122: Battle of the Tianen Galaxy

Five months had passed.

For the vast universe, five months was nothing more than a negligible breath of a star, but for the billions of living beings within the Tianen Star System, these five months were the longest, most agonizing, yet most miraculous time in their fate.

During this period, an interstellar-scale Dunkirk-style mass evacuation was carried out methodically in this star region, which was about to be reduced to scorched earth.

Under the strict orders of Princess Filula, the logistics department of the Angel Empire erupted with astonishing efficiency, and tens of thousands of material transport ships, passenger spacecraft, and even temporarily modified merchant ships wove a busy lifeline on the route between the Tianen Star System and the Perseus Arm headquarters.

The key to preventing this mass evacuation from descending into chaotic collapse lay in a small gift from the Faleim Civilization: a population screening and boarding management algorithm calculated by the Faleim Civilization's central AI.

Under the scheduling of this highly efficient algorithm, the chaos of cutting in line, stampedes, and scrambling for resources was minimized, the load of every spacecraft was utilized to the limit, and the time for every takeoff and landing was precise to the second.

Within just five months, approximately 30% of the population on the two colonial planets of the Tianen Star System—including all the top scientists, engineers, psychics, and a large number of young and able-bodied people with excellent genes—successfully evacuated from this death trap.

However, mathematics is cruel; 30% survival meant 70% abandonment.

The remaining five billion-plus Angel people were mainly the old, weak, sick, and disabled, as well as a large number of vassal races attached to the Angel Empire; they were left behind.

When the last transport fleet, filled with hope and tears, started its engines and turned into streaks of light in the starry sky, Amira Radiance stood on the bridge of the redemption.

Looking through the holographic screen at her compatriots who were gradually moving away, this once-proud imperial princess was already streaming with tears.

She delivered her final speech to those who were left behind via planetary broadcast.

"People of the Empire... please forgive my incompetence."

Amira's voice choked with sobs, yet it reached every corner of the planet.

"I have taken away the future of the Empire, but I have left you in the dark abyss."

"But please believe that as long as the Empire still exists, and as long as the glory of the True God has not been extinguished, we will eventually return! Your sacrifice will turn into the flames of vengeance, lighting up the route for our return in the future!"

Surprisingly, the expected large-scale riots did not occur.

Except for a very few desperate individuals who chose to end their lives or vent hysterically, the vast majority of the remaining Angel people displayed a moving calm and resilience.

They knew they were the abandoned, but they were also the Empire's rearguard.

They picked up crude weapons, walked into factories, and entered the fortifications.

They were going to shed their last drop of blood for the Empire on the planet's surface with their own flesh and blood.

...

A few weeks later, the tranquility was completely shattered.

Several orbital monitoring stations deployed at the edge of the Tianen Star System issued shrill alarms almost at the same time.

"tachyons sensors detected abnormal spatial readings! The scale is massive! It cannot be counted!"

"They are here!"

In the dark void at the edge of the galaxy, countless warp bubbles burst one after another, and grotesque dark-red painted warships emerged from the void.

That was the main fleet of the Iofer Federation, led personally by speaker Barlena.

This time there was no probing and no splitting of forces; a full three thousand heavy battleships, along with tens of thousands of cruisers and frigates, like a dark red tide gushing from the depths of hell, instantly filled the horizon at the edge of the star system.

They exited Warp Drive, their engines spewing particle streams several kilometers long, and at a terrifying speed of 50% the speed of light, they formed a suffocating attack formation, pressing forward toward the inner core area of the Tianen Star System.

On the flagship Abyss Dominator, Barlena sat on her throne, her purple eyes flashing with an eager light.

"Turn on all detection equipment, full-band scan!" She waved her pale arms, as if conducting a grand symphony.

"I want to know where every grain of sand here is! I want to know which rat hole those remaining broken ships of the Angel people are hiding in!"

A few days later.

"speaker, the scan results show a large amount of high-energy reaction residue inside the star system, which should be the trail left by the transport fleet, but currently only a small fleet is active on the main route."

"Only one?" Barlena sneered.

"A decoy? Or do they want to play that childish guerrilla warfare? That old thing Raphael only has this much ability."

"Pass on my order! Split the fleet into two!"

Barlena's tactics were radical and aggressive.

"The First Detachment, consisting of one thousand warships, is responsible for pursuing and annihilating that active Angel fleet! I want to pile their heads on the deck!"

"The main fleet, advance directly to Tianen Star and the Sanctuary! Ignore all interference and strike at the heart! If any Angel warships dare to show their heads, blast them to smithereens with saturation fire!"

...

Meanwhile, at the other end of the star system.

The battlecruiser redemption was silently hovering at the edge of the thick atmosphere of a gas giant planet.

Its massive hull had its stealth field fully activated, and coupled with the electronic shielding technology provided by the Faleim People, on the iofer people's sensor screens, this was just ordinary cosmic background radiation.

"They have split their forces."

Major General Trier looked at the Star Map, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"They still don't know about the existence of this warship of ours; they think they can crush everything with numbers."

"Can Uncle Raphael hold on?" Amira asked worriedly.

At this moment, the broken fleet led by Governor Raphael was performing thrilling maneuvers on the other side of the star system, constantly firing jamming shells and decoy drones at the iofer vanguard fleet, attempting to lure the enemy into a pre-set asteroid minefield.

"He is an excellent soldier; he knows how to save his life," Trier evaluated calmly.

"Now, it is our turn to take the stage."

"Hunters are often most relaxed at the moment they think they are about to capture their prey."

On one side of the battlefield, the iofer First Detachment was frantically pursuing Raphael's decoy fleet.

"These bird people run really fast!" The iofer detachment commander cursed while looking at the slippery Angel warships on the screen.

"Full speed ahead! Open fire at will as soon as you are in range!"

Just as the iofer fleet was about to catch up to the tail of Raphael's fleet, a sudden change occurred.

On their flank, at a close point less than ten thousand kilometers away, the void that had been empty suddenly rippled violently.

Like a deep-sea monster surfacing, the majestic hull of the redemption, sixty kilometers long, brought a suffocating visual impact to all the iofer people the moment it deactivated its stealth.

"Tha... that is wh..."

Before the iofer radar officer could sound the alarm, the fangs of the redemption had already lit up.

"In the name of God, cleanse them."

Amira sat in the command chair, her eyes shining with golden light, and massive psychic energy was injected into the weapon system through the amplifier.

Zzz—

The huge cross-shaped structure at the bow of the redemption suddenly erupted.

Two thick, ghostly blue arcs—the [Energy-Gathering Arc Emitter]—tore through the void.

This weapon, based on lost empire technology, not only possessed terrifying energy but also had the characteristic of ignoring shields and armor.

The arc, like the scythe of the Grim Reaper, instantly pierced through the two iofer heavy battleships that were charging at the front.

The light of the energy-gathering arc flashed silently over the hulls of the two battleships, and then the crew, electronic equipment, and engine cores inside were carbonized and burned by the terrifying current simulated by psychic energy the moment the arc swept past.

The massive warships instantly turned into two floating steel coffins, and then, under the influence of inertia, collided with each other.

Then, five more dazzling balls of white light were shot from the side of the redemption.

Those were the five large Neutron Emitters installed on the redemption.

The five streams of neutrons, accelerated to the limit, smashed into the other five capital ships like heavy hammers.

The strong interaction force armor that the iofer people were proud of was as fragile as paper in front of the neutron streams.

The neutron streams penetrated the hulls, instantly killing all living beings inside and completely destroying the structure of the warships.

In just one encounter, seven heavy battleships were instantly destroyed.

"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! A super-large warship has appeared!"

The communication channel of the iofer people instantly exploded.

"Counterattack! All gun positions, target that big guy! Fire! Fire!"

The iofer fleet, reacting from their shock, displayed their qualities as a fighting race.

Hundreds of warships turned their gun muzzles simultaneously, and dense blaster beams and gravity wave shock cannons poured toward the redemption like a storm.

Boom, boom, boom, boom—

Countless explosions bloomed on the shields of the redemption.

However, a scene that made the iofer people despair appeared: the layer of psychic shield emitting a pale purple light, under such dense firepower bombardment, only rippled with intense waves.

The blaster beams were absorbed and neutralized by the shield, the gravity waves were deflected by the shield and dissipated, and the pitch-black hull armor of the redemption did not even suffer the slightest damage.

"Is this the power of the Faleim Civilization?" Amira felt the feedback from her flagship and was shocked.

In the past, the iofer people could tear apart Angel warships with just a few gravity wave shock cannons, but in front of this ship, the enemy's artillery fire was like tickling.

"Do not linger in battle; our energy is limited," Trier reminded from the side.

"Hit and run; that is the tactic."

"Understood!"

After withstanding a round of salvo, thousands of small and medium-sized turrets around the hull of the redemption began a frantic counterattack.

Dense phase beams and antimatter missiles swept toward the small iofer escort ships that were trying to approach.

Frigate after frigate exploded in the air, turning into brilliant fireworks.

After destroying hundreds of enemy ships in just four hours, the engine nozzle at the tail of the redemption suddenly erupted with a blinding light.

Dark matter thrusters at full power output!

This giant, sixty kilometers long, displayed a terrifying acceleration completely inconsistent with its size.

It was like a streak of black lightning, instantly breaking through the siege of the iofer people and speeding toward the interior of the star system.

Its speed was so fast that it even surpassed the fastest frigates of the iofer people.

"It ran! Chase! Chase it for me!"

The iofer detachment commander roared in exasperation.

But it could not be caught; after breaking out of the iofer people's range, the redemption immediately activated its stealth field and disappeared into the vast starry sea again.

...

"Bastards! Trash!"

In the command hall of the Abyss Dominator, Barlena angrily threw the crystal cup in her hand onto the ground, and the fragments splashed.

She looked at the battle report sent back by the detachment, trembling with anger.

"Twenty battleships! Forty-five cruisers! Over a hundred frigates! Gone after just a few hours of exchange? And you didn't even scratch the enemy's paint?"

"speaker..." the general on the side said tremblingly, "The technical level of that warship is too high. Our shields are useless before it, and our attacks cannot penetrate its defenses. Moreover, its speed is too fast; we simply cannot catch up."

"Damn it! Damn it!"

Barlena paced anxiously in front of her throne.

The combat capability of that super warship exceeded her imagination. When did the Angel people build such a monster? If the enemy possessed even one fleet like this, the Iofer Federation would have been finished long ago.

"It's only one ship... just one ship..." Barlena forced herself to calm down, "If it's truly invincible, why didn't it just charge over, destroy my flagship, and kill me? Why run?"

"This means it has weaknesses too! Its energy is not infinite! It can be injured too!"

"Order the First Detachment to stop chasing that bait! The whole army is to retreat and consolidate! Spread all frigates around the capital ships, and activate all anti-stealth radar!"

However, the nightmare was not over.

A few hours later, while the main iofer fleet was still adjusting its formation and the detachment had not yet stopped its pursuit, the redemption appeared again.

This time it appeared behind Raphael's fleet, right on the path that the pursuing iofer forces had to take.

"For the True God!"

Accompanied by Amira's roar, the redemption was like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep, cutting laterally into the iofer detachment that was pursuing Raphael.

The focused arc flashed again, and the neutron stream gushed forth once more.

This time it did not rush to retreat, but instead used its own massive hull as cover to block fatal fire for Raphael's battered fleet.

"Governor! Retreat quickly! Fall back to the inner orbital defense!"

"Thank you, Your Highness! All forces, retreat!"

Raphael seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and led the fleet to disengage from the battlefield at full speed.

Before the iofer encirclement could close, the redemption once again performed a perfect act of "slaughtering everything and leaving calmly."

It left behind a chaotic battlefield and the wreckage of hundreds of iofer warships, then disappeared into the void once more.

This time, Barlena was completely silent.

She sat on her throne, watching the battle damage figures jumping on the screen, her face terrifyingly grim.

That damned ship was like an assassin; it wouldn't fight you head-on, but would appear at your most vulnerable moment, take a bite out of you, and then turn and run.

The iofer warships' main guns couldn't hit it, and even if they did, they couldn't penetrate it, and they weren't as fast as it was...

This sense of helplessness was enough to drive one mad.

"Stop the advance." Barlena finally gave the order through gritted teeth.

"All forces... rest in place and regroup."

"Tell that bunch of useless people in the think tank to come up with a solution immediately! How do we deal with that damn thing!"

...Over the next three months, the Tianen Star System fell into an eerie stalemate.

The iofer army remained stagnant, like a hedgehog curled into a ball.

Barlena continuously sent out probing teams composed of a dozen or so high-speed warships, attempting to infiltrate the interior of the star system to find traces of the redemption, while also trying to test the super warship's various limit data, such as cruising speed, acceleration, shield recharge time, and weapon cooldown intervals...

And Amira, piloting the redemption like a patient hunter, roamed in the shadows of the star system.

Whenever an iofer probing team appeared within detection range, the redemption would strike like lightning, devour it, and then quickly vanish.

In these three months, the iofer people lost nearly five hundred more warships, yet they didn't even touch a hair of the redemption.

This tactic of cutting flesh with a dull knife caused the morale of the iofer people to plummet, and fear spread throughout the fleet. Soldiers began to rumor that it was the Angel people's secret weapon, currently in the testing phase, and that it might later unleash a weapon capable of destroying the entire star system.

After another half-year of stalemate, the Iofer Federation's military think tank finally submitted an analysis report that seemed reliable at the moment.

"speaker, based on the data analysis from the past six months, we have reached a conclusion:"

"One, although that super warship is powerful, it is not invincible. In previous contacts, we observed that when it is subjected to dense fire coverage, its shields show obvious energy fluctuations and signs of overload, which means that as long as the firepower is sufficiently dense, it is possible to penetrate its defenses."

"Two, for the past six months, only this one super warship has been active; no second warship of the same level has appeared. This indicates that this type of warship is an unrepeatable, unique item, or the enemy's final trump card."

"Three, although its tactics are cowardly, they also expose its weakness—it dares not confront our main force head-on, and it is also afraid of being surrounded."

"Therefore," the chief strategist pointed to Tianen Star and the Sanctuary Star on the Star Map, "we suggest abandoning all dispersed probing and assembling all capital ships and auxiliary warships into a dense formation."

"We do not need to pay attention to the harassment from that small Angel fleet, nor do we need to care where that super warship is."

"We will advance directly toward the Angel people's main colony star!"

"That is their Achilles' heel, the place they must protect."

"As long as we start bombing the planet, that warship will have to come out and fight us to the death!"

"This is an open conspiracy."

After listening, a flash of ruthlessness crossed Barlena's eyes.

"Good."

"Order the entire army! Assemble!"

"Target: Tianen Star! We will force that big guy to show itself!"

...The iofer army moved.

This time they did not disperse, but like a huge iron plate, they pressed toward the habitable zone in the center of the star system with an unstoppable momentum.

On the bridge of the redemption, Amira looked at the massive fleet on the screen, which looked like black clouds pressing down on the city, and sighed softly.

"They have finally lost their patience."

"Your Highness, should we still fight?" the adjutant asked.

Amira turned to look at Major General Trier beside her.

Trier glanced at the time, then at the data pad in his hand.

"Your Highness Amira, over these past six months, nearly another billion Angel civilians have been successfully evacuated."

"Including the previous ones, you have evacuated nearly half of the population of the Tianen Star System, and it is the most essential half."

"Industrial facilities have been dismantled, resource reserves have been emptied, and all that remains are the empty shells that cannot be taken away."

"Our strategic objectives have been exceeded."

Trier said calmly: "Staying here any longer has no meaning other than throwing our lives away."

"Although the redemption is strong, it is not a god. Facing the assembled main fleet, we can only avoid their sharp edge."

Amira was silent for a moment, then took one last look at those two beautiful planets.

The fate of the billions left behind was already sealed.

But this is war; mercy does not command troops.

"Uncle Raphael," Amira connected the communication, "take your fleet and retreat. Go to the Perseus Arm; we will meet in the Apocalypse Galaxy."

"As you command, Your Highness. May fortune favor your arms." Raphael didn't waste words, immediately leading the long-prepared remaining fleet to activate the Warp Engine and disappearing into the depths of the starry sky.

"It's time for us to leave too."

Amira sat on the throne, her hands clenched.

"But before we go, let's leave them a souvenir."

"All ship personnel, take note! Target: iofer fleet's left flank! One last surprise attack!"

The redemption turned into a ghost again, suddenly appearing at the side and rear of the iofer formation at the critical moment when they were about to enter orbital bombardment position.

The focused arc and Neutron Emitter roared one last time, and another dozen iofer battleships were turned to ashes while completely unprepared.

The iofer fleet fell into chaos instantly, and all gun muzzles turned frantically.

But this time, the redemption did not engage in a prolonged battle. After the strike succeeded, Amira decisively ordered: "Thrusters to maximum power! Let's go!"

The massive warship carved a graceful arc in the void, rushing out of the battlefield in full view of everyone at a speed that left the iofer people unable to catch up, speeding toward the edge of the star system.

"It's running away! Chase it! Hurry and chase it!"

Barlena roared hysterically in the communication channel.

But watching the signal getting further and further away until it disappeared from the sensor field of view, she knew that no matter how furious she was, she couldn't catch it.

A few days later, the Iofer Federation's army finally occupied the entire Tianen Star System.

Barlena stood on the ruins of the Tianen Star Governor's Mansion, looking at this once-prosperous city.

The streets were empty and desolate; anything with even a little value had been emptied, and even the energy batteries of the streetlights had been pried away.

In the factories, only the heavy bases that couldn't be moved remained, and one couldn't even find a mouse in the warehouses.

The Angel people left for her were just hundreds of millions of sallow, numb-eyed elderly, weak, sick, and disabled, as well as over three billion worthless, low-level vassal races.

Moreover, a large number of the elderly, weak, sick, and disabled were still resisting the iofer rule with crude weapons or by driving weak psionic powers.

How could this be a rich hub? This was just a huge refugee camp and guerrilla zone! A mess that required her to invest massive resources to maintain order and survival!

"Is this the trophy I exchanged at the cost of thousands of warships?"

Barlena's hands were trembling, the anger in her heart almost burning away her sanity.

This was not just a strategic failure, but an insult to her intelligence.

But she could not show it.

She turned around, facing the iofer generals behind her who were full of greed and waiting to divide the spoils.

A stiff and dignified smile was squeezed onto her face.

"Gentlemen, we have won."

"The Tianen Star System is ours, and the gateway to the Perseus Arm has opened."

"Here... there are many 'resources' that you can distribute to your heart's content."

She pointed at the shivering refugees, her eyes cold.

Since there is no wealth, then fill the void with lives.

These people will become the Federation's indentured laborers or servants for some big figures. They will enter the factories where their generals hold shares to work tirelessly day and night, or even become "consumables" in entertainment venues like unrestricted arenas. Those with absolutely no value can also be thrown into biological power plants to make one last contribution to the Federation's energy production.