Legacy of the Void Fleet-Chapter 323: Ch
The Minotaurs were facing an internal division within their own ranks. One faction wanted to stay and defend, irrespective of what the result might be; they all wanted to remain true to their ideals as a warrior race.
Meanwhile, the other faction—which had the support of practically everyone else—was in favor of escaping the star system altogether.
Forgetting their pride as a warrior race, they were willing to run away with their tails between their legs, believing this would at least give them a chance to regroup and create a better plan to deal with the Void Humans, who had become a massive headache and their biggest challenge. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
On board the Star Empire Arch-Fleet capital ship, the Star Destroyer, the atmosphere was tense. This ship was shaped like a shark, though with no fins or tail, but the rest of the structure mirrored that of a predator.
It was massive, measuring about 12 km in length, appearing dark and menacing with its dark and red color theme. It was flanked by a formation of similar, though slightly smaller, 6 km long vessels of the same shape; by their design and hull markings, these appeared to be Super Battleships. These were further covered by an array of Battle Cruisers, followed by Destroyer-class ships in a triangular formation.
Currently, all these ships were spewing relentless attacks while exchanging hits launched at them with precision. They managed to counter at least 60 percent of the incoming attacks, while the rest were withstood—with a bit of a struggle—by the ships’ advanced shielding systems.
Their weapon systems were made of the same advanced tech, able to utilize the surrounding mana (though barely and in very minute quantities). Even though this made them much more powerful, they appeared to be lagging behind compared to the defensive equipment; they simply weren’t able to penetrate the defenses of the enemy that had suddenly appeared from behind them.
Inside the massive Star Destroyer, a meeting—or rather, a war of words—was being waged. The leading commandants from the other four Tier One powers were lashing out against the Star Empire’s Grand Admiral, who was bearing the brunt of their anger.
"What the hell is going on here, Grand Admiral Felxie? Who the hell is this enemy that we face?" The Alchemy Guild’s own representative and commander of a Quansi Arch vessel slammed the table, fury written all over his face. His ship utilized a level of tech that, instead of using dark energy (which is still mana, though of a lesser grade), could use ambient mana within certain limits. He believed, as the others did, that the enemy they faced was no normal foe.
The way the enemy was able to withstand their attacks without any losses, while their own "allies" were being crushed with each passing moment, told him something bad was going to happen. He needed answers before making his next move.
While a "Holy Region" might sound good and all, he wasn’t here to get it while suffering losses to his own fleet—that wasn’t the order! Nor would he go through with it now that a variable had appeared out of thin air.
The others were no different; they were all just as furious as the representative from the Alchemy Association. The second one to raise his voice in fury was from the Forger Guild itself. "How do you even conduct yourself, Commander of the Star Empire?! You were here way earlier than us, yet you weren’t able to get a hold of such a strong enemy? You aren’t even aware of their existence? Did you even do due diligence around here?"
He continued, "Or do you just want to lead us into a dead end? If so, we’d better exit before we become participants in it! Either you give us some credible information here about who they are and why they are attacking us—and do it now—or let’s end our cooperation. The Forger Guild will have no hand in an operation that has so many holes in it!"
"Exactly!" With frustration, the Elven representative stood up as well. "You were sent here first to make a comprehensive analysis of the situation! And yet, the report given to us a few days ago mentioned no such thing about these people attacking us right now.
What the hell did you even do here, then? While we took the risk and wandered around the galaxy to literally mask your presence here and outplay them completely, what have you achieved? Huh? This is so infuriating!
Never had I hoped that you Star people were so unreliable to form partnerships with..." She hissed as she pointed a finger, for her worries were the same as the other representatives.
Worse, just before coming here, she had learned through her connections that the Empress recently sought a Seer from the Azura Imperium to deal with a problem created by her own blood relative with the Arch Duke Clan. This has now started a cold war within the empire itself, making it unstable as the empire is literally being divided into two parts.
The root cause of it all is the "Blood Hound" that the Empress’s own family sent after the Arch Duke’s daughter, who is said to possess talent unrivaled by anyone else in the whole empire—one who could compete even with the geniuses of the Super Powers. Now, she remains missing; whether she is dead or alive is unsure.
The Empress knew that she needed to find the daughter of the Arch Duke, or all hell would break loose. She would be forced to fight it out, which would give the enemies of the Elven Empire a chance to raise weapons against an empire battling its own people—something the Empress wants to avoid at all costs!
And so, she sought the Seer from the Azura race, the only one who could possibly lead her to a solution to alleviate the current problem. She can’t simply handle the person who caused this; because, ultimately, he was a family member, he was a "special" person, and—most importantly—the Arch Duke wants his daughter back, not the culprit. He has promised that if she isn’t found, things will not go well.
To the point: while the Seer did help the Elven Empress and even found the location of the Arch Duke’s daughter—at a cost—he gave a grave warning. He told the Empress that the Arch Duke’s daughter is now with someone she should approach with caution, or the existence of the Elven Empire and its heritage could potentially be in danger of annihilation!
The Empress was skeptical about this; after all, not even the Super Tier One Powers dared to take action against her empire. At least, that is how she felt, and even the representative Arya felt the same—that it was hard to imagine their empire falling. But still, from what Arya had heard, the Empress took the words somewhat seriously, especially upon hearing the location of the Arch Duke’s daughter.
She was right here, in this corner of the galaxy! And the person or power she was with was here, too. Arya felt that the ones she was currently facing were the same people the Seer had talked about, and therefore, she felt the emergency of the situation even more than the others. She had already witnessed a part of the enemy’s strength, and they were, beyond a doubt, more powerful than her own fleet and the others combined. There was no doubt about that... not forgetting that they definitely haven’t revealed their complete strength yet. She could only imagine just how powerful they truly were!
Because of these reasons, the urgency in her voice was even more striking than the others. While the rest were frustrated by the holes in the operation’s perimeter, Arya was different; she had her own considerations to worry about.
While the others noticed her urgency, they failed to see the other details on Arya’s face. Nor did they notice that the Mountain Dwarf Elder, though still furious, was calmer than the others at this moment.
"What the others say is indeed correct," the Elder began. "This was something you were supposed to cover for us! That is a big failure on your part, and now we are caught off guard by an enemy that seems no normal one at all. Their defenses are strong, the same could be said for their firepower, and who knows how much they are hiding right now? The potential backup they could have is giving me a headache just thinking about it!"
He looked around the room. "But what is clear to us is that we are at a disadvantage. I propose that we back off right now. Otherwise, we might face challenges from all sides that we cannot cover—not forgetting the potential backup of this enemy and their actual strength. We should back off now, collect what we can, and plan how to counter them!"
"This should be done!! For if we fight, we don’t know what might happen even if we win. We will take a hit, and that isn’t something we are prepared to do—that is not our goal. And if you haven’t noticed, while we are under attack, the intensity is far less than what the Minotaurs are facing! Which tells me that they are not after us... they are giving us..."
