Surprised would be an understatement for how the Sky Meteor Empire was currently feeling. The war they thought was won. The last stretch they thought was just a victory parade… had turned into a living nightmare.
Their armies, which were attacking and conquering worlds, were suddenly attacked by Deadly Petal's biomancy armies and devoured. Because they had thought Deadly Petal was a dying World Tree, many of the armies found themselves ambushed and unprepared to escape.
In just the few battles Deadly Petal initiated, the Sky Meteor Empire lost more high-ranking individuals than they did in the last 100 years.
One of the generals observing the reports looked up with a blank expression. "...What is this?"
The soldier felt cold sweat drip down his back as she answered. "T-The latest reports of our battles, General."
The general's fingers dug into the paper, almost crumpling it. If he didn't understand that breaking this report would become a hassle, he might've ripped it to shreds already. Taking a deep breath, he stood up and rushed out of the room toward the temporary government building.
Once there, he slammed the doors open, and someone tried to stop him. "Lord General! This is not a place you can enter at will. The people inside are in a very important meeting right now."
The general spoke in a restrained voice. "Tell them that General Sa'rhuo is here. It is urgent."
The man at the entrance shook his head. "We can't. The private party will last for longer."
The general's veins bulged, and he walked forward. There was no one in this room who could stop him.
"W-Wait. General!"
"General! Don't open the doors!"
BANG!
The doors opened wide, and a scene he had never expected flashed in the general's eyes. He glanced around with immense contempt and spoke. "I knew you guys were rotten, but to have this type of gathering when we are mid-war…"
The party in front of him had more flesh than food. He didn't care much, though. This kind of behavior was very normal in most governments. When you had power, base desires became quite easy to satisfy.
"W-Who are you… Hic? General…?"
A slurred voice reached him from the side, where a female politician was leaning on the chest of a muscular and handsome man with a dazed look, her hips were moving in circles as if savoring something slowly.
The general glanced at her once and then looked away. She wasn't who he was looking for. The man he was searching for was buried in the flesh of two very curvy women and laughing with an arrogant smile.
'Unlikable people. No discipline visible in this entire room full of people.'
He dodged the semi-naked individuals and walked toward the man. "Grand Commander, an urgent report came by. I need you to look at it."
The commander looked up and frowned. "Can't you see that I am occupied?"
"I can, but the soldiers dying on the battlefield won't be able to, even if they want to, Lord."
His dry remark caused the commander to frown in displeasure, but he eventually sighed. The general in front of him was a nobody. He came from quite a high-ranking family and was an oddball who could be called clean and upright even among common folk. He had one wife, three children, and didn't even come near any substance that could be described as harmful.
So, he pushed the whining women aside and slowly stood up, walking to the side to put on some clean clothes. "Guide me."
The general turned around, his eyes emotionless, the commander following his steps. Once they arrived, the general showed the reports. The commander was slapped awake by the information written in the reports.
"...When did this happen?"
He answered with a stoic expression. "Two and a half months ago. Information got stuck because Deadly Petal managed to use her summons to cut information roots. Her army is snowballing without end, and our previous countermeasures are not working on the flowers."
The Grand Commander took a deep breath. "If that's the case…"
"That's not all." The general cut the commander off and added. "This is the worst news we've received."
The Grand Commander asked, confused. "Worse than Deadly Petal finding something against our countermeasures?"
He was skeptical, but when he read, his face went from pale to blue, to red, and back to white. Truly, an iridescent reaction.
"W-Why?"
The general looked at him silently. In his calm gaze, there was not much reaction. However, that wasn't because he was calm. It was because he had given up.
"As you've read, commander… the Golden Sap Empire has become allies with Deadly Petal and is tearing through our flank. They are unstoppable. We've managed to kill a grand total of zero combatants, and their starships are crushing ours as if they were fighting merchant vessels instead of war starships. It's hopeless. We must surrender."
He didn't try to make any hopeful comment. The Golden Sap Empire was a force of nature with a World Tree monstrous enough to even cause the two most powerful Transitional Star System Empires to retreat.
The level was different. This was as if the Covenant and Balaya herself had suddenly declared war on them. Fighting? Doing so was straight-up suicide. There wasn't even a 1% chance of winning.
"...Why?"
The commander muttered, slumping on the chair. Just a few minutes ago, he was neck-deep in the joys of victory and letting go of his worries. Yet, as if they had been waiting for him to feel his best, the Golden Sap Empire turned around and slapped them in the face with a hammer.
"WHY!? WHY WOULD SHE HELP THAT MONSTER!?"
The Commander, high on some substances, couldn't control his emotions and flipped the entire table, causing it to almost teleport against the wall and pierce through, flying off into the distance.
The general didn't bat an eye, just thinking of returning home and getting his family to safety as fast as possible. "Commander, once again, order a full-on retreat and surrender. We've lost."
"Surrender!? You want us to surrender when we are so close!?" The commander glared with bloodshot eyes at the general, grabbing him by the scruf of his clothes. "Are you trying to commit treason, General!?"
The General glanced at him coldly. "We've lost."
"WE HAVEN'T LOST!" His face turned fierce. "Contact the Nexus! The Umbral Imperium! Anyone who is at odds with World Trees! Those monsters and plagues must be gone from our galaxy for good!"
The General didn't answer and used his hand to smack the commander's hand. Then, he turned around.
"GENERAL! Where are you going!?"
"Home."
"Treasonous bastard! You'll be punished! You'll be killed and used as nourishment! That's how Deadly Petal does things, you bastard! Home!? What home will there be when Deadly Petal is done with us!?"
The general closed the door and looked up at the sky with a rather empty expression. It wasn't that he was emotionless. If anything, he was clear-headed, and this information struck him like a ton of bricks, much worse than to the commander, who was high on who knows what.
"...Indeed. Home where? When Deadly Petal arrives, nothing will remain."
With a sigh, he mobilized the people under his command and gathered them all, ignoring all orders and sending the starships back to their home worlds. It would take a few years to arrive, since it was not close, but it was better than nothing.
As for the rest… it all went to absolute hell. When the news of Liu Shu's army joining an already strengthened Deadly Petal spread, everyone began cursing, wailing, or staring at nothing in a daze.
Their hopes, their dreams, their victory… cruelly stolen as they tasted its sweetness.
Thankfully, there was a lifeline that not even they knew. Deadly Petal had joined Liu Shu, so her methods would not be as before.
Liu Shu knew the value of developed empires. Each of them had their own culture, and while some were incompatible, there were ways to slowly adapt it to their own. Liu Shu's experiments in the several new dozen Solar Systems had been mostly successful.
Very few times did the Golden Sap Empire's government need to do a complete sweep of laws and build everything from the ground up. The times they did, though, their actions were not much different from Deadly Petal's.
So, Liu Shu had the perfect position for our new Big Sister.
She would be the World Tree of punishment in her Empire. The one that appeared when people didn't listen. Her biomancy abilities were just perfectly suited to become the head figure of Liu Shu's own inquisition-like force.
As for the war, there was no surprise. Even if the Sky Meteor Empire wanted to contact someone, did they have the capital to ask for help? They didn't have the resources, connections, or even the forces to make it worth investing in them and helping.
As for using them for justification… those who wanted to antagonize Liu Shu didn't need a cheap reason like that. They could twist hundreds of things Liu Shu had done and propagandize them with ease.
It took five years.
In five years, Liu Shu's army, Liu Shu herself, and Deadly Petal advanced together as a unified front and conquered back the entire Sky Meteor Empire. It took five years because the Sky Meteor Empire was relatively large, covering over 30 Solar Systems.
This brought Liu Shu's conquered Solar Systems up to a grand total of 95. As for Solar Systems that had the
Strangely, Liu Shu had only noticed about 42 Solar Systems within her empire that had developed her church to an acceptable level. As for the last 6… Liu Shu didn't know where they came from!
"It's a puzzling matter, but it's not a bad thing."
Deadly Petal, who was dazedly looking at the territory she had tried so long to conquer, heard Liu Shu's mutter and snapped out of it. "What's not a bad thing?"
Liu Shu chuckled. "Nothing, nothing. So, how is it? Do you regret accepting my offer?"
"Regret?" Deadly Petal paused and then laughed softly. "I didn't know regret… but you've made me learn it. I should've accepted you back then without being stubborn."
Liu Shu answered softly. "I believe you did well. If you had accepted me back then, the Covenant might've found a reason to kill you much earlier. I arrived recently not because I wanted to, but because any sooner was impossible. So, you did well holding on for the last few decades just by yourself. Thanks to that, I could finally arrive."
"Mhm."
Deadly Petal felt… good. Having Liu Shu in her domain gave her a strange peace of mind. She couldn't help but smile happily. "Thank you."
"Of course~." Liu Shu giggled and spoke. "Now. I will show you that, while your methods can't really be considered wrong, they were a touch too radical. These people we've conquered have much more value than you think. And… I will now connect you to the I-C.A.R.E. network."
Deadly Petal asked back, confused. "I care?"
"Inter-Continental Advanced Root Exchange network!! Well, the name is a bit outdated, but the acronym is nice, so I haven't changed it. Hehe. Anyway, say hi~!"
As Deadly Petal was about to speak, several voices from other World Trees crossed through Liu Shu's roots and reached Deadly Petal.
"Wow! Is this our new friend? She is so powerful!"
"Hello, Big Sister Deadly Petal! I will be in your care from now on~."
"Hm. You are strong… But I won't lose. I will eventually catch up."
Deadly Petal was baffled at first, but once she understood what it was, wonder, awe, and also laughter enveloped her. '...This is really unique. But I like it.'
"Hello, everyone. I am Deadly Petal, a Level 280 True World Tree. It is a pleasure to meet you."
A young World Tree jumped to say what many wanted to say. "Hehe! Her tone is funny. It feels as if she is arrogantly presenting herself and looking down on us."
Thus, Deadly Petal learned that her normal tone sounded like a sneering woman mocking people, which caused her quite a shock. Liu Shu almost died of laughter.