In an instant!
The overwhelming majority of the interstellar warships of this Demon Race fleet, which had been opening its attack a moment since, fell dumb at a stroke.
The attack upon the Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought seemed in this moment to have stopped altogether.
"What has happened?" The demon commander looked at the bridge, gone suddenly dark, and sprang to his feet.
"Report. Every piece of electronic equipment within our starship has failed outright; some 10 minutes will be required to restart!" the subordinate reported in haste.
"What?" The demon commander was dumbfounded.
10 minutes to restart?
What did that signify?
It signified that these Demon Race interstellar warships of his would here become fixed targets — and targets without star shields at that.
And the T4-grade interstellar warships above all; for the greatest difference between a T4-grade interstellar warship and a T3-grade lies in their having full star shields, able to ward off attack from any quarter.
And losing that protection of the star shield amounted to being laid bare at a stroke beneath the enemy's guns.
A case of this same kind befell certain unlucky interstellar warships under Leona's command as well.
"What has happened? Why this sudden failure?"
"Report. Every piece of electronic equipment aboard my ship has failed at a stroke; what has gone wrong is unknown."
Reports of this kind came through to Leona.
Leona at this moment was finding it unlooked-for that the Demon Race interstellar warships upon that part of the field had suddenly ceased their attack.
That such a case should suddenly arise upon her own side was more than she had reckoned upon.
Happily, cases of this kind were exceedingly few, the number of them not very great; and because the distance between ship and ship was rather close, some of the most basic and primitive short-range communication equipment could still be used.
And Leona very soon received an explanation besides.
It came as a message from that giant ship.
Its content was that if in this interval any starship should suffer a failure of its electronic equipment, they need not be anxious; they need only restart the electronic equipment.
This message stated outright that all of it was the doing of that giant ship!
And thinking then of how the Demon Race warships opposite had suddenly fallen dumb, the thing was explained.
The electronic equipment of the Demon Race interstellar warships opposite had failed entirely as well, which had brought nearly all their weapon installations to a standstill at this moment.
For though the core power source of the Demon Race's interstellar warships employs living organisms, the other parts are mechanical structures still, and have electronic equipment among them.
"So this is the special function of this T5-grade interstellar warship? Area electronic interference?" Leona looked at that giant ship in the distance.
She could in some sort understand now why the Sacred Wing Legion, of the Holy Radiance Empire's ten great Sacred-Light Legions, should actually have been annihilated by a single interstellar warship.
Knowing nothing whatever of this interstellar warship, and taking such a stroke as this suddenly, would be quite simply a nightmare.
"My God! What is that!" the adjutant suddenly exclaimed beside her.
Sounds of astonishment came from about the bridge as well.
Leona at this moment was looking too at that astonishing sight; her eyes went wide, and in the reflection within her pupils there was a beam of blinding light.
The Hades-class Interstellar Dreadnought had activated its 'Sword of Hades.'
A vast pulse beam drove straight into the Demon Race interstellar warships opposite.
The T4-grade Demon Race warships at the forward line, relying upon their hull armor, held under this attack for no more than the space of a blink, and were thereafter swallowed up by that pulse beam.
And thereafter, like a row of cards going down, every Demon Race interstellar warship along that line was destroyed one after another.
T4-grade interstellar warships and T3-grade alike.
Beneath this attack, all of them were torn to fragments.
And even those Demon Race interstellar warships which, lying outside the range of the earlier 'Hades Domain' stroke, had escaped that calamity.
And could at this moment raise their star shields — this merely added a few seconds to the time they held out, and no more.
"It stands upon no ceremony at all! Is this the T5-grade weapon?" Leona's excitement was such that she felt her own voice shaking.
By this one pulse-beam attack alone, at a rough estimate, at least 3,000 Demon Race interstellar warships had been destroyed outright!
The demon commander on the other side was shaken by this sight as well.
He looked through his viewport at that terrible pulse beam upon his flank; and at this moment, together with his shock, he felt a small measure of good fortune besides.
It was well the other had not taken aim at this flagship of his, the T4 Demon-Lord-class Interstellar Composite Mothership.
Or else, even the largest of Demon Race interstellar warships could by any estimate not have borne so strong an attack upon hull armor alone.
"Comm… comm… Commander… this… this truly is a T5-grade interstellar warship!" The adjutant beside him said it trembling.
The demon commander forced a calm upon himself. "With destructive power of such a kind, there is only this one explanation. I never thought that this crowd should actually have a T5-grade interstellar warship after all."
"And… and besides… against our own T5-grade interstellar warships… it looks as though it were a good deal stronger…" The adjutant gulped.
To this the demon commander gave no answer.
Though in his heart he had allowed it already.
"But an attack of this kind — this T5 giant should not be able to put it out many times over. Find a way to restore our electronic systems at once, and at the same time restore the communication equipment as fast as may be, and make contact with the other Demon Race fleets outside, and tell them this news. So long as we act in concert, then even a T5-grade interstellar warship cannot possibly be a match for so many interstellar warships as ours!" The demon commander had not at this moment perceived how grave the case was.
He looked toward the crew who were restarting the communication equipment.
Of a starship's several capacities, the communication equipment can be recovered and restarted in the shortest time; the weapon installations are the latest of all.
He had begun already to lay plans in his mind for how this T5 giant was to be destroyed. Could it be wrecked, and its hulk brought back for the research personnel to study, and could the technology within it be got.
That, past dispute, would be a very great help to Demon Race starship technology.
And he might well be promoted besides.
From a commander able only to direct fleets, to a Great Lord — or a Demon Marshal!
At this thought, this demon commander felt an excitement past all bearing in his heart.
But very soon the adjutant's piercing shriek beside him shattered his fantasy!
"It has… moved! It has… moved! It moved!"
"What has moved?" The demon commander knit his brows.
"That pulse beam moved! It is coming toward us!" the adjutant cried out in terror.
The demon commander looked, and sure enough he saw that the pulse beam which had a moment since bored through their Demon Race fleet's position was moving slowly toward where he was.
And in the ground that beam passed over, the Demon Race interstellar warships were pulverized one by one.
"Quick! Quick! Quick, restart the starship!" the demon commander shouted at the top of his voice.
But the starting program could not be made to go faster for his shouting.
He could only watch with his own open eyes as that terrible beam drew nearer and nearer to his flagship, the T4 Demon-Lord-class Interstellar Composite Mothership.
"No… no… don't!" The demon commander watched the vast beam draw nearer and nearer, and cried out in terror.