Lewis Vermont, an Adept Mage from the Vermont Clan, is the leader of the Fourth Mech Knights Division.

After his and Skywalker Clan failed to put their spaceship out of their planet, they no longer bothered attempting to create another one especially after Wallace conquered the Moon.

Their final goal is just an orbital spaceflight but the young man exceeded that and even created a Moon Base… No one would've ever thought of that during that time.

The Mage Tower helping them also stopped supporting their clans as their best Sages and Arcanists disappeared together with the spaceship.

In the end, he heard that some of the best Technicians and Arcanists even went to the Traceless Hand's Company and applied for a job.

Of course, he didn't blame them for that and even participated in his third batch of recruitment…

He was able to pass the examinations and was appreciated enough that he managed to become a Mech Pilot and was promoted to a leader after only a couple of weeks…

He knows that his job would not be easy once the enemy arrived and expected that it would endanger his life…

However, he accepted the task since there wouldn't be anyone who will fight for their planet aside from them who are living there…

"Everyone… Wallace has sent his signal. We will be moving once their spaceships dropped…"

It is unfortunate that the Arians together with the Omen IV were obliterated by the Empire's vicious tactic. Everyone felt a little frightened about this but none of them talked about it. After all, it might just trigger some people who are also feeling the same thing.

It is best to keep quiet in this situation and focus on their mission. Especially after they learned that their fellow Mech Pilots at the back were in trouble…

'Just how long are we waiting here… Do something about those Invaders already…' Lewis grumbled for a bit as he had an impulse to disrupt the flagship and throw off the other Mech Frames targeting their fellow magicians…

Right now, their Mech Knights were still covered by camouflage they made and appear like a small asteroid, they have to act in unison with the two remaining spaceships in order to execute their plan flawlessly.

As their patience slowly runs out, Avalon finally gave its signal…

[ Initiate Aether Execution Plan. ]

As soon as they heard this, no more words were said as they started to enact the operation…

Their camouflage was destroyed and the 30 Mech Knights appeared in front of the huge fleet.

From these thirty mechs, one of them is carrying an unusually large cannon unsuited for a single Mech Knight.

Whoosh~

It shot a projectile instead of a beam or lasers that one would expect… The shot was even so silent as if the cannon is just a magic accelerator.

Their turrets tried to intercept their projectile but it was too late…

Boom!

However, the projectile was still blocked by the Imperial Flagship's barrier… It exploded on its shield and dissipated like it was nothing.

The Mech Pilots celebrated a bit after seeing this…

The first reason is that it wasn't intercepted by the enemy's CIWS at all… This means that the projectiles that would come from this cannon would hardly be intercepted again.

It is a good start and their plans haven't ended yet.

The other reason for their celebration was also because of their successful diversion…

Their appearance and the shot they made allowed the other Mech Knights to disable a huge number of small sensor spacecraft that the Empire has sent out…

After all, they will be quite troublesome if they didn't deal with them early on.

[ Heat Signature Detected… ]

[ Incoming projectiles… Evade ]

Their small group is now being targeted by the gigantic spaceships and were fired upon… However, they didn't felt scared and continued… The cannon started firing again and as usual, it was blocked by the enemy's barrier.

But this is all part of the plan…

"Detonate!"

Whoosszshh!

As soon as Lewis gave his command, their Mech Knights burst with Mana and used activated their Artifacts.

Extremely cold energy started to gather around the fleet as the ice started appearing as it slowly covered the entire fleet until they were all frozen…

It means that aside from the 10 Invader Spaceship dealing with the Providence and Excellence, all the others were frozen with the dark ice...

Ice Magic is a very common spell that all Series would have except for the few specialized Artifacts…

However, the black ice they've used can be said to be a Magic that already approaches Grade 5… After all, this is a combination spell of Petrification and Ice Magic.

Unlike the formless Mana that they've used to restrict the Fleet in the first ambush, they are now using converted mana to truly disrupt their spaceships…

It may be impossible to defeat them using this, but isolating them would be a huge factor to lessen the force of the empire…

"We're still not done… We won't stop until we emptied our allotted Mana, understand?!"

"Yes, Leader!"

Because of the sudden cold temperature and ice covering the spaceship, their turrets and cannons were unable to operate.

Of course, they expected that they would have a countermeasure for this since extreme cold isn't something new to the Empire…

However, their ice is completely different from what they were used to. It formed using a complicated Magic Structure and with such pure Mana at that.

'This should buy us some time…'

Lewis felt satisfied with the result of their attack.

This is all thanks to the cannon they've used to spread the mana around the spaceships and trigger them to create the ice that is covering them now…

***

Wallace drew the attention of the Invader Spaceship. He's having a hard time dealing with them and his Excellence had already received a lot of damage…

If not for the Enchanted Armor it has, they would've penetrated his ship already.

Apparently, his Radiant Wave Tech couldn't block all of its attacks as it has to endure numerous beams, missiles, other projectiles from the enemy ship…

[ The two Mech Division is successful. ]

"Great! Launch them now, Avalon…"

Ace shouted as the two spaceships on their side, released a massive amount of projectiles at the enemy…

This Second Line of Defense can be said to be their Last Line of Defense in outer space…

After all, Ace wanted to at least save their current Moon Base with the Arcane Tech that he arranged there. He clearly knows that if the Empire discovered it, the Moon Base would just become a target practice for the enemy.

There was no way that their base could endure their bombardment…

They may be able to defend for a few hours but it's impossible to defend a stationary fortress for a prolonged period.

This is the reason why he wanted to make this defense a success to give them more time and for the Empire to hesitate a bit and think of recuperating first before attempting to descend to their planet.

The projectiles he threw at the enemy weren't simple Mana Artifacts and Devices he made… It includes a Sealed Mana Artifact…

A mana artifact that was said to possess a part of the Celestial Beings and the reason that he has this was due to Yumi's help or her superior to be exact.

This is the request that Yumi made when her Grandma Thea asked her about the things she could do to help Wallace.

It was really a good decision to let Yumi know about the Prince's Logbook first. After he gave the translated copy to her, she managed to work by herself and raise awareness to many high-ranking officials of the country…

'We were unable to run a simulation for this, but I hope this would work.'

Ace silently prayed as he watched the projectiles explode one by one until the Sealed Mana Artifact was covered by these explosions.

***

"Hurry! Continue destroying all their Sensor Spacecraft!"

Lewis shouted as he pointed his Mech Knight's Mana Based Guns at one of these spacecraft… Their escape might get busted if these devices were not dealt with and are able to sense their movements.

They must remove them now as quickly as possible. And even if they still have a lot more of these spacecraft, they would at least have enough time to deal move out of its range and disappear from their senses.

Boom!

After destroying one, the man looked at the Excellence and Providence situation and saw that they started firing to the Invader Spaceship with such a scary magnitude…

He's unsure about Ace's plan and he only knows that Ace is supposedly attempting to destroy the enemy…

Beep!

His Mech Knight suddenly detected something from the projectiles that were sent to the enemy…

"Huh? Is he trying to start a Mana Calamity?"

Lewis was a bit speechless and he has even forgotten to lead the mission to destroy the Sensor Spacecraft.