The Magic Goddess fell silent for a moment, then nodded slightly.
"Yes. The moment that signal appeared, the moment this gateway appeared, we had already lost the right to choose."
She was no fool. Having become a deity, having become the Magic God, she was far more intelligent than most beings in this world.
From the moment she first learned that the Stargazers within the Evernight Dome had received that signal, she had sensed that this would be a strife—a strife unlike anything before.
This endless starry sky was like a vast dark forest, and their existence was like a fully armed hunter quietly lurking within it.
Perhaps they were the only hunter in the forest. Perhaps there were many hunters. Even if there were no hunters, there might still be countless ferocious beasts capable of taking their lives at any moment.
When encountering another life-form, the only choice seemed to be to destroy it.
Because they could not determine whether the other party harbored goodwill.
Even if the other party did harbor goodwill, they could not determine whether this side would recognize it as goodwill.
They could not determine whether the other side would launch an attack.
The other side was the same, unable to determine whether they would strike first.
At that point, goodwill and malice no longer mattered.
The chain of suspicion had already formed. If they wanted to survive, they had to attack...
On top of that, the other side was continuously broadcasting signals outward. Their Stargazers could capture them, but could other civilizations do the same?
What kind of being would broadcast signals so recklessly and keep doing so?
Either the other side was extremely powerful. Who knew how many civilizations had learned of their existence through those signals, yet none could gain anything from