GATE: the clash of the titans V2

by Qun Nguyn1

Mostly AUs. A Gate has opened in Tokyo by a Roman-esque Empire, familiar scenario with familiar faces but the people marched through the Gate is from a vastly more powerful magic world. The stage is set. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of the Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin. Let the worlds have War.

10. Chapter 10: Götterdämmerung

Chapter 10: Götterdämmerung

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UEADF's HQ, Tokyo, Japan, April 19th, 2030

A morning emergency videoconference… all of the Global Security Council's head of state were present, and this meeting would determine the will of the UEADF as a whole. The main topic of the meeting was what to do about the chemical attack on Poseidon Naval Base.

The people participating included: US President Dirrel B Johnson; Supreme Chancellor of the Greater Russian Union Republic Vladimir Putin; Margaret Walpole Prime Minister of the United Republic of Europa; Chairman Xi Jinping of the Federal Republic of China; Prime Minister of the Republic of India Virendra Vats and Supreme Commander of Allied Force Liam Nuttall.

Aides for each head of states were also present. Before the meeting began, an e-mail containing all information discovered about the The Battle of Dammam Port until now was sent. All of the them scanned the material, which had been put together by the Commander of Allied Force Liam Nuttall. The information, arranged in chronological order, is summarized below:

In early January this year, the Allied High Command tasked the 701st Special Recon Battalion with the task of determining the suitable deep water port to place the Poseidon Naval Base.

On 15 January, they determined the Hashemite Commonwealth port of Dammam, in the southern part of the Lemuria Peninsula, is a suitable site for the naval headquarter.

On March 5th, authorized by the Allied High Command, the Russian 106th Armored Airborne Division with the support of the 8th Combined Air Force launched an all-out attack on the local garrison. The operation was a great success, the 106th Airborne was able to take over the port with minimal losses.

From March 7th onward, the Chinese 52nd Engineer Construction Division and 41st Engineer Brigade converted Dammam Port into the headquarters of the UEAMDF. At the same time, the Indian Army Corps of Engineers built the Suez Train Railway linking Alnus Base with the rapidly built Poseidon Naval Base.

Realizing the strategic importance Poseidon Naval Base, from late April, the Imperial High Command began to move forces into the Talifa Plain region; The last two fully undamaged National Army formations in Lemuria and the 58th Praetorian Guards Army were all ordered into the Talifa Plain region. Moving in coordination with the operation on land, nearly a thousand vessels of the 77th Persae Sea Fleet assembled to attack Poseidon Naval Base. These movements were quickly picked up by our aerial reconnaissance units.

To neutralise them, General Guy Simonds ordered the US 3rd Army under Lieutenant General Tommy Kennedy would carry out the task of defending the Suez Train Railway. Allied air commander Rehman Singh Krishnan also ordered that Allied air forces make the Suez Ship Railway a tactical priority. At sea, elements of the British Grand Fleet under Vice Admiral Sir Philip Vian, supported by a surface-to-surface missile regiment, was orderd to to engage the enemy.

Fierce battles lasted from the morning of April 15 to midnight of April 17. On land, while the US 3rd Army had successfully shattered the National Army formations with minimum casualties in the early hours of the operation, The 58th Praetorian Guards Army had proven themselves to be a much tougher opponent. They almost succeeded in encircling a large portion of the 3rd Army in Beza and actually came close to neutralizing them as a fighting force. Fortunately, the Fifth Air Fleet came to their rescue and devastate the enemy formation. The battle in the Persae Sea was a true slaughter. Our warships accurately and methodically eliminated the enemy battle groups, we even capture many enemy ships, with minimal lost to ourself.

What we didn't expect was that both the land and sea attacks were feints, designed to hide the real attack from the air. The enemy had cunningly hidden poison gas in the form of cystal powder into the stomachs of hundreds of birds. Upon detonation on April 18th, the cystal powder immediately sublimated into gas and saturated the entire port city with a cloud of death. The end result, sadly but predictably, was an unmitigated disaster with over 74,000 casualties, including 68,000 fatalities.

Over 90% of the casualties were combat engineers, two thirds of these were Indian and Chinese. The nerve gas attack was not discovered until Canadian troops enter the area 20 minutes later, by which time there was virtually nothing that could be done for the victims.

Of course, the enemy wasn't done yet. With most of the anti-air troops eliminated by the gas attack, the Empire unleashed their finishing strike with A-9 missiles. Those missiles effectively annihilated the UEADF fleet station there and destroyed the navy headquarters building as well as the other buildings built at the port.

Every person finished reading the document on their smart table. Their faces all shared a similar gloomy look.

"First, I will summarize the military's current status."

Supreme Commander Nuttall stood up to speak.

"Our main naval base have been decimated along with every ship in the port at that time. Only 17 fast carriers that were in The US Fast Carrier Task Force (Task Force 58) survived, for a total of 106 ships. There were also 42 ships in British Grand Fleet and 13 ships in the Chinese Task Force 11 fleet. Overall, our combined navy in the Persae Sea consists of 161 ships in total. Compared to before we fought the Empire, we have lost over sixty percent of our navy, a staggering reduction."

Sweat trickled down Nuttall's forehead. Even with their remaining naval forces, they were still far more powerful than any other nearby opposing force in Persae Sea. But, considering that would be all the ships the UEADF had until the port was fixed, or a new one was built. This could only perceived as a pathetically small; and insufficient force for offensive operation.

"I'll move on to the gas attack. One of our largest bases has been destroyed, in just one attack. They attacked us from the sky with an nerve agent so potent and so well dispersed, cleverly concealed in a flock of birds, that we would never have imagined was possible had it not actually occurred.

Preliminary analysis shows that this poison is more powerful than any nerve weapon in our arsenal, it volatile and penetrate the skin extremely easy. The exact symptoms of overexposure are similar to those created by all nerve agents. This thing is toxic even in seconds doses. The number and severity of symptoms which appear vary according to the amount of the agent absorbed and rate of entry of it into the body. A person's clothing can release the toxic chemical for up to 30 hours after exposure. Inhaled lethal dosages kill in one to ten second, and droplets absorbed through the skin kills almost as quickly. Even MOPP 4 Advanced Chemical Protective Garment (ACPG) can't provide complete protection to the wearer.

In the event that future bases are constructed, we have learned to consider the downsides of concentrating too many assets in one location and provide the troops with better NBC protection gear, but it seems unlikely that this lesson will bear any fruit before the next battle."

There was only one option left.

"Because the enemy has showed such disturbing capability with chemical warfare, we will be withdrawing our contractors and non esensial personal from all our bases and reassigning them to Alnus Base. It is of the most secure location, so I have already issued an emergency withdrawal order using my authority as Supreme Commander of Allied Force. However, be aware that even in Alnus Base we are not completely safe."

After Nuttall finished speaking, US President Dirrel B Johnson started to speak, his voice cold as ice. "Supreme Commander Nuttall, I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"How long before our strategic nuclear forces could strike Sadera?"

"Sadera!?"

Everyone in the screen was shocked. A nuclear attack on the Empire's capital would be a major escalation, the kind of which there couldn't be reverse.

"It's more than 15,000 km from here to Sadera, but flying directly there is too dangerous but if you fly around the sea, the distance will be more than 30,000 km, it will take our Skyfall nuclear powered low altitude cruise missile more than ten hours to get there."

"Wait...wait, just… hold on a moment, Mr. President!" Margaret Walpole interjected. "You want to nuke the Empire capital, a civilian target!?"

"We can't put the genie back in the bottle, Margaret. The enemy has used WMD on our force, according to our nuclear doctrine, we must return in kind with twice the force. If we don't strike back then this will encourage the Empire to continue using weapons of mass destruction on our troop. We must make an example."

"I know the escalation to de-escalation doctrine but for brinkmanship to be effective, both sides must continuously escalate their threats and actions. However, a threat is ineffective unless it is credible, and, at some point, an aggressive party may have to prove its commitment to action. Nuking their capital and the Empire will have to strike back with everything they have; and based on what we've seen, the enemy has no shortage of means and capabilities to strike back."

"I agree with madam Walpole, we must understand the all the risk before escalating the conflict to a new level. Mass retaliation is a great strategy to prevent a war, but we're already in a war so a flexible response would be more appropriate." Said Virendra Vats, didn't want to rule the nuclear wasteland."

Flexible response calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical, and conventional levels, giving the UEADF the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of war, not limited only to nuclear war.

"A more measured response then!" Xi Jinping stated.

"Any suggestions?" Dirrel looked around.

"I think I have an ideal." Putin said with a devilish smile.

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101st Missile Silos, Lemuria, Falmart., April 20th, 2030

Spread in the woods near Military District 4, Lemuria Peninsula, was a series of underground concrete missile silos, each covered by a concrete cover and surrounded by three security fences. At 1:24 local time one of these covers suddenly slides open on remote command from men in an underground shelter 10 kilometers (6 miles) away. Three minutes later compressed gases eject a missile 35.5 m meters (116 feet) long from this silo. This intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), known in Russia as the RS-28B Sarmat and in the NATO as the SS-X-30,the only ICBM had enough thrust to escape Falmart's dense atmosphere and high gravity, ignited its engines in mid-air and accelerated upward, towards targets 9,600 km (6000 miles) away ( the maximum range of RS-28B Sarmat on Falmart because of it's massive gravitational field ). About the size of a space shuttle solid rocket booster, the missile proceeded upward with continual course corrections, attracting the attention of thousands of Falmart's Warged spy birds in the area.

Two minutes after launch the first stage falls away, and the second stage separates about a minute later. Now beyond the atmosphere, 300 km (200 mi.) over Italica Fortress, the payload bus-about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle -was left to coast the rest of the way to the target. A shroud was thrown off to expose four cone-shaped warheads, each 2 meters (6 feet) long and 75 centimeters (2.5 feet) wide at the base. The warheads are mounted on the payload bus, which fires small rockets to reorient itself before ejecting the first warhead. This was repeated once a minute until all four warheads are separated.

Within a minute of the missile's launch, an Imperial Air Force's Clairvoyance Unit 3600 km (2200 miles) away detected the missile through their psychic ability and began transmitting data to GCC (Global Command Centres) headquarters near Ragna, Gringolia, where the Imperial Air Force watches 12 hours a day for nuclear attack.

At 05:34 local time, about 700 km (450 mi.) over the the fortress city Gerusalemme, the warheads are now spreading out from the discarded payload bus, coasting silently through space towards their targets at a speed of 23,000 km per hour (14,000 mph).

By 05:31 local time the GCC commander is in contact with the Ministry of Defence in the Imperial capital Sadera and two other national command centers when an early warning radar in Sicilia Island, Italiya Peninsula detects the missile. The commander reports "high confidence" that a missile attack was underway, and work begins to locate the Emperor for a decision.

By 05:44, when the warheads are 1,200 km (750 mi.) over Balcanica Peninsula, strategic forces are being alerted. In the next few minutes, the Royal Defence Council (RDC) was alerted along with the military to prepare for emergency response and communications began between RDC and GCC. The population of Duchy of Pomerania in Germania Inferioris could't be warned in the time remaining. No warning system exists, and no defensive system has been built.

At 05:59:35 local time five "meteors" appear over south Duchy of Pomerania. The skies were mostly clear this spring weekday, and these meteors are bright enough to see in the daylight. A few unfortunate people are watching the warheads as they reach their preprogrammed points: one reaches the ground near the Allena State Bank tower in Allena city at 06:00:02; another reaches the ground at the Imperial Naval Station near Raymondvil at 05:59:54; a third reaches the ground near Vanlla Vostal Market in Herlingan at 05:59:57; and the fourth reaches a point 2 kilometers (6,500 feet) over Homer Hanna Sword Art Academy in Braunsvill at 06:00:00 noon.

In the Braunsvill warhead signals from both radar and air pressure sensors prompt an electronics package to begin detonation: time was now measured in microseconds-millionths of a second. An electrical impulse is sent and divided to travel down 60 different wires to the "primary". After 0.003 microseconds these impulses each reach a pair of detonators, positioned at sixty points on a hollow sphere of high explosives. The explosives begin to detonate radially from each detonator. The high explosive sphere was a mixture of curved shapes of two different types of explosives so that the sixty separate explosions converge into a perfectly spherical explosive wave travelling inward-with the force of a third of a ton of dynamite. After 10 microseconds the explosive wave began to compress successive hollow spheres of various metals. In 3 more microseconds this compression wave crossed an empty layer to reach the heart of the warhead-a sphere of uranium 12 centimeters (5 inches) in diameter.

Uranium is radioactive: ten times every second an atom in this sphere decays, releasing atomic fragments and high-energy gamma radiation. The explosive wave reached the uranium and compressed it to a fluid mass 5 cm (2 inches) in diameter. At this time, 19 microseconds after detonation, a small particle accelerator in the front of the warhead fired neutrons into the uranium sphere. The first of these neutrons was absorbed by a uranium atom and promptly causes it to split or decay. Before now, the atomic fragments emitted generally left the sphere; now, the uranium atoms were so tightly packed that these particles tend to find other uranium atoms and cause them to decay, and the resulting particles do the same, and so on. This chain reaction would cycle about 60 times in the next microsecond, but to increase the efficiency a small amount of compressed deuterium-tritium gas was now injected into a hollow in the center of the uranium core. This increases the cycling rate to 80 times in the next 0.1 microseconds.

This 5 cm (2 inch) sphere of uranium now has a temperature of 40,000,000° F (20,000,000° C)-hotter than the center of the Sun. The gamma rays given off by the nuclear reactions radiate through the exploding mass at the speed of light and are absorbed by the weapon casing, 0.003 microseconds later. The casing was heated and reradiates the energy as x-rays, which in turn are absorbed by the other key component of the warhead-the "secondary".

The secondary includes a cylinder of lithium-deuteride-25 cm (10 inches) in diameter and 80 cm (30 inches) long-at the rear of the warhead, with a radiation shield protecting it from direct radiation from the primary. This cylinder was surrounded by a 2.5 cm (1 inch)-thick layer of depleted uranium; it also has a rod of uranium in the center. The x-rays reradiated from the warhead casing heat and compress the outer wrapping of depleted uranium. In 0.1 microseconds this crushes the lithium-deuteride to a cylinder only 6 cm (2 in.) in diameter.

At this point, neutrons from the primary arrive at that inner rod of uranium, coming through a hole in the radiation shield. When this happens, a nuclear chain reaction occurs in the rod, superheating the lithium-deuteride from within. Neutrons from the chain reaction strike lithium atoms and split them into helium and tritium atoms. Temperatures and pressures are high enough that colliding tritium and deuterium atoms (both forms of hydrogen) merge into helium atoms instead of bouncing off each other. This fusion reaction-the same that powers the Sun-lasts another microsecond before the energy explodes the deuterium outward and ends the reaction.

At this point, 20 microseconds after detonation, the temperature was 600,000,000° F (300,000,000° C)-twenty times hotter than the center of the Sun. The last step occurs in that depleted uranium wrapping: neutrons from the fusion reactions split uranium atoms there, and in this last tenth of a microsecond the energy released was nearly doubled.

At 0.000002 seconds after detonation, the process was completed; the outside of the warhead was just beginning to disintegrate from within. Gamma radiation from the nuclear reactions already radiated up to 400 meters (1,300 feet) in every direction. A region of space over Braunsvill the size of a truck is now as hot as the center of the Sun, and contains the equivalent explosive energy of 900 kilotons-900,000 tons of TNT. The four warheads (each of 900 kiloton yield) combined have peaked the explosive power of all the bombs and shells used everywhere in the world in World War II; their explosive force would be equal to giving a truckload of dynamite (4 tons) to every man, woman, and child in the Valley.

This enormous release of gamma radiation was absorbed by the surrounding air, heating it to a point where it released radiation itself. This process formed a fireball-a glowing ball of gas-and decreased the energy of the radiation: from gamma rays to x-rays to ultraviolet (what causes sunburn), visible light, infrared (heat radiation), and radio waves. An electromagnetic pulse-a very brief pulse of radio waves-was emitted, collecting in metal objects and creating a power surge which damages or destroys electronics. Fortunately, there are very few electronics in Falmart.

In 0.0007 seconds the fireball was 130 meters (400 feet) across. Continuing to expand at many times the speed of sound, the fireball formed two distinct regions: the center remains extremely hot while the temperature of the outer part falls as it pushed the surrounding air away. The heat radiated by the outer layer produces an initial flash of light as bright as the Sun to an observer 40 km (25 miles) away at 0.005 seconds after detonation. The fireball brightness decreased until 0.08 seconds after detonation, when the fireball was as bright as the Sun to an observer 7.5 km (4.5 miles) away, and breakaway occurs: a blast wave separates from the fireball's surface. The blast wave was an expanding sphere of highly compressed and fast moving air-similar to a sonic boom but much more powerful. Initially the blast wave travels at ten times the speed of sound. The wave pushes the air away before it so that a partial vacuum was created behind it.

As a result, the passing wave produces enormous pressures and severe momentary outward winds, followed by less intense inward winds. The blast wave was reflected from the ground and thereby reinforces itself. It was partly cloudy over Braunsvill , but now the blast seems to push the clouds away. At a distance of 9 km (5.5 miles) it finally drops to the speed of sound, 19 seconds after detonation.

At breakaway (0.08 seconds after detonation) the fireball was 1.0 km (0.6 miles) across with a surface temperature of 1,300° C (2,300° F). Now that the fireball was no longer pushing the blast wave before it, the outer layer was reheated by the interior to reach a uniform temperature. As the fireball expands and rewarms, a second flash begins. The fireball now begins to release the large amount of thermal energy it contains, with unpleasant consequences in the immediate vicinity. At 1.07 seconds after detonation the fireball was 1.8 km (1.1 miles) in diameter and has a surface temperature of 6,000° C (10,800° F)-greater than the surface temperature of the Sun.

It would appear 500 times as bright as the Sun to an observer 10 km (6 miles) away. So far the fireball has radiated 22% of the thermal energy that it contains. The fireball started to rise rapidly, like a hot air balloon, and its surface temperature and brightness began to decline. However, it continued to expand until at 8 seconds after detonation it reaches its maximum size of 2.1 km (1.3 miles). With a surface temperature of 2,100° C (3,800° F) the fireball was glowing red, still 15 times as bright as the Sun at a distance of 10 km (6 miles); at this point 90% of the thermal radiation has been emitted.

Thus the Braunsvill detonation (at 06:00:00.0 noon local time, 2 kilometers/6,500 feet over Hanna SAA) devastates the small city. At ground zero, Homer Hanna Sword Art Academy, heat from the intense light from overhead ignites any people caught outdoors (who have been watching the Raymondvil explosion for the last 6 seconds) and causes houses to burst into flame in the first tenth of a second. At 06:00:01.3 the Academy's walls explode (as moisture in the concrete becomes superheated), carriages vaporize, and the Academy was enveloped by steam from the boiling resaca in front of the Academy. About 20 cm (8 inches) of the resaca boil away by 06:00:01.9 when anything left of the Academy was pulverized by the arriving blast wave. Over the next few seconds the ground and all remaining debris are melted and fused.

At the Holy Babel Tower, Olivera Magic School, and the Imperial Post Office on Losta Elanus, 1.8 km (1.1 miles) from Hanna, animal and carriages ignite at 06:00:00.8; steel and glass melt and concrete explodes at 06:00:02.8; and at 06:00:03.1 the blast wave completely destroyed all three buildings.

At the Zufmuut Church, 2.4 km (1.5 miles) from Hanna, people were instantly blinded, and those exposed had blistering burns at 06:00:00.1. At 06:00:00.5 some fires start and carriages tires melt; at 06:00:01.0 everything exposed that could possibly burn does and exposed animals ignite; at 06:00:02.0 carriage metal melts, windows soften, and some people shielded in the hardened Titan crystal from the fireball's light received serious burns from the glare. Other than these effects of the flash the explosion was silent until the blast arrived, levelling the church building and killing many survivors at 06:00:03.9.

Some of the rubble and burning debris was blown past St. Mercury's Academy at 1.4 times the speed of sound. By 06:00:07.2 the winds have reversed direction and begin blowing inward at well over hurricane force for several seconds.

At Sunrise Market and Porter High School, 2.9 km (1.8 miles) from Hanna, some fires and fatal burns are produced at 06:00:00.6. At 06:00:01.0 most exposed combustibles and animals ignited; at 06:00:04.8 the blast destroys both buildings-however, some of the twisted steel remnants are left behind.

At Valley Royal Chess Club, Gladys Porter Zoo, and former Valley Imperial Hospital, all 3.3 km (2.1 miles) from Hanna, all exposed persons receive serious burns and some fires start at 06:00:00.7. At 06:00:01.1 painted surfaces explode and most zoo animals ignite (dark animals first); at 06:00:05.6 the blast destroys all buildings at these locations and blows burning palm trees through the air.

At Perkins Magic School, Russell and Castenada Magic Schools, Cameron Park, Guinevere 's Stadium, and the Marrybell County Courthouse, 4.0 km (2.5 miles) from Hanna, some fires start and exposed persons find their skin melting off at 06:00:00.7, these persons ignited at 06:00:01.2, and all exposed combustibles are burning by 06:00:01.7.

At 06:00:07.2 the blast arrives: a few buildings escape complete destruction and are at least intact enough to be recognized as structures. In these buildings were the closest persons to Hanna to survive more than a few days; however, these few survivors were either trapped in these collapsed and burning buildings while some were out of doors with severe injuries.

At Pacada Magic School, Velanta Wizard Academy, and the Magic Academy of Light at Braunsvill , 4.4 km (2.7 miles) from Hanna, tree ignites and magic wagon exploded at 06:00:01.3; at 06:00:08.4 the blast leaves buildings at both sites nearly destroyed and flattens the Public Utilities Board water tower near MA-B, dousing some flames.

Only 1% of the animals at the Gateway Bridge and the trainyard near Akemiland Market 4.7 km (2.9 miles) from Hanna survive more than a few minutes. At 06:00:00.8 the ties on the troublesome Akemiland railroad tracks ignite. On the Gateway Bridge at 06:00:01.3 people ignite, carriages explode, and the rock melts; the Rio Gurban River below begins to boil.

At 06:00:08.7 the blast wave destroys railroad vehicles near Akemiland and moderately damages the Gateway Bridge. The bridge did not collapse but became unsafe to use; meanwhile, burning cars waiting to cross from Braunsvill were blown across the river into Matamoto, as was debris from the Stillman House and other buildings. All other bridges and expressway spans closer to Hanna than the Gateway Bridge (including most within the Braunsvill city limits), however, are collapsed.

At the PUB magic power plant and Akemiland Market, 5.1 km (3.2 miles) from Hanna, animals ignited at 06:00:01.5 and the blast partially destroys these buildings at 06:00:09.6. A few animals in isolated parts of the collapsed, burning mall are still alive at this point.

At Riveran Magic School, the Braunsvill /South Padar Island Intercotinetal Skyport terminal, Garzala Magic School, and Ria Del Sol subdivision, 6.1 km (3.8 miles) from Hanna, the intense light starts some fires and causes blistering burns on exposed people by 06:00:00.9. At 06:00:01.1 any unprotected flesh in sight of the fireball chars and tires melt; animal ignite, skyships burned, and massive fires start at 06:00:02.0. Again, there was no wind or sound associated with the flash-other than the sound of fires and such.

Survivors had time to transform into Titan enveloping their real body in a heat-resistant Titan crystal before 06:00:12.3 when the blast arrived, still surpassing the speed of sound, with an outward wind speed of 400 kilometers per hour (250 mph)-over three times hurricane force. Much of the Rivera Magic School building collapses eastward, crushing survivors; burning carriages were blown into each other and sometimes overturned. The same happens at the airport terminal building; skyships outdoors were completely destroyed. At 06:00:16.2 the outward winds stop and begin blowing back towards Hanna, at gale force; this fans surviving fires and spreads burning fuel around at the airport. After 06:00:20 the winds blow outward again, finally dying out.

At Yturria Magic School, 6.9 km (4.3 miles) from Hanna, the blast arrives at 06:00:14.7. Throughout the area within this distance of Hanna, most combustibles (excluding Titan flesh) ignite, all houses are flattened, and all other buildings are partially or completely destroyed.

At the Port of Braunsvill and Lopaz Magic School, 8.4 km (5.2 miles) from Hanna, some fires and blistering burned develop by 06:00:01, many fires and serious burned develop by 06:00:02, and cars explode by 06:00:11. The blast arrives at 06:00:19, partially destroying houses and tank of burning fuel, making other buildings unusable without repairs, damaging surviving carriages and ships, blowing down most trees, and leaving ships in the middle of the main harbor usable.

To a distance of 11 km (7 miles) of Hanna-including all of Braunsvill , Olmato, and Matamoto-many fires and some serious burns were produced by 06:00:02, fires enormous in both size and quantity have developed by 06:00:14, and by 06:00:27 the blast damages all buildings, making some unusable, moderately damages magic TV and psychic towers, and blows down power lines.

A third immediate effect in addition to flash and blast was prompt radiation, including the high energy gamma radiation and the particles from atoms altered within the warhead during detonation. This was the source of radiation injury in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

However, in the case of the Braunsvill warhead (60 times larger than the Hiroshima bomb) these radiations are absorbed by the atmosphere before they reach anyone surviving the other effects. For example, people at Hanna who were killed 2 seconds after the explosion had received radiation that would have caused death in 48 hours if they weren't Titan shapeshifter.

The closest an Earth's human could survive more than a few minutes would receive a dose about three times what they got from natural sources in the last year, or about a hundredth of what it would take to produce any sign of illness.

The effects from the Braunsvill warhead drop off beyond the city limits. Since the fireball emits 93% of its thermal energy by 06:00:10, the blast arrives well after the flash was over. At Lresos and Ranjo, 14.5 km (9 miles) from Hanna, trees ignite and tires ignite and melt. Anyone looking towards Braunsvill was temporarily blinded for a few seconds or minutes. People outdoors who do not take cover inside their Titan form from the flash within five seconds found their clothing on fire and their skin melting off until it regenerated.

At 06:00:38 the blast knocks down a third of the burning trees, slightly damages most buildings, left wood frame houses unusable without repairs, but left vehicles shielded from the flash usable. Anyone at a window facing Braunsvill when the blast arrived was seriously injured by glass shards propelled at 60 kilometers per hour (40 mph). People standing outdoors were knocked off their feet, can stand up again in a few seconds, were knocked down again as the winds blow inward, and heard a deafening roar through the entire affair.

In Benito, Bayview, and Laguna 26 km (16 mi.) away the fireball still reaches an apparent brightness 700 times greater than the Sun. People facing Braunsvill were temporarily blinded; many gazing directly at the explosion received serious eye damage. Some exposed people receive a sunburn. The explosion was silent for over a minute (dangerously enticing people to windows); the blast arrives at 06:01:11, blowing in windows and doors, cracking their frames, and causing plaster damage.

At Port Isabel the blast arrives at 06:01:27. Skyships were flyable without repairs at Herlingan Industrial Skyport and Port Isabel/Cameron Town Skyport. At South Padar Island and Herlingan, 37 km (23 miles) from Hanna, a few sunbathers manage a 10-second sunburn, many more will be blinded for a few seconds or minutes. The west-bound lanes of the Causeway fill with accidents as drivers lose vision briefly. Not until 06:01:43 did sound and blast arrive; windows and doors were blown in, small cracks appeared in walls and wood frames, and people were knocked down.

The Raymondvil warhead detonates at 05:59:54 , 400 meters (1,300 feet) from its target, the Imperial Naval Station station north of town; the Allena warhead detonates at 06:00:02 noon, a similar distance from the Allena State Bank tower. Both have effects comparable to the Braunsvill warhead, but since they are detonated at ground level a large portion of their energy was absorbed by the ground. Within one second of each detonation the expanding fireball and blast wave launches 9 million tons of soil into the air to blast out a crater. The crater from each explosion was 350 meters (1,150 feet) across (almost large enough to contain Sunrise Market, or four football fields end-to-end), 70 meters (230 feet) deep (four times as deep as the height of the Boca Chica Tower), and has a rim 17 meters (55 feet) high (as high as the Boca Chica Tower.

A shock wave travels through the ground from each crater, faster than the blast wave in the air. The fireballs produced by both explosions reach a maximum diameter of 1.8 miles (2.8 km), vaporize anything on the ground within them, and absorb soil and rock blasted out of the crater along with vaporized buildings and people. As far as 4 km (2.5 miles) from both explosions, the ground shock and flash kick up a cloud of smoke and dust high above any buildings just before the blast wave destroys them. The flash and blast effects from each explosion extend to distances 87% and 68% as great, respectively, as the distances similarly affected by the Braunsvill explosion.

Something goes wrong in the Herlingan warhead, however. An electronic component in the ten-year-old warhead fails, and the warhead does not detonate. The warhead strikes a parking lot at Vanlla Vostal Mall at a speed of 7.5 km (4.5 miles) per second. The sheer speed gives the 700-kilogram (320-pound) warhead the energy of 5 tons of dynamite. The high explosives in the warhead detonate, but not effectively, so no nuclear detonation occurs. The warhead was vaporized and a crater 12 meters (40 feet) across was blasted out of the pavement. Structural damage to the adjacent part of the mall results. As survivors rush to aid the injured or gaze at the three other explosions, they expose themselves to the toxic cloud rising from the impact: inhaling the warhead's vaporized uranium will eventually cause lung injury to some.

The three explosions combine to affect a much larger area. At a distance of 40 miles (60 km) from the explosions some accidents result as coachmans were distracted by the flash, and when the blast arrives (nearly three minutes later) all glass windows are shattered and some cracks appear in plaster. As far away as 50 miles (80 km) from the explosions-this includes most of Germania south of a line from Larefok to Kingsville-the blast breaks some windows and knocks some items inside houses off shelves. In Corpus Christi the three flashes are still brighter than the Sun, and the four blast waves can be felt when they arrive between 06:07 and 06:10. In Antoniola a bright glow was observed on the southern horizon from 05:59:54 to 06:00:10 and three loud rumbling noises are heard-each lasting about 10 seconds-from 06:16 to 06:20. While they are difficult to see beyond Antoniola because they occur during the daytime, the three explosions are heard by 06:24 in Austinia, by 06:25 in Haustok, and by 06:31 in Wacol.

The three cooling fireballs, glowing red, continue to rise and expand over the Valley, dragging trails of smoke and dust beneath them. Each fireball rises 5 km (3 miles) in the first 30 seconds. By 06:02:00 they were the familiar mushroom clouds, no longer glowing but still reddish in hue. By 06:04 the tops of the clouds are 19 km (12 miles) high. By 06:06 the clouds have cooled enough that moisture near the clouds condenses into water clouds and the mushroom clouds turn white. At 06:10 the clouds are 17 km (10.5 miles) across and 8 km (5 miles) from top to bottom. Even beyond Corpus Christi the mushroom clouds show a impressive, complex wrapping of layers of clouds. In the devastated regions below, however, they have blotted out the Sun and created near darkness. By 06:30 they expand to 25 miles (40 km) across and have clearly moved downwind.

The initial effects are past. A region 3 km (2 miles) across about each ground zero has been cleared and fused into glass. Within 11 km (7 miles) of Hanna a semi-continuous fire was emerging, and similarly within 9 km (6 miles) of the other two explosions. Dust and debris begin falling from the sky over the devastated areas, as does a black rain (produced when atmospheric moisture superheated by the explosions recondenses on the plentiful dust and smoke particles).

As the clouds are blown east-northeast at 50 km (30 miles) per hour, they are followed by enormous plumes of smoke. Besides this, thunderstorms begin to develop over the explosion sites. The black rain lasts several hours, and some areas receive a few centimeters (or inches) of rain-however, this does little to help the areas that are worst off.

By 06:15 the Emergency Broadcast System was informing any listening people about the explosions. The Imperial government was preparing military resources to evaluate damage and provide emergency response. As far away as Corpus Christi emergency crews have their hands full dealing with automobile accidents as well as some degree of panic. In Falfurriasa and Saritan these problems were joined by light blast damage. Within 40 km (25 miles) of the explosions, there were losses of power and communications, scattered fires, other types of injuries, and many panicked people trying to flee the area. Within 12 miles (20 km) the damage was too widespread for anything more than piecemeal rescue activities to occur.

At 05:59 local time the Valley had a population of 797,000 and Braunsvill contained 135,000 people. At 8:00 the Valley's population is 729,000, over 90 percent survived (but it had 104,000 injured seriously enough to require hospitalization under normal conditions), and only 1,700 people from Braunsvill killed as they had even better underground bunkers. A total of 69,700 have been killed and 310,000 injured in Duchy of Pomerania in Germania Inferioris.

In Matamoto and southern Braunsvill conditions allow the fires to become especially intense. As hot air rises over this area, air was drawn in from the surroundings. The fire, feeding itself in this fashion, becomes a firestorm-a combined windstorm and intense fire. Inward winds exceed 300 km (200 miles) per hour at the edges, and temperatures within the 7 km (4 mile)-wide firestorm area reach several thousand degrees.

Had anyone been in unsealed basement in this area, they would now be killed as the firestorm sucks the air out of the basements. Tornadoes are spawned along the edges until the firestorm ends the next morning. Meanwhile, the Valley fires in general have produced other problems.

By 10:00 the smoke plumes are 200 km (120 miles) long and have caused a drastic drop in temperatures below. In many areas the black rain was replaced by large dirty hailstones. Within areas 50 km (30 miles) wide reaching 160 km (100 miles) downwind of the explosions people are endangered by smoke and toxic chemicals from the massive fires (this includes Herlingan and South Padre Island). The Raymondvil crater, initially extending 26 meters (90 feet) below sea level, cools off with the Allena crater. The day after the explosions water begins seeping into both craters and they soon become highly radioactive lakes. In several days the city-sized fires have ceased, although some smaller fires persist for weeks.

In the meantime, the Emergency Broadcast System since shortly after the explosions has been issuing warnings heard by few of the people who need to heard them-warnings about fallout. When the two groundburst fireballs absorbed large quantities of dust and vaporized material, some of it became radioactive. This material was carried into the upper atmosphere and begins settling to the ground underneath the mushroom clouds within minutes. The fallout from the Braunsvill explosion was less severe since the fireball only contained some smoke and debris from the fires below (plus air and vaporized warhead).

By 10:10 the black rain within 15 km (10 miles) of the two groundbursts was accompanied by a material with the appearance of light snow; this continues until 12:00. In other areas the fallout takes the form of a thin filmy substance. It begins falling by 10:10 in Braunsvill and the Allena area, 10:25 in Port Isabel, and 10:55 in Herlingan, and lasts from one to two hours in these cities. The fallout emits radiation which damages the cells of nearby living organisms.

In fact, near Allena and Raymondville where snow-like particles fall, if these particles fall on skin and are not brushed off they soon cause a burning sensation on that patch of skin. The Emergency Broadcast System advises people to stay put, stay indoors, and take protective action against fallout radiation. Few people who need this information hear or heed it-many are outdoors evacuating, heading home, or looking for family members.

Survivors outdoors in the devastated areas around the two groundburst sites are incapacitated by 2:30; the large dose they receive does direct damage to the central nervous system, causing convulsions, coma, they would die within a week if they were normal human, luckily they weren't.

Within strips 160 km (100 miles) long and 25 km (15 miles) wide stretching downwind of each groundburst-including Combes, the larger cities of Hidalgo province, and most of Willacy province -people outdoors develop severe radiation sickness by sunset until their super regeneration kicked in. Radiation sickness was the combined damage of radiation to a number of bodily organs, especially the circulatory system, and includes some or all of the following: internal and external hemorrhaging, immune system damage, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, anorexia, ulcers, hair loss, sterility, miscarriages, thyroid gland damage, fever, and liver damage.

Death in relation to radiation sickness usually results from blood cell population disruption and related circulatory system damage; also, radiation sickness can produce fatal complications in animals with other injuries or allow minor diseases to become fatal through immune system loss. The animals within these strips which were outdoors while the fallout was deposited develop all these symptoms and die within 2 weeks.

Those which were indoors may live up to 2 months before dying. The few animals in these areas which hid in basements or makeshift fallout shelters develop radiation sickness but have a good chance of surviving. Throughout this area all trees, mammals, and birds are also killed. As far as 290 km (180 miles) downwind of these explosions-including Herlingan -exposed persons develop radiation sickness and 50% die within 2 months-assuming they are uninjured. Nearly all animals with severe injuries who receive this dose will die within a month. In the Braunsvill area most survivors pet develop radiation sickness by 6:30 the night after the attack.

Most pregnant animals miscarry their babies, and after two months the radiation sickness has killed 30% of those uninjured animals and 50% of those injured animals. In Matamoto and South Padar Island, about half those exposed develop radiation sickness to some degree, brain damage was produced in 20% of unborn animals, the immune system was impaired, and some deaths occur.

Two days after the attack, the death toll in the Valley has reached 73,000; of the 724,000 survivors there are 50,000 heavy injured. About 121,000 people who were in Braunsvill when the attack occurred still survive. In Germania Inferioris, a total of 75,000 have been killed and 380,000 injured. A surprisingly small number consider the yield of 3 warhead but understandable consider the Empire extensive bunker network and their citizen super regeneration ability, but most of their cattle animals were dead.

---

501st Tactical Missile Wing. Alnus Base, Lemuria, Falmart.

The transporter-erector-launch vehicle groaned as the four-round missile launcher module elevated to the firing position. It paused there for a few seconds, then the whole system rocked as a missile emerged from one of the tubes. Originally a long cylinder with a rounded nose, it changed as soon as it was out of its tube. Wings sprouted from its fuselage, tail surfaces deployed and an air intake dropped out from under the belly. What had once looked like a torpedo now was an unmanned aircraft. With the Ground-Launched Supersonic Low Altitude Missile or SLAM on its way, the TEL lowered its launch module.

The deed was done.

The nuclear-powered cruise missile known officially as the Gryphon but actually called the Glickem by everybody, had its course carefully laid out. It climbed to 100 feet and then set off along the planned route at Mach 3, the radar set in its nose measuring the height of the ground ahead of it and ensuring that the clearance of 100 feet was carefully maintained.

By its standards, the missile didn't have far to go, just 5780km away, and the task it had been given was insultingly easy. Just fly to the specific point it had been aimed at and then do its thing. A few miles short of that point, another program cut in and the missile began to climb. It was of no interest whatsoever to the missile that the final point on its pre-planned course was directly over the center of a mass of Duma city, Indiya Raj, home to 50,000 Imperial troops and more than 450,000 civilians.

It was at this point that warhead signals from both radar and air pressure sensors prompted an electronics package to begin the initiation process. That package sent an electrical impulse down 72 different wires to various points on an explosive shell at the very heart of the W83 warhead at the center of the missile. After 0.003 microseconds those impulses set off a pair of detonators at each of those 72 points, causing the mixture of explosives to converge into a perfectly spherical explosive wave travelling inward.

After 10 microseconds the explosive wave had already started to compress successive hollow spheres of various metals. In 3 more microseconds the compression wave had crossed an empty layer to reach the heart of the warhead-a sphere of uranium 5 inches in diameter. The blast from the explosives crushed that sphere into a fluid mass 2 inches in diameter.

At that time, 19 microseconds after detonation, a small particle accelerator in the front of the warhead fired neutrons into the uranium sphere. These neutrons were absorbed by uranium atoms and caused them to decay. In the highly compressed mass, there was nowhere for the decay particles to go; they hit other uranium atoms and caused them to decay as well. This chain reaction cycled 60 times in the next microsecond before a small amount of compressed deuterium-tritium gas was injected into a hollow in the center of the uranium core, increasing the cycling rate to 80 times in the next 0.1 microseconds.

By then, the uranium core had reached a temperature of 40 million degrees fahrenheit. That didn't matter too much, what was important was that the gamma rays given off by the nuclear reactions radiated through the exploding mass and were absorbed by the weapon casing, 0.003 microseconds later. The casing was heated and reradiated the energy as x-rays. It was those X-rays that set the next part of the chain into action.

At the rear of the core of the W83 was a cylinder of lithium-deuteride, 10 inches in diameter and 30 inches long with a radiation shield protecting it from direct radiation from the primary. It was surrounded by an inch-thick layer of depleted uranium; it also had a rod of uranium in the center. The x-rays reradiated from the warhead casing heated and compressed the outer wrapping of depleted uranium. In 0.1 microseconds this crushed the lithium-deuteride to a cylinder only 2 inches in diameter.

At this point, neutrons from the primary arrived at that inner rod of uranium, coming through a hole in the radiation shield. These caused a nuclear chain reaction to occur in the rod, super-heating the lithium-deuteride from within. Neutrons from the chain reaction split the lithium atoms into helium and tritium atoms. The colliding tritium and deuterium atoms fused into helium for another microsecond. Then, the force of the fusion reaction crushed the original core of the device so thoroughly that the dying fission reaction was revived and what was left of the original fission fuel was consumed in the inferno.

At that point, 20 microseconds after initiation, the temperature was 600 million degrees Fahrenheit and yet the outside of the warhead was only just beginning to disintegrate. Gamma radiation from the nuclear reactions had already radiated up to 1,300 feet in every direction. A region of space about the size of a small house over the city center now held the equivalent explosive energy of 1.2 megatons.

This enormous release of gamma radiation had been absorbed by the surrounding air, heating it to a point where it released radiation itself. This formed a glowing ball of gas that was already 400 feet across and yet was continuing to expand at many times the speed of sound.

Oddly, the center remained extremely hot while the temperature of the outer part fell as it pushed the surrounding air away. The heat radiated by the outer layer had produced an initial flash of light as bright as the Sun to the observers at the Third Praetorian Guards Division 25 miles away, now it generated a blast wave that separated from the fireball surface.

This travelled at ten times the speed of sound and pushed the air away before creating a partial vacuum behind it. The blast wave reflected off the ground and the surrounding hills, reinforcing itself in some areas, cancelling itself in others to produce a crazy-quilt pattern of blast effects on the helpless imperialist below.

A mere 0.08 seconds after initiation the fireball was no longer pushing the blast wave before it and so it began to release the large amount of thermal energy it contained. At 1.07 seconds after initiation it started to rise rapidly as its surface temperature and brightness began to decline. However, it continued to expand until at 8 seconds after initiation it finally reached its maximum size. With a surface temperature of 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit, the fireball was glowing a dull evil red as it topped the traditional mushroom cloud..

The preliminary estimate was between 40,000 and 45,000 people dead. Once again the Holy Empire's extremely robust bunker system had saved most of the local population.

---

Ula Pianca (Imperial Subterranean Castle ), Near Sadera

"Have you seen this?!"

The thundering voice of a displeased Emperor Molt, echoed throughout a dimly lit meeting room at the Imperial Palace. He held out a piece of paper, a copy of UEA Declaration No. 437, the Declaration that Global Security Council of Earth signed last night, April 22nd 2030, following the Fourth Washington Conference, for everyone–his different advisors, trusted department heads and chairs, and confidants–to see.

The Declaration outlined the terms of surrender for Holy Darwinian Empire which boiled down to little more than unconditional surrender. It also contained an ultimatum that said that the recent attacks were just a warning and if the Empire didn't surrender, it would face.

"Prompt and Utter Destruction."

"How dare they?! Those heathens!"

Everyone in the room shared the same sentiments as their Emperor, but no one wanted to earn his ire by speaking up.

In addition to their beautiful women, advantageous geographical location, and rich lands, the Duchy of Pomerania and Port city of Duma had also been gifted with seas abundant with marine life. Having developed a taste for seafood in their culture, the Darwinian people had saturated their coastlines with fishing operations, but as the demand for more seafood grew, they started to look further west to the ever-warm Indiya Raj and the lush Europania coast.

Long story short, Saderanians are the biggest importer of Pomerania seafood, in addition to rare aphrodisiac oysters that could only be found in large quantities in muddy water near the Port city of Duma. With demand still continuing to grow, the human cutting off their biggest source of imported seafood presented some consequences to the citizens of the Capital. On top of that, the general price of food has also been rising as of late due to wartime economy measures; the nuclear attacks would definitely drive the price of already precious seafood like crustaceans to the moon.

After slamming his fists onto the table, Molt then pointed toward his war advisors.

"This unilateral escalation will not go unanswered! Tell Zorzal and Pina to draft whatever measures we can enact in retaliation, and tell them to consider the possible–no, the inevitable nuclear war, that will soon follow, and the solutions to mitigate its impacts! I want to see their suggestions tomorrow morning!"

As Emperor Molt dismissed them all, a sequence of events leading to the inevitable clash of Armageddon was unwittingly set in motion as the two mighty "Empires", in the name of national pride, faced each other in an apocalyptic standoff.

Western islands, Persae Sea, April 28th, 2030

The American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58) was currently out training in the islands. In some parts of these waters, visibility was very bad. There were 11 Gerald R. Ford-class fleet carriers, 6 Midway-class light carriers, 8 Montana-class fast battleships, 3 Des Moines-class heavy cruisers, 2 Alaska-class large cruisers, 13 Fargo-class light cruisers, 63 Gearing-class destroyers, a fleet with 106 ships and 1,133 aircraft in 16 Air Groups. This was the grand fleet said to have no equal in the US Navy, and they made great efforts to maintain their high standards through training exercises that closely resembled live combat.

Montana-class battleships were the largest, best-protected, and most heavily armed US battleships ever. They also would have been the only class to rival to Japan's Super Yamato-class battleships in terms of firepower. At 80,000 tons full load and 900 feet in length, they were a large as a Midway-class light carrier. Their 3 × three 51 cm (20.1 in) hypervelocity guns even had a slight faster rate of fire than the one on Super Yamato-class battleships, capable of firing 5 "Super-heavy" shells a minute. The ship was covered in enough AAA to ensure almost every crew member would have ample opportunity to fully exercise their 2nd amendment rights, and a planned speed at 75 knots, the class was a beast of a warship.

The Alaska class ships were true oddities. Far too large, 38,000 tons full load, and expensive to treat as cruiser, but too poorly protected to be a capital ship, they had long been ships in search of a mission. While only marginally larger on paper than the General Electric's 11"/28cm hypervelocity guns, the Alaska's 12" hypervelocity guns were, in reality, a miracle of modern design. Offering performance superior in many ways to Chinese 14" hypervelocity guns they greatly outranged the Russian gun, fired a "super heavy" shell that was capable of penetrating battleship armor at some ranges, and were integrated into the best gunnery radar afloat. Moreover, thanks to their great length (800+ feet, longer than most WW2 battleships) they were able to mount nine of the 12" hypervelocity guns as their main battery while retaining a top speed equal to a fast cruiser.

Accompanying the Alaskas were the most powerful, and by far largest, heavy cruisers ever to set sail. At 28,000 tons full load and 700 feet in length, they were a large as WW I dreadnaught. What however, set the Des Moines class apart was their 8" hypervelocity gun. Unlike every other gun of its size it was fully automatic, capable of firing 10 rounds a minute. Fired in broadside a Des Moines class ship could put 90 8" shells onto a target each minute. Their most severe limitation was their magazine capacity of 150 shells per gun could be shot out in only 15 minutes. Much like the 12" hypervelocity gun of their larger siblings the Des Moines main battery was fully capable of defeating the Super-Fishanus-Class magic ships-of-the-line armor at most ranges.

"Huh?"

The observer watching the AN/SPY-6 active electronically scanned array air and missile defense 3D radar noticed numerous unusual faint signals coming from the ocean and quickly closing in on their location.

The AN/SPY-6 system consists of two primary radars and a radar suite controller (RSC) to coordinate the sensors. An S-band radar is to provide volume search, tracking, ballistic missile defense discrimination, and missile communications, while the X-band radar is to provide horizon search, precision tracking, missile communication, and terminal illumination of targets. The S-band and X-band sensors will also share functionality, including radar navigation, periscope detection, and missile guidance and communication. AN/SPY-6 is intended as a scalable system, with each sensor array assembled from Radar Modular Assemblies (RMA), self-contained radar modules.

"These… These must be—!"

If these were Empire's hollow crystal ships, that would explain why stronger signals didn't appear on the radar. With all those signals gathered together moving at high speeds, he was convinced that this was some kind of attack. He quickly called it in to his superiors.

"Objects on the radars ! From the north, closing in fast, I think they're Empire's crystal ships! 270 knots, 300 kilometers away, my guess based on the signals is twenty dragon carriers, thirty heavy 160-gun warships, twenty light 130-gun warships, fifty smaller 100-gun warships, total 120 enemy ships approaching our fleet! Ah, now they've accelerated to 290 knots!"

"What did you say?! 290 knots?! Even the Super-Fishanus-Class magic ships-of-the-line shouldn't be able to reach that speed… meaning… is it a new type of warship? All hands, man battle stations! All hands, battle stations! Unknown fleet approaching! This is not a drill! I repeat: This is NOT a drill!"

The American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58), lauded as the strongest fleet in the US Navy, hurried to prepare for hostilities with an unknown enemy fleet.

-x-

Above decks, the warning alarm wailed in the middle of the fleet's training. They had detected an unknown fleet closing in on their position, so everyone hurried to prepare for combat.

"The unknown fleet is accelerating, they're now traveling at 305 knots."

"No enemy dragon detected in the sky."

"Aircrafts are ready to launch in fifteen minutes."

Reports came in one after another to Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher on board the Task Force 58's flagship, the Gerald R. Ford-class fleet carrier Bunker Hill. He turned to speak to the ship's captain, Konrad, standing next to him.

"What do you think?"

It was a curt question, which held the meaning just give it to me straight.

"Yes, sir. We believe that this fleet is the Empire's secret weapon. While there are only 20 dragon carriers and 30 heavy warships, they're traveling at 305 knots, a speed we had trouble believing from the report. Clearly, they are much stronger than normal ship-of-line. On our side, we have 17 fast aircraft carriers and 8 newly-produced Montana-class fast battleships, the second strongest in the world. If there is one point of concern, it's that the enemy might be armed with chemical weapons, so we must be careful."

Mitscher nodded.

"Look at them, those dastardly barbarians attacked Poseidon naval base, and now they've grown overconfident. It's one thing to cowardly attacked Poseidon naval base with nerve gas, it's another to launch a surprise attack on the strongest fleet in the world, where we have all the most advanced ships; they're really asking for it. We may even trounce them untouched. Sink all of their ships, they can all be shark bait!"

Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher blazed with determination to face the unknown fleet.

Northern Attack Force, Imperial Death Fleet, Zeroth Combined Fleet

To punish the human arrogance, the Emperor Molt had ordered his elite force to launch an attack on the self-proclaimed "strongest in the world," the American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58).

Without a moment's hesitation, the Northern Attack Force from the legendary Imperial Death Fleet traveled south. Having cut the distance to the enemy fleet down to 250 km, morale was flying high. There were twenty Deus-class aerial battleships, thirty heavy 160-gun warships, twenty light 130-gun warships, fifty small 100-gun torpedo boats, a total of 120 ships ripping through the seas, aiming straight for their victims. As a group, they blew through the water at 305 knots (560 km/h), an incredible speed that would floor any resident of this world. Supporting this impressive fleet were 100 giant sea beasts from the Deep Sea Fleet.

Within the flagship, the Deus-class aerial battleship HDES Betel, Fleet Commander, Admiral Cedric Errikson and Captain Beegel stood side by side, conversing.

"We outnumber the enemy two to one. Can we win?"

"We're picking a fight with the so-called 'strongest fleet in the US Navy.' Based on our intel, our Deus-class aerial battleships can definitely win against the enemy Montana-class battleship."

"Well, we also shouldn't let our guards down, but…You may be right; the Deus-class aerial battleship isn't a simple warship, its a weapon of mass destruction. The pinnacle of imperial magitech, a strategic weapon. "

The Deus-class Aerial Battleship is a chimera of a warship, imagine taking the hull of the Uranus Class Magic Skyship Carrier, slapping 10,000 tone of adamatine heavy armor plating on it for protection, then attaching 10 Void Lanterns on top to increase speed and lifting power, for armament, the battleship has primary armaments consisting of three 3-gun turrets mounting 300mm Vergeltung-2 super cannons. But the true strength of the ship lies in 500 grand mages in its crew complement of 2500 people. The ship runway has been filled with magic crystal turning it into a giant magic diagram.

"Report!" the radar operator called out, ending the discussion. "Anti-air radar has detected enemy aircraft coming from the enemy carriers, 300 total! They're heading for our fleet. They'll be arriving in the fleet's airspace in seventeen minutes!"

"Prepare for anti-air combat! All torpedo boats are to take the lead! Launch Eishölle ice torpedoes at the enemy fleet!"

The torpedo boats began to generate even more windpower as they raced to the front of the formation. On the previously-quiet ocean, the surroundings underwent a complete change as the Empire ships raced across the surface, white foaming waves trailing and engines roaring. The Northern Attack Force charged forward like raging bulls, aiming right at American Fast Carrier Force.

-x-

An object as blue as the ocean itself set aside the very atmosphere itself as it flew at speeds rarely seen in this world. An United States Navy J-8 fighter, together with 14 others in the squadron, was beelining straight for the Empire's Northern Attack Force.

With the F-14 Tomcat as the base, the J-8, built by Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, was jointly developed with the United States as a more capable, improved version of it.

Its primary missions are air defense and anti-ship warfare. It large airframe is capable of carrying up to four heavy anti-ship missiles and has a combat radius of 500 nautical miles. It's also built with armoured features and features active phased array radar.

The performance of its airframe is unique back on Earth and is often referred to as "a copy of the F-14 yet a completely different and better beast. It's just biggish, brutish, in your face, loud, American muscle."

Six kilometers behind them flew 19 more squadrons of J-8 fighters. Their objective: attack the enemy dragon carriers and heavy ships.

・・・

Advanced holographic screens filled the central bridge of the Deus-class aerial battleship HDES Betel, which was bathed in cool white luminescence by magic lighting. The near-inaudible hum of high-speed magical chanting ran in the background while soft pulses from the firing of magic capacitors echoed throughout the bridge. Like most flagship in the fleet, Admiral Cedric's bridge was spacious and was even equipped with luxurious seating and air conditioning.

A voice announced from the weapons station, "Targets at 80,000 meters and closing. 300 jet fighters."

With a yawn, as if he could care less about the incoming threat. Cedric's voice was monotone, "Activate triple layer shields and fire AA magic javelins."

・・・

"Huh?"

Arrows of light began flying up into the air from the enemy ships.

"Anti-air magic javelins, huh."

The number of magic javelins steadily increased until they could no longer be considered harmless. Suddenly, a burst of black smoke blossomed from the plane diving right in front of him.

"Dammit! Jimmy."

・・・

"60,000 meters, 286 fighters remain."

Cedric's' expression didn't change as he continued to watch the fighters approach.

・・・

"All units, commence attack. I repeat–all units, commence attack."

They heard the orders loud and clear. The pilots went on to fulfill their jobs precisely.

"Affirmative. Commence attack."

"Fox 1."

Once the medium range anti-ship missiles were armed, the pilots launched their 4 missiles one after another. The solid rocket boosters of the AGM-158D MRASM air to ground missiles ignited, boosting the missiles up to speed in mere moments. These weapons constructed with the power of science accelerated to Mach 4 raced toward the enemy fleet.

However, something happened.

・・・

"47,000 meters, 271 enemy fighters have launched their missiles."

Cedric' adapted to the situation. "Focus fire on the retreating aircraft. Increase power to shields by 20 percent."

A translucent blue shield flickered brightly as dozen of AGM-158D MRASM impacted it simultaneously. Gray-smeared bluish clouds erupted from the impact zones – a telltale sign that the warheads has penetrated the first layer to some degree. Despite the enemy's best attempts, the triple-shield was not breached.

"How are the shields holding up?"

An female voice responded to the query, "Shields are at 87 percent. There is no external damage on the hull."

American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58)

"Air attack report.

All enemy ships hit, 29 planes lost.

All enemy ship continued to advance despite being hit by a dozen of anti-ship missiles. There are some kind of invisible shield protecting them."

"As I thought, they have something up on their sleeve, recall the aircrafts, this will be a gun duel." the fleet commander, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher muttered to himself, eyeing the unknow fleet suspiciously.

"The enemy will be in firing range momentarily."

The 51cm hypervelocity cannons on the Montana-class battleships USS South Dakota, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Washington, Wisconsin, Missouri, New Jersey and Indiana, all pointed diagonally upwards, began to move. The main guns rotated solemnly, aiming at the enemy ships, locking in place once they were in position.

"Distance to enemy carriers: 235 kilometers. They are within maximum range of the main guns."

"Begin simultaneous firing once they're within 200 kilometers."

"Yes, sir!"

The naval battle between the American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58) and the Northern Attack Force belonging to the Holy Darwinian Empire's Imperial Death Fleet was about to kick off.

Cruiser Division 16, Task Group 58.4, American Fast Carrier Force

Rear Admiral Francis S. Low glared out at the ocean. The enemy force had survived the missile attack, dampening the soldiers' spirits. From now, this battle would become a gun duel.

"First off, let's show off the range of the Alaska-class. Ready the main guns! Begin firing in sequence once they're in range!"

The large cruiser USS Alaska had nine 12 in (305 mm) hypervelocity guns installed in the front of the ship, which boasted a maximum range of 195,000 meters. It was raised to the highest possible firing angle of 43°.

"FIRE—!"

The large cruiser USS Alaska and Guam began firing. Giant clouds of white smoke formed as giant 305 mm shells launched into the air, the recoil causing the ships to rock on the water.

"Impact in three minute and thirteen seconds!" the ship's observer called out. "…Five, four, three, two, one… now!"

Four massive columns of water sprouted into the air near a Darwinian torpedo boat. The first radar directed shell was off by about 90 yards, more or less as would be expected under the circumstances.

"No direct hits, adjusting angle of fire."

The gunnery officer noted the error, made the proper adjustment to the target and the ships forward guns went into semi-automatic fire for ten minute. As they forward mounts of USS Alaska went silent so the fall of shot could be observed and further changes dialed in, if needed.

The Cruiser Division 16 had fired its first salvo on the Holy Darwinian Empire.

・・・

The crews of HDES Z-55 and Z-60 had seen the sky light up in the direction of the enemy vessels, at that range it had to be at least a cruiser, if not a battleship, firing on them. Still, at 192,000 meters, in the pre-dawn gloom, and at their speed most of the men on deck believed they would have time to close to maximum torpedo range.

At 02:47:30 HDES Z-60 was buried in a cloud of sixty 1300 pound armor piercing shells. Fifty four of them either struck the ship magic shield or made plunging near misses. To the men on the bridge of HDES Z-55 it looked like half the ships in the American fleet had fired at their sister. Before they really had time to process what they had just seen happen 300 meter to their starboard, they experienced it at point-blank range. The torpedo boat Z-55 took 55 hits, it took 50 hit to destroy the magic shield, the final shell lanced into her forward magazine. The front of the ship more or less shredded in steel scrap.

Making almost 307 knots, the wall of water that hit her damaged forward bulkheads was as unforgiving as if she had run into a mountain at 570 kilometer per hour. Her speed dropped to zero in the space of 30 seconds, with crewmen thrown about like they had been standing in a trolley car that had an accident. Less than 30 men made into the 23°C water, none of them in a raft. Lucky for them, they were very good swimmers.

The crew of Z-55 was, by comparison, more fortunate. While here, the ship upper works were chopped to pieces, her magazines were not violated. Her damage was nonetheless fatal, but her crew managed to get three rafts off her rapidly listing deck in the 12 minutes between her pummeling and her turning turtle. One hundred and twelve men made it into the water, and swimmed toward friendly ships.

The only thing approaching a fair fight was the 130-gun HDES Prinz Eugen's fight against the American light cruisers.

Here, at least some noteworthy damage was inflicted by two 20.3cm hits on the USS McNair that knocked out her port aft five-inch mount and damaged her aft primary gunnery control station, forcing her rear mounts to switch over to local control.

In the end it didn't matter. Combined, the four Fargo-class light cruisers carried 48 six-inch hypervelocity guns while not as blindingly fast as the automatic 8" gun on the Des Moines class, the guns, even at a high elevation, was capable of 6 HEAP rounds, per gun per minute.

The overall effect was a hailstorm consisting of 160-pound high explosive armor piecing shells. In the first two minutes Prinz Eugen was hit 530 times.

She went from being a Pride of the Third Division to a floating scrap heap with half her crew dead or wounded after two mad minutes of effort by the turret crews of the U.S. ships.

Northern Attack Force, Imperial Death Fleet, Zeroth Combined Fleet

From beyond the horizon, the light of ignition sparked from the enemy battleships, evidence that they had fired their main guns was spotted by sensor. They were still 200 kilometers away.

"Wh—! What the hell! They're firing at this distance?! What kind of computing power do they have!" Captain Beegel exclaimed.

To hit a traget traveling at 307 knots in evasive pattern with cannons while your ship was moving at 73 knots itself required an enormous amount of computing power.

The Deus-class Aerial Battleship HDES Betel was soon enveloped by a hailstorm consisting of 5000-pound high explosive armor piecing shells. In the first two minutes HDES Betel was hit 82 times. About 37 meters away from the ship, they saw gigantic pillars of water grow from the sea. The size of the pillars spoke to the destructive power of the cannonfire. However, even that impressive firepower wasn't enough to penetrate the ship's magic barrier.

"Mana shields at 77%. No damage to the hull."

"Their aim is pretty good. Let return their favor! Order HDES Lützow to fire on the starboard heavy along with us. HDES Leyte and Solomon are to engage the leading heavy cruiser. All ships are authorized to open fire as soon as their stern turrets are unmasked." Admiral Cedric ordered.

Captain Beegel watched as his fleet commander related his orders, feeling the 70,000 tons of his flagship turn to her new heading.

While both forces were commanded by veteran officers, with much of the crews having battle experience, the Empire had vastly more, all of the crew had been fighting for the glory of the Emperor since the start of the new millennium. They were battle hardened, supremely confident, and very aware that even when things were on your side, the smallest mistake could be fatal.

"Ready the main guns!"

"Yes sir! Prepping main guns!"

"Begin fueling—seventy-two percent metallic hydrogen, twenty-eight percent hellfire. Start up the shell's magic circuit."

"Magic circuit activation complete."

"The spell circuit is currently filling at a ratio of eighty-two to sixteen, metallic hydrogen to hellfire. Magic power fueling at seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred percent. Shell fueling is complete."

"Main gun fuse circuit, initiating fueling… seventy, eighty, ninety, one hundred percent. Main gun fuse circuit fueling complete."

"Main gun, firing preparations complete. Range calculations based on the magic detector complete. Setting angle of elevation at thirty-one degrees, adjusting left to twenty-two degrees. Probability of a direct hit on the first volley with three targets, twenty-three percent between nine shells. Ten seconds before firing, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, fire!"

At 03:01, HDES Betel opened fire, with the rest of the HDES Aerial Battleships following suit over the next three minutes. The twenty most advanced Imperial warships fired their 300mm shells accompanied by thunderous explosions.

These shells, bestowed with metallic hydrogen and hellfire magic, boasted the most firepower in the world. Cloaked in blue light, they jetted up into the sky like rockets. Drawing a smooth parabola in the air, they flew forward 207 kilometers to bring destruction down on their targets.

"Eight seconds to impact, six, five, four, three, two, one, now!"

・・・

Task Group 58.2 attempted evasive maneuvers. Rear Admirals Ralph E. Davison's first inkling that things were about to go ever so wrong was when a disturbingly large splash from a miss spouted ahead of the USS Franklin.

The detonation spell activated, releasing all that stored magic power; they could feel the supersonic shockwave. A gigantic pillar of water rose up near the American aircraft carrier.

"Jesus Christ! That is not from a 20cm gun. What are we facing?"

"Signal the fleet to scatter. I do not know what is out there, but it is more than we are ready for."

・・・

"No direct hits, lowering angle of elevation four degrees, readjusting left to twenty-seven degrees. Magic power fueling for the next shell is complete. Main gun fuse circuit fueling at eighty, ninety, one hundred percent. Main gun fuse circuit fueling complete. Probability of a direct hit has increased by forty-two percent, seven seconds until firing, five, four, three, two, one, fire!"

Having finished reloading faster than the enemy, Darwinian's magic battleships fired their main guns again.

HDES Betel's second full salvo emphasized the trouble.

・・・

Ships travelling at the front of the fleet began firing their anti-aircraft weapons. Black clouds spontaneously erupted around the Vergeltung-2 magic shells as RIM-116D Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) attempted to shoot them down. Meanwhile, streams of 30mm bullets from mounted Pantsir-M CIWS to dedicated anti-air 88mm autocannons created an upward-facing rainstorm of metal.

The battlefield was drowned out by ear-piercing sounds of anti-aircraft gunfire. The thousands of bullets of light launched into the air hauntingly paint the blue sky. The sheer amount of weapons fire created a beautiful lightshow that outshone the sporadic lightning strikes occurring around the ocean and even threatened to outnumber the raindrops coming from the clouds above.

Tracers fill the sky like a rain of light. As the enemy magic shells getting closer, the rain of light launched from dozens of ships followed the shells as the anti-aircraft guns turned to the sky from the horizon.

But it wasn't enough.

"Engine, full speed! Conduct evasive maneuvers as we fire!"

HDES Leyte's 13th full salvo spared the Task Group 58.2's commander Rear Admirals Ralph E. Davison the agony of watching his carrier be destroyed.

"Here it comes!"

Someone shrieked.

"Shoot it down! Shoot it-"

Three 300mm shells slammed into USS Enterprise with heavenly force, their flames reaching the stores of ammunition hidden away inside the carrier. The combined explosive power of the already-mighty Vergeltung-2 shells and the ammunition in the carrier proved fatal not just to the carrier, but to nearby ships as well. Bright blue flashes temporarily blinded those nearby and generated so much luminosity that even the coastline could see the blasts, despite the visibility-degrading rain.

The targeted carrier was completely and utterly annihilated, with the explosions from within its hull expanding outward and turning the metal box into a massive fragmentation bomb.

USS Enterprise's hull was ripped apart by the tremendous power of the explosion, sending shrapnel made of its armor flying toward nearby ships, whose crews were simultaneously crippled by the pressure waves coming from the dying carrier. The destroyer squadron tasked with defending the carrier from aerial attacks suffered the most due to their proximity, with one destroyer completely sunk and another two damaged to the extent of uselessness.

After the 17th full salvo from HDES Daemon, USS South Dakota suffered a similar fate, three shells struck her, one shell punched a hole in her forward turret, one shell hit below the waterline that penetrated her lower belt, the last one pierce through the ship's reactor. The resulting splinters killed all the men on the bridge, one second later, a huge explosion snapped the ship's hull. Because of her thick armor, the 80,000 ton South Dakota wasn't completely obliterated and instead began to sink slowly, flooding in the gaping holes left by the shells.

・・・

Admiral Cedric Errikson felt no pity for the enemy crews that had died in such an ugly fashion. He only smiled at the power of the Holy Darwinian Empire's newfound power, happy to exact vengeance for the cowardly nuclear bombing on the Duchy of Pomerania and Port city of Duma. All thanked to the Emperor and the Holy Order.

Emboldened by his fleet's devastating firepower and unparallel defensive power, he opened a radio channel on all frequencies.

"Heathens of the Earth, you have just witnessed a small glimpse of the divine power of the Holy Darwinian Empire! We hoped for coexist with the human race, but your kind have forced our hand, ignoring offer after offer of non-aggression! You dared to threaten the stability of the Falmart and even went so far as to launch cowardly attack against innocent civilians. So now, we will teach you uncultured mongrels what it truly means to face real men in battle! You barbarian troglodytes will not lay a single finger on the coasts of Persae! Repent your sins and die like the lowlife mongrels that you are!"

"All units, commence attack!"

Flagship USS Bunker Hill, American Fast Carrier Force

Admiral Cedric's words were heard throughout the ship, but none were more infuriated than Commodore Konrad, whose hateful sneer grew with each word spoken. "Uncultured mongrels? Barbarian troglodytes? The audacity of these damned imperialists!" He yelled in a fit of rage, slamming his fists onto a nearby table.

On the other end of the spectrum, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher showed no reaction to the bold statement. While Commodore Konrad issued orders, Mitscher remained silent. He paid little heed to the Empire announcement, instead concerned with the options they had.

Since the battle began, we had lost two aircraft carriers, one battleship, three light cruisers, and seventeen destroyers. While the enemy hadn't lost a single — battleship-carrier !? Those battleship-carriers were invulnerable to everything we threw at them.

We still have some Mark 55 nuclear torpedoes but the enemy ships were way too far and moving way too fast. This meaned that the only option left was the high-altitude anti-ballistic missile system A-145.

The A-145 wasn't design to hit ground target but it carried a 15 kiloton nuclear warhead, each Montana-class fast battleships had four A-145 missiles, that meaned 28 missiles in total, this should be more than enough to deal with those pesky battleship-carriers .

With a calm voice, Mitscher issued new orders, "Konrad, inform the fleet to proceed with our attack with A-145 missile."

Konrad acted on Mitscher's orders, channeling his anger into the radio itself. "All ships. Target A-145 missiles on the battleship-carriers in the rear of the enemy formation."

"Missiles locked!" The missile operator announced.

"Fire!"

Three A-145 missiles fired from the VLS cells located on the USS Massachusetts' aft, releasing plumes of smoke as they accelerated toward the fleet in the distance. Six other Montana-class battleship, contributed as well, firing three more missiles each, for a total of twenty one missiles.

Flagship HDES Betel, Northern Attack Force

"Incoming missile attack from the enemy ships!"

Given that this planet is far bigger than Earth, when the skies are clear one can see up to dozens of kilometers away. Still, anything more than 100km away would still be hidden by the curvature. And yet they could clearly see 21 distinct objects glowing white rising high into the atmosphere, drawing lines in the air that also shined white. Judging that what he was seeing was an enemy attack, one of the lookouts reported in.

"They're attacking with just 21 missiles?!" Captain Beegel exclaimed.

Unlike the previous anti-ship missiles, it doesn't seem to be capable of sea-skimming to minimize radar detection. What we also learned is that it isn't conducting any sort of electronic warfare. Then there's its massive size, which means that it has a large radar cross section, so it effectively isn't stealthy to begin with. And due to its high ballistic trajectory, the distance it has to fly is long, guaranteeing a very large window of time between when it was fired and when it reaches the target.

Then problem with the number, 21 is too few, even if those missiles could reach our ships, they will have absolutely no chance. The enemy should also be able to understand something this simple.

"No way! Could they be using anti-air nuclear missiles?! All mages prepare for anti-nuclear combat!" Admiral Cedric ordered.

"Prepare for anti-nuclear combat!"

Grand mages hurriedly ran to their position to ready them for mass synchronize spell casting.

The glowing missiles appeared to stop midair as their glowing tails could no longer be visible.

"It's coming right at us!"

When something, especially a round that was fired, appears to have stopped mid-air, it usually means that they are directly coming towards the observer. As ordered by their respective commanders, the ships in the fleet started turning towards the starboard.

"All ships prepare to lift off."

After that, something unbelievable happened, eight Deus-class Aerial Battleships in the front glowed bright red as the mages on board cast a mighty spell creating a enormous Nimbus cloud. The heavenly cloud then lifted the entire 103 ships of the Northern Attack Force into the air.

"We have reached an altitude of 250 meters." Captain Beegel reported.

"Good! Now release the ship limit and chant Vacuum Zone and Perfect Mirror spells."

At Admiral Cedric's order, six Deus-class Aerial Battleships at the center chant Vacuum Zone while six Deus-class Aerial Battleships at the rear area cast Perfect Mirror spell.

As nuclear explosions swallowed the fleet, the end result was nothing short of a real miracle, but the principle was simple.

The most dangerous thing about nuclear explosion is the explosion, the superheated plasma gale that hit you at 10 times the speed of sound.

When detonated a nuclear device take its fuel apply E equals MC squared to it and turn its mass into various wavelengths of light mostly x-rays with some gamma in there and a sprinkling of neutrons as well. It's the interaction these x-rays have with what surrounds it that creates a shockwave. Whether it's in the air or deep underground all those x-rays are absorbed by the material which heats it up extremely rapidly making it expand so fast it generates a shockwave. When there is no atmosphere there is no material around to absorb the x-rays which means no shock wave in vacuum the blast is now almost entirely made up of the various high-energy light waves.

Of course, high energy x-rays are extremely dangerous but it can be reflected by a perfect mirror, like the one sheltering the Northern Attack Force.

"Ships energy at 7 percent, the hulls are heated but the structures are intact."

"What should we do, M'lord, our fleet cannot withstand an attack of such magnitude again without at least an hour's rest." Captain Beegel raised his concerns. They just use three strategic-level spells in short order thus very low on mana.

"Don't worry the enemy don't have many nuke left." Admiral Cedric reassure his subordinates.

"How do you know that, M'lord?"

Glance back at Captain Beegel, Cedric lay out his argument. "The enemy just used high-altitude anti-air missiles as improvised anti-ship missiles. If they had more nuclear devices, we would have eaten 510mm nuclear shells by now, not some half-ass missiles that missed half a mile. A Montana-class battleship only has 16 VLS cells, high-altitude anti-air missiles are for very specific use so they can't be in large numbers and they just fired three of them. My guess is that they can't have more than 2 nukes left per ship."

"Excellent deduction, M'lord!" Beegel looked at Cedric with admiration.

"The enemy are arrogant but cheap, they believe their cannon is the best so why bother to bring nuclear shells to fight some barbarians," Cedric shrugged his shoulders then commented. "But do not underestimate them; they probably has some nuclear torpedoes."

"Of course, M'lord."

"We should take some rest before continue our attack. Order the fleet to retreat back at a safe distance of 300 km." With a smirk on his face, Cedric continued. "Order the torpedo dragon and sea beasts to attack the enemy while we recover. They will die today by the will of the Emperor."

"Aye aye, Admiral."

Flagship USS Bunker Hill, American Fast Carrier Force

"All enemy ships have survive the nuclear attack!"

"What?! How on earth is that possible? We hit them with over THREE HUNDRED KILOTONS of pure inferno, those pesky ships should be vaporized." Commodore Konrad asked Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher.

"I have no idea, I really cannot think of any explanation how they did it." For the first time since this battle begin, Vice Admiral Mitscher was genuinely shocked

"Sir, the enemy fleet is turning around! They seem to be withdrawing."

But why were they changing course now?

"Well, whatever. Focus our attacks on the slow ships! Finish them off!"

American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58) kept up the pressure on the two damaged torpedo boats from Northern Attack Force, the HDES Z-23 and Z-44. The two fleets' shooting match continued. After taking twenty hits from battleship guns and seventy from heavy cruiser guns, the HDES Z-23 and Z-44 sank with flashy explosions.

"Enemy ships sunk!"

Cheers went up at the announcement.

"Well done, it's our victory! But, we didn't get off scot free…"

Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Mitscher wanted a damage report. A win was a win, but their pride as the strongest Task Force in the US Navy was shattered from that scuffle.

Enemy ships sunk: heavy 160-gun warship– 1, light 130-gun warship – 4, small torpedo boat – 14

American Fast Carrier Force

Ships sunk: aircraft carrier – 2, battleship – 1 , light cruiser – 3, destroyer – 18.

Heavy damage: heavy cruiser – 1, light cruiser – 1, destroyer – 3.

Moderate damage: battleship – 1, large cruiser – 1.

Minor damage: numerous

"For our elite fleet to have taken this much damage… the Holy Darwinian Empire is not to be underestimated."

Seeing these results after facing off against a fleet from an enemy that hadn't invent toilet paper yet, the only way to word it was: a complete disgrace.

・・・

Moving across the sea at an astonishing speed of 3900 km/h, the Sea Fury torpedo dragons of the 66th Air Group skimmed in a tight formation at an incrediblely low altitude, just barely 3 meters above sea level. They had to fly this low to avoid being detected by radar, thus ensuring the highest probability of mission success.

Sea Fury are the navy-dedicated version of the deathly air-superiority Night Fury dragons. A Sea Fury can fly nearly as fast as a Night Fury and shares their ability to blend into the sky — even during daylight hours. With their blue coloration, the Sea Fury can hides seamlessly in the sky, the sea and distant horizons. Like their Night Fury cousins, Sea Fury can temporarily transforms each dragon scale into a reflective surface that mirrors the Sea Fury's surroundings, essentially rendering them invisible.

Due to their cloaking ability, Sea Furies are very stealthy dragons, well suited for for torpedo bombing missions. The 800 Sea Furies each carried two 1800 kg swordfish-like armored creature.

Those creatures are Schwertfisch, the most advanced bio-torpedo of the Empire. Their metallic white scales are genetically engineered to reduce hydrodynamic drag to almost zero, allowing them to maintain great speed when dropped from dragons at high speeds. Their brains are modified so that they cannot feel pain and can withstand the shock of water impact at the speed of sound. Schwertfisch have no eyes, instead they use both echolocation and magnetic sensors to locate enemy ships. Once Schwertfisch spot its prey, it will never let go and chase it until it dies.

Their mission was to annihilate the fleet extolled as the US strongest, the American Fast Carrier Force (Task Force 58).

While it was possible to drop the torpedoes outside the range of the enemy battleships' anti-air coverage, in order to guarantee they hit, it was necessary to be much closer, so everyone in the wing was quite nervous.

"Thirty seconds until we reach the torpedo drop point!"

"Twenty seconds!"

They were constantly being fed instructions via manacom. "…Four, three, two, one, drop!"

Following a soft sound, the bio-torpedoes were dropped into the water. Traveling at 400 knots with a range of over 30km, the 1600 Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes coursed through the water towards Task Force 58.

・・・

"Vice Admiral Mitscher. We've detected an abnormality over the ocean! Something is coming towards us!"

At the observer's frantic yell, everyone turned their heads to look out to sea. There were a bunch of white swordfish-like creatures churning through the water in wave-like fashion, heading straight for the heavily-damaged destroyer USS John Rodgers at 400 knots.

"Oh… Oh no!"

The streaks plunged straight into the John Rodgers, and a huge explosion of water went up at its side. The Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes launched by the the Empire's Sea Fury dragons all hit the John Rodgers, blowing holes into the bottom of the ship, quickly consigning it to the ocean floor.

"Those… Those bastards!"

"They'll… They'll pay for this!"

"We're detecting more of them! Numerous very fast creatures are converging on the fleet! There… are… 1600 of them!

They're already only 30 kilometers away!"

They looked up to the sonar screen and saw bright dots peppering the green screen, slowly going up in number.

"Prepare anti-torpedoes measures! Shoot them down!"

The American Fast Carrier Force hurriedly readied their anti-torpedoes weaponry.

・・・

This week hadn't been the best for Captain John R. Redman, commander of the mighty USS Massachusetts, things just turning from bad to worse. First, he discovered that his wife was cheating on him with a damn lawyer then his fleet's headquarters was gassed, then bombed to crisp by the Empire, and now, he was in a life-and-death battle against a seemingly indestructible enemy.

"Captain! A bunch of somethings are coming right at us! They look just like whatever sunk the USS John Rodgers! Thirty-seven degrees off the left side, thirty thousand meters away!"

The captain reacted instantly, reaching for his radio. "Redman to Bridge, steer hard to port immediately!"

The ship lurched, causing the men in the CIC to stumble slightly as they corrected their balance.

Looking at the sonar, he could see dozens of bright dots heading towards his battleship. There were so many of them that whether they accelerated or decelerated, steered to starboard or to port, some number of them would definitely hit.

Redman analyzed the speed of the torpedoes, their trajectory, and the USS Massachusetts' attempt to evade. It was clear to him that they would be unable to dodge the incoming salvo. Thirty kilometer is actually terrifyingly close. Travelling at 400 knots (740 km/h), the Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes would soon appear within sight of the fleet in about 140 seconds.

Still, they have time to prepare in those 140 seconds. Having also pinpointed its direction and distance, the possibility that they could intercept it increased.

"Prepare to fire ASROC! Target all enemy torpedoes!"

Missile-like objects started launching from the 533 mm torpedo tubes, and MK-112 "Matchbox" launchers on the Massachusetts. Burning bright as they exhaust their rocket motors, the ASROCs head towards the ocean some distance in front of the Massachusetts, engaging the parachutes as soon as the rocket motor jettisoned and allowing for the Mark 99 anti-torpedo torpedoes they carried to gently plop into the ocean and the torpedoes screws begin to rotate. The anti-torpedo torpedoes then run free, bringing with them the key to the ship's salvation, the ULEA-5 'genius' warheads.

The Mark 99 anti-torpedo torpedoes coursed through the water towards the Empire's Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes at 200 knots. A light surges out from underwater then followed by a series of underwater detonations, corresponding to the impact of the Mark 99 torpedoes onto the swarm of Schwertfisch. The Schwertfisch's hard shell breaks, vital organs ruptured from overpressured. The thunderous sounds were accompanied by enormous columns of water jutting out from the ocean.

"Woaaaaaah!"

"Report!"

"Sir! Mark 99 torpedo-killers have successful intercepted the first and second salvoes of bio-torpedo. The rest of them," the sonar operator was shocked by what he saw on the screen. "They...they started jumping, soared to more than 20 feet above the waves, and performing complex evasive maneuvers. They're moving too fast!"

Oh Shit! Those bastards were intelligent.

"Ready the guns!"

The three main turrets, armed with triple precision-guided 51cm hypervelocity guns, and twenty of the secondary 50/15.2cm railguns slowly took aim at the water.

"Corrections complete!"

Any one who looks at the slowly turning guns could feel how massive they are.

"Ready to fire!"

"FIRE!"

Overwhelming amounts of magnetic energy poured out of the superconducting magnets of the guns. After they were fired, fireballs more gigantic than the ships themselves manifested out of thin air, the extreme heat generated by firing a railgun causes everything flammable around the gun's muzzle to ignite—atmospheric dust, combustible vapors, paints, residual powder charge from the injection firing, even some of the air, their supersonic shockwaves rocking the vicinity.

The recoil from the firing of the ultra-large cannons forced the ships back, making them rock in place.

Witnessing their flagship open fire, the cruisers began opening up one by one.

The sounds of heavy gunfire reverberated around the ocean, spooking whatever seagulls were loitering nearby to take flight. Eventually at a designated spot, their shells started landing one after the other, throwing up enormous columns of seawater.

"Fire fire fire fire fire fire fire! Those bio-torpedoes must be destroyed!"

Mountains of seawater emerge from where their shells landed.

"There's no way those fishes should have survived that…"

Redman muttered to himself. It wasn't just him; everyone was convinced in their impressive firepower destroying the enemy bio-torpedoes.

But still…

"Six enemy bio-torpedoes are still approaching the carrier Belleau Wood!"

"Tsk! What are you waiting for?! Destroy them!"

The enemy Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes were now on the last leg of their advance.

Eventually, they entered within range of the 88mm anti-aircraft guns, which now joined in on the bombardment. The amount of steel being fired had increased. There were so many explosions that it was no longer possible to use acoustic detection. Still, the Empire bio-torpedoes, which continued to run past the countless explosions, continued dashing toward the carrier at almost 400 knots. Before long, they were close enough for lookouts to spot them with their bare eyes.

The Battleship Division 8 was now desperate. Tracer fire flew everywhere as anti-aircraft guns pummeled the surface of the ocean. However, since the anti-air weapons were not designed to fire below horizontal level, they couldn't be depressed enough to aim at the incoming torpedoes.

The bio-torpedoes ran past the flagship and on towards the carrier behind her.

The explosions from their shells continued, yet they never stopped the Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes. Before long, one of them made contact with the Belleau Wood, blowing up close to where her propellers were.

"Ack!"

・・・

Looking at the carrier from the bridge with his binoculars, Vice Admiral Mitscher witnessed one of their light carrier get rocked by a massive column of water jutting out from the waterline on its stern.

"Is that it?!"

He could see two long, slender creatures propelling their bodies through water at ultra high speeds. Even more tracers were launched into the water. A single hit means the end for a destroyer. Every anti-aircraft gunner desperately tried to shoot it down as they succumbed to fear.

Then, the other two bio-torpedoes made contact, sending columns of water out the waterline below the midship.

After one of the Schwertfisch bio-torpedoes destroyed the Midway-class light carrier Belleau Wood's propellers, the other two Schwertfischs found their marks on her heel, unleashing the energy of the 1600 kg-worth of TNT explosives on the carrier. Contained by the density of the surrounding seawater, which is a thousand times more dense than air, the explosion was forced onto the carrier's hull. After penetrating the steel keel, the explosion destroyed the carrier's innards, leaking out through the physically weaker sections.

The runaway storm of flames engulfed the interior of the carrier, setting off bombs and fuel onboard, contributing to the massive fireball that broke out of the carrier's top deck. The carrier began to burn intensely as a column of fire and smoke rose from its rapidly deteriorating hulk, dirtying the otherwise clear blue sky above. With the explosion having receded, seawater flooded into the holes created by the bio-torpedoes.

It all happened in a flash.

In what was a vexingly short amount of time, the light carrier USS Belleau Wood, together with her aircraft and crew, disappeared into the sea.

A column of flame flared up over the ocean along with the resounding boom of an explosion. Inside the flagship, USS Bunker Hill, reports on the fleet's status and damage to their own ship continued pouring in.

"The port side anti-air cannon has been damaged! The distance measurement device is broken!"

"Battleship Washington has been hit, a fire has broken out!"

"Light cruiser Santa Fe has been hit, they've been severely damaged!"

For Fleet Commander, Vice Admiral Marc A. Mitscher, all the reports pointed at the American Fast Carrier Force's situation worsening minute by minute.

"…This is not good."

Vice Admiral Mitscher turned to speak to Commodore Konrad. "We have 8 ships completely sunk and another 8 have taken too much damage to the extent of uselessness. While none of the battleships have been sunk yet, I cannot say our current situation is promising. Regardless of the fact that these are not friendly waters, our biggest problem is that we cannot request air cover. The Fourth and Fifth Air Fleets are already on their way here, but there's no way they'll make it in time for the real fight."

"How do we hold out longer…"

"Vice Admiral Mitscher!" A sonar technician cried in alarm, interrupting their talk. "We spotted many huge objects, between 50 and 250 meters in length, right beneath our fleet."

Enemy submarines!?

"Base on their acoustic signatures...they're living beings!"

All of a sudden, a column of water rises from the small destroyer travelling at the front of the formation. After a short delay, a thunderous boom resounds over the sea. There was no explosion on its deck or superstructure as the huge column of water further rose up to eclipse the ship's height.

"Wha… what?! What happened?!"

Commodore Konrad finds it hard to understand what has happened.

"Is… is that a torpedo?"

After the water had risen into a column, the small ship rapidly lost its speed.

"What the hell…"

"Report coming in! One of the creatures travelling underwater just attack the USS Chauncey with...an...extremely powerful water jet!"

"What?! Wait, no way…water doesn't act that way."

"And how the hell we didn't detect those thing sooner!"

Unless...

Sound also doesn't travel all around equally; there exists a region of low sound intensity called a shadow zone in which sound waves don't propagate very well, usually because the sound waves are refracted away from that region.

This world contains something as nonsensical as magic. If they have some magic that can control water, they can create a shadow zone to prevent soundwaves from bouncing or absorbs it altogether, it will be truly nightmarish.

The aquatic behemoth attacking the USS Chauncey was a Blastoise. These giant turtle-like creatures had biological water jets much like the ones some earthling squid species use for propulsion, although Blastoise's jets have evolved to be much, much more powerful.

"Get the NH95 helicopters on air now!" Mitscher ordered.

NH95 anti-submarine helicopters dropped a series of depth charges into the ocean. Massive columns of water burst forth, showering the nearby destroyers in a misty spray. With the first volley of weapons discharged, activity ceased. Admiral Mitscher then called out to the sonar operator, asking for a report.

Sharp pings soon followed, revealing that these monsters were still moving. "No effect, they're still there!"

Thousands of meters underwater, divine sea serpents glides through the cold water at incredible speed of over 200 knots. The two largest sea serpents are the Tiamat and the Jömungandr — examples of abyssal gigantism that get their names from ancient mythology. And these legendary titles are well deserved, for the largest of the Jömungandr have reached lengths of 820 feet, or 250 meters — with the largest Tiamat not far behind at 680 feet, or 210 meters.

In the third place is the Northern Sea Orms, reaching almost 600 feet, or 180 meters in length and weighing well over 1200 tons, these creatures aren't built for speed, but for foraging in the ocean depths. The long tendrils on its snout, known as barbels, contain nerve endings that help Sea Orms detect vibrations made by swimming prey. Along each side of the Northern Sea Orms are stacks of electrical muscles blocks called electrocytes. These electrocytes are able to generate a small charge individually, but when used at once with magic they can generate a cumulative charge of over ten billion volts.

The thunderous sounds were accompanied by two enormous columns of water jutting out from the ocean.

"Woaaaaaah!"

The people who were watching were aghast and could not say a word. Black lightnings unleashed by a Northern Sea Orms hit the heavy cruiser Indianapolis, rocking the ship and causing severe damage to the ship's bottom. The warship then begins to list rapidly.

"Message from the Indianapolis! Large amounts of seawater are flooding into the hull!"

The ship was visibly slowing down. It was obvious to anyone looking that the ship was beginning to sink.

"Captain McVay has ordered all hands of Indianapolis to abandon ship."

Not letting themself to be overshadowed by the Sea Orms, the Kings of the Sea, Jömungandr unleashed their own magic, Ocean Abyss. The magic created a spherical depression in water with a diameter up to several kilometers and a depth of up to three hundreds meters.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!"

"Aghhhh!"

Five destroyers and an aircraft carrier in the Task Group 58.3 caught in these zones were pulled down the walls of the water, then upon cancellation of the magic, swallowed up by the massive waves as the water returned to a horizontal plane.

Mitscher's eyes were red from rage. The aircraft carrier turned on its underside in front of his eyes. The munitions stored within the carrier rolled out of their storage. One of the bombs explodes, triggering a cascading domino effect as other bombs ignite one after the other, unleashing their combined power throughout the ship. A gigantic explosion emerged from the underside of the capsized carrier, splitting the Bataan into two as it swallowed up by the massive waves, bringing with it all sailors that didn't manage to get out.

"Aircraft carrier Bataan… has been sunk!"

Tiamat, the Queens of the Deep decided to join the hunt. Swimming in circles, their magic generated giant maelstroms hundreds of meters wide. Although a aircraft carrier is large enough to make it through a maelstrom without severe damage, the force of the whirlpool created waves that are so strong and so tall that rocked a 7000 tones destroyer to the point that it tilted over and injure those onboard, before crashing into it and tearing apart the poor Gearing-class destroyer.

"The Charles S. Sperry is sinking!"

"Section 4 on the port side is flooding!"

"Serious damage to the bulkheads in section 4!"

"USS Erben could no longer sustain her balance! She's gonna capsize!"

"Bastards!"

Mitscher curled his hand into a fist, bringing it down as he would a hammer. "Hit them again with the nuke!"

This time, he permitted destroyers to use their supercavitating torpedoes. They were no longer worried about cost effectiveness, instead becoming worried of these sea titans were remarkable resilience against the old bombs. Fearing for the safety of the fleet, they spared no expenses and loosed the full might of their modern arsenal, sending hundred of of guided torpedoes, ten percent of them were Mark 55 nuclear torpedoes, at these underwater monstrosities, which began exhibiting evasive maneuvers.

"Sir, we've got visual on these things. Putting it on screen!"

An unmanned underwater vehicle released by the USS Yorktown managed to get close enough to the battle, recording it and sending data to the USS Bunker Hill. These sea beasts were truly massive beings, many of them had the length on par with that of a typical American cruiser. The appearance of these creatures resembled no known analogues in popular Terran myths, although some of them looked somewhat like a sea dragon, others looked like giant turtle and shark with six flippers.

The sea dragons accelerated to speeds unexpected for beings of that size, surpassing the top speed of a sailfish. Its speed of over 320 knots was almost enough to shake the American torpedoes, which were pushed to their operational limits. Ten pair of flippers surrounded the body of the streamlined sea dragon, emerging from narrow fissures within the armored scales of the beast. They spun around as it glided through the water, acting like flagella and working in tandem with the creature's massive tail to propel sea dragons quickly fled the underwater arena, diving deeper. The creatures intelligent maneuvers and evasion combined with their ability to control water current helped them shake off all of the American conventional torpedoes, much to their surprise.

The remaining Mark 55 nuclear torpedoes detonated near these creatures' tail and armored lower torso — if it could even be called that. Some of the creatures were caught in the blast and quickly vaporized. The heat of the explosion produces a cavity, a flaming bubble of water vapor, radioactive nuclei, and the remains of very unlucky fish. The bubble grows quickly as it vaporizes the water around it. The pressure of the bubble is immense, plowing outwards as if there's nothing in the way. Sending off a shockwave that will be felt by seismic stations and whales around the world. The resulting cavities formed by the nuclear explosions were quickly filled, but prevented the UUV from following further. The monsters disappeared from sensors and visual feeds afterward, leaving the Americans wondering whether or not they managed to kill them all.

Commodore Konrad approached a screen that displayed live camera footage from the UUV. "Are they... dead?" Gigantic columns of water erupted from the sea as he spoke.

"I... don't know, Commodore," a sonar officer answered. "I think the pressure waves got them, though. I hope."

Commodore Konrad turned back to Mitscher. "Vice Admiral?"

Mitscher felt sweat dripping down his neck, soaking his collar in an uncomfortable moistness. For this first time in his career, Mitscher fear for his life.

"Good God," he muttered.

"Are we safe now?" Konrad asked.

"No," Mitscher said, squinting in the distance. "We're done for! I have to send an urgent report back home. Gentlemens, it's been an honor serving with you."

Flagship HDES Betel, Northern Attack Force

Admiral Cedric, the fleet's energy is at 100%." Captain Beegel proudly announced.

"Excellent! It's time to end those heretics one and for all. Prepare an ultra long range attack." He ordered, none shall escape the Emperor's wrath.

At his order, all 20 Deus-class Aerial Battleships glowed bright red as the mages on board cast a mighty spell.

A giant magic circle started glowing in the sky.

This was one of the strongest lightning incantation, Jovis Tempestas Fulguriens.

At the center, an immensely bright light started to shine almost like a miniature, a second sun had appeared. The resulting orb of light started to be engulfed in the violent streaks of lightning.

The orb in the center had reached hundreds of trillions of volt and was so potent that the air around it was starting to distort. The heat generated reached critical levels, causing molecules to break down into individual atoms before their electrons were freed; the orb had become plasma. An extremely powerful electromagnetic force kept this plasma fixed into the core and the orb was teeming with unbelievable amounts of energy. A massive, extremely hot ball of immense light had formed in the sky. Magical power and lightning further forced the air to compress.

"Take a look at this, Lord Cedric! The amount of magic power here is tremendous! Hah! Allow me to say that the power the Navy wields has already surpassed what man can possess! Hell, we may as well possess the power of the gods!"

"Us having the 'power of the gods' is an over exaggeration but I agree that there is nothing in this world that could have dodged all of that. The combined power of 10,000 grand mages amplified by Aerial Battleships could take down even an Apostle."

"Eat this! Divine Punishment of the Lightning God!"

The energy of the lightning beam, hundreds of meters wide, shakes the air nearby, creating a high-pitched sound resound. The blue lightning beam quickly closed the distance to the American Fast Carrier Force and hit the sea directly.

Water was rapidly heated and turned into fog, and then the fog became water vapor. Under the effect of an extremely powerful electric current, the water vapor was electrolyzed into hydrogen and oxygen gas. The American fleet was enveloped in a wall of high density plasma clouds of several dozen of kilometres in size. The mixture of oxygen and hydrogen gases soon ignited, creating a massive explosion that fell short only to a hydrogen bomb.

However, unlike a nuclear weapon, this explosion was capable of creating countless repeating shock-waves that annihilated everything in its path.

There was no survivors. It was a quick and merciful death.