Destroying stars and setting a star off like a firework was something Xiao Yu had done quite a few times during this period, but only this time brought him such shock. Because in this instance, Xiao Yu truly perceived the Pegasus Civilization’s determination to defend this star, the price they paid for it, and the losses they suffered after their defense failed.

A furious stellar energy eruption has a certain characteristic, namely that the energy released at the two poles is the strongest, and the poles usually form roughly a right angle with the ecliptic plane. Moreover, since the various principal defense systems of the Pegasus Civilization were concentrated on the ecliptic plane, these military facilities very fortunately avoided the first wave of the star’s destruction.

But unfortunately, even if they were not facing the strongest energy eruption at the poles, in the face of the earth-shaking event of a star’s destruction, the energy burst on the ecliptic plane was still extremely terrifying. At close range, such an energy intensity was not something artificial creations of a Level 5 Civilization could withstand.

Ships with mobility could escape, but what about the immobile star system defense facilities, such as colossal interstellar fortresses, interstellar bomb clusters, interstellar mine clusters, armed turrets, and so forth?

Their only outcome was destruction. And once these things were destroyed, a star system’s defense system was basically paralyzed and gone.

After destroying this star, Xiao Yu’s fleet decisively left this place, once again entering curvature flight and setting out on the journey to destroy the next star. As for which star to attack next, Xiao Yu had not yet decided.

The selection of targets had to be determined according to the Pegasus Civilization’s military deployments. If the Pegasus Civilization concentrated a large defensive force at Star System Number 2, then Xiao Yu might turn to attack the relatively weakly defended Star System Number 3. If Star System Number 3 had strong defenses, then Xiao Yu might turn to attack Star System Number 4. In short, Xiao Yu’s sailing speed was faster than that of the Pegasus Civilization. Only the situation of Xiao Yu leading the enemy by the nose could occur. Xiao Yu would not let the enemy lead him by the nose.

He had no interest in staying here to encircle and suppress the fish that slipped through the net. Without a star system base, they had already become a rabble of scattered troops. They had a massive quantity, but no logistics, no supplies. Once fuel was exhausted, there was no way to replenish it. If a ship was damaged, there was no way to repair it. Such a fleet was not worth Xiao Yu sending a large force to encircle and annihilate. Moreover, if he stayed there to carry out encirclement and suppression, he might even be affected by the energy from the star’s explosion and in turn suffer damage himself.

In fact, Xiao Yu’s fleet had not concentrated into a single mass. Along the routes among the remaining four stars, Xiao Yu had already detached forces to garrison. These forces would not attack the star system’s defense system. They would only appear and disappear unpredictably in the dark starry sky, harassing the redeployment forces between the star systems. Now, they had one more duty, namely to stop the ships in Star System Number 1 whose star had been destroyed from returning to the other bases.

The number of ships undertaking these tasks was not small. If assembled together, there were about two million in total. Meanwhile, the ships of the Pegasus Civilization that escaped from Star System Number 1 numbered at most about eight hundred thousand, and every single ship had damage. Xiao Yu had already planned out the end for these ships, either flee to interstellar space and become a wandering civilization, or be gradually worn down to nothing by Xiao Yu’s forces during their attempt to enter other garrisoned star systems.

If the other star systems dared to send forces to meet these ships, then Xiao Yu would be very happy to engage the enemy fleet in a field battle in the starry sky. Do not forget, Xiao Yu suffered in siege warfare, but field battles were his domain.

After a comprehensive analysis of the garrison forces of the four star systems, Xiao Yu selected as his target a star system numbered two. In this star system, about 2.4 million ships were stationed. This star system was about 1.8 light-years from Xiao Yu’s current position, and it would take half a month of travel for Xiao Yu to arrive.

Xiao Yu did not rush at full speed but deliberately delayed for a period, making some moves to confuse the Pegasus Civilization’s garrison forces. At the same time, he took advantage of this period to rest and resupply the fleet. Only after fully restoring combat strength did he arrive before this star system.

Still there were no flourishes and no techniques, only a hard collision. In this star system siege battle, the three Continent-Class ships once again displayed an invincible, ferocious might. Xiao Yu successfully delivered the stellar cannon to within less than three billion kilometers of the star and successfully destroyed this star.

“Three targets remain. Knock out two more outlying strongholds, and then we can launch an attack on the Pegasus Civilization’s capital star system. All of the Pegasus Civilization’s key research institutions and all key scientific data must absolutely have backups in the capital star system. As long as I obtain those backups, my objective will be achieved. In that case, onward to the next target.”

The star system just captured once again left a field of ruins, as well as about six hundred thousand scarred, supplyless, tired wandering ships. Together with the eight hundred thousand ships that survived from the first destroyed star system, these ships would, under the pursuit of Xiao Yu’s interdiction forces, run themselves ragged and ultimately follow the path Xiao Yu had arranged for them, either fleeing to outer star systems or dying.

Even within the inner star systems of the Pegasus Civilization, Xiao Yu could obtain supplies. With technology developed to the present, matter and energy were basically synonymous. As long as there was matter, there would be energy. In the cosmic void, there was not much matter, and there was not much matter in Xiao Yu’s fleet either, but there was a lot of matter in the Pegasus Civilization’s fleet. Xiao Yu had now embarked on a path of feeding war with war. That enormous Pegasus Civilization fleet was Xiao Yu’s energy source.

After Star System Number 2 was destroyed, Xiao Yu arrived at Star System Number 3. Three targets remained, and correspondingly, the Pegasus Civilization’s defensive forces were also contracting. While capturing the first two star systems, Xiao Yu had a feeling, namely that Star System Number 2 was a bit harder to capture than the first, and now, obviously, Star System Number 3 was harder to capture than the second.

“In my fleet now, the total number of ships is still about eight million. During this period of war, I have already lost more than three million ships, basically one third of my combat strength. War is indeed a high-risk endeavor, but high risk means high return. If I can obtain the complete technological system of the Pegasus Civilization, then the ships I have lost are nothing. Even if I lose twice as many again, it does not matter.” Xiao Yu thought with some emotion.

Among the remaining eight million ships, more than 1.5 million were scattered in the empty void, continuing to encircle and suppress those wandering ships, while also blocking material transport between different star systems, seizing Pegasus Civilization ships to replenish his own supplies, conducting intelligence searches, harassing the enemy, confusing the opponent, and so on in a series of tasks.

During this period, who could say how many small-scale battles erupted in the cosmic void. In these battles, the smaller ones had only several hundred or even dozens of ships participating, and the larger ones did not exceed a scale of ten thousand ships. Although the scale of these battles was small, their cruelty surpassed that of the large-scale star system siege battles. As a supplement to the large campaigns, these small-scale battles were also necessary.

After a period of rest and resupply, Xiao Yu’s fleet finally arrived before Star System Number 3. In this star system, a total of roughly three million ships were stationed, while Xiao Yu still had more than six million ships.

Fierce battle broke out once again. After confirming that the Pegasus Civilization would not send ships from other star systems to support this one, Xiao Yu finally had time to carry out a star system siege with a bit of technical strategy. Xiao Yu abandoned the hard-collision method and adopted a three-pronged advance, attacking the star system simultaneously from three different directions, while splitting off a fourth force to move about in different places, constantly harassing and pinning down the Pegasus Civilization’s defensive forces. The advantage of this approach was that it could minimize his own casualties to the greatest extent. The disadvantage was also obvious, namely that Xiao Yu spent more than three months to take this star system, and then used the stellar cannon to blast the star of this system with a single shot.

Destroying two million of the enemy’s ships cost Xiao Yu about six hundred thousand ships. The total number of Xiao Yu’s ships decreased again, and because the number of wandering ships in the starry sky increased again, Xiao Yu had no choice but to detach another four hundred thousand ships to participate in various raids, pursuits, incursions, and harassing engagements.

As a result, when Xiao Yu’s fleet arrived at the fourth and final outlying stronghold of the Pegasus Civilization’s capital defense perimeter, the usable forces in his hand were already reduced to just over 5.3 million ships, while the enemy star system’s garrisoned ships numbered more than four million.

It was highly unlikely that the capital star system would send forces to reinforce the outer perimeter. Therefore, in this star system, Xiao Yu formulated a complex and detailed operational plan and, after spending a full one and a half years, finally took this star system at the cost of losing eight hundred thousand ships and destroying three million two hundred thousand enemy ships.

Ahead, only one target remained.

“The battle has only one last fight left. As long as we take the Pegasus Civilization’s capital star system, my objective will be achieved. Then it is time to reveal my final trump card.” Xiao Yu thought silently.