Chapter 40: The Enemy is at the Border

Day 128

FINALY!

I spent two days in the clan's formation with my cousin and we both managed to enter the body forging realm.

The feeling is wonderful. When my own qi resonated with the energy of heaven and earth, my internal energy continued to make several revolutions in my body without me having to do anything.

The external spiritual energy mingled with my internal energy, but I knew I shouldn't appropriate it.

I let it do what it wanted, and guided by my qi, it continually strengthened and expanded my meridians and dantian. After that, it was my bone marrow and bones that were refined.

I believe I have gained 5kg, but my skeleton is even more resilient, and it would be difficult for me to fracture my bones. In addition, I can exert even more strength than before.

Although it's not as extreme as doubling it, I must have gained 10%, which is quite good considering the solidity of my body. Now that the door is open, I just have to continue on my path of cultivation.

...

[Somewhere ten million light-years away from the border between Laniakea and Shapley]

…

In the center of the galaxy, there was a huge metallic platform that floated in the void, spanning nearly a million kilometers.

One side was filled with technological devices and was covered with numerous matrices, arrays, and complex formations, combining scientific prowess and magical arts.

On the other side, there was a huge dark green spatial channel that encompassed the entire area of the platform.

Billions of people and spaceships continuously entered and exited the spatial channel, forming a continuous flow.

The alliance controlled the entirety of the Laniakea stellar field, but only in broad terms.

It was impossible to really control such a vast territory, and as long as there was no civilization at the god-king level that resist, the galaxy was directly considered part of the alliance's territory.

Thus, it was one of the most popular wormholes as it allowed to enter the nearly unexplored galaxies of Laniakea and was teeming with opportunities for all alliance members.

Even though, the Alliance didn't let the platform without guards.

There were five battle stars and two entire fleets stationed around, totaling hundreds of billions of soldiers and more than 10 000 true gods, including seven god-king level existences.

This represented an enormous force. A single battleship could face rank 4 worlds, and each fleet was composed of 1000 battleships and a mothership.

These one were true metal monsters measuring several thousand kilometers long, and the weakest of their cannons could reduce rank 10 existences to ashes, while the main cannon could directly vaporize rank 4 worlds.

As for the battle stars, they were one of the most powerful tactic weapons of the alliance. They were a huge ball of metal about thirty thousand kilometers radius and covered with cannons and various armaments at the same level as motherships, but way more numerous.

The only drawback was their immense size and their gravity, which deprived them of the flexibility of battleships and prevented them from moving easily.

Their real role was not to serve as a bridgehead on the battlefield but to hold defensive positions and provide support to the defense fleets.

...

In the control room of the wormhole platform, thousands of soldiers manipulated several holographic screens, forming an enormous cacophony of noises and voices.

Beep beep beep

Suddenly, the blue lights turned red and a siren blared at full volume throughout the room.

"Colonel, an unknown fleet has just exited subspace about one billion kilometers from the station!" A soldier roared and reported the information to his superior.

A centaur woman, who was apparently in charge of the platform, frowned and turned around.

"How many spaceships do they have?"

"Report, about fifteen hundred, battleship size, with two motherships, and they keep arriving."

"I want a visual on that fleet, and send a com request—"

"Colonel, we detect a massive energy buildup from the motherships!" A soldier yelled.

"Sound the general alarm, it's a violet code!" The colonel said with a dark expression.

...

Pvvvv

Two enormous energy beams traversed the void at high speed and struck one of the battle stars.

A small figure appeared in front and conjured a huge energy shield, blocking the attack.

He was the admiral in charge of the battle star, apparently a member of the wolf-men race and also a great immortal (equivalent to the god-king level).

BOOM

He managed to hold for a few seconds, but his barrier eventually shattered and the energy beams struck the battle star, triggering a massive explosion of spiritual energy and debris, taking the wolf-man with it.

Panicked, all civilians rushed to the wormhole, eager to flee as far as possible before ending up as collateral damage.

...

"Colonel, subspace continues to fluctuate and a large number of enemy ships are arriving every second."

The centaur colonel frowned as the bad news kept coming in.

"Colonel, incoming call from Admiral Chen Xiao!"

"Put him through on the main channel."

"Yes sir."

A few moments later, a hologram appeared in front of the centaur woman, revealing a middle-aged Asian man with a long beard, wearing the classic uniform adorned with a one-star rank, symbolizing his fleet admiral rank.

"Colonel Ker."

"Admiral Chen."

The man took a deep breath and finally spoke the words that no one wanted to hear.

"Colonel, there are already nearly 2000 enemy ships including three motherships, and their fleet continues to grow every moment." He said with a sigh. "Obviously, their target is the wormhole. We have already lost a battle star and Admiral Kazuki. Looking at the current situation, we won't be able to defend the station."

"Even if we win in the end, many of their ships will manage to cross the gate and infiltrate the alliance territory, which is not acceptable. Therefore, I am asking you to evacuate your personnel and initiate the platform's self-destruct procedure."

The female widened her eyes.

"But Admiral, what about the civilians? How will they return to the alliance territory?" Colonel Ker said.

"It is not the time to let your compassion speak." The admiral said with a frown. "They all are adventurers well aware of the risks. If we win, we will wait for them and bring them back with us, otherwise, it will make no difference as they will die anyway. Now less talk and more action, execute the orders!"

With that, the hologram disappeared.

Colonel Ker hesitated a bit but finally raised her head and took a deep breath.

She galloped to a certain control panel, passed through a complex code and a retinal, soul, and aura scan, and finally launched the countdown.

At that moment, a mechanical voice resounded throughout the platform.

"To all personnel, the platform's self-destruction has been initiated, the reactor core overload has begun, you have one hour to reach the evacuation ships and leave the platform."

"To all personnel, the auto..."

No matter where they were, everyone raised their heads upon hearing the announcement and rushed to the evacuation ships.

Fortunately, there were more than enough for everyone, and they should all be able to leave soon.

...

[Time remaining before reactor overload: 59 minutes and 47 seconds]

...

A while later, on the deck of the Mayflower, Admiral Chen's ship, the latter watched the entire alliance army mobilize.

Each battleship was a gigantic artifact composed of millions of sub-artifacts. Each soldier controlled a certain part, which they had to reinforce to deploy its true power.

Some focused on the energy shield, others on the hull, and others on the weapons.

Even if the battleship could operate alone, it would never be able to threaten supreme existences. It was only with the reinforcement of the soldiers that it could kill them and even have an impact on eternal beings.

This was also why two laser beams were enough to destroy a battle star and a god-king level being.

The ships multiplied the users' power, and led by god-kings, it was easy to reduce a being of the same level and an unprepared battle star to ashes.

Now that everyone had joined their post, it wouldn't happen again.

Even so, the alliance fleet lost nearly a hundred battleships before everyone took their positions.

"Admiral, subspace has stabilized, it seems the entire enemy fleet has arrived. There are ten motherships and nearly 10 000 battleships, approximate distance, 800 million kilometers."

Despite the bad news, Admiral Chen didn't flinch.

"Place the battle stars in front of the wormhole and engage the counterattack. When they reach 400 million kilometers deploy the fighters. In the meantime, tell each ship squadron to focus their fire on the lead ships."

"Yes sir!"

The adjutant gave a military salute and closed his eyes, transmitting the order to everyone on the ship.

...

[Time remaining before reactor overload: 37 minutes and 24 seconds]

...

A gigantic cannon several kilometers long pivoted and suddenly

BOOM

Pvvvvv

A huge laser beam left the cannon's mouth and disappeared into the void.

As the battle stars engaged the counterattack, the invaders also began to suffer heavy losses.

These things were literally covered with weapons, and their firepower was unparalleled.

At one point, hatches opened on the surface of the alliance ships, revealing enormous hangars.

Quickly, billions of starfighters emerged from the battleships and rushed towards the enemy.

This huge mass of starfighters quickly split into four groups flying at different speeds, according to the pilot's rank, ranging from rank 7 to rank 10.

Although they were called starfighters, they weren't that small at all. Most were nearly forty meters long and the largest reached eighty meters.

Even so, they were much more maneuverable and faster than the battleships.

Moreover, each pilot had a ship corresponding to his rank that he could customize as much as he wanted.

This resulted in a completely heterogeneous mass of ships, some being long and streamlined while others wide and round.

Admittedly, it wasn't very pretty to look at, but being a starfighter fighter pilot was undoubtedly one of the most dangerous jobs, with a mortality rate of at least 30% every time they were deployed.

Since each possessed different laws and were of different races, it was better to let them choose their own ship as long as it met army standards.

...

"Admiral, our two fleets have only 1600 cruisers left, and the enemy fleet has also deployed its fighters."

"I know. Tell our pilots to hold them off as long as possible. Our goal is not to win, but to buy time. As long as the wormhole is destroyed, they will retreat."

"Yes sir."

All this time, the admiral didn't move and didn't even open his eyes.

Although no one noticed, the god-king level existences had already started fighting and struggled with their will to view the battlefield.

There was no other way.

At such distances, even a deviation of a millionth of a degree was enough to completely miss the enemy ship and shoot into the void.

Although beings who had ignited the divine fire had very good vision and instinct, they could hardly hit their targets.

Admirals constantly had to fight to gain the upper hand in spiritual sense.

As long as this wasn't the case, only about 5% of the shots hit their target, but if one side was victorious, then it would be over. They could directly lock onto the ship's position and easily destroy them.

...

[Time remaining before reactor overload: 21 minutes and 56 seconds]

...

An extraterrestrial woman about half a dozen meters tall who look like a stone golem piloted a large black arrowhead-shaped fighter.

She stood in the cockpit, holding a huge orange glowing sphere with both hands.

It was the control center of her starfighter.

She sent her mental energy through the globe, reinforcing her ship and covering it with her mana, using it to empower the reactors, weapons, and energy shield, multiplying her own strength.

By the way, it also linked her directly to her ship. If the energy shield broke, the attack would be powerful enough to vaporize her.

Suddenly, the ship tilted down.

Pvvvvv

A few seconds later, a huge laser beam passed through the spot where she had just been.

Fortunately, the alliance engineers had planned everything and provided them with a means of communication to know where the battleships would fire so they could dodge before they shots.

"Mayflower here Gold Leader, we are engaging enemy fighters."

"Received Gold Leader, watch out for crossfire."

"Received Mayflower, over."

"Over."

Immediately, she straightened her ship and fired with its four cannons, hitting one of the enemy fighters and making its shield oscillate, although it was still far from breaking.

Pvvvvv

BOOM

Far away, a battleship had fired a few times ago and laser beam came from behind her, directly blowing up the fighter and the others behind it.

She continued to weave between the enemy fighters, blowing up a few and taking some hits when her transponder sounded in her ear.

"Gold Leader, there's a son of a bitch sticking to the 74th squadron's tail, taking them down like flies."

"I'm coming!"

However, as she began to turn around, she felt a bad premonition in her heart.

She wanted to change course, but it was already too late.

BOOM

Three rays hit her shield. The bluish barrier shattered in an instant and the rays penetrated the hull.

As she was on the brink of death, she saw it.

A pearly white starfighter about a hundred meters long that emitted an incredible aura; an aura she had always been seeking: that of transcendence towards eternity.

...

[Time remaining before reactor overload: 14 minutes and 52 seconds]

...