Chapter 259: Chapter 259: A Fierce Clash Chapter 259: Chapter 259: A Fierce Clash A blinding white light burst from the distant horizon and arrived near the Imperial Fleet in an instant. At the moment when my vision was filled with the white light that flooded the entire sky, I felt as if time itself had stopped.
Then, time truly did stop.
Qianqian hovered a dozen centimeters above the ground, her short jet-black hair wildly dancing as if blown by a fierce wind. Mysterious light gleamed in the girl’s pupils, as precious and beautiful as the rarest of jewels. Unprecedentedly powerful energy surged from her body, and spiritual power beyond human imagination materialized in the air, forming bright silvery stripes along the trajectory desired by their owner. Then, right beneath Qianqian’s feet, a mysterious and complex clock pattern emerged. For a fleeting moment, I thought I saw an immense stationary hourglass towering in this space, connecting the heavens and earth all at once; however, in reality, nothing of the sort appeared before my eyes. The hourglass was merely a transient projection formed by another layer of the world in the sea of our consciousness when Qianqian’s spiritual power touched upon the world’s most fundamental rules.
The white light, capable of vaporizing a city into plasma in an instant, suddenly stood still a mere few meters from its target. A visible time barrier acted as the dividing line: on one side was intense light, glaring like several suns, and on the other, the dark as night Imperial Fleet. The world seemed abruptly split into two starkly contrasting realms of light and darkness, conjuring a strange, dreamlike dissonance.
As the light in the forefront was frozen in mid-air, and the surrounding light fractured into disarray by the shattered time, everything around us dimmed instantly. The ground became strewn with bizarre, black patches—erroneous silhouettes formed by the chaotic lighting of nearby facilities.
Yet I could still see that destruction-bearing beam of light close at hand, proving how immensely powerful the energy it contained was. Even after light itself was frozen, it could still forcibly project its image into my retinas.
Time, now vanished, distorted my sense of duration. It might have been eons that slipped away in an instant until everything that was motionless began slowly to stir. Qianqian made her utmost effort to further slow down the white light. The belated spaceship defense system finally emitted a deep and severely distorted rumble. Blue energy shields rose around us like slow-motion footage, while the lethal white light beam continued its steady, though slowed, advance toward us. A tall, dark figure rushed towards the white light, but his face was indistinct. I could only watch as his body abruptly disintegrated into countless diamond-shaped fragments mid-air, which then emitted a pale blue light, weaving together into a vast blue energy net. Behind him, more dark figures rushed toward the energetic torrent, using their bodies to prop up one energy shield after another.
A “snap” sounded, and a round piece of plastic fell at my feet—a disc. Then, more discs rained down like a shower.
Some uncle could cry, really cry…
Meanwhile, Qianqian’s time freeze reached its limit, and she fell back to the ground, then weakly slumped into my arms. The previously halted white light instantly regained its original speed and struck the newly erected energy shield without suspense.
An ear-piercing energy screech tore through the sky.
Everything around us shook violently. It wasn’t the fortress coming under attack; rather, space itself trembled under the collision of energies. The alarms for overloaded equipment blared intermittently. Although most of the direct bombardment was blocked by those energy shields, the shock of the ultimate energy confrontation was more than just a simple cannon shot. The fortress’s main structure still sustained a certain degree of damage.
This process lasted for about ten seconds. When the shockwave finally began to subside, the frenetic alarms of equipment around us eventually quieted down. Then, various departments began quickly assessing the damage inflicted on the fortress by the attack. In front of me, a Big Man, hissing with electrical sparks, crash-landed in a most unaesthetic spread-eagle position. He then rose as if nothing had happened, quickly donning a black suit that left one at a loss for words. He began frantically gathering the scattered discs.
…Frankly, I feel that what Sicaro urgently needs right now isn’t discs, but rather a major factory overhaul; the poor guy’s neck and feet are all twisted.
The situation wasn’t too bad. Even though we had been hit by the enemy head-on, Qianqian’s time freeze had bought us precious reaction time. Sicaro, the big shot, led a group of equally impressive guys who bore the brunt of eighty percent of the artillery fire with their bodies. As a result, despite the immense scale of the attack, the damage to the Air Fortress remained within acceptable limits.
The enemy’s attack was clearly aimed at the most important Floating Fortress, and with Sicaro at the helm, the defense forces had already intercepted before the real attack hit. Therefore, our surrounding units weren’t too badly damaged, except for two unlucky escort ships, which were in the wrong place at the wrong time and got hit by two stray beams of white light. They instantly evaporated into the basic elements between heaven and earth, except for the souls of the high-ranking officers who were timely uploaded back to the fortress’s mainframe. None of the Xyrin Soldiers or Subordinate Commanders aboard those ships survived.
The sudden attack left me somewhat bewildered. Although I had a rough idea of what it was, I still instinctively asked the question.
Sandora’s expression was terribly grim, an icy cold aura that I had never seen before was emanating from this normally silly and happy girl. A flash of black flames passed through her eyes before she said coldly, “It’s the Galaxy Main Gun—the Eternal-class has finally appeared.”
Following Sandora’s gaze, I finally saw it on the distant horizon, already shredded by the energy storm, a vague gray shadow was emerging from the air.
Our fortress was equipped with the most advanced radar systems, but against the Fallen Apostles who had mastered our technology, our early warning system seemed to have had little effect. I didn’t know how, but that massive Eternal-class Fortress Ship had managed to fool all our radars and hide itself in the cracks of space, not revealing its enormous figure until the huge energy from the firing of the Galaxy Main Gun had torn apart its camouflage.
It was that ship, that had taken advantage of our lowered guard as we breached the enemy’s fortress and launched an astonishingly powerful frontal bombardment. In retrospect, that fortress was probably nothing but bait. They had been waiting, waiting for our energy system to cool down after the battle with the ground fortress and then launch a fatal main cannon strike. Their actions were nothing if not cautious, and their patience was equally abundant. They even waited until the Eternal-class entered visual range before attacking us, but fortunately, they hadn’t anticipated that time was on our side.
The “close” range main cannon attack they were so determined to carry out did not achieve its expected effect, but the enemy did not give up. That terrifying machine from the Xyrin Civilization revealed its sharp fangs and claws as the points of starlight concentrated once more at the bow revealed the enemy’s unwavering determination. On our finally awakened sensory radars, the astonishing energy readings were skyrocketing at a rate that made one’s eyes twitch, and in the hall behind us, commanders of all levels were nervously and orderly gathering all the data they could.
Since an Eternal-class could hide right under our noses, we had no reason to doubt that the Fallen Apostles could conceal more of their forces.
“Mother Ship main cannons charge collectively, the assault ships to harass with mid- and short-range firepower, interrupting them before the enemy completes their second charge!”
Sandora’s steady command was relayed, then transformed into swift action with the utmost efficiency. The massive Imperial Fleet changed formation, the Mother Ship Group previously positioned within the fleet, now drawn out as the prime weapon to inflict maximum damage on the Fortress Ship, while swarms of shuttle-shaped assault ships charged toward the massive gray silhouette in the distance like locusts.
The “zzz” sound of energy gathering resounded from the muzzles of hundreds of main cannons, blood-like pulsating energy coursed through the weapon systems of every Mother Ship, and blindingly bright white beams suddenly sliced through the sky, forming a dense and lethal torrent heading towards their common target.
At the same time, the incredibly fast assault ships, after suffering some casualties, penetrated the Eternal-class’s anti-air fire net and entered their respective attack ranges. They began charging at the attack blind spots of the fortress ship, as large as an island, but soon, they faced a fierce counterattack from the enemy: swarms of Xyrin Guard Ships hidden within the space rifts surrounding the Eternal-class, with the black diamond-shaped Xyrin National Emblem emblazoned on their prows, revealing their allegiance. The Fallen Apostles were no fools; they certainly wouldn’t harbor any illusions about pitting a single Eternal-class warship against an entire Imperial Fleet, despite the former being the strongest fortress ship without a doubt.
Bursts of explosions filled the entire sky almost instantaneously, dazzling light balls from energy collisions made even the pale sun on the horizon appear dim, as war machines formed by the most advanced technology clashed fiercely in a world like Azeroth, known for its cold weapons. The battles with the Dead Souls and Demons had already ended, and the interspecies alliance on the ground now looked up, staring blankly at the battle scene in the sky that seemed poised to turn the entire firmament to ashes, at a loss.
Those accustomed to swords and magic were still unable to come to terms with this war waged wholly by relentless long-range bombardments.
Until equally fierce explosions suddenly erupted right beside them.