Chapter 406: The Hidden Interception

"The Covenant is running!"

"Stop them! They think they can come and go as they please?"

Divine Nation’s strongest fighters surged around the departing fleet. Evander’s arrogance had angered far more people than Cassian alone.

Seren clenched her teeth.

"Fenwick armies! Stop them at any cost!"

Pain flickered across the faces of the older Fenwick Lords.

Many of those Heroes and troops had been their companions for decades. Some had served beside them for more than a century. The Lords had already abandoned the foundations they had built in their old sectors. This was their armies’ last great campaign for the family.

They had hoped to give those companions a better end. At the very least, they could have released them from service and let them live free.

Now the family’s future in Divine Nation came first.

Epic troops hurled themselves against the ships. Legendary fighters followed. Some launched attacks from which they could never withdraw. Others detonated their own power against the advancing fleet.

Explosions shook the cone formation. Its ships rocked under the assault, and their speed fell sharply.

"Damn them!" Evander cursed. "What have we done to make them hate us this much? Have they all gone mad?"

Even Divine Nation’s Lords were shaken by the ferocity of the sacrifice.

One swept past the fleet’s flank.

Her merged body had taken the form of a crystal bat dozens of meters long. She flew a wide semicircle, its diameter spanning tens of kilometers, then turned back toward the cone’s leading point and accelerated.

With less than ten kilometers left, her wings folded inward.

Her entire body narrowed into a spiral. Violent currents of air caught it, spinning her like an enormous drill.

Seven kilometers. Three. One.

Nearly ten thousand ships came toward her in a single battle formation. The golden drill met them head-on.

At the last moment, Evander cried out and wrenched his flagship aside.

Six Ascendants stood aboard it. The cone formation’s defensive runes protected its hull. Even so, he did not dare take that collision.

One punched through the formation’s runes and struck the Legendary ship directly behind him.

It burst apart in a ball of fire.

Only a dozen or so Legendary fighters managed to escape the wreck.

The drill slowed, but it did not stop. In a few seconds, One tore through the entire fleet, leaving a chain of explosions behind her.

Dozens of ships shattered. Tens of thousands of troops died in the flames.

The formation had barely been assembled before it broke apart.

"Cassian!" Evander’s eyes were red. "Fivefold Heaven will never forgive this!"

Rage did not prevent him from giving the only sensible order.

"Eighth Column! Hold that crystal creature!"

Runes flashed across a hundred ships at the rear. Thick yellow Earth energy and green Wood power struck One while her speed was still reduced from the charge. Layer after layer caught her, finally restricting her movement.

That was all they could do.

Troops crowded around her and unleashed everything they had. Without an Ascendant joining them, their attacks did less damage than her body could recover.

Evander had no intention of waiting to see how long the restraints would hold.

"All other ships, scatter! Regroup at the nearest Racial Teleportation Array!"

Cassian watched the fleet break into smaller groups. A cold light passed through his eyes.

"Dawnwing corps. Eclipse corps. Help One."

Then he gave the other force its task.

"Blood Emperors and Faerie Dragons, intercept the smaller fleets. Leave no survivors."

More than ten minutes passed before the Covenant’s scattered forces finally broke clear of the Fenwick blockade.

They left three thousand ships and millions of troops behind.

Every one of those troops had been Epic or higher. As soldiers of an upper Realm, they had been far stronger than Homeworld troops of the same Quality. Destroying so many was an extraordinary victory.

The Fenwicks had paid for it.

More than half their Epic and higher troops were dead or wounded. That force had included nearly a million Legendaries.

The battle had lasted little more than an hour. Its violence left the Homeworld’s watching Lords silent.

"We still let those bastards run," Darian said bitterly. "Especially that little bitch Ilyse."

Elara tried to ease his anger.

"Their flagship has six Ascendants and more than a thousand Legendary Nine-Star troops. Hundreds of Legendary ships protect it. Stopping that force was never going to be easy."

She looked across the ruined sea.

"We’re a lower Realm. We defeated an upper Realm’s army. When has anyone done that before?"

Darian nodded.

"Cassian tore them apart, but we owe the Fenwicks a great deal too. Nessa..."

He looked around.

"Where is she?"

"I saw her go to the Fenwick force." Elara sighed. "They’ve lost so much."

"We’ll have to reward them properly after this. Cassian, don’t you—"

Darian turned and stopped again.

"Where did he go?"

"Boss took the Skyreaver after Evander," Mara said. "Dain and the other Warbound Lords went with him."

Darian gave a short laugh.

"They really did make him angry."

Then envy crept into his expression.

His Golden Behemoths were kings of land warfare. At sea, they were far less useful. They would not simply drown, but they could not fight at anything close to their full strength.

The Covenant’s weakest troops were Epic. One shipful would yield a fortune in Battle Essence.

He could only leave it to the others.

"Let’s get back to clearing the Black Banner’s Domains. Tens of millions of them... Even at our fastest, it’ll take two months. Who knows what the Beacon and Jade Court will get up to in that time?"

The others agreed and headed back into Breakwater Isle.

There were still prisoners to take and Domains to tear down.

——

A thousand kilometers to the north, more than a hundred flying ships raced through the clouds.

They belonged to one of the Covenant’s smaller groups that had escaped the blockade. An Inner Disciple Lord of the Metal Chapter commanded them. More than a dozen of his ships were Legendary. The rest were Epic.

"Finally. We’re clear."

The Lord let out a long breath. Then his relief gave way to anger.

"A miserable lower Realm reduced me to this. The next time we come, they’ll pay for every bit of it."

Alarms screamed aboard his Legendary vessel.

[Massive spatial fluctuations detected.]

Before he could react, visible creases spread through tens of kilometers of empty air. Chains emerged from those folds, crossing and linking with astonishing speed.

In less than a second, a vast net tens of thousands of meters across caught every ship in the group.

"What... Is that Void Entanglement?"

"How many Faerie Dragons would it take? Those chains are too strong!"

"Chains of Order! A Mythic Faerie Dragon!"

A Mythic led hundreds of Legendary Nine-Star Faerie Dragons. Cassian’s bonuses strengthened them all, and their combined power held the fleet motionless.

The rebuilt Nest had supplied the new recruits. Since its completion, Cassian had paid their recruitment and growth costs and provided the Troop Souls to raise their star ranks. His old handful of Faerie Dragons had become a true corps.

The trapped Lords had no time to wonder how he had done it.

They discovered something worse.

Their communications were sealed.

The interception force had consumed a Communication Seal Scroll bought with its supplies before the battle. No message could leave the area. The force itself was carrying out orders issued before the seal went up.

Evander’s arrogance had enraged Cassian, but he still had no intention of revealing all his remaining armies. Especially his Mythic corps.

Too much of his strength had already become public over the past few days.

"Stop panicking!"

The Inner Disciple was frightened too. He forced his voice to remain steady.

"Faerie Dragons specialize in control! Trapping us doesn’t mean they can kill us. Everyone, attack the chains!"

Twelve flying swords rose around him and slashed toward the bonds ahead.

A cool, soft voice came from the clouds.

"Feast."

The Lord screamed.

His skin flushed a deep, terrible red. Tiny blood vessels burst throughout his body. Blood sprayed outward in countless thin streams, gathering into a dark sphere in the air.

Even when the last of it had been drawn out, his powerful body kept him alive for a few moments longer.

Through the haze of pain, he saw a graceful figure half hidden in the clouds a kilometer away.

"A Blood Emperor! Another Mythic!"

Katrienne seemed to hear him. A trace of amusement touched her lips.

"Just one?"

Then he saw something he would never forget—for the few moments of life he had left.