The Servant Army Fleet doesn’t have much room to maneuver on this battlefield, as they mainly assist the Imperial Army in battle through sheer numbers and a wide range of flanking disruptions. However, within the confined space of the Order Field, they are no match for the New Army in direct confrontation.

In normal outer space, the Servant Army often disrupts the enemy continually from all directions of the battlefield or launches a massive assault from the enemy’s flanks—this is an extremely effective combat tactic. General-class carriers and other Servant Army warships, while not comparable to regular Imperial warships, can inflict significant damage on the Xyrin Battleships when amassed in large numbers. This forces the enemy to divert considerable attention to deal with the harassment units composed of the Servant Army, and no matter how much they are distracted by this, it ultimately does not pay off.

But here, in the Order Field, space is quite limited. Once anyone leaves the protection of the Joint Shield, they fall within the range of the enemy’s Near Defense Guns. General Carriers, facing the fire control system of the New Army, stand no chance. Their speed is barely over that of a moving target and, although their shields are Ghost Energy Shields, they offer limited defense due to being downgraded for mortal physiques.

Watching the General Carriers detach from the formation, everyone in the command hall was puzzled. Sandora immediately contacted their Commander: "Roland Gale, what are you doing?"

Roland Gale’s figure appeared on the communicator: "We’re luring the enemy away!"

"Come back immediately; this is pointless," Sandora frowned. "This is no time for heroics. The New Army won’t fall for this!"

"We can adjust our Order Field to be very close to that of the Imperial Fleet, even letting the two Order Fields touch. The enemy still wandering in the Void won’t be able to accurately locate these two Order Fields, so they have a fifty percent chance of heading directly towards us," Roland Gale analyzed clearly. "It’s quite feasible; the Military Integration Department’s technical advisors have confirmed the enemy’s Void navigation can’t discern such minute differences, because a normal fleet wouldn’t split into two groups and proceed with Order Fields touching. Once they take the bait, we’ll split the Order Field, thus drawing away at least half the enemy... the remaining impact should be minimal, and the main force can shake them off directly."

While Roland Gale spoke, part of the General Carriers completely broke away from the main fleet, leaving the protection of the Joint Shield. These ships immediately came under intense enemy fire. Although the New Army didn’t know what these ships intended, they were clearly not going to let isolated Imperial Servant Army ships get away. From the launch channels on both sides of the General Carriers, carrier-based aircraft and Guard Gunboats swarmed out like an Insect Swarm, charging into the ever-encroaching black and red warships, with hundreds and thousands of aircraft and gunboats being blasted into fragments every second. However, under the overwhelming numerical suppression, the New Army’s invasion units also suffered casualties—yet, regardless, this casualty ratio is disproportionate!

"Cover them!" Sivis immediately ordered the escort fleet on the flank, and all the Near Defense Guns began firing wildly while the Ravens outside gave their best efforts to clear the locust-like invading New Army units, suppressing the enemy offensive once again.

As for me, I lunged at the communicator: "Have you lost your minds?! This is a suicide tactic!"

"If we cared about our lives, we wouldn’t fight," Roland Gale snorted, then his expression turned serious, "We’re soldiers, not coddled fools who need to be constantly protected by the Imperial Fleet. Soldiers on the battlefield must make some contribution. Ahead lies the Peace Core, where the role of the Servant Army is even more non-existent, so we had might as well make a contribution here. As for life and death... the enemy won’t waste time on a bunch of decoys. As long as we lead them away, our chances of survival are higher. I’ve been dealing with death most of my life and know how to survive, so don’t worry."

I knew I shouldn’t let personal feelings interfere with the big picture on the battlefield, but after seeing the images from the external monitor, I couldn’t help but say: "You have to understand that you’re dealing with the most insane group of Fallen Apostles, which should be the Imperial Army’s battlefield, not yours." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

"This is our battlefield!" Roland Gale suddenly raised his voice, "The Imperial Army’s battlefield is in the Peace Core! You should go there; we should stay here!"

There’s nothing more to say. I smiled and waved at the old lion in the communicator, "Alright, I’ll leave the Peace Core to you. Your task is to survive well, along with the Heisen Tribe and the jerks from New Eden—taking action on your own is a great crime, be prepared to come back alive and face punishment."

The General Carriers reformed into a new formation, detaching from the main array and swiftly blending into the chaotic barrier surrounding the Order Field. The enemy launched a fierce attack on them midway, but realizing they were just "mixed soldiers," turned their focus back on the Imperial Army. The enemies already invading the Order Field wouldn’t be diverted by these Servant Armies.

But outside the Order Field, it’s different - because the information drift jump of the Void Engines is non-linear, there’s a concept of minimal recognition. If two Order Fields are adjacent, when the Void Engine approaches these two Order Fields, which one it contacts first becomes a matter of probability. After the Servant Army formation left the main array of the Imperial Army, the erosion the Order Field suffered clearly decreased.

Seizing this momentary opportunity, the main force rapidly accelerated, the two adjacent Order Fields subsequently split, and the Servant Army deliberately enhanced their signal strength to make themselves appear more threatening. Meanwhile, the Imperial Fleet, without any concerns, sprinted toward the Peace Core!

The enemy, swarming up like an Insect Swarm, also split into two groups. For a moment, they couldn’t tell which of the two Order Fields was real or fake, leading half of them to advance towards the decoy. When they realized that the one heading towards the Peace Core was actually the Imperial main force, it was too late to pursue.

Our main force continued to be chased and eroded by the remaining half of the enemies, with black and red Abyss Battleships constantly appearing on the Chaos Border. Explosions on the Imperial Army’s flanks were relentless, but this erosion could no longer keep up with the Order Field’s self-repair speed, rendering the enemy’s obstruction useless. The signal of the Peace Core on the navigation radar was clear... approaching, breaking through!

Is the Peace Core’s World Barrier in an open state?!

The moment we crossed the World Barrier, we suddenly discovered something incredible: there were no defensive forces on the World Barrier in this universe! The Imperial Fleet hadn’t engaged in laborious math rate offensive and defensive wars, nor did they crack a heap of interference codes. They simply rushed to the Material Plane in one go; we hadn’t even seen a single Void Interferer!

However, before I could express joy at this "good news," I saw the Abyss Xyrin’s expression change: "The Startup Terminal is about to awaken!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, and everyone around was equally stunned, with a dozen incredulous gazes falling on the Abyss Xyrin, as though trying to see an answer directly from her.

"The information disturbance from the Startup Terminal causes the World Barrier to appear in this open state. Its power is too strong, enough to overload all the Void Interferers," the Abyss Xyrin quickly explained. "Specifically, it should have displayed signs of awakening a few minutes ago... Just where did they find such energy?! This surpasses the instant output of any Ghost Energy Well!"

I could no longer focus on the bad news from the Abyss Xyrin, and my attention was drawn to the bizarre sight of this universe: why is the outer space in this universe so... twisted?

The Peace Core seems like a bountiful world, a rare place within the Abyss Zone. It has a massive material enrichment zone with numerous celestial bodies and appears to lack out-of-control energy environments or collapsing cosmic laws. Yet, it feels so... surreal.

The cosmos is filled with peculiar light bands of no apparent source, lingering indefinitely, spreading across the universe like dispersed auroras, ranging from hundreds to millions of kilometers in scale. Most are dim, but there are exceptionally bright areas mixed in. These inexplicable entities are ubiquitously present, yet show no energy reaction, and their electromagnetic radiation is indistinguishable from the surrounding space, leaving you with no other markers to find them except by sight. Besides these mysterious illuminations, starlight is also severely warped, with stars appearing not as individual bright dots but transformed into bright lines like an imprecise time-lapse photo, dragging long curving trails behind each star, making the star systems they form into large, indistinct halos that blend with surrounding nebulas and are hard to distinguish.

In the far deeper reaches of space, an extremely bright, milky-white beam seemingly penetrates the entire universe, the only thing undistorted, appearing conspicuous and... eerie.

This clearly is a distorted world... Could it be caused by the startup terminal?

Regardless, the spectacle in outer space is not a natural phenomenon. Although the Void contains all sorts of bizarre worlds, many worlds seem fantastical—for instance, worlds filled with white light, worlds that are seas of Chaos energy, and even high-density, purely liquid worlds. However, no matter how strange these "strange-shaped universes" appear, they conform to their basic rules, forming a self-consistent world system. Meanwhile, the universe before us, with its twisted light and deformed stars, shares foundational rules similar to the Capital World. The equipment on the starship has already detected several key data points of the Peace Core, so we can be certain that the sight before us is not a natural phenomenon, nor something that should exist in this universe.

"So that’s the startup terminal..." Abyss Xyrin looked in surprise at the distant white light in outer space, even she was seeing it activate for the first time, "Never thought... it was like this?"

"Now is not the time to marvel..." I had just said half a sentence when I felt intense vibrations from all directions. The starship was under a strong external attack, and structural resonance caused a low rumble to echo through the command hall.

The ship’s host alarm sounded instantly in the hall: "High-energy reactions detected... from all directions!"

Faced with the sudden surge of enemy fire, the ship’s early warning system struggled to decide how to distribute the shields, but fortunately, we have a more advanced "radar." Lin Xue had been focusing her Spirit since earlier, but the interference from the startup terminal prevented her from providing early warnings outside the World Barrier. Nonetheless, even now it’s not too late to make predictions!

"Concentrate shields to the rear formation, Fortress Ship second echelon, release shield generator pressure twelve seconds after attack, or you’ll overload and be annihilated. Sivis, turn off the early warning radar, I’ll replace it. Xiao Xue, assist."

Miss Lin Xue was already fully familiar with this battlefield, swiftly relaying several commands before settling down with Xiao Xue on their respective chairs, slightly closing their eyes as if entering a state of semi-consciousness. Meanwhile, from beside their chairs appeared a dozen or so six-sided crystal prisms about a foot long, emitting a soft blue glow and hovering silently beside the two Prophets without any further movement.

This is the "connection device" improved by Taville, allowing the Prophets to connect themselves with other equipment. Lin Xue directly replaced the early warning radar. She could even, like the Xyrin Host, control the whole fleet’s anti-air firepower and the shield system using her thoughts, without wasting time transmitting commands. However, this system consumes a lot of user energy, and even with Lin Xue and Xiao Xue sharing the computation load, it can only last shortly. Thus, they activated the "connection device" only now.

Though I think the greatest advancement of this device is: it’s finally not a coffin.

After Lin Xue linked with the early warning system, the Imperial Fleet’s response speed markedly increased, and the response to incoming fire became almost "bizarre." The defense system no longer organized defense only after the enemy’s attack arrived but acted when the enemy themselves didn’t even know what their next action would be. The pressure on our fleet instantly reduced considerably.

But this only helps the fleet better cope with incoming fire; the real major threat... is that white light in space.

It is so massive, connecting heaven and earth, seemingly spanning the entire universe. Observational methods detect no energy reaction within the white light, but they do detect vast amounts of energy converging towards it. The energy seems to vanish the moment it touches the white light, indicating the startup terminal is a massive energy consumer. More bizarrely, we can’t ascertain the distance between this thing and the Imperial Fleet; using standard equipment to measure the distance yields many strange data... It appears to exist in a bizarre time-space state where normal spatial positioning methods are completely ineffective against this white light.

The distortion of the Peace Core and the mutations in the surrounding world are all thanks to it. I really can’t believe how Abyss Xyrin created such a bizarre thing.

"Do not mind those disruptions. Advance towards the startup terminal with full force!" Sandora’s voice filled the command hall, and her power permeated the Imperial Fleet, even enveloping the Divine Race Army that entered this world with us. Sandora was enhancing fleet synchronization through her unique abilities, sharing the load of the spiritual network. Although it couldn’t cause substantial improvements, even a slight enhancement is necessary under current pressing circumstances!

The fleet accelerated collectively, and soon a commander reported, "The target area is shrouded by a strong Gravity Trap! Jump engines are disrupted!"

"Then jump to the closest possible location!" Sandora’s tone was urgent, "Don’t let interceptive fire hold you back... Sivis! Deploy induction beacons, three... no, half of the induction beacons!"

The massive aircraft carrier at the fleet’s periphery opened the ejection channels on its sides, releasing numerous spindle-shaped devices made of metal and crystal into space. These spindle-shaped devices, about a hundred meters in length, have a crystal texture distinctly different from ordinary Ghost Energy Crystals, and before each crystal, a vague image floats. These images depict slender females with silver-white faceplates and three pairs of Crystal Wings behind them, controlled by the Leader Bee—though what they’re called has been forgotten.

The Leader Bee herself was not surrounding these beacons, but their power enveloped the devices. The beacons quickly jumped away from the Imperial Fleet, forming projections indistinguishable from the Imperial Fleet.

Precisely identical in scale and quality, even energy reactions and information radiation are identical. Nothing can distinguish these projections from the original fleet except when they endure significant firepower, revealing their relatively fragile nature.

Three groups of projections appeared, dispersing with the Imperial Fleet and advancing towards the startup terminal — thus, the New Army couldn’t discern the real from the false.

"Energy... energy... is it really like this?!" Abyss Xyrin began muttering to herself earlier, and only now did I have the time to listen to her mumble, so I couldn’t resist my curiosity: "What are you mumbling about?"

The startup terminal is already activated, yet it needs some time to completely "awaken." This is a moment of life and death, even for all Order Worlds in the Void; how can Abyss Xyrin be distracted at such a critical moment?

"I’m having my remaining troops examine the startup terminal’s energy source," Abyss Xyrin seemed to suddenly snap out of her daze and grabbed my arm, "I want so much to know where they sourced the energy!"

"Where?"

"World annihilation!" Abyss Xyrin’s single sentence drew everyone’s attention to her, "They are extracting power from the universe in the Annihilation Abyss Zone!"

"Are you certain?" Sandora frowned. This terrifying news that could startle any mortal seemed to be merely a "somewhat crazy plan" to her, surprising yet still open for discussion.

"They’ve been secretly doing this in their absolute control zones all along. It wasn’t until just now that my troops regained control of the outer regions and pushed deeper into the New Army’s dominion that we discovered many worlds had vanished, leaving only vast empty noise from annihilated information," Abyss Xyrin’s form flickered, indicating extreme emotional agitation, "The absolute control zones of the New Army are entirely closed off, no one knows what happens inside... they exploded all their territories to quickly energize the startup terminal!" (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, you’re welcome to visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote and give monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)