Recaps

The Federation used the Chaos Ray to cripple the Noreya Empire’s frontline fleets, then fought to hold the Cross-border Channel against the arriving forces. Lin Fan sent over a hundred legions through the enemy’s own channel to destroy Norea’s Cross-border Device and strand the expeditionary force in the Black Hole Gap.

• Liang Xue reported that the Chaos Ray had destroyed more than sixty Noreya legions and severely damaged most of the remaining warships, as Chaos One began recharging.
• Lin Fan ordered the arriving Federation fleets to clear the crippled enemy ships and advance toward the channel entrance while watching the Alliance Fleet.
• Mohan learned that the attack had been a sweeping ray rather than the area-damage weapon described in his intelligence, but could not reach Ondert and ordered his frontline fleets to hold.
• The Federation cleared the damaged Noreya fleets, then engaged more than twenty legions arriving through the Cross-border Channel in a confined battle.
• Lin Fan sent more than a hundred Federation legions through the Noreya Empire’s channel toward the guarded Cross-border Device in the Lyle Realm.

Lin Fan’s plan sent Lin Yu’s special fleet through the Noreya Empire’s own Cross-border Channel to destroy its device in the Lyle Realm while the Federation held off the Empire’s forces. The assault caught the defenders by surprise, and Mohan realized the Empire had been lured into opening its channel at a location the Federation anticipated.

• Lin Fan planned to exploit the Noreya Empire’s Cross-border Channel, relying on Lin Yu’s hundred legions to destroy the device before the Empire could send reinforcements.
• Federation fleets poured into the Lyle Realm through the channel and attacked the ten legions guarding its exit.
• The Federation suffered heavy losses at first, but reinforcements and the Civilization Guardian Legion turned the battle around; no Noreya Black Hole Lifeforms had appeared yet.
• Mohan learned from Vilette that the Federation had attacked the Cross-border Device by traveling through the Empire’s own channel.
• Mohan ordered Vilette to hold out for twenty hours and realized false intelligence had led him to open the channel where the Federation expected.

The Federation used hidden Chaos Ray weapons to devastate the Noreya Empire fleet after Mohan ordered his forces to spread out. Mohan awaited the Shadow Legion, believing it could reverse the battle, while the fighting continued at Lyle Realm and the Kadi Realm.

• Vilette’s defenders at Lyle Realm struggled to hold off more than ten Federal legions as reinforcements poured through the channel.
• Mohan realized the corridor’s supposed defensive systems were a trick and ordered his fleets to spread out and attack.
• Lin Fan’s command center coordinated its fleet deployment with Chaos Two and Chaos Three, drawing the enemy into a long battle line.
• Chaos Two and Chaos Three fired their Chaos Rays, destroying more than half of the Noreya Empire fleet along the battle line and damaging nearby ships.
• Montero led the concealed Alliance Fleet to intercept enemy reinforcements at the channel entrance while the Federal Fleet attacked the stricken forces.
• Mohan learned the Shadow Legion would reach the Kadi Realm in three minutes and believed it could turn the battle around.

Mohan’s Noreya Seventh Fleet Cluster sent its elite Shadow Legion into the Kadi Realm, where its advanced warships and Black Hole Lifeforms threatened to overwhelm the Alliance. Lin Fan ordered the Federation’s Civilization Guardian Legion into battle, while in the Lyle Realm Lin Yu led the same kind of force against the Cross-border Device.

• Mohan’s Shadow Legion, equipped with powerful Shadow Warships and two hundred thousand Black Hole Lifeforms, arrived ahead of the rest of his fleet.
• Lin Fan sent most Federation fleets to reinforce Montero’s hard-pressed Alliance forces at the channel entrance.
• The Shadow Legion emerged from the channel, pierced through Alliance ships with its weapons, and sent Black Hole Lifeforms charging into the defensive line.
• Lin Fan identified the Shadow Legion’s weaker Black Hole Lifeforms and deployed the Civilization Guardian Legion, planning to command it himself.
• In the Lyle Realm, Lin Yu led the Civilization Guardian Legion through the enemy counterattack to destroy the Cross-border Device.

The Federation and Azure Dragon Alliance defeated the Noreya Empire’s first expeditionary force after destroying its Cross-border Device and cutting off reinforcements. Lin Fan reviewed the devastating losses and warned that a much larger second expedition could arrive within a hundred years.

• Lin Yu led the Civilization Guardian Legion through the Noreya Empire’s defenses in the Lyle Realm and destroyed the Cross-border Device.
• Lin Fan’s forces and nearly a hundred arriving Federation legions overwhelmed the Shadow Legion in the Kadi Realm, while Mohan learned that the channel was failing and no reinforcements would arrive.
• The Cross-border Channel collapsed, exiling the Seventh Fleet Group and breaking the Shadow Legion’s morale; the Federation and Alliance destroyed the final Shadow Legion warship.
• Lin Fan reviewed the fleets’ enormous casualties and concluded that the Noreya Empire would likely send a larger expeditionary force within a hundred years.
• Lin Fan recognized that the Federation and Alliance had to use the coming century to strengthen themselves for the next invasion.

Emperor Toreya ordered the Noreya Empire to assemble its forces for an expedition against the Heretics ten years later. At the Azure Dragon Alliance meeting, Montero asked Lin Fan to fully supply the Tailo Empire with Federation-standard warships and offered the Federation control over their backdoors and self-destruct systems.

• Toreya blamed the Seventh Fleet cluster's defeat on being outmaneuvered and ordered the other seven fleet clusters, the Shadow Legions, and his Royal Guard Legion to prepare for his expedition.
• Montero proposed that the Federation fully supply the Tailo Empire with Federation-standard warships, shocking the Azure Dragon Alliance leaders.
• Valeri warned Montero that selling the Federation's own warships could have serious consequences, and Lin Fan asked why the Tailo Empire should receive them.
• Montero offered to accept any Federation backdoors and hand over self-destruct control of every warship.

Lin Fan offered the Alliance’s core civilizations cheap Joint Warships, easing Montero’s concerns about Federation control of self-destruct systems. The meeting ended with Ondert learning that the Federation had survived and that the war was over.

• Lin Fan revealed the Joint Warship and offered it to Alliance core members for less than half the usual price, without requiring control over its self-destruct systems.
• Montero examined the Joint Warship’s crew and systems, then enthusiastically agreed it could defeat the Noreya Empire.
• Lin Fan explained that the Federation planned to give its current ships to non-core civilizations while developing a stronger mainstay warship within three years.
• Montero received a call from Ondert, who asked whether the Noreya Empire had destroyed the Human Federation and said he wanted to go home.
• Lin Fan told Montero to bring Ondert back and restore his backup memories, and Ondert realized the Federation had survived as the meeting room laughed.

The Federation delayed its new Azure Dragon class warships because of a shortage of materials, then succeeded with a powerful dual-core design and began building up its fleet. In 1833, after detecting more than seven thousand Noreya Empire fleets approaching, Lin Fan decided to take the initiative and chose a site for the decisive battle.

• Lin Fan ordered the Federation to refit its fleet with Joint Warships while Luo Li continued developing the Azure Dragon class energy system.
• Luo Li developed the Dual-Core Chaos Energy Core Device, and the Azure Dragon class project succeeded in 1738 with performance far beyond the Joint Warship and a crew of only twenty-four.
• In 1833, Luo Li's detection technology discovered more than seven thousand Noreya Empire fleets advancing toward alliance territory.
• Lin Fan told the alliance's military leaders that war could begin within twenty years and announced that he would take the initiative.
• Lin Fan explained that the enemy would attack through three Black Hole Cavity Realms and selected a location for the decisive battle.

Lin Fan chose the Kousha Realm as the place to confront the Norea Empire, but Emperor Toreya split his forces to attack from several realms at once. Lin Fan rejected Montero’s suggestion to withdraw and hinted at a risky version of his previous tactic, leaving Montero shocked by what he might be planning.

• Lin Fan selected the Kousha Realm as the interception point because the Norea Empire would lose five years by bypassing it.
• After learning that more than a thousand Alliance legions were in Kousha, Emperor Toreya ordered four fleet clusters to approach through four neighboring realms and prepare simultaneous attacks.
• Montero urged Lin Fan to withdraw after the enemy divided its forces, but Lin Fan asked him to assess their chances against an enemy commander of different abilities.
• Lin Fan said conventional methods offered little chance of victory and asked what would happen if he repeated his previous tactic.
• Montero realized Lin Fan might attempt another reverse crossing of the Cross-border Channel and saw that the plan was feasible but carried a major problem.

Toreya’s five armies entered the Kousha Realm expecting to face Heretics’ defenses, but discovered the defensive lines were decoys. Lin Fan had instead sent four groups of 400 legions through the channels to attack the Noreya Empire’s rear, though the Federation’s gradual arrival meant the defenders might not fall before the four armies exited the channels.

• Toreya ordered all five armies to activate their Cross-border Devices and enter the Kousha Realm.
• The Noreya vanguards found only false targets at the expected defensive lines, with no Heretics warships present.
• Toreya realized the Heretics might be attacking the rear and ordered the other four armies to prepare for battle.
• Lin Fan’s four groups, each containing 150 Federal legions and 250 Alliance legions, began attacking the four Black Hole Cavity Realms.
• The Federation forces gradually outnumbered the 100 Noreya legions defending each location, but the simulation indicated they might need a full day to destroy them.
• Toreya learned the attacks were unlikely to stop his armies from exiting the channels and felt relieved that the worst-case scenario had not occurred.

Lin Fan’s four armies destroyed the Noreya Empire’s Cross-border Devices with Chaos Rays, trapping thousands of enemy legions in collapsing channels and leaving Toreya to decide whether to fight on or invade Alliance territory. Toreya learned the scale of the losses and recognized that he had repeated the mistake he once blamed Mohan for.

• Lin Fan waited until all four hundred Federation legions had passed through the channel, then ordered the four armies to synchronize their Chaos Ray attacks.
• The Chaos Rays destroyed all four Cross-border Devices, and the collapsing channels pulled in every Noreya warship still inside them.
• Lin Fan’s command center confirmed the destruction of all four targets and estimated that the Noreya Empire had lost about 2,750 legions in the channels, with another 400 facing encirclement.
• Lin Fan noted that Toreya could now either keep fighting the Alliance’s 1,600 legions or advance into Alliance territory, where the Federation could not catch him.
• Toreya learned that 2,798 Noreya legions had been inside the channels and realized he had fallen into the same trap twice.

Toreya rejected plans to invade Alliance territory, arguing that the Noreya Empire lacked the forces and supplies to purge the Heretics while protecting its supply lines. Lin Fan ordered the Alliance fleets to wait, and the Noreya forces gathered in the Kousha Realm and settled in for a standoff that would not last long.

• Toreya explained that invading Heretic territory would stretch the Empire's weakened forces, sever supply lines, and leave its fleet vulnerable.
• Toreya ordered the main fleet to join the five contingents in the Kousha Realm and hold position.
• Liang Xue reported that the Noreya main force was heading to the Kousha Realm and might attack Alliance territory, but Lin Fan ordered his fleets to wait.
• In Federation Year 1855, more than 3,900 Noreya legions gathered in the Kousha Realm and settled down instead of invading Alliance territory.
• Toreya chose to wait out the Alliance, beginning a standoff as Lin Fan's expected opportunity drew near.

In Federation Year 1859, Lin Fan explained how he had deliberately left the route through Tuhr Realm open to draw a Noreya Empire supply fleet and lure the enemy into moving its forces. He refined the plan so the Alliance would reveal itself before Kousha Realm was empty, forcing the enemy to choose between abandoning it or fighting with only part of its forces.

• Alliance generals urged Lin Fan to break the four-year standoff, but he asked why he had left Tuhr Realm ungarrisoned after the Reverse Crossing Tactic.
• Liang Xue reported that a likely Noreya Empire supply fleet would reach Tuhr Realm in four years.
• Montero explained that the Alliance could use the supply fleet to trick the Noreya Empire into sending its forces toward Tuhr Realm, then take advantage of its slower Cross-border Device to reclaim Kousha Realm.
• Lin Fan corrected Montero's final step, saying the Alliance should reveal itself and head for Kousha Realm once enemy forces there fell to a chosen level.
• Lin Fan said the enemy would then have to choose between continuing to Tuhr Realm and abandoning Kousha Realm, or staying to fight the Alliance with fewer forces.

The Noreya Empire mistook the Alliance’s movements for a withdrawal and sent its forces toward the Tuhr Realm. Lin Fan waited until Noreya’s Mobile Imperial Palace entered the channel before ordering the Alliance fleets to return to the Kousha Realm, leaving Toreya to choose between continuing the move or defending the channel exits.

• Toreya learned that Alliance fleets had opened channels toward the Tuhr Realm, and his ministers urged him to move there first and prepare a defensive line.
• Lin Fan’s Alliance fleets entered Fault Space, making them disappear from Noreya’s scans, and Toreya ordered his army to depart for the Tuhr Realm once the scans showed the fleets had vanished.
• Lin Fan waited for the Noreya Mobile Imperial Palace to enter the channel, then ordered the Alliance fleets to return to the Kousha Realm and relayed the order to the other routes.
• Toreya learned that the Alliance fleets had reappeared and opened channels to the Kousha Realm, then weighed whether to continue toward Tuhr or stop and defend the channel exits.

Toreya ordered the Noreya Empire’s fleets to defend the four channel entrances in the Kousha Realm, where they clashed with the arriving Alliance forces. The Alliance deployed its Civilization Guardian Legions and Chaos Ray, leaving the Imperial defenses shattered and defeat unavoidable.

• Toreya ordered the Empire’s fleets to form defensive lines at all four channel entrances.
• The Alliance emerged from one channel entrance and fought the Imperial defenders, suffering heavy early losses as its fleets arrived.
• The Alliance deployed its Civilization Guardian Legions, breaking the balance of the battle.
• The Alliance fired a Chaos Ray that destroyed more than thirty Imperial legions and further damaged the defensive line.
• By the eighteenth hour, the Imperial defenses were in ruins, and Alliance forces split the remaining fleets into encircled groups.

After the Alliance reclaimed the Kousha Realm, Toreya ordered a strategic withdrawal, and Lin Fan prepared to use the lull to secure rare resources for the Federation. The Noreya Empire’s fleet moved toward the Luoxi Realm, while Lin Fan identified a broad stretch of unclaimed territory as the Alliance’s next target.

• The Alliance cleared the Kousha Realm battlefield after destroying 1,608 Noreya Empire legions, and Lin Fan expected a prolonged stalemate.
• Toreya had a minister who proposed the earlier Tuhr Realm attack dragged away to face punishment, then listened as another minister urged a strategic withdrawal.
• Toreya ultimately chose to withdraw, and Lin Fan learned that the Noreya Empire fleet was crossing a channel likely leading to the Luoxi Realm.
• Lin Fan traced the Empire’s likely retreat to the Kailin Realm and concluded that the respite would give the Federation time to develop.
• Lin Fan told the Federal Fleet’s upper echelon to search the unclaimed region between the armies for rare resources the Federation needed.

The Federation exploited the Noreya Empire’s fear of another trap to gather resources and upgrade its fleets while the enemy waited in the Luoxi Realm for reinforcements. By Federation Year 1976, the Noreya Empire had resumed its advance and reached the Tuhr Realm, facing the Alliance Fleet in the Kousha Realm.

• Lin Fan explained that camouflage signal devices would keep the Noreya Empire afraid to leave the Luoxi Realm, allowing the Federation to gather resources across the Black Hole Cavity Realms.
• For more than fifty years, Toreya dismissed proposals to investigate the Federation’s activity, while the Federation collected resources and developed a fourth-generation Cross-border Device.
• The Federation upgraded its Canglong-class Warships with improved energy systems, strengthening its forces in preparation for the Noreya Empire’s reinforcements.
• In Federation Year 1968, Toreya received five fleet groups, expanding the Noreya Empire’s forces to more than 7,400 legions, while Lin Fan recalled the Federation’s gathering fleets to the Kousha Realm.
• In Federation Year 1976, the Noreya Empire advanced to the Tuhr Realm and faced the Alliance Fleet stationed across the border in the Kousha Realm.

Toreya prepared to invade the Kousha Realm with 5,000 legions while leaving forces to guard the Cross-border Device, and Lin Fan warned the Alliance that reconciliation with the Norea Empire was impossible. The chapter ended with the Norea Empire opening a channel into the Kousha Realm, with the battle set to begin in one year.

• Toreya ordered 5,000 legions to attack the Kousha Realm in three days and assigned more than 2,400 legions to defend the Cross-border Device.
• Lin Fan told the Alliance that the Norea Empire had gathered 7,468 legions in the Tuhr Realm and that the Alliance would have to fight directly in the Kousha Realm.
• Lin Fan said the Norea Empire had exterminated life across nearly a hundred Black Hole Cavity Realms, convincing the Ketis Kingdom representative that reconciliation was not an option.
• Three days later, the Ketis Kingdom opened a Cross-border Channel from the Tuhr Realm to the Kousha Realm, and news spread that the war would begin in one year.

Wang Hai directed the Alliance’s first line of defense against the Noreya Empire’s invasion and used Chaos Seven to devastate the arriving fleets. At Alliance headquarters, Lin Fan and Liang Xue expected the defense to destroy hundreds of enemy legions while Luo Li continued work on the Super Cross-border Device.

• Wang Hai ordered Alliance defenders to target the Noreya Empire fleets’ flanks and disrupt their attempts to establish a bridgehead.
• Wang Hai obtained firing authorization for Chaos Seven and moved it into position as the Noreya fleet reached twenty-seven legions.
• Wang Hai cleared friendly fleets from the ray’s path and ordered Chaos Seven to fire at the Cross-border Channel entrance.
• Chaos Seven destroyed 26.3 enemy legions, and Wang Hai ordered the Alliance fleets to finish off the survivors.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xue praised Wang Hai’s performance and discussed Luo Li’s progress on the Super Cross-border Device.

The Alliance Fleet withdrew from the first line of defense and fought the Noreya Empire at the second line, where Lin Yu used a day of misleading Chaos Ray attacks to lure the enemy into a vulnerable formation. As the forces neared parity, Lin Yu prepared to spring his trap.

• Wang Hai withdrew his fleet from the first line of defense while maintaining fire, after the Alliance had lost 68 legions and the Noreya Empire had lost 335.
• Lin Yu took command of 500 legions at the second line of defense, with 200 legions in reserve and five Chaos Ray Carriers under his authority.
• After another day of fighting, the Alliance had lost 149 legions and the Noreya Empire 536, but the Noreya forces nearly matched the defenders in strength.
• Lin Yu ordered the fleets in the Chaos Rays' paths to evade as all five carriers moved into position.
• Lin Yu's repeated central attacks had convinced the Noreya commander that the Chaos Rays were fixed at the center, prompting the enemy fleet to spread laterally across the firing path.

Lin Yu used five Chaos Ray Carriers to destroy 352.5 Noreya Empire legions by exploiting the enemy’s formations. Toreya removed Cherross from command, and Laps took over with an order to disperse the remaining fleets across the second defensive line.

• Chaos One through Four fired from the flanks, destroying 285 Noreya Empire legions.
• As the surviving fleets regrouped toward the center, Lin Yu ordered Chaos Five to fire, wiping out another 67.5 legions.
• Toreya stripped Cherross of frontline command and appointed Laps to replace him.
• Laps ordered the Noreya Empire fleets to disperse by legion throughout the enemy’s second defensive line, and Lin Yu called them idiots.

Lin Yu retook the first line of defense and encircled the scattered Noreya Empire fleets, while Toreya ordered Laps to hold until reinforcements arrived. As the Alliance prepared for the threat of Black Hole Lifeforms, a new Imperial fleet emerged carrying 800,000 of them.

• Lin Yu sent 200 legions to seize the first line of defense and ordered the remaining Alliance forces to split up and encircle the scattered Noreya Empire fleets.
• Toreya berated Laps for the disastrous deployment and ordered him to hold the fleet together for 97 minutes until the Third Black Hole Cavity Battle Group arrived.
• The Alliance retook the first line of defense and surrounded the remaining Imperial forces, while Lin Yu ordered the line held for three more hours and requested the Civilization Guardian Legion as backup.
• A newly arrived Noreya Empire fleet triggered alarms aboard Lin Yu's flagship, and preliminary scans detected 800,000 Black Hole Lifeforms.

Lin Yu ordered the Federation’s first defensive line to retreat under fire as Toreya’s Third Black Hole Combat Group attacked, then led his personal guard unit into the battle to disrupt the enemy. Hildross noticed Lin Yu’s advance and charged toward him with more than ten thousand fighters.

• Toreya’s Third Black Hole Combat Group arrived with 800,000 Black Hole Lifeforms, prompting Lin Yu to order the first-line fleets to withdraw and request authorization to use Chaos Six.
• Lin Yu learned that no Sixth Tier enemies were present and sent the Civilization Guardian Legion to cover the retreat while Chaos Six moved toward the battle.
• The Civilization Guardian Legion engaged the Empire’s forces defensively, allowing the Federation fleets to withdraw as both sides suffered limited casualties.
• Lin Yu led his personal guard unit through the enemy line, cutting down Black Hole Lifeforms and disrupting the Third Black Hole Combat Group.
• Hildross, the group’s commander, led more than ten thousand fighters toward Lin Yu.

Lin Yu and the Federation used Chaos Six to strike the Noreya Empire's Third Black Hole Cavity Battle Group after withdrawing from the frontline clash. The attack devastated the enemy formation, and the Civilization Guardian Legion launched a full assault as Lin Yu returned to hold off Hilde Ross.

• At Alliance Fleet headquarters, Lin Fan kept Chaos Six and Seven in reserve, ordered Wang Hai to move behind the second defensive line after resupplying, and directed the Civilization Guardian Legion to remain there.
• Lin Yu ordered the Civilization Guardian Legion to attack and retreat in an orderly fashion while he covered his guards' withdrawal from Hilde Ross and the ten thousand enemy elites.
• After Chaos Six reached its firing position, Lin Yu ordered it to irradiate the enemy formation and told the Civilization Guardian Legion to attack immediately afterward.
• Chaos Six destroyed hundreds of thousands of Black Hole Lifeforms and stunned the surviving Empire forces.
• The Civilization Guardian Legion launched a full assault, and Lin Yu rejoined the fighting to face Hilde Ross.

Lin Yu’s forces annihilated the Third Black Hole Cavity Battle Group, though the Federation suffered significant casualties. Toreya learned that Lin Yu’s Combat Vehicle had let him overpower Hilde Ross, leaving her to reconsider the Federation’s unusual technology.

• The Federation’s Civilization Guardian Legion exploited the Third Black Hole Cavity Battle Group’s losses to attack, while Lin Yu kept Hilde Ross occupied.
• Lin Yu defeated Hilde Ross with a blast of Chaos Energy, and the Third Black Hole Cavity Battle Group was wiped out; the Federation lost 8,478 Civilization Guardians and 178 members of Lin Yu’s guard unit.
• Lin Yu ordered Wang Hai’s fleet and the Civilization Guardian Legion to rest on standby while his forces prepared a conventional defense on the second line.
• Toreya received preliminary analysis showing that Lin Yu and Hilde Ross were both at the peak of the Fifth Tier, but Lin Yu’s Combat Vehicle had given him the advantage.
• Toreya asked for a detailed explanation of how the Combat Vehicle had affected the battle.