Him and their stars.

Chapter 2093 The Dragon Boat Reappears
The old knight commander knew how out of place his words had sounded, but they were indeed his true thoughts. However, despite being a powerful psionicist and a seasoned knight commander, he was not good with words. Faced with the questioning looks of his colleagues, he could only helplessly say, "I really don't know what they're going to do, but they probably will."

This imposing warship now resembles a rampaging ram, inevitably reminding everyone of the Battle of Hell's Throat more than two years ago.

That ancient fortress from the era of the Enlightened Ones stood firm despite the hundreds of thousands of corpses left behind by the allied forces of the galaxy—if the allied commanders hadn't been relatively clear-headed and hadn't ordered their soldiers to launch a mindless assault, that number would have been more than ten times higher. Yet even that ancient fortress, akin to a hellish abyss capable of devouring countless lives and bloodshed, ultimately crumbled under the battering ram tactics of that "battlefield magician," that "hellish puppeteer."

Could this demonic dragon be imitating that magician, trying to ram our Chenxiao Fortress like a demon's throat?

Thinking of this, many high-ranking officers present couldn't help but swallow hard. They were participants in that battle and witnessed firsthand how the battering ram, made from the remains of a space Leviathan, tore through the armor covering the planet's rocky surface.

While Chenxiao Fortress is indeed the most impregnable fortress of the Galactic Empire, can it really be more fortified than an ancient city of an Enlightened One?

...Well, it's really hard to say. The Empire has a lot of confidence in this fortress, which was built a thousand years ago and has undergone various expansions and additions over the past few hundred years.

Moreover, the Enlightened One warship isn't some tortoise shell left behind by a space behemoth. This precious legacy of the Enlightened Ones is a treasure of all humanity and even the entire universe. Can it be squandered like this?
What you're doing is practically a crime against civilization!

However, it seems that this is indeed how things have unfolded.

"I agree with Your Excellency, Knight Commander." Admiral Paroson, still aboard the Abyss Dragon, said, "They must still want to board! Since ancient times, the only ways to capture Skyhold have been by landing and fighting in the streets within the fortress. There has never been a way to decide the outcome through mutual bombardment between the fleet and the fortress!"

Although this short general was an academic naval warfare expert, he showed great respect and praise to the stormtroopers and boarding soldiers. It is unclear whether this was out of public interest or high emotional intelligence.

"But how did they break through our fluid metal layer?"

As time entered the seventh century of the Common Era, the Alliance pioneered the technology of using magnetic fields to confine trillions of tons of fluid metal, thus adding another layer of protection against kinetic weapons to the outer layer of large fortresses.

Since this liquid metal "ocean" can dissipate the kinetic energy of railguns, it can certainly have the same effect on large assault landing craft used for boarding.

That white Enlightened One warship looks to be the same size as a Titan. It shouldn't be possible for it to break through the metallic fluid on its own mass, right?

perhaps……

Everyone looked at Milakawa again, and the old knight commander could only shrug helplessly once more: "I still don't know how they managed to break through the boarding barrier, but their ability to break through the boarding barrier is the only explanation that makes sense."

In short, what the old knight commander said made a lot of sense, and it sounded like he had just told it to him.

"The ghost is still approaching! At the current speed, it will enter the yellow zone in 180 seconds!" The subordinate issued another warning.

According to the Imperial Military Manual, once the Yellow Zone is entered, it is truly time to dispatch assault boats for a surprise attack.

"Keep firing! No matter what we do, we can't let them have their way!" After a long period of confusion, the King of Wei finally gave the order. Regardless of their power or what they wanted to do, the important thing was to prevent them from getting what they wanted.

"Prepare for battle! And bring me my Blazing Dragon Armor! If this mere demonic dragon enters this city, I will fight it for eight hundred rounds!"

The old knight nodded with satisfaction. He knew, of course, that King Velent was merely putting on an act, and perhaps even overdoing it. But that was enough.

Acting is, after all, a required course for those in positions of power. Considering His Highness Prince Wei's position, this is understandable. What is truly worrisome is that some people don't even dare to act, and can't even offer the most basic attitude.

Moreover, only someone as ancient as him, who had lived for an entire century, could discern the excessive force. In reality, however, His Highness the Prince of Wei was brimming with heroic spirit, domineering aura, and soaring courage, showing no difference whatsoever. They were truly prepared to continue the battle and were considering their next move.

As the Silent One approached, the alarms within the fortress grew even louder. All specialized personnel, including gunners, communications specialists, mechanics, and damage control officers, had to don mechs or exoskeletons, and don firearms and high-carbon battle axes, while performing their duties, to prevent the enemy from appearing from anywhere and attacking the fortress's vital facilities.

More than 200,000 full-time assault troops were already armed and waiting at various assembly points.

No matter where the enemy breaches the outer wall of the fortress, they can arrive at the scene within three minutes, and even assemble an entire division in a nearby compartment within ten minutes.

The Astral Knights, clad in their heraldic armor, adjusted their breathing and spiritual energy, caressing the light spears in their hands. A cold light flickered faintly beneath the gaps in their helmets and visors, a mixture of burning fighting spirit and lingering fear.

With Chenxiao Fortress and the Heavenly Domain right behind them, they had nowhere to retreat and were bound to fight to the death.

However, they were facing the invincible dragon!
Unbeknownst to them, the young man who was clearly only an eighth-ringed cultivator had already replaced the old sword saint who had intimidated the empire for half a century, becoming the number one nemesis in the eyes of the empire's psionicists.

They listened intently to the broadcast report: "Artillery fire! Artillery fire!"

This was the sixth saturation attack by the Silent Ship on the Chenxiao Fortress using its electric arc cannons.

This time, some of the destructive force of the ferocious and terrifying high-dimensional electric arc still managed to penetrate the thick shield and strike the main structure of the fortress. However, just like the previous times, although it caused damage, it was almost like a close encounter with an autumn mosquito—unbearably itchy, but at most a superficial wound.

However, the remaining turrets hidden inside the fluid metal layer in Zone C eventually followed in the footsteps of their predecessors.

As for the surrounding sectors that were not affected, the intact Type 3 turrets and missile silos, no matter how frantically they changed direction, had completely lost their firing range.

At least for this moment, after six rounds of brutal and precise "electrotherapy," the impenetrable Sky Tower fortress finally had a vacuum in its entirety, created by the impenetrable barrage of fire.

As for the Imperial fleet further away, the Abyss Dragon had naturally ceased its bombardment. By this point, even the best Imperial gunners could hardly guarantee they wouldn't accidentally damage their own fortresses.

In comparison, close-range attacks by small warships and fighter jets might actually be more effective.

Admiral Parosson indeed made that judgment. On his orders, a flotilla of light cruisers and destroyers had already departed and was heading towards the HMS Silence.

Also charging forward were over two hundred fighter jets pushing themselves to their maximum speed, like a swarm of mosquitoes charging at a feeding lion. However, the Silent One seemed completely oblivious, perhaps feeling that all this interference wasn't even worth its attention.

She continued her charge, advancing with the rhythm of a charge, like a knight charging towards the city walls with a lance raised. Only a few Imperial soldiers noticed that the seamless silver bow of the ship was faintly shimmering with an ominous light once more.

So, was she really going to just crash in like that? The officers and soldiers on the fortress stared at the warship charging towards them, their hearts filled with nothing but panic.

"A new energy reaction... uh, no, isn't it? Is it light?"

"Wait a minute, what's with this mass reading? Why is the mass still changing? This doesn't make sense!"

"This is already so unscientific! Is the quality of the ghosts we just collected even scientifically accurate?"

Indeed, so far, the Imperial Army has determined that the quality of the "Ghost" is not much higher than that of a heavy cruiser, but this is clearly contrary to common sense.

Obviously, given that it is an ancient ship from the Age of Enlightenment, it is not surprising that it possesses some kind of advanced technology for dissolving mass.

Perhaps this is the key reason why this majestic warship was able to defy the predictions of all the Imperial Army staff, traversing those rarely traveled dotted-line routes through dangerous nebulae and through all the Imperial Army's blockade lines.

However, it's pointless to only realize this now.

In short, the mass readings captured by the fortress sensors also changed drastically, jumping left and right hundreds of times in just half a minute, so abstract that Imperial officers had to assume it was a malfunction.

Considering that the enemy ship's shelling had already scratched the main structure of the fortress several times, such damage seems quite reasonable.

However, just before the command center issued the order to the repair team, an unexpected change finally occurred that surprised everyone in the Empire.

"It's started! She's started!"

"Started what, you bastard? What started? Explain yourself, you bastard!"

"That ghost, that ghost has opened a new cannon! New high energy detected... This? No, this is a mass reaction!"

The mass reading spiked to a high level in an instant, as if another large, robust capital ship had suddenly appeared out of nowhere within the radar's detection range.

At that moment, someone finally let out a sound that was almost a scream: "That, that's not the muzzle! She opened her mouth! She opened her mouth and came over!"

"Does this ghost ship want to devour our fortress?"

But all they saw was a large, smooth, and polished silver armor plate on the lower part of the "Ghost's" hull, which was so smooth that it could be used as a mirror. Suddenly, the plate shrank inward and then slid to the sides, revealing a huge gap!

Its interior is not a brightly lit hangar, but a deep and mysterious space, filled with a sacred pale blue light, like moonlight or the reflection of the rising sun on the shallow sea.

At first glance, it really does look like the cannon port of some kind of super weapon.

Many soldiers even drew parallels to movies and cartoons. In those classic stories, when the main characters obtain a super weapon, they always seem to have this burst of inspiration before unleashing their ultimate attack, right?
However, as that sacred opening gradually widens, it becomes easy to see the gaping maw of a giant beast.

However, as the gaping maw became more pronounced, the Imperials finally realized that she wasn't about to bite, but rather to spit something out.

It was a warship that was smaller than the Ghost, and it also had a streamlined, rounded silhouette, but it looked strangely familiar.

The next second, accompanied by a burst of bright light and a series of warnings ringing out from the fortress command post, the huge ship's shadow did indeed break free from the spiritual light binding the "giant mouth".

Her silhouette froze in the starlight, as if she had undergone a spatial jump beyond common sense, and suddenly appeared in a space less than 10,000 meters above Chenxiao Fortress.

That's the Galactic Empire's dragon ship! The Pilgrimage, which has been "missing" for a whole year! It's a special warship that perfectly combines the Empire's mystical alchemy and scientific shipbuilding technology, and best represents the glory of the Galactic Empire.

It is a special warship whose value for ceremonial and experimental purposes far exceeds its practical combat significance.

However, after the Battle of Said, this warship, which represented the pinnacle of the Galactic Empire's glory, could no longer regain its former glory.

She became the dragon's prisoner and was never heard from again.

The humiliation was so profound that the Imperial Army didn't even dare to admit it directly. They were truly prepared to recapture the dragon ship at all costs, and even if they couldn't capture it, they were determined to sink it.

As long as she remains in the hands of Earthlings, the people of Tirelo will grow increasingly ashamed. As long as she exists, the Tirelo's military flag will be subjected to unbridled trampling.

However, the demonic dragon was cornered by Lieutenant General Gong Xiao's fleet and forced to retreat into the Abyss Nebula. When it reappeared, its flagship was now the "Ghost." This might suggest that the Pilgrim had sunk in some unknown star system within the Abyss Nebula.
This is unfortunate news, but perhaps also fortunate news.

The Imperial Army even considered holding a funeral for the dragons that died on that ship.

However, she appeared, still as an enemy.

The air inside Chenxiao Fortress seemed to have frozen. This atmosphere even infected the entire fortress like a plague. Whether it was the command post, the turrets, or the waiting assault troops and astral knights, everyone was caught in an awkward, stunned silence.

At the same moment, the Pilgrimage had completely separated from the Ghost. The former began to accelerate towards the metallic "sea surface," while the latter gracefully executed a stylish drift, thus breaking away from its original impact trajectory and becoming as agile as a destroyer.

No one can avoid the charge and collision anymore.