After the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Battleship's bow cannon had poured out its output for a full four minutes, it too entered a recharging phase.
Next came the ceaseless exchange of fire between the two battleships' main and secondary cannons.
On both ships' star shields, struck light-patches surfaced one after another.
Besides this, both battleships' close-in defense cannons poured out fire without cease, forming curtain after curtain of defensive fire to intercept the enemy's main- and secondary-cannon attacks.
After a bombardment of 10-odd minutes—
"Warning! Warning! Warning! Star-shield energy at 10%; star-shield energy at……"
On the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's bridge, an alarm sounded before Xue Xiaoxiao — the sound of the star-shield energy nearing depletion.
Xue Xiaoxiao, calm and unruffled, looked at the T4 Retribution Angel opposite; the other's star shield was still up.
This was as she'd foreseen — by the data she'd obtained, the T4 Retribution Angel's star-shield energy was greater, surpassing the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's.
Fierce as the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's attacking firepower was, it plainly couldn't, for now, offset the gap in star-shield energy.
As for just how much star-shield energy the T4 Retribution Angel had left — that only the captain on the other ship's bridge would know.
"Pass my order — shut off the Blue-Eyes White Dragon's star-shield system. When to bring it back up, you'll take your orders from me." Xue Xiaoxiao suddenly gave an order.
The deputy captain beside her gave a start: "But we have still 10% energy left — shut off the star shield now… and we'll be taking the enemy's attacks head-on."
"Right now I'm the captain — carry out the order!" Xue Xiaoxiao said, unshakeable.
The deputy captain hesitated a moment, then relayed Xue Xiaoxiao's order all the same.
The department in charge of the star-shield system began to shut it down.
Five seconds later, the star-shield field around the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Battleship vanished.
Straightaway, attack after attack from the T4 Retribution Angel's main and secondary cannons began landing on the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's hull!
To an outside eye, it looked as though the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's star shield had been the first to give out.
"Beautiful! First blast open the enemy's star shield, then strike the enemy's hull directly! What if the weapon system's a touch more advanced? What if the bulk's larger? With an interstellar warship, what counts is all-round strength — and plainly our Retribution Angel is the superior!" the adjutant standing behind Saint Cana cried out in excitement.
He even shot the Owl Dragon crews across the light-curtain a gloating look.
Saint Cana, though, said nothing.
This situation on the first battlefield gave her a feeling that something was off.
But just what was off, she couldn't say.
Still, the result would surely be out before long.
By all the past data of Sacred War Duels, the first round — being a two-ship single duel — was as a rule the quickest to yield a victor.
Next was the second battlefield.
Saint Cana cast a glance at that battlefield's image.
The Owl Dragon interstellar fleet had not attacked of its own accord, but had set a defensive formation beside its own crystal.
The Sacred Angel interstellar fleet, apart from leaving 10 T3 interstellar cruisers to guard its own crystal against a sneak raid, had sent all the rest of its interstellar battlecruisers and interstellar cruisers charging toward the Owl Dragon interstellar fleet's 'home base.' By the look of the thrust, they meant to take the Owl Dragon interstellar fleet's crystal in one bold rush and win.
Saint Cana let show a satisfied look — relying on the ship-class advantage of interstellar battlecruisers and interstellar cruisers, this was the Sacred Angel interstellar fleet's best plan of action for the second battlefield.
This second battlefield looked all but in the bag.
As for the third battlefield — because the combat ground was very large, the two sides' interstellar-warship masses had, for now, made no actual contact, but had both sent out their interstellar scout ships to first locate the enemy fleet.
For now, everyone's attention was still on the first battlefield.
Seen from outside, at this moment it was beyond doubt the T4 Retribution-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship that held the advantage — relying on its star-shield field to defend against the enemy's attacks, while on the other side the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon had lost its star-shield field and could only bear the attacks on its hull armor.
Alert-tones of the hull taking hits at various positions kept popping up before Xue Xiaoxiao, but Xue Xiaoxiao only cast them a glance.
For these attacks were of no account — they'd done the hull no substantial harm at all.
"Remember the zones the close-in defense cannons are to protect — chiefly the gun-positions of our main and secondary cannons; our battery-positions must not be knocked out!" Xue Xiaoxiao reminded again and again.
"Yes!"
Xue Xiaoxiao looked toward the star-shield system's management department: "You lot make ready too. I need you, within 10 seconds of my order, to bring the star-shield field back up."
10 seconds!
At this the department's crew-chief broke out in a sweat on his brow.
In the several trial-voyage trainings before this, bringing up the star-shield system had taken, on average, 13 seconds; the fastest single time had been only 9.7 seconds.
And now to require it done within 10 seconds — that carried no small difficulty.
"What? Can't do it?" Xue Xiaoxiao fixed the crew-chief with a keen stare.
"I'll see the task done, guaranteed." The crew-chief stood up straight and cried out.
Xue Xiaoxiao withdrew her gaze and went on watching the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon's various combat readouts — and one other most important datum besides.
That was, of course, the time for the bow cannon to recharge and be ready to fire again.
Three minutes after the T4 Blue-Eyes White Dragon-class Heavy Interstellar Armored Battleship's star-shield field was 'blasted open,' the T4 Retribution-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship's star-shield field too was blasted through.
This meant the T4 Retribution-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Battleship's hull, likewise, had now to face the enemy's cannon-fire head-on.
"Damn it! What is going on — why is it that the enemy battleship has taken this much of our fire, and its firepower is still this fierce!" The Retribution Angel's captain was, at this moment, hopping mad.
Under his Retribution Angel's furious bombardment, the enemy's battleship seemed, if anything, to grow braver the harder it was pressed.
By rights, once the star-shield field is shattered and the hull takes hits, an interstellar warship's various combat capabilities are affected — in serious cases, even some functions within the hull may fail, and so on.
Yet that interstellar battleship opposite seemed to have suffered no effect whatever.
Looking at that interstellar battleship opposite, drowned under attack-light-effects of every kind, one could no longer, by the naked eye alone, make out the enemy ship's damage state.
In a duel of this sort — unless one side's warship surrendered, or one side's warship was utterly destroyed — the two sides' cannon-fire could not possibly stop!
"How much longer for our bow cannon?" The captain, brow all sweat, roared.
"Three more minutes, and our bow cannon can fire up again!" a subordinate cried.
Three minutes…
The captain said through gritted teeth: "In three minutes, fire up the bow cannon — aim straight at the enemy ship's bow, and whatever it takes, deal the enemy ship a destructive blow!"