At this moment, the Divine Ark Civilization’s small universe was dim and lightless. At least eighty percent of the stars responsible for providing illumination had gone dark. Xiao Yu even saw that the mass of those stars was rapidly decreasing.

Fortunately, the devices that extracted energy from the stars had undergone special load optimization in their design, so the stars did not explode from suddenly losing vast amounts of mass.

An immense amount of energy, beyond all description, was continuously converging onto the Specter companion. The Specter companion’s body was like a balloon that could hold endless air, and what Xiao Yu was doing was constantly pumping more air into that balloon.

Thirteen days had already passed. In another two days, the Specter companion would be able to raise his power to its peak and draw from these one thousand stars enough strength to contend with the Neutron War Star. By that time, the battle within the Space Bridge would also be nearing its end.

The Sweepers Civilization’s fleet was fighting desperately to break into the small universe, because they knew there was not much time left for them. The Divine Ark Civilization’s fleet was fighting just as desperately to block the enemy, because they knew that the rear lines were not yet ready, that their most powerful superweapon, the Specter companion, had not yet reached his strongest state.

Under such circumstances, the losses on both sides had reached an astonishing level. On the Sweepers Civilization’s side, of two hundred million warships, fewer than one million remained. On Xiao Yu’s side, of eight billion warships, fewer than one hundred million remained.

All of the Divine Ark Civilization’s reserve warships had been committed by Xiao Yu. These one hundred million warships were his final strength. Xiao Yu believed the Sweepers Civilization was in the same situation. Those one million warships were the last conventional warships of the Sweepers Civilization.

“Even if our Divine Ark Civilization fails in the end, we have now almost completely exhausted your conventional forces. Without tens of thousands of years, you will not be able to recover. On the road of resisting you, our Divine Ark Civilization has gone farther than the Guardian Civilization, farther than the Micron Civilization, farther than the semi four dimensional Taihao. We have gone farther than any of your other enemies.” Xiao Yu thought with deep pride. “In the end, we too will reach the final destination and utterly destroy you.”

One hundred million warships against one million Sweepers Civilization warships plus the Neutron War Star. That was the situation now.

Countless intelligent being warriors had already left their warship control pods. Their warships had been completely destroyed, and Xiao Yu no longer had new warships to give them. At this moment, only a little over one hundred warriors still remained in the control pods. These hundred-odd warriors were the most outstanding among all the warriors. Each one of them had a huge number of admirers among the Divine Ark Civilization’s people. It was they who would pilot this final hundred million warships.

Yang Jianqi and Rose were among these hundred-odd warriors, and they were the leaders of this group.

By this stage of the war, both sides had suffered terrible losses. The scale of the conflict was more than a hundred times smaller than at the beginning. Yet although the scale of the war had shrunk, its ferocity had not lessened at all. In fact, because the number of warships had greatly decreased, all kinds of schemes and stratagems emerged in an endless stream.

The Sweepers Civilization had completely abandoned conventional fleet attacks. The mission of those one million warships had once again become protecting the Neutron War Star from being sliced out of the battlefield. The main offensive task was again taken up by the Neutron War Star itself. On the Divine Ark Civilization’s side, these warships, though unable to inflict damage on the Neutron War Star, could still threaten it by slicing it into the small universe.

“The current situation is not in our favor. The Neutron War Star has not taken the slightest damage. From beginning to end it has remained at peak combat strength. I am not optimistic about relying on only one hundred million warships, most of them small, to block the Neutron War Star for two days. It is very likely that we will fall short and have our defenses broken before the Specter companion finishes his power up. But I do not wish to accept this outcome. Not only I, but everyone in the Divine Ark Civilization refuses to accept it.”

“Yang Jianqi, Rose, you are the two most outstanding of all our warriors, so I am entrusting this arduous task to you. I order you, no matter the cost, you must block the Neutron War Star for two more days.”

“This concerns the life and death of our civilization. Everyone in our civilization, myself included, is watching you. You must complete this mission, you must.”

Inside the virtual space, the images of Yang Jianqi and Rose stood there hand in hand. The two of them exchanged a glance and smiles appeared on their faces at the same time. They turned together to face Xiao Yu’s projected figure and said in unison, “Master, please be at ease. We will definitely complete this mission.”

Xiao Yu nodded heavily and shut down his projection.

“Let us begin.” Yang Jianqi said. “You must have experienced that mysterious state. Of all the Divine Ark Civilization, only you and I can enter that state. So let us activate it and complete our final mission.”

Rose nodded gently. Their hands parted, and their images vanished at the same time.

“Transfer all warship control permissions to me and Rose. You can rest now. Leave the rest to us…” Yang Jianqi’s voice echoed through the virtual space, carrying a strange undertone.

After hearing this voice, the other hundred plus warriors all relinquished their control over their warships, handing that authority over to Yang Jianqi and Rose.

“Fifty million for you, fifty million for me, how about that?” Yang Jianqi said.

“One last match?”

“Of course. Do not forget, whoever loses has to propose to the other.” Yang Jianqi laughed. “Let us begin.”

Under Xiao Yu’s gaze, the last hundred million ships of the Divine Ark Civilization suddenly seemed to gain life. They were no longer cold warships, but became countless beating lives. They darted nimbly among the wreckage strewn across the battlefield, dodging all kinds of attacks and unleashing their own.

At times they would suddenly converge to launch a joint strike, then suddenly scatter again, carrying out certain specific maneuvers from various angles.

These hundred million ships seemed to have gained lives of their own, two lives, two different lives. Yet although these two lives were distinct, they coordinated together with absolute perfection.

Within them, Xiao Yu saw the silhouettes of two people, one was Yang Jianqi, the other was Rose.

The ferocious Neutron War Star in that moment seemed to have become a lion, and the hundred million warships piloted by Yang Jianqi and Rose were like a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes could never be a match for a lion, but it was not so easy for a lion to wipe out mosquitoes either. In such a scenario, the Neutron War Star was surrounded. Xiao Yu clearly sensed that the Neutron War Star’s situation had become passive. Although it was still unrivaled in its rampage, it had to constantly guard against being sliced into the small universe. At this moment, their side had pushed that threat to the maximum.

Originally, Xiao Yu had planned to personally control these hundred million warships and fight the Neutron War Star in this final battle. But by now, Xiao Yu no longer had the spare computational power. Most of his computation had already been committed to the Specter companion.

Yet now he discovered that although Yang Jianqi’s and Rose’s handling of the warships was not as precise, not as smoothly at his fingertips as his own, under their control these warships were actually displaying even greater combat strength than if he were piloting them himself.

This had nothing to do with data or computational power. Xiao Yu knew that even if he became more precise, he could not reach this height.

Time trickled by bit by bit. No one knew how long had passed when, all at once, every warship darting back and forth within the Space Bridge suddenly came to a stop.

The warships that had been brimming with life abruptly returned to cold metal, as if something had left them.

In the virtual space, the images of Yang Jianqi and Rose appeared once more.

“Hm. I seem to have forgotten. Today is my birthday. As of today, I am officially an adult. I can get married now.” Yang Jianqi said. “Rose, what about you? Are you old enough?”

“Idiot, I am older than you. If you are old enough, how could I not be?” Rose said angrily. “And this is the eighteenth time you have forgotten my age and birthday.”

“Oh, oh, sorry. Since we are both old enough to marry now, then let us get married.” Yang Jianqi said with a smile.

“Wait, we can get married, but who is going to propose to whom?” Rose asked.

“It seems we did not decide a winner in that last match.” Yang Jianqi said, scratching his head in embarrassment. “How about this, neither of us proposes and we just get married.”

“No.” Rose’s brows arched sharply. “Absolutely not.”

Yang Jianqi’s expression suddenly became serious. “Then let me propose to you.”

Yang Jianqi’s projection went down on one knee before Rose. At that moment, a kind of sacred radiance seemed to appear on his face. With a steady voice without the slightest tremor, he said, “Rose, I love you. Marry me and be my wife.”

The smile on Rose’s face also faded away. In the end, two streams of tears flowed from her eyes, sparkling with crystal light. “I accept.”

Yang Jianqi stood up, and the two of them embraced tightly. The smile returned to Yang Jianqi’s face, but the tears on Rose’s cheeks did not stop flowing.

“Jianqi, I am so afraid. I am so afraid.” Rose sobbed softly. “It is as if I see endless darkness ahead. I do not know what is there. I am scared, I am so scared.”

“Easy now, do not be afraid. No matter what is there, I will be with you.” Yang Jianqi said softly, gently patting her back. “Do not be afraid. Come, let us go.”

Their images separated, then walked forward side by side, holding hands. As they walked, radiance bloomed from their bodies. As that radiance spread, their figures grew fainter and fainter until finally they vanished without a trace.

Just before the two of them disappeared completely, two final lines came through.

“Easy now, I am here, do not be afraid.”

“Mm, with you by my side, I am not afraid.”

Their images faded away. At that moment, Xiao Yu’s projection appeared. With a solemn and dignified voice, he said, “In my capacity as Supreme Leader of the Divine Ark Civilization, I hereby declare that Yang Jianqi and Rose are now husband and wife. This marriage is legal and valid.”

In the real world, the control pods of the warships slowly opened, revealing the bodies of Yang Jianqi and Rose, whose breathing and heartbeats had already stopped, under the gentle light. Xiao Yu’s projected figure walked over and placed a bouquet of roses beside each of them.

At the same time, as if confirming that these troublesome warships had truly lost all ability to move, the Neutron War Star suddenly sprang into action. With several hundred thousand escort warships in tow, carrying an aura of apocalyptic destruction, it charged into the Divine Ark Civilization’s small universe.

And just then, another unknown existence filled with violent fury rushed up to meet it.

“So you are strong, is that it? You think you are strong?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep