[ Death Ray's activation has been detected. ]

Avalon gave a warning as soon as they were about to escape…

They are planning to let the Mana Calamity deal with Invader Spaceships but it seems that they are not giving up and wanted to bring them together with their demise.

"Evade!"

Ace knows that Avalon can maneuver the Excellence to safety but he knows that the Death Ray has a wide and long range.

However, a light connected to his spaceship and they were unable to evade it. The light itself has no damage but it is the link for the Death Ray to destroy.

Boom!

As the Excellence was trying to escape, the Death Ray was fired and hit it at the back…

The Death Ray is considered a Beam Weapon. However, unlike the Subspace Blaster that only uses one crystal to create a beam, this Ray uses multiple of them at once…

As for the light that was shot in the initial phase, it appears to be a new technology of the Empire to avoid missing the shot of their cannons.

Not even the Mana Calamity managed to stop the shot from it!

[ Shield Integrity: 12%... 7%... 1%... ]

As soon as the integrity reached zero, the Death Ray hit the Excellence directly!

Although he has confidence with the armors they've used, it was still impossible for them to not take any damage from that…

His spaceship was shaken but luckily, the Death Ray's energy was also consumed…

"How's the damage?" Ace immediately asked. He knows that they've taken a huge hit from that but he's hoping that their main engine and cores were still working fine so they could escape into safety…

Anyway, they've already released the Mana Calamity and the two Mech Knights divisions had also successfully completed their task…

It should be fine for them to safely retreat and create another plan… They can't push too hard since they have to control the Flagship in each battle…

Ace admits that his spaceship is at disadvantage against the firepower of the Imperial Flagship… He is clearly aware of the limitation of their strength… His Excellence and Providence weren't that strong yet to fight head-on against that flagship. In the meantime, he had to rely on using many tricks to tie it down and target the vulnerable spaceships so he can weaken their forces…

However, the reality is this… Even though he was already being so careful, they were still hit really hard and had the Omen obliterated as well… They were even about to be crushed as well…

He can only accept that his plans can never be perfect…

The Empire is coping up faster to his magic than he originally thought…

[ Calculating… ]

Avalon had to spend some time to get all the information within the spaceship but before the A.I. finished gathering them, another explosion occurred inside his spaceship.

[ Danger! Evacuate as soon as possible. ]

[ Forced Ejection Phase Launched. ]

The Avalon didn't even ask for permission and immediately proceeded with the protocol.

The A.I. is clearly aware of what he can do… After all, he is not Wallace who has an Astral Core and unusual Mana Artifacts to save him in dangerous situations…

He can only rely on his few devices and Avalon to save him from this trouble.

"Do whatever you think is the best, Avalon…"

As soon as he said this, he heard a huge explosion and his head hit something…

This is what Ace could remember before he lost consciousness. Avalon can only do its best together with its automatons ready to save him from certain death.

Luckily, they have prepared for such situations and Avalon only has to follow their plans…

***

Ace woke up and looked around.

He was a bit confused so he asked Avalon about the current situation…

He can see that he is currently lying on a bed and felt that there is a weak artificial gravity activated. There are no wounds or pain in his body which is a good thing.

He also realized that they are in his escape pod or cruiser-class spacecraft and heading to the Moon Base…

As he inspected his body, he recalled that he needed to know the situation of the Providence, the Mech Knights Division, and the surviving pilots that were left from the destroyed Omen IV.

[ Five Adept Mages and all the Arians in the battle have died. Everyone else managed to survive and escape the battle. The Mech Knights Division cleared all the Sensor Spacecraft that the Empire initially released. They were unable to follow the trails of the Knights Divisions… ]

[ Only one Mech Knight managed to survive and save the pilots that are being captured by the Empire. ]

"The five Adept Mages that died, who are they?"

Ace had a grim expression on his face. The death of those Adepts was certainly a small number if they will look in the statistics. However, each Adept is an extremely valuable asset for them that are lacking people. People that were not afraid of going to outer space and fight against the huge Empire...

Although there are many who wanted to volunteer in this, it is not that easy to find someone that would fit all the requirements he needed.

After all, they aren't just getting everyone who applied… They needed to pass certain tests before they can be allowed to participate in space operations…

Aside from that, not every Mana Practitioner can complete the Arcane Link!

That is why there's a lot of Magicians that are staying as Fabricators, Security Workers, and others that don't require much of their knowledge about the magic.

[ They are the Adepts sent by Veda. ]

Avalon showed him the pictures and other details of the people and found out that they are the ones who used the Cryptic Link through Veda's experimentation.

"How are their bodies?"

[ As we have suspected that the Empire wanted to take blood samples from the Magicians, I decided to obliterate any of their traces through the remaining Mech Knight I can control. ]

"Mhmm… I understand. It's a good call."

Although it is better to take the body with them, he knows that the situation there must be extremely difficult and they have to keep moving…

The dead bodies might be too hard to retrieve during that time. Nevertheless, he didn't question Avalon's decision as he also wouldn't blame the A.I. even if it had the chance to save the bodies too.

"Where are they now?"

[ They are traveling using the Fourth Escape Route we've made to avoid getting followed. ]

"The fourth path? It would take time for them to return to the Moon Base. Are they going to meet up with the Providence?"

[ No, the Providence is still being chased by the one Invader Spaceship that had managed to avoid the Mana Calamity they created. ]

"I see… Is there any chance that it can also use the Death Ray?"

[ Yes… However, the Providence managed to avoid the Initial Phase Light from being connected by creating a mirage… ]

"Mirage? The Arcane Tech work?"

[ Yes. ]

The mirage was definitely made of the Optical Phenomena Manipulation Tech that they've installed. The Excellence also has one of these but they were unable to use them. After all, they have no idea about that light that came out of nowhere.

It did not emit any heat so it was not detected by their sensors and failed to respond on time…

However, since Avalon already learned its purpose after getting hit by the Death Ray, it immediately planned for a way to avoid getting targeted again…

Although it caused the Excellence's destruction to know this, it was still a good thing that this happened on Excellence instead of the Providence instead. If that happened, Hilda and the others from the First and Second Mech Knight division would've surely died…

"No—Perhaps the Magic Node can save them?"

He's unsure about this since they haven't tried using the Node against the Death Ray yet. However, it should be able to hold them off for some time before being destroyed…

That should be enough for them to escape and leave its line of fire.

"How about the third and fourth Mech Knights Division?"

[ After returning to the rally point, they camouflage themselves as an Asteroid again. It will take 4 standard days before they can return to the vicinity of the Moon Base. ]

Avalon replied. This is not a bad decision at all.

"Haa~ This is a disaster… I'll let you handle Providence's escape… In case you'll decide to counterattack, make sure that you can destroy the Invader Spaceship at once. Try not to utilize the pilots that you have… If you really need the Mech Knights' help, you should use remote access even though it will not be that strong."

[ Affirmative. ]

"Mhmm… How about the observers? The live broadcast?"

[ The connection was cut off moments after the spaceship's destruction as the Mana Calamity had also reached its peak. ]

"Is that so? They must be worried then. You have to inform them that I'm alive…"

[ Affirmative. ]