The Mana Wave and Mana Burst should've alarmed them a bit… It may not be enough to halt their advance but it was enough for them to take the Excellence seriously.

After all, he introduced himself as part of the Galactic Federation's Force and told them that this place is part of their Economic Zone.

Then, he used an attack that could bypass their forcefield barrier.

"Can we dodge their attack?" Ace asked as he let the A.I. calculate for him.

[ Negative. ]

"Well, let's try our new Radiant Wave then…"

[ New Radiant Wave: Activate... ]

Ace can see in front of him the massive numbers of missiles and accumulating hadron cannon that is about to deal with his Excellence…

However, since he noticed that they are only using them to probe his spaceship's power… He decided to impress them a bit and for them to have false information about the strength of their defense system.

Boom!

A series of explosions occurred as the Radiant Wave defended against the hundreds of missiles sent to his spaceship…

As for their hadron cannon, it was dealt with another layer of their protection as the former is capable of bypassing their Radiant Wave…

It is the Sentient Reactive Barrier they installed around the spaceship...

It has similar principles to the Reactive Armor used in the Young Magicians Competition. It is made of explosives designed to detonate and deflect incoming enemy fire… However, it can move around the spaceship where the barrier is needed.

Although it is quite risky, it is very effective in dealing with such cannons… Of course, he wouldn't dare to use this kind of defensive system if they are not supported by a massive amount of Mana Stones and super A.I. like Avalon…

He made the Excellence completely balanced with Advance Technology and Arcane Technology…

[ Barrier Viability: 89% ]

[ Fixing… ]

[ Barrier Viability: 100% ]

They only need Mana to repair their barrier.

"Mhmm… Only 11% damage with all of that attack… That's good…"

Although it wasn't a serious attack from the Empire, it was a good result... After all, he was expecting damage of about 30% if attacked by such a number of missiles…

As Ace was celebrating a little, he noticed that five Conqueror Starship decided to close their distance to him…

They have finally realized that such a long-range attack wouldn't deal significant damage to his Excellence…

"Alright! Come!"

His traps were ready to welcome them if they advanced a little more… Although only five starships will be caught into it, it shouldn't be a problem…

As long as they can deal a huge blow to them, they wouldn't act recklessly even if they got near to the Magic Earth later on…

Instead of sending missiles and wasting their hadron cannon, the five Starships sent out their Destroyers and another batch of Mech Frames…

The previous 50 Mechs has now reached a total of 400… They are mixed with the three models they've identified before.

"Track all of them… Don't lose sight in any of their Mechs…"

[ Affirmative… ]

They have started to scatter around the spaceship to ensure that he would have no chance to escape. On the other hand, the other spaceships were also wary of having other spaceships ambushing them while they are busy dealing with him…

They weren't that clueless to believe that there's only a single battleship ready to fight against them…

After all, if someone saw 31 massive spacecraft on their path, they would normally give way or move in a different direction or perhaps, just run away without any word.

However, the small spacecraft in front of them did the opposite.

It decided to stay on its course and even threaten them by mentioning the Federation…

[ One-Time Celestial Blood Net is ready for activation. ]

"Yes… Let them get closer first… I'll give you a signal…"

[ Affirmative. ]

***

Hilda is sitting in her Radiant Knight's cockpit and watching the entire battle unfold…

She was impressed by the Excellence's sturdy defense and felt that it was several times stronger than the Virtual World's spaceships…

'It must be so difficult to control—Ahh… There's Avalon and Veda… I guess it's not a problem at all…'

She mused… It was quite tough to control the Mech Knights even with QBCS, so she felt that controlling the Excellence would be more difficult until she recalled the A.I.'s existence.

'Ahh… No!'

She saw the massive number of Mech Knights surge towards the Excellence…

They have several machine guns and cannons but there was no way to cover the spaceship from every direction there is…

The Knights were also nimble and could avoid the turret's line of fire…

Thud!

Finally, the Excellence's linear catapult has opened, 20 Mech Knights under Avalon's control sortied out…

It made the enemy Mech Knights cautious… They have perhaps tried to identify the new Mechs but didn't found any model similar to them… Unknown Mech Knights were the most dangerous even in the Virtual Game…

However, instead of firing against the incoming enemy, the new models of Mech Knights have triggered a device…

The device seemed to contain mana and they could feel it from their current distance…

'Is that--?'

Then, she realized that it was the sign!

The One-Time Celestial Blood Net!

It has begun!

"Everyone! In your positions! We will act once the Net caught their vanguard!" Hilda immediately reminded everyone…

"Yes!"

There were two Mech Knights Division and a total of 30 pilots… They have different missions but both of them are significant…

There was no practice in this operation since even Avalon was unable to simulate the Celestial Blood Net in such a short time…

Perhaps, if Avalon had a couple of weeks to analyze the one-time Artifact, they may be able to put it in the virtual world… Maybe a week if they have Veda's help.

Nevertheless, Their mission was clear…

Distract the remaining spaceships!

Don't let them send help to the isolated troops!

That's right! They aren't here just to destroy a part of them! They have created this plan to capture some of the enemy forces!

They want to obtain information from the enemy pilots or perhaps if they can hack into the Starship's system, the better…

Finally, the last signal was made…

Whooom~

It is the activation of their new space mines… It was Veda's Mind Stones Mines!

Without Veda's help and the Arians' cooperation, there was no way for them to create this…

The Mind Stones corrupted by Mana weren't simply dangerous but they could affect not the physique of the living beings but their souls…

Luckily, Veda has a massive amount of information regarding Soul Arts and Spirit Arts… This made the A.I. perfect for the research and development of such dangerous items.

Although the experimentation resulted in some deaths of their people, the result was satisfactory and it advanced their research by leaps and bounds.

[ Providence, Radiant Knight. System Activated. Please Launch. ]

"Yes! Hilda Calem! Radiant, taking off!"

Whoosh!

Her Radiant Knight was first to be sent out and was followed by her team…

"Aether Jammer! Activate!"

The Mech Knights appeared above the Empire's fleet… As for the Providence, it quickly hid its presence after sending the Knights out… Of course, this spaceship would be joining the battle once the Knights Division needed its firepower to cover them.

The Aether Jammers that they have with them, were just prototypes and its effect wouldn't last very long… Especially with the huge number of enemies.

Aside from that, the spacecraft should have other sources of energy and they would surely receive a counter-attack in a few seconds.

'Very well, everything is going according to our plan…'

Hilda breathes steadily as she observed everything that is happening on the battlefield…

***

As soon as the Mind Stones and Celestial Blood Net were activated, the 20 Mech Knights quickly captured two enemy Mech Frames…

Boom! Boom!

Unfortunately, the effect of the Blood Net was a bit delayed and the other Mech Frames managed to fire at his Mech Knights before being disabled.

At this time, a thread of red energy clung to the bodies of the Mech Frames… It is similar to the Starship's condition…

Although their plan to capture two Mech resulted in the destruction of a few Mech Knights, it was worth the price.

Fifteen Mech Knights were left as they retreated quickly… The effect of the Artifact is not finished yet…

Zap! Zap!

The Five Conqueror Starships that were caught were undamaged but they are still unable to release their arsenal…

[ The Mech Knights have retreated to the Safe Zone. ]

"It's on time! Good!"

As soon as Ace said this, the red energy thread from the Blood Net exploded…

Unfortunately, because the coverage of the Artifacts was too huge, it didn't completely destroy the Mech Knights or deal significant damage to the Starships…

At most, it weakened their force field barrier to a critical level!

This was still within their calculation…

As the Starships were about to counter-attack, the normal space mines planted were revealed. The Mana Skill hiding them has dissipated!

"Detonate!"

Boom!

Another series of explosions occurred and this time, Ace was sure that they have dealt massive damage against their opponent.