The Exiled Count Acquired the Space Fortress of a Super Advanced Civilization - CH 36

The fortress is cracking.

The first Federation soldier who witnessed the scene thought at first that he had won. They thought it had been hit by a large-caliber beam cannon and collapsed from the inside.

It didn’t take him long to realize that this was apparently not the case.

Indeed, the fortress is cracked.

However, the cracks were symmetrical, up and down, left and right, and were not accompanied by any explosions, and the broken parts were clearly in controlled motion.

The fortress, which appeared to be perfectly spherical, shifted to an elongated, flattened shape.

From a sphere to a flattened cone.

If a sphere is an omnidirectional shape, then a cone is a specialized shape for the front side.

The external armor plate from the spherical form was used as the exterior as it was, and most of the turrets that had been installed spread their wings wide enough to attack the front.

General Sarcou, who was positioned with his back to the supply depot, knew almost exactly what the shape change was about.

“Spread out the fleet to maximize the effectiveness of the mine defenses.”

The order was given.

The general staff under Sarko embodied the orders and passed them on to lower level commanders.

The Federation’s main force is the Reise fleet, which is behind the fortress.

The Sarcophagus fleet at the front is only a role to deceive the fortress by padding the fleet numbers with dummy balloons, and to succeed in a surprise attack from behind.

After that, mines were used to prevent the fortress from being approached and overrun, and the Reise fleet aimed to destroy or neutralize the fortress before the depot was destroyed.

Sarko’s order to disperse was in line with that basic policy.

It’s not wrong.

But it’s not the right answer either.

The fact that the federal troops had begun to disperse was immediately conveyed to Settsu in the command center of the fortress.

Regardless of how the fleet moved, it no longer mattered much to Settsu.

“Transformation complete.”

The transformation of the fortress is complete. It is an assault form that can concentrate its attack on the front.

Compared to the spherical shape, it almost doubles the power of frontal gunfire.

But one more thing.

There is another weapon that can only be used in this form.

“Mitski, prepare to fire the doomsday gun.”

“Copy that. We are preparing to attack with the Doomsday Gun, Levatein, the Flame of Dusk Surt. We’ve set our sights on the Federation supply depot.”

As usual, Mitsuki proceeded with the preparations.

No matter what kind of destruction it would bring, for Mitsuki, it was something she could proceed with without hesitation.

“Burst time calculated based on distance to sighting point. Adjust the mass of the degenerate core. Antimatter and fusion reactors to maximum power.”

What kind of preparations they are making, the specifics are unknown to Setsu.

What kind of black hole is said to be in the degenerate core?

What does mass adjustment mean and why do we do it now?

No Sett, or perhaps anyone else in the current human universe, had the knowledge of physics to understand.

“Mass adjustment complete in one minute. Open the gun ports. Activate the shell acceleration and body protection mechanisms. Final launch preparations are complete.”

The way it works is simple.

The black hole in the degenerate core is turned into a cannonball and shot straight out at the enemy.

The only thing I knew was the result it would bring, having seen the video of the test firing.

If you shoot this, the battle is over.

Hence the doomsday gun.

The tip of the fortress split in two, opening a path for the shell black hole to fire from the center of the fortress.

“Full release of gun ports confirmed. Mass adjustment complete. Retractor opening. All attack preparations complete.”

“Fire.”

“Understood. I’m firing the Levatein, the Flame of Dusk Surt.”

The trigger was pulled.

The black hole in the center of the degenerate reactor was accelerated and flew out of the opened degenerate reactor.

The shell black hole flew towards the target point, adding more acceleration as it passed through the chasm that had opened up for the shell black hole.

The cannonball black hole glowed with super-heated heat.

Black holes give off heat in proportion to their mass.

The phenomenon used to be known as Hawking radiation.

The smaller the mass of the black hole, the greater the amount of heat released, and the more heat the black hole releases, the less mass it loses.

In other words, a black hole that has lost mass releases even more heat to further reduce its mass, and finally evaporates, radiating enormous heat and the light it produces.

The black hole cannot escape even light and does not reflect any light, but just before it evaporates, it glows explosively due to the heat it releases.

Earth Federation scholars had predicted that at the end of the universe, countless black holes with galaxy-sized masses would swallow everything and then evaporate as if to burn the universe to the ground, leaving nothing behind.

This is the final flame of the end of the universe.

The trump card of the Vara Skirve fortress, the Levatein Flame of the Dusk of Surt, attacked through the heat radiation generated when the black hole evaporated.

Cut off from the continuous supply of mass by the degenerate reactor, the cannonball black hole flew through space with decreasing mass, and the amount of heat it released increased at an accelerating rate as time passed.

Entering a minefield does not stop a shell black hole.

The enormous amount of heat released by the shell black hole melted the mines, and the antimatter in the mines exploded due to annihilation.

The flashes of the mines that induced the explosions colored the airspace.

It swallowed up the beam disruptor particles, the energy from the antimatter annihilation, the mass of the mines themselves, and everything else, and the shining black hole went straight ahead with even more brilliance.

The shell black hole broke through the minefield and shifted the target of the overrun to the Federation fleet.

At the center of the ship, in close contact with the shell black hole, the ship was instantly vaporized.

General Sarko was unfortunately in the center of the fleet. Before he could comprehend what had happened, his flagship was vaporized and turned into plasma.

The ship that was a little farther away than that, its hull melted and exploded due to the annihilation of the antimatter it was carrying.

Farther than that, even the lucky ones on the outermost edge of the ship had their exteriors melted and all their armaments rendered unusable.

The cannonball black hole now shines more brightly than a star.

It twisted everything in its path with overwhelming heat and light, and landed on the asteroid where the supply depot was located.

The cannonball black hole evaporated with a final burst of brilliance.

This was also observed by the Federation and Pirate fleets that were engaged in a melee behind the fortress.

After the cannonball black hole evaporated, the universe regained its calm as if nothing had happened.

“What’s ……?” “That’s …….”

Rayse was stunned in the command center.

The asteroid where the supply depot was located had disappeared. The Federation fleet in front of it would have suffered irreversible damage.

We do not need to observe and measure the details of the damage. It is a devastating blow.

The battle against the pirate fleet had stopped. The ships of both camps had ceased their attacks and were drifting in the air.

I guess we all share the same sense of confusion about what happened.

What would happen if that thing was pointed at us? No, I’m not going to shoot it because I have allies. More importantly, this is the battlefield. As long as we lost the supply depot, the federal army is defeated.

“…retreat!”

His duties as a commander prompted Leyse to make an immediate decision.

At the same time, Settsu was also stunned in the commander’s office.

Even though they had expected considerable damage, it was more than they had anticipated. The asteroid and two-thirds of the Federation fleet in front of it were gone. The rest had lost their ability to continue the fight.

Even the fortress we shot from is not intact.

The damage to the exterior was so severe that many of the turrets were rated unusable.

The degenerate reactors that released the core itself are of course still shut down. We need to start the restart process.

“The Federation fleet is in retreat, sir.”

Mitsuki was the only one who maintained her composure. For her, this result was rather natural.

“The pirate fleet will not pursue.”

“Yes. Mitsuki, turn the fortress back into a sphere.”

As long as the Federation fleet is retreating, the battle is over.

This marks the end of the first chapter: The Count Prince Becomes a Pirate.

Next up the the second chapter: The Flames of Empire