The military's reaction to Feng Yi's defeat was unexpected yet also within reason. Margaret was a mental ability user, and opinions on the outcome varied depending on who you asked. It wasn't that Feng Yi was incompetent, but rather he had faced with a counter-attacking opponent. In summary, this was the best excuse that the military could find for itself.

Although Feng Yi performed poorly in the later half of the game, the Diya alliance didn't view it that way. Instead, their evaluation of him was surprisingly high and nothing but praise. Even at the end, he never abandoned the fight, which magnified the alliance's excellent tradition of resisting to the death. As a result, the Diya alliance even awarded him with a Marhaf Resistance Medal.

The story of the Marhaf Medal takes us back to over 200 years ago during the founding period of the Diya alliance. Marhaf was then a low-ranking soldier, who was promoted to corporal at the age of 18. During one battle, nearly all soldiers in his squad died except for this clever soul. Due to his effective disguise and extraordinary luck, he managed to survive the enemy's body inspection process after the carnage.

Marhaf knew that his mission wasn't yet over. As a soldier, his dream was to become a general and return home with honor. Their belief indicated that they had to counter-attack. So, not long after the surviving enemy forces left, Marhaf started his unplanned honorable action.

The process of troop evacuation was a relatively slow one. Marhaf, hunkered down in the trench, disguised himself as a dead body. He made sure to selectively eliminate the few enemy soldiers passing by the trench, one by one. Lastly, he exposed himself and was shot in the chest by a bullet from a distance.

Not long after, Marhaf chose to stand up again. After taking down two enemy soldiers, he collapsed once more, this time hit by three simultaneous bullets. The enemy soldiers clearly saw his gruesome state and were convinced he was dead. But soon after, he got up again, and finally fell after being hit by over a dozen bullets.

By this point, the backup forces from our side had started their rescue operation and the enemy soldiers scattered seeing the situation. At this moment, Marhaf stood up once more. Though he had almost bled out, he persisted until the end using sheer willpower. But his attempt to get up only led to him being blown away by a shell fired by a friendly troop.

The beautiful paramedics rushed forward to save him, but were unable to do so. It was a pity, as one could clearly see on the satellite images how Marhaf repeatedly fell and got back up bravely.

Regardless of the source of Marhaf's courage to persist till the very end, the top brass was quite puzzled about how he kept getting back up. When his wounds were examined, they discovered something astounding. Of the total 32 bullets and 262 pieces of shrapnel in his body, none had struck his heart or major arteries. Though many had penetrated his internal organs, none were immediately fatal. His miraculous survival left everybody in awe.

However, in the end, Marhaf did not survive. His cause of death was his organs being shattered by the shell, which was indeed the greatest tragedy in human life. The Resistance Medal seemed to bear a taste of foolishness. However, Feng Yi was surprisingly awarded with a Marhaf Resistance Medal.

On the other hand, the reception towards Margaret dressed in black Lolita was completely opposite. She was awarded the Bloodthorn Medal. The stark contrast between the two created a metaphorical chasm. The Marhaf Resistance Medal was seen as a failure whereas Margaret truly embodied honor. It was nothing less than a strategy by the Diya alliance to highlight Margaret against Feng Yi.

The Federal was very bitter. Not even a minute after Feng Yi logged off, a censure from the Military Department's Heavenly Communication had already come slamming down, demanding a review of no less than 2000 words.

As for Margaret, after defeating Feng Yi and taking a morning break, she continued to rack up victories, swiftly breaking through her opponents. After 20 rounds of elimination matches, she made her way onto the shortlist.

In the meanwhile, other major arenas were also heavily contested. The eighth arena was the slowest to progress. After the 12 rounds of elimination matches, Elvis and Xia Xinru lost their matches due to failures in teamwork, despite hastily forming a duo. If it were a one-on-one fight, Elvis could easily win, but team fights required coordination.

Poor Feng Yi decided to spend a little money to buy a virtual drink in the game to watch and cheer for the others. But to his surprise, he found that Marhaf's spirit seemed contagious. Xia Xinru, who had been playing defensively, sneezed unaccountably. Her mecha stumbled, and her hand slipped causing the laser to stray and hit Elvis' knee joint.

The battle ended less than two minutes later. Xia Xinru was full of remorse. Afterwards, upon discussing the situation, the two discovered that their experiences had been eerily identical. Something fishy was definitely going on. They felt it was extremely unlucky.

In the third arena, Amelia and Sheng Qiangwei faced no such obstacles. Their mech configurations were even above the Six-winged Angel. After a few rounds of overpowering opponents, the sister duo had already become big names in their division. These two conceptual mech models could run, fight, fly and even go underwater. It was like a weapon of total destruction for second-tier experts. All they needed to do was set voice commands for the combat device, and the mech automatically locked and attacked targets. Its maximum computer limit was 300 card movements per second, which was nearly red cloak level.

During the post-match interview, the commentary asked if they had ever considered their opponents' feelings.

Emily simply lowered her head and remained silent, looking like an unassuming, quiet flower.

Sheng Qiangwei, however, showed her strength as the president of the martial arts club. With her hair flowing around her, she coldly stated that she never considered her opponents' feelings. Instead, she proceeded to mention that her guild, the Rose Guild, was recruiting new members. With a gentle smile, she welcomed all players to join and highlighted the numerous benefits the guild offered. But, she emphasized, the spots available were limited, and urged anyone interested to apply immediately.

This... This wasn't a post-match interview. It was a blatant advertisement! Not long after the interview ended, the Star Wars company's official website quickly added a new rule: all players were prohibited from advertising during the whole people's competition or participating in any business-related activities.

But the advertisement had already been made, and the Rose Guild instantly became popular. Sheng Qiangwei was no fool. As soon as she logged off, she used all her in-game funds to expand the guild. When necessary, she borrowed from friends. Friends that she knew and those that she didn't know, everyone came forward to join. The number of players applying would best be described as in the thousands. In a matter of minutes, this small guild formed by a handful of people rapidly evolved into a super army capable of competing with any powerful force in Star Wars.

Feng Yi, Emily, and Sheng Qiangwei still had subsequent battles to fight, but the two sisters were absent from Star Wars. As the vice president, Elvis was immediately put to work. At this point, the selection of the members didn't matter – just add them all to the guild.

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