Chapter 149: Red’s Response, Total Submission

Red crossed his arms. “Taking on a Rank 17 threat puts a massive target on my empire. My forces just survived a siege. I have no logical reason to import your pending invasions and fight warlords far above my current tier.”

“You are already the primary target.” Sylara rested her palms flat on her digital console. “You unified a dead wasteland and subjugated eighty pantheons in less than a year. Your growth rate defies the server’s math. You will breach Rank 15 soon, Rubedo. When the regional lock drops, the central warlords will not see a peer. They will see a system anomaly. They will mobilize to delete you regardless of my presence.”

She brought up a secondary data stream, projecting a string of system code between their screens.

“If I submit to your banner, your territorial synchronization hits one hundred percent.” She traced a finger through the holographic numbers. “The game engine will officially crown you the sole ruler of this landmass. The ascension perks, mythic payouts, and system authority granted for total continental dominion are unparalleled. You cannot access those rewards while my domain remains independent.”

“When the central warlords finally arrive at your borders,” Sylara lowered her hand, “you will face them with the full backing of the server’s completion rewards, and you will have a Rank 17 hive-mind anchoring your Vanguard.”

The silence stretched across the Void sanctuary.

Red tapped against his armrest as he pondered on what should he do. Now, he was even more conflicted than before.

’Obviously she is telling the truth. As long as she is independent, I won’t have full control over the continent. And the only way to have full control is either to get rid of her or accept her as a vassal god. Both options have their own drawbacks but the end result is common and obvious. I will eventually become a target too. So having her under me will boost my force and manpower, and without her, I will get a few months of peace if I don’t convert my faith reserves to DP and rank up.’

The reclusive deity wasn’t just begging for asylum. She was offering him the final puzzle piece required to break the game engine’s regional ceiling, fully aware that their impending threats were identical.

“How long exactly?” Red rested his chin on his knuckles, his gaze locked on the digital feed. “How many months have you spent calculating this exact transition? Feeding me resources just to build your personal meat-shield?”

Sylara’s grip on her living dress tightened. The white wings of the silk-moths pressed flat against her pale collarbone. “The Annual Pantheon Conclave. At the Nexus of Truce.” She looked up, the glow of her spores illuminating the dark background of her canopy. “The system broadcasted the Meteoric Rise achievement above your banner. Your trajectory broke every established metric on the server.”

She traced a glowing line of mycelium along her wrist. “Those seed spores were not discarded surplus. I spent decades cultivating the Omni-web and the Aegis strains. I never planted them in my own soil. I held them in the deep strata, waiting for an entity capable of maximizing their potential. You proved to be that entity.”

Red studied the screen in complete silence. A deity sitting at the absolute pinnacle of the local hierarchy had gambled her most valuable hoarded assets on a lower-tier player purely based on a single system alert.

The logic clicked cleanly into place.

Her generosity lacked malice, operating instead as a ruthlessly pragmatic investment. He tapped a single finger against the armrest, analyzing the translucent figure currently shrinking back into the digital shadows.

Sylara lowered her hands, letting the silk-moth fabric drape naturally over her form. “If you refuse the vassal contract, the eastern borders will remain closed. I will hold no grudges, and I will not contest your rule over the rest of the continent.”

The ambient light around her avatar dimmed a fraction. “I simply ask that you do not view my actions as a betrayal. Despite the calculated nature of my investments… I truly considered you a friend in this wasteland.”

’I have tasted betrayal once, and I have no plans to have second servings.’

Red watched the translucent avatar through the monitor. “A friend.” He typed a rapid sequence of commands into his primary console. “In this system, friendship is just a vulnerability waiting to be exploited.”

He bypassed the standard game engine templates and drafted a custom, highly restrictive subjugation pact. He pushed the file directly through the comm-link.

“If you want my shield, you surrender the sword.” Red leaned forward, his elbows resting on the glass interface. “Read the terms. That contract grants my forces direct override control of your entire eastern hive-mind. It allows my command center to sever your connection to the canopy defenses at will. You become a localized battery, and I hold the permanent kill switch. Sign it.”

Sylara’s eyes widened. The white moths around her neck fluttered in a panicked frenzy, abandoning their rhythmic pulse. She looked down at the glowing text on her terminal. The terms stripped away every ounce of her Rank 17 autonomy, reducing her to a powerless spectator within her own domain.

She stared at the document for exactly three seconds. Then, she raised her pale hand, pressed her fingers against the digital parchment, and injected her mana signature.

The system chimed, verifying her absolute submission.

Red stared at the completed document on his screen. She hadn’t argued. She hadn’t attempted to negotiate. The sheer desperation to avoid the Summit warlords completely overrode her pride and her immense rank.

He highlighted the custom contract and pressed delete.

The document vanished from Sylara’s screen, instantly replaced by the standard, unmodified vassal pact used for the rest of the eighty pantheons.

Sylara blinked in confusion, her hands hovering over the console.

She went to her profile and recent actions to confirm what just happened. And if it truly happened.

After confirming she wasn’t hallucinating, she once again looked at Red with a confused look on her face.

“What? Why did you do that?”

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