"Huff… huff… huff… huff…" The demon commander gasped for breath; out of terror he had shut both eyes tight.
But as the time went by little by little, he found that the shrieking and the sounds of terror about him were in fact growing quiet by degrees.
Strange… how is it I am not yet dead?
The demon commander opened his eyes slowly and looked out beyond the starship's viewport.
He saw a field of starship wreckage.
And the T4 Demon-Lord-class Interstellar Composite Mothership in which he stood hung there where it was, whole and unharmed.
And every Demon Race warship in his own file was undamaged besides.
For all the world as though between the two areas there ran an invisible line of division.
No — not quite…
There were several interstellar warships that had been most unfortunate.
Such as, beside him, a T4 Gargoyle-class Heavy Interstellar Frigate whose hull lay precisely across that 'boundary.'
So that half of this T4 Gargoyle-class Heavy Interstellar Frigate had vanished away, and the remaining half hung there where it was.
One could even see that 'cross-section' laid open neat and even!
For all the world as though it had been parted in two by a sword.
"What… what has happened?" The demon commander looked at all of it in astonishment.
"Commander… it seems… it seems the enemy's attack has stopped." The adjutant said it gasping.
The attack has stopped?
Just so!
It must assuredly be so.
A beam attack so terrible as that must have some limit upon it.
It could not possibly go on without end.
"Hahaha… hahaha…" The demon commander crawled back into his captain's chair, pressed his nearly nerveless body down into it, and then laughed aloud with something like madness.
"Hahahaha… hahaha… hahaha… I knew it! I knew that interstellar warship could not possibly be so invincible… however strong the attack, there is a limit to it! And now its attack is at an end! Quick! Hasten the recovery of our electronic systems. The hour of our counterattack is very soon upon us!"
The demon commander's mood was somewhat frenzied — whether it had to do with the terror of a moment before, there is no telling.
But this time, as it happens, what he said was right.
"Report. The Hades core's stored energy stands at 10% remaining, and has reached the emergency threshold; the 'Sword of Hades' attack program has stopped." The subordinate made the report to Xue Xiaoxiao.
Xue Xiaoxiao looked rather dispiritedly at the Demon Race interstellar warships opposite, near half of which she had 'swatted' away.
Beneath that stroke of the 'Sword of Hades' just now, at least 10,000 Demon Race interstellar warships had been destroyed.
Set against the record of her first battle, in which near 20,000 and more Holy Radiance interstellar warships were swept away, it seemed to have come down a good deal in the world.
But there was nothing to be done.
Who had the opponent been in that first battle?
Who was the opponent this time?
It must be allowed that the Demon Race interstellar warships opposite were, relatively speaking, rather better at taking a beating, and required a longer time of output.
"If only it could last a little longer." Xue Xiaoxiao muttered it, unsatisfied. Thereafter she instructed her subordinates that the Hades was to continue on her course, that the regular attack weapons were to be activated, and that they might fire at will.
The regular attack weapons were those 880 electromagnetic main guns.
And with these regular attack weapons in use, the energy consumed could be held level with the energy the Hades core generated; so there was no fear of passing below the 10% threshold.
"Commander-in-Chief, we have completed the first phase of the attack task. 10,000 and more Demon Race interstellar warships destroyed, among them above 1,000 T4-grade interstellar warships." Xue Xiaoxiao turned her head and looked to Zhao Chen.
Zhao Chen nodded in satisfaction. This result stood within his own reckoning.
"Good. Continue the fight by the plan. The rest may be left to the second wave of the attack. They should be about due." The corners of Zhao Chen's mouth lifted slightly.
——————
"Is this the attack ended?" Leona's adjutant muttered, looking at that terrible beam now vanished away.
Leona analyzed it gravely. "For a beam so terrible as that to be able to put out its power over a long time, and to move besides, must of necessity consume energy past all measure. By my estimate it has reached its energy threshold. But that in so short a time alone it should destroy above 10,000 Demon Race interstellar warships. Is proof enough of this T5-grade interstellar warship's terrible combat power."
Getting so far, Leona felt her own mouth and tongue gone somewhat dry.
Down to this moment, even counting her imperial father's desperate battle, paid for with 150,000 Dragon-folk interstellar warships, together with the Demon Race warships destroyed in this present fight.
The total number of Demon Race interstellar warships they had destroyed had still not passed 10,000.
And a record of that kind, before this T5 super-starship, was merely a few minutes' work.
Was this the terrible combat power of a T5-grade interstellar warship?
It was quite simply an overturning of everything.
At the thought that she had once wildly dreamed of giving battle to the Owl Dragon Legion, Leona felt a wave of retroactive dread.
To become the enemy of an existence of this kind — she had been quite simply a stupid fool at the time.
"Then what is to be done next? The enemy still have above 10,000 Demon Race interstellar warships. Upon this T5 interstellar warship alone, will there not be too little firepower? Do we need to send out our fleets to strike? And while the Demon Race fleet has no power of resistance at present, deal the enemy a mortal blow!" the adjutant said in excitement.
Leona had such a thought as well.
By her conjecture, that special capability which could paralyze the starship electronic systems of a given area must have a time limit upon it.
Very soon the Demon Race warships opposite would recover their combat power.
And by that hour, this T5 interstellar warship of the Owl Dragon Legion's case might grow rather less…
And just as Leona was thinking these things.
She saw, in that stretch of airspace cleared a moment ago for the T5 interstellar warship, points of light appearing one after another.
And thereafter interstellar warship after interstellar warship darting violently forth.
Shoosh, shoosh, shoosh, shoosh.
By the crests upon their hulls, all of them were the Owl Dragon crest without exception.
These were all of them interstellar warships of the Owl Dragon Legion.
"Heh, heh, heh. Too little firepower? We thought too much. How could I ever suppose the Owl Dragon Legion short of firepower?" When Leona saw these Owl Dragon interstellar warships, she shook her head in self-mockery.
And found the thought she had had a moment ago laughable.
Because at this moment the interstellar warships that had come here by interstellar jump.
Though not many in number — 500 only!
Yet of these 500 interstellar warships, 300 and more were of no simple standing; the firepower output of those 300 alone, added together, could exceed even the strength of the firepower every interstellar warship under Leona's command could put out in one moment.
For those 300 were interstellar missile ships, every one of them!
T3 Judicator-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ships!
And among them was one besides which had been marked out for special note in the intelligence Leona had known of before.
A T4 Hell-Angel-class Heavy Interstellar Missile Ship!
In this moment, from those 300 and more interstellar missile ships, Leona could feel a killing intent!