Issei looked at the crystal generated images on the tactical table, the magic pushing into the crystals generating images like a hologram would. On them were the locations of the controlled lands and the dead invested ones, the main line of defense was located around ten major cities and nearly four dozen smaller settlements. The numbers of machines of war, soldiers and equipment were also shown as Issei silently studied them. Above, the sky was churning with darkness, as it had been for days now. His army had been pushing the front lines hard and finally had made a breakthrough, allowing his troops to make camp and see what was ahead. The dense fog that usually had been present during the battles and skirmishes had dissipated, thanks to the help of a player that had her character build to be that of the weather controlling mutant called Storm.

She had been quite pleased in helping Issei, staying close to him and obeying his orders to the letter. Of course, Tracey as that was her name, was busy getting the weather cleared up as he studied the battle map. Issei grunted as he pushed a few more dots to the city of Dur'bane, it needed reinforcements desperately as it was one of the cities closest to For-Guntro. A blue light appeared at his side, causing Issei to glance at it to find the head of his War Machine production.

"Report" Issei said as he straightened, looking at the armored figure.

"We have finished the first few of the new war machines," The trooper reported dutifully, "We are sending them to you for field testing in live combat."

"I see," Issei said before looking at the tactical table once more, noticing the new additions to the magically generated tactical, "Begin production on more at once, I will not lose this war because we didn't get better resources."

"At once, Sir!" The trooper saluted before the light faded, leaving Issei alone once more.

Issei turned away from the table as his senses picked up the air vibration of something lurking in the shadows, that said something stepped out and took the form of a feminine figure in all black. The all black was actually the latest armor used by his newly created Intelligence and Security Bureau, created to find the traitor or traitors that were giving intelligence to the enemy. It had started a few days back when his troops were suddenly overwhelmed by the enemy forces before Issei changed his tactics to the unorthodox and won that battle, ever since then, he had been on the losing end of more and more battles.

"Report," He snapped, as the feminine figure bowed its head.

"We have gotten closer to the ones that have been perpetrating these acts," The female voice came out, like a robot with a female synthesizer, "Both are hidden as soldiers, both of these traitors are players."

Issei's jaw tightened as he understood the implications of this, "So, we have players that can hide themselves."

"Yes, they can but we are onto them," It said, Issei could hear the smirk coming from it, "After we get them, we will interrogate them thoroughly."

"Be sure you do," Issei said, pointing an armored finger at the thing's chest, "I want them dealt with so this war can be won quickly."

"Understood," It said before slinking back into the shadows, vanishing from his senses as he turned to the tactical.

Energy fire filled the air as the Issei brought his sword down, cleaving through the chest of an undead body as he growled darkly. This small settlement had been pretty well defended, but it was infested with undead now. The rain poured down heavily as he blasted a platoon of half-dead soldiers away, as an Iron Spider charged at him at full tilt. He brought his blade up and sliced through the machine's leg, causing it to squawk in alarm before crashing into the ground. Issei slammed his blade through its armored head, killing it before walking forward to destroy even more of the enemy.

"Sir!" One of the many captains ran up to him, covered in blood and dirt, "We're being overrun and this weather is not helping us!"

"We are not retreating," Issei snapped at him, teleconnectically crushing an Iron Spider completely, "we will take this settlement back!"

Issei had not been sleeping well either, only getting a couple hours tops before this battle, so his irritation was palpable. The trooper saluted and quickly rushed off to continue the fight, as Issei marched forward into the ranks of the foe, his glowing red blade cutting swaths of the undead down. The weather only grew worse until something loud echoed, distant it seemed like before it could be heard again. Issei turned and couldn't help but smile at this, as four sixty foot tall AT-AT walkers lumbered forward, their energy weapons unleashing death upon the enemy. Iron Spiders exploded, the armored half-deads were cut down in a torrent of red bolts. Serval Herons tried to bring down the smaller walkers, as the Herons were eighty feet tall, but were brought down with precise shots where the legs and body connected.

The troops cheered as the four massive walkers continued to slaughter, reinforcements rushing up to replenish the ones that had been killed. Issei turned to face the enemy before charging once more into the fray. By the time it was over, Issei was grinning widely under his helmet as they watched the final few enemies fee into the distance. The weather finally broke as whatever spell had been holding it was shattered, the sun showing itself after so long. Issei looked away from it and towards the horizon, letting his senses out to feel how many more enemy troops there were. He found none, but even them, he had to stay on alert.

"Get the wounded treated," He started giving out orders, "We are going to camp here tonight and move in the morning."

Issei had been sleeping in his own bed when his phone buzzed so loudly, he nearly threw it into the far wall until he read the message on it. Instantly up, he got his gear back on and reappeared in the MMORPG. Walking out of his tent, he leapt onto the wall as a trooper saluted him.

"Sir," He said, "Sorry for interrupting your sleep but you have to see this."

Looking out over the wall, Issei froze. A loud noise, similar to metal on metal, filled the air. He winced as the noises got louder before the makers of the noise appeared. At four feet tall, the metal creations were swarming the battlefield by the thousands, no, millions. Looking like robotic lice, these things turned the ground into that of an almost living creature.

"What do we do sir?" The trooper asked, looking at him as Issei looked at the metal machines.

"If they do anything aggressive, destroy them all."

"Sir, yes, sir!"

The next morning, Issei was up on the wall again, looking out over a barren land. There was nothing covering then land that had been the battlefield from yesterday, not a single corpse, metal fragment, nothing. What was going on?