Time passed, and when only four Nodes were left to destroy, Liu Shu’s senses suddenly detected an army at the edge of her domain. ’W-What? Where did these people come from?’

She didn’t lose her distraction. However, she split enough of her consciousness to look at Rhazor and that group.

"Lord Rhazor, we’ve come to the Solar System to support you. However... I didn’t expect you to be still battling this World Tree."

Rhazor, hearing the sudden communication in his free-range communication device, felt his eyes light up. "Hahaha! Finally!"

He had long known that there would be more people joining him. After all, if he wanted to pierce through these Solar Systems, his current army would not have a smooth-sailing experience.

So, he had been sent some reinforcements that would join him after he took control of Ceperet. This was also the reason he wanted to, at first, set this world as his temporary base.

"You come at a perfect time! Go assist High Bishop Nysera! She needs urgent help!"

During this time, even when Nysera had been moving around without a moment of respite, she had managed to make aside some time to explain what was happening.

Rhazor quickly came to understand why Xakira was so calm back then. If the Corruption Of Stars formation collapsed, the World Tree would finally be liberated, and the situation that occurred at first would repeat.

The field was the only barrier that currently prevented the balances from tilting against him. However, even if he knew, what could he do? The only hope was that the assassin group would strike a fatal blow at an opportune moment. After all, his entire army and he himself were currently being held down and suppressed.

His eyes became calculating, while Xakira was confused by his sudden change. She spoke aloud, with no fear of being listened to. "Liu Shu, Rhazor’s attitude is strange! Be careful!"

"Hahaha!" Rhazor grinned. "She should already know what is happening. Xakira, it seems that your trump card has finally lost its effectiveness."

Xakira’s heart trembled, but before she could lose her cool, Liu Shu’s voice spread around their battlefield with indifference. "Mere obstacles. I can deal with everything easily. Remember to shout for me when you need that thing, Xakira."

Xakira, who had been worried, recalled the <Eternity Strand> on her, and she smiled. "I understand. I can still drag this man around for 20 minutes. I will need help then, though."

Rahzor, who had felt elated, looked at her and swung his sword quickly. "Is your arrogance so high? From what I am hearing, the reinforcements are over 1.5 million soldiers and over 150 starships. They are also attacking from the opposite side of our battlefield, so there is absolutely nothing stopping them from reaching Ceperet."

He was explaining not because he was stupid, but because he wanted to strike at her morale. After all, the other side was aware of most things happening in the domain due to Liu Shu’s existence. So, using open information for mental warfare was a perfectly good tactic.

Sadly for him, Xakira had learned during these last years to trust Liu Shu. While she had not gone through any large campaign, it was impossible that a normal World Tree would be able to create so many miraculous structures like a <Temple> and gain those ridiculous <Titles>.

So, she adhered to something Ignatia told her in the past. "If Liu Shu says she is okay, then she is okay. During war, Liu Shu’s is not superfluous. She transforms into a ruthless World Tree that works as the most efficient war machine to annihilate all her enemies."

So, instead of answering, Xakira lifted her staff and summoned another swarm of Aether Mana hornets to attack Rhazor.

Meanwhile, Liu Shu’s mind was quickly weighing her current situation. ’War resources are stretched thin. Rhazor has sent the enemies to help Nysera, so if they manage to protect one of the last four nodes I am aiming at, it will become troublesome.’

While she has some insurance for her closest people, Liu Shu didn’t want to rely too much on those resources. Once used, it meant that those important individuals would not have another chance. Any accident would be irreversible.

One would think that she could just reapply <Eternity Strands>. However, it was not really possible as Liu Shu needed that resource to cast destructive and supporting skills.

’The reinforcements consist of around 150 starships. Number of soldiers is still unknown, but considering the Nexus’s proportions, I can take these 150 as 1.5 million new soldiers.’

A map of the entire battlefield spread out in her mind, and she quickly calculated speed and communication time. ’If I act within one hour and destroy those four Nodes, I will be able to free a ton of my attack ability that’s currently tied down to stop corruption from spreading.

"One hour... Is more than enough."

Liu Shu’s World Tree body back in Ceperet surged, her illusory body surrounded by a pillar of essence. Her gaze focused on one of the last four nodes, and her roots manifested around it.

"Break."

Coated in essence, Liu Shu’s roots latched onto the runes, and then she pulled them open. At the same time, her <Elemental Willow Catastrophe> unleashed a Space Attribute strike, making the dimension in the zone tremble violently. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

The runes’ links collapsed and tried to repair themselves. However, Liu Shu’s roots were too strong.

Five minutes later, the node lit up for a moment before it collapsed into another explosion.

"Three left."

Her voice was indifferent, showing no joy nor anger at her accomplishment. Then, she focused on a bait node, and she made it seem as if she was about to break that one.

When she felt the number of supporters in that node surge, her lips arched coldly as her focus turned to one at the other end of the solar system, her true aim.

In the hologram room, Nysera’s hair was disheveled, her eyes sharpened as she barked orders. "Over there! What are you doing!? Quickly defend number 444! Move to support Number 311!"

The clergy members, who always felt this array was only taxing in terms of essence consumption, were now regretting it deeply. Even when the backlash did not happen that often, of the initial 16,000 clergy members, over 500 had died from backlash while fighting Liu Shu.

That number seemed small but usually, the number of deaths when using <Corruption Of Stars> was... zero.

Nysera, the core of the formation, had stood in the same place, but her essence was now below 40%. At this pace, they would collapse from exhaustion.

’Is that World Tree’s energy inexhaustible!? How can she go fighting for so long without any rest!?’

"How long until..."

BANG! Another node gone.

"...reinforcements arrive where I asked!?"

The person on the other side was stunned to hear such an urgent voice from the usual calm and confident Nyusera. However, being an ally of the Nexus, he didn’t dare be too presumptuous. "Lady Nysera. We’ve just arrived, so we will take around 40 minutes to move to the locations you’ve asked us to move."

Sadly, while they were talking, Nysera felt a change. It was a surreal feeling of ease when corrupting Liu Shu. However, this didn’t bring her even a hint of happiness. Instead, her pupils shrank to points as she quickly tried to see what was happening.

"Why did she suddenly stop attacking and resisting? Did something happen? Did the assassin group finally arrive to disturb her? No, their arrival shouldn’t happen for another 30 minutes or so..."

Nysera currently felt as if everything was incredibly close. It felt as if all the cards on the table were balancing on the edge, and the first side to bump it would topple the opponent’s cards.

And this bump... it was Liu Shu who did it.

"NYSERA! NODE ONE AND TWO!"

The party who shouted was so anxious that he forgot any formalities and shouted at her.

Liu Shu, who had retreated like the water before a tsunami, arrived with the same destructive power of a natural disaster. Her voice stretched across the entire Solar System, alerting even the new arrivals.

"Too late. Now, it is mine. <Otherworldly Rune and Nature Empire: Runic Field Reversal>."

A skill she learned way back when she was still at the edge of the <Dark Aether Swamp>, something she used long ago, and she had now perfected, reappeared with the brilliance of a thousand suns.

Everyone in the Solar System suddenly saw two bright flashes of white light as those two nodes were destroyed, and right after, the void was illuminated by hundreds of white "stars."

Nysera was nervous because she didn’t know what was happening. After the last two nodes were destroyed, the hologram suddenly froze. This freezing lasted for not long, but when the image resynced, something terrifying began happening.

"AARHG!"

"It hurts!"

"UGH! What is happening!?"

One clergy member after another separated from their posts as if they had been scalded. Nysera quickly looked at those people, but she didn’t care about them, as her eyes were focused on the nodes they were controlling.

"White...? Why did the red node turn... white?"

Her brain, while agile, was currently facing a situation she was utterly foreign to. In her thousands of years of life, she had never seen anything similar.

"MOVE! Pour your energies into the white nodes! Do not let it spread!"

Her own effort as the central piece of the formation doubled, her jaw clenched, and her eyes were bloodshot. "A disgusting World Tree. Just a toy for our Civilization! How dare you... How dare you...!"

Meanwhile, Liu Shu’s pure essence drilled into the runic field and array lines, starting a counter-corruption phenomena she had settled with a chain reaction. Her current essence efficiency when dealing with this formation had already surpassed 10,000%.

So, as her energy swallowed the runic field, Liu Shu’s control over it increased at an exponential rate. What should’ve happened to her was now occurring in reverse.

Back in the starship, Nysera was screaming at everyone, but at one point, the white energy that had flowed arrived at the central area. In that instant, Nysera’s expression froze, and then pain struck, as if someone was trying to dig out her nervous system, and drilled into her brain.

"AHHH!!!!"

A scream or raw pain burst out, and those around quickly rushed to take her out before something went wrong.

However, it didn’t matter. Even when they pulled her back into safety, Liu Shu was now controlling most of the runic field, and she learned something very important: Their location.

"Now..." Liu Shu’s gaze moved across the solar system, and soon, her gaze descended upon the two Moon-Types stranded in the void. "...You are mine."

Nysera, feeling a terrifying threat even when agonizing pain rushed through her veins, shouted. "DEFENSIVE FIELDS!"

Those in charge reacted instinctively, and a second later, two gargantuan root lances struck both Moon-Types. Liu Shu sneered. ’Resist all you want. It is only a matter of time.’