The Martial Unity

Ria smiled bittersweetly at his words before turning towards the bodies of Siliscia and Sternon with a sorrowful expression as her eyes teared up again. ”I’ll give Siliscia back to the elves, but Sternon…”

He had no family.

”I’ll bury him in the Kandrian Empire.”

Her heart ached with pain when she thought about the fact that she would never see him again. He had taken great risks to be free from the torturous shackles of the Evolutionary Army. He had been looking forward to a whole life ahead of him.

And now, he would never open his eyes ever again.

He had trusted her with everything, and she felt like she failed him.

It was a wound that would be with her for a very long time. One that would never quite go away.

*****

”Sisters. -o-. —oo-oo—. Are. Missing. They. Have. Not. Responded. To. Any. Missive. After. They. Were. Disconnected.”

The Divine Mothers of Arakai Web Civilization had been shocked when two Divine Mothers had been forcibly disconnected from the web of communication between them. It was a phenomenon that had never happened before, even during some of the most intense wars in their history, even when some of the members participating in the network were actively fighting a war too.

Yet this time, two Divine Mothers had simultaneously disconnected.

Not only had they disconnected, but they had also become completely silent to any signal that the other Divine Mothers had sent them.

”It. Is. Obvious. What. Has. Happened. To. Them.” The Warweaver ——oooo, leader of the War Faction, snarled. ”They. Were. Killed! By. The. Emperors. Of. Water. Of. Human. Civilization!”

Divine Mother —oo-oo— had managed to transmit the information that they had gathered regarding human civilization shortly before the connection was disconnected, alerting every Divine Mother in Arakai Web Civilization to the existence of Gaian Civilization.

The Divine Mothers had perused the data that —oo-oo— and -o- had gathered.

What they had read had shocked them.

”A. Civilization. That. Expanded. By. A. Factor. Of. Ten. Thousand. In. Just. The. Span. Of. Thirteen. Years!” Warweaver growled with a ferocious tone of voice. ”We. Cannot. Allow. Them. To. Survive! We. Must. Wage. A. War. Of. Extermination. Against. Human civilization.”

”I. Concur. With. ——oooo,” —-oo the Infecter replied. ”We. Must. Not. Allow. These. ’Humans’. To. Survive. The. Data. Collected. By. The. Our. Fallen. Sisters. Suggests. That. These. Heathen. Creatures. Hunt. Infected. Worlds. Cleansing. Them. And. Then. Mining. Them. It. Is. An. Utter. Travesty!”

The War Faction and the Virus Faction were all for seeking the complete destruction and extermination of Gaian Civilization. But unfortunately for them, they had lost a tremendous amount of political power and goodwill among their peers.

”Your. Thoughtless. Actions. Have. Led. Us. To. This. Situation.”

The powerful voice of ooo-o-, the Web Binder, cut through their eager desires to destroy human civilization.

She was the leader of the Pluralist Faction.

”It. Is. Precisely. Because. Of. Your. Careless. Aggression. That. We. Have. Waged. War. Against. Both. The. Dessandrites. And. The. Aquadites,” her tone of voice was ruthless as she laid the blame for what were now very unpopular wars on the two factions.

She knew that political will was on her side this time. The only problem was that while she could indeed take swings at the two factions, the death of two Divine Mothers could not be ignored.

Especially when those two Divine Mothers were killed by the same civilization that killed the first Divine Mother, raising the death toll to a whopping three Divine Mothers. Even for the peaceful Divine Mothers, that was not something that could be ignored. It didn’t matter how much they had come to dislike the War Faction. Sometimes, war was the only option.

”Are. You. Suggesting. That. We. Let. Off. The. Individuals. Who. Killed. Three. Of. Our. Highest. Leaders?” ——oooo demanded in a fierce tone of voice.

”Only. That. Your. Way. Of. Doing. Things. Will. Be. The. Downfall. Of. Our. Civilization,” ooo-o- replied with a serious tone of voice. ”I. Do. Not. Deny. That. We. Need. To make. Our. Enemy. Pay. But. This. Time. I. Vote. That. We. Do. Not. Take. Approach. Of. Blind. Aggression. That. Our. Warmongerer. Sisters. Prefer. We. Should. Take. A. More. Prudent. Approach.”

That was the only concession that the leader of the pluralist faction was able to extract from her recalcitrant opponents. As reluctant as they were to yield the right to dictate how the war went, they understood that they were in absolutely no position to make demands. The reality was that they had rushed a war against the Aquadites who were now clearly not responsible for the death of Divine Mother o-o-o-o.

The Aquadites were also not in a position to yield precisely because of the aggressive, rash approach of the War Faction. Everybody was sick of the lack of prudence and rationality, and several of the most reasonable Divine Mothers within the War Faction had even departed from the faction.

”…very. Well. Let. Us. Take. A. More. Balanced. Approach,” ——oooo yielded. ”But. Only. On. The. Firm. Condition. That. We. Do. Everything. In. Our. Power. To. Destroy. Our. Enemies!”

That earned a lot of support among a lot of Divine Mothers. Even if they disliked the War Faction, it didn’t change the fact that each and every one of them wished death upon the individuals responsible for the death of not one, but three Divine Mothers. As Divine Mothers themselves, it was a threat that affected them personally.

It also posed great direct harm to their civilization as well, of course. So their fears and concerns were hardly purely selfish. The death of every Divine Mother reduced the prospects for the future of their civilization tremendously.

”For. Now. Let. Us. Focus. On. More. Active. Reconnaissance,” one Divine Mother suggested. ”The. Data. That. —oo-oo—. And. -o-. Had. Gathered. Was. Gathered. From. Memories. It. Is. Still. Useful. But. It. Would. Be. Better. To. Confirm. All. Of. This. With. Direct. Recon. We. Must. Not. Allow. The. Mistakes. Of. Carelessness. In. The. Past. To. Recur. We. Must. Annihilate. This. Civilization.”