The entire instance world was in a frozen state, including the player factions who were currently traveling to Planet Leia aboard various cosmic shuttles.
Only Cheng Tian and Irene's group remained mobile.
In the original storyline, this mastermind behind the scenes was actually the ultimate main mission objective for the Earth Federation players. However, things changed when Cheng Tian intervened.
Although the mastermind remained the same, the plot was thoroughly muddled. Even if not overtly shown, the Blood Armor Squad's resolve was inevitably shaken.
Conversely, the Earth Federation players had their final main storyline BOSS indirectly hijacked by Cheng Tian. Their original ultimate mission line was cut short. However, once Cheng Tian and his team completed their settlement, they could still attempt to defeat Azrael.
As for the two remaining players who originally belonged to the Leia Revolutionary Army, they received a special, lossless faction transfer opportunity because the mastermind was completely eliminated. They were only allowed to transfer to Azrael's Resistance.
After all, strictly speaking, they had only had an indirect, side encounter with Cheng Tian and no conflict with their nominal leader, Azrael.
Of course, this also had nothing to do with Cheng.
Without suspense, the scenes broadcast in the sky still focused on Cheng.
First, he encountered the opposing side on the battlefield, raising his laser sword to summon the Silver Gates Guard to charge.
Then, he controlled the Octopus Mech to confront the Blood Armor Squad in New York City, with the Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers collapsing in the background.
Next, at the abandoned factory, he forcibly seized the Radar by using the Ten Commandments + Chariot Matrix's internal displacement method.
The final scene showed him standing next to a metal sphere, with the blood-red, highlighted character "sky" (Heaven) on the back of the Zero Gouki.
[Beginning Instance Settlement.]
[Instance Scenario: Armored Warrior
Instance Difficulty: C+
Main Quest: "Peace Treaty Breaker" — Team Quest. Eliminate the "Mastermind" and prevent the base spaceship from ascending and escaping Planet Leia. Completed √.
Side Quest: "Rescue Imprisoned Leians" — Team Quest. Rescue as many Leians as possible and ensure their survival. Completed √. A total of 427 Leians rescued, team gains 42700 Heaven's Chosen Coins.
Holy Grail Mission: "Equipment Master" — Team Quest. Accumulatively used a total of 16 types of mech parts. (9/16). Partially Completed √.
"Blood Armor Squad" — Team Quest. Engage at least 3 members of the Blood Armor Squad and defeat them. (1/3). Partially Completed √.
Non-Quest Plot Summary: Activated and joined the third faction "Azrael's Resistance", seized the hostile player mech "Metroid", seized the King of Land Warfare "Radar", killed 1 player from another faction, used the fantasy mech "Zero Gouki" to perform one "Shungokusatsu", ensured Azrael's survival while eliminating the Mastermind..
Instance Achievements/Titles: Cockpit Striker / Mech Pilot Killer (Blue), Whitewashing Azrael / Persuader (Purple), Are You Kidding Me!? / Enemy of America (Gold), Wasteland Bounty Hunter's H&M / Chariot Collector (Purple / Advanced), Zero Gouki Mech Soul Delighted / Steel Intent to Kill (Purple)
Quest Completion: 140%
Scenario Exploration: 80%
Instance Settlement Rating: S
Clearance Settlement Rewards: 15 Free Attribute Points; 6 Free Skill Points; 4.5W Heaven's Chosen Coins (Main Quest Commission) + 5000 (Bounty Target — Female Iron Blood Hyena) + 8000 (Bounty Target — Repartos) + 3W (Bounty Target — Mastermind) + 21350 (Hostage Rescue) = 109350. Mastermind drops Gold Treasure Chest * 1 (Team Quest Treasure Chest).
Mechs Carried Out of Instance Settlement: Gates LB Aoko (Damaged), Fody-style Metroid, Octopus Mech Agomis, King of Land Warfare Radar, Civil Engineering Jager, Transformable Helicopter Helion (Damaged), Mobile Giant Scorpion Skitter (Damaged), Autonomous Mech Blind Engineer (Damaged).]
[Under your interference, the mastermind behind the Leia Revolutionary Army, the "Mastermind", was eliminated, and "Azrael," who was supposed to die in the original storyline, survived and subsequently gained control over the remaining Leia Revolutionary Army.
From then on, the Leia Revolutionary Army and Azrael's Resistance fully merged and were renamed "Leia Principality Revival Army," dedicated to continuing to resist the Earth Federation's colonial invasion and the overall revival plan for Planet Leia.]
[Based on your military merits and achievements in this mission, the faction leader "Azrael" granted you a mech shipping service. You can select up to 4 mechs (with optional accessories) to be freely mailed to your personal space.]
[Your "Armored Warrior" related experiences have been archived.]
[The normal storyline of Armored Warrior concludes here, but a new worldline will extend from it. In the future, you will encounter various crossovers that fit the "Armored Warrior" worldview, such as "Super Robot Wars." At that time, your reputation with the Armored Warrior instance's related factions will be preserved.]
[You have gained the qualification to return to Heaven's Chosen Space at any time, and you can also stay in the current instance for a maximum of 24 hours.]
[When you leave the instance, the settlement for Game Expert will immediately proceed.]
A huge harvest!
Not only did the large number of attribute and skill points make Cheng Tian feel comfortable, but the numerous mech collectibles listed in the settlement also made him beam with joy, unable to close his mouth.
Just imagining the neat display of tanks and mechs in his space's collection corner, Cheng Tian's expression twisted in an uncontrollable way.
If he had to find fault, it was probably the excessive number of damaged mechs... but that was normal. Except for the Radar, which was seized undamaged, all others were violently plundered. It was already lucky that they weren't blown up.
In fact, if these mechs had been destroyed normally, Cheng Tian would have received corresponding bounty rewards, but the money from bounty rewards would not have been enough to buy a mech of the same model.
Now, Cheng Tian's Void Garage has been upgraded along with the title. Theoretically, as long as the idle time is long enough, any highly damaged mech will receive basic repairs.
Cheng Tian checked, the garage's repairs could not restore damaged parts, nor would it replenish ammunition loss, but even so, it could save Cheng Tian a lot of money.
8 parking spaces... No, he had to reserve space #1 for Mammoth, so the recovery efficiency for 7 parking spaces was quite high.
This at least prevented Cheng Tian's money from flying away as soon as he got it.
At the same time, Cheng Tian's high attribute settlement for this time was also simultaneously settled on Bazett and Utan.
Utan, being very independent, didn't require Cheng Tian's worry. Bazett, however, had already approached him very consciously, proactively asking Cheng Tian how to allocate her points.