123rd Fleet of the Empire surrounds the entire Blackwood Star System.
Outside the seven planets occupied by Steel-Skin Folk, thousands of warships blocked the sky. When the people of Steel-Skin Folk raised their heads, all they saw were steel behemoths densely covering the sky.
Immediately afterwards, the communication systems of these planets were forcibly invaded, and a fleet commander appeared on the screen.
"I am Commander Sisko Fernandez de la Cruz, Arcane Empire 123rd Fleet."
When he spoke these words, the channels on all planets automatically translated them into the language of Steel-Skin Folk.
"As you can see, you have been surrounded and are greatly disparate in strength. Therefore, resistance is futile. Please surrender immediately to avoid unnecessary casualties."
"You have five hours to make a decision."
After Commander Sisko made his declaration, the global broadcast was cut off. Subsequently, the entire Steel-Skin Folk fell into collective panic.
Ordinary people were worried about the future, while those in power quickly began to assess the situation.
They discovered that the Internet and all weapons systems on every planet were out of their control.
As a result, a top-level meeting was held urgently.
Inside the Empire's flagship, Sisko is monitoring the meeting progress of Steel-Skin Folk Council through the screen in front of him.
"Sir, do you think they will surrender?" the deputy commander asked.
"It's not important."
"What do you mean?"
"The choice is never in their hands," Sisko replied calmly.
The deputy commander seemed to think of something immediately, a trace of fear appeared on his face, and then he regained his composure.
As the commander, Sisko knows some top secret information.
For example, most members of Steel-Skin Folk Council had actually won Imperius Curse, and they were manipulated into voting against surrender.
As for the reason?
There are many reasons. Steel-Skin Folk are very aggressive by nature. This can be seen from how many other races they destroyed or enslaved during their conquest of Blackwood Star System.
Therefore, even if they surrender now, it is most likely to be temporary; in the future, they are bound to become an unstable factor.
In order to make them surrender completely, they must first be completely defeated and then implant deep fear in their hearts.
This is also one of the tasks assigned to Sisko. Of course, there are other reasons.
The skin of Steel-Skin Folk is harder than metal, and at the same time has excellent ductility and flexibility.
This is an extremely cheap material with excellent magic-guiding properties and abundant reserves.
Not to mention it's incredibly easy to obtain this material.
Empire has developed a spell that allows them to shed their skin like a snake and then grow back.
The process is quick, easy, and extremely low-cost.
With their skins, Empire can build more spaceships faster and cheaper.
And this is not all the value of this race.
According to the latest research, although Steel-Skin Folk's magic talents are extremely poor, they are excellent warriors.
With their strong defense, they will become excellent soldiers. Therefore, Empire decided not only to use them to produce skins, but also to incorporate them into the Empire as a source of troops.
After all, Arcane Empire itself is a multi-ethnic country with many non-human intelligent creatures.
However, before that can happen, Steel-Skin Folk's bellicose nature must be controlled and subdued.
Five hours later, just as Sisko predicted, Council refused to surrender.
The King of Steel-Skin Folk gave an impassioned speech to the public, declaring that their race was the conqueror and would never be the conquered.
Even if they can't control the fleet, their soldiers can still fight until their last breath.
Shortly after the speech, Commander Sisko took over the communications system again.
He showed real-time footage of Steel-Skin Folk, a planet named Airona.
Countless battleships surrounded the planet, and among them was an extremely huge battleship, with a length and width of dozens of kilometers.
In that giant ship, Commander Sisko sat on the command chair and said calmly, "Start the attack. Activate Fire Element Cannon at full power."
The deputy commander paused for a moment and asked, "Sir, which mode to use?"
"First use the first mode, then use the second mode."
"As commanded."
All Steel-Skin Folk people watched helplessly as a huge gun barrel suddenly protruded from the bottom of the giant ship.
Immediately afterwards, a red projectile was shot out. The projectile broke through Ailona Star's atmosphere at an extremely fast speed and landed in an uninhabited land.
Then, a scene that this race will never forget happened.
The memory of that day will be forever engraved in their souls and blood, passed down from generation to generation.
The projectiles that landed on the planet contained a huge pocket dimension within them.
In this dimension, a large amount of fire elements are stored. The moment the projectile landed, the pocket dimension opened.
A huge wave of flames spurted out and swept away in all directions. Wherever the flames passed, everything was reduced to ashes.
High-rise buildings were burned down instantly.
People were burned alive, leaving only charred corpses to prove their existence.
No matter men, children, women, animals or the elderly, no one is spared.
Luck What's more, the pain only lasted for a moment, before they lost consciousness and were sent into the eternal nothingness called death, leaving only a short scream as the final proof of their existence.
The only ocean on the planet boiled instantly, killing all the fish, plants, fungi and all kinds of creatures in it.
Mountains, glaciers, forests, plains, farms, historical monuments, the Library, museums, etc., everything was burned up in an instant and turned into ashes.
In just a few minutes, this planet full of miracles, culture, history and life disappeared, leaving only a devastated scarlet world.
But it's not over yet.
"Enable... use the second mode of the cannon," the deputy commander's voice was a little hoarse.
The giant ship fired a second round. This time, the projectile was faster. It did not stay on the surface, but penetrated directly through the earth's crust and reached the core of the earth.
Immediately afterwards, the internal dimension exploded, triggering a chain reaction with the core of the planet.
Boom!
Ailona Star exploded into thousands of pieces, floating in space.
Steel-Skin Folk people looked at this scene in horror, their hearts filled with endless sorrow and despair. Today, they finally understood the cruelty of the universe.
They learned a crucial Truth: Higher civilizations prey on lower civilizations.
Just as they once used brute force and advanced technology to conquer and eliminate other races in this galaxy, now it is their turn to suffer the same fate.