At this moment not a few people were watching the scene on the video feed.
Zhao Chen, Chu Xuan, the Panda-Girl commander, the Panther-Girl…
Surrounded by an undead host, a red-and-gold flower was in bloom.
The next second, its light burst forth and spread by degrees.
Soon the monitor feed of the first sentry left behind went black.
That meant this sentry had been destroyed.
Zhao Chen looked to another monitor feed.
Almost in the blink of an eye, the second sentry was destroyed as well.
Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
That was surely too fast.
After that, almost every second another sentry's monitor feed vanished.
Zhao Chen simply turned to the feed of the sentry farthest from the center of the blast.
This time, at last, he could see a little more.
He could see a mass of white vortex spreading at tremendous speed; the moment the undead host's interstellar warships touched it.[1]
They were swallowed by the white vortex in an instant.
And this last feed, too, lasted less than half a minute before it vanished.
"It's spreading so fast!" Captain Tao Beibei cried out beside him, a hand over her mouth.
Zhao Chen said as well, "Far faster than the fixed star's explosion spread before."
Barely a minute later,
the battlefield radar detection systems deployed on the several defense lines around the Judgment Angel star system had already detected a surge of energy coming from the direction of the Judgment Angel star system.
The energy, like a tidal blast of air, scattered outward in every direction.
"This… this won't reach us, will it?" Captain Tao Beibei asked, somewhat worried.
Zhao Chen raised his hand and opened a top-secret star chart.
On it was a circular zone ringed in white light.
"This is the blast coverage of one T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb. And before this, the experts ran calculations on the Judgment Angel star system. So long as the T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb we delivered went off within the designated blast zone, its threat would be weakened to a very low level before it reached any of the undead defense lines. At most, it will be like a round of asteroid impacts on the star shields of the interstellar warships on the lines. There is some risk, but it is under control," Zhao Chen said.
Hearing this, Captain Tao Beibei breathed a sigh of relief.
Now she could enjoy the scene beyond the bridge viewport at her ease.
By now that white-glaring 'wave' had appeared in the far reaches of space.
In the pitch-black universe a white line appeared.
The white line thickened, visibly to the eye, until at last it burst into bloom before everyone's eyes.
Not a few of those watching felt as though they had been blinded for an instant.
And the undead hosts still attacking the undead defense lines were swallowed up in the white light too.
Zhao Chen's sight was filled with white light.
In that moment a ringing hum filled his ears, and he could not hear the others on the bridge speaking.[2]
Within the blank white before his eyes,
suddenly he saw something.
It seemed to be a gloomy laboratory, with only a few lamps flickering, and several researchers in white coats with their backs to him.
In the ringing in his ears, too, came the sound of voices.
"This is our hope."
"But we've failed too many times!"
"So long as there is the least chance, even if we must try a thousand times, a hundred thousand times, a hundred million times… we will keep on!"
"One day we'll succeed!"
"Will we… truly succeed?"
"Even if we cannot live to see the day of success, someone will succeed!"
Whoosh.
Every sound in his ears was suddenly gone, and the sounds of the bridge, which had vanished, rang in Zhao Chen's ears again.
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty?"
Captain Tao Beibei's and the Panther-Girl's voices came calling to him, and there was worry on the Panther-Girl's face.
"What is it?" Zhao Chen asked without thinking.
"You stood there in a daze for half a minute, Your Majesty, and whatever we called, you didn't respond," Captain Tao Beibei explained.
"It's nothing; my mind wandered for a moment." Zhao Chen's words let Captain Tao Beibei breathe a long sigh of relief.
But the Panther-Girl still looked at His Majesty gravely.
As His Majesty's close guard, she had naturally already noticed that of late His Majesty often fell into this uncanny state!
"How do things stand now?" Zhao Chen looked to Chu Xuan and the others across the video windows.
Chu Xuan's face just then was a sight to see.
She had naturally heard of this thing, the T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb, but this was the first time she had truly seen its power.
One could even say they were the very first in the whole Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire to see the true power of this weapon of mass destruction.
"…Well… nothing out of the ordinary on any of the lines, for the most part. Of the undead hosts outside the lines, over ninety percent were destroyed in that attack just now. Only the last tenth is left, an undead host of fewer than 50,000 in all, and most of them in very poor shape. For the most part they can no longer pose any threat to us; a round of post-battle cleanup is all that's needed," Chu Xuan said, glancing over the state of the battlefield.
Zhao Chen nodded, satisfied.
"Don't forget what comes next. Send some interstellar stealth scout ships into the Judgment Angel star system to see how things stand, and record some further data for the research institutes," Zhao Chen reminded her.
"Yes." Chu Xuan nodded.
She paused, then asked, "Your Majesty, if this weapon is so formidable, then wouldn't…"
Zhao Chen knew what Chu Xuan was thinking, and said directly, "This T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb is indeed formidable. But its building cost is high and its building time long. A single T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb like this one takes resources worth as much as 1,000 trillion star coins just to build. That is the cost of three T6 Wrath-of-Heaven-Goddess-class Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ships. And though it is not very large, building one takes half a year from start to finish. The T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb build plans we have scheduled so far come to only three batches. The first batch was this one bomb. The two batches after it come to five in all. By Lilith's reckoning, without disturbing our other Owl Dragon build plans, as things stand we can build at most ten of these T6 Supernova Ultimate Bombs a year. And as for using it, you have seen for yourself. Once it goes off, it kills indiscriminately within its range. Not only interstellar fleets, but every celestial body within this star system. One could say it sends a star system all the way back to its age of chaos."
Hearing Zhao Chen's words, Chu Xuan understood that it was a double-edged sword.
"Then the other star systems where the undead threat has appeared, are we to use this method there too?" Chu Xuan asked, somewhat worried.
In the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire, the Judgment Angel star system was far from the only place where this had happened.
It was only that the Judgment Angel star system's case was the worst.
"Those others are not so critical; they are still within control. To destroy a star system, and one within our own Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's territory at that, is too great a sacrifice. We will think of other ways later. The simplest way is to wait until we have dealt with the battlefield at the Hive Nests, then mass heavy forces. With an absolute advantage in strength, destroy those undead hosts, so that they have neither the chance nor the time to split themselves apart within range of a fixed star." Zhao Chen had already set these troublesome matters in their order.
Chu Xuan nodded; for now that was about the only way.
In Zhao Chen's eyes, though, there flashed a keen light.
"This T6 Supernova Ultimate Bomb must be used with care on our own ground. But anywhere else…"
Something came to Chu Xuan's mind.
She looked at Zhao Chen with some anticipation.
His Majesty had just said there were second and third batches of T6 Supernova Ultimate Bombs; most likely they were meant for those two Hive Nests.
Using such a weapon of mass destruction within range of those two Hive Nests, there was no need to worry about side effects at all.
"Chu Xuan, in a little while record some footage of the Judgment Angel star system before and after, and send it to Lilith." Another matter had suddenly occurred to Zhao Chen.
"Send it to Secretary Lilith?" Chu Xuan was somewhat surprised.
"There is someone there who takes a keen interest in what goes on outside. Does she not always believe that everything she did was right? Then let her take a good look at her masterpiece." Zhao Chen snorted coldly, then said, "Next, your Owl Dragon Fourth Fleet Group and Owl Dragon Second Fleet Group are to rest and refit here for a while first. Within a week, once refitted and back to strength, make at once for the northern hive front. And formally launch the counterattack against those Order hive-race!"
"Yes," Chu Xuan and Xue Xiaoxiao said together.
With that, the matter of the Judgment Angel star system could be said to have come to a close.
Several hours later,
an interstellar scout squadron of T5 Phantasm-class Light Interstellar Stealth Scouts entered the Judgment Angel star system once more.
At this moment they could see nothing here at all.
They… could not even tell whether they had entered a star system.
For here there was no fixed star, no celestial body of any kind, no undead creatures, nothing whatever.
Had it not been for their navigation systems, this interstellar scout squadron would likely have lost its way here.
And it must be understood.
Not long before, in this very region, there had been an undead host several hundred thousand strong.
Who would have thought that in so short a time, these undead creatures would vanish utterly, without a trace?
"That ultimate weapon is too terrifying." The captain of one interstellar scout ship swallowed.
She was utterly dumbfounded by the scene.
A weapon of mass destruction that could annihilate everything, one truly could not imagine what it would be like if it fell on one's own head.
The more one thought of it, the more terrifying it grew.
……
Owl Dragon Star System.
Lilith received the first-hand battle report from the Judgment Angel star system battlefield.
The corners of her mouth turned up.
All had gone smoothly.
Lilith at once gave orders to the subordinates of her secretarial department. "Arrange at once a batch of logistics supplies and a batch of interstellar industrial ships to go to the defense lines outside the Judgment Angel star system. Complete the post-battle resupply of the Second Fleet Group and the Fourth Fleet Group in the shortest time."
"Yes," a secretary said.
"Take this research data to the Imperial Academy at once. Remember, this is top-secret material; only those named on the list may receive it."
"Yes, your subordinate understands."
"Contact the northern hive line and inform General Charlotte of the battlefield news here."
"Yes."
"And send this material to the Sin-Dragon Prison, and let Her 'Highness' there have a good look at this masterpiece that began with her."
"Yes."
Lilith finished giving these orders one by one.
She felt the stone weighing on her chest lift a good deal all at once.
Now they need only concentrate on the Order hive-race outside the northern hive line.
Just so: they need only trust His Majesty the Emperor, and they would have victory.
Sin-Dragon Prison.
Warden Sin-Dragon walked slowly toward Cell Zero.
The door opened.
Inside it was still pitch-dark.
The lights came on again.
The one-time Judgment Angel Queen, now a prisoner, Renee the Angel Queen, sat within the transparent cage.
She slowly raised her head and looked at Warden Sin-Dragon outside.
"If I remember rightly, it is not yet time for us to trade news." Renee the Angel Queen's face bore no look of a prisoner at all.
Anyone who did not know would have thought she was only on holiday here.
"This counts as a gift that His Majesty the Emperor and Secretary Lilith have specially prepared for you," Warden Sin-Dragon said flatly.
Something complicated flickered in the depths of Renee the Angel Queen's eyes.[3]
But still she said nothing.
Warden Sin-Dragon raised her hand, and a video window appeared, playing some footage.
It was footage of the Judgment Angel star system battlefield, several days compressed together, chiefly in a few clips.
From the undead host's first offensive, to the second wave's feint, to the third wave's real attack.
Then the Emperor's Guard Fleet appearing, and the new T6 interstellar warships holding the field.
Xue Xiaoxiao arriving at the head of the Owl Dragon Fourth Fleet Group, not only crippling the undead host across the way but cutting her way once more into the heart of the Judgment Angel star system.
And dropping some mysterious weapon there.
In the end, white light filled that space, and every undead host it touched was wiped out.
"Every undead creature within the Judgment Angel star system has been destroyed by us. And because of what you call your masterpiece, every body within the Judgment Angel star system. The fixed star, the planets, the moons, the meteor belts, the asteroids, the comets, all of it is gone. This was your home, you who were an Angel Queen. The home you once swore to protect. Just like this room you are in now. Utterly dark." Warden Sin-Dragon looked at Renee the Angel Queen, whose head hung low, her face unseen.
She paid the other no further attention; she had passed on all she was to pass on, and said all she was to say.
She turned and walked out of the cell.
In the second the door closed, she seemed to see Renee the Angel Queen, there in her prison, raise her head, her eyes bloodshot, and let out a hysterical roar!