CH 340

"The system must have malfunctioned. How can a wormhole transport a planet of that size?" Even Temo started doubting the scan.

"Yeah. It isn't even a regular big planet, but it's a gaseous planet," said Zhang Xingxing.

Before long, the gravitational force of the planet revealed itself. The small asteroids around Mars started being dragged out of their original orbit.

"The empire has gone mad. How did they transport a gaseous planet of this size? This is no longer mere invasion but elimination," said Somo. Even a Sacred Wing like him couldn't accept a slaughter of such level.

I noticed that all the superweapons and the imperial battleships were starting to move as well. All of them were trying to escape the gravitational pull of the incoming planet. The remaining small planets were being pulled toward the gaseous planet, leaving Mars alone with the Kax Ring around it.

"The gaseous planet has shown itself. It does not look much smaller than Jupiter. It is moving very quickly and will reach Mars in roughly 15 minutes," reported Lin Feixue.

At that point, the initial collision was already happening. The small planets meant to be launched at Mars were being pulled toward the gaseous planet. The collisions created continuous eruptions as the massive gaseous planet swallowed the small planets one after another without much trouble.

"Mars is finished. Blue will be next. If a planet of this size is thrown into Mars orbit, its powerful gravitational pull will also ruin Blue's ecosystem," said Carter.

Even the fiend was starting to withdraw from the battlefield. All the attacks on the battlefield stopped as both the league and the empire armies started escaping. The imperial ships had not attacked the league ships while they were escaping.

That was understandable as they were witnessing the destruction of an entire planet. Nobody had the attention to spare for the escaping ships and the lives they carried that looked so tiny in comparison. There were still hundreds of millions of innocent lives on Mars awaiting destruction. Not a single one of the escaped ships had escaped through wormhole-leaps. All of them had stayed behind to accompany Mars in its final moments.

"Carter, all the ships we can pull out has left the planet," reported Prince Toruse's gloomy voice. At that point, the collision was 10 minutes away.

All the ships around Mars had stopped at a safe distance. Ships from both sides of the war had all turned into spectators of what was to unfold. We could hardly get a clear look at the gaseous planet's surface with our naked eyes. The storm on the surface of the planet seemed even more intense than what could be found on Jupiter. The planet seemed to be in an extremely unstable state.

"That emperor has gone mad. He has clearly hidden some of his technologies from everyone," said Lamo.

"Yeah. The superweapons are not capable of moving gaseous planets. Apart from other planets, nothing can affect the movement of a gaseous planet," said Somo.

"Mars is finished," I said to Old Du as I shook my head helplessly.

"It's really over for Mars," said Zhang Bao'er. I could hear that he was on the verge of tears.

All of us understood that there would be no miracles this time. The gaseous planet was only five minutes away from Mars. The planet was at least a thousand times bigger than Mars, looking like a gigantic serpent that was about to swallow a tiny pearl.

The powerful Kax Ring once again tried to protect the beautiful and old red planet. Alas, the gaseous planet was too big. Mars and its Kax Ring were already being pulled out of their original orbit, heading toward the gaseous planet.

We didn't even dare to imagine what the many lives on Mars were thinking at the moment. All of us could clearly see that the surface of Mars was being torn apart by the gravitational force. Numerous debris was being pulled into the sky. Before long, Mars's outer atmosphere started entering the gaseous planet. At that point, Mars's surface had transformed into a living hell.

Some more time passed before the Kax Ring finally failed. It could not withstand the gaseous planet's gravity. The part of the Kax Ring facing the planet broke apart, and in less than a minute, the entire Kax Ring crumbled.

Without the Kax Ring's protection, Mars's surface became directly exposed to the planet's powerful gravity. Powerful explosions erupted from within Mars. Its core exploded, and in moments, the entire planet was decimated.

"Farewell, Mars," said Zhang Xingxing as she lowered her head.

All of us lowered our heads, paying homage to a planet that was so symbolic to our civilization. After the final explosion, Mars started falling apart before being pulled in a straight line into the gaseous planet. Massive ripples were left on the surface of the gaseous planet while the light from the explosion illuminated the area for a very long time.

Just like that, a grand and glorious planet had stopped existing. It had not vanished due to a natural disaster. Rather, it had been destroyed in a war. The mood was somber inside the silent ship. All of us were fully immersed in the grief of losing Mars.

"Damn that Fille! I'll kill him myself!" roared Zhang Bao'er furiously.

With his furious declaration, more roars rang out in the ship. "Revenge!" "Revenge!"

"Revenge!"

The cruelty of Emperor Fille had fully provoked the anger of the league army. After swallowing Mars, the gaseous planet stopped moving. Its mission was clear: to fully destroy Mars.

"This planet is truly a bringer of death," said Kelly with a deep sigh.

Find the original at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

With that, the planet replaced Mars's position in the Solar System. Of course, we had yet to see the full effect of its appearance.

"Commander, look, the imperial ships are retreating," said Lin Feixue.

We looked out of the window and saw that the imperial ships and superweapons were all initiating leaps to leave the area.

"What is happening? Why aren't they attacking us?" asked Zhang Bao'er.

"Honor. Their sense of honor does not allow them to perform something as cruel as destroying an entire planet. I believe even the Eternal soldiers couldn't accept what they had just witnessed," said Temo.

"Temo might be right. Mars has been destroyed. They probably don't want to cause more deaths here," said Somo.

"Commander, the imperial forces are retreating. Do we retreat as well?" asked Prince Toruse.

"Canyue, I'm Violetvoid. My apologies. I had not expected something like that to happen. I need to meet the great sovereign. If you need to contact me, notify Bulu. My greatest apologies," said Violetvoid.

I understood that the Mars campaign had ended. Once again, the league had suffered a total defeat. It was indeed the time for us to leave.

"With the empire's technological advantage, it is only a matter of time before Blue is also destroyed," said Zhang Xingxing. I didn't even dare to imagine that happening.

Following our previous agreement with Prince Toruse, we retreated toward Rumble. Anxashe appeared slightly excited to be back home. Perhaps it was because he had been away for way too long.

Planet Rumble was located within the Alnitak System of the Orion Constellation. All the ships on our side started initiating a leap toward the planet. Prior to our leap, Temo made sure that the fiend had returned to Skyhawk as well.

"There are too many of us. Will the Kingdom of Kenante feel uneasy at our appearance?" I asked Zhang Xingxing.

"King Carter of Kenante had promised Emperor Fille to stay neutral as a price for peace. This time, we might need to have a good talk with King Carter and try to get his support," said Zhang Xingxing.

"Even the Wargod race is afraid of Emperor Fille, to the point they can disregard how the empire once supported their rebels," I said helplessly.

"A wise man submits to circumstances. King Carter still needs to protect his people," said Zhang Xingxing.

While we were speaking, Skyhawk had arrived near Rumble, the beautiful planet 0.3 lightyears away from Alnitak. However, the Rumble before us was greatly different from the Rumble we saw during our first visit here.

Rumble's immediate vicinity used to be completely empty, but it was now filled with countless ships of numerous different designs. Civilian transport ships, battleships fleeing in disorder, and many other ships that had escaped from all over the universe were outside Rumble.

Thousands of mechanical birds formed a defensive line in the air, and a massive air fortress had also been built outside Rumble. There, the Wargod soldiers were performing inspections on all the people who were trying to enter the planet.

The mechanical birds we saw were unlike those we had seen before. They were much larger and were equipped with a large amount of ranged weapons. Together with the regular mechanical birds, they maintained the order at the defensive line. The line waiting to enter Rumble was thousands of kilometers long, forming several circles around the planet itself.

"This line is too long. How long will we take to enter? We need to enter Gero City and meet King Carter as soon as possible. Since we're old friends, can't we get a fast lane or something?" said Zhang Bao'er.

"Prince Toruse, I'm Zhang Xingxing. Can you contact King Carter and request for our ships to be allowed to enter the planet first?" said Zhang Xingxing.