I, a ship girl, am the savior of civilization.

The leaping arcs of focused electricity flashed past the shield. The Covenant warships were caught off guard by the weapon that could attack through the shield, and they all embarked on their pilgrimage ahead of time.

In just ten minutes, the Justice Determination fleet lost a third of its warships.

However, just as the Justice Determination fleet was being gradually swallowed up by Halsey's fleet, the response from the City of Compassion officially arrived.

It wasn't some beautiful flower fireworks, but a blazing, high-energy laser.

On the Halsey's energy detector, what followed was an overwhelming reaction of energy weapons.

This week was much easier; there were only three exams.

I've gradually gotten used to slacking off.

Abbaabaaba...

177. Flagship: With virtual level

The City of Love's defense system is far more powerful than imagined, likely due to the use of a significant amount of Forerunner technology. The Covenant has transformed their capital into a heavily fortified fortress.

Although the Covenant lags far behind the Shipgirl Union in research on energy weapons, its massive firepower still puts considerable pressure on Halsey's fleet, not to mention the remaining Justice Determination Union fleet.

Halsey's fleet was able to scatter nearly a third of the Justice Resolve Coalition fleet because it used a surprise attack. The Justice Resolve Coalition's defense system hadn't even had time to be fully activated, and the Coalition warships absorbed all the damage from the Dark Matter Axis Cannons thanks to their normal shields and hull armor.

Now, the Justice Resolved Allied Fleet is in a state of war, and even if Halsey is confident that he can completely annihilate the City of Compassion under fire within an hour, he cannot do so.

This is pointless!

Destroying the Justice Resolved Alliance fleet did little to help the war. The City of Compassion's interstellar defense system was fully activated, and the fleet stationed in the city's port began providing support.

Given the current offensive pressure, even without considering the Dreadnought, Halsey would find it difficult to capture the City of Faith while ensuring his fleet suffers a 30% loss.

Such casualties have exceeded Halsey's tolerance.

"Moreover, Your Excellency the Flagship is still here..."

Without much resentment, Halsey made the best choice decisively.

"Calling home port, this is Halsey. The Covenant capital's resistance is exceeding expectations. Requesting fleet support. Considering the ancient Forerunner technology, requesting activation of 'Virtual'..."

"The application has been accepted, the proxy flagship has been approved, and the support fleet will complete its assembly and arrive within 72 hours. Please set up an anchor point to receive the fleet as soon as possible."

With communications cut off, Halsey breathed a deep sigh of relief and then issued a retreat order to the entire fleet: "All units, abandon the original plan and begin the withdrawal from the battlefield. Reserves shall begin to withdraw from the battlefield in batches."

For a moment, the ship girl alliance warships that were locked in combat with the Justice Determination Alliance fleet on the battlefield abruptly stopped their relentless pursuit. Even those enemies that were already on the verge of collapse and could be sunk with a single shot, the ship girl alliance did not give them a second glance, but instead withdrew directly.

However, Yukikaze's unmanned carrier-based aircraft then proactively switched from their original flank support positions to the main battlefield, taking over the suppression lines that had been left unrestrained after the retreat.

The Justice Determination fleet, having narrowly escaped death, had absolutely no intention of breaking through their weak carrier-based aircraft to pursue them. What a joke! Even with the fire support of the City of Compassion, they couldn't hold out until reinforcements arrived, let alone take the initiative to pursue them.

Although the City of Compassion is a mobile city, its speed is really not impressive.

If they were truly deranged to that extent, this mysteriously formed fleet would not let go of such easy prey that dared to provoke them, and would ultimately devour them all.

Finally, under the solemn gaze of the Covenant's high command, Halsey's fleet disappeared into the distant starry sky, vanishing completely with a flash of light.

"Whose fleet are they, anyway?"

The most revered prophets of the Covenant watched the departing Halsey fleet in the holographic projection, their expressionless faces masking deep contemplation.

An outsider has entered the game.

In the prophet's mind, the only obstacle to the Covenant's pilgrimage and activation of the halo was humanity, but now, there is another mysterious ship girl alliance.

Even the name "Ship Girl Alliance" was found in a database of warships left over from the aftermath of the battle. The Ship Girl Alliance seems to be implementing a similar protocol to the Cole Protocol for erasing information from humans; aside from this, the Covenant gained nothing.

"According to communications from Saint Heli, the ship girl alliance seems to have been discovered on Reach as well. The Special Justice Fleet has also been attacked by the ship girl alliance. The coordinates of the City of Love were probably leaked because of this."

Another message arrived, and the three prophets fell silent once more. After a long while, the Prophet of Truth exchanged opinions with the other two and finally issued the order.

"Recall the dispatched fleet, notify the Saint Heli people to cancel the attack on Reach, and send the fleet back to the City of Love."

The screen was turned off, and the figures of the three prophets disappeared into the darkness: "We believe that the fleet of the ship girls alliance will come again."

Meanwhile, Halsey returned to the temporary spaceport previously set up by the logistics fleet, where she repaired the fleet and awaited the arrival of the official ship girl alliance fleet.

"In this surprise attack on the Covenant, the ship girl alliance lost mostly electronic warfare carrier-based aircraft. A small number of ship girl rescue ships whose hulls were destroyed have also been recovered. At the same time, the initial assessment of the Covenant capital's defense capabilities has been completed."

Nearby, Yukikaze, whose clothes were disheveled, heard Veneto's report and couldn't help but feel a little resentful. Ever since she took over the aircraft carrier of the Great Khan's fleet, her regenerable unmanned carrier-based aircraft had become the most useful tool in the entire ship girl alliance.

When exploring high-risk areas, carrier-based aircraft go first; when collecting resources in harsh environments, carrier-based mining aircraft take the lead; when using war machine fire to draw targets, carrier-based electronic warfare aircraft take the lead...

The Kantai Collection has even launched an upgrade blueprint for the enhanced Ridge carrier-based aircraft, preparing to design a special attack drone, mounting an engine on an arc cannon, and designing a suicide carrier-based aircraft that can only attack once, pursuing the ultimate cost-effectiveness.

To date, the Yukikaze-class aircraft carrier has even completed its replica ship project and begun large-scale deployment. Aside from the emergence of a new batch of heartbroken ship girls worldwide, the entire Kantai Collection (KanColle) has benefited from this.

"All in all, it was a good battle."

After summarizing the battle, Veneto succinctly assessed the war: "Not only did we severely damage a Covenant fleet, but we also gained insight into the defense capabilities of the City of Love, thus achieving our initial objective."

"However, the combat capability of the Dauntless is still an unknown."

Halsey was not complacent, but shook his head with some regret: "Having stepped into the Singularity level and been classified as a seventh-order civilization, the warships they left behind should not be underestimated."

"However, the Lexington proxy flagship has already dispatched the final flagship of Project Void to provide support. The ultimate technological achievement of the ship girl alliance is fully capable of fighting against the warships of a seventh-tier civilization."

When asked about the "virtual plan," Veneto spoke with great confidence.

The Dauntless, unless it is the flagship of a seventh-order civilization, is absolutely no match for a virtual flagship.

The flagship is the highest-level warship in the ship girl alliance, the ultimate crystallization of a civilization, surpassing many strategic-level war weapons such as the dreadnought, the titan, and the overlord.

The virtual flagship is the final product of a strategic-level large warship project built on the foundation of the Civilization Ark ship, and created by the entire ship girl alliance with all their efforts.

In the evaluation of the Purge Agreement, the combat power of the virtual flagship was sufficient to contend with the Titans of a seventh-order civilization.

Exams are over, you all know what I mean, right?

178. All Wood

A flagship is not the kind of warship that holds the position of fleet leader. In fact, a flagship is a unique warship that a civilization can create by exhausting all its efforts.

The final chapter is empty; it refers to the flagship of the combined fleet of the ship girl alliance.

"Among the various ancient ruins unearthed by the Kantai Collection, there are descriptions of flagships. In an era when many glorious civilizations still existed, and in a history where singularity-level civilizations are no longer legends, the flagship is still a heavy symbol."

As if remembering something, Halsey said to Kat, who had followed him aboard the ship, "The Spear of Heaven, the Primordial Ark... we can only glimpse these civilization flagships from scattered fragments in our severely damaged databases."

"There is no limit to the number of flagships, but due to their strategic significance and manufacturing difficulty, one flagship is the limit as long as it does not seriously affect the development of civilization."

"The final resting place is the flagship of our ship girl alliance."

Nearly thirty days have passed since the attack on the City of Love, and the support fleet of the ship girl alliance has long been assembled and is passing through the teleportation portal built by Noah's Light.

Watching the various warships continuously emerging from the spatial vortex, Kat was genuinely awestruck. In terms of scale, the warships of the Ship Girl Alliance far exceeded the size of humans, with the Titans and Dreadnoughts, which also served as flagships, redefining Kat's understanding of the Ship Girl Alliance.

This shock reached its peak when Void Abyssalus, a part of the Void flagship, crossed everything to reach the Halo universe.

"It's hard to imagine that you possess such immense power."

Kat no longer has time to consider whether the Ship Girl Alliance poses a threat to humanity. In other words, the tip of the iceberg revealed by the Ship Girl Alliance has led Kat to believe that humanity has nothing that can attract the attention of the Ship Girl Alliance.

When formally constructing the inter-universe bridgehead, Halsey specifically terraformed an ordinary rocky planet, using the planetary terraforming colossus that came with Yuntalaus to transform the planet's environment into a habitable planet within two weeks.

With the help of dimensional materials purchased from around the world, a heavily guarded planetary fortress was transformed from nothing into something in just three days.

"Is that your flagship?"

Gazing at the Abyssal Void, silently resting in the starry sky, Kat felt a strange numbness creep into her bones. Its length of nearly 700 kilometers was something even humanity's most powerful warship, the Infinity, couldn't match.

This thing can basically be considered a second City of Philanthropy. As long as it is centered on Yuantalus and built according to the principles of the City of Philanthropy, Yuantalus can quickly be expanded to a level comparable to the City of Philanthropy.

“No, Yuantalus is only a part of the void.”

Halsey shook his head, a hint of awe flashing in his eyes as well. Among all the commanders of the Combined Fleet, there wasn't a single captain who didn't wish to end up in obscurity.

"The Endless Void is composed of eleven core warships, which can be combined into a super-large war machine, or they can be separated to perform various secondary functions. And the one that has arrived in the Halo Universe this time is the Yuantalos."

Halsey shrunk the hull of the Yontalos and projected it onto the holographic screen, gazing at Yontalos as if looking up at a lover.

"This universe named 'Halo' is indeed important, but not enough to warrant the ship girl alliance sending the entire Endless Void here. The Abyssal Alliance is already enough to deal with the Star Alliance."

Without saying much, Kat tactfully continued asking. To humanity, the power of the Ship Girl Alliance was already akin to that of gods. Even the Star Alliance, aside from the ancient technologies left behind by their predecessors, could hardly garner the Ship Girl Alliance's attention.

The reason we are still sending large fleets here, including Titans and Dreadnoughts with decisive combat capabilities, and even Overlords and Unicorn Fortresses that have not yet been dimensionally folded by the universe, is actually for a longer-term war.

The Flood, perhaps still surviving forerunners, or even pioneers who have long since transcended physical death.

These are all potential future enemies of the ship girl alliance.

Even Laura, for once, looked at the universe with a rare seriousness.

Based on the known information, as long as we can acquire the pioneer technology of the City of Universal Love, and absorb the technological crystallization of three universes, the Ship Girl Alliance will officially step into the singularity-level civilization.

For Laura, the pioneers' multiverse-based technology is also a crucial technology capable of changing the entire Stellaris universe. If they can gain an understanding of the structure of the multiverse, then Stellaris can enter a new era of development.

The pace of iterative development is ultimately not as fast as that of multiple parallel developments.

Even subconsciously, Laura felt that this technology might help her understand the structure of the true multiverse.

Of course, the Halo Universe, constructed from a multiverse, is ultimately just a single universe, and the matter that can be extracted and used in the Halo Universe is unlikely to be used to steal from other universes. However, this could very well bring Laura a breakthrough in the connection between different universes.

For example, the Light of Noah could directly transport Laura to other universes, but the method of teleportation remains a mystery. There is no physical space between universes, so even the rulers of the universe would find it difficult to accurately detect other universes.

But Noah's light can do just that.

In other words, Noah's Light may have possessed mathematical formulas that could accurately capture cosmic coordinates using certain media.

"Perhaps, the pioneers really can bring some surprises."

Sitting quietly in a corner of Captain Halsey's cabin, Laura enjoyed her tea and desserts while anticipating the surprises the Halo universe might hold for her.

"Speaking of which, the situation on Reach was turned around thanks to Halsey's fleet. The combined forces of the Human Alliance and the Earth Alliance have also made contact with Earth in the Halo. I wonder what will happen next~"

The Star Alliance and the Earth Alliance have joined forces to support the Halo Humans, and the Ship Girl Alliance has kept a close watch on the City of Love, completely locking down the surrounding space and making warp impossible. The Covenant cannot escape.

In the following week, the fleets of the Human Alliance and the Earth Alliance also arrived and joined the blockade against the Star Alliance.

Just as Halsey was preparing for his final attack on the City of Love, a message came from within the city.

"This is the Blue Ghost Special Forces. The decapitation mission has been completed. The Star Alliance Saint Heli people are willing to disarm and pledge their loyalty to the Ship Girl Alliance."