Chapter 31: The Devil’s Gift, Section 9

The Moors are building a space station.
When Black Hair made this judgment, his heart was filled with bitterness.
To be honest, although he had long guessed that the Moors would take action, he never expected them to act so quickly. Just over two months—Death Star had barely begun its upgrades, its crew hadn’t finished training, and even its Death Emperor was still in the process of transformation. The sudden appearance of the Moors was like a heavy hammer, striking Death Star at its weakest moment. Moreover, the unprecedented number of 300 giant ships turned any hope into nothingness.
Each of those 300 Moor giant ships was as large as an asteroid. Their terrifying massive energy weapons could reduce an entire planet to ruins in just ten seconds. Black Hair could hardly imagine any means by which humanity could escape this disaster. And right now, Death Star was at its weakest point. Even if they tried to act, they probably wouldn’t have enough strength.
Fortunately… truly fortunately. The Moors still needed to build a space station. From the information Black Hair had gathered during his infiltration, this was a precursor to their massive attack. That space station would serve as their forward base. Once completed, successive fleets would keep arriving, turning everything here to ruins.
But… even wolves guarding their den must come out to hunt from time to time, right?
That was exactly the case with the Moors.
In just three days, before human society could fully process the news of the fall of the Seventh Star Region, this massive fleet took action again.
At that time, their assembly point had only completed a crude framework—a platform made up of countless transport ships in the universe of the Seventh Star Region. Then, about a hundred Moor giant ships, led by a flagship, rushed out like wolves. After continuous jumps, they directly entered the nearby Third Star Region.
Like the Seventh Star Region, the Third Star Region was also a relatively barren place. Its ruler was another noble of illustrious lineage, though he was wiser. When the Seventh Star Region fell, he had already contacted Marshal Wick and followed his advice to begin large-scale evacuations.

But how vast is the space of a star domain? Even a relatively barren and remote one cannot be evacuated just by talking. Moreover, the nobles of this Third Star Domain are truly capable, managing the entire domain effectively, with living conditions on its habitable planets far surpassing those in ordinary star domains. Who would want to give up such a home?

So, even though this noble exerted all his efforts, not many people left his domain after three days. On the contrary, large numbers of commoners took to the streets, demanding through protests that their lord assemble a fleet to deal a crushing blow to the invaders. At the same time, all recruitment centers were packed, with countless people coming from all directions to join the war against the invaders.

Undoubtedly, in past times, any leader would have been overjoyed by such support, laughing even in their sleep. But at this moment, all the noble felt was bitterness.

It takes courage to face challenges. But if the challenge is already overwhelming and one still persists, that is foolishness.

In the eyes of this noble now, his own people were foolish.

A fleet of a hundred Moor giant ships—each one sufficient to easily destroy an entire fleet—left him without the courage to confront them. After all, he was just a noble; the cowardice inherent in the noble class constantly reminded him that now was the best time to flee.

So when the Moor raiding fleet invaded this neighboring star domain, the well-regarded lord among his people had already fled with his private fleet. What remained for the Moors was a vast, undefended starry expanse.

Massacre—a brutally cruel massacre.

This day will never be forgotten by the inhabitants of the Third Star Domain. The Moor giant warships appeared in the distant sky. Their enormous size rivaled that of an asteroid; their tails were invisible at a glance. On those massive ships, terrifying blue lights, like the scythe of death, recklessly claimed human lives.

The earth burned, and towering buildings collapsed with a roar. Deadly blue light shot down from the sky, destroying planets one after another. Fertile mining planets were spared, while habitable planets suffered devastating blows. Once-glorious civilizations were reduced to nothing before the Moor ships’ powerful cannons. The chaotic crowds in the streets and the pitiful screams became eternal memories of that day.

On the ruins, a young child crawled on the ground, crying bitterly. Perhaps in his heart, he still longed for his mother’s embrace or hoped for her warm protection. Yet he had no idea that his mother, who had just fed him, was less than a hundred meters away—only that her once warm body was now cold and stiff, her lifeless eyes staring at the sky as if accusing the Moors of their atrocities.

Soon, a dazzling blue light shot down from the sky, turning both the child and his mother’s corpse into nothingness. The ruins disappeared, leaving behind only a huge crater—just like the craters on desolate planets—utterly barren and lifeless.

Fueled by anger and rage, those who refused to accept their fate began searching for weapons. They broke through the gates of the planet’s defense forces, which were already deserted. Like all the mobs, they smashed into the warehouses. Some even drove straight into the defense forces’ airports, trying to find any weapon they could use for resistance.

Unfortunately, they found nothing. The airports were empty, and the once-proud defense fleets had vanished without a trace. Even their mecha warehouses had been stripped clean. Across the entire star system, not a single planet still had any armed forces capable of taking to the skies.

It was only then that people remembered the lord’s announcement—but it was already too late. The remaining people could only face the torrential blue light from the sky with feelings of abandonment, anger, and despair.

Night of May 19, Universe Year 7134.

The Human Sphere, Third Star Region, fell.

All inhabited planets were leveled by the Moors. Aside from some residents who hid in underground shelters, no life remained on the surface. Twelve mining planets were occupied by the Moors. Soon after, countless transport ships arrived from the assembly point in the Seventh Star Region, surrounding all the occupied mining planets like worker bees.

Since the Moors launched this attack at night, future generations named this disaster…

The Night of Blood.

Following the Seventh Star Region, the tragedy of the Third Star Region quickly spread throughout the universe. Only then did people realize what kind of enemy they were facing.

Just seven days—nothing more than seven days. Two star systems were completely destroyed in succession. The lives of humans were mercilessly erased. The Moors were even more cruel than the bloodthirstiest butchers. In their eyes, the lives of other races held no value at all. All they wanted were mineral planets. To be honest, before the Moors appeared, humans had been the dominators of the universe, carrying out countless killings during their expansion campaigns. Yet they never imagined there could exist such cruel creatures in the world. By comparison, human actions seemed almost charitable.

At least when encountering races willing to submit, humans provided them with equipment to improve their living conditions, right? How could they be like the Moors, slaughtering everyone without distinction?

One stone stirred up a thousand waves. Just the day after the third star system fell, all the star systems under human control began to report extensively on the atrocities committed by the Moors, condemning them harshly. A surge of public outrage ensued as people finally realized the dire situation they faced and how cruel and powerful their enemies were. A sense of shared despair gripped everyone; large crowds poured into the streets from their homes, shouting and demanding that their leaders organize resistance.

Seeing this, almost all leaders smiled… bitter smiles.

How similar this was to the third star system before the disaster! So many people calling for resistance, cries for battle, and crowds signing up to join the army. But would any of this matter?

It was no longer the era of mass warfare. The disparity in weapons often determined the outcome of a war. In this regard, humans were at least a hundred years behind the Moors! Look at their giant ships compared to their own defense fleets—there was simply no comparison.

What use were more people in such a situation? An enemy’s fleet could destroy a planet with a single barrage. More soldiers would only serve as fodder.

Yet while there were those filled with pain and despair, there were also many who dared to seek battle! While some nobles gathered their resources, contacted relatives, and prepared to flee, others already led their interstellar fleets, speaking humanity’s voice for the first time against the invading Moors: never surrender.

In the early hours of May 27, Universe Calendar 7134, the leader of the human nobility, Grand Duke Poseidon, personally led a massive fleet of a thousand ships to attack the Moors’ fleet that had just taken control of the third star system.

That day, countless suns appeared in the universe.