Red Demon Fourth Legion fleet · flagship · T5 Blade-of-Terror-class Medium Interstellar Battlecruiser Hull No.023 · bridge.
Upon the bridge at this hour a shuddering could be felt, for all the world like an earthquake.
That Fourth Legion commander, seated in the captain's chair, felt this shuddering too. First the bridge's right side heaved suddenly upward, the angle of tilt reaching near 60° at one point, and no few upon the bridge were thrown to the floor.
"Warning! Warning! The hull's starboard midsection has taken an impact; the hull armor is bearing the impact; the strength of the hull armor in this district is falling rapidly…"
The alarm sounded at this time.
Thereafter the bow ahead heaved sharply up in its turn, and this time the angle of tilt reached near 90° outright.
Which flung this demon commander head-backward, straight out of the captain's chair over its back and away behind him, to strike the floor heavily and roll over and over; and had he not struck some obstruction behind, there is no telling where he might have rolled to.
"Warning! Warning! The area below the bow has taken an impact; the hull armor in this district…"
"Warning! …………"
System warnings sounded one upon another.
Which left the whole bridge in disorder past bearing.
This demon commander made to rise, but the bridge's swaying left him hard put even to stand steady.
Crk, crk…
So that he could at this moment hear the sound of some hull material grinding, and the sound of it left his mind in a tangle.
"Commander, this flagship is already… beyond saving. What matters most now is to make sure of your life. Let us board a shuttle at once and flee this place!" The deputy captain came staggering up before the demon commander, helped him to his feet, and urged it.
"But this is—" The demon commander looked at the bridge; a T5 Blade of Terror destroyed in his own hands, and the consequence of that.
He could not begin to imagine it.
"However it may be, to keep your life is what matters most!" the deputy captain pressed.
The demon commander listened to that grinding of steel beside his ear, growing louder and louder, and could be certain that this interstellar warship's hull frame structure must have been affected as well.
"We go!" The demon commander hardened his heart, and without a sound took his few trusted men and his bodyguards down a hidden passage toward a concealed hangar.
The bridge was simply too large, so that the greater part of those there had not yet grasped that my lord their Commander had already abandoned them.
This concealed hangar lay very near the bridge; even without any auxiliary transport, one could reach the concealed hangar quickly.
This being the escape route made ready for a starship's senior officers.
The deputy captain, at the first instant of walking into this hangar, started the emergency procedure.
The whole dim hangar brightened, and a shuttle stood waiting here.
"My lord Commander, board quickly!" The deputy captain hurriedly opened the shuttle's hatch, and volunteered himself to take the piloting.
The commander sat in a place beside a port.
The hangar's flight passage opened, and thereupon this shuttle was flung out at very great speed.
Some seconds later, through the shuttle's ports, this whole company saw a scene outside that made the flesh creep.
That T5 Blade-of-Terror-class Medium Interstellar Battlecruiser they had taken such pride in was at this hour like so much hunted prey.
Six of the enemy's T5 interstellar destroyers, from six quarters, had driven those rams straight through this flagship's hull.
One at the right side, one at the left; one that had rammed in from the starship's stern, one from the belly…
And most striking of all was that one of the T5 interstellar destroyers had made its strike from the area below the T5 Blade of Terror's bow.
And the point of its ram had actually come out through the top of the bow!
At the sight of it, the demon commander and the rest drew in a cold breath.
For the area it had pierced through included the bridge!
This flagship… was finished, and finished utterly.
"The Owl Dragon Legion… the Owl Dragon Legion… what in the world is this Owl Dragon Legion…" the demon commander muttered, dumbstruck.
"Whatever this Owl Dragon Legion may be, their strength is enough to call for our attention. We must live to carry this word back and tell my lord Marshal. Perhaps… by that, my lord Marshal may pardon us our capital guilt." So said the deputy captain, piloting the shuttle.
These words raised a thread of hope in every heart.
That the T5 Blade of Terror had fallen was, for them, a guilt of the gravest kind; but if it were owing to the enemy's strength being too great, then perhaps there might be one thread of life left them.
"When I am back, I shall tell my lord Marshal all that has happened here. My lord Marshal will assuredly lead the Red Demon Legion in person, and sweep away every interstellar race in this place. Let them—"
BOOM.
In one weapons-control section aboard T5 Chaos-Knight-class Heavy Assault Interstellar Destroyer Hull No.006, a crewwoman looked at a bursting fireball far off and muttered, "It seems as though a shuttle came out of there just now…"
"A shuttle? Likely enemy abandoning ship and fleeing. Pay it no mind." The crewwoman beside her waved a hand and said it as though it were nothing.
That demon commander had, by any estimate, never imagined that he should in the end lose his life here.
As for the wish he made before his death — whether it comes true rests upon whether my lord his Marshal can bring it about for him.
——————
"Commander, the Red Demon Fourth Legion flagship, beset by several of our T5 Chaos-Knights, has now wholly lost its fighting power," Lilith reported beside him.
"I saw it. Remind Charlotte. Preserve the main frame of the enemy's T5 Blade of Terror so far as may be; do not knock the whole of it to pieces. Our Owl Dragon Military Academy is precisely short of technical samples from other interstellar powers," Zhao Chen reminded her.
Over in the Owl Dragon Star System they were to build a research base of their own; and though the Owl Dragon line's starship technology is itself most advanced.
It is precisely because it is too advanced that the difficulty of study is very great for the students.
And at the same time, to increase their capacity for research and innovation, Zhao Chen had this while past expressly sought out no little starship technology from the Starlight Empire, the Warhammer, and the Holy Radiance Empire, and thrown it to them to study and research.
Those Demon Race interstellar warships obtained before, Zhao Chen had thrown across in one lot as well.
And those several chief engineers held appointments there besides as research fellows.
And now, meeting with the Demon Race's T5 interstellar warships — well before this war began.
Chief Engineer Nana and Chief Engineer Spider Queen Iris had written to him privately, asking that he furnish them with research samples of Demon Race T5 interstellar warships.
A thing so easily done — why not do it and be glad?
"One left." Zhao Chen's eyes turned toward that remaining T5 Blade-of-Terror-class Medium Interstellar Battlecruiser.
For the Demon Race fleet, but one torch of hope was left.
And Zhao Chen meant to put it out utterly!