Chapter Summaries

The narrator reunited with Little Pao Pao, who was controlling a hundred-meter-tall Suigintou doll, then helped Suigintou prank Feminine Gilgamesh. When Gusita's fleet arrived at Crystal Peak, the Federation activated its trap as the enemy's main force approached.

• The narrator found that Little Pao Pao was controlling the giant Suigintou doll and played with her while she called him Daddy.
• The narrator and Suigintou lured Feminine Gilgamesh to the hangar, where Little Pao Pao was waiting.
• Pandora reported that Gusita was approaching, so the narrator ordered Sakura to take position and the Mind Stealer Beacon to be prepared.
• Gusita's scout ships arrived at the edge of the Star System and encountered Crystal Peak's staged defenses.
• Gusita's main fleet arrived with a large number of carriers, and the narrator ordered the Mind Stealer Beacon activated.

The Federation used Sandora’s mind control and Crystal Peak’s beacon to turn Gusita’s invasion fleets against their own empire. The plan devastated Gusita’s forces and Pope Star, while Gotak and its allies prepared to exploit the resulting chaos.

• Gusita’s commander approached Crystal Peak, where the planet’s beacon overwhelmed his fleet and Sandora took control of him and his troops.
• The controlled commander claimed Crystal Peak had been destroyed, killed Jillian Monk, and ordered the fleet to return home in service to the Queen.
• Gusita’s second wave arrived and was also subdued, bringing the number of controlled carriers to nearly six thousand before the fleet turned toward Gusita.
• Lilina outlined the next phase as Gotak reported that Gusita’s neighboring factions would attack once the empire weakened, while Fina managed the Western Star Sector’s conflicts.
• The controlled Gusita forces destroyed fifty-three fortress planets, then attacked Pope Star in a suicidal assault that nearly destroyed the planet.

The narrator announced the start of the frontal war in the Eastern Star Sector and led an Imperial Fleet surprise attack on an Angel Legion fortress system. As the Empire Fleet battled the garrison, an unknown signal broke through the Empire Admiral’s defenses and began infiltrating its command links.

• The Shipboard Mainframe reported escalating conflicts across the star sectors, Queen Fina’s diplomatic gains, and the Empire’s readiness to attack in the East.
• The narrator convened commanders and announced that the frontal war in the Eastern Star Sector would begin.
• The Empire Fleet destroyed a fortress planet in the Angel Legion’s system and attacked the remaining military forces.
• The Angel Legion garrison regrouped to defend itself, while the Empire Admiral’s countermeasures disrupted its radar systems.
• An Empire Commander detected a weak unknown signal from the enemy First Army Group’s core that breached the Empire Admiral’s information defenses and began infiltrating its command links.

The Empire was ambushed by a massive rebel fleet drawn in by signals from the Angel Legion, and the battle spread across the Star System. Vega found the transmitters but could not disable them, leaving the Empire facing further waves of enemies.

• The unknown signal penetrated the Empire’s information shielding, and an enemy fleet launched a surprise attack on the Empire Admiral’s rear flank.
• Older Sister suspected the signal was summoning rebels, so the Commander sent Vega and her elite scorpions to capture a transmitter.
• The Imperial fleet disrupted the rebels’ jump with Gravity Interference Bombs and fought back using Frontier-class defenses, fleet firepower, and Siweisi’s enhancements.
• A second rebel wave arrived despite the Empire’s defensive measures, while Vega reported finding three transmitters and that one had already been destroyed.
• Vega could not operate the remaining transmitters, so the Commander ordered the Empire Admiral to pull their ships into a Space Fold as fighting engulfed the Star System.

The Imperial Army defeated the Angel Legion and rebel forces in the Gamma-6 Star System, then salvaged the signal transmitters that had drawn the enemy there. Tawell discovered that the transmitters were fragments of an ancient, modified Spirit Crystal artifact, and began investigating whether it held the secret behind the rebels.

• Siweisi ordered the Imperial forces to destroy the remaining enemies after the transmission ships vanished into the Space Fold, and the rebels and Angel Legion collapsed under the assault.
• The Imperial Army secured the Gamma-6 Star System and salvaged a surviving transmitter, which Siweisi shut down with Energy Freeze when it resumed sending its signal.
• Siweisi and her companions traveled toward the Roland Gale Conglomerate to seek its leader and learn what it knew about the Angel Legion’s artifact.
• Tawell examined the transmitter wreckage and determined that the Angel Legion could barely operate the advanced devices, which had been removed from a much larger object.
• A scan revealed a massive, modified Spirit Crystal inside the transmitter, and Tawell identified it as an ancient artifact that might contain information about the rebels’ origins.

The Empire Fleet entered the Roland Gale Conglomerate and landed on its capital planet, Tiann, to meet the leader and learn more about the ancient relic and the angel legion. The Roland Gale officials welcomed the Empire, but their leader was absent because of his condition.

• Tawell’s research into the ancient relic stalled, so the narrator planned to ask Roland Gale’s leader about the angel legion’s weaponry.
• The Empire Fleet crossed the Roland Gale border and headed for Tiann, while Lilina claimed her past missionary work had helped establish contact with the Conglomerate.
• The Empire Admiral landed outside Tiann’s capital before rising and landing again because Ding Dang had secretly damaged the crew’s entry-channel sequences.
• The Empire delegation met Roland Gale officials, explained that the Empire’s rebel traitors had preyed on the weak, and asked to see the Conglomerate’s leader.
• A Roland Gale official apologized for the leader’s absence and said the delegation would understand if they saw his condition.

The Empire's delegation met Roland Gale, whose leader revealed that he had transformed himself into a tireless artificial brain after a disastrous war nearly destroyed his people. Roland Gale pledged to stand with the Empire and asked it to understand why ordinary civilizations fought so desperately to survive.

• The delegation learned that Lilina's earlier propaganda and battle against the Shepherds had alerted Roland Gale's government to the Empire's arrival.
• Ling j escorted the delegation through the sealed Presidential Palace to meet Roland Gale, whose entire body was a gigantic head.
• Roland Gale explained that he had modified himself after a disastrous military mistake nearly brought the Conglomerate to ruin, so he could lead without fatigue or impulsive decisions.
• Roland Gale described how leaders across the universe had transformed themselves to avoid mistakes and protect their civilizations from constant war.
• Roland Gale declared that the Conglomerate would stand with the Empire and asked the delegation to sympathize with ordinary races struggling to survive.

The narrator learned how the Angel Pirates used an Ancient Divine Artifact to summon rebel warships, while Roland Gail offered the conglomerate's help despite the danger and his fading soul. Unable to sleep that night, the narrator met the sleepwalking Alaya, who wrapped them both in her wings.

• Roland Gail explained that the Angel Pirates had risen by summoning rebel fleets but could not control them, and that their artifact likely came from a wreck they recovered in the Great Nebula.
• Roland Gail revealed that he and the other long-lived rulers were nearing the end of their lives and that a universe-wide cleansing cycle might be approaching.
• Roland Gail chose to risk his civilization's destruction by helping the Empire fight the Angel Pirates, while insisting that his people deserved to protect themselves rather than depend on a savior.
• The narrator returned to the Empire Admiral and wandered outside at night after failing to sleep while the others worked on plans against the Angel Pirates.
• Alaya sleepwalked onto the platform, woke beside the narrator, and wrapped both of them in her wings to keep them warm.

Chen Jun and Alaya discovered that Silvia had sensed a huge, endangered presence near the Great Nebula, prompting Chen Jun to investigate whether the signal was connected to the Ancient Divine Artifact. The chapter ended with Siweisi wondering whether the rebels themselves had originated from something similar.

• Alaya wrapped Chen Jun in her wings, and they watched the stars until she sensed Silvia approaching.
• Chen Jun and Alaya found Silvia staring blankly; Alaya woke her, and Silvia described a huge, lightning-surrounded presence asking for help beyond many clouds.
• Chen Jun promised Silvia they would try to save the presence and sent her back to bed.
• The next morning, Chen Jun gathered Qian Qian, Older Sister, and Siweisi and explained what Silvia had seen.
• Chen Jun reported that his calculations traced Silvia's vision to the Great Nebula, and Older Sister questioned whether Silvia's account was reliable.
• Siweisi suggested that the rebels might have come into existence through a process like the one affecting Silvia.

The Imperial Army’s offensive against the angel pirates advanced on every front while the rebels grew more capable of countering Imperial tactics. With the pirates refusing to surrender and likely preparing to use the ancient device at Far East Paradise, Lilina proposed a way to prevent them from activating it.

• Repeated reconnaissance of the Great Nebula failed, and the Empire suspended further probes as rebel defenses and tactics improved.
• Silvia’s strange summons was traced provisionally to the Great Nebula, while sleeping pills eased her mental daze.
• Siweisi reported that Imperial forces had captured the angel pirates’ southern border, Keaos and Verona were advancing on other fronts, and Roland Gail’s forces had broken through the west.
• The narrator concluded that the pirate leader’s refusal to surrender meant he was relying on the ancient device stored at Far East Paradise.
• Lilina offered to perform a ritual that would kill all life on the capital planet within seconds, preventing the pirates from activating the device.

The group considered using Lilina’s sealed life-exterminating seeds to destroy all life on Far East Paradise and disable the ancient device, then worked out how to get her past the pirates’ defenses. Lilina proposed using Bonnie, a morally upright intelligence broker with ties to the angel pirates, to gain access to their homeworld.

• The narrator asked Lilina whether her extermination seeds could spread, and Lilina explained that they were sealed, could not reproduce or activate on their own, and would be destroyed after use.
• Older Sister said Lilina’s plan could work but noted that the group needed a way to get her onto Far East Paradise through the pirates’ defenses.
• Suigintou suggested firing Lilina inside a shell or dropping her in a meteorite, and Lilina threatened to purify her before the narrator stopped their argument.
• Lilina suggested asking Bonnie, a privateer and intelligence broker who had dealt with the angel pirates, to enter their homeworld under the pretext of providing intelligence.
• The narrator questioned why Bonnie lived in such a dilapidated station despite her reputation, and Lilina explained that Bonnie’s refusal to abandon her morals had cost her business.

The Emperor recruited Bonnie to carry Lilina, disguised as a superweapon, into Far East Paradise to support a strike against the Angel Pirates. As the command staff began planning their next battle, an emergency report revealed that the Red Giant Star experiment had failed and exposed the Red Giant Star Fortress.

• The Emperor welcomed Bonnie and her officers aboard the Imperial fleet, where Bonnie was overwhelmed by the Empire Admiral and Imperial Headquarters.
• The Emperor and Viska explained that Bonnie needed to enter Far East Paradise and deliver a superweapon, and Bonnie agreed after learning it was not a suicide mission.
• The Emperor revealed that Lilina was the weapon Bonnie would transport, and the two prepared to depart immediately.
• The Emperor resumed planning a decisive battle against the rebels, but a signal disruption interrupted the command hall.
• Siweisi received fatal emergency intelligence that the Red Giant Star's psionic collapse had gone out of control and exposed the Red Giant Star Fortress.

The Red Giant Star Fortress experiment failed, exposing the Western Star Sector and drawing most rebel forces toward it. As the Empire scrambled to respond, the Kemitel Empire rebelled against the Shepherds, and Viska prepared to explain what had inspired its sudden resistance.

• An emergency report revealed that the Red Giant Star had collapsed out of control, taking the Psionic Death Star and a science vessel into the endless void and broadcasting the Western Star Sector’s location across the universe.
• Siweisi reported that more than 80 percent of the rebels were heading for the exposed Western Star Sector, and A Jun ordered Shadow City to send whatever reinforcements it could spare.
• A Jun refused to cancel Lilina’s mission to seize the angel pirates’ ancient relic, and he ordered Tawell to activate the repaired launchers and hold off the rebels in the Eastern Star Sector.
• Tawell explained that the Death Star’s control core had lost six seconds relative to the Red Giant Star, causing a critical script to fail, and said the science vessel’s surviving crew remained alive.
• Siweisi laid out plans to send forces west or transfer the main army there depending on whether the launchers worked.
• An intelligence officer reported that the Kemitel Empire had destroyed a rebel Supervisory Team and declared its freedom from the Shepherds, and Viska said an earlier transmission from the Queen might explain the revolt.

Fina’s declaration prompted oppressed civilizations across the universe to attack the shepherds, while the Imperial Army and its allies worked to contain the spreading resistance. The rebels gathered a fleet of more than a million warships at the Eastern Star Sector, leaving A Jun facing a major battle as Qian Qian raised an inexplicable concern about losing six seconds on one side.

• Fina broadcast a speech declaring that the Gotak Free Kingdom would go to war against the shepherds and urging civilizations to resist.
• The Kemitel Empire and other powers answered Fina’s call, destroying Supervisory Teams and tying down shepherd forces across several Star Sectors.
• A Jun warned Fina that the resistance forces could be devastated by doomsday weapons, then coordinated efforts to keep rebels from advancing toward the Western Star Sector.
• The Imperial Army and its allies established a temporary balance, but more than a million rebel warships gathered at the Eastern Star Sector’s edge and advanced.
• A Jun worried that fighting the gathered fleet would cost the Imperial Army heavily, while Qian Qian wondered why losing six seconds on only one side bothered her.

Qian Qian investigated the six seconds missing from the Death Star Fortress’s records, while Lilina returned with an ancient artifact after destroying a planet to complete her mission. As the rebel fleet advanced, the Empire used Avalon’s Lightspeed Turbulence to cripple its rear, then prepared to fight the surviving forces directly.

• Qian Qian explained that the Death Star core might have experienced two different histories during the six missing seconds and hoped to use the anomaly to find the missing scientists.
• Lilina returned with an ancient artifact that resisted spatial transport and reported that she had destroyed a planet with a seed; the narrator ordered Tawell to study the relic.
• The rebel fleet approached using normal-space propulsion, avoiding the Empire’s gravitational disturbance strikes.
• The narrator ordered Avalon to attack the fleet’s rear, and Lightspeed Turbulence disintegrated more than a hundred thousand support ships while altering the Eastern Star Sector’s physical rules.
• After the rebels entered firing range and triggered the Space Dark Mines, the narrator led Qian Qian, Older Sister, Pandora, and Viska toward the battlefield.

The narrator and Qian Qian destroyed a rebel command ship while Pandora, Viska, and Older Sister eliminated a modified Eternal-class warship. When fifty-seven Eternal-class Motherships targeted their group, Qian Qian used a time-manipulating ability to save them, leaving the narrator to realize she had found the missing six seconds.

• The Imperial Army and rebel fleets exchanged fire as Pandora and Viska deployed floating cannons and the sisters Asidda and Asidora prepared to teleport the strike team behind enemy lines.
• The sisters Asidda and Asidora teleported the narrator, Qian Qian, Pandora, Viska, Older Sister, and the floating cannons behind the rebels to attack two command ships.
• The narrator and Qian Qian disabled and destroyed the modified Frontier-class Fortress Warship, while Pandora, Viska, and Older Sister destroyed the modified Eternal-class Mothership.
• Fifty-seven Eternal-class Motherships discovered the strike team and fired at them, so Qian Qian declared, "One parsec," and stopped or displaced time to protect everyone.
• The group returned safely to the Empire Admiral, where Vega said their Spiritual Connection had vanished for a few seconds, and the narrator asked Qian Qian if she had found the missing six seconds.

After defeating the enemy in the Eastern Star Sector, the Empire learned from Qian Qian that the missing Psionic Death Star was trapped six seconds outside the world’s Timeline and began planning to retrieve it. Meanwhile, four major powers formed the World Resistance Front, with the Roland Gale Conglomerate positioned to lead the offensive against the Imperial rebels.

• Siweisi led the Imperial forces to rout the remaining enemy fleet after its command ships were destroyed.
• Qian Qian revealed that the Psionic Death Star still existed six seconds before the current Timeline, beyond the reach of ordinary observation and interaction.
• Qian Qian explained how she could create a temporary temporal gap, and the Empire recorded her theory as Tawell began developing a way to recover the Death Star.
• The Gotak Free Kingdom, Kemitel Empire, Holy Kingdom, and Roland Gale Conglomerate established the World Resistance Front under Queen Fina’s command.
• The Roland Gale Conglomerate became the Resistance Front’s main force in the Eastern Star Sector and prepared to take the initiative against the Imperial rebels.

The Imperial Army and Resistance Army prepared to reactivate the Psionic Death Star using Tawell’s Parsec Array, hoping to inspire the Resistance Army and strike the imperial rebels. The Death Star returned as a colossal mass of pale-blue psionic fire, and Qian Qian warned that it was about to fire toward the Great Nebula.

• Roland Gail reported the Resistance Army’s heavy losses and urged the Imperial Army to demonstrate a breakthrough that could restore hope.
• The narrator assured Roland Gail that a major operation would appear that day: the reactivation of the Psionic Death Star.
• Tawell’s team completed a vast Parsec Array of hundreds of thousands of Shockwave Amplification Coils around the Death Star Testing Ground.
• Qian Qian activated the array, briefly vanishing from the narrator’s Spiritual Connection before returning as the Psionic Death Star began to materialize.
• Qian Qian warned the narrator to move the Empire Fleet out of the way because the Death Star was about to release its excess energy in a shot toward the Great Nebula.

Chen Jun watched the Psionic Death Star discharge a weapon that erased matter across five light-years, then learned the fortress was controllable and could briefly use Qian Qian’s seconds-apart state as a defense. Tawell prepared to activate the Crystal Peak World Gate and share discoveries about the ancient wreckage.

• Chen Jun ordered General Jane to evacuate a patrol and clear the Psionic Death Star’s projected blast zone.
• The Psionic Death Star released its Emperor’s Breath, destroying celestial bodies across five light-years of space.
• Qian Qian revealed that she had proposed naming the Death Star’s systems after Chen Jun, and Chen Jun persuaded her to rename the weapon Emperor’s Breath.
• Tawell explained that the Death Star was controllable, could reshape itself, and could enter seconds apart for up to five minutes of near-invulnerability.
• Tawell told Chen Jun that the next operation would activate the Crystal Peak World Gate and said she had made discoveries about the ancient wreckage.

The Empire assembled the Psionic Death Star’s twelve-Planetary-Fortress escort fleet, creating an unprecedented Death Star Fleet to lead the final offensive. Sandora arrived to witness the fleet’s unveiling, and the Resistance Army prepared to advance on the Great Nebula.

• The narrator explained the Psionic Death Star’s limits and decided it needed a dedicated escort fleet of Planetary Fortresses and warships.
• At Crystal Peak Planet, the narrator discussed Fina’s condition while the Crystal Saintess activated the World Gate.
• Twelve Planetary Fortresses emerged through the World Gate, forming the Psionic Death Star’s escort fleet and the core of a vast celestial-system battle force.
• Sandora surprised the narrator by arriving at the fleet’s unveiling and embracing him.
• The Resistance Army learned the scale of the Death Star Fleet, rallied for the final offensive, and set its sights on the Great Nebula.