It was not a slender beam of light, but an annihilation torrent nearly two hundred meters in diameter, composed of high-density baryons and violent plasma.
Where the beam passed, space was distorted by extreme energy, creating transparent ripples.
Interstellar dust and small rocks that happened to drift into its path were instantly and silently vaporized upon contact with the beam's edge, leaving not a single trace behind.
Yet, the eight T5-class Battleships of the Tiankui Star Fleet had already positioned themselves in front of it.
Almost in the same microsecond the beam arrived, the shield generators surrounding the eight leviathans simultaneously emitted an overloaded shriek.
Hemispherical indigo energy shields instantly expanded.
The shield surfaces were not smooth light membranes but were instead flowing with intricate, complex gravity stabilization patterns resembling star chart trajectories.
The next moment, the annihilation torrent and absolute defense collided with a thunderous impact!
The vacuum swallowed the deafening roar, but the collision's energy was released in another form.
On the bridge, a piercing electromagnetic scream seemed intent on tearing through everyone's eardrums and nerves!
The shields were violently dented inward by the heavy particle beams, forming a terrifyingly massive arc-shaped depression!
The point of impact erupted with an intensely blinding white-purple light.
Billions of fragmented and chaotic energy arcs, like exploding stardust, wildly scattered and surged from the collision center in all directions across the shields!
The gravity patterns on the indigo shield surfaces twisted, flickered, and fluctuated at an unprecedented rate.
The uniform energy light membrane was relentlessly eroded and stripped away by the continuous high-energy particle stream.
The edges of the shields continuously disintegrated into fine light debris, like ice crystals melting under high heat, silently drifting away in the vacuum.
The massive, kilometer-long hulls of the eight battleships trembled violently under the sustained colossal force, their keels groaning under the strain.
On the holographic tactical screen, the bars representing shield energy plummeted at a cliff-like speed!
In the reactor chambers, cooling pipelines sprayed pale white high-pressure gas mist due to overload; every rivet on the warships seemed to be resisting this impact capable of shattering asteroids.
Against the backdrop of the dark cosmos, these eight radiant light shields became the sole focal point.
On one side, a particle frenzy that devoured all; on the other, an energy barrier holding firm without retreat. A brutal struggle between light and force etched searing scars into the silent void.
Several seconds passed, feeling as long as a century.
Finally, the continuous charging of the Imperial Battleship Main Cannons was exhausted, and the twenty annihilation beams abruptly contracted and vanished.
The dented and deformed indigo shields slowly rebounded and smoothed out.
The gravity patterns on their surfaces struggled to restabilize and resume their flow.
Ultimately, all cracks were mended.
Only a faint, gradually dissipating energy afterglow remained in front of the warships.
Miraculously, the eight Federation Battleships had withstood the saturation main cannon salvo!
However, the Imperial Fleet's nightmare was only just beginning.
Almost in the same instant their main cannons ceased fire and their energy systems entered a brief recharge interval—
From the seemingly calm deep space on the right flank, twenty more condensed, more dazzling blazing white heavy particle beams erupted without warning!
Like a viper that had lain in wait bared its deadly fangs!
It was the Pluto Direct Fleet, having completed their circular maneuver!
They seized the most vulnerable window right after the Imperial Fleet's volley.
These twenty beams were precise, ruthless, like a joint surgical strike calculated with the utmost precision.
All poured onto the T5-class battleships on the left wing of the Blood Locust Fleet array—those that had just finished firing and whose shield energy had not fully recovered!
The target warships' shield systems stress-activated, the light cyan energy barriers lighting up once more.
But the Pluto Fleet's long-planned volley far exceeded conventional levels in both energy peak and concentration.
The twenty beams were not scattered strikes; under the extreme guidance of the fire control system, they formed a brief energy focusing effect!
The furious particle torrents bombarded the same point or minimal area on the target shields!
The light cyan shield's radiance flickered wildly, distorted violently, emitting a wail on the verge of collapse.
The radiance flickered unsteadily, energy readings avalanching.
And even more deadly was that this unimaginable concentrated fire salvo triggered violent energy afterwaves and gravitational disturbances, sweeping like an invisible tsunami deep into the Imperial Fleet array!
"Crack—crash!"
A terrifying sound, as if crystal shattering amplified billions of times over, burst open at the energy level!
The theoretically impenatrably strong energy shields of the three battleships on the Blood Locust Fleet's left wing shattered under the impact of these twenty beams!
Transforming into a swirling dance, quickly annihilated light cyan light particles, dissipating in the void.
Stripped of this final barrier, the heavy but unprotected armor of the three battleships was directly exposed to the not yet fully calmed heavy particle beams.
Tear, penetrate, explode!
One of them was directly hit amidships by a particle beam, piercing through the armor and flooding the power core area.
The next second.
An incandescent fireball, dazzling to the extreme, comparable to a supernova explosion.
Expanded suddenly from within that battleship, instantly devoured its massive form kilometers long!
Intense chain detonations tore the entire warship into fragments from the inside!
Burning metal debris, twisted armor fragments, incompletely annihilated energy clusters.
Like the most brutal fireworks of a festival, wildly splashing toward the ice-cold dark universe in all directions!
The other two were also heavily damaged, hulls severely breached, losing most of their combat capability, drifting askew from the array under inertia.
With just one perfect tactical coordination and timing grasp.
The Federation Fleet, at the cost of eight battleships' shields overloading, destroyed three Imperial T5 battleships and heavily damaged two.
The sinister smile on the face of Blood Locust Fleet Commander General Knight completely froze, turning into unbelievable horror and fury.
Watching three of his precious T5 battleships destroyed or damaged under the enemy's exquisite coordinated strike, the rage in General Knight's chest almost burst through his chest.
His face turned ashen, forehead veins throbbed, he slammed a fist onto the command console with a dull, heavy thud.
"Bastards! Damned Federation cowards!
Only know how to play these underhanded tricks!"
He roared into the communication channel, voice distorted with anger.
"All units attention!
Entire fleet, full speed ahead!
Press forward!"
His arm swung fiercely forward, as if to crush the Federation Fleet on the screen.
"Free fire!
Saturation attack!
I don't need formation, I just need firepower!"
"Pour every shell, beam, and missile you have onto those bastards!
Target: Annihilate them all!
Leave none alive!"
The Commander's fury ignited the entire Blood Locust Fleet.
The previously restrained Imperial Array instantly transformed into a beast unleashed.
Over three thousand various types of Imperial warships roared in unison, their engines spewing tail flames blazing to the extreme.
Like a bursting steel tide, they abandoned all hierarchy and coordination.
With the most brutal, most direct approach, they launched a fierce charge toward the Tiankui Star Fleet's defensive line!
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