Langdon Empire, Imperial Capital.
In the audience room of the Imperial Palace, Emperor Langdon was looking at the battle feed from Laswell and Harrington.
In the battle feed, after the Rebels discovered the arrival of the Empire's reinforcements, both sides retreated while retaliating.
This was completely in line with Emperor Landon's expectations.
After all, the rebels only had 30 billion warships each, while the Empire had close to 300 billion warships.
It would be strange if the rebel army did not retreat when the difference in combat strength was almost tenfold.
Moreover, Emperor Langdon was not afraid that the Rebels would escape.
On one hand, after the arrival of the Empire's reinforcements, the Empire's fleet used the interdiction device to prevent the Rebels from escaping via hyperdrive.
On the other hand, there was still the Imperial Palace's fleet among the Empire's reinforcements.
As the Empire's newest warship, it was much better than the standard Empire's warships in terms of weapon range and speed.
Therefore, in a situation where the Rebels could not escape via hyperdrive, Emperor Langdon was confident that he could use the advantage of numbers and the Imperial Palace's fleet to wipe out the Rebels.
It was only a matter of time!
But … was that really the case?
As the saying goes, intelligence is the origin of all tactics. When your intelligence is wrong or lacking, any tactic can fail!
Regardless of the outcome of the battle between Laswell and Harrington, just as Emperor Landon was thinking about how to deal with the incompetent nobles after eliminating the rebel army, something happened.
A guard ran into the audience room in a panic.
"Your Majesty, this … this is bad!"
"What's going on?"
Emperor Langdon's heart twitched when he saw the guard's reaction. He had a feeling that something was wrong.
Regardless of whether it was Laswell or Harrington, they were both under the Empire's control. No matter how he looked at it, the Rebels had no chance of turning the tables.
So, what was it that made him feel so uneasy?
"Your Majesty, the Rebels' fleet used an unknown technology to invade Sala. The interdiction device did not work!"
"What!"
How was this possible?
The Blue Shield Great Emperor was stunned.
It was precisely because he had set up a full ten light-years of warp interruption that he dared to send out most of his fleet.
But now, he was being told that the interdiction device did not work and the Rebels managed to invade Sala?
"What about the size of the rebel fleet?"
"Your Majesty, there are about ten billion warships."
"Bastard, you dare attack my imperial capital with a mere ten billion battleships? What about the Royal Guard Fleet? There are still eight Royal Guard fleets around Sala! "
After Landon heard the report, he was instantly enraged.
Looking at your sad face, I thought that there would be a lot of rebels. In the end, you're telling me that it's only 10 billion?
Currently, there were eight royal guard fleets and two starfield fleets stationed at the edge of Sala, a total of 100 billion battleships.
"Your Majesty, the rebels are very clear about the deployment of our fleet. As soon as they appeared, they launched a fierce attack on the fleet that was on guard duty and the fleet docked at the starport group, and, and …"
"And what?"
"Furthermore, the rebels are using a warship of a completely different style from the Empire's. They launched an attack on us from 20 AU away. The Imperial Guard fleet didn't even have a way to fight back!"
Beyond 2AU?
Emperor Landon was shocked.
Even the Imperial Guard Fleet, which relied on the most cutting-edge technology, only had a striking range of 1.5 AU.
It was this 0.5AU difference in range that was a huge deterrent to the hundreds of billions of fleets controlled by the nobles. This was the reason why the Imperial Guard had been at the top of the Empire's power for tens of thousands of years.
The rebels were using a warship with a range of 0.5AU further than the Imperial Guard fleet?
What kind of joke was this?
Weren't the rebels just a bunch of commoners?
Where did they get such advanced technology from?
"Now that the Imperial Guard fleet has suffered heavy losses, I'm afraid that it will be difficult to ensure the safety of the Imperial Star. Your Majesty, please evacuate to Alpha Star through the stargate as soon as possible so that you can continue to command the Imperial Fleet!"
"Bastard, more than 90% of the Empire's fleets are now concentrated in the Wellington Starfield. If Wellington falls, then even if I go to Alpha Star, I'll be a general without an army. If we don't settle this here, then everything will be for naught!"
"Your Majesty …"
"That's enough. Have the remaining fleets regroup at Fort Durant and prepare the stargate for me. I'm going to Fort Durant to command the final battle!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
-----
"Leader, the enemy's guard fleet has been completely destroyed by us. At the same time, we have completed the first wave of saturation attacks on the starport group where their fleet is stationed."
"However, due to our limited number of warships, even if we managed to catch them off guard with a sneak attack, they still have at least 60 billion warships left."
"There's one more thing that's very strange. According to our scans, there are only 100 billion Imperial fleets in Sala, which is far from the 180 billion reported!"
Lance was not surprised that less than half of the enemy's fleet was wiped out after a round of surprise attacks.
After all, he only had 10 billion warships. It was already very terrifying to be able to achieve such a result.
Instead, it was Villette's final report that concerned him.
80 billion warships were missing. Where did these warships go?
Could it be …
Thinking of a certain possibility, Lance suddenly tensed up, but soon relaxed again.
"Hehe, if they are as I guessed and went to rob the house, then they are really seeking their own deaths!"
Yes, after a short period of thought, Lance had already come to a conclusion.
The eighty billion missing battleships were most likely sent by Emperor Landon to ambush his home base.
However, Lance was not worried at all. After all …
The capitals of the Eight Galaxies were all guarded by the Federation's fleet!
"Leader, the remaining Imperial fleets are beginning to gather in the direction of Fortress Durant. Should we intercept them?"
"No need. They're all far away from Sala and gathered together. Isn't that perfect? Don't forget that Sir Chris gave us a trump card! "
"Leader … you're thinking of …?"
"That's right. Immediately request permission from Sir Chris to activate that weapon!"
"Yes, leader!"
As a precaution, Chris did indeed give Lance a terrifying trump card.
Of course, to activate this weapon and use it, without Chris' permission, Lance would not be able to do so. Therefore, if Lance wanted to use this trump card, he would first have to request permission from Chris!
And this trump card was none other than a zero-point missile!
-----
Ten minutes later, Emperor Landon arrived at Fortress Durant, the Empire's most powerful mobile fortress.
"How's the fleet gathering?"
After entering the command center, Emperor Landon immediately asked the guard beside him.
"Your Majesty, 87% of the remaining battleships have already gathered. The rest of the battleships have either fled or we can't contact them."
"Hmph, these deserters. Once we take down the rebel army, we'll execute them all. They're the shame of the Empire!"
Emperor Blue Shield did not explode. After all, this was within his expectations. Rather, it was better to say that 87% of the scattered battleships had already exceeded his expectations.
"What about the rebel army? What are they up to?"
"Your Majesty, after our remaining battleships retreated, they took over Sala's orbit. They did not do anything else after that!"
"Civilians will always be civilians. The war hasn't even ended yet and they're already unable to move because they took over Sala. But that's good. If not, our remaining battleships would not have gathered so smoothly!"
Emperor Landon nodded. He was disdainful of the rebel army's actions.
"Reorganize the fleet as soon as possible and prepare to counterattack with Durant!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
-----
Just as Emperor Landon was planning his counterattack, Chris finally gave him the authorization to activate the Zero Point Missile!
"Move the Zero Point Missile into the launch port and lock onto the mobile fortress Durant!"
"Yes, leader!"
Looking at the image of Durant Fortress in front of him, Lance was a little wary.
Yes, if there were no Zero Point Missile, that would be the case.
As the Empire's most powerful fortress, Durant Fortress was armed to the teeth. Its two compressed space cannons had a shooting range of 3 AU. It was the type that could deal damage in a large area!
Even without the two main cannons, the countless secondary cannons were also terrifying. Each of them had a shooting range of more than 2 AU!
After all, Durant Fortress was huge and could be considered a gigantic fortress.
Therefore, it had enough space to install all kinds of immature technology and huge super weapons.
Lance had done a simulation. If he were to fight Durant Fortress head-on, even if he could take it down, he would have to pay a price of at least 70%.
That was a huge problem!
But now that he had the Zero Point Missile, everything could be solved.
"Leader, the Zero Point Missile has been loaded. Target locked and can be fired at any time."
"Fire now!"
Without any hesitation, Lance gave the order to fire.
At the same time, in the command center of Durant Fortress.
"Your Majesty, we have detected that the rebels have fired a flying vehicle. It suddenly disappeared about three seconds after it was fired!"
"Disappeared?"
"Yes, your Majesty. According to our detection, after the flying vehicle was fired by the battleship, there was an unknown energy wave and then it disappeared!"
'Unknown energy wave … Disappeared?
Why does it feel so familiar? '
'That's right. Even though there was a device to stop the transition, the rebels could still attack Xassala directly!
'Could it be a new type of FTL technology?
If this flying vehicle has the same technology, then what is the target? '
"This is not good. Immediately transfer all the energy of Durant Fortress to the Spatial Shield. At the same time, expand the Spatial Shield to the maximum. Hurry!"
"Yes, your Majesty!"
Although the guards did not understand why Emperor Landon was so anxious, they still carried out the order immediately.
Seconds later, a Spatial Shield was deployed around the perimeter of Durant Fortress, protecting the entire fortress within.
At the same time, right in front of Durant Fortress, a whirlpool-like blue dimensional window opened. Then, a Zero Point Missile flew out from the window.
"Quick! Destroy that thing! Now!"
"Emperor Landon who had also discovered the Zero Point Missile shouted in the command center."
Although his response was correct, unfortunately, Emperor Landon did not have the time. Because …
After the Zero Point Missile exited hyperspace, it did not need to waste time to fly forward. Instead, it went straight into the detonation sequence.
Just as the guards were about to carry out Emperor Landon's order, a blinding white ball of energy bloomed in the air. It kept expanding and swallowing everything within its range.
Emperor Landon who was in the command center was instantly swallowed by the white ball of energy. Then …
There was no 'then'.
Durant's Spatial Shield didn't activate its mission function. In less than 0.1 seconds, the entire mobile fortress was completely engulfed by the dazzling white energy.
As for the remaining fleets that had just gathered around the fortress, well, if even Durant Fortress could not withstand the attack, what good would they do?
About 10 seconds later, when the blinding white ball of energy slowly dissipated, everyone in the bridge of Rose gasped in shock.
There … there used to be a gigantic fortress!
There used to be more than 50 billion fleets gathered there!
There …
But now, there was nothing!
Not even a piece of wreckage could be found.
The entire void was extremely clean, as if it had just been cleaned.
"Gulp …"
Lance could not help but swallow a mouthful of saliva.
'So this is the trump card that His Excellency Chris gave me?
What kind of godly weapon is this?
From now on, the Empire must be obedient and stay as an affiliated civilization. We must not be disloyal! '
After the initial shock, Lance made up his mind. He was even prepared to write this decision into the Empire's laws.
This was exactly what Lin Fan wanted. It was also the reason why Lin Fan asked Chris to give Lance the Zero Point Missile.
Deterrence, a complete deterrence!
It may seem to be helping you win the war, but in reality, it is a deterrent so that you will not dare to have any thoughts that you should not have!
"Villette!"
"Yes, Leader!"
Villette, who was still in a state of shock, was pulled back to reality by Lance's shout.
"Clean up the war, no …"
When he was halfway through his command, Lance was the first to be stunned.
'Do I still need to clean up this clean battlefield?
There's no need at all. Didn't you see how the void was … '
"Immediately launch an orbital airborne attack on Sala, suppress all resistance forces on the surface, and arrest all nobles for public trial!
"At the same time, send a message to Sewitt and Eyre. Tell them that the battle on Sala is over. They can begin the third phase of the Empire's Dawn War. Destroy all the Empire's fleets that refuse to surrender!
"Of course, the nobles are still the same. Capture them alive if you can. It would be too easy for them to die on the battlefield."
"Yes, Leader!"