Under what circumstances could a group of factions that cared only about profit be brought together?
The answer was when they felt their interests might suffer.
External pressure, the news the Alt Conglomerate had deliberately sensationalized, and the alliance of shared interests Jonas had already formed around Virtual Reality all played a crucial role at this moment.
With this alliance in place, Jonas was spared the tedious process of persuading each faction individually.
Of course, even with the alliance already established, they still faced a serious problem.
Who would lead it?
The Alt Conglomerate had held the leading position in the previous alliance built around Virtual Reality because that technology was the foundation of their shared interests. As its developer, the Alt Conglomerate naturally deserved to take the lead.
But now, the alliance was founded on resisting the Federation's invasion. In other words, anyone who wanted to lead it needed overwhelming military strength-at least on the Arbitration Bureau's level-to convince everyone beyond a doubt.
The Alt Conglomerate had to demonstrate military power worthy of its leading position, or this issue would inevitably create new rifts within the alliance.
So what had Jonas never shown the outside world?
-The answer was the Tactical Mecha force that had remained hidden within the Alt Conglomerate all along.
With technology from the predecessor civilization, reproducing the latest generation of Tactical Mecha was hardly difficult.
In fact, his earlier back-and-forth with Carol had served two purposes: reducing unexpected complications in their cooperation, and preparing for the current situation.
Buying Tactical Mecha from the Arbitration Bureau was no simple matter. The technology was controlled exclusively by the Federation, and within District 25, only the Arbitration Bureau possessed its core technology.
The other factions either had the mass-production technology for obsolete, previous-generation Tactical Mecha, or had