An ominous presence roused from the bowels of the Mortis Greyson! The proud pirate destroyer not only lost all of her crew in an instant, but had also bulged far beyond what she could handle, causing her to look as if she had tried to bear a child that was too monstrous for her to carry!

The Mortis Greyson literally lost her life after being forced to bear this child. Now, an ancient horror was rousing. Not only had he succeeded in breaking through the prison that held him captive for how many long years, but his rage at what Ves had done to him caused the entity to have nothing but revenge on his mind!

The increasingly more powerful spiritual fluctuations emerging from the Ancient Sarcophagus destabilized the entire ship even further!

If that wasn't enough, a single gem that Ves placed next to the Ancient Sarcophagus became subject to a considerable amount of abuse.

Though Nyxie only possessed the barest of rationality after suffering eons of crushing isolation, the alien tyrant had developed an undying hatred against Ves! As far as this monstrous spiritual entity was concerned, he needed to pay the little human back for all the suffering he endured! He would not rest until he took revenge against the weakling who sought to exploit someone who had once ruled over an entire space empire!

The rage flowing out of Nyxie was so violent that the so-called Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gem couldn't withstand the pressure any longer.

Just like the heads of the pirate crew of the Mortis Greyson, the gem broke apart, unleashing the potent chaos energy locked inside!

A large amount of energy quickly spread inside the chamber of the torpedo, only for the entity that had breached the restrictions of the Ancient Sarcophagus to automatically absorb it by instinct!

By the time that Nyxie had just started to recognize that it was a very bad idea to take in highly volatile energy with very chaotic properties, his entire spiritual makeup abruptly transformed!

The pressure emanating from the Mortis Greyson doubled! The warping had grown so bad that the physical force acting on the entire hull of the crippled destroyer increased as well!

Every nearby pirate mech or ship quickly started to distance themselves from the broken warship. A powerful wave of malice and chaos spread across kilometers. This caused the pirates aboard the Gravada Knarlax to feel a bit uneasy.

While the Black Watcher was quietly communing with someone, Lord Hivex issued a series of orders.

According to the Black Watcher, whatever or whoever crippled the Mortis Greyson was just waking up! Was this the trump card of the Larkinson Clan? Was this why Ulimo Citadel fell?

"Milord, we have received an incoming hail from the Larkinson fleet!" One of the pirate bridge officers announced. "Mr. Ves Larkinson wishes to speak to you in person!"

The pirate lord's eyes grew grave. What did this young mech designer want to do? Intimidate him? That was silly! Lord Hivex had fought and beaten far more enemies than this kid from the Komodo Star Sector. There was no way he would shy away from a clean-shaven brat!

He accepted the hail. Due to all of the attacks and energy unleashed on the battlefield, the projection that appeared before the pirate lord was marred by noise and static.

"Mr. Larkinson." Lord Hivex greeted with a ferocious grin while he summoned his full bearing as one of the power players of the Nyxian Gap. "Do you wish to offer your terms of surrender, or shall I have to pry it out of you in person once you lie before me after my men have amputated all of your limbs?"

The projection of Ves grinned back. While his Unending Regalia did not boast the numerous impressive-looking trophies of his counterpart, its exceptionally high quality along with its dashing red cape significantly boosted his stature.

"Before you fantasize about bringing me before your feet, you should make sure you even get to keep them by the end of this battle." Ves confidently hit back. He spread out his armored hand. "I know you've got a bunch of cultists on your ship. I came prepared this time. Do you like the little surprise I've sent to your little destroyer? Sorry about the crew, but my alien god is very hungry and very angry. Eating pirates is his favorite activity, so I did him a favor and sent him to a buffet!"

The pirate lord seethed. "Your scheme will not work. The dark god at our side is unending and eternal. You know nothing about the powers that we can harness. If you think you can stop our dark god with an impostor, then think again."

Ves tauntingly smirked at the furious pirate lord before he abruptly ended the transmission. He sat back in his chair as he contemplated what he had accomplished.

First, he confirmed that the infamous Lord Hivex was present aboard the flagship. This was important, because Ves was very interested in collecting the bounty on the powerful pirate lord's head if possible.

Second, the brief contact allowed him to influence Lord Hivex. This was an even more important objective.

Ves knew that unleashing Nyxie after he had just knifed the formerly-trapped entity a bunch of times was a very dangerous course of action.

Anyone who suffered so much abuse would have thoughts of taking revenge!

Therefore, his plan of freeing Nyxie in the middle of the pirate fleet was actually very precarious. Nyxie could easily ignore the inconsequential pirates and head straight back to the Scarlet Rose to torture Ves in endless ways!

As Ves did not wish to be the first to suffer the brunt of Nyxie's fury, he needed to find some way to drag Nyxie into a conflict with the pirates.

First, he tried to affect Nyxie's rationality by attempting to infect him with a bit of chaos. While Ves had no clue what the Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gem contained, its description suggested that it was nothing good.

He could see the result of this act with his spiritual senses. Nyxie's fury and rage had skyrocketed after he absorbed a sudden burst of chaotic energy!

However, this was not enough. Ves had to make sure that Nyxie only thought about directing his ire towards the pirates rather than the Larkinsons.

This was why he employed his Devil Tongue against Lord Hivex! Through the few words he said, Ves implicitly conveyed the impression that Nyxie was actually on his side!

He acted and spoke as if Nyxie was his ally or patron. None of the signals that Ves released carried any hint that Nyxie was actually eager to crush him into paste!

Now, Ves could only wait to see how the pirates intended to respond. Would they act in accordance with the strings he had pulled?

"ALERT! WE ARE DETECTING UNUSUAL ANOMALOUS ACTIVITY FROM THE GRAVADA KNARLAX!"

"It's an anomaly, sir! The pirates are doing it again!"

A bit of panic spread among the crew. Everyone remembered the horrors they faced when the dark sphere had engulfed the entire area around Ulimo Citadel.

Now that darkness began to flow out of the Gravada Knarlax, the latent trauma that many Larkinsons had incurred suddenly emerged into the forefront of their minds!

Ves activated a command that allowed to speak to every Larkinson in the fleet.

"Do not be alarmed! We are prepared for their tricks this time. We have readied plenty of countermeasures to defeat their measures! Focus on your own fight! Don't let anything make you forget what is at stake!"

The fight between the mechs was intensifying. As the two sides closed in on each other, the Gravada Knarlax continued to fire her main cannons against the dwindling number of Hexer suicide ships!

Meanwhile, the dark fog that spewed out of the Gravada Knarlax began to form a vague, monstrous shape. The shadowy apparition vaguely resembled the Unending One.

Instead of facing the Larkinson assets, the monstrous fog creature warily faced the crippled Mortis Greyson.

The power unleashed by Nyxie had abruptly increased, causing the dark monster summoned by the Hallowed Abyss Temple to feel incredibly threatened!

Acting on the suggestion of Black Watcher Ortis, the dark monster did not wait for the powerful interloper to regain control over his power.

The fog monster proactively decided to launch an attack! The whale-like monster flew out of the Gravada Knarlax and began to fire a dark beam of destruction from his maw!

The strike drilled a hole through the broken Mortis Greyson and hit the chaotic entity buried deep inside!

Another silent roar emanated from the broken destroyer. For the first time in many ages, Nyxie fully emerged from his coffin!

Ves observed the incredible sight with both his physical and spiritual vision.

Nyxie's chaos-infused form looked angry and unstable. Different attributes and colors ran through his alien form.

Unlike the Unending One, Nyxie appeared to be based on a humanoid alien. This must be how he looked like when he was alive!

Due to his fluctuating shape, it was very difficult for Ves to pin down Nyxie's actual appearance.

One thing was for sure, though. Nyxie was pissed, and all of his ire was currently pointed at the dark monster.

The two terrible entities immediately began to fight each other! The two exchanged powerful spiritual attacks at a scale that visibly shook the material dimensions!

"Hahahah! That's the spirit!" Ves exulted!

He finally felt relieved. The dark monster might not be the only measure the cultists had in reserve, but at least Ves had preemptively neutralized this move before it could do any damage to his assets.

The rest of the battle did not go very well, though. Despite the darkness that continually poured out the Gravada Knarlax, the ship was still keeping up its punishingly brutal barrage of fire against the Larkinsons!

The other five escort ships were also keeping up their attacks!

The Larkinson Clan was losing ships at a rapid rate. Not only the Penitent Sister combat carriers, but also the ships of the Avatars and Sentinels were getting wrecked at a worryingly high rate.

The fight between the mechs were also taking their toll! Though the Larkinsons and Penitent Sisters managed to destroy thousands of mechs, the core forces of the Allidus Alliance were still intact! Under their lead, the pirate mechs bled their foes at a gradual but alarming rate!

The Larkinson Clan only fielded less than a thousand mechs to begin with. This made every loss a lot more painful than before. Their buffer was worryingly thin, and they would definitely not be able to survive getting mobbed by thousands of inferior mechs!

Ves didn't need Major Verle to recognize that his side was still on a losing trajectory.

He did not despair. He directed his attention to another projection. "It's time."

The Gravada Knarlax may have succeeded in crushing the majority of incoming Penitent Sister suicide ships, but three of them barely managed to hold on as they made their end runs!

The Penitent Sister skeleton crews aboard those vessels cleverly rotated their speeding carriers so that one of them would not be forced to absorb all of the punishing attacks.

By evenly spreading out the damage, the three banged-up ships all managed to hang on long enough to reach the pirate flagship!

At the final moments, the Gravada Knarlax unleashed a near-simultaneous volley from all three turrets. Nine powerful kinetic projectiles slammed into the ship that was currently in the lead.

The Penitent Sister carrier immediately shattered into pieces!

However, the heavy cruiser had finally run out of time. Just before the two suicidal combat carriers crashed against the hull of the Gravada Knarlax, the dark fog flowing out of the ship suddenly enveloped the ship!

Two smaller ships crashed against the blackened heavy cruiser! Two huge impacts slammed against the darkened shell, though amazingly the solidified dark fog managed to withstand the hugely powerful blows!

"THAT'S ABSURD!" Ves shouted as he watched the event in disbelief!

Though the fog visibly weakened to a huge degree, it had done its job. The crashes failed to inflict material damage to the Gravada Knarlax!

However, this was not the extent of this gambit. Just seconds later, a large amount of enriched nuclear bombs and other volatile explosives detonated all at once!

Huge blasts engulfed the side of the Gravada Knarlax!

As the titanic explosions subsided, Ves and everyone else paid close attention to the heavy cruiser.

A gaping hole had appeared on the starboard side the Gravada Knarlax. Though the hull had been breached, the damage didn't appear to be fatal!

"She's still alive!"

Just as disappointment spread amongst the Larkinsons, a highly volatile anomaly spread from Gravada Knarlax and rapidly engulfed the entire battlefield!

The three Highly Unstable Chaos Essence gems that Ves planted in the final Penitent Sister combat carrier were finally making their mark! Under his deliberate arrangement, the energy unleashed by the gems were bringing the imaginary realm closer to the material realm!

The shadow of an immense vortex descended upon the battlefield.