Chapter 847. Contact with Deadly Petal.

Liu Shu had wanted to follow her children closely to school. Sadly, those at the edge of her domain interrupted. A trace of annoyance flashed in Liu Shu’s real eyes, and her head tilted to the side as her senses expanded throughout her domain to reach the edge.

‘Deadly Petal is here…’

The two Solar Systems belonging to the Covenant were in a precarious condition. Since they couldn’t really fight her frontally, Liu Shu took the chance to spread her roots around their domain and firmly shut it.

To not escalate the situation too quickly, she didn’t react when Covenant Starships crossed her domain to move toward the Covenant’s worlds.

“Honestly… both sides have gathered quite the army.”

In terms of numbers, Liu Shu was utterly outclassed. Their vanguard was probably as numerous as her entire army. Most of the soldiers were Level 125 to Level 199, though. Even then, the number of <Second Ascension> powerhouses Liu Shu had detected outnumbered those in her Golden Sap Empire at a rate of 10~15 to 1.

It showed just how much fighting force was liberated on both sides after the war between them stopped. Previously, even sending a <Star Emperor> like Rhazor and his army felt somewhat burdensome. Now, the number of people equal to him numbered in the few hundreds, while other weaker <Second Ascension> powerhouses numbered in the thousands.

‘Thankfully, I kept information about me from leaking as much as possible. Well…’ Looking around, there was not a trace of fear in Liu Shu’s eyes. ‘Now it is too late.’

Their biggest mistake was allowing her to reach the <Second Ascension>.

As she was pondering, she felt a large life fluctuation invade her space.

“I didn’t expect you to have reached this far from your little star.”

Liu Shu’s lips arched faintly as she chuckled. “I also didn’t expect you to come all the way here for a cleanup. Is it a hobby to carry errands for Balaya… Deadly Petal?”

Deadly Petal’s voice was aggressive, and yet it carried that common gentle undertone. Honestly, the mix made her tone sound incredibly sarcastic. “You are bold for a World Tree your age. I will give you that. However, you should know that now that I am nearby, your only path is to either apologize and submit… or disappear.”

Liu Shu looked at Deadly Petal’s roots. While they looked like tree roots, their appearance was more like a flower stem with a slightly rough exterior. There was a faint pinkish glow around them, and the scale and spread speed were quite impressive. ‘Did she invest in Ascensions that help her propagate faster?’

She didn’t really know, but it didn’t matter to her.

“Deadly Petal, how about we talk for a bit? Honestly, our conflict is not beneficial for either of us.”

Deadly Petal answered lightly, her voice involuntarily sounding like scorn. “Is this your first contact with a True World Tree, child?”

“That is right. I am curious and quite interested, so I would love to talk for a moment.”

Deadly Petal glanced at the sparse roots that clearly reached out to meet her. Liu Shu had clearly focused on developing this one root to communicate with her. So, if it was destroyed, nothing would happen to Liu Shu. ‘Talk or not talk?’

Usually, Deadly Petal didn’t exchange many words with other World Trees. The only reason she even initiated communication was that this World Tree caught Balaya’s attention. The aura she felt emanating from her was… impressive. ‘Is this really a World Tree that has only been active for around a century?’

When Deadly Petal was a century old, she had not even reached Level 50. It was far too long ago, but Deadly Petal could confidently say that she was only a <Second Cycle> being back then.

Even after becoming a True World Tree, a century was not enough to conquer her first Solar System. ‘Even then, I can be considered on the faster side among True World Trees. Moreover, I have only firmly monopolized 14 Solar Systems, my roots reaching out to another ten… Well, I had to give up those wars due to Balaya.’

“Deadly Petal.” Since she was silent, clearly lost in thought, Liu Shu decided to speak up first. “What do you think of Balaya?”

“Annoyingly strong.” Deadly Petal answered, her mind refocusing on the being in front of her. “Why would you ask?”

Liu Shu’s suggestion made Deadly Petal frown. “What do you think of joining me to face her?”

“…Are you delusional, child? Balaya is a World Tree whose roots extend to over 260 Solar Systems. You and I combined don’t even fill 10% of her reach.”

Yes, Deadly Petal didn’t like Balaya. However, she also knew that for Balaya, she was nothing but a simple weed in her large garden. If Balaya wished, Deadly Petal would not last for 20 years before she was destroyed.

Liu Shu expected her answer, so she was not too flustered. Instead, she asked. “Is your domain edging Balaya’s? Or is there distance between you and her?”

“Balaya can reach my domain in less than a year if she wished.” Looking at this young and ignorant World Tree, Deadly Petal sighed. “Child, I am telling you this because I am somewhat annoyed with Balaya. Because of her, I lost my grip on several Solar Systems, so this is something I am doing to retaliate.”

Liu Shu blinked. “Quite… an honest concession?”

“Hm? What are you talking about?”

Liu Shu coughed. “No. Nothing. I am a bit more accustomed to human discussions, so I was momentarily confused. Go on.”

Deadly Petal ignored her words. “Anyway, as I was saying. I don’t know how or why you annoyed Balaya, but you should apologize and submit. You are at the edge of the Covenant, so you can probably develop for a few thousand years without any problem if you don’t go against her. If you are lucky and can somehow gain enough strength to resist, then you’ll be lucky.”

Liu Shu chuckled. “That’s quite impossible.” After pondering, she decided to be honest with Deadly Petal as well. “Since you’ve told me that, I will also answer your question.”

“Question?”

“You want to know why Balaya is targeting me, right?”

Deadly Petal answered flatly. “No. I do not really care.”

“…”

The unexpected answer once more threw Liu Shu off. ‘…Have I mingled with human politics for far too long? I feel that Deadly Petal and I are speaking in completely different frequencies.’

A touch of both amusement and frustration flashed in Liu Shu’s mind. “Ha… What is this, really? Hahaha.’

Deadly Petal had not stopped advancing during their discussion, so her roots managed to reach the extended root Liu Shu used to reach out. Once she approached, Deadly Petal’s roots moved through the dimensions like a fish through the waters and collided against the edge of her <Realm>.

BOOM!!

Even in the middle of the void, the collision caused visible spatial ripples. Both Liu Shu and Deadly Petal were surprised.

‘She found my <Realm> that easily? A True World Tree is indeed different.’

‘Her domain didn’t collapse? What kind of sturdiness and dimensional control does she have?’

Both sides glanced at each other while the starships accompanying Deadly Petal acted. Both Deadly Petal and Liu Shu glanced at the few missile-shaped projectiles.

‘It won’t work.’

‘It won’t work.’

The missiles that they fired were dimensional missiles. Their use was not to damage, but to destabilize the edge between dimensions and reveal the hidden World Tree roots. There were many similar tools with this effect, each with different ranges.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Even with the deep strikes, forceful and malicious destabilization of Liu Shu’s domain was not something they could do. Her <Center Of Existence> title would not allow for what Liu Shu reclaimed as hers to be stolen that easily.

Deadly Petal’s voice echoed in the voice. “Stop. Don’t waste resources. Her sub-dimension is far tougher than expected. Normal means are a waste of resources.”

While Deadly Petal didn’t really care that much about her army, she had an obligation to maintain them. Without a personal army to handle the fighting, a True World Tree’s expansion could be halted rather easily.

Fight the World Tree from a distance, tire it, and prevent its energy from regenerating. Then, the World Tree’s expansion would stall.

Liu Shu spoke to Deadly Petal again. “Deadly Petal, my offer is not off the table. I am currently being attacked by the Nexus and you. Unlike them, our fight can be avoided.”

“Avoided?”

Deadly Petal, for the first time, laughed faintly. It was not a pleasant laugh, though. It was one full of ridicule. “True World Trees can’t avoid fights. Since I’ve decided to expand this way, I will naturally occupy all Solar Systems around here. Yours is just one among the many.”

The value of the Solar Systems in this area was not something Deadly Petal found attractive. Most of them were full of low-level creatures, so she couldn’t gain Experience Points or fighting force. ‘Honestly, I wouldn’t trade one of my Solar Systems even if you offered me five Solar Systems in this area.’

“You will change your mind, Deadly Petal.”

Her tone, since the beginning, has been gentle, soothing, and ethereal. Liu Shu’s voice as a World Tree carried a hint of sacredness and divinity thanks to her recent changes and <Faith> gathering. She sounded like a Goddess of Nature soothing scared animals.

“However…” Nature was not only gentle, though. “If you do not come to your senses.” The ethereal voice made the void feel stifling. “I don’t mind uprooting you and making an example out of you.”

Then, starting from the tip of the single root Liu Shu used to communicate, a spark of fire bloomed. The fire acted like a spark meeting a fuel trail.

WHOOSH!

The root bloomed into scorching flames, those flames climbing up Liu Shu’s roots and guiding them in the direction of Ceperet.

Liu Shu showed a trace of pain as that single root was burned, her ternary essences being constantly consumed to keep the fire alive. ‘This one root is truly long…’

She had extended it to meet Deadly Petal and have some time to talk. So, its usefulness was not null. Therefore, rather than allowing them to chop it up and use her materials, Liu Shu self-combusted the entire root.

A root that large and long could not catch fire entirely, so the only solution was starting from the edges and rushing toward the middle. ‘It will take a few months to burn it entirely…’

“Deadly Petal should arrive in three outside years or nine of ours. By then, the Nexus would’ve started the war already.”

She could not sense any more reinforcements arriving from the Nexus, and the interstellar supply net was finished. So, the army would move this year.

Liu Shu sighed. ‘Did both sides secretly time it? Their attack interval is really too short.’

In truth, it was a coincidence. Both sides needed similar times to prepare, and since one of the first targets after their war was her, they had gathered almost at the same time.

“Alright.”