Only a few seconds later, Crown’s holographic figure appeared once again within the cockpit.

"Let’s talk about the hull first," she began. "The keel is mostly unharmed despite all the damage this fortress suffered under our attacks, which is honestly surprising. But it can still be repaired, and those repairs should provide the fortress with enough structural stability to be towed through hyperspace."

Hearing this, Kael’s eyes immediately lit up.

"So there’s actually a chance to repair it, huh?!"

"There is," Crown nodded in response before immediately crushing Kael’s hopes. "But don’t get too excited. We have a major problem that needs to be resolved before anything can actually be done..."

"Let me guess... it’s the power core, huh?" Kael said as his mouth twitched slightly.

Crown nodded again and continued, "As for the power core, it can be reignited and we do possess the resources required for it. However, it would need a complete overhaul. At the fastest, that would still take us around an hour and a half... and at the slowest, nearly six hours." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Doesn’t that mean even if we repair it, we still can’t take it back with us?!" Kael exclaimed.

"That is true... but also not entirely true at the same time," Crown replied calmly. "We found a core large enough to function as a replacement within the remains of their almost completely destroyed dreadnought."

"If we reinstall that core instead, it should provide the fortress with enough power to deploy its repaired shields and allow it to be safely towed back."

As she spoke, Crown projected the image of a dreadnought that was barely still in one piece while salvage bots rapidly dismantled its structure for usable components.

Seeing this, Kael immediately responded, "Then let’s do that!! It’s far more worthwhile to preserve this fortress than an almost completely destroyed dreadnought!"

"And besides, while the dreadnought can still be salvaged for parts later, this fortress cannot. Otherwise we’d just be wasting precious high-tier materials!!"

Crown nodded her head once more.

"If that is what you want, then that is what I will do."

And just as quickly as she had appeared, she vanished once again.

Meanwhile, Kael also quickly exited the fortress and returned toward his flagship. After docking within his personal hangar, he immediately headed toward the command bridge to personally oversee the ongoing salvage operations.

And just like that, almost half an hour passed. Nearly all salvage operations, whether completed or not, were quickly halted as swarms of salvage bots rapidly returned to their salvage ships!!

The only saving grace was that within this short timeframe, under the management of the engineering crews together with the repair bots working frantically, they had successfully removed the power generation core from one of the completely destroyed Hegemony dreadnoughts and installed it directly into the fortress’s damaged power core systems!!

At the same time, the repair bots patched up the fortress hull and reinforced the main keel as well!!

And after all of that, the fortress was finally reactivated successfully. Its overhauled shield generators were brought back online alongside the newly integrated power core supply!!

Immediately afterward, massive hyperspace towing cords extending from several battleship-class vessels connected themselves to the fortress.

The one leading the operation quickly reported the results to Grand Admiral Kael.

"Captain! The repairs are complete!! The fortress can now be towed and should be capable of passing through hyperspace without falling apart immediately!!"

"Good, good!!"

Kael spoke in an appreciative tone as he praised Chief Engineer West and his people.

"You and your teams have done excellent work, West!!"

Hearing this, the chief engineer and his crews felt proud immediately.

But right afterward, Kael’s expression turned serious again.

"Now quickly deboard the fortress and return to your ships immediately!! We need to leave this place soon!!"

"Yes, Grand Admiral!" West and the others replied with salutes before quickly cutting off the communication.

They rapidly packed up their equipment and, under the protection of elite space marines, deboarded the fortress before rushing back toward their respective ships!!

"Crown," Kael called out.

Crown immediately appeared beside him. Without even looking toward her, he asked, "Is everything in place?"

"Yes. Everything is in place. Most of our crews have already returned to their ships, and we are ready to leave this system at any time."

"Good."

Hearing this, Kael nodded his head before raising his right hand high and swinging it sideways decisively.

"Then what are we waiting for? Fleet, move out!!"

The moment his voice rang out, every ship within the 4th Battle Fleet simultaneously pushed their thrusters to maximum output and began rapidly gaining momentum as they accelerated forward!!

Several ships were towing captured Hegemony vessels that were still hyper space-worthy alongside the massive fortress itself!!

BOOOOOM!!

In perfect synchronisation, the entire fleet entered the hyper space corridor and vanished completely from the star system!!

And as the fleet disappeared, silence once again returned to the star system...

Only now, a few more additions had been left behind within its endless void.

And what remained behind were enormous wrecks of ships, shattered structures, and broken parts endlessly floating throughout the vacuum of space!!

Despite carrying out full-scale salvage operations with barely more than half an hour available, the 4th Battle Fleet had only managed to salvage around twenty percent of the wreckage they had created from the Hegemony fleet!!

Leaving behind a massive field of destruction stretching across space itself.

Only a few minutes later, the space not far away from the wreckage field trembled violently once again!!

Massive hyperspace tears ripped open across the void.

BOOOOM!!BOOOOM!!BOOOOOOM!!

One ship after another emerged into real space!!

Ten... then hundreds... then thousands... then tens of thousands... until an unimaginably massive fleet filled the star system itself!!

At the centre of it all were four colossal battle fortresses, alongside one even larger than the Exterminator fortress of the Hegemony fleet!!

Towering destroyers led the formation, followed by heavy cruisers, carriers, battleships, dreadnoughts, and the battle fortresses themselves, radiating a terrifying psychological pressure merely through their appearance alone!!

And from the four battle fortresses, twelve overwhelmingly powerful auras leaked outward.

WHOOSH!!

Twelve figures suddenly appeared directly in front of the newly arrived fleet, each seated within an alchemy mech of their own unique form!!

Some possessed humanoid appearances while others resembled gigantic beasts or monstrous creatures!!

The twelve stared toward the region where the Hegemony fleet should have been...

Only to find endless drifting wreckage instead.

Sections of dreadnoughts, shattered battleships, and fragments of countless other vessels bearing the unmistakable design of the Hegemony fleet floated lifelessly through space like abandoned corpses.

And upon witnessing this sight... the expressions of all twelve instantly darkened to the colour of ink.

One of the leading figures among the twelve, seated within a humanoid alchemy mech with a dragon’s head, claw-like hands and legs, and even a massive tail, while a sword hung across the mech’s waist, spoke in a strong voice after remaining silent for a moment.

"Looks like we arrived too late..."

The nearby alchemy mech in the form of a mammoth let out a deep sigh filled with anger before adding, "Looks like it. And they even ran away... damn humans!!"

"Yes. From the looks of it, they left quite some time ago already. I can’t even properly lock onto where they may have headed through the remaining weakened spatial fluctuations," said another of the twelve, seated within a beast-like mech resembling a gigantic octopus.

"These humans are brutal..."

A feminine voice rang out nearby from within a phoenix-like bird mech.

"I can’t even sense a single life signature around the wreckage field, which should have been impossible under normal circumstances. Looks like they had enough time to board every damaged ship and finish off anyone who remained alive."

"Not only that..." another voice interrupted.

A humanoid mech with especially sharp and discerning eyes looked across the battlefield before continuing.

"Did you all notice that many ships, or at least their wreckage, are completely missing? Along with the fortress Exterminator as well?"

"Even if the fortress had been destroyed and sunk, at the very least its hull should still be lying somewhere around here."

"But there’s nothing to be seen... nothing found..."

"Looks like..."

"Looks like the human fleet even carried out salvage operations within the little time they had," another among the twelve interrupted calmly. "And if we analyse further, they most likely captured several of our ships as well."

The expression of the leading figure darkened even further upon hearing this.

Gritting his teeth, he immediately ordered, "Board those ships and recover whatever data can still be recovered!! We must know what transpired here, and how they were able to take down the entire fleet along with three Genesis Law Realm beings as well!! And give proper burials to those people who fought bravely here!!"

"And as for the humans..." Clenching his fist tightly, he spoke with a voice overflowing with fury. "These humans will soon face their reckoning."