The battle had entered its final stages, with the Fallen Apostles in complete defeat, having no resources left to turn the tide. The Radiant Ring formation had just destroyed the enemy’s last batch of resistant gunships and eliminated all their shield nodes. After losing the Joint Shield, the Fallen Apostles were segnted into hundreds of isolated zones by the Imperial Assault Fleet for slow annihilation. The reason Sivis did not use heavy firepower to conduct a saturation bombing on the already defenseless Fallen Apostles was primarily because I intended to capture the enemy’s high-level commanders alive—let put it this way, ever since capturing the Callo Brothers alive, I’ve beco addicted to it. Dealing with these mystic beings plotting a colossal conspiracy, capturing one alive is much more valuable than killing a hundred of them.
Not to ntion, this ti we have the chance to capture an Emperor alive: this made feel quite elated.
Sandora and I rode an Assault Ship into the enemy’s main camp. Since the enemy’s Gravity Trap Generators and shield nodes had almost all been eliminated by the Radiant Ring, the Assault Ship could jump unimpeded in this area. The Radiant Ring was truly a good thing; it was like a at grinder when eliminating severely weakened enemies. As the Assault Ship passed through the battlefield, I would occasionally see enemy ships around us suddenly shrink into a dot and then explode into a small fla: Sivis was commanding the Seventh Fleet to escort us. Before landing on the Dark Planet, both Sandora and I needed to conserve our physical strength because Harlan wouldn’t just stand there waiting to be captured.
Outside the porthole, fragnts of warships and continuous flashes of explosions in outer space swept past, as the Assault Ship had entered the last effective zone of the enemy’s Gravity Trap. It was now traversing a zone densely packed with debris using conventional navigation, with the ship’s onboard computer agilely avoiding the crashing tal fragnts. My sight extended across this lifeless debris zone, seeing Ghost Energy Beams still sweeping through the space in the distance, indicating that skirmishes in certain sectors were still ongoing. The communication link buzzed with bustling battlefield reports: every combat unit seed to be progressing smoothly. Now, all the combat zones were concentrated within the Fallen Apostles’ positions; one could say the battle was essentially over.
Watching the floating debris outside and the occasional flash cutting through the darkness, my mood gradually cald down. This was perhaps the result of my constant training: before the battle, my mind was as still as water.
I suddenly thought of sothing to be happy about and nudged Sandora’s arm: "Actually, thanks to Harlan’s reset, our losses in this battle have been reduced: the second battle ended more quickly, and neither the Heisen Tribe nor the Imperial Army suffered as much as in the first battle."
That’s sothing I just realized, during the first battle, although we were on the verge of victory, we suffered notable losses while dealing with the Conqueror formation, with the Heisen Tribe encountering almost a crushing counterattack. After Harlan reset the battlefield, the Imperial Army and Heisen Tribe were fully resurrected, while the Fallen Apostles only had their regular units restored, with one-third of their Conqueror Battleships still incapacitated. Furthermore, in the second battle, guided by Xiao Xue, we adopted more effective tactics: attacking the Levallet Return Ring at all costs, causing the Fallen Apostles to collapse even faster without their Supre Commander. Ultimately, Harlan’s return ability sowhat recovered the Imperial Army and Heisen Tribe’s losses: although the recovery wasn’t significant, this outco itself was already quite ironic.
"Harlan probably didn’t expect the Prophet’s power to be strong enough to see through his weakness in a few minutes," Sandora smiled faintly, "and his reset ability was ineffective against things like the Conquerors but was effective for almost all units of the Imperial Army and the Heisen Tribe. He maneuvered clumsily... Wait, I suddenly feel that although his army’s combat consciousness returned to normal, Harlan himself didn’t seem quite awake; logically, he shouldn’t have made such a mistake."
Sandora truly began to care about this issue and started pondering deeply, eventually concluding: "Hmm, Harlan is indeed still sleepwalking. What he essentially did just now was revive all the enemies and then have his own army die once more..."
Personally, I think Sandora’s summary is quite accurate: so the intense battle just now was actually such a blunder?!
The Assault Ship passed through the intermittent fire zone and, without incident, finally arrived over the Dark Planet. This planet had now cracked into a collection of fragnts floating in space, yet bizarrely, they were still connected like tangled threads instead of scattering like a typical planetary explosion. This alone showed that the Glory Starship was no "natural celestial body" of the mundane realm. The shattered planet was traversed by terrifying rifts reaching through the entire planet; through these rifts, one could see the dark red flashes of the planet’s core and the crisscrossing lightning between the planet’s fragnts. I carefully piloted the ship into a gorge leading directly to the Earth Core below, with Sandora focusing her perception on the surrounding environnt. When we were close to the Earth’s core, she suddenly spoke: "It’s around here."
I found a protruding tal platform nearby, landed the ship on it, and then, for the first ti, Sandora and I set foot on a Glory Starship belonging to the Fallen Apostles.
This tal platform looks like part of a broken skybridge, with one end suspended in mid-air, below which is the energy core of a dark red planet, and the other end connected to a dark starship corridor. I looked around, filling in my mind the appearance of this place before it was torn apart. The internal structures of various Glory Starships are all different. The interior of Visca’s Glory is a hollow fortress equipped with military facilities, Sandora’s Glory is filled only with light and energy, and Harlan’s Glory seems like a giant spaceship: We are currently inside this fractured planet, and from the breakage zones on both sides, many structures similar to starship corridors can be seen. However, there are theoretically no ordinary soldiers stationed inside a Glory Starship, so I don’t know the purpose of these corridors—were they used for Harlan’s sleepwalking?
"Stay alert, I think he’s nearby," Sandora said through the spiritual connection, "and he’s already awake."
I don’t know how weakened Harlan would be now, but theoretically, an emperor, even if just blasted out of Glory Form, would still be far superior to an ordinary officer. According to Sandora’s analogy, a Glory Starship is rely a dream used to distort reality for a Xyrin Apostle (this analogy is a bit off, but since Sandora used it, let’s not quibble over the details). I boldly speculate that Harlan’s weakness now might be sowhat akin to low blood pressure after waking up...
So I prepared for battle by that standard.
"This place looks so strange; is this what happens when a Glory Starship is destroyed?"
I observed the surroundings and noticed so peculiar phenona: the edges of the fractured planet fragnts were shaking, and the further away they were, the more pronounced the tremors. The tal skybridge beneath our feet appeared quite "real," but the alloy cliffs hundreds of ters away were all a blur. This phenonon seed to have just appeared; I hadn’t noticed such weirdness when we ca down with the spaceship. Besides, I also observed that the shattered ground far away was gradually becoming transparent, and there was a piece of a floating island about one or two kiloters from here. Through it, I could even see explosions flashing in the distance.
"Glory Starships are products of twisted rules; thus, when destroyed, they don’t leave wreckage but slowly ’collapse’ in the real world," Sandora effortlessly pried a fragnt from a nearby alloy cliff, then casually crushed it. This seemingly indestructible piece of black alloy turned into a puff of smoke and vanished into thin air, "During the collapse, the Glory Starship will generate all sorts of anomalies. Due to the inversion of micro and macro scales, these phenona present different scenarios depending on the observer. Seeing anything wouldn’t be surprising. In fact, the scenes you see and the ones I see will have slight differences. Everything here lies between real and surreal; don’t mind what your eyes are telling you."
I nodded, sowhat understanding but decided to set aside these detailed issues. At the mont of slight relaxation, a flash of light suddenly streaked past!
"Damn!" I instinctively cursed, narrowly dodging the flash, which swept past where I had been standing, leaving a mark that nearly cut the bridge clean in half before pounding into the distant cliff, triggering a massive explosion. The thin gas environnt inside the fractured planet reverberated with rapid, dull booming sounds.
Imdiately followed by chain-reaction-like explosions on all sides, the fractured planet slabs seed to be bombarded by so invisible force, and it was apparent that Sandora and I were at the center of it all!
The already fragile alloy cliffs took severe hits, trembling violently like collapsing sandcastles. Huge tal fragnts rained down from the edges of the Earth’s crust, falling into the dark planet’s scorching, boiling blood-red core. Everything around was shaking, and Sandora and I had to leave the ground, levitating in mid-air to stabilize ourselves. Quickly, I noticed more unusual occurrences around: gravity seed distorted, the torn alloy cliffs were twisting and warping, and the surrounding space and optical phenona also appeared problematic. Those falling tal fragnts were continuously changing size and shape as they descended, and a few seconds later, I realized this was the optical "perspective phenonon" going out of control. Everything around began to flip and disarrange. If, as Sandora said, the Glory Starship is a "Xyrin Dream" used to distort the real world, then this dream has now beco a nightmare and is in a chaotic half-awakened state.
Amid this chaos, I heard Harlan’s voice, calm and clear, directly appearing in both Sandora’s and my mind: "You are looking for , aren’t you?"
"You finally decided to show up." Sandora utterly ignored the disintegrating scene around her, focusing on a tall figure gradually erging from midair: Harlan.
This was a tall and robust middle-aged man, donned in the full regalia of the Xyrin Emperor’s formal attire: Emperor’s military uniform, sash, commander’s sword, and a sidearm—for a Xyrin Apostle, the more formal the attire, the more comprehensive the military gear required. I had seen Harlan’s recorded ssage in the Green Star’s database, and his real presence seed even more grim and solemn than the video depicted. The battle lust and icy gaze in this Harlan’s eyes were absent in the footage viewed that day—although this could be related to Sandora’s recently revealed Abyssal Claw and my Void Form...
I noticed that after Harlan appeared, the collapse rate of the surroundings slowed down, and once his figure fully materialized, the jumbled gravity and distorted optical effects returned to normal. The cliff that was on the verge of complete collapse trembled and then halted, even so tallic fragnts that had fallen midway were returning to their original positions: it seed that the appearance of Harlan’s physical form slightly restored the "vitality" of this dark planet on the brink of collapse.
"Didn’t think I’d see the day." Harlan seed devoid of any tension, even though his situation was extrely dire, and at a glance, he was no match for either or Sandora. "Ha, I was muddle-headed for quite a while, and the first scene I see upon awakening is your army at the doorstep, quite unfortunate."
Sandora’s eyes changed subtly, seemingly confirming a fact, and then she revealed a calm smile: "You can’t escape; the outer space is layered and locked down. But I guess you definitely wouldn’t surrender."
I nodded along: "You have the right to resist; after all, we’ll beat you senseless."
Harlan remained silent, only retreating slightly. I thought he might be preparing a major move, so I readied myself, but his mode of attack surprised : hundreds of spatial vortices suddenly erged from all directions in the air, and we were first faced with an overwhelming barrage of Floating Cannons!
Hundreds of rectangular Floating Cannons, each as large as Auto, ford a wall and began a frenzied bombardnt on Sandora and . Harlan took the opportunity to retreat swiftly, splitting space open as he went, where copious stationary turrets and Floating Cannons materialized from the dark like phantom apparitions, seemingly endless. Instinctively, I deployed a shield for defense, and shortly after, the rapid depletion of the shield was astonishing: the power of these Floating Cannons was far greater than they appeared, and with nurous turrets combined, their power was far from a re sum of parts!
The alloy cliff behind us was instantly shaved off by the fierce artillery fire, and amidst the intense flashes and irritating tal fragnts, Harlan’s figure was no longer visible. I could only determine his location and status through spiritual power scans, sowhat frustrated: "Why does this fighting style seem so familiar!"
"Apostles who fight with Floating Cannons and turret arrays aren’t limited to just Pandora," Sandora’s half had already transford into Abyss Form. She casually released a grey-black shockwave, tearing through the fiercest Floating Cannon collective, even blasting a hundred-ter-wide opening through the encircling net, but within re fractions of a second, the net was once again sealed by more Floating Cannons.
Harlan unleashed not only Floating Cannons but also small-sized jump disruptors and gravity trap generators. These devices had limited impact on Sandora and yet were still quite irritating. Of course, even more annoying were the multitude of turrets—they were more powerful than Pandora’s turrets, and their attack attributes were varied; so non-turret devices were mixed in, being miniaturized math rate effect generators. To negate the chaos produced by these things, I had to release the Void Domain, which was evidently taxing: the physical strength consud from battling the Conqueror Battle Group hadn’t yet recovered, it was indeed a restrictive situation.
I now sowhat understand how suffocating it felt for those crushed by Pandora’s firepower; Floating Cannons, when in overwhelming numbers, are truly a nightmare on the battlefield. They can attack with no blind spots, are incredibly agile themselves, and can reinforce in numbers at any ti, confronting you with an unbeatable, ceaseless bombardnt until victory. Every action you take will have to brace against their artillery. A single Floating Cannon has limited power, yet in a group setting, they can exert fleet-level combat power, and the turrets created by the Xyrin Apostles are never re "firepower weapons"; the uniqueness of Ghost Energy renders these weapons inherently extra-dinsional in attack, forcing to contend simultaneously with cannon fire and the constant tearing of space structures!
Adding to this was Harlan’s bizarre ability: I still can’t precisely describe Harlan’s power. He resembles a blend between a Pandora-type artillery officer and a Storm Commander, able to wield a huge arsenal of Floating Cannons for high-impact bombardnt while possessing the information control embodied by the Return Ring. Though he has shed the Glory Status, his restoration aptitude remains functional. Despite Sandora and destroying more Floating Cannons increasingly, I hadn’t noticed Harlan showing signs of depleted stock—which, with closer observation, I determined he was restoring his losses!
Being perpetually bombarded couldn’t go on, so Sandora and I endeavored to find an opportunity to break through, though it appeared sowhat challenging: the Floating Cannon array was extraordinarily agile, forming an elastic encirclent, and each standalone turret had jump capability. During our initial breakout attempt, Sandora and I erred in direction and weren’t quick enough, resulting in a web of artillery fire from tens of thousands of Floating Cannons plowing through over 1,300 kiloters of Earth’s crust, leaving us still at the center of the fire network.
Torrential torrents of artillery continued to blast, with no place left on the ground to stand. I was tasked with defense while slightly trimming down the Floating Cannons’ numbers using energy explosions (to little effect), and Sandora, with her Abyssalized formidable destructiveness, unleashed indiscriminate shockwaves. We sped over the crumbling land at multiples of the speed of sound, with Harlan’s artillery trailing like a storm-enshrouded, thunder-laden tornado. I made so calculations and realized I had nearly circled this star...
At this point, it seed Harlan held the upper hand, pursing us in combat, yet Sandora showed no sign of dismay. She maintained an ever-present calm and poised smile, for in actuality, Harlan had no chance of winning. Sandora and my current aim was rely to sap the remaining spiritual power from our opponent thoroughly. I’m quite certain: Harlan was approaching his last legs.
There was a reason for this—up to now, the Floating Cannons were only "threatening" to Sandora and , not lethal. No matter how advanced, such weapons boiled down to conventional artillery, and Pandora also possessed a plethora of more advanced gear. Did Harlan solely rely on Floating Cannons? As an emperor, if his arsenal were solely Floating Cannons and the auxiliary "reset" ability, it clearly would be insufficient—indicating he was likely all smoke and mirrors: if he had a trump card, he would have already employed it.
After another round of unrelenting explosions, I seized the mont and used energy bursts to destroy a gun emplacent on a nearby Floating Island, breaking out of the encirclent with Sandora before more turrets could block us.
Roughly as Sandora and I charged out, countless spatial fissures appeared all around, and more Floating Cannons along with jump disruptors attempted to seal the space. Sandora seed finally weary of this chaotic battlefield; the golden radiance behind her expanded to several thousand kiloters: "Even lifeless objects shall heed my command!"
Everything around abruptly froze, the will of the Soul Taker swept through like a howling gale, compelling all beings, sentient or not, to submit.
This included dust, and Harlan’s turrets.
I glanced around, and the place was unrecognizable: the fragnted planet’s plates were nearly blown into countless scattered Floating Platforms, and there was no longer anything resembling a Floating Island left in sight. Amid the prior relentless bombardnt and Sandora’s continuous shockwaves, we had unwittingly shattered a massive expanse of the planet’s plates.
Amusingly, half of it was blown up by Harlan himself—he sure was ruthless to his own.
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