Chapter 4524 Lost Leverage

When the meeting ended, ooo—o- retreated from the web call, returning to her abode. She sat on her hammock, woven from her own web, falling into thought as her six arachnid eyes swept her abode.

The webbed walls weren't covered in merely decorative ornaments of her own civilization, but also that of other civilizations. Trinkets, gifts, ornaments from other civilization were pinned to the wall, reminding her of all the civilizations that she had assimilated, illuminated by the bright blue light from the two blue giant stars at the center of the star system.

While the Local Bubble, the low-stellar-density thousand-light-year sphere that human civilization was present within, lacked such massive stars, the arakai occupied some of the juiciest places of the Orion Star Strand, overflowing with abundant stellar energy. One could pity the poor humans for being born in a space composed of only red-dwarf stars.

There were stellar infrastructural technologies that were only possible if one had access to blue giants, considered vital to every advanced civilization; blue giants that human civilization had very few of. Yet at the same time, existing in a low-stellar-density bubble was also a boon in some ways.

It was the reason that they had never been contacted by an advanced civilization prior to the death of the virus within their home world. Nobody wanted to bother with a sparse distribution of garbage red dwarf stars. The energy yield was so low that it wasn't even worth the effort when half of the Milky Way was still uninhabited.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK…

"It. Worked. Out. In. Their. Favor. Ultimately…"

She heaved a sigh, shaking her head. Out of all the civilizations that she had ever come across, humans were undoubtedly the most miraculous. She was determined to do anything to get them to join their civilization.

Just then, she received a report from an subordinate of hers.

"Your. Excellency. We. Have. Received. Another. Missive. Of. Human. Origin."

Her six arachnid eyes lit up. It was undoubtedly the Emperor of Water arranging another meeting with her. "Send. It. To. Me. Immediately."

Upon reading it, she was right. He wanted to speak to her right away; the meeting was only an hour away. Clearly, he had gotten better at timing it on shorter notice. As usual, the meeting place was in the Strehegeld Star System, where the conflict between the humans and the arakai had first begun.

An hour later, a wormhole opened up in the star system, allowing a tiny webship to pass through. A mere frigate that possessed interstellar communication and projection abilities. She didn't dare show herself in front of him in person.

Even if she was confident she could defend herself, she knew that she would disappear nonetheless. Although she didn't think that he had any reason to attack her, one could never be certain with aliens. Every alien species possessed a different form of consciousness, she had learned, and that meant even being rational had different meanings in different species. It was best not to take any chances.

Sure enough, her frigate detected the presence of the Emperor of Water, who had boldly come by himself, like last time. She found it envious that he was so willing to show up physically since he didn't have to worry about the consequence of the Verse. It was almost insulting, but it spoke to his confidence in his power. And he had proven, with the death of three Divine Mothers, that it wasn't unwarranted.

He sat in a lotus position in outer space, his arms folded. His royal attire simply floated above his body weightlessly, unmoored by gravity. His ethereal eyes shifted towards the wormhole and the emerging frigate.

"Finally," he muttered.

WHOOSH

He teleported directly into the frigate, taking a seat upon a chair that was meant to mimic those of humans. Opposite him was the projection of the Divine Mother he had begun consorting with.

The two sides momentarily sized each other up, judging each other's posture and body language. Ooo—o- could see the confidence that came from having achieved meaningful success at the inception of the war and hampering the arakai invasion to a decent extent. She knew that he wasn't going to accept any heavy demands from her, considering that he believed that the humans could deal with their enemies quite well.

She suspected he underestimated the arakai, but until that was proven in war, there was no point in bringing it up.

"I've fulfilled my end of the bargain," Rui remarked. "The Security Council of the Gaian Alliance had removed your faction and the cells that comprise it from the list of hostile enemies of human civilization. We are free to broker trade and establish a 'trade web' as you so please."

It had been annoying shutting down the voices of opposition like Prime Minister James, but he had done it. Now, it was finally time for him to get the juicy information that he sought.

Much to his irritation, the Divine Mother didn't seem particularly impatient to share it.

"You have done well pushing back against our invasion, but do not grow too arrogant, Emperor of Water," she warned him, speaking with a human-like voice and the modern Gaian language. "The Divine Mother, leading the Web of War that you have humbled, has learned her lesson. She will not underestimate you a second time. The true test will come from this point on. You will need to prove that you are able to withstand the long-term pressure from our civilization without relying on the momentary success of tricks."

"I am aware of that; I have plans," he replied. "One of them is the information that you have agreed to give me. I know humanity cannot fight the arakai in the long-term on a purely meritorious basis. But war is never a symmetric affair."

His ethereal eyes sharpened.

"I will not allow humanity to fall."

The conviction in his voice was intense. It was unyielding. Simply hearing that made the Divine Mother momentarily doubt her own civilization's capabilities of checkmating him and his people.

It only made her want his civilization to fall into her hands, as much as possible.