The talk with the Holy Angel Queen Angelia was over.
Within the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship,
Zhao Chen opened his eyes.
"All settled?" Lilith asked beside him.
"Mm. From now on, the Angel Race will be nothing but a subject race of the Owl Dragon Empire," Zhao Chen said coolly.
Before this, Zhao Chen had had no fit reason to settle the Angel Race's place.
But now they had handed him the knife themselves.
Zhao Chen was naturally not going to stand on ceremony.
He cut off the Angel Race's wings outright.
From now on, the Angel Race would be nothing but a canary in the Owl Dragon Empire's cage.
"We can go on recruiting more of the Angel Race into the Owl Dragon Empire later. Don't hold anything against the Angel Race because of this affair. So long as they meet the requirements, so long as they pass assessment, there's no problem even with their serving as middle- and high-ranking officers in the Owl Dragon Empire's armed forces," Zhao Chen said.
Lilith nodded.
The Angel Race had been the strongest interstellar race of this universe to begin with.
The racial gifts of its people were naturally all excellent.
A narrow-minded leader would likely have been wary of the Angel Race's existence, and put limits on it in some respects.
But not Zhao Chen.
So long as you can work for the Owl Dragon Empire and build it, I care nothing for your origins; you are every one of you a member of the Owl Dragon Empire.
Only so could the Angel Race be truly merged into the Owl Dragon Empire.
"But those who break the rules must also be dealt with openly and fairly. To show the world outside where we stand," Zhao Chen said gravely.
"Yes," Lilith said.
Under this decree of the Owl Dragon's first Emperor, the Angel Race was gradually merged into the Owl Dragon Empire in the years that followed, and became one of its great races.
There were traces of the Angel Race in nearly every walk of life in the Owl Dragon Empire.
The people of the Angel Race too laid down their former arrogance, and were gradually merged into this great family.
And the joining of the Angel Race sped the Owl Dragon Empire's early growth a step further as well.
But all that is for later.
For now, there were important matters waiting for Zhao Chen.
"Your Majesty, we have arrived," Lilith reminded him.
Zhao Chen looked then at the scene outside the bridge's floor-to-ceiling windows before him.
All around were the warships of the Owl Dragon Empire's First Legion Fleet Group, long since in their fighting positions,
formed in battle squares one after another, in an enveloping posture, ringing a stretch of starry space.
In this stretch of starry space, something could be seen to be wrong with the naked eye.
In the middle of it a black point had appeared, and this black point was pulling at the matter around it and tearing it to pieces bit by bit.
Some small asteroids that had been within that range were torn to powder by the ever stronger pull,
and then sucked into that black point.
Even the space about it had begun to ripple,
as though some undercurrent were surging beneath a calm lake.
"By our monitoring, the fluctuation in this stretch of space is about to reach its peak. The enemy may appear at any moment," Lilith said gravely.
Zhao Chen folded his arms and watched it all coldly.
At the same time he looked at the shared command channel of the Owl Dragon Empire's First Legion Fleet Group beside him.
Marshal Shen Bing could be heard making battle dispositions without pause.
"Third Legion and Fourth Legion, into your fighting positions. Remember, without my order, not one step back; your position is very important!"
"Every other interstellar legion's interstellar missile ship and interstellar gunship positions, go to ready-to-fire at once. The moment I give the order, all fire at full!"
"Ninth Legion and Tenth Legion, you are the reserve; stand ready at any moment to support whichever combat area runs into trouble."
"Leona, you command the fighting in the front-line positions; tell me at once of any emergency!"
"Qingman, you handle the dispatching in the middle of the fleet group."
"Huang Xiaoting, keep your eye on logistics, and above all on resupply for the interstellar missile ships. Make sure the interstellar missile ships can be resupplied without delay!"
At this point,
the hologram of the Panda-Girl deputy commander appeared before Zhao Chen.
"Your Majesty, is our Emperor's Guard Fleet to make battle dispositions and help in the fighting?"
Zhao Chen said calmly, "Second-grade combat readiness. This is the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group's fight; unless it's necessary, we don't put our hand in."
"Yes."
Zhao Chen looked over the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group's combat data.
Here at present, besides the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group's 500,000 warships, there were also some corps fleets in support from the Hell-Angel ace fleet group and the Queen of the Starry Sky ace fleet group.
As for the other three ace fleet groups, they were all on standby at present.
For the enemy's fighting strength this time was not known, so some care and caution were needed.
At last!
Under watch, the pull of that black point suddenly vanished.
And a huge cosmic hurricane swept out from that point.
Happily the Owl Dragon fleet's warships were prepared for it long since, and were not affected.
And what came after it was that black point suddenly expanding, becoming one huge, pitch-black blot,
just as though someone had let fall a drop of ink upon this stretch of starry space.
And then, within that huge blot of ink, pitch-black warships beyond compare surfaced one after another like bean sprouts,
in numbers so thick-packed they made the flesh creep.
"It's the Pitch-Black Legion fleet," Lilith said in a deep voice.
Zhao Chen's heart sank as well.
It was indeed the familiar Pitch-Black Legion fleet; but this way of delivering warships across universes Zhao Chen had not seen before.
Yet did this not also mean something had gone wrong with the Mechanical Race, who should have been out there in the space beyond the universe fighting Order?
He remembered that the leader of the Mechanical Race had promised ten years back then.
Yet only a year and more had passed now.
What in the world had happened?
Zhao Chen could not help growing worried for that side.
As for the battlefield here before him, Zhao Chen was, if anything, not much worried.
For since it was the Pitch-Black Legion fleet, Zhao Chen had confidence.
This first wave of the Pitch-Black Legion fleet to surface numbered fully 100,000 warships,
every one of them a warship of T4 grade or above.
Among them were several pitch-black giant ships as well.
Those were beyond doubt T6 pitch-black interstellar warships.
But there were no more than five of them.
"Your Majesty. The other battlefields have all found the Pitch-Black Legion fleet as well." Secretary-Officer Lilith looked to Zhao Chen and told him the latest news received.
Zhao Chen said coolly, "Open fire. Destroy them all!"
"Yes!" Secretary-Officer Lilith passed the order down at once.
How things stood on the other battlefields, Zhao Chen did not know.
But here before him,
the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group had already opened battle.
Every Owl Dragon warship within range opened fire!
The interstellar gunships poured out their fire without the least hesitation.
When the pitch-black interstellar warships were struck and reached their critical value, they began to dissolve into nothing.
These pitch-black interstellar warships had only just arrived in this universe when they came under attack.
But they were quick to react too, and one after another returned fire.
But it was no use, for the opponent they faced had come prepared.
Against the careful preparations of the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group, their attacks had in the main no great effect.
Only the few T5 pitch-black interstellar warships and those several T6 pitch-black interstellar warships could still stir up any commotion.
But they had no great chance either.
Zhao Chen watched with his own eyes as a T6 Seraph-Ballista-class Interstellar Long-Range Hunter-Killer Ship sniped a T5 pitch-black interstellar warship with precision at very great range.
A single shot's power alone destroyed that T5 pitch-black interstellar warship.
The T6 pitch-black interstellar warships tried to strike back.
The T6 Wrath-of-Heaven-Goddess-class Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Ships at once locked on to those T6 pitch-black interstellar warships and laid a blanket of fire over them without ceremony.
Even T6 pitch-black interstellar warships found it hard to hold out long under so terrifying a blanket of fire.
The 100,000 pitch-black interstellar warships that had first surfaced were battered out of all formation by the terrifying intensity of fire within ten-odd minutes.
But very soon another batch of pitch-black interstellar warships surfaced from within that great pool of ink.
Once more, 100,000 warships.
Less than ten minutes after the first.
Zhao Chen frowned slightly.
"By the look of it, the Pitch-Black Legion fleet means to keep on delivering its interstellar fleets. But this delivery technology holds it back: it can deliver only 100,000 warships at a time. And the interval ought to be about ten minutes," Secretary-Officer Lilith, beside him, at once analyzed.
Ten minutes, 100,000 pitch-black interstellar warships.
An hour, 600,000 pitch-black interstellar warships.
If it went on for a day,
that would be near 15 million pitch-black interstellar warships.
Were it any other enemy, Zhao Chen would not have believed the enemy had such strength.
But the Pitch-Black Legion fleet under Order, Zhao Chen did not doubt it.
It might even turn out worse.
"Logistics must keep up. We must be ready for the worst," Zhao Chen said gravely.
Secretary-Officer Lilith had thought of that too; she nodded hard.
How many warships the enemy had made ready in all, they did not know.
But they had an advantage as well.
That was the scale on which the enemy delivered these warships: every ten minutes, only 100,000 pitch-black interstellar warships.
That gave a battlefield time lag, and so long as the Owl Dragon legion fleets could make good use of it, they could hold the initiative and the advantage on the battlefield.
In this, logistics and resupply played a very critical part.
Once resupply failed to keep up, it might leave the front line short of firepower, and so let the enemy's warships grow more and more numerous, until at last the tail grew too big to wag!
"Yes." Secretary-Officer Lilith nodded gravely.
The fighting went on still.
The Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group fought in very good order; under Marshal Shen Bing's command there were almost no warship losses or casualties to speak of.
Most were warships that, after being badly damaged, withdrew to the rear under cover of friendly ships to take emergency repairs from the accompanying interstellar industrial ships.
Those that could fight rejoined the fight after repair.
Those that could not were made fit at least to sail, and afterward these damaged warships would be sent back home to the docks for overhaul.
But as echelon after echelon of the Pitch-Black Legion fleet kept on surfacing,
the pressure on the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group kept on mounting as well.
Three combat hours later,
more than 300,000 pitch-black interstellar warships had gathered on this 'ink battlefield.'
Above all, the number of T6-grade pitch-black interstellar warships in the Pitch-Black Legion fleet began to pile up.
The surviving T6 pitch-black interstellar warships had gradually come to number 30.
Though set against the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group's number of T6 warships, those 30 were in truth nothing at all.
For the Owl Dragon First Legion Fleet Group alone had fully 300-odd T6 warships in active service.
"How do things stand on each battlefield?" Zhao Chen asked Lilith beside him.
Secretary-Officer Lilith raised her hand, and holo-tables of five battlefields surfaced before her eyes.
"At present the situation on all five battlefields is under our control. Though the enemy is still adding warships without pause, at the present rate of reinforcement it is still within the range we can control. And Battlefield No. 5, which the Owl Dragon hive-race has in charge, is under no pressure at all," Lilith said.
Battlefield No. 5.
Zhao Chen called up the footage of Battlefield No. 5.
On seeing that 'bloody' scene, the corner of Zhao Chen's mouth could not help twitching.
If the other four battlefields were a one-sided crushing,
then this Battlefield No. 5 was a slaughter.
The Owl Dragon hive-race fleet under Hive Princess's lead was slaughtering this Pitch-Black Legion fleet as though gone mad.
Those warships formed of an unknown black substance were rammed and bitten by the Hive Motherships, and their hulls torn to shreds outright.
Hive Princess had even tried several times sending her own hive combat units charging into that point of 'ink.'
But that 'ink' seemed to be for the Pitch-Black Legion fleet's use alone.
Any other creature that went into it was simply swallowed up, and not the least response came back.
After several tries it was the same each time.
So Hive Princess gave it up.
Such murderous conduct of Hive Princess's on the battlefield,
Zhao Chen could understand entirely.
For to Hive Princess, the Pitch-Black Legion fleet under Order was a mortal enemy!
Were her fighting strength not still short of it now, Hive Princess would likely have charged over to Order's side without the least hesitation and fought it out with Order to the death.
"Don't relax your vigilance. Since Order has made its move, it will never be so simple as this." Zhao Chen sat upon the throne, his gaze keen upon every battlefield.
And after that, when the fighting had gone on into its tenth hour,
sure enough, something strange appeared upon the battlefield.
First, word came from the T6 Universal Space Dynamics Monitor:
it had detected a sudden, sharp surge of abnormal spatial fluctuation centered on the 'ink.'
Zhao Chen at once ordered the Owl Dragon legion fleets on all five battlefields to abandon their present fighting positions at once and fall back to a safe distance.
After that, that point of 'ink' began to spread outward without pause, like surging billows.
In the short space of one hour, the area it covered grew outright to ten times what it had been.
And this meant the Pitch-Black Legion fleet that surfaced after it
rose sharply in number!
"Report! The Pitch-Black Legion fleet has appeared again. But this time it's a Pitch-Black Legion fleet of a million warships!" Secretary-Officer Lilith said, her face grave. "And we've detected energy fluctuations suspected to be a quasi-T7-grade warship!"