Sudden Mutation

In near-Earth orbit, the battle was unfolding with suffocating intensity.

The Flame Salamanders Third Company's flagship, the Emperor-class Battleship Unyielding Holy Flame, stood at the center of the battlefield like a god of steel.

The surface of its immense eight-kilometer hull gleamed with a cold sheen beneath the starlight, while the muzzles of its Macro-cannon Array still radiated residual heat from overload.

Around it, more than a dozen vessels belonging to the First Combat Platoon formed a tight defensive formation. Their Energy Shields overlapped into a matrix, creating an almost impenetrable barrier.

Yet their opponent was a Zerg bio-fleet dozens of times their number.

Bloated Hive Motherships floated through the void like rotting fruit, continuously spewing swarms of Flying Mantises and Spore Mines.

Veins writhed across the hulls of the Leviathan bio-ships as they prepared their next volley of acid. Farther away, countless Zerg escort ships were attempting to break through the firing line with suicidal charges.

But the Flame Salamanders fleet did not yield an inch.

"Matrix Protocol activated."

Inside the bridge, a Flame Salamanders gunner spoke calmly.

At the same time, armored panels along the Unyielding Holy Flame's sides slowly opened, ejecting ten metallic rhomboidal pillars.

These constructs, each the size of a frigate, automatically adjusted their positions in the void and formed a perfect geometric matrix.

The next second, space between the pillars began to distort. Extremely high-energy beams linked between them, focusing—

Bzzzz—!!!

A blinding white light erupted without warning, sweeping across the battlefield like the sword of divine judgment.

Wherever the beam passed, the hulls of the Hive Motherships were torn apart like thin paper, and the biological tissue within instantly vaporized.

Three Leviathans tried to evade it, only to be struck by the aftermath. Their enormous bodies were severed in half, acid and entrails