94: Brilliant achievements

"Pioneer" fleet reporting: Successfully cut into the 'Echoing Labyrinth' fold zone! The spatial environment is extremely complex, filled with massive distorted gravitational lens effects and psychic background noise!" Commander Zhao Qing's voice rang out over the encrypted channel, mixed with structural stress alarms caused by high-speed evasion. "The pursuers have followed us in! Their formation has been disrupted by the folded environment, but the flagship, a 'Slaughter-class' (temporarily designated 'thirsting fang'), is still biting hard thanks to its powerful Chaos psychic shield!"

On the holographic star map, the "Echoing Labyrinth" area appeared as a crazily distorted spatial structure, like crumpled tin foil. The blue light dots representing the "Pioneer" fleet were like a school of startled fish, darting left and right within it, attempting to use the environment to shake off their pursuers. Meanwhile, the crimson spots representing the Chaos Fleet were like a pack of hungry sharks in hot pursuit, especially the largest and brightest point—the "thirsting fang," whose foul psychic light even left a glaring afterimage on the star map.

"the arbiter has arrived at the designated sniping position, distance from the target area... three light-seconds." Alpha-01's voice was as calm as a frozen lake. "The hull has merged into the deep background of the 'Cognitive Fog,' sensors are silent, maintaining only minimum passive reception. The target, 'thirsting fang,' has entered the theoretical range of the 'Reality Reconstruction Cannon,' but its Chaos shield strength and spatial fold interference make the probability of a clean hit on the core area lower than 40%."

"Wait for the opportunity." Han Zhe's order was brief. "'Pioneer' fleet, continue maneuvering, try to lead the flagship into deeper folds, areas where the spatial structure is relatively 'fragile' or 'thin'! the arbiter, calculate the optimal sniping window; ensure a single strike can paralyze its critical systems!"

"Understood!" two voices responded simultaneously.

The time that followed was like being hammered on a red-hot anvil. The ships of the "Pioneer" fleet performed excellently, but faced with the violent pursuit of the Chaos cruisers, they were still in constant peril. A "Sentinel-III+" frigate, shielding the flagship "The Marauder," was struck on the broadside by a foul psychic plasma bolt. Its shields overloaded, its hull tore apart, and it vanished into the shadows of the folds as a silent explosion of fire. The sacrifice of the crew in exchange led the "thirsting fang" to be briefly lured toward a "Space Bubble" area—a region of highly unstable reality structure formed by an ancient supernova explosion.

"Now!" Zhao Qing roared over the channel. "The target has entered the edge of the 'bubble.' Its Chaos shield is reacting violently with the unstable spatial structure. Local shield strength is estimated to decay by 15%, and the ship's posture has momentarily stiffened as it evades the 'bubble's' gravity!"

"the arbiter, fire!" Han Zhe's command was like a drawn sword.

Three light-seconds away, the mountain-sized hull of the arbiter subtly adjusted its posture. The massive "Reality Reconstruction Cannon" array at the bow silently completed its final energy focus. There was no deafening roar, no blinding light—only the space around the ship seemed to be gently "plucked" by an invisible hand, rippling with "Conceptual Ripples" of ordered information disturbances that were invisible to the naked eye but capturable by sensors.

In the next instant, an intangible pulse of information-energy, carrying the fundamental will of "order" negating "Chaos" and "stability" negating "disorder," crossed the three light-seconds of distorted space via a preset "Conceptual Channel" at faster-than-light speeds. It accurately "hit" the Chaos shield of the "thirsting fang," which had slightly dimmed due to spatial interference!

There was no explosion.

There was no fire.

There wasn't even the common sight of shields flickering violently.

In the impacted area, the twisting, wailing profane runes and foul psychic light on the Chaos shield suddenly began to fade and dissolve, like an ink painting cast into strong acid! It wasn't neutralized by energy; rather, its very "concept of existence" was directly and irrationally interfered with and negated! The shield's structure instantly collapsed, leaving a "void" several hundred meters in diameter with eerily neat edges!

The pulse's momentum remained. It passed through the void in the shield and acted directly upon the hull of the "thirsting fang," which was covered in spikes, pustules, and writhing flesh.

It was equally silent.

In the hull area enveloped by the pulse, the living flesh tissues instantly "died," carbonized, and then turned into basic cosmic dust containing no organic information. The twisted metal structures lost all supporting concepts of "strength" and "shape," softening, flowing, and finally evaporating like a skin bag with its bones removed. Deeper in, the pulse reached the Warp engine array and Chaos Energy Furnaces at the ship's core.

This time, there was finally a "reaction"—but it wasn't an explosion; it was annihilation and implosion!

The "existence" of the Warp engines was forcibly "negated," their link to the Warp brutally "severed," triggering a small-scale, inward conceptual collapse! The Chaos Energy Furnaces lost their containment; their violent energy tried to erupt, but under the continuous effect of the "Reality Reconstruction" pulse, they were forcibly "compressed," "zeroed out," and turned into a patch of pure, deathly void!

The entire process lasted less than two seconds.

Two seconds later, the "thirsting fang"—that massive Chaos cruiser that had once made countless worlds tremble—had a giant void nearly a kilometer in diameter passing through its midsection, its edges as smooth as a mirror. The hull structure around the void appeared in an eerie "semi-melted" and "crystallized" state, devoid of life. The entire warship's power, energy, weapons, and even the Chaos-tainted core within had been completely erased from reality by what seemed like a divine hand.

Having lost its power and energy core, the remaining wreckage of the hull not directly affected began to tumble and disintegrate in space due to inertia. It was soon captured and torn apart by the unstable gravitational field of the "Echoing Labyrinth," turning into a floating, rapidly cooling mass of metal and organic debris.

One strike. Just one.

A powerful Chaos cruiser was thus completely paralyzed, its core destroyed, leaving behind nothing but useless wreckage.

"'thirsting fang'... confirmed destroyed." Zhao Qing's voice carried an unbelievable shock and a hint of a survivor's tremor. "Remaining Chaos vessels... are in chaos! They seem unable to comprehend what happened; some have begun firing blindly, while others are trying to turn and flee!"

"the arbiter, immediately withdraw from the sniping position and return to the designated hiding spot." Han Zhe's voice also carried a trace of imperceptible emotion, but he quickly regained his composure. "'Pioneer' fleet, take advantage of the enemy's confusion, disengage at full speed, and head to the backup safe point to regroup."

"Understood!" "the arbiter" and the "Pioneer" fleet responded simultaneously.

On the star map, the light dot representing "the arbiter" quietly retreated like a ghost, vanishing into the depths of the "Cognitive Fog." Meanwhile, the blue light dots of the "Pioneer" fleet quickly broke away from the remaining, confused Chaos ships and sped toward the designated safe area.

"'titan-class'... 'Reality Reconstruction Cannon'..." the Chief Technologist murmured to himself, watching the processed footage of the attack's effects, his eyes filled with awe and fervor. "This... this has already exceeded the scope of traditional weapon concepts. This is... a local 'negation' and 'rewriting' of the laws of reality!"

"Destroying a Chaos flagship in one strike..." Alpha-01's voice also carried a trace of imperceptible excitement, but more of it was the caution of a Commander. "The attack effect far exceeded expectations. However, the energy consumption is massive, the cooldown is long, and it requires extremely high firing precision and environmental conditions. It is an invincible 'Spear of God,' but it is not omnipotent."

Han Zhe slowly exhaled. It was a success. Not only had he successfully rescued the "Pioneer" fleet, but he had also validated the devastating power of the "titan-class" and the "Reality Reconstruction Cannon" against Chaos units in the most shocking way. This was undoubtedly a powerful morale booster, proving that the Human Federation's technological path possessed an unimaginable advantage in countering the ultimate threat of Chaos.

But the joy lasted only a brief moment. He immediately thought of the "far gaze" in the Extragalactic galaxy, whose fate was unknown; he thought of the newly born "custodian-alpha" of unknown nature; he thought of the main forces of the Empire and Chaos still fighting bloody battles at the Cadia Gate; he thought of the mysterious "Men of Iron" mixed force that had appeared in the resource zone... The growth of power did not reduce threats; instead, it might attract more powerful gazes and more complex situations.

"order the 'Pioneer' fleet to continue their resource collection mission after completing regrouping and damage assessment at the safe point, but their range of activity must be more cautious to avoid being targeted by large-scale enemies again," Han Zhe ordered. "Once the arbiter returns, immediately conduct a comprehensive inspection and data recovery to refine the combat parameters of the 'Reality Reconstruction Cannon.' At the same time, accelerate the construction and commissioning of subsequent 'titan-class' vessels."

He paused, his gaze turning toward the direction representing the core area of "Forge-I."

"Additionally, are there any anomalies in the monitoring data for 'custodian-alpha'?"

"No anomalies for now," reported the monitoring scientist. "It maintains a stable dark-gold glow, and its weak connection with the 'Ark World' basic 'Concept Stabilization' network is steady. No active information interaction or energy siphoning behavior has been detected. It's like... a 'conceptual tool' that has been activated but not yet 'used'."

A "tool"? A sleeping "partner"? Or something else?

Han Zhe couldn't be sure. But he knew that after proving they possessed the "spear" to shatter the fangs of Chaos, ensuring that an uncontrollable "double-edged sword" would not be born from within was equally a matter of civilizational survival.

"The brilliant first battle of the 'titan-class' has proven the correctness of our path." Han Zhe's voice echoed in the command center, carrying the calmness after victory and deeper reflections. "But this is only the beginning. Chaos will not give up, the Empire will eventually notice the anomaly, the unknowns of deep space still surround us, and we ourselves... have also given rise to new unknowns."

"Power gives us the capital to survive, but wisdom and caution are the lighthouses that guide us through the mists of the future."

"All units, stay alert and move forward."

On the star map, the light dots representing the power of the "Human Federation," after repelling a dangerous hunt, did not appear more flamboyant. Instead, like a predator after a hunt, they merged more deeply into the shadows, licking their wounds and sharpening their claws, waiting for the next strike... or to face the next, even more violent storm.

The "Titan" that destroyed a Chaos flagship in one strike was the first fang revealed by the "Human Federation."

But in this dark sea of stars, they are far from the only ones with sharp fangs.