Chapter 398: Extreme Hedonism and Orbital Contest

When Sparta's various battalions and the UNSC fleet launched a full‑scale offensive, gradually devouring the Phoenix Star Region, at the same time their OriginalBody John personally led the 1st and 2nd battalions and elite support troops, as well as UNSC 9th, 13th, and 17th fleets, rushing straight for the capital star system of the Phoenix Star Region—

Qieli Nuo Si.

As the portal entity closest to the Eye of Fear, Qieli Nuo Si is enveloped by dazzling brilliance, where reality and void intermingle and fuse together, and it is surrounded by a nebula filled with chaotic Spiritual Energy.

If a mortal of weak will pilots a ship into this place, demonic whispers will frequently fill the ears, and alluring visions will appear before the eyes; before long they will fall onto the path of chaos, willingly offering their own soul to satisfy desire.

However, for the Human Empire residents living nearby, they have long become slaves of chaos; even young children must accept parents whose bodies and minds are twisted and deformed, and partake in all sorts of filthy rituals.

Observing from the outer rim of the star system, one can see that its star resembles the sun of Shensheng Tala, but lacks the eight major planets orbiting it; there is only a single terrestrial planet about 14,000 km in diameter, which is also the capital planet of the Phoenix Star Region, Qieli Nuo Si.

Zoom in.

Qieli Nuo Si's surface environment is no different from the garden worlds of the Devout Star Region, and in low orbit, besides the deployed orbital cannons and various warships, there are also numerous "artificial satellites".

Upon close inspection, these artificial satellites appear to be the Emperor's Son taking shattered slabs from other terrestrial planets, pulling them into Qieli Nuo Si's gravity field, then using chaotic Spiritual Energy and evil spells to remodel them, constructing each so that they remain intact even when exposed to radiation and vacuum…

Opera houses,

Museums,

Coliseums,

and so on—a series of seemingly classical yet extravagantly luxurious space structures that can be called works of art.

"～～§～∮～！"

Because reality here is tightly linked with an alternate dimension, even in a vacuum one can clearly hear elegant, melodious, and even a hint of savage music.

If one approaches those coliseums, the cheers of supporters and the roars and shouts of the gladiators can be heard clearly.

The Emperor's Son and the decadent nobles who reside here indulge in everything they can imagine, constantly refining various pastimes and artworks to satisfy their desire for ultimate perfection.

Before the Emperor's Son seized this place, the star system, like many ordinary colonies, possessed well‑developed planets, gas giants, and asteroid systems.

But most ironic is that this former star system held absolute loyalty and steadfast faith toward the Emperor and the "Empire Truth".

Unfortunately, after the Human Empire was established, the Emperor's Son, under Helusi's command, exterminated all original inhabitants and even erased the star system's name.

After 240 years of desecration, this place long ceased to be the absolute, steadfast realm it once was; now it is only chaotic Astate and the hedonistic indulgence of mortal scum, renamed by Fuge Rimu to Qieli Nuo Si, serving as "his" capital.

Zooming in further, one can see a coliseum where the audience seats are filled with nobles dressed in lavish garments, their skin pierced with various self‑masochistic jewels and ornaments, their pale‑purple skin shining.

In the arena's center stand two gladiator slaves clad in deep‑purple armor, with iron chains driven into their thighs and forearms; to please the nobles and the deities they worship, they fiercely wield battle axes and spears, engaging in a life‑or‑death duel.

Shifting gaze to a sky garden exposed to vacuum and radiation, one can still see aristocratic men and women indulging in extreme self‑masochism, their blood soaking the soft beds; yet their expressions and demeanor are only relaxed and delighted, showing no trace of pain.

Of course, the Emperor's Son and his even more decadent followers can perform on the surfaces of these opera houses, coliseums, and Qieli Nuo Si activities that ordinary humans cannot imagine nor describe.

Because they are preoccupied with their own lusts, the Phoenix Star Region, though second only to the Dark Star Region in size, remains perennially at the bottom in tax contributions and troop provision to the Human Empire.

Now surrounded on all sides, yet this place still presents a "nightly revelry" scene, fully proving they no longer have normal order, governance, or maintenance, while peripheral star systems fight each other.

At that moment, nearly nine hundred jump portals suddenly opened, allowing expeditionary warships of various classes to exit Rift Space and reach a domain about 40,000 km above Qieli Nuo Si's surface.

The jump portals dissipated.

The expeditionary warships lined up in a single file, and the flagship at the very center was not the home world of the Sparta Corps but a 32‑kilometer Titan Class vessel, also one of John's wartime flagships, the Asipaxiya.

As for the Lie Oda Ni, John temporarily handed it to the commander of the 3rd battalion, Attilasreia.

After all, with the front lines lacking an OriginalBody on the throne, Sparta needs a home world to guarantee them absolute firepower superiority.

Moreover, John, who appears steady and reticent, is in fact an OriginalBody who loves adventure and charging forward; confidence and luck are his best weapons.

When their expeditionary forces formed their formation, Qieli Nuo Si had only just begun to respond; the artillery and warship deployments were chaotic, clearly unable to transition from hedonism to wartime mode.

Such a scene…

For Sparta, adept at spotting enemy weaknesses and forming kill teams, and for the UNSC fleet from the border fortress star region, constantly battling hostile alien forms, this is pure suicide.

Ri～-—— whoosh!!!

The electromagnetic cannon fires in an instant salvo.

And the most dazzling, bright, even trajectory that seems to tear through this filthy domain comes from the Asipaxiya.

As a Titan Class and also an OriginalBody's flagship, the Asipaxiya's main electromagnetic cannon is 7,000 meters long and can fire 120‑ton tungsten‑iron projectiles.

Not to mention the Asipaxiya also houses an array of twelve 60‑ton electromagnetic cannons; even without the Gauss, plasma secondary guns, missile bays, and the managing civilization's beam matrix system, its firepower suffices to crush any "trash".

Boom—Boom—Boom!!

Explosions and fireballs form almost simultaneously.

Thousands of tungsten‑iron projectiles, each with massive impact and penetration, barrage Qieli Nuo Si's orbital platforms and warships, giving a "space skewer" visual.

There's no way around it; the electromagnetic projectile follows a straight trajectory upon exit, deviating only under the gravity of a star or gas giant.

As for the sky garden that was indulging in bloody hedonism, it unfortunately lay directly in the path of the 120‑ton tungsten‑iron projectile; thus, the nobles who hadn't yet risen from their beds were pulverized into fragments before their minds could register pain.

Simply put, the soul remains while the body is gone.

Of course, a single sky garden cannot stop a 120‑ton projectile; after destroying the garden and piercing two other four‑kilometer‑class warships, it finally struck the equatorial region on Qieli Nuo Si's far side.

Boom!!! Roar!!!

Heaven shatters, earth cracks.

The instant the projectile struck the ground, a peculiar mushroom cloud shaped like the character "ye" formed; at its center, smoke and debris shot straight up for at least a hundred kilometers, while irregular arcs of crustal fragments fell outward.

The tectonic plates, set into violent motion by this "tiny" 120‑ton tungsten‑iron projectile, cause the entire landmass to endure a cataclysmic scene.

Centered on the impact point, magma erupts within a 300‑km radius, the surface reshapes within 2,000 km, buildings up to 4,000 km suffer destructive blows, and tremors are evident beyond 6,000 km…

Although the effect is far inferior to a Nova‑class nuclear bomb, three Titan Class ships firing their main cannons and electromagnetic arrays at maximum power from different angles could still "blow apart" a terrestrial planet.

Moreover, the cost of such an extermination order equals that of two Nova‑class nukes; tungsten‑iron projectiles are simple to produce, and electromagnetic barrel wear is negligible, yet currently only about 300 Titan Class vessels are in service, so humans of the main universe rarely use electromagnetic cannons to "judge" planets.

When Sparta completed a round of synchronized main cannon fire, the far‑side surface and orbital installations of Qieli Nuo Si were thrown into chaos; although not completely annihilated, they lost roughly forty percent.

Fortunately, John led only nine hundred warships; had his expeditionary main force gathered here, a single salvo might have collapsed Qieli Nuo Si.

But that was not the outcome John desired, because his father ordered the capture alive of a brother named Fuge Rimu, whose "father" and "mother" are different; if he accidentally killed this fallen OriginalBody, his father would be displeased.

Thus, after the salvo, the nine hundred warship fleet, with the Asipaxiya at the spearhead, formed an inverted "V", a formation similar to the Sparta Corps' symbol "Λ", and surged forward.

Speed increased steadily, and the fleet also seized the intervals between main cannon and electromagnetic array charging to unleash continuous Gauss and plasma cannon fire on Qieli Nuo Si.

A slender radiant trajectory made of 200 mm and 300 mm spikes, along with countless 400‑to‑3000 mm ones, and even the Asparia's twelve 12,000 mm‑caliber plasma cannons, in the blink of an eye spewed a dense, flickering cyan‑blue artillery formation.

Boom——Boom——Boom!!

High‑speed spikes and high‑temperature artillery directly destroyed a large number of enemy vessels that had just reacted, preparing to fight the Nine Hundred Warships.

The distance between the sides further shortened.

Both sides opened a mutual artillery barrage…

Even the carrier‑borne aircraft on both sides engaged each other.

To deal with enemy aircraft swarms, the Nine Hundred Warship fleet directly employed ultra‑fast‑firing 25 mm six‑tube pulse close‑defense cannons, whose pleasant, crisp gunfire cannot be heard in vacuum, forming an unimaginable barrage.

Flames erupted everywhere.

At this moment, two fourteen‑kilometer Olympus Class ships, six five‑kilometer Zeus Class ships, and swarms of hunting falcons, Vikings, Longsword attack aircraft, and …

Utilizing Administrator biotechnology, the iterated Centurion V‑type mecha formed a massive carrier‑borne aircraft swarm, tasked with breaking through alongside the Asparia, first breaking away from the Nine Hundred Warships and thrusting toward near‑Earth orbit about a hundred kilometers above the surface.

Formations dispersed.

The Nine Hundred Warship fleet also formed nine "Λ"s, altered their charge angles, preparing to implement a blockade on Celerinos, while more efficiently dealing with the Emperor's son and mortal scum's orbit‑deployed warships and defenses.

Flanking the Asparia on both sides were two Olympus Class ships, which were the Sparta 1st Battalion Flagship and the Sparta 2nd Battalion Flagship. In contrast, there were over 260 Centurion V units, about fifteen meters tall, equipped with dedicated nano‑suits, α‑grade titanium alloy armor and fusion reactors; their pilots were elite veterans of the first companies of the 1st and 2nd Battalions.

As for the more advanced Centurion VII, whose warrior guard can skillfully wield Spiritual Energy, they were assigned a more critical mission and thus did not pilot their bio‑mechs into battle.

One Centurion, its armor painted matte green and deep black but its helmet adorned with a golden olive‑branch, brandished a 200 mm triple‑tube Gauss cannon, standing out. The veteran pilot left his comrades behind, actively deploying a diamond "◇" stance to block the onslaught, intermixing chaotic Spiritual Energy‑infused projectiles and beam attacks.

Immediately, the veteran accelerated, aiming the Gauss cannon at a left‑forward cluster of enemy craft bearing a dragon‑shaped demonic creature, with a rugged, deep‑purple livery, then…

"TengTeng!!"

The Gauss cannon's uniquely pleasant gunfire, coupled with the Centurion's right arm pulling the trigger, resonated throughout the bio‑slime‑filled cockpit.

The holographic display linked to the Centurion's eyes gave the veteran super‑range vision, allowing easy insight into the entire battlefield; he marked numerous red dots indicating the left‑forward sector of the enemy swarm, now under heavy 200 mm spike barrage.

At that moment, the distance between the sides shrank at extreme speed…

Shortening…

Contact!

Bang~! Bang~!

The screen showed the enemy craft had not yet made substantive contact with the Centurion before being bounced away by the diamond "◇" stance; instead, a massive, rotted double‑winged beast with cavernous holes, propelled by chaotic power in vacuum, a deep‑purple skeletal dragon, was deliberately abandoned by the veteran.

Soon, the veteran ceased pulling the trigger, slung the Gauss cannon onto the right side of the Centurion's rear ammunition box, freeing both hands, and headed straight for a head‑on collision with the dragon.

Bang!

Dong!

Ka‑ba!

In an instant, the skeletal dragon's wings, fore‑claws and hind‑legs were ripped off by the Centurion, absurdly becoming a "dragon staff" …

It seems the "excellent tradition" of shaving captive targets into "sticks" quietly spread throughout all legions.

Thinking that even doctors would be intrigued by such demonic beasts, the veteran grasped the dragon's neck with his left hand, turned around, and headed back toward the 1st Battalion flagship.

When he completed the turn, the holographic screen displayed that the Asparia and the 1st and 2nd Battalions had reached the designated orbit and were conducting airdrops onto the surface.

(End of Chapter)