The fierce slaughter unfolded amidst the enveloping mists, a collision of colossal metal warships and raw energy.

Blue energy lances, deep violet anti-matter beams, chaotic dark-gray rays, and silver-white energy shields erupted in bursts of vivid firelight, decorating the dark cosmos like a hazy abstract painting.

This was a battle without reservation; both sides fought with utter disregard for life, stopping only when one side was completely annihilated.

Ultimately, the scales of victory tipped toward the stronger power. The Galactic Empire’s fleet finally retreated. Only a scant score of shattered warships, finding no clear escape route, plunged into the Sea of Clouds and fled in disarray.

The exhilarated commander of the Baishi Kingdom, using the last vestiges of his composure, denied the requests from his remaining ships for pursuit. He ordered his fleet to regroup, assess casualties, and then proceed along the predetermined route.

Through the main viewscreen, Zhong watched the enemy fleet halt to reorganize, rubbing his temples with a touch of distress. He had observed the entire engagement from start to finish and was largely satisfied with his fleet's performance.

Although newly formed, the operational capability displayed by the Galactic Empire’s fleet, despite some noticeable immaturity in certain areas, was overall free of major errors. Considering the ships were newly commissioned and the crews were only just familiarizing themselves with the vessels, achieving this level was beyond his initial expectations.

This was why he felt the pang of loss so acutely; in that single battle, he had lost over twenty warships, two hundred thousand outstanding personnel, and more than twenty exceptional ship commanders.

It was fortunate that he had issued the withdrawal order in time; a moment later, the very seeds of these forces might have been completely wiped out.

This army, forged in the crucible of major battle, represented the capital needed for future military parity against advanced civilization states.

The strategic objective had been achieved. One enemy "Planet-class" vessel had been critically damaged. Though not destroyed, it was rendered combat-ineffective. Next, it was time to draw them into the trap.

After more than a year of skirmishes, Zhong Yun had developed a clear understanding of the enemy commander’s profile: suspicious and cautious—that was their defining trait.

To convince the enemy he was utterly exhausted, Yun gritted his teeth and committed fifty "Quasi-Satellite" class warships to a fierce engagement, aiming to simultaneously weaken their strength and dispel their suspicions.

Of course, this measure was not guaranteed to work. The battlefield was ever-changing; no one could accurately predict the enemy’s final reaction.

Zhong Yun’s true goal was to lure the enemy deep into the Sea of Clouds—the deeper, the better.

The Lansen Empire had expended countless resources and painstaking effort over the centuries to construct this base in the contested region of the Star Sea. Its defensive systems, in particular, had been designed with meticulous ingenuity; in essence, the base was a super-fortress.

For a thousand years, countless explorers had sought this base, yet none had succeeded, all having been undone by this very defensive network.

Although the enemy now possessed the correct navigational charts to avoid getting lost in the endless cloud sea, Zhong Yun held sufficient means to utterly destroy them all.

The only reason he had not yet acted was that he refused to let a single enemy escape. The closer they got to the base, the closer they were to death.

As the Baishi Kingdom fleet pressed deeper, they encountered no further resistance, leading them to believe that all enemy resistance had been crushed.

After flying for half a day, suddenly, their vision cleared. The fleet had broken free of the Sea of Clouds’ perimeter, and their view widened dramatically. When they finally grasped the scene before them, every person aboard shuddered.

Spanning as far as the eye could see ahead floated an expanse of metallic wreckage.

Just as they stood there dumbfounded, Yun, from the Galactic Empire’s War Command aboard the flagship, abruptly rose and roared, "SkyNet System, activate sequence officially."

"Look!" A staff officer aboard the Baishi Kingdom flagship suddenly yelled.

Then, every soul was paralyzed by the spectacle unfolding before them.

From all directions—every sector of space—countless golden beams of light shot across, intersecting in a grid pattern, resembling a death net from which escape was impossible, completely enveloping every single warship.

In that instant, every witness’s face turned the color of ash.

The beams intensified, reflecting the sheer despair in their eyes.

…………

At the Baishi Kingdom Bandit Suppression Force’s temporary base, the main fleet had departed over a fortnight ago. Contact had been lost ever since they entered the Sea of Clouds—one of the region’s peculiar attributes being its ability to completely jam communication signals upon entry.

They had yet to decipher the method the enemy used for their own transmissions.

The deputy commander left behind at the base had harbored reservations, feeling their assault was too rushed; they should have waited until the enemy's communication methods were understood before launching the full offensive.

However, he understood the Commander-in-Chief’s predicament: intense political pressure from the homeland demanded the swift elimination of these "weaker pirates."

For some reason, the deputy commander was plagued by a nagging sense of foreboding. Because of this, he had increased the guard strength to its absolute maximum, ensuring that at any given moment, one "Planet-class" capital ship was on patrol. Although there were grumbles within the ranks, he managed to suppress them.

Caution in excess is better than regret—this was invaluable wisdom gleaned from years of military service.

A few days later, his premonition proved correct.

That day, as he reviewed operational reports in the command center, a piercing alarm suddenly blared throughout the base—a Level One Combat Alert, only sounded in the most critical emergencies.

Though startled, he remained calm, instantly entering command mode and attempting to contact the patrolling capital ship.

The ship in distress was the "Planet-class" flagship—a fact that rendered him almost incapable of belief. The overwhelmingly powerful capital ship had vanished without a sound, without even the slightest warning.

The possibility of a malfunction causing loss of contact was remote; the flagship possessed five redundant communication systems. The only conceivable outcome was that the main vessel had met disaster.

When the intelligence reports finally correlated, confirming his dread, the flagship had violently exploded and been destroyed. The cause remained unknown.

The deputy commander was instantly struck by a feeling of impending doom, but he forcefully shoved the sensation aside, focusing on command—he trusted that the flagship would not detonate without reason; an enemy incursion must have occurred.

Fortunately, due to his insistence, the entire base had remained at the highest state of readiness, with all vessels primed for immediate launch. It would take only a short time to mobilize the entire fleet.

As if to validate his fears, just as he issued the order for full pre-battle mobilization, hundreds, perhaps thousands, of warships poured out of the Sea of Clouds.

Seeing this sight, the deputy commander sucked in a sharp breath, only one thought dominating his mind: The Commander and the fleet were finished.

At that precise moment, explosions began sounding from outside, rapidly drawing closer.

The recently arrived operations staff paled, rising to their feet as they stared toward the entrance.

With a deafening boom, the walls, constructed from the hardest alloy, fractured with two deep fissures before collapsing inward. A mechanical foot, colored a sickly dark cyan and trailing an aura of greenish death, stepped across the threshold.