The Black-God Sovereign said gravely, "We know very little about this Owl Dragon hive-race fleet, so we can't take it lightly. You have experience fighting the Owl Dragon hive-race fleets, so if an Owl Dragon hive-race fleet really does appear later, it will be your charge."
"Very well," the Troll Monarch answered helplessly, and looked with some envy at the Drought-Fiend Sovereign.
A faint smile showed on the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's gaunt face; he looked at the Troll Monarch with mockery in his eyes. "Troll, you can set your mind at rest. The disgrace you suffered before, I'll help you wash it clean. After all, we're the three Sovereigns; when you lose face, isn't it the same as us losing face?"
The words sounded kind enough, but the meaning in them was not comfort at all; it was a sneer.
The Troll Monarch gave the Drought-Fiend Sovereign a cold look and a cold snort, and said nothing more.
Some things were no use however much was said about them.
Only by washing it clean with his own hands could he shut certain people's mouths.
This disgrace, he, the Troll Monarch, carried clearly in his heart at every moment!
"Enough. Since it's all been decided, speed is everything in war. Everyone, start preparing." The Black-God Sovereign's words ended this council of Sovereigns.
Each of them went back to prepare.
……
This move of nine million interstellar warships by the Devourer Civilization could truly be said to have put out the fire at three star systems' doorsteps.
For a time it also tipped the scales on these three star-system battlefields.
On each of these three star-system battlefields, the Devourer Civilization's side now suddenly had six million interstellar warships, even after the fighting of the dozen-odd days before had cost it several hundred thousand interstellar warships in casualties.
But set against the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite, the number was still more than ample.
After all, on each of the three star-system battlefields, the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite came to fewer than seven hundred thousand interstellar warships.
Perhaps, looking at the figures alone,
the ratio of interstellar warships between the two sides was still within ten to one, after all.
And the Owl Dragon interstellar legion fleets also had great numbers of elite fleets, so by rights the advantage should still be theirs?
The Devourer Civilization did have the black-technology weapon of the Soul Altar, true, but the casualties on these star-system battlefields were few, and that had left the Soul Altars short of soul energy.
That had indeed been how it was.
But with one arrangement by the Devourer Civilization, great numbers of pitch-black interstellar warships suddenly poured out on these three star-system battlefields,
until in a single day the pitch-black interstellar warships born there reached an astonishing output of one million!
And all this was the work
of the Blood-Sacrifice Plan the Devourer Civilization was carrying out.
When Zhao Chen learned of this plan, even he was shaken to his core.
First, great numbers of interstellar transports appeared on the three star-system battlefields.
What these interstellar transports carried was no weapons or equipment, no strategic supplies,
but "fuel" for the Soul Altars.
That is, living beings, one after another!
All of them were slaves of the Devourer Civilization, held on these interstellar transports and then put to death in the most painful way there was.
They were burned!
In each of those interstellar transports, burning equipment had been made ready long before.
When the Blood-Sacrifice Plan was set in motion, the cabins holding the slaves inside these interstellar transports would switch on their burning equipment and burn every one of these slaves alive!
"These bastards. They actually did something like this." Even the Dragon Emperor's deputy captain could not help swearing when she learned of it.
Zhao Chen coldly watched the remains, burned and then thrown out by those interstellar transports.
He said in a low voice, "They know the Soul Altars on these star-system battlefields don't have enough soul and mind to feed them, and can't produce more pitch-black legion fleets. So they've begun making that soul and mind by their own hands, to increase the number of their pitch-black legion warships."
"Yes. By our observation, those Soul Altars are working very fast now. If we don't destroy them soon, then from here on nearly a million pitch-black interstellar warships will be added every day. They're all pitch-black interstellar warships made by grade-five and grade-four Soul Altars, but there are too many of them; they'll get in the way of our operational aims here, raise our losses on the battlefield, and drag us into a deadlock," Charlotte said from the other side of the video window.
"There's something else I have to tell you. The Devourer Civilization's three Sovereigns are crueler than you imagine. Do you think it's only on these interstellar transports that such horrors are happening?" Lilith spoke up at this point from beside them.
Then she brought up several video clips.
In those clips, slaughter on a vast scale could be seen breaking out on certain planets.
Some were using near-orbit weapons to attack the planets outright; others were sending out man-made beasts to hunt down the living.
Poison gas was dropped straight into some large cities.
Or else weapons of searing heat, deep cold, viruses and the like were used to kill on a vast scale.
"This is what our interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships, scouting in stealth on the star-system battlefields, found on some planets. The Devourer Civilization's Blood-Sacrifice Plan doesn't use only the slaves on the interstellar transports shipped in. It includes the ordinary people on the planets of these star systems too." Lilith brought out a document; it was a Devourer Civilization document. "This is also one of the enemy's message documents that the Phantom Scouts picked up. It's about the contents of this Blood-Sacrifice Plan. The Blood-Sacrifice Plan has two parts. One is to detail interstellar transports to carry slaves to the star-system battlefields where the Soul Altars need them, then slaughter the slaves on these interstellar transports to power the Soul Altars. The other is to launch a slaughter plan directly on every planet within the battlefield star systems, which will kill more than 95% of each planet's population. Only some people of special standing, or high-level talent, and some high officials and nobles, will get word early and go into the shelters. The rest, the common people, will be slaughtered on their planets in every way there is. That is the whole of the Devourer Civilization's Blood-Sacrifice Plan."
When she had heard all this from Lilith,
even Charlotte, a half-beast-folk always so cold-blooded, could not help swearing: "A pack of beasts."
Zhao Chen said with a cold face, "By the look of it, these three Sovereigns have truly stirred the wrath of men and gods alike."
He looked at Charlotte; it must be said that he was holding down a surge of savage anger inside himself now.
He was waiting for Charlotte's next strategic dispositions.
He knew Charlotte surely still had a real plan she had not yet shown.
"Report: the latest word from the Phantom Scouts. Besides the three million interstellar warships each now reinforcing the enemy on the three star-system battlefields, the legion of the Drought-Fiend Sovereign, one of the three Sovereigns, has moved too. It has left the star system it was guarding and is passing through star gates on its way. It's expected to reach one of the star-system battlefields within five hours!" a subordinate reported, an urgent piece of news.
At this news, everyone present felt a jolt in their hearts.
Now that one of the three Sovereigns' legion fleets had moved out, it meant Charlotte really had forced them to play their trump cards.
Charlotte asked now, "The other two Sovereigns' legion fleets haven't moved?"
"Not for now."
Charlotte was silent a moment, then said, "Pass on my order. Lock onto the position of the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet, and prepare to carry out the decapitation plan."
As she spoke, she looked at Zhao Chen. "Your Majesty, this time we may need your flagship to move."
"I've been waiting for this a long time." Zhao Chen smiled slightly.
Grand Marshal Charlotte's plan was only just beginning to show its first tip, like a young lotus bud above the water.
……
The Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship · the bridge
"Zhong Xiaoxia, you should have detailed material on this Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet over there," Zhao Chen said, looking at Zhong Xiaoxia across the video window.
Because the Phantom Scout ace fleet group had to work with the Dragon Emperor Interstellar Command Ship, the two sides had kept in touch all along.
"I do." Zhong Xiaoxia at once sent Zhao Chen the latest material on the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet, even including where the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet was.
Under the Phantom Scout ace fleet group's close watch, the slightest stir anywhere in the Devourer Civilization's universe could not escape the Phantom Scouts' eyes now.
Zhao Chen looked over the intelligence Zhong Xiaoxia had sent.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet had a hundred thousand interstellar warships in service.
It was an elite-level force, too.
Every one of them was a T6- or T5-grade interstellar warship.
In all there were a thousand T6-grade interstellar warships and nearly a hundred thousand T5-grade interstellar warships.
A number of T6- and T5-grade interstellar warships on this scale was quite frightening even among all the Devourer Civilization's legion fleets.
But most of what it was equipped with were interstellar destroyers.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign seemed to love interstellar destroyers; or it might be that this ship type cost less to build and gave the best value for the price, a ship good for every purpose.
So interstellar destroyers made up more than eighty percent of the Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet.
In short, of its hundred thousand interstellar warships, eighty thousand were interstellar destroyers.
And interstellar destroyers of different models, at that.
Take the T5-grade interstellar destroyers alone, for example.
The Drought-Fiend Sovereign's legion fleet was equipped with five models of them!
The T5 Ghost-Croc-class Heavy Interstellar Battle-Line Destroyer, chiefly for frontal firepower assaults;
the T5 Ghost-Hunter-class Light Interstellar Cruiser-Destroyer, chiefly for high-speed maneuvering and slicing attacks;
the T5 Ghost-Giant-class Heavy Interstellar Escort Destroyer, chiefly for escorting the fleet;
the T5 Ghost-Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Assault Destroyer, chiefly for taking damage, but with a short-range assault ability;
and the T5 Ghost-Flame-class Medium Interstellar Heavy-Artillery Destroyer, chiefly for firepower output.
The same grade, the same ship type, yet five models of interstellar destroyer, covering every direction of combat need.
That alone showed how much this Drought-Fiend Sovereign loved interstellar destroyers.