A pillar of crimson light flashed across the starry sky.
In that instant, even the brilliance of the system's star was utterly eclipsed.
The pillar of light first slammed into the planetary shield covering the entire homeworld. Then, in the span of less than half a second, its color shifted from deep crimson to incandescent white as countless explosions erupted across the planet's surface—the sound of the shield's reactors overloading and detonating. The shield shattered completely.
And then...
"Hiss!!!"
The extreme heat generated by violent molecular motion spread out in an irregular, distorted ring.
A single volley from the fleet's main cannons had seared over seventy percent of the vibrant surface of the Sky People's homeworld, along with a straight line extending more than two thousand kilometers underground, into translucent glass.
"Sshhh—"
Vapor and mist drifted, creating a scene like a celestial wonderland.
The homeworld of the Sky People, the civilized hub that spanned several star systems, had been turned into half a glass marble, veiled in vapor and shedding shimmering dust.
"..."
"..."
"BASTARDS!!!"
After a long moment of shock and disbelief, Scarab's furious command was transmitted simultaneously to every fleet of the Sky People.
"DESTROY THEM!!!"
The culprits had revealed themselves.
Though the preceding events were still unclear, the facts were undeniable: the alien fleet that appeared from the Deimos system was clearly not friendly. The frontline base commanded by Supreme Commander Mammon had likely already been eliminated by this unknown enemy.
"Boom!"
The engines of countless starships reignited.
The enemy had appeared so brazenly before them that locking on was no challenge at all.
The problem was that this surprise-attack fleet numbered less than fifty ships in total. Although most of them were large warships, compared to the Sky People's fleet, which was in the middle of a military parade...
They were utterly insignificant.
At this range, never mind using beam or projectile weapons, even launching guided missiles carried a ninety percent chance of hitting friendly targets.
Furthermore, to conserve energy, the docked starships had not completely shut down their reactors, but their power output was barely above five percent. Their shields, of course, were down. For the sake of a uniform and orderly formation, the ships of each fleet were parked extremely close together. Activating shields in such a confined space would trigger a catastrophic chain reaction.
The direct consequence of this was...
"BOOM!!!"
---o---
"The rest is up to you."
Vill-V emerged from the central control room on the flagship's bridge.
The main cannon that the flagship had just fired, the [Glass Cannon], was not powered by the ship's reactors. Instead, it amplified the energy output of the "pilot."
Although Vill-V held the sixth seat among the Flame-Chasers, her forte was not combat strength. Her own power was not at the "planet-busting" level... not even with the flagship's support.
The Plague Templar, who had accompanied her, was also incapable of such a feat.
Considering her familiarity with the warship's performance, the responsibility of firing the [Glass Cannon] had been given to Vill-V.
Of course.
Once a heavy weapon of this magnitude hit its mark, even if the planet didn't explode, it would lose all possibility of being settled (or colonized) by any civilization.
Even the risks of mining it for resources would increase exponentially.
"Two thousand mainline battleships, plus one Titan."
"That should be enough for you to work with."
In terms of defensive capabilities, a Titan was actually more robust than a planet.
If that planetary cannon shell had struck the Animus, it might not have been enough to shoot down the Sky People's Titan.
"Command of the legion is returned to you," Vill-V said, gesturing toward Welt's projection.
"In terms of the [Authority of Reason], your skill is already very close to the threshold of our level."
The all-out burst of the most powerful [Higher Primordial Species] (those at the Legion Commander level) could already achieve the effect of "scouring the surface," much like an Apostle. The only differences were the presence of side effects and the amount of preparation time required.
The distinction between the two...
To put it vividly, it was the gap between a complete Herrscher and a Flawed Herrscher.
"Don't think about anything else."
"Destroy seventy percent of the enemy fleet, and while you're at it, shoot down that Titan."
"That is the entirety of your mission."
With a gentle wave from Vill-V, the flagship's bridge was instantly empty, save for her and the Plague Templar.
"I don't see the [Antimatter Legion]," the Plague Templar initiated the conversation.
"Indeed. But they will definitely come. If I'm not mistaken, the empty anchor points around that Titan were likely prepared for the [Antimatter Legion]."
The moment her fleet appeared, Vill-V had already processed the entire situation.
"The [Glass Cannon] was originally intended for them."
"Without the [Antimatter Legion], the difficulty of this test would be far too low. On the contrary, the trouble we would face would increase significantly."
This test was designed for the legion fleet from the start.
Logically, the Apostles were not supposed to intervene. The pre-charged [Planetary Cannon] was never aimed at the Sky People's homeworld; it was meant to snipe the emissary of the [Antimatter Legion]. However, due to the latter's tardiness, the Sky People ended up footing the bill.
"Mm," the Plague Templar nodded.
"Prepare for battle."
"If the intelligence from Eden's side is correct, our next opponent will likely be a being of 'that level'."
Just as Vill-V had said, this expedition against the Sky People was a test of the Empire's military strength. What she didn't say was that the expedition was also an evaluation for the Apostles.
After helping the Stone Turtle recover its complete memories, Eden had set out on a new mission: to follow the star chart provided by the "Traveler siblings" and head to a "station" to await the imminent arrival of the [Astral Express].
Before Vill-V and the Plague Templar had even departed, news of successful contact had already arrived. More intelligence would follow later, but the most crucial information for now concerned the movements of the [Antimatter Legion] and news of the Retainers of the "Astral God of Finality, the 'Final King'."
"They're here."
The two did not have to wait long.
Even amidst the chaos of the battlefield, a massive and clearly visible spatial fluctuation began to appear next to the [Titan] Animus.
From within, one and only one large starship slowly revealed its true form: it was a silver shuttle of exaggerated length. Over seventy percent of its hull was exposed, with a translucent red shield enveloping all these sections.
An Antimatter Legion Dreadnought:
[Executor-class Star Destroyer]
"Dreadnought-class" was a general term for large starships with a long axis greater than a heavy battleship (5km-class) but smaller than a Titan. Vessels of this type typically only appeared in advanced civilizations guided by an [Emissary]. This referred to "warships"; transport vessels formed by the [Mechanical Species], despite their massive size, could not be classified as "Dreadnoughts" due to their weak weapon systems.
Within the entire Imperial fleet, only Vill-V's flagship could be considered a true "Dreadnought." The simplest way to distinguish one was to see if the warship was capable of "cleansing a planet's surface civilization."
Therefore, in many civilizations, Dreadnoughts were also known as "Star Destroyers."
The [Antimatter Legion] possessed 143 types of planet-destroying weapons, and the [Executor-class Star Destroyer] that had just appeared was one of the two most famous among them. Unlike the standard Dreadnoughts of "ordinary civilizations," the Legion's "Executor-class" could be described as a "Super-Dreadnought."
After all...
Its main cannon could destroy a star in a single shot.
---o---
"..."
The space was unnaturally quiet.
The appearance of the [Antimatter Legion]'s Star Destroyer did not bring about any significant change to the battlefield. This weapon of mass destruction, which should have been on the side of the Sky People, did not immediately attack the Imperial fleet. Instead, it hovered silently in the docking space specially cleared for it, like a detached spectator.
The only consequence of the Star Destroyer's arrival was that both sides began to avoid firing into that region of space. Stray shots aimed at the Star Destroyer were reduced to elementary particles by its shield before they could even make contact. In response, the ship's segmented beam weapon, the [Turbo Particle Cannon], would immediately "return the favor" in the direction of the attack.
And this, more often than not, meant the demise of a warship.
There was reason to believe that such a powerful weapon was merely the Star Destroyer's automated defense system.
"Clank!"
"Clank!"
On the bridge of the Animus.
Scarab had already descended from his throne. His starfish-shaped body made heavy "clanking" sounds on the metal floor, and the corrosive fluid dripping from his tentacles burned irregular pits into the expensive biological carpet.
Dominating the entire bridge ceiling was the annoying static of "schhh-schhh" sounds and black-and-white static blocks from a failed connection.
"Why can't we connect!"
"Do these sneaky bastards also have the ability to interfere with the [Antimatter Legion]'s communication network?"
The communication requests sent to the Star Destroyer had all gone unanswered.
For someone with a temperament as volatile as Scarab's, it was already a great feat of self-control that he hadn't destroyed the bridge yet.
"..."
Whether they were ministers or Titan operators, every officer on the bridge remained silent.
This question was impossible to answer. A civilization that could "stalemate" their fleet for this long clearly lacked the ability to interfere with their communications with the [Antimatter Legion]. The most likely scenario was... the [Antimatter Legion] was simply not accepting their hails.
It was impossible for Scarab not to understand this fact.
So—
"Ding."
Just as the bridge seemed on the verge of destruction—as the leader of the Sky People, his other strengths were debatable, but his combat power was definitely the first in the entire race—the chancellor, a being resembling a bizarre, fork-limbed cuttlefish, who had been hesitating for a long time, was about to speak when the static on the screen above finally cleared.
[SOUND ONLY]
The familiar red caption, however, did not bring any comfort.
"Ah—"
Scarab led the way, kneeling towards the screen.
"My lord!"
"Your humble servant implores you to lend us your aid! Please erase these beings who tarnish your glorious name!"
Normally, while Scarab was always respectful towards the emissaries of the Antimatter Legion, he never needed to act so dramatically.
The reason was simple... the fleet was about to collapse.
The Sky People's fleet was indeed vast, but ninety-nine percent of the time, they were bullying weak civilizations that had just taken their first steps into space, or hadn't even left their homeworld. Moreover, the most capable among their high commanders had already died in the "place of exile."
When facing advanced civilizations, or even those with comparable technology, the Sky People would always adopt a strategy of avoidance. The fact that the [Scout Star]'s flight path was set to fly into the system's star was the best proof of this cowardly behavior.
Now, the opponent they faced was crushing them on two levels: technology and tactics. Take shields, for example. The Sky People's starship shield systems still relied on the ship's longitudinal rotation to maintain defensive strength, a method to prevent beam weapons from concentrating on a single area for too long and causing a chain-reaction collapse. In contrast, the Empire's starship shields had completed research on dynamic energy balancing systems two thousand years ago, not to mention the even earlier joint-shield system developed based on the [Old Templar-class].
As for tactics...
The military parade formation had left the four fleets with virtually no room to maneuver. At this relative distance, dodging beam rays was a joke; evasion was mainly used to block projectile weapons. In the current situation, over seventy percent of the Sky People's own projectile weapons, no matter how carefully their trajectories were corrected upon firing, still ended up hitting their own forces.
Under such circumstances, discussing tactics was utter nonsense.
Perhaps the situation would improve once their fleet losses exceeded fifty percent, but considering the vastness of the star systems under the Sky People's control... by the time that happened, the uprisings on their few colony worlds would be more than they could handle.
"Don't you still have a Titan?"
After a long while, an agonizingly long wait that almost made Scarab want to look up to see if the "SOUND ONLY" had reverted to static, a voice laced with a hint of amusement finally came through.
"..."
Scarab understood.
His mind had never been so sharp. The Titan gifted to them by the [Antimatter Legion] was not meant to be an indestructible turtle shell, but a blade to destroy civilizations more quickly. Scarab's decision not to commit the Titan to battle, while consistent with the internal interests of self-preservation, ran directly counter to the [Antimatter Legion]'s demands.
Moreover, judging by the [Antimatter Legion]'s detached observation... if this disappointing performance was all they could muster, the Legion might abandon them without a second thought.
After all, from a certain perspective...
Scarab's gaze swept over the tactical display.
This unknown civilization that had launched the sneak attack seemed far more suitable for the role of "henchman" than the Sky People.