"They mean to behead our quasi-T6 Destroyer!" the demon adjutant cried out.
But Marshal Serpent King laughed in his contempt, and sitting in his captain's chair said levelly, "Upon thirty T5 warships they would behead our quasi-T6 Destroyer, and that within the encirclement of our demon legion fleets?
"Do they take these Demon Race warships of ours for so much furniture?"
Were it only thirty T5 battleships ringing one quasi-T6 Destroyer, he might have had some concern and misgiving.
But it must be remembered that about them there are Demon Race warships numbered in the tens of thousands.
To cut down an enemy's flagship amid ten thousand hosts — does he truly take this for some legendary tale of the stars?
"Destroy them!" Marshal Serpent King ordered outright.
Those T5 Prisoner-class Heavy Interstellar Assault Battleships driven deep into the enemy throng, though they ringed the quasi-T6 Destroyer about, were at the same time beset by tens of thousands of Demon Race warships around them.
But for all that, these T5 Prisoners gave not the least ground; they pressed closer to the quasi-T6 Destroyer instead, and with their main guns, their secondary guns and their other weapons opened attack upon the quasi-T6 Destroyer's star-shield.
And such a scene showed itself besides upon the other four quasi-T6 Destroyers marked as objects.
"Reporting — word comes from the captain of a quasi-T6 Destroyer.
"These T5 battleships are fitted with certain weapons aimed expressly at star-shields, and the drain upon shield energy is exceedingly great," the demon adjutant said to Marshal Serpent King.
Marshal Serpent King snorted coldly. "What of it? Destroy them all and there's an end."
To this moment this Marshal Serpent King has not yet grasped the threat.
"Reporting — T5 Prisoner-class Heavy Interstellar Assault Battleship, ship T0127: star-shield energy 10 percent remaining.
"Will initiate the Mad Prisoner plan.
"Ends."
This request went first to the first Prisoner group; and the head of the first Prisoner group consenting, the request was passed on besides to Ah-Yin's flagship in the rear.
Ah-Yin's flagship saw this notice; and by rights she ought to have foreseen such a case long since, and as a mechanical life should have no great stirring of feeling.
Yet now she felt her own breast ache.
She understands very well this T5 Prisoner's nature, and what it can truly do.
-
T5 Prisoner-class Heavy Interstellar Assault Battleship, ship T0127
This warship of a sudden ended every attack; every muzzle upon her hull went quiet at once, as though a stopping-key had been pressed.
Thereafter her bow cannon began to give off from end to end an exceedingly strong red light, like an iron bar heated red.
And after that, main gun after main gun and secondary gun after secondary gun showed the same.
Looking from afar, there showed upon this warship's hull red markings one after another, as though red flowers had opened upon the hull.
"What would this warship do?" Marshal Serpent King stared at this in surprise within the picture.
The next second a pillar of light, plainly fiercer than any attack before it, shot out from the place of the bow cannon; and that mighty output of energy left the barrel of the bow cannon red-hot outright, and cracks showed upon it.
And even in the base of the turret there appeared seam upon seam.
Thereafter the main guns and secondary guns showed the same; though some of the muzzles, in the firing, burst outright within the bore.
"Reporting — main gun A11 gravely overladen, bore burst."
"Reporting — secondary gun Y87 gravely overladen, bore burst."
Word upon word of burst bores came to this warship's bridge, and yet that mechanical captain did not stir a hair.
One could see beside him a cutaway of the warship's whole weapon modules, showing the working of the weapons in every place.
And at this moment those weapons were every one of them in alarm, and showed red!
And that terrible pillar of light struck the star-shield of the quasi-T6 Destroyer it had marked; and the mighty output even brought that part of the shield for a moment to a want of power.
A gap showed in the star-shield, and the light-pillar's remaining energy passed straight through it and struck upon the quasi-T6 Destroyer's hull.
But because the greater part of its energy had been spent in the attack upon the shield, this attack left no more than a not-very-grave dent upon the hull.
"The Mad Prisoner plan's first stage is ended; begin the second stage!" the mechanical captain ordered; and at the same time he took off his own captain's cap and laid it upon the desk.
"The Mad Prisoner plan's second stage is carried out.
"Beginning overladen loading upon the starship's energy core; the madness factor stands ready for injection."
This T5 Prisoner, whose speed had dropped for the short-range assault before, of a sudden had several of her conventional engines working at high speed once more, and her speed rose again.
Which sent this T5 Prisoner tearing away toward the quarter of the quasi-T6 Destroyer.
"What would it do!" Marshal Serpent King cried out and rose to his feet, watching that T5 warship coming as though it valued nothing, straight at the star-shield of one of his own quasi-T6 Destroyers.
"Can it mean to ram?
"But this quasi-T6 of ours has her star-shield about her yet; to ram at such a time is without any meaning at all." The demon adjutant beside him was perplexed and did not understand either.
Upon the beach
"By the way, I had forgotten to say it.
"This T5 Prisoner-class Heavy Interstellar Assault Battleship has in fact another use besides." Zhao Chen thought of a sudden upon what he had passed over.
"What?" Chu Xuan asked in her curiosity beside him.
"The Mad Prisoner mode.
"It can open a certain restraint, and let the weapon modules enter a stage of overload; the attacks the weapons make in that stage go far beyond what went before, but the ill effect is that the bores may be made useless thereafter, or may even burst outright," said Zhao Chen.
"Ah?
"Is that not to seek one's own death?
"Every weapon module overladen and out of order — thereafter one is only meat for the knife." Lilith cried out beside him.
Zhao Chen took off his sunglasses, and let the dazzling sun overhead shine upon his face.
"Just so; and so it has its own last performance besides.
"It can use the short-range assault once more, but the consequence is that the sailing engines are wholly paralyzed and out of order, to the pitch of being fit for scrap.
"And at the same time it injects into its own energy core a material called the madness factor.
"The effect of which is to turn this warship's energy core into a super bomb." As Zhao Chen's words came to this.
They all understood, and fell silent.
They understood besides why the Commander would not set this warship to serve within the Owl Dragon Legion.
"It has another name too — the Mad Prisoner suicide interstellar warship." Zhao Chen said it, his voice low.