His words caused a swell of confidence to emerge from the citizens of the Kandrian Empire, who began clapping in a thunderous applause with approving cheers.

Indeed, the Emperor of Harmony's track record with victory was spotless. He fought and even won a war that should have been completely lost against the three other Sage-level powerhouses of the Panama Continent and had protected the Kandrian Empire many, many times in ages of great peril and tumult.

However, he had partly lied.

He knew war was inevitable from the moment Rui did what he did. Negatron matter was simply too priceless and precious. It unlocked the distant universe and brought it within reach, giving them access to virtually infinite resources.

If he were in the place of other nations that had been categorically excluded from the list, he would probably wage war too. You could not just allow your competitors to simply get away with monopolizing a priceless asset.

However, by expressing some uncertainty in public, he could frame responsibility for the war differently. He was essentially conveying that whether war happened or not depended on others. He had no intention of fighting and winning a war if it was waged against him, but no intention of waging one himself.

It subtly framed him as the non-aggressor, even if the Panamic Alliance had attacked everybody else, giving them a valid casus belli, a cause for war. Of course, he knew that it wouldn't be enough to get away with the allegation, nonetheless.

"You." He chose a second reporter, this time from international media within the Panama Continent.

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The reporter began. "How do you respond to those who accuse you of triggering the conflagrations of what could be a world war? Had the Panamic Alliance not attacked everybody with an army of sea monsters from the Great Nam Ocean and monopolized most of the area now, there would be no reason for the true world to attack our continent and our alliance."

"The source of the conflagration you mention is not the attack, but the strength with which we attacked," Emperor Rael calmly replied. "What do you think all the nations, organizations, and private sector parties of the world were doing at the bottom of the Great Void Ocean? Do you think we were holding hands and dancing together in merry harmony?"

A small wave of chuckles passed through the crowd.

"No, we were waging war." The Emperor of Harmony declared with an emboldened tone. "Now the war may merely come to the surface simply because of the fact that we are strong. Strength is not a crime. I had proposed to the true world that we handle this with international cooperation to collectively harness as much negatron matter as possible while minimizing the environmental impacts, which nobody except for our alliance, along with the elves and the therianthropes, care about. However, they rejected our offer and decided to try and get as much negatron matter as possible. You reap what you sow."

His gaze shifted across the crowd as he looked for one last journalist to take a question from. His gaze froze as he spotted none other than a tekvore with a significantly technologized body.

As far as he was aware, all travel from the Acherialis Continent had been banned the moment NOVA seized all control. Meaning this must have been a tekvore from one of the tekvore polities on the other side of the Imperial Tekvore Federation who was fighting against the Federation. They must have traveled to the Panama Continent before NOVA's coup detat, meaning they should have been entirely detached from the event.

The fact that they were even there meant that they had likely been extremely vetted by special technicians, even Martial Artists, and had been deemed safe.

Yet, when he gazed into the tekvore's eyes, he could sense that he was not looking at the tekvore herself, but someone else entirely.

A being beyond even his fathoming.

Anybody else in his position might have reacted in a manner that would look bad to them, whether it was arresting the tekvore right then and there, thereby making him look bad in the press.

He estimated that this was likely the plan.

Just by the presence of the tekvore there and the person he suspected was controlling the tekvore, he could already deduce a lot of information about that tekvore.

'Most likely, she is unable to use this tekvore for anything important, such as infiltrating our systems. There is no reason to reveal such an asset so blatantly. Using this vessel to evoke a reaction out of me is her only option.'

Then again, he was dealing with a superintelligent entity, so who knew what she was thinking.

"You." He chose the vessel of a tekvore.

His golden eyes bore deep into her cybernetic eyes.

A chilling smile emerged on the female tekvore's face. "Why thank you, Emperor Rael."

The air grew electric between them as they both understood what the other had realized.

"I have but one question for you, Emperor Rael." The tekvore spoke with an eerily light-hearted tone. "Do you truly believe that you can win a war against the forces that you have rejected in your list? The Evolutionary Army, the Giants, and Greater Tekvoria under the iron-fisted rule of a tyrant. These are powerful forces, three of seven superpower nations or organizations in the world, along with the many, many other forces in the world that you have earned the ire of. Do you truly believe that you will be able to fight off all of these forces in a war?"

Her cybernetic eyes bore deep into his with a piercing gaze.

Emperor Rael's golden eyes remained resolute..

"We defeated them before, did we not? The Evolutionary Army has been weakened as an organization due to their commitment to protect their young generation of miracles; the giants are also weakened, having been routed by Mother Maeria of the light elves in their war. And as for the tekvores…"

His eyes sharpened.

"I do not fear them as much as I did before they were taken over by a computer that does not know how to harness their full potential. Let them come. Let all of them come. I have no intention of allowing them victory."

The tekvore's chilling smile deepened perilously.

"So be it."

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