Within the bridge of the battleship Saintess Prayer, the ominous signs of metal grinding and impending energy impacts quietly spread.
"What's happening?" Saint Kallen Kaslana tightened her grip on Oath of Judah, her tone steady.
Beside her, the Chapter Master and the Astartes of the Honor Guard were already on alert, their shields and weapons reflecting a cold gleam under the ship's lights.
"Enemy intrusion. Stay behind me!" Before the Chapter Master could finish speaking, the heavy metal doors exploded open with a thunderous blast.
Like an iron tower, he instantly positioned himself in front of Kallen, his left arm's energy shield flaring to life. With a resonant sound, incoming plasma beams slammed violently against the shield, sending sparks flying and leaving scorched marks across the power armor.
Before the intruders could steady themselves, an Astartes strode forward, his greatsword sweeping across the battlefield and cleaving two Terminators in half on the spot.
Yet these mechanical enemies did not immediately cease functioning. The crimson crystals within their eyes abruptly locked onto the protected Kallen, a mechanical notification of "target detected" echoing faintly through the smoke.
The Astartes behind them quickly fired additional shots. Two bullets pierced the wreckage, and only then did the Terminators completely lose power.
The chaos, however, did not subside.
More Terminators poured in through the shattered hatch. Liquid metal spread along the ceiling, swiftly condensing into forms wielding Gauss rifles, their muzzles all aimed at Kallen.
The Astartes raised their shields to block the incoming fire, yet they could not halt the endless tide of enemies.
"Red Queen!" the Chapter Master called out loudly.
A flash of light followed, and Kallen along with the Honor Guard were instantly teleported away. At this moment, the entire fleet had descended into turmoil under attacks from both inside and out, and the Red Queen could only prioritize relocating Saint Kallen to the ecological city within the ship.
The moment she landed, Kallen saw that the surroundings had already fallen into fierce combat.
Just as she prepared to assist those being besieged by Terminators, the mechanical entities suddenly turned in unison, their crimson gazes locking firmly onto her.
In the next instant, all the Terminators abandoned their original targets and lunged at her from every direction.
At the very moment Saint Kallen tightened her grip on Oath of Judah to engage in battle, a barrage of black ice descended like hail. Upon contact, the Terminators were instantly frozen and transformed into ice sculptures. A white-haired figure appeared alongside them.
"Go."
Kevin turned and fled with Saint Kallen, continuously deploying black ice along the way to intercept the pursuing Terminators. These mechanical enemies included several troublesome variants, and having just emerged from the Sea of Quanta, Kevin had not yet replenished his Honkai energy. In his current weakened state, a direct confrontation would offer no chance of victory.
As she ran, Saint Kallen glanced back at the frozen statues still locked in their attacking postures. When her gaze fell upon Kevin, an inexplicable sense of familiarity welled up within her heart.
"This way," Kevin's voice pulled her from her thoughts, and she followed without slowing her pace.
Elsewhere, after confirming Kallen's safety, the Red Queen immediately redirected her attention to the hostile forces encircling the fleet.
She had long been aware that Kevin and Su had boarded the ship and had chosen not to interfere. At this moment, Kevin's power proved to be perfectly suited to the situation.
All she needed to do was hold the line until reinforcements arrived, and the tide of battle could be reversed.
Before long, flashes of distant explosions illuminated the void. The enemy fleet was struck by a flanking assault, and warships ignited one after another.
The Red Queen turned toward the direction of the reinforcements, her gaze settling on the fleet's insignia: within a circular emblem, a white triangle supported a planet resembling Earth, adorned with three five-pointed stars above and encircled by the English words "Human Contract Alliance."
"Human Contract Alliance?" The Red Queen swiftly searched her database. Although a faction of the same name existed within the Finality Empire, none bore a matching emblem.
However, given the vast expanse of the Empire, it was not unusual for unrecorded organizations to exist—just as they themselves had once been nothing more than an ordinary pharmaceutical company on a blue planet within the solar system.
Inside the captain's chamber of the Human Contract Alliance flagship, Melin Cavendish sat in the main seat and looked toward Fabella beside her.
"Who are they?"
"They are the Umbrella Corporation of the Finality Empire," Fabella replied.
"Umbrella Corporation? Bodyguards?" Melin raised an eyebrow.
"No. Their primary business is the development of biological weapons."
Melin nodded.
After leading the Human Contract Alliance to join the Finality Empire, she had gathered a vast amount of intelligence through contact with forces from other universes. Utilizing information for strategic planning was, after all, her specialty.
Her arrival in this universe was prompted by news of a cosmic-scale war: the Skynet forces of the Empire were struggling against humanity and were seeking assistance from Imperial factions across other universes.
The Human Contract Alliance, having only recently relocated to the blue planet of this new universe, lacked both technology and manpower, and originally did not even qualify to serve as cannon fodder.
However, by reaching a mutual assistance agreement with Skynet, she exchanged the resources of her own universe for Skynet's ships and technology.
Initially, her intention had been to exploit the chaos and acquire technology from this universe's Human Federation.
But after learning that the upper echelons of the federation had uploaded their consciousness—becoming rational maniacs devoid of humanity—she abandoned the idea.
Now, she primarily led her fleet to support Imperial forces from other universes that were under attack, obtaining benefits from them in return.
After all, her fleet did not attract the brunt of the enemy's fire. By launching flanking and rear assaults, casualties would remain minimal.
With the arrival of the Human Contract Alliance fleet, Skynet's forces soon began to arrive through continuous hyperspace jumps, joining the battlefield.
Faced with this situation, the Human Federation did not choose to retreat. Instead, they mobilized even more fleets through hyperspace jumps.
Among them was even a warship the size of a planet.
In addition, there were thousands of massive mobile fortresses and Titans of varying sizes, along with over one hundred thousand combat vessels—and their numbers were still increasing.
Watching the ever-expanding flames of war in the void and the densely packed armada of warships, cold sweat formed on Melin's forehead.
Something was wrong.
Why had this turned into a large-scale grand engagement?