Novel Full Chapter 988: Divide and -
Chapter 988: Divide and –
“They have broken the sacred agreement that united us, and we need to set an example so that no one dares to sully the agreement like they did,” Grand Xor’Vak said, looking at the expressions of everyone in the room, noting their reactions.
“Are you not thinking of leaving this door as a possibility so that if things don’t go well for you, you could surrender as well?” he asked when he saw the reactions of many leaders to be the opposite of what he expected, a quite rare occurrence in his life, as no one previously dared to even show a reaction opposite to the direction he had set.
“I mean, aren’t you the ones who are breaking the agreement first, leaving everyone to fend for themselves while hoarding your resources when nothing has happened to you yet?”
A first-of-its-kind event unfolded before the eyes of the leaders present. Someone had directly, and in front of everyone, gone completely against the direction the Grand Xor’Vak had set, and was doing so in a fully open manner.
It wasn’t that they had never gone against the directions he wanted things to happen; it’s just that they had employed a softer way of accomplishing the same results, either by allocating few resources to the situation or deliberately leaving some weaknesses so that it failed with time, while at present showing that they were cooperating. It was something that even the top ten civilizations did to avoid waking the slumbering dragon that was the Grand Xor’Vak.
However, today, someone actually did exactly that, challenged his words. Even his expression showed surprise as he turned, along with all the other leaders, to where the sound had come from, wanting to know who would dare to do that, and so openly as well.
“Costcka? Didn’t you leave to evacuate? When did you get back?” the Feyn civilization’s leader asked when he saw the Elara civilization’s leader, their mortal enemy, return after having been forced to leave the meeting in order to evacuate and move to a safe location, due to his civilization receiving the short end of the stick and being the only civilization among the top ten that was attacked by the empire.
“I joined just a few moments ago, before I could hear the nonsense he was rambling about,” Costcka said, showing no expression other than anger at the situation he had found himself in, as he said what was on his mind. ”You are talking about the agreement forming the Conclave as if it is something sacred when you are one of the first who abandoned it and turned a blind eye when others needed help from their fellow members, citing a few foolish reasons like preparing defenses in case you were attacked, leaving everyone to fend for themselves. You even advocated for the fleets provided for the war not to be returned for aid when it was actually needed. So why do you think someone will continue honoring the so-called sacred agreement when you are leaving them to drown on their own, and the only hand extended to them is from the empire? A drowning man doesn’t have the luxury to sit and think about the consequences of holding a hand that is rescuing them.”
The room had fallen into complete silence as everyone in it couldn’t believe what they were hearing. It looked like Costcka had gone crazy from being the only one attacked by the empire and had decided to vent all of his frustration and anger at the worst possible person.
“Not being able to handle such problems is a weakness the weak have to endure, and it is not something that we are required to send help for, having already responded the way the agreement outlines,” the Grand Xor’Vak answered apathetically, but his expression showed a slight shift from the neutral one he had returned to after his shout following the news of Nymari’s surrender.
It wasn’t like he was lying, either. Just like NATO, the Conclave had something like Article Five, where an attack on one of them is no different than an attack on all of them, and the Conclave had actually honored that, as this entire war was started under those pretexts. However, the way the article was written was focused more on retaliating against the enemy. All the previous times, that was enough to deal with the problem; since the moment they retaliated, the enemy usually retreated to protect themselves.
As a result, they hadn’t fleshed it out further on matters related to what happens should they retaliate to an attack, but instead of retreating, the enemy continues attacking the civilization they had attacked at the start, or even attacks others. This meant, largely per the agreement, they were left to fend for themselves, which was by design, as it meant no other civilization would be forced to send additional troops other than those committed to responding to the attacker.
It was something that everyone knew and was deliberately not being fleshed out, as the weak civilizations wanted it to remain that way so that a strong civilization didn’t use this as a pretext for having their remaining fleets be called to deal with an enemy who stayed behind. The complete opposite was true for the strong civilizations, as it prevented them from having to suffer for the weaknesses of the weaker ones. Although they were a Conclave, it wasn’t a full integration yet; just limited interests kept them together, and no one wanted to over-invest in something that didn’t have a good return.
“……..” Costcka, speechless at the apathetic response shown by the Grand Xor’Vak, remained silent for a moment, letting his expression do the speaking for him. He closed his eyes for a moment and said, upon opening them, “When in a time of need, you should receive aid so that you can weather the storm, but it seems the Conclave has only remained united because no enemy had managed to continue attacking us even after we retaliated. So this is my final proposal: amend the mutual defense part, or I will also withdraw from the Conclave and form a better entity with those who are being attacked at the moment,” giving a direct threat to everyone present.
It was a move made to gather all of those who were still being attacked by the empire to unite behind him in order to force the Conclave into a dilemma: either choose to change the mutual defense agreement to include coming to the aid of a civilization if the enemy still remained on their territories, or leave the Conclave and form a better one with those civilizations.
“You think I will allow you to do that?” the Grand Xor’Vak asked in a calm, chilling manner, but his expression said the complete opposite.
“Do you think I have the time to put you into consideration when the fate of my and many other civilizations is in the hands of the empire’s invading forces? At the moment, only Nymari has fallen because the rest have finally just managed to hold the empire back or lose control of only a few planets and star systems. But it is an obvious trap set by the empire by placing us in this situation where they can most likely increase the number of forces they concentrate on a single civilization, but they are not. What are you going to do if I do it? Are you going to finally send the fleets that you have been keeping behind under the pretext of preparing for the empire’s invasion of your territories? What a coward,” Costcka kept pushing the buttons of the Grand Xor’Vak more than they had ever been pushed in a few centuries, and he showed no fear at all, making the other civilization leaders wonder what the heck had happened during his escape that removed all the fear he had against the Grand Xor’Vak.
No one came to his defense, but no one voiced their disagreement or attempted to stop him. The weak civilizations completely agreed with him, while the strong ones were already mixed within the same slander and harsh words of Costcka, making it an obvious two groups: those who were currently being attacked by the empire and those who were hoarding resources in preparation for the empire attacking them.
The only thing holding this situation together was the empire’s invasion entering a slowing-down period, as if they had run out of steam after over-pushing themselves in the starting period of the war.
This forced their armies to be put in a situation where the defending forces could hold them back for a period of time, allowing the leaders to start looking for means of pushing the empire back entirely or even recovering some of the lost star systems. At least, that was what they thought, but the situation was now working against the Conclave’s unity as a whole, since they were now in a situation where the alliance that had stood for a very long time was on the verge of breaking apart.