The plunder of the heavens begins with the Spirit Cage.

How are they supposed to play then?!

It's completely unplayable!

"Retreat! All personnel, immediately perform a jump retreat!"

Commanders in all Covenant war zones completely collapsed and frantically issued retreat orders.

Especially the warships that hadn't yet been affected, completely disregarded everything, abandoning their comrades and frantically activating their warp engines to escape this deathly starry sky.

However, once the alliance appears, it has already locked down all warp routes across the entire battlefield, and Ali will give them a chance to escape.

Soon, the wrecked ships that were forced to sail away were located one by one...

Ultimately, it had no choice but to surrender to the Seven Sister Engine.

In just five standard moments, this epic battle of a thousand ships came to a complete end.

Inside the Earth Council Hall, extreme despair transformed into extreme shock and ecstasy, followed by a long-suppressed burst of cheers.

Chapter 257 Halo 9

With the Covenant suffering a crushing defeat, the Earth Alliance will not miss the opportunity to strike while the enemy is down.

With the recapture of lost territory within reach, the previously ravaged fleets quickly regrouped and began their counterattack!

Meanwhile, the Multi-Faction Alliance, in order to prevent the Star Alliance from launching a counterattack and disrupting their plan to reclaim the Halo...

After accepting the surrender of some of the Covenant forces, the nearly 10,000-strong fleet pursued the remaining Covenant fleet like a pack of wolves, dividing its forces to blockade their star systems.

Beyond their homeland lay enemies; the Covenant, having been tracked down to their home, could not tolerate such humiliation.

They then engaged in another fierce battle with the Combined Fleet...

The reality was harsh: facing a fleet with the ability to rewind time, the Covenant was no match at all!

In just a few rounds, the Covenant's starships were decimated, with some surrendering and others fleeing.

The coalition fleet advanced, eliminating the Covenant's star system bases scattered across various star regions, which were the ring-shaped orbital fortresses through which they controlled the star regions.

One after another, the orbital defense lines built with plasma cannons and carrier-based aircraft platforms fell, and the military space fortresses that originally guarded the jump lanes were all disarmed.

The planetary ring defenses built around the colony planets were also shut down, and the outer space barrier that the Covenant had spent a century building was completely reduced to scrap metal.

The star systems that were originally occupied by the Covenant were returned to the UNSC's jurisdiction one by one, and the Covenant mining fleets that were wandering outside were locked down in the entire airspace.

All mining space stations and field transport ships carrying out resource extraction missions had nowhere to escape. They either had to raise a white flag and accept detention or be driven back into the atmosphere of their respective planets, completely cutting off the Covenant's channels for plundering strategic materials and reorganizing its fleets.

The Covenant lost all footholds in outer space and was trapped on the surface of its home planet.

A devastating defeat left the Star Alliance trapped overnight, confined to planets and star systems around the world, isolated and helpless.

After more than two years, news that the Forerunners and humans were the Restorers spread within the Covenant.

The three prophets' positions are now being challenged, and they are in the midst of internal strife.

The multi-party alliance was finally able to take advantage of the blockade to move forward with the halo recovery plan.

With the Alpha Ring of Zone 04 as its core, the fleet, led by the Master Chief, has now successfully recovered two other rings deep within the Milky Way.

The Delta Halo of District 05 and the Zeta Halo of District 07, which survived the war.

For safety and security reasons, the three giant rings were moved by the Multiverse Alliance to relatively remote, lifeless star systems for safekeeping.

Completely eliminate the problem of residual and breeding flood virus.

"Currently, we have located the coordinates of the other four halos using the Pioneer Database."

A staff officer, holding a holographic star map, bowed to Lu Qianwei ahead to report.

He tapped the star system markers of the four special zones one by one, and continued to report in a solemn tone: "The first one, the Beta Halo of Special Zone 01... is a star system located in the Orion Arm."

It revolves around the gas giant Orek, and shares the same spiral arm of the Milky Way as Zone 04, with a surface that is a barren desert landscape.

It is relatively close to us, but the danger lies in the fact that the surveillance system in this halo is paranoid and conservative.

For tens of thousands of years, it has independently controlled the ring-shaped sentry force, and will proactively attack any foreign ships.

Moreover, the deep layers of the circumference still contain intact samples from the Flood experiment; a forced entry could easily cause the parasitic virus to leak out.

The Flood doesn't just infect living things; it can also infect machines.

Once this virus is leaked, the robots of Halo 01 will all become their nourishment.

This is something that must be taken very seriously.

Lu Qianwei nodded slightly, signaling the staff officer to continue.

"The second one is the Ypsilon Ring in Zone 02, located in the Zagorin system of the Norm Arm, hidden inside the gas planet Taffro."

The entire ring is almost entirely covered by the boundless deep sea, with only a few icebergs and seamounts protruding above the surface.

It is the most unique of the seven halos, having been accidentally triggered twice in history to fire localized pulse artillery.

The ring-shaped energy circuit is extremely unstable, with a dense network of underwater pioneer facilities and strange gravitational turbulence that exists year-round.

The ships are highly susceptible to engine failure if they get too close, and the mutated aquatic flood monsters that were not completely eradicated in the past still lurk in the depths of the water, resulting in extremely low visibility and making amphibious operations extremely difficult.

"The third, and currently the highest-risk, Zone 03 gamma halo is located in the Kafraye system of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm."

The ring's surface is covered with volcanic rift valleys, and its orbit is also filled with a dense asteroid belt left behind by planetary impacts, making for a harsh environment for navigation.

The ring contains terrifying reconstruction technology, capable of transforming living beings into Prometheus mechanical warriors.

All of our mechanical exploration teams have lost contact.

"The last one is the Kappa Ring in Zone 06, located in the Morcon Galaxy within the Perseus Arm."

For some reason, the halo's isolation procedures did not meet the standards, and after more than 100,000 years, it has become too... outdated!

Through the monitor, we observed minute activities and diffusion within the annulus of the flood spores.

"They have no food now, and if we go there, it will surely awaken them."

"They might even seize spaceships and spread the virus again throughout the galaxy," the chief of staff said gravely.

Having studied the Flood Virus for so long, Lu Qianwei was certainly aware of its dangers.

This virus is difficult to deal with at the biological level; it can only be completely killed by using specific psionic abilities.

However, the energy of superhumans cannot be mass-produced and is of little use.

Moreover, after the Flood had adapted to a certain extent, it was able to infect psionic beings, so such a dangerous experiment was not continued.

Although this universe has no spiritual energy, who can guarantee that it cannot absorb other energies, or even awaken superpowers through spiritual energy?

That will only make things more complicated.

Therefore, Lu Qianwei decisively called off the experiment.

The safest approach now is to isolate and exterminate them directly, without even involving humans or the Star Alliance from this world.

Who knows if there's any historical revisionism in this world? They might be doing more harm than good!

"You..." Lu Qianwei hadn't finished speaking when the command ship's communication station suddenly lit up with a signal, interrupting the discussion.

The communications officer quickly verified the signal source, then turned around and reported with a look of astonishment.

"Sir, this is a diplomatic message from the Star Alliance's home star system."

However, this declaration of surrender was not issued by the Holy Council of the Three Prophets, but by the faction of the Sword of Saint Helios.

Lu Qianwei raised an eyebrow and gestured to connect the holographic projection.

In the image, Ser Vadami, clad in standard armor, stands in the center of the bridge, with a large group of elite Sanhri warriors behind him who have removed their Covenant insignia and donned their independent battle flags.

As the staff gathered additional intelligence, the outline of the rebellion quickly became clear.

Long before the Covenant was locked on the planet's surface by the Allied Forces and the lie of the Halo's "Great Pilgrimage" spread throughout the land, the elite races that had long held sway over the Covenant's military were already harboring resentment.

In order to support the more easily manipulated Girahani tribe, the Prophet of Truth had already secretly ordered the purge of the Sanghri leadership.

This civil war, known as the Great Schism of the Covenant, has fully erupted in the last two years.

Taking advantage of the gap when the Allied Forces were blockading the starfields and the main force of the Star Alliance was unable to suppress the internal strife.

The Divine Wind Warrior led the vast majority of his Sanghli fleet, along with a portion of the oppressed Gulu and Hunter-Liao tribes, to seize power and establish a separatist regime.

They conquered several core Covenant colonies in one fell swoop, besieging the remnants of the Spectral Beasts and the Loyalist Gnolls who clung to the old doctrines and still followed the three prophets in the few remaining holy cities.

The Prophet's authority is now merely nominal, with only a religiously fanatical army stubbornly resisting. The entire Covenant has been split in two.

The Sanhri clan knew that even if they won the civil war, they would be powerless against the multi-fed fleet with the ability to rewind time, and they were also aware that the Flood and the runaway aura would bring annihilation to the entire galaxy.

After weighing the options, the Kamikaze Retsushi, representing the independent faction, proposed to surrender to the multi-party alliance separately.

"We have fully realized the truth about the Pioneers!" The Kamikaze Martyr in the hologram said solemnly.

"Sanhri is willing to hand over all the Star Alliance military production lines and star system maps under his control."

Disarm all remaining orbital weaponry, subject to only two conditions.

First, the alliance will assist us in eradicating the Prophet and the Demonbeast stubborn faction.

Secondly, allow Sanghali to retain autonomy over its homeworld, and allow us to participate in the Halo's containment and control.

Lu Qianwei stared at the figure of the Divine Wind Warrior in the projection, his fingertips lightly tapping the table.

Finally, he nodded and said, "Okay!"

But I have a condition: after I help you 'rebel,' you need to send warriors to help us deal with the Red Devil Virus.

"Can!

As members of the galaxy, this is a responsibility we should all fulfill! The Kamikaze Warriors' words didn't sound fake.

Sometimes, certain aspects of religious beliefs can be quite useful.

Lu Qianwei originally planned to conquer the four high-risk auras alone, but now he is being used as cannon fodder to scout ahead, which has turned into a double-edged sword for him.

Even if they are infected and are not their comrades, the Marines can still pull the trigger decisively.

After finalizing and agreeing to several more agreements, Lu Qianwei didn't waste any time and ordered several fleets in outer space to set off immediately to cooperate with the Sangheli coalition in suppressing the rebellion.

With the strong intervention of force, the internal war within the Star Alliance came to a complete end in less than a month.

Using the passages and warp coordinates provided by the Alliance, the elite fleet under the command of the Divine Wind Martyrs headed straight for the Prophet's last stronghold, the City of Love.