Religious war following the righteous underdogs ends in 300 style with valiant defeat BUT THEN
The story isn't over it's revealed that life after death does exist in the form of layers of virtual training. A series of endless programs consisting of varying states of 'reality' where minds are collected and heared through to imprint a superior survival instinct on the finished product.
BUT THEN
It turns out it's millenia in the future and the same religious war is still going on and this program is all to beat the crusaders who have adopted a similar strategy.