Chapter 10: Exorcism
Deep Impact Tactical Penetrator (DITP): is a nuclear bunker buster, also known as an earth-penetrating weapon (EPW). In the light of Graboid suicide attack DITP was developed as a countermeasure. DITP bomb differs somewhat in concept from traditional bombs, which usually explode at or near the surface, and destroy their target directly by explosive force. In contrast, a DITP bomb is dropped from high altitude to attain very high speed as it falls and upon impact, penetrates and explodes deep underground, causing massive and intense shockwaves destroying any living being underground. DITP can penetrate up to 90 meter of solid rock before detonated a 1 kiloton warhead.
Super-Hardened Hollow Bunker: For a long time the Holy Empire was seriously concerned by the existence of thermobaric weapons or vacuum bomb due to the unprecedented destructive when used against field fortifications such as foxholes, tunnels, bunkers, and caves. But those weapons have a weakness: their reliance on atmospheric oxygen for detonation. Hollow Bunker was designed to take advantage of this weakness. Using Vacuum Magic the Imperial Army suck all the air in the bunker out, resulting a vacuum inside the bunker. Falmartian doesn't need air to survive so they are ok but this render most thermobaric and chemical weapons useless. One bonus point is without air there are nothing to transmit shock waves inside the bunker and destroy it. To prevent the bunker collapsed from air pressure due to the hollow interior a very powerful Reinforcement Magic was put on the bunker superstructure.
Hardy's Portals : are structures that can teleport soldiers or objects in large quantities. A portal was a two-dimensional, often up to 15 feet (4,6 meters) circle, but not limited to it both in size and shape, area that was both intangible and invisible. This Magic allows the user to cover very large distances in the blink of an eye. It makes for an extremely fast and effective means of transportation, and can also be used in combat when the situation requires fast actions. Due to being a very high-level magic, only a handful of extremely powerful mages can use this magic on a personal level.
Lightning Power Rotary-Type Magic Engine is a magic engine powered by lightning magic to operate the Empire high-speed trains. The lightning magic causes the magic metal to rotate the components, thereby causing it to run. The overall design is to be similar to electrically-powered rotary engines or electric motors. So far, the latest trains can reach the speed up to 480 kph. However, due to accidents that occurs in curves, the operators limited the speed up to 420 kph only.
Unobtanium is a highly valuable mineral found on Falmart. Unobtanium proved to be the most baffling of scientific discoveries in the area of superconductors as it had an extremely strong magnetic field, reversing prior knowledge that all superconductors repel magnetic fields. Furthermore, unlike the fragile crystals of human-created superconducting compounds, the substance found on Falmart was a stable quasi-crystal with its atoms arranged in a never-repeating but orderly pattern with fivefold symmetry. This matrix was not only structurally rugged but also housed microscopic voids in the quasicrystalline structure that contain the magnetic flux lines (see Type II superconductor). These unusual properties cause the mineral to levitate in magnetic fields, under the Meissner Effect.
The Thundering Rocks "Floating Mountains" are floating islands that circulate slowly in the magnetic currents like icebergs at sea, scraping against each other and the towering mesa-like mountains of the region. On Falmart, huge outcroppings of unobtanium rip loose from the surface and float in the magnetic vortices due to the Meissner Effect. These huge "islands", named the Avatar Mountains by Earth's explorers, are called Thundering Rocks by the Falmartian, who hold them sacred. The Thundering Rocks are overgrown with foliage at the top and straggly beards of vines hang down beneath the mountains like the roots of air-ferns. Their sides are sheer cliffs. Waterfalls, originating on the mesa-like tops, stream down the sides and disperse into spray at the bottoms, like upside-down geysers. The mist then condenses on other floating mountains and flows over the side and disperses, renewing the process.
Kármán line is an attempt to define a boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. World Air Sports Federation (FAI), an international standard-setting and record-keeping body for aeronautics and astronautics, defines the Kármán line as the altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles; 330,000 feet) above Earth's mean sea level. On Falmart, the atmosphere is 6 times denser and 3 time thicker so Falmart's Kármán line is at the altitude of 300 kilometres. A bonus point. Falmart's Geostationary orbit (GEO) is 28,659 kilometres above Falmart's equator, much smaller than earth because the planet have 7 times the mass, 4.6 times the rotational speed and 2.3 times the radius.
Third Japanese Special Task Force, North of Coda city
After hours of preparation and assistance, the people of Coda city were now finally ready to leave. Wagons were loaded and a long caravan of carts began to form.
It was decided that the 5th Combat Unit would lead the front of caravan meanwhile the 1st and 2nd heavy mechanized mixed corps would stay off the main roads in order to provide overwatch and have a better view of the general going of things. The 3rd Combat Unit would cover their track from behind to make sure no demons followed them and the 4th would be their eye in sky.
Itami watched through his sights as the long caravan of wagons and carts continued on, it was an impressive sight that extended for almost 5 miles. In a way it reminded him of the refugees caravan he had to provide overwatch for on his humanitarian mission in Lebanon, long convoys of wheeled vehicles.
The Elf who lived in Koan forest, Tuka, the eldest daughter of Hodor Ray Marceau, was having a nightmare. She was trembling like a puppy and desperately reached out a hand as if someone had taken a stuffed animal from her.
"Kuro-chan~, how's the girl doing?"
"Lieutenant General Itami… the poor girl is having a nightmare. I have given her a sedative . Her situation for now is stable but the trauma of losing her falmily is too much for her to bear. My advise is getting her to a talking therapy."
A highly skilled sculptor focused his strongest passion and moe spirit in order to create a beautiful girl with perfect skin. Right now, the girl was lying powerlessly on her side. Between her golden locks was her slightly opened blue eyes which were just like gems.
Itami looked at the Elven girl as he considered his problems.
"The trek of refugees is slow and not making progress, more and more problems keep occurring and the weather keep getting worse. This escape is slowly exhausting them."
He was just venting his complains. For Itami whose motto was 'Eat, sleep, play, repeat, life is everything in between', this seemingly unending trek was just suffering.
The refugees wore depressed expressions. They felt fatigue in their bones, hunger in their stomachs and thirst in their throats. The Falmartian, despite not needing food or water to survive still felt hungry and thirsty.
The piercing wails of babies abandoned by their escaping parents permeated the air. People injured from accidents on the road. The heavy rain poured heavily on their backs only adding to their struggle.
The worst part for the refugees, however, was all the mud, so much mud. Mud which coated the ground and caked their pants and shoes which they had no time to shake off. If only they had the magic carriages or some golems, this would be a lot easier. All of those were unfortunately requisitioned by the Imperial Army.
They could not turn into Titan or using magic fearing of being discovered by the Flame Demons horde. They were so afraid of being discovered, to the point that considerable effort was expended in moving decoy in other areas behind the caravan and scattering various farming implements on the opposite direction.
Dropping out from the caravan meant death. Even if not because of the Flame Demons, anyone dropped out would most likely fall victim to wild beasts and bandits. They needed to move faster.
Kurokawas asked Itami,"Can't we request additional transport?"
With the transport capability of the UEADF, they could easily move this amount of cargo.
But Itami just scratched his head with a troubled face.
"First, we are behind enemy lines here not just the Flame Demons horde but also the Imperial military. They might be ignoring us because of our numbers and direction, but the enemy will definitely react if we send a large unit deep into their territory. Accidental engagement, unplanned expansion of our front line, and committing our forces are exactly what we want to avoid. The sudden escalation of war could drag the refugees into all this... Just thinking about that makes my head itch. Beside I doubt that the higher up want us to spent more resource on enemy civilians."
Kurokawa smiled wryly in response to Itami's words.
"That's why, all we can do right now is give a helping hand."
Kurokawa had no choice but to nod in agreement.
When the refugees from Coda city reached this area, the sun was at its peak.
Leading the wagon train was the GCCV G-1 Base of the Third Japanese Special Task Force. However, it was moving at a cycling pace, even with their superhuman strength the muddy ground simply couldn't support the weight of the refugees, and since the refugees behind were on foot, along with groaths and farm animals pulling the wagons. Maybe sport cycling would be even faster than this.
"But… Can't we go any faster?"
Sergeant Takashi complained.
"I haven't driven this slowly since driving school."
If he pressed too long on the accelerator symbol, he would leave the wagon train behind. Takashi moved by using the driving app in his touch screen.
Itami studied the terrain map made from aerial photographs, watching the horizon with his HUD. He compared the terrain with his current position, calculating the distance they had travelled and how much further they had to go. He recorded road conditions and their steepness. These were not the only things he wrote down as the flow of rivers and vegetation were also important information.
"Commander, be advised due north of your position by about 25 kilometers we have eyes on the Fire Demons horde. They are coming your way fast. Permission to engage the enemy "
Silence.
"Commander Itami, Sir?"
More silence, the truth was Itami had heard Kuribayashi voice over the radio he were just too busy considering all his options to pay attention.
It was the third day of the exodus from Coda city, and the refugees thought they were out of the Fire Demon's hunting grounds. However, the horde suddenly appeared and immediately began attacking its prey.
Thanks to the prior knowledge of the Flame Demon horde appearance courtesy of the JSDF Special Task Force, Coda city and a few other nearby villages had all simultaneously fled from those demons. After the Flame Demons couldn't find any Immanities or Elves to prey on, it followed its nose to a place filled with Immanities.
Since the preparation for escaping had taken some time, and they were weighed down by their luggage, the slow speed of the Coda people had allowed the Flame Demon Army to catch them.
"Fighting with monsters is the JSDF's tradition! Who'd have thought that we would be doing it here!"
"Attention all units! This is Lieutenant General Itami, you are clear to engage."
First Armored ,1st Combat Unit
"Time to mount up." Tanker Toya finished the last of his coffee and shook his mug over the sand. His Type-92 Chamberlain tank was ready to move, one of the 102 tanks lined up along the main road.
It was still dark but the eastern horizon was glowing red as the sun approached it's first appearance. That's why the tanks were along this road, with the sun behind them the demons would be advancing with the glare of the dawn directly in their eyes. It was a small point perhaps but the officers were paid to think of things like that. He climbed up on to his tank and slid into the turret beside the 152mm gun, settling comfortably into the familiar seat. "Boiling vessel on?"
The loader nodded, the tank was going to seal down, they'd fight that way. Nobody knew what the demons would do when they found themselves under fire so orders were to expect the worst and make sure the coffee urn was ready to use. Toya felt his ears click as the positive-pressure system powered up.
The air inside the tank was at a higher pressure than that outside so that if there were any leaks in the tank, the flow would be out, not in. They had rations, everything they needed without depending on the outside world. They even had some empty cases from the artillery so they could relieve themselves without leaving their armored home.
"Sabre-One Actual." Lieutenant Masaki's voice was calm, studied. "All Sabre One units. Confirm sealed down."
Toya thumbed his transmitter button."Sabre One-two sealed down."
"Very good. Recon tells us the Demons are moving, straight at us." There was immense satisfaction in the Lieutenant's voice now.
"Straight at us" meant straight into the hornet hive and on to the killing range. We will be opening fire at 5,000 meters with HESH. Aimed shots only boys, we can't waste ammunition. Strike hard!"
The last words were Masaki's family motto, repeated with almost boyish enthusiasm. Young officers Toya thought, a little patronizingly, a little sadly. So keen, so likely to die. "You heard our Lieutenant. Load HESH."
"Up." The one word meant that the 152mm gun was loaded, ready to fire. Toya leaned forward slightly and peered through his commander's periscope.
Even in the brief time since they'd mounted up, the sun had risen enough to start lighting the battle area. Across the dunes, Toya saw a section of the horizon turn red. The Flame Demons crossing it in strength, a great square of them. He knew the numbers, 81 ranks, each of 81 Fire Demons. This was their advance guard.
As he watched the great square changed, splitting into three rectangles, the two at the rear moving up either side of the lead so they formed an extended line. Then the rectangles split again, into three sections, one behind the other. The numbers played in Toya's head, 729 in each sections, almost 2,200 in each of the three closely packed waves. This would be a bloody day, Toya though. So what color would their blood be?
"They're charging by battalion." Toya lased the formations that were approaching at steadily-increasing speed. "Range 7,500 meters. They're not holding formation very well. No discipline there at all." A critical point, a charge had to hit as a solid blow, a fist formed of every available asset. If the charging vanguard were ill-disciplined enough to allow their formation to break, the strength of the blow would be much reduced.
J-86 air superiority fighter over the Coda airspace
"Commander Itami, the enemy are moving. Engage airborne threats as detected." Lieutenant Tomoki looked around at the other J-86s making up his formation.
"We have first target group on scan now. They are stacked behind lead ground element, estimated number approximately 950. Tiger Group will engage. Fire at will." Tomoki swelled with satisfaction, his 24 J-86s were Tiger Group. They would fire the first shots of the Battle for the Coda refugees.
First Brigade, First Combat Unit , North of Coda .
"It's starting." Colonel Takeo Kurata looked at the electronic displays in his command center. He'd zoomed in on where the map was showing the first of the demons formations moving up.
They were leading with their vanguard down there, just like they were doing here. Kurata zoomed out, moved his point of display up to the enemy position then flipped the display mode from synthetic to raw video.
The pictures from the Global Hawk showed the fire demons vanguard shift from a solid block to a column of three long lines.
The 5th Combat Unit had placed their faith in T42D Black Arrow surface to air missiles to stop the initial push but Kurata was relying on his artillery. It wasn't as if he was short of it.
Command Colonel Takeo Kurata picked up the microphone." All Ready First units, now here this. The enemy is moving. These are the bastards who thought we'd just knuckle under to their wishes. Well, they're wrong and we're going to show them just how wrong. We're going to teach them what JSDF values stand for. We'll show them the talent of man and by the the talent of man I mean, of course, mindless indiscriminate violence." There was a chortle of laughter at the crack. "So show them just how much violence and destruction we can do when we put our minds to it."
He put the microphone down. "The 300mm M370 MLRS, 320mm PCL195 MLRS and 180mm M1299 self-propelled howitzer batteries are waiting Sir. Just give the word."
The mathematics were simple and deadly. Just under 25 kilometers away from the demons horde were 29 M370 MLRS rocket launchers. Each had 12 rockets. Each rocket had 2,576 shaped-charge multi-role sub-munitions. 12 x 29 x 2,576 = 896,448. Getting on for a nearly of a million sub-munitions were descending on the 6,000-strong horde that was charging across open terrain. The JSDF had a name for what was happening. They called it steel rain.
Right Flank of the Demon Army
Demon Lord Visharak kept his beast in hand, trying to keep lined up with the other members of his unit. It was hard, the great fire beasts wanted to surge ahead, their claws snapping in anticipation of biting into flesh, their tails arched up ready to strike, their noses exhaled fire ready to burn their foe.
Ahead of him the first rank was already breaking into a gallop, the beasts covering the ground with great loping strides. The second rank were into the trot, waiting for the order so they too could start their charge. Visharak's third rank was still at the pace, their turn had not come yet. Far ahead of him, he could see a strange shimmering cloud that seemed to stretch across the battlefield. Odd, but then this mortal army was full of surprises. It wasn't the way they'd expected it to be.
It was time, his beast broke into its trot as the lines in front shifted to the gallop. The waves had spaced out, the gaps between them lengthening as the beasts accelerated to full speed, their riders letting them have their head in the race to gain the honor of being the first to crash through the enemy lines. Then, the surge and the pounding in his rear end as his beast went into the gallop, its head stretching out as its muscles pushed it faster towards the enemy. Visharak sneered at the enemy in front, instead of forming up in the open where they could fly their banners and show their defiance like proper warriors, they were hiding behind the hill crests. Not that hiding would save the mortals. In front of him, the first wave was nearing the shimmering river. Then, the earth opened up and swallowed them.
Left Flank of the Demon Army
Demon Lord Zorankali jabbed his heels into the neck of his beast, urging it onwards, towards the enemy who was supposed to be trying to stop the Legions of Chaos. His beast responded gallantly, straining every muscle in its body to get ahead of his rivals and be the first to start the slaughter of the mortals. Dawn was well advanced, the sky turning from black to blue, only it wasn't? Zorankali took time to glance upwards, there was a weird white cloud rising from behind the mortals, a cloud tinged red from the rising sun. The appearance of a cloudy red sky for one second made Zorankali homesick but the clouds shot through with streaks of intense white fire. Suddenly, Zorankali saw the streaks of fire were curving through the air and the curve was going end with him.
Zorankali was staggering around amid the wreckage of the cavalry charge. His beast was down, threshing on the ground, screaming with the agony of holes blasted through its body. Great craters seared by the fury of the shaped-charges that had blasted raw copper plasma into its body, they were something that the beast had never experienced before. All around it, others of its kind were in the same condition, screaming, legs, claws, tails blasted off, their faces melted, their bodies ripped open and their organs hanging out. Some were dead, they were the ones who had been fortunate enough to be hit so hard that even the tough body and lust for war that was bread into the beasts could not allow them to survive. Between the bodies of the great beasts, their riders were strewn, some dead, some screaming from their wounds, all hurt in a way none had ever experienced before.
It really didn't register in time, the screams from overhead that drowned out even the shrieks and howls of the shattered cavalry charge. The explosions did catch his attention, they were large enough to attract anybody's. they rippled across the killing field, tearing apart the force pinned down there and finally bringing peace to the crippled beasts as they were blown apart.
Just over 12 kilometers away, the 18 M1299 howitzers had dropped into the steady firing rate of four rounds per minute, the rate that conserved ammunition and broke armies.
Their shells arched over the Type-92 Chamberlain tanks and other heavy armored vehicles of the First Brigade and slammed into the mass of struggling demons below. On the ridgeline above the tankers and mechanized infantry watched in slightly bored interest as the demons cavalry died. There was nothing to be really interesting here, they'd seen MLRS and artillery at work before. The artillery observers actually had something to do, they watched the patterns of shells landing and datalinked a stream of information back to the guns, directing fire onto any pockets of survivors.
In the middle of the mass of artillery fire, Zorankali was learning new lessons and learning them very fast indeed. He was learning that he was helpless, that there was no defense against the shells that were moving backwards and forwards across the killing ground. He was learning that artillery and the controllers who directed in had no mercy, no compassion for the creatures they were slaughtering. They were just targets, to be erased as quickly and conveniently as possible.
Zorankali had learned one other thing. He was a creature of hell but these seemingly puny mortals could create hell any time they wanted to. For the first time in his long life, Zorankali knew what sheer, unadulterated, panic-stricken terror felt like.
First Armored ,1st Combat Unit
"Now that is a sight." Tanker Toya swung the turret of his tank so he could watch the scene in the battlefields. The 300mm shells had been designed to knock out massive armored formations but they worked against the demon's fire salamander very effectively.
The first wave had been blown apart by the MLRS and howitzers, Toya had seen one fire salamander have both its left legs torn off by the shaped-charge multi-role sub-munitions, as it had collapsed to one side it had landed on another and been killed by it.
Quite a few of the fire salamanders had made it though the MLRS bombardment and then they'd hit the solofilament wire fields planted seconds ago. Using the 320mm MLRS and the a special cluster ammunition, the UEADF could create minefield or wirefield in an instant.
Solofilament was also known as "mollywire", "molly thread", "superwire", "microwire," and sometimes (erroneously) as "nanowire" or "nanothread." They were nasty stuff, touch a piece carelessly and it could remove a man's fingers. It was also very hard to damage, it was very thin, hard to hit, and if you tried to cut it, chances were whatever you tried to cut it with would just fall apart in two pieces during the process as the wire passed effortlessly through most substances, cleaving it apart on a molecular level.
There were dozens of interlocked coils down there and even as Toya watched he saw the fire salamanders tear into it and become entangled in the mass of razor-sharp edges. They screamed and threshed as the wire sliced ever-deeper into them and their efforts only got them more entangled and inflicted yet more damage. Some of the riders tried to help their mounts, grabbed the wire to lift in clear and these ones learned the terrible truth and the wire sliced their fingers to the bone.
Behind that second wave came the third and these had learned. Most of them followed the paths of the fire salamanders that had made it to the wire. They climbed over the creatures from the second wave, escaping the first entangling coils of wire but got bogged down in the rest. Others followed them and by simple weight and mass they crushed down the wire with the bodies of those in front of them. By sheer weight of numbers, the enemy cavalry had breached the wire and were through.
"Get ready Boys." Lieutenant Masaki's voice came over the radio.
"The artillery lads are opening fire. Get ready to pick off any of them monsters that get through the barrage."
Toya settled down into his tank commander's seat, then took a look through the scope. The blood in the battlefield was green.
"What the blazes was that?"
Toya shrugged. Something had hit his tank, it seemed like some sort of fire ball or something. It had come from the mass of infantry they were pounding."No idea. Any damage."
"No boss, computers overheated for a second but that's all. If I didn't know better, I'd say we got hit by a fire ball .
If we did, the heat-resistance nano-crytalline steel armor worked as advertised."
Toya looked across the line, it seemed like quite a few fire balls were coming in from the direction of the enemy.
"The old books said that demons could throw fire bolts didn't they?
Looks like we just got hit by one."
Ahead, down in the valley, a group of demons had penetrated the wire in his sector. "Load HESH."
"Up."
"Shoot."
"On the way."
The tank lurched as another 152mm HESH round went down range and Toya saw it plow into the group he'd selected, blowing one demons into fragments while those around it went down wounded.
The thought crossed Toya's mind that he was currently firing the biggest and most expensive sniper's rifle in history. It also crossed his mind that snipers couldn't possibly stop a massed attack like this. He had to give the demons credit, the ground in the battlefield and around the wire was carpeted with their dead yet they were still pushing forward. It took gutsy infantry to do that.
"Make that a definite on the ball plasma." Toya had seen another Type-92 Chamberlain getting hit by a ball of plasma and briefly lighting up the way a ship's mast sometimes did in an electrical storm. St Elmo's Fire it was called or something. He switched to the platoon net.
"Lieutenant, Sir, we're taking incoming fire here. Some sort of plasma bolt, like lightning or EMP. Does seem to be dangerous to us but not for the super tank."
"Roger that Toya. For your information, other tanks and the crunchies in their T-15 Armatas are also reporting the plasma bolts. Hold Fast."
Toya switched back to tank intercom and picked out another demon target. Once again, his 152mm gun crashed, sending the demons flying. Their casualty rate down there was appalling, the M1299s were still pounding them with their 180s while the tanks added precision fire to the execution yet they were barely making a dent in the mass of demons still moving forward. Toya got an uneasy feeling that the battle was not going well.
"They may not know what they're doing but my word, do they have guts."
Colonel Takeo Kurata watched the slaughter on his display. The Global Hawk was relaying real-time video of the battle as it developed, sending back pictures of the demons horde as they floundered under the lash of artillery fire.
The MLRS batteries were inflicting incredible losses on them, every time they fired, whole sections of the demons front just vanished under the Steel Rain. There were two problems with that, the batteries fired about once every eight or nine minutes and that just wasn't often enough. The other was that they had already dumped more than a million DPICM bomblets into the target area. With a 2 percent failure rate, that meant there were already 80,000 dud rounds scattering the battlefield. That would make it a hazard for years to come.
Still, the gap between the MLRS salvoes was being filled by the M1299s. All 54 guns in the Task Forces were now pouring fire into the enemy army. A mortal army would have broken by now, given up, known that getting through the artillery fire was impossible, and saved their lives by pulling back.
The demons weren't doing that. Not yet at any rate. Kurata know they would, sooner or later. They were fighting the JSDF on its terms, on its ground, giving it exactly the target the Army was supremely good at destroying.
The demons would either run or die. Even as he watched, a new element was added to the massacre, the Armata heavy IFVs of his mechanized infantry were firing Kornet-M anti-tank missile into the enemy formation, picking out the groups the artillery missed and cutting them down.
The tanks were silent, Kurata intended to hold fire with them until the enemy were 2,000 meters away. The 152 mm smoothbore didn't have the accurate range of the German 130mms rifled so the Armatas had to take over the long-range precision fire role.
Kurata looked at the mass of infantry threshing in the kill zone and shook his head. They had to stop. Didn't they?
Left Flank of the Demons Army
They were hunched up, backs bent, heads down, looking for all the world as if they were trying to walk through some ferocious storm. Same grim determination to find shelter. And that wasn't a bad comparison thought Zorankali, that's what they were. Facing a storm that slaughtered everything in its path. Ever since his Beast had been killed, Zorankali had been advancing with the infantry against the hideous magic of the mortals.
He caught his breath, suddenly the sky behind the mortals had turned white again, white shot with fire as their fire-lances sped towards the floundering demon advance. He watched the sight with fear in his heart, then sighed slightly as it descended on the flank of the line, far from his position.
It happened again, the same rippling cloud of explosions that left no demons standing when it cleared. Anything was better than the fire lances, even the magic bolts that screamed and caused the ground to erupt under their feet.
There was something new, from a position in front of them, more mortal chariots had appeared, barely visible with just a small box over the ridgeline. For all their skills, the mortals were cowards, Zorankali consoled himself with that thought, they didn't stand proud and fight, they hid in hollows and dips in the ground to kill. And kill, and kill, and kill thought Zorankali grimly. Oh yes, they were very good at that but it wasn't matter without Holy magic all of their victories were just temporary.
The boxes fired fire-lances at a group of demons on Zorankali's right. The targets scattered but it did them no good. They'd been lucky enough to escape the fire-lances and the bolts but these new weapons were different. As Zorankali watched appalled, the fire-lances changed course to follow their targets.
Even those who forget their honor and tookcover in dips like mortals could not save themselves, the fire lances were following them into the cover they had sought. It was more than flesh and blood, even demonic flesh and blood could stand. The leading demons started to edge backwards, even as the ones behind continued to push forward. The advance ground to a halt in the chaos.
First Armored ,1st Combat Unit
"Air Raid Warning Red! Red! Red!" The scream over the radio was just in time. A group of about 30 flying demons had managed to assemble themselves from the massacre in the skies over the battlefield and attacked the tanks sitting on the ridgeline with fire balls.
Toya could feel his tank lurch as a group of them landed on it, heard their claws scrabbling at the armor. His radio went dead, at a guess, he thought the antenna had probably been ripped off by the demons. Then he heard a ringing noise, the sound of machine gun fire bouncing of armor plate. The T-15 Armatas were machine-gunning the tanks in an effort todrive the demons off them.
Toya looked through his vision blocks, some were masked by clawed hands trying to rip them open but he could see Bravo-Three was also covered with harpies, the tracers from three T-15 Armatas converging on it as the infantry protected the tanks from the sudden assault. On a sudden thought, Toya looked up and made sure his hatch was firmly clamped shut. One demons was driven off the tank by the fire, it exploded in the air as the T-15 Armata fired a few rounds from its 57mm mm gun into it.
Others were dying as they were shot up by the T-15's coaxial chain guns. That was creating a new problem, Toya could see Bravo-Three was starting to smoke, the acid from the Demon's blood probably. The nano-crytalline steel armor on the 141 tons Type-92 Chamberlain would resist the acid but there were other things out there that could be vulnerable.
The tanks were backing up. Toya hadn't received any orders but with his radio down, it was a fair guess they were out so he joined in the movement. Like the other tanks, he popped his smoke launchers, the choking white fumes driving off the remaining harpies. By the time the demons swarmed over the positions he had once held, the Chamberlain were back behind the next ridgeline.
J-86 over the caravan , West of Coda city.
"Fox-Two, Fox-Two, Fox-Two, Fox-Two, Fox-Two, Fox-Two." Lieutenant Tomoki was one of 24 pilots making the ritual chant as the missiles streaked away from his air superiority fighter climbing up, high into the stratosphere as the started their deadly course. This was what the J-86 had been built for, taking on a massed formation of enemy aircraft and blasting them apart with long-range weapons. It was, after all, what their American counterpart had said, it was all very well to win a fight but much better to kill your enemy before he knew the fight had started.
The radio crackled again, the J88/101s were opening fire with their long-range missiles. They didn't have the multi-target capability of the J-86s, not quite, they could engage four targets at once instead of the J-86's six, but they were firing their AIM-125 AMRAAM in a stream at the mass of demons . As the first four hit, the radar would automatically switch to the next four, and then the next. Tomoki realized something else, the demons would be looking at the huge salvo of missiles aimed straight at them, not upwards to where the AIM-125s were already hurtling down. Off to the south, the third J-100 fighter formation was already closing to follow up the initial long-range pounding.
Over 15 kilometers away, Demon Lord Nosgorath saw the sky in the far distance turn into a white could, one that lengthened towards the flock of demon with incredible speed. This had to be the fire-spears thrown by the mortal sky-chariots, the demons had all heard of them and quietly discussed them. There was word that three of the great Heralds had been destroyed by the fire-spears, if so, what could the smaller fliers do against them? He watched the fire-spears approaching, then the whole world seemed to turn upside down.
His eyes blurred, de-focused from the shock, Nosgorath looked with horror at the chaos wrought upon the flying demons flock. One of his wing-mates had taken a direct hit from a fire spear and had been blown to fragments. Others around him had been caught by the blast and fragments and were fluttering down, crippled, wings torn apart, some already burning where their bodies were being seared by their blood. Even as he watched, the members of his flock were dying as more fire-spears tore into them, the explosions adding to the chaos in the flock. Hundreds were dead and dying as Nosgorath tried to absorb the havoc that was being wrought. In the chaos, he saw a fire-spear coming for him. Panic-stricken, he dived and turned away, trying to accelerate as fast as he could but the fire-spear obediently changed course and followed him. That just wasn't fair.
"I love it when a plan comes together." The voice in Tomoki's earphones was a mixture of professional satisfaction and awe. The sky where the demon had been was a mass of explosions and fireballs. "Lion Group, return to base, maximum speed. Reload and get back out here fast. Don't worry about fuel, we've got tankers up if anybody gets short. Tiger Group," That was the JASDF pilot Tomoki thought. "close on what's left of that demon formation and slaughter it as soon as the J-100s have finished. Don't hang around, don't get close, zoom and boom. Watch out, the J-100s will be there as well."
Tomoki thumbed his transmitter. "Eagle Eye, kill totals?"
There was a laugh in the controller's voice. "Bloody fighter pilots. Hard to say Tiger Leader. In that mess, its hard to work out who's killing what. We have Lion Group down for 121 kills, Tiger Group for 290. Panther Group is about to engage. Good luck Lion Leader, look forward to seeing you back here."
It made sense, Tomiki thought. The J-86s were long-range killers, they had no place getting mixed up in a wild furball, but the fighter pilot in his soul screamed in protest still. Because what a furball it was going to be. Behind him, the area of sky occupied by the flying demons redoubled in its fury as the salvoes of AIM-125Cs tore into it.
The rest of the airborne demons were torn to pieces by T42D Black Arrow SAMs and the 35mm Rheinmetall Oerlikon Revolver Gun Mk3 systems with each round of Rheinmetall's 35mm x 228 Oerlikon Ahead airburst ammunition contains a lethal payload of heavy metal spin-stabilized subprojectiles, unleashed in the path of an oncoming target at a programmable, predefined point in time. A short burst of Ahead ammunition produces a dense cloud of lethal subprojectiles. These penetrated the outer skin of the target, causing catastrophic damage to its interior.
XXXXXXXX
The effects of the Third Japanese Special Task Force attacks on the enemy were utterly devastating, but the Demon had one advantage.
They came from the Immaterium, an alternate dimension of purely psychic energy that echoes and underlies the familiar four dimensions of the material universe. Demons are created at the whim of one of the four major Chaos Gods from a fraction of the god's own power within the Immaterium and act as an extension of its will.
When manifested in the material universe, Demons had particular invulnerabilities and weaknesses, as well as many strange powers derived from their Immaterium-born nature as psychic beings. Slaying a Demon's physical projection did not kill it, but only severed its presence in reality; its true essence in the Immaterium remains unharmed. This mean they could simply "phase in" the material universe again.
"Commander Itami, the fire demons, they are respawning," The 3rd Task Force couldn't believe in their own eyes as they saw the previously deceased demons starting to reappear out of thin air, "Permission to use nuclear weapons, General Itami." Colonel Hayato Sasagawa requested through his radio.
Before Itami could give a response, an unexpected event happened.
On the sky above the Demons, three giant magic circles appeared on top of each other, the spell reaches up to about twenty kilometres in diameter. All the newly revived demons instantly bodies bound by their frozen minds could not even die. They could only collapse like a row of statues, forever captured in the postures before the frost came.
"Could, could this be the Cocytus?" Tuka muttered.
"Cocytus?!"
"Cocytus is a Mental Interference Type Magic of the Outer-Systematic Type unique to the Frost Giants. Unlike other Freezing Magics, this doesn't have a noticeable effect on the surface, such as frost or cold temperature. Rather than the targets physical bodies freezing, it is their consciousness or soul that is frozen. It can also be fathomed as a magic that froze the time of the realm of a target's the scale of this is unbelievable, this ultra-wide area effect cooling magicm which is on par with Strategic Class Magic can only performed by an apostle or demigod."
"Nobody asked you lot to come to this world, you lowly demons." Rory shouted as she casted an extremely powerful exorcism spell that only an apostle could perform.
"Sacred Highness Exorcism!" As Rory said this, she fell to her knees, as though she had been dealt a heavy blow. A spell on this scale wasn't easy even for an apostle.
Immediately a giant pillar of light appeared covering the entire area. After the pillar of light disappeared, all the fire demons also disappeared.
"Sacred Highness Exorcism" was an extremely powerful exorcism spell. Legend said that demons banished in this way couldn't return for a thousand Falmart years and a day, though it is of course impossible to prove such a belief through study, and the concept of time itself is meaningless within the sunless Immaterium.
XXXXXXX
"Commander, be advised due north of your position by about 100 meters we have eyes on what looks to be a small child. She's got a...pretty big axe too, how do we proceed?"
Silence.
"Commander Itami?"
More silence
Itami had heard his troop voice over the radio he was just too transfixed to pay attention. There was a Gothic Lolita in the middle of the road, and now she was headed right their way.
There was a very strange aura about this girl, maybe it was her jet black dress with red ties and bows, her scarlet eyes, or perhaps it was the giant halberd she carried effortlessly off the ground. Either way something didn't quite add up.
"A Goth Loli ?"
That's a costume he often saw during events and in areas such as Harajuku. There were many differing views on what was Goth, but Itami was certain the clothing fashion style of the girl was that of a Goth Loli.
She was between twelve to fourteen years old. She looked very attractive, a real beauty.
A girl like that was squatting at the side of an empty road, her black jewel like eyes staring this way without even blinking.
"Woah, a life size ball-jointed doll?"
Takashi commented after watching through the GCCV G-1 Base's camera system.
That girl was like an inorganic doll with no seams.
No matter how much he wanted, Itami couldn't just drive off to look at that girl. The wagon train from Coda was advancing as slowly as the entrance to a doujinshi convention, the second hand of the clock would turn five rounds before the GCCV reach that girl.
Itami decided to send Tsuneari and Takashi to go ahead on foot to check her out.
Judging from her dress, she looked like the person who could cast those gigantic spells just 10 minutes ago. They had to be extremely careful if they wanted to see tomorrow.
When Tsuneari and Takashi tried to converse with her, they seemed unable to communicate. The squatting girl looked like a runaway ignoring the questions of two rookie cops.
When the wagon train reached the girl, she stood up as if she had been kept waiting, dusting off the dirt on her dress, easily picking up her huge halberd and walking alongside the HMV.
The girl walked a circle around the HMV that was moving at walking pace
Before Tsuneari or Takashi could respond to Itami's transmissions, laughter erupted from some children riding in one of the other trucks.
"Your Holiness ! Your Holiness !"
"Hey, where did you come from, and where are you going?"
The girl was speaking the local language.
Itami and the others couldn't converse fluently with her. They could only squeeze out a few sentences after flipping through their book of phrases which took the place of a dictionary. Tsuneari and Takashi shrugged and kept walking.
The one filling in the gaps in their conversation was a boy about seven who was sitting in the tiny space between Tsuneari and Takashi.
"We are from Coda city, Your Holiness."
"Hmm~? What about these people in the strange outfits?
"I think they are the United Earth Alliance Army, but they are nice people helping us."
"So they are not forcing you to go along?"
"No, the Flame Demons came and they're helping us escape."
Itami's group simply listened with an uncertain expression, exhibiting typical Japanese behaviour.
Itami sent Tsuneari and Takashi to take care of the refuges at the back, deciding to question the girl himself. He checked his phrase book, and waited for the dialogue between the boy and the girl to stop before asking. As Itami listened in, he noticed a particular wisdom to the girl's words, like as if she was a lot older than what her appearance suggested.
"I wonder how this thing moves without magic ?"
"I'd like to know as well. But I don't understand what they are saying… But riding in it feels much better than a carriage!"
"So~ riding in it feels good?"
Then she was standing right outside Itami's GCCV, the last thing Itami heard before the door was opened was her giggle.
"I want to ride too."
Before he could even stop her, the Goth Loli boarded the GCCV from Itami's passenger side. She strode over Itami's knees. There were 4 big doors, so she entered the GCCV easily.
XXXXXXX
"Oh...oh my god."
"What, what's going on?"
The rest of crew of the GCCV G-1 Base sat there dumbfounded for a few moments unsure of what to say.
Something was was very wrong.
She wasn't mortal or normal Immanity. No mortal being acted the way she did or moved the way she just had.
For a few moments both groups sat silent as they stared at each other, suddenly the girl giggled as she looked directly at Itami. Her sensual voice felt unnatural as she introduced herself.
"I am Rory Mercury, Apostle of the god Emroy. The children told me of strange men in steel wagons that came here to fight the demons and keep them safe. Are you them?" Her eyes digging into his like drills.
"Please?...might I take a look inside?"
Risa reached for her 20mm M47 Assault rifle as she yelled out. "If you don't get the fuck out-"
The Major never got to finish her sentence, in a heartbeat Rory had picked her up by her collar and had thrown her off the side of the GCCV and into the grass. Risa with her Mk3 Combat Jacket easily weighed 260 kg, even more with her M47 Assault rifle. The fact that this girl was able to toss her like a ragdoll was anything but reassuring.
Rory looked at Itami with a smile as she began to lower herself into the Command and Control chamber. "Oh she's quite fine I assure you, now please...do let me have a look."
Itami just fought a massive demons army without fear. Yet this girl easily trumped all of that. There was something about this girl screamed " I can kill you all at anytime ".
"Hold it!"
Itami was dumbfounded at her next action.
He wanted to stop the black-clad Goth Loli, but if he touched somewhere dangerous, it could be painted as sexual harassment and trigger a huge incident, so he didn't. Because of the language barrier his protests and curses in Japanese like "Hey! Wait! Wait!", "Don't touch that", "Don't touch the pistol and fire extinguisher", "Get out first", "Wah, what the hell are you bringing along!" were ignored completely.
The place the girl sat down upon was his knees.
He had to shout "Hold it!" at this stage.
One side wanted to push the other away while the other side was fighting for a place to sit. The low class fighting thus began.
"●×△、□○○○！！！！！"
"△□×￥！○△□×××！！"
And so, the struggle between two parties who couldn't communicate verbally ended with Itami giving half his seat away.
Ula Pianca (Imperial Subterranean Castle )
The conference room was bitterly cold, primarily because the air conditioning had been turned up to its maximum setting. The Emperor was angry and the cold air help him to cool down.
"Let me be straight, the situation is way out of control. We have suffered unprecedented casualties in the history of this Divine Empire. In just one strike. Does your Department of Defense have a plan to deal with the issue of enemy's ICBM, Zorzal?" the Emperor asked angrily.
Zorzal looked at his father confidently and said
"There no need to worry, Your Majesty. I have come up with countermeasures for the enemy space weapons."
" Really " Molt gave a careful but excited smile.
"It is undeniable fact that the enemy have orbital supremacy over this planet, this give them a huge advantage.
We won't be able to challenge them for at least 40 more years but we don't need to.
Do Your Majesty know about The Kessler syndrome ? "
"The Kessler syndrome ? " Molt frowned, expressed curiosity.
"Yes, Your Majesty this is an Earth knowledge, the Kessler syndrome (also called the Kessler effect, collisional cascading, or ablation cascade), proposed by NASA scientist Donald J. Kessler in 1978, is a theoretical scenario in which the density of objects in low Earth orbit (LEO) due to space pollution is high enough that collisions between objects could cause a cascade in which each collision generates space debris that increases the likelihood of further collisions. One implication is that the distribution of debris in orbit could render space activities and the use of satellites in specific orbital ranges difficult for many generations." Zorzal carefully explained the concept to his father.
"In order to win we must close space, the ultimate high ground, to our enemies. We will do this by launching vast numbers - in the hundred of trillions - of pieces of gravel into low-Falmart and geosynchronous orbits around Falmart , making these regions of space very unsafe for satellites in even the short term. Although the subset of this space-denial debris which is in low Falmart orbit is gradually re-entering and being lost, there is still a great deal of it, and the debris in higher orbits will persist for a very long time."
' But how will we do that ? " Molt asked impatiently.
"Using a giant cannon, Your Majesty." Zorzal answered.
"The velocity necessary to reach the Low Famart Orbit (essentially the orbital velocity of the Falmart) could be calculated easily using Newtonian mechanics: "By incontrovertible calculations I find that a projectile endowed with an initial velocity of 13,500 meters per second.
The caliber of the projectile was established by the need to track the object by telescope through our thick atmosphere for detonation.
So our projectile would be nine feet (2.74 m) in diameter.
To keep the room for the space-denial debris, the projectile would have to be hollow.
A solid shot of 108 inches would carry more than 200,000 pounds (90 tonnes) to orbit, a sufficient weight for the mission. Still, as we must reserve a certain stability for our projectile, I propose to give the weight of the hollow shell is 20,000 pounds."
The Absolute Emperor nodded and asked "What would be the thickness of the sides?"
'If we follow out the regular proportions,' said Diabo El Caesar , diameter of 108 inches would require a thickness of at least two feet."
"That would be too much,' said Zorzal . 'You see we are not making a shot for piercing steel plates; it will only require sufficient thickness to withstand the pressure of the powder gas. This is the problem: What would be the thickness of a Mithril shell only weighing 20,000 pounds? Big borther Odysseus will tell us at once."
'Nothing can be easier,' replied the Crown Prince Odysseus ; whereupon he traced some rapid algebraic formulae on the paper: x, y, and z followed each other in quick succession. He appeared to extract a certain cubic root, and said: "The sides will only be two inches thick."
"Will that be sufficient?" asked the , Prime Minister , doubtfully.
"No,' replied Minister of Defense, 'evidently not."
"Well, what's to be done?' said Diabo, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"We must use another metal.' "Adamant ?" said Odysseus.
"No; that's too heavy. I have something better to propose."
What is it?" said the crown prince.
Orichalcum,' answered Zorzal.
"Orichalcum?' cried the Minister of Defense's two brothers.
"Certainly, my beloved brothers. You are aware that an illustrious dwarven alchemist, Thorin Oakenshield, succeeded in the year 41854 I.C in producing Orichalcum in large masses. This precious metal is as yellow as gold, as inalterable as Platinum, as tenacious as Adamant, as fusible as Mithril, and as light as Titan crystal; it is easily worked, casily found, as Orichalcum forms the basis of most rocks; it is three times as light as Mithril, and would seem to have been specially created to supply the material for our projectile."
"Three cheers for Orichalcum!" cried the Prime Minister of the Holy Empire, always very noisy in his moments of enthusiasm.
"But, my dear brother," said the Crown Prince, " Isn't Orichalcum very expensive?"
"It was,' replied Zorzal ; a short time after its discovery a pound of Orichalcum cost from 260 to 280 Soruda; later on it fell to 27 Soruda, and today it costs only 9 Soruda a pound thank to new scientific knowledge from Earth.
'But nine Soruda a pound,' replied the Crown Prince, who was not easily beaten off, 'will make a tremendous sum.' No doubt, my dear brother, but not an impossible one.'
'What will the projectile weigh?" asked Diabo. 'Here are my calculations,' replied Zorzal " A hollow shot 108 inches (274 centimeters) in diameter and 12 inches (30.48 centimeters) thick, would weigh, in Mithril, 67,440 pounds (30,590.269 Kilograms) ; in Orichalcum its weight would be reduced to 19,250 pounds (8,731 Kilograms )."
Hear, hear!' replied the Crown Prince ; 'but don't you know that at nine Soruda a pound this projectile will cost - "One hundred and seventy-three thousand two hundred and fifty Soruda".
"I am well aware of it; but fear nothing, my dear brother, money will not be wanting for our undertaking. Father will answer for that." The Emperor's face darkened as he heard that.
"We shall get more than we want." replied Emperor Molt Sol Augustus.
"Well, what do you think of Orichalcum?' asked Zorzal .
'Accepted!' replied the three members of the imperial family.
"As to the shape of the projectile,' continued Zorzal , 'that is of little importance, for once the atmosphere is passed the projectile will be in vacuum.
Zorzal continued
The projectile having been settled, the gun itself could then be sized:
"The problem before us is how to communicate an initial force of 13,500 meters per second to a shell of 108 inches in diameter, weighing 220,000 pounds. The resistance of the air is of little importance. The atmosphere of this planet does not exceed 120 miles. Now, with the given rapidity, the projectile will have traversed this in 12 seconds, and the period is too brief for the resistance of the medium to be regarded otherwise than as insignificant..."
"It must evidently be, then, a gun of great range, since the length of the piece will increase the detention of the gas accumulated behind the projectile; but there is no advantage in passing certain limits. Ordinarily the length of a gun is twenty to twenty-five times the diameter of the shot, and its weight two hundred and thirty-five to two hundred and forty times that of the shot."
"Following this proportion for a projectile nine feet in diameter, weighing 220,000 pounds, the gun would only have a length of two hundred and twenty- five feet, and a weight of 7,200,000 pounds. This is not enough so I propose to quadruple that length, and to construct a gun of nine hundred feet long with the thickness of the tube is six feet.
The gun would be emplaced in the earth:
"Mounting a mass like that upon a carriage would be quite impracticable.
I think of sinking this engine in the earth alone, binding it with hoops of wrought iron, and finally surrounding it with a thick mass of masonry of stone and cement. The piece once cast, it must be bored with great precision, so as to preclude any possible windage. So there will be no loss whatever of gas, and all the expansive force of the powder will be employed in the propulsion.
"The gun would not be rifled as we require an enormous initial velocity; and you are well aware that a shot quits a rifled gun less rapidly than it does a smooth-bore."
Ultrahard steel was selected for the barrel: "steel costs ten times less than Mithril; it is easy to cast, it runs readily from the molds of sand, it is easy of manipulation, it is at once economical of money and of time. Ultrahard steel is very brittle but it possesses great resistance. The cannon will weigh 68,040 tons. And, at a Soruda per 50 pound, it will cost two million five hundred and ten thousand seven hundred and one Soruda."
Ordinary titan gunpowder would not do. The latest invention, metallic hydrogen, would be used as propellant: "...it imparts to projectiles a velocity four times superior to that of gunpowder... in place of 1,600,000 pounds of titan gunpowder, we shall have but 400,000 pounds of metallic hydrogen; and since we can, without danger, compress 500 pounds of metallic hydrogen into twenty-seven cubic feet, the whole quantity will not occupy a height of more than 180 feet within the bore of the Columbiad. In this way the shot will have more than 700 feet of bore to traverse under a force of 60 billion liters of gas before taking its flight toward the Low Orbit."
In conclusion, the Columbiad cannon will be poured into a 274 m deep well, with a bore of 2.74 m. The first 61 m of the barrel was filled with 122 metric tons of metallic hydrogen. This was supposed to propel the 2.74 m diameter shell to a velocity of 16.5 km/second. After deceleration going through the Falmart's atmosphere, the shell would have a residual velocity of 13.5 km/second, sufficient to reach the Low Falmart Orbit. A solid shot of 108 inches would weigh more than 220,000 shell was to be constructed of Orichalcum, with walls 0.3 m thick.
Each shell carrying 30 cubic metre of gravel, weighting perhaps 90 tonnes, divided into one cubic centimetre chunks, would put 30 million such chunks into space. [ For comparison in the real world there are some six hundred thousand objects of one centimetre or larger in Earth orbit.] The debris was designed to be as hard to detect as possible, so it is, as much as was possible, black and of materials that gave a small radar return.
20,000 of the Columbiad cannons would be make in 60 days (30 earth's day) and each cannon would fire 1000 shells in 50 days (25 earth's day). The mathematics were simple and deadly. There would be 20,000 Columbiad cannons. Each cannon fired 1000 shells. Each shells had 30 million space-denial debris. 20,000 x 1000 x 30,000,000 = 600 trillions chunks, with this gigantic number the entire Low Falmart Orbit would be covered by a destructive cloud, denying UEADF the ultimate high ground.
"Excellence Zorzal.! As expected of the Empire's prodigy. You have thought it all out." The Emperor proudly declared.
"It's my honor, Your Majesty."
"What about naval development ?" Molt countinue to asked
"In naval terms, we will be reaching the desired force level of 8,000,000 ships by this time next year. By integrating mass-produced golems into the naval personnel system, this allow us to reduce sailors requirement to a single captain and a gunman. We would have done so this year but a large part of the budget are being spent on the Korabl Leda carriers.
The Imperial Navy launched the first Korabl Leda [Ice Ship], a vast 2500 meters long and 300 meters wide dragon carrier built of magic reinforced ice, displacing some 22 million tons, into the northern spokojny ocean. It takes up duties as a vast, fast, largely unsinkable, floating patrol base intended to maintain Imperial control of the world oceans. [This is basically the same as the ship proposed but never built under Project Habakkuk of the real world.] A total of 50,000 Korabl Leda would be built during the Great War.
The size of those carriers made them almost impossible to sink except by a directed hit by a large nuclear weapon. The hull of the ship is 25 m thick which meant it's torpedo-proof, supersonic anti ship missile-proof and even bunker buster-proof. Its armament would have included 40 dual-barrelled 4.9" V-3 super gun (dual-purpose) turrets, 3 Bozes multiple rocket launcher and numerous light anti-aircraft ballista, and it would have housed an airstrip and up to 1200 mass-produced wyverns.
The Imperial Navy were producing at least a half dozen different type of warships (30-, 50-, 80-, 100-, 120-, and 150-gun classes) in greater quantity than all types of warships built in by the Imperial Navy in the last 2 millennium combined, with just the Super-Fishanus-Class magic ships-of-the-line's 650,000 battleships production run equally Earth's total shipbuilding output (including everything from cargo ships to aircraft carriers) from 1900-2030. That massive number was only possible thanks to the new mass shipbuilding line.
"Air Force?"
"Everything is on schedule, Your Majesty. From the experiences the Imperial Air Force had gained in the past 4 months, we concluded that the UEADF have very powerful air-defense system but they are expensive, to take advantage of this we're designing low quality mass-produced wyvern to overwhelm their air defense.
Both heavy magic skyship bomber, known as Vimanas, and Havajahaz manned rocket-powered kamikaze suicide anti-ship missile are on their prototype phase. We can expect mass production next year.
The Vimanas: an skyship with similar role to the American B-36, although with a bigger bomb load (200,000-pound) and with even greater range was indeed "a bloody big bomber". The skyship sported twenty defensive magic guns and cannon, six light-discharge air compression magic engines and, with a wingspan some thirty-eight FEET greater than the B-36 bomber and twenty feet longer than the Antonov An-225 Mriya, and a range of over 90,000 miles, would be the largest operational bomber in the IAF for 20 more years. Developed in considerable secrecy, the Vimanas was supposed to "bring the Earthlings to their knees" by exposing their civilian populations to strategic bombing. While the probability of knocking the UEA out of the war was remote, the effect of having Earthlings dying on their home soil would have, unquestionably, been dramatic.
The Vimanas was able to achieve its magnificent range at the cost of performance in other areas, with airspeed, being limited to 657 mph during its long over water flight and a maximum speed of only of 951 mph at full wartime emergency power with a service ceiling of about 51,300 meters on Falmart and 17,100 meters on Earth atmosphere. Vimanas used the Tear of the Wind God stones to draw in air, while using purified red magic stones to produce combustion and thrust. Basically they are using two magic spells to mimic the function of a primitive jet engine.
More than 170 million Vimanas would be produced during the Great War. The mind-boggling number dwarfing Earth's total aircraft production during the same period by two orders of magnitude.
The Havajahaz air-launched piloted hypersonic cruise missile (the direct descendent of the V-1 and smaller brother of the V-2 missiles that had caused so much headache for the UEADF High Command ) designed for use as a "stand-off" missile for the Vimanas and other large Imperial bombers. Liquid fueled, the Havajahaz had a range of over 1000 miles and could reach a top speed of Mach 7 at 58,000 metres (but not if it was fired at maximum range). Originally meant to carry a 2,000 kilogram conventional warhead, the weapon was now equipped with a larger version of the cluster bomb unit warhead, with each bomblet containing 1.5 liters of Red Dawn nerve gas. While a finicky weapon, the rocket's warhead could, under ideal conditions, spread Red Dawn over a 40 square kilometer area.
Primitive by modern standards, Havajahaz lacked any sort of sophisticated guidance system so to compensate this weakness it use a disposable Homunculus slave as its navigation system. An exceptionally difficult weapon to manufacture, the Imperial Air Forces only managed to acquire 16 millions of the missiles during the Great War.
The Havajahaz had some resemable to the infamous Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka (櫻花, Ōka, "cherry blossom"; 桜花 in modern orthography) a purpose-built, rocket-powered human-guided kamikaze attack aircraft employed by Japan against Allied ships towards the end of the Pacific War during World War II and the German Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, a late-World War II German crewed version of the V-1 flying bomb.
The Maligai Vanam [Sky Palace] dragon station project was also on schedule. Maligai Vanam was the airborne version of the Korabl Leda [Ice Ship] dragon carrier that was being develop in the Imperial Navy.
By weaponizing the Thundering Rocks "Floating Mountains" the Imperial air forces created a huge dragon air station built of magic reinforced rock, weighing some 100 million tons.
The Maligai Vanam was 1500 meters long and 500 meters wide. Lightning Power generators were to supply 33,000,000 hp (25 GW) for 26 light discharge-type engines mounted in separate external nacelles allowed it to achieved the speed up to 500km/h.
Its armament would have included 40 dual-barrelled 4.9" V-3 super gun (dual-purpose) turrets, 3 Bozes multiple rocket launcher and numerous light anti-aircraft ballista, and it would have housed up to 1500 mass-produced wyverns.
The weight of the dragon station also make it a terrify kinetic weapon, by dropping the 100 millon tons Sky Palace from high altitude of 35,000 meters to attain very high speed up to 200m/s as it fall, the force of the impact would roughly equivalent to 500,000 tons of TNT made the "Sky Fall" as powerful as a nuke.
The Imperial Air Forces had launched the first Maligai Vanam yesterday, 20,000 more would soon follow in the following years. The Maligai Vanam [Sky Palace] shared the similar role to the Korabl Leda [Ice Ship] It takes up duties as a vast, fast, largely unsinkable, aerial patrol base intended to maintain Imperial control of the world's sky.
"Good, good." Molt nodded express his satisfaction, he remembered the desperate days early in the Great War when some coward were whispering about surrender. The situation was much better now.
"What about the development of Advance Golem Sentinel program?"
"There are some delay over funding but Odysseus and I have resolved the problems, you have nothing to worry, Your Majesty. The 'Mass Production Phase' will be right on schedule. The Army will have their Sentinel Golems delivered on time, you have my word."
Advance Golem Sentinel Program: was initiated after the failure of the High Performance Guardian Golem Program in creating a weapon platform can withstand a direct hit from the 152mm main gun of the Type-92 Chamberlain and have enough firepower to penetrate 900mm of RHA with a reasonable price.
The experience in the Lemuria front had taught the Imperial High Command a valuable lesson: If you can't bleed the enemy then just drown them with your blood. Every tanks have a set number of ammunition so just send more Sentinels than that.
So the Sentinel Golems were built using steel with limited speed and firepower but dirty cheap to mass-produced. They would utilize the same tactics as the Soviet in Cold War. So in other words, the Sentinels would advance like a massive mechanized insect swarm to overwhelm the enemy.
General Specifications
Height - 5,1 metres
Weight - 12 tonnes.
Energy source - Two enhanced performance magic gems.
Max Speed - 90 km/h.
Protection - equals to 11.5 in (290 mm) of RHA .
Range - 500 km.
Main armament - Type 5 energy blasters. (Have equal performance to the 105 mm L/52 rifled). The Sentinel open the front of their heads like a flower to reveal an orb of fire like energy that can fire multiple energy blasts, capable of burning, pulverizing or melting through most materials, as well as strike a target with great amounts of kinetic energy like a tank shell.
Secondary armament - They can morph their arms and hands into blades, bludgeons, claws, drills, crowbar like tools, and other shapes.
To sum up, the Sentinel Golem performance was roughly equal to the M60A2 tank, at least in terms of firepower and protection, so they were hopelessly outmatched by the Type-92 Chamberlain tank but with the ratio of 1500:1 even the monster Type-92 Super Heavy Tank would be subdued.
Note : Well, please enjoy the exorcism battle.