Chapter 4523 Reporting Home

While human civilization had developed a blueprint for the future, the arakai had only just received word of the outcome of the initial invasion into Arima III.

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"You… Failed?" Divine Mother ——oooo's voice was one of anger. The elderly Divine Mother stared at her younger peer with a judgmental gaze. Her six arachnid eyes were filled with disapproval. Although she hadn't anticipated it would be easy, she hadn't expected that the younger Divine Mother would outright fail, either.

Divine Mother —o-o—o, on the other hand, gritted her pincers, accepting the judgment from her much older sister and the leader of the War Faction that she was a part of. Although there were others in the call, it was her faction leader's reproach that she felt most hurt by. The thought of disappointing her elder sister was one that made her feel especially angry. It made her feel angry at the humans who had deprived her of a resounding victory.

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"What. Exactly. Happened?" Divine Mother ooo—o-'s projection asked in a calmer voice. —o-o—o scowled at the question from this one. She didn't like the leader of the Pluralist Faction. But she understood that this was not the time to bark about chain of command or authority. She had been entrusted with a duty, and she had failed. She needed to comport herself in a manner that reflected her understanding; otherwise, they might choose to replace her with another Divine Mother, preventing her from getting revenge.

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"I… Led. The. Army. Into. Arima. III. As. Planned. But. Upon. Entry. We. Were. Ambushed. By. Pathwalkers. Who. Managed. To. Inflict. Great. Damage. To. Our. Breachhead. And. Interdiction. Force," she revealed with a tone of profound anger. "They. Somehow. Managed. To. Convert. Large. Swathes. Of. Matter. Including. Prothanite. Into. Energy… It. Caused. Us. Great. Damage. From. The. Very. Getgo. That. They. Used. To. Worm. In. Their. Pathwalkers. To. Harm. Our. Interdiction. Force."

She had transmitted them a more detailed report written up by her subordinates, of course. But she knew that they would want to hear what happened from her own pincers.

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Divine Mother —oo of the Virus Faction frowned. She was the oldest of the three leaders who had chosen to listen to her younger peer. "It. Seems. We. All. Underestimated. Them. But…"

Her six aged arachnid eyes sharpened. "If. They. Ambushed. You. Upon. Entry. Then. That. Means. That. They. Knew. Where. You. Would. Invade. That… means. We. Have. Suffered. An. Information. Leak."

She cast a glance of suspicion at the Divine Mother ooo—o-. Out of all the potential sources of a leak, the divine mother of the Pluralist Faction was undoubtedly the likeliest. The Pluralist Faction and the cells that composed it had forged pacts with numerous smaller alien civilizations that they had come across in their many years of conquest and expansion.

While the other factions and cells pursued complete extermination. The Pluralist Faction always tried to maintain a somewhat mutually beneficial pact, even if it was heavily skewed in favor of the arakai.

This wasn't even the first time that the Pluralist Faction had done something like this. As much as both ——oooo and —oo hated their guts, they had enough powerful Divine Mothers in their faction, along with their leader ooo—o-. This meant that their ways of doing things had gained legitimacy simply by virtue of that. None of the Divine Mothers wanted to conduct a civil war to dispute whether or not it was traitorous to sell out their enemies in the name of 'having formed a web' with them.

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"I. Was. Not. Responsible. For. Informing. Them. Of. This. Information," ooo—o- shook her head, sounding like she meant it, much to the surprise of the other three sisters. "It. Is. True. That. I. Wish. To. Integrate. Them. Into. The. Web. Of. Our. Civilization… Their. Civilization. Is. Miraculous. And. We. Can. Learn. Much. From them… but. I. Wish. To. Do. So. From. A. Place. Of. Strength. Rather. Than. Partnership."

The two elder divine mothers seemed surprised at what seemed like sincerity from their traitorous sister. In this case, ooo—o- was actually speaking the truth. She didn't tell the Emperor of Water where the arakai would attack.

That was because she wanted the humans and the Emperor to be a bit more desperate.

That way, they were much likelier to accept complete assimilation and integration into web of arakai society and civilization. If they were too successful, then she would be forced to interact with the Emperor of Water as an equal.

Even though she wanted civilizations and races to be pluralistic, that didn't mean she was a saint, necessarily. She understood that power was the basis of everything. She could never pursue her pluralism plans if she didn't have greater power than the other parties. They would never accept assimilation.

She had hoped human civilization would suffer a catastrophic defeat in the initial invasion and had expected it. Which was why she hadn't arranged any meetings with the Emperor of Water in the ten days leading up to the invasion. Once they suffered defeat, she would have great leverage to apply pressure on the Emperor.

In exchange for giving him information on her political opponents, she could force him to accept complete integration into the Arakai Web Civilization.

But alas, that didn't happen, much to her surprise. What especially surprised her was that human civilization had managed to thwart the invasion, at least partially, without relying on the power of the Emperor of Water. This showed that his civilization wasn't entirely hopeless without him.

"If. It. Wasn't. You…" Divine Mother oooo—— frowned. "Then… They. Must. Have. Other. Sources. Of. Information. Within. Our. Civilization… we. Must. Find. And. Destroy. Them!"

That, Divine Mother ooo—o- was actually in agreement with. It would give her more leverage as well. She heaved a sigh internally as she thought about the upcoming meeting with the Emperor of Water. With this victory, her plans to assimilate them into Arakai Web Civilization were delayed.