To be honest, Nie Yun's proposal was quite tempting.
If they agreed, Twin Stars would not only regain its share of the Water of Life despite losing the battle, but also establish trade with a technologically powerful civilization. The value of that was difficult to quantify.
Still, Ishar was more inclined to keep fighting.
In her view, these benefits were far from secure. Everything depended on the All Things Unity Society keeping its promises. If it turned on them again with some flimsy excuse, as it had this time, all those benefits would amount to nothing more than empty promises.
Moreover, sandwiched between "two" powerful civilizations, the Solar System Wormhole's location suddenly became even more critical. Like a fortified pass in an ancient war, whoever held this choke point held the strategic initiative.
To Ishar, losing the Solar System Wormhole was extremely dangerous.
But if they really kept fighting...
Ishar surveyed the battlefield. Their vanguard ahead had already been routed, while an enemy army of mecha still lurked menacingly behind them. As for their flank... well, the less said about those useless allies, the better!
Ah... Ishar sighed inwardly.
On the battlefield, both sides watched each other warily as they slowly withdrew and separated. The starfield, which had raged with battle for hours, fell silent. Only countless mechanical wrecks and drifting debris bore witness to the brutality of the fighting.
To some extent, the outcome had already been decided. Neither side really wanted to continue fighting.
Ishar could see that the situation had turned against them. They could not win.
As for Nie Yun, although completely routing the Twin Stars Fleet before him was not impossible, he would probably have few combat units left apart from the Mithril Fleet. Even the Long-Lived One risked suffering severe injuries.
Besides, wiping