Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet
Upon hearing the lookout’s report, Fleet Commander Ultema looked up. It was a pleasant, clear sky; it’d be ideal if it weren’t for the tiny speckles invading the picture, like a beautiful painting with flecks of black ink dropped onto it. Those gnats gradually grew, both in number and in size.
“There sure are a lot of ’em… what do we have for air cover?”
“…Eleven aircraft. This is a pretty remote area, so there are only Beta-2s out here.”
The anti-ship, anti-ground, air supremacy multipurpose Beta-2 was considered a powerful combat aircraft in this world. Although its superior performance outstripped all other contenders, because they were now facing the Gra Valkas Empire’s aircraft, who appeared to have comparable military strength, it was hard not to be worried. Since these islands were quite remote, there’s no way they would have access to the combat-focused version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens.
“If only we had some of our latest planes, the Alpha-3, here…”
Going up against so many enemy aircraft, he couldn’t help worrying over how few friendly aircraft they had.
“Commander, we still haven’t lost any warships to the enemy. You needn’t be so worried.”
“Thank you for the reminder.”
Fleet Commander Ultema pushed away his anxiety and continued watching the sky.
Holy Mirishial Empire, airspace above the 0th Magic Fleet
The high-pitched trill of the magical light discharge-type compressed air engine reverberated inside the aircraft. His breathing was raspy, a reminder that he was nervous.
In the naval skirmish earlier, unbelievably, the empire’s ships had taken damage. In recent years, no country had been able to even set foot on the empire’s soil, and the world’s number two, their ally Mu, would never betray them.
Squad Captain Omega, a Beta-2 pilot, found sweat dripping down his face when he imagined facing a powerful enemy the likes of which they had never seen. His heart was beating like a drum.
They had no idea what strategy this enemy would employ. Hypothetically, if they were facing Mu, military leadership had determined that the best course of action would be to leverage their superior speed and adopt guerrilla hit-and-run tactics; Omega himself agreed with this assessment. Considering it again, regardless of how powerful their enemy was, the hit-and-run maneuvers they’d practiced countless times would be the best choice here.
The eleven Beta-2s, led by Squad Captain Omega, began to climb. It appeared that some of the enemy aircraft were also turning in order to rise.
“Wh…What?!”
About forty enemy aircraft had left their formation, flown out well in front of the air fleet, then also ascended in turn. Their speed far surpassed the Beta-2, Mirishial’s multipurpose combat version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens.
“It can’t be… Their movement capabilities surpass ours?!”
With his exceptional eyesight, he noticed that those forty planes had a different shape than the rest of the enemy fleet.
“Are those… aircraft specialized for air superiority?!”
They probably were, which meant that the remaining planes were most likely meant for anti-ship combat. Given the number of planes for each task, and granted their outstanding performance specs, he lost all hope of returning alive.
“At the very least, we can take some out and lighten the load on our allies!!!”
He flipped on the switch for his magic communicator.
“Ignore those forty planes that flew out front!!! Keep climbing until we’re twenty kilometers from the enemy, then fall on their main air fleet with hit-and-run attacks. We’re gonna swoop down right into their formation!”
““Roger!””
The squadron of eleven kept flying higher as they closed in on the enemy. Aiming to bomb their formation, as soon as they were 20 km away, they dived sharply from their extremely-high altitude. Their magic engines left blinding blue light in their wakes as they were pushed to their limits. Inside, the only things the pilots could hear were the sound of the plane slicing through the air and the high-pitched whine of the engine.
“Tch! Here they come!!!”
The enemy’s air superiority combat aircraft swarmed towards them, shortening the distance between them swiftly.
“Sorry friends, while you’re coming after us, those bombers you should be protecting are wide open!!!”
Squad Captain Omega glared at them.
“Wh—?!”
The enemy’s bombers had also begun to dive. They should have noticed that we were aiming for them… But they’re completely ignoring us!!!
The Beta-2’s top speed was 410 km/h, and by adding in acceleration due to gravity it could go even faster. Even if it was an older model, the multipurpose Beta-2 would of course easily be able to catch up to the enemy’s aircraft, which all still carried their explosive payloads.
“Huh?!”
The distance to the enemy bombers just wasn’t shrinking at all.
“This… This can’t be happening!!!”
The seventy Sirius-class carrier-based bombers belonging to the Gra Valkas Empire’s Eastern Fleet dove straight for Mirishial’s 0th Magic Fleet right below them.
Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet, Mithril-class battleship Eckes
“Anti-air magic light cannon automatic spellchant complete, fueling at seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred percent, rapid-fire configuration complete! Spell composition is fourteen explosive, sixty-five wind, twenty-one fire. Anti-air magic light cannon firing preparations are complete!!!”
A number of cylindrical objects were pointing up into the air on the Mithril-class battleship Eckes. Their mouths glowed a faint red from the little spherical grains that were being sucked up into the barrels.
“Commence anti-air attacks!”
“Fire anti-air cannons!”
Every ship in the 0th Magic Fleet began firing small, fast balls of light into the air. A glowing carpet of light rose up to meet the Gra Valkas Empire’s diving bombers. However, while it may have looked like an extraordinary counterattack, because the diving planes were so fast, not many of them were actually hitting.
“It doesn’t appear to be very effective.”
Fleet Commander Ultema observed the barrage impatiently. The noise from the Gra Valkan dive bombers’ engines and propellers merged to create an extreme, high-pitched Doppler sound effect, which inspired an involuntary fear.
“Incoming enemy fire!!!”
Streams of tracer ammunition flowed from the falling aircraft at the battleship. The sound of metal on metal permeated the air as the machine gun bullets bounced off the ship’s thick armor.
HYUUUuuu……
“They’re bombing us! We’re right under them!!!”
“Hard to starboard!!!”
The battleship’s course slowly changed. It looked like they would avoid a direct hit.
HYUUUuuu……
HYUUUuuu……
HYUUUuuu……
More bombs fell.
“They’re still bombing! We can’t avoid this one! It’s gonna hit us!!!” the lookout reported with a shriek.
“All hands, brace for impact!!!”
There was a blinding flash on top of the Eckes. The bomb unleashed all of its compressed firepower, a violent explosion of searing flame, causing the surrounding sea to shake from sheer force. The large battleship rocked back and forth.
“Damage in the rear! A fire has broken out!!!”
“Put out that fire!!!”
The Eckes’s bulky armor on the rear end of the ship caused the 250 kg Gra Valkan explosive to erupt on contact. The shockwave swept violently across the top of the ship, causing damage to its superstructure.
“The anti-air magic light cannons in the rear have taken heavy damage! The barrels on our secondary armaments are bent, they’re unusable!”
Another bomb that landed in the water nearby exploded, causing an enormous pillar of water to erupt into the air.
“Two enemy aircraft were shot down!!!”
Hearing that so few planes were destroyed, Fleet Commander Ultema ground his teeth in frustration as sweat kept beading on his forehead.
Mithril-class battleship Eckes, on deck
“Dammit! Their planes are way faster than we thought!!!”
Ashiant, an anti-air gunner, watched the unbelievable enemy planes in panic. The number of light pellets they launched into the air was tremendous—it was almost like rain falling up—barely any hit the enemy planes. Bombs kept dropping one after another, and the damage to their fleet steadily accumulated as they did.
“No way in hell I’m gonna die here!!!”
The Holy Mirishial Empire was often called the world’s strongest, and he was on board a cutting-edge Mithril-class battleship. It wouldn’t do for the flagship Eckes, reputed to be unsinkable, to find itself in an inferior position.
While a cacophony of explosions burst all around him, he carefully aimed an anti-air cannon at an enemy plane and fired. The magic bullet he let loose hit the wing of the plane, blasting it right off.
“Yes! Take that!!!”
The plane then released its bomb.
“Look out!!!” someone yelled.
Ashiant craned his neck to look even higher up in the sky. It looked like there were black dots just hovering up there. What were those? If he remembered correctly… it was mentioned in class… He kept trying to think of it. While the bombs fell onto the fleet, he thought back to what he had learned in those tactics lessons, about those black things high up in the air…
“Oh, shit!!!”
He suddenly came to his senses and frantically ran for cover. Unfortunately, a Gra Valkan 250 kg bomb hit the deck of the battleship Eckes just then, and the gunner Ashiant was sent off to the afterlife in a burst of brilliant light.
Mithril-class battleship Eckes, bridge
A column of flame flared up over the ocean along with the resounding boom of an explosion. Inside the ship, reports on the fleet’s status and damage to their own ship continued pouring in.
“The port side anti-air cannon has been damaged! The distance measurement device is broken!”
“Battleship Culliver has been hit, a fire has broken out!”
“Light cruiser Silver has been hit, they’ve been severely damaged!!!”
For Fleet Commander Ultema, all the reports pointed at the 0th Magic Fleet’s situation worsening minute by minute.
“…This is not good.”
Ultema turned to speak to Captain Infere. “Some of our ships have taken too much damage. While none of the battleships have been sunk yet, I cannot say our current situation is promising. Regardless of the fact that these are not Mirishial’s waters, our biggest problem is that we cannot request air cover. The Fourth and Fifth Fleets are already on their way here, but there’s no way they’ll make it in time for the real fight.”
“How do we hold out longer…”
“Sir!!!” A magic detector technician cried in alarm, interrupting their talk. “Magic power detected at extremely low altitudes! Port 35 degrees! Fo… Forty-five kilometers out! Eighty-two of them!!!”
“What?! They’re already so close!!! All hands, anti-air battle stations!!!”
Ultema carefully scanned the skies off the port side.
The Gra Valkas Empire’s Rigel torpedo bombers skimmed a tight 20 meters above sea level at a speed of 370 km/h. The 82 aircraft each carried an 800 kg torpedo. Their mission was to annihilate the fleet extolled as the world’s strongest, the Holy Mirishial Empire’s 0th Magic Fleet. High up in the sky, the Antares carrier-based fighter planes had already shot down all of the enemy planes, and the enemy fleet was already smoking from the multiple bombings. While it was possible to drop the torpedoes outside the range of the enemy battleships’ anti-air coverage, in order to guarantee they hit, it was necessary to be much closer, so everyone in the wing was quite nervous.
“Thirty seconds until we reach the torpedo drop point!”
The enemy anti-air fire was now going to be aimed at them; they could tell, since the ship started to turn. Fear and death were inextricably connected, and Squad Leader Paschim was determined to return alive. Inside the plane, the star-shaped engine roared, making it vibrate so hard that anyone calling it a smooth ride would immediately be called a liar.
“Twenty seconds!”
Anti-air projectiles were now flying towards them. There was a lot of it, especially considering that there were no tracers, but it appeared they wouldn’t explode after missing their targets like Gra Valkan proximity fuzes did either. However, they did burst on contact, and one plane had already been shot down.
The fact that this world had a country capable of shooting down one of the Imperial Navy’s aircraft actually startled him immensely, but when it came to the actual battle, the difference between the two countries’ military capabilities was just too much, and Gra Valkas had the upper hand.
They were constantly being fed instructions via radio. “…Four, three, two, one, drop!!!”
Forty of the Rigel torpedo bombers successfully dropped their payloads. Because the wing was so large, that turned into an amazing number of torpedo trails. Having lost its 800 kg cargo, the plane suddenly felt a lot lighter. Squad Leader Paschim was able to escape Mirishial’s anti-air net and retreat out of their range.
Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet flagship, battleship Eckes
The anti-air magic light cannons kept firing into the distance, but they weren’t very successful in hitting the low-flying enemy aircraft. However, while they looked like they were going on a bombing run, they ended up abandoning their payloads into the sea before they got in range then withdrew.
“What the hell did they want to do?” Cait muttered to himself while keeping watch from the upper decks.
There were a lot of enemy planes. Mirishial’s light cannons could certainly shoot out a staggering number of bullets, but when thinking of the destructive potential of bombs, for the enemy to simply throw them away and flee felt like something else must be going on.
“Did they just wimp out, I guess?”
With that doubt gnawing at his mind while he basked in the excited battlefield atmosphere, he looked out at the sea and noticed something, something that made him look again in panic.
“What? What are those?!”
Dozens of “somethings” were zooming in the ocean, leaving trails of white in their wakes.
“That’s… impossible!!!”
He suddenly remembered the Gold-class battleship Variant and the last attack that had hit it. A second later, he hurriedly shouted into his magic communicator.
Bridge—
“A bunch of somethings are coming right at us!!! They look just like whatever sunk the Variant! Thirty-seven degrees off the left side, a thousand meters away!!!”
They could be seen clearly from the bridge—the lines of bubbles left behind as the torpedoes sped toward the flagship Eckes. There were so many of them that whether they accelerated or decelerated, steered to starboard or to port, some number of them would definitely hit.
The Eckes’s captain, Infere, yelled out urgently, “They’re gonna hit! Magic response! Reinforce armor!!!”
“Magic circuits to maximum! Focus all magic power to port!!! Eighteen seconds until reinforcement is complete!!!”
The Eckes was wrapped in a faint blue light. With all the magic power being poured into the reinforcement, the shield rang like an alloy, becoming as hard as metal.
“Armor reinforcement complete! Enemy’s underwater attack will hit in twelve seconds!!!”
Sweat surfaced on Captain Infere’s forehead. The Gold-class battleship Variant sank from this underwater attack. Its firepower was immense, dealing far greater damage to a ship’s body than their magic cannons could. He wondered how much punishment the armor reinforcement could withstand.
In the ocean, the arrow-like objects surged forward, directly for them.
“All hands, brace for impact!!!” Infere bellowed.
Seconds later, the giant battleship shook, and seven columns of water violently blasted into the sky from the port side of the ship. Infere’s head slammed into a wall, cutting open his forehead from which blood streamed into his face.
“Gh! Quickly, damage report!!!”
Within the ship, various alarms were now wailing.
“The port side has been breached in seven places! We’re now taking on water!!!”
With the ship being flooded with so much seawater, the battleship Eckes’s large frame began to list to port.
“Activating the starboard-side anti-flooding system! Beginning to flood the starboard side… It’s no use! We’re going to pass the flood limit soon!”
For the listing battleship, voluntarily flooding the starboard side helped them regain balance for a short time, but once the flooding tanks were full, the ship would immediately begin to fall over again. The ship was already leaning 30 degrees to port, with no sign of stabilizing.
“This… This can’t be happening! Not like… Not like this!!! It isn’t possible for our latest battleship to be taken down by just a few planes, while we’re combat-ready no less!!!”
While all this was happening, Fleet Commander Ultema was looking around in a dazed state.
“Commander! Give the order! All hands, abandon ship! Abandon ship!!!”
The ship’s personnel began to jump off the ship. The angle of the ship was now at 50 degrees and continuing to exacerbate.
“Captain! If this continues, our explosive magic circuit cartridges inside the ship are going to break open!”
“As if this isn’t enough of an emergency! We need to hurry with the evacuation! You too, don’t worry about us, just abandon ship, quickly!!!”
“Captain, you have to evacuate with us too!!!”
With enemy planes swarming the skies over them, other battleships and light cruisers were continually under assault, and the fleet was already all but destroyed. The battlefield was filled with the sounds of thundering explosions.
“I… must take responsibility for this situation. It’s fine, you all just go!!!”
The battleship Eckes kept tilting further, resulting in it capsizing. Within the ship, the sensitive cartridge-style explosive magic circuits tumbled to the floor, releasing all of the firepower they contained. The enormous pressure pushed out in all directions, splitting the ship in half, and the resulting explosion was so large that it formed a mushroom cloud. The battleship Eckes sunk down into the ocean, dragging with it the fleet commander, captain, and any crew members who were too slow to evacuate.
The Holy Mirishial Empire’s Zeroth Magic Fleet, praised as the strongest force in the world, was destroyed by the western uncivilized country, the Gra Valkas Empire, when its Eastern Fleet sortied its aircraft carriers and conducted a single attack; not a single ship was left afloat.
Holy Mirishial Empire, Imperial Capital Runepolis
Riage, the Head of Foreign Affairs, was baffled. The 11-country leadership conference had kicked off in the port town of Cartalpas, and it would last for a number of days. To start, there would be working-level diplomatic meetings for a few days, then the various foreign affairs leaders would formally act upon the results of those meetings at a high-level assembly that would take up the final two days. On the first day, the person representing the Gra Valkas Empire arrogantly provoked all the other attendees and delivered an outrageous ultimatum before retiring.
However, the next day and the day after, they hadn’t sent anyone to attend the all-important conference, and now even Mirishial’s top foreign affairs official had received orders to return to the Imperial Capital Runepolis for an urgent meeting. There must have been a topic of paramount importance to convene an emergency meeting at this time. He nervously opened the door to the appointed meeting room.
He saw the leadership of the Foreign Affairs Office, the leadership of the military, and even the Director of Imperial Defense, Agra, inside. Though he knew nothing about this meeting’s purpose, with these people all attending, he was now sure something drastic had occurred.
“With Riage’s arrival, we shall start the emergency meeting,” the head of the military said.
Each person was given a handout, and a projector-like device was turned on. Upon receiving the handout, Riage glanced through it, his eyes widening at one of the unbelievable things mentioned within. The person operating the projector began to speak.
“I shall provide an overview. Early this morning, the Zeroth Magic Fleet, which was out training near the western islands of Karralice, communicated that it was being attacked by a naval and air fleet of unknown origins. We then lost all contact with them. In addition, an air force base on those same islands also reported that it was under attack before all contact was lost. Only a detachment of the army acting as a defense force for the islands remained, and they reported that, to our disbelief, the Zeroth Magic Fleet was eradicated by a combined enemy naval and aerial assault, and the air base was destroyed by an aerial assault. Upon analyzing the enemy force’s flag, we have judged that this act was perpetrated by the Gra Valkas Empire.”
Everyone in attendance was silent, in shock.
“Hold on a minute, you’re saying the Zeroth Magic Fleet was eradicated? While their numbers may have been few, they should have been made up of only elites. When fighting against equal numbers, they are the best in the world. No matter how powerful the Gra Valkas Empire is, no matter how massive their forces, to say they were ‘eradicated’… Can this really be true?”
Lacking any outside information, Riage cut off the explanation with a question. As someone who always listened until the very end of what anyone had to say, the fact that he actually interrupted someone to make an inquiry spoke to how very unbelievable this report was.
“This is most likely all true. The most plausible explanation for our loss is that the enemy vastly outnumbered us, and, because this battle took place near the western islands, the fleet lacked air support. Those are the possibilities being investigated, but that is not a topic of discussion for this meeting. Based on the army detachment’s report, after they took out our fleet, they attacked our air base with cannon fire, destroyed it, then headed east.”
“East! East, you say?! They… They wouldn’t!!!”
“Yes, as you’ve surmised, they’re either heading for our capital of Runepolis, or for the leadership conference in Cartalpas.”
Once again, the room was stunned silent.
“What defensive measures do we have in place?”
“The Fourth and Fifth Fleets had been heading out to supplement the defense of the western islands, but we’ve recalled them to defend the capital. That means we have the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleets for capital defense, which should essentially be impregnable. The problem is the port town of Cartalpas; right now, the First, Second, and Third Fleets have been deployed to the east, arranged around Cartalpas, but… considering how close the western islands are, it’s very possible that the enemy could reach Cartalpas before our forces do. Right now, the only protection the port has is eight local light cruiser-class ships. We can send the combat version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens in advance, but the fleets may not make it in time. Because the leadership conference is currently in progress there, we would like to call on the Head of Foreign Affairs and ask for his opinion.”
There was a short pause.
“Stop… Stop joking around!!! We are the Holy Mirishial Empire, the world’s strongest—there are no enemies worth our attention! We are staking our pride on the defense of the leadership conference while it’s in session; even if we’re being attacked by barbarians and may not make it in time, there’s no way we can say to the guests ‘Oh, you’d better evacuate’!!! If we were to do that, it would ruin our image, both for other superpowers, and in the eyes of the countries outside the civilized areas; they would lose all respect for us! For the sake of maintaining our imperial identity and prosperity, we always need to project strength!!! If we want to inform the other countries about what happened, then just tell them we were ambushed by a large fleet and incurred losses. Learning this information would align them all against the Gra Valkas Empire. Leave out how we attacked them and suffered losses; that would just make us seem weaker than Gra Valkas.”
The Director of Imperial Defense raised his hand.
“Mister Riage, you are correct, our Zeroth Magic Fleet being destroyed was outside of our imagination and is an embarrassment. However, Gra Valkas is powerful. Though they are barbarians, they are also an opponent that I fully recognize cannot be underestimated. The way things are developing, there is a very high chance that the leadership conference will be disrupted. In the worst case, if all of the foreign affairs ministers were to be killed, those countries will lose all trust in our capabilities as soon as they ask why we were unable to foresee an attack until after they had gotten so close. In short, everyone believes that with our power, there’s no possible way we couldn’t detect such an attack. They would more likely believe that we purposely allowed the attack to occur. To be quite honest, I believe we should postpone the conference and urge all attendees to escape immediately.”
“You are being too naïve, Mister Director. If we were to do that, we would immediately lose all credibility. If the fleets won’t be in time, what about that ancient weapon, the Naval Fortress Parcaon? If we used that, no matter how big a fleet Gra Valkas throws at us, we’ll easily wipe them all out, right?”
The head of national defense stayed silent, sweat forming on his forehead.
“The Ancient Weapon Parcaon is one-of-a-kind, a superweapon from the ancient sorcerous empire that’s only to be used when there is a crisis threatening the existence of the empire. However, we’ve only been able to verify about half of its functions; there are still many weapons in it that we know nothing about. In other words, we’re unable to release its full power. That said, if it’s something on the level of the Gra Valkas Empire’s fleet, it should still be able to obliterate them. We need His Excellency’s approval, though; we cannot override protocol for something on this level. Parcaon is our only trump card against the ancient sorcerous empire. If we were to activate it now and it got damaged, we wouldn’t be able to repair it.”
The meeting continued into the night. The next evening, the countries attending the leadership conference were relayed the following information:
A large fleet from the Gra Valkas Empire was en route to the conference. Because this was a surprise attack, based on where Mirishial’s forces were currently located, there was a chance that some of the enemy’s fleet could slip through unimpeded. To prevent the worst case scenario from occurring, all countries are invited to temporarily evacuate from the port town of Cartalpas to the eastern city of Kan Braun.
Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet
Upon hearing the lookout’s report, Fleet Commander Ultema looked up. It was a pleasant, clear sky; it’d be ideal if it weren’t for the tiny speckles invading the picture, like a beautiful painting with flecks of black ink dropped onto it. Those gnats gradually grew, both in number and in size.
“There sure are a lot of ’em… what do we have for air cover?”
“…Eleven aircraft. This is a pretty remote area, so there are only Beta-2s out here.”
The anti-ship, anti-ground, air supremacy multipurpose Beta-2 was considered a powerful combat aircraft in this world. Although its superior performance outstripped all other contenders, because they were now facing the Gra Valkas Empire’s aircraft, who appeared to have comparable military strength, it was hard not to be worried. Since these islands were quite remote, there’s no way they would have access to the combat-focused version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens.
“If only we had some of our latest planes, the Alpha-3, here…”
Going up against so many enemy aircraft, he couldn’t help worrying over how few friendly aircraft they had.
“Commander, we still haven’t lost any warships to the enemy. You needn’t be so worried.”
“Thank you for the reminder.”
Fleet Commander Ultema pushed away his anxiety and continued watching the sky.
Holy Mirishial Empire, airspace above the 0th Magic Fleet
The high-pitched trill of the magical light discharge-type compressed air engine reverberated inside the aircraft. His breathing was raspy, a reminder that he was nervous.
In the naval skirmish earlier, unbelievably, the empire’s ships had taken damage. In recent years, no country had been able to even set foot on the empire’s soil, and the world’s number two, their ally Mu, would never betray them.
Squad Captain Omega, a Beta-2 pilot, found sweat dripping down his face when he imagined facing a powerful enemy the likes of which they had never seen. His heart was beating like a drum.
They had no idea what strategy this enemy would employ. Hypothetically, if they were facing Mu, military leadership had determined that the best course of action would be to leverage their superior speed and adopt guerrilla hit-and-run tactics; Omega himself agreed with this assessment. Considering it again, regardless of how powerful their enemy was, the hit-and-run maneuvers they’d practiced countless times would be the best choice here.
The eleven Beta-2s, led by Squad Captain Omega, began to climb. It appeared that some of the enemy aircraft were also turning in order to rise.
“Wh…What?!”
About forty enemy aircraft had left their formation, flown out well in front of the air fleet, then also ascended in turn. Their speed far surpassed the Beta-2, Mirishial’s multipurpose combat version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens.
“It can’t be… Their movement capabilities surpass ours?!”
With his exceptional eyesight, he noticed that those forty planes had a different shape than the rest of the enemy fleet.
“Are those… aircraft specialized for air superiority?!”
They probably were, which meant that the remaining planes were most likely meant for anti-ship combat. Given the number of planes for each task, and granted their outstanding performance specs, he lost all hope of returning alive.
“At the very least, we can take some out and lighten the load on our allies!!!”
He flipped on the switch for his magic communicator.
“Ignore those forty planes that flew out front!!! Keep climbing until we’re twenty kilometers from the enemy, then fall on their main air fleet with hit-and-run attacks. We’re gonna swoop down right into their formation!”
““Roger!””
The squadron of eleven kept flying higher as they closed in on the enemy. Aiming to bomb their formation, as soon as they were 20 km away, they dived sharply from their extremely-high altitude. Their magic engines left blinding blue light in their wakes as they were pushed to their limits. Inside, the only things the pilots could hear were the sound of the plane slicing through the air and the high-pitched whine of the engine.
“Tch! Here they come!!!”
The enemy’s air superiority combat aircraft swarmed towards them, shortening the distance between them swiftly.
“Sorry friends, while you’re coming after us, those bombers you should be protecting are wide open!!!”
Squad Captain Omega glared at them.
“Wh—?!”
The enemy’s bombers had also begun to dive. They should have noticed that we were aiming for them… But they’re completely ignoring us!!!
The Beta-2’s top speed was 410 km/h, and by adding in acceleration due to gravity it could go even faster. Even if it was an older model, the multipurpose Beta-2 would of course easily be able to catch up to the enemy’s aircraft, which all still carried their explosive payloads.
“Huh?!”
The distance to the enemy bombers just wasn’t shrinking at all.
“This… This can’t be happening!!!”
The seventy Sirius-class carrier-based bombers belonging to the Gra Valkas Empire’s Eastern Fleet dove straight for Mirishial’s 0th Magic Fleet right below them.
Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet, Mithril-class battleship Eckes
“Anti-air magic light cannon automatic spellchant complete, fueling at seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred percent, rapid-fire configuration complete! Spell composition is fourteen explosive, sixty-five wind, twenty-one fire. Anti-air magic light cannon firing preparations are complete!!!”
A number of cylindrical objects were pointing up into the air on the Mithril-class battleship Eckes. Their mouths glowed a faint red from the little spherical grains that were being sucked up into the barrels.
“Commence anti-air attacks!”
“Fire anti-air cannons!”
Every ship in the 0th Magic Fleet began firing small, fast balls of light into the air. A glowing carpet of light rose up to meet the Gra Valkas Empire’s diving bombers. However, while it may have looked like an extraordinary counterattack, because the diving planes were so fast, not many of them were actually hitting.
“It doesn’t appear to be very effective.”
Fleet Commander Ultema observed the barrage impatiently. The noise from the Gra Valkan dive bombers’ engines and propellers merged to create an extreme, high-pitched Doppler sound effect, which inspired an involuntary fear.
“Incoming enemy fire!!!”
Streams of tracer ammunition flowed from the falling aircraft at the battleship. The sound of metal on metal permeated the air as the machine gun bullets bounced off the ship’s thick armor.
HYUUUuuu……
“They’re bombing us! We’re right under them!!!”
“Hard to starboard!!!”
The battleship’s course slowly changed. It looked like they would avoid a direct hit.
HYUUUuuu……
HYUUUuuu……
HYUUUuuu……
More bombs fell.
“They’re still bombing! We can’t avoid this one! It’s gonna hit us!!!” the lookout reported with a shriek.
“All hands, brace for impact!!!”
There was a blinding flash on top of the Eckes. The bomb unleashed all of its compressed firepower, a violent explosion of searing flame, causing the surrounding sea to shake from sheer force. The large battleship rocked back and forth.
“Damage in the rear! A fire has broken out!!!”
“Put out that fire!!!”
The Eckes’s bulky armor on the rear end of the ship caused the 250 kg Gra Valkan explosive to erupt on contact. The shockwave swept violently across the top of the ship, causing damage to its superstructure.
“The anti-air magic light cannons in the rear have taken heavy damage! The barrels on our secondary armaments are bent, they’re unusable!”
Another bomb that landed in the water nearby exploded, causing an enormous pillar of water to erupt into the air.
“Two enemy aircraft were shot down!!!”
Hearing that so few planes were destroyed, Fleet Commander Ultema ground his teeth in frustration as sweat kept beading on his forehead.
Mithril-class battleship Eckes, on deck
“Dammit! Their planes are way faster than we thought!!!”
Ashiant, an anti-air gunner, watched the unbelievable enemy planes in panic. The number of light pellets they launched into the air was tremendous—it was almost like rain falling up—barely any hit the enemy planes. Bombs kept dropping one after another, and the damage to their fleet steadily accumulated as they did.
“No way in hell I’m gonna die here!!!”
The Holy Mirishial Empire was often called the world’s strongest, and he was on board a cutting-edge Mithril-class battleship. It wouldn’t do for the flagship Eckes, reputed to be unsinkable, to find itself in an inferior position.
While a cacophony of explosions burst all around him, he carefully aimed an anti-air cannon at an enemy plane and fired. The magic bullet he let loose hit the wing of the plane, blasting it right off.
“Yes! Take that!!!”
The plane then released its bomb.
“Look out!!!” someone yelled.
Ashiant craned his neck to look even higher up in the sky. It looked like there were black dots just hovering up there. What were those? If he remembered correctly… it was mentioned in class… He kept trying to think of it. While the bombs fell onto the fleet, he thought back to what he had learned in those tactics lessons, about those black things high up in the air…
“Oh, shit!!!”
He suddenly came to his senses and frantically ran for cover. Unfortunately, a Gra Valkan 250 kg bomb hit the deck of the battleship Eckes just then, and the gunner Ashiant was sent off to the afterlife in a burst of brilliant light.
Mithril-class battleship Eckes, bridge
A column of flame flared up over the ocean along with the resounding boom of an explosion. Inside the ship, reports on the fleet’s status and damage to their own ship continued pouring in.
“The port side anti-air cannon has been damaged! The distance measurement device is broken!”
“Battleship Culliver has been hit, a fire has broken out!”
“Light cruiser Silver has been hit, they’ve been severely damaged!!!”
For Fleet Commander Ultema, all the reports pointed at the 0th Magic Fleet’s situation worsening minute by minute.
“…This is not good.”
Ultema turned to speak to Captain Infere. “Some of our ships have taken too much damage. While none of the battleships have been sunk yet, I cannot say our current situation is promising. Regardless of the fact that these are not Mirishial’s waters, our biggest problem is that we cannot request air cover. The Fourth and Fifth Fleets are already on their way here, but there’s no way they’ll make it in time for the real fight.”
“How do we hold out longer…”
“Sir!!!” A magic detector technician cried in alarm, interrupting their talk. “Magic power detected at extremely low altitudes! Port 35 degrees! Fo… Forty-five kilometers out! Eighty-two of them!!!”
“What?! They’re already so close!!! All hands, anti-air battle stations!!!”
Ultema carefully scanned the skies off the port side.
The Gra Valkas Empire’s Rigel torpedo bombers skimmed a tight 20 meters above sea level at a speed of 370 km/h. The 82 aircraft each carried an 800 kg torpedo. Their mission was to annihilate the fleet extolled as the world’s strongest, the Holy Mirishial Empire’s 0th Magic Fleet. High up in the sky, the Antares carrier-based fighter planes had already shot down all of the enemy planes, and the enemy fleet was already smoking from the multiple bombings. While it was possible to drop the torpedoes outside the range of the enemy battleships’ anti-air coverage, in order to guarantee they hit, it was necessary to be much closer, so everyone in the wing was quite nervous.
“Thirty seconds until we reach the torpedo drop point!”
The enemy anti-air fire was now going to be aimed at them; they could tell, since the ship started to turn. Fear and death were inextricably connected, and Squad Leader Paschim was determined to return alive. Inside the plane, the star-shaped engine roared, making it vibrate so hard that anyone calling it a smooth ride would immediately be called a liar.
“Twenty seconds!”
Anti-air projectiles were now flying towards them. There was a lot of it, especially considering that there were no tracers, but it appeared they wouldn’t explode after missing their targets like Gra Valkan proximity fuzes did either. However, they did burst on contact, and one plane had already been shot down.
The fact that this world had a country capable of shooting down one of the Imperial Navy’s aircraft actually startled him immensely, but when it came to the actual battle, the difference between the two countries’ military capabilities was just too much, and Gra Valkas had the upper hand.
They were constantly being fed instructions via radio. “…Four, three, two, one, drop!!!”
Forty of the Rigel torpedo bombers successfully dropped their payloads. Because the wing was so large, that turned into an amazing number of torpedo trails. Having lost its 800 kg cargo, the plane suddenly felt a lot lighter. Squad Leader Paschim was able to escape Mirishial’s anti-air net and retreat out of their range.
Holy Mirishial Empire, 0th Magic Fleet flagship, battleship Eckes
The anti-air magic light cannons kept firing into the distance, but they weren’t very successful in hitting the low-flying enemy aircraft. However, while they looked like they were going on a bombing run, they ended up abandoning their payloads into the sea before they got in range then withdrew.
“What the hell did they want to do?” Cait muttered to himself while keeping watch from the upper decks.
There were a lot of enemy planes. Mirishial’s light cannons could certainly shoot out a staggering number of bullets, but when thinking of the destructive potential of bombs, for the enemy to simply throw them away and flee felt like something else must be going on.
“Did they just wimp out, I guess?”
With that doubt gnawing at his mind while he basked in the excited battlefield atmosphere, he looked out at the sea and noticed something, something that made him look again in panic.
“What? What are those?!”
Dozens of “somethings” were zooming in the ocean, leaving trails of white in their wakes.
“That’s… impossible!!!”
He suddenly remembered the Gold-class battleship Variant and the last attack that had hit it. A second later, he hurriedly shouted into his magic communicator.
Bridge—
“A bunch of somethings are coming right at us!!! They look just like whatever sunk the Variant! Thirty-seven degrees off the left side, a thousand meters away!!!”
They could be seen clearly from the bridge—the lines of bubbles left behind as the torpedoes sped toward the flagship Eckes. There were so many of them that whether they accelerated or decelerated, steered to starboard or to port, some number of them would definitely hit.
The Eckes’s captain, Infere, yelled out urgently, “They’re gonna hit! Magic response! Reinforce armor!!!”
“Magic circuits to maximum! Focus all magic power to port!!! Eighteen seconds until reinforcement is complete!!!”
The Eckes was wrapped in a faint blue light. With all the magic power being poured into the reinforcement, the shield rang like an alloy, becoming as hard as metal.
“Armor reinforcement complete! Enemy’s underwater attack will hit in twelve seconds!!!”
Sweat surfaced on Captain Infere’s forehead. The Gold-class battleship Variant sank from this underwater attack. Its firepower was immense, dealing far greater damage to a ship’s body than their magic cannons could. He wondered how much punishment the armor reinforcement could withstand.
In the ocean, the arrow-like objects surged forward, directly for them.
“All hands, brace for impact!!!” Infere bellowed.
Seconds later, the giant battleship shook, and seven columns of water violently blasted into the sky from the port side of the ship. Infere’s head slammed into a wall, cutting open his forehead from which blood streamed into his face.
“Gh! Quickly, damage report!!!”
Within the ship, various alarms were now wailing.
“The port side has been breached in seven places! We’re now taking on water!!!”
With the ship being flooded with so much seawater, the battleship Eckes’s large frame began to list to port.
“Activating the starboard-side anti-flooding system! Beginning to flood the starboard side… It’s no use! We’re going to pass the flood limit soon!”
For the listing battleship, voluntarily flooding the starboard side helped them regain balance for a short time, but once the flooding tanks were full, the ship would immediately begin to fall over again. The ship was already leaning 30 degrees to port, with no sign of stabilizing.
“This… This can’t be happening! Not like… Not like this!!! It isn’t possible for our latest battleship to be taken down by just a few planes, while we’re combat-ready no less!!!”
While all this was happening, Fleet Commander Ultema was looking around in a dazed state.
“Commander! Give the order! All hands, abandon ship! Abandon ship!!!”
The ship’s personnel began to jump off the ship. The angle of the ship was now at 50 degrees and continuing to exacerbate.
“Captain! If this continues, our explosive magic circuit cartridges inside the ship are going to break open!”
“As if this isn’t enough of an emergency! We need to hurry with the evacuation! You too, don’t worry about us, just abandon ship, quickly!!!”
“Captain, you have to evacuate with us too!!!”
With enemy planes swarming the skies over them, other battleships and light cruisers were continually under assault, and the fleet was already all but destroyed. The battlefield was filled with the sounds of thundering explosions.
“I… must take responsibility for this situation. It’s fine, you all just go!!!”
The battleship Eckes kept tilting further, resulting in it capsizing. Within the ship, the sensitive cartridge-style explosive magic circuits tumbled to the floor, releasing all of the firepower they contained. The enormous pressure pushed out in all directions, splitting the ship in half, and the resulting explosion was so large that it formed a mushroom cloud. The battleship Eckes sunk down into the ocean, dragging with it the fleet commander, captain, and any crew members who were too slow to evacuate.
The Holy Mirishial Empire’s Zeroth Magic Fleet, praised as the strongest force in the world, was destroyed by the western uncivilized country, the Gra Valkas Empire, when its Eastern Fleet sortied its aircraft carriers and conducted a single attack; not a single ship was left afloat.
Holy Mirishial Empire, Imperial Capital Runepolis
Riage, the Head of Foreign Affairs, was baffled. The 11-country leadership conference had kicked off in the port town of Cartalpas, and it would last for a number of days. To start, there would be working-level diplomatic meetings for a few days, then the various foreign affairs leaders would formally act upon the results of those meetings at a high-level assembly that would take up the final two days. On the first day, the person representing the Gra Valkas Empire arrogantly provoked all the other attendees and delivered an outrageous ultimatum before retiring.
However, the next day and the day after, they hadn’t sent anyone to attend the all-important conference, and now even Mirishial’s top foreign affairs official had received orders to return to the Imperial Capital Runepolis for an urgent meeting. There must have been a topic of paramount importance to convene an emergency meeting at this time. He nervously opened the door to the appointed meeting room.
He saw the leadership of the Foreign Affairs Office, the leadership of the military, and even the Director of Imperial Defense, Agra, inside. Though he knew nothing about this meeting’s purpose, with these people all attending, he was now sure something drastic had occurred.
“With Riage’s arrival, we shall start the emergency meeting,” the head of the military said.
Each person was given a handout, and a projector-like device was turned on. Upon receiving the handout, Riage glanced through it, his eyes widening at one of the unbelievable things mentioned within. The person operating the projector began to speak.
“I shall provide an overview. Early this morning, the Zeroth Magic Fleet, which was out training near the western islands of Karralice, communicated that it was being attacked by a naval and air fleet of unknown origins. We then lost all contact with them. In addition, an air force base on those same islands also reported that it was under attack before all contact was lost. Only a detachment of the army acting as a defense force for the islands remained, and they reported that, to our disbelief, the Zeroth Magic Fleet was eradicated by a combined enemy naval and aerial assault, and the air base was destroyed by an aerial assault. Upon analyzing the enemy force’s flag, we have judged that this act was perpetrated by the Gra Valkas Empire.”
Everyone in attendance was silent, in shock.
“Hold on a minute, you’re saying the Zeroth Magic Fleet was eradicated? While their numbers may have been few, they should have been made up of only elites. When fighting against equal numbers, they are the best in the world. No matter how powerful the Gra Valkas Empire is, no matter how massive their forces, to say they were ‘eradicated’… Can this really be true?”
Lacking any outside information, Riage cut off the explanation with a question. As someone who always listened until the very end of what anyone had to say, the fact that he actually interrupted someone to make an inquiry spoke to how very unbelievable this report was.
“This is most likely all true. The most plausible explanation for our loss is that the enemy vastly outnumbered us, and, because this battle took place near the western islands, the fleet lacked air support. Those are the possibilities being investigated, but that is not a topic of discussion for this meeting. Based on the army detachment’s report, after they took out our fleet, they attacked our air base with cannon fire, destroyed it, then headed east.”
“East! East, you say?! They… They wouldn’t!!!”
“Yes, as you’ve surmised, they’re either heading for our capital of Runepolis, or for the leadership conference in Cartalpas.”
Once again, the room was stunned silent.
“What defensive measures do we have in place?”
“The Fourth and Fifth Fleets had been heading out to supplement the defense of the western islands, but we’ve recalled them to defend the capital. That means we have the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Fleets for capital defense, which should essentially be impregnable. The problem is the port town of Cartalpas; right now, the First, Second, and Third Fleets have been deployed to the east, arranged around Cartalpas, but… considering how close the western islands are, it’s very possible that the enemy could reach Cartalpas before our forces do. Right now, the only protection the port has is eight local light cruiser-class ships. We can send the combat version of the Floating Ship of the Heavens in advance, but the fleets may not make it in time. Because the leadership conference is currently in progress there, we would like to call on the Head of Foreign Affairs and ask for his opinion.”
There was a short pause.
“Stop… Stop joking around!!! We are the Holy Mirishial Empire, the world’s strongest—there are no enemies worth our attention! We are staking our pride on the defense of the leadership conference while it’s in session; even if we’re being attacked by barbarians and may not make it in time, there’s no way we can say to the guests ‘Oh, you’d better evacuate’!!! If we were to do that, it would ruin our image, both for other superpowers, and in the eyes of the countries outside the civilized areas; they would lose all respect for us! For the sake of maintaining our imperial identity and prosperity, we always need to project strength!!! If we want to inform the other countries about what happened, then just tell them we were ambushed by a large fleet and incurred losses. Learning this information would align them all against the Gra Valkas Empire. Leave out how we attacked them and suffered losses; that would just make us seem weaker than Gra Valkas.”
The Director of Imperial Defense raised his hand.
“Mister Riage, you are correct, our Zeroth Magic Fleet being destroyed was outside of our imagination and is an embarrassment. However, Gra Valkas is powerful. Though they are barbarians, they are also an opponent that I fully recognize cannot be underestimated. The way things are developing, there is a very high chance that the leadership conference will be disrupted. In the worst case, if all of the foreign affairs ministers were to be killed, those countries will lose all trust in our capabilities as soon as they ask why we were unable to foresee an attack until after they had gotten so close. In short, everyone believes that with our power, there’s no possible way we couldn’t detect such an attack. They would more likely believe that we purposely allowed the attack to occur. To be quite honest, I believe we should postpone the conference and urge all attendees to escape immediately.”
“You are being too naïve, Mister Director. If we were to do that, we would immediately lose all credibility. If the fleets won’t be in time, what about that ancient weapon, the Naval Fortress Parcaon? If we used that, no matter how big a fleet Gra Valkas throws at us, we’ll easily wipe them all out, right?”
The head of national defense stayed silent, sweat forming on his forehead.
“The Ancient Weapon Parcaon is one-of-a-kind, a superweapon from the ancient sorcerous empire that’s only to be used when there is a crisis threatening the existence of the empire. However, we’ve only been able to verify about half of its functions; there are still many weapons in it that we know nothing about. In other words, we’re unable to release its full power. That said, if it’s something on the level of the Gra Valkas Empire’s fleet, it should still be able to obliterate them. We need His Excellency’s approval, though; we cannot override protocol for something on this level. Parcaon is our only trump card against the ancient sorcerous empire. If we were to activate it now and it got damaged, we wouldn’t be able to repair it.”
The meeting continued into the night. The next evening, the countries attending the leadership conference were relayed the following information:
A large fleet from the Gra Valkas Empire was en route to the conference. Because this was a surprise attack, based on where Mirishial’s forces were currently located, there was a chance that some of the enemy’s fleet could slip through unimpeded. To prevent the worst case scenario from occurring, all countries are invited to temporarily evacuate from the port town of Cartalpas to the eastern city of Kan Braun.