Deep Space.
Aboard a fighter.
Gachi laughed loudly.
Because the deaths in the fleet were basically all attributed to his account; these deaths were directly related to him.
"Too bad, the mission score cap is SSS. If there were no cap, I can't imagine how many rewards I'd get."
His mission of killing 1 million people was already SSS, but now he had killed hundreds of millions.
This was truly unimaginable.
The most terrifying thing was that this was in reality.
Which meant he truly killed hundreds of millions of people.
"The second step, she got away. So, does a third step exist?"
"Humans have an impact on the fleet, but definitely not that great. Is it merely reducing combat power from 100% to 95%? Or 90%? That's already the peak."
Gachi only knew about the first step.
But he believed Mingna would certainly have a third step.
Divine power is unpredictable.
The most fundamental difference between humans and the Divine is that humans are finite, while the Divine is infinite.
Even if a human can reach the level of the Divine in some aspect—Binom's past achievements were close to Divine—in other areas, he would have oversights. Alas, many things could not be solved without humans.
But the Divine is powerful in every aspect.
At least in the real world, for usable, life-or-death skills, the Divine is comprehensively powerful.
The Divine would, of course, have weaknesses. For example, if you ask the Divine to play a game, the Divine's first turn would certainly be unsatisfactory, perhaps even inhuman.
If the Divine's first turn could bring victory, then this Divine would become a different kind of Divine.
But every Divine is, in every sense, below heaven. There is no doubt that if the Divine wins the second turn, it seems a matter of course.
"This fleet should be toyed to death."
"The first and second steps were probably just targeting individuals; they won't destroy the fleet."
"If this fleet doesn't arrive, then this war will be even harder to fight."
"From the current situation, the one above seems to want to wipe out all three kingdoms' fleets in one fell swoop."
"Is that even possible?"
Gachi was slightly doubtful.
Because not everyone was Divine.
Facing three relatively combat-ready star nations, the best approach should have been a well-thought-out evasion strategy.
But the Rusty Star Nation was in a hurry.
Everyone was in a hurry.
This haste also brought intense confidence.
"Unless, truly, everyone is Divine!"
Gachi was astonished by his own thought.
He was not, of course, referring to every soldier or officer, but every fleet Strategos.
If that were truly the case, then this war was a theatrical play.
Being within it, he even had a desire to continue observing.
But unfortunately.
Hyperdimensional Space had return times.
After the mission was completed, the countdown had already begun.
He could stay for a maximum of 1 year.
1 year, not even enough time for him to fly back.
"Missed it. I can only wait until the next real-world mission to return."
[Return?]
Gachi mentally affirmed.
Then his body vanished from the universe.
If observed closely, his body was actually decomposed into elementary particles, and his consciousness was absorbed by the fighter jet, sent to the nearest server.
The server would continuously forward this stream of consciousness to a larger server.
For example, the capital servers of the Ynun Star Nation or the Rusty Star Nation.
These servers each constituted a Hyperdimensional Space. They were not in a disconnected state; because a large area used a single server, for instance, the Ynun Star Nation would only have one Hyperdimensional Space, containing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people.
Gachi would live within it, awaiting confirmation of his next mission.
He would be transmitted to the next mission location.
If it was a virtual world, the server would directly create a virtual space.
...
After Gachi left.
The Fourth Fleet, having already traversed the M36 star cluster, also began to set up its next move.
Mingna divided the entire fleet into groups, with 10 small teams each conducting harassing attacks.
Originally, this plan should have proceeded smoothly.
But Mingna didn't expect to meet Giotto.
Her old colleague from many years ago looked unchanged, only the mecha on his body was more ornate.
Giotto, upon hearing the news that Mingna intended to intercept the enemy fleet, came right away.
He had originally intended to wait in the rear.
However, he found that several of the fleet's Phalanx Masters simply ignored him.
Or perhaps they outwardly agreed with his ideas, but secretly, none of them carried them out.
Giotto and Toma K instantly felt that familiar sense of frustration they experienced at headquarters.
They hadn't expected to encounter it even here.
They were, after all, among the rulers of this star nation.
They had thought their authority could override everything, but then the two realized that these individuals disregarded them even more.
Toma K's stubbornness flared, wanting to stay and see what would happen.
While Giotto felt Mingna might be a breakthrough.
Based on some intelligence, Mingna also had a general understanding of this information, and merely felt pity for the two.
Ordinary people truly shouldn't enter such high-level places.
Whether it was the Supernova Technology Corporation or the Rusty Star Nation battlefield, both were far too advanced for them.
They should have experienced a gradual process of growth, but Luna took over everything.
This was like a startup company that, shortly after its inception, was manipulated by capital, with the founders becoming mere symbols afterwards.
Mingna sympathized with the two, but her sympathy was incredibly cheap.
She received Giotto.
Without a mission at hand, her gaze towards Giotto lacked the usual feeling.
Giotto instantly caught this detail.
"You've changed a lot over these years. I didn't expect you to actually become the Fourth Fleet's Strategos. Even as the King of the Rusty Star Nation, I wasn't aware of these matters."
His tone carried a hint of sentiment, but also some questioning.
Vaguely, he already sensed something was amiss.
Before, he suspected Mingna had been secretly placed in a special training program by Luna, but now he somewhat doubted Mingna's previous identity.
This wasn't a sudden realization.
Because he and Toma K had previously suspected Luna's identity.
Luna's abilities were too strong.
Although Luna had never inquired about certain things from them, whether she asked or not, it amounted to the same thing.
If she asked, her intentions would be clearer. If she didn't ask, her intentions were hidden, but too fake. She presented so many technologies, and Luna simply accepted each one.
Before, Giotto only felt Luna had a sense of proportion.
However, that sense of proportion had lasted too long.
Luna's control over the star nation and the corporation now far surpassed theirs. At this point, if Luna were a self-serving individual, she would have directly kicked them both, these two incompetent people, out.
And if they possessed technology, she would simply imprison them and slowly extract it.
So why didn't Luna do that?
Clearly, if Luna wasn't a noble and virtuous person, then she must have some other objective.
This objective could be their knowledge, and Luna must also know that simply prying their mouths open wouldn't yield this knowledge.
But Giotto still couldn't be entirely certain.
This was the hesitation that came from an ordinary person.
If someone was truly talented, they would undoubtedly be decisive, because they would have made many decisions in their life, and these decisions would have brought them feedback.
But an ordinary person like Giotto was different. He dared not make decisions. Even if he carefully made numerous decisions, the feedback was ambiguous.
"There's much more you don't know."
"This universe is just that vast, after all."
"For example, you don't know who Luna is, do you?"
Mingna wouldn't hide herself.
As long as she didn't reveal anything about Hyperdimensional Space, everything would be fine.
After all, she didn't feel Giotto was a threat to her. They were completely people of two different levels.
This gap in levels was too obvious.
"You know?"
Giotto tried to use his haphazard intelligence to extract words from Mingna.
"Very clumsy."
"Your Majesty, you still need to learn more."
"You look exactly as you did the first time I saw you."
"There's a saying: live to learn, learn to live. There's never a downside."
Mingna didn't want to reveal this information.
She certainly didn't know Luna's true identity, but Luna's capabilities were truly immense. Besides Luna, she had never encountered anyone so powerful outside of Hyperdimensional Space.
Luna didn't possess a Divine aura, but she had something else, vague yet undeniably present.
Actually, Mingna wanted to investigate herself.
But she probably didn't have much time.
"You saw through it at a glance?"
"That makes me look quite foolish."
"But I'm not without progress. At least I know you don't know who she is either."
"Before, I thought you two at least had some connection."
"Never mind that. How are the military affairs?"
To release a captive, one must first capture it.
Giotto wanted to see Mingna's expression change.
Everyone was part of Human Civilization, and common to all species within Human Civilization was human information, including human expressions, which were the easiest to read.
Theoretically, reading cross-species emotional expressions was very difficult.
But this was Human Civilization.
All the knowledge they learned came from Human Civilization's knowledge system. Even after the Olive Branch Civilization invaded, Human Civilization's assimilative power was too strong; the Olive Branch Civilization's culture couldn't withstand a single blow against Human Civilization's.
But how could Mingna so easily reveal such things?
She calmly said, "If I'm not mistaken, the war here is about to end."
"Next, it will be the attack from the other two nations."
"But that's not my concern. I only need to do my part, and that's enough."
"Does His Majesty wish to direct the fleet?"
"This is a rare opportunity."
Mingna followed Giotto's lead.
But this wasn't what Giotto wanted.
Seeing no more information could be gained, Giotto gave up.
"Can I command? I have no experience in this area."
Mingna smiled, saying, "Absolutely no problem. The strategy I've deployed now is merely to allow the fleet to slow down the enemy's pace."
"We don't need any attacks, and we don't need any stealth."
Her saying this made Giotto feel that the game had been beaten, and now it was his turn to take over and try it out.
It felt very easy.
Giotto had actually thought that without Luna on the front lines, it should be quite difficult.
But he never expected Mingna to be in such a posture.
It felt like facing not an equally strong opponent, but an adult playing with children's toys.
"Is this really okay?" Giotto hesitated and asked again.
"Of course."
"You wouldn't think I'd harm you, would you?"
Mingna was somewhat amused.
She wanted to see what Giotto would do.
As a Divine, all her decisions would undoubtedly be close to perfect.
She had enjoyed such a feeling for a very long time, to the point where she remembered her former self.
Was the Divine a genius?
Of course not!
The Divine was cultivated.
Repeated life-or-death crises forged the Divine.
All her current achievements came from accumulation.
A true genius would be like one who commands wind and rain, who with a slight thought, could easily solve things they had never encountered before.
Did geniuses exist in this world?
They did.
Mingna had met them.
Indeed, places like Hyperdimensional Space were not lacking in geniuses.
But such geniuses rarely matured.
It wasn't that someone deliberately targeted them.
It was simply that Hyperdimensional Space itself was prone to death.
"Of course not."
Of course, he would.
Giotto's words were completely different from his thoughts.
He believed Mingna could have sensed his identity. Mingna couldn't possibly not want to gain more from him; otherwise, she wouldn't have approached him before.
But then, Mingna seemed to give up. The reason was very likely that Mingna discovered she couldn't obtain what she wanted from him.
He and Toma K were both protected by that alien Civilization.
More precisely, it was the knowledge in their minds.
He and Toma K had long been coveted.
Giotto didn't know when it started, but it was most likely before Luna appeared. But how long before?
"Perhaps it started with the wormhole."
Giotto had a conjecture.
The probability of wormhole traversal was truly too low. If he had been suspected since then, then both Luna and Mingna most likely came from the Federation.
But why?
Why did they want to wage this war?
Perhaps their objectives were more than one.
Giotto's brain capacity wasn't sufficient to support further contemplation.
He began to focus his attention on this war.
This was, in effect, a test.
He needed to improve.
Testing was the first step towards improvement.
"Do we have enemy intelligence?" he asked.
Mingna shook her head.
"None!"
"And none is needed."
"We only need to know that the enemy will certainly come, and that we need to maneuver around them."
"Next, what will you do?"
Giotto didn't believe Mingna. If Mingna knew nothing, how could she be so confident of victory?
But just as this thought arose, Mingna opened her mouth and told him: "Making judgments after having intelligence is only applicable when the enemy's strength is equal to or stronger than ours."
"However, the Ynun Star Nation is not worthy."
"You should be fortunate to have come here, because this is a beautiful performance, and you can even participate in it."
What performance?
Giotto was unclear.
But he extracted one piece of information from Mingna's words: Mingna disdained lying to him, and Mingna was mocking how ridiculous his thoughts were.
Was this the arrogance that came from being intelligent?
It even transcended social strata.
His status was clearly higher than hers.
In this star nation, the concept of social strata was clearer. He could even control all ships and warships of the Fourth Fleet.
But he always felt inferior to her.
What right and confidence did she possess?
Giotto was unsure.
"The enemy is stronger than us. To truly defeat the enemy, what is needed is certainly to use our strengths to exploit their weaknesses."
Of course, if he wasn't clear, then he shouldn't overthink it.
Giotto began to explain his own plan.
He had developed several plans along the way, originally worried that all of them would be dismissed, never expecting Mingna to give him such a large canvas.
"Our strength has always been speed and the stealth that evasion provides."
"But the old methods of evasive ambushes are hard to apply now."
"I want to try a new approach."
"Facing the enemy, charge!"
Giotto's plan even surprised Mingna.
"Simplifying the complex?"
Giotto chuckled, "Even you couldn't think of such a method?"
"But of course, it's not an all-out direct assault. We should leverage the advantage of evasion-type materials being able to merge, compressing a massive fleet."
Evasion-type materials could indeed be stacked, but it wasn't very stable.
Mingna, being a radical, wouldn't take such a risk.
However, Giotto wanted to attempt something different from others.
"That's truly a good method."
"But I remember, the White Dragon-class ships can only stack a maximum of two ships, which means the fleet would only look half its size."
That quantity wasn't nearly enough.
If ten or eight ships could be stacked, it might have some effect.
"White Dragon-class ships are small."
"We can have dozens of White Dragon-class ships converge, then create an illusion around them. In this way, we can create the appearance of a single warship."
"Then attack head-on."
Mingna looked at Giotto strangely. In her eyes, doing so had little meaning; it would only make the fleet a sitting duck.
"Still not enough."
"Hundreds of warships won't get close to the enemy. Doing so seems meaningless."
Giotto then said, "Do you think the Rusty Star Nation has that many ships?"
Naturally, it didn't.
The Rusty Star Nation could perhaps field one or two hundred ships, but definitely not on the front lines.
Mingna instantly understood Giotto's plan.
It was still a second-rate plan, but it was significantly stronger than Giotto's past efforts.
"You want to exploit the enemy's misjudgment."
"The enemy will assume there aren't that many warships, so they will suspect whether they are real or fake."
"Of course, you know very well that the enemy will conduct probing attacks to test their authenticity."
"So your approach is very clear: by leveraging the overlapping nature of evasion-type ships, even if the enemy attacks, unless it's an incredibly large beam, ultimately only one of the ships will be destroyed."
"With other ships holding firm, you can create the illusion that it's a fake ship, causing the enemy to disregard it."
This plan might be somewhat effective on a typical battlefield.
But Mingna still wanted to remind Giotto.
"Your enemy is Binom, the renowned military strategist in this star nation region."
Giotto, of course, knew this.
"So what?"
"A military strategist who fails once is no longer a military strategist."
Failure is the mother of success.
But this also depends on the situation.
For someone who has always been victorious, a complete defeat on a battlefield is a tremendous blow.
Even if Binom himself emerges from the shadow of this defeat, what about the army?
Can the army trust him as they did before?
All these questions remain.
So Giotto believed his plan had a small possibility of success.
"A beautiful idea."
"But I need to remind you of one final point: always believe in your plan, at least until it fails."
Mingna rarely advised people.
She wasn't someone who liked to preach.
Her reminder to Giotto at this moment also contained an element of amusement.
"So, you agree to let me do it?"
Although Mingna had said he could do as he pleased before, "as he pleased" often had limits.
For example, when asked what to eat for dinner, if the restaurant served a feast costing tens of thousands, he'd probably be strangled on the spot.
"Of course."
"Why wouldn't I?"
"If you believe your plan can succeed, then this question shouldn't be asked."
"Perhaps you should start managing things properly. After all, training a massive fleet to follow a unified method also takes time."
Mingna dismissed him.
Giotto had no further thoughts of staying.
He found Mingna very strange.
A sense of certain victory.
If she truly cared about this war, she would have already resolved 99% of the difficulties.
How did she do it?
The enemy was still so far away.
These were his doubts, but after he began to bury himself in arduous work, these questions were ignored. He gradually adapted to his new role.
...
113 years later.
Not a long time, not a short time.
The Helion Fleet had approached the M36 star cluster.
This star cluster symbolized the future of the Ynun Star Nation.
The war process was very simple, but the time span had already grown quite long. Binom had never felt this sense of urgency in any previous war.
"To live, or to die?"
The fleet's functionality and combat power had suffered almost no losses.
But Binom was uneasy.
What was he afraid of?
He himself wasn't sure.
This unease made him yearn for the real war to begin even more. Only in war could he forget these feelings, focus wholeheartedly on the fight, and furthermore, war would give him the true answer and outcome.
[Enemy fleet detected ahead!]
As Binom was lost in thought, the server's alert sounded.
He checked.
The enemy fleet's position was 1.44 light-years away.
A very long distance.
At their respective speeds, it would take almost 3 years for them to meet.
"Over 2 years, plenty of time to prepare."
"Order all soldiers to prepare for battle."
The enemy was not concealing itself.
This made Binom feel somewhat peculiar.
But the distance was still too great to make a judgment based solely on the available information.
The fleet began to prepare.
Time passed quickly.
When the distance closed to within 0.2 light-years, Binom finally received more precise information.
[Enemy fleet: 2894 warships, no trace of support ships]
"So many warships?"
"Impossible."
"The Rusty Star Nation absolutely could not field that many warships. Even if they had them, it would be impossible."
"The other two star nations have already approached the M36 star cluster. There's no way they wouldn't know."
On such a battlefield, secrecy is very difficult to maintain.
Not only is a massive fleet impossible to conceal.
It's also because after tens of thousands of years of development, every star nation has long been permeated with spy networks. Before the other two star nations' fleets even departed, the Rusty Star Nation would likely have received intelligence.
Therefore, they must expend a large amount of combat power to deter the other two star nations.
The frontal battlefield is certainly important.
But it has not yet reached the point of directly deploying so many warships; at least some support ships are needed.
"Pay attention, these warships might be fake. The true fleet might be hidden elsewhere."
"The enemy's evasion-type ships are adept at stealth."
"Increase the number and range of detectors."
"Launch a probing attack when the enemy warships approach within 0.1 light-years."
0.1 light-years, that's 6324 astronomical units, a very long distance.
This distance falls within the probing range, not the attack range. The attack range is still within 200 astronomical units, which on a battlefield composed entirely of warships, might extend to 500 astronomical units.
Two months later.
The distance shortened to 0.1 light-years.
[First probing attack launched]
Tens of thousands of lasers fired.
Probing attacks almost never accurately predict enemy warship evasion. The purpose of such attacks is very simple: to disrupt the enemy's judgment and obtain information about the enemy's evasion tactics.
After that, a probing attack would occur roughly every 100 astronomical units, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the enemy fleet.
47 days later.
The information was relayed back.
At this point, the distance between the two sides was only 1622 astronomical units.
Dozens of probing attacks had been carried out in between, but only now did Binom receive the information from the first probing attack.
"Hit?"
Binom's expression became very peculiar.
Normally, they shouldn't have hit the target.
After all, it was just a probing attack, and random enemy movement would evade such distant attacks.
[Based on observation, the enemy warships' movement trajectories are not irregular, but regular.]
[Our probing attack hit rate is 76%.]
This was too high.
Theoretically, a hit wouldn't result in total destruction, as any competent enemy would have defenses in place.
The intensity of the probing attack was low. It might pierce the outer defensive layer, but it certainly lacked the power to damage the main hull.
However, according to the data provided by the server, no defensive layer was detected on the surface of the enemy fleet.
Theoretically, the enemy fleet was completely naked, sitting there and absorbing their attack.
"I want the second set of information."
Binom suspected those warships were mere optical projections arranged by the enemy, but he couldn't confirm it yet. He needed more supporting data. He absolutely could not afford to rush to a conclusion.
The second set of information arrived less than a day later. Binom looked it over. He found that the second wave still struck the enemy warships, but the success rate had plummeted from 76% to 31%.
Yet, even this probability was remarkably high.
"Why did the hit rate drop by half?" Binom asked.
[Each probing attack has been modified; it is impossible for the attack plan to be identical to the previous one.]
Theoretically, this discrepancy was caused by their own adjustments, not by a change in the enemy. At this point, Binom was certain the enemy warships were indeed illusions.
"The real fleet is definitely close to the purple sword location."
"Scan the surrounding asteroid belts. Also, stay alert for new evasion-type ships attempting internal ambushes."
"Caution takes precedence over everything. Do not stop the probing attacks until we have confirmed the frontal fleet is a total illusion."
Every act of caution was born of his deep reverence for war. As the attacking force, they didn't need to be this careful, but the same problem remained.
Binom was under immense pressure. Their time was limited. Normally, such battlefields should drag on, allowing ample time for observation. Both sides needed more information.
However, from several battlefield encounters, the Rusty Star Nation fleet had never played by conventional rules. Binom had adapted. He couldn't afford to wait; he had to match the fast pace of the Rusty Star Nation.
[No more targets detected. Fleet adjusted to defensive mode.]
[New probing information has been relayed.]
Binom grabbed the new information, but it showed the enemy still hadn't moved to evade. One point struck him: the enemy warships were too real. Not just optically, but in terms of mass.
However, the mass was off. Those warships only possessed 27% of the mass of actual warships.
"What is real is also fake; what is fake is also real."
"If no traces of the enemy are detected, then we will treat the enemy before us as the real thing."
"Activate attack mode."
Binom wasn't that easily deceived. At this distance, he couldn't wait any longer. Waiting would only plunge him into a more passive situation. He needed to establish an enemy first, even if that enemy was just a projection.
The Helion fleet's firepower began to unleash its might.
...
Fourth Fleet.
Within the fleet, Giotto felt something was wrong when a laser beam, roughly 30 meters thick, struck one of their ships.
"Did the enemy discover us?"
His plan, even if imperfect, shouldn't have been compromised this early. He was nervous. He soon found his suspicion was correct: the enemy truly could detect them.
"What do we do now?" He wavered.
A lack of experience looked exactly like this. Even after the wars with the Dragon Star Nation and the other three nations, Binom's experience was still lacking. Back then, the war was smooth; the Supernova Technology Corporation simply used its superior weapons to seize victory.
But this was different. On this battlefield, he was at a disadvantage. Giotto had never fought from behind.
Actually, it wasn't his fault. In a war with such a massive disparity in combat power, at least 95% of commanders would fail to make a correct judgment.
Just as he was about to order the ships to disperse, he remembered Mingna's words: Believe in your decisions.
He sensed the panic spreading through the soldiers on every ship. Composing himself, he addressed the entire fleet: "Continue forward. Do not worry."
"The enemy is still just probing. Our camouflage is perfect."
He checked the data: every fragment of the damaged ship had been collected; nothing was scattered. They had encountered no major problems.
War is highly rational.
That statement, however, should be questioned. There is no absolute rationality in this world; perhaps only machines can achieve it. War, for now, is still human-dominated.
Rationality is a powerful tool; keeping an absolutely rational judgment can bring stability and victory. But emotion still plays a guiding role. Some lower-level commanders cannot master this, but Binom was not one of them.
Attacking the current projection was a brilliant deceptive tactic.
Emotion does not mean that those involved in war need to be emotional. Instead, a commander can intentionally project an emotional side to mislead the enemy, or to make the enemy believe that they themselves have made a misjudgment.
This is a war tactic.
Giotto, as an immature Strategos, devised such a strategy from the outset, making it very easy for the enemy to dismantle.
The current situation is simple: Binom was thinking on the second level, while Giotto was still stuck on the first.
But Binom needed to destroy the first level to bring out the second. Thus, with only a first-level plan, Giotto was completely unable to counter him.
His only prayer was that Binom's thinking would change.
But would it?
As the enemy attacked, the Fourth Fleet's ship count dwindled.
The key was that they couldn't fight back. Fighting back would mean full-scale war, and in a full-scale war, the enemy's reaction would clearly be faster than theirs, resulting in their quicker demise.
Giotto was leading the Fourth Fleet into a dead end.
Moreover, he was additionally vulnerable. Even if they tried their best to conceal themselves, vulnerabilities were still unavoidable.
...
Helion Fleet.
[Energy wave detected. Data transmitted to control station.]
Binom looked at the information first. Then he laughed.
"I overestimated these people."
"I didn't expect them to make such a foolish decision."
"Trying to mislead us by not retaliating."
"Which genius came up with this?"
"It certainly can't be Luna."
"The Rusty Star Nation only has one Luna."
But just as this thought arose, he quickly regained his composure.
"Cannot underestimate the enemy like that."
"Perhaps this is just a deliberate flaw exposed by the enemy."
"Reduce attack frequency. Keep warships alert internally and externally. Under no circumstances can the enemy be given an opportunity to exploit. Notify me repeatedly, once every half hour."
"Server, you also summon more sensors to monitor the surroundings."
[Yes.]
Binom was too steady.
Although the attack frequency was reduced, given the actual distance between the two sides, the Fourth Fleet, trying to conceal itself, still couldn't get close. It would be completely wiped out along the way.
Many soldiers within the Fourth Fleet couldn't bear the pressure.
But ships and warships were basically controlled by the Server; human operators only performed fine-tuned controls. In this cockpit, the roles were primarily observers and information analysts. These were all very high-level military specialists.
Giotto persisted, bolstered by Mingna's confidence. However, in his heart, his decision still wavered.
And so, several days passed.
The Fourth Fleet's ship count even suffered a 2/3 loss. Giotto could no longer bear the pressure; he contacted Mingna.
"What should I do now?"
Mingna, on the other side of the video call, was still drinking wine and listening to music. In her room, she had simulated a beach and ocean, enjoying the natural white noise.
"Do what now?"
"Didn't I already say?"
"Believe!"
Mingna gave Giotto a thumbs-up gesture, then continued to enjoy herself.
Giotto really wanted to swear. What kind of time was this? He truly found it hard to imagine where Mingna's confidence came from. Even for someone so extraordinary, could they still turn the tide in this situation?
Giotto's mind was a mess. He now felt some regret. He even suspected Mingna had already fled, and the beach was just a cover. Mingna had left him with a mess, shifting all responsibility onto him.
No, that's too low-level. Perhaps Mingna wanted to probe. Her true objective was never any war, but herself. Thinking of these things, Giotto's expression even turned a bit ferocious.
He truly couldn't distinguish anymore.
"Damn it, retreat! Disperse! No attack!"
The moment he uttered the words, the Server responded. All ships scattered in every direction. This even startled Binom of the opposing Helion Fleet.
Theoretically, the enemy should have seen it through to the end, because he himself had wavered a bit, but he never expected the enemy to waver before him.
"No, absolutely not."
"This must all be deliberately pre-arranged by the enemy, not a temporary change."
"They want to lure us into pursuit. Don't fall for it."
"Proceed along the normal route. No changes needed."
Binom was too cautious.
...
St. Anthony.
Mingna noticed the movements of the Helion Fleet after Giotto's led fleet scattered.
"It seems the previous lessons were thorough."
"Even a figure like Binom has become like this."
"That performance is also getting a bit boring."
Other ships and warships had already departed; only the St. Anthony, with its defense shields activated, was still charging towards the Helion Fleet.
The lone warship appeared so conspicuous. It immediately caught Binom's attention.
He still had his intelligence.
"That's the St. Anthony, the Rusty Star Nation's Fourth Fleet flagship."
"It cannot be allowed to approach."
"Attack and destroy it."
Binom was somewhat nervous. He didn't know what was truly happening with that warship. Because the enemy's handling of the entire process had been extremely peculiar.
If it wasn't extreme unprofessionalism, then it could only be extreme professionalism on the opponent's part.
He could only consider the latter.
[Y-yes… Y-yes… Y-yes~]
The server replied at that moment, its voice flickering with a sputtering electrical current as if it were malfunctioning.
Binom instantly became vigilant.
He asked, "server, what's going on?"
The server contacted him personally.
[There might be an issue with the speaker in the room. Eliminating it now.]
Binom had been so nervous he was almost boiling. Xenian biology, being liquid-based, causes their temperature to spike when stressed; their boiling point is dangerously low, just over 60 degrees Celsius. In their primitive state, they would generate vapor and die; they were a species that could genuinely be scared to death.
However, with modern liquid containment tech, they could no longer be killed by fear alone.
"Eliminate it quickly. Don't delay the war."
Just as Binom uttered those words, he detected a strange noise from above—the sound of metal plating being struck. He looked up, only to find it wasn't a collision. The ceiling had cracked open, and through the gap, root-like structures were extending and growing rapidly.
In an instant, Binom saw a fresh flower bloom.
[Alert: Warship interior invaded by unknown plant!]
[Cleaning up.]
[Warship internal additional circuits severed. Soldiers in areas a38, k21, c01, h07, etc., quickly move to nearby safe zones.]
A series of urgent alarms blared, catching Binom completely off guard.
"How can there be plants inside the warship?"
Binom remembered the first wave of Heavenly Spirit Sect believers; those people had also transformed into trees. At the time, they only focused on the people, never considering that those trees could possess consciousness and invade the interiors of ships.
If his flagship was invaded, the other ships had to be in dire straits.
"Damn it."
"Full power attack! Take down the enemy flagship!"
At this point, Binom was beyond caring. Solving the internal crisis was too late; he had to crush the external threat first. The only target was the enemy flagship.
Energy was primed. The two fleets had approached a dangerously close distance—within 200 astronomical units when the plant outbreak began. This was maximum attack range.
The main cannon fired.
Energy enveloped the St. Anthony. The St. Anthony did not evade at all, taking a direct hit. The first volley was sustained, but as more warship main cannons joined the bombardment, the energy shield vanished. The St. Anthony, like a block of tofu, was blasted into Emmental cheese, riddled with holes.
...
Aboard the St. Anthony.
Mingna watched the ship take fire, receiving constant reports of the rapidly increasing death toll.
So cold.
No ripples appeared on her face.
"The mission didn't stipulate that I had to preserve the fleet. This isn't my fault; blame Giotto."
"After all, according to my original plan, at least two-thirds of you would have survived. Now, two-thirds are dead."
"Good. The protagonist is about to appear."
She stood up and left the room.
She found the corridor melted into several large holes, connecting to the wounds where enemy main cannons had pierced through the hull. Mingna jumped to the edge of a jagged wound.
warship main cannons typically had a diameter of about 100 meters. Elite ships might have 150-meter or 200-meter cannons, but here in the star nation, 100 to 120-meter classes were standard.
Mingna looked tiny standing there. She felt the scorching heat from the dissipating gases around her. Her body began to be covered with countless crack-like patterns. Beneath the cracks, a halo shimmered, pulsing like water reflecting light.
Then her body exploded with a BANG.
Countless strands of soft light, like an aurora borealis, spread out. Initially, it only filled the warship, but when energy struck it, it began to expand wildly.
Spirit King!
Mingna once again displayed this form.
The Spirit King was all-encompassing, yet formless. The terrifying presence grew immense; its collected energy scale was fully detectable.
Within the Helion Fleet, the server issued an alert.
[High-energy object detected ahead. Please prepare for defense.]
The scale of the energy shocked Binom. What would happen if such a force was unleashed at close range? Without Binom's command, all ships entered defensive mode. All power was diverted to shields; not a single shot was fired.
Then they realized: that high-energy object wasn't an attack, but some kind of creature.
"server, analyze it quickly!"
[Analyzing. Analysis will be complete in 4 minutes and 19 seconds.]
4 minutes later.
[Analysis complete. This high-energy object possesses an aggregated special characteristic. Cannot confirm if it is life energy.]
[This high-energy object is completing acceleration; it will attack our fleet at near light speed.]
[The energy density is not high. It is estimated it cannot break through the energy shield, but analysis indicates it grew by absorbing the energy we fired. It may have a powerful invasive effect on energy.]
[Analysis suggests black hole weapons have considerable destructive properties against this object.]
"Immediately activate black hole weapons."
"This object is too massive. Activate the black hole phase, covering its entirety."
By now, the light emitted by the object was clearly visible. Binom used his optical sensors to look toward it; what he saw was an immense, nebula-like marvel.
How dazzling it was. But beauty often concealed deadly danger.
[Black hole phase ready.]
[Launch?]
"Yes!"
The black hole phase weapon was actually a Gravitational Wave Weapon, merely renamed by the Ynun Star Nation. A massive amount of gravitational waves converged and collided, forming tiny black holes capable of covering a wide area.
Modern warships had defenses against this, like creating a larger black hole or twisting space to make the small ones curve away. But none of these were things Mingna could do.
The Divine could not contend with the power of a black hole.
...
Mingna felt the gravitational waves approaching, closer and closer. She stood in the vacuum, observing the tiny fleet before her.
"warships are the most powerful combat force of this era. Fleets are the embodiment of strength."
"Very early on, I knew that no matter how powerful a Bloodline or a gene pool, it ultimately could not contend with warships. However, Bloodline and gene pools are fundamentally human, while the Divine stands at the pinnacle. Human imagination transcends everything, and Divine power encompasses wisdom."
"Bloodline and gene pools have infinite potential because of humans, but warships cannot achieve this. A warship is an artificial creation, not a human being. Its functionality is predetermined."
"Why is the Divine called Divine?"
"Why is the Divine's power self-evident?"
"Why is the Divine's might unpredictable?"
"Why… am I standing here?"
"Let's witness the power of the Divine. This is my first time exerting my full strength in reality. Feel honored."
Mingna extended a hand.
Terrifying energy converged. Energy is matter; matter creates mass. Massive energy aggregated together also possessed mass and gravity.
Mingna could not turn this gravity into a repulsive force; she could only attract—attract that chaotic gravitational wave. The waves converged in front of her high-energy sphere, forming a tiny black hole.
In that instant, the black hole absorbed a massive amount of energy, stabilizing itself. It grew larger and larger until its volume surpassed the size of an electron.
And there wasn't just one such black hole, but two. They intertwined, spun rapidly, and merged. The merger of black holes lost a portion of energy as gravitational waves.
Mingna, using the waves generated by the two fixed black holes, countered the waves from the fleet, causing the opponent's waves to create black holes prematurely, unable to affect her directly.