To let those he once crushed beneath his feet laugh at him… that was something he did not wish to face even in death.

He shouted and urged, "Push the fleet forward! Forget the integrity for now! Until it falls below 49 percent, none of you need to worry!!"

The operators immediately obeyed.

Energy began to flare across more than four thousand surviving ships!! As each of them desperately attempted to escape using hyperspace.

But would it really be that easy for the Hegemony fleet to retreat? Would the 4th Battle Group of the human Fleet sit around and watch their almost fallen prey run away just like that?

Pact had thought too lightly of it!! And so had his subordinates!!

Not to forget that they were also detecting surging waves of human fleet star fighters, which had pulled back from attacking the Hegemony a while ago and were instead supporting their mech forces in taking down the Hegemony fleet frontline that had been formed together with their mechs, a few small-scale mechanical fortresses, and several ships!!

Now that the 4th Battle Group Mech Division was almost done dismantling the Hegemony frontline forces, they instead began surging toward the Hegemony fleet itself, with the Star Fighter Corps taking the lead and the full fleet following behind, ever closing in on the escaping Hegemony fleet at terrifying speed.

Crown, who was obviously watching this new development happening across the battlefield, raised her eyebrows and said, "Trying to run? You are dreaming!!"

"Activate the graviton wells immediately!! Don't let those Hegemony fleet dogs of the Alchemy Association and Star Fleet pull away!!" Crown ordered as she pressed on with the whole fleet ahead!!

"Yes, Commander!!" replied an officer as he pressed onto one button!!

And with the flagship Oblivion-class dreadnought at the center, a wave began to originate, much like a stone thrown into a calm body of water!!

It expanded, covering an area of about a million miles in a fraction of a second, within which all the ships of the Hegemony fleet fell!!

And the ships that were just about to jump halted amidst their charge as their FTL drives blew up under the intense gravitational pull!!

Along with them, some smaller frigates and even destroyers, under the immense force of the FTL drive explosions, suffered catastrophic pressure on their generators, causing them to malfunction and explode, and along with that their ships also exploded or were severely damaged and would remain inoperable for the least.

"What? What's happening?!" someone said, horror gracing their faces!!

It was terrible… terrible!!

As the person in question gripped onto the console while the ship was thrown off course at high speed!!

Many unlucky ships even collided with nearby vessels!! Either damaging them slightly, or some even exploding completely, turning into space garbage within a matter of seconds!!

The crew and troops inside didn't even have any idea as to what had happened before their eyes lost color and they departed for the great cycle of reincarnation instantly!!

Meanwhile, others who were more conscious of things reacted and shouted, "W-where… where is the spatial corridor?!"

"W-why are we not already in the hyperspace tunnel?! Wh-what in the world is happening?!!" they all cried!!

Quickly clearing up the confusion of many, especially within the fortress Exterminator, warnings began to blare loudly across the bridge—

Warning!! Extreme spatial lock-type device detected!!

Warning!! Spatial stabilization failed!!

Warning!! Unable to open a spatial channel anymore!!

Warning!! Hyperspace transition is not possible!!

Hearing this, almost everyone within the fleet froze, rooted to the very floor they stood on!! And what soon quickly followed was panic!!

"H-how is this possible?!"

"No… no… NOOO!! This should not have happened!!"

"O-our jump failed??"

"Some kind of spatial lock device?! H-how do the humans have it?! Impossible!! Impossible!!"

"Of all times, wh-why is this happening now?!"

"W-we can't escape now?! Not possible… right?!"

"Hyperspace is locked?? Impossible!! I-I'm hallucinating, right?!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Pact's body, as if losing all its strength, stumbled as he fell!! Fortunately, the Vice Admiral nearby quickly rushed forward and supported him!!

Pact muttered, "H-how is this possible…? W-what should I do now…? How should I escape now…? Can I…? Can we really even escape now?! H-how…?"

With their FTL devices damaged, he analyzed what little he could hectically before reaching a conclusion, and as if struck by a final shock, he lost almost all ability to think clearly.

"I'm done for…! We are done for now!!"

Hearing this, the Vice Admiral was shocked, and watching the deteriorating condition of his commander, he pressed hard onto Pact's shoulders and urged,

"Commander!! You can't lose your mind at an instance like this!! There has to be something we can still do even now!!" urged the Vice Admiral!

But Pact just stared blankly at the display showing the Void Fleet almost about to reach the backline of their fleet!! And his breathing, instead of stabilizing, turned ragged!!

H-he felt like those slaves now… that he was being seen, watched, and even played with in a cruel game!! H-he felt trapped now!!

And some officers with even lower willpower began to shout in terror!! While some ships even began pulling themselves randomly away from the fleet, rushing anywhere they could just to get away from this place! While others fixated themselves on one thing only, reactivating their already half-crippled FTL drives to escape, believing it was still safe and sound!!

While some completely collapsed like Pact onto their own chairs, repeatedly whispering to themselves and others—

"We are done for!! Th-this is it!! D-death… death is coming!!"

As the formation collapsed and multiple ships tried escaping randomly, pushing their propulsion devices to their absolute limits to make a quick escape!!

Unfortunately, just as they deviated from fleet formation under the heavy fire of the 4th Battle Fleet starfighter corps, they were quickly suppressed!!

"W-what the hell?! Our shields—" the onboard commander of one ship had no chance to even make a proper assessment, as right after the shields fell, another shot landed onto the unsupported armored hull!!

Creating a massive hole through the ship's body, which was soon followed by another intense round of highly charged plasma energy attacks, causing the vessel to explode into burning fragments!!

Others much like it were quickly taken down!!

Only then did the others realize they simply couldn't walk out of this like that!! With human starfighter squadrons watching and eyeing them with hawk-like precision, ready to take them down immediately if they dared try escaping or deviating from fleet formation!!

"Damn human star pilots!!" shouted some before they quickly retreated back toward fleet formation!!

Though whether they could even rejoin it amid the disruption was another concern entirely…

"H-help!! I-I can't shake these human starfighters!! Help me retreat!! Command! Hel— NOOO—!!"

One ship even shouted across the comms of the Hegemony fleet, asking desperately for help after being stranded too far away from the fleet and unable to return quickly enough!!

Unfortunately, before long, the faster frigate too was taken down by a pursuing group of star fighters, burning into flaming fragments and joining the others in there endeavour of lightning up the dark starry space !

It was them something changed !! Giving pact a chance and to regain his will slightly for ultimate push !

Suddenly few ships within the hegemony fleet quickly made a turn !! Including battleships battle cruisers and more desotyers ! One after another reaching a sub total of over 45 ships

These ship quickly broke away from the now slowly fleeing hegemony fleet chaotic formation and moved directly toward the incoming void fleet forces !

Few individuals and extermortar itself noticed these movement and alerted the fleet quickly !! And even locked weapon on these ship while replying it to pacts and other high officers quickly !

What is going on vice admiral hearing this frowned as he looked at the green singles within there fleet truing orange and slow Turing red !!

Traitors? He can't help but thinking of this gravely ! But not reaching the consul ion seeing commander not in state to do anything he took over and reach out to each ship that broke formation and asked just one thing ! What are you all doing ! Identify yourself or suffer the consequences for the betrayal to the flee

Vice admiral came a calm voice !! Directly addressing vice admiral !! I'm major luitenat Jude ! My identification code XXXX my intention behind sudden change of course is to hold back the enemy as much as possible with my near dreadnought class bulwark battleship ! To hold them till u escape far enough for there chase !!

Take this chance to repair the fortess main ftl drive and take everyone together with you !! And once safe revered I wish you all not forget our sacrifice and take revenge ! Said the man before cutting of the chancel !!

But the trasmsion quickly spread across the fleet !! And everyone fell silent !! While vice admiral also no different felt silent and even bitter comparing himself to that of this man Jude who for sake of other prepared such a sacrifice which was commendable !