Chapter Summaries

Pope Ziegler tried to break the Federation’s defense with coordinated Divine Punishment Attacks, but Luo Li’s program let the Federation locate and destroy the martyrs as they prepared to strike. The White Church lost another sixty martyrs when it repeated the attack, leaving its passage assault stalled.

• Ziegler ordered the martyrs to conceal their energy and gather for a single coordinated strike as the Federation held the passage entrance.
• Luo Li sent the front lines a program that detected and locked onto martyrs as they began guiding energy, though it could not find them while they remained hidden.
• After three hours of heavy losses, Ziegler ordered sixty gathered martyrs to attack in twenty groups of three.
• The Federation distributed the sixty targets across its first defensive line and destroyed them with a concentrated barrage while they were vulnerable during energy guidance.
• Ziegler rejected Aierduo’s theory that the Federation had learned to track the martyrs and ordered another attempt.
• More than three hours later, the Federation again locked onto and killed sixty martyrs before they could complete their Divine Punishment Attacks.

After more than a century under watch on Outron, Paulina was summoned to communicate with Lin Fan as the White Church’s defeat in the Cross-border Channel became clear. Lin Fan introduced Paulina to Ziegler, who recognized the woman behind the holy war, as she prepared to offer him a suggestion.

• A Federation officer brought Paulina from Outron to an orbiting warship after Lin Fan requested to speak with her.
• On the fifth day of the war, Ziegler agreed to receive a communication from the Human Federation despite Aierduo’s objections.
• Lin Fan told Ziegler that the war’s outcome was already decided and said he had a suggestion for him.
• Lin Fan arranged a three-way communication, and Paulina appeared before Ziegler.

Paulina revealed to Ziegler that she had met Luo Li, while Aierduo secretly exposed Ziegler’s conversation with the Heretics and organized his impeachment. Ziegler refused to help Lin Fan, but Aierduo confronted him as the new Pope and revealed the Black and White Sacred Canon.

• Paulina told Ziegler she had met Luo Li, the chief scientist of the Great Xia Federation, and Ziegler ordered Aierduo to leave.
• Aierduo secretly accessed the communication, heard Ziegler, Paulina, and Lin Fan discuss their plan, and sent an edited recording to the Crusader Army and the White Church bishops.
• Ziegler refused Lin Fan’s proposal to help the Federation avoid casualties, despite asking for more time to consider it.
• Aierduo entered with purple-robed bishops and announced that the impeachment vote had removed Ziegler and made him the new Pope.
• Ziegler threatened Aierduo, who revealed the Black and White Sacred Canon, a relic that could suppress anyone below the Fifth Tier at close range.

Aierduo activated the Black and White Sacred Canon and tried to rally the purple-robed bishops against Ziegler and Lin Fan, but Lin Fan exposed that Aierduo had hidden most of the communication record. After Ziegler restrained Aierduo, the bishops watched the full recording and learned the Pope had discussed erasing their memories and covering up the truth.

• Aierduo used the Black and White Church's remote authorization to activate the Black and White Sacred Canon and ordered the bishops to provide energy so he could suppress Ziegler.
• Lin Fan questioned whether the White Church would accept the Federation's proposal and pointed out that Aierduo had shown the bishops only part of the communication record.
• The purple-robed bishops grew suspicious when they realized the record Aierduo had shown them was much shorter than the full conversation.
• Lin Fan had Liang Xue play the complete communication record while Ziegler restrained Aierduo and ordered the bishops to watch.
• The bishops watched the recording and learned that the Pope had discussed erasing everyone's memories and handling the aftermath.

After the White Church surrendered, the Federation brought its fleets under control and used Luo Li’s psychological suggestion to prepare for integrating the White Empire into the Azure Dragon Alliance. By Federation Year 800, the Alliance had set out for the Sera Realm, and its leaders turned to their next goal: unifying the Kunsa Realm.

• The White Church agreed to surrender after seven more days of losses, ceding nearly seven hundred universes to the Azure Dragon Alliance while the Federation took responsibility for the Sera Realm and the Church’s basic needs.
• The Federation imposed a rule requiring warships to shut down within three seconds of leaving the Cross-border Channel, destroying those that failed to comply.
• More than a hundred days later, all White Church fleets had passed through the channel, and Ziegler agreed that the renamed White Empire would join the Azure Dragon Alliance.
• By Federation Year 795, Luo Li’s psychological suggestion had replaced the plan to erase memories, implanting the belief that people should not believe in gods.
• In Federation Year 800, a hundred Alliance legions and Ziegler’s White Empire forces departed for the Sera Realm, while the Alliance finalized plans to unify the Kunsa Realm.

After the Azure Dragon Alliance demanded the Kunsa Realm’s submission, the Hiltek Empire refused and was invaded within ten days by a force that appeared impossibly fast and overwhelmingly powerful. Montero advised Emperor Valeri to surrender, while suggesting that humanity was building the alliance to gather strength against another enemy.

• The Azure Dragon Alliance proclaimed that God-tier Civilizations could join with voting seats if they surrendered, while those who refused would be destroyed.
• The Hiltek Empire publicly refused to surrender, and ten days later announced that its outer universes and imperial capital were under attack.
• Montero joined Emperor Valeri and Grand Duke Carterman in a Virtual Meeting Room and identified the alliance’s extraordinary speed, multiple God-tier members, and far superior warships.
• Montero told Valeri that the empire had no chance of victory and advised him to accept the alliance’s terms, which would preserve the empire’s internal rule and fleets.
• Montero suggested that humanity’s confidence and a need to prepare for an enemy might explain why it was gathering strength through the alliance.

Valeri decided that the Tailo Empire would join the Azure Dragon Alliance, and the Human Federation gave it a seat in the alliance’s highest decision-making tier. At his first high-level meeting, Valeri learned that the alliance was already planning campaigns beyond the Kunsa Realm and was told the Empire needed to upgrade its Black Hole Engine technology to take part.

• Montero and Carterman advised Valeri to join the Azure Dragon Alliance as early as possible, and Valeri decided to contact humanity himself.
• After the alliance overwhelmed the Hiltek Empire’s capital defenses, Valeri announced that the Tailo Empire was submitting to the Human Federation and joining the alliance.
• The Federation welcomed the Tailo Empire as an elder-tier civilization with a seat and voting rights in high-level meetings.
• At his first alliance meeting, Lin Zhen introduced Valeri to the other leaders, and Valeri was stunned to learn the Federation had taken over the Sera Realm and was discussing campaigns in other realms.
• Valeri offered the Tailo Empire’s fleets to the alliance, and Lin Zhen advised him to buy the Federation’s Ninth Generation Black Hole Engine because the Empire’s technology was too outdated for the operation.

Valeri agreed to equip the Tailo Empire with Ninth Generation Black Hole Engines, and the Azure Dragon Alliance finalized its planned expedition to the Dore Realm. In the Black Mang Empire, Sharet rejected joining the Alliance and imprisoned a minister who supported it, leaving the court too afraid to speak up.

• Valeri decided the Tailo Empire would use its resources to buy Ninth Generation Black Hole Engines and prepare at least five upgraded fleets within a hundred years.
• The Alliance finalized an expedition force for the Dore Realm, scheduled to begin in a hundred years and potentially grow to over a hundred legions.
• Sharet asked his ministers to assess the situation in the Kunsa Realm, and Carlotell recommended sealing the passage through the Black Hole collapse region rather than submitting.
• A second minister argued that joining the Azure Dragon Alliance would benefit the Black Mang Empire, but Sharet accused him of dishonoring the Empire and had him imprisoned.
• Although most ministers agreed with the imprisoned minister, Sharet's outburst kept them from voicing their support.

Carlotell persuaded Sharet to offer refuge to other civilizations in exchange for their technological databases, unaware that the Federation planned to exploit the arrangement. Disguised as a Lan Feng Kingdom Seed Fleet, Federation forces destroyed three Black Mang Empire fleets guarding Fault Channels, clearing the way for the next phase of the operation.

• Carlotell convinced Sharet to let small groups from other civilizations take refuge in the Black Mang Empire in exchange for access to their technology.
• Several civilizations secretly reported Carlotell's offer to the Azure Dragon Alliance, and the Federation decided to use the Seed Fleet arrangement to infiltrate the empire.
• Carlotell believed his plan was succeeding as eleven civilizations joined it, while the Lan Feng Kingdom's Seed Fleet entered Black Mang Empire territory in Federation Year 850.
• Wang Hai received reports aboard the disguised fleet and sent three cloaked reconnaissance ships toward the Fault Channels.
• Wang Hai ordered more than a thousand Second Tier or stronger fighters to attack, and the three teams destroyed the Black Mang Empire fleets guarding their targets.
• Wang Hai reported to headquarters that the first phase was complete and that the Federation could coordinate the second phase.

The Federation began its second phase of operations against the Black Mang Empire as Lin Yu led three legions into the passage. Bennett learned the Azure Dragon Alliance fleet was approaching and prepared to destroy the Fault Channel if the defensive line failed, but the three Special Detachments he needed could not be contacted.

• Federal Fleet Headquarters ordered Lin Yu to begin the second phase, and Lin Yu sent the three assembled legions into the passage to attack the Black Mang Empire's forces.
• Bennett received a report that Azure Dragon Alliance fleets were approaching the defensive line and sounded the battle alarm.
• Sharet authorized Bennett to destroy the Fault Channel if the defensive line showed signs of collapse.
• Bennett ordered the 101st, 102nd, and 103rd Special Detachments to send their Transport Ships into the Fault Channel, but none of the three responded.
• Bennett learned that the nearest available 115 Special Detachment was still eight days away, leaving him unsure whether the line could hold.

Bennett ordered the Black Mang Empire fleet to cram into the Fault Channel and hold off the Azure Dragon Alliance for eight days, accepting catastrophic losses to prevent the enemy from breaking through. After two legions were lost in a day, two Lan Feng Kingdom motherships appeared behind headquarters, and Bennett ordered the Second Guard Legion to attack them.

• Bennett realized the Lan Feng Kingdom's Seed Fleet may have enabled the Azure Dragon Alliance's massive offensive, but knew he had to hold for eight days.
• The Azure Dragon Alliance attacked, and its superior warships inflicted devastating losses on the Black Mang Empire fleet.
• Bennett explained that he had packed his fleets into the Fault Channel to block the enemy's escape route and ordered them to replace destroyed frontline ships while his Guard Legion prevented desertions.
• Bennett ordered constant updates from the 115 Special Detachment and accepted the loss of two legions after the first day of fighting.
• Two Lan Feng Kingdom motherships appeared behind headquarters, and Bennett ordered the Second Guard Legion to open fire despite the ships being identified as friendlies.

Wang Hai led the Civilization Guardian Legion to destroy Bennett’s forces at the passage entrance, then joined Lin Yu’s legions in a pincer attack that sent the Black Mang Empire’s remaining forces into collapse. The chapter left the Empire’s twenty-odd legions in the passage facing defeat after Bennett and two guard fleets were destroyed.

• Bennett’s Second Guard Legion poured fire at the Lan Feng Kingdom’s two motherships, but their defenses held against the barrage.
• Wang Hai’s 3,000 Humanoid Mechs launched attacks that destroyed thirty percent of the Second Guard Legion in one wave, with a second wave crippling the formation further.
• Bennett realized the Mechs were Black Hole Lifeforms and that the missing Special Detachments had likely been wiped out; the next attack destroyed his flagship.
• Thirty minutes later, Wang Hai eliminated the First and Second Guard Fleets and led the Civilization Guardian Legion into the passage.
• Wang Hai joined Lin Yu’s three legions in a pincer attack, and the Black Mang Empire’s remaining forces began to collapse after their supreme commander died.

Lin Yu’s forces advanced on the Black Mang Empire’s capital after trapping the empire inside its territory. Sharet killed himself rather than become a prisoner, while Cui Wa surrendered to Wang Hai and was brought back to Lin Yu.

• Lin Yu left one legion to guard the passage and led his other forces across Black Mang territory toward its heart.
• Sharet learned that the empire’s fleets had been destroyed and ordered guards to protect Cui Wa and surrender her to humanity.
• Sharet and Carlotell waited atop the Imperial Palace as humanity’s forces destroyed the planet’s military installations.
• Sharet shot himself rather than be captured, and Carlotell then picked up the Beam Rifle and shot himself too.
• Wang Hai reported Sharet’s death and Cui Wa’s surrender, and Lin Yu ordered Wang Hai to bring Cui Wa back without the guards.

Lin Fan led the Azure Dragon Alliance’s expedition into the Dore Realm after decades of consolidating the Kunsa Realm and migrating its civilizations. In the Dore Realm, the Black Church received a warning from the Holy Scripture and began preparing to defend against the invasion.

• Lin Yu ordered a full-scale orbital strike that devastated the Black Mang Empire, and the empire’s capital fell after three Federal legions attacked.
• By Federation Year 865, every God-tier Civilization in the Kunsa Realm had submitted to the Azure Dragon Alliance, which began relocating civilizations from other universes.
• By Federation Year 937, the Saido Realm migration was about twenty percent complete, while more than a hundred legions assembled for a new expedition.
• Lin Fan ordered the Cross-border Device activated and calibrated for the Dore Realm, then sent the fleet through the opened Cross-border Channel.
• The Holy Scripture warned Pope Ternova that an Outer Realm Civilization was invading the Dore Realm, and he ordered Cardinal Archbishop Velos and nearby Crusader Armies to establish a defense.

The Black Church deployed a huge force to seize the passage into the Kunsa Realm, where Archbishop Velos’s army confronted the Azure Dragon Alliance’s vanguard. After destroying the first legion, Velos was shocked to see ships from another civilization emerge from the passage.

• The Third Church sent seventy legions toward the invasion point, while other Crusader Armies also advanced.
• Archbishop Velos positioned ten legions around the passage and held sixty in reserve.
• The Azure Dragon Alliance’s vanguard of twenty-six submitted civilizations emerged from the passage and met the Black Church’s crossfire.
• Velos identified the first legion as the Sea Breeze Union but suspected it was cannon fodder for the real enemy.
• The Black Church wiped out the Sea Breeze Union legion after a day of fighting, despite its unexpectedly powerful warships.
• A second legion began emerging from the passage, and Velos realized it belonged to another civilization.

Velos discovered that the Federation’s forces at the Cross-border Channel were unlike the fleets he had fought before, while Lin Fan explained why the alliance had sent God-tier Civilizations into the battle first. The Federation’s second wave arrived with hundreds of Civilization Guardians, leaving the battle for the exit poised to intensify.

• After twenty-six days of fighting, Velos saw an unknown civilization’s different warships emerge and ordered his forces to keep firing.
• When the surveillance feed returned, Velos saw the Heretics protected by Defense Barriers deployed by more than a hundred powerful Black Hole Lifeforms and ordered the Crusader Army to continue its attack as the Second Battle Priest Regiment joined the line.
• The Federation’s second wave doubled the number of its warships at the channel exit and brought the number of advancing Civilization Guardians to two hundred.
• Liang Xue asked Lin Fan why the Federation had sent other civilizations’ legions ahead, and Lin Fan explained that the alliance leaders intended to warn them against relying too heavily on the alliance and increase warship sales.

The Federation’s leaders sent the armies of more than twenty God-tier Civilizations into the Dore Realm as a vanguard to revive warship sales, but the Black Church’s forces proved no match for the Heretics. The chapter left Bishop Galt rushing to finish the Stellar Defense Array before the front line collapsed.

• The Federation’s declining warship sales led Lin Zhen and the Alliance’s upper echelons to send the armies of more than twenty God-tier Civilizations on the expedition as vanguards.
• Li Yan ordered Wang Hai to prioritize attacking the roughly one thousand Black Hole Lifeforms deployed by the Black Church.
• The Heretics slaughtered the Black Church’s Second Battle Priest Corps without losing a single fighter, prompting Archbishop Velos to order the Stellar Defense Array activated within three hours.
• Bishop Galt learned that the Stellar Defense Array was only seventy-two percent deployed and ordered everyone and the escort fleet to complete it at maximum speed.

Galt ordered the Black Church to tow hundreds of millions of stars into a defensive array while Velos’s forces struggled to hold back the growing Federal Fleet. Luo Li identified the array as a device that could unleash enormous stellar energy, leaving Lin Fan to confront the threat as the battle intensified.

• Galt mobilized warships to tow stars into position for the Stellar Defense Array while the Federation’s counterattack at the Cross-border Channel exit intensified.
• Liang Xue detected hundreds of millions of stars being arranged in formation and reported the scans to Lin Fan, who asked Luo Li to analyze them.
• Velos ordered sixty reserve Crusader Armies into the defensive line to buy Galt time, despite the expected catastrophic losses.
• Two hours later, the Federal Fleet had grown beyond one trillion warships, and Velos’s forces replaced their losses to keep the defensive line intact.
• Luo Li told Lin Fan that the array would drain and release stellar energy, with its power ranging from an early Third Tier strike to a peak Fourth Tier strike.

Lin Fan ordered Wang Hai and the Third Tier Civilization Guardians to break through the Black Church’s defensive line so Wang Hai could destroy the Stellar Defense Array’s core device. The assault began, and Velos ordered 2,000 Battle Priests to stop them as the array neared completion.

• Lin Fan learned the Stellar Defense Array would be complete within an hour and ordered the Third Tier Guardians to help Wang Hai break through the enemy lines.
• Wang Hai gathered 200 Third Tier Chaos Mechs, explained the mission, and led them out from the Federal Fleet.
• Wang Hai’s force smashed through the Black Church’s defensive line, destroying tens of thousands of warships as they carved a path forward.
• Velos realized the Federal force might have discovered the Stellar Defense Array and ordered the First and Third Battle Priest Corps to stop them.
• Velos rejected the bishops’ objections and ordered them to deploy 2,000 Battle Priests immediately.

Wang Hai unleashed a full-power attack that destroyed the Black Church’s defensive line and two Battle Priest Legions, then raced toward the Stellar Defense Array. Archbishop Velos ordered Galt to stop him, but Galt realized the escort fleet had almost no time to prepare.

• Wang Hai charged up an attack while his Legion held off the Black Church’s relentless forces.
• Velos learned that Wang Hai’s energy exceeded the Third Tier limit and ordered the Battle Priest Legions to scatter, but his attack annihilated them and cleared a path through the defensive line.
• Wang Hai ordered his Legion to fall back, then accelerated his Chaos Mech toward the Stellar Defense Array.
• Velos learned Wang Hai was traveling at eighty-two Standard Black Hole Units per hour and ordered Galt to prepare a defense.
• Galt received word that Wang Hai would arrive in about forty seconds and protested that his escort fleet was not ready to stop him.