Gu Yechen’s eyes narrowed involuntarily as he watched the warships raise their energy shields at virtually the same instant they opened fire. The ultra-close-range bombardment nearly caused both sides’ shields to collapse immediately, but in the end, they still managed to stagger through the enemy's assault. Both fleets rapidly distanced themselves at maximum speed, separating by tens of thousands of kilometers in the blink of an eye.

The thirty new-model warships sent by the Romans opened fire simultaneously. Thick streams of light from thousands of main cannons enveloped an airspace spanning several hundred square kilometers. One warship from the Alliance of Gods and one from the Three Orders of the Holy See were too slow to evade, each struck by two to five beams from the main cannons. Their nearly shattered energy shields instantly exploded into a rain of light, and the main cannon fire slammed into their hulls.

A thick shroud of black mist suddenly erupted from the Alliance of Gods warship. Several massive high-energy beams flew into the mist only to vanish without a trace; the warship continued forward, completely unscathed.

The three Holy See warships simultaneously spewed forth blinding white holy light. The dense white radiance almost condensed into a physical substance on the ships' outer hulls, and three golden angels, composed purely of light energy, materialized above the vessels.

The Romans’ main cannons caused ripples to constantly flicker across the holy light, yet they couldn't even graze the hulls of the three warships.

“Impressive, truly impressive! What an expenditure! They’ve inscribed both Holy Light Wards and Dark Sanctuary Magic Formations onto all their warships!” Kan Hua exclaimed in shock. “No wonder they only sent a few ships; the cost must be astronomical!” He sighed, then said gravely to Gu Wuchen, “Junior Brother, as for our own warships…”

“Are you dreaming!” Gu Yechen’s eyes were glowing green as he roared indignantly, “To inscribe magic formations onto warships like that? Do you want the Hadewor Corporation to go bankrupt?”

The Holy See Knights’ armor was inscribed with Holy Light Wards, each requiring vast amounts of rare metals and significant amounts of holy power from ordained clergy. Inscribing enough Holy Light Wards onto eight new-model warships was clearly the absolute limit of what the Holy See could achieve in the past year, constrained by both financial and manpower resources.

The Alliance of Gods, however, was clearly not as wealthy as the Holy See, which was why they had only managed to construct three similar warships.

As for Gu Wuchen, he certainly wanted to inscribe sufficient formation diagrams onto the Primordial-level, Southern Heavenly Gate-level, and Northern Heavenly Gate-level warships he utilized. But Daoist cultivators’ formations were not so easily etched; the rare materials required were several times what the Holy See and the Alliance of Gods needed. If Gu Wuchen truly followed their example, the rare materials consumed by just one Primordial-level warship would be enough to make the Big Beard Captain pawn his pants and run naked through the streets.

“Tsk tsk, these eleven warships must have drained their treasuries completely, haven’t they?” Gu Yechen looked with schadenfreude at the Holy See warships shimmering with white light and the Alliance of Gods warships shrouded in rising black mist. He decisively issued his first combat order: “Southern Heavenly Gate-class and Northern Heavenly Gate-class warships, circle around to the flanks. Monitor the Romans’ movements in that stellar dust field. If possible, deploy small combat robots to infiltrate their mothership, and be ready to strike the Romans at any moment.”

The six Southern Heavenly Gate-class warships and twenty-four Northern Heavenly Gate-class warships activated their side engines, tracing a massive arc through space toward the distant giant mothership. Roman vessels had already begun docking with the mothership, and several Roman transport ships were even starting to lay down maintenance production lines on the mothership’s outer hull, preparing for repairs.

With ten warships remaining on the periphery to guard the transports, the rest of the Roman fleet surged toward the fleets of the Holy See and the Alliance of Gods. The public channel instantly filled with the screams of the young Roman elites.

Prince Porujin and Yakjin of the Romans roared hoarsely, “House of Holsum, are you trying to snatch even this little bit of glory?”

Bolport hopped on his screen and shrieked, “Charge them! Take them out! Charge them! Take them out!”

The legitimate heir of an Electoral Family jumped for joy, yelling, “There are spies! Traitors! Agents! How could they know about our secret operation?”

Another legitimate heir of an Electoral Family roared madly, “Capture them alive! You must capture them alive! Interrogate them! Interrogate them! The families of all traitors should be dismembered!”

Like a pack of sharks smelling blood, the young Roman elites charged forward aggressively, relying on their absolute numerical superiority in ships.

Gu Wuchen ordered the Primordial-level warships to cautiously approach the battlefield, using the stellar dust for cover. The protective armor on all cannon emplacements was activated, and all main and secondary cannons began charging. The warship's giant hyper-brain started calculating the leading indicators for the Holy See, Alliance of Gods, and Roman warships. Kan Hua, Holm, and Linghu rushed hastily to the ship’s combat bay, preparing to lead boarding parties. After eliminating the Roman warships, they absolutely had to seize their transport vessels. According to Gu Yechen’s philosophy, Hadewor Corporation was still too small; even a patrol boat represented capital!

Inside the flagship of the Holy See fleet, the Six-Winged Angel, seated calmly in the command chair, slowly set down his golden ice wine. He inhaled the aroma with satisfaction and said faintly, “These wicked creatures. I can smell that characteristic stench of darkness coming from their warships. I have no time to waste bickering with them; I will personally strike them down. You prepare to capture the Roman warships!”

Inside the flagship of the Alliance of Gods fleet, Prince Ganggelu of the Silver Wolves also swung his massive axe and roared, “Brothers, those damnable birdmen! Ha, our ancestors were right; the smell on these birdmen is truly disgusting, even from this distance, their warships stink to high heaven! Hahaha! We’ll take them on ourselves! Hey, brothers, interested in joining forces?”

Ganggelu, two Silver Wolf-kin, six elegantly behaving high-ranking vampires, four dark mages shrouded in black mist, and two Giants whose skin crackled with flowing electricity stood together in a semi-circle in the command cabin. They clasped hands, and their power became tightly integrated through a magic circle flowing out from beneath the dark mages’ feet. In the horrified gazes of Bolport and the other Romans, a monumental change occurred.

A silver beam hundreds of meters thick shot out from the Holy See flagship. Within the beam, a faint outline of a six-winged angel, a thousand meters tall, wielding a light sword forged from golden flame, cleaved fiercely toward the Alliance of Gods warships.

From the Alliance of Gods flagship, a gust of dark wind carrying a mass of black mist rushed out. Likewise, a giant wolf, a thousand meters tall, with six bat wings, churning black mist, skin faintly purplish-blue interspersed with electric currents, swung a great axe made of black flame, howling piercingly as it descended upon the eight Holy See warships. Holy light and dark light instantly swept across a void spanning ten thousand miles, vaporizing countless particles of stellar dust in the clash of the two colors.

The six-winged angel in the silver light let out an involuntary cry of disbelief, cursing hoarsely, “Damn it!”

The six-winged great wolf in the black mist also let out a panicked screech, cursing hoarsely, “Your mother’s!” Clang! A colossal sound exploded in the souls of all observers. Everyone present instantly saw blackness, and wisps of blood simultaneously streamed from all seven orifices.

Gu Yechen felt stars flash before his eyes, the immense sound sending a sharp pain through his brain. However, the cyan pagoda within his Sea of Consciousness simply emitted streaks of cyan light that instantly swept across it, smoothing out the shockwave caused by the massive impact.

The weapons held by the angel and the giant wolf collided violently, shattering simultaneously. The immense impact caused both bodies to dissipate into countless points of light. The mixed silver and black shockwave roared outward for tens of thousands of kilometers, smashing the holy light and black mist covering the exteriors of the Holy See and Alliance of Gods warships into powder, sending them outward like cannonballs fired from a muzzle. The thirty Roman warships at the forefront were engulfed by the shockwave; their outer energy shields instantly disintegrated. The thirty ships struggled desperately within the shockwave for a dozen seconds before their armor plating was peeled away layer by layer, and the vessels exploded into balls of fire.

Tz’te, in the Holy See flagship, spat out a stream of golden blood, roaring furiously, “Damn it! Fifteen top-tier Four-Winged Archangel-level beings! Why are there such powerful top-tier Four-Winged Archangels? Ah, a conspiracy! This is a conspiracy, is this a plot by the Alliance of Gods? But if they possessed such formidable power, why didn't they destroy the Holy See earlier?”

Shaking his head forcefully, Tz’te cleared the dizziness in his head caused by the severe psychic damage and snapped, “Retreat! Full speed retreat! This is a plot targeting me! We must withdraw immediately! Fifteen top-tier Four-Winged Archangels—they possess the strength to ensure mutual destruction with me! Retreat immediately!”

Tz’te was merely one of the weaker Six-Winged Archangels. Facing fifteen top-tier Four-Winged Archangels, he lost the courage to fight back desperately. Moreover, his injuries were indeed too severe; faint fissures had even appeared on his once flawless skin.

The eight Holy See warships fled in disarray; even the scattered few light beams fired by the Roman warships failed to catch them.

Inside the Alliance of Gods flagship, Ganggelu and the others were sprawled on the ground, staggering. They looked at each other in horror. Several vampires were the first to jump up. “Heavens! King-rank Bloodlines! Retreat! Retreat! This is a plot by the Holy See against us, damn it, it’s absolutely a plot! It’s terrifying, so terrifying! King-rank Bloodlines!”

Ganggelu trembled uncontrollably, “Heavens, oh heavens! At least Dou Ling level masters! Terrifying Dou Ling! Hurry and retreat, retreat!” As he roared, Ganggelu spat out a mouthful of blood, falling back onto the ground just as he tried to stand up.

One of the dark mages was faster; he floated directly up and seized control next to the flagship’s operator, personally maneuvering the warship to retreat! It must be said that the dark mages possessed high intelligence; their acceptance of novel things was far superior to that of the Blood-kin and the Werewolves. These dark mages from an alien realm had learned how to pilot warships!