Chapter 429: Outsmarting Oneself

"We get nothing." Raymond, who had been staring at the virtual sand table, suddenly spoke up.

He couldn't be bothered to pay attention to the conversation between Ted and his Subordinate just now, but now he spoke.

"What do you mean we get nothing?" Ted frowned: "They are already mutually heavily injured, this is the perfect time for us to reap the harvest."

"The Nightmare Shield, the Golden Crown, Li Yu, Horus, and that Glove. Raymond... although the Merit will be split equally between you and me, this is the most eye-catching battle record the Empire has had in these past few hundred years."

As Ted spoke, he even got a bit excited himself. This kind of legendary battle record would allow his name to be carved into the Empire's history.

"Where is there any mutual heavy injury..." Raymond walked away from near the sand table and shook his head: "For us, their combat strength hasn't changed at all."

"The Solar Diadem was destroyed, but a new Interstellar Fortress appeared."

"But..." Ted's gaze condensed slightly, finally understanding: "You mean it's highly likely they will unite again?"

"If they have no hope of capturing Li Yu, the next thing they can do is prevent the losses from expanding further."

Ted's expression flickered. Following Raymond's train of thought and thinking carefully, he found that the probability of this happening was extremely high.

"Fuck!" Ted couldn't help but Curse Loudly: "It's all your fault for not wanting to intervene earlier. Now we really have become spectators."

The legendary battle record slipping through his fingers made him feel very uncomfortable.

"If we intervened earlier, do you think the outcome would change?" Raymond asked in return: "If you intervened earlier, they wouldn't unite?"

"By not making a move earlier, we still had the hope of Reaping the benefits of others' conflict. Making a move would only force them to unite again!"

Ted was rebutted, feeling quite stifled. He could only coldly snort, but didn't continue arguing with Raymond.

...

"Attack for me!"

Havard flew into a rage out of humiliation. With the Solar Diadem destroyed, the Solar Councilor suffered heavy losses, and he had to make up for this.

He had to capture Li Yu. Although that mysterious Interstellar Fortress destroyed the Solar Diadem,

It was also situated within The Council's camp, which was also an opportunity for them.

A massive number of battleships began to operate, locking their targets on that dead silent Interstellar Fortress!

"Stop!" Rohan coldly berated!

"Why!?" Havard questioned: "This is also the Nightmare Knight's decision."

"Idiot!" Rohan scolded without saving face: "Do you think it's only us and Returning Star on this battlefield!?"

"Having lost the Solar Diadem, our combat strength has been weakened. We no longer have the advantage over Returning Star. If we continue fighting, the only one who will be happy is the Empire!"

"Do you want to lose the Councilor's crown as well?"

Their original plan was to snatch Li Yu, and then rely on their own Strength, as well as the two powerful Weapons of the Councilors, to oppose the Star Glory Empire.

As long as they didn't get entangled in a fight, there was still a high probability of escaping.

But now the situation had changed. They lost the Solar Diadem, while Returning Star possessed the Circe and this unknown Interstellar Fortress.

With this plus and minus, the originally small gap between them and Returning Star was directly erased.

If they forcibly continued fighting with Returning Star, then the Golden Crown and the Nightmare Shield were highly likely to be lost as well.

This was a situation that neither Rohan nor Havard could accept.

After Rohan's explanation, Havard suddenly realized that they no longer had the advantage and even needed to join forces with Returning Star again.

The situation Deteriorated rapidly. Horus's figure still stood tall in the Starry Sky, looking around at the countless battleships, wearing the archaic black knight armor.

Li Yu flew straight over from the other side, kneading his shoulder at the same time, and said crossly:

"You really didn't hold back. You almost shattered my shoulder blade just now."

Although his state had recovered to full strength through [Near-Death Rebirth], the pain from just now was very clear.

"That was already my highly restrained Strength..." Horus explained flatly.

Li Yu strongly suspected this guy was acting cool, and already had evidence.

Horus stared at the Interstellar Fortress surrounded by layers of Council battleships: "Is that the power of the Dimensional Camp? There were no Spatial Fluctuations, how did it appear?"

Li Yu said casually: "When I need it, it will naturally appear."

Horus: "..."

This kid is even better at acting cool than me.

Numerous senior generals all looked at him with strange gazes.

In the game of circumstances just now, they had almost no effect and could only act as spectators.

But everyone could see that the situation on the battlefield had changed.

The Nightmare Shield and the Golden Crown were both illustrious Weapons, incomparably sturdy and difficult to damage.

They didn't have complex mechanical structures like Interstellar Fortresses.

The materials used to forge them were also only high-spec alloys. As long as one broke through the surface Energy Barrier, one could inflict effective lethal damage.

So Li Yu could only have the [Death Star] target the "Solar Diadem", which was also an Interstellar Fortress.

After opening the construction Scroll, it could be deployed at a selected nearby location.

Although Li Yu could have also deployed it in advance and stored it in the System Space, after all, the [Death Star] was considered a product of the System.

But that would lose the ability for its first long-distance deployment, so Li Yu waited until now to open the construction Scroll.

He directly chose to deploy it deep within The Council's lines, which was also the place where the Solar Diadem's defenses were most relaxed.

Although the [Death Star] was now situated deep within The Council's camp, Li Yu wasn't worried.

As long as those Divine Spirits weren't Idiots, they would realize that they absolutely couldn't start a war with Returning Star now, unless they were willing to pay the price of losing the Nightmare Shield and the Golden Crown.

Moreover, even if they paid that price, they might not necessarily be able to take Li Yu away, so there was simply no need to start a war.

So there was only one path placed before Returning Star and The Council, and that was Pinching One's Nose and cooperating again.

"Your Excellency Horus, the situation should be very clear. Let's cooperate." Rohan's tone was flat. Regarding the backstabbing incident, he didn't feel the slightest shame as he communicated with Horus.

"A very wise choice..." Horus nodded. Although the two sides were just fighting to the death earlier, suddenly cooperating again seemed very absurd.

But to Horus, this was merely the result caused by the changes in the battle situation. If The Council didn't choose to cooperate with them, it would surprise him instead.

Li Yu subsequently added: "Let that Interstellar Fortress out. This is the prerequisite for cooperating again."

Horus glanced at him and didn't speak, counting it as tacit consent.

Rohan pondered for a moment and didn't refuse either. The Council's battleships withdrew to both sides, and the [Death Star] slowly flew out from among them.

The entire Interstellar Fortress looked very dead silent, as if it was completely empty inside, but this was fundamentally impossible.

Whose family would deploy an Interstellar Fortress without anyone piloting it?

They merely treated this as being determined by the architectural style of the entire fortress, giving a feeling of dead silent solemnity.

The massive Interstellar Fortress attracted everyone's gazes. This architectural style was unprecedented and didn't belong to the style of any faction in Interstellar space capable of building Interstellar Fortresses.

Although Havard very much didn't want to see this scene, there was nothing he could do. The Solar Diadem was destroyed, the situation completely reversed. They Gained Nothing and could only cooperate with Returning Star again.

The instigator of all this was that Li Yu!

Blazing flames spewed from his eyes, and he even wanted to directly blow this Interstellar Fortress apart.

Because judging by the current situation, even if he blew this Interstellar Fortress apart, it would be difficult for Returning Star to start a war with them.

But he still didn't act. He couldn't afford to Gamble. If the two sides went to war, the price Returning Star would have to pay would be far smaller than theirs.

At most, it would just be senior generals being captured, while they would have to lose two Superweapons, and that was on the premise of already having lost an Interstellar Fortress.

As the [Death Star] arrived in Returning Star's camp, Li Yu waved his big hand, and a massive number of Mechanical Lifeforms flew out from the Black Pupil Fleet and surged into the [Death Star].

Only at this time did the numerous Turrets and defensive equipment lying silent on the surface of the Interstellar Fortress begin to operate.

This scene attracted the Attention of many people present, making a very absurd speculation arise in them.

Could it be that previously, there was actually no one piloting this Interstellar Fortress, and only combat AI was coordinating?

That dead silent feeling wasn't some architectural style at all, but because there was truly no one piloting inside?

This speculation didn't last too long, because The Council and Returning Star needed to unite again. The numerous senior generals of Returning Star cursed angrily in the channel one after another.

"Fuck, what the hell are those things, we actually still have to cooperate with them." Otto was covered in injuries. He had just engaged in battle with a powerful Divine Spirit and it was Perilous, almost dying there.

"What other way is there? If we don't cooperate, we can only let the Star Glory Empire pick up a huge bargain for free."

"Fortunately Duke Li Yu has endless methods, otherwise falling into the hands of the Star Glory Empire, we would definitely be humiliated."

"..."

Mentioning Li Yu, the internal communication channel fell silent for a moment.

The Council's backstabbing was also caused by Li Yu. They could all be considered to have suffered an Undeserved misfortune.

However, in the end, Li Yu reversed the situation again, and to a certain extent, also saved them.

So the emotions of most senior generals were quite complex, and they all avoided this topic.

The two factions that were originally confronting each other with divided armies united again, but it could clearly be seen that each had their guard up.

There were an extremely large number of peripheral defense forces, and all of them had activated their combat states.

They were only cooperating again under the coercion of external forces.

And Raymond had long anticipated the current situation, so he wasn't surprised. Although he really wanted to obtain those two Weapons,

It was a basically impossible matter.

"How about we let Returning Star retreat, and we only attack The Council." Ted frowned. This was a rare opportunity, and he really didn't want to give up.

"Do you think there's any trust to speak of between us and Returning Star?"

Ted couldn't speak, and instead gritted his teeth as he looked at that figure on the Holographic Screen.

Li Yu!

It's all this guy's fault. If he had been caught by The Council, the Star Glory Empire could still devour the remnant Expeditionary Force. Either way, there would have been some harvest.

But this kid just had to reverse the situation, leading to the current circumstance where they could only watch helplessly but get nothing.

He couldn't help but say: "With such a great situation, do we really get no harvest at all?"

"Who says we don't?" Raymond shook his head. Under Ted's expectant gaze, he slowly said: "At least after this incident, it's impossible for Returning Star and The Council to cooperate again. They will either send reinforcements or withdraw from the No Man's Land."

"In my opinion, the possibility of them withdrawing from the No Man's Land is very high. In this case, we can safely carry out our work."

Hearing this, Ted sighed, "We can only do it this way."

The Star Glory Empire didn't launch any more probing attacks. Although they didn't secure a "legendary battle record," they at least achieved the basic goal of driving the two out of the No Man's Land.

The two legions, nearly a million battleships, began to retreat. Their movements were neat and clean, turning into beams of Warp light and leaving here.

Soon, the entire Star Sector became much emptier.

After the Star Glory Empire left, the atmosphere between Returning Star and The Council became subtle again.

However, to avoid the Empire merely faking a retreat, they still restrained each other. After casting out spatial detectors and confirming the Empire had truly left, they slowly withdrew.

Only when the fleets of both sides had pulled to a safe distance did they each enter the Jump State and carefully retreat.

...

"Everyone has worked hard..." Horus looked around at the senior generals, his expression still calm, as if he simply didn't take the attack incident that just occurred to heart.

"For Returning Star..."

"You were the one in the most danger..."

"..."

The crowd responded one after another. Only Li Yu kept his head down, fiddling with some Armor.

Ever since the [Symbiotic Colonization Armor] devoured a bit of Rohan's power, it became a bit strange, its whole body radiating an eerie light, as if adapting to that power.

"That guy seems to be a mass of flesh and blood, just meeting the Devour requirements of the [Symbiotic Colonization Armor]... it's just a bit too strong, I can't deal with him for now."

He muttered to himself.

"Duke Li Yu, your Merit in this battle is paramount. I will report it truthfully." Horus looked at Li Yu again.

Only then did the numerous senior generals react. Although they were backstabbed by The Council, they didn't end up with nothing. The Council's Solar Diadem Interstellar Fortress was destroyed.

In the end, they also calmly withdrew from the battlefield. This was already the best battle record they could achieve.

And precisely because of The Council's backstabbing, it gave them an excellent Excuse to withdraw from the No Man's Land.

Because of Digor's bold claims previously, Returning Star was actually somewhat Hard To Get Off The Back Of A Tiger in the No Man's Land.

But with The Council's betrayal, they could completely make a graceful exit.

Then shift the blame to The Council, claiming they were harmed by their Ally and therefore suffered heavy losses and were unprepared to continue fighting.

In this way, they wouldn't even be considered defeated.

Damn...

Thinking of this, the numerous senior generals cast strange gazes at Li Yu.

Looking at it this way, this backstabbing not only didn't cause them to lose anything, but they also gained quite a lot.

(End of this chapter)