The Martial Unity

When Rui finally managed to get into remote contact with the dessandrites, he found himself facing the projections of several humanoid alien figures, each with a pair of wings tucked behind their backs. Their bodies were draped in a fluffy layer of feathers, beneath a layer of fabric fashioned from the same. They stared at him with three eye-like sensory organs on the upper half of their heads.

”Emperor Rui,” the voice of Divine Mother ooo—o- drew his attention. ”These are the ten leaders of Dessandrite Sky Civilization. They have responded to your request for an audience with them favorably and are interested in hearing what you have to say. Since both sides are unfamiliar with each other, I will serve as a translator for the time being.”

Both the Dessandrites and Rui turned towards the hologram of the smiling Divine Mother with a hint of caution. Having a third party serve as a translator had its obvious risks. Especially when this third party had their own interests and were not serving in a professional capacity.

It was not impossible for her to tweak translations in such a manner as to manipulate the communications. Rui was quite certain that she would do so if she was convinced she could get away with it. However, to actually successfully get away with such a manipulation when both parties were wary of the risk was extremely difficult.

She was almost certainly aware that anything overt would easily be exposed shortly. At most, she might be willing to alter the tone of messages to suit her agenda.

”I would like to begin by introducing myself as the Chancellor of the Gaian Alliance.” Rui took the initiative to start communicating. ”I am the leader of my civilization, entrusted with the right of representing all humans to alien parties. I am grateful to the leaders of Dessandrite Sky Civilization for humoring my request for an audience with them.”

A few moments passed as the Divine Mother conveyed her translation of his words. The Dessandrites seemed to react favorably in that they didn’t make anything that resembled an aggressive reaction. Rui heard a sequence of ultrasonic sounds that Divine Mother ooo—o- translated for him.

”I am Sheshank, the Alpha of the Firebreather Clan and the anointed representative of Dessandrite Sky Civilization,” the Dessandrite, sitting forward and at the center, replied. ”We were informed that you were the one who killed Divine Mother o-o-o-o, as well as several other Divine Mothers. Are you able to confirm that this is the case?”

”Yes, I was the one who killed three Divine Mothers and fought another three, all within a short period of time,” Rui replied.

This clearly was a shocking revelation to the Dessandrite, judging by the quick ultrasonic response.

”Chancellor Rui, how is this possible? You are clearly an Administrator based on the information that we have gathered, but you claim to be responsible for a series of attacks, each of which involved you using your Administrator power. How can this be possible? How have you not disappeared as a result of the price of the Verse? The Administrators of our civilization have expressed great skepticism when we shared with them the purported battle record that you claim.”

Rui smiled in a manner that the dessandrites didn’t understand. ”I have the ability to bypass the price of the Verse.”

His words caused all of them to slightly jerk in response. It appeared that there were some common behavioral traits that they shared despite belonging to entirely different trees of life.

”…Overcoming the price of the Realm has long been known to be impossible,” Lord Sheshank replied with a slow sequence of ultrasonic hums. ”How can you possibly overcome something that absolute?”

Rui shook his head. ”I’m afraid I cannot reveal that.”

”Then, how do we take your claims seriously?” Lord Sheshank quickly fired back, his three eye-like sensory organs staring at Rui intently.

”Whether or not I am able to overcome the price of the Realm is not relevant to the reason that I sought to speak with you,” Rui replied confidently, refusing to share the secret. ”The purpose of this meeting is to establish a rapport to create a foundation for cooperation. I believe that we can come to an arrangement of mutual benefit in regards to a threat that both of us face.”

”The arakai,” Lord Sheshank hummed back knowingly.

”Precisely,” Rui replied. ”The arakai have waged war against both of our civilizations. Just as you have come up with an agreement with the aquadites for mutual cooperation, I believe that we can establish a mutual benefit.”

Rui revealed his awareness of what was happening by noting the arrangement that the Dessandrites had with the aquadites to ally against the invading arakai. The dessandrite leader stared at him for several moments with an inscrutable expression. Rui wasn’t sure what he was thinking about, because he couldn’t read the body language of an alien he had never seen before.

”…You say there is a basis for mutual cooperation and, be that as it may, what do you intend to offer us in this arrangement and what do you desire from us in return?”

”I’m glad you asked that,” Rui replied with a more confident tone. ”What I offer is a systematic targeting of War-Faction Divine Mothers with the help of Divine Mother ooo—o-. This will reduce the number of Divine Mothers who are able to vote for war in the Divine Mother council. Eventually, their numbers will be low enough for ooo—o- to eventually vote against war when the time comes. Thus, we can end this war by temporarily eliminating those who support it.”

Lord Sheshank pondered the offer before making an expression that resembled a frown. ”If that is the case, then this should be something that you are capable of by yourself, seeing as you have already eliminated six Divine Mothers in one form or another. For what have you contacted us?”

”Targeting Divine Mothers in this fashion will likely be a more long-term matter. I do not believe that I will be able to eliminate them every week,” Rui replied. ”And now that they are aware that I am targeting them, they will hide themselves better or even set up traps to take me out. And in the meantime, the pressure that my civilization will sustain will be intolerable. That is why I wish for you to cooperate by exerting greater pressure on the arakai during this conflict.”