Recaps

Montero bypassed the Task Universe and captured the Black Mang Empire’s imperial capital in the Black Radiance Universe in just ten days, while Sharet escaped or vanished among decoy ships. Montero ordered Carmen to search the palace records for the Black Mang Empire’s Fault Channel destruction technology as the Tailo Empire prepared to seize territory.

• Montero proposed leaving two legions to contain the Task Universe while leading two and a half legions around it to attack the Black Radiance Universe, and Carmen warned that its defenses and Fault Channels made the plan dangerous.
• Montero persuaded Carmen to go along with his plan, and Montero captured the Black Mang Empire’s imperial capital in the Black Radiance Universe within ten days.
• Sharet fled with Cui Wa, using a thousand identical warships in different directions, and Montero’s forces could not determine which ship carried him.
• Montero told Carmen to secure the conquered territory and seize more land before the Black Mang Empire’s other fronts collapsed.
• Montero assigned Carmen to search for technical records about destroying Fault Channels, which he considered vital to the Tailo Empire’s future.

By Federation Year 485, the Azure Dragon Alliance had strengthened its forces and welcomed two new God-tier Civilizations, while the Black Mang Empire forced its attackers to abandon their advance by collapsing the space around its remaining territory. Sharet then provoked a conflict among the victorious civilizations by claiming the Tailo Empire had obtained technology for destroying Fault Channels.

• The Federation built eight inferior legions and completed the fourth Main Legion, bringing the Azure Dragon Alliance's forces to four Main Legions and eight inferior legions.
• The Federation spent decades consolidating its newly acquired universes, and the Divine Radiance Civilization and Gem Empire advanced to become God-tier Civilizations.
• Sharet abandoned more than ten universes and collapsed the Fault Channels around the Black Mang Empire's remaining territory, leaving only two heavily defended passages.
• The Tailo Empire, Hiltek Empire, and Teli Empire proposed dividing the abandoned universes among themselves and compensating other civilizations with resources or technology, but the other civilizations rejected the proposal.
• Sharet spread the claim that the Tailo Empire had obtained technology for destroying Fault Channels, stirring other civilizations to consider attacking it and furthering his plan to provoke them into fighting.

Valeri received an ultimatum from nineteen civilizations demanding technology the Tailo Empire did not possess, and Montero proposed a surprise strike against their forces. Valeri appointed Montero Imperial Duke and approved a plan to deceive the enemy while seeking an alliance with the Human Federation.

• Valeri learned that Sharet had destroyed the Tailo Empire's core database, leaving no trace of the technology the coalition demanded.
• Duke Carterman explained that the coalition wanted an excuse to destroy and divide the Tailo Empire.
• Montero proposed wiping out twenty-four legions from eight allied civilizations before they could prepare, then holding off the Teli Empire and the other civilizations.
• Carterman urged Valeri to gamble on Montero's plan, and Valeri made Montero Imperial Duke with command over every imperial legion.
• Montero asked Valeri to feign submission and repeatedly plead with the coalition to lower its guard, and Valeri agreed.
• Montero asked Valeri to contact the Human Federation of the Azure Dragon Universe and form an offensive and defensive alliance.

Montero persuaded Valeri to ally with the Human Federation, offering it territory as a strategic buffer against the Tailo Empire’s enemies. In the Azure Dragon Universe, Lin Fan and the Alliance leaders gathered to consider the Tailo Empire’s proposal for an alliance.

• Montero told Valeri that the Human Federation had advanced technology and elite forces capable of helping defeat the Teli Empire’s allied forces.
• Montero urged Valeri to give the Human Federation the territory from the Dorando region to the former Black Mang Empire capital, and Valeri agreed after hearing his strategy.
• Luo Li developed a Ninth Generation Black Hole Engine that reduced travel from the Azure Dragon Universe to the Kado Universe from about three years to just over three months.
• Lin Zhen, Galon, Lin Aotian, Altra, Holm, Karoyev, and Lin Fan assembled for an emergency Azure Dragon Alliance meeting about the Tailo Empire’s proposal to form an alliance.

Lin Fan evaluated the Tailo Empire’s offer of nine universes and proposed accepting them while demanding control of five Tailo legions as both hostages and cannon fodder. The Azure Dragon Alliance approved his plan and prepared to send forces against the Teli Empire, the Hiltek Empire, and other civilizations.

• Lin Zhen told the Alliance that Tailo Emperor Valeri had offered nine universes as bargaining chips for their help.
• Lin Fan explained that occupying the universes would shield the Tailo Empire’s flank and potentially let it expand, leaving the Alliance to face the strongest empires.
• Lin Fan proposed taking the nine universes and requiring five Tailo legions to remain under his command, alongside four Alliance Main Legions and ten secondary legions.
• Lin Fan argued the five legions would deter Tailo from betraying the Alliance, serve as cannon fodder in battle, and weaken Tailo’s ability to annex other civilizations.
• Lin Zhen and the other leaders approved the proposal, and Galon added that the Biological Civilization would deploy its own legion for practice.

After the Tailo Empire surrendered territory to the two great empires, Montero used a surprise attack to destroy twenty-four allied Main Legions, but Lin Fan’s demand for five legions left the Empire with limited forces to exploit the victory. Five years later, Carmen learned that human fleets were approaching Black Radiance at astonishing speed and agreed to place his legions under humanity’s command.

• Valeri agreed to place five Main Legions under the Azure Dragon Alliance’s command and cede nine universes to Black Radiance in exchange for its support.
• Valeri surrendered nearly thirty universes to the two great empires, and they signed a cession agreement that appeared to end the war.
• Montero attacked the twenty-four Main Legions stationed outside the Black Radiance Universe and destroyed them in three days.
• Montero had fewer than five Imperial legions available to pursue and defeat the eight weakened civilizations because five legions had to remain behind.
• In Federation Year 490, Carmen learned that human fleets had arrived from Dorando in eleven months and seven days, traveling at 13,500 Standard Black Hole Units per year.
• Carmen ordered his five legions to obey humanity’s command, hoping they could hold the line while Montero dealt with the Eight-Civilization Allied Forces.

Lin Fan proposed using the Azure Dragon Alliance’s Ninth Generation Black Hole Engine advantage to isolate and destroy the Teli Empire’s forces before they could reinforce one another. Carmen accepted the plan, and the Tailo Empire’s five legions prepared to depart ahead of the main attack.

• Carmen warned Lin Fan that the Alliance’s smaller forces risked defeat if they attacked the Teli Empire coalition.
• Lin Fan showed Carmen the enemy’s formation and explained that the distance between its forces would let the faster Alliance defeat them separately.
• Lin Fan assigned Carmen’s five Tailo Empire legions to move between the Teli Empire’s central force and the Black Mang Empire.
• Lin Fan planned to attack the enemy vanguard and flanks in six years, then join Carmen’s forces in a pincer attack against the central force.
• Carmen approved the strategy and said he would assemble his forces and depart in ten days.

Montero worried that the Human Federation’s strength and speed could threaten the Tailo Empire’s plans, while Lin Fan waited to commit the Azure Dragon Alliance’s hidden forces. The Teli Empire’s vanguard began fighting Carmen’s Tailo legions, unaware that Federation and allied forces were rushing to join the battle.

• Montero returned to Tailo Empire territory and regretted inviting the Human Federation into the conflict, but hoped to defeat the eight civilizations before Lin Fan finished with the two great empires.
• Marquis misjudged the Tailo Empire’s strength and sent five allied vanguard legions to delay Carmen while his main force prepared to encircle them.
• Lin Fan ordered the fifteen hidden legions to wait until the fighting intensified before departing, and they moved out two hours later.
• Carmen’s five Tailo legions suppressed the allied vanguard, which suffered nearly twice their casualties, but Kilian expected his forces to hold out until reinforcements arrived.
• Kilian ordered his vanguard to maintain its course, then received word that unidentified forces were approaching at immense speed and would arrive in two hours.

Kilian learned that an unknown force of more than ten legions was racing toward his position and realized his five legions could not survive the coming battle. He sought surrender from Carmen, and Lin Fan learned the vanguard would help conceal the situation from the Teli Empire, allowing him to adjust the Azure Dragon Alliance's plans.

• Kilian received reports that an unknown force could cover nearly 60 Standard Black Hole Units a day, had more than ten legions, and was heading for his position.
• Kilian realized the Tailo Empire was also holding its forces in place, and concluded that both sides might be bait for the approaching army.
• Fearing the destruction of Ketis Kingdom's five Main Legions, Kilian ordered his adjutant to contact the Tailo Empire commander and request surrender.
• Carmen accepted the surrender request and agreed to help conceal the situation from the Teli Empire in the rear.
• Liang Xue informed Lin Fan of the agreement, and Lin Fan began considering how to adjust the battle plan.

Kilian staged the Ketis Kingdom and Tailo Empire fleets’ surrender while Commander Carmen secured King Kaila’s agreement to ally with the Azure Dragon Alliance and evacuate some of his people. When Marquis’s sixteen-legion central army arrived, the allies launched an ambush, but his forces quickly suppressed their ten legions.

• Kilian reported that the Tailo Empire’s five legions had surrendered, and Carmen told him to persuade King Kaila to accept the Azure Dragon Alliance’s protection.
• King Kaila agreed to the alliance and asked that some of his people be evacuated; Lin Fan approved the request.
• The Tailo Empire, Ketis Kingdom, and Azure Dragon Alliance assembled their twenty-five legions for a decisive battle, while Marquis delayed his advance and repeatedly scanned Kilian’s fleet.
• Marquis’s sixteen-legion central army arrived and was ambushed by the Ketis Kingdom and Tailo Empire fleets, which restarted their engines and opened fire.
• Marquis rallied his forces and counterattacked, suppressing the ten allied fleets despite their surprise attack.

Carmen and Kilian held their fleets on the defensive while waiting for Lin Fan’s main force, and Marquis believed the Teli Empire was winning. When unknown fleets approached from both flanks, Marquis realized Kilian’s report had been true and ordered his forces to hold until reinforcements arrived, leaving the battle’s outcome uncertain.

• Carmen told Kilian to defend for a day until Lin Fan’s main force arrived, then the Azure Dragon Alliance would counterattack the Teli Empire’s central legions.
• Marquis reviewed the first day’s battle reports and believed his forces would soon crush Carmen and Kilian’s ten legions.
• A scan revealed unknown fleets closing from both flanks and due to make contact in three minutes.
• Marquis and his adjutant connected the approaching fleets to Kilian’s earlier report of a force traveling nearly sixty Standard Black Hole Units per day.
• Marquis ordered his fleets to defend both flanks and hold for two days until the Teli Empire’s flank armies arrived.

Marquis’s fleet was attacked by overwhelming enemy forces, including Galon’s biological civilization and thousands of Black Hole Lifeforms. The scans revealed more than three hundred Second Tier and five suspected Third Tier Black Hole Lifeforms, leaving the analyst convinced the battle could not be won.

• Carmen ordered the Tailo Empire fleet to abandon its defensive posture and attack once the Azure Dragon Alliance’s main force arrived.
• Marquis’s sixteen legions were caught in a three-sided pincer attack before their redeployment was complete.
• Marquis learned that enormous Transport Ships were releasing millions of peak Eleventh Order creatures and thousands of biological Black Hole Lifeforms.
• Bridge reports revealed more than three thousand enemy Black Hole Lifeforms on the flanks and roughly eight hundred on the front line.
• Marquis ordered his Black Hole Lifeforms into battle and requested scans of the enemy’s Second Tier strength.
• The scans showed more than three hundred Second Tier Black Hole Lifeforms and five suspected Third Tier beings, convincing the analyst that victory was impossible.

Lin Fan’s forces destroyed the Teli Empire’s thirty-seven-legion allied army in four days and made the Ketis Kingdom a puppet of the Azure Dragon Alliance. The victory shocked the Kunsa Realm.

• Marquess learned that the enemy had over three hundred Second Tier Black Hole Lifeforms and watched his flanks collapse, so he tried to negotiate a ceasefire.
• Lin Fan rejected the Teli Empire’s communication requests and ordered Carmen and Kilian to do the same, while Marquess failed to turn the battle around.
• Wang Hai killed Marquess, and Lin Fan sent the remaining Black Hole Lifeforms to help destroy the allied army’s central force and two flanks.
• The Azure Dragon Alliance annihilated all thirty-seven allied legions in four days, while the Ketis Kingdom survived as its puppet.

Lin Yu led five Azure Dragon Alliance legions to the Ketis Kingdom to garrison there and search for a rare material needed for the Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Device. After Kaila warned him that the Teli Empire and eight other civilizations had sent fleets against the kingdom, Lin Yu ordered Kaila to track their locations and promised to handle the threat.

• Montero received a report that Lin Fan had swiftly defeated the coalition at the edge of the Black Radiance Universe and worried that he had been wrong to advise Valeri to ally with humanity.
• In Federation Year 580, the Azure Dragon Alliance formed five Main Legions under Lin Yu and sent them to garrison the Ketis Kingdom, while Luo Li asked Lin Yu to search for a material needed for a teleportation device.
• After a year of travel, Lin Yu's five legions arrived in the Ketis Kingdom, where Kaila had emptied the Star Luo Universe for the troops to use while Lin Yu established his headquarters outside it.
• Kaila told Lin Yu that the Teli Empire and eight other civilizations had sent ten Main Legions against the Ketis Kingdom, whose forces were mostly away in the Black Radiance Universe.
• Lin Yu told Kaila to keep watch and identify the locations of all nine civilizations' fleets, then said he would handle the threat.

Lin Yu’s fleet hunted down the Teli Empire’s coalition forces after the civilizations invaded the Ketis Kingdom, destroying all but the Teli Empire’s two Main Legions. Lohalin’s remaining force faced Lin Yu’s approaching fleet, which was less than twenty minutes away.

• Dortel persuaded eight civilizations to join the Teli Empire in attacking the Ketis Kingdom, sending nine armies out separately.
• In Federation Year 583, Lin Yu set out with his fleet and annihilated one of the coalition civilizations’ forces.
• After learning of Lin Yu’s arrival, the Teli Empire and other civilizations ordered their legions to retreat toward home.
• Over the next five months, Lin Yu’s fleet destroyed the coalition forces one by one, leaving only the Teli Empire’s two Main Legions.
• Lohalin detected Lin Yu’s fleet approaching within one Standard Black Hole Unit, where it would arrive in just over twenty minutes.

After Lin Yu defeated the Teli Empire’s invasion, he captured the Speight Universe to secure a rare metal needed by Luo Li. Years later, the Chaos Research Institute completed the first-generation Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Device, and its test ship successfully reached Speight.

• Lin Yu learned that the Speight Universe contained vast reserves of the metal Luo Li needed and ordered it secretly collected.
• Lin Yu designated Speight as a garrison universe and arranged for its native civilizations to relocate to the wealthier Akao Universe.
• The Azure Dragon Alliance shipped more than a hundred Transport Ships of the metal to the Azure Dragon Universe without revealing its purpose.
• In Federation Year 588, Luo Li and the Chaos Research Institute prepared the first-generation Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Device for its first test.
• Luo Li ordered the device activated and sent an Unmanned Warship through a stable passage toward Speight.
• Ten days later, the Speight Universe Garrison Base confirmed that the test ship had arrived.

In Federation Year 601, Lin Yu negotiated with Emperor Yehua of the Teli Empire, who sought a peace agreement with the Azure Dragon Alliance. Lin Yu demanded territory, limits on Teli's forces, and a share of its resources, but Yehua abruptly ended the call, leaving Lin Yu puzzled and ordering an investigation.

• The Federation's Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Device entered limited mass production, with only three units made each year.
• Yehua requested talks with Lin Yu, offering to recognize the Speight Universe as Azure Dragon Alliance territory in exchange for peace.
• Lin Yu rejected Yehua's offer and demanded four more universes, limits on Teli's legions, and thirty percent of its annual resources for a hundred years.
• Yehua refused the latter demands and cut off the communication, surprising Lin Yu.
• Lin Yu ordered the intelligence department to investigate recent developments in the Teli Empire.

Yehua was captured in the Sera Realm, converted to the White Church, and returned to the Teli Empire to help it expand. After the Empire suffered repeated military defeats, Yehua’s revolt and the White Church’s Crusader Army overthrew the imperial family, transforming the Empire.

• About two hundred years earlier, Yehua discovered ancient ruins and used their Cross-border Device to reach the Sera Realm, where the White Church captured him and destroyed his escort fleet.
• After ten years of torture, Ziegler offered Yehua redemption if he embraced the White Church, then recruited him to advance its interests in the Teli Empire.
• Yehua helped the White Church expand through his fief and other universes while the imperial family was weakened by defeats in the Black Radiance Universe and the Ketis Kingdom.
• Nine of the Empire’s thirty-seven universes declared support for Yehua, and the imperial family expelled him and tried to suppress the revolt.
• The White Church’s unknown, church-shaped warships annihilated the imperial family’s three Main Legions and, five years later, breached the capital and transformed the Empire.

Lin Yu sent a stealth reconnaissance ship into the Teli Empire after noticing Yehua’s unusual behavior, and its crew uncovered the White Church’s widespread influence and censorship. As Archbishop Paulina ordered Yehua to capture the Federation ship, Su He’s crew spotted a fleet resembling Black Church warships.

• Lin Yu dispatched a new special reconnaissance ship into Teli Empire territory, where Su He and his crew found that the White Church had many believers but no presence on public networks.
• Su He concluded that the Teli Empire was hiding information about the White Church and ordered the ship to investigate the imperial capital.
• Archbishop Paulina promoted Yehua to Purple-robed Bishop, then revealed that the Crusader Army had detected a Federation reconnaissance ship near the capital.
• Yehua identified the ship as belonging to the Human Federation, and Paulina ordered her forces to capture its crew for interrogation.
• The reconnaissance ship’s crew saw a fleet of church-shaped warships resembling those of the Black Church.

Su He’s reconnaissance ship was discovered by the White Church, whose strange energy crippled its Ninth Generation Black Hole Engine. Su He launched in his Chaos Mech to hold off the White Church’s forces while the ship tried to escape, and he began fighting three hundred Purple-robed Bishops.

• Su He identified the approaching white church-shaped warships as distinct from the Black Church’s black fleet and ordered the crew to investigate them.
• After the white warships’ energy cut the reconnaissance ship’s engine output by 99.8 percent, Su He ordered his crew to prepare an escape and launched in his Chaos Mech to cover them.
• Paulina concluded that the reconnaissance ship might possess an Eighth or Ninth Generation Black Hole Engine and ordered the White Church fleet to capture it intact.
• Three hundred Black Hole Lifeforms emerged from the White Church fleet, and Su He charged at them in his Chaos Mech.
• Su He traded blows on equal footing with the three hundred Purple-robed Bishops, aiming to disrupt the fleet’s interference and help the reconnaissance ship escape.

Su He charged toward the White Church fleet to break the interference trapping the reconnaissance ship, while headquarters arranged a Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Passage for their escape. After Lin Yu reached him through the ship's weapons and reopened communications, Su He agreed to fall back and defend the reconnaissance ship until the passage was ready.

• Su He pushed his defenses to their limit and charged toward the White Church fleet.
• The First Officer contacted Lin Yu, who asked for their coordinates and promised to open a Black Hole Cavity Teleportation Passage.
• The First Officer learned that Su He had blocked communications and was still charging into the enemy fleet, so Lin Yu ordered the reconnaissance ship to fire at his Chaos Mech to get his attention.
• Su He realized the Dark Night reconnaissance ship was targeting him and reopened communications, then found Lin Yu on the bridge.
• Lin Yu told Su He that headquarters was preparing a route home and ordered him to return to the reconnaissance ship and hold the line for nine minutes.
• Su He agreed to fall back immediately.

Su He confronted Paulina, a powerful White Church leader, while buying time for the Black Hole transmission passage to open. He escaped with the reconnaissance ship through a mirror-like portal, leaving Paulina stunned.

• Paulina left the Imperial Palace and arrived on the battlefield to prevent the purple-robed bishops from suffering heavy casualties.
• Su He recognized Paulina as a Third Tier expert and tried to stall her by asking whether she was the Black Church's pope.
• Paulina learned that the Black Church had invaded the Kunsa Realm and been defeated, while Yehua was shocked to hear of the Black Church and the Azure Dragon Alliance.
• Su He discovered that the White Church worshipped the Black Hole Cavity Consciousness as the Lord of Darkness and mocked Paulina's faith.
• Su He announced that it was time to act and escaped with the reconnaissance ship through an inky-black mirror, leaving Paulina stunned.

After learning that the White Church had taken control of the Teli Empire, Lin Yu and the Azure Dragon Alliance’s leaders resolved to strike before it could spread. Three years later, the alliance’s unprecedented punitive fleet entered Teli territory, and Yehua feared the coming war would devastate every universe in the empire.

• Paulina recognized the passage window as Black Hole Cavity teleportation technology and questioned how advanced the Heretic civilization was.
• Lin Yu briefed the alliance’s leaders on the White Church’s control of the Teli Empire, and they agreed the threat could not be allowed to spread.
• Lin Fan proposed an expedition against the Teli Empire, and the Tri-Union Civilization, Gem Empire, Divine Radiance Civilization, and Biological Civilization pledged forces.
• The alliance assembled a punitive fleet of twenty-three legions and a biological legion, including 4,500 Black Hole Lifeforms and four million Peak Dark Energy Manipulators.
• Three years later, the fleet used Black Hole Cavity teleportation to reach Speight, then entered Teli territory.
• Yehua panicked when he learned the alliance had invaded, fearing the war would shatter every universe in the Teli Empire.

The Alliance rapidly conquered four universes and split into eight forces as Lin Fan ordered four armies to strike the White Church’s headquarters in the Walot Universe. Facing the Alliance’s superior technology, Ziegler decided to withdraw the White Church from the Kunsa Realm and destroy its Cross-border Device.

• The Alliance Fleet destroyed twelve local legions and conquered four universes near Speight before dividing into eight forces to advance across the Empire.
• Lin Fan ordered four armies to bypass other universes and attack the White Church’s headquarters in the Walot Universe, while his remaining forces continued toward the Trovas Universe.
• Ziegler, Paulina, and the other cardinals debated whether to reinforce the Teli Empire or retreat to the Sera Realm.
• Paulina argued that the White Church could not defeat a civilization with advanced Black Hole Engines and teleportation technology, and warned that the Alliance was approaching Walot.
• Ziegler ordered the White Church to withdraw from the Kunsa Realm and destroy its Cross-border Device so the Alliance could not capture it.

Lin Fan learned that the White Church was using a Cross-border Device in the Trova Universe to retreat, and that the Federation could not build one without a Seventh Tier Black Hole Lifeform. He decided the Alliance had to seize the device before the White Church destroyed it, then asked Luo Li about the enemy’s scanning range.

• Lin Yu reported that the White Church fleet was disappearing without any sign of teleportation, and Luo Li identified its method as a Cross-border Device.
• Lin Fan initially accepted the White Church’s retreat, preferring to avoid the cost of fighting its main fleet and wait until the Federation grew stronger.
• Luo Li explained that the Federation could not manufacture a Cross-border Device until Lin Fan reached the Seventh Tier, and that the White Church would likely destroy the Teli Empire’s device after withdrawing.
• Lin Fan realized the Alliance had to capture the device to avoid losing access to other universes for hundreds of years, and asked Luo Li about the White Church’s scanning range.
• Luo Li said the White Church’s scanning range could not exceed one hundred Standard Black Hole Units, while the Federation was exceptional because she existed.