Back on the Covenant's side, Liu Shu had pushed Deadly Petal back to what she had conquered with relative ease, and the small army that had been using ambushes was now pursuing the Covenant's main army.
Namue, like Carter, contacted a Covenant superior to inform them about the situation in detail and ask for advice on how to proceed.
Vaquir, the person at the same level as Asadja in the Nexus, answered the call with a confused look. Her look was that of a blonde, blue-eyed Sylvan. She was slightly tall, and her ears were pointy.
Sylvans didn't really have a specific shape for their ears, so some of them had rounded ears like a human, and others had pointy ears like a fairy. For a second, Namue felt as if he could see a faint spark of electricity flowing through her beautiful blue eyes.
"Namue, how is the conquest progressing? Is it done?"
Vaquir didn't think that the expedition could fail. Liu Shu was being attacked by two large-scale armies, even by Nexus or Covenant standards. Unless there was either a World Tree or a Level 300+ involved, what attacked Liu Shu was considered a standard offensive army for both sides.
Being sandwiched between both, Vaquir never doubted Liu Shu would end up becoming an event recorded in Covenant's long history.
She was right, but for all the wrong reasons.
Namue gave her the wake-up call. "We were defeated."
Vaquir stopped what she was doing and turned her face to look at Namue with a calm expression. Namue couldn't see much in her impassive and calm blue eyes, but he could tell that she was processing and accepting his words.
After being silent for a few moments, Vaquir opened her mouth. "Explain. How did you fail when Lady Heavenly Willow was weakened by the Nexus?"
Namue nodded and proceeded to explain everything he knew. He spoke about the army's strength, about their tactics, and overall, he spoke about the elite groups who steamrolled his army the most. He also made sure to inform her about Liu Shu's political statements.
Vaquir listened in silence and asked, confused. "What about Lady Deadly Petal?"
"Helplessly defeated. Lady Heavenly Willow was most likely luring us in to cause more damage to our army. Once we went deep enough, Lady Heavenly Willow began her counterattack, and Lady Deadly Petal has never been able to push her back once since."
Namue's words caused Vaquir to momentarily pause in thought. 'Wasn't the Heavenly Willow a recently leveled True World Tree? Even if she is fast, her Level should be around 220 or so max. How can she be so overwhelming against Lady Deadly Petal, who is Level 260?"
That wasn't the most important piece of information, though. 'How could she even afford to send an army when the Nexus is attacking simultaneously?'
This tactic was something Vaquir had actually been against. At first, when she heard Danlier, the leader of the Covenant, about sending an army and silently cooperating with the Nexus to deal with a World Tree, Vaquir thought she had misheard.
It wasn't until later that Danlier met with her privately and clarified the situation. To summarize, Balaya wanted Liu Shu gone at any cost. Even if they got a bad reputation for a century or two, they should at least deal with Liu Shu. Moreover, once she was gone, there were many ways of flipping black and white, washing their reputation clean.
Danlier had one of the highest approval rates among those able to vote in history, so one or two hits to her reputation wouldn't cause much trouble.
Reluctant as she was, Vaquir had to go along and send Namue's army to support Deadly Petal's army. Yet, things had gone terribly wrong at some point.
Leaning back on her chair, Vaquir's sharp mind tried to come up with solutions. "Reinforcements? No. We first must know what happened with the Nexus in detail. Namue, is there any information we can acquire?"
"Not much, Lady Vaquir." Namue shook his head and clarified. "Because of the war, the other side has been tight-lipped. We had some informants on their side, but most of them were killed during the war. Still, the last news we received was that Carter retreated to create a fortified front in the Azure Star Solar System and asked for reinforcements."
Vaquir asked, her poker face cracking a touch. "Retreated?"
Namue sighed and nodded. "The Golden Sap Empire has repelled both our armies. We underestimate the effect of her
Vaquir, knowing the most classified information of the Covenant, asked in passing. "Are there any… acceleration or deceleration skills?"
Namue pondered and spoke. "There are… but. Hm… How do I explain it? They feel… different from others."
Here, he stopped speaking and organized his thoughts. Then, he tried to explain it. "A slow-type skill makes you feel sluggish and dulls your senses, right? This skill didn't really affect us much physically. It makes you feel as if everything else accelerates instead. It is a very odd slow-type skill. In the first place, the only reason we could tell it was slowing us down was that our clocks, even the digital ones, were desynchronized for a moment."
Vaquir nodded without saying anything extra. Inside, though, she was feeling complicated. 'So, the hypothesis that she is able to partially control time is not wrong.'
What Namue described was them receiving a time-slow effect. Nothing apparent from their perspective other than everything else speeding up.
"Since the Nexus seems to be fortifying their frontline, do you think you can do the same?"
Namue pondered. Unlike the Nexus, Namue had been in much shorter contact with Liu Shu's army, so he didn't feel that much pressure yet. The enemy was strong, but with the defensive structures back at home and the soldiers left behind, Namue had some confidence. Moreover, Deadly Petal would help as well because, since the war started, she has been occupying those two Solar Systems.
Namue eventually nodded. "As long as it is a defensive battle, we are confident. Still, we might need to give up one of the two Solar Systems to focus all our efforts on one. It's better to keep one and give up on the other than to try to salvage both but end up losing them instead."
The Grand Commander of the Covenant agreed with that view. "Sacrifice the Prairie Of Sun Solar System and defend the Technosky Solar System."
"Understood."
The choice was clear and reasonable. If Prairie Of Sun Solar System was a place focused on farming and other related activities, Technosky Solar System was much more focused on technological advancements. Food, curiously, was much less of a problem than anyone could imagine.
A single Level 100+ Life-focused Aethermancer could easily produce food for millions alone. The only thing harder to get was meat. Even then, with an abundance of pasture, it was not impossible to raise cattle, poultry, etc. en masse.
In summary, protecting technology was more important than protecting food production.
Namue spoke with Deadly Petal and the rest of the remaining army, settling their course toward the Technosky Solar System.
Liu Shu noticed their movements as well. "It seems that the Covenant chose the Technosky Solar System."
Deadly Petal heard Liu Shu's murmur and answered. "Indeed."
Liu Shu was faintly surprised. She had not been expecting an answer. "Isn't confirming that information too much?"
Deadly Petal spoke softly. "It doesn't matter either way. I am going to die soon."
"Huh?" A trace of confusion flashed in Liu Shu's mind, but only for a moment. Connecting the dots was not impossible. "...Balaya?"
Deadly Petal didn't deny it. Now that she had been defeated by Liu Shu and couldn't even act as a defensive zone, Balaya would not bother with her anymore. Of course, she would not act right away, but it was a matter of fact that Deadly Petal had lost much of her usefulness in Balaya's eyes.
So, Deadly Petal answered with a strangely calm tone. Her usual sneering tone, even when she didn't mean it, had softened a lot. "Yeah. My dream of reaching Level 300 and giving that annoying World Tree a beating won't really come true. Well, I will just become a source of new life."
Liu Shu felt slightly uncomfortable. She knew that World Trees accepted their defeats and death unlike any other living being. They didn't drive, nor did they become fearful. All the emotions could be summarized in one word: acceptance.
"...That might not happen."
Deadly Petal, even as Liu Shu's roots continued to destroy her own and spread outward, answered with a confused tone. "Why not?"
Liu Shu couldn't really answer. She wanted to say that she would save Deadly Petal, but her main body was too far away. In a race against time, Balaya would arrive before Liu Shu 10 out of 10 times.
"Heavenly Willow, what are you going to do when you conquer these worlds? Will you replace the flora and fauna?"
Liu Shu's roots continued their destruction, more ruthless than before. However, this method didn't cause Deadly Petal more pain. On the contrary, since Liu Shu was snapping her roots so cleanly, Deadly Petal only felt a single sting before the feeling disappeared.
With the Nexus defeated, Liu Shu's 100% of strength was now focused in the Covenant's direction, and it showed. Even Deadly Petal noticed the change, causing her to almost exclaim in admiration at Liu Shu's brutal strength.
As he was thinking that, Liu Shu answered her question. "I won't replace anything. I usually prefer to mix my energies with the worlds and allow the environment to change without my input. The only things I manage are local World Trees, Life Trees, and Intelligent Species. The rest, I just embrace it all and let it develop."
Deadly Petal laughed softly. "That's so… you. It is much easier to just replace everything and let it develop from there."
Curious and to alleviate that uncomfortable feeling she felt before, Liu Shu decided to focus on the conversation with Deadly Petal. "Is it? I did hear that you prefer to replace it. Don't locals feel a lot of reluctance when you do that? Intelligent Species react much worse when you kill either wild or pet animals than other people, don't they?"
"It really is like so. Still, if you don't change the flora and fauna, invasive species can become a problem. I once almost lost an entire world to a single species."
Deadly Petal answered with a strangely happy tone mixed with her usual sneering. It was a really peculiar tone that made Liu Shu smile. "Why do you sound so excited?"
"Because it was a truly unusual species. If it weren't a danger to the rest of the worlds I controlled at the time, I would've loved to see how far they would go. The sad part is that they were not an intelligent species, so I had to deal with them."
"What was their name?"
Deadly Petal smiled and answered. "Terragore. A subterranean species. Really powerful once they manage to grow and almost impossible to exterminate."
"...Oh?" Liu Shu blinked, then blinked again. "I also encountered Terragore in my world. Still, mine were much more underdeveloped than yours."
Deadly Petal's tone was full of curiosity. "Were they?"
Both World Trees continued to speak together for a while about World Tree matters, even as the outside was chaotic and their roots were constantly clashing with brutal intensity.
Yet the more they spoke like that, the more conflicted Liu Shu felt.