The stars, but they become the gray wind

However, the so-called aristocratic coalition was only a temporary alliance for their own interests. All the nobles of the old empire who participated in this aristocratic coalition had almost no sincerity in working together. Although the scale of their fleets was much larger than that of Reinhard's side, they were extremely disunited internally and had no unified command and dispatch system.

The nobles who were indulging in luxury and pleasure all day long did not know how to fight at all. Many soldiers in the aristocratic coalition led by Brunswick were also quite dissatisfied with the officers of aristocratic origin, which made this coalition, which had almost no unity, almost incapable of combat from the very beginning.

The declaration of war issued by more than 3,000 nobles attacked Lidenrad and Lohengramm with fierce rhetoric, and declared their sacred mission and determination to protect the Goldenbaum Dynasty. The nobles who participated in the alliance called themselves "the chosen people", which kicked off a large-scale civil war in the empire.

After seeing the declaration of war from the Lipsheudat noble coalition, it was not only Reinhardt and his subordinates in Odin who laughed sarcastically, but also Yuki and Kaleesi who were far away in the Void Gate galaxy.

"The Chosen Ones? Are they worthy of this? I'm dying of laughter. This is the funniest joke I've ever heard." When Yuki received this announcement that was broadcast throughout the empire, he almost spit out his cola from laughing.

"Just because your ancestors helped a guy who was openly reversing history hundreds of years ago, you dare to call yourself the so-called "chosen people"? These guys have been in a superior environment for a long time, so they think they are really great, right?" Calisi has no good feelings towards Rudolf, who is openly reversing the course of a society that has entered the stage of interstellar civilization and returning to a feudal dictatorship. When civilization is developing and society is stagnant, what we should do is look forward and explore new ways to advance civilization and enable the entire species to evolve to a higher stage, rather than openly reversing history and returning the social system to the backward state of hundreds or even thousands of years ago.

"I can't help but want to beat them up, what should I do?"

"Then let's do it. After all, for an interstellar civilization that should have reached maturity, whether it's feudal monarchy or capitalist democracy, it should have been swept into the trash heap long ago."

"Empires and alliances are both typical examples of social systems and production relations failing to keep pace with the growth of social productivity and the scale of civilization. If I were to find fault, there are countless problems."

"In our universe, such a civilization simply has no chance of surviving to this stage. The physical laws and conditions of our universe would make it difficult for such a civilization to fully spread within its home galaxy, let alone interstellar travel."

"For a civilization, overly cheap faster-than-light means can actually cause it to venture into the stars at a completely immature stage of social development. The hidden dangers buried in this process cannot be ignored. What we are witnessing now is merely a concentrated outbreak of these hidden dangers."

"Remember the Interstellar Covenant?"

"Are you talking about the civilization that, because its home galaxy has a large number of extremely rare natural hyperspace channels, took to the stars after mastering the basic capabilities of interplanetary travel?"

"Yes, that's right. Because of the fundamental laws of the universe and the unique space-time environment in those galaxies, a large number of extremely rare natural hyperspace channels and wormholes have formed between star systems. This allows civilizations born there to enter the stage of interstellar colonization and expansion at a very low level of technology compared to ours. Once civilizations in that region of the universe have mastered the basic capabilities of interplanetary travel, they can use hyperspace channels to begin interstellar expansion. The Interstellar Covenant was born in this unique environment."

"A few primitive civilizations, possessing formidable military, technological, and economic power, controlled other civilizations through force, finance, and technology. They then incorporated these weaker civilizations into the Pact at opportune moments and imposed control over them through various treaties. In the event of war, these powerful primitive civilizations would compel these weaker subordinate civilizations to contribute manpower, material resources, and financial resources, further weakening and controlling these weaker civilizations and strengthening the Pact's power. This was the true nature of the Pact's development. Such an inefficient and backward civilizational operating system, not unlike the colonial expansion of the Age of Exploration, could not have been expanded to a large scale or sustained for long. However, the unique environment of the several galaxies within the Pact provided inexpensive hyperspace lanes and faster-than-light travel technology, allowing this extremely immature and backward social model to spread across interstellar civilizations. Ultimately, the inexpensive faster-than-light travel technology and immature social operating system became the fuse for the collapse of the entire Pact."

"While the current situation of the Empire and the Alliance isn't exactly the same as the original situation of the Interstellar Pact, the fundamental difference is the same. The overly cheap FTL travel has caused their social systems and institutions to fail to keep pace with the scale and productivity of interstellar civilization. When the Galactic Federation's development stagnated, it should have been exploring opportunities for overall evolution and ascension. Instead, someone like Rudolph stepped in. Not only did he fail to explore an unprecedented path of evolution and ascension for civilization, he blatantly reversed course, pushing the entire civilization's social system back to an even more backward stage."

"The true solution, exploring the path to true collective ascension and evolution of civilization, was subsequently overlooked amidst the subsequent regression of social systems. Even Reinhardt himself hasn't grasped the true nature of this cyclical historical problem in human society. His reforms may indeed inject new vitality into the empire and other parts of human society in the short term, but if humanity's inherent nature remains unchanged, the regime he established will ultimately become just another backward and decadent social system crushed by the wheels of history in a few decades or even centuries. Simply changing the external social system is useless; what truly needs to be altered are the instincts and inertia ingrained over thousands and even tens of thousands of years by intelligent creatures."

"After all, the solution to the social stagnation and regression brought about by the collapse of the Interstellar Covenant wasn't some external, short-term social system reform, but rather the mechanical transformation that gave all individuals of the old Interstellar Covenant brand-new bodies and minds. New bodies plus new minds equal a brand-new world."

"When an interstellar civilization reaches a point where reforming its social system alone can no longer achieve leapfrog development, it might consider seeking the evolution of the life forms that comprise that civilization. After all, the brains and bodies born in primitive hunting and gathering environments are often unable to keep up with the explosive pace of external scientific and technological development."

"Both the Empire and the Alliance have reached a point where social reform alone can no longer permanently resolve the problem. Perhaps each side can rely on individuals of insight who can briefly lead society in reform to inject a brief burst of vitality into human society, which has stagnated for hundreds of years. However, this won't last forever. If we want civilization to develop and grow steadily over tens of thousands or even millions of years, we must attempt to change the fundamental life forms and genetic instincts of the individuals that make up that civilization."

"So, let's let both sides learn a lesson this time and gradually realize this problem."

"Now that the Alliance has learned their lesson, it's time for the Empire to turn."

The privilege of being superior to others has always been a deadly poison that corrodes the human spirit. For hundreds of years and dozens of generations, the aristocratic families have been living in the self-indulgence brought about by this privilege, and everything is centered on themselves. They always think they are right, never realize their mistakes, and do not know how to reflect and correct themselves. They only know how to make unconditional demands on others and push the responsibility onto others. This has almost become the instinct of these decadent old aristocrats.

As the aristocratic families leading the seemingly powerful but in reality vulnerable Lipsheudat coalition gathered at the Vulture City Fortress, and Reinhardt and Gilfels split off to lead their fleets under the pretext of suppressing the "rebel army," a fighter jet, nearly as black as the cosmic background, slid into space again, silently disappearing into the cosmic background radiation. Driven by a superluminal drive capable of modifying the fundamental laws of the local universe, the night fighter vanished into three-dimensional space, enveloped in a shimmering mirror bubble, witnessing a war that, to it, was no different from a "clash of monkeys."

At the same time, in the Feisha Galaxy Autonomous Lord's Mansion between the Empire and the Alliance, Feisha Autonomous Lord Lubinski was looking at the statistics in front of him with some displeasure. That was the damage caused to the important facilities of the Alliance military-industrial enterprises invested by Feisha when the Night Fighters wreaked havoc in the Alliance capital. Long before Kalisi directly drove the Night Fighters to raid Heinessen, she had already obtained a list of related facilities of the Alliance military-industrial enterprises mainly invested and controlled by Feisha by invading the financial transaction system between the Alliance and Feisha. After tearing up the Artemis necklace above Heinessen, in addition to the literal gift of Triunicit, In addition to the pro-war members of the Alliance who went to the sky, Calisi also operated the weapon system of the Night Fighter to accurately destroy and attack all military production enterprises and important infrastructure of these military enterprises controlled and invested by Feisha in Heinessen. Such a large-scale loss made Feisha feel particularly painful, and also made Rubinski, the autonomous lord of Feisha, very unhappy, but helpless, because Feisha mainly relied on economic means to control the Alliance and the Empire. As for the existence of the Night Fighter, which obviously came from an unknown force that had nothing to do with Feisha or even the Alliance or the Empire, Feisha had almost no feasible countermeasures.

At this stage, the only information about the dark night fighter comes from Yang Wei-li. It is said that he was secretly visited by aliens who appeared in the desolate galaxy near the Iserlohn Corridor. Those aliens revealed information about the strange-looking pure black battleship.

Given the strange shape of the Night Fighter and the technology that was almost completely unprecedented to both the Alliance and the Empire, although some people tried to link this strange-looking black spaceship with the alien civilization in the Void Gate galaxy, the huge difference in appearance and manufacturing style between the Night Fighter and the Time-like Infinity almost directly negated this possibility. Although Rubinsky had also thought of this possibility, the information about the black aircraft that Yang Weili obtained from the aliens directly led to an answer that even Rubinsky did not expect.

That strange black craft belonged to an alien civilization known as the "Zeli," a race so advanced that it was unimaginable to humans. The black craft that had directly destroyed the Yamliza star system was merely a single individual of this race. When the image of the Yamliza star system being destroyed by a tiny black craft reached Lubinski, he began to reconsider whether he and Fessa had the means to contain a civilization capable of ignoring the Iserlohn Corridor in a matter of seconds, instantly crossing thousands of light years, annihilating tens of thousands of Imperial and Allied warships, and easily destroying an entire star. At this stage, the craft encountered by the Imperial and Allied fleets was merely a single individual of this civilization known as the "Zeli."

Although he still had some doubts about the source and authenticity of the intelligence, as an ambitious businessman and politician, Lubinsky was clearly aware that he might not be able to afford to offend this spaceship and the civilization behind it. If he wanted to counter this spaceship, it would be impossible to rely solely on Feisha or the Alliance and the Empire. He had to bring in the alien civilization in the Void Gate galaxy, which the Alliance and the Empire still knew little about. The other party seemed to know the specific origins of the mysterious black spaceship, and only from them could he get more information.

Knowing that information is the greatest wealth in business, Feisha Autonomous Lord Rubinsky also plans to start his own action. He plans to use the unknown alien civilization to restrain the alien civilization behind the black spaceship at all costs. There is no doubt that this is a very risky action, but the benefits are unimaginable. Feisha may be able to take the opportunity to obtain some advanced technology of the alien civilization and sell it to both the Alliance and the Empire at a high price, allowing Feisha to obtain wealth that was previously unimaginable.

If you want to accomplish something big, you have to take certain risks. As long as you can obtain the aliens' technology that surpasses the current level of human beings, Feisha will not only be able to break free from the control of the Earth Church, but will also have the opportunity to control the entire human society. Rubinsky is eager to try it.

Rubinsky, who had no idea that he had made a bad move that would lead to his own death, also overlooked a problem: when the other party has the technological means to crush you in an instant, why would they care about a tiny ant like you?

When an ant tries to challenge God without knowing its own limitations, it doesn't even have time to realize how it has failed.

…………

The Night Fighter quietly shut down its hyperdrive and reappeared in the three-dimensional universe. It hid behind an asteroid and observed the Vulture City Fortress several astronomical units away.

Inside the Vulture City fortress, Duke Brunswick, still unaware that he was being overtaken by a warship carrying a planet-destroying weapon, confidently outlined his strategy to the other nobles present. He planned to establish nine strong military strongholds, starting from the empire's capital, Odin, all the way to the fortress of Vulture City. Each stronghold would be defended by a large fleet. Once Reinhardt had conquered each of these locations, his fleet would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses. Then, the allied nobles would attack from Vulture City and annihilate him in one fell swoop.

The nobles present, who only knew how to curry favor and flatter their superiors, and had no idea how to fight, praised the plan's ingenuity. Only Merkaz, who had experienced real battlefields, objected. When Statin, nicknamed "theoretical master" in the army, proposed another suggestion, several young nobles present directly praised Statin's battle plan, deeming it positive, great, and perfect. The true purpose behind these praises, aimed at seizing supreme power, was already clear to veteran Merkaz.

Statin proposed to form a large-scale high-speed mobile fleet, using the Vulture City as bait to lure Reinhardt's main force to approach the Vulture City, and then let this mobile fleet launch a surprise attack on the undefended capital Odin, and control the emperor and the prime minister. Even if Reinhardt reacted and rushed back to Odin to rescue him, it would be too late.

However, in Merkaz's opinion, this tactic was simply not feasible. He knew the nature of these nobles and how unscrupulous they would be in pursuit of power.

As expected, as soon as Statin said this, the people and the atmosphere around him immediately became solemn. Who would be the commander of this mobile fleet immediately made the eyes of the nobles present show a strange light.

If anyone can successfully serve as the commander of this mobile fleet and capture the capital Odin, and control the young emperor and the prime minister, then he will be the person with the greatest contribution in this civil war, and the contribution of tying down Reinhard's main fleet in the Vulture City will seem insignificant.

When the spoils were divided after the war, the one with the greatest merit would undoubtedly have the most say. As long as they could hold the emperor hostage and force him to issue an order, even if it was just a nominal order with no real execution, then as the commander of this mobile fleet, it would be easy to monopolize status and power within the empire. And the commander of this mobile fleet responsible for the raid on Odin was the perfect stepping stone for the nobles present to achieve supreme power.

Naturally, the greedy nobles present would not give up such an opportunity. This was why Merkaz abandoned this plan without hesitation. Success in this tactic depended on a highly cohesive army, tightly organized and coordinated. The commanders of each fleet must ensure complete mutual trust and cooperation, willing to place their backs and lives in the hands of their allies.

However, it was obviously impossible for the disunited noble coalition army to do this. Reinhardt was aware of this fact, so he boldly left only a very small number of troops and fleets to defend the capital Odin.

Merkaz felt disgusted from the bottom of his heart at the sight of this group of scattered nobles who had begun to fight for power and profit in order to divide the spoils after the war. He served as the chief commander of this army only because Brunswick threatened the lives of his family and was forced to take up this position.

"Let's just give these arrogant nobles a defeat to deal a blow to them," Merkaz thought.

However, even Merkaz, the most astute veteran present, did not know that everything that happened in the fortress's command room had been clearly observed by night fighters several astronomical units away.

.........

"Have these guys been enjoying their privileges and indulging themselves for too long? Are they so self-righteous?" Carisi observed the images sent back by the nebula probe that decomposed into a bunch of elementary particles, and sneered mercilessly.

"But... among this group of privileged and indulgent guys, there are some truly capable people." The purple-haired girl looked at the white-haired old general Merkaz in the crowd, whose face was full of wrinkles but still looked quite energetic.

…………

The news that the incompetent aristocratic coalition was mobilizing its fleet on a large scale in preparation for war was not even kept secret. Under Reinhard's orders, the Midamia fleet went to deal with Statin, his former instructor, who was ridiculed by him and other students as a theoretical expert who could not fight.

A few days later, a fierce standoff ensued between Statin's fleet of 16000 ships and Midameyer's fleet of 15000 ships in the Aertina star system. Midameyer deployed six million floating nuclear mine arrays at the forefront of their fleet to defend against enemy attacks. The entire fleet formed a spherical formation and remained motionless for two days.

This aroused Statin's suspicion, because the Midamea fleet, known as the "Wolf of the Wind", has always been famous for its highly maneuverable tactics, but this time it was standing still and keeping its troops in place, fearing that the other side had an ambush. Statin did not dare to order the fleet to attack. After a few days of stalemate, the group of nobles around Statin who followed Statin to attack could no longer sit still. Some nobles even openly mocked Statin's cautious attitude, saying that he was as cowardly as a mouse.

Although Statin was quite dissatisfied with the ridicule and personal attacks against him, he still patiently appeased these brave but foolish nobles.

After a few days, these nobles, who knew nothing about war, could no longer hold back. They felt that Statin's tactics were too passive and indecisive. Their purpose in launching a large-scale attack on the Aertina system was to test the enemy's strength and demoralize them, but Statin was so cowardly that he hesitated to move forward.

Under the unreasonable demands of this group of brave but foolish nobles who had no tactical plan at all, Statin had no choice but to agree to let the fleet take the initiative to attack. However, to be on the safe side, he still drew up a battle plan to let the fleet encircle the Midamayer fleet from both sides of the mine group. However, the nobles present who thought highly of themselves obviously would not act according to this plan completely.

The right-wing fleet was led by another noble, Earl Siddesham. Due to his ambitious character, the fleet he led began to completely ignore the original action plan and just advanced forward from one side of the minefield, intending to monopolize the results of this operation.

At this moment, the Midamea fleet had passed through a narrow passage directly through the mine group it had laid, and directly went around to the other side of the Siddesham fleet from the rear and quickly launched an attack.

Before the Sidsham fleet could even take any contingency measures, the white light emitted by the explosion of the destroyed warship had already spread throughout the fleet. Before the white light dissipated, neutron beams, railgun shells and missiles equipped with nuclear warheads had already rained down like raindrops. The warships affected by the plasma fireballs produced by the explosion of the high-yield nuclear bombs disappeared in the blink of an eye, and the personnel on the warships were instantly turned into atoms in the nuclear explosion and thrown into space. Under this sudden attack, the Sidsham fleet was almost wiped out in an instant.

Chapter 229 A Thrilling Moment (6000 words)

The Empire was in civil war and the Alliance was in urgent need of rebuilding Heinessen. As a commercial country, the Fessa Autonomous Region, sandwiched between the Alliance and the Empire, was not greatly affected by the recent civil war in the Empire and the attack on the Alliance capital. Instead, it made a lot of war profits because the two countries continued to need all kinds of materials for war or reconstruction.

In order to repair the severely damaged infrastructure of Heinessen, the Alliance imported a large amount of food, minerals, construction equipment and other resources from Fei.

As for the empire that was in the midst of a civil war, Feisha, who was taking advantage of both ends, sold important military supplies such as weapons, intelligence, various military communication equipment, etc. to both the Noble Alliance Army and Reinhard.

Since the Empire and the Alliance came into contact, Feisha's way of taking advantage of both sides has become a common practice. The Alliance needs such a force to help it block the Feisha Corridor, and the Empire also needs such a force to enrich its treasury through the annual tax revenue provided by commerce. Therefore, both sides have always turned a blind eye to Feisha's behavior of taking advantage of both sides.

.........

Boris Gonif is the captain of the merchant ship "Beliuska". Gonif is a brave man. As a captain of a merchant ship who dares to transport a large number of Earth believers under the nose of the Imperial Army, he can even calmly face the inspection of the merchant ship by a fleet composed of tens of thousands of Imperial warships.

But now, Gonif and his men were in a panic, because there was a black spaceship with a very strange shape following behind their merchant ship.

As a well-informed businessman, Gonif certainly recognized the black spaceship that was following him. When the black spaceship suddenly appeared only ten thousand kilometers behind him without warning, the radar of the merchant ship did not give any warning. It was not until the black spaceship with strange wings on both sides quietly approached within 5000 kilometers of the merchant ship that the crew on the merchant ship discovered the existence of this dangerous vessel that was already at hand through conventional optical bands. As the captain, Gonif almost felt that he was about to suffer a cardiac arrest when he saw the image of the black spaceship following behind him. He was too familiar with the appearance of this black spaceship. Isn't this the unidentified alien spaceship that caused a riot in the Alliance capital, brought serious damage to Heinessen, and then annihilated nearly tens of thousands of Alliance and Imperial warships in the Yamlitza galaxy by just ramming it, and destroyed the star in the Yamlitza galaxy. The surviving soldiers on both sides called it the Invincible Battleship in awe?

After seeing the image of the spaceship in the rear, Gonif's first reaction was to order everyone on board to step on the accelerator and flee at the fastest speed without hesitation. However, thinking of the video records of the mysterious black spaceship that leaked out from the hands of soldiers from the two fleets after the Battle of the Yamliza Galaxy, the black spaceship called the Invincible Battleship obviously had some kind of propulsion technology that humans could not understand, which could allow the entire spaceship to instantly accelerate from a standstill to nearly the speed of light. As a well-informed businessman, Gonif was of course aware of this. He also understood that with such an old and poorly performing merchant ship under his command, it was absolutely impossible for it to outrun this strange-looking Invincible Battleship. A drop of cold sweat ran down Gonif's forehead as he sat in the captain's seat.

As the Beluska merchant ship gradually accelerated, the strange black warship behind it also increased its speed and followed the Beluska slowly. This situation made the crew on the Beluska feel even more panicked. They were already ensuring that the crew on the ship stepped on the accelerator to the bottom. The Beluska's current speed had reached 0.01c, but the black warship behind it still maintained a distance of 5000 kilometers and followed the Beluska slowly.

The crew of the Beluska was sending out distress signals in despair. Captain Gonif, who was already covered in cold sweat, was nervously staring at the invincible battleship that was still following him only 5000 kilometers away. At this time, an Imperial Army patrol fleet consisting of only dozens of warships appeared near them. This was a reconnaissance fleet under Gilfias that Gonif had met before, which was left in the system for peripheral surveillance. This fleet was naturally the first to receive the distress signal sent by the merchant ship, but when the officers and soldiers of this reconnaissance fleet witnessed the dictated image of the black-coated spaceship following the merchant ship, the hearts of all the Imperial Army officers and soldiers, including the commander of the reconnaissance fleet, seemed to stop for a second.

Of course they recognized this ship that was unrivaled in the battle of Yamliza between the Allied Fleet and the Imperial Fleet. It had been feared by soldiers on both sides and was called the invincible battleship. Its terrifying existence had caused an indelible psychological shadow on the soldiers of both sides. Thinking of the tens of thousands of battleships that were easily annihilated by the enemy with a single ship in the Yamliza star system, the commander of this reconnaissance fleet even felt his legs trembling. The concentrated fire of more than tens of thousands of battleships in Yamliza could not even scratch the hull of this spacecraft. Instead, the enemy directly wiped out 1/5 of the fleet like swatting a fly. Now, if the enemy engaged in a firefight with this reconnaissance fleet with only dozens of battleships in his hands, it would be almost the same as committing suicide.

Just as the commander of the reconnaissance fleet was still considering whether to take the huge risk to rescue the merchant ship, a radar operator on the front console suddenly shouted.

"Report! The Invincible Battleship has disappeared! It's gone!"

"what!"

Before the commander of the reconnaissance fleet could react, the black warship suddenly appeared again behind the reconnaissance fleet.

The soldier in front of the console looked at the data displayed on the screen in front of him in disbelief. After taking a deep breath nervously, he reported again.

"Yes... They've appeared again! Behind us! 100 kilometers away!"

"What? How...is this possible?"

The commander of the reconnaissance fleet could no longer conceal his panic. 100 kilometers was face-to-face distance in space, and the other party disappeared from behind the merchant ship that had been following it and reappeared in less than 0.1 seconds. There was no doubt that this was some kind of short-distance jump technology. Although Gao Nifu, who was far away, breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the invincible battleship following his ship disappear, the commander of the reconnaissance fleet felt as if he was facing a great enemy. The other party could easily annihilate tens of thousands of warships and at the same time jump directly to his face without hindrance. The pressure brought by this unreasonable technology even made some officers and soldiers present think about how to write a suicide note.

Although he was extremely panicked, the commander of the reconnaissance fleet still forced himself to remain calm and gave orders to his soldiers.

"Send a message to Admiral Gilfias immediately and tell him that the invincible battleship in the Yamliza system has appeared again!"

"If we can't escape from their clutches, we must at least spread the information about the invincible battleship!"

Just when all the soldiers in the fleet had prepared their last words, the invincible battleship, which was already very close to the reconnaissance fleet, still did not make any active attack actions. It just quietly watched the Imperial fleet in the distance, which was very noisy in the communication frequency band, in the dark space. The Imperial soldiers in the fleet were like death row prisoners waiting for the death penalty, waiting for death to come at an unknown time.

Just when the spirits of the officers and soldiers in the fleet had been stretched to the limit and everyone's attention was focused on the invincible battleship that might launch an attack at any time, the night fighter disappeared again without warning in front of the reconnaissance fleet, leaving behind only the imperial officers and soldiers who were almost determined to die and looked confused.

"Report...Report, the invincible battleship has disappeared again!" Maybe it was because of the nervousness, but the radar soldier at the console almost stuttered when he spoke.

"Scan the surrounding airspace again!"

"No target found!"

"Are we... saved?" The senior officers of the reconnaissance fleet wiped the cold sweat from their heads and breathed a sigh of relief. The scene of the invincible battleship hunting down the fleets of the Alliance and the Empire like killing chickens and destroying stars was still vivid in their minds. Several Imperial Army officers who had participated in the Yamlitza melee even collapsed to the ground exhausted after the invincible battleship disappeared from their sight again.

"Has the message to Admiral Gilfias been sent?" The commander of the reconnaissance fleet slumped in the captain's chair and asked the communications technician.

"It has been sent."

"That's good... I was really scared."

Gilfiaqi looked at the communication from the reconnaissance fleet and couldn't help but frown. The terrible invincible battleship appeared again. This was the first time that the strange black invincible battleship appeared since it destroyed the star in the Yamliza system. It seemed that the energy of the supernova explosion did not have any adverse effects on the spacecraft. This made Gilfiaqi worried. If this was the case, it would be extremely dangerous for a battleship that came and went without a trace and had the ability to destroy stars to wander around the empire at will.

If it could transform the stars of some habitable galaxies in the empire with a large population into supernovas just like it destroyed the stars in the Yamlitza galaxy, Gilfias imagined the scenario. Suppose this spaceship, which came and went without a trace, jumped directly to the galaxy where Odin was and detonated the local stars, then the core of the entire empire would be destroyed in an instant, and tens of billions of people would become basic particles in the universe in the supernova explosion. Such a scene made Gilfias shudder. After careful consideration, he also sent this message to Reinhardt, who was far away on the other side of the empire. The important information that the invincible battleship appeared again was crucial to his close friend.

As for the invincible battleship, the scholars of the Imperial Academy of Sciences still have no credible conclusions. Whether it is the driving method of the invincible battleship, the material that constitutes its shell, or the strange red light beams launched by the invincible battleship during the battle, which directly ignored the shields and armor and tore the entire hull into pieces, even the most knowledgeable scholars in the Imperial Academy of Sciences still have no idea about it.

As an experienced fleet commander, Gilfias also deeply understands the importance of information and intelligence in war. No matter whether it is the Empire or the Alliance, the technology of both sides is ultimately of the same origin, so it is predictable what tactics they will adopt in battle. The various strange technologies currently displayed by the invincible battleship make excellent fleet commanders like Gilfias feel helpless. The completely indestructible shell made of unknown materials, the drive system that almost ignores the laws of physics, and the weapons with unknown principles that are enough to destroy stars, this elusive invincible battleship reveals unreasonable technology and power everywhere. Intelligence from the Alliance has learned that even sturdy armed satellites did not last a moment in front of the invincible battleship. It also relied almost solely on collisions. The so-called indestructible 12 Artemis necklaces were easily crushed by the opponent.

Such an incomprehensible technological gap made Gilfias feel a little at a loss. At present, there was no countermeasure for this invincible battleship. What can be confirmed is that the invincible battleship possessed the ultra-long-range jump technology that the Empire and the Alliance dreamed of. After the opponent caused a lot of damage in Heinessen, it almost instantly crossed the distance of 6400 light years and appeared in the Yamliza star system, and then effortlessly annihilated an entire Empire and Alliance fleet. Such terrifying maneuverability and continuous combat capability made Gilfias feel frightened when he thought deeply.

However, the behavioral logic displayed by the opponent so far is almost completely unpredictable. The actions of this invincible battleship gave Gilfias a feeling that the opponent seemed to be just acting casually, chasing and tracking an unarmed merchant ship all the way. After encountering a patrolling Imperial fleet, it immediately abandoned the merchant ship and appeared in front of the patrolling Imperial fleet with a short jump whose principle was still unknown. Just when the Imperial fleet thought it was dead, the opponent left without any warning. At least Siegfried could not find any pattern in this behavior. If this spaceship was owned by an owner or operator, then the operator's personality must be very strange and unpredictable.

…………

Elsewhere, upon learning that his allies had been annihilated, Stadin hastily ordered his fleet to retreat to Fort Lentenberk to preserve his forces. Fort Lentenberk was the third military outpost of the Noble Alliance, led by Duke Brunsberg. It was located on an asteroid in the Freia system. While not as large as fortresses like Iserlohn or Vulture City, it could accommodate a million men and ten thousand warships. It also served as a crucial communications, supply, medical, and military maintenance center, and its strategic location was crucial for the Noble Alliance. It was no exaggeration to say that Fort Lentenberk was the gateway to Vulture City. If it fell, Reinhardt's fleet would have the ability to advance directly into Vulture City, the Noble Alliance's stronghold.

Originally, Reinhardt hadn't taken the existence of the Lentenberk Fortress seriously, viewing it as a humble stepping stone. But now, he realized that its strategic location was far more crucial than he'd imagined. If he ignored it and continued pursuing the remaining enemy fleet, he might be attacked from behind. To ensure his safety, he had to capture the fortress.

At this moment, Gilfias's communication about the Invincible Battleship (I)O Yiqi (IV) Wujiu was transmitted to Reinhardt. The information about the reappearance of the elusive Invincible Battleship temporarily distracted Reinhardt. After disappointing his close friend who was far away on the other side of the empire and asking him to be careful, Reinhardt began to think about how to guard against the Invincible Battleship, an opponent that was completely unpredictable and had no pattern of action.

As one of the toughest opponents he had ever encountered, the threat posed by the Invincible Battleship to Reinhard's plans and goals was even greater than that posed by Yang Weili. As far as Reinhard was concerned, he at least knew that Yang Weili was a human being. Since he was a human being, his behavior patterns were predictable to a certain extent. Although he had suffered heavy losses at the hands of this opponent several times, as long as he was a human being, he would make mistakes. As for the Invincible Battleship, Reinhard could not see any pattern in the opponent's actions. For Reinhard, this opponent who was so powerful that it was completely unreasonable and had no rules to follow was undoubtedly a headache.

Although he had just warned his best friend to be careful, considering the terrifying long-range jump performance and speed displayed by the invincible battleship, it seemed that it would only take a moment for it to appear from one end of the empire's territory to the other. From this point of view, compared to Gilfias, which might be closer to the invincible battleship, his fleet seemed to be facing the same threat and danger from the invincible battleship. The barrier created by a distance of only a few thousand light years might not exist at all for the invincible battleship.

But the most important thing at the moment is obviously to capture the Lendenberk Fortress in front of him. Reinhardt refocused his attention on how to capture the fortress in front of him.

…………

After the Beluska stepped on the accelerator and sped away, the merchant ship finally returned to Fessa, and the news that the ship had encountered the invincible battleship on the way spread like wildfire. After hearing the news, Gonif's colleagues all praised them for being so lucky. It was incredible that they could survive the invincible battleship that annihilated tens of thousands of imperial and allied warships with their ship unscathed.

But Gonif was not happy about this praise. He and his crew were only a step away from death at that time. The invincible battleship seemed to have been following them without launching any attack. With the defensive capabilities of Gonif's small broken ship, it was afraid that they could not last even a second.

At the same time, Gao Nifu was also puzzled by the strange behavior of the invincible battleship. He was just a mediocre merchant ship captain. Gao Nifu really couldn't understand why the invincible battleship would specifically target and track his merchant ship. Although his colleagues praised him for his good fortune, Gao Nifu swore that he would never want to experience this a second time, even if he was beaten to death.

At the same time, Gao Nitian also silently thanked the Imperial patrol fleet that immediately diverted the attention of the invincible battleship. If it weren't for them, he and his crew would not know what would have happened.

But what surprised Gonif even more was that the invincible battleship did not seem to launch an attack on the imperial patrol fleet. It just observed it for a while at close range and then left. The strange behavior pattern of the invincible battleship also puzzled Gonif.

But people are afraid of being famous, and pigs are afraid of being fat. After experiencing such a storm, Gonif, who was planning to relax, suddenly received an invitation letter. Lord Rubinski of the Fessa Autonomous Region invited Gonif to meet at his private residence.

This invitation made Gonif feel inexplicably uneasy. Gonif did not like the bald and shaved lord of Fessa, known as the Black Fox by the outside world. This sudden invitation made Gonif feel that the other party seemed to have some purpose.

However, as an unknown merchant ship owner, he obviously could not refuse the direct invitation from the autonomous lord of Feisha. After all, he made a living by running merchant ships. Since he was doing business on the other party's territory, he had to act according to the other party's mood. For the future livelihood of himself and his crew members, Gonif stared at the invitation letter on the coffee table. After careful consideration, he decided to take the initiative to meet the autonomous lord Rubinski.

…………

After a bloody battle, Reinhard's side finally captured the Lendenberk Fortress and captured Ofresa and Statin. Reinhard deliberately released Ofresa and allowed him to return safely to the Vulture City Fortress, the home base of the Noble Alliance Army.

As expected, not long after, news came from the Allied Forces of Nobles that Ofressa was sentenced to death for betraying friendly forces. The annoyed Reinhardt felt a little better after hearing the news. He originally planned to spare his life, but Ofressa dared to publicly humiliate his sister in the public communication, which made Reinhardt want to kill him directly.

After a bloody battle at the Lentenberk Fortress, Reinhardt appointed Lieutenant General Dickel as the commander of the Lentenberk Fortress to take inventory of the supplies in the Lentenberk Fortress. But shortly after this order was issued, Reinhardt suddenly received a strange report from his soldiers.

The content of this report is that a radar technician under Reinhardt accidentally observed that an asteroid with a diameter of 12 kilometers 30 astronomical units away from the Lentenberk fortress suddenly deviated from its original orbit during a routine scan of the space area around Lentenberk.