Fenn Kingdom Coast
A group of Gahara Thearchy wind dragons flew over a small group of old Usean destroyers. The fleet was there for a military demonstration and the Fennese king had requested Usea to show the power of their navy. The spectators on the shore were chattering amongst themselves.
"So those are the Usean ships. They look like fortresses."
"They seem to be at least 5 kilometers from the target ships. Do they intend to attack from that far?"
"It is a strange ship though, it's huge but it's only got two cannons."
"It has two turrets, each turret has two cannons. But four is also very few."
#
"The Usean ships are enormous," commented one of the Gaharan dragon riders.
"Dazzling too," replied his dragon partner.
"Indeed, the waters are quite reflective of the sunlight."
"No, not the sunlight. You humans cannot see it, but we communicate and sense things with this light. All of their ships radiate a similar light, and it's very strong too…"
#
The front turret on the old Sovremenny-class destroyer, Gremyashchy, aimed its twin guns and began firing rapidly. Each shot hit a target and destroyed it in one hit.
"Woah! This is totally beyond what I had imagined! Ahahaha, it's amazing! The Usean ships are so powerful!" cried the Fenn monarch.
#
Meanwhile, on the Gremyashchy:
"Those wind dragons above us, they seem to be sending out electromagnetic waves similar to our radio waves."
"Oho, that's interesting. Seems like those dragons have built-in radar. I wonder if anyone else in the world has developed radar…Well, they still won't be able to detect our stealth aircraft. Probably."
The sailor watching the radar called out. "Captain, flying objects approaching from the west! I assume they are wyverns."
"Hmm, do we know what nation they are from? I know Gahara uses wind dragons but I don't want to accidentally fire on Fenn's or some other non-hostile country's wyverns. Confirm with Fenn if any friendly wyverns are flying."
Four kilometers west of Gremyashchy was the destroyer Vechny, which was currently tracking the wyvern formation and ready to fire at any sign of aggression.
A 20-wyvern lord formation was currently 8 kilometers from the demonstration grounds. They were from the Parpaldia Empire. They purposely chose to attack during the military festival, with the intent to demonstrate what happens if a country kept defying the empire. They also intended to display their absolute military superiority to all of the countries present.
"The wyverns are sensing wind dragons. Moving to plan B. We will directly attack the military parade of these barbarians. Split in two, your group will burn the city and we will sink this red-gray eyesore."
The wyverns dived towards Vechny, forming balls of fire and signaling their intent to attack. Crew on the destroyer noticed and the ship opened fire, shooting down six of the wyverns with proximity-fused shells at 3 kilometers. The remaining four were dealt with by CIWS. One wyvern knight survived and was picked up by the destroyer, after his wyvern was shot out from under him by CIWS and he fell into the sea.
"Wyverns confirmed hostile! Vechny has downed one group and suffered no damage. A second group is headed towards us!"
"Fire at will!"
The three destroyers that were in the harbor opened fire, decimating the remaining group. The wyverns inflicted no damage.
"Did you see how easily those Parpaldian wyvern lords were shot down by the Usean ships?!"
Normally, shooting down a regular wyvern required immense effort. The empire's wyvern lords were nearly impossible to kill.
"It seems like Parpaldia isn't the strongest."
Mutterings arose in the port.
The Usean ambassadors sighed. "Looks like we are going to get ourselves involved in another conflict, or perhaps we are already involved."
"I guess we could take the role of policing the nations around here. After all, most of the citizens don't seem to mind, some even approving of the wars."
"Let us go meet with the Fenn kingdom, first, to gather more information about the attackers."
#
"Those ships, they're amazing," the wind dragon breathed out in awe, "They focused their lights onto the lizards and aimed their guns according to the beam. They then fired at the lizards' future locations. I never thought mechanical technology could achieve all of that…"
"Is…that what happened? They could do something that amazing!?"
"It is similar to the anti-air boats that the ancient sorcerous empire used, but those achieved that using completely magic-powered abilities."
"I am going to have to make one hell of a report…"
#
"First of all, let us thank you for defeating our enemies."
"Not at all, they did try to attack us too. First, I would like to know the identity of the nation behind the attack."
"It was the oversight army of the third foreign affairs bureau of the Parpaldia Empire!"
"There is also a large fleet heading this way. Are they also Parpaldian?"
"Definitely. Our relationship with them has been very poor."
"Looks like they are extremely proud of their superpower status. Our talks with them also broke down. Very well, we can help you defeat their invasion fleet."
Oversight Fleet of the Parpaldia Empire
"Captain, we have lost contact with the wyvern squadron. It has been several hours since their last message. They may have encountered obstacles."
"Against a backward country like Fenn? No way. They're probably just goofing off somewhere."
The admiral walked over. "The fact that they haven't returned is a message by itself. Like the lion to the rabbit, we have no need for the extra forces."
"Oh, Admiral! I see, what insight you have!" replied the captain.
The lookout called down, "Ship sighted! I don't know which nation the ship belongs to though! It's a metal behemoth!"
"No matter, we will destroy all barbarian ships! All hands to battlestations! Prepare guns for broadside action!
They closed within 1 kilometer of the unresponsive metal ship.
#
Meanwhile, on the destroyer Bezboyaznenny:
"Targets turning broadside and deploying their cannons!"
"Prepare to reverse and avoid their shots. Do not fire until they do! The ambassadors would prefer not to be put at a disadvantage in negotiations."
#
The Parpaldian ships of the line stopped turning. The Usean destroyer then rapidly began reversing and weaving to avoid taking too many hits as the Parpaldian ships fired.
"Six hits on target confirmed. No apparent damage."
"What? They dodged most of our shots! And the ones that hit did nothing?!"
#
"We've taken six hits. No damage."
"Good. Return fire, but try to minimize enemy casualties. Target their masts."
Bezboyaznenny pulled out of cannon range, turning broadside and stopping 4 kilometers away. The front and aft turrets began independently firing at the Parpaldian ships' masts, preventing them from moving.
#
"Ship of the line Paos's mainmast and foremast have been destroyed! It's been immobilized!"
"What on earth is happening? Don't tell me, is their cannon hitting us from that far?"
"Galias's mainmast destroyed!"
"Are they aiming for our masts?! But that's impossible! It must be a coincidence!"
"No, it's not a coincidence! They're definitely aiming for it! I don't know what they aim to do, but they are destroying our masts and immobilizing us!"
More masts continued falling around them.
All of the Parpaldia Empire's Oversight Fleet's vessels had their masts destroyed and immobilized by the Usean navy destroyer Bezboyaznenny's main battery. It was the first battle in the world's history to have no casualties. The defeat of the fleet shocked all of the countries that had pledged loyalty or been subjugated by Parpaldia.
Parpaldia Empire
Third Foreign Affairs Office
Kaios was furious upon reading the report. It had thrown the entire office into chaos. This was all because Fenn had refused Parpaldia's extremely generous offer to receive their land as tribute.
"You'll regret this, Fenn…"
The Parpaldia Empire held control over 5 civilized countries and 67 non-civilized ones of all sizes. For such an empire to be rejected by some small barbarian state was an insult like no other. It would also be troublesome if they got away with it, showing other countries that Parpaldia did not need to be feared. So he ordered the deployment of the oversight fleet alongside two squadrons of wyvern lords.
The wyvern lords were to terrorize Amanoki, the capital of Fenn, at their military festival and strike fear into the hearts of the attendees. The fleet was to burn the capital to demonstrate the cost of defying the great superpower. However, the actual result would have been hilarious if not for the fact that it was Parpaldia's defeat.
The wyvern lords had vanished, their communications gone with no messages of any kind. It was highly probable that they were all dead, but none of the expected forces could have possibly destroyed them so quickly that they couldn't send any messages.
Shortly after, the fleet reported facing a lone metal ship, which was large yet extremely fast. After the oversight fleet fired on them, the ship sailed far out of range, to 4 kilometers, and began destroying the ships of the line's masts, immobilizing them. The last message reported that the entire fleet was immobilized but no casualties were sustained. Kaios concluded that the admiral must have gone insane, as none of that made sense. A large ship would obviously be slow, and no cannon had the range to fire that far, let alone the accuracy to target masts with such precision. And who would leave enemy soldiers alive?
The only thing he believed from the report was that there was some barbarian nation that defied the great Parpaldia, and that Parpaldia crush them. But what if the admiral had given truthful report?
Regardless, he still dreaded the report that he would have to give the emperor.
Emperor Ludius was not amused at the defeat of the oversight army. However, he was not angry at Kaios for sending in the army without permission, to Kaios's relief. To his bewilderment, the emperor was not surprised about the claim of a metal warship, though he did seem surprised at the details of the admiral's report. The emperor ordered him to "properly educate" and strike fear into the hearts of envoys of the country of Usea if they ever made contact and mentioned that it was this 'Usea' that was responsible for the defeat of the oversight fleet, to Kaios's surprise, who didn't know the origin of the metal warship.
After the naval battle at Fenn, more countries (particularly those that were threatened by the Parpaldia Empire) began to willingly come to Usea to form diplomatic relationships. Before, relations were few and came slowly as the Usean ambassadors had to leave the country to form relations. Although the foreign affairs ministry was inundated with work, more relations were established and trade began to flow more actively.