CHAPTER 557: CHAPTER 556: OVERT CONFLICT AND COVERT STRUGGLE

"We truly overestimated you."

"Never had we anticipated that under our assault, you would actually become too preoccupied to utter a word. What a tremendous irony, considering you once claimed your civilizations were time-tested."

Seeing that the Wandering Alliance of the Communist Camp and Degenerate Civilization remained silent for a long time, the Pure Element Celestials naturally assumed the enemy was too overwhelmed to respond to their attack. Pride and self-satisfaction grew stronger in their hearts, even to the point of overflowing.

At that moment, the Antimatter Civilization warned, "Don’t be careless, they are after all a level-five civilization. Although our military force has suppressed them to the point of irrational communication, considering the expanding-backflow is drawing closer every day, and we can even observe its trajectory through telescopes showing us that time is running out, we must seize the momentum to pursue and defeat them thoroughly while we can!"

"Correct. Our ultimate goal is to survive through the Cosmic Crisis, not just to defeat the Communist Camp. No need for self-congratulation over a momentary victory. Now that the Communist Camp is unable to fend off the assault, we should intensify our offense to annihilate them in one fell swoop to avoid any potential protracted issues. We’ve observed that the logistic forces of the Communist Camp are rapidly mobilizing." The Black Hole Civilization and Antimatter Civilization shared similar views; believing that the Communist Camp truly couldn’t withstand any longer, they advocated for a more aggressive offense.

"Understood. All three of our civilizations will immediately launch the final all-out assault, insisting on utterly destroying the Communist Camp!"

The Pure Element Celestials acknowledged their allies’ suggestions and commanded, "To ensure the success of the final offensive, I order each civilization to deploy all reserve Battle Stars in production or training to the battlefield, administering a fatal blow to the Communist Camp. Their logistics may be operational, but so are ours. Our glorious Pure Element Camp will certainly emerge victorious!"

After the order for the general offensive was given, the Antimatter Civilization and Black Hole Civilization actively cooperated.

Indeed, they sent Battle Stars still in testing and those under training to the front lines.

However, they were well aware that the combat effectiveness of these "new recruits" was not strong. Yet they dispatched them to battle for two reasons; one was to follow the command of the Pure Element Celestials, and the other was to create a greater numerical and tactical advantage.

Imagine, when tens of thousands of Battle Stars converge in an offensive, even if some lack combat power, the mere momentum would be enough to instill terror in the enemy.

In extraordinary times, extraordinary measures are needed!

Hence, the Antimatter Civilization and Pure Element Celestials simply formed these "new recruits" into a reserve Battle Star force, responsible for supporting from the rear and not directly engaging in combat.

All this was solely to hasten the elimination of the Communist Camp.

However, three days later, the Communist Camp had not been eradicated and was still stubbornly resisting.

Originally, the three civilizations of the Pure Element Camp believed that in at most three days, they would completely annihilate the Communist Camp, but now they were squarely hit in the face by reality.

Out of necessity, the Pure Element Camp had to adjust their tactics, extending the final offensive deadline to seven days. They also issued a stern order to the Joint Army, demanding the Commander-in-chief make a military pledge to ensure the Communist Camp would be completely destroyed within seven days.

Furthermore, the Pure Element Camp initiated a war inquiry project. They wanted to uncover the factors that led to their miscalculation in their war predictions, or alternatively, what strategy the Communist Camp had employed to withstand their relentless three-day bombardment.

A sense of concern crept into their hearts.

If not understood soon, it might become a critical factor of change.

In the blink of an eye, seven days had passed.

In the heart of the Cosmic Zone, the war continued with terrifying firepower and violent explosions causing distortions in space.

Undoubtedly, since the war was ongoing, this indicated that the Communist Camp had not been wiped out — yet another outcome that defied the Pure Element Camp’s expectations, hitting the faces of the three major civilizations of the Camp—hard!

Suddenly, the command center of the Pure Element Camp was silent. The leaders of the three civilizations didn’t know what to say.

Beyond the embarrassment of repeated setbacks, the silence was also due to the Joint Army Commander standing in front, being judged. Previously, under duress, the Commander-in-chief was forced to make a military pledge to annihilate the Communist Camp within seven days. Now that he failed, the leading teams of the three civilizations personally came to the command center to hold him accountable.

However, there was disagreement among the three major civilizations about how to deal with the Commander-in-chief.

Among them, the Pure Element Celestials felt that at this critical juncture of the war, they absolutely could not afford to replace their general, which would be a fatal blow to the army. Even though the Commander-in-chief failed to fulfill the pledge, addressing the accountability could wait until after the war, with no need to do it amidst the conflict.

But the Black Hole Civilization and Antimatter Civilization disagreed. They believed that the Commander-in-chief’s failure to complete his military pledge was evidence of insufficient command ability. How could such a person continue to serve as the supreme military leader? It was imperative to select someone more capable to command, ensuring victory in the war. Therefore, even if replacing the commander in the midst of battle would affect morale, it was better to endure short-term pain than long-term suffering, and it was critical to correct mistakes promptly to avoid compounding them.

In fact, in addition to doubts about the Commander-in-chief’s abilities, the Black Hole Civilization and Antimatter Civilization had another major reason for their opposition.

The most important factor was that the Commander-in-chief was from the Pure Element Celestials. Having given them a chance, they naturally wanted to unseat the representative of the Pure Element Celestials and promote their own person to power.

This would provide them greater security in claiming a share of the spoils after the war ended.

In the end, this was still a power struggle, with the apparent close cooperation between the Black Hole Civilization, Antimatter Civilization, and Pure Element Celestials under the leadership of the Pure Element Celestials, but in the shadows, all three were wary of each other, vying for power and dominance.

If one traced the origin of their every action, it would be clear that the essence of it all was due to an unfair system.

The three major civilizations were concerned about an uneven distribution of benefits after the war. Thus, they endeavored to seize key positions of power before the war to ensure that their share of benefits wouldn’t be swallowed up by the Pure Element Celestials under an unfair system.

"How ludicrous, you’re all so certain of my incompetence? Although I indeed did not fulfill the military pledge, even a criminal has the right to a defense. I wish to reveal the true reality of the war to you, also the main reason for our continuous miscalculations in our predictions!"

At this point, the Commander-in-chief, who had been silent up to now, finally spoke up.