"They're coming."
Vill-V and the Plague Templar retreated to the rear of the bridge.
Command of the legion's flagship had also been handed over to Welt. Unlike alien warships that required a large crew and mechanical assistance to operate, the non-mechanical starships built by the Empire could be piloted by a very small crew.
For a being proficient in the [Authority of Reason]—it didn't even require the power of a [Higher Primordial Species]—so long as there were no mental attacks capable of breaching the anti-interference matrix, a single person could pilot the entire starship and unleash over eighty percent of its combat potential.
As one of the best among them, Welt was more than capable.
Aside from not being able to fire the [Glass Cannon] as effortlessly as Vill-V, he had no trouble with any of the ship's other functions.
Of course, that was assuming he was fighting an opponent of a similar class.
Right now, the target of the legion flagship piloted by Welt was the Sky People's Titan.
Both flagships, as if by mutual agreement, ignited their engines to full power and charged straight toward each other along a perfectly overlapping trajectory!
This was a logical move.
As the saying goes, to catch a thief, first catch the king. The damage both flagships could inflict on the regular fleets was devastating. No matter how much of a decommissioned vessel the Sky People's Titan was, it was still a colossal starship tens of thousands of meters long. The secondary cannons covering its hull were at least equivalent to the large-caliber main cannons on a standard battleship.
That wasn't even mentioning its main cannon, an out-of-spec weapon known as a [Doomsday Weapon].
Although the current situation favored the Empire, the fleet present was not the entirety of the Sky People's forces. If they called for reinforcements, the Sky People could probably muster a fleet twice this size... though time might be an issue.
Even with the [Antimatter Legion] backing them, if the situation became irreversible and the Sky People decided to go for mutual destruction by firing their [Doomsday Weapon], the Imperial fleet would lose seventy to eighty percent of its strength.
The Sky People's considerations were the same.
Although their naval classification had no "Dreadnought" class, and they had never encountered a civilization that fielded one, this didn't prevent them from understanding what it was. Even if they had never heard of it before, they could grasp its nature simply by observing it in action.
The new materials used by Vill-V had applications far beyond increasing structural integrity or reactor output. The "cannon shells" made from leftover scraps during the construction of her masterpiece inflicted an unexpectedly absurd amount of damage.
From large cruisers to heavy battleships, the shields of the Sky People's mainline vessels couldn't withstand a single shot from the flagship's main cannon or a volley from its secondary batteries. One shot to break the shield, a second to shatter the armor, and a third to disintegrate the ship had become the standard.
In the first thirty seconds of the engagement, the Sky People's fleet, unable to adapt to the Imperial flagship's firepower, lost nearly a hundred mainline ships in an extremely short period.
For this very reason, both sides immediately locked their sights on the enemy's flagship.
---o---
"Voom—"
"BOOM!!!"
An intense volley from the main and secondary cannons obliterated every ship—no, every piece of debris—between the two flagships.
The deflected beams and the explosive shockwaves absorbed by their shields created a zone around them where no "escort ship" could survive.
"A Titan is a Titan, after all."
Inside the violently shaking bridge, Vill-V remarked to the Plague Templar beside her as she collected combat data from both starships.
A [Titan] was a civilization's ultimate weapon.
The maintenance cost (not the construction cost) of even the smallest Titan required the entire output of an Earth-sized civilization (or colony planet) to barely sustain. And that was just for non-combat cruising maintenance, not including battle damage.
Thanks to the development of new materials, the Imperial Dreadnought was currently fighting the Sky People's Titan to a standstill—neither had managed to breach the other's shields. But such a stalemate could not last long. While the "fuel" used by the Imaginary energy reactors of different races varied, they all shared one common trait: extreme endurance.
After all, the sheer size of a Titan spoke for itself.
"Are you praising yourself in a roundabout way?"
"...You figured it out, huh~"
That was right.
Vill-V was indeed marveling, but the object of her marvel was her own creation.
This Dreadnought, a mix of steampunk, classical ironwork, mechanical aesthetics, and various other elements that blended into a unique kind of beauty... regardless of its specific parameters, the mere fact that it could trade blows with a Titan for over two minutes without falling behind was enough to make it a dazzling existence in the sea of stars.
"But it will lose."
The Plague Templar stared intently at the tactical display surrounding the bridge.
"Even if the [Antimatter Legion]'s Star Destroyer doesn't intervene, your masterpiece will be defeated in 4 minutes and 22 seconds. If Welt continues to maintain this level of reactor output, that time will be cut by another 34 seconds."
"And that's on the condition that..."
"The enemy doesn't charge its [Doomsday Weapon]."
"Mah~"
Vill-V waved her hand nonchalantly.
"Lasting this long is already quite impressive. Besides, I told you this is a 'prototype' warship. Give me another two hundred—no, another fifty years to perfect it, and the new model of the Anti-Kevin Armament will definitely be much stronger."
"If Mebius would contribute some of her experimental data, the development speed could be a hundred or eighty times faster."
Vill-V was right.
Mebius had gotten her hands on the materials first. Although it was customary for experimental results to be shared among the Apostles, it was possible that Mebius had kept some special discovery to herself, waiting to unveil it just to mock her.
This wasn't Vill-V judging a snake's heart with her own mechanical one. During the Empire's third millennium, Mebius had done exactly that, "subtly (scoffing at)" Vill-V during an Apostle meeting regarding genetic modifications of the [Newborn Species].
"Welt will lose."
"We cannot lose the Dreadnought. Once the Titan joins the main battle, the entire situation will instantly shift in the enemy's favor."
The Plague Templar's assessment of the situation remained impeccably accurate.
"So?"
"We cannot reveal ourselves before the [Antimatter Legion] makes a move. The one who shows their hand first won't necessarily lose, but a temporary disadvantage is unavoidable."
Vill-V took out a spherical gear cube from a case on her hip and began to casually turn it.
A not-so-necessary side note: this thing was called "Count Boom Boom."
"And we also need to use this opportunity to verify if the intelligence from Eden is correct."
"It will determine our relationship with the [Astral Express] (The Nameless)."
"Click."
The little stress-relief toy quickly fulfilled its purpose.
"We can trust this elite from the Ninety-Nine Chambers."
"After all..."
"He is a mid-level officer personally selected by the Monarch."
---o---
"BOOM!!!"
For the first time, a small crack appeared on the rock-solid shield.
Although it was repaired almost instantly, such damage indicated that the reactor supplying its power could no longer operate at full capacity as it had at the start. Before the energy reserves were depleted, the "prototype" reactor, which had never been pushed this hard, had developed a small flaw.
It wasn't a problem with Vill-V's design, but simply a lack of mechanical break-in.
"Whoosh—"
Countless twinkling starlights ignited on the Animus.
The small dots, appearing as cross-shaped stars on optical sensors and rapidly approaching, were over two thousand [Photon Torpedoes].
These were high-yield, destructive weapons.
This was the first time the Sky People had deployed them since the battle began. Capable of entering a warp state, photon torpedoes were more powerful than spatial torpedoes. Even advanced civilizations typically only equipped them in small numbers on [Subspace Stealth Ships] for special operations.
Moreover, these photon torpedoes, armed with antimatter warheads, were not only immensely powerful but also possessed a warp-tracking function. They could be fired while in warp and could even follow a locked target through a jump with a warp factor of '7' or less.
Two thousand of them.
This was them putting everything on the line.
Even the observing [Executor-class Star Destroyer] would be nothing but scrap if it took a direct hit from these things.
However.
The launch of these photon torpedoes was the very opportunity Welt had been waiting for.
"Finally..."
In that instant, Welt ceased all of the Dreadnought's weapon output and lowered its shield energy to a minimum. Combining the entire output of the Dreadnought's reactors with his own Imaginary energy, he funneled it all into the warp engines located at the rear of the starship.
"No way!?"
"How bold."
Both Vill-V and the Plague Templar clearly understood Welt's intentions.
But their reactions were completely different. Vill-V was already mourning her masterpiece in advance, while the Plague Templar expressed admiration for his "courage."
This distance was obviously not enough to complete a full "dive in and out of the sea"—this was not Imperial territory, and the Monarch's own power could not radiate this far. The waves on the surface of the Quantum Sea would have an unknown effect on the process.
But.
If it was just a short-range jump... the distance seemed just right!
"VWOOM—!!!"
The black space before the Dreadnought warped inward.
The chaotic ripples of the fluctuation swallowed all the surrounding debris from shattered ships and meteorites. This astronomical junk would inflict irreversible damage on the Dreadnought during its jump.
But well... Welt clearly didn't care.
"WHOOSH!!!"
The distorted space swallowed the Dreadnought whole!
Immediately after, following the curvature of the warp trajectory, two thousand photon torpedoes plunged in like a school of fish!
"BOOM!!!"
The next second...
No, it was practically the same instant!
A spatial fluctuation appeared directly in front of the Animus!
The shortest distance between the two behemoths was now less than 20 kilometers!
In preparation for potential reinforcements, the Sky People had not locked down the space, which directly led to the insane scene now unfolding. The bow of the Dreadnought, pockmarked with countless deep craters and with its very keel exposed, emerged from the warp first.
Yet even after the entire Imperial Dreadnought had materialized, the spatial fluctuation did not disappear. Instead, it grew more frequent behind the engines, which were spewing furious streams of flame.
It was the photon torpedoes, launched from the Animus!
The torpedoes were locked onto the Imperial Dreadnought. Even with a maneuvering error, no more than two percent of them would hit their own Titan.
And even if the photon torpedoes were tricked into hitting the Titan, its spherical shield, comparable to a planetary shield, was not so easily breached. Unlike the high-offense, low-defense technology of human civilizations, the Sky People prioritized defensive measures. Though not particularly sophisticated, they were abundant and effective... simply put, their reload speed was fast enough.
Furthermore, the structural integrity of the Titan itself was absurdly high.
For the sake of his own safety, the Emperor of the Sky People had ensured this "chariot" was not as fragile as those frontline bases.
But!
Whether it was shields or structure, all these defenses paled in comparison to a certain ancient form of attack—
Ramming!
The Animus's shield energy reserves were vast, but its instantaneous reactor output was not much higher than the Imperial Dreadnought's. This allowed Welt, using the [Authority of Reason] and the [Authority of Erosion], to achieve "shield energy neutralization" in a short time.
Once the sturdiest shields canceled each other out...
When it came to structural strength...
From the look on Lady Vill-V's face back then, Welt could roughly judge that the strength of this highly anticipated Dreadnought was absolutely reliable—
"BOOOOOOM!!!!!"
An earth-shattering explosion echoed through the starry sky!
The Imperial Dreadnought and the Titan Animus made unprecedentedly intimate contact!
In that instant, the Imperial Dreadnought snapped in half right down the middle!
The Sky People's Titan fared even worse. The front half of the broken Dreadnought, like a sharp sword tip, plunged directly into the bridge of the Animus!
It was impossible to know how many of the Sky People's high command survived such an impact and the ensuing chain of explosions.
The remaining rear half of the Dreadnought, under the torsional force of the collision, slanted and carved into the Titan's upper body.
If the force had been slightly greater, it might have cut it in half at the waist!
And it wasn't over.
The shockwave from the explosion detonated the photon torpedoes that followed close behind.
But to lock down all of the target's escape coordinates, the Animus had fired its photon torpedoes in multiple successive waves.
After the initial collision, over 1,200 photon torpedoes still landed squarely on the entangled "Dreadnought-Titan" hybrid!
Thus, all that remained was—
"BOOM!!!" x1200!!!
The explosions were endless.
It was impossible to tell whose wreckage it was, as fragments scattered in all directions like shrapnel from a grenade.
The living became dead, and the dead turned to dust.
By the time the tireless flames gradually subsided, at the coordinates where the collision occurred, only the broken half of a giant's ruined body remained.
If one had to describe it, the scene should be called—
The Titan has fallen.