‘They have WHAT?’ Black almost choked on her coffee.

  ‘Well, it's right here!’ Lady Evelyne slipped her a colourful advertising brochure that she had just found in the letterbox. The cover picture showed several very happy-looking people hugging each other and gazing into the distance together. The sun could be seen behind them, framing the whole group like a halo.

  ‘They've formed a SECT?’ Black was still stunned.

  ‘Well, they call it a church. It says so right here,’ Lady Evelyne repeated patiently. ‘It says: ‘Come to us and experience light, love and peace! The Church of Synergy offers all lost souls a home and the experience of a true family. With us, you will feel at home and find your true purpose in a circle of like-minded people. We grow our own vegetables, farm all day and have a lot of real fun doing it. Our mild and kind leader Sloth will welcome you with open arms, our two high priestesses Stabbyunicorn and Kir Bear will introduce you to the blessings of our community. Come and join us, become a member of the Church of Synergy!"’

  Lady Evelyne turned the brochure over. ‘Oh, there's some small print here. ‘Participation in all group-dynamic and therefore totally emotionally valuable events is compulsory. Personal property is transferred to the community. If you don't come to us, we'll come to you. We will bring light, love and peace to the entire GW map by force if necessary.’ - Well, my dear, the small print is a declaration of war. But the rest sounds really nice. Don't you think? They seem like very nice people, I don't know what you have against them.’

  Black was still coughing.

  Then she gasped: ‘So it says they're coming to us, does it? Tomorrow is MD. Are they going to ring our doorbell and tell us about light, love and peace? And then give us funny, colourful missionary magazines?’

  ‘Looks like it, yes,’ giggled Lady Evelyne. ‘But it also says: they only come to us if we don't come to them!’

  Black stood up and pulled out a knife. ‘Well, that's all right then. I've got to get going. See you later, my dear!’

  ________________________________________________

  All hell broke loose on the battlefield. With several cities involved, it was damn hard to keep track of everything. From RxW and RXD, some were poaching on the 656 front, others in the 641, and the 642 also got in on the action. Thunder had framed his underworld castle with cherry blossoms and decorated it nicely so that it still looked cute and not too scary. He thought it looked very harmonious together and made a very likeable impression overall.

  The Church of Synergy had set off in an orderly formation, laden with crates of missionary magazines as an extra boost. Sloth was still full of anger about the lost CVC, and this holy rage overshadowed everything and motivated his followers immensely. It was clear: today they would not be the victims of victim bashing! At least not all the time. Or not at all times. Or at least - well, sometimes not. Because light, love and peace were with them!

  The first door the screened members of the Church of Synergy knocked on was at the clan castle of the 642. Majk Mafos of [cAS] opens the door. ‘Yes please?’

  The next moment, a fist hit him in the face and a voice thundered: ‘Light! Love! And peace, brother! If you do not become a believer, we will destroy you!’

  Afterwards, two Synergetics dumped a whole box of mission magazines on the dazed Majk Mafos, who could only stammer: ‘Oh my God! So much love here!’

  Satisfied with the great mission success, the Synergetics now had more confidence in themselves and set off for the 652.

  __________________________________________

  ‘They're attacking on the tiles!’ wailed Leader Shaima of [TTH] in 642.

  ‘Who?’ asked the others in the SC in astonishment, ’the 652? The 641?’

  ‘No!’ wailed Shaima, ‘’our own inhabitants! [AOL]!’

  ‘That's gay!’ roared the donkey.

  ‘I'm really sorry,’ MightyGuySensei tried to console Shaima, ’I'm not behind it...’

  ‘Yes, because you're gay!’ roared the donkey.

  ‘There really should be rules.’

  ‘Rules are even gayer!’

  ‘You're ducks!’ quacked Just Nakash in between.

  The donkey angrily kicked out with its hind hooves, narrowly missing Just Nakash. ‘Shut the fuck up, you Temu donkey! You cheap copy!’

  ‘We're leaving town after GW,’ Shaima announced bitterly.

  cCc Negan from [AOL] rolled his eyes. ‘Finally. Thank you. Do that, please.’

  _________________________________________

  ‘You should be ashamed of yourselves!’ Lil Arrow shouted from a safe distance from the 641 clan castle, ’You keep attacking on grey! Always using UB trappers! Always ruining the game for others!’

  ‘Who let him out?’ asked Boboo in amazement, ’didn't they forbid him to join in?’

  ‘No, that was Shiva... Shiva just got punched in the face on 643 too, have you seen? He was zeroed by JiveTurkey from [DS8],’ Devi replied.

  Boboo chuckled, ‘Is there a single situation where Shiva didn't get zeroed?’

  ‘And you're always making fun of other players! Here we go again!' Lil Arrow shouted some more, ’that's because you're miserable clowns! You're not intellectually capable of taking the game seriously at all!’

  Marzzzz raised his eyebrows. ‘I draw attention to the fact that one person absolutely must be zeroed.’

  Boboo winked at Marzzzz: ‘I'll take care of that.’

  And while Boboo zeroed Lil Arrow, the Church of Synergy had finally reached its destination: the arsenal captured by Ghost from RXD.

  ____________________________________________

  Ghost had been distracted for a moment.

  Lil Arrow's shouting had thrown him off his stride.

  ‘What's that guy shouting about?’ he asked the R4 standing next to him.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He listened and pondered for himself. ‘I don't know...’ He yelled over to the 641's clan castle, ’Lil Arrow, what did you just say?’

  ‘I said that you all and RxW always attack others to get buildings! And then you always get the buildings while the other faction collects the buildings, and then...’

  There was a crash as if from a violent explosion, and that was the last thing to be heard from Lil Arrow that day.

  ‘I've lost brain cells listening to that freak's prattle!’ moaned Ghost, ’It happens to me every damn time! I shouldn't listen to him anymore... oh. Damn... what's that?’

  A heavy pounding of several fists could be heard at the door.

  ‘Open up! This is the Church of Synergy! We bring the message of light, love and peace! To you too!’

  Ghost and his R4 looked at each other. ‘Shit!’

  ____________________________________

  ‘I haven't finished my popcorn yet!’ shouted Kitana Rage from 656, ’what's going on down there?’

  There was a lot going on. Black and her raid team were getting stressed.

  ‘Speed, we've got to save Ghost's arse! They're attacking on grey!’

  Benexi's eyes widened. ‘Amazing! 641 is attacking? That's something we haven't seen in all of GW1!’

  ‘A blind hen sometimes finds a grain!’ grinned Hen Solo.

  ‘This chicken thing is driving me nuts,’ growled Sloth, ’that's the only reason I'm even here!’

  Benexi's eyes widened even further. ‘Oh, I thought it was because of the message of light, love and peace?’

  ‘That's why!’ Sloth pulled out a mission magazine. ‘Would you like one before we dump the rest over Ghost's head so he understands our message?’

  _______________________________________

  The raid team worked quickly and effectively. Yume from the Synergetics, who sat in the armoury as Raid Lead, didn't stand a chance. The encounters came in such quick succession and were so hard that she knew she would lose.

  For a brief moment, she almost succumbed to the temptation to escape the situation. But that wasn't why she had come here. Not to flee. Not to leave the battlefield dishonourably. She had already been hit hard by the first raids of Black and now saw the last raid of Biochest approaching. It was the end. But only the end of the battle. Not the end of honour. The little Japanese girl stood up proudly. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and drew both knives. With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath. Then she faced the attack.

  ________________________________________

  Thunder Devi had taken over the Arsenal with an elegant sweep of his hand and was just settling in when a small Japanese girl appeared next to him. He couldn't even say ‘oops’ before she had already trapped him, and the next moment the Triple Raid was running towards his house.

  Thunder Devi cursed. As a true Thunder brother, he was too drunk to really notice everything around him, but it was clear that he was now in a quandary. His UB was stuck in the Arsenal, his house was a sitting duck. What now?

  Even when drunk, there was no question what to prioritise. The faction. Always the faction. It was above any self-interest. Each of them was prepared to die for the faction if necessary.

  Sighing, Thunder Devi pulled out his precious T4 to save it at least, and then sacrificed himself for the community.

  The Triple Raid rolled in with the force of a tsunami.

  ‘Light!’ roared Insane Wayne.

  ‘Love!’ shouted Jan.

  ‘Peace!’ thundered Sloth like the Last Judgement itself. And all three struck at the same time. Thunder Devi fell over like a cone.

  ________________________________________

  ‘Quick, we've got to dig him out!’ shouted Scappy, trying to shovel aside the piles of missionary magazines under which Thunder Devi had been buried.

  Taste, who had run with her to the Arsenal, hurriedly helped her.

  At last, the lifeless body of Thunder Devi emerged. Tears welled up in Taste's eyes. ‘Is he still breathing? Is he dead?’

  ‘I'm not dead,’ muttered Thunder Devi, ’but you could still give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.’

  ‘Oh, you bastard!’ cried Taste, ’We were worried about you, and you're only thinking of one thing again!’

  Thunder Devi picked himself up with a grin. ‘It wasn't that bad. A bit of T2 and T3 broken, all good. But can I still get mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?’

  _______________________________________

  ‘I want a sexy triple attack like that too!’ moaned Black, ‘why can't I get it? I mean, Sloth is such a ladyboy, no nonsense, loverboy, no crap, ladykiller... he could really defend his women like a gentleman and come at me, couldn't he?’

  ‘Guys, what's going on in Arsenal II?’ shouted Lipsyte, ’look at this!’

  Everyone rushed to the window with binoculars and onto the heights.

  ‘Oh shit... the Church of Synergy is trying to proselytise Mr Trump!’

  ‘This is going wrong... oh, this is going wrong...’ the Thunder brothers giggled with anticipation, boxing each other aside to get the best vantage point.

  In fact, the Church of Synergy troop had now arrived at the 642's Arsenal and were trying to sell the mission magazines to the AOL members there. When nobody answered their knock, they simply set fire to a few AOL houses.

  Mr Trump made short work of it. He swapped places in the arsenal with Miss Laura and then, without hesitation, burnt all the missionary magazines and the missionaries with them.

  ‘Oooooh,’ Marzzzz sighed with pleasure, ’I love it. Trump just says to himself, fuck the arsenal, burn them all!’

  ‘Burn them all!’ roared the Thunder brothers, ’can't we recruit him? He'd be a good fit for us!’

  ‘We're still the best,’ cursed the Synergetics, who hurriedly fled, ’the behaviour of the other cities only shows that they're afraid of us!’

  ___________________________________________

  ‘I'd really like a triple raid on me too!’ shouted Marzzzz outside on the battlefield in the direction of the Synergetics. ‘I'll take some of your mission journals off your hands and read them too! Honestly!’

  ‘Whoops!’ shouted Black, ’why does that work for you and not for me? Why are you being attacked and I'm not? That's so unfair!’

  ‘Ewww,’ grumbled Marzzzz, ’I wasn't actually prepared for this - heck, screw it! Come here, you bastards!’

  With a cry of rage, he drew his sword and sprinted towards the attackers.

  They formed up quickly to form a triple raid. And then it rolled again, the tsunami.

  ‘Light!’ roared Insane Wayne.

  ‘Love!’ shouted Jan.

  ‘Peace!’ thundered Sloth. Immediately afterwards there were three crashes. And then there was icy silence on the battlefield.

  Scappy and Taste ran as fast as they could to the spot where they had last seen Marzzzz. This time it was even worse than with Thunder Devi, because the Synergetics hadn't just dumped their mission journals all over Marzzzz.

  ‘They've stuck them to him with superglue!’ shouted Scappy in horror, ’He looks like a chicken full of feathers! Those bastards have stuck their advertising leaflets all over him!’

  Taste had thrown herself over the unconscious Marzzzz and covered him with a thousand kisses.

  ‘Oh please, come back to yourself! Please please, don't be dead!’

  Marzzzz, who was trying to look as lifeless as possible, couldn't help but grin. It was worth taking a triple raid for that alone! These reactions from the women in the faction were simply priceless!

  He struggled to get to his feet and had Taste and Scappy help him.

  He looked down at himself in confusion. Pictures of happy people holding each other in their arms and framed by the sunlight like a halo were stuck to him. ‘Come to the Church of Synergy,’ he read, ’and what does it say? The mild and kind leader Sloth will embrace you...’

  Angrily, he turned towards the 641: ‘Well, by “mild” and “kind” I mean something else!’

  ‘So what? Live with it or die with it! After all, I can feel your breath on my neck all the time, now give me a treat!’ Sloth shouted back.

  ‘You can only throw mission magazines!’

  ‘And you can only throw credit cards!’

  ‘It's not our fault if you don't have credit cards!’

  ‘Cry!’

  ‘Hey!’ roared Kodaxx, ‘That's my words! Stop stealing my words right now! I've already said that several times!’

  ‘And who cares?’ shouted Sloth angrily, ’nobody!’

  ‘You're not the original!’ raged Kodaxx, ’You're a cheap copy! You Temu-Kodaxx!’

  ______________________________________

  ‘Is everyone finished now?’ asked Lipsyte, exasperated.

  ‘I hope so,’ replied Devi. With a quick movement, he removed trayamukri3 from [SY0], who was hanging on his leg like an angry little barker and had been swearing at him furiously since returning from the battlefield.

  ‘You bastard! You arsehole! You motherfucker!’ howled trayamukri.

  He jumped straight back at Devi's leg and raged on and on.

  A quick shove put him at a distance again, and although no one responded to him, trayamukri continued to scream.

  DmenAce pushed himself away from the wall he had been leaning against with an elegant movement. ‘I draw your attention to the fact that one person absolutely must be zeroed.’

  Devi laughed and blew trayamukri up with a single snap of his fingers. ‘And now what?’

  ‘Now comes the rest,’ DmenAce declared nonchalantly.

  ‘Yeah,’ agreed Lipsyte calmly. ‘Now we'll clean up.’

  And that's exactly what they did.

  ______________________________________

  That evening, two bonfires of honour burned in the courtyards of the respective clan castles of 641 and 652.Two bonfires for two members who had sacrificed themselves for the others on this MD.

  ‘For Yume,’ Sloth said solemnly, scattering two handfuls of Synergy-blessed herbs into the bonfire.

  ‘For Thunder Devi!’ roared the Thunder brothers and poured a lot of beer and liquor into the flames.

  The sparks from the two fires rose into the air, and as they reached high enough in the night sky, they joined together to form a single glowing circle of fire.