The Black-God First Commander looked at once at the interstellar war holo-table; he could see clearly, at the two positions he had marked on it,
the plain marks of his own interstellar fleets' attack, but now, on the two flanks of the attacking fleets, the Owl Dragon legion fleets seemed to have stretched out two tentacles, closing on his attacking legion fleets from the sides.
"Could this… could this be their trap?" Only now did the Black-God First Commander, belatedly, realize it.
These two places he had taken for openings seemed to be traps the Owl Dragon commander opposite had laid for him.
"Pass on my order at once: our fleets at these two positions are to pull back at once!" the Black-God First Commander ordered hastily.
But the order was not passed on.
The deputy captain beside him said, with a note of helplessness, "My lord, as things stand, the two corps fleets we have at these two positions, six thousand interstellar warships, are already tied up by the enemy; there's no chance and no way at all of pulling them back."
Hearing his deputy captain, the Black-God First Commander clenched his fists; it felt as though his fist had not only missed the enemy but landed in muck.
At the same time, the Black-God First Commander saw another problem: while they had been busy with the frontal field just now, the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite had launched an encircling attack from both wings.
It had been very fast; their flanks were already closed in by the Owl Dragon legion fleets' interstellar warships.
The encirclement was sixty or seventy percent complete.
If they did not do something now, they really might be surrounded here by the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite.
Thinking of it felt past belief.
His three hundred thousand-odd interstellar warships, worried now about being surrounded by eighty thousand interstellar warships opposite.
He, the Black-God First Commander, truly understood at last how those regular Devourer Civilization legion fleets that had crossed swords with the Owl Dragon legion fleets before had felt.
Probably much as he felt now: utter powerlessness.
The Owl Dragon legion fleets before them were not the same thing at all as the interstellar legion fleets they knew.
"My lord, what do we do next?" a subordinate beside him, seeing the Black-God First Commander say nothing for so long, could not help asking again.
As things stood, they truly dared not waste a moment.
Mind you, the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite had drawn up this way to eat their three hundred thousand-odd interstellar warships.
Before this, some might have thought the Owl Dragon legion fleets had no such appetite, but now the fact lay before their eyes: the Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite meant exactly that.
And now that bloody maw was open; if they made no arrangements now, they really might be bitten until their skin split and their flesh tore.
Retreat, or attack:
that was the hard question before the Black-God First Commander now.
Retreat… if they retreated, they might not be surrounded, but in the course of retreating they were sure to take terrible casualties.
His Black-God First Legion might fare somewhat better, but those regular legion fleets were sure to lose heavily in the retreat, perhaps over half their interstellar warships.
Then, if they wanted to mount another attack, they would no longer have the strength for it.
Attack?
But did they really have the strength to attack now?
The Owl Dragon legion fleets opposite stood ready in strict array, every fine Owl Dragon-line interstellar warship there in its place, with interstellar missile ships and interstellar heavy-artillery ships giving fire support,
interstellar escorts and interstellar destroyers covering the frontal field,
and main-line ship types like interstellar battleships besides.
The outcome of an attack seemed already clear in the Black-God First Commander's mind.
Just then he looked at the comms windows that had been open beside him all along: requests for support from several battlefields not far off.
The main battlefield, the local battlefields, even the new battlefield where the million interstellar warships had only just begun, were all calling for help now.
Before, he might not have understood how this fight could have gone like this.
Having truly been through it, he understood completely at last.
There was nothing to be done about it.
For the opponent was the Owl Dragon legion fleets, and when you faced the Owl Dragon legion fleets, either you had more than ten times the enemy's forces,
or you had interstellar warships of far higher quality than the enemy's.
The second was plainly beyond the Devourer Civilization.
Whatever interstellar warship class it was, its quality in battle was no match for the Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships.
That left only the advantage of numbers.
But the awkward thing now was that at present they could not move forces that fast, and could not bring in enough interstellar warships.
And the Owl Dragon legion fleets, relying on that special super-flagship, could bring the Owl Dragon legion fleets just withdrawn from the other battlefields onto this battlefield in so short a time.
The Owl Dragon commander had used just such a gap in timing to carry out this whole series of moves,
and so had won the upper hand on this battlefield.
"Perhaps… this was the Owl Dragon commander's plan from the very beginning?" The Black-God First Commander suddenly thought of it.
If so, this Owl Dragon commander's ability and foresight were truly terrifying.
"My lord… my lord?" His subordinate's questioning voice came again beside him.
The Black-God First Commander came back to himself again, but he too was at a deadlock now, and for the moment did not know how to arrange things at all.
"Reinforcements; we need more reinforcements!" The Black-God First Commander made at once to contact the Lord Black-God Sovereign.
For only the Black-God Sovereign had the authority to move more reinforcements.
And not merely more reinforcements; they needed the reinforcements to come faster after them!
If they kept coming at the present pace, it might turn into wave after wave marching in to die,
just like the situation now.
For some reason unknown, the Owl Dragon legion fleets seemed to know their movements early, and to make the best response.
That was also why things were as they were now.
"Um… my lord, we… we can't wait over here…" his subordinate asked, very anxious too.
The Black-God First Commander glanced at the interstellar war holo-table, and in the end hardened his heart and said, "Attack! Keep attacking! And spread our line out; don't let the enemy form an encirclement around us easily."
In the end, the Black-God First Commander still chose to attack.
For as things stood, they were like an arrow loosed from the string; there was no road back.
Attacking would cost them losses, but so would retreating.
Most important of all, if they retreated, they might be punished by the Lord Black-God Sovereign.
That was something they had to take into account!
The Black-God First Commander watched all this gravely; his plan now was to keep up the attack as it was, while finding a way to contact the Black-God Sovereign and ask him to move more legion fleets and send them in support by the most efficient means.
To raise their side's advantage in numbers of interstellar warships in a short time, and so turn the situation around:
it was the only way he could think of now.
"Understood." His subordinate went at once to give these orders.
The Black-God First Commander took a deep breath and began, on his own authority, to contact the Black-God Sovereign directly.
He knew very well that reporting the state of the battle now to the Black-God Sovereign
would surely bring him punishment, for these results truly left one dissatisfied; had he not been in the midst of it and known what happened here,
and had he learned of it as an onlooker, he too would have thought those fighting here a pack of useless rice bags.
At this moment even the Black-God First Commander began to feel for the Troll Monarch, who had crossed swords with the Owl Dragon legion fleets before; they had truly misjudged him.
It was not that he was too useless, without ability.
It was that the opponent he had faced really was too strong: absurdly strong, unbelievably strong.
Just then the call to the Black-God Sovereign connected.
The Black-God First Commander's heart jolted, and he forced himself to calm down.
He looked at the Black-God Sovereign opposite, at the black helmet where no expression could be seen; even so, through the video call, he could feel the terrible pressure coming off the Black-God Sovereign now.
If he was not wrong, the Black-God Sovereign must in truth know something of how things stood here already.
He was probably very angry about it too.
Calling the Black-God Sovereign now, he was beyond doubt delivering himself up as something to vent on.
The Black-God First Commander had naturally thought of this before calling, but he had to do it.
"Lord Sovereign, I am at fault. I have gravely failed in my duty. I ask you to strip me of my post as Black-God First Commander; I am willing to accept any punishment!" The Black-God First Commander opened not with any report, nor with a request for support,
but went down at once on one knee, like a guilty minister begging to be punished.
This was the cleverness of the Black-God First Commander: he knew he was in the wrong, and that it could not be hidden.
That being so, he might as well take all the faults and blame on himself first.
He was the Black-God First Commander, the Black-God Sovereign's right and left arm; seeing him take this attitude, the Sovereign would not punish him too much.
As he had expected,
seeing the Black-God First Commander open by asking to be punished, the Black-God Sovereign said nothing more by way of blame, but asked coldly, "Tell me, then: what happened?"
The Black-God First Commander stayed on one knee and said, "We thought too little of the enemy. We knew before that the Owl Dragon legion fleets were strong, and the Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships strong. But only after truly matching ourselves against them did we learn that the Owl Dragon legion fleets' strength far outruns what we imagined. Speaking of the enemy like this may not be fitting. But as commanders on the battlefield, we must have the will to look the state of the battlefield straight in the eye; if the enemy is strong, the enemy is strong, and refusing to admit it will only make us suffer more in the fighting ahead."
"Tell me your impressions of the Owl Dragon legion fleets, and your verdict on them," the Black-God Sovereign asked just then, with some interest.
Only now did the Black-God First Commander raise his head, and say, "From what I've observed on the front line so far, and what our Black-God First Legion fleet has felt for itself: the Owl Dragon legion fleets are very strong, not only their ace fleet groups; even their regular legion fleet groups have very great and terrible fighting power. Our assessment before was that the Owl Dragon legion fleets and our legion fleets stood at one to ten in fighting power. That if we wanted to stand against the Owl Dragon legion fleets, we had to send ten times their forces. But now I think that assessment was wrong. To fight the Owl Dragon legion fleets on even terms on the frontal field, we must put in at least fifteen times their forces. With only ten times the forces, unless the enemy's Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships have no interstellar missiles and no fire support from interstellar heavy-artillery ships, our chance of winning at ten to one is no more than twenty percent! That's also why we've lost on so many battlefields. And the enemy has a very strong intelligence network; I strongly suspect that all over the star systems of our universe the Owl Dragon legion fleets may have placed hidden lookouts, interstellar stealth reconnaissance ships, even planted moles among us. Every move of our legion fleets, they know like the lines on their palms. Whatever military dispositions we make, they always make the most exact response. That is very much to their advantage…"
The Black-God First Commander said a great deal more, most of it on how terrible and strong the Owl Dragon legion fleets were in battle.
Hearing all this, the Black-God Sovereign did not grow angry, but listened.
"I could tell you a great deal more about the Owl Dragon legion fleets. But the situation on the battlefield matters more now. I'm asking you for more reinforcement fleets in support, or things on the battlefield will get worse!" the Black-God First Commander begged.
"I'm already arranging reinforcements, and I've begun drawing a great many from other quarters. All told it's already over three million interstellar warships, and I'll arrange more after that," the Black-God Sovereign said.
But the Black-God First Commander said at once, "That's nowhere near enough. What we need now isn't reinforcement fleets still on the road. We need a reinforcement fleet that can appear on our battlefield right away. I even ask you to send some Soul Altars over. The Owl Dragon commander opposite is very greedy; they've seen that we mean to make a meat grinder here and weaken their main fleets. They've turned our plan against us; they too mean to use their mobility and their forces to beat us on timing, and destroy more of our interstellar warships in the last stage of the campaign. If things go on as now, moving legion fleets only bit by bit, our losses in the end will be worse still."
Hearing this, the Black-God Sovereign said in a low voice, "Then what is your thinking? Say it straight out; stop holding it back."
The Black-God First Commander hardened his heart and said, "I ask that we use our remaining space-transport means now to send at least five hundred thousand of our interstellar warships onto this battlefield within ten minutes, to join the fighting. And besides that, find a way to bring over five grade-four Soul Altars and one grade-five Soul Altar. Only by strengthening our military power in a short time can we turn the situation on the battlefield here around!"
Hearing the Black-God First Commander's demands,
the Black-God Sovereign was silent for some time, then his muffled voice sounded again: "You should know very well where we stand now. We don't have that many forces we can move. As for the devices for sending fleets across space, we don't have many left either; if we use them up now, and the Owl Dragon legion fleets have some other plan after this, we'll be very much on the back foot. As for using the Soul Altars, I can consider it. But the Soul Altars' safety must be assured. We've lost a great many Soul Altars already; any more losses would be more than we can accept."
Hearing what the Black-God Sovereign said, the Black-God First Commander spoke up: "My lord, this moment isn't like before. The Owl Dragon legion fleets have bared their fangs at us. If we don't show we'll go all out in one push now, the Owl Dragon legion fleets will tear a big piece of flesh out of us. If that's how it is, I'd rather you simply gave up the fighting on this battlefield outright. Order every reinforcement fleet at once not to come, and let the legion fleets fighting on the battlefield find their own way out; that way at least our losses would be smaller!"
When the Black-God First Commander had said this, his heart was in his throat.
For these words carried a hint of defying the Black-God Sovereign; saying them, he was taking a great risk.
Had anyone of ordinary standing said them, ten lives would probably not have been enough.
It was only because his standing as the Black-God First Commander was rather special.
The Black-God Sovereign was silent again for a while this time, then said, "Since you've said so much already, be done with it. Tell me what you really think."
The Black-God First Commander took a deep breath and raised three fingers. "At present we have three choices, and these three choices answer to three cases. The first: the risk we take will be smaller, but we won't gain what we hope to either. That is, use part of our space-transport means to send at least three hundred thousand interstellar warships onto this battlefield, and keep up the earlier reinforcement arrangements, but within at least seventy-two hours we must bring no fewer than ten million interstellar warships onto this battlefield!"
Three hundred thousand interstellar warships sent straight onto the battlefield, and then ten million interstellar warships in support within seventy-two hours.
It must be said that the Black-God First Commander's demand truly smacked of "a lion opening its great mouth".
When the Black-God First Commander had set out this first arrangement and the Black-God Sovereign said nothing, he went on, "The second: send five hundred thousand interstellar warships onto the battlefield, and then the Black-God Fourth Legion fleet and the Black-God Fifth Legion fleet must also be sent to join this fight. I know you've placed the Black-God Fourth Legion fleet in the Troll Monarch's star system to keep our harvest secure.[1] But as things stand now, this battlefield needs the Black-God Fourth Legion fleet more! And besides that, still bring in ten million interstellar warships."
The difference between the Black-God First Commander's two plans was in truth only those two Black-God legion fleets.
It looked like a gap of only sixty thousand interstellar warships, but in truth the gap was no small one.
After all, if these sixty thousand interstellar warships were sent straight onto this battlefield now, they would have no small effect on the course of the battle.
At the least, on the Black-God First Legion fleet's own part of the fighting,
if only these sixty thousand interstellar warships joined it, he, the Black-God First Commander, was fully confident he could turn the situation around and take the initiative and the upper hand into his own hands.
That was the weight elite fleets carried on the battlefield.
"And the third?" The Black-God Sovereign had been waiting all along for the Black-God First Commander to go on, but heard nothing for a long while, and could only ask himself.
The Black-God First Commander hesitated just then, then said, "The third is the way to win us more, but… we'll pay more too. We need you to lead your Black-God Guard Legion fleet in person, and two Black-God legion fleets, along with the five hundred thousand interstellar warships asked for before, to come in support to the battlefield now. Make just this move, and we can turn the situation on this battlefield around."
The Black-God Sovereign taking the field in person.
The Black-God Sovereign showed no surprise at this request, as if he had seen through the Black-God First Commander's thinking long before.
"Now the only quasi-T7-grade interstellar warship our Devourer Civilization still has that can fight is your Black-God. If your Black-God can appear on the battlefield, it can not only hold down the momentum of the Owl Dragon legion fleets' quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts opposite; it can also rouse our fighting spirit. So far, because of the fighting ability of the enemy's Owl Dragon-line interstellar warships, and the godlike place those quasi-T7 Golden-Scarab-class Heavy Interstellar Dreadnoughts hold on the battlefield, our interstellar fleets have been under no small pressure. We can't let this spread any further. So your appearance, and the Black-God's, matters greatly to us!" the Black-God First Commander said gravely.
The Black-God Sovereign said nothing, as if he were thinking something over.
The Black-God First Commander could not hold back, and spoke again: "First, we thought too little of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire before. I won't deny I made that mistake too. But now that we've seen this mistake of ours, we can't let it go any further. The Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire has a tremendous power to grow; in a short ten years it has grown to the terrifying point it's at now. This attack of the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's is plainly meant to weaken our power to wage expeditionary war, to leave us unable to send an expedition against the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire's universe again for a while. What's that for, if not to win time to grow? If we leave the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire another five years, three years, even just one year, what will the Owl Dragon Interstellar Empire we face then be?"