Wandering Meteor

"I wonder if you've ever heard this saying..."

Facing the eviction order from the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance, Wandering said calmly, "It's easy to invite the Buddha, but hard to send him away. You destroyed our Space Wormhole, causing us to go through a dangerous ordeal, and now you expect to send us away without a shred of compensation with just a few words? Do you really take us for beggars?"

In response to this question, surprisingly, the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance began to quarrel.

Right in front of the Metal Civilization, they accused each other of being the first to attack the Space Wormhole, and thus that party should be the one to pay for the compensation.

However, the outcome was predictable; such blame-shifting and finger-pointing would inevitably be steadfastly denied by both parties. Hence, after a round of pointless accusations, the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance realized that concessions needed to be made to solve the problem. They decided, after conferring, to split the compensation to the Metal Civilization equally.

"We can give you some compensation, but you must leave immediately!"

Receiving the joint message from the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance, Wandering replied, "Our request is simple—we also want a share of the Heavenly Nebula that the Metal Civilization is entitled to!"

"What? Impossible, you are too greedy, with no sense of self-awareness!"

Upon receiving Wandering's telepathic message, the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance vehemently denounced in unison.

Wandering replied with slight displeasure, "Hmph, we are all Level 4 Civilizations here. Our Metal Civilization has the right and the strength to demand a piece of the pie. On the contrary, one of you is trying to swallow the entire Heavenly Nebula—that's whose appetite is too big."

The Fermi Alliance stated, "The Heavenly Nebula was first discovered and explored by the Fermi Alliance. According to the right of discovery, the Heavenly Nebula is ours, the Fermi Alliance's. Neither Bose Civilization nor your Metal Civilization should even dream of touching it. You would be wise to recognize this and leave; otherwise, you will have to bear the consequences!"

The Bose Alliance attacked, "What nonsense right of discovery, something we've never even heard of before. Your Fermi Civilization is too shameless, claiming things based on your own arbitrary definitions as if you're bandits. We, the Bose Alliance, will never acknowledge nor agree to this. Otherwise, following your logic, we might as well propose a 'right of sighting,' declaring everything the Bose Alliance sees as our own, and you have no right to touch it. So the real ones who should buzz off are you!"

The Fermi Alliance and the Bose Alliance had just decided to jointly bear Metal Civilization's compensation.

Unexpectedly, when core interests were involved, these two Civilization Alliances denied all relations with one another and confronted each other fiercely.

Their bottom line was clear: they could give up some peripheral benefits, but when it came to major core interests, they would fight to the bitter end!

The Metal Civilization couldn't possibly give up the Heavenly Nebula so easily either. Thus, Wandering said, "We agree with the Bose Alliance. The Fermi Alliance unilaterally proposes things that are beneficial to themselves, which we, the Metal Civilization, firmly reject. Your arguments won't work on us; we three must find a method acceptable to all for handling the Heavenly Nebula."

Wandering continued, "Actually, I have a proposal. Under the current crisis of the Universe's halted expansion, every moment wasted is life being squandered. Therefore, we should avoid wasting time and energy as much as possible. Instead of waging a war that will only lead to mutual destruction, why not all three of us share the Heavenly Nebula equally? This way, everyone gains something without war, a perfect solution, no?"

"You Metal Civilization have a very nice dream, but after having competed with the Fermi Civilization for so long and paying a heavy price, it is unthinkable for you to show up and want to share the Heavenly Nebula with us equally," accused the Bose Alliance, decisively rejecting Wandering's intent.

The Fermi Alliance also stated, "The Heavenly Nebula is the property of the Fermi Alliance; we will not share it equally with any civilization. Anyone who covets the Heavenly Nebula will be a mortal enemy of the Fermi Alliance. I advise both your civilizations to think thrice before acting, lest you make a decision you'll regret."

At this point, Wandering, unable to do anything else, said, "It seems negotiation is impossible, then let's abide by the laws of the Universe. Whoever has the strongest power will own the Heavenly Nebula!"

Subsequently, the Bose Alliance, Fermi Alliance, and Metal Civilization ceased any further verbal exchanges.

They all knew too well that talk wouldn't drive away competitors; further discussion was futile; only military strength could truly repel the enemy.

From that moment, all three parties began actively mobilizing their Battle Star forces, re-strategizing their tactics. Especially the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance, who previously had only faced off against each other with just one competitor. Now, with the addition of the Level 4 Metal Civilization, the situation shifted from bilateral opposition to a three-way stand-off. They would now have to deal with two adversaries simultaneously, necessitating the establishment of new tactics for a two-front battle.

After some urgent mobilization, the Bose Alliance, Fermi Alliance, and Metal Civilization divided all their forces in two.

However, when allocating forces, considering different opponents, each allocated different strengths. As far as the Metal Civilization was concerned, they now had over nine thousand Metallic Battle Stars. Considering the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance were evenly matched, Wandering split the over nine thousand Metallic Battle Stars into two equal parts to simultaneously face off against the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance.

Both the Bose Alliance and the Fermi Alliance allocated their forces in similar ways but differed completely from the Metal Civilization. Based on intelligence gathered over this period, they had concluded that the Metal Civilization was slightly inferior in both the number of battle stars and technological levels. Therefore, their primary enemies remained each other. When distributing their forces, they allocated thirty to forty percent of their over ten thousand battle stars to attack the Metal Civilization, with the remaining sixty to seventy percent focused on attacking each other.

Thus, began the fierce tripartite conflict among the three Level 4 Civilizations.

Amid the dark starry sky, brilliant beams of light flashed frequently as the war between the three Level 4 Civilizations intensified. Terrifying beams often destroyed a battle star, leading to horrific explosions, with intense flames and Energy Waves sweeping across tens of light-years, causing chaos in the vicinity of the Heavenly Nebula.

Moreover, as the war among the three civilizations continued unabated, their sacrifices grew increasingly heavy.

Just as the tripartite melee reached a feverish stage of life-and-death struggle, in the distance, the invisibly cloaked Wandering Star System was speeding closer and had observed the Heavenly Nebula ahead and the ongoing tripartite conflict.