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[It seems like the first clash can be considered in favor of the royal family.]

[Sigh, after I saw how they killed their own soldiers, I really wanted them to get hit.]

[Madam Zosia truly has gotten outsmarted by commander Edward. She might be an Origin Bloodliner, but she is still too green in front of that monster.]

[If she can't even outsmart Edward, then how can she live up to Great Commander Hades and Emperor Rawal? You guys might not know but in front of those two, commander Edward still lacked a lot.]

After the failed attempt to return fire, the viewers couldn't help but express their frustration and disappointment in Zosia's leadership.

This was what Zosia meant. She knew that this failure would make her look like she wasn't a match to Emperor Rawal and the Great Commander Hades.

If she couldn't even defeat commander Edward, then the war would be extremely tough on the anti-royality alliance.

The generals, soldiers, workers, citizens of the alliance all were watching the stream and saw her screw up live.

The confidence they had in their army and their leader started to waver. The only way to restore it was by getting a major win and soon!

Unfortunately, commander Edward wasn't planning on giving Zosia the opportunity to redeem herself so soon.

He ordered everyone to retreat, forcing the alliance's warships to stop their attacks and return to the defensive station.

Their job was still to defend the wormhole and buy time until the reinforcement's arrival, not destroying as many warships as possible.

"F*ck, f*ck, f*ckkkkk!!" Gabriel cursed furiously as he watched the mother battalion pull further and further away from them.

"It seems like they want everyone to focus on our defeat." Maganda Chief's expression wasn't pleasant as well.

If the royal family continued attacking them, the viewers would soon forget about their defeat and focus on the ongoing battle.

However, now that they had left, they have given everyone plenty of time to write about this.

The media was sure going to write the hell out of this defeat.

"Ignore them for now. Just focus on repairing the station and keep your eyes open for sudden ambushes." Zosia requested, "Call me when you get an update."

After saying so, her holographic image flickered for half a second then went off.

Maganda Chief and the others warned them to stay alert as well and followed Zosia.

The director and the staff looked at each other for a few seconds in silence before restarting their rescue and repairing operation.

No one said anything about their defeat but most of them felt like it would have been better if Zosia never took over the leadership here...

***

A few weeks later...

The conflict in the Toppoki region had yet to emerge again after the 1st clash.

The royal family's supernova fleet stayed hundreds of kilometers away from the wormhole without showing any intention of restarting the conflict.

At least not a big one like the first clash.

In those few weeks, the only battles that were showcased were between small fleets, attempting to sneak a few hits before retreating.

Occasionally, they succeeded, and sometimes they end up intercepted and destroyed.

As for Zosia, she never returned to the defensive station again.

The public believed that she was affected heavily by the media's nasty coverage of her failure as they highlighted even further.

Some media platforms took a little far and twisted the facts to get more clicks.

Sure, the ones who knew the truth didn't believe the shit they were spewing and condemned them, but the ignorant viewers still took the bait.

Naturally, there were many media outlets that defended Zosia and condemned the royal family for striking down their own warships to hit the defensive station.

It was truly a sickening and vile decision.

The royal family had separated themselves from this sickening decision by claiming that commander Edward had acted on his own instead of following the emperor's orders.

Not many people believed their excuse since it was known fact that emperor Rawal abhorred having his orders ignored.

The fact that commander Edward just received a fine and remained in his position was an obvious proof that emperor Rawal had approved of his decision.

It didn't matter to the royal family if they believed it or not as long as they actively distance themselves from those sorts of atrocious decisions.

Was it worth it to go this far?

Seeing how Zosia's credibility had fallen inside and outside the army made it crystal clear that their strategy did its job.

[The reinforcement will arrive in a month at best. Aren't they being too easy going?]

    [Indeed, they should start their invasion as fast as possible and enter the wormhole. Otherwise, they will be forced to retreat to their region.]

    [It's not that easy. They had the perfect opportunity to destroy the defensive station and failed.]

The forums were packed with discussions about the ongoing war. Everyone believed that the royal family was wasting time.

If they refrained from attacking due to applying media pressure on Zosia, then they already succeed.

Yet, they were still hiding and sending only a few warships to poke around once in a while to keep the alliance on their toes.

Now, only a month remained before a supernova fleet arrives.

The worst part, it was actually a two-star supernova fleet. This entailed that they were triple the forces of the royal family's fleet!

Adding the five star nova fleet that was already here, It would be a one-sided slaughter.

To add more salt to the wound, even if they moved now and breached the wormhole, they would be blocked by the Maganda Tribe fleets from the other side!

[Honestly, their only solution is back off now. They already won the first round and there is no shame in walking away.]

[Agreed. The moment their disguise was exposed, they shouldn't have even continued on their mission.]

[Let's wait and see. There must be a reason why they are staying.]

If even forums dwellers noticed the abnormality of the royal family's decision, then the alliance's upper echelons could not miss it.

"Any news?" Zosia inquired from her assistant in the office.

"Nothing yet." The assistant disclosed, "We are doing our very best to comb the Toppoki region."

"Keep searching." Zosia murmured, "I have a feeling that they might have snuck other troops inside the region and hiding them in the darkness."

It was quite to pick a dark spot in space and hid within it.

As long as the anti-surveillance system was advanced and remained far from population, it would be extremely difficult to get located.

Since the Toppoki region wasn't a small one, there was a high chance that the royal family had used other illusion array to infiltrate the region and separate them.

One for distraction and the others biding for the appropriate opportunity to strike.

This would explain their confidence in taking things slow even though they knew that reinforcement was fast approaching.

'I can't fail again, I can't lose twice in a row.' Zosia stressed as she analyzed the holographic map of the Toppoki region.

Failing once could be excused but failing twice in a row? Ouff, in today's media, she would get crucified in public.

Naturally, no one would be able to remove her from the post besides the five elders.

But still, she would start struggling to have her orders followed. The generals would begin to question them and outright denying them.

She could punish a few to regain control, but she would be leading with fear instead of respect.

She didn't want that at all.

So, for the past weeks, she was pushing herself day and night to read the incoming data from her subordinates.

It didn't matter if the discoveries were big or small...She missed nothing.

Her persistence and handwork had finally paid off, when she read a report coming from Arrowfield Region.

This region was controlled by an annexed kingdom that was loyal to the royal family.

The report had come from one of their civilian insiders, who was working in the cafeteria of a space station near the capital planet.

'Two soldiers has mentioned that their turn is about to arrive?' Zosia frowned her eyebrows, 'Turn for what?'

Based on the report, the two soldiers switched to telepathic conversation after they brought out the subject.

The one who spoke looked around him with shifty eyes like he was worried that he was heard.

Since Zosia was grasping for any clue to figure out the royal family's hidden scheme, she didn't move to the next report but started to investigate this matter.

The first thing she did was bring out the old data for the annexed kingdom's troops. She placed the hologram on the right.

Then, she brought out the latest information that was updated just a few days ago and placed it to the left.

The moment she started comparing between them, she realized that more than 5% of their troops were missing!

Since they owned a two-star supernova fleet, it signified that more than fifty warships had gone missing.

A number that was not noticeable at all.

A number that would never rise concerns.

A number that could be considered as a joke when compared to the anti-royalty alliance fleet.

Yet, Zosia couldn't remove her eyes from this harmless number...Especially, when she connected the two soldiers' conversation with this missing five star fleet.

'Turn...Turn for what?' Zosia pondered, 'It's best to check other regions.. Maybe the results with match.'

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