Chapter 96: The Final Roar

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Still writing, and this chapter is not the only one. Thank you all for your continued support.

The author has a question: who said the author has already gone off to live in comfort with room and board included?

Damn it, I only went a little longer without updating! And even that has to be turned into a rumor?

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Behind the defense line of Tianhai Star, the Wanderer looked like a colossal steel beast just waking from sleep.

Its heavy hull panels shifted and rotated, and endless mechanized combat units rose from the ship’s lower platforms.

Each combat unit possessed a streamlined endoskeleton forged from an unknown alloy, covered in composite armor that looked utterly indestructible. Blue glimmers flickered in the optical sensors of their heads, as though they were in standby mode.

Then, as the ship’s outer shell finished its complete reversal, the mechanical fighters all lifted their head assemblies in unison, their sensors turning to a yellow glow of awaiting commands.

"Linking with Supreme Combat Unit 4563..."

"Link established. Awaiting orders..."

The units were not all identical in shape, but the design philosophy behind them was the same: maximum combat efficiency.

Inside the Wanderer’s central control room, Xu Weiyi, through the collective network connection, clearly received every self-check signal and authorization-confirmation pulse emitted as each combat unit awakened.

The human guise of Xu Weiyi began to fall away, revealing the full form of the supreme combat entity.

"Target locked! Fleet marked!"

"Select all active combat units."

All the combat units linked to Xu Weiyi trained their optical sensors on the Sevi fleet far out in the starfield. Then Xu Weiyi’s command was transmitted to every unit.

"Command engaged: organic extermination."

His order was simple, stripped of all warmth.

The answer came at once: the faint glow in every mechanical head turned into piercing crimson indicator lights, and every small engine nozzle lit simultaneously. The tremendous recoil made the entire Wanderer tremble.

"Command received... battle sequence initiated."

The mechanical legion on the Wanderer’s platforms poured forth like a torrent of metal, surging toward the warships that were firing madly.

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The rear battlefield in the Starsea Civilization’s space was instantly torn apart by the newly arrived mechanized forms.

These machines, whose technology far surpassed that of the Sevi fleet, advanced as though they were in open country, pushing upward through the chaotic bursts of panicked fire and disorderly explosions.

The battle units of every shape and size displayed an efficiency that could only be described as terrifying. The heavy machines at the front endured several volleys of concentrated fire from the Sevi fleet with force-field barriers, ripples of shockwaves spreading across the shields, while the machines themselves remained untouched.

Close behind them came high-speed units, each covered in slender, razor-sharp blades, with several limbs ending in compact high-energy weapon systems. They turned into indistinct afterimages, weaving and darting across the battlefield at speeds beyond biological reaction, harvesting the warships that had not even managed to fire.

Destruction occurred in a silent blink.

The perspective shifted to the command ship of the Sevi fleet still in the starry void.

The cabin was filled with the shriek of alarms, nearly wailing in despair, and the strained, trembling voices of operators reporting in rapid succession.

"The 4th and 7th tactical formations on the left flank have completely lost contact! The enemy mechanized units are breaking through the defense zone!"

"The long-range fire array has overloaded and collapsed! Repeat! The long-range fire array is now silent!"

"We’re finished! Those machines are going to kill us all!"

"Commander Sevis! What do we do? Commander Sevis!!!"

Sevis stood at the command position, his face expressionless. Only the hand clutching tightly until it had gone pale betrayed what he felt inside.

Listening to the wails and desperate cries of the operators, he gave no reply, only stared silently at the battlefield display before him.

The friendly lights on the display were being extinguished one after another, while the crimson points representing the enemy were trying to breach Tianhai Star’s atmosphere. Their next target would be the main body of the fleet in space.

An adjutant in a technical uniform, his face smeared with ash and dust, nearly threw himself at the command console, his voice hoarse as he shouted, "Commander Sevis! The data capsule is ready! It contains the battle record, all observational data, coordinates, and... our final messages and farewell!"

"The hyperspace beacon is fully charged! We’ve set all the automatic procedures! It has already been launched toward the coordinate closest to Commander Yeslu!"

The adjutant gathered what strength he had left and straightened into a perfect Sevi salute.

"From here on, everything will be the honor of us Sevi warriors!"

Sevis finally looked away from the crimson sea pressing in on the screen and toward the control interface of the data capsule projector, where a preparation signal continued to blink.

The data capsule represented the last spark of hope in Sevi civilization.

The countdown for its launch was also the final clock ticking down for him and every life aboard this fleet.

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"This will be the final proof that we existed, the answer owed to Commander Yeslu, and the dying warning to every other civilization!"

At last Sevis spoke. He lifted his eyes and swept them across every Sevi person in the bridge who was looking at him. Their eyes held despair and fear, yet within them was also... a thread of hope.

"Our mission has failed! But we must still let them know!"

"The soldiers of Sevi civilization will never vanish in silence!"

As his words fell, everyone cast off despair and fear. Then a weapons operator in charge of the ship’s armaments rushed forward, a trace of madness on his face.

"Commander Sevis! The engine core can barely be overloaded!"

Sevis turned to look at him. The fire in his eyes seemed ready to burst forth, the look of someone who had witnessed mechanized slaughter of organics.

To overload the engine core at once and use it as a source of weapon energy—

that would mean the ship would lose all power after firing this one shot, becoming a giant piece of dead metal in space and an easy target for the enemies that followed.

But the only advantage was that it would ensure the safe transmission of the data capsule, free from interference by those machines, and would also draw the Earthlings’ attention away.

No matter how slim the odds, they were still better than none.

Sevis fixed his gaze once more on the launch countdown for the data capsule, which continued to shrink with each passing moment. Then he slowly reached toward a spot on his console and slammed his hand down on a button.

The command console for fleet leadership was almost entirely made of virtual light screens, with only one red physical button lying quietly in the corner.

That red button did not even have a protective cover, because no commander would ever reach for it at any other time.

Its only purpose was for this final instant of mutual destruction.

Bang.

The impact rang out as though striking every heart present, followed by a piercing alarm. In an instant the entire ship was washed in red light, and that hellish sound echoed through every ship in the Sevi fleet at once.

"Warning! Engine core overload in progress!!!"