A team is stuck between attacking a stronger rival and capitulating, and no one has proposed simply building their own thing — or you want to make that third path legible.

Mammon rejects both war and return: war is hopeless, and even God's mercy would mean "forced hallelujahs" to one they hate. His alternative is independence — "our own good from ourselves" — flattered as "hard liberty before the easy yoke," calling submission "servile" and hardship "liberty." The crowd applauds, not because the plan is best, but because it is the least frightening of the three. Fear of the sword drives them to the comfortable option.