Just as the ships of both sides filled the void around the Pai Mao Star, launching destructive firepower at each other, the red pirate fleet that had been lurking finally smelled a break.
On the empire's side, as the capital ships went to fight, some transport ships were out of protection.
While they themselves were vulnerable, both sides deployed formations that allowed them to be blocked from enemy fire.
But if a third party appears, it’s hard to say——
So when the Red Pirates' flagship, the Heart of Hatred, suddenly appeared in the void, Lothar was caught off guard.
The Red Pirates ignored the other warships and pounced directly on the moving giant transport ship. Not far from them were a Dark Angel cruiser, several frigates, and a giant stone fortress.
They immediately opened fire on the Red Pirates' fleet.
Flames gnawed at the shields, leaving gouges in the blood-red hulls, but they kept going, fragments of broken shields trailing behind them.
The nova cannon on the bow of the Heart of Hatred has been loaded, and the timing fuses in each warhead have begun to operate.
It would surely die if it failed to fire, but its commander was a seasoned Astartes commander who had fought in this manner many times.
Surrounding it are several small predatory ships. Their main function is to intercept launched torpedoes.
It burned as it plunged straight into the fangs of enemy fire, its hull peeling away in stone and molten metal as waves of shells and beams of energy battered its shields and smashed into the bow.
The outline of the Death Star filled the bridge's field of vision, its gravity dragging all the warships in orbit.
The transport and its escorts, realizing the attacker's intentions, began to scatter, but it was too late.
The Heart of Hate opened fire—
In the blink of an eye, surging Nova shells hit a giant transport ship.
A small flat sun rose in orbit, and the energy wave spread out in all directions, pushing away the surrounding ships in a frozen moment and overloading the shield of the orbital platform.
As the transport ship disintegrated, the reactor fuel poured into the burning storm.
Fortunately, the Stone Fortress opened its shield in time and did not suffer any damage. However, the huge energy consumption also made it temporarily unable to attack approaching warships.
Without further entanglement, the Heart of Hate turned on its engines, turned its bow, and rose into the void, with the death of the ship hissing behind it.
Its action has been completed, briefly silencing the firepower of the orbital platform and the monolithic fortress, although the cost was that all small battleships following it were sunk——
"It's now!"
Aingra Speer roared excitedly.
"Press them all up!"
"Understood, sir!"
The battlegroup galloped forward, directly into the bombardment of waiting Imperial ships.
Two minutes later, the Lord of Detection shouted:
"Enemy fire coming!"
"All ships brace for impact!"
A strange dim light jumped out from the bow of the Eternal Loyalty, sweeping across the space like a substantial shadow.
Then, the traces disappeared and nothing happened for a few heartbeats.
Almost at the same time, the Astropaths in the Black Legion fleet either died suddenly or fell into coma——
"Fuck! What the hell is that!?"
Ion Graspeer stood stunned on the bridge.
The Brotherhood of Steel's siege ship disappeared in an instant.
It wasn't that it was sunk or something, it just disappeared!
Then, a crack was created and spread at an extremely fast speed. An oval-shaped abnormal energy surrounded by lightning filled the space between the two fleets. The edge of the crack was less than a kilometer away from the Holy Corrosion.
Suddenly, all the ships' communicators emitted a horrific scream, as if a god had cut the air with a whetstone, and the speakers and sound-generating units responded with their own shrill feedback sounds.
In the crack, a blue suspension body is shining, making every rock and dust in the void sparkle with tiny arcs of subspace power.
In the depths of the fissure, shapes danced too fast to be seen—a face or a raking claw magnified beyond measure.
They look more like afterimages, presented in a three-dimensional form at a stretched angle of reality, compressing the veil between nothingness and reality.
Iongraspiel held his breath, not knowing what to expect.
In a moment, the subspace force field collapsed, like the last drop of rain falling from a hearty storm.
With a loud bang, two-thirds of the Holy Corruption disappeared, drowning out all other sounds of battle.
This was the first time that the Eternal Loyalty used its rift cannon. Unexpectedly, it directly destroyed two capital ships of the Black Legion strike group, which surprised Lothar.
"Damn-"
Aingraspiel's shock was not over yet, as more light spears and macrocannons struck, making their shields glow with fiery fury.
Purple light shone down from the reinforced bridge deck, and a powerful blow resounded through the hull.
"Hull ruptured!"
The officer on duty shouted hoarsely:
"Reports of casualties ongoing."
Eingra Speer was concentrating on studying the situation at hand. Although this accident occurred, the general situation did not change.
"Signal the other ships to turn to the new course 1-2-0 and begin a torpedo attack on the enemy's large cruiser."
Through clouds of fiery plasma and evaporating decks, the Chaos warships continued to close in on the Imperial ships.
As they neared optimal range, the Astral Knights' ships began to slowly turn to starboard so that they could bring their terrifying broadsides towards the Chaos ships.
But as they began to turn, the Chaos fleet began to change course.
More lances were fired from the Imperial warships, and now the Chaos artillery fire began to counterattack, firing a barrage of fiery shells at the oncoming Imperial forces.
At the same time, the torpedoes jumped out of the tubes and rushed towards the Astral Knights and White Templars' cruisers.
boom--
Before there was time to see the results of the torpedo, a violent blow knocked the Infinite Fury to the port side, and the alarm started to scream at the same time.
"Multiple hits!"
The officer on duty shouted:
"Fire on deck 12!"
"Signal to the fleet."
Ion Grasper continued to direct calmly.
"Target 3-0-0, all units, lock on the port side of the enemy cruiser and open fire."
Surrounded by artillery fire, the Eternal Loyalty slowly moved away from the center of the enemy formation, heading towards the cruiser Wild Howl on Chaos' flank.
Along the port side deck of the battleship, the huge turret slowly rose, and the huge macro cannon began to fire a salvo.
The terrifying salvo of the Annihilation macrocannon crushed a marauder ship on the road and set the Wild Howl on fire from stem to stern.
At the same time, the Eternally Loyal starboard weapons group moved into action, bombarding the Red Glory's shields with a rapid and violent barrage of shells.
The void shields of the former Imperial warship flickered angrily under the heavy fire, and finally collapsed completely, the firepower beginning to destroy its armor.
