Just as she thought she would face a thunderous all-out assault from the enemy taking advantage of their momentum, the two Pluto Fleet clusters that had been tearing at her flanks like ravenous wolves suddenly began to pull back their offensive.
They did not continue to cut deeper, nor did they attempt to outflank the central array.
Instead, the starships executing the suppression mission began to withdraw in an orderly manner, breaking close contact with the Iron Curtain Fleet.
The "Shadow Moon"-class destroyer group, which had just completed its bloody assault, turned around decisively and accelerated to regroup with the main force of the Pluto Fleet.
The two flanking clusters quickly converged, merging back into a complete fleet formation.
Then, this enemy that had just dealt a heavy blow to the Iron Curtain actually powered their engines to full capacity and accelerated without hesitation toward the depths of the Savannah Star System, showing no intention of lingering in battle. They left behind only the wreckage of Imperial starships and the lingering energy radiation.
This abrupt turn of events left the Iron Curtain Fleet, which had just barely stabilized its footing after the heavy blow, feeling bewildered and disoriented.
"They... retreated?"
A staff officer murmured in disbelief.
Isabella's adjutant, a young lieutenant colonel, watched the blue cursor receding on the screen, a mix of relief at having survived the ordeal and an impulsive desire to salvage some dignity flashing across his face.
He stepped forward and suggested,
"Commander, the enemy's sudden retreat may have created vulnerabilities during their formation shift!
Moreover, their prolonged failure to breach our central defensive line might mean they have been intimidated by our resilient defense, their morale shaken!
Should we... dispatch a fast fleet to pursue and harass their retreat?"
"Silence!"
Isabella snapped her head around, her ice-blue eyes burning with suppressed fury and cold sarcasm, her voice trembling slightly from the strain of restraint.
"Intimidated by our defense?
Are your eyes just for decoration?!"
She pointed at the shocking combat loss statistics on the main screen and the area on the right flank where wreckage was still burning and exploding.
"Look outside!
See what's left of the Bastion and Fortress Fleets!
The enemy launched a desperate assault with just a few dozen high-speed destroyers and traded them for nearly two Sub-Level Fleets of our main force!
The Steel Plate was pierced through by a single shot, and the Mammoth and Gray Wolf were utterly annihilated!
You call that being intimidated by our defense?
You call that shaken morale?"
The adjutant turned pale from the reprimand, not daring to utter another word.
Isabella took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
Her gaze returned to the direction where the Pluto Fleet had disappeared, filled with deep suspicion and vigilance.
"They weren't driven back; they left of their own accord."
Her voice was low,
"At a moment when they held a clear advantage, even had the opportunity to further expand their gains.
Suddenly halting and heading at full speed into the interior of the star system...
This unsettles me more than if they had continued their attack."
She did not believe Qin Bei Wang would make such a low-level mistake as "quitting while ahead," especially after paying the price to tear open the Iron Curtain's defensive line.
This abnormal withdrawal surely concealed a greater scheme.
"Order the entire force to maintain the highest alert, reorganize formations, assist the wounded, and recover any functional starships."
Isabella finally gave the order, her tone grave.
"At the same time, dispatch all reconnaissance ships that are still operational to follow them from a distance. Maintain that distance. I want to know exactly where they're going and what they intend to do. Additionally, immediately encrypt and send the battle report and our assessment to Zane Barrett and Lancaster. Warn them that the enemy in the Savannah Star System is far more dangerous and cunning than any of us imagined."
She gazed into the deep, dark starfield that had just swallowed that terrifying fleet. A sense of foreboding, like icy vines, coiled around her heart. What greater objective was Qin Bei Wang abandoning his immediate prey to pursue?
Zane Barrett led the three belatedly arriving Bloodblade Main Fleets as they charged into Langkawi Star's defensive perimeter. The scene before him froze the notoriously ferocious Imperial general where he stood before the bridge observation window.
The once-bustling and orderly outer orbital defense platforms were now nothing but fractured, twisted metal skeletons, floating silently in the void like carcasses gnawed by some colossal beast. The massive dock gates were warped and deformed, their edges retaining bizarre shapes from molten metal that had solidified. The harbor berth area was even more appalling; wreckage of starships large and small were piled and fused together. Some still burned with an eerie glow, releasing their final light and heat, staining drifting clouds of coolant ice crystals with strange hues. The familiar angular silhouettes and paint schemes of Imperial warships were now reduced to shattered, charred, lifeless debris, all jumbled together and nearly indistinguishable.
"This... what the hell is this..." Barrett's thick arm slammed down onto the alloy control console before him with a dull, heavy thud. The scar on his face flushed a dark red from extreme rage, twisting grotesquely.
"Qin—Bei—Wang—!!!" He practically roared the name, the sound echoing across the bridge, making several officers' eardrums throb. He tore open the top button of his collar as if the military uniform were strangling him. "I'm going to kill you! I'm going to tear your damn fleet apart ship by ship into scrap! I'm going to..." A torrent of vicious curses and threats, laced with all manner of vulgar slang, erupted from between his clenched teeth. He paced back and forth on the bridge like a caged beast utterly enraged yet unable to find its foe, his fists clenched so tight they creaked, his eyes sweeping murderously over every horrific image on the screens.
Just then, the communications officer, trembling, handed him a freshly decrypted urgent battle report. From Isabella Marlow.
Barrett snatched it roughly, his eyes scanning the cold text:
"...Ambushed by the Pluto Fleet's main force at the edge of the star system... Colossus and Dire Wolf Fleets suffered heavy losses. Flagships Mammoth and Gray Wolf confirmed destroyed... Enemy tactical coordination extremely efficient, possesses T5-class strategic firepower (Kunlun Mountain - Modified) and specialized high-speed destroyers (Shadow Moon Class)..."
Each word felt like a red-hot knife plunging into Barrett's heart.
"Guh—!" Overwhelmed by the peak of his fury, Barrett felt a sudden metallic sweetness in his throat and actually spat out a small mouthful of blood. It spattered in tiny droplets across the report's display screen and the back of his own hand.
The bridge fell deathly silent instantly. Everyone stared at their Commander in horror.
"Four fleets... Four fleets..."
Barrett's voice grew hoarse and trembling. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, yet his gaze grew even more terrifying.
"My Colossus, Dire Wolf... and here, 'Owl,' 'Raptor'... four fleets! A full four fleets!"
The Bloodedge Sub-Fleet, at full strength, consisted of only six Sub-Level Fleets, plus the Directly Subordinate Fleet he personally commanded.
Now, in a single stroke, he had lost over two-thirds of his core strength!
This wasn't merely a numerical loss. These were the elite forces he, Zane Barrett, had painstakingly accumulated over years of dominating the border—the very foundation of his fearsome reputation, the capital behind his arrogance!