While a certain one-time Angel Queen was roaring in hysteria,
the other two Angel Sovereigns had naturally learned what had happened in the Judgment Angel star system as well.
After all, it lay within their jurisdiction.
What had happened in the Judgment Angel star system was known to them both.
They were well aware of the undead threat.
Besides, there was the Holy Dragon Angel Legion, which had followed at the heels of the Owl Dragon legion fleets; though it had never had the chance to take the field and show itself.
Tilia, the Holy Dragon Angel Legion's commander, could tell them what had happened there.
Including, naturally, that momentous event.
"Truly? In a single instant, every undead creature within the whole Judgment Angel star system was wiped out?" the War Angel King said, unable to believe it.
The Holy Angel Queen, for her part, had noticed certain details in it; she frowned and asked, "This special weapon… destroyed everything within that region?"
The angel Tilia nodded, her face grave. "Yes. By the word I have received, the Owl Dragon legions' interstellar stealth scout ships that later entered the region found no trace of any object whatever; one could say the place has been beaten back to the universe's primordial state, no matter of any kind, all chaos. And the last shock of that weapon's blast even reached the Owl Dragon fleets on the several defense lines outside the Judgment Angel star system. Happily the Owl Dragon fleets were ready for it, and held off that last shock with their star shields and interstellar escorts."
"What a mighty power that is! It can destroy the enemy within a whole star system outright!" The War Angel King's eyes shone, full of longing.
But the Holy Angel Queen's gaze had dimmed somewhat, and she murmured, "Because of one war, a star system has been utterly destroyed… Ah… All of this is the evil Renee has done."
The angel Tilia could clearly feel the two Angel Sovereigns' wholly different attitudes to the matter.
The War Angel King admired and longed for this weapon's power.
The Holy Angel Queen saw all that was lost behind it.
The angels who had evacuated the Judgment Angel star system would lose their home forever.
They had nowhere left to go back to.
Not even the chance to go back and rebuild.
"Who would have thought the Owl Dragon Empire already commanded technology of this degree. It is hard to imagine. Should any interstellar power within the Empire's borders defy the Empire's will, what punishment it would meet," the Holy Angel Queen said in a low voice.
The War Angel King nodded hard; he knew very well the deterrent power of this weapon.
It was like the nuclear weapons of the early planetary age.
Even unused, it was enough to deter a great many enemies.
"Then the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's next intention should be to deal with the Order hive-race outside the northern hive line," the Holy Angel Queen said.
The angel Tilia nodded. "Yes. The Owl Dragon Second Fleet Group and Owl Dragon Fourth Fleet Group, which have just ended the fighting here, will both go to the northern hive line once they have finished resting and resupplying, to settle the hive-race threat on the Empire's border once and for all."
When the Holy Angel Queen had heard this,
she spoke suddenly. "Wells, I have an idea. Let us give fifty percent of the surplus goods our Angel Race produces each month, free, to support the Empire's border battlefield."
The War Angel King was taken aback, but raised no objection.
It seemed he too understood very well her purpose in making such an arrangement at this moment.
If, when the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire had first been founded, they had still dared to harbor some little schemes.
Then the stronger the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire showed itself to be, the more 'loyal' they would become.
……
Several days later.
Angel City Fortress.
The whole fortress command room seemed to reek of gunsmoke just now.
Shouting could be heard from every department.
"Combat Sector B3 needs support! Requesting fire support, fire support!"
"Combat Sector C1, great numbers of undead creatures pouring in! Warning! Warning!"
"We have three hundred interstellar warships here needing berths, moderate damage!"
"Fleets requesting resupply, fleets requesting resupply!"
"We have no more interstellar warships to spare for now!"
"Stop pushing; our fortress's strategic supplies are nearly out too. We can hold out ten more combat hours at most!"
"Every repair berth is full. Don't let any more in. Tell them quick, no more coming in! It'll block the channels!"
The mermaid commander Haina looked at the battlefield before her and frowned slightly.
But she knew that this T6 Angel City Fortress had reached its limit, and so had the endurance of the crew and petty officers of every department.
In the hundred-odd combat hours of fighting before this,
they had tried every means there was.
But the enemy's Order hive-race was simply too vast in number,
as if without end.
Had this number of the Order hive-race surged on to the northern hive line, one could imagine what would have come of it.
So, whatever happened, this defense line must not fail.
"Ma'am. We have reckoned up all our combat resources. This is the last we can hold out." The adjutant came before the mermaid commander Haina.
A countdown appeared before her.
Twelve combat hours.
"The figure isn't very exact. Because we don't know how many strategic supplies will be sent later, or how many interstellar fleets will come to support us," the adjutant said gravely.
The adjutant paused, then said, "Ma'am, what if… we report our situation here to His Majesty the Emperor and the Grand Marshal, and ask for some support. Even if… even if they sent us a hundred thousand… no! Fifty thousand interstellar warships, it would ease the pressure on us a great deal."
"No!" The mermaid commander Haina rejected the idea outright.
She said coldly, "We report the situation on our battlefield in real time to His Majesty the Emperor and the Grand Marshal. They know very well how things stand here. If they cannot send us support, it means they truly have nothing to spare. If we make demands now, we would beyond doubt only add to the pressure on His Majesty the Emperor and the Grand Marshal. What are we fighting here for? Isn't it to ease the pressure on the battlefield behind us!"
The adjutant opened her mouth, but said nothing more.
"Whatever happens, make sure this line stays in our hands. Even if part of the defense line must be drawn in, at least the fortress must not fall!" the mermaid commander Haina said.
"Yes."
After that, under the mermaid commander Haina's arrangements, the defense line, for the sake of the whole, was drawn in by a third of its length.
True, the number of the Order hive-race getting past this fortress line and rushing on to the northern hive line behind would grow.
But it was the best way for now.
Otherwise the pressure on the fortress would truly be too great.
Besides, the outermost regions were in fact already full of holes; the fortress's defensive strength could no longer hold them.
Rather than waste forces for nothing, better to shrink the defended area and make sure the core stayed under the fortress's control.
After this came another five hours of stubborn fighting.
Every one of those hours was agony for the fortress.
The storehouses in the fortress, once piled high with resources, were now nine in ten empty.
Supplies did come in a steady stream by interstellar transport through the Star Gate of the starship Southern Heaven Gate.
But it could be said that the supplies sent each hour did not even make up for what the fortress, and the interstellar warships holding out there, used up in that hour.
They were spending more than came in!
Fortunately,
just as the fortress was tottering,
the mermaid commander Haina received a message.
"Reinforcements arriving shortly."
At last reinforcements were coming!
In that instant almost everyone looked to the Star Gate raised by the starship Southern Heaven Gate.
But time passed, little by little, and the Star Gate showed no movement at all.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Extremely strong spatial reaction in Sector D03."
"Warning! Warning…"
Just then the alarms sounded without warning.
The mermaid commander Haina frowned: a spatial anomaly now.
And this reaction, could it be T4 Lucent-class Interstellar Jump Ships?
But the expected halo of light did not appear.
Instead there was a black opening, a black opening like a black hole,
as if it had simply appeared from nowhere in that stretch of space.
Then Hive Motherships were seen pouring out of the opening, one after another.
Seeing Hive Motherships, the fortress's combatants all felt their hearts lurch.
Could these be Order hive-race reinforcements?
If, in a situation like this, the Order hive-race still had reinforcements of this kind, it would beyond doubt only hasten the fortress's countdown.
But soon they noticed something different about these Hive Motherships.
They all bore the Owl Dragon crest!
That was the Owl Dragon hive-race!
They had heard something of it before, but most of them were seeing it for the first time, so at first they did not react.
"It's our own hive-race!" Once Commander Haina had understood, she was very excited.
Who would have thought the reinforcements in the message she received meant these Owl Dragon hive-race?
From that black hole Hive Motherships and hive-race combat units poured out in dense masses.
Entering the battlefield, they went straight into combat, lunging to bite at the Order hive-race's combat units.
At first, because these Owl Dragon hive-race had no advantage in numbers, it looked rather like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
But as more and more of the Owl Dragon hive-race poured out, the tide began to change.
The adjutant cried out in excitement at the mermaid commander Haina's ear, "Ma'am, at least 500,000 of our Owl Dragon hive-race have come through already! And more all the time!"
Five hundred thousand!
Still no match for the Order hive-race across the way.
But reinforcement on so vast a scale was enough to ease the pressure on the fortress a great deal.
Only, these reinforcements were far from over.
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Extremely strong spatial reaction in Sector D11."
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Extremely strong spatial reaction in Sector A07."
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Extremely strong spatial reaction in Sector B01."
Just then, alarm after alarm sounded.
But those present no longer looked alarmed, only excited past belief.
Sure enough, before their excited eyes, black 'caves' appeared one after another in those sectors.
And from those black 'caves' poured more of the Owl Dragon hive-race!
"A million! Over a million already!" The adjutant was so excited she all but jumped.
She watched the count of the Owl Dragon hive-race shown on the interstellar holo-table,
still climbing at a flying pace.
Only one minute later, the million Owl Dragon hive-race had doubled to two million!
And the climb showed not the least sign of stopping.
Three million…
Four million…
Five million…
The black 'caves' alone numbered more than ten.
In that moment everyone in the fortress could at last be wholly at ease.
With reinforcements like these at hand, what was there to fear from that lot across the way?
"Ma'am, who would have thought our hive-race had grown so many?" the adjutant said in excitement.
At her side, the mermaid commander Haina frowned slightly; she had known something of these Owl Dragon hive-race before, and had heard their total was only about 3,000,000.
Yet they had grown to this number in so short a time.
Most likely a great part of it had to do with this war.
As everyone knows, the hive-race breeds on food.
The more food, the faster they breed.
And war happened to be their best catalyst.
In the end, the count of these Owl Dragon hive-race settled at about 8,000,000.
By now the number no longer mattered.
Commander Haina's gaze turned to one great beast.
It was surely the largest Hive Mothership she had ever seen!
A T6-grade Hive Mothership, beyond question.
Even without data, she could be sure this was a genuine T6 Hive Mothership.
And it must be understood that so far, the Order hive-race across the way had not yet produced a single T6-grade Hive Mothership!
Just then a blurred video window appeared before Commander Haina.
On the other side was a little girl.
"Hello, Fortress Commander. I am the Hive Princess, commander of the Owl Dragon hive-race fleet group. By the Emperor's command, I have come to support you. Next, I will order my fleet to counterattack. You and your fortress's forces need only hold your ground." The Hive Princess's voice was somewhat childish, but a killing edge could be heard in it.
"Yes," Commander Haina answered.
Looking at the little girl across from her, she could not help asking, "Commander Hive Princess, if I may ask, is your flagship a T6 Hive Mothership? And may I ask… what it is called?"
The Hive Princess paused, then spoke.
"T6 Taotie-class Hive Mothership."