Chapter 4512 Devastating Losses

"I am going to destroy the lapses of order in your structure!" the Reverend of Reckoning charged through space as his exo-Martial suit propelled him forth. His hand balled into a fist as he charged forth, aiming at an interdiction vessel.

VMMM!!!

His eyes widened with surprise as the propulsion systems of the vessel suddenly activated, accelerating the ship away to safety just before he could reach it.

"Dammit! Move faster!" he cursed at his exo-Martial suit in frustration. The suit didn't respond, nor did it fulfill his wishes. The propulsion systems were already boosted at their maximum. They weren't designed for long-range locomotive travel, but were meant to give maneuverability to Martial Artists in combat.

Unfortunately, every Martial Artist found this system to be deeply lacking. It was better than floating about in space helplessly. And to an extent, Martial Sages could manipulate space to move around, but these were all suboptimal.

Up until the Era of Expansion, Martial Arts were fundamentally built on top of the premise of land beneath their feet and the atmosphere above them. The model of heaven and earth gave Martial Artists the leverage that they needed to be able to move around the world using the force generated by their own body.

Space manipulation couldn't compensate for their absence, and the propulsion systems of the exo-Martial suits were frustrating at best. Martial Artists had adapted to modern technology the least well, barring MECHA Artists. Propulsion systems simply weren't the same as feet beneath your ground or the heavens one could breathe in and out.

Martial Art was a tactile field of pursuit, making propulsion systems feel extremely uncomfortable. There were also some who suspected that they impeded Martial Artists. Because, unlike MECHAs, propulsion systems were entirely disconnected from the power of the Martial Artist.

The Reverend of Reckoning gave up as he watched the remaining interdiction vessels around him also activate their subluminal propulsion systems, retreating towards the depths of the Web of War at a rapid pace. Every pathwalker received an order from the remnant fleets the moment it became clear that the interdiction force was halting their space suppression and withdrawing.

"Retreat!" A speaker rang in the Transcendent Candidate's exo-Martial suit. "Get back to your respective ships or any ship! The moment the withdrawing interdiction force has gotten out of the way, the battle webships and webnoughts will unleash a tidal wave of destruction and wipe us all out!"

Hearing that, every pathwalker immediately abandoned engaging what was left of the interceptor starfighters and the ascended arakai forces, immediately pulling away from the battlefield and heading back to the carrier fleets of human civilization.

Thankfully, the removal of the interdiction field meant that teleportation transit systems could be utilized again, allowing the pathwalkers to be swiftly teleported back into their ships the moment they withdrew from the battlefield.

No pathwalker wanted to be hit with devastating moon-shattering long-range sieges from the warships of the Web of War, so they obediently scrambled back to their ships. Only the pathwalkers who were so powerful that they were confident of being able to handle the warships headfront displayed a measure of calmness, choosing to consolidate gains and take spoils of war.

VMMM!

SPLAT!

The divine twin children of —o-o—o widened their eyes as gamma laser beams emerged from the cybernetic eyes of Sentinel Prime, boring holes in their skulls. Their bodies floated lifelessly before the sentinel leader, whose eyes fizzled out, revealing a burned pair of cybernetic eyeballs.

FSSS…

It was a secret trump card that the sentinel kept in order to catch opponents off-guard. He purposefully used his plasma beam cannons in his hands to misdirect and trick his opponents into thinking that was his only or primary weapon, while waiting for the opportune moment to inflict critical damage on his opponents.

In this case, he managed to kill both of them in one go.

"I shall claim your bodies as spoils of war."

A plasma tractor beam collected their bodies, pulling them with him as he retreated from the battlefield comfortably, heading back to the First Armada. As he returned, he sensed a wormhole emerging from behind them, spreading a hundred kilometers wide.

Central Human Command didn't delay it in fear for the already ravaged armadas from being destroyed if they were too late. Minutes passed before every last living pathwalker was returned, allowing the ships to safely retreat.

"Withdraw immediately," Grand Admiral Bornine commanded with a tone of voice that was anything but happy. Even though they had managed to achieve a victory on paper, it had come at tremendous costs. They had lost a lot of good soldiers and pathwalkers. The only source of consolation was that their sacrifices weren't in vain.

They had bought humanity precious time.

The interdiction force was likely out of commission for some period of time that would allow human civilization to prepare solutions that would help them fight back more efficiently.

Morale was mixed, to say the least. There were those who recognized that they succeeded in their mission, which was to attack the Web of War when it was still reeling from the shock of Operation Lightfury and inflict as much damage upon the interdiction as they could.

The death of their fellow comrades and the destruction that their armadas had faced had muted the enthusiasm. It was difficult to celebrate immediately after having faced such heavy losses. The untenability of this strategy in the long run also made it difficult to celebrate the success.

WHOOSH…

The human forces crossed the wormhole just as the interdiction fleet got out of the way of the webnoughts and the webships. The wormhole closed just as the guns trained on the retreating targets, preventing the Web of War from getting the final hit in the battle.

The first battle between human civilization and Arakai Web Civilization had ended. The tentative victor was the humans, but the sustained presence of the arakai in the star system made it feel like anything other than a victory to the rest of human civilization.