The terrifying, colossal contention seemed to defy the laws of physics, spreading directly through the vacuum of space. The barrier formed by the "sound waves" rippled outward like waves on a serene cosmic ocean, and under their influence, the hazy planet gradually revealed vivid colors. Thus, this wondrous universe was almost indistinguishable from the real one.
Immediately after, the silhouette of the Golden Armored Colossus also took shape amidst the sonic assault. It stood in orbit around a brownish-yellow planet, poised in the invisible void, its eight colossal arms, spread wide like wings, each holding a sharp weapon.
The Silver Humanoid Monster unleashed a powerful stomp, as if kicking off an intangible ground, instantly gaining recoil force. Its massive form hurtled towards the Golden Colossus like a colossal comet.
Concurrently, the cross insignia on the humanoid monster's face ignited fiercely, and countless beams of light materialized out of thin air, swirling around it, transforming it into a trajectory that pierced the firmament, as if it could shatter the sun at any moment.
However, facing such a terrifying attack, the Golden Colossus, embodied by Duke Sadouran, merely stood its ground, not even displaying the slightest posture of resistance, as if stunned into paralysis by the horrifying spectacle.
But, at this critical juncture, countless brilliant beams of light flickered from the surroundings, transforming into impacts fiercer than a meteor shower, continuously bombarding the spiraling silver comet.
The Silver Giant, battered and disoriented, was forced to halt its charge. The fluid material of its body churned like boiling mercury, forming a shield before it.
Yet, against this gale of intense artillery fire, its colossal form, tens of thousands of meters tall, was as fragile as a paper doll, constantly buffeted by the gale, spinning and drifting until it gradually disappeared from sight.
Yes, those continuous beams of light were indeed being unleashed from colossal fleets that had suddenly appeared in the distant void. This was truly a terrifying sight that humanity had never witnessed in this era.
Merely appearing within our perception range, the number exceeded ten thousand. And the colossal Titans and Dreadnoughts, resembling mobile fortresses, numbered in the hundreds. They were divided into two military clusters, their presences as vast and boundless as a catastrophe, seemingly not even noticing the Silver Giant and the Golden Armored Colossus confronting each other. Across the vast expanse of the starry sky, they engaged in a frenzied bombardment, tearing each other apart with artillery.
Indeed, in the decisive battle of these vast fleets, the confrontation between the Eight-Ring Demigod and the Ancient War Machine was like an insignificant high tide before a tsunami.
"So, this is the battlefield you chose?" Lan Jiufeng's voice echoed through the cosmos. "The Third Galactic War, the Battle of Blood Gate Galaxy?"
"Hagagaga, Brother Lan is a connoisseur." The Golden Armored Colossus replied, "Yes, it is that decisive great battle from the Third Galactic War which altered the entire front. In this campaign, our side and the Alliance concentrated their main fleets, plus the allied forces of various nations, against the full might of the Ero Empire. After this battle, the Ero Empire's Elite Imperial Guard was annihilated, and the death knell began to toll for their bloody empire. The present moment is precisely like that past moment. Is it not so?"
Lan Jiufeng said, "And this is the mêlée you spoke of, right?"
"Exactly! Mêlée! They can't really see us, and they will instinctively ignore us. However, they will definitely perceive all three of us as enemies. Isn't that interesting? Brother Lan claims to be a detached person, but I personally witnessed your prowess with sword qi crisscrossing the skies back then. You actually enjoy this kind of scene, don't you? Don't pretend to be confused; it must be so, right?"
Lan Jiufeng sighed softly, "The one who holds victory well regards strength as weakness. Grasping the essence, one forgets the crude; within, one forgets the external. Seeing what can be seen, but not seeing what cannot be seen; looking at what can be looked at, but forgetting what cannot be looked at. Old brother, I feel you are also suffering from a lack of education!"
Duke Sadouran shrugged and smiled noncommittally. He stomped in the void and retreated behind the azure planet, then extended his eight colossal arms to block a towering sword qi erupting from the planet's surface.
"You were indeed hiding there!" Duke Sadouran let out a wild laugh, which immediately drew the "attention" of the surrounding warships. These ancient warships from the Galactic Nations, like NPCs whose attention had been captured, turned their cannons and unleashed a volley towards Duke Sadouran and the planet where Lan Jiufeng was located.
As for the silver robotic giant, it had already been completely engulfed by a massive wave of ferocious artillery fire, to the point where not even a sliver of it could be seen.
However, unknown to the three parties involved, their current situation was being completely observed by a certain person and a certain ancient nanomachne.
"So, even Eight-Ring Big Shots fear being bombarded by large-scale fleets!" Yu Lian watched the spectacular scene unfolding on the pop-up window dominating one side of his vision, struggling to suppress his awe.
In his past life, he had witnessed one-on-one duels between Big Shots and decisive battles of grand fleets, but he had never seen the legendary scene of a grand fleet concentrating fire on a Big Shot.
Yu Lian shifted his attention to his three o'clock direction. The warships generally exhibited a remarkably sturdy triangular structure, their appearance ferocious yet majestic, possessing a sharp, villainous charm.
"This is... the Ero Empire's Guard Fleet. This means it must be the era of the Third Galactic War?" Yu Lian mused.
"To be precise, it's the largest fleet engagement of the Third Galactic War," Xiao Hui replied.
"The Battle of Blood Gate Galaxy."
The so-called Blood Gate was the ancient Ero Empire's "southern" gate. Before the outbreak of the Third Galactic War, the Ero Empire had established itself there for over two hundred years, transforming it into its most crucial strategic base, serving as an outpost for offense and a stronghold for defense.
Later, the Empire and the Alliance each dispatched over two thousand new warships and their finest officers and soldiers. Along with the forces of their various allies, a coalition army of over seven thousand ships and more than fifty million personnel, including ground troops, was assembled to confront the Ero Empire's peak fleet of three thousand five hundred ships, along with over thirty million defenders garrisoning major fortresses and planetary strongholds, initiating a six-month decisive battle.
This was the renowned "Battle of Blood Gate Galaxy."
It was also, up to that point, the largest-scale galactic war ever fought. After this battle, the Empire and the Galaxy broadly established their respective spheres of influence, and the ambitious Ero Empire, which had attempted to challenge human hegemony, became merely a historical footnote.
Of course, looking at the sharp, triangular warships of the Ero Empire era, which exuded a formidable antagonist aura, and then thinking of the green-skinned aesthetic of the Ero Plunderers currently in use, Yu Lian couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy, truly understanding Miss Great Khan's painstaking efforts.
For most ethnic groups, "our ancestors were once glorious" was not a source of pride, but rather a cursed obsession!
Yu Lian asked, "This is Duke Sadouran's confidence in challenging Master, right? He used some sort of treasure to infinitely expand his Domain of Strife, creating a home field most suitable for his own performance?"
Xiao Hui responded, "I'm a robot, I don't quite understand how you carbon-based psionics play, but based on the calculations, the probability of this is ninety-two point three percent."
Although he was more curious about the remaining seven point seven percent, it likely wasn't the main point.
"...So, you can even infiltrate the Domain of Strife of an Eight-Ring Big Shot psionic?"
"How could I? I already said I'm not good with psionics." Xiao Hui spread her hands and shrugged. "I'm using the vision of the Guardian Robot Core. Although the Guardian Robot AI and the central control AI of the Spirit Prober Ship are independent systems, they are still part of this ship and can share vision."
"Oh, so you've finally succeeded in infiltrating!" Yu Lian raised his hands as if to shout for joy.
"Almost there, I still need you to try one more time." Xiao Hui looked at Yu Lian, whose half of his body was still burning but the other half had already healed, and couldn't help but bare her teeth in a very human-like manner. "At first, I was worried that your previous method was too extreme and might break your spirit, but I never expected you would become more energetic the more you fought. I must admit, such a pervert is difficult for us silicon-based digital intelligences to comprehend."
"This feeling of jumping between life and death is actually quite exhilarating once you accept it. I also think it's quite... bah! This is clearly a tempering of the great spirit of fearlessness! You robots will never understand!" Yu Lian exclaimed, shaking his hand forcefully. His other half also healed instantly, and the heart-wrenching pain from moments ago vanished.
Alright, once one gets used to this feeling, it is indeed quite perverse.
Looking again at the entity from the void on the other side, it had already been bombarded countless times by Yu Lian's palm strikes, delivered through his infinite mana and health regeneration method, and had also been scoured by all sorts of large-scale military strategic weapons. Its already indescribable form was now beyond recognition.
However, in Yu Lian's current eyes, it was akin to a sequence of jumbled, disordered characters that, after being forcibly stripped and deleted, were becoming increasingly orderly.
"See the point with the densest signal?" Xiao Hui asked.
"I couldn't see it at first, but after so many bombardments, I can now," Yu Lian replied.
"Good, one last time! If you blast it to pieces, I should have..."
"Merged with the ship's central control AI and gained its authorization?"
"It's fusion, using 'devour' sounds so unpleasant, like some formless software alien undergoing binary fission. And fusion takes time; at most, it's about who gets the initiative." Xiao Hui said, "However, once I enter the fusion process, I'll be able to do things in his name. Your master's side, and even Count Black Moon's side, can be dealt with!"
"Then what are we waiting for?" Yu Lian roared with laughter. Before Xiao Hui could say anything more, he leaped up again, soaring beyond the clouds, with a sense of covering ten thousand eight thousand miles.
Above the clouds, Yu Lian extended his hand, and a hundred strategic weapons of various types, from antimatter bombs to neutron bombs, from light-spear cannons to arc cannons, hung in the sky on all four sides. It was a spectacular display of diverse weaponry!
"This is the King's Vault befitting the proletariat! Yes, within the truth of cannons, all beings are equal! From now on, it shall be called the Labor Vault!"
Xiao Hui, unable to comprehend the source of his excitement, simply rolled her eyes. As Yu Lian's "Labor Vault" once again caused the Void Lord's form to disappear in an unbearable glare, the assembled nanomachne also became invisible.
"Huh? Good! I've also succeeded. Wait, why am I saying 'also'?" Xiao Hui mused.
And so, within Duke Sadouran's Domain of Strife, conjured through a secret artifact, a sudden change occurred.
The silver Guardian Giant, enduring the fleet's bombardment, managed to stand up. It paid no heed to these "illusory" fleets and instead dashed directly towards the Golden Divine Statue above the azure planet, which was Duke Sadouran's manifestation.
In an instant, its body traversed a distance of at least one astronomical unit, reaching near-orbital altitude above the planet. Then, swinging fists the size of small moons, it began to pummel the Duke's head and face.
Duke Sadouran was likely genuinely surprised by the sudden burst of power. He hastily dodged to the side, and four of his eight arms wielding swords and sabers slashed out.
However, the titanic golden blades, conjured from psionic energy, dissolved rapidly before the giant's hazy silver light, like ice blades meeting fire.
Immediately after, the giant clasped the statue's head, embodying the Duke, in both hands and slammed his face, with its protruding cross, directly into it.
Duke Sadouran felt an instant dizziness and was utterly astonished. He truly hadn't expected that this mere robot could, to a certain extent, break free from the rule suppression of the Domain of Strife. More importantly, ever since he had mastered the War God Dharma Aspect, he hadn't experienced such a direct, head-on impact in a long time.
"Ah, a headbutt, only hooligans use that move in their fights," Lan Jiufeng's voice chimed in most opportunely.
The Duke, somewhat dazed, could only instinctively retaliate with his fists.
Thus, the two colossal giants of light, like interstellar friends from Nebula M78, engaged in combat using the most basic, even slightly clumsy, fighting techniques.
However, this scene, so reminiscent of a tokusatsu show, was imbued with world-destroying pressure, causing the surrounding great fleets to retreat a few steps. Then, as if fearing being caught in the crossfire, these projected ancient warships ignored the fleets still brawling and shifted their attention to each other.
Thus, the two giants of light, locked in a grapple, tumbled out of the azure planet's orbit and careened towards a grayish planet tens of millions of kilometers away.
A figure riding a flying sword rose from the atmosphere of the azure planet, gazing at the magnificent scene of the tokusatsu-like battle. For a moment, he was speechless. "So, does this mean I'm not needed anymore?"
He remained silent for a full half-minute before flying towards the direction where the two giants were fighting. His speed was not fast, not like someone participating in the battle, but more like someone observing from the sidelines.