They were all afraid of hitting their own warships.
Eight missiles, without any obstruction, slammed straight into the four engine nozzles.
Explosive light erupted at the first engine nozzle, scattering the blazing blue plasma exhaust in all directions.
Under the continuous bombardment of the missiles, those four engine nozzles finally gave way.
All four engine nozzles exploded almost simultaneously.
The explosion wasn't caused by the missiles; it was the chain reaction from the fusion reactor inside the engine after it was torn apart.
Blazing white plasma fireballs surged out from each nozzle, engulfing the entire stern area.
They swept up the twisted metal debris, severed pipelines, and molten components, then spewed them outward.
The kilometer-long Tiger-class Heavy Cruiser shuddered violently, like a giant beast with its spine severed.
Then, its tail flame went out.
The four engine nozzles that once spewed blazing blue light were now four charred holes.
The warship lost power.
It continued to glide forward under inertia, but its speed was visibly decreasing.
The hull began to tilt slightly, its auxiliary thrusters firing frantically in an attempt to stabilize it.
But without the main engine, those minor adjustments were utterly useless.
This scene was playing out repeatedly on the left flank of the Blood Locust Fleet.
Eight Swift Fighter Wings, totaling two thousand space fighters.
They darted madly through the gaps in the Imperial Fleet.
Those fighters were too fast.
A speed of 180,000 kilometers per second allowed them to maneuver effortlessly within this dense cluster of ships.
Gunners on the Imperial warships frantically swiveled their sights, trying to lock onto those damned shadows.
But it was too difficult.
Those fighters were too small, too fast, too agile.
More importantly.
They didn't dare to fire at full force.
The gunners' fingers rested on the triggers, trembling, hesitating.
Commands from the commanders came through the communication channel, carrying the same uncertainty.
"Aim before you fire!"
"Identify your target clearly!"
"Don't cause friendly fire!"
But in this chaotic airspace, faced with these madly darting hummingbirds.
Who could see clearly?
Meanwhile, the artillery fire from the right flank of the Blood Locust Fleet never ceased.
The battleships and cruisers of the Federal Main Fleet continued to pour out firepower at a rate of several volleys per minute.
Those heavy particle beams, railgun projectiles, and long-range missiles fell upon the right flank formation of the Blood Locust Fleet like an unending torrential downpour.
That formation was already loose.
Under the sustained bombardment, it grew increasingly chaotic.
Warships on the edges began to crowd toward the center of the formation to evade the artillery fire.
The originally somewhat loose formation was thus gradually compressed.
Tighter, more crowded, more suffocating.
The distance between those warships shrank from the initial hundreds of thousands of kilometers to tens of thousands, then to mere thousands.
On a space scale, a few thousand kilometers was like being face-to-face.
And they were still crowding closer.
Because if they didn't, they would be hit by the artillery fire.
But crowding together also led to trouble.
In the chaos, a destroyer being hunted by Swift fighters made a panicked, sharp turn.
Its bow veered sharply, heading straight for a cruiser beside it that was evading artillery fire.
The captain of the cruiser saw the destroyer, his pupils contracting sharply.
"Evade!!"
Too late.
The destroyer's bow slammed hard into the cruiser's broadside.
The force of the impact caused both leviathans to shudder violently simultaneously.
Armor plates twisted and tore, the groan of metal transmitted through the hull structure into everyone's ears.
A gash hundreds of meters long was ripped open along the cruiser's flank.
A terrifying suction force instantly pulled out the Imperial soldiers and everything else inside.
The destroyer fared even worse.
Its bow was almost completely deformed, its main cannon turret was smashed away, and the section housing the bridge collapsed by half.
Its thrusters still spewed tail flames, but due to the damaged hull structure, those flames twisted and wavered, pushing the crippled warship into a spin before it collided with another escort ship that had just squeezed through.
Three warships, tangled into a knot.
Explosive fire erupted from the points of impact.
Three bursts of flame bloomed simultaneously within the dense fleet.
Bridge of the Iron Blood Sovereignty.
Watching the light dots representing his starships continuously vanish.
General Knight's face turned deathly pale.
At that moment, the adjutant reported.
"Your Excellency, our current losses have exceeded forty percent. We now have only a little over seven hundred warships remaining, of which less than four hundred are likely still combat-capable."
The adjutant's words moments before were like a cold dagger, plunging deep into his chest.
A little over seven hundred.
Less than four hundred combat-capable.
A Duke-class Fleet, three thousand warships, now reduced to this.
His lips moved, wanting to say something, but he found his throat dry, unable to utter a word.
The adjutant looked at him, hesitated for a moment, then spoke up.
"Commander, there's something..."
He paused, lowering his voice.
"I find it a bit strange."
General Knight raised his head, staring at him.
Meeting his gaze, the adjutant continued.
"Look at that strange ship."
He extended a hand, pointing on the tactical screen to the Zhen Yue, tightly guarded at the center of the Federation Fleet's formation.
That enormous circular ring hung there quietly now, lavender light still continuously converging upon it.
"It's been a long time since the last firing!"
The adjutant's speech wasn't fast, but each word was clear and forceful.
"If that thing could really be used continuously, why haven't they fired it again?"
General Knight's brow furrowed.
The adjutant went on.
"Think about it. When they used planetary gravity to accelerate toward our right flank, we couldn't react in time."
"If you were the opposing Commander, holding that kind of weapon in your hand."
"Wouldn't you use it?"
General Knight remained silent.
No.
He absolutely would not.
If he had a weapon that could destroy thousands of warships in a single strike, he would not hesitate to fire it again.
To crush the enemy completely, not let fighter craft slowly harass, let the main fleet slowly grind away.
Then why hadn't the other side done so?
There was only one explanation.
That thing couldn't be used anymore.
General Knight's gaze fell on the Zhen Yue on the screen, fixed on that silent ring, staring for a long time.
The adjutant's voice sounded again, carrying a tone of certainty.
"Commander, I suspect..."
He paused.
"That thing is just bluffing us."
"It might have run out of energy, its energy charging might require an extremely long time, it might only be usable once..."
In short, right now, it's just an ornament."
"Otherwise, they would have no reason not to use it."
The bridge fell silent for a few seconds.
General Knight's brow furrowed even tighter, but his eyes were gradually changing.
From despair, to confusion, then to a glimmer of cold light.
He murmured,
"You mean... they're bluffing us?"
The adjutant nodded firmly.
"That's highly possible, Commander."