Chapter 290

Chapter 290. The Empire’s Three(?) Divisions. (3)

Anyway, from the very beginning, Humanity’s goal was to weed out the forces of potential traitors who were likely to engage in slander and betrayal.

It was also about purging the ranks along with the executives who had been itching to take them down for a while.

First, they provoked the incompetent but hardworking executives, pushing them to recklessly charge forward and rapidly deplete their forces.

Once the traitors or spies, whose strength had significantly weakened, contacted their affiliated Loki Clan, prompting Loki to intervene.

But just Loki’s intervention wasn’t enough to make things messy, so they subtly leaked information to Justice, ensuring they would intervene simultaneously.

-“Help!!!”

-“LOL, they’re pushing from both sides, what can we do? GG.”

Under the guise of this “righteous cause,” they naturally ground down the forces of the purge list members and then calmly ordered a retreat.

Of course, the purge only applied to those who deserved it.

The rest of the general clan members and the so-called loyalist sub-clans were quietly allowed to reap the spoils of the invasion.

==========

But this was far from the end of Antares and the leadership’s “Heart-Pounding Spy Extermination Operation”…

Naturally, the “failure” of this invasion had to be shouldered by the Humanity executive who led the operation.

—————————————-

<Humanity Clan Official Chat Room>

-“Wait, I just did what I was told!”

-“Stop talking nonsense, you were the one who pushed forward when we told you to work hard, right?”

-“LOLOLOLOLOLOL”

-“We turned a blind eye to your incompetence and even spoon-fed you with a massive number of users, and you still managed to mess it up?”

-“Idiot.”

-“Just leave, you’re hopeless.”

-“Honestly, leaving now would be the best move for you…”

—————————————-

The individual, who had already accumulated a mountain of past misdeeds, was subjected to a “public group execution” in the official chat room and was ultimately expelled from the clan.

As for the other members of the purge list, whose forces had been weakened due to the reckless offensive…

—————————————-

<Humanity Clan Real Official Chat Room>

<Global Notice: List of those who tried to backstab us by contacting Loki and other clans during this invasion.txt>

<Global Notice: These guys' forces are severely weakened, and the Clan Leader has disabled gallery and chat functions with admin privileges.>

-“What’s this?”

-“Wait, there were that many spies?”

-“Is it because we’re so huge that the scale of spies is also legendary?”

-“It’s not just spies, but also those who colluded with other clans or just caused chaos.”

-“Ah, I see.”

-“So, what are we supposed to do with this?”

-“Their fleets got wiped out in this invasion, so we’re supposed to go and raid them, right?”

-“Oh.”

—————————————-

While the purge of the executive who led the reckless offensive made Humanity seem like they were trying to appease the rest, they secretly issued orders through a separate chat room, instructing unlimited raids against the weakened purge list targets…

Most users, who had gained nothing from the invasion and lost a ton of fleets, returned to their bases in tatters, only to be ambushed and destroyed by the purge fleets.

Except for a few users who survived by swearing sincere loyalty, the rest of the purge list members were utterly annihilated.

Of course, those who were treated this way weren’t going to sit still. They immediately began lamenting their fate or trying to expose the “truth” about Humanity…

—————————————-

<System Error: Access Denied>

<You currently do not have access to the 'Gallery' and 'Chat Room' functions within the Community System.>

—————————————-

-“What the hell?!”

-“Admiiiiiiiiin!!!!!”

As mentioned earlier, all community-related functions had been preemptively blocked by Antares.

The poor purge targets—spies, traitors, and even the extreme anti-Antares factions—were completely crushed by Humanity.

Of course, even after the maximum 15-day user ban expired, it remained to be seen whether they could contain the outbursts of thousands of users…

Hmm, doubts and questions…

—————————————-

-[LOLOLOLOLOL in 2 weeks, public opinion manipulation will be done before those guys even do anything LOLOLOLOLOL]

-[LOLOLOLOLOL]

-[True]

—————————————-

Countermeasures were also somewhat prepared.

Weak spies (and other miscellaneous folks) were crushed without even putting up a proper organized resistance, disappearing without a trace.

==========

Meanwhile, within the highest ranks of Humanity, voices of concern were emerging over such a ruthless and thorough purge process.

Of course, it wasn’t about feeling sorry for the purge targets or anything trivial like that…

“But if we do this, won’t we be short on power when the Earth Federation stages a coup later?”

“A very interesting opinion.”

The concern shared by Humanity’s top brass was about the potential power shortage for the “Earth Federation coup.”

However, regarding their concerns, Antares and the closest advisors reassured them that it wouldn’t be a big issue.

“Think about it, wouldn’t the number of people who might stab us in the back during a coup actually decrease?”

“Hmm…”

“Well, that’s true.”

“The power of potential traitors has decreased, while the power of the so-called ‘loyalists’ has increased. So, in reality, this operation is a huge win…”

“Oh, I see.”

It felt a bit like a bait-and-switch, but it wasn’t exactly wrong.

The concerned executives nodded in agreement to the explanation provided by the advisors.

“Well, it’s not wrong.”

“The Earth Federation’s power is also subtly increasing, so there’s no reason to keep thousands of potential traitors around.”

“The reason we haven’t been able to stage a coup yet, even with over 50,000 registered users, is obvious.”

“Hmm, interesting.”

As they began mass-producing cruisers, battleships, and carriers, their numbers grew.

The Earth Federation, though not as strong as their user base, wasn’t just sitting idle like a fallen nation in some 4X strategy game.

To counter the growing power, it was inevitable to eliminate the discontented early on.

==========

And so, while the Humanity Clan was happily and cheerfully carrying out their great purge…

The southern part of the Xenobia Empire, now virtually a no-man’s-land except for a few edges, had descended into utter chaos.

In the areas where Justice was present, they had only brought their main fleet to counter Humanity’s invasion.

But since users in the nearby regions thought it was better to submit to Justice than to be crushed by Humanity, they quickly and voluntarily surrendered, avoiding major chaos.

—————————————-

-[Welcome to Justice]

-[Justice welcomes you ^^]

-[Weren’t you guys just saying a few days ago that Justice was too uptight and you didn’t like them?]

-[SHUT!!!! UP!!!!]

-[It’s fascinating how naturally they’re aiming for the kill, seriously]

-[So, would you rather be crushed by Humanity?]

-[Nah, not really]

—————————————-

Thanks to this, what was supposed to be just a move to counter Humanity turned into an opportunity for Justice to expand their influence.

And since they had no intention of expanding deep into the Xenobia Empire’s territory, they didn’t force anyone who didn’t want to join, so…

Except for the initial chaos, things stabilized faster than expected.

But elsewhere…

Namely, where the Magellan Clan, which had risen after pulling down Latun Water, was located, things were a complete mess…