The incoming enemy fleet had none of their reservations about whether the vessels that they saw were truly the enemy. They began firing before they were even through the portal, which was met with the return fire of the Arisen fleet.
The Darklings were holding back for the moment, letting the Cathedral Ships move forward so that the devilishly fast interceptors of the Darkling fleet could swarm them and tear them apart at the first sign of a shield breach.
The drone ships waited a carefully measured two seconds before joining the fight, their programmed attempt to make it look like they were human piloted, with a command lag. There would be no more of that after the start of the battle, but sometimes that delay at the start was just enough to put the enemy off guard.
[No Antimatter weapons.] Max reminded them.
They wanted the Greater Energy Being to come out into this layer where they could properly tear it apart and not wound it, then let it flee.
In the past, that had been enough for the Arisen, as it took so long for the creatures to regenerate after they had lost a significant amount of energy, but now Max had a better plan. He knew how to make a God Class Mecha, but what he didn't know is if he could do it without the consciousness of the Energy Being becoming involved.
If they could just use the raw energy and direct it through the pilot, then the number of God Class weapons that they could field would increase with every engagement.
As the fleet pushed through, the portal behind them seemed to shudder, a sure sign that a Greater Energy Being was attempting to move between layers.
[Wait for it to mostly enter, then pin it in the breach. You know the routine.] Max reminded the AI system.
[Understood Commander. Will you be performing any unscripted actions?] The drone controller replied.
[Most likely. I will keep you informed if I do.]
The Colony Ships and Creeping Darkness charged their main weapons in preparation for the entrance of the real threat, which surged through the portal with alarming speed, before being struck with the Disintegrator Beams and Orbital Lances.
[The Entity has fully entered the layer.] The Arisen noted.
While that was unplanned, as the creature would be much more limited if they could have pinned it halfway through the portal, it wasn't the end for their plans.
[Collapse the portal behind it. I don't want it to escape. I've got plans for that energy.] Max informed the allies over their group channel.
The Arisen were confused by how he could have plans for the energy, but they went along with the plan anyhow, firing a beam into the portal that closed it in seconds now that nothing was holding it from the other side.
It would take over a minute for the being to open it again enough to escape, and they weren't going to let it have that much time. They had it trapped, and the Disintegrator modifications were working exactly as intended, flaying off large portions of the Greater Energy Being's body.
Max felt the energy in his body surge, drawing the loose energy toward him. This was the perfect moment for a test. While his body was still imbalanced and drawing the energy to him, he would try to use that effect to imbue Nico's Mecha with the energy of a Greater Energy Being, minus the consciousness, and see if it could be modified into the equivalent of a Demigod level Mecha.
It wouldn't be quite at the God level, it wasn't powerful enough to start with, but with the extra energy, it should be much more capable than any other Titan Class Mecha if he could get it to affix.
As he hoped, the energy flowed toward him, and with great concentration, he could get it to settle into the metal of the Mecha. But the moment that he tried to gather more, or lost focus on holding it there, the energy was pulled into him by the imbalance in his body.
The experiment might have been a failure, but the destruction of the Energy Being wasn't. He was gaining a massive amount of power from it, enough that the Darklings and Arisen were becoming concerned that he was under attack.
[The energy buildup in my World Ship is intentional. It isn't a danger to my vessel or crew.] He informed the other two fleets.
[Understood Commander.]
Max focused on what the System was doing as it drew the energy into him. The energy was entering his body, but at first, it didn't seem to be going anywhere. It was building up, but it wasn't changing anything, and he couldn't pinpoint what was happening to it.
Now that the initial adjustments were over, it seemed that the System Nanobots in his body were enough to take care of the process on their own.
But the longer he scanned his body, the more clear the situation became. The System was actually making a copy of him, in a strange way. It had reformed his body to the basics of what it wanted, and now that it had enough energy to satisfy the System's requirements, it was making a copy in ethereal form inside the boundary between layers.
It was like the energy was an extension of his body not a reserve pool of power, but Max couldn't determine what the purpose of this secondary energy body was supposed to be. Was it trying to clone him? Make an Energy Being that looked like him?
No, neither of those seemed right. The closer it got to formed, and the greater the portion of the Greater Energy Being that was freed, the more that he could feel it in his mind, like additional limbs. The System was making an anchor for him. A placeholder in the boundary layer so that he couldn't be thrown around through the layers or through space against his will.
But once it was finished, Max was pretty sure that he would be able to traverse them under his own power.
Then the power flow stopped as the Great Enemy's fleet was destroyed, leaving the process in limbo once again.
[Insufficient Energy. Process paused.] The system informed him once again.
Max didn't fully understand what the System was up to this time, but at least he had a clear goal. Even better, it matched their main objective. To drain and sequester the energy of the Greater Energy Beings so that they couldn't reform, and the hostile Gods would be denied their power base and minions.
