The Martial Unity

Chapter 4496: Wounded Web

The massive explosion of light consumed the interdiction force behind the breachhead. The sheer intensity of the electromagnetic radiation released by the conversion of much of the matter of the breachhead into pure light was extraordinarily intense. Even though the interdiction force was equipped with powerful defenses, they weren’t meant to face such devastating siege, that was what the breachhead was for.

It overwhelmed much of the interdiction force, leading to the destruction of many of their vessels.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM...!!!

Numerous explosions erupted in space as vessel after vessel erupted in bright explosions that bloomed in the depths of outer space. Even though the hulls of the interdiction force was covered in prothanite, the rest of the vessel was not. Many vessels failed to erect their electromagnetic energy shields in time, causing the light to overwhelm their vessels.

The crew aboard the Web Bringer mothership was set into a frenzy at the fiasco suffered at the very inception of the war.

”Breachhead. Has. Been. Breached! Ablative. Breachers. 259. To. 380. Have. Suffered. Grave. Damage!”

”Interdiction. Forces. Have. Been. Severely. Damaged! 20%. Of. Webbinder Interdictors. Space. Suppressors. And. Gravity. Anchors. Have. Been. Destroyed. And. Another. 18%. Appears. To. Be. Damaged!”

”Web. Coordination. Has. Been. Hampered! Coordination. Status. Is. Below. Threshold!”

—o-o—o gritted her pincers as pure fury emerged in her six arachnid eyes. She could not believe what she was seeing, yet it was happening right in front of her. Somehow, a group of pathwalkers had managed to momentarily breach the interdiction measures that the Web of War had taken to seal the Arima III System and had mounted a perfectly timed ambush.

What was even more shocking than just the timing itself was that they somehow managed to inflict grave damage on their enemies through the breachhead of the army that was designed precisely to prevent any force from being able to ravage a web of war upon invasion.

The prothanite that covered the ablative breachers was one of the most indestructible substances that the arakai had ever developed, and yet it was completely melted away into light through means that the arakai didn’t entirely understand.

The wartime forensics intelligence division hadn’t managed to piece together exactly how the humans had managed to convert so much matter into light on the battlefield so spontaneously.

It wasn’t a matter of scientific principle; the arakai knew their quantum physics well enough to know that matter could convert into energy under numerous circumstances. What shocked them was how well they had managed to convert prothanite into light when it was held together by gluonic web technology.

Converting prothanite into energy was much, much harder than converting any other substance into energy, yet the pathwalkers seemed to have pulled it off.

Yet, as far as —o-o—o was concerned, the how didn’t matter as much as the fact that it happened in the first place. Rather than focusing on the past, it was much more important to secure the present and the immediate future.

The breaching of the breachhead meant that their first line of defense was gone. Although the breachhead’s primary purpose was to serve as a shield while the Web of War moved through the Gate of Conquest, it was useful even after the Web of War entered the star system.

Now it was gone, permanently making the Web of War more vulnerable than it would be otherwise. But the truly painful part was the damage that had been inflicted to the interdiction forces. The interdiction forces were one of the most important parts of arakai astronaval doctrine for invasion operations. In order to consolidate a bridgehead in enemy territory, the arakai needed to cut off the star system from easy reinforcements for some measure of time.

After all, even though their solar web technology allowed them to essentially construct makeshift dyson spheres in very short times, it still needed some degree of stability to be erected. And only after they had constructed a solar web around the stars of the enemy star system would they finally be able to fuel a permanent wormhole gate from arakai territory into human territory.

With the interdiction forces heavily damaged, they would not be able to seal away the Arima III System as well as they would have liked. That realization brought an endless amount of rage into her heart, but she didn’t allow her emotions to subsume her rationality and what needed to be done.

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK!!!

”ATTACK. THE. PATHWALKERS. THAT. DARE. BREACH. OUR. WEB!” She roared. ”KILL. THEM. ALL!!!”

Far away, right in front of the heavily damaged breachhead, Bodhisattva Maitreyi panted with exhaustion, floating weightlessly in empty space. Within her exo-Martial suit, she was drenched in sweat at the sheer amount of effort she had exerted to convert entire ablative breachers into light.

The sheer amount of destruction she had unleashed was enough to destroy entire planets. It was a Realm of power that she would not have been able to reach without the power of the Transcendentally-upgraded photonic phase catalyzer.

”Are you okay, Boundless Light?” Argenton’s voice emerged from a speaker in her suit. ”You look drained.”

”...I’m fine, just overwhelmed—!”

Her eyes widened as the countless battle webships and webnoughts turned their massive guns towards her. She activated her teleportation mechanism immediately, only to find that it had been hindered by the remaining interdiction fields that still dominated the battlefield to some extent.

They hadn’t managed to destroy the entire interdiction force; while her teleportation was bolstered by the Bulldozer Avilon LXIV, it would still take several seconds for it to break through the interdiction fields.

There was not enough time!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!

Tremendously powerful positron beams moved towards her at relativistic speeds, threatening to convert her own body into energy.

”Heavenly Step of Boundless Light!”

She barely managed to convert her body into light, flashing away at the very final moment before the devastating attacks could strike her. Before the guns could turn towards the supporting cast of Operation Lightfury, their teleporters managed to break through the interdiction field with the hello of the Bulldozer Avilon LXIV, allowing them to barely evade destruction.

Operation Lightfury had been a success. The battered Web of War entered the Arima III System with a wound from the very onset as the Gate of Conquest finally closed behind them.

RUMBLE...