The cannon-targeting Mage Hunter bomb deployed in advance had hung motionless above the Void Warship's gun muzzle for a full two minutes.
Once the Liberator Fighter completed a turn and withdrew from the airspace around the Void Warship, the heavy Mage Hunter, weighing over five hundred kilograms, exploded violently.
A thunderous blast shook the sky. A chaotic energy storm burned away the clouds, and the flames erupting from the explosion engulfed the entire Void Warship.
"Shields! Release every last energy reserve in the Soul Engine! Protect the ship!" Mephistroth shouted frantically in the control room. The Gan'arg pilots and maintenance crew scrambled to release all the Soul Engine's energy.
The bow gun emplacement collapsed. The ship lost its balance, tipped toward the ground, and slowly descended.
From this height, the impact of a crash would be powerful enough to kill every demon aboard.
That was the main reason Mephistroth was willing to exhaust the entire Soul Engine's energy to protect the engineers inside.
A destroyed Void Warship could be rebuilt. Antorus had vast numbers of military foundries and shipbuilding platforms. As long as resources were available, the Eredar engineers and the Gan'arg could supply the Burning Legion with an endless stream of warships.
But if all those engineers and pilots died, Lord Kil'jaeden would certainly take his life.
The engineers acted swiftly. Long, narrow chains pulled away all four sealing metal plates around the Soul Engine.
Then the Dimensional Anchor emitted a powerful energy beam, drawing every last bit of energy out of the engine and channeling shield energy into the ship's entire armored hull.
As the Soul Engine roared, the Void Warship gave a series of low, mechanical growls. Its shields finally halted the storm's assault, and the ship arrested its fall in midair.
Exhausting the Soul Engine meant