Xyrin Empire
Chapter 545: Firing Cannons, All Kinds of Firing Cannons

Chapter 545: Chapter 545: Firing Cannons, All Kinds of Firing Cannons

"I’m not leaving!"

The crisp and firm voice suddenly rose from behind, betraying a determined resolve beyond question—I know this expression doesn’t fit grammatically in this context, but at this moment, I’m so disordered that I can’t add more to it, so let’s not dwell on the nuances of a middle school first-year Chinese textbook.

If it’s going to be chaos, then so be it. With Lin Xue, that unique fellow around, I’ve had my fair share of people stirring up trouble, but why, of all people, is it Du Dao Sayaka — the calmest, brightest, and most sensible one — causing trouble for me now?

Just be your "Senior Sister Sayaka," girl!

"...I’m not leaving..."

After being stared at by me for probably more than half a minute, Du Dao wasn’t like Lin Xue, who, with her shamelessness, could almost be classified in her own unique taxonomy of life. This eighteen-year-old high school girl’s defensive strength was completely evident in what looked to be no less than a set of 83D front armor, indicating that her skin was rather thin (was this bizarre comparison randomly composed by rolling a face over the keyboard?). But even with slight embarrassment, Du Dao Sayaka still resolutely reiterated her stance.

Instantly, I felt the words that should’ve been on Kazuo Komuro’s face in the last Chapter transferring to mine.

"Sayaka, follow orders. Now is not the time to be willful!"

My expression darkened, and I couldn’t help but seriously urge her. Right now, we’ve got an Abyss Gate behind us, ready to tear apart the Imperial Fleet. Whatever that thing was originally hiding, I’m now convinced that it’s totally capable of holding its own in a fight against us (if the mainframe of the Imperial Admiral can be set to the highest alert, aside from Lin Xue swapping a pair of pliers for a screwdriver, it has to be the powerful Abyss Gate), and now, Du Dao is suddenly throwing a fit for no apparent reason, so it’s no wonder I’m a bit anxious—even accidentally using the term "Sayaka," which rolls off the tongue but feels somewhat abrupt.

"I’m not one of your soldiers..." Du Dao immediately retorted, then slightly turned her head away, "I’m sorry, but I feel that hiding away in a safe place by myself, leaving you and your warriors to face that...thing, isn’t something I can do. And, because of my own cowardice, I’ve affected your decision, right? EOP-03 should have been launched yesterday afternoon, but you postponed it until now. Maybe if it hadn’t been for that, that thing wouldn’t have had a chance to emerge..."

"Senior Sister Du Dao?" Miyamoto Reiko looked at the tall, purple-haired girl beside her with surprise. The latter’s valiant eyes were now somewhat dodging her gaze, "Did you already know about Chen’s plan?"

"I’m sorry," Du Dao lowered her head, "but I feared you wouldn’t be able to accept it. Actually, back in Shadow City, the Prophet had already..."

Originally it was only out of consideration for her companions, not wanting to bring such bad news upon them prematurely, but it ended up becoming this embarrassing situation for everyone involved. After all, Du Dao was just an eighteen-year-old high school student, and even though she had her unique strength and edge, she also had her weaknesses characteristic of that age; no one could really blame her.

"The warcruisers carrying refugees are to retreat, all Great Harmony Cannons to be charged and ready; Holy Mother Ship, prepare to create space rifts; Imperial battleships, lock primary weapons on the Earth Core, and be ready to open fire comprehensively as soon as anything reveals itself," With deep fissures now covering Earth, oceans boiling into dense clouds, and an unparalleled storm raging, the surface of the planet had been turned into a wasteland. Unable to worry about Du Dao’s mood, I hastily issued a series of commands, then added, "All New Eden Federation battleships be advised, refrain from opening fire without the total flagship’s command! Triggering the Abyss Gate prematurely could have unimaginable consequences!"

The Human and Protos armies we brought had never faced the Abyss head-on, and they hadn’t even seen any creatures infected by the Abyss outside of Imperial training grounds (those things in the training grounds were fierce beasts captured by Imperial soldiers from various worlds, and the source of the Abyss Energy was—courtesy of a certain easygoing Fatty willing to do anything for food). So I had to remind them of these things because, although we’d sent instructors to specifically train these army corps, mistakes could still be made by the inexperienced, especially when it came to the Imperial manuals that weighed several gigabytes—I truly worried that not even the most fervently devoted Protos apprentices of Xyrin Technology could finish them in their lifetimes.

Of course, I didn’t expect the forces from the New Eden Federation to have too much impact on the battle. Frankly, all these spaceships combined probably didn’t pack the punch of a single Imperial warship, except for the Holy Mother Ship, which had been largely outfitted with Xyrin Armaments. However, their purpose was to lend cover, to buy us some time.

"Sayaka, your determination is admirable, but the situation that we are currently in is far beyond what you can imagine," after allocating tasks to all units, I slightly turned my head, "Sorry, but I’m afraid I won’t have the ability to look after you in a while, and delaying the launch of EOP-03 is not the root cause of the current predicament, that kind of bomb can’t destroy the Abyss Gate."

This statement would probably hurt the pride of Du Dao Kazuko, but she just fell silent for a moment before showing me an understanding smile, "Is that so, I understand—the women of the Du Dao Family won’t be a burden at times like this, but this means that I will forever be in your debt."

Don’t say that. It’ll make what you owe me sound even greater if a certain Prophet hears you.

"Mercury Lamp, you go with them."

After the Kazuo Komuro Group was ordered to make their exit, I suddenly found that there was still a person by my side who had nothing to do with the war: a 92.3cm tall girl who sat carelessly on the guardrail of the command platform, staring blankly—or perhaps just daydreaming—at the giant holographic projection below.

Mercury Lamp glanced at me and then asked out of the blue, "That thing... although it’s invisible and intangible, it’s really scary, isn’t it?"

"No kidding, every time they show up, they ruin my vacation!"

"Now you’re fighting against that intangible thing with only a few hundred ships just like a ragtag fleet?"

Reynolds and Zeratul would definitely cry blood if they heard this, plus, space battleships and warships are not the same!

However, I still nodded, unsure what this doll really wanted to say.

"I won’t leave."

In the end, Mercury Lamp firmly uttered those three words.

Me: "..."

I get it if it’s Du Dao Kazuko, but you, a little doll who can’t even match Pandora and still has to strive in front of Little Baobao, do you really have to bother me with such a cheesy line? Do you even understand the gravity of the situation, my Chairman!

"If you die, then I can never go back," Mercury Lamp suddenly looked up at me, "Although I am a doll, I am much smarter than you, you idiot. I can see that it’s really only you, acting like a foolish good-hearted person, who runs back and forth for us irrelevant wanderers and still does it tirelessly. Everyone else, including that scary Big Sister, is only acting under your influence. So, if you die, there will be no one left to care about whether I can go home or not—that’s why I won’t leave; I want to stay and watch."

Mercury Lamp spoke her mind with a stubborn expression, word by word.

What a hopelessly strange character, even trying to give a compliment has to be done in a way that’s infuriating, huh?

Your observational skills really leave much to be desired, acting as if I’m the only one scurrying around like some naïve good guy. I admit, the girls around me are a bit eccentric, like the stubbornly sarcastic Lin Xue, naturally tactless Lilina, the bizarrely curious Xu Qianqian, the gluttonous Queen Sandora, and, uh, Big Sister Black Mountain Demon... Ah, this part definitely needs to be cut before broadcasting. Anyway, even though the girls around me are a bit weird and might play the occasional prank on you, causing you some troubles, none of them are biased against you, so don’t worry. After I die, they will surely carry on my wil...

Why am I even contemplating my own death, damn it! Mercury Lamp, you did that on purpose, didn’t you?!

"Eh? Idiot, you...wow! Put me down! Put me down, you impudent jerk! Don’t think that just because you’ve been treated kindly these past few days, you can do whatever you want! Hey! Why’s your face suddenly so dark?"

You infuriating doll, who just now in a few words thrust me into some bizarre hypothesis, go back to the civilian sector and repent properly!

I unceremoniously grabbed the back of Mercury Lamp’s collar, completely ignoring her flailing protests, and tossed her straight into the transporter. This special transporter is directly connected to a special room in the Mars Sanctuary, which was originally intended to serve as a command post for the refuge, but now it is being temporarily used to confine a certain doll.

"Bastard! You human bastard! I’ll definitely remember this! Let me out of this damn place right now..."

Mercury Lamp’s angry roar echoed on the bridge, so I simply and swiftly turned off the communication.

"The initial physical manifestation of the Abyss Gate is beginning, current attack effective, Space Trapper ready to launch—Warning, detection of core tremors, the target planet is about to explode."

"Deploy EOP-03," standing on the officer’s platform, looking down at the once-Earth that had turned into a surface covered with blood-red cracks, resembling an engorged black eyeball, I finally gave the command, "Even if it doesn’t take that thing down, I want to at least make it lose a layer of armor. All fleets pay attention, the planet’s meltdown begins in three minutes, then fire at will—blast those black spheres!"

The Bright Light Balls that had been orbiting Earth for weeks received the order to descend from orbit, and in a way that completely defied the laws of physics, they made a straight-angle turn at tens of times the speed of sound and plunged directly toward the Earth’s crust.

After a silence of two or three seconds, a huge light ball explosion erupted from the point of contact between EOP-03 and the Earth’s crust. After several expansions and contractions, the confined energy within the Star Burning Bomb specifically for glass spheres began to expand at a tremendous rate with a field effect, and a series of gray shockwaves flattened the first quarter of the crust initially struck, while the roaring Ghost Energy flames evaporated the entire biosphere of the planet even before the shockwaves arrived.

Life, the statistical miracle fostered by the cradle of Earth over billions of years, once regarded as the most magnificent jewel of the Milky Way by mankind, returned to Chaos within minutes, along with the human-created nations, cities, grand ancient civilizations, crystalline arts, skyscrapers, pyramids, urban management compounds. Under the raging fires of purification, it vanished abruptly.

The refugees who had yet to enter the Space Transmitter gradually stopped in their tracks. Countless eyes gazed at the holographic projection hovering in the high spaceship interior, watching their homeland transition from a blue pearl into shattered ruins, then melting into a bright and molten mass. Beneath the silent images, someone finally began to weep softly.

Like a signal, the low sounds of crying spread. From the initial panic, fear, subsequent madness, struggle, gradually to numbness, despair, and now, everything was frozen amidst the sobs of 280,000 humans.

No one complained any longer, and no one cursed anymore. Since learning through the ship’s broadcast that some terrifying energy had already parasitized their planet, everyone was in such a peculiar state of calm. They watched their homeland inexplicably fall to pieces and burn furiously. Then they supported each other and stepped into the glowing space gate ahead, amidst the low sobs. This was the collective awakening of a race: it was all over.

In front of the crowd, a "girl" with floor-length blonde hair was also looking at the image of Earth on the giant projection. Then she lowered her head and silently made the sign of the cross.

The already cracked Earth had finally temporary regained its wholeness, transformed into a perfect, flawlessly smooth liquid drop—the entire planet had melted.

"The Abyss Energy parasitizing the target planet reacted with our EOP-03, which multiplied the power of the Ghost Energy Field," an Imperial commander responsible for monitoring the attack effects loudly reported. "The reaction from the Abyss Gate is still there."

Damn it, if that could destroy the thing, would I still be sending the refugees back?

Our sudden attack seemed to have caused some interference with the forming Abyss Gate. The energy burst originally expected to happen in three minutes went silent for a full ten minutes, giving those refugees who were without Ghost Energy Shields and more susceptible to Abyss Infection due to their physical weakness the time to fully evacuate.

But what was bound to come eventually arrived. The now completely melted Earth, due to its rotation, formed an oblate spheroid with a radius of eighty thousand kilometers. It was initially extremely smooth, but as time passed, its surface gradually bubbled up as if gas was forming inside. Dark entities wandered out from these bubbles, nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, but they were clearly marked out under the observation instruments.

Those were "shadows" on a two-dimensional plane, with no thickness, mass, strength, or any physical properties. They were not projections on the surface of the liquid Earth but floated hundreds of kilometers above it, existing out of thin air. I couldn’t understand how shadows could exist under complete illumination, without any object to cast them, but there they were, making the melting planet below even more violent.

This was the first time I had seen the form of the "Abyss" without it having infected anything—it gave me a strange and... uncomfortable feeling.

"Release the Trappers!"

The command from the source was quickly relayed to every launch channel. Thousands of black outlets opened on both sides of the lower long axis of the Imperial Admiral, and countless blue diamond-shaped particles sprinkled with dots of starlight floated out, then instantly accelerated to one-third the speed of light, almost instantly appearing near those two-dimensional shadows.

Abyss in its two-dimensional shadow form is indestructible. Before infecting something, their main body simply is not on the current plane. Trappers, however, are a kind of dimensional binding device. They perform two functions: first, they use their captivatingly blue luminescent surfaces to lure the Abyss Energy that has been starving in the Abyss for years, a process known as seduction; second, they release dimensional bindings that wrap themselves and the Abyss Energy across dimensions from one to eleven—a process known as SM... in short, a group of baits that turn the intangible Abyss Energy into live targets.

Space Trappers infected by the Abyss Energy quickly took on a layer of black and then ballooned into countless pitch-black spheres with radii reaching thousands of kilometers. While transforming Abyss Energy into a destructible form, they also fell under its control: thousands of black spheres turned into frenzied bombs and began to violently charge toward us.

"All warships, open fire at full strength!"

The Great Harmony Cannons of the battlecruisers, bombing by drone swarms from Protos Carriers, Photon Heavy Cannons, and the Ghost Energy Gun Turrets matrix of the three Faith-class Colony Ships, which was purely a support role, all at this moment spit out blinding light. Countless bright firelines illuminated the pitch-black outer space, striking the black spheres presented as targets. Immediately, violent explosions stitched together in front of the Imperial Fleet tens of thousands of kilometers away, interweaving into a radiant curtain of light.

The enhancement of Xyrin Technology on the New Eden Federation Army finally became evident at this moment: The Protos Drones, which had collectively upgraded to Ghost Energy Shields (Secondary), were not only powerful in attack but could also serve as formidable Ghost Energy Bombs in a glorious assault. The Photon Jets of the Curved Light Ships no longer needed to charge their energy. Installed on their mechanical arms’ front ends, the Focusing Crystals now used Iron Hammer 40k Dur Crystals from Imperial Precision Factory No.6. These devices allowed the Curved Light Ships to attack at 375% power instantaneously and supported twice the overload without damage. The biggest evolution was in the Human Clan Battlecruisers, which were already technologically basic. Because we liked their fierce design, we also modified them in the direction of "intense." Bubbles refurbished for them a Main Cannon Recharge Device that the Xyrin Empire Military Department had discarded long ago because of its bulky and inefficient design, and recast those Great Harmony Cannons’ main structures with alloys from the Xyrin Battleships. Now, the new generation "Chieftain-class" battlecruisers equipped with Great Harmony Cannons were...

Triple-mounted rotating rapid-fire Great Harmony Cannons... and now the single-shot power was enhanced.

Perhaps the single-shot power couldn’t compare to the Protos battlecruisers, but they were powerful enough to take down the latter’s carriers. I have to say, like most Imperial military experts, Bubbles also had quite a low limit... (To be continued. If you wish to know what happens next, please visit www.qidian.com. There are more Chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!)