Legacy of the Void Fleet

"If you think that is enough to bring down my fleet and create a hole through which you can escape..." Mav’s eyes turned cold as he looked upon the charging fleet. "...then you are chasing nothing but a dream."

"Everyone, attack! Show these people just how futile their efforts and this little power-up are against the far superior strength and might of the human race!" Mav ordered at once to all his subordinates, be it his own personal fleet or the entire Lance of the Void Grand Fleet.

With his order, every ship within the Lance of the Void Grand Fleet launched a coordinated attack of high-density, destructive, mana-charged firepower.

Be it energy-based weapons or hard-material kinetic attacks, each possessed terrifying destructive power in its own right. Powered by both the mana of their Star Pilots and the mana that the True Ships themselves drew from the surrounding space, the attacks had their destructive power amplified many times over.

Thousands upon thousands of attacks, based on two entirely different principles, almost tore through the very void of space itself as they struck the rushing Illyrain fleet that was charging toward them with unrestrained ferocity.

The moment those attacks landed upon the Illyrain shields, they were like rain falling upon fragile bubbles.

The shields burst apart almost instantly.

The attacks continued onward without losing much of their momentum, slamming directly into the hulls of nearly twenty thousand ships out of the forty-five thousand that had charged.

And before long, suns after suns burst forth across the battlefield.

One after another, ships disappeared within blinding explosions, swallowing entire vessels and killing the countless Illyrain crew members aboard them.

And just like that, within merely a few seconds—at most a minute or two—of the forty-five thousand ships that had charged, around eighteen thousand had been completely destroyed, leaving behind nothing but a few tumbling scraps drifting through the endless void of space, where only moments ago complete warships filled with living crews had existed.

Such was the terror of the Lance of the Void Grand Fleet’s strength.

The horrifying sight left the remaining charging Illyrain ships, along with the people commanding them, completely dazed.

To all of them, what they had just witnessed felt so unreal that it was almost believable as an illusion.

While the Illyrain forces remained frozen in shock without exception, Mav’s Lance of the Void Grand Fleet did not stop.

Without giving them even a single moment to recover, they unleashed another coordinated volley.

But this time, their targets were not only the remaining twenty-odd thousand warships, along with the moon-sized fortress and the few thousand remaining defensive installations.

Their true targets were the other five habitable planets that now housed the majority of the Illyrain people within the Orentol Star System.

Mav wanted this race belonging to the Bright Moon Republic to witness something they had done to the human race just a few weeks ago.

Killing them right in front of their well-trained and capable warriors, who were helpless and unable to do anything because they were slaves, because they were weak, because they were human.

Mav wanted to show these Illyarin people their fair share of the same thing—that they too could be helpless, they too could be weak.

All this was because they belonged to the Illyarin race, and because his human race could afford to do that, so he would.

And since they couldn’t deal with him, they would instead watch the destruction of their planets, along with the countless lives of trillions of people of their race being consumed.

And that, when they, the guardians of their race, were still standing, yet the very people they should have protected were killed instead.

Vael, who was stunned, came out of his daze when he saw countless attacks from their enemy launched toward the remaining five habitable worlds that housed every bit of the Illyarin population in this star system. To his horror, he wailed,

"Nooooo! Stop it!" he shouted.

But what could his shouting do? It was already too late.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

These attacks struck all the space cities circling the five planets, causing them to explode just as quickly as they were hit, fragmenting into massive chunks as they began to fall towards the planets. Along with them, the sky cities, though smaller, would still have a devastating impact on the Illyarin people.

At the same time, simultaneously, all the missiles quickly reached the five planets and exploded almost at once within their atmospheres, releasing the same kind of red fog that attracted thunderclouds and corrupted both the skies and the air.

As these clouds rained down in a crimson downpour throughout all five worlds, they corroded every living being, while the very air burned them from within, wiping out most of the population living on those five planets at once.

Following that, the falling sky cities crashed into the land-based cities, destroying huge sections of those vast metropolises and claiming the lives of many who had still been safe within the well-protected walls of their homes, dying a death without even knowing when it had claimed them.

Following the fall of the sky cities, even larger fragments of the orbital space cities followed. With each impact, the entire planets trembled, and enormous clouds of dust rose from the ground as though hundreds of thousands of nuclear weapons had detonated across the world, devastating and permanently affecting the ecological systems of all five planets.

The destruction killed even those who were hiding deep underground, among whom was the Star Lord of this system, who had in fact been the only person who had even tried to reach out to Lance of the Void Grand Fleet. Yet he perished just as tragically as the others.

He was cursed by the Second Elder of the Illyarin Supreme Family, who was hiding somewhere within this star system. But it was clear that he wasn’t on any of the habitable planets. If he had been, he too would have died.

As for where he was, it was still not clear. Though for how much longer that would remain the case, the Second Elder and his people had no idea.

Aware that they couldn’t contact anyone, nor could they escape using hyperspace, the only way out was to open a gap in the unknown enemy’s formation. Then, and only then, could they hope to escape alive.

The pressure on the Second Elder was immense because this was a matter of survival. But currently, his mind wasn’t filled with thoughts of escape. Instead, it was consumed by rage—boundless rage—anger, fear, hopelessness, and helplessness.

Despite the strength he possessed compared to most, he could only stand and watch as a vast portion of his fellow people, members of his own race, melted away and vanished from the face of the galaxy, killed so brutally and agonizingly.

Yet he could only stand there and watch. He could only think of ways to escape despite being one of the people who wielded immense power within both his race and the Republic. He was helpless.

The Second Elder’s body was shivering. His wings were folded tightly around himself as his entire body trembled like many of the others.

Vael was not much different from the Second Elder, but he was in an even worse state, for he felt that his responsibility was far greater than that of the Second Elder. Yet under his watch, trillions had died just like that, while he was still alive and a vast portion of his forces still remained standing.

He was terrified of the enemy’s strength, but he also felt anger—anger towards what had happened, anger at his own powerlessness, and anger born from his own helplessness for not being in a position of overwhelming strength.

The emotions became so overwhelming that he suddenly puked blood. His face instantly lost all its color and turned deathly pale. Unable to remain standing from the weakness that followed, he collapsed face-first onto the bridge floor.

His subordinates, seeing that, immediately rushed toward him.

"Gr-Grand Admiral!"

They quickly helped him sit up properly while attempting to regulate the mana within his body, which had become turbulent from his overwhelming anger.

Just as they were helping him, a sudden laugh echoed throughout the bridge of the Moon Fortress.

"Hahahahaha! Well, well, well... would you all look at that? The Grand Admiral of the Illyarin race, one of the Supreme Clans of the Moon Republic, a dominant local power...

"Holding supreme over many Tier 2 and even more Tier 1 powers. Who had wiped out numerous races, who had brushed the faces of the weak into the mud to reach this level of position, authority, and recognition.

Yet what had happened to the glorious Grand Admiral of the Moon Republic? That he can’t even stand on his own feet now. That he has to puke blood from his mouth. Totally unexpected, yet what a sight to behold. Hahahaha."

The voice was seemingly praising the achievement,