in Sphere was always chaotic, but even in a blazing inferno swept up in slaughter, Pandorum clearly looked disoriented. It felt as if they had lost a leader who kept them in line with an iron fist, their well-oiled machine transforming into a hundred isolated segments. Some vessels tried to lay down dense fire, cutting off the invisible attackers, others shot at the enemy squadron, and the third performed inexplicable maneuvers, trying to evade the heat. They seemed completely disorganized and stripped of command.
Romanova lowered her bow, silently watching the black cloud of ships shrink in size. Pandorum’s armada was burning while frantically trying to resist. They were running out of steam, losing morale before our very eyes — inexcusably quickly for the strongest alliance in Sphere.
* * *
The disappearance of their leader at the critical moment turned out to be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. Something unthinkable was happening on Pandorum’s command channel.
“Attention, lots of signals in Search sphere! A large fleet is approaching!”
“Phantom’s offline! He’s disconnected from Sphere!”
“Is something wrong?”
“His comm’s online, but he’s not answering!”
“Invisible attacks! Open curtain fire! Asgard, Thirteen, fly out and block the potential attack vectors!”
“Do it yourself, smartass! We aren’t death seekers...”
“Someone, assume command! We need to do something! Give out targets, or I’ll do it myself!”
“We need to retreat! We can’t pierce this citadel’s shield!”
“They lit up beacons! Estimated exit point: three leagues and twelve hours above us! They’re coming! Prepare yourselves!”
“No! Our guys are locked at the resp point! We need to rescue them!”
“We’ll die there together! Turn the ships around while you can!”
“Where the hell is Phantom?!”
Phantom didn’t even know how important he was to the alliance. He was the glue holding the players together, and his sudden exit paralyzed the alliance management. A furious argument in English, German, and Swedish broke out, quickly turning intense. The leaders of the main and the vassal clans couldn’t agree about future tactics. The chats and voice channels got swept up in a verbal altercation with the fleet receiving contradictory orders. Nobody had any idea what to do and to whom to listen.
“Hird, this is Hird! They’re mounting up!”
“Darwin’s down! What the hell is this? What are they using?”
“Gor here! Check! Second attack failed! We were immediately killed by True Fire. This is impossible! They’re cheating; we need to write a petition...”
“We’re in deep shit!” Jerkhan growled on the captain’s bridge of the Stormbringer. He kept turning around haphazardly, catching glimpses of the fiery chaos around and accurately recognizing it as a complete and total defeat. The interface showed the kill rating: soldiers and ships fell almost every second. Statistics were merciless: the Pandas had never taken a beating like that.
When two discharges from the fortress’ unknown weapon took down the Darwin, a legendary juggernaut and the first player-build ship of that class, for the first time in forever, the Steel Guard leader felt a chill inside. When the beams of the enemy Colossi and fire from their cannons crossed on Erebus, burning down its dome, he was still hoping for a miracle able to turn the tide of battle. After all, they were Pandas, the best warriors in Sphere of Worlds!
But when heavy harpoons carrying unwinding chains started grappling his ship, the silhouettes of the enemy squadron loomed just a short distance away, and two thousand of Gor’s troops perished in
