Chapter 43: Chaos, Section 2

A pitch-black color, ship hulls shaped like arrows. Such a design suddenly reminded Hei Fa of the Han tribe he had encountered—weren’t their warships alike in appearance? And with such a design…
Hei Fa pressed his lips tightly together. Could it be that their combat method was also ramming?
No, it couldn’t be that simple.
Staring at the reflection of metal on those warships, Hei Fa silently shook his head. He knew too well the strength of the Moor Empire. These were the emperor’s personal guard. If they relied on such a simple attack method as ramming, wouldn’t that be absurd? Moreover, although ramming attacks were devastating, they had severe limitations—distance or special defense systems could render them completely ineffective.
So, what exactly was their attack method? And why could it earn the emperor’s prideful claim of possessing absolute power?
His lips pressed even tighter, and unnoticed, a glint appeared in his eyes.
“Ding!” The emperor’s finger tapped against the barrier—attack, at last, had begun…
It was as if he could truly hear the emperor’s finger tap. The moment the sound came, tens of thousands of pitch-black warships below moved simultaneously. Their rear armor quickly split open, revealing delicate engine nozzles. Purple-red energy trails flickered before erupting violently. In an instant, tens of thousands of warships charged forward together!
By God, Hei Fa had never seen anything so spectacular. Though these warships weren’t large in size, their numbers were astonishing. Tens of thousands of them advancing side by side—like a tidal wave! Wave after wave of black waves surged forward, dense as ants. The light of the stars reflected off their hulls, casting terrifying glows!! No one could doubt their strength; even a single glance would fill one with fear.
As for their opponents, the rebels, they were clearly equally shocked. The pressure from tens of thousands of warships charging head-on was beyond what ordinary people could bear. It was unclear which of the giant ships might fail under such pressure. After the first round of firing, even more artillery fire erupted like a storm. In an instant, Hei Fa’s vision was covered by the dazzling blasts.

By now in the battle, the rebels were actually not far from the Emperor’s flagship. If nothing went wrong, they only needed another two minutes to bring it within range. Victory seemed within reach. Yet, precisely because of this proximity, they had no way to retreat. For the same reason, the dark warships that had appeared later were equally close to them. Those two minutes could mean that if the enemy charged, the two sides would collide head-on—something that would be utterly fatal. Anyone who saw the appearance of those dark warships understood this. That’s why the artillery fire was especially intense at this moment. All of the rebels’ giant ships were attacking desperately, trying to eliminate their opponents with their superior firepower before the collision. As the strongest giant ships in the Empire, they were confident they could do it.

In fact, they were right. In terms of firepower alone, there were no ships stronger than the Moore giant ships in the entire universe. The Duke of Purple Rock had invested heavily in this rebellion, and the entire rebel fleet consisted entirely of Imperial giant ships—thousands of them, enough to dominate the universe. When they fired at full strength, the energy beams from their cannons alone almost filled the space between the two fleets. The dense firepower made it impossible to distinguish the trajectories of the shots.

With such intense firepower, perhaps the entire star system would be destroyed. If it weren’t for those many dark warships blocking the way, Hei Fa almost thought he would be reduced to ashes in that artillery fire. The floor beneath his feet trembled violently. Even the Emperor’s flagship couldn’t stay stable?

Turning his head slightly, Hei Fa glanced at the Emperor beside him but found his expression still as calm, as if he wasn’t the one in the midst of the artillery fire. Seizing that Hei Fa was looking at him, the Emperor suddenly smiled.

“What, are you scared?”

“No, I’m just wondering what truly constitutes absolute power,” Hei Fa replied calmly, his tone devoid of any trace of fear.

The Emperor nodded in satisfaction before turning back to watch the fierce battle outside. Smiling indifferently, he said, “You’ll find out soon. Just watch quietly. Such intense battles are rare in the Empire.”

“That’s nonsense. Hei Fa obviously knows that. The firepower of nearly a thousand Moorish giant ships is more than enough to destroy an entire star system. Although the Empire has waged frequent wars in the past, it was extremely rare to deploy such firepower. Generally, it was already a huge spectacle when a hundred giant ships appeared together. The Grand Duke of Zi Yan’s efforts are indeed remarkable. But is that enough?”
Hei Fa frowned and once again turned his gaze toward the distance. There, the first wave of dark warships had already come into contact with the rebels’ artillery fire.
At that moment, Hei Fa immediately noticed the extraordinary nature of those dark warships.
Amidst the torrential energy fire, these warships not only did not retreat but bravely charged forward, growing faster and faster. The massive energy beams struck their armor, causing bursts of flames. Countless warships moved forward together, and the flames merged into one, appearing from afar like an ocean of fire.
Yet, despite such terrifying artillery fire, Hei Fa saw no signs of damage on them at all. Through the vision screen, he could even see the completely intact armor of those dark warships after those bursts of flames! There were no wounds, not even any signs of scorching. It was as if they had just left the factory!
How is this possible!?
Hei Fa’s pupils contracted sharply. He simply couldn’t believe his eyes!!
He had witnessed the power of the Moorish giant ships with his own eyes. Back then, the maximum firepower of a single ship had almost destroyed a medium-sized human fleet. And now, there were not just a thousand Empire giant ships firing at full power—those terrifying beams, each a hundred meters in diameter, were the most fearsome nightmares in the universe. So why wasn’t there any effect on those dark warships at all?
Could it be that the Moors’ technology had reached such an alarming level?
Hei Fa remained silent, appearing calm as ever. But no one knew that his mind was in turmoil. He had seen the terrifying power of the Moorish Emperor. With such a fleet, what did he care about rebellions? Perhaps just this fleet alone would be enough for him to conquer everything and bring peace to the universe!!
“Strange, right? Why isn’t there any effect?” The Emperor spoke quietly, though his gaze remained fixed on the battlefield below. But Hei Fa knew he was paying attention to him. After thinking for a moment, Hei Fa spoke in a hoarse voice.
“What kind of warships are those? We’ve never seen them in the Empire.”
“Leeches. That’s their name,” the Emperor said cheerfully, unbothered by Hei Fa’s sensitive question. He waved his hand, his tone filled with pride.

“Leeches?” Black Hair’s heart trembled, his voice filled with surprise. Such things shouldn’t exist in this world.
“Exactly,” the emperor said proudly, raising his eyebrows. “They’re a very special kind of small creature. Even if I described them to you, you wouldn’t understand. But these creatures have one characteristic: they love to suck blood. Moreover, they’re extremely resilient. Once bitten by them, even someone as strong as a bull probably won’t survive long. Ordinary methods are completely ineffective against them—their vitality is incredibly tenacious. Even if cut into ten or eight pieces, they’ll still survive after some time, and each piece will become a new individual!”
“Oh!” Black Hair pretended to suddenly understand. But inside, he felt increasingly chilled.
The emperor explained in great detail. The more detailed it was, the more pressure Black Hair felt. He probably knew more about what leeches were than the emperor himself, and yet this dark-colored small warship was named after such a creature. Its terror was thus imaginable.
Suddenly, Black Hair had an epiphany.
The artillery fire of the Moorish giants wasn’t useless—it was absorbed. Leeches liked to suck blood, but warships couldn’t; they absorbed energy!!
The Moors were at the pinnacle of energy manipulation, and their weapons naturally reflected this trait. Since Black Hair arrived in the Moorish Empire, he had seen almost nothing but energy weapons. This was certainly a good thing—specialization led to mastery. But one must not forget that mastery also came with a price.
While in human territory, Black Hair had thought that if there existed a weapon that could completely block energy attacks, then facing the Moorish Empire would mean being invincible. Yet he had never been able to achieve this. Even the mirror armor created by his Black Prison followers could at most weaken attacks, not render them immune.
To his surprise, here, among the Moorish emperor, he saw the existence of such a weapon.
If what he thought was true—that these small warships called leeches could absorb energy-based artillery fire—then no matter how many Moorish giants there were, they would be nothing but food to them!! They were like natural enemies of the imperial warships, the sword of suppression in the emperor’s hand!!
No wonder the Moorish emperor seemed so relaxed—he must have been prepared long ago. The fact that such small warships had never appeared in the empire was probably also his doing. Just as the best weapons should always be in one’s own hands, the Moorish emperor clearly understood this principle deeply.

So now, the fate of the rebels can already be predicted. As long as the attacking power of these small warships can penetrate the armor of the imperial giants, they will be reduced to ashes, serving as a foundation for the imperial emperor to display his might. Black Hair never doubted this. In his view, if the small warships couldn’t even do that, the imperial emperor would never have sent them out. And since they were sent out, they must have their own trump cards.
Sure enough, as soon as the emperor finished speaking, the battle below changed once again. Countless small warships in mid-charge suddenly began to transform, grouping together in sets of ten, their armor moving and disassembling. Then they came into contact with other warships in the same group. Upon contact, they stuck together instantly…
In the blink of an eye, a white light slid from the bow to the stern. When looked at again, where were those small warships? What appeared before everyone were huge prismatic ships!!
Was that… fusion??