"The 'Central Processor' has completed its covert deployment and is executing the retaliation protocol—"
"Target: 'Human Federation.' Classified as an extremely threatening hostile civilization, with a threat level second only to the corrupted entities of the 'Purification Protocol'!"
"This organic civilization cannot be united into a single front by normal means. Related strategic targeting protocols are being unlocked—initiating the 'Defensive Counterattack and Eradication Directive'!"
"Detected: the 'Nicol-Dyson Beam' is in position. Charging is complete. Entering attack sequence..."
"Cosmic coordinate axis guidance: Milky Way... Strike distance calculation: approximately 16,459,916 light-years..."
"Specific planets within the target civilization's territory have been locked on!"
Angel Nebula, outer reaches.
Intense energy fluctuations appeared across several Star Systems.
Vast celestial engineering structures had been erected around several blazing stars.
The structures resembled a series of rings, with a massive stellar body at their center, forming a hollow, cone-shaped weapon.
Guided by the attack sequence, the weapon was rapidly activated. Terrifying energy was drawn from the stellar body, then a powerful Dark Energy conversion field surged through the weapon's modules.
The energy was concentrated at a single point. Ahead of it, a colossal "Wormhole Generator" opened a wormhole entrance that spanned the stars.
Boom!
Streams of horrifying energy were unleashed from the Angel Nebula.
The "Nicol-Dyson Beam" was the only intergalactic strike capability currently available to the "Final Defense Protocol." There had been no time to build any other celestial structures.
These mechanical entities could only use the limited means currently at their disposal to hurriedly retaliate against the "Human Federation."
The Federation had locked onto the Angel Nebula. After realizing the threat, the "Central Processor" of the "Final Defense Protocol" ran a series of complex calculations and decided to issue a retreat order.
All valuable sub-individuals within the Angel Nebula—including the organic planets on which they had implemented the "Guardian Protocol," as well as the "Central Processor" running the core matrix data—had been evacuated in an emergency using "Hyperspace Lane Transfer Technology."
The core entity of the "Final Defense Protocol" had hidden itself in a secret corner of the Known Universe.
As for the remaining sub-individual units and strategic weapons in the Angel Nebula, the "Final Defense Protocol" left them behind to buy enough time for its retreat.
If they continued fighting to the death, annihilation was the only outcome.
Preserving a glimmer of hope and sacrificing its tail to save its life was the measure the "Final Defense Protocol" took in response to the Federation's threat.
Otherwise, under the assault of the "Falling Star Sky Spear," they would have been doomed to perish alongside the entire Angel Nebula.
Compared with the Federation's "Falling Star Sky Spear," the "Nicol-Dyson Beam" deployed by the "Final Defense Protocol" was somewhat weaker, but it was still an intergalactic-class weapon.
Several terrifying beams crossed the vast distance of tens of millions of light-years and arrived in the Milky Way, surging toward several of the Federation's core Star Systems.
If a planet was hit by these horrifying energy streams, no matter how many planetary defenses had been built on it, destruction was its only fate!
Even Sky Pillar Fortress and the Star System defense networks deployed in the surrounding systems could not stop weapons capable of striking at faster-than-light speeds.
But the Strategic Command Center and Armed Forces Department personnel on the Federation's side seemed remarkably calm. They showed no concern at all that their planets might be destroyed by the enemy's attack.
In fact, they had no reason to be.
Because...
"'Tianshu Sacred Shield' has activated its 'fully automated defense mechanism.' The pan-galactic defense network is coordinating..."
"'Force Field Restraint Ring' has automatically gathered Stellar Energy..."
"Spatial structures in the systems under enemy attack have been automatically sealed off. The direction of the enemy's attack is being forcibly redirected..."
"'Shelter Star Ring' has intercepted the enemy's intergalactic strike!"
"Based on reverse calculations, the exact locations of the enemy's intergalactic strike weapons have been pinpointed. Transmitting cosmic coordinates..."
In one Star System.
A massive celestial structure built atop a star shimmered with light. Its intense radiance illuminated the entire system, making the scene within resemble a heavenly kingdom, filled with a sense of holiness.
This was the "Tianshu Sacred Shield" in its entirety!
Several smaller star rings encircled its main ring.
These smaller rings were "Shelter Star Rings." Their purpose was to absorb attacks.
Terrifying strikes powerful enough to destroy stars and planets could only destroy a single "Shelter Star Ring" module when they hit one.
After several "Nicol-Dyson Beam" attacks were redirected, they barely managed to destroy a few "Shelter Star Rings." Those modules could be repaired afterward.
Under the "Tianshu Sacred Shield's" forced control, every Star System within Federation territory had been placed under absolute protection.
Whenever any Star System came under intergalactic attack, the pan-galactic defense network established by the "Tianshu Sacred Shield" could preemptively avert the incoming strike.
One side's losses were another's gains.
Our attacks would keep coming, while the Federation had precisely identified the locations from which the enemy's intergalactic weapons were firing.
The "Falling Star Sky Spear" was nearing the end of its second charge. Its next strike could not only keep destroying the Angel Nebula's Star Systems, but also further cripple the enemy's means of retaliation.
The Angel Nebula contained more than three hundred Star Systems. The Federation needed only a dozen or so attack waves to destroy the entire nebula from a distance without losing a single soldier.
In the universe, any civilization capable of intergalactic strikes was a hunter with a gun.
Once a hunter's position was revealed during a war, the civilization in question often had no choice but to become prey.
The only pity was that Star Systems destroyed by intergalactic weapons could not have their Dark Matter resources collected in time, unlike systems destroyed by the Sky Burning Divine Weapon. That resulted in enormous waste.
But there was no helping it. War was all about attrition.
The original plan had been to use just two Sky Burning Divine Weapons to destroy the Angel and Lieyang Civilizations separately, saving as many resources as possible and avoiding unnecessary waste.
That was because they wanted to spend those resources on other things worth wasting them on.
The Federation possessed abundant resources—so abundant, in a sense, that they seemed inexhaustible—but not a single unit of Federation resources should be squandered carelessly.
"'Dark Energy Regulator' has gathered sufficient energy. The 'Falling Star Sky Spear' is ready to carry out its next strike..."
"Target: Angel Nebula!"
On the Federation's star chart, the coordinates of the Angel Nebula were displayed.
One star after another went dark, until every star within a radius of fifty light-years in the entire nebula had been completely extinguished!
This all served as a warning to the native civilizations of the Known Universe, as well as the outsiders who had recently arrived:
The Order of Justice once led by the Angel Civilization had been utterly brought to an end by a new hegemonic civilization.
The wars breaking out across this universe were about to rise to an entirely higher level.
An invisible hand was driving every civilization in the universe to race forward. Those left too far behind had only one fate: death.
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