677 Cannons

Seeing the Pope's actions, Huffman, who was inside the command centre was shocked. "What does the Pope intend to do?"
"I don't know..." A high-ranking bishop was just as clueless. "The Pope has been studying the changes in the iconography; he should be in the sacred chamber..."
The Pope had already stepped out of the light pillar at this point. He looked calm and peaceful as he walked step by step towards the light in the distance. It was like an old man coming out for a walk after dinner. The charge of the Black Battleship and the light from Hodeceus' shield cast a glorious glow on him. His coarse robes fluttered in the turbulent wind of the explosions. As he looked down at the Sacred Scripture in his hand, he sighed. "Oh, that's why!"
He then faded into a light beam and flew straight towards the black spacecraft.
Screams of disbelief and awe erupted from Hodeceus.
Although the incoming object was only a tiny human, the black spacecraft sensed the threat. The black spacecraft immediately activated layers of electric glows to stop the old man's advances. The divine shield of the pope disintegrated and restored itself again under the powerful beating of the electric glow. The light barrier had only managed to slow the pope down. The Pope charged on. At last, he almost was almost within reach of the black spacecraft, but he was inching now.
Despite of that, the old man remained steady and calm as he inched very slowly in the lightning storm. When the pope was about to touch the black spacecraft, he heard a loud voice in his head; a strong and angry mind had broken into his spiritual world. Although he could not hear it clearly, he knew the voice was angrily questioning his intention.
The Pope raised his head, the wrinkles on his face increased rapidly. He became as old as a dying man did. He asked, "I come to confess my sin."
Thunders and lightning struck from all direction, as if the world was going to end. The Pope had sensed a thousand-year fury in the lightning. He stood silently, doing his best to negotiate with the voice in his mind. He then let off and spread out his hands, as if a prophet was welcoming the end day. "Then take me."
A super bright glow appeared on the surface of the black spaceship. The charging light on the rear section of the spacecraft dimmed rapidly. When all the lights had dissipated, the pope was gone.
A high-ranking bishop stood on the tall tower of Hodeceus had seen everything that had happened. He shouted in horror. "The Pope has died!"
The soldiers in the Hodeceus fortress were silent for a few seconds, in shock. They then fired the artillery; endless magic shells and bolts hit the black battleships. But the latter had shown no intention of retaliation. The battleship just hovered quietly in the sky for a moment before it suddenly accelerated into the space.
Hodeceus was just a rudimentary flying craft. In the face of an interstellar spacecraft, it could only watch in awe as the alien spacecraft flew away.
The patrol frigate, Petrachelys, was quietly waiting for the black battleship in orbit. Everyone on the flight deck knew exactly what was happening on the surface of the planet. However, Hao Ren did not know how the pope convinced the black battleship to have its global electromagnetic storm aborted. He guessed the pope might have learned some secrets relative to the goddess before his death. But now the pope was dead, the only way to find out the secret was to look for the owner of the black battleship.
After the black battleship left the atmosphere, it immediately bumped into the Petrachelys that was waiting in space. The two spaceships was facing off each other across a distance of tens of thousands of kilometres. The small silver-white Petrachelys looked so tiny compared to the kilometres-long black battleship. However, the frigate' threat level and firepower were hard to ignore.
The black battleship hesitated before a warped vortex suddenly appeared in front of it. Looks like it intended to flee the scene via the portal. However, the portal collapsed less than a second after it appeared.
The gravitational trap generator had signalled that the interference was successful. Hao Ren switched on the radio trying to talk to the black battleship on the open channel. "Please be informed that the gravitational trap generators around this region of space have been activated, any super-light navigation modes are being blocked. We are now—"
Before he finished speaking, light burst out of the black spacecraft. Hundreds of cannon and submachine guns were firing at the Petrachelys.
The artillery of the Black Battleship bombarded the shield of the Petrachelys, agitating a series of ripple on the surface. The Petrachelys shook albeit slightly. The MDT whistled and said, "Oh, that thing is more powerful than I have expected. Looks like it has a first-class combat strength."
"I have given out warnings in line with the protocol." Hao Ren frowned, and threw the captain's handbook on the console. "Activate high-speed manoeuvrability and interference devices. Counterattack with the subconnons. Don't let that thing get away!"
As the MDT entered the commands, it asked, "Do you want to finish it off completely or half dead?"
"Don't kill it, of course!" Hao Ren put his hands on the console. "I want it alive, if possible."
"Roger that!"
A blurry glow was shrouding the Petrachelys before it faded into an elusive ghost-like shadow. The frigate was performing a series of warp jump to avoid being locked by the black spaceship's radar, and at the same time, several subcannons extended out from the belly of the Petrachelys. It wanted to retaliate.
The Black Battleship was a piece of high-tech machine of this universe. It was capable of bringing total destruction to a planet. Even civilisation such as Io that had a developed space technology was merely a sitting duck. Though the black battleship was posing a certain level of threat to the civilian-grade inspector frigate, the Petrachelys had psionic energy. Each attack it made could cause destructive impact on everything, including materials, energy, space, physical law, and every other thing. Even the biggest black battleship was no match for this kind of absolute advantage.
The black spacecraft had nowhere to hide before the psionic weapons. The shield of the black battleship flashed in light. The psionic shelling had overloaded the black crystal plates as smaller explosions had spread across the outer shell of the black battleship. The most badly damaged parts were identified as the engines and warp installations. A string of dazzling light burst out in the middle of the black battleship, cutting off more than half of the spacecraft's power supply while blowing two sets of warp drive off. Despite of that, the black battleship had never stopped its attack until all its systems went dead.
Hao Ren pressed his hands on the console. He stared at the enemy ship on the holographic projection. "I might not be able to do anything about you on the planet but not here in space…"
The MDT chimed in loudly. "This' my territory!"
The intense shelling lasted for a short few minutes before the black spacecraft quickly went silent. The MDT played it well this time. It had accurately found the weakness that they could exploit to render the enemy defenceless but not completely blow it up. After the shelling stopped, the black battleship floated silently in space. Half of the black crystal plates shattered by overload. Burned holes with occasional sparks and electric arcs dotted the battleships.
The MDT used the shipborne radar to assess the energy response inside enemy ship. This was to determine whether the enemy was faking its 'death'. However, repeated scans had confirmed that the black battleship was indeed 'dead'. "Target has lost mobility. Life is detected inside."
Lily was rooted to the spot and speechless for a moment before she said, "That's exciting!"
Most of them on the flight deck appeared to having the same expression. These guys were experiencing this kind of battle for the first time in their life.
Like everyone else, Hao Ren was still immersed in the intense excitement of his first space battle with a hostile spacecraft. However, he had no time to wonder. He immediately checked the condition of the Petrachelys, which to his relief had only suffered minor damages. He immediately ordered to approach the black battleship of the brain-monster.
A sense of anticipation filled them as if they were about to unveil the long-awaited secret.