Eagle operated the main cannon batteries of Ship Number One, launching deadly beams into the Zegu Legion fleet. Simultaneously, he was gradually mastering the art of fine-tuning controls through intuition, leading to a significant boost in his hit rate.

On average, one out of every two shots found its mark on an enemy vessel, a considerably high rate compared to the fleet's overall average.

However, his results did not make much difference to the combined small fleet as a whole.

This was war. Both sides possessed numerous warriors with mental powers, and some of the beam cannons fired by Quasi-Masters achieved even higher accuracy than Yang Ying’s.

Inside the bridge of Ship Number One.

“It is said that every Dragon King-class vessel of the Ancient Legion is commanded by a Simian Quasi-Master. Although the Captain's duty is overall command, cannon operation is rarely their role, but still…”

"..."

Howard warned everyone on the bridge in a solemn voice not to become complacent just because the Ancient Legion fleet was numerically inferior. The Ancient Legion had been contending with the Human race of the Solar System for half a century with fewer forces; they were clearly not an easy opponent.

“Understood!” the staff officers on the bridge replied loudly.

“Even a Tyrannosaurus-class vessel must have a High-Grade Simian as its commander. The Ancient Legion’s treatment of High-Grade Apes is worlds apart compared to how humanity treats the Awakened,” Yang Ying’s fingers blurred across the control panel, his expression somewhat focused, yet still affording him the leisure to converse.

“Indeed, isn't it?” Howard heartily agreed. While resting a hand on the rail and analyzing the battlefield situation, he spoke to Yang Ying.

“Within the Ancient Legion, there is one High-Grade Ape for every hundred Simians, whereas humanity only has one Awakened for every million people. The ratio is just too different. High-Grade Apes can easily gain control of the Ancient Legion, whereas asking fewer than thirty thousand human Awakened to contest control of human society against three hundred billion ordinary people is simply being vastly outnumbered.”

Yang Ying had clearly considered this issue before. However, the path to empowering the Awakened was long and arduous, with the biggest problem being insufficient numbers, meaning the thought remained confined to his mind.

At this moment, against the backdrop of the dark cosmos, sparks occasionally erupted as steel warships exploded and tore apart. Fragments and armor plating floated into space, drifting further and further away, never to stop.

“Ancient Legion fighter wing approaching, over five thousand strong! Admiral Alexander orders interception!” a staff officer shouted loudly.

“Good heavens, are they getting serious now?” Howard waved his large hand: “Ghost Fighters, launch!”

In the hangar bay beneath Ship Number One, Blade sat in the cockpit of a Ghost Fighter. This was a special unit, its performance tenfold superior to a standard Ghost Fighter, authorized only for Colonel-level pilots.

Hearing Howard’s command over the channel, Blade performed a final systems check. Seeing all indicator lights green, he engaged the engines.

Simultaneously, Zhou Zai and the other Ghost Fighters also powered up and floated into the void.

The hangar doors whirred open, revealing the boundless cosmos outside.

Blade engaged the communication channel and shouted, “Launch!”

A series of “Yes, sir!” immediately responded over the channel.

Blade pushed the engines to maximum and shot out of the hangar first, followed by a total of ten squadrons of Ghost Fighters.

Due to the significant performance gap, moving in formation with standard Ghost Fighters would prevent him from fully utilizing the capabilities of his own superior machine. Furthermore, Colonel-level Ghost Fighter pilots had their own assignments. Blade did not wish to pull squadron commanders away to serve as his wingmen, so he chose to fly solo rather than join any formation.

“Good luck to you all!” Howard’s voice came over the comms channel.

Entering space, Blade glanced at the holographic radar. The screen displayed a dense swarm of fighters pouring out from several hundred warships—above, below, left, and right—totaling at least ten thousand!

The radar screen was a spherical, three-dimensional holographic display, with his own fighter at the center, clearly demarcating forward, aft, up, down, left, and right, making it highly intuitive.

Beneath the massive swarm of the United Fleet, Blade’s fighter seemed quite insignificant.

Soon, the two fighter groups collided.

“The Emperor Fleet’s fighter contingent is so small, yet they dare to attack proactively. Should that be called reckless, or brave?” Blade’s fighter was positioned at the very forefront of the United Fleet’s entire formation, engaging the Ancient Legion’s fighters first.

Seeing the mass of dark enemies rushing toward him on the radar, Blade felt no fear. He aimed at the nearest enemy Vicious Fang fighter ahead and fired a beam.

Instantly, the fighter was struck by the beam and exploded into fragments.

The Ancient Legion’s Vicious Fang fighters were exclusively piloted by High-Grade Apes; ordinary Simian pilots could only fly the Pterodactyl-type fighters, whose performance was far inferior to the Vicious Fangs.

After destroying one Vicious Fang, Blade plunged into the enemy fighter mass, with hostiles above, below, left, and right. The moment he dove in, Blade felt numerous hostile gazes fixed upon him; the other Apes had spotted him too.

Blade tilted his control stick, and the fighter tumbled, aiming for the thickest cluster of enemies…

In that instant, over a hundred beams shot toward his cockpit, with the intent to riddle it with holes!

But Blade’s fighter had already evaded, and these beams struck empty space.

While evading, Blade locked onto a Pterodactyl fighter and fired a beam that struck its cockpit dead center. The fighter tumbled and actually crashed into its wingman, causing both to explode into fragments simultaneously!

Next, Blade noticed over twenty red lines displayed on the radar, connecting certain enemy fighters to his own craft.

Blade knew these red lines indicated that those enemy fighters had launched missiles at him; the red lines showed the missiles’ flight paths!

On each red line, a triangular arrowhead represented the physical missile, launching from the enemy fighter and hurtling toward his own along the path.

“Tricks of the trade, nothing more?”

Blade was completely unconcerned by these missiles. He banked his fighter several times, dodging the missiles while simultaneously weaving through incoming Uranium beams. His entire craft moved as if alive, minimizing all unnecessary movements, dancing through the barrage of fire.

The missiles behind him were detonated by concentrated beam fire. After several high-quality evasive maneuvers, only a few missiles remained behind him. Blade casually released some chaff flares to draw the rest of the missiles into premature detonation.

As the two formations collided, the fighters from both sides became intermingled, forming one massive combat cluster and engaging in a close-quarters melee.

In that initial impact, many fighters fell victim to the enemy’s first wave of attack, both for the United Fleet and the Emperor Fleet.

Some outstanding pilots, like Blade, managed to evade the first wave and successfully carve an entry point for the fighters following behind them. Once the trailing fighters followed their leader into the enemy formation, the danger decreased significantly.

After cutting into the enemy formation, the fighters dispersed, engaging the enemy in tight two- or three-ship sub-squadrons.

After Blade charged into the Ancient Legion’s swarm, the Ghost Fighter group behind him followed him into the fray.

Standard Ghost Fighters possessed combat capabilities no weaker than Vicious Fang fighters. Each of the three Mianzi-class battleships had launched ten squadrons, totaling thirty squadrons of Ghost Fighters.

Missiles and beams continued to strike Blade’s fighter, but with minimal effect. Blade fully utilized his precognitive abilities as a High-Rank Psionicist on the battlefield, finding the safest pathways through the surging web of fire. Although it appeared dangerous, he remained as steady as Mount Tai.

Suddenly, a beam struck the wing section of Blade’s fighter, spitting sparks and leaving a scorched black mark.

A thought flashed through Blade’s mind: a master was present!

From the radar, Blade identified the Vicious Fang fighter that had attacked him. Its movements were far more agile than its peers; clearly, it was no ordinary machine, and it was even accompanied by a wingman!

Since gaining his clone, Yang Ying no longer needed to suppress his inherent passion for combat. He was a born warrior, and the tension, focus, and bated-breath atmosphere of the battlefield were like a delicacy to him.

In the past, as a commander, he often could not indulge his personal temperament. But now, with Blade, his desire to experience battle had found an outlet.

Blade took a deep breath and charged straight toward the Vicious Fang fighter that had just hit him.

That Vicious Fang belonged to the Squadron Commander of the Emperor Fleet's Third Flight Wing; he, too, was a High-Grade Ape. Seeing Blade’s Ghost Fighter charging in, the Ape roared and pushed his own controls forward in response.

Blade locked onto the Vicious Fang and pressed the missile launch button. Two short-range combat missiles shot toward the Vicious Fang!

Simultaneously, he held down the trigger on his control stick, and the two Level One Uranium Cannons on his fighter unleashed beams aimed directly at the target. These Uranium Cannons fired at a rate of one shot per second; while not exactly a torrential downpour, it was certainly sufficient firepower.

Meanwhile, on the United Fleet’s flagship, Admiral Alexander observed the fighter battle devolving into a chaotic tangle of chasing tails, and nodded slightly. He ordered: “Launch the second wave of fighters. Bypass the melee and attack the Emperor Fleet’s battleships directly.”

The United Fleet far outnumbered the Emperor Fleet, and Admiral Alexander held significantly more cards.

This second wave also comprised ten thousand fighters. They circled the edge of the combat cluster and charged straight toward the Emperor Fleet.

On the other side, the Emperor sat squarely in his command seat, shaking his head. “This is getting tricky. It looks like we will have to pay a considerable price to pin them here, but that is fine.”

He stood up and shouted, “I order the First Flight Wing to deploy. Target: Ten Space Cities. There is no need to sink all of them; merely force the Earth Army’s Twelfth Fleet to call for reinforcements to relieve the pressure here.”

The Vice-Captain sounded doubtful. “Can the First Flight Wing manage such a task? An entire fleet is guarding those ten Space Cities; sinking even one will be incredibly difficult.”

The Emperor nodded. “To ensure they succeed, give the Wing Commander a nuclear bomb!”

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