Legacy of the Void Fleet

The voice was seemingly praising the achievement, but anyone who was listening could tell that this wasn’t praise at all, but instead a mockery directed towards Vael, their Grand Admiral. But what was confusing was, where was this voice coming from, and who did it belong to?

Yet the voice continued without revealing itself.

"Yet look at the supreme, glorious Grand Admiral of the Moon Republic, who can’t even defend a single star system with such a powerful fleet, with such overwhelming numbers, and home-ground support. But still, all their people were killed, yet the guard remained. Indeed, you have established yourself once again, Grand Admiral Vael, as a warrior who remained alive. Yet the people he should have protected as a warrior were gone... dead."

"Truly impressive," the voice said again.

To others, it appeared as if whoever was speaking was genuinely impressed, but they all knew what that voice was truly impressed with. It was still mocking their Grand Admiral, and them as well. After all, who wasn’t a soldier there?

Their faces distorted quickly, and someone shouted,

"Damnit! Who are you? How dare you speak to our Grand Admiral like that? How dare you mock him... mock us? I dare you to come out of the shadows and show your face, and see what will happen!"

"..."

There was a brief pause for a moment.

"Hahaha. The owner hasn’t spoken a single word yet, and the dogs are already jumping out," said the voice again, making the person who had jumped out to speak turn a deep shade of red. But was it out of shame or anger? That was unknown.

"But indeed, I shall show myself, lest you all die without even seeing the face of the one who made you all despair... who made your Grand Admiral Vael puke blood, literally speaking."

As the voice fell silent, immediately all the systems across the bridge, and even across the whole Moon Fortress, began to flicker as random, weird codes appeared before everything returned to normal.

A face appeared on almost every holographic screen.

It was that of a man wearing a pure white uniform with golden stripes, seated on a high command seat.

Behind him was an emblem made of a mysterious silver-white metal. It was that of a sword in the middle, with two white wings covered in dragon scales and blazing fire together.

They appeared so real that one felt they were truly the wings of a Dragon and a Phoenix, giving a mysterious feeling to all the Illyarin soldiers, along with Vael.

As they saw it, they felt as if they were standing under the observation of a Dragon and a Phoenix themselves, bearing a horrendous pressure that made their hearts pound uncontrollably.

But just as they were dragged into that unknown world by the emblem of the Celestial Void Empire, they quickly came out of it and once again focused on the figure who was still sitting leisurely on his command seat, calmly looking at them.

Only then did they realize that it was a human.

And through that emblem, they also realized which power their attacker belonged to.

But before they could say anything, one soldier suddenly shouted,

"G-Grand Admiral! The enemy fleet is closing in towards us, making a small breach in our formation, and they are even incurring into our fortress, while most of their fleet remains behind, still maintaining another layer of encirclement.

"And we have detected another batch of enemy ships moving towards the desolate worlds and attacking our stations, taking down whatever is left of our people stationed there as we speak!"

Vael, who had recovered a bit by this time with the help of his subordinates, stood up. But to their surprise, he ignored whatever had just been reported and instead focused on the human figure appearing before him.

He felt that the "lowly" human was looking down on him, making his anger rise once again. Fuming internally, he spoke.

"So it’s you... human of the Celestial Void Empire, that did this. How dare you! Do you know what you have done? Do you know the consequences that your Empire will face for killing so many of my race? Do you not know the standing of the Illyarin people in the Bright Moon Republic, a renowned Tier 3 power?"

Vael said forcefully, controlling his anger. At the same time, he tried to make this Void human back down. Or was he really doing that?

No.

Actually, it was more than clear to him that this human knew exactly what they were here for, and they had already proven that they could care less about the Illyarin Clan, the Moon Republic as a whole, or even their patrons, whom they didn’t even bother to mention—the Star Empire.

So he knew that no matter what he said, his fate was almost decided.

What he actually wanted was to buy time.

Time for those ships closing in on his fortress to get into position. Then he would show them his own resolve.

That was why, to gain that precious time, he spoke this nonsense. But he miscalculated one thing.

Mav wasn’t a fool either. Yet he still pretended not to see through it and spoke,

"Ohh no... what have I done? I have actually attacked and killed trillions of people belonging to the Illyarin race, the supreme clan of the Moon Republic."

Mav said, pretending to shake in terror.

But it was crystal clear that it was nothing more than an act, and not even a convincing one.

"Now... now... wh-what would I do? Wh-what if you retaliated? Wh-what would happen to my Celestial Void Empire? A-and to my people?"

Mav continued, causing Vael’s face to gain another shade of red as his blood pressure surged once again.

"Yes!"

Suddenly, as if an idea had come to Mav’s mind, he slammed his left palm with his right fist.

"I have to wipe all of you out so that no one knows that we did this actually. It’s settled! All I need to do is kill you all, and I won’t have to worry about anything. And if no one knows that it was us who did this, will they even come after us? No... right? Right?"

Mav spoke excitedly while looking at the bewildered Illyarin people and their Grand Admiral before he spoke again, ordering his own people,

"Everyone, take down those last remaining more than twenty thousand ships. We don’t need them at all."

Just as those words fell, thousands of ships from behind struck once again.

Immediately afterward, the space around the Moon Fortress lit up as if a few miniature suns had suddenly appeared for a brief moment.

And when the light settled, what remained were only a few large and small chunks of wreckage. All of the more than twenty thousand ships were completely gone, leaving behind nothing but scraps and shattered debris.

What remained standing, and what contained the last surviving lifeforms of the Illyarin race in the surrounding star region, was now only the Moon Fortress itself.

Making those left behind no longer merely terrified, but completely hopeless. Many broke down, while others lost consciousness on the spot.

Vael’s face paled once again. He stumbled and fell, and this time no one came to support him.

Not because they didn’t want to.

But because all of his subordinates stood rooted to their positions, if they were even still conscious and hadn’t completely lost their fighting spirit, unlike the majority of people within the bridge—and across the entire fortress.

But even though he had fallen, there was still a spark that Vael maintained in his eyes.

He might not be able to avenge anyone.

But he wouldn’t die without harming the enemy. That was the only thought that remained in his mind. His spirit, much like everyone else’s, was already in shambles.

Ironically, it was the same thing he had once done to his former enemies during war.

Never had Vael thought that one day he too would stand in the very position his former foes had once occupied.

Or perhaps. An even worse one.

Thinking of it, he felt how ignorant he had been.

He thought he was already very powerful, but he had forgotten that there would always be a mountain higher than another somewhere.

No... it wasn’t that he had forgotten.

He knew very well that there existed mountains far higher than the one he stood upon now.

But he had never once thought from the point of view of those who stood on mountains smaller than his own. What would they think once they faced an enemy who stood upon a far higher mountain?

People like that. He had faced many. But he never gave them much thought.

He treated them as ants that could be crushed at his will in the many wars he fought for the Republic and his family.

"Heh... looks like I was an ant to those truly powerful beings who could crush me the moment they wanted to.