Space Warfare Was Too Brutal

The spore deployment went smoothly. Although quite a few Diasians on the planet resisted infection by the swarm spores, they were still flesh and blood. As long as they lived, they needed to breathe. Faced with swarm spores permeating the air, even if they did not want to be infected, they could only be infected in the end.

After completing the spore deployment, the Behemoth swarm psionically warped away. The solid planet that had blocked the starlight, however, did not warp away. It remained within the star system, merely no longer blocking Hathe's sunlight.

After Hathe completed its third rotation, the Dias Empire's fleet finally arrived.

Inside the bridge of the Dias Empire fleet, a subordinate delivered a crisp report.

"Detected extremely high psionic reactions from two planets!"

"Send a request for aid to the Empire's nearest mobile star city!" The chief commander issued orders to his subordinates, then added, "Split the fleet in two. The deputy commander will lead the other force! Bring the gravity interdiction ships to full power! We cannot allow these swarm-controlled planets to leave this star system!"

The entire fleet split in two. Their guns locked onto the Empire's agricultural world, Hathe, and the solid planet controlled by Lu Shang, unleashing a fierce bombardment.

Terrifying orbital fire brought shockwaves that, in an instant, destroyed a major city on Hathe with a population of ten million. Hundreds of millions of acres of fertile farmland became a sea of flames beneath the barrage, and millions of Diasians infected by swarm spores perished in this round of fire from the Imperial fleet.

Just as the soldiers of the Dias Empire fleet felt satisfaction at avenging their compatriots who had died on Miro Star, something unexpected happened.

Every attack fired by their ships—solid shells, high-energy plasma, missiles—mysteriously changed trajectory and veered directly away from their locked targets.

Even high-energy lasers bent through space like noodles, curving into arcs. Some even made one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turns and struck ships within their own fleet.

The Diasians aboard the ships were stunned by the absurd scene before them.

"What's going on?"

"Don't know!"

While the two hastily assembled Dias fleets were bewildered by the inexplicable situation, Lu Shang nodded in satisfaction. Needless to say, these anomalies were naturally caused by psionics.

The principle was not complicated. It simply used psionics to deflect the trajectories of moving matter.

"This psionic deflection is pretty good."

Lu Shang rubbed his chin and had the solid planet separately attempt to create a faster-than-light warp bubble for a short-range warp, as well as perform momentum displacement using psionics alone.

The result was that the spacetime bubble enveloping the planet could not take shape, but objects given momentum through psionics could move normally.

"As expected, those special ships only interfere with the formation of spacetime bubbles, thereby preventing faster-than-light travel. They cannot interfere with momentum-based displacement."

It was the same principle behind why the Behemoths could not warp directly onto a planet.

Lu Shang did not command the solid planet to counterattack. He merely relied on psionics to deflect every attack unleashed by the Imperial fleet.

The two sides were not even on the same level. Lu Shang felt as though he were dealing with a tantrum-throwing child. No matter how the child swung their fists, they felt soft and powerless.

The two Imperial fleets could also clearly sense the enormous disparity, but they themselves had not suffered serious damage. Moreover, their primary objective was to hold the enemy back and prevent them from warping away at faster-than-light speed.

Whether the enemy lacked offensive means or was brewing something, they were happy to see this stalemate continue.

After Hathe completed two rotations, the Imperial fleet received the reinforcements it had been waiting for.

"Detected unknown spatial fluctuations nearby!" a subordinate calmly reported to the chief commander.

After activating the shipborne radar's detection signals, the Imperial fleet swiftly identified the newcomers—six Imperial fleets!

"Excellent, they've finally arrived." The chief commander's previously uneasy heart immediately settled as his side's strength surged. His four eyes stared excitedly at the arriving friendly forces.

However, before he could celebrate for long, he heard another report from his subordinate.

"Detected a massive number of unknown spatial fluctuations!"

"God, there are too many!"

As the subordinate's terrified words fell, solid planets and fleet after fleet continuously dropped out of faster-than-light travel and appeared within the star system.

From signal identification, the Imperial fleet quickly determined the identity of these fleets—the Galactic Alliance's directly affiliated interception fleets!

Thirty Alliance fleets had gathered within this star system!

By coincidence, Lu Shang and Barton, the commander-in-chief of the interception fleets, said the exact same thing at the same time.

"Good. Now they're surrounded!"

This was an operation of mutual encirclement. Lu Shang had deliberately guided the pursued solid planets toward one location, luring the Galactic Alliance's pursuit toward the same place.

No matter how resourceful the Galactic Alliance fleet commanders were, they could not possibly pass up an opportunity to encircle their enemy like this. Naturally, they chose to take the bait.

Thus, this star system containing Hathe became the battlefield jointly chosen by both sides.

Not allowing the solid planets to go faster than light after deploying the spores had also been intentional on Lu Shang's part.

Simply wiping out the Galactic Alliance fleets pursuing them was not enough. He wanted to lure all armed forces in the Galactic Alliance's nearby star regions to one place, then annihilate them all!

The battle began. The Galactic Alliance fleets immediately activated their gravity interdiction ships at full power. The waves of gravity they emitted eliminated any possibility of spacetime warp bubbles forming.

Then came a fierce barrage of solid shells, plasma beams, lasers, and more.

Though these attacks looked ferocious, in reality, apart from the lasers, none could cross the planetary defense line formed by psionic deflection.

Because lasers traveled at the speed of light, they could outpace the reaction time of the psionic brains on the planet. But once the psionic brains reacted, subsequent laser strikes would likewise be deflected.

Without sustained damage, it was extremely difficult for laser weapons to penetrate the planet's thick crust and harm the psionic brains underground.

Lu Shang commanded the solid planets to counterattack.

"Everyone in position! Psionic acceleration, sublight-speed launch!"

Rocks from the solid planets flew into space. They circled the planets at high speed, and as their velocity continued to rise, the Galactic fleets' radars could no longer capture their traces.

Just minutes later, vast numbers of warships were destroyed in an instant. Of the more than one hundred million warships, over ten million were gone in those brief few minutes!

Among them, Lu Shang specifically had the swarm target the Galactic Alliance's gravity interdiction ships.

Sublight-speed kinetic projectiles easily pierced through these massive ships, which continuously emitted gravity waves to obstruct the formation of spacetime warp bubbles.

Their armor was more fragile than tofu, unable to provide even the slightest defense.

After a single round of attacks, every gravity interdiction ship in the Galactic Alliance fleet had been completely destroyed!

This was immediately followed by the second round of attacks, which destroyed every colossus accompanying the fleets!