Meanwhile in the SMS Jade
In the Jade's operations room, they already knew what was coming. When 350 flying objects appeared on radar, it became obvious that the enemy was not giving up.
"send all 50 ME-109s to shoot them down."
''Yes Captain''
50 Fighters left the Carrier and flew towards the enemy.
Laurian Navy
As Schaukan looked at the Ship now 31.1Km away his 3749 ships sailed on,but he was no longer sure if he could beat that monster of a ship,Just then he saw somethings in the air.As he looked, they came in fast,faster than anything he ever saw. Vice-Admiral Schaukun couldn't help the feeling of dread from making his blood run cold, but he concentrated on giving orders.
"The wyvern squadron should reach us soon. When they do, all ships attack with them."
But right after he said the order,the Objets flew over his fleet at high speeds and went into action ,they fired they 4 20mm guns into the enemy Wyverns.As they did,38 wyverns fell to the sea,full of blood. Seconds later,another 20, then a few seconds later, yet another 22. One after another, they lifelessly fell out of the air. No such thing had ever been witnessed in history. After the intial shock had pass, their numbers were reduced from 350 to 140. The rest of the squadron began to panic, but by then Massive ship was in sight and the 50 Fighters were still killing them in droves.
140 wyverns had arrived to join the Laurian fleet in their attack. Their enemy, further ahead, was an enormous gray ship.But the Germans weren't scared,the Me-109s still had more ammo,they fired their guns as the 140 was cut down to 50 by the time they hit 5Km away from the Bismarck. Unexpectedly, the ship started firing its secondary cannons, taking down one wyvern with each 2 shots.The cannons was reloading much more quickly than the Vice-Admiral thought ever possible. On top of that,the Me-109s were still killing their Wyverns like fish in a barrel.When they got within 3 kilometers, the assault of cannon shells was over. By then, there were only 5 wyverns left and the Me-109s went Back to the Carrier to rearm with bombs for a combined attack of 50 Me-109s and 50 Stukas.
"Their devilcraft has finally ended! Now, let us avenge our comrades!"
The 3 wyverns opened their mouths, fireballs quickly taking shape. But right then, 2 of those wyverns were shredded apart.
The final wyvern quickly followed suit.the 8 twin 37mm AA and 20 single 20mm AA and the new 12 twin 20mm AA ripped into the Wyverns into mince meat.A dreadful silence loomed over the seas.
"..."
No one could believe their eyes. They had all been rendered speechless. To them they just watched all of their elite forces get turned into bloody pulp.and they could not even see any reports of any damage done to the enemy.
Duaaar
Another volley from the ''Devil ship'' was heard,at 29.6Km away it hit them right in the center,sinking 119 ships,Were they dreaming? ...No; to their horror, they were most definitely awake.And this nightmare was just beginning
"Are we... fighting a demon?" whispered Schaukun pathetically. He had no idea what kind of expression he was making.
Unfortunately, they had not yet reached the limits of their despair. What followed would later be known in history as The Great Naval Battle of Rodenius.But for the German Empire they called it the Great Naval Massacre. Historically, the deciding factor in naval battles on Rodenius was whether sailors could board enemy ships or not. Outside of fringe cases of severe damage from lucky ballista or fire arrow attacks, ships themselves were thought to be indestructible. In the end, everything depended on sailors taking control of other ships or defend from hijackers themselves. There was no existing logic that could predict 4,400 fully-crewed ships losing a battle out here on the frontier. This fleet could have maybe even challenged one of the superpowers in the great civilizations.
The Bismarck was sinking 100 to 180 ships with each attack. It was as though he were conducting training exercises.Even still, 4,400 was a huge number of ships. After 2,900 kills,They were running low on shells.At now 15.2Km away Ludwig made another critical decision
''Use secondaries now,let our main guns rest''he said
the 8 twin 10.5cm and 6 twin 15cm secondaries began to open fire,since they were much smaller they were able to hit one ship and sink it.After another 100 kills the Stukas joined in the fun and their terrifying sounds scared the Laurians to the bone.
"They're monsters! We're all dead! Curse them! Aaahhhhh!"
Ship after ship, they were all being sunk with frightening speed.
"...so it's over."
Vice-Admiral Schaukun was completely hopeless. There was nothing he could do. At this rate, all of his men would be killed, almost for sport. However, even if he were to surrender and the entire navy were taken as prisoners of war, after the massacre at Gim, he could not see a future for any of Lauria's soldiers. The only possibility left was for them to withdraw, as they had been asked before the battle started. After leading the largest fleet in the history of Rodenius, losing half of it, then crawling back to his home country in defeat, he would be forever remembered as incompetent and sentenced to death. However, he couldn't condemn his men to the same fate.
"All ships, retreat! I repeat, all ships retreat!"
The order was echoed magically in every ship. But when the Vice-Admiral's flagship began to retreat, it took a direct hit and sank into the sea. The Germans seeing this began to fire their guns once more,not stopping until only 100 ships remained.Finally, the battle was over.
On the Bridge of the SMS Bismarck
''Jesus Christ We let some escape!''said the first mate
''I know,better spread the terror than not''said Ludwig''in this world i feel whatever we do,no one will listen,they won't see us as either equal or above them,we will make them fear the name Germany''
''But you know most of Germany wants nothing to do with war now right? This is only because that nation is committing Genocide,You're not thinking of making Germany go into a war economy state right?''asked the first mate
''Oh dear god no!''Ludwig said''I lost 2 sons in that blasted war,now that they are alive again i want to keep it that way,I meant that we should now bow to anyone no matter what you know? Maybe try and become like the Dutch in trade,become so rich that if we stop to trade with 1 nation they lose so much money,We that we could become A Just society''
''Better than dreams of conquest and death''the first mate said
''On that topic we should follow them back to their base,we have enough ammo to sink 1300 more ships,when we get to that port,and force them to surrender or face death,unless it already was taken by our men''said Ludwig
''Yes Captain!''said the bridge
The Next day in the Port of Jan-Rock,the Bismarck under the threat of annihilation forced the city to lay down it's arms with a single casualty,The shock it had would ripple the world over,as every nation out side the zones would hear about the ''Terror of the seas'' a grey ship that challenged 4400 ships and sunk all but 100,A Legend in the East was born.
On one of the escaped Laurian ships
The observer from the Papaldia Empire, Varhal, was shaking. As luck would have it, his ship made it out unharmed,he cried when he survived.His task was to observe and record the destruction of Kua Toine by way of the 4,400-ship fleet operated by Lauria. He looked forward to this mission because of a personal interest in how the huge number of ships would interact with Old weapons like ballistae and outdated tactics like hijacking ships.He might be from a civilize zone,but he always respected the People outside because of their ferocity when against each other,he found it quite honorable.
However, the enemy ship that appeared was completely beyond his imagination. Even though he couldn't tell whether they were using Tears of the Wind God to bolster its sails, it was extremely fast and large. (Or rather, it didn't even appear to have sails.).It reminded him of their prototype ship they made last year,the Dios III,A magic steam powered ship(Imagine French ship Gloire).It was built in Mu and transported to Papaldia where they planned to replace the entire navy.
When he saw that it only had from what it looked like at first 8 cannons,he was confused.Was this some kind of joke? While he was surprised to see that kind of cannon in these region,which wasn't advanced enough for them yet, this one wasn't like the ones he knew. Cannons had low accuracy, so the 100-gun warship was invented to offset that.and even their new class ships with new model cannons(Breech loading guns) still needed more than 50 to have a chance of hitting with half of them.But for a ship over 30Km away to score huge hits was impossible as their current guns could only hit 2 to 4 Km away.
But what made him more scared was the fight with the Wyvern,50 Iron Beast flew faster than anything he ever saw.They killed them like ants against God.And when they came closer to the Huge ship,they fired a rain of bullets at them and wiped them out in mere minutes.This New foreign enemy was advancing technologically without their knowledge and could become a threat to the Papaldia Empire should they be aggressive or Arrogant.Varhal continued observing developments with magic as he completed his report to his country.
Meanwhile in Berlin
The Kaiser and his Heir,Wilhelm the 4th were in a argument.
''No! Listen to me! I want to chose for myself,not by a group of white hair men!''said the Heir
Many would wonder what he was yelling about,well since he turned 18,they tried to get him a wife.He refused every Girl they showed,and now he just refused Miss Germany 1942,Eva Gustaf. The Kaiser was fuming when he found out,that was 3 hours ago,they had not stop arguing for the past 3 hours,The Kaiser needed to give his heir a wife so they could keep the bloodline going for the throne,But since he refused,He was no longer calm.
''You need a wife! Just why! Why must you refuse every girl we give you!''the Kaiser said
''You want to know why!''the heir yelled back
''Yeah! Tell me come on!''said the Kaiser in a furious tone
''Fine! It is because i want to fall in love with a woman that actually loves me for who i am!''said Wilhelm IV
The Kaiser looked at him for a moment before he began to laugh like a maniac,He laugh so much that Wilhelm IV got angrier.After he finished laughing he spoke
''Why didn't you just tell me from the start you idiot,if that was it then you just had to say,Find that someone if you want''said the Kaiser as he left
Wilhelm IV looked at his Grandfather and silently said thanks as he too left,He was going to find love,But the path to him finding His future wife would come at a price,a price many would call the darkest moment of German History thus far.
Kingdom of Lauria, Wyvern Headquarters
350 dragon riders were mobilized to engage with the enemy's main fleet. 3 hours have now passed since the last communication with them, which had ended in screaming. There was a heavy silence in the headquarters. Why hadn't they reestablished communications? Furthermore, why hadn't any of the dragon riders come back yet? Everyone was consumed with impatience and nervousness.
"So where are they?"
No one had an answer.
It was unthinkable, but... could they have been wiped out?
Throughout Rodenius's history, the wyvern was always the strongest creature. However, they were also a rare, valuable species, and it was hard to gather a large number of them.Lauria's rookery of 500 came from a combination of building up forces for 6 years and receiving assistance from the Papaldia Empire, with the stipulation that they be used to conquer Rodenius. With their overwhelming strength, it should have been a matter of course for them to take over the continent. Upon sending the 350 dragon riders to deal with the enemy's main forces, this elite squadron should have put on a historically meritorious performance before returning to base.
In reality, so far not a single one had returned. It was extremely painful to consider, but there was a high chance that they had been completely annihilated. Under normal conditions, even against an abnormally large fleet, it should be impossible to take out all 350 dragon riders. Was it possible that their enemies were serving the legendary holy dragon Bahamut? No one knew how to report this to King Lauria.
"...tell the advance force that, by emergency order, the dragon rider order requests that half of their dragon riders return to headquarters."
As the order was giving,a lookout shouted.
''Enemy Wyverns from all directions! counting...Over...300!''Shouted the Lookout
''what!''shouted the Room
As they looked outside they saw 280 German Planes,130 Stukas and 150 HE-111-H-16 as they flew over the city the HE-111-H-16s dropped their bombs and the Stukas dived straight into the city to drop their payload,they had light loads as they had finished dropping some loads onto some farms and towns nearby. The siren of the Stukas made everyone run in terror as the bombs hit,in massive explosions buildings were reduced to ash and fires broke out,It was utter chaos,the flames were only stopped when rain began after the Germans left,to the people,they were left in fear to how easily they were attacked and how they were left defenseless,in a single day 100 000 people of 850 000 were killed,and over 66% of the city was reduced to rubble. War had arrived to Jin-Hark and with it the Fall of lauria would come.
Central Calendar year 1639, April 8th, Principality of Kua Toine, governmental meeting
"This concludes the report on the large naval battle in Rodenius's waters."
Officer Breweye, who had observed the battle, was invited to the meeting to give the report and serve as reference. All other attendees had in their hands printed copies of the battle report. The room was completely silent.
"So, what kind of report is this exactly? Germany sent out only 2 ships of which only 1 saw combat, challenged Lauria's fleet of 4400, then actually sunk all but 100 of them? On top of that, they destroyed 350 dragon riders and but turned them all into mincemeat? And on top of that, the ship suffered no casualties? It's written here 'personnel loss: zero.' No one died?! And let me just add that our fleet sat around doing nothing. If you told me that this was a fairy tale, I'd have said 'no, this is far too outlandish for a fairy tale!' I don't want to accuse a navy officer of coming to a state meeting and deliberately lying his ass off, but you need to at least keep your story grounded in reality and not give us this pile of fantasy horse shit.and this last thing:took over a port without a single shot fired,you mean to tell me they took a major port of Lauria with a single ship? that is false! it has to be"
Everyone thought pretty much the same; the observer's report was that unbelievable.
''Bullshit! this has to be a lie!''
''Fuck you liar!''
People started lobbing insults around. By all rights, repelling Lauria's invasion and alleviating some of the national crisis should be cause for celebration, but this battle report was just so absurd that it actually raised people's fears instead. Prime Minister Kanata motioned for silence and made to speak.
"In any case, the naval invasion was stopped this time. While there are still 100 enemy ships at large, even if the reinforcement ships were to be lost,we can now beat them with our new ships.Does the Ministry of Military Affairs have any news on the ground war?"
"Currently,Lauria has begun construction in the area around Gim. After the failure of the naval invasion, we believe they are strengthening Gim's defenses in order to resume their ground invasion. That being the case, we have determined that any strategies to break through their defense lines are no longer viable,on a side note,Germany has claimed that they 88 000 men in Gim and the 44 000 in their capital are trapped by their forces that have now control over the nation,in other words in just 3 days they took all but their Capital and Gim" the minister reported."With regards to Germany near Ejey,they have said they are ready to begin the counterattack whenever they attack"
''amazing! they have saved us once more! soon this crisis will be over''said Kanata
Kua Toine was happy to have Germany to help them in this war,Kanata was a vocal ally for Pro-German policy While there was some opposition, everyone there understood that they couldn't fight Lauria without Germany's assistance. They also knew that in the worst case Germany could betray them later, but they had no choice at this point.
Kingdom of lauria, royal capital Jin Hark, Castle Hark
The 34th king of the Laurian Kingdom, 34-year-old Hark Lauria, shivered in bed. Yesterday some weird machines appeared in the skies and attacked them,in the attack most of his capital was burned to the ground and 100 000 were killed,He was unable to fathom what exactly was opposing his country.Was it a god like nation? No it must be a devil,and worse was when he can't contact the nation,no response nothing,it was if the entire nation fell in the boots of the enemy,but who could do that in 3 days? Lauria always had a large population, but the quality of its people was subpar. Over the last 6 years of preparation, they were able gloss over the poor quality with overwhelming numbers. But now, they discovered that their quality was still not enough. Aerial and naval battles depend on quality of ships and wyverns and equipment, but ground battles depend more on quantity. Perhaps the ground invasion could still work out...If he could contact them. The king passed a restless night without sleep.
Third Civilization, Papaldia Empire
In a dim room, a light spirit in a glass sphere glowed orange, casting shadows inside the room. There were two men discussing the country's future.
"...the German Empire? That's not a name familiar to us..."
"They're an nation to the northeast of Rodenius."
"We have read the reports, we am aware, but was there always a country there? What we mean to say is, they're supposedly 1000 kilometers away from Rodenius, but we cannot imagine that no one in our history has ever realized that a country was there."
"That part of the ocean has dangerous currents and erratic winds, so it's hard to navigate by ship. Without being able to investigate the area closely, isn't it possible that it was missed? we could send the new Dios III to investigate?"
"Perhaps, but these are uncivilized lands and that could lead to disater if we lose that ship to them. While Lauria has especially weak naval warfare, for only 1 enemy ship and 50 ''Iron objets'' to be capable of sinking 4300, isn't that just preposterous? Moreover, their cannons supposedly scored hits from over 30Km away. Maybe the observer's long life outside the zones has compromised his analysis. We should consider installing a new observer."
"Please consider, Your Excellency by do know that he is the best we have so maybe take his word should it be true.But regardless Our 100-gun warship, the Fissennuss,or the Dios III could face that Laurian fleet and emerge unscathed. It is capable of sinking Lauria's ships from a distance of 2 to 4 kilometers with its main cannon without needing to pause depending on the model, so those results aren't completely unbelievable. In any case, I don't know how many hundreds of ships this German Empire actually deployed, but we should at least take away from this that they are advanced enough to be building cannons.They are most likely a small or moderate threat to us"
"The barbarians are making cannons now...in light of the fact that they have yet to invade Rodenius, perhaps it is appropriate to consider that their technology has just become capable of producing cannons but let us not think they are weak,if they have gunboats they must have muskets,we should be wary."
"yes,we must be vigilant.By the way,Lauria can't possibly fail, could they? If they do, that would hinder our national resource acquisition stratagem."
"Unlike naval warfare, ground warfare relies on numbers. If nothing else,Lauria has a large population, so they won't lose against an enemy with few cannons."
"Indeed, this battle report was truly outlandish,we should seek the facts before we act to this new enemy. For the next report, I will not bring it to Your Excellency until I have thoroughly vetted the information to be only the truth. Please entrust me with this task."
Papaldia had found a new challenger,and now the Geo-Political situation would change forever.
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