All three parties had been waiting for the battle to begin for months now, what was one more day of waiting for them? Truth be told, none of these groups needed the time to prepare as they knew that to slack at such a high-level competition would only invite humiliation, no matter how gifted one may be in the arts of naval warfare. Or any other type of warfare for that matter. Instead, the day was spent trying to steel their nerves and thinking over ways that their opponents could make that they would be able to counter.

Finally, it was time for battle. All 3 teams geared up for battle. For 2 of the 3 commanders, this would be the biggest battle of their careers to date. Unless they wanted to become obsolete, they would give their all to make sure that they would make it to the top. As soon as the simulation started, everyone was busy doing whatever they could to bulk up their defenses and build up their armies so that they would be able to begin their conquests. There was no preparation time set so they could attack the moment that they all entered into the simulation.

However bold it sounded to send your starting troops to fight enemies first was more foolish than anything. In a competition of this caliber, there were no rules. Everything was permitted everything. At the end of the day, that was the most sincere form of warfare; one not impeded by rules of battle or rules of etiquette. War was what made the world go round, was.

Wu Zi Xu, Madam Zheng, and Zheng He knew the importance of proper preparation. That was why they decided it best to hold off on attacking anyone until they felt confident in their defenses. As such, 3 months went by without a single shot being fired. That was about to change as Madam Zheng began to ready her armadas for war.

During this uneasy standstill of three years, both Zheng He and Madam Zheng decided to send an emissary to try and get Wu Zi Xu on their side, however, both of them were rejected. No matter how both of these sides wanted an alliance, they would never in a million years want to do it with each other so in the end there were no alliances made. This was to be expected as far as anybody could tell, this battle was to test out how much of a master these two were at naval warfare.

The map of the land that the three different groups were warring for was divided in such a way that each one would share equal territory as the other two. This meant that each side would be able to attack one group as it was to attack the other, or both at the same time. It was mostly comprised of water, as one would expect in a naval entanglement, with very few patches of land in between. These patches of land were few in number, but they played a significant role in being landmarks and possible restocking centers.

Mobilization of all 3 groups was apparent as all of them were getting the itch to start a fight. However, who should they fight? If they chose to focus on one side too heavily, that would leave the remaining group an opening to make an offensive. If they chose to go fight both enemies simultaneously, they would have to make sure they had enough resources to continue fighting for long periods of time. Even if there were no alliances now, that could very well change in the heat of the moment if one side began to lose momentum or too many ships.

Everything had to be accounted for, every little piece of detail that could change the outcome of the battle was monitored and changed as needed. For war was no simple game, it was the greatest and deadliest of them all. Spies were in each camp, so the overall leaders had to be careful of who and when they reveal their information to. Even with a record number of spies infiltrated into each camp, it was still relatively impressive that none of the 3 sides had let their plans be discovered.

This was good for those who had secrets to hide but bad for those who relied on reliable intel to make informed decisions. In this case, both could be said of all 3 naval masters. Even though every side had enough firepower to start, they would not risk it yet, just in case.

In the beginning, every side had an equal number of troops, firepower, ships, resources, and whatnot, but as time progressed, those values began to change drastically. For instance, Wu Zi Xu’s faction began to differentiate themselves by being able to produce hundreds of different kinds of ships, military aircraft, and missiles. This was because they had traveled to many different communities and gathered many blueprints for them to use.

The same could not be said of Zheng He and Madam Zheng as they had stayed put for their entire life on planet 4. That being said, these two only had experience fighting their fellow community members while Wu Zi Xu had the chance to spar with some of the best of the other countries. It was a matter of privilege and opportunity. There was no way the two new masters would have half as many chances to expand their horizons as Wu Zi Xu had.

Eventually, the months dragged on with none of the sides making any moves. It was a mix of sentiment, patience, and seeing what moves their opponents would make before they made their own moves. Finally, Madam Zheng gave out and had her two main fleets make their way to both Zheng He and Wu Zi Xu. The long-awaited battle was now on. Whoever made it out of this would be crowned the best naval strategist in the Chinese community! There was no room for even the slightest error, hesitation, mistake, or indecision. The fight was on!