Both supercarriers were outfitted at their core with a colossal Khaydarin Crystal, gathering immeasurable energy within its facets, enabling the carriers to effortlessly rend space, warp time, and accomplish feats bordering on the miraculous.
The construction of these supercarriers had only recently concluded. Because Yang Ying had obtained the entirety of the Sarnegar technology during their build phase, he had implemented several upgrades. For instance, the original Fleet-Crushing Cannons, rated at Level Ten, had been enhanced to Level Twelve Star-Shattering Cannons, and the capabilities of their Black Hole and Time Bomb functions had been substantially improved.
It could be said that a single one of these supercarriers possessed the combat strength of an entire fleet.
Following the ten supercarriers were nearly three hundred massive carriers, each spanning 1.5 kilometers. These were specialized models, featuring greatly reinforced energy matrix systems and weapon arrays, allowing them not only to deploy five thousand interceptors but also to unleash Level Ten Fleet-Crushing Cannons.
Commanding the ten supercarriers were ten Archons of Light and Shadow, all at the Fourth Tier Limit. The nearly three hundred specialized carriers were overseen by members of the Protoss High Council.
The current strength of the Protoss had multiplied several times over since they first conquered the Berrkerek System. Numerous regional councils had been established across their territories, yet the High Council maintained its original roster of three hundred and ninety-six members.
Three hundred and sixty councilors, and thirty-six core councilors. They shared the responsibility of maintaining the psychic link with the Conclave Speaker, Kass, and also partook in the psychic tribute flowing from the Protoss populace via that link.
Back when they attacked the Berrek Empire, the councilors’ psychic strength had already reached the Level Three Limit. As the Protoss dominion continued to expand, the incoming tribute of psychic energy grew at an unsustainable rate, becoming too much for them to bear.
This necessitated a change in the status quo of the High Council. As Yang Ying’s comprehension of Sarnegar technology deepened, he devised a method: through genetic modification, he forcibly helped the core councilors break through the bottleneck to ascend to the Fourth Tier.
He had previously used the same methodology he employed to modify the Queen of Blades to help Katarina achieve a breakthrough once. Although the Zerg and the Protoss were fundamentally different on a genetic level, they shared one crucial commonality: both races originated from the Sarnegar!
The Sarnegar archives contained all the knowledge necessary to modify both the Protoss and the Zerg. Since Yang Ying could fabricate naturally Fourth Tier cerebrates and modulate a Fourth Tier Queen of Blades, he could certainly aid the Protoss in breaking past the Level Three stagnation.
The thirty-six core councilors were the first batch to undergo modification, ascending to Fourth Tier existence. The three hundred and sixty councilors followed suit.
The High Council was now a convergence point for Fourth Tier beings: the core councilors had all achieved the upper stage of the Fourth Tier, while the regular councilors occupied the lower stage of the Fourth Tier.
At the Aiur battlefield, more than half of the High Council had gathered. They positioned themselves behind the ten supercarriers, observing the Allied Fleet with predatory intent. "Target them, full volley!"
Gazing upon the supercarriers, Sharok felt an unprecedented sense of existential dread welling up inside him. At his command, the Allied Fleet unleashed its entire arsenal upon the ten supercarriers!
The Archons of Light and Shadow acted. The immense Khaydarin Crystals blazed with white light, and a thin barrier materialized around the supercarriers.
The Allied energy beams struck the barrier, seemingly encountering a mysterious force that dramatically slowed their velocity, before grinding to a complete halt!
Supercarrier Special Maneuver: Time Bomb! A supreme field capable of stopping time itself!
"How is this possible! How can they stop light?"
"Aiur truly harbors infinite possibilities. Protoss technology can achieve such miracles!"
"What kind of enemy are we truly fighting?"
"That fool Sharok, dragging us to fight against such beings!"
"Retreat! I sense their next strike will be cataclysmic!"
"Too late! It’s already too late!"
The energy beams unleashed by the Alliance dissipated within the time-stasis field. Then, ten plumes of inky blackness erupted from the ten supercarriers, and instantly, ten black holes manifested within the Allied formation!
Black holes are the most massive celestial bodies in the universe, formed only when supergiant stars reach the end of their lifecycles. Enormous gravity surrounds them, pulling in any matter that nears—even light itself!
Because not even light can escape a black hole, they earned that name!
The effective range of a black hole is vast. While the supercarriers were limited by energy and could not create true black holes, the power deployed was more than sufficient for offensive maneuvers on the battlefield.
The ten black holes completely engulfed the small Allied fleet. Space itself was violently distorted by the intense gravity, causing even light rays to bend and writhe. The phenomenon looked like ten bottomless vortices, and the Allied fleet was being torn apart, dragged toward the center of each vortex—the deepest, unseen point!
The armor plating on some warships was directly ripped apart by the gravitational forces, shattering into fragments. Under such conditions, no ship system could function normally; attack was impossible, and escape was equally so.
Only a few Fourth Tier entities within the Alliance managed to use their own space-warping abilities to flee the immediate vicinity of the black holes.
The originally immense fleet of fifteen million warships was swallowed whole by the ten black holes in an instant. Not a single piece of debris was left floating outside. This was, without a doubt, the most spectacular scene witnessed in the galaxy in ten millennia, bar none.
However, for the participants, this spectacle only served to chill their hearts. The ten distorted whirlpools gradually vanished, and the void returned to silence. Yes, silence. A profound silence, for there was absolutely nothing left where the Allied fleet had been—not a single component remained.
The world had been quieted!
The ten supercarriers flashed, reappearing directly above the remaining Fourth Tier beings of the Alliance.
"Surrender!"
"Yield!"
"We can discuss terms!"
The Fourth Tier entities called out in quick succession. Before their words had even fully dissipated, they felt immense energy accumulating. They immediately scattered, with Sharok, Emperor Sarian, Xidilon, and others fleeing at the fastest speed they had ever achieved.
BOOM!
Ten Star-Shattering Cannon blasts descended directly upon them!
Yang Ying had no intention of listening to their pleas or explanations, reasoning that if their positions were reversed, they wouldn't listen to him either.
The supercarriers, possessing fleet-level firepower and fleet-level energy, combined with the Archons of Light and Shadow—who were all peak experts—were an unstoppable force. If Sharok had retained his fleet, he might have lasted a few more rounds, but he did not. Consequently, he perished.
He was annihilated in a beam of light that shone as brightly as a sun!
Those with lesser power than Sharok stood no chance; they were all blasted into nothingness (the Khaydarin Crystals possessed psychic attributes, and the Star-Shattering Cannons fired based on this foundation, capable of bringing down Fourth Tier entities).
Following this battle, the number of visible Fourth Tier entities in the Orion Arm was reduced to a single digit.
The nearly three hundred specialized carriers had not even been deployed; they were unnecessary. The supercarriers handled everything.
A Light Archon, wreathed in crackling blue flames, emerged from one of the carriers: "Speaker, shall we commence the next phase of our plan?"
"Let it begin," Kass replied, appearing from a supercarrier. "Although our current territories are not entirely stabilized, such a tremendous opportunity is before us. It would be a waste not to seize it. Prepare the forces for deployment toward the Loa Empire and the Cycro Federation! As for the smaller races, let them remain in disarray for a while longer; we can settle accounts with them later."
The outcome of the Aiur campaign soon reached the Empire and the Alliance, causing a considerable stir. The complete, untraceable annihilation of fifteen million assorted warships was no ordinary feat; even the main forces of the Empire and the Alliance might not have managed such a clean sweep.
The Empress and the Empress Dowager managed to secure a private audience with Yang Ying to inquire about the incident. Since the official Protoss stance after the battle was one of absolute silence, and the opposing force had been entirely wiped out—not even a single remnant remained—no outsider knew what had transpired in that engagement.
Yang Ying chose not to be secretive. The secrets of the supercarriers could not be kept for long anyway, so he recounted the battle to the two Sovereigns, eliciting gasps of admiration.
While the Empire possessed temporal distortion technology, it was limited to things like phase-shift force shields. As for artificial black holes and time cessation, the Empire had the theoretical groundwork but had never managed to integrate these concepts into functional weaponry.
Yet, Yang Ying noticed that beneath their praise, the two Sovereigns harbored doubt. This was understandable. The Empire’s technology had long been the undisputed pinnacle of the galaxy; for countless eons, the entire galaxy had existed under the Empire's dominion. If the Protoss possessed such glorious technology, how could the Terran Empire have remained completely unaware of it for hundreds of thousands of years?
Coupled with the rise of the Zerg in the Perseus Arm and the sudden proliferation of peak experts rarely seen in ten millennia, all the strange occurrences in the galaxy recently could be traced back, in some degree, to Yang Ying. Only a fool would consider this normal. The two Sovereigns were far from foolish; they were, in fact, highly intelligent Fourth Tier beings.
Yang Ying understood why they had not yet confronted him directly: they shared a common immediate goal. They needed him and his forces to deal with the Alliance and to counter Sandovr.
Until the Alliance was defeated, they would maintain the relationship between the royal family and him, ensuring the partnership did not fracture. However, once the issues of the Alliance and Sandovr were resolved, the day of reckoning would likely draw near.
Yang Ying was unconcerned. Very soon, he would stand in an unassailable position, because before him lay a shining path—a path leading to a higher echelon, a path toward infinite possibility, the path toward becoming a Fifth Tier existence!
This road had opened to him the very day he ascended to the Fourth Tier. The Sarnegar knowledge elucidated the truths of the Fifth Tier.