"At least they're still alive," Alpha said. "As long as they're alive, there's still hope."
At the same time, the thirty thousand Neutral Faction members who had been watching from the sidelines were making their choices.
After seeing the truth announcement personally released by Zeus, the technical director of the transmission nodes pressed the loyalty button with almost no hesitation. The announcement laid out Lord of the Void's scheme in detail, displayed the stripped Consciousness Seeds, and included Zeus's sincere repentance and promises.
The deputy director of the energy station hesitated for three seconds.
He remembered the things he had done against his conscience while under control, the regions plunged into darkness when energy supplies were forcibly cut off, and the soldiers who had been unable to teleport to safety because of his orders.
In the end, he too chose the Awakening Faction.
The statistics climbed at a dizzying pace.
Within ten minutes, twenty-seven thousand Neutral Faction members had sided with the Awakening Faction. They had not done so out of blind faith, but because they had seen the truth, felt Zeus's sincerity, and understood that continued hesitation would only let Lord of the Void succeed.
The remaining three thousand chose to resign and retire.
They no longer wanted to be dragged into any conflict or take part in any battle. Most of them were technicians or logistics personnel. They only wanted to get away from this war and spend the rest of their lives somewhere peaceful.
The balance of power within the Alliance became clear in an instant.
Awakening Faction: forty-seven thousand members, controlling every key department of the Alliance.
Void Faction: five thousand members, isolated within spatial prisons.
Retirement Faction: three thousand members, already gone or in the process of completing their resignations.
And twenty thousand more had