Moments later, a message arrived from the second squad, which had secured the power facility in Sector Four: they had encountered enemy snipers in the power core. It was a sharp encounter, mirroring the first squad’s experience under Master Yan Shouyi, involving an elite squad of higher-grade Apes led by an Ape Master. They were currently deadlocked and urgently requested reinforcement.

Master Yan Shouyi ordered two Quasi-Masters, accompanied by ten High-Level Psions, dispatched from the first squad to provide aid. Simultaneously, he called upon the third squad to send a similar support contingent to the power core.

Beyond that, he sternly reminded everyone to remain vigilant for the whereabouts of Emperor Gang. If they encountered this Ape Master without the backing of a Master-level expert, they were to issue an immediate emergency distress call, and he would personally intervene.

The Main Control Room remained the most perilous location within the entire fortress—it was the fortress's very brain. Emperor Gang would undoubtedly be striving to reclaim it; therefore, Master Yan Shouyi resolved to remain stationed there until Emperor Gang’s precise location was confirmed.

However, Colonel Blade managed to circumvent this issue using technology. He pulled up the Observer’s full schematic overlay of Fortress One, displaying all life signs within the structure. Emperor Gang was quickly located; he was indeed still in Sector One, currently rallying a horde of Ancient Beasts, apparently preparing for a counterattack.

Master Yan Shouyi glanced at the display and smiled faintly. “Very well. It seems I must make another trip. Colonel Blade, will you accompany me?”

Blade weighed the situation in his mind, then shook his head. “I think I’ll sit this one out. The previous engagement drained me significantly. To confront an Ape Master like Emperor Gang right now, I fear I would be running on fumes.”

“Understood. Rest here then,” Master Yan Shouyi replied, calling up two Quasi-Masters and sprinting toward Emperor Gang’s known position.

Meanwhile, in space, the orbital cannon support for Fortress One had ceased. The Ancient Legion’s firepower plummeted, and their fleet began to lose the artillery exchange against the Earth Force’s superior numbers.

The dogfight involving nearly three hundred thousand total fighter craft was raging fiercely across the void. The Earth Force possessed approximately fifty thousand first-generation Ghost Fighters, while the Ancient Legion’s Fang Fighters numbered under ten thousand. While a one-to-two engagement might be manageable, a one-to-five ratio was too costly, and defeat was beginning to show its face.

Blazing beams of energy flashed across the vast expanse of space. Occasionally, a capital ship would be struck, tearing apart as armor warped, atmosphere vented, and equipment and personnel were sucked out into the vacuum, left to drift helplessly.

Fortunately, simple drifting was not immediately fatal. Most Earth Force crew members had been wearing combat EVA suits since the battle began, a precaution the Ancient Legion forces had also taken.

The flagship of the Ancient Legion.

“Has Emperor Gang failed?” Weng Sha-lie asked, sitting in his command chair, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the armrest—thump-thump-thump—the cadence sounding uncannily like a heartbeat. The Ape staff officers in the bridge seemed to feel their own pulses echoing Weng Sha-lie’s taps.

“Yes, My Lord. The firepower support from Fortress One ceased one minute and twelve seconds ago,” the Vice-Captain reported with meticulous deference.

“It seems the enemy understands the weaknesses in our defensive perimeter all too well. Their reconnaissance capabilities are too strong.” The finger-tapping stopped abruptly, causing the Ape staff officers to feel as if their own hearts had nearly stopped, too.

“My Lord, shall we order a transfer to the defensive zone of Fortress Two?” the Vice-Captain inquired.

“Do it. Not many troops were assigned to attack Fortress One. Although they briefly seized critical points, they will soon be ejected by the overwhelming garrison forces inside. However, Fortress One’s orbital cannons are now useless. We are left with only two fortresses capable of providing fire support. Transfer immediately to Fortress Two, and we cannot continue like this. We must hold onto those last two fortresses tightly,” Weng Sha-lie clenched his fist.

The Vice-Captain remained silent, knowing Weng Sha-lie had not finished speaking.

Weng Sha-lie paused in thought. “The fall of Fortress One indicates our current defense matrix is insufficiently robust. We must increase defensive strength. I command that the escort fleet detach and enter the gravity sphere of Io to reinforce Fortress Two. Furthermore, send two more Master-level experts there. As for Emperor Gang, instruct him to retake Fortress One as quickly as possible to re-establish defensive fire. If that proves impossible, he is to withdraw to Fortress Two as well.”

“Fortress Two is certainly being treated to a magnificent array of strength,” the Vice-Captain sighed, giving a respectful salute as the surrounding Ape officers relayed Weng Sha-lie’s orders to the relevant units.

Inside Fortress One, Blade watched the images relayed by the Observer. Master Yan Shouyi and the two Quasi-Masters had engaged Emperor Gang. After hundreds of exchanges, Emperor Gang again retreated, seemingly determined to bog Master Yan Shouyi and his team down within the fortress walls.

While the two Masters were engaged in this deadly game of cat and mouse, the tens of thousands of mechanized and bio-hybrid troops inside the fortress had been fully mobilized. Under the command of the Ape soldiers, they were assaulting the Main Control Room, the Power Facility, and the Hangar—the three sectors controlled by the Psions.

Previously, the Psions were the aggressors, using their small numbers and powerful assault capabilities like a sharp spike piercing fabric, maintaining the initiative. Now, however, the roles had reversed; defending now, they were like trying to ward off an army with needles—clearly not an effective strategy.

Facing the relentless, tide-like assault of robots and giant beasts, the Task Force members found themselves in a precarious defensive position.

Since relatively few Psions had entered the fortress, and the garrison force outnumbered them by hundreds to one, the enemy seemed inexhaustible. The Psions were forced to gradually contract their perimeter, plugging breaches only to have them opened again, desperately stalling the advance of the beasts and machines.

Psion stamina, after all, was finite, and fighting the higher-grade Apes had left them utterly exhausted. Even simply swinging swords against tens of thousands of machines and beasts would consume half a day and immense physical reserves.

Therefore, after securing the two vital areas—the Main Control Room and the power apparatus—the Task Force first prioritized extracting every usable asset. Various pieces of information stored in Fortress One’s main computer, though much of it had been deleted, still offered valuable intelligence once the recoverable data was downloaded.

Once the value had been fully squeezed out, the Task Force began systematically destroying everything they could. In the Main Control Room, they dismantled computers, using their lightsabers to melt critical components. In the Power Facility, they hacked the power equipment to shreds.

With these tasks completed, Fortress One’s functionality was crippled for the foreseeable future, and the Task Force began their withdrawal.

After a final, bloody exchange that carved out several paths, the three squads finally regrouped in the Hangar. The Task Force had suffered twenty-six Psion casualties: three Quasi-Masters and twenty-three High-Level Psions. Their remains were incinerated to ash by fire magic and carried by the surviving Psions. All dropped lightsabers were recovered; nothing could be left for the Ancient Legion.

Because fighting had occurred in the Hangar, some Psion fighters sustained damage. However, since they had an excess of fighters for the return journey, they managed to reassign personnel so that every Psion had a fully operational craft. This small mercy felt less like a boon and more like a poignant reminder of their losses.

The remaining Psion fighters were all fitted with automatic detonation devices, intended as the final destructive mechanism against the fortress.

As Blade piloted his Ghost Fighter and the Task Force departed the fortress, the blocked passageways outside the Hangar were being rapidly cleared. Emperor Gang, accompanied by another Ape Master, dozens of higher-grade Apes, and massive hybrid forces, charged into the Hangar. They immediately sensed intense danger. Emperor Gang shrieked, instantly leading the higher-grade Apes back out, abandoning the robots and beasts to their fate.

In that instant, the twenty-six Psion fighters simultaneously erupted in light as brilliant as the sun. Intense thermal radiation blasted outward, turning the entire Hangar into an oven. The shockwave crushed, warped, and tore the structural walls apart. Rolling waves of heat surged outward through the corridors that had just been forced open.

Any Ape, robot, or beast caught in the path of the heatwave exploded instantly, reduced to ash.

The power systems of Psion fighters were formidable, utilizing energy essence as fuel, giving them output superior to reactors of comparable size. The simultaneous detonation of twenty-six units approached the yield of a small nuclear device.

Sector Two of the fortress, where the Hangar was located, was quickly engulfed by the fiery devastation. The massive explosion lifted the outer armor plating entirely, submerging the entire sector in a sea of fire.

“Sector Two is a write-off,” Emperor Gang muttered. He had managed to escape just in time before the fiery wave reached him, retreating to Sector One. He dropped the massive isolation door separating Sector One and Two, took a headcount, and discovered that two higher-grade Apes had been trapped in Sector Two.

In a foul temper, Emperor Gang stomped back to the Main Control Room. He found the room a total wreck: Ape staff officers lay scattered and dead in a corner, the main screens were all black, and every piece of equipment bore the telltale scorch marks of lightsaber cuts, clearly useless without complete replacement.

“These damned Psions—they finished the job completely!” Emperor Gang swept the devastation with his eyes, rage boiling in his chest. He ground a half-shattered chip under his boot, found a functional communication line in the fortress, and contacted the fleet in orbit to report the situation to Weng Sha-lie.

The Task Force encountered no significant danger after exiting Fortress One. Only a few manageable, automated anti-aircraft batteries continued to fire at them, which the exhausted Psions dispatched without much effort.

When the second sector of the fortress exploded behind them, the fireball was visible for ten kilometers. In the communication channels, voices finally rose in exhilarated celebration, confirming the mission’s successful completion.

The Task Force followed their ingress route, safely departing Io, clearing the gravity sphere, and returning to the fleet.

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