Chapter 621: Chapter 621: Big Nebula Surprise Attack
“Dawn Radiance Planet Fortress has entered its final orbit, planet trajectory adjustnt completed, rotation normal, revolution normal, all systems in good condition, fortress hangar open, comncing tests for fleet releasing processes, Captain Jedania reporting to you.”
“Death Star Fleet assembly complete, making further adjustnts, converging all celestial gravitational tuning systems, satellite universal gravity restored, gravitational isolation device extended to Dead Star Stellar System, all planet-level battleships control privileges elevated, entering coordinated movent state in three minutes.”
“This is Fleet Commander Sicaro from the gravitational equilibrium belt, twelve orbital defense forces have assud positions, interstellar pathways within the Constant Star System have been established, all forces possess perfect instant maneuverability, awaiting further commands.”
A day had passed, and with each report reaching the bridge of the Imperial Admiral, this historically colossal and fearso celestial system fleet finally completed its formation step by step and began moving towards the Big Nebula.
The only thing I’m curious about is that during the work report just now, it seed an official nad “Sicaro” appeared. That na sounds so familiar, but what exactly does he do? Do we have such a figure among my valiant and loyal empire fleet commanders? Why do I feel such a sense of dissonance hearing this na among the ranks of commanders?
“Anyway, no matter how unreliable Sicaro is, Ah Jun, thinking like that is quite disrespectful…” Sandora, hearing muttering to myself, imdiately said with a straight face.
And then Qianqian imdiately chid in, “But I’m also curious why the na Sicaro would appear on the list of commanders, isn’t that a bootleg stall?”
Oh, Sicaro, you’ve finally achieved your greatest life goal — whenever soone ntions the na Sicaro, one can’t help but think of the bootleg industry, even forgetting what the real person behind the na looks like. What a pitiful career achievent, you dead bootlegger!!
“Alright, alright, jokes aside,” I pinched the cheek of Qianqian, who was on close terms with , and enlarged a certain image on the bridge, “Now we’re docked in the inner orbit of the first planet battleship within the Dead Star Fortress, Silvia really went big with this one. And here is the Resistance Army headquarters. In K-3 city on the surface of the planet battleship—why do cities and stuff like farms appear on the surface of the planet battleship… This thing is still a warship, right? Why does it seem like it’s being used like an actual planet?”
“This battleship was indeed once transford to be used as a Colonization Star,” Sandora, playing with a lock of her golden hair, activated the information screen in front of us, “As one of the prototype ‘Zero’ level planet battleships, Hotown was once retained in the New Eden Federation to solve their urgent residential and food production needs. This Planet Fortress was transford into an agricultural Colonization Star, and the recently flourishing Goddess Priests of New Eden used their prayers to establish a temporary ecosystem, several cities, and endless farms on it. However, as more suitable living planets were discovered and as Gaia’s restoration work gradually progressed, this fortress returned to its normal military state. The cities and farms left on it are probably just mories now. And honestly speaking, if such a cold, hard killing machine can show signs of life, maybe that’s a good thing.”
I had many thoughts following Sandora’s explanation and nodded along, “Indeed, don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve always felt that the Empire, from top to bottom, lacked a sense of life, just like the original Pandora was, a proper war machine. Although it seems like you had the idea to protect life, that was more born out of a sense of completing a mission. Standard Xyrin Apostles lack affection for and connection with ordinary life. But now, the fact that you can recognize such sentintal things is a huge step forward.”
“Ah Jun makes a good point,” said the big sister, who was not far away and involved in the conversation as she taught rcury Lamp how to write Chinese characters. She agreed with my argunt without reason, “The Empire’s slumber is a disaster, but it will eventually awaken. This period might just be an opportunity for the Xyrin People to reflect. Many of the Xyrin Apostles who only know how to fight and kill should really take the ti to reflect, especially those two young generals who never seem to grow up…”
…It seems that even Big Sister finds the Pandora Visca sisters’ intermitent world-conquering plans a headache.
Sandora couldn’t refute my or big sister’s comnts, but she didn’t feel wronged either. She just made a playful face at , baring her teeth: “Alright, alright, Ah Jun makes sense, but even Ah Jun has said that those traits of unity, efficiency, and single-mindedness that are so characteristic of the Xyrin Apostles are precious.”
That’s true, after all. No matter how you look at it, the Xyrin Apostles are the most formidable combat race in the Void. The ergence of more sensibility in their nature is certainly progress, but no matter how much progress they make in this regard, the militaristic thinking at the core of their being is simply impossible to change. Unity, obedience, efficiency, a shared goal, strict discipline—these characteristics are almost the shape of their souls. Do you really think that the Xyrin Apostles can learn the scheming social structures of carbon-based life?
It’s just not going to happen, not even if the Void ceased to exist!
The Ghost Energy Death Star had now entered a state of regular cruising. Its form had undergone significant collapse, shrinking to the size of a normal sun. This ant that it had condensed by tens of billions of tis. In this state, the Death Star Fleet looked just like a real stellar system, given that the Ghost Energy Death Star was originally built upon a red giant star… its sheer size was rather problematic.
The collapse of physical size didn’t an a reduction in combat power. According to Taville, the true intended form of the Death Star Fortress after its transformation (the final step in the transformation of a red giant star is its collapse into a ghost energy form) is actually this reduced size. With this, the fortress retained its original energy intensity, but with a slight increase in mobility and more importantly, a reduced area that could co under attack, greatly increasing its survivability. Of course, when necessary, the Ghost Energy Death Star could still revert to a giant star form—through a phenonally powerful “Supernova Explosion” that could make it expand instantly. Because ghost energy is not limited by the speed of light, this transformation into a giant could be completed almost instantly. You could consider it a Ghost Energy Bombardnt spreading unchecked from the center of the Death Star Fortress in all directions across trillions of kiloters, but its true lethality lies in a series of subsequent space rate effects, such as curvature zeroing and dinsion drop—that’s also one of the fortress’s attack thods. Let’s forget the original na of this form of attack; it is now called “Emperor’s Thunder.”
For such a large-scale operation as ours, it was impossible for the Rebel Army to have no response. In fact, at the mont the Ghost Energy Death Star wiped out the Five Light Years Sky Region with a single shot, rebellions stirred up throughout the entire Universe. They could feel a terrifying ghost energy source in the Western Sky Zone pulsating vigorously, emitting a breath of death. But this commotion had been anticipated. Relying on defenses set up in advance, the Resistance Army and the Imperial advance teams fought as they retreated, willingly yielding territories they had strived to gain over the past few days, all in order to buy ti. The soldiers knew that once the Ghost Energy Death Star was activated, losing more territory ant nothing—the world was soon to end anyway.
Moreover, the emitters we’d snatched from the Angel Pirates played a significant role. With Taville wincing, these emitters were set up along the path of the rebels’ assault, continuously emitting high-intensity signals. The rebels were greatly disrupted by these signals. Every ti they ca to a planet with an emitter, they would stop, foolishly following our plan to retrieve “Ancient Artifacts” locked down by complex spatial locks. This granted us even more ti.
In the end, the Death Star Fleet set sail successfully, and in the final monts, the enemy could not prevent the Imperial Army’s actions.
“Taville’s analysis of the Ancient Relics is correct,” I said, frowning as I looked at the recent battle reports from the front, “There is an astonishing secret in the core of the Big Nebula, which might be a relic of utmost importance to the Empire. The rebel forces that have been battling us all this ti were likely the guardians of these relics. Now, with the Death Star Fleet heading straight for the Big Nebula, and the enemies’ several attempts at interception having failed, they realized the relic is under threat. Thus, they began to consolidate their forces. Look at this—they are withdrawing their autonomous spaceships from all fronts, rushing desperately into the Big Nebula, concentrating their last forces, preparing for a final showdown at that location.”
Truthfully, when Taville suddenly announced a few days ago that she had decoded the mory Crystals from the Ancient Relics taken from the Angel Pirates and concluded that the autonomous spaceships we now call the rebels were originally “XX Guardians,” none of us could believe it. I even wondered if the Imperial Army’s recent operations had been a complete mistake. But fortunately or unfortunately, Taville imdiately made another discovery…
The current Guardian ships had indeed gone mad.
It was an easy deduction to make—if the self-regulating Empire fleet set in this universe was so kind of Guardian and they were still operating normally, then our Imperial Army wouldn’t possibly have any misunderstanding with the enemy. The Xyrin unit’s extrely strong rule for authority authentication and identity recognition systems was no joke; under any circumstance, two Imperial forces would not accidentally inflict injuries on each other. However, this world’s Imperial Fleet had been indiscriminately attacking all life forms from the start, including us, the Leader-level Apostles. This only suggested one thing, the Guardians had beco deranged.
“Perhaps the slumber of the Empire caused the shutdown of their control hub,” Sandora comnted with a sigh, “Using autonomous spaceships as unmanned Sentries, I’m not sure which Emperor would favor this practice, but it seems it was a super mistake now. Heaven knows how long these Guardians have lost control, they have even begun to evolve!
No matter what these ships were guarding, now we have to destroy them. A deranged Empire Guardian is more dreadful than any normal enemy; these hysterical autonomous spaceships have now beco the mortal enemy of all life. If left unchecked, who knows when they might burst out of this universe, and then the Xyrin Apostles might again beco well-known throughout the Void—for infamy.”
Perhaps Sandora’s words carried so intent to solidify my thoughts, but I also had to admit she was right. Even if the rebel ships were so sort of Guardians, they were no longer suited for the job. In fact… they might destroy what they were guarding at any mont. The Ancient Relics that Lilina had seized from the Angel Pirates bore signs of being destroyed by Ghost Energy Weapons—it was highly possible that the relics were self-destructed by the rebels at the onset of their madness. Even now, I suspected that once we reached the core of the Big Nebula, we might face nothing more than an empty grave as a frustrating outco.
————Division Line of March————
Empire Fleet Universal Ti, 3:45 p.m., the Death Star Fleet completed the collective jump, approaching the edge of the Big Nebula. The enemy had actively withdrawn all their troops outside the Big Nebula, huddled within the gas clouds ahead. The small suicidal unit of the rebel army destroyed before the jump was confird as their last maneuvering force. For the first ti in tens of millions of years, the caged universe, terrorized by “Shepherds,” welcod a brief mont of true peace. Apart from the interior of the Big Nebula, this was the first ti in this universe one couldn’t see “their” terrifying presence.
An army, a constant star system, the massive ensemble of the Death Star Fleet—almost a third the size of the Solar System (the Death Star itself collapsed to the size of the sun, while the twelve defensive orbital Planet Fortresses had been artificially set on a very tight orbit)—was accelerating in unison. The entire fleet’s speed was nearing one percent of light speed. When the outer Planet Battleships reported contact with the gases of the Big Nebula, the fleet began to alter its trajectory.
The escorting Planet Battleships on their orbital paths weren’t moving on a single plane. Their orbits were all under artificial control, relying on energy traction and nurous attached ships, interwoven into a twelve-layered spherical shell of defense networks. The angles between these orbits were now quickly changing, ignoring inertia. Eventually, the operating orbits of all the Planet Battleships entered a parallel state with the structure of the Big Nebula, and our fleet resembled a flat disc snug against the edge of the Big Nebula.
The Xyrin Host, located at the control core of the Ghost Energy Death Star, requested communication. This little girl, who held control over the most powerful weapon in the history of this universe, clutched a button that could destroy everything. Fortunately, she still needed my command before pressing it: “Escort warships trajectory change completed, firing path clear, Emperor’s Breath energy reaching peak, enemy resistance forces still have not appeared, ready to fire?”
“Sync with Avalon, request local speed of light lock, after the response, delay three seconds and fire.”
“Command received, clear and unmistakable.”
In just a few breaths, the Ghost Energy Death Star transitioned from the calm of cruising to a state of boiling. The dim blue sea of fire seed to revive in an instant, producing a tumult of energy reactions as vast quantities of Void Energy were being converted and amassed in front of the Ghost Energy Death Star. However, aside from the astonishing energy reaction on the surface of the Death Star, the Emperor’s Breath was completely unobservable; we could only infer that the weapon system had been successfully activated through the fortress’s own soaring energy readings.
The Avalon system’s coordinated operation completed, and the speed of light within a 0.5 light-year radius around the Ghost Energy Death Star was imdiately set to a tenth of the normal speed. Then, the Emperor’s Breath was fired.
Tens of millions of kiloters away, the boundless dark red gas cloud was blown away in an instant—or more aptly, erased. A conical vacuum appeared with a blink in the murk of that cloud, and even at the smallest radius of its entrance, the void spanned an astonishing several hundred million kiloters. Unnad nebular material and secondary Void Energy within the Big Nebula reacted, giving rise to incessant micro-lightning. This micro-lightning filled the path of the Emperor’s Breath, and almost simultaneously with the attack’s comncent, an eye-searing chamber of light ford within the Big Nebula.
This was a super weapon with a maximum range of five light-years, yet the Big Nebula itself only spanned six light-years in diater. To ensure the power of the strike, we had to fire almost flush with the nebula’s outer shell. Therefore, it was highly likely to strike through the core of the Big Nebula’s relics. To prevent such an accident, the death star’s core deliberately reduced the range of this attack, but in turn, significantly boosted the penetration power of the Emperor’s Breath. My command was clear: Whatever the Big Nebula’s second energy barrier was made of, we must break through it in one strike!
“Emperor’s Breath firing complete. Battle damage assessnt: first energy barrier of the Big Nebula confird breached, second energy barrier confird breached, third to twelfth energy barriers potentially breached, the thirteenth energy barrier intact. Effective attack range two light-years, below the expected range by 0.13 light-years. Confird presence of a super defense layer in the vicinity of the target core, surpassing the defenses described in the Gospel Book. Emperor’s Breath breach failed, loading second procedure…”
“Damn, these layers of turtle shell defenses. Our ultimate weapon was rendered ineffective right before the final barrier? Or was it excessively depleted while breaking through the other barriers?” I exclaid in surprise, but it didn’t shock . At the height of the Empire, a fortress of such apparent importance should be embarrassingly weak if its defenses were pierced by a single shot through all barriers. In fact, I had achieved my expected target.
At least take a look at what’s inside the Big Nebula.
“It’s impossible to be an excessive depletion,” Sandora quickly called up a bunch of data and reports, “The Emperor’s Breath is neither an energy attack nor a material attack; it is a conceptual strike, situated between Ghost Energy and Void Energy. Within its range, no matter what it encounters, it will not decay. It appears that the Big Nebula core houses a Law-level defense component, making conventional weapons extrely limited in inflicting damage—Host, how long before the Emperor’s Breath recharges?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“Well, fortress cannons are slower than the next, and we can’t wait,” Sandora slapped the holographic projection device in front of her and commanded loudly to the officers in the command hall below, “Prepare for defense mode, the enemy…”
“Host issues a warning: detection of an en route Super Space-Ti Strike, detection of an en route Space Collapse Strike, detection of an en route Space-ti Jumping Force, detection of an en route Space Dark Mine, detection of an unknown number of high-energy reactions. Death Star Fleet to enter standard combat procedure, Planet Fortress orbital halted, all warships to enter free movent state in preparation to et the enemy. Victory is eternal!” (
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