The cruisers and battleships of the Iron Curtain Fleet, their formations in disarray, were desperately returning fire.
During their initial phase, the torpedoes relied on inertia to glide at approximately fifty thousand kilometers per second, placing them well within the effective interception range of point-defense cannons.
The Iron Curtain Fleet's point-defense systems reacted immediately, saturating the space with barrages and beams.
However, when the torpedo swarm closed to within two hundred thousand kilometers, their main propulsion engines abruptly ignited at full power!
Boom!
An invisible shockwave propagated through the vacuum.
Instantly, the velocity of all "Regicide" torpedoes surged, breaking through to one hundred eighty thousand kilometers per second!
This acceleration caused most of the predictive close-defense fire to miss entirely, the barrages passing harmlessly by their sides.
The point-defense gunners of the Iron Curtain Fleet narrowed their eyes in alarm, hastily adjusting interception parameters.
But that wasn't the end of it.
As the torpedoes approached to one hundred thousand kilometers—a distance considered point-blank in interstellar combat—their auxiliary pulse engines mounted along the torpedo bodies ignited simultaneously!
Secondary acceleration!
The velocity indicators jumped wildly, directly surpassing the terrifying threshold of two hundred thousand kilometers per second!
This speed far exceeded the tracking and targeting capabilities of conventional point-defense systems.
The barrages fired from hastily swiveling gun muzzles chased futilely behind the torpedoes, falling farther and farther behind like clumsy hounds trying to catch lightning.
Over a dozen "Regicide" torpedoes, like death's messengers breaking all restraints, trailed eerie blue plumes as they slammed irresistibly into the seemingly impregnable steel array of the Iron Curtain Fleet!
Their targets were the turrets still spewing fire, the hull modules housing the active shield generators—the very foundation of the Imperial defensive line.
The black "Regicide" torpedoes, moving at the horrifying speed of two hundred thousand kilometers per second, seemed to disregard spatial barriers, instantly closing in on the energy-shimmering shields of the Iron Curtain starships.
At the moment the torpedo tips made contact with the shield energy fields, there was no expected violent collision or explosion.
Instead, the specialized warheads of the torpedoes activated, releasing a highly tuned, high-intensity electromagnetic pulse wave.
This pulse wave precisely cut into the frequency band of the shield generators.
Hummm—!
A low-frequency, teeth-grating resonant vibration transmitted through the hull structures into every targeted Iron Curtain starship.
The once uniform, dense energy shields, flowing with stable halos, suddenly rippled with violent, irregular undulations, as if red-hot iron had been plunged into calm water.
The shields' colors shifted rapidly from steady light blue or pale gold to flickering unpredictably, sparking with dangerous intensity.
In the local areas where the resonance effect was strongest, the shield energy structure was severely disrupted and weakened, even developing brief, visibly apparent energy voids!
"Shield generator frequency anomaly! Stability dropping sharply! Localized shield strength attenuation exceeding 70%!"
The shield officers' screams echoed simultaneously on the bridges of several Iron Curtain warships.
But it was already too late for any adjustments.
At the very moment the shields were at their weakest, the hardened warheads of those "Regicide" torpedoes sliced through the supposedly impenetrable energy barrier like hot knives through semi-solidified grease!
Instead of detonating externally, they relied on their residual kinetic energy to slam violently against the starship's physical armor.
Immediately after, the front warheads exploded.
Intense heat and pressure, acting like a drill, poured directly onto the point of contact between the warhead and the armor.
The thick armor was instantly melted through.
And the torpedoes burrowed deep into the starship's interior.
Inside a heavy cruiser, lower engine maintenance corridor.
Several engineers were urgently repairing a damaged pipeline when they suddenly heard a piercing screech of metal scraping and tearing from above.
Terrified, they looked up to see the ceiling bulge and rupture violently. A dark, elongated cylindrical object, its tail flickering with unstable electrical sparks, forced its way through the twisted metal, lodging itself between the corridor's beams and pipes, mere meters away from them.
"What... what is that?"
A young soldier stared dumbfounded at the unfamiliar, still-vibrating projectile.
"A new... special missile from the ammunition depot? How did it end up here?"
No sooner had he spoken than a red indicator light on the side of the projectile switched from a steady blink to a constant glow.
The delayed fuse timer reached zero.
There was no earth-shattering roar from outside first.
Instead, an intensely blinding white light erupted from within the starship!
The radiance burst forth from the breach the torpedo had created, from the seams of nearby hatchways, from the ventilation shafts—instantly engulfing everything in the vicinity.
Only then came the deep, muffled, thunderous explosion, as if roaring from the very bowels of a colossal beast!
The heavy cruiser that had taken a direct hit from the torpedo swelled up like a balloon amidships and aft.
Every armor seam spewed scorching flames and droplets of molten metal before the ship broke in two from sympathetic detonations. The explosions of its stored ammunition and energy core tore it apart completely.
Nearby, a destroyer that had also been struck seemed as if crushed by an invisible hand from within.
Its hull twisted and deformed severely, countless fragments and human remains spewing from various breaches. It instantly lost all power and signals.
A battleship named Anvil was more fortunate; the torpedo had penetrated a non-critical area.
But the violent internal explosion still tore away nearly half of its broadside. Fierce fires raged inside, multiple weapon systems went offline, turning it into a burning, broken fortress.
In just a single close-range volley of "Regicide" torpedoes, the remaining cruisers and destroyers on the Iron Curtain Fleet's right flank—those still capable of organized resistance—suffered devastating internal strikes.
Over a dozen starships were either completely disintegrated by the violent internal explosions or rendered combat-ineffective. Most of the remaining ships were damaged, their formation shattered, and their chain of command thrown into chaos.
The once-orderly right-wing defensive line had now become a death zone, adrift with burning wreckage and leaking various gases and liquids.
The Iron Curtain Fleet's meticulously constructed "shield wall" had been dealt a bloody, gaping wound by this fatal internal blow—a breach that would be difficult to mend.
When Isabella Marlow saw the fleet markers on the right wing dim in clusters and flicker with red lights indicating severe damage or destruction on the main screen, her knuckles gripping the armrest turned completely bloodless from excessive force.
Pluto Fleet Flagship.
Tactical Center of the "Kunlun Mountain - Modified."
The massive curved main screen was divided into multiple windows, displaying real-time dynamics from various points across the battlefield.
Qin Bei Wang stood motionless before the command console, his posture still upright. There was no excitement or self-satisfaction on his face after defeating a formidable enemy, only a deep, ocean-like calm.
As if the grand and brutal starship slaughter outside the window, which would decide the fate of the Savannah Star System, was merely a step-by-step simulation on the tactical sand table before him.