"That's the price of joining a war between two empires." Haru said, "I'm not forcing anyone. The Castle Lords who choose to participate know what they're walking into, and crucially, only the forces that choose to join the war against the Light Empire lose the Laws' protection. Those who stay out remain shielded. The risk falls on willing participants, not the whole faction."
"It will still cost lives we'll need against the Demon Emperor."
"Your Majesty, I'm declaring war on the Light Empire 'because' of the Divine War, not despite it. I can't face the Burning Legion from a pocket-sized domain and the Light Empire won't wait regardless. Their 'Holy Lord' Asher has been watching our border since before I left for Arboriel. The moment the constraints dissolve, he moves first if I don't."
Aurelyss was quiet for a moment. The logic was sound and she knew it. She'd prepared a contingency. If he'd agreed, she would have gone to Asher personally and applied the same pressure from the other side. But Haru's decision was clearly fixed, and honestly, she suspected the war would be over before the Burning Legion arrived anyway.
The Great Aetherium would become stronger because of it. That was probably the correct outcome for the Endless Continent even if it was uncomfortable in the short term. Therefore, she let the third point go.
…
The alliance covenant was concluded on the spot, recognized and sealed by Endless Continent's Laws. Both parties agreed to mutual defense in all matters except the competition for the God King's Throne, which carved out enough room for independence that neither side was overcommitting.
Sanctions for breach would cause the offender to fall out with the Spirit of Endless Continent's Laws itself, but neither of them needed that clause to mean anything. The Burning Legion was coming, and both empires knew what it meant to face it alone.
The Great Aetherium's alliance network now covered the Beast God Pantheon, the Nature Pantheon, and the Elf Empire.
"The three Evil Supreme Gods." Aurelyss said, settling into a slightly warmer tone now that business was concluded, "Will you need assistance?"
"For the Evil Pantheon alone, no." He said it without arrogance, just assessment, "If the situation changes, I'll reach out."
She nodded. The offer stood.
Then his expression shifted, not much, but enough that she noticed.
"I have 460,000 artifacts of various grades." he said, "All the way from Lower True God Tier Artifacts to High God Tier Artifacts, a complete range. And over a billion Demigod Tier Artifacts too." He looked at her with a smile, "How many does Your Majesty need?"
The artifacts came out of storage and stacked themselves into five mountains on the plaza. The hundreds of thousands of artifacts in one pile, and the 1.2 billion Demigod Tier Artifacts distributed across the other four. The sheer scale of it caused Aurelyss to stop moving.
(T/N: For anyone wondering how she could 'see' the mountains while sitting in a room inside the palace, she's literally a Goddess. Her Divine Senses are far better at 'seeing' things than even her eyes.)
She'd ruled the strongest native empire on the Endless Continent for longer than most Gods had existed. She'd seen artifact collections, even her own natal artifact was at a Supreme God Tier Artifact. Yet none of that prepared her for the visual of several mountains of equipment occupying an imperial plaza, each one taller than most buildings in the capital.
She composed herself and swept the entire collection with her Divine Senses. Then she noticed something that wasn't supposed to be there, specifically, something that was supposed to be there and wasn't. She teleported to above the mountains of equipment and Haru followed her.
"Your Majesty." She said carefully, "I was told by Her Holiness Elunara that these artifacts came from the Dimensional Demons on Arboriel. Demonic equipment carries the Evil Aura of Abyss." She paused, "There's none. Not a trace. It's as though someone purified every piece individually."
"I spent a considerable amount of my Supreme God Tier Divine Power removing it." Haru said, with the easy tone of someone describing an afternoon's work, "I didn't want demonic equipment circulating on the Endless Continent and causing problems for the local forces."
Aurelyss looked at him. She was not, in fact, thinking about what method he'd used. She was thinking about the argument she'd prepared for lowering the price, which had just evaporated. Without the evil aura, the equipment was clean, usable by anyone. No purification cost meant no specialist was required, and her leverage was gone.
She pivoted.
"The quality is low." She said, "Demons aren't skilled craftsmen. Their equipment's power comes from the evil aura contained in it. Without that, what remains is below the Endless Continent standards. Most of these are damaged, and the repair cost is significant."
"That's true." Haru agreed and said, "Then eighty percent of the market rate?"
"Eighty percent is too high. What about sixty."
He looked at her without speaking. She looked back. Neither moved.
After a while, Haru's gaze began to drift downward in a way that was not entirely focused on the equipment mountains, as if thinking about looking for another buyer.
Aurelyss' eyes narrowed, "Seventy percent."
"Deal."
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