For most players, the Z14 star sector was their first true experience with large-scale interstellar fleet warfare—fleet battles, boarding actions, ground sweeps, aerial strikes, combined-arms operations.
So naturally, players were extremely familiar with the story that unfolded here.
Duanmu Huai, of course, was no exception.
The premise wasn't complicated:
This was a war between a human faction, the UNSC, and an alien alliance known as the Covenant.
How the war started didn't matter much.
The player's job was simple—help the UNSC crush the Covenant.
The main storyline was straightforward enough.
But after investigating, players discovered another story behind this star sector:
Once, a race known as the Forerunners had lived here.
After the Human Empire perished during the Black Hole Project, the survivors scattered.
One expedition fleet provoked a race of alien organisms known as the Flood—something akin to the Tyranids. Following the principle of "if you can't win, run," the fleet fled straight into Forerunner territory, triggering a war with them.
The human expedition—isolated and without reinforcements—ultimately lost.
But what happened afterward made players furious.
The Forerunners conquered and seized the worlds under that fleet's control, erased every trace of the Human Empire, forcibly devolved the survivors, and exiled them to another planet, leaving them to fend for themselves.
What blasphemy!
What heresy!
What unspeakable arrogance!
Lowly xenos daring to pen up humans like livestock?
What, did they think the Inquisition and the Exterminatus decree were for decoration?!
If the Forerunners hadn't already gone extinct by the time players arrived in this era, players would have wiped their entire civilization off the map without hesitation.
Still…
There was an acceptable target for their rage.
The Covenant.
The Covenant was also an alien alliance—
and more importantly, they worshipped the Forerunners and claimed to be their inheritors.
Oh, you want to inherit the Forerunners?
Then you can repay their debts for them.
Go die, you alien bastard scum.
Duanmu Huai's objective was simple:
Shatter the Covenant, destroy all Forerunner artifact rings, and, in the name of the Inquisition, execute that so-called Prophet—the final surviving Forerunner remnant currently imprisoned.
Let the Forerunners learn that humanity is not to be trifled with.
The reason he chose Reach was simple.
As mentioned before, Starsea Online was a dynamic real-time game. Unlike ordinary MMOs, events progressed differently depending on when players arrived. Thus, Duanmu Huai had no direct way of knowing the current stage of the Covenant–UNSC war—he wasn't clairvoyant.
But you could determine the situation using key markers.
Reach was such a marker.
The status of Reach—whether it had fallen—was a major indicator of the war.
If Reach had not fallen yet, he could lie in wait and ambush the Covenant.
If Reach had already fallen, he would go straight to the UNSC homeworld and wait for Truth and the Covenant fleet to arrive.
But when Duanmu Huai led his fleet into the Reach system, what he saw surprised him.
Because the moment the warp transition finished, the system shoved a mission prompt directly in his face.
[Emergency Mission Activated — The Battle of Reach]
[This planet is under alien invasion. Destroy the xenos. Defend humanity's homeworld!]
[Objective: Ensure Reach does not fall. Eliminate the Covenant fleet.]
Well well!
This timing… was interesting.
The Battle of Reach was one of the most significant events in the Covenant–UNSC war.
Historically, the Covenant won it—they glassed the planet.
Most players only arrived after that; only a small number arrived early enough to join the battle.
But none of them managed to change the outcome.
For one simple reason—
The Covenant's super-flagship carrier CSO-class Supercarrier: Long Night of Solace was too damn strong.
According to players, this monstrosity was massive—28 kilometers long.
Early players only had destroyers and cruisers. They had no chance against something that huge.
They couldn't pierce its defenses, couldn't damage it—so they failed to destroy it.
Later, an NPC scripted event took it out instead.
Still, the UNSC and players lost the battle. They had to evacuate.
Players joining afterward were always told "Reach has fallen," and early players reminisced about it often.
Everyone knew the story well.
Had this happened earlier, Duanmu Huai might have been troubled.
But now?
The Long Night of Solace may have been impressive—
but his Glory Queen-class warship wasn't exactly eating dust either!
Time for the Covenant to taste the might of his Pink Bunny!
With that thought, Duanmu Huai gave crisp orders.
"Activate Void Shields. All other ships maintain dispersion. Eye of Truth, lock their fleet location. Report immediately."
Duanmu Huai wasn't afraid of Covenant warships at all.
Sure, the Covenant treated the UNSC like their helpless grandson—but that was because the UNSC had barely stepped into space. Their ships didn't even have shields yet.
It was all armor—once that broke, they were done.
The Covenant had shields, giving them a huge advantage.
UNSC ships had to break shields, then break armor, and by then the Covenant had already blasted them apart.
But against the Inquisition?
The Covenant had no such advantage. Their shield tech was mediocre at best and no match for Void Shields.
And then there was size.
In space warfare, battles between flagships weren't uncommon.
Unless special mechanics were involved, smaller ships simply couldn't penetrate the defenses of a supercapital ship.
Players had tried fighting the Long Night of Solace in the past, but their destroyers and cruisers were like toy boats next to a 28-kilometer titan.
They couldn't penetrate its defenses, and even if they did, their damage was negligible.
But Duanmu Huai's Pink Bunny was different.
His Glory Queen-class was also 28 kilometers long—
just as large as the Long Night of Solace.
Combined with its BGF-enhanced main cannon, modified lance batteries, plasma emitters, and macro cannons…
Duanmu Huai was confident that if this assault failed to crush the supercarrier, he'd take the enemy's surname.
There was only one weakness—
The Glory Queen was massive and slow.
It would be spotted long before it approached.
Charging straight in would alert the Covenant.
But—
He had the Webway.
The Eldar used similar tactics.
As the favorite children of the Old Ones, the Eldar could also use the Webway. Their fleets used it for stealth approaches, appearing suddenly behind enemies to strike and escape.
Eldar ships were ridiculously fast—hit-and-run specialists who were nearly impossible to catch.
Duanmu Huai planned to copy that tactic—
but with a twist.
A Glory Queen obviously couldn't hit-and-run.
But it didn't need to!
The Eldar gave up Void Shields to maximize stealth.
Like a cheetah—great at stealth and burst speed, but fragile.
But…
A cheetah can ambush you—
but so can a bear.
If a giant black bear jumps out of the bushes and slaps you across the face,
you're not escaping.
He could yell "DEMACIA!!" all he wanted—
the target would still die.
So the plan:
Have a scout ship locate the Long Night of Solace.
Use the Webway to teleport directly beside it.
Appear at knife-range.
Unload every weapon in the arsenal.
Delete the Covenant's pride and joy from existence.
Let them know the Inquisition is not to be trifled with.
At this moment, the girls entered the tactical room—they knew a battle was coming, a space battle at that.
Everyone was a little nervous.
"Sir Knight, is there anything we need to do?"
Lorena hadn't attended last night's "education session," so she wasn't embarrassed like the others. She simply asked as usual.
"Nothing at all."
Duanmu Huai shook his head.
"In space warfare, unless an individual's power is extremely overwhelming, they're not useful. …You'll understand soon."
At that moment, the scout ship locked onto the Long Night of Solace.
The enemy had no idea a fleet lurked behind the planet.
The supercarrier floated leisurely above Reach's orbit—completely unguarded.
Well, if you're going to act this stupidly exposed…
it would be rude of him not to drag you into an alley and mug you.
This is your fault, not his.
Duanmu Huai confirmed the coordinates and activated the warp jump.
The next instant, the entire Inquisition fleet vanished—
and reappeared directly in front of the Long Night of Solace.
The girls stared wide-eyed at the colossal alien warship.
But Duanmu Huai only glanced once before giving the command.
"Fire."
Brilliant lances and macro cannons erupted from the Pink Bunny's broadsides.
Screaming beams and shells poured down like a storm, smashing directly into the Covenant supercarrier.
In mere seconds, the massive vessel was swallowed entirely in fire and explosions.
(End of chapter)