"Then attack with full force!" Crown commanded sharply. "Follow my orders—take down the enemy, and then we return home in time to attend the founding ceremony of our empire!"

Clenching her fist tightly, she spoke with firm resolve.

With even greater resolve, the 4th battle group began pounding the Hegemony fleet with increased intensity.

The pressure mounted rapidly on the Hegemony forces, who had only just stabilized their formation and were barely managing to withstand the oppressive assault of the 4th battle fleet.

Back on the Hegemony battle fortress—

Exterminator observed silently as Pact’s eyes turned hollow, absolute panic now visible on his face, no longer hidden from the others.

"They... they’re gone! The three elders are gone! What do I do now...? Without them, how can I—or this fleet—handle that human pilot controlling that bladed mech... a monster with such power that even three Genesis Law Realm beings couldn’t do anything...?"

Pact blurted out the words in sheer panic.

But then— From the blazing, sun-like explosion, two figures burst out—Elder Bell and Elder Hawk.

Both were visibly injured, their forms damaged... yet already beginning to heal.

Seeing them, Pact didn’t care about their injuries or the state they were in.

"They’re alive...!" Relief flooded his voice. "There’s still hope on this battlefield... if we can just hold..."

It was as if he had finally seen light at the end of a dark tunnel.

And with it— A renewed strength and resolve surged within him.

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Quickly reaching out to the console in front of him, he opened a communication channel with the two... "Elder Bell, Elder Hawk... please control yourselves and don’t go for a straight attack at that mech..." Pact said with a deep breath, looking at the dark mech holding a blade in one hand, watching the rushing Elder Bell and Hawk.

"What are you saying, Pact?!" roared Elder Bell through the comm. "That human shit has humiliated us. If we don’t take it down now, where would our face go?!"

"What loss of face?!" Pact, not to be left behind, roared with even greater intensity than Bell. "Get your facts straight and understand the need of the battlefield. You three were thoroughly taken down by that human, whether you want to believe it or not! That’s the truth.

And if you rush ahead, charging at it again like before, what are the chances that you won’t suffer? Have you powered up? No, right?"

"And above all, you aren’t fighting here for yourselves! There’s a fleet behind you that needs your strength and support. If you throw your lives away like this... it will cost your master losses—something you would rather not see happen, Elder Bell, Elder Hawk..."

Hearing that, Elder Bell became even more furious. He knew, rationally, that Pact was right. He and the others were weak; they had no chance of taking this enemy down in their lifetime, and charging at it again was both foolish and idiotic.

And then there was his master. If he dared cause trouble here, who knew what might become of his family—and of himself, if he even survived...

Yeah... what was pride in front of survival? The survival of his family mattered more.

Controlling his anger, he threw a glance at Hawk, who nodded in understanding before saying, "He is right, you old fool, Bell. We should be more cautious..."

"Okay, okay! I get it!" Bell snapped, before speaking to Pact. "Say what you want us to do, Pact. And let me tell you this—this better be worth it... if not, you won’t know what’s coming for you," Bell said in a threatening tone.

Pact gulped hearing that, even taking a step back... but he quickly got a hold of his emotions and fear, and spoke with courage.

"What I need from both of you—and even Elder Loin, when he recovers enough—is to delay and hold down the enemy mech as much as possible. Reinforcements should already be on their way... and it shouldn’t take much longer for them to arrive..."

"And with that, we have a real chance—not only of surviving, but of taking down the human fleet in front of us!" Pact blurted out his thoughts to both of them.

Hearing this, Elder Bell and Hawk’s eyes lit up for a brief moment before they looked at the human mech, which stood calmly watching them, and then at the human fleet attacking their hegemony fleet with greater intensity...

Losses on their side were increasing with each passing minute, and they weren’t able to deal any real damage to the human fleet at all...

They couldn’t help but wonder—if this continued, even if they followed the plan... would there even be any fleet left?

These thoughts crossed both of their minds.

Just then, the voice of Elder Lion rang in their heads.

"Let’s just follow through with that kid Pact’s plan... It doesn’t matter if the fleet gets taken down and wiped out completely by the humans.

What matters is whether we can hold them here or not! If we successfully hold them off until our reinforcements arrive, it won’t matter if our fleet is destroyed. Instead of punishment, we might even be rewarded..." Elder Lion spoke bluntly, coughing and groaning in pain.

Both Bell and Hawk’s dim eyes lit up again. They liked the idea and nodded.

Elder Bell was about to confirm with Pact that they would follow his plan... when Elder Hawk added, "And maybe some miracle might happen—this kid Pact might turn things around. Who knows? I say it’s worth it... we might not be able to kill the person inside that mech, but we can still hold him down, no?"

"Indeed," both Bell and Lion said, as Lion finally materialized beside them. His lion mech—or rather, his alchemy body—was brutally damaged.

"Good! We will follow your orders for now, Pact! But if there’s no result, or if the situation isn’t optimistic... you’re on your own," Bell said without any further reaction.

Hearing this, Pact took a deep breath, then turned to look at the battlefield—and at his losses, which were huge, if he had to admit it... but he still had a numerical advantage.

If he achieved even one breakthrough, he had a chance to turn things around with the overwhelming number of ships he still had.

"Leave that to me, Elder Bell! If the situation gets worse, you won’t be blamed," he said, accepting the terms Bell had set. After all, he needed them—he couldn’t afford to upset them over this. And if the fleet fell... did Bell and the others really think they would survive? Heh... he laughed to himself.

"Good!" Elder Bell, Hawk, and Lion said simultaneously. The three of them then rushed toward Kael, attacking him together and slowly pulling him away from the battle line... blocking his route back, preventing him from reinforcing his fleet if anything happened.

Much to their surprise, all of this was achieved rather easily. Kael didn’t seem to struggle or try to reach back toward his fleet—instead, he fully focused on them, continuing his attacks, which they could barely withstand at all...

But with their combined strength and teamwork, they managed to keep him away from the others, never letting him focus on any one of them long enough to deal serious damage.

And just like that, an intense battle began—one against three.

Back in the battle fortress, Pact formulated the next part of his plan and passed the order. "Start a collective assault on the enemy forces! Target their central formation—ignore their flanks for now!" Pact said firmly...

"But, Commander! If we do that, our losses could increase exponentially," one of the officers voiced his concern in front of him...

To which Pact grunted. "We can only move like this if we want a real chance to turn around our situation! But don’t worry—the flank battleships and battlecruisers will stand at the front, along with a number of mechanical octopuses to provide cover. That should be enough to reduce the losses for a while... by that point, there should be positive results if this goes as planned."

Hearing that, the other commanding officers could only nod, accept the order, and follow through.

And quickly, the hegemony fleet began attacking with a newfound intensity, ignoring both flank formations of the 4th Battle Fleet and instead targeting the central formation, where the core of the fleet’s power lay...

Lesser energy shots... beam weapons... missiles and more—all streaked toward the 4th Battle Fleet.

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Crown, who had long since detected the surge of energy, was already prepared for it and quickly gave orders. "Deploy the 2nd and 3rd mech divisions in front! Ships in the middle of the formation—hold your fire and direct secondary weapons at taking down the enemy’s collective assault on the central frontline ships!"

"Both flanks—provide additional support in taking down enemy missiles! Ensure they stay far away from the central formation! At the same time, increase the intensity of your attacks on the enemy flanks!