“16:20. They should be almost visible by now, no? Such a sunny cloudless day..” Benjamin gave a glance to the watch on his wrist.

He stood on the wall of the fort, along with a few officers next to him, staring out into the open sea towards the mainland.

“The Grounded Sky squad is ready to meet the enemy!” A soldier in his dirty red uniform shouted from the bottom of the fort.

Benjamin looked down to the soldier and saluted. The soldier returned his salute and quickly returned to his post on one of the large anti-aircraft guns manned by 2.

Spread throughout the fortress were a dozen anti-aircraft, all with their muzzles pointed towards the sky, ready to fire upon anything that entered its vision.

“Captain, the troops are ready.. Just give the order and we’ll do it.” One of Benjamin's officers, Jacob, a lieutenant, spoke in a low voice behind him.

Jacob was a young 20 year old officer that joined the army only a year ago, yet showed promise and was quickly promoted, rising through the ranks, becoming Benjamin's direct subordinate, and his right hand man.

“Yeah.. I just want to see the planes first.. What if there was a problem with the radar? 1000 planes isn’t that easy to move out.. And to bomb this place in the day time, on a cloudless day? Something just isn’t right.” Benjamin rubbed his chin as he continued staring out into the sea.

Suddenly, one of his officers who was known to have sharp eyes shouted and pointed to the left. “There! To the east!”

Jumping from the sudden voice, Benjamin was about to scold him, until he processed why his man had shouted.

Benjamin stretched his hand towards Jacob as he kept his eyes on the distant, tiny spot in the sky that was almost level with them.

Feeling a pair of binoculars in his hands, he lifted it to his eyes. As his eyes adjusted to the dirty and dark lenses, he tried to find the enemy planes.

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“..Ah? Ahhh?! What in Nazeu’s name!?” Benjamin shouted in disbelief as he squinted his eyes sharply, he roughly tried to clean the lenses with his fingers.

The officers around him all reached for their own binoculars to see what had surprised their great captain.

As if trying to copy Benjamin, the officers all expressed their disbelief and tried to wipe their lenses as they mumbled nonsense.

Confused, Jacob took one of the officers’ binoculars since he had given Benjamin his own.

Taking a deep breath, he lifted them to his eyes.

“Dear.. Nazeu.. How is this possible?” He mumbled as he subconsciously followed the officers’ and Benjamin's actions.

“H..Horses? Horses with fire coming out of them? What on Kai!? Are the Divine Cavalry of the East God coming here?” Shocked beyond belief, they stared at the approaching horses with clouded eyes.

Standing in that spot for what seemed to be minutes, Benjamin awoke from his stupor. “O.. On alert!” He took out a bell from his coat and rang it multiple times.

“But sir, this wasn’t part of the plan!” Jacob glanced at Benjamin with confusion.

“Neither were.. Whatever those things are. I often say. If a miracle appears in front of me, I’d instantly devote my life to God and anything he stands for.” He put his hands on the merlon, steadying himself.

He pointed to the quickly approaching horses with a mirthless smile, “If those aren’t a miracle or God's work.. Then nothing is!”

“Gather all the men.. Every single one of the 200 men and women in my fort, now!” Benjamin spoke with a harsh tone as he turned his head back to Jacob.

“But what about the town?” Facing Benjamin's glare, Jacob stood nervously.

“Tell them.. To hide..” Letting out a sigh, he turned away from Jacob.

“Yes!” Saluting, the officers all rushed down to complete their tasks.

…

“Errr.. Garrison Lord Mogus.. The fort seems to have noticed us.. We should be careful now, they probably saw us on the radar a long time ago because of our speed and had a lot of time to prepare.” Karlen spoke unsteadily as he stared at the water below him.

Taking a glance behind him to the 1000 Demons on Hellflames, he shook.

He knew there was nothing he could do in this mission other than speak, so if the fort decided to attack before he even got to speak, he would just be dead weight.

“Mhm!” Letting out a sound, he slowed the Hellflame, which caused the others to halt.

Mogus glanced at Karlen, indicating for him to speak.

“Speak, this will amplify your voice.” Mogus stretched out his red hand in front of Karlen.

Blueish-white runes appeared on his hand, circling Karlens voice.

Nodding, Karlen looked down to Benjamin and the soldiers that had gathered in the court of the fort.

“Men of Fort Leus. I am Karlen den Osteri, a.. diplomat for the Empire of Kanas. I am here as Emperor Raulas Justinas Kera kan Kanas’ liaison to demand your surrender of this fort and its surrounding lands.” Karlens voice grew in fervour and passion, feeling a sense of superiority.

A sense of confusion overcame the forts occupants.

“Ha?” a weird sound came from nearly everyone present. They looked to each other, trying to figure out what their next move should be.