Behind-the-scenes video of the beginning of Honkai.

The massive fleet of warships shot into the destructive black tide like arrows released from a bow, their shields, modified by the energy of the Infinity Stones, activating at full power.

The warships seemed to be draped in a shimmering blue light, traversing distances measured in light-years in an instant. However, the leading edge of the warship group naturally met its end, facing a fierce interception unlike anything ever encountered in the initial design.

Halfway there, warning messages appeared on the projection screens of countless warships. In the blink of an eye, they had exceeded the maximum attack limit estimated by the system, and like a sharp blade, they easily shattered the warships' shields as if they were piercing through white paper.

Countless dense attacks, like a barrage of arrows, bombarded from any angle in front of you, physically eliminating any possibility of dodging!

In the next instant, a dazzling golden light, like a supernova explosion, burst forth before everyone's eyes amidst the "rain" of countless overlapping and intersecting red energy beams.

The Human Alliance's vanguard was thus completely wiped out, and their sacrifice only advanced the Human Alliance by thirty percent towards the center...

Chapter 408 The Desperate Gap in Numbers

"All fleet, prepare! Fleet combined shields to deploy at full power!"

The surface of each warship was immediately filled with blue light. Under the synchronized control of the shipboard AI, the entire fleet moved in a near-perfect rhythm. After absorbing the surrounding quantum and imaginary energy, an enormous super void shield completely enveloped the entire fleet, successfully protecting itself at the same time as the vanguard was destroyed.

"All fleets, open fire at full speed! Don't conserve ammunition!"

With the order from headquarters, the gun emplacements around each fleet were ready, and at a single command, the entire battlefield was instantly covered by artillery fire.

Every second, countless quantum and imaginary creations are transformed into flowers that slowly unfold their petals under this firepower.

At the same time, the surface of the metal ring surrounding the main body also shimmered with various colors of light, constantly absorbing the surrounding quantum and imaginary energy. The magnificent main cannon also began to transform and extend, with terrifying energy gathering within it.

"Main guns ready! Begin firing!"

The surging energy roared out of the main cannon like a water jet from a high-pressure water gun, shattering everything in its path. Everything within a million kilometers was instantly reduced to nothingness the moment the energy left the barrel, and countless void cracks spread across the world like expanding fissures.

The main cannon's shot spread without limit, eventually turning everything in front of it into void energy. Countless explosions echoed continuously in the void within tens of millions of kilometers around.

Each fleeting glimmer of light possessed an energy level comparable to a stellar explosion, vaporizing the crimson curtain, annihilating the destructive waves, and piercing deep into the enemy's ranks.

The attack lasted for only a second. When the blinding light in front of the people on the bridge finally dissipated, the Black Tide had been torn open from the center, creating a huge gap. Millions of quantum and imaginary creations, each larger than a star, were instantly annihilated!

"All fleet! All troops, continue the advance!"

That last shot also created momentum, making it seem that the enemy is not so invincible after all!

But is that really the case?

The next second, the spacetime in the once peaceful depths of the endless black abyss became extremely distorted, and countless ferocious beasts with thousands of tentacles emerged from all directions. The world that had been cracked by the main cannon was instantly repaired.

The area of ​​the Black Tide expanded hundreds or even thousands of times during the detection, directly surrounding the entire fleet from all directions.

Countless red rays erupted from the mouths of these monsters, transforming into an even more turbulent torrent of energy that bombarded them.

The dense beams of light converged and merged, transforming into a torrent that directly struck the void shield deployed by the fleet, creating massive energy waves that splashed up around the fleet!

However, the combined shields of the warships greatly enhanced their defenses, allowing them to barely withstand the attack.

A few seconds later, the energy torrent gradually dissipated and disappeared; they had blocked this round of attacks.

"These monsters with little intelligence cannot achieve such precise energy level control; it must be the work of someone behind the scenes."

This is not good news, since the other side has started giving orders, which means they have noticed us.

They've only gone halfway through their journey, and they might be completely wiped out before they even reach the person behind the scenes.

Blocking that attack came at a cost; about 80% of the combined fleet's shields were severely damaged. If that shot were fired again, their fleet would probably be finished.

"Keep advancing! All troops, charge!"

From any perspective, this is a tactical act of throwing an egg against a rock. Even if all their war fleets were combined, they would be less than one ten-thousandth the size of the Black Tide before them.

However, they still chose to confront it directly, and their assault fleet charged head-on into the rolling black tide like an arrow released from a bow.

The second round of the battle has begun again. The surging void tsunami once again stirred up huge energy waves all around, and the deadly firepower on the warships began to fight back. As the fleet commander, Himeko continued to issue new combat orders.

A deluge of colorful energy rays and various missiles rained down on the enemy like a storm. Within a second of the battle starting, the world was filled with countless explosions and deafening roars.

Deadly energy rays clashed against each other, and human technology clashed with creations of quantum and imaginary numbers, representing the pinnacle of conflict. Within a minute of the battle beginning, the area was reduced to nothingness.

At this moment, all that could be seen at the scene was explosions; nothing else could be seen from outside the fleet.

Countless explosions seemed to have created a dead zone on the battlefield between the two sides. This was literally a dead zone; anyone who entered this area would be reduced to ashes in various ways.

"All troops, keep advancing! Charge!"

Even though they knew that what lay ahead was certain death, they had already chosen to come here, so they had no other choice.

The fleet was like a sword drawn from its sheath; once it was thrust out, there was no turning back.

The energy surge from the explosion tore through the fleet, successfully breaching a route and allowing the fleet to finally break through the encirclement.

"Warning! Fleet propulsion system initiating overload..."

However, traversing this short distance comes at a price; some parts will eventually reach the end of their lifespan and become unusable.

However, at that moment, a warship on the outskirts was suddenly pierced by the red beam and silently vanished from the world.

As if it were a premonition, a series of explosions erupted within the fleet in the following time. Under such an overloaded resistance, the shields finally could not withstand it and were found to have a weakness.

"Move all the backup energy into the shields and keep moving forward. We must hold on!"

Fighting these rabble will only wear them down; they must get out of here as quickly as possible and reach their destination.

The main cannon fired again, piercing through the black tide in front of the fleet. Countless explosions spread in all directions along with the huge waves stirred up by the hit beam. Large swathes of quantum and imaginary creations were annihilated in the void. However, what followed was the enemy's equally fierce rage!

The crimson torrent of energy once again bombarded the shield erected by the combined fleet. This time, the shield could no longer hold out after such a long battle.

In just one exchange, it pierced through the entire shield, and many fleets were instantly reduced to nothingness.

Clearly, given the similar scale, the astonishing numerical disparity between the two sides is enough to suppress any so-called beliefs or miracles.

So-called maneuvering can no longer bridge this gap; there's still a third of the journey left, but for humanity today, it's just too incredibly difficult.

Chapter 409 The Unexpected Reinforcements

Kiana (Honkai Impact 2): "This is too hopeless! In this situation, how could we possibly win!"

Looking at the monsters in the live stream, each one bigger than a planet, Kiana couldn't help but feel despair. The sheer number of them was overwhelming.

Fu Xuan: "There are actually places like this in the world. Such a place of great calamity really exists."

Jing Yuan: "Monsters of this scale only existed during the ancient beast era. This is no longer something that a single force can handle."

Walter Young: "This is a hymn to humanity, and also a cry of despair for humanity."

With such a large number of participants, success would be impossible without unforeseen circumstances.

Otto: "Now I'm a little curious, who exactly is the mastermind behind this?"

If even the lowly soldiers they dispatched have such strength, the mastermind behind them must be even stronger.

Himeko (Hoshitetsu): "The one who can set up such a large-scale scheme is probably even stronger than the Star God."

But is this really true? The power of the Star God was already beyond their comprehension; this is even stronger than the Star God. Just how strong is it?

Countless explosions erupted in multiple areas, but unfortunately, these tiny sparks were invisible to the naked eye from light-years away.

"Hold the line and keep moving forward."

The command to establish global connectivity was transmitted to the minds of everyone in the fleet. Global connectivity had also been upgraded using the Mind Gem over the past six months.

Now, Femilis can directly materialize into reality, and even in such a difficult environment, global connectivity allows for normal communication.

Hundreds of beams of light bombarded the fleet, and massive explosions repeatedly cracked the shields. The shields were very strong, but that didn't mean they were indestructible.

The overwhelming attacks made everyone feel as if they were surrounded by a torrential downpour, with enemy attacks coming from all directions. It was a war in which they were completely crushed.

"We must evacuate! The enemy's attack is too strong!"

"Requesting backup! Enemies are everywhere! We can't possibly win!"

"..."

Similar negative comments echoed throughout the entire network from the very first second of the war. If it weren't for Fimiris's level-up and increased resistance, making her less easily affected, she would have been overwhelmed by despair once again.

We had no choice but to directly adjust a large amount of useless information, but even the sorted information list mostly contained similar content.

War inevitably involves sacrifices; there is no war without sacrifices. However, sacrifice and being massacred are two different things. The situation on the ground is exactly like being massacred.

Countless warnings filled the screens on the bridge. The command center, watching the fierce battle on the surface of the flesh tide through the panoramic observation system, also frowned.

"Fimilis reports that the results are quite different from our calculations. Our estimation was wrong; we overestimated our strength. We estimate that the fleet can only hold out for a minute at most."

Femilis then appeared at the command post and reported the terrible news to everyone.

"What! They couldn't even last a minute!"

Theresa from Honkai Impact 2 was also one of the commanders in this operation, and she jumped to her feet upon hearing the terrible news.

Seeing the humans and Valkyries on the screen who had exploded and vanished along with the fleet, she realized she wasn't prepared to face it.

Those robots aside, these Valkyries and soldiers are warriors carefully trained by the Human Federation in the past six months.

"Don't you still have a secret team? They should be able to..."

Theresa also knew that Chaldea had prepared a special team to deal with the mastermind behind the scenes. The Infinity Stones, which humanity had discovered and developed to their current state in less than half a year, were in their hands. With the power of those Infinity Stones, they could definitely eliminate the enemy in front of them.

"No!" It was Iserin, from the same world as Theresa in Honkai Impact 2, who spoke up. "We have to persevere even if we can't hold on. Theresa, you should know that we have no choice. If we can't even deal with the enemy's grunts, how can we solve this crisis?"

"You should know that according to the intelligence we have observed, many worlds were burned down by the halo of the mastermind behind them. If we don't deal with the mastermind behind them, we will also be burned down in less than eleven hours."

"I understand...but I..."

Theresa knew that the team was meant to fight the mastermind behind the scenes, but the Valkyries and soldiers shouldn't be wasted as cannon fodder before the final battle even begins, just being consumed as numbers.

There were many people she knew inside, her students, her accomplices, and in the end, they all perished with a scream. Theresa felt a deep pain in her heart.

Theresa really wanted to ask, "Do you really know how many people are dying on the battlefield every second?" But she couldn't. This was a war that had to be won; there was no other choice.

“Miss Theresa, we understand how you feel, but we have no choice.”

The Chaldeans, including Keman, had a good impression of Miss Theresa, who looked very much like their Director Theresa, but now was not the time to be reckless; they could not afford to lose this war.

It wasn't that they didn't want Kiana and the others to help, but rather that they had more important tasks to complete.

To put it bluntly, these fleets were indeed used as cannon fodder, just as Theresa thought. Their only purpose was to send Kiana and her decapitation squad into the Grand Time Palace.

Once the mastermind behind this is eliminated, the Imaginary Incineration, which has affected numerous universes, can be ended, and with the power of the Infinity Stones, all those who sacrificed themselves can be resurrected.

But then someone asked, what if we can't solve it?