Thunder's plan had worked. For the time being, everyone had actually been sensibly occupied! First, he had delegated to Lady Evelyne that she should write the farewell letters to the other cities. How incredibly convenient that he no longer had to deal with that! The union leader and cat rights advocate despaired trying to cope with the different types of cutlery and the Muslim cat was tongue-tied, which was rare enough. The rest of the Thunder gang trapped and raided the rest of the GW map to gather as many resources as possible and collect a hefty ransom.

  This led to quite a few complaints in the SC, which he skillfully ignored. This was a war game, and anyone who still didn't understand that was beyond help.

  _____________________________

  "What does it say? How are we supposed to greet them?" asked Underground Zero, slightly overwhelmed, rummaging through a mountain of memos he had received from Evelyne.

  “It says: Kings of the other cities are to be addressed as ‘Majesty’, diplomats and ambassadors as ‘Excellency’,” Lipsyte helped out, "at the front is a list of all ranks, titles and forms of address. Saint, for example, as High Priest of the Church of Synergy, has the right to be addressed as ‘Your Eminence’. And on the back are the instructions for the polite conversation we should have."

  "Where does it say that? There's nothing here, just incomprehensible characters!" Neigh moaned, staring at his memo.

  Lipsyte took the memo from his hand and turned it 180 degrees.

  “Ah, now!” said Neigh with relief, “thank you, brother.”

  “Who has the brain cell?” asked Krypt, overwhelmed, "I need it to understand all this. So we're supposed to ask them if they found their way here okay? And then we should inquire about the well-being of the esteemed wife, if she is not present. And if we can't think of anything else, should we talk about the weather? How does that work?"

  “I have no idea,” moaned Underground Zero. "Guys, I'm a raid leader and a fighter. Can't we just keep punching them in the face? I can do that! But I can't do this!"

  “I don't think it's a problem to combine the two,” comforted the genius Lipsyte, “look: we say hello to them and say to the Diplomat of SY0, for example... who is that anyway?” He rummaged through the mountain of memos until he found the guest list. "Oh crap, they don't have any.... Okay, who's Diplomat from Sy4? - Here it is: Crazy Green... who is that anyway? - Anyway... so, you say to Crazy Green: 'Good evening, Your Excellency, I hope you found your way here safely! Is your esteemed wife well? The weather is particularly nice today. - And then you hit him in the face with your fist until he doesn't have a single tooth left in him!"

  “Sounds good!” praised Neigh, “but isn't that forbidden on the last night?”

  “It doesn't say anywhere here that it's forbidden!” countered Lipsyte, who had worked his way through the entire mountain of memos, "and if it's not forbidden, then it's allowed! It's like that thing with the trucks the other day!"

  “Yay!” cheered Underground Zero, "then I say to Mr. Trump: 'Good evening, Mr. President, I hope you made it here safely! Your toupee, er, your hair looks particularly good today, and so does your lovely wife, as far as you can see under her hat. The weather should be fine again tomorrow!' - and then I'll nail him to the wall with thirteen different types of knife and let him bleed out slowly..."

  “And then he will be put under the table!” the surrounding Thunder brothers roared enthusiastically.

  “I've understood the principle,” said Underground Zero with satisfaction, “the coronation ceremony can begin now!”

  ____________________________

  Yes, the coronation ceremony could have begun - but it failed because, as with the final event of GW1, the guests were absent. The dignitaries of the other cities and their entourages had simply ignored the invitations and boycotted the whole event. RxW sat all alone in their government building in the middle of an empty Z4 and four empty Z3s.

  “This really can't be true,” Lenebell grumbled, "the same crap every time! Nobody does anything to them now, they could really come to the party! At least there's a thirteen-course menu!"

  “They probably can't eat with all the different cutlery either and are embarrassed in front of us,” Krypt remarked gloomily.

  “Or it's something else,” Marzzzz suspected and smiled wolfishly, “no one does anything to them anymore - hm - that could be interpreted in different ways, depending on which way you look at it.”

  Thunder entered the rather empty banquet hall and looked around briefly, then clapped his hands in encouragement. "Come on then, folks - if the guests don't come to the party, the party will have to come to the guests! Let's go to the Cathedral of 641!"

  “YEAH!” roared Underground Zero enthusiastically, “we're raiding them!”

  “Not a raid,” the cool Wemoosun slowed down, “a walk.”

  “I don't care what you call it,” grinned Underground Zero, "we'll just take a ‘walk’ to their central building. YEAH! I love it!"

  And the entire RxW squad set off in the direction of 641.

  _____________________________

  At least ten RxW women clung to DmenAce during the hike, making eyes at him and begging him: “Will you do that for us, please?”

  DmenAce grinned. "I haven't done anything else for the whole GW - have you seen my page with number of kills? - So I might as well do it now. What do you need?"

  Scappy sighed, "Lil Arrow left town 641, but he did have that big entourage with hairdresser and make up artist. We need them... we want to put on our nice evening gowns later and we need someone to do our hair and make-up!"

  “Yes, and Lil Arrow's hairdresser and make-up artist are still hiding in the city - will you please raid them all and find them for us?” ChampagneMami asked with an unforgettable twinkle in her eye.

  DmenAce laughed. "I'll do anything for you ladies! I've done nothing but kill all through GW - have you seen my page with number of kills? - So now I'm just going to do it again."

  Kodaxx, meanwhile, hurried up to Lady Evelyne and hung the mayor's chain of office on his perplexed teammate; "Here you go! I think it's a wonderful plot twist if you're still mayor of our city on the last day!"

  “Oh yes!” said Dylan with satisfaction, "That's really something. But that's the end of the career ladder now, dear lady. R4 of RxW and mayor of the city of 652 - that's as good as it gets!"

  “Do we need any more squeaky ducks?” Jellyyy wanted to know, “that was so much fun last time!”

  “No squeaky ducks in church, I'm afraid,” admonished TasteofDeath, “I'm pretty sure it's not proper.”

  Amidst this chirpy conversation, the squad of RxW filed into the cathedral, pointedly and suspiciously watched by the townspeople as well as guests from other cities watching from a safe distance.

  ______________________________

  DmenAce had actually managed to capture countless underbosses once again and quickly filtered out those who had been responsible for Lil Arrow's hair and make-up. Chatting happily, the RxW women changed in the sacristy and had themselves made up a little.

  Thunder, meanwhile, had stepped outside the church and waved to the crowd gathered at a safe distance.

  “You can come closer!”

  No one moved.

  "GW is over! This is the closing event!"

  Still no one moved.

  Thunder grinned. He took a few steps towards the crowd, which automatically backed away.

  "Relax, everyone. I heard there were supposed to be two weddings here..."

  A scream rang out from the crowd. It was Miss Laura, staring at Thunder in bewilderment.

  Thunder waved cheerfully at her.

  "I know this probably comes as a bit of a surprise. But I see no reason why the weddings shouldn't go ahead. Get changed and come to the church. I can't promise my Thunder brothers will be able to handle the flower strewing and rice throwing, but I think they'll at least try."

  Laura was still staring at Thunder and the church. Bunny Bunz burst into tears and threw her arms around Maximilian's neck. And the crowd finally started to move.

  _____________________________

  “'Strewing flowers, yeah?” declared Vengeance2, staring at the basket of flowers that some RxW girl had pressed into his hand, “I don't know if it's any worse than singing!”

  “It's worse!” said Hen Solo gloomily, who was standing next to him, also holding a basket of flowers.

  “Could you please form a trellis!” shouted Dylan, who was trying to coordinate everything a little. " Guys, don't be like that. If you can fill a raid, you can form a trellis!"

  “Well, I think that's an invalid comparison,” Dark Evil grumbled, "I'm not sure I can. Or if I want to."

  “I'll do it, but only if I get a tuna for it!” declared the Muslim Cat.

  “I'll do it, but only if we finally get paid for the overtime,” Benexi grumbled.

  “I'll burn you all if you don't do it,” Thunder declared gleefully, "any more questions? No? Then we still need music." He looked up at the huge cathedral organ that took up almost the entire back of the church.

  “Oh,” said Lady Evelyne delightedly, "I can do THAT. I actually learned that once. Yay, I can do something for once!"

  “Really?” said Black, impressed.

  “Yes,” replied Lady Evelyne proudly, "I don't press the wrong buttons here. Guaranteed not! You can come upstairs if you want!"

  The two of them hurried up the stairs to the organ, while the church door was actually opened from the outside and the first guests ventured in.

  Up at the organ, Evelyne sat down and tried out the first few keys. Even the short prelude developed a very spherical sound in the acoustics of the cathedral. Black fell silent, enraptured. The organ had five keyboards and a lot of organ stops. And it had only just started!

  “Will you see if the bridal couples are ready?” asked Lady Evelyne, “and give me a sign?”

  Black stepped closer to the gallery. In the glaring light of the open portal door, nothing was visible yet... but now!

  “They're coming!” she signaled to Lady Evelyne. She nodded: "Cover your ears, you're standing awkwardly, or go down to the others. I'll pull out the stops now. This here is a cathedral organ, it develops a lot of boom. So take care of your eardrums where you're standing right now."

  Black didn't need to be told twice. She hurried back down the stairs.

  Lady Evelyne pulled out all the stops one after the other, activated the pedals with her feet and then took to the keys to play first the wedding march by Mendelsson-Bartholdy and then the bridal chorus by Strauss for the entrance of the two couples.

  Miss Laura on the arm of Mr. Trump and directly behind her Bunny Bunz on the arm of Maxilmilian entered the church through the main portal and walked slowly down the aisle. The organ filled the entire church with its radiance. And Black - burst into tears and started bawling snot and water. “Jesus!” said Ivy in the pew next to her in surprise, “you're not as heartless as everyone always says!”

  “That's so romantic!” sobbed Black, “look how beautiful they look!”

  Ivy and ChampagneMami handed her tissues from left and right.

  “Well,” said Ivy with a frown, "it's a bit improvised. What's that thing they used to lengthen Laura's train and decorate Bunny's veil with - is it bubble wrap?"

  “You didn't have much time!” said ChampagneMami apologetically, "I think it's a funny idea, it might even be intentional on the designer's part! A successful allusion to the GW! And besides, they really did have enough bubble wrap in stock!"

  "It's still incredibly romantic! Adam and Laura really love each other, and Bunny and Max have found each other too! It's so unbelievable that there's something so wonderful in this game," cried Black.

  Ivy and ChampagneMami handed her more tissues.

  Saint had now stepped to the front of the altar. And Black managed to cry through his entire sermon. “I didn't think he could speak so heartfelt!” she sniffled.

  “I hope someone is filming this!” whispered Ivy, “if the rumor gets out that you don't have a heart!”

  “It's just beautiful!” cried Black.

  To the sound of the organ, the two newlyweds left the church and accepted the congratulations of those present outside. The Thunder brothers even managed to do a halfway decent trellis. Halfway because Hen Solo and Vengeance2 had fallen out with each other and hit each other on the head with the flower baskets instead of scattering the petals inside. They were now both covered all over with these petals. Beside this, the trellis was only halfway successful because some of the Thunder brothers had misunderstood the rice throwing and threw popcorn instead, because that's what they had always done at the Arsenal battles. All in all, however, everyone agreed that it had been a great double wedding and a worthy conclusion to this GW!

  “We have a banquet in the government building,” Thunder explained to the guests, who were now relaxed and in high spirits outside, “we invited you all anyway... just come along.”

  Lady Evelyne hurriedly wrote something down on a small piece of paper and beckoned MightGuySensei to join her.

  "Quick, run ahead and give this to Impel. We'll have to change the seating arrangements... newlyweds have priority in rank. I had planned for Miss Laura to sit on the guest of honor podium on one side of Thunder anyway, and Mr. Trump will sit on Laura's other side, so we can leave it that way. But Stabbyunicorn should actually be sitting on the other side of Thunder. Throw Stabby off the podium, Bunny has to sit there instead as Thunder's second table lady. And Maximilian next to her. Impel should swap the table cards accordingly. Hurry up!"

  MightGuySensei nodded and ran off.

  Meanwhile, Lipsyte had set course for Saint, who was marching a little further ahead in the train.

  With a polite smile on his face, he joined him at his side: “Good evening, Your Eminence.”

  Saint frowned and looked suspiciously at Lipsyte: “Yes, well, uh, good evening!”

  “Oh, here we go!” giggled Neigh, making an effort to get a little further forward so as not to miss anything.

  “Did you get here all right?” asked Lipsyte amiably.

  Saint looked confused. “Uh, we're just walking behind you?”

  “How is your esteemed wife consort?” asked Lipsyte, slowly sliding the brass knuckles over his fingers in his pants pocket.

  “I'm a priest,” Saint explained with dignity, “I'm celibate!”

  “Yes, but the weather is particularly good today, isn't it?”

  Saint looked incredibly confused.

  Suddenly there was a shout from further back: "Lippy! Neigh! Will you come here?"

  The two of them gave each other a regretful look. What a bummer! The leadership had noticed them. There was probably no other option but to abandon this attempt for the time being. But the evening was still long...

  Meanwhile, DmenAce steered unerringly towards the vicinity of Saint from the other side.

  "Ace! I need you for a minute!" Dylan called after him attentively from the front of the train. DmenAce also broke off the attempt with a sigh. But yes - the evening was still long!

  _________________________________

  The Thunder brothers poked around a little helplessly in the fourth course of the festive menu. There was something indefinable on the plates. It was cut into cubes and colorfully striped; at first glance it appeared to be sushi, but it wasn't.

  “It's a terrine,” Fluffy explained expertly, "it's nouvelle cuisine. Very exclusive cuisine, but unfortunately you never really know what you're eating. The French girl from RxG prepared it."

  Underground Zero stared unhappily at his plate, and the others also looked more hungry than satisfied.

  Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

  “At least the boss isn't any better!” whispered Offline to Bane, "look at him. He's had to make polite conversation with Miss Laura and Bunny all evening. It must be bloody exhausting talking about the weather for three hours straight!"

  “Yes!” Bane whispered back, "and he's not allowed to ask them for feet photos and not send them his nudes in return. What do you think that pisses him off!"

  Lipsyte tried to secretly flirt with Maximilian on the podium to distract himself from the frustration of the lengthy menus.

  Suddenly, however, there was noise and shouting from outside and Neigh ran to the window.

  “Hey!” he shouted indignantly, “someone's not following the rules!”

  Lipsyte interrupted his flirtation with Maximilian: “What's going on, brother?”

  “Out there!” Neigh pointed his finger out the window accusingly, "Rosa and Ursa are beating up Insane Wayne together! That's not on!" He yanked the window open. “Did you guys even make polite conversation before?”

  “That bastard made me look like I'm a liar and a traitor!” shouted Rosa angrily, lashing out at Insane Wayne, "what kind of conversation am I supposed to make? He tried to turn my faction against me and we should all just be his slaves and puppets! I've had enough of this!"

  “That won't do!” scolded Neigh, “you have to address him as ‘Excellency’, ‘bastard’ is the wrong form of address, it's not on our memos!”

  “Excellency?” shouted Rosa, “he's been acting like he's the supreme excellency for weeks, now it's over!” and she kicked Wayne in the balls so hard he writhed in pain.

  “Stop!” shouted Lipsyte, “You have to ask him first if he's found his way here all right!”

  “I'm embarrassed that I was on their side in the first place!” roared Ursa, hitting Insane Wayne just as hard, "Why should I ask him if he found his way here? He should be thrown out, everywhere! This here on the 641 was a terrible dictatorship!"

  “Guys, if you think the 641 is a dictatorship, then you haven't experienced Thunder yet!” laughed Lipsyte, “that's a whole different caliber.”

  “And besides, you're still doing everything completely wrong!” Neigh lectured from the window, “you should be asking how his esteemed wife is doing!”

  “The esteemed wife Ms D is in this account!” cursed Rosa and hit Insane Wayne with a right hook in the face that was second to none, “if I beat him up, I'll catch her at the same time, that's very practical!”

  “I'm going to snitch!” growled Lipsyte and stepped back from the window, "that's not on, they're having the time of their lives, they're not sticking to the memos, and we're not allowed to do anything. Evelyne!"

  ___________________________________

  As a result, three things happened at the same time. But in such a chronological sequence that what happened was once again not what was supposed to happen.

  Evelyne had been alerted to the illegal brawl outside the door by Lipsyte and ran off. However, her seat was strategically located towards the kitchen so that she could keep the proceedings there under control, but not strategically located towards the outside door. As a result, it took her too long to cross the ballroom in the first place.

  Outside the door, Insane Wayne had realized that despite having two attackers, he was still significantly bigger and stronger than both of them combined. Consequently, he got rid of both of them by shaking them like an annoying insect, which resulted in both Ursa and Rosa being thrown to the ground.

  Rosa cried out in pain, causing DmenAce, who had gone outside for a quick smoke, to notice the situation and move swiftly. As he was much closer to the scene, he reached it much sooner than Lady Evelyne. She arrived just in time to see DmenAce bow politely to Insane Wayne and introduce himself with perfect form before lifting him off his feet with a mighty blow that sent him flying backwards into the bushes next to the entrance, but there was nothing she could do to stop him.

  “This can't be true!” scolded Evelyne, "Stop it now, everyone! Damn it, why is one of our guests of honor lying in the bushes?"

  “Yeah, right!” Lippy and Neigh commented with satisfaction from the doorway, “that's not on the memo!”

  “You go back inside at once, all of you!” ordered Lady Evelyne.

  “Us too?” asked Rosa and Ursa in amazement.

  "Of course you too! You're all invited. Didn't your city leadership tell you?"

  Rosa and Ursa beamed.

  Lady Evelyne leaned over the bushes: "Insane Wayne, are you all right? I really am extremely sorry..."

  “I greeted him politely at first!” DmenAce pointed out innocently, “but he hit a lady.”

  “I'm a lady too!” screeched Ms. D from Insane Wayne's account.

  “Sorry,” DmenAce said politely, "but you're not a lady. This is a lady."

  And he smiled charmingly at Lady Evelyne and offered her his arm to lead her back into the ballroom.

  As always, she couldn't resist charm and good manners and promptly forgot that she had actually wanted to rant on.

  “Pull the guest of honor out of the bushes and bring him back into the ballroom too!” she said quickly over her shoulder to Neigh and Lipsyte.

  “And if I don't want that?” came from the bushes.

  “I don't care!” hissed Lady Evelyne, "it's the last night, damn it! We're going to celebrate peacefully together now and finish the banquet in style! Civilized! Cultivated! Without the usual disasters!"

  “Exactly!” said Lipsyte with satisfaction, "because you can also murder with care. And torture sensitively. And insult respectfully. RxW even offers courses on this!"

  “And from the upcoming GW3, we'll always use the five minutes until the raid starts for a polite conversation!” added DmenAce seriously.

  “Correct!” confirmed Neigh, "as soon as the raid is set, we write to the opponent and ask him how his esteemed wife is doing. And whether he thinks the weather will get better or stay like this for the next few days. And then we use the nitros and zero him! - We absolutely understand the principle, we're not as stupid as we sometimes look. Even if we sometimes can't find our common brain cell."

  “I don't think I can find all my teeth!” sounded from the bushes.

  “Help the guest of honor to find his teeth again and then bring him back inside!” scolded Lady Evelyne, "Now hurry up, the next course of the menu is coming up! We mustn't delay the proceedings."

  __________________________

  Krypt poked around in the eleventh course of the menu. It consisted of three lettuce leaves laid out in a circle, each with a thinly sliced piece of carrot and a shrimp on top. All around the edge, someone had drawn funny squiggles with a reddish-brown sauce.

  “Brother, what is this?” he asked Fluffy desperately, “the menu is in French, I don't understand a word!”

  "It's a so-called ‘amuse-bouche’. A kind of intermediate course. I think it was prepared by this Italian couple, Blecky and Jay. A salad creation with a sauce made from strawberry puree and real balsamic vinegar," Fluffy helped with his knowledge.

  Krypt stared at his plate and was on the verge of tears. This menu was the worst ever! He was so hungry!

  At the front of the hall, closer to the podium, the resourceful guys from RxW had meanwhile discovered more ways to have fun on the last night, despite all the memos. Josi88 and Dark Evil quickly sat down on the laps of complete strangers from SY0 and Sy4 and wrapped their arms around their necks. Then either Marzzzz or DmenAce immediately appeared, played the jealous lovers and beat up the unfortunate guys who had let themselves be caught by Josi88 and Dark Evil. As always, the donkey found this incredibly gay.

  “What are you doing?” a member of SY0 shouted angrily over to RxW's table.

  "UB trapping 2.0! That's part of the game!“ yelled Marzzzz back, ”if you don't like it, put a cake bowl upside down on your head! There's plenty in the kitchen!"

  “You're so gay!” roared the donkey, "I've always known that. Be pigs, dogs, ducks, rats or whatever you want in between. Nothing will ever change the fact that you're all gay as a post!"

  Lost Reaper was once again busy annoying MightGuySensei. He was supposed to be R4 together with the rest of A0L in City 641, but Lost Reaper hated MightGuySensei from the bottom of his heart. And MightGuySensei had already written a letter to Miss Laura, telling her that he didn't want to play in the same city as Lost Reaper for certain reasons. An unsolvable situation, it seemed.

  “You're going to be my private farm,” Lost Reaper told MightGuySensei with relish, “get ready for it!”

  “Dream on,” MightGuySensei replied, "what about your achievements in GW2? Is there anything worth mentioning?"

  “More than you!” hissed Lost Reaper, "you're a rat. And from the moment you pack your bags and join us, you're a squashed rat."

  “May I interrupt the conversation between the two gentlemen for a moment,” Lady Evelyne said amiably behind them, "I am very pleased that you have found your way to us, Lost Reaper. Very nice that you can be here tonight."

  Lost Reaper looked surprised. “Well, I...”

  “The weather over the last few days has not been particularly good,” Lady Evelyne continued, ignoring his interjection, "unsuitable for farming, as it is inhospitable, but too dry. Therefore, I regret to inform you: This guy will not be your private farm."

  Lost Reaper's mouth fell open.

  Lady Evelyne continued unperturbed: "You know, he's a very nice man. He's polite and educated. I've had excellent conversations with him about philosophy and religion. It would just be a shame to let him go to waste as your private farm in the city of 641. And that's why - I claim ownership of him. And you know what that means. It's the same as the arsenals. Mine means mine." She smiled disarmingly at Lost Reaper.

  MightGuySensei leaned back and beamed all over his face.

  Lady Evelyne winked at him. "This guy is becoming part of the Rx family. Welcome home, MightGuySensei!"

  At the RxG table, where people had known a little earlier and had been watching the scene with anticipation, cheers erupted and lots of gold boxes were thrown onto the table. ?ktschn came over and personally pinned the RxG badge on MightGuySensei.

  Lost Reaper angrily threw his cutlery on the table: "Take him! I don't want him anyway!"

  MightGuySensei had gotten up and moved over to the RxG table, where everyone happily embraced him and welcomed him as a new brother. Lilli left the table briefly and walked past Lost Reaper inconspicuously. “I'll come and see you later,” she whispered so quietly that no one but him could hear, "I've still got a score to settle with you. But I have time..."

  “Very good that this MightGuySensei is here now,” Gladyus rejoiced at the City 656 table, "finally some relief for me! Then I'm no longer Evelyne's only victim for her to boss around. You have to imagine it like this: she calls me in the middle of the night and tells me she wants the pictures in ten minutes because the chapter is ready for publication! And then I have to unpack the graphics tablet and get started, even if I was just about to go to bed. And if she's not satisfied, she sends everything back and I have to start all over again! It's really good that she still has MightGuySensei now, he's always running around with different notes and orders. And he's even harder to get away from her, he's even in her city now, haha!"

  “We'll definitely see each other again in GW3!” said Underground Zero gleefully, “it'll be fun with all the changes now.”

  “I never want to see you guys again!” moaned Lazy Tiger from A0L, "no, really. No need. Not a single one of you do I ever want to see again."

  “Such traumatic experiences?” smiled Lady Evelyne, "come on, it wasn't that bad. It only hurt because you resisted."

  “Yes, exactly,” Underground Zero added with a laugh, “if you'd done what Thunder told you to do at the beginning - bend over without begging for lube...”

  Lady Evelyne raised her eyebrows in amusement and stepped aside. “I think while you're having THAT kind of conversation, I'd better check on the twelfth course.”

  __________________________

  Something strange then happened in the hall. Suddenly, the entire kitchen team appeared and cleared all the tables in a rush. Crockery, glasses, platters, cutlery, flower arrangements, candlesticks and even the white tablecloths. The Thunder brothers and their guests were suddenly sitting in front of the empty, bare wooden tabletops.

  “Is the meal over already?” some wondered, “but there are still two courses to go?”

  “I'm still hungry!” Krypt whispered desperately to Dimented and Freyja, “Is there nothing left now?”

  The entire kitchen team came out of the kitchen door again, this time with huge baking trays on which something hot and steaming was lying, exuding a delicious aroma. The trays were quickly tilted slightly at the tables and what looked like a huge steaming pizza slid straight onto the tabletop.

  Lady Evelyne had stood up. “This is the twelfth course,” she announced in a loud voice, "Alsatian tarte flambée. It's pre-cut, so you can just eat it straight from the wooden plate with your hands. We have more in the kitchen for everyone in case there's not enough. And the thirteenth course will be cake. We have baked 40 different varieties. We have an inexhaustible supply of that too, and you can eat it straight from the hand. Thank you all for being prepared to join us for a somewhat more exclusive feast today for a change. But it's your evening. You have won this GW here. I'll be damned if any of you have to get up hungry from the table tonight without having celebrated properly!"

  There was absolute silence for a moment. Then the Thunder brothers threw themselves onto the Alsatian tarte flambée with a single collective cry of enthusiasm. Which in reality actually looked like Krypt's stomach landed in the middle of it. But no one cared. When barrels of beer were also rolled out of the kitchen and tapped in the middle of the hall, the cheering knew no bounds.

  “I think she loves us after all,” Underground Zero purred contentedly, as best he could with two full pans of tarte flambée, stuffing more and more into his mouth with both hands, “damn, this tastes great!”

  “40 types of cake after that, yes,” Thunder Boo said happily, also stuffing his face with tarte flambée, “hopefully no more raspberry and cream cake, but I love everything else!”

  - And, as promised, the kitchen kept on delivering and delivering and delivering one tray of tarte flambée after another.

  ______________________________

  On the podium, Thunder realized that everyone was expecting him to give a speech and that he had to get it over with at some point.

  The long hours of polite conversation had exhausted him, but the tarte flambée and the beer had been great. He stood up and looked around, puzzled. “Why do all our guests have upturned cake bowls on their heads?” he asked Lenebell, who was standing behind him. Marzzzz, DmenAce, Dark Evil and Josi88 tried to look as innocent as possible. Lenebell just cleared her throat meaningfully, but said nothing.

  “And why doesn't Insane Wayne have any teeth?” Thunder asked, irritated. Neigh and Lipsyte crossed their arms in front of their chests and tried to look as ignorant as possible.

  Lenebell pursed her lips. “You want to make your speech now, boss?”

  Thunder nodded and took a step forward.

  Lenebell struck the gong on the wall behind her. The conversations in the hall fell silent and everyone looked attentively at the podium.

  Thunder briefly let his gaze wander over the crowd. Then he suddenly jumped onto the table, ripped the crown off his head and shouted with a laugh: “Frisbee!” The next moment, the crown flew around the room like an aggressive UFO.

  “We knew it!” most of the Thunder brothers shouted in unison and threw themselves into cover. “This is how it always ends!”

  Underground Zero managed to catch the crown and threw it to Kodaxx, and so the crown flew from hand to hand while everyone sitting or standing in between tried desperately not to get hit. Some sought shelter under the table, others behind the curtains. Evelyne and Black had taken cover behind a sideboard.

  “What an evening,” Black cheered, “I thought this final event was much nicer than GW1's in 641!”

  “Yes, it was worth it,” said Lady Evelyne with satisfaction, "the program was a bit spontaneous in parts, but the double wedding in the cathedral at the Synergetics had something. - My goodness, you've got tears in your eyes again!"

  “I can't help it,” Black sniffled, “it was just so beautiful - the two happy couples, Saint's very touching sermon...”

  “Sweetheart, he talked the same as always - family, friendship, togetherness, true love...”

  “Yes, but this time it fit!” Black replied with genuine indignation.

  Lady Evelyne giggled and handed Black the box of tissues. "Well, at least it was effective that I told the boys that if they don't stop beating up our guests of honor now, I'll get you. That always works. They're all scared of the evil Black."

  “Really?” sniffled Black, “even when I'm all teary-eyed, like today?”

  “Dear,” Lady Evelyne said with a sideways glance, "you have no idea how scary you are. Even when you cry."

  ________________________________

  The Alsatian tarte flambée, like the 40 varieties of traditional cake, was eventually eaten, the beer drunk and the crown eventually landed on the donkey's head, which galloped off with it. The guests got ready to say goodbye and Lady Evelyne hurried to give each city their personal farewell letter. As always, these were only read at home anyway.

  “Have a safe journey home!” DmenAce politely bid the people farewell, and “Best wishes to your esteemed wife!” said Lipsyte. It worked wonderfully. With all the cordiality and politeness, it could almost have been overlooked that all the guests kept the cake bowls on their heads for safety's sake and would certainly not put them down again as long as they remained on this GW card. But there was no such thing as absolute perfection, that was clear to everyone involved. At least they had managed to celebrate together and find a nice ending!

  With this in mind, the letters were opened at the very end.

  _____________________________

  "Dear members of City 654, this is the second time we've been on a GW map. And I still hardly know any of you personally! We'll have to change that at some point. After all, JustACrew is Mink's girlfriend or ex-girlfriend and will therefore always have a special status for some people here. And of course she was the one who managed to soften Lipsyte's heart so that he handed over the UBs of city 654 without paying a ransom. Respect for that, and we wish you a good game in GW3!"

  "Dear members of town 656, my former home, what's been going on with you! I have rarely seen as many internal implosions as you have had, and many of you players only came to the city after I had left. First the end of oAo, then the rise of KqN, where the wonderful Aglid is still on duty. Oof rose like a star and then disintegrated at record speed. As outsiders, we could only watch... but you have our appreciation for holding out until the end and trying to resist us at one of the hotels at the very end, so that there was still fun to be had here. Your last attempt to perhaps recapture your central building just before the reset was just as much fun. Many thanks and our appreciation for that! Have a good time, whether in this city or in another!"

  "Dear members of the city of 651, I have a special soft spot for you. This is probably because your king and your general have been cooperative from the very beginning when it comes to contributing to my book. From the donut that Stas kept asking for, to Cezar, who was sometimes a traitor, sometimes a delicious salad, and who actually ended up as a kitchen slave at our castle (a deserved fate that you all cheered enthusiastically). We had a lot of fun together. You will never win this game, but you have been the winners of hearts for me. Thanks for a lot of funny correspondence and all the fun around it!"

  "Dear members of the city of 645, I know you exist and that you are not just a phantom. After all, we burned your towers and conquered your central building. And someone must have built those towers! However, you have managed to remain completely invisible. So I'll just assume that you're also very nice people, that you've been having fun in secret and will continue to do so. It was probably the best war tactic against RxW anyway to simply be completely invisible. Then you can't be raided. I wish you all the best!"

  "Dear members of 646, unfortunately (for us) you used the same tactics as the players of 645: You were completely invisible. I wrote to your leadership about the book back then, and I don't think they even read it. But somehow you also built towers... It will remain an eternal mystery. I hope you also had fun in GW. You were probably just secretly watching us the whole time and laughing your heads off because we thought you weren't even there. All the best for the coming season!"

  "Dear members of City 642, you were the secret heroes for most of my readers. The White House setting and the constellation of characters there was the most popular of all! I was constantly getting fan mail: “more from the White House please”, and “more Mr. Trump please”. The funny thing is that we never exchanged a word with each other, Mr. Trump and me. In contrast to the disobedient Synergetics ^^, who did not all comply with the ban on speaking imposed by their leadership, Mr. Trump was a decent guy.

  From a military point of view, things soon looked less good for you, which was certainly not a good situation. After all, you were a very well-positioned contender for this GW alongside the 641. Things would certainly have been different with a different main opponent. You had some really good players and we really enjoyed playing against you. So please don't let it get to you - you fought bravely in the early stages, then tried another twist by merging with 641, and ultimately lost quite honorably. We wish you better luck in the next GW!"

  "Dear members of the city 641, you were the ones who (after us, of course ^^) had the best chance of winning this GW. You were still in an incredibly good position between GW1 and 2. It changed with the departure of Bio, Black and their teammates. But your city still looked good and had a lot of clout. Now you just had the misfortune of being our main victims - and I can understand how that sucked. Yes! It was! Precisely because you had a solid basis as players for the most part. We had many exciting and also good fights with individuals, but also groups of you. In the end, we had some really nice conversations with many of you behind the scenes, so all I can say is: Respect to all of you for your perseverance, for your courage to stay here and face the situation, for the humor you have shown in many situations, and for some of the inner sovereignty that many of you have been able to demonstrate. The people we mean here in particular know it, and you can be sure of our appreciation. For the future, we wish you all a better playing environment, friendlier opponents and for many of you a different environment in which you can grow better and show off your skills. But that will happen anyway. All the best for you in the future!"

  "Dear members of City 652, my own... as always, I don't want to leave out my own while I'm sitting here writing the farewell letters (it's the boss's fault! It's always his fault! Sometimes I think you only have a boss so that one is the permanent culprit). The 652 has already put in an incredible performance in its second GW. Its charisma and magnetic attraction are unbroken. Twice it has managed to put the iron ring around the Z3. Twice all opponents were chased back into their Z1. Some say it was chance, others say it was just luck. Chance and luck are important factors, that's true, nothing works without chance and luck. But it also takes skill, courage in the right place, enjoyment of the game and that incredible feeling of acting as a functioning team. Zax said at the time of his migration that what he expects and desires more than anything else here is a steely, experienced leadership. Well, we actually have that in our competent dictator! And in addition, we have a professional sitting here for virtually every task and every eventuality, as well as a strong backbone of reliable R3s, each of whom knows what to do themselves, even without anyone telling them. I appreciate nothing more than the way challenges and problems are dealt with here in a confident and drama-free manner. Because, even though we all only share a single brain cell and have to make do with it ^^, everything is characterized by professionalism and competence. Sometimes it feels like the Borgs from Star Trek, who are also all connected to a collective intelligence with a swarm consciousness and therefore function incredibly well as a team. And sometimes like in the Matrix, which functions as a system forever.

  We know how we look from the outside, which is why I chose an old but timeless quote from the first GW as my profile slogan to celebrate the day. Even my predecessor Yikesy loved it. And it always remains relevant, as you can easily see. I wish us a lot of chance and luck for the next GW, and that we never get our credit cards cut off. I love you all, you damn psychopaths, perverts, tyrants, morons and idiots."

  ___________________________

  And just like last time, there was a back page. It contained the five sentences that legends always end with.

  "It was an honor to play with all of you, friend or foe. We were all part of this GW, no matter which side we were on. And that's why we're saying goodbye with what made us special: A piece of cake for everyone. A memorial stone for everyone on the now abandoned battlefield. And for everyone, a piece of immortality in a novel."