by Andur
“I am not sure. It looks to big for you. How do you intend to fight in close quarters with such a huge stick?” She shakes her head.
“Don't worry. I'll be fine. A weapon like this is intended for usage with armour anyway. It's not like someone who intends to get close will have it easy. There is also the option to wield this weapon like a staff.” I hand the weapon to Celestial and she takes it with one hand.
The blade parts the air and the dummy beside me is cleanly cut in half. “Could be heavier for me.”
I force a smile onto my face. “Why don't you switch to dual-wielding longswords instead of those short daggers?”
“That would defeat the purpose. The swords are there to assist me when I run out of mana. I won't be able to swing those things around without my battle aura.” She shakes her head.
“It would have looked cool though.” I take my weapon back from her and point towards the armoury. “I anticipated that when I made new ones for you and kept them similar to your blades.”
“Really!? That's nice. Although I don't understand why you don't simply make a real gun for a case like this.” She walks over to the weapon stand and inspects her new blades.
“My spells are far more devastating than any gun. And I would have to carry ammunition around. It's not like a simple gun could do anything to someone who is protected by a barrier spell anyway.”
“For cases like this I created these little fellows here.” I walk over to Celestial and grab a leather belt with throwing stars. They are just two centimetres in size, but that's enough.
I pull one of them from the belt and throw it into the air. The little monster immediately starts to spin and stays in the air like a small drone. “They work with thought commands. You can either set them to passively circle you and react to attacks, or you send them out offensively.”
A mental command sends the small blade into the head of a training dummy. Exactly where the left eye should be.
Celestial frowns. “That's neat! I will take a set. But you seem very concerned about your own combat capabilities. Shouldn't you think about the greater picture?”
I nod. “You are right. But I handed the planning to our sky general and Den. The two of them are as fit for the task as me. Maybe even more so because Den has worked and trained with our soldiers day and night. I am just the guy who is in charge of the equipment.”
Then I fling a dismissive gesture at the weapons in the armoury. “The production of our weapons and ships is industrialized by now, so there isn't much I can do to make it faster. We'll have to deal with our numeric disadvantage in the upcoming battle. Maybe our technological edge gives us the advantage we need.”
“And if it doesn't give us the advantage?” Celestial looks at me with a doubtful expression.
“Then we'll hope for the intervention of a higher force.” I point up to the sky.
“To me it sounded like the other party has more help of that nature.” Celestial grumbles.
I pull a fist sized crystal from my pocket and smile at it. “When there is no hope left, I will try to negotiate with them.”
“Negotiate? What could we have to offer them?” Celestial looks at the mana crystal in my hand.
“The continuous existence of their playing field.”
80 - Strategy.
Norfolk, Northern Ocean
Ascathon
“There are quite a few ships.” I watch the cloud of silver ships on the horizon and their wooden counterparts in the ocean. “Should we pretend that we fell for the trap and attack? But to be honest, after seeing this I would rather wait for reinforcements.”
Den, Fingulf and Jazira are beside me and watch the same scene through the crystal orb between us. Celestial is sitting on the railing with her feet dangling down in the open.
“It's baffling that they are able to conceal themselves to this degree. I would have ordered to charge right in if the orb hadn't uncovered their neat little trick.” Jazira tilts her head while comparing the scene in the orb with her own vision.
“Yes, Lidith's information seems to be correct.” I nod and watch the enemy fleet in my orb. “They are concealing themselves by redirecting the visible light around them. That's surprisingly advanced.”
“We would charge right into their trap, thinking that we got the chance to engage the ships from the Nation of Mist alone.” Den snorts.
“Maybe we can turn this situation to our advantage.” Fingulf points a finger at the enemy. “If that's indeed their plan, then they'll hold their fire for as long as possible to ensure that we are caught between their forces and crushed.”
He starts to pace up and down the deck. “They'll wait until we engage the fleet from the Nation of Mist. They are the bait. When we are busy fighting them, the air ships from Mislow will drop their concealment spells. How far off are your ships, Immortal Empress?”
Jazira shrugs her shoulders. “Two days. Three days at most.”
Fingulf nods. “There are several problems with our current situation. The first is that we are outnumbered. They have about three hundred air ships and four hundred ships at sea. We have just about two hundred air ships here. Five hundred sea ships are on their way from Phenex.”
He points one finger up to the sky. “The problem is that the sea ships cannot be counted in this engagement. They are too slow and even with their new anti air spells, they don't have the reach to hurt us if we just fly high enough. This battle will be decided entirely up in the air.”
I purse my lips. “I still don't feel comfortable going up against their three hundred air ships with our two hundred. On top sixty seven of our ships are just converted vessels or older wooden constructions.”
Fingulf nods. “That's why we'll play along with their plan. This battle field is three dimensional and that works to our advantage. We'll climb to the highest altitude possible. Then we'll start a slow descent while approaching the enemy fleet.”
“They'll see us coming and have more than enough time to position themselves. That's not good.” Jazira folds her arms in front of her chest.
“That's very good!” Fingulf smiles. “If they want to create the perfect killing zone for us, there is only one place where they want to be with their air ships.” He points towards the enemy. “And that's slightly above the reach of their sea ships. They'll wait until they are above us and the sea fleet under us. Then they'll shoot at us from under and above us.”
Fingulf holds one finger up. “But! If we choose our angle of approach correctly. There'll be a point where we'll have the enemy air fleet directly under us while they are holding their fire. That's the moment when we drop our bombs and start to climb again. We'll rig our explosives to go off early.”
He takes a look at me. “And I was told that you made a really big bomb. Can we use that thing too? If we detonate it within them, they should take heavy losses.”
I smirk. “It's unfortunate, but I think that we would be blown out of the sky too. I want to be as far away from that thing as possible. It even has a parachute to slow it's descent and give us more time to leave the blast radius.”
Fingulf folds his fingers together. “And if we drop it from as high as possible without a parachute?”
I smirk. “We'll be roughed up at the very least.”
“By the gods. Did you intend to blow up an island with that thing?” Fingulf shakes his head.
“Almost. I wanted to have something to get rid of sea fleets quickly.” I answer.
Fingulf sighs. “Then we'll have to deal with being roughed up. We need an advantage and if the enemy is closer to it than us, then they'll suffer more.”
I nod and Den starts to give orders to our fleet.
“I still think that it would be better to wait for my ships.” Jazira shakes her head.
Fingulf places his hands behind his back and looks at her. “As much as it pains me, but ships at sea won't decide this fight. If what I was told about the new bombs is true, then the decisive battle is fought
up in the air.”
“Air ships can't be engaged by sea ships if they don't want to. And the bombs still enable them to rain death onto the enemy. We have to use the enemy sea fleet while they still think of it as a valuable asset. As soon as they realize that we have no intention to close with their sea ships, we'll be unable to control their movement through them.” Fingulf concentrates on the crystal orb. “I am still curious how they managed to build these air ships in secret. Their capabilities are a mystery too, that's a bad omen. The last time I fought an enemy with unknown abilities, I lost half my fleet.” He throws a bitter smile at Jazira and she grins at him.
Den nods. “I think so too. Even if the odds are against us, if we take this chance we can deal decisive damage to their forces. One thing is for sure. If we wait for our reinforcements they'll change their strategy for sure. They are dangling the bait in front of us because they think that they can take out half of our forces with little risk. When Jazira's ships arrive they can't do that any more. If we fight a conventional battle with them we'll take heavy losses for sure.”
“And what about the Inquisition?” Celestial takes a look down at the ocean.
“Your parents and mine were warned and we left most of our regular troops in Sarn. It'll be hard for them to hurt us much. We went out to intercept the enemy forces for that very reason.” I pull my sword and place it on the deck.
“Let's see what they have up their sleeves!”
81 - Collision course.
Norfolk, Northern Ocean
Ascathon
“Hahaha. They are joking with us. Why are they coming right at us. That's not what we planned.” I laugh while the formation of enemy ships is approaching us.
“I guess I overestimated their ability to forge a decent strategy.” Fingulf watches the approaching enemy and scratches his cheek.
“Probably they counted our numbers and then decided that using their numerical advantage would be good enough?” Celestial frowns while sitting on the railing.
“You know... fuck this! I will take the nuke and teleport right into them. BOOM!” I turn to walk down to our weapons arsenal. But immediately several people cling onto me to stop me from doing so.
“Don't you remember what Lidith said!? You have to keep a low profile with that ability! The other gods will immediately notice that something is off!” Jazira is holding me from behind at an arm and Celestial appeared right in front of me. Fingulf and Den hold me from the left and the right.
“But it would be so simple! Just Boom! You understand? No screaming, no blood, no splattered organs. Just a single instant and they transform from enemies to dust!” I wave my hand frustrated at the enemy fleet.
“And what should we do if the enemy gods really decide to act? Can you already defeat a god?” Den shakes his head.
“One has to try! Ok! What if I teleport that thing the old fashioned way! No even better! Celestial! Throw it at them! That won't raise any eyebrows!”
Jazira gasps. “She can't possibly...”
“~Ok!~”
Everyone turns towards Celestial and she grins. “If my husband tells me to lift the world on my shoulders I would do it.”
I bash my fists together. “That's what I want to hear. I will get the device and you do some warm ups!”
Five minutes later we have my little baby on deck and ready for use.
“I still have a bad feeling about this. Shouldn't nukes be sensitive devices? Can you simply throw a five ton metal ball like that?” Jazira points at the monstrous thing on deck while Celestial is rotating her arms in front of it.
“Now that I see it I have my doubts too.” Den looks a little sick while looking at the ball.
“Don't worry, I built it sturdy enough.” I smirk while Celestial grips the metal ball that's twice her size and lifts it above her head.
Then the thing disappears in an almost straight line towards the enemy fleet and a gust of wind almost throws me to the deck.
“Perfect!” Celestial takes a winning posture while a red ball of fire ignites behind her and a visible shock wave starts to spread from the epicentre.
I throw myself to the deck and cover my head. “Brace for impact!”
The seconds tick by and I start to doubt my abilities after making a quick calculation in my head. The shock wave should have reached us at the speed of sound by now.
I look up and see everyone gaping at the fireball behind Celestial. A second sun appeared between the enemy fleet. But the force of the atom is contained to a certain area which isn't fully enclosing the enemy fleet.
“It just hangs there... Are nukes supposed to do that?” Jazira ponders over the strange scene.
Then the small sun starts to shrink. First slowly, then faster and finally it disappears completely, leaving nothing but a huge empty space behind. If I had to guess, I would say that half of the enemy fleet disappeared with it.
“They are cheating!” I call out in pain. “First they destroy my ship and then they play with the laws of nature!” I start slamming my fist onto the deck.
“How long are you going to complain about that one ship?” Den asks with pity in his voice.
“Until I've made them pay! It looked cool! Like the flying Dutchman!” I grab my blade and point it at the enemy fleet which fell into disarray after having a huge part of it simply eradicated. “Attack! Slaughter them all! We have to use this chance!”
Den and Fingulf start to give commands through their communication devices. And the huge carrier buckles under my feet as the engines roar to life.
I focused all my industrial capacity on creating a fleet of carriers because I deemed them to be the most effective against the enemy. But in this situation I think that it would be most effective to bring my eighty carriers into the fight too.
Their main weapons are huge railguns which run along the entire length of the ships. The only drawback is reach and firing rate. The carriers are huge and their size alone puts a heavy strains on the engines. Diverting energy to fire a huge cannon is a huge problem in terms of power distribution.
The problem might be solved with time, but like with many other things in this world, I had to choose between a perfected product and having very few of them, or a product that performs poorly and having more of it.
“~I'll take the lead in dealing with the rest.~” Jazira raises a finger and points at the approaching enemy fleet. A small orb of light forms on her fingertip and then a literal ray of death is unleashed at the enemy.
The beam of light makes contact with one of the silver ships and disperses into smaller rays, away from the ship. The silver ship continues on its way unharmed.
“~Huh? My ultimate long range weapon got countered?~” Jazira looks at her finger with a stupefied expression.
“It's only reasonable that their ability to bend light in order to become invisible has other applications too. In short, light based attacks are useless.” I shrug my shoulders.
“The attack which beat my fleet. With one finger.” Fingulf falls to his knees and starts to gnaw on his nails. “She is a monster.”
“~Kukuku... I guess I'll go all out for once. HahahahAHAHAHA!~” Jazira raises both hands above her head and a huge white orb appears between them. She points it at the same ship and a jet of plasma shoots out.
I take a step back because of the wave of heat which is emitted by her spell. Then Jazira starts to swing both hands and the ray of plasma follows her movement. The silver ship is cleanly cut in half and explodes. Debris rains down, but the rest of the enemy fleet continues to advance. It looks like they intend to turn this into a brawl.
The ship shudders under my feet as the main gun is fired and one of the enemy ships turns into a wreck.
But the tide of the battle turns as the first enemy ships reach weapon range. A stream of shining, silver orbs are ejected from their frontal gun-ports and several of my carriers are felled instantly.
The smaller crafts which were released by our carriers fire u
p their engines and engage while pouring a stream of railgun fire into the closest enemy ships.
“Their offensive strength surprises me.” I point my sword at the closest silver ship and start pouring my mana into the blade. The runes on it start to glow and assist my spell. I grin as a red orb starts to form on the tip of my blade.
Then I release the spell and the orb shoots out, punching straight through the enemy ship where I would place the engine room. The ship starts to fall while the orb travels forward and changes its course slightly. The red orb impacts another ship behind my first target. The ship is torn to pieces as a torrent of red energy erupts from it and expands to twice the ships size.
“You guys are slow. I already took down four!” Celestial complains from beside me and raises her hand with an iron bullet which should be normally used in one of the smaller railguns. A pile of the ammunition is right beside her. She throws the fist sized metal ball at one of the enemy ships.
Something like a barrier spell flickers at the side of the silver ship and a big tube at its side explodes. The tubes seem to fulfil a similar role as our engines. Three more tubes follow in the same manner and then the silver ship starts a spiralling descent towards the ocean.
Then both fleets pass through each other and everything turns into chaos. My flagship rocks as one of the silver ships pours a stream of the silver projectiles into our left flank, but the barriers hold.
My flagship is the latest carrier prototype. It was just completed and left the docks as our fleet departed Sarn for this expedition.
In comparison to the other carriers my flagship has three mana cores instead of one. This makes this ship three times as pricey compared to its predecessors. The excess mana cores enable it to pour far more power into the barrier spells.