[A/N: You might be asking, “Are we leaving the Sol System?”Let me make this clear—no, we’re not abandoning it. Not now, not ever.

While the majority of the fleet will depart for the Regal Star System to prepare for the next phase and check on that unknown planet that will soon reveal itself, and as for Earth and Sol system a powerful detachment will remain behind. The Sol System still holds immense strategic and historical value.

Once the dimensional barriers fall, all ships—except the Obliterator and its two escorts—will return to the Sol System to regroup and reinforce. The final battle with the invading orc forces?That will take place here, in the Sol System. My fleet, led by Fleet Admiral Ezra, will hold the line.

This isn’t retreat. It’s positioning.And no matter where we go, the Sol System remains our foundation. a foundation for expansion that is with it immense human resource.

A few hours later, Imperial Technician Tyler arrived—accompanied by his disciple, Tessa.

I hadn’t spoken with her in a while, and it showed. She made that very clear by the way she was glaring at me—completely unapologetic, eyes sharp with annoyance.

Hah… this girl’s getting bolder, I thought, just like Luna.

I ignored her fiery gaze and turned my attention to Tyler instead.

“Is everything prepared, Tyler?” I asked, keeping my tone direct.

“Yes, Imperial Commander,” he replied with a respectful nod. “Everything is in order. The entire R&D department is ready and on standby.”

I glanced around the room. It was packed—researchers and specialists filled every available space. Their numbers had easily crossed into the thousands.

I gave Tyler a single nod. “Good. Brace yourselves, everyone.”

Without waiting for further response or reaction, I raised my hand and instantly teleported the entire group—every last one of them—across planes and distances, straight into the star system within my Universal Domain, where I had established the new R&D hub.

They arrived within one of the central buildings of the massive complex—its sleek, futuristic walls humming with ambient mana and infused tech. This was going to be their new home of innovation, a place where science and magic merged seamlessly.

Once we had arrived and everyone had stabilized from the sudden teleportation, I began introducing Tyler to the core features of the facility.

I showed him around personally, starting with the key installations I’d placed here—each one designed for cutting-edge innovation. Of course, one of the highlights was the Awakening Platform, prominently located in the central hall.

From there, I led him to one of the most important places in the complex—the Grand Library. A massive, multi-tiered archive filled with glowing tablets, digital scrolls, and rune-inscribed tomes.

“This library,” I explained, “contains knowledge spanning both the scientific and the arcane. Research on everything from subatomic fusion cores to ancient rune formations. There’s even information on hybrid systems—where technology and runic magic can function together if the right synchronization conditions are met.”

And that,” I added with a faint smile, “is just the basics.”

Tyler was speechless, nearly overwhelmed by the sheer absurdity of the resources that he was given charge of here.

And just like that, time passed.

Nearly a week had gone by in the outside world.

On the southern side of the Moon, things had quieted. Almost all thirty orbital shipyards had ceased their operations, and the mining departments had also shut down their activities, returning to port at Obliterator.

In my command room, I was receiving reports from both Minister Evsan and Fleet Admiral Ezra.

Admiral Ezra spoke first. “Commander, the fleet under Admiral Will Clinton’s command—comprising one Antares-class, two Spearhead destroyers, and various supporting vessels totaling around fifteen ships—will be left stationed in the Sol system to guard our vested interests on Earth.”

I gave him a nod. “Good job, Fleet Admiral.”

Then, turning to the Red Empress, I asked, “Are we ready to move, Empress?”

“We are, Commander,” she replied. “But… what about the orbital shipyards? What are your plans? Will they follow us to Regal, or…?”

“I’ve already thought of that,” I said, folding my arms. “We’ll relocate them to the Universal Plane—to a star sector I’ve designated as one of our future shipbuilding hubs.”

“Ohh, so that’s how it is…” she mused.

“Indeed. Give me a moment,” I said, before contacting the Teleportation Director on the Moon’s southern surface. Raising my hand, I activated the sequence—and one by one, the orbital shipyards began to vanish. Within minutes, they were all gone.

I turned and looked toward the distant blue planet.

“Goodbye, Earth,” I muttered under my breath before returning to Obliterator.

There, I gathered the mining division—nearly 500 personnel—and led them to the designated star sector in the Universal Plane. Everything had already been arranged: residential quarters, advanced mining equipment, automated processing lines, and defense systems.

The star system we arrived in was a single-star system, a massive white sun at its center, with one habitable planet and over ten celestial bodies—not including the countless asteroid fields scattered throughout. The system was rich in resources, and the planet itself, blue like Earth, had two moons.

On one of those moons, I had the orbital shipyards reestablished.

Before leaving, I gave the mining teams their orders, also informing them of the local time dilation: a 1:2 ratio. Time here flowed twice as fast as the outside universe.

“Begin operations,” I said. “And build well.”

Then I departed once more.

I returned to Obliterator, just as I had disappeared.

Turning to the Red Empress, I began, “Empress—”

But before I could continue, she raised her hand slightly, already in motion.

“Activating Transcendent Dark hyperspace module,” she said calmly.A low groan resonated throughout the Obliterator as the hyperspace module came online.

The very structure of the dreadnought seemed to hum, and simultaneously the Transcendent Dark Matter power core began pumping a massive amount of energy into feeding directly into the hyperspace module.

“Capacity at 20 percent,” she reported, eyes locked on the console. Both the power core and hyperspace module hummed in sync, their frequencies rising.

A low hum echoed through the ship, and then it began—the dark membrane, thick and unnatural, started to pulse outward from the center of the Obliterator. It expanded like living shadow, gradually enveloping the entirety of my void fleet—every vessel except the fifteen ships we had assigned to remain in Sol.

“Calculating route…” the AI intoned. “Estimating travel time: eight hours.”

“Calculating route…” the AI intoned. “Estimating travel time: eight hours.”

“Running ship perimeter checks…”

A quiet pause.

“All equipment functioning within optimal parameters. No issues detected.”

The Red Empress turned her eyes toward me. “We are ready to leave the Sol System, Commander.”

I nodded slowly, watching as the last of the black veil sealed around our vessels, giving them that signature phantom silhouette of the Dark FTL layer. Beyond us, Earth and Luna were growing distant in both view and memory.

“Then let’s begin,” I said. “Initiate the jump.”

“Initiating jump in 10 seconds… 9… 8… 3… 2… 1…”

“Now—”

BOOOOOOM!

And just like that, Obliterator vanished into the veil of FTL travel, dragging the entire Void Fleet with it.

Far across the system, the Menathwil Star Fleet, who had been monitoring our movements for over a week, were thrown into chaos.

An immense surge of energy pulsed outward from Obliterator, the fleet’s flagship, lighting up every sensor grid across the system. The sudden spike in dark matter readings, spatial distortions, and gravitational fluctuations caught them completely off guard.

“What the hell are they doing now?!” barked Bai Zong Qi, Chancellor of the Star Fleet, slamming a fist against the holo-console. “First they expand their fleet like there’s no tomorrow, then a full stop on their mining operations, and now the orbital shipyards vanish into thin air—and this?!”

“They’re not just moving,” said Yu Tong, her voice tense, eyes locked on the tactical display. “They’re disappearing.”

“Look!” she shouted, pointing at the massive dark membranes swirling around the dreadnought and its escorting fleet. The shadowy veil spread like ink in water, expanding until nearly every ship was engulfed, save for the fifteen left outside the FTL field.

And then—

BOOOOM.

A sudden shockwave rippled across space as the massive fleet blinked out of existence in a single moment of lightless distortion.

The room fell into stunned silence.

“They… jumped,” Yu Tong whispered. “They jumped directly into FTL… with the entire fleet. Just like that.”

Bai Zong Qi turned slowly, pale with disbelief.

“What the hell is going on…”

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