What had made the vast majority of District 25's factions change their stance overnight?
The answer was brute force.
The technology to mass-produce Tactical Mecha landed like a heavy punch, forcing even the factions that had planned to wait and see to declare their positions. Revealing what could be called one of the Federation's core technologies might not have been a literal fist the size of a sandbag, but it was at least a powerful enough deterrent to silence everyone.
Even if the Alt Conglomerate had wanted to stop such momentous news from spreading, it would have struggled to do so... After all, getting every faction in the united front to acknowledge the Alt Conglomerate's leadership of the alliance meant letting the news circulate within a small circle first. Given its importance, even that limited circulation would gradually expand until the news got out everywhere.
Of course, the Alt Conglomerate had no intention of stopping the news from spreading. For one thing, suppressing it at the source would have cost too much. For another, there was no need.
A show of force to allies also served as a deterrent to enemies. If it made Dorothy more cautious, it would give the Alt Conglomerate another opportunity to consolidate its resources.
Meanwhile, Carol was rather late to hear the news.
When she received it, Carol was still wavering. To some extent, the Arbitration Bureau's position would determine District 25's fate as well. Under normal circumstances, the Arbitration Bureau would inevitably side with the Federation.
But the current Federal Parliament clearly could not be judged by normal standards. Carol did not want the work she had poured her entire life into to become collateral damage in an ambitious schemer's pursuit of power.
Inside the Arbitration Bureau.
Carol stared with a headache at