Chapter 486: Ch
Watching all his ministers walk away quickly, Vance couldn’t help but let out a frustrated sigh while rubbing his forehead, which was throbbing with pain. He had never thought in a million years that one day even he would be facing such a situation—never in his wildest dreams, nor did he think anyone else ever would.
And yet, it was happening, and at a pace he couldn’t keep up with or process accordingly. As a person of power and authority over a well-established Tier 3 state, he only learned of the crisis right before more than a quarter of his territory had already fallen. Trillions of his citizens were already gone in a matter of a few days—not a week, not a month.
It seemed even the Star Empire was helpless against these Void Humans for a reason. Vance sighed as he tried to send a communication to the Imperial Fleet of the Star Empire. But he couldn’t connect, just as he hadn’t been able to reach other members of his government throughout this star sector.
He frowned before sighing with a troubled look and tone. It appeared that even the Imperial Fleet—consisting of thirty thousand ships, each built with peak Tier 3 technology—was gone as well.
His face turned a bit pale and listless. If... if even that powerful fleet was really taken down by the humans, then could I st— No. Just as these thoughts emerged, Vance snapped back to his senses and shook his head hurriedly.
We still have a chance. We definitely have a chance to fight against these Void Human forces. I cannot give up and let these thoughts brew in my mind, Vance thought, quickly pushing the negative ideas aside. He tapped the table, prompting a holographic chart of the star system and 18 satellite star systems to appear, along with the number of remaining ships at his disposal. He immediately began calculating and planning.
Meanwhile, in another part of the territory belonging to the Moon Republic, the Grand Fleet of the Void Lance—which had once again split into three fleets moving on individual missions—began another round of absolute slaughter and destruction. Whichever system they passed, they laid waste to the entire star system’s defense forces, while every habitable planet was ravaged with Red Bio-Annihilation missiles.
The aftermath was nothing less than space turned into a graveyard of scrap metal, with large and small fragments of destroyed, sunken ships of various classes floating alongside mechs and starfighters. The planets below had their atmospheres altered, shrouded in a red fog, with not a single living soul left behind—other than the trees.
It was a scene of utter desolation, one that would chill anyone to the bone, especially if they knew that this was not what the star system, the skies of those habitable planets, or the destroyed cities once looked like.
Just like that, two days passed, and the Void Lance Grand Fleet finally reformed near the core region of the Moon Republic’s territory.
Mav had just finished settling the battle plan. Final preparations were already made and ready, and he was reviewing the gathered information displayed before him.
Having attacked the Bright Moon Republic and its subordinate states, his grand fleet had long since infiltrated their systems.
They were able to gather almost all the information they needed about the remaining strength the Republic had left.
Having already taken down three of the four Supreme Families—who controlled a vast amount of power within the Republic—along with wiping out an additional quarter of their territory and even more of the Bright Moon Republic’s star defense forces, he knew the Republic was already on its last legs, a toothless tiger.
Mav knew this, but he remained cautious. Looking at the data, he understood that the battle ahead would be a bit more taxing on him and his subordinates than he had initially anticipated.
The President of the Republic had literally pulled every lever he could, gathering a grand armada made up of five hundred thousand starships. However, most of them were nothing more than a chaotic swarm.
Over 70 percent of this armada’s strength came from a patchwork of militias—pulling in any planetary guards they could access, alongside guild members and private family forces—consisting mostly of frigate-class ships and a number of cruisers, with very few true heavy-class ships like battleships or super battleships.
Furthermore, most were Tier 2 vessels, with only the remaining 30 percent being true veteran forces with battle experience.
Among those veteran forces were about twenty thousand true Tier 3 peak warships, packing heavy firepower made up exclusively of cruisers, battleships, super battleships, and even eight Fortress ships and three Moon Fortresses, flanked by thirty thousand entry-to-mid-level Tier 3 ships.
It was quite a massive number of ships and a very heavy display of power.
Mav was actually a bit surprised that the Bright Moon Republic—which had been mostly degraded from the inside by aristocratic families acting like wood-eating bugs—still possessed such a level of strength.
However, that was as far as the surprise went for Mav and his two High Admirals, Ritika and Ritik. The enemy had numbers and even a bit of firepower. If this were their past selves, back before they walked the path of Star Pilots, they certainly would have had to fall back and wait for reinforcements to truly take the Bright Moon Republic down.
But now, walking the path of Star Pilots and commanding their own true ships, Mav and the others had no illusions about the absolute power they wielded.
Having already tested their capabilities, they knew that with proper coordination, they could take on such a vast armada with a mere ten thousand true ships—comprising battlecruisers at the bare minimum, battleships at the mid-level, and super battleships, Star Destroyers, and even a few Super Star Destroyers in the mix.
A single Super Star Destroyer could already go head-to-head with one of those massive, thousands-of-kilometers-wide Moon Fortresses without losing ground, let alone anything else in their fleet.
Mav gave a single glance toward Ritika and Ritik. "Let’s get moving. There’s nothing for us to worry about—just remain a bit cautious, and that’s it. Let’s charge."
Ritika smirked and sighed. "And here I thought you had other thoughts..."
Saying that, she blinked her eyes at Mav, and her figure vanished from the bridge of the Lance of the Void. She left Mav a bit dazed, his mouth twitching as he resisted the urge to criticize Ritik for failing to keep his sister in check and letting her do as she pleased.
However, Ritik was smarter this time. He had no desire to be the third wheel caught between two people—even if one was his own blood sister and the other was his superior. Wishing to avoid becoming a literal punching bag, a wiser Ritik was quick to make his exit as well.
He left Mav standing there with his mouth agape, no words coming out, seeing that the exact person he wanted to shout at had already run off.
The scene was a bit awkward for Mav’s direct subordinates, who looked at him before hurriedly turning their heads away, pretending to be deeply immersed in their work. The moment made Mav feel like he was in an anime scene—one where a flock of cawing crows flies over a character stuck in a deadpan silence.
He humph’d. "I’ll deal with both of them after this is finished. Just you two wait," he thought, clenching his fist before deciding to vent his frustration onto his direct subordinates by barking out orders one by one.
A few minutes later, the entire Grand Fleet vanished from the star system where they had been gathered, warping toward Selene Prime—one of the twenty star systems in the core region, where the Republic’s vast fleet had set up its defense line.
The Republic’s hastily assembled yet undeniably grand defense grid formed what one could call an almost impenetrable wall of firepower. The outermost line consisted of automated defense platforms armed with massive planetary-class weapons, utilizing both kinetic and high-energy variants.
Positioned further out were hidden corridors of stealth plasma mines, already fully primed and active. Inward behind the massive armada lay arrays of heavy particle cannon systems, locked and aimed at the incoming vector.
When the Grand Fleet of the Lance of the Void dropped out of hyperspace, their prior intelligence on the minefield allowed them to emerge well beyond its lethal radius. Immediately upon exiting hyperspace, they deployed EMP depth charges while simultaneously engaging their sub-light engines, easily bypassing the outer minefields that had been temporarily disabled by the electromagnetic pulses.
Without giving the prepared Republic forces time to lock on, the Grand Fleet launched another barrage of EMP charges. The resulting pulse instantly disrupted target acquisition systems across the entire star system.
While this didn’t completely stop the Republic from unleashing a massive volley of attacks, the incoming fire was rendered unfocused—though it still posed a significant threat if allowed to land.