Volume 3 is here! This time, we're getting into the dark part of the story, when - and I'm gonna say it - all hope seems lost. I hope you enjoy the story as much as you did the last time you read it, and that you like my commentary.

This blog contains the seventh and eighth chapters of the series, along with the usual cast list and author's notes. In this part of War on the Nether, the Soda Strike Team returns to the Overworld, only to find that PMC City is being besieged by the Nether Army! The art section is once again back, this time with stuff by me and Peter (OrderOutOfChaos). Anyways, enjoy!

IGEBM answered the phone. "General Playz, what is it?" he asked. "Your trackers went on, so I'm assuming you came through the portal." the General responded. "Correct, sir." IGE answered. "Good." General Playz continued. "We've evacuated the citizens of PMC City, including the council, save for Head Councilman Silabear and Stubbs to the Ancient City below us. Us, the military, and several volunteers are holed up in the underground bunker beneath the military base. I want you four to get over here so we can form a plan." He hung up. "Wait, how does he expect us to get through them?" Peter asked. "We're soldiers, Peter!" Pig responded. "We fight!" "And plus, our fellow soldiers are out here too." Ella said. "We just need to get to the car." The soldiers were too busy fighting to notice the Strike Team, who raced across the street and get into IGE's car. Ella pulled out her rifle, prepared to provide cover fire. She rolled down her window and started shooting at the piglins. Pig joined in, throwing down grenades that exploded near the piglins, either killing them or fatally wounding them as the PMC Military troops stepped back.

The team arrived at the military base with no piglins in sight, thanks to defense systems surrounding the base. Using their IDs, the group got into the underground bunker, walked down the staircase underneath the armory and into the main room. Inside, they found General Playz, Head Councilman Silabear, and former Councilman Stubbs sitting around a table looking at a 3D holo-map of the city, discussing battle plans. Axo looked up and saw IGE walking in, with his teammates behind him. "Ah, good, you're here!" he said. "We were just discussing a possible attack plan." "Well, what is it?" Peter asked. "Well, while the Nether Army is distracted by the soldiers battling in the streets, we'd send in troops to attack them from the rooftops, before having a strike team destroy their ships." Stubbs explained. "Then, we'd begin firing our anti-aircraft missiles at their aircraft and-" The alarm began to sound as a holographic screen appeared above the map of the city, showing the streets above. The camera was facing the water, where a huge mech made of netherite and Nether gold was flying across the ocean. It landed in the city, where Silabear noticed someone in the cockpit. "That's Noncommercial!" he said. "You're right!" Pig realized. "It is!" Noncommercial, in his mech, stomped through the streets, before firing a powerful beam of soul fire from an arm cannon at the boathouse, destroying it completely. He proceeded to fire another beam across the harbor, destroying the piers and ships. "How are we supposed to fight a mech?!" Ella asked. "I have an idea." Gracie said, getting up from the bench she was sitting on. "But the person I'm going to call won't like it." She took out her phone and called her boyfriend, Grimm, who was currently staying in Sodaville, and who used to be a mech pilot and captain in the PMC Military. While Gracie waited for him to pick up, Peter asked a question. "Wait, rewind the footage and zoom in." he said. "What's that thing powering the mech?" As General Playz zoomed in, his eyes widened in shock as he saw what was powering the King's mech.

As the Soda Strike Team and an Ender Army soldier flew above the city, IGE spotted a purple cloud which he assumed to be the work of Private Fungar, one of the Crimson Butchers. However, down below, it turns out to be the work of Tusks, a spy, infiltrator, and saboteur in the Nether Army. He had thrown down some blast fungus to cover his escape from a trio of Ender Army troops fighting in the streets. Drinking an invisibility potion, he ran through the city and into the castle, evading the guards and defenses thanks to the potion. He went underground and slipped through several traps, before using a shard from his potion bottle to deflect the laser tripwires before him, the last thing protecting the door to a vault beneath Piaccu's fortress, where all of the most valuable objects in the End Nation were stored. He figured out the combination and opened the vault, before quickly grabbing the Heart of the End, the most powerful object in the vault, and swapping it out with a fake before the plate went down. He threw an Ender pearl through the corner of the wall, teleporting to the hallway above, which happened to be near the door. He snuck out with the Heart and made his way out of the city as the potion wore off.

In Sodaville, Grimm finally picked up his phone after taking a nap. "What is it, Gracie?" he asked. "Listen, did you hear about the Nether War?" Gracie asked over the phone. "Obviously." Grimm responded. "Here in Sodaville, we had to fight a small team of piglins that tried to take the town." "Yeah, well guess what?" Gracie continued. "The entire army has invaded the city, me and several other fighters are currently holed up in a bunker under the military base, and Noncommercial just arrived in a mech. I think you know what I'm about to ask you." "No." Grimm said. "I'm not going in a mech again. Not after what happened." He turned to a picture of him and his team, the Evangelion Squadron. "Please." Gracie pleaded. "We need you. I'm begging you to come help us." "Fine." Grimm said. "But only for you." He hung up and went down to the basement, where he punched a code into a keypad on the wall. The wall slid over, revealing a staircase, which led down to a hangar. Inside the hangar was his rusty old Eva-13 mech. "Time to clean this up." He walked down the stairwell, going over to a table in the hangar, where he put on a welding mask and grabsbed a welder and piece of metal, preparing to repair the heavily-damaged mech.

Meanwhile, in the bunker, Gracie told them that Grimm was on his way. "In the meantime, let's just go out there and kill some piglins!" she said enthusiastically. "I must admit, that's a better plan than mine." General Playz said. "Alright, PMC Military - and others - let's go out and fight the good fight!" They all marched up the stairs, suited up in military clothing, and headed to the parking lot. The Soda Strike Team hopped into a modified pick-up truck with a machine gun in the back, which Ella manned. Pig stayed in the back with her to throw grenades, while Peter sat in the seat next to IGE, who's driving, to fire his laser rifle. The other troops got into tanks and APCs, and they drove into the war-torn streets. Ella fired on Noncommercial's mech. "Huh?" he said as he feels the cannon fire hit his back. He turned around to see the truck, and began to charge his soul fire beam. "Drive." Peter said. IGE drove as fast as possible as the beam hit the spot they were once in.

More piglins began to arrive by sea, primarily in airships. Stubbs, who stayed behind at the base, manned an anti-aircraft cannon and started firing at the airborne piglin troops. Several began falling out of the sky, but more came out of the open portal beneath Cyprezz Tower. The PMC Military began to become overwhelmed by piglins. Left and right as they were chased by King Noncommercial, the Soda Strike Team saw soldiers with crossbows to their heads surrendering. Their guns and electro-machetes were on the ground before them. "I can't believe it." Pig said in shock. "We're... losing. The Empire's gonna win." He lobbed a grenade at Noncommercial's mech, which barely did any damage to it. The Netherite mech was taking all of their fire with barely a scratch. The team drove into an alleyway, where they exited the vehicle and climbed up the walls to the rooftops.

Once on the rooftops, they began running across buildings while Noncommercial went off to do something else, oddly. However, the Strike Team just shrugged it off. They took cover in a rooftop garden above a plant shop, where they assessed the situation. "Okay, so the Nether Empire is winning." IGE said. "They've got our men unarmed and on their knees, with guns, er, bows to their heads. What do we do, because we can't take them all on our own." "Well, we could try to get help from somewhere." Pig suggested. "But how?" Peter asked. "They're covering every way out of the city. There's no way we can leave without being overwhelmed." "Yeah, and plus-" Ella was interrupted by the sound of an explosion. They got up and looked at the street, where they saw a fleeing soldier run out of the smoke, which was coming from the burning remains of a car. Several piglin soldiers laid dead near the vehicle. They looked around to see who caused the explosion, and spotted several ships in harbor, which Forgemaster Chaos, Shadow, Trot, the Forge Apprentices, and Rakkitatoru (who fired the Magic Missile that blew up the car) disembarked from!

The Soda Strike Team, overjoyed to see the Forge coming to their aid, climbed down the building and raced down the street while shooting at piglins to greet them. "The Forge is here to help!" Chaos said as they ran up to him. "Stubbs sent out a distress signal, and we seem to have arrived first." "Ready to go help some people out?" Whisper asked Shadow, a fellow teleporter. "Yep, let's go." Shadow responded. They began teleporting up and down the street, taking out piglins from behind and freeing the soldiers. Meanwhile, Cloud drew his silver axe and joined in with the Netherite claymore-wielding Potato in battling a pair of piglin swordsmen. Tem drew a silver sword and charged into battle with Trot, who iswawielding a bow with copper arrows that were lit on fire by Rakkitatoru's magic. Rakkitatoru started firing Magic Missiles and Fireballs around at the piglins, and Chaos joined the Soda Strike Team in battle as Stubbs ran out from the military base. "You answered the call!" they said. "What about the other nations?" "They might be on their way." Chaos said. "We're the closest to the city, so it makes sense that we arrived first." "And Piaccu might still be preparing his troops." Ella added. "Well, I'm gonna get in a tank." Stubbs said, running back to the base to find a tank to drive down the street. "Let's fight." Chaos said. He drew a netherite broadsword and followed the Soda Strike Team into battle.

The PMC Military, now aided by warriors from the Forge, began winning the battle. Noncommercial was nowhere to be found, however, which concerns IGEBM. As he threw a light spear at a piglin, he wondered where the Nether king went. "Hey, has anyone seen Noncommercial?" he asked. "No." Pig said. "He flew away, clearly." "Uh, is that him in the giant mech?" Chaos asks as he dropped his broadsword and stabbed a piglin in the stomach with his sgian dubh. In return, the piglin jabbed a small knife into his leg "Yeah, why?" Ella asked. "Turn around and look up." Chaos answered as he pulled the knife out. They all turned their heads to the left and looked up to see that Noncommercial had returned in his mech, this time with a scientist on his shoulder, and a massive beam cannon in his hands. Then, he fired the beam cannon, and the shot went right through the center of Cyprezz Tower, breaking it in two. "EVERYONE, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" General Playz cried out as he runs for cover. The other fighters scattered as the top half of Cyprezz Tower came crashing down into the street, wrecking part of the city. Chaos, however, could make it out of the way in time due to the stab wound, and as the tower came crashing down, a piece of metal landed on top of him. Luckily, it was light enough that he survived, but with major injuries.

Shadow saw this and warped next to her boyfriend. IGE rushed over as well, manifesting a pair of light gauntlets to lift up the metal. She helped Chaos up, and they all looked up at the flying Noncommercial, with his head scientist, Dr. Goldeye, sitting on his left shoulder. He had put the beam cannon on his back. "People of the PMC Military, your tower has fallen!" the king announced loudly, his voice amplified by a speaker in the mech. "I have torn down your symbol of government, overtaken your city, and won! Long live the Nether Empire!" "Long live the Nether Empire!" the piglins around them said. "Now, my troops, take them prisoner!" Noncommercial ordered. Dr. Goldeye flew down with a jetpack to join the fight. "Run!" Peter shouted. Stubbs got out of the tank and joined them in fleeing, and General Playz followed them.

The soldiers made it to the cave entrance that led down to the Ancient City. However, the piglins have followed them, led by Dr. Goldeye. Chaos got an idea, but realized that their safety and survival would come at a cost. He stopped at the cave entrance and took Shadow's arm off him. Barely able to stand, he turned to Pig. "Give me a timed grenade." he said. "Wait, why?" the soldier asked. "Just give it to me." Chaos said, weakly standing. Pig quickly handed him a grenade, and he set the timer for 10 seconds, but didn't click start yet. "Chaos, what are you doing?" Shadow asked, sounding scared. IGE, Peter, and Ella turned around and realize what was going on before Shadow did. "Shadow, I love you." Chaos began. "And I want you to know that no matter where I am, or how far apart we are, I always will. And because I love you, I'm going to make sure you're safe. Now, run. Go with the others and get to the Ancient City. I'll hold them off." "You can't fight in this condition!" Shadow responded, the fear and worry in her voice making itself clear. "I know." Chaos said. "Let's face it, I was probably gonna die of my injuries anyways. Here, I want you to have this to remember me by." He gave her his sgian dubh, gifted to him by his mentor, who taught him smithing. "Now, goodbye to everyone here." he said. "I'll see you all on the other side, someday." He pressed start on the grenade timer, and the group took that as their cue to run and catch up with the Apprentices. Trot, who was silent the entire time, trying to take in the situation, was forced to carry a frozen Shadow down into the cave. They both turned to see Dr. Goldeye and the piglins close in on their friend as the grenade exploded, killing everyone caught in the blast and bringing down the rocks above to block the cave entrance. "I know this probably isn't a good time to say this, but that was a smart plan." IGEBM commented as they run and arrive at the entrance to the Ancient City, where the evacuated citizens of PMC City have taken shelter.

As the Apprentices, General Playz, and Stubbs met up with the Strike Team, Shadow (who was no longer being carried by Trot), and Trot, Tem noticed that their leader is missing. "Where's Chaos?" he asked. Everyone was silent. "He- he sacrificed himself to save us." IGE said. Silabear and Gracie (who left the fight to help the people of the city before the Forge soldiers arrived) met up with them, and IGE restated what he just said about Chaos. The group looked down at the carpet-covered ground and had a moment of silence for the fallen hero, with streams of tears running down Shadow's face. Trot felt a warm glow behind her, and Gracie looks up to see Spencer, the leader of the Luminous Gang, at the entrance to the Ancient City!

"Guys, look!" Gracie said, breaking the moment of silence the group was having for the fallen Forgemaster Chaos. They all turned around to see Spencer, the leader of the Luminous Gang, standing at the entrance to the Ancient City. "Spencer?" IGEBM asked, shocked at his appearance. "Yep, it's me." the armored Luminous Gang leader replied. "I was sent a message by Councilman Adrestio to come here. All they told me was to come to the Ancient City, nothing else. Do you guys know why?" "Well, does the Luminous Gang know that the Nether Army has invaded the city?" Peter asked. "No." Spencer responded. "We lost contact with the surface world when someone presumably sabotaged the communications up there." "Ah." Pig said. "Well, they broke through the shield and claimed the city." "Don't forget that Noncommercial has a friggin' mech and he destroyed Cyprezz Tower with a massive cannon." Ella added. "I hate to say it, but they won." Spencer, while taking in all of this information, noticed Shadow was looking depressed. "Are you okay, Shadow?" he asked. She turned away. Everyone was silent. "What happened?" Trot walked up to him. "He's dead." she said. "Chaos is dead." "What happened to him?" Spencer asked. IGE explained everything to him. "He saved us." he finished. "And he died a hero."

After another moment of silence, Whisper spoke up. "So, what now?" she asked. "What else can we do?" "Yeah, the Empire won." Cloud said. "Cloud's right." Potato added. "We've lost the war." "No." Tem said. "I refuse to believe that." "What?" Rakkitatoru asked, surprised. "I refuse to believe that this is the end." Tem continued. "We can't just sit back and let him win. We have to take a stand!" "Come to think of it, I have an idea." Spencer said. "But we're gonna need the entirety of the Overworld to be on board with it. How about we head to the Luminous Caverns and discuss things there?" "Good idea." General Playz said. The group followed Spencer out of the city and into the tunnel that led to the Luminous Caverns, the home and base of operations for the Luminous Gang. Peter noticed that Silabear and Stubbs weren't coming. "Are you guys going to come with us or what?" he asked. "We're gonna get the council together and catch up with you." Silabear said. "I'm an honorary member for now, I guess." Stubbs commented, realizing that they were working with the council even though they weren't a member any more.

The group soon arrived in the Luminous Caverns, a large expanse of deeplsate caves connected by tunnels, all lit up by luminous ooze, a material only found at a y level of -53 or lower. "It's beautiful." IGE said. "I know." Spencer responded. "It's hard to believe there can be such an amazing place this far below the surface. Oh look, we're here." He led them into a large cave, one of the largest in the caverns. Inside was a large table, which was made of deepslate and covered with a gray tablecloth, as well as several chairs. Along the walls of the cave were several computers and a few doors leading to other (smaller) rooms. "Welcome to the Luminous Hub." Spencer said as everyone looks around. "This is where everything in the Luminous Gang is run, from communications to organizing exploration missions."

The group sat down around the table, and Spencer activated a hologram showing a map of the tunnels, overlaid above a map of PMC City. "As you can see, our tunnels do have other exits, but this is the main one." he began. "No one knows about these other exits except the council and-" He was interrupted by the council members walking into the room. "Speak of the Devil." Trot said. "We're here." Adrestio announced, stating the obvious. "So, what's the plan?" Smack asked. Spencer restated what he said before and then continued explaining the plan. "I was thinking we have Sila and the council head up to the surface using the main tunnel and then surrender." he said. He saw the looks on his allies' faces. "But, before you object, let me finish: the surrender is a distraction. While they let themselves be handcuffed by the Empire - just wait, I know this is sounding crazy - teams of PMC Military troops and Luminous Gang soldiers exit from the other tunnels and surround the Empire, who are, I'm assuming, mostly all gathered on Paril Road near the ruins of Cyprezz Tower." "Yep." Potato said. "Most of the Nether Army was gathered around the tower's remains before we ran into the cave." "This sounds like a great plan." Silabear said. "What about us, though? If we're gonna be surrendering, we'll need a way to free ourselves and help fight." "That's where this comes in." Spencer answered. He took out a small vial containing what appeared to be luminous ooze with deepslate pebbles mixed in. "Our science division has been working on a new type of armor, which I'm holding right now. It's basically genetically-modified luminous ooze that can form into armor around you once you pour it on yourself." "Fascinating." Smack commented. "And we can use this to fight back once you guys start the fight?" "Correct." Spencer said. "This sounds like a plan to me." IGE said. "Let's get to work."

While the others left the room, Gracie stayed there and tried to get a phone signal. She looked for one of the maintenance staff, and found one repairing a computer. "Hey, does this place have WiFi or anything like that?" she asked. "The network is LumGangWiFi and the password is HailB0B, no spaces or underscores, with 'B0B' being spelled capital B-zero-capital B." the maintenance worker answered. He went back to fixing the computer. Gracie found the WiFi and typed in the password, getting a connection. She opened to her Phone app and called Grimm. He picked up. "Hey, where are you?" she asked. "I'm still in Sodaville." he responded. "My mech needs some repairs." "Yeah, well we're in the Luminous Caverns!" she quietly shouted, before explaining what happened on the surface. "So the piglins have taken the city?" Grimm asked after she finishes. "Yes." Gracie responded. "I'll try to hurry up the repairs." Grimm said. "Love you." "Love you too." Gracie replied before he hung up. She headed to the armory.

Trot found Shadow outside of the Hub, sitting on the ground against the cave wall, crying up a storm. "Hey, you okay?" Trot asked. "No, I'm not, and you should already know that." Shadow barked, tears in her eyes. "Sorry for shouting... I just had to watch the love of my life die. Do you know how hard that is?" Trot sat down next her. "No, I don't, but I want to help you." she said. "It's hard seeing my friend like this." "He was the best person I ever met." Shadow said. "And he's gone. I don't think I can help fight." "We need you." Trot told her. "You're one of the best fighters here." "Trot, I can't do it." Shadow responded. "I don't care if it's for PMC. I'm not fighting." "Then don't do it for PMC." Trot said. "Don't even do it for me. Do it for Chaos. It's what he would've wanted." Shadow cried some more before Trot handed her a tissue. "I'm sorry, Trot." she said, blowing her runny nose. "I can't. Now please, just leave me alone." "I'll respect your wishes and go." Trot got up and created a flame to toss around while she walked away to wait in the Hub.

In the armory, General Playz, the Soda Strike Team, the Apprentices, and Spencer were looking at weapons. The walls were lined with gatling guns, plasma blasters, laser swords, pyro-axes, and all sorts of explosives. Pig, ever the demolitionist, was fascinated by the Luminous Gang's various light-based explosives, but was most interested in the strange purple bomb in a glass case. "What's that?" he inquired. "That's a singularity grenade." Spencer explained. "One of the most dangerous weapons in our arsenal. It's not really light-based, but we were able to harness the power of the void on a trip to the End and store in a small container. From there, we designed an explosive that, when triggered, would cause the void energy to release in a manner that would create a small singularity that sucked in anything near it and eventually collapse, causing a contained explosion that would destroy everything that was sucked in. We only have one, as the others are currently being worked on, but feel free to use it." He entered a passcode that caused the case to open. Pig took the singularity grenade and put it in his tactical belt for future use. "This might be useful." he said to himself. Meanwhile, General Playz was examining the various heavy weapons they had. He settled on a large gatling gun with three barrels. "This is gonna be a fun battle." the general said, taking several ammo clips for the coming fight. "All our weapons use light bullets, which are about a little stronger than normal ones." Spencer told him. IGEBM and Peter both select plasma blasters to go with their laser rifles, while Ella picked out a pyro-axe. The Forge Apprentices stuck with their normal weapons, instead choosing to enhance them with luminous ooze, which was very durable and could harden around whatever it touched if cooled. Spencer himself picked out a glow glaive, as well as a few light grenades. "I'm gonna get changed." he said, leaving the armory to walk to his room so he could change out of his Cultist of B0B jacket and into his armor. As he left, Gracie walked in to pick a weapon, having just gotten off the phone with Grimm.

After everyone had gotten ready for combat, they all met up in the Luminous Hub, where Trot had been waiting for a few minutes. "Are we all ready to go?" Spencer asked. "We have our armor." Silabear said, gesturing to the small vial of liquid luminous armor (as they've dubbed it) that he's stored in his robes. The other council members, as well as Stubbs, had it too. "We've got our weapons." General Playz sad. "And Grimm is on his way." Gracie added. Realizing Spencer didn't know what she was talking about, she elaborated. "Because Noncommercial has a mech, I called Grimm to bring his mech here to fight. I made that call back when we were still in the bunker, but I called him earlier and he said he was doing some repairs." "Hope he comes soon." Peter said nervously. "We need his help to take down Noncommercial." "My forces are ready for combat." Spencer told them. "I've split you guys up into teams, and written down which district you're going to. By the way, districts are what we call the small bunkers at the end of each tunnel that branches across the city." He gestured to the papers he's put on the table, which have the teams that the soldiers are going to. "Ah." Ella said. "I was about to ask you that." "Well, what are we waiting for?" Adrestio asked. "Yeah, let's go!" Stubbs said enthusiastically. "Council, follow me!" Silabear ordered.

As the different teams split up and made their ways to the tunnels leading to each district, where their Luminous Gang teammates were waiting, Silabear and the Council of Mods left the Luminous Caverns and made their way back to PMC City, where Smack left a holo-message that announced what's going on the people of PMC City. They were currently making the most of their time in the Ancient City and the exploring the ruins. The Council headed up to the cave entrance, where they began to get rid of the rubble that was blocking the cave entrance. Adrestio uncovered Forgemaster Chaos' body and moved it to a safe place for later retrieval. "May he rest in peace." the councilman said. Once all the rubble was removed, the 27 Councilmen (28 if you count Stubbs) exited the cave with their hands in the air. As Noncommercial's second-in-command, ComfySteve, spotted them and ordered his men to raise their crossbows, he was shocked by what Silabear said. "ComfySteve, tell King Noncommercial that we surrender." the wise bear told him.

IGEBM as IGEBM
AxolotlArmy as General Axo Playz
OrderOutOfChaos as Peter
TheMcPig as Pig
Pixella_9487 as Ella
Silabear as Head Councilman Silabear
Stubbs1 as Stubbs
Noncommercial as King Noncommercial of the Nether Empire
GracieMockingjay as Gracie Mockingjay
Tusks
TheGrimmKnight as Grimm Knight
TheCrypteral as Forgemaster Chaos Crypteral
ShadowOnTheLoose as Shadow
Trotelot as Trot
Rakkitatoru as Rakkitatoru
WhisperOfTheWild as Whisper
cloudkitty as Cloud
BigFatPotat as Potato
CrownDeluxe as Tem
Dr. Goldeye
Sp3nc3r_ as Spencer
Adrestio as Councilman Adrestio
smack17 as Councilman Smack
ComfySteve12345 as First Lieutenant ComfySteve of the Nether Army

Chapter 7
- Yes, part of PMC City was built above an Ancient City
- The mech was Project: Nether King, previously mentioned back in chapter 2.
- I consider Nether gold and regular gold to be different, most likely due to the immense heat in the Nether.
- Who here remembers the days when Gracie and Grimm were dating? (That's when I wrote this. The memories are coming back...)
- Grimm's backstory is explained on the lore blog, but to save you the trip, he used to lead a squad of the best mech pilots, known as the Evangelion Division (Grimm is a big Evangelion fan), but in a battle, the squad slowly got picked off. Grimm survived and, not wanting to lose anyone else, resigned from the military open the Circus of Nightmares.
- Grimm's stay in Sodaville is a nod to fact that he aided my troops (the CocaCola Army and later the CocaCola Purists) in the PMC Soda Wars.
- The whole Tusks sequence was meant to happen in chapter 5, but I forgot about it while writing (and it wouldn't fit into 6), and since I have a policy about not (majorly) altering published stories, I put the scene in this chapter as a flashback.
- The part where he swaps out the Heart of the End is a very obvious nod to the first Indiana Jones film.
- There's nothing more awesome than a pick-up truck with a machine gun in the back.
- Come on, I had to have a whole "we're about to lose" moment. This volume is literally called Darkness Wins!
- I forgot if I said this in the notes on volume 1, but TheCrypteral owns a sgian dubh in real life (if my memory serves correct).
- Honestly, I think destroying a country/state/whatever's capitol building is the second-worst thing you could do to it before killing its leader (or leaders).
- Why did I kill Chaos off? I think all of you know, but he had left the site while I was working chapter 6, and this was where I got the idea to kill off characters in my lore when the users they were based on left. Chaos, being Chaos, deserved a hero's death, and he certainly got one. The chapter was also dedicated to Chaos and featured a series of "obituaries" written by fellow site members.
- Funnily enough, Chaos actually did see IGE again, in PMC: The Mansion of Shivers day 14, "A Chaotic Spirit," where his ghost appeared on Shiver Island along with the ghosts of many other deceased PMCers.

Chapter 8
- I know you're probably wondering why a warden hasn't come out yet. The reason? I have no idea.
- Among the things the Nether Empire did when they invaded PMC City was knock out the communications arrays with EMPs, cutting them off from the outside world. (Axo's call was able to go through thanks to a back-up generator in the military base.)
- I'm kinda sad that I had to remove all of the "other Chaos" jokes from the series... Trot was supposed to make one while telling Spencer about Chaos.
- Tem's mini-motivational speech was one of my favorite moments from the series.
- And so the Minecraft references continue with a nod to x-y-z level measurements. In this universe, they're mainly used by scientists, while the general populace uses what we know in the meta-world as the imperial system.
- The Luminous Gang is a registered society in the lore, alongside the likes of the Cryptic Family or the Cholans, and the main thing they do is explore the largely-unexplored underground world of PMC.
- Who reading this remembers B0B?
- The Luminous Gang has its own separate servers and stuff from PMC City, hence why their connection to the Internet wasn't knocked out by the EMPs.
- The singularity grenade came from this one guns and explosives mod I found on MCPEDL that I used frequently for a while before it became incompatible with the game due to updates.
- The original version of the book had Spencer saying the void was close to them; evidently, my brain wasn't registering that PMC was a planet and I was treating as if it was flat.
- I'm just now reading this chapter for first time since I wrote it while revising and being surprised at the fact that the Chaos Legion and Luminous Gang both used the term "district."
- In case it wasn't clear, this Ancient City and the cave it's in are much larger and the only one of their kind (hence the capitalization), which is why it's able to fit the entire population of the most populated city on Planet Minecraft.
- Yay, more false surrenders! And we're gonna pretend that the heroes aren't committing war crimes clarified in the PMC City Conventions!

Concept sketches of Noncommercial's mech and the Soda Strike Team's boat - drawing by me
Illustrated somewhere in October of 2023
Note: that symbol in the corner is now the Nether Empire emblem in the story.


Concept sketch of Noncommercial's mech - drawing by me
Illustrated on 3-24-2024 (Fellow Christians, don't get mad at me for doing this during church; I still listened to the service while I did it.)