Chapter 614: [Bonus Chapter]

The reason Miranda had even sent so many planes was that she had expected 90% of them to get destroyed before being able to drop their load. After all, she had done nothing to hide their deployment, certain the Gods would at least strike a few of them down, or some defensive force of the continent would do so.

This was why she had switched from normal missiles to warheads, as missiles alone wouldn't do enough damage if most of the planes had been culled, but one or two warheads at the right place could sort everything out.

However, the Gods had prepared no real defenses, rather opting to see what these metal birds could do first. Only Ares had attempted to stop them, but to Miranda's shock, it turned out Source Energy-powered weapons were enough to kill a God's incarnation!

Well, that should have been obvious, as an incarnation was basically a clone made of Divine Energy. As the two upper-class energies canceled each other out, it was no surprise that the God of War had been destroyed in a single hit.

After that, the Gods had dumbly allowed the planes to spread out fully and divulge their payload. If it wasn't for the Oracle of Delphi with her future sight reporting to Athena about the fate of Elysium, the Gods would not have even bonded together in time to save Elysium.

Now, the fate of the continent was a ruin.

Darius rubbed his temple as he felt a slight headache. Miranda had performed well, she had achieved his goal of weakening Elysium, though but to a far larger margin than he had ever anticipated.

As for Deia, Darius wasn't worried about his Soulmate. Even if she had perished in the attack, he could save up True Coins through the True Supreme System to buy her soul or buy an item to resurrect her.

Whatever the case, he now had to deal with the aftermath. Fallon was almost conquered, with Gunner having sent a message about decimating forces from the Continental Council while sending some materials back for him to use.

He had only just come out of exploring and testing the Dungeon too. Luckily, he had conversed with the Dungeon Core and decided to hold off on his plans to upgrade it.

"Receive them. Tell them there will be an 'All Nations Continental Conference' in Safemoon 5 years later to officiate everything. In that time, you will sign a non-aggression pact with all forces of the world till the decision of Pokterr's future is made." Darius instructed Miranda after some thought.

Miranda acknowledged the order and set out to do just that. Darius himself spun in his chair and pondered many things.

Currently, what was going on should be quite obvious to any discerning eye. The various continents had witnessed power they could not fathom, so the only thing they desired above all else was time.

If Miranda sent her planes over to them next, they could only use their current means to defend, and seeing as how even the so-called strongest continent had perished, none of them had confidence in a better outcome.

As such, they wished to negotiate with Miranda to make her stop for now. They would entice her with benefits like having her territory recognized and treated as sovereign, including her into trade agreements, and generally making her a real faction in the world.

However, while it seemed like it would benefit Miranda, it was actually the opposite. The only ones it benefited would be the other nations who pushed this agenda.

Right now, Miranda was the embodiment of everything they feared. Unknown, powerful, mobile, and unattached.

Unknown in the sense that they knew not of her origin or true motives and power.

Powerful in the sense that her military might either match or more likely supersede theirs.

Mobile in the sense that her army could reach anywhere in the world without being limited by things like supply chains, logistics, etc.

Yet worst of all, she was unattached.

She had no ties to this world or anything that gave her reason to give a fuck about the status quo. They had no way to gauge her. She could either be neutral, maybe seeking vengeance for some evil done in the past, or a demon who did all of that desiring nothing but carnage and destruction.

By offering her sovereignty and territory, she would lose these four characteristics. As she would now be stationary, she would likely start to consolidate rather than expanding, making sure that "her" territory was fortified.

That would be great, as it would mean that she would be less mobile. If she decided to open trade relations, the other powers would get access to her resources and hopefully some information about her setup over time, which would cancel out the unknown factor.

Once she set up a territory, she would need people to make it real. Just having robots would not work as they were not citizens, but tools of war. Where was Miranda going to get people?

Obviously, they would have to emigrate from the other continents, and this would allow the other factions to plant spies. These spies would uncover the secrets of her power or nullify them, or discover their weakness.

Most importantly, once Miranda settled down, she would gain 'affection' for her land and her people. That affection would be the shackle that would control her unattached nature.

With such attachments to the world, she would no longer crazily bomb people because the other continents could also threaten her people in ways Miranda couldn't deal with.

She would then fall into either decline or toe the line, keeping the status quo of the world.

Even if she never weakened and still remained a military threat, that was fine. The main purpose of this was to curb her murderous tendencies and secure their own safety.

All of this other devious stuff were by-products assuming things went their way and Miranda was an idiot.

However, Darius' reply would shake them dearly. Miranda had agreed to the meeting, yes, but she called for all factions to come, and the location was somewhere neutral, the richest city in the world.

Not only that, but she asked for a five-year buffer?

What did she need five years for when there were teleportation arrays?

Obviously, Miranda was planning to use the next 5 years to pre-consolidate and expand her forces, then pull a stunt 5 years later. The problem was, none of the factions had any real choice but to accept, because they sorely required those 5 years to research everything and develop a countermeasure.

Right into Darius' trap.