After centuries of development, Ayla had significantly improved the fleet's speed.
The average speed of the fleet was now 7145 km/s.
The estimated travel time to the Long Serpent Sector was 13 years and 4 months.
Zap was a former high-ranking officer in the Kate military, dismissed from his post and subsequently joining the explorers, becoming a squad leader.
His exploration route was diametrically opposed to the Long Serpent Sector. He had remained outside the system during the outbreak and was thus unaffected.
But his luck ended there.
Returning to Proxima Centauri, he found his home empty.
His family had perished in the plague; he was the sole survivor.
Upon learning that the catastrophe wasn't caused by a virus but a declaration of war by another civilization, he was consumed by rage!
A natural disaster had become a man-made calamity.
His grief transformed into hatred.
He was willing to sacrifice his life for revenge!
During recruitment, he demonstrated his unwavering commitment by stabbing himself with a knife and offering his heart as a symbol of his dedication.
His exceptional performance in training, combined with his past experiences, secured him the position of commander of the First Legion.
He stood on the bridge.
Not just now.
He had been standing here for days.
Because the Long Serpent Sector was close.
Days earlier, reconnaissance drones had been dispatched and had vanished without a trace into the inky blackness of space, near the end of the Long Serpent.
He knew where they were. He stared at them with icy eyes.
This was his first interstellar war, a war between species. But he felt no apprehension, only the simmering rage that had consumed him for so long.
Emotion is power.
He could feel it—his own rage, and the rage of the tens of millions of soldiers under his command.
"All warships, prepare for combat!"
"Main cannons, commence charging. Conduct reconnaissance strikes, gathering as much intelligence as possible. Even if we lose, we can still gain valuable data."
His second-in-command issued the orders, then sighed despondently.
"Unfortunately, the Federation is too vast to provide immediate support."
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"We must rely on ourselves. Otherwise, eliminating them would be trivial."
Zap glared at him.
"What are you saying?"
"Relying on other civilizations is cowardly."
"Fight for our civilization! Fight for our fallen comrades! Even if we die here, we will die with honor."
"There's a book in human literature called The Book of Rites. I love one line in it: 'Death may be light as a feather, or heavy as Mountain—it depends on how one lives one's life.'"
"Our deaths will be heavy as Mountain. We will not dishonor our civilization, our families, or ourselves."
Zap was an ardent admirer of human culture.
The officers on the bridge were momentarily stunned, then contemplated this statement.
Their gazes hardened with newfound resolve.
...
The first energy charge was quickly completed, and the main cannon fired its initial attack, with an energy output equivalent to 9000 trillion tons of TNT.
Traveling near the speed of light, the energy reached the "forbidden zone" 21 AU away.
Three hours later, dark matter projectiles struck the area.
Six hours later, Zap observed the results.
Intense spacetime distortion occurred, like a stone dropped into still water, creating ripples.
But he was certain this wasn't spacetime distortion. Warping spacetime required unimaginable energy, beyond the capabilities of even a Type 3 civilization.
The gravitational waves generated during the graviton detection were merely fluctuations in gravitational force, not spacetime distortions.
"There, a barrier of some unknown material has formed."
"Initiate Plan Two. We must determine the barrier's composition."
In the deep void of space, over a hundred ships propelled a massive dwarf planet, accelerating it to 200 km/s.
The asteroid that caused the extinction of the dinosaurs was only 10 kilometers in diameter and traveled at approximately 13.6 km/s, releasing 100 trillion tons of TNT equivalent upon impact.
This dwarf planet's impact force was comparable to the flagship's main cannon.
However, this method was slow, only effective against stationary targets.
And the target was seemingly stationary.
"Our energy weapons can't penetrate this barrier, yet this civilization is only a nascent Type 2."
"There are no hidden energy sources nearby. Their energy reserves must be finite, especially while maintaining such a large electromagnetic field."
"They won't be able to withstand a dwarf planet's impact."
This was another test.
To withstand the impact, the defense would need to be impenetrable.
And it wasn't.
As the dwarf planet reached 200 km/s, a large hole appeared in the barrier—a void that looked like a black hole, with no light escaping.
A square box emerged.
This box was small, only 100 x 30 x 30 meters. In the vastness of space, it was practically invisible.
The box moved towards the dwarf planet.
As it approached, the box collapsed into a sphere, shrinking to subatomic size in 0.01 seconds, as if creating an immense gravitational field.
The dwarf planet and nearby asteroids were pulled in, orbiting the point at over 20% the speed of light, accelerating rapidly, spiraling towards the core.
Within ten minutes, the dwarf planet disintegrated into countless fragments. The box, at the center of the vortex, formed a ring radiating immense energy.
Thirty minutes later, the dwarf planet had been completely absorbed. The vortex became visible, or perhaps, utterly black.
It was a miniature black hole.
The enemy civilization had created a miniature black hole right in front of them!
After the dwarf planet vanished, the miniature black hole became unstable. Two intense gamma-ray bursts erupted from its poles.
One struck the Fifth Fleet, instantly annihilating over half its warships.
"Damn it!"
"This miniature black hole is highly unstable; it can only exist for an hour. During that time, it will expel all the matter it absorbs."
"Because it's so small, it might explode instead of simply dissipating."
"Deploy electromagnetic shields! All warships, evade! Escape to a radius of 20 AU!"
Zap's expression changed; he immediately issued orders.
But the black hole's collapse was too rapid. As Zap had predicted, after expelling 97% of its matter, the black hole collapsed and exploded.
The immense energy spread outwards at over 10% the speed of light, making escape impossible.
Although the electromagnetic shields were deployed, the immense energy instantly consumed the entire Valiant Legion fleet.