Lady Evelyne had only just left the clan castle of the 656, but didn't get very far. To be more precise, only as far as the first street corner.

  A small open sports car stood there in the light under the lantern. And leaning against the side was a good-looking guy in a black evening suit who had been waiting for her.

  Lady Evelyne put her hands on her hips and complained: "Don't tell me you knew I was coming!"

  Marzzzz grinned. "Of course I knew that. And of course I'll pick you up, my beauty. You don't let a lady go on foot."

  With an elegant movement, he pulled open the passenger door for her.

  The lady hesitated briefly. "Genny told me not to get into a car with strange men..."

  "But I'm not a stranger!" Marzzzz replied indignantly, "We're old friends, remember? And besides..." He gently approached the lady's ear and purred into it like a happy tomcat, "You deserve a rest! We have a spa hotel in our city... with everything you could wish for!"

  "Oooooh," sighed the lady ecstatically, "with a color sauna? Relaxing baths? Foot massages?"

  "Of course," smiled Marzzzz. "And also....," he conjured up a long-stemmed red rose from behind his back, "there's a prom at the city hall of the city of 652 that I really want to invite you to."

  "Then I'll come with you right away!" the lady shouted and got in, "besides, today is March 1st. That's fate. Marzzzz I won today. That's fitting."

  Marzzzz grinned with satisfaction, closed the passenger door, switched to the driver's side and stepped on the gas. "Hold on tight, beauty, I'm a fast driver!"

  ____________________________________________________

  Meanwhile, a completely different group set off from a completely different direction.

  The small group was conspiring together, not exactly on the run, but not far from it. A blonde woman with long hair formed the beginning of the troop, a weighty guy with a huge sword on his shoulder the end. Both of them looked as if it would be better not to start any trouble with them.

  "Is it much further?" rumbled one of the fighters in the middle, "My feet hurt!"

  " 'Mine too!' echoed another. " 'Mine too!' added the third. "Besides, I still have a cough from the fire!"

  "Stop complaining," growled the woman in the lead, "we'll be there soon. Besides, I had to burn her, I just had to! That lap cat of the boss's... hm, she sure did burn nicely!"

  She giggled.

  "Careful, that's the end of the forest up ahead!" warned the guy bringing up the rear, "be alert!"

  And he caught up with his partner in the lead.

  __________________________________________________________

  Marzzzz and Evelyne didn't get far this time either. It ended just after the next bend in the road - a barricade was blocking the way. Marzzzz brought the cabriolet to a halt just in time, cursing under his breath.

  Next to the barricade, several dark figures stepped into the light of the headlights.

  "Stop!" shouted the man in front, "this is a Russian-Ukrainian barricade!"

  "Excuse me, what?" asked Marzzzz in amazement.

  Evelyne groaned. "That's the angry Russian number 1, 3 and 4, and the very angry Ukrainian. And I already know what they want."

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  "Correct!" growled the very angry Ukrainian, "because we want you. As R5. We're a mixed Russian-Ukrainian faction and we mainly play together on the 300 worlds. We already made you the offer yesterday, and it still stands! We would love to have you as our leader. I believe we can achieve great things together!"

  "But not me, damn it!" scolded the lady, "I want my peace and quiet! I want to go to the spa hotel. There's a color sauna, relaxation baths and foot massages!"

  "You'd be great as R5! We know that and we really want you!"

  "But I don't want to! That might take a bit of skill, doesn't it guys? And I don't have that, understand that already!"

  "We all bring expertise with us. You don't need to worry about that. We all have years of fighting experience. You'd just have to sort out all the other things..."

  "Yes, exactly! I'd have to look after you! Constantly correcting your impossible behavior! Constant diplomatic corrections when you've told someone to go to hell and do naughty things with his lips! Just like you did with Ghost!"

  "What's Ghost supposed to do with his lips?" asked Marzzzz curiously.

  "Don't ask! It was so naughty I won't repeat it!"

  The very angry Ukrainian snorted, "But we still want you. And we're not going to leave you to this buffoon here without a fight."

  "And besides," the angry Russian No. 3 intervened, "we're not that bad. We can behave ourselves!"

  "Yes, when you're not drunk! Which should be the case for about half an hour a day!"

  There was a rustling in the undergrowth beside the road, and then a completely breathless Aglid jumped next to the car. "Dear honored lady," he wailed, "you must not leave us. You are the last candle in this town. If you leave, it will be dark here."

  "Oh dear honored friend," sighed the lady, "I'm sorry. Believe me, the decision was by no means easy for me. But circumstances have changed so much that I can no longer stay here."

  "Circumstances, circumstances - all nonsense!" roared the furious Russian number 4, "They're all just excuses! Get her out of the car, guys, and then we'll take her with us!"

  Now the lady had had enough. She angrily pushed herself up out of the passenger seat and started shouting: "All excuses, right? Then I'll tell you what, guys. All of you here! When I woke up that memorable morning after that memorable night, Ghost had wiped out everything that made this faction and this city special to me in one fell swoop. I went to sleep in a faction that was a former harem that had emancipated itself, with great female leadership. And I woke up in a renamed and completely revamped faction that was suddenly dictatorially run by a guy." The lady took a deep breath and raised the volume a little more. "I suddenly found myself in a faction with an 'x' in the middle of the tag, a dictatorship with some guy as the leader who gave the necessary orders, which were then simply followed. And then I thought to myself - hey, that reminds me of something, where else is that? That's right! The neighbors have something like that!"

  Lady Evelyne put her arms on her hips angrily. "With one difference: that they won! And that's the point, damn it! If everything is now exchangeable and replaceable anyway - why am I still hanging around with the defeated when the winners have the same thing, only much better and more successful?"

  The audience on the street had now definitely been silenced. Everyone looked a little confused and thought hard. "Uhhhh..." the very angry Ukrainian tried again, but had no chance.

  "And if you still don't get it," the lady yelled a few steps louder, "It's about competence! If I'm going to have a dictator, then I want a competent dictator! Not some nasty dilettante! Ghost has created a cheap copy here. But I don't want the copy if I can have the original!"

  There was absolute silence on the street. Then suddenly a powerful voice called out. "Bravo girl!" and someone applauded loudly.

  "Oh my God," moaned Lady Evelyne, sinking back into the passenger seat and hiding her face in her hands, "It's the mayor!"

  "Who, Ghost?" asked Marzzzz, aghast.

  "No, not him. Rotation principle. That's the one from second place."

  "That's right," said the huge guy, who had meanwhile stepped up beside the car, gleefully, "That's me. And I'm telling you, girl..." with that he leaned over the passenger door and embraced the lady warmly, "You're doing exactly the right thing. It's the right decision for the right city at the right time. The way this is going, you have my full blessing."

  "Really?" asks the lady, touched, "Thank you..."

  "Well, if even the mayor of 656 is giving you his blessing, then it's a lot worse here than I thought," said Marzzzz, impressed.

  "That's it," said last night's mysterious visitor, who had approached the car from the other side, "let me know when you're over the border. Then I'll pull my accounts out of here. This city has no future."

  "Get happy," the mayor laughed cheerfully at the lady, "it's just a damn game. Have the fun of your life, girl, enjoy it. And you, guy..." he turned to Marzzzz, "if you don't treat her well, we'll all follow. But not as your friends."

  He turned to the angry Russians and the very angry Ukrainian. "Take down the barricade, guys! Let them through!"

  "It's never taken me so long to get someone across the border," Marzzzz cursed as he backed the car up a little to elegantly drive around the remains of the barricade, "this is an absolute first here. Normally it's much quicker."

  He stepped on the gas.

  ________________________________________

  The group had just left the forest and were about to step out onto the road when the car sped up. "Watch out!" yelled the weighty guy with the sword and pulled the blonde woman aside, just in time.

  The sports car skidded to a halt.

  "Watch out, hey!" roared Marzzzz angrily, "it's night and pitch dark!"

  "Has anyone been hurt?" asked the lady worriedly.

  "No, we're all okay," the blonde woman replied reassuringly and beamed at the lady, "German?"

  "Yes," rejoiced the lady, "you too?"

  "Yeah! We've come from 641 and are on our way to 652. My name is Black, and this is Biochest, my favorite gaming partner!"

  "Yay!" the lady cheered and enthusiastically threw her arms around Black's neck, "I'm Evelyne! At last I don't have to tie my tongue in foreign languages anymore!"

  "Well, you're still with me!" scolded Marzzzz, "I'm still here too! Please get back in the car now, I'd like to get back home at last! As I said, it's never taken me this long!"

  "Yeah, even if you almost run over our new teammates here," the lady scolded and sat back down in the car. "See you around!" she whispered conspiratorially to Black, "We're going to have the time of our lives here!"

  "I think so too," Black giggled, "I can hardly wait to read your latest book!"

  "Hey, how do you know I'm going to write one?"

  Black leaned forward and whispered in the lady's ear, "Some things we just know..." She gave her a cheerful wink, while Marzzzz stepped on the gas again and really sped off to reach the 652 before sunrise.

  With the last rays of the moon, Marzzzz and Evelyne reached the clan castle of the 652.

  Marzzzz pulled up to the main gate with an elegant flourish, ripped open the door for the lady and offered her his arm.

  "Welcome to your new home, beauty," he purred and led her up the steps.

  The Lady looked around and smiled. It all looked quite familiar. Apparently, all these clan castles had been built by the same architect. At any rate, they looked very similar.

  Marzzzz next to her cleared his throat. She turned to him and wondered at his wolfish smile. "What is it?" she asked worriedly.

  "I have a confession to make," Marzzzz whispered with a smile, "We don't have a spa hotel here at all..."