In the Nexus's worlds, massive changes unfolded one after another. There were a total of nine worlds with life in both Solar Systems, but each Solar System had a unified government in its capital Worlds.
To take over administratively, the Golden Sap Empire workers needed to replace those in the central government and then slowly change everything from the top down. Their influence should flow like water down a slope, slowly staining everything starting from the very top, and finally pooling down below.
A Sylvan named Zara opened the doors of the central government debating chamber. Behind her, around 100 other individuals and 10 Level 200+ Golden Sap Empire soldiers stepped in an orderly manner.
The Nexus politicians looked at Zara with surprise, and then they spoke loudly. "Who are you to enter this place without authorization?"
Zara glanced at the human woman who shouted and spoke coldly. "It seems that some of you are still deluded and think that this is still Nexus territory. Let me clarify something: all of you here are not needed, and today, we've come to take over."
"Do you think the people will follow the rules of some tree-hugging maniacs!? If so, you are mistaken. If you want to rule this place, you need our help and influence!" The woman then spoke with a colder and calmer voice. "Moreover, what happens today here will be known to the public. So, you better not go overboard."
Who was Zara? For starters, she was a rather young Sylvan, around 140 years old, who had grown and become part of the Golden Sap Empire's political circle. She slowly but relentlessly clawed her way up in the Golden Sap Empire's competitive environment and became a main diplomatic and political representative.
Zara reported straight to Flor, the Golden Sap Empire's grand governor, and even had authority to call for Liu Shu if she deemed it was needed.
"The public's opinion is currently tainted by woefully inappropriate ideologies. When our Lady, the Heavenly Willow, arrived and suggested surrender, you all chose to give up the lives of your citizens. If it wasn't for our Lady staining her roots with the blood of those who tormented this world, right now only ruins would've been left. You all who are still alive are only opportunistic individuals who took over during our momentary absence."
To successfully attack politically, you need to be trustworthy. If you know the truth but you have no trust level, people will only brand you as a charlatan or conspiracy theorist. Therefore, Zara first needed to shatter the public's preconceptions and state the facts they were aware of. Facts that were impossible to deny and easily proven.
A man standing near the front and having more authority than the woman who first spoke attacked back. "You all who represent the World Tree will naturally lie to the world and try to convince us otherwise. If it weren't because of the Heavenly Willow's attacks, would we need to resort to such drastic measures?"
Zara stepped forward while he talked, her purple-colored hair gently bobbing up and down with her steps. "This was a war. This Solar System was not always part of the Nexus, was it? Around 940 years ago, another culture, society, and people lived here. The Nexus took over back then and built up the current world. It is a good world with great technology… but also unjust to the common people. All who are not of animal descent are classified as heretics, discriminated against, and many times abused."
The man answered. "You who descend from plants are different from us. The fact that we still accept them and allow them to grow in our society is enough mercy. You say we abused them? Then why do we give them work!? Why are there Sylvans who rise to high positions? Carila from our political party is a proud Sylvan serving the Nexus Empire!"
Zara glanced at Carila and then looked away. What she saw was a rather empty gaze carried by an outwardly firm and righteous-looking Sylvan. She was a scarecrow. But an effective one. To circumvent it, Zara needed to do something simple. "What are her achievements?"
Her existence was in the political party not because she was talented, but because her very presence could secure votes from Sylvans and other plant-descendants. Covering for Zara's question was also easy. "She is an essential party member who has developed several of our laws and given plenty of advice. A precious existence!"
A sentence full of nothing that could be summarized in "She has done a lot!" and nothing else. Zara nodded and stopped playing word games. "I have captured the political environment of this place. As expected, nothing can be salvaged. Let's start the true reform, shall we?"
Was Zara here to speak with these people and have some kind of discussion? Not at all. For Zara, all individuals in this large and luxurious room, including the Sylvans, meant absolutely nothing.
"Kill them all."
"W-What do you—"
SLASH!
People of appropriate Level sliced the heads off all the politicians in the room, staining everything in red in a matter of seconds. There were no screams because there was no time to react.
Zara walked forward, her elegant high-heels stained in blood as she reached the main seat. Zara pushed the beheaded man who previously sat there and used a cleaning spell. Then, she and the others sat down while the soldiers moved the corpses away. "Now then, let's start. We should review the Nexus laws and see what can be salvaged. From there on, we will make a 50 year plan to slowly but surely shift everything to our Golden Sap Empire law. In the meantime, we must also plan the punishment and reward systems for behavior and build some of
"Yes, chairman!"
The video feed transmitting live to the remaining networks was cut off after Zara's words. The citizens were both angry and scared, but the feeling of fear was much larger. This was not a situation where a protest or similar action could work.
Those above held absolute military superiority. Resistance was nothing but meaningless. Of course, some brave individuals would try to rise up, but Zara's group had predicted and planned for such resistance.
Similar situations occurred across all of the Nexus's worlds, and in a matter of weeks, all higher positions were forcefully replaced by Godlen Sap Empire envoys. The bloodshed was much lighter than one would've imagined. Those who died were just leaders, politicians, judges, military commanders, and other similar positions.
Those below them were just told to be wary of their actions and suppressed through authority alone.
In the aftermath of that first week, the number of deaths didn't surpass 50,000. Compared to the hundreds of billions of people spread across the nine worlds, it was a number so insignificant that it could be marked as an afterthought in the annals of history.
***
Meanwhile, in the Covenant, the process was quite similar, but somewhat less brutal. Instead of killing the local politicians and the like, the envoys deployed to the 11 Covenant worlds chose to retire them.
How? Give them a temporary benefit. An area and city built for them, filled with luxury and enough entertainment. To put it bluntly, they kicked all the local higher-ups into a luxury retirement home.
As for the budget problems, the envoys sent to the Covenant didn't really feel burdened by it. With Deadly Petal's materials and the treasuries they had taken over, there was more than enough capital to make reforms. Moreover, with most of the corruption about to be cleanly swept out, the same capital the previous politicians used was about to become 1000% more efficient.
So, even after adding the cost of this retirement city, they gained more net capital than before.
Liu Shu glanced at the new 20 worlds and their development. It had been around six years since the war ended, and Liu Shu was now 235 years old. The war had lasted for quite a while, around a decade or so.
This made Liu Shu feel that time was slipping by faster and faster as she gained age. Previously, ten years were enough to cause earth-shattering changes in the world. Now, they slipped by in the blink of an eye.
Of course, in terms of technology, Liu Shu's Golden Sap Empire was developing rapidly and quickly catching up to the Covenant and other nearby powers.
"Let's see… There are some resistance groups forming. Hm… the mood on the Nexus's side is somewhat gloomy and full of uncertainty, but people are still living their day-to-day lives. After all, no matter how despairing, people need to work to put food on their tables."
There was still both hidden and overt discrimination against Sylvans and other plant species, such as dryads and fairies. Still, there was one visible change. The plant species were learning to report it, and punishment was delivered appropriately.
"... Is it because they had been suppressed for a long while? There are a lot of false reports mixed with truthful ones."
Malicious reports to ruin someone's life, so to speak. Liu Shu frowned at this. They were almost as bad as true discriminatory attacks. "Thankfully, those who report falsely are also punished."
This had been something Liu Shu needed to deal with in the Golden Sap Empire, and still deals with. No matter how illegal something was, there would always be new people who, because their brains just worked differently, did it. Moreover, no matter how much you wanted different species to get along, it was impossible to put aside all differences.
This was not a matter of teaching, education, or law. It was a more basic impulse impossible to get rid of. So, Liu Shu learned to accept a certain amount of discrimination. It was difficult to balance what counted as punishable, but Liu Shu was satisfied with what she achieved.
'Overall, people get along with each other. It is just the occasional hurt or brain-damaged individual that jumps the gun.'
It was the same with murders, domestic abuse, and many other severe crimes, so Liu Shu was not worried. "Still…"
Liu Shu, whose senses now covered the Nexus and Covenant worlds, couldn't help but feel quite shocked at the sheer amount of criminal activity. At every single moment, Liu Shu could see or observe harsh crimes being committed. It was at least 5,000 times the rate of the Golden Sap Empire across all metrics. At least being the keyword.
If Liu Shu looked at murders, the Covenant was over 12,000 times over, and the Nexus side over 44,000 times over. Meaning, for each murder done in the Golden Sap Empire territory, around 12,000 occurred in the Covenant and 44,000 in the Nexus.
"Well, at least there is starting to be some change. Slowly and steadily, we can naturalize everything."
Liu Shu looked away and focused on expanding her roots to perfectly cover and take over the Nine surrounding Solar Systems and their vicinities.