Chapter 4647: Bartering Exchanges

Once Rui completed his role in the clean-up of the aftermath, he couldn’t help but heave a tired sigh. His role as Chancellor was more tiring than fighting five Divine Mothers, but it had to be done. If he chose to remove himself from the seat of power at this point, then it would definitely destabilize human civilization. His power and dominance was what a lot of institutions were built on top of.

Alas, even if he wanted this to change, it wasn’t something that could change within a short period of time. He would have to transition human civilization to be strong enough to bear his absence. He had recently considered abdicating his position as both Emperor and Chancellor because responsibilities didn’t serve as an impetus for growth the way they did previously.

However, the recent attack on the solar system had changed that. Protecting human civilization from Divine Mother belligerence was an extremely powerful impetus for growth. He knew he had to get stronger, because the Divine Mothers who wanted to kill him had a huge numbers advantage.

However, in the short-term, it wasn’t his Martial power that would be enough to protect human civilization from dozens of angry of Divine Mother. He needed to find a way to bind the Divine Mothers and prevent them from attacking even after they consolidated Administrative impunity.

That was why he had contacted Divine Mother ooo—o- of the Pluralist Faction and arranged a meeting for her in their usual spot.

WHOOSH...

He floated about in the vacuum of outer space in the Strehegeld Star System. The very star system where the conflict between humans and arakai had begun. An unsuspecting infected planet had turned out to be an outpost world for the arakai that coincidentally also had had a Divine Mother within it, which had required his intervention.

In hindsight, conflict with the arakai was inevitable. They had infected outposts all across their domain of influence and humanity would trip one alarm or the other too many times for them to ignore, and that would become a source of conflict with the arakai. The only unfortunate part was that the conflict’s evolution had been hyper-accelerated because a Divine Mother was involved.

WHOOSH

He glanced at a forming wormhole some distance away as a familiar Webship emerged from it. He immediately teleported towards it and was let in rather quickly, this had happened numerous times in the past- it was nothing new.

What was new, however, was that the hologram projection of the Divine Mother was replaced with the real deal this time.

Rui’s eyebrow rose as he saw the Divine Mother herself in the flesh. She sat on a web hammock, her six legs neatly tucked underneath her body while she wore simple attire woven from arakai web. "Didn’t think you would come here in person."

What caught his attention the most was that she was extremely powerful. So much so that he wasn’t confident that he could defeat her. She was in the same tier of power as the leader of the War Faction despite being the leader of the Pluralist Faction.

"You have no reason to attack me at this juncture in time," she replied with a human voice, though her tone inflections and pronunciation were alien. "Your civilization is in dire straits. You need more than ever."

Rui didn’t deny her words, taking a seat opposite her. His eyes sharpened. "...How much do you know?"

The Divine Mother made the arakai equivalent of a smile. "If you’re asking whether I have gotten my hands on the secret to Administrative impunity, then I regrettably have not."

Rui internally heaved a sigh of relief. It means his leverage was still useful. He could trade the secret for something that would help them withstand the belligerence of the War Faction.

"I know you have come here to sell it to me," she said with a serious tone of voice. "Name your price."

"A civil war," Rui replied immediately in a solemn voice, his ethereal eyes bearing deep into her six eyes. "I need you to start a conflict between the War Faction and the rest of arakai civilization."

As far as he was concerned, that was one of the best ways to seal the War Faction: to have them engaged in a conflict with the rest of their own civilization. To have them destroy each other and leave human civilization all alone.

Unfortunately, the Divine Mother was not willing to butcher her own civilization just to get her hands on Administrative impunity.

"Out of the question." She shook her head. "If I was this willing to cause a civil war, I would not have been against war with other civilizations. I am not willing to weaken my civilization to this extent."

Rui’s eyes sharpened, but he remained silent. In truth, he expected refusal. There was no way in hell she would accept such an outrageous demand, not even for Transcendent impunity.

"Then... I want, among other things, an official sanction of the War Faction from the rest of Arakai Web Civilization. To penalize them and limit them in some manner," he amended his demand.

"We were going to do that anyway," she replied calmly. "I have conferred with the neutral Divine Mothers and the Divine Web faction, and they have both agreed that the War Faction has crossed a line. We will be sanctioning the Divine Mothers that were responsible for violating due process. However..."

She narrowed her six eyes. "I’m afraid that there is actually a chance that we may fail."

Rui frowned. "What? Why? The War Faction has lost a ton of favor from the rest of your civilization for a while now, right?"

"Yes, but my sources have learned that the message that the Mindstitch transmitted before she died contained more than just information about Administrative impunity."

Rui’s expression suddenly grew severe as he recalled the things he had revealed to the attackers during the battle.

"...Once the War Faction reveals that you have captured and imprisoned one of our sisters for quite some time now... you will lose a lot of favor among Divine Mothers, who might not be inclined to sanction them after learning this. Many of them will even celebrate the actions of the War Faction after they learn about your capture of a Divine Mother, even before the hostilities between our civilizations explode."