A few years had passed, and Chancellor Ferdinand had almost total control over the entire government. Chancellor Ferdinand had changed immensely. He had grown into a ruthless man unafraid to order the murder of anyone he wanted to. Chancellor Ferdinand had had this power for multiple years, and his desire for power had gotten to the point where this was not enough. He wanted even more power. He didn't want to just be the ruler of his nation, he wanted to be the ruler of the entire world.
Chancellor Ferdinand knew that he needed to be careful about trying to launch an invasion on this scale, as it would not be well received by the public. He needed a way to get the public on his side with what he had planned. That is when Chancellor Ferdinand had an idea. He still had not "solved" the truth behind his "assassination attempt". This would make for the perfect excuse that he needed to begin his plans for invasion.
Chancellor Ferdinand first wanted to make sure that he had the firepower he needed to win this war. His enemies were very powerful, so it wouldn't be easy to do. In secret, Chancellor Ferdinand tripled military spending, training one of the world's largest fighting forces. He also wanted a technological advantage to use. There were several scientists in his employment, so he ordered all of them to construct the most powerful weapons that they could.
When he was talking to the scientist who simply went by the name of The Scientist, he had a few questions for Chancellor Ferdinand.
The Scientist: Not that I am one to question your orders, sir, but I was wondering why exactly you want me to construct such powerful weapons.
Chancellor Ferdinand: All will be revealed in a speech I have in a few days.
The Scientist: Do you want me to wait until then or begin now?
Chancellor Ferdinand: Begin as soon as possible.
Chancellor Ferdinand had got the building blocks of his ultimate plan ready, but he knew that he couldn't keep the public in the dark forever and he needed to make his speech. He leaked on the internet that he would be making a speech in three days. It had become increasingly rarer for Chancellor Ferdinand to make public speeches, so this got a lot of attention, and after it leaked that Chancellor Ferdinand had been upping his military spending a lot, the public was going wild with speculation over what was going on.
After the three days passed, Chancellor Ferdinand made good on what he planned and appeared on TV for a public speech.
Chancellor Ferdinand: Esteemed citizens, I am sorry to have kept you all in the dark for so long. You have all heard rumours about my increase in spending on military efforts. These rumours are indeed true. My investigation team, after all these years, was finally able to uncover who made the attempt on my life during that fire. It was a secret plot by the European Union to take me out.
After Chancellor Ferdinand said this, the nation was in complete shock. Chancellor Ferdinand was hardly done speaking, though.
Chancellor Ferdinand: They were afraid of a leader finally being able to stand up for our nation's interests. This is a shameful act, and I vow that it will not go unpunished. Our efforts for retaliation have begun. I encourage everyone to help in any way that they can.
After Chancellor Ferdinand's speech was done, the intentional community quickly became aware of it. The European Union denied their involvement in the assassination attempt, which most of the international community believed, but nobody in the nation believed it. They all loved their leader and believed everything that he said. Chancellor Ferdinand had created a loyal base of sheep that blindly listened to everything he said. They were all eating his story up. There were, however, some members of the public that were starting to find Chancellor Ferdinand's claims suspicious, and various conspiracy theorists were starting to spring up.
Chancellor Ferdinand was well aware of the conspiracy theorist forums, but he decided to do nothing about them. Chancellor Ferdinand was well versed in politics and history, and one thing he learned is that when you try to silence the minority, it only causes them to grow stronger and martyr their beliefs. Chancellor Ferdinand didn't want it to grow too prominent, though, so he began smearing campaigns against the conspiracy theorists, proclaiming them as wrong.
That was a very minor concern of Chancellor Ferdinand, though. The biggest one for him was that the international community was mad and Chancellor Ferdinand was getting ready for battle against him. His speech radicalised the citizens and the military strength grew stronger and stronger, and each of the scientists was motivated to work twice as hard to create the most powerful weapons they could.
Chancellor Ferdinand's top scientist, The Scientist himself, was working the hardest on this and was starting to make some serious progress. However, at the time, Chancellor Ferdinand ignored him mostly.
The international community was terrified of the idea of war possibly starting from this. They tried to get in contact with Chancellor Ferdinand to negotiate peace. Chancellor Ferdinand ignored all of the people that tried to get in contact with him, as he wanted a war to start from this and was getting ready for that.
One of his advisors, however, was starting to get worried about the increasing tensions and started speaking up against Chancellor Ferdinand.
Viktor: Chancellor Ferdinand, we can't keep increasing tensions between us and the union. This way will lead us to disaster.
Chancellor Ferdinand: How dare you question your leader, Viktor? These people must be punished for the attempt that they made on my life.
Viktor: Our country can't sustain a war of this scale. You need to listen to reason.
Chancellor Ferdinand: How disappointing, another one. Guards, get rid of this man.
Viktor: You will regret this.
Chancellor Ferdinand's men took Viktor away to be executed while Chancellor Ferdinand was happy. This act made the rest of Chancellor Ferdinand's council too scared to speak up, despite many of them also knowing how disastrous this war would be. Chancellor Ferdinand was growing more and more paranoid over the possibility of being overthrown and losing the power that he worked so hard to get.
Chancellor Ferdinand would enact even more mass purges, often enacting loyalty tests on members of his government and instantly having any one of them executed if they simply failed them. Chancellor Ferdinand's increasingly violent behaviour left everyone in constant fear of being executed by him. Chancellor Ferdinand was still keeping most of the public on his side through a wide variety of excuses, but even some of them were starting to get weary of him.
After months of continuing increasing tension, Chancellor Ferdinand finally officially declared war on the entire world. The rest of the world was forced to retaliate. Chancellor Ferdinand would send out thousands of troops to multiple countries in Europe to attack and conquer as many as they could.
This war was brutal, with thousands of people killed in the first few days alone, and many more dying every day after that.
The entire international world knew exactly what was causing this. Chancellor Ferdinand was a power-mad tyrant who wanted this war to happen. The entire international community decided that Chancellor Ferdinand needed to be removed from power at all costs. They would arrange several assassination attempts on him, but this time they were genuine attempts and not something made up by Chancellor Ferdinand.
However, this completely backfired on them. Chancellor Ferdinand had set up a strong security force of his most loyal officers to protect him. They had managed to thwart every single assassination attempt on Chancellor Ferdinand and were quickly able to figure out where they came from. They often got this information from torturing the assassins that they captured.
Chancellor Ferdinand used this as propaganda to strengthen the resolve of the nation to keep fighting back. Chancellor Ferdinand gave even more speeches to the public, convincing even more of them to help fight back.
Chancellor Ferdinand: I have found out that our enemies have made another attempt on our lives. Anyone that tries to harm me is a threat to the survival of our nation. We must fight back.
The assassination attempts did not end the war; instead, they heightened tensions. It lasted longer and longer, and it was bloodier than anyone could have imagined, with millions killed on both sides. However, there was one silver lining to this news. Chancellor Ferdinand had vastly overestimated the power of his military to fight this war. Chancellor Ferdinand was starting to lose the war. His forces were getting decimated left and right, with nearly all of them dead.
Chancellor Ferdinand refused to give up, however and kept ordering the deployment of more and more troops to various parts of the world to keep fighting. Chancellor Ferdinand increased his propaganda techniques by preaching that "victory demands sacrifice" to motivate the public to keep fighting no matter how many of them were getting killed in this brutal war.
Chancellor Ferdinand, at one point, was sitting in his office when he had a random man barge in. Chancellor Ferdinand was a bit confused and this man had guns pointed at him by all of his officers. Chancellor Ferdinand, however, was interested in hearing what he had to say, so he let the man speak.
Man: Chancellor Ferdinand, stop this war now. If you keep going, you will doom us all.
Chancellor Ferdinand: These people need to be punished for the attempts made on my life.
Man: Please sir, I beg of you. My children and family are suffering. We can't keep this going. Thousands to millions have already died and many more will if we don't stop with this.
Chancellor Ferdinand had heard enough of this. He singled to his officers to kill the man. The officers unloaded a storm of bullets on the man, killing him in seconds. Chancellor Ferdinand then ordered his body to be disposed of.
This interaction, however, made Chancellor Ferdinand aware that some citizens had been trying to rebel against him. Chancellor Ferdinand had been ignoring the citizens, but now he had got first-hand proof that not everyone was happy with this war. He was now going to step up his game. Chancellor Ferdinand ordered his officers to search civilian homes at random and take as much information as possible. Chancellor Ferdinand quickly became aware, though, that there was an active rebellion against him rising. Chancellor Ferdinand's officers managed to capture several dozens of rebels.
Chancellor Ferdinand ordered them all to be tortured for information. Some of the rebels gave up information that allowed Chancellor Ferdinand's men to capture even more rebels, all of whom would be tortured for information.
Chancellor Ferdinand wanted to make an example of these rebels to stop anyone from rising. Chancellor Ferdinand ordered every last one of the rebels to be publicly executed. Before they were publicly executed, Chancellor Ferdinand gave a speech to the public.
Chancellor Ferdinand: My esteemed citizens, my men have discovered that there is a rebellion plotting to overthrow our great government. I assure all of you that this will not go unpunished. Right now there is to be a public execution.
Chancellor Ferdinand's men brought out all of the rebels, which added up to over 100. They were all executed in front of the public by being shot in the head. The crowd of people was shocked and terrified at this. Chancellor Ferdinand's once shining reputation was starting to wain, even among the public. They were now all terrified of him.
However, Chancellor Ferdinand's stunt did nothing to help the war effort. His men were still losing badly, and the nation was on the brink of collapse from everything. Chancellor Ferdinand was getting extremely desperate, but he was running out of ideas of things to do.
Chancellor Ferdinand had one last idea for something he could do to save this war. He was going to check up on the progress that the scientists were making.