The large-scale invasion of the Fallen Apostles began yesterday and had lasted for almost two days. For a normal civilization, an interstellar battle might take even longer. For a civilization that had just mastered interstellar travel, they might need several days or even months to complete a battle. The navigation of their ships, the occupation and construction of their space strongholds, the supply of their fleets and the mobilization of local battlefields all required time, and the time that a low-level civilization spent on this would far exceed the time it took for their spaceships to exchange fire.
But for a civilization at the level of the Xiling Empire … the pace of war was even more rapid, to the point that it was difficult to grasp.
For a super civilization like the Schilling Empire, their battles were built on a series of void warp technology and space navigation technology. Space technology made all the battlefields in the eyes of the Imperial Army become almost instantaneous. Fleets could usually arrive at any world within the Empire within twenty-four hours after receiving a dispatch order. And for special forces (such as the Space Assault Troopers), or through special channels (such as the Macro World's fast network), such dispatch could even be completed within a dozen seconds. Hyperspace supply technology allowed our fleets to complete the supply of frontline troops without wasting any time. The Empire's starships did not need to waste time on battlefield maneuvers, and the Imperial Army did not need to mobilize before the battle and hold grassroots combat meetings. They directly received orders from their superiors through the mental network and carried them out unconditionally without delay, squeezing efficiency to the limit. All technology only had one goal, and that was to omit all steps other than firing to the point that they almost did not exist. Thus, on the battlefield of a super civilization, the pace was always fast. We quickly assembled, quickly made all battle preparations, and then opened fire, turning the entire star system into a meat grinder in a few minutes. Such a fast-paced battle made many ordinary races unable to keep up with our main forces. Thus, the first batch of training for the Empire's servant army required them to master two skills at the same time: Basic Equipment Operating Guide for the Empire and Reflexive Combat Response Skills. The former would let them know how to blow the enemy's head open, and the latter would let them know how to not fall behind to prevent the enemy from blowing their own heads open.
For the Xiling Empire, which had always settled everything with high-speed warfare, a large-scale battle that lasted for two days was already of a relatively large scale and long duration. Moreover, this battle had spread the flames of war across four entire universes.
Not counting the other three universes where the battle was slightly slower, the total number of troops that the Fallen Apostles had sent to this battlefield was already more than nine armies, and this did not include the enemy's unmanned fleet and support echelons. The regular army that the Empire had sent to this universe was less than six armies, including the Royal Fleet and the Vengeance Army. Because the Sixth Army had already suffered considerable losses in the fierce battle at the distant borders, we were sent into battle under the condition that we were not at full strength. As for the First and Second Army, they had already been sent by Sandora to other worlds to support the battle. Apart from that, a large number of reserve fleets and servant armies from all over the Empire were continuously entering this war-torn world. Their combat strength was uneven, but they were still doing their best to repel wave after wave of the enemy's offensive. The battle situation had temporarily entered a stalemate. We did not know how long this stalemate would last, but at present, the only thing we could do was to let the Sixth Army continue to expand their victories and converge with Sandora's main forces as soon as possible.
There was a distance of a billion light years between the Sixth Army and Sandora's Fourth and Fifth Fleet.
The biggest difference between the Imperial Army and the Fallen Apostles was in terms of numbers. Not counting the servant armies and the various reinforcements (because the Fallen Apostles were also constantly sending in reinforcements in large numbers, and the two could almost cancel each other out), the enemy's regular army now had three more armies than ours.
In fact, the number of the new Empire's army was far more than what we had shown on the battlefield. Otherwise, there would be no need for us to fight the Fallen Apostles. The enemy was only Halland, and Halland was just one of the Fallen Apostles. In contrast, it seemed that we had to mobilize all our troops to deal with the enemy. If we were to look at it this way, the number of the new Empire's fleet was really too small, and it also did not match the powerful military expansion ability of the Shiring Apostles. Of course, that was not the case.
In the military establishment of the Empire, all armies were divided into three military orders:
The first order was the main army that could be put into battle at any time, and had high flexibility and quick response to war. Other than special orders, the first order did not undertake any long-term or periodic military missions, which were also "non-service". They were always in a state of assembly and standby, so that they could immediately enter the battlefield without any distractions after a war broke out. All the supporting military departments had the same level of response. Currently, the Empire's First to Sixth Army, together with the Royal Fleet and the Vengeance Fleet, a total of eight armies belonged to the first order of battle. At the same time, the reorganized fleet of the mysterious side was also about to enter service, and they would also be included in the first order of battle. The equipment used in this order of battle was the best, and they had priority access to the latest cutting-edge war technology. Tawil and a group of military experts would prioritize the creation of equipment for these main forces. Their combat power was the strongest in the Empire, and this was a well-deserved fact.
The second order was the garrison force. Their numbers were much larger than the first order, but they would not be organized into a huge army, but were stationed in their respective defense areas. The garrison force was the garrison force that guarded the territories of the Empire. They were responsible for guarding the universe under the Empire's name, and their armed outposts were all over the Void and the worlds of Order. They had to carry out long-term garrison missions, and were not allowed to leave the place where they were stationed. Their response to war was the slowest, and in many cases, the garrison force would not even respond to the mobilization order of the Empire, unless it was summoned by the Emperor himself. Usually, this situation would only happen when the capital of the Empire was in danger, and the Emperor had decided to abandon some border worlds. This was because the withdrawal of the garrison force meant that there would be a vacuum in the governance of a certain Empire district, and the entry and exit of the universe would no longer be guarded, and for a trans-world civilization, this was no different from giving up their territory. The garrison force was large in number, and their equipment was usually the most common equipment, because those things were easier to mass-produce, and their performance was more stable and easier to master. They also had motherships, but most of them were small and medium-sized warships suitable for regional operations. The combat power of the garrison force could not compare to that of the first order, but in any case, it would be superior to the total combat power of the indigenous people of the world they were stationed in. The last one was to prepare for the annihilation order — better to be prepared, better to be prepared.
The third order was between the main force and the first order, and they were called the reserve echelon, or the mobilization force.
The number of this force would never be constant. The reserve echelon was a transitional combat order. Eighty percent of its members were new recruits who had just come off the production line, and twenty percent were veterans who had just awakened from the resurrection facility and were still recovering. The former would be incorporated into the garrison force or the main force after a short period of actual combat, and the latter would return to their original army after recovering their strength. Obviously, the personnel of the reserve echelon were very mobile. They were the corps prepared for the garrison force and the main force, and their soldiers were constantly replenished by the first two orders. The reserve echelon would carry out all the daily tasks. They could be sent to assist a world as a garrison force, or they could go to war with the main force as mobilization force. The combat power of this echelon was weaker than the first and second echelons, but in the event of a sudden war, they were the only ones with sufficient response time and could directly replenish the battlefield — in contrast, the garrison force was difficult to be transferred from their garrisons.
Apart from these three combat orders, there were also some special forces, such as Visca's Abyssal Fleet and various auxiliary scientific research forces. Due to their uniqueness or lack of scale, we temporarily did not list them as the main combat power.
Although the number of troops in the new Empire was smaller than that of the Fallen Apostles, it could not be said to be weak. The powerful expansion ability of the Shiring Apostles had indeed always been operating at full capacity. Ever since the revival of the Empire, the territory expanded rapidly, and we established a sufficient number of garrison forces in every new territory. This was enough to prove that the development of the Imperial Army had not been delayed. However, the expansion of the territory also caused the development of our main forces to be restricted. If we had enough garrison forces, we would not be able to quickly establish more main forces. On the other hand, with the vast territory of the Fallen Apostles and the powerful basic industries, it was impossible for the new Empire to stop expanding its territory. This was a dead end, and Sandora and I were well aware of it. Moreover, we also knew that the earlier the battle with the Fallen Apostles came, the greater the destructive power of this dead end would be. Thus, we had always been doing our best to delay the time of the all-out battle with the Fallen Apostles. As time passed, the balance between the expansion of the Empire's territory and the expansion of the mobile army would gradually become more reasonable. Even if the new Empire could not ultimately be on par with the Fallen Apostles in terms of absolute strength, at the very least, our shortcoming in the first combat order could be made up for, and it would be a little more acceptable …
Now, it seemed that Halland was about to deal a fatal blow to our shortcoming.
"The effect of Misfortune Reversal is about to end. The next halo will take effect in ten minutes," the elder sister said calmly from the side. "Servant army, withdraw."
I confirmed the enemy's blockade line on the early warning radar. According to the distribution of the areas marked as' Space Disruptions', the main purpose of the enemy's blockade line was to prevent the Imperial Army from the other battlefields from coming over to support the Sixth Army. It seemed that the enemy had yet to realize the intention of the Sixth Fleet and the Fourth and Fifth Combined Fleets to converge. After we jumped into the world from the void, the landing point was just right from the main battlefield. The enemy would immediately think that the Sixth Army's objective was to establish a second position here. Right now, we were heading towards Sandora, and there were no space disruptors set up by the enemy. However, once the Sixth Army jumped towards the main battlefield, the Fallen Apostles would definitely come over to obstruct us with all their might. Right now, the space environment of this universe was already extremely unstable. The space warp device could only be activated within a distance of tens of millions of light years. If we exceeded this distance, it might cause a dimensional collapse or large-scale space-time distortion. The probability of us being intercepted was very high.
However, the fleet had to move forward. We could only force our way through.
"After the next round of Misfortune Reversal Halo takes effect, the fleet will immediately advance towards the main battlefield. Eliminate all enemies along the way," I ordered through the command link. Then, I entered the wide-area channel. "The other battlefields should report their respective battle situations at any time. If you discover a new jump point of the enemy, destroy it immediately. From now on, you are allowed to use mathematical rate destruction devices."
I looked at the surveillance screen beside me. It displayed the current stability of the universe and the completeness of the mathematical model. The former was still within the safety threshold, but the latter … was basically hopeless.
The Fallen Apostles and the Imperial Army had repeatedly fought over the right to write the laws of this world. The constants and mathematical laws of the entire universe had been rewritten countless times in the past forty-eight hours. It was like a hard disk that had been repeatedly cleaned by a strong magnetic field. It was developing from data damage to physical damage. After the completeness of the mathematical model fell below its limit, the stability would also rapidly decrease. After the battle, even if this universe did not perish, it would become an unusable world and perish in a short period of time.
If that was the case, then let's just fight it out … We can't protect it anyway.
My sister rested for a while and prepared for the next round of Misfortune Reversal Halo. At the same time, the crystal fragments floating around her gradually stabilized. The Misfortune Reversal Halo was usually a continuous effect. During the entire battle, it could guarantee that the units protected by the halo would have a higher chance of reflecting damage. However, in order to increase its lethality, my sister made this halo an explosive effect. It would only last for a short period of time each time, but during the duration of the halo's effect, it would allow the Fallen Apostles to receive full damage from their own cannon fire. Furthermore, the halo's effective range was greatly expanded. As a price, my sister needed about ten minutes to recharge the halo. This reminded me of capacitors. My sister probably belonged to the category of capacitors with extremely large capacities.
"The second defense column's shield is severely overloaded. Retreat to the inner formation. The first defense column, return to your combat positions."
The ship's mainframe was reporting part of the fleet's situation. The emotionless mainframe maintained a calm tone throughout. However, I had already discovered that the interval between the two defense columns' shifts had become very short. This meant that the combined shield formed by the Bordership-class fortress ships was weakening as a whole. While my sister's Misfortune Reversal Halo was charging, all of the enemy's attacks would land on the combined shield. The Bordership-class fleet would be under a lot of pressure.
The Sixth Army wasn't at full strength at all. We had just finished a fierce battle at the distant border. The fleet's losses were already very high, especially the defense fleet. Almost every ship was in a sub-healthy state. Err, this description might not be too professional. In any case, I couldn't think of a more suitable term. You just had to understand what I meant.
I turned on the communicator. The holographic projection flickered twice, and a squarish, righteous, and dignified face appeared on it. When this face appeared on the military channel, it was the only time I found it pleasing to the eye. "Sicarro, how much longer can your ship last?"
"Retain the ability to return. Two hours. If you don't return, you'll have to give up your ship. Three hours and twenty minutes. You'll have to pay the price of being completely annihilated. Four hours and fifty-five minutes." Sicarro's reply was very serious. He had directly used the lives of his entire army as the strength of the shield to calculate the duration of the battle. Of course, I wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. However, this was the way the Shiring Apostles had always thought.
"… It's already much better than I expected." I nodded. Maintaining the shield for two hours without breaking under the Fallen Apostles' overwhelming attacks was already an astonishing level of defense. Sicarro was someone who put all his points into Dexterity, but he put all his points into Defense in his fleet. In this case, it didn't seem like it would be a problem for him to forcefully break through the blockade.
"We can use Misfortune Reversal now." At this moment, the older sister suddenly raised her eyes and said. She simply glanced at the warning radar and nodded as if she understood. "Everyone, warp towards Sandora's direction. Then, I'll begin to destroy the Fallen Apostles' fleet."
Beside her, the distortion produced by the force field had already formed a nearly circular vortex. It was as if the older sister's entire body was inside a crystal ball. Large amounts of crystal fragments floated in front of her, symbolizing the Fallen Apostles' fleet in this area.
The ship's mainframe received the order and began to coordinate the entire army's command link. It rapidly accelerated every single spaceship. After a short warp engine charge, the fleet abruptly left our current space-time. When we reappeared, we were already tens of millions of light years away. We couldn't go any further. A single warp that exceeded a hundred million light years would completely destroy the stability of space. Although this universe was already beyond saving, we still couldn't destroy the foothold under our feet before the battle ended.
The Fallen Apostles instantly noticed the abnormal movements of the Sixth Army. Although their combat state wasn't great, the commander's mind was still there. In an instant, the enemy noticed our army's intention to join forces with the Fourth and Fifth Combined Fleets. Countless red signals appeared on the warning radar in an instant. The ship's mainframe issued a hurried warning. "Warning, enemy warp attack is imminent … A large-scale spatial fold has appeared in front of the warp route. Confirmed that the enemy has deployed a space disruptor."
"Die!" When the enemy's bombardment landed on our Combined Shield and was bounced back on a large scale, the older sister suddenly let out a low roar. She abruptly waved her hands at the crystal fragments floating in front of her. Then, she pressed down with great force. A pair of fair and delicate hands pressed down on the crystal fragments that looked like ornaments, triggering a miniature chain of explosions. The crystal fragments originally came from some decorative crystal beads and didn't contain any energy. However, they were now bursting with bright light, like mini explosives that had been detonated. Every explosion would produce a small shock wave. These shock waves only had a radius of a few centimeters under the older sister's hands, but I knew that every single one of them represented a starship that had turned into a huge fireball with a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
The elder sister's hands were surrounded by a layer of blue light. She needed a lot of energy to maintain this powerful curse, but she didn't seem to feel uncomfortable about it. On the contrary, she looked at the beautiful sparks half a meter in front of her with a satisfied smile on her face. She seemed to be very happy.
I couldn't help but feel goosebumps all over my body. Fortunately, my sister's handiwork was as bad as her drawing skills. Otherwise, she would have been sewing dolls all day long, with each doll pierced with silver needles. Then, the entire galaxy would be my sister's victims …
However, although my sister's curse power was powerful, it wasn't unlimited. She could only destroy the enemy's small and medium-sized warships so easily. The Eternal-class and Borderland-class warships with thick skin were protected by powerful psionic shields. Psionic energy could largely reduce any damage other than the void, including mysterious damage such as curses. Therefore, when my sister's curse ritual ended, the crystal fragments thinned a lot, but the large fragments were almost intact.
Despite the serious damage, the enemy's mothership and fortress warships with strong defense were still intact.
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