To Start With

After another 3 days, Blauw Ishikyy finished condensing her first strand of Neutral Energy and blasted the ceiling of her cultivation bedroom with her soaring cultivation base! As soon as she opened her eyes, she felt internally delighted, feeling her extremely stable cultivation base already! She stood up, looked at her teacher with reverence, and lunged at him with spread arms. Heian Ciemnosc remained sitting cross-legged until the young girl was just a second away from talking him down and stood up.

Tug! The young girl hugged her teacher’s stomach, punching her way into his pale tummy, and rubbed the corners of the back of her head on him. Heian Ciemnosc patted her upper back, but only after a minute did she stop and stand up. Blauw Ishikyy’s eyes were wide open, looking up at him, and her lips formed a cute smile before finally speaking. “Imperial Teacher, I created my Neutral Energy. Look, look! Ah! And my Water manipulation has improved!”

Pshift! Pshift~!... Gurgle, sweeeshh. Heian Ciemnosc looked at the young girl doing her tricks and flashy thingies with her hands in midair, summoning her Neutral Energy like an amicable snake dancing and coiling around her limbs and body in the air, and the water appeared from nowhere. Once the young girl remembered whom she was showing off to, she blushed a cute blue on her cheeks and looked up at Heian Ciemnosc again.

“How did I do?” Looking for his praise, she held her hands behind her back and stood as straight like a spear as she could. Heian Ciemnosc tilted his head to the left and grinned lightly from the left corner of his mouth. “Do you need me to tell you that you did well? Let’s go, you’ll see something special. When we arrive there, sit down and meditate. Your cultivation base isn’t stable enough. Understood?”

“Yes, of course, my teacher!” Blauw Ishikyy nodded and responded, placing her arms to her sides and looking more strict. Her cute face looked up at the ceiling, appearing quite silly. Heian Ciemnosc caressed her head and insanely smooth aquamarine, azure hair before walking out of her cultivation bedroom. She followed behind him, wearing a thin smile on her lips and feeling contented enough to follow Heian Ciemnosc on foot to his residence without noticing how long they took.

… Slide, step step step, step step.

… When the apprentice and teacher finally arrived at the latter residence, Heian Ciemnosc’s steps were quicker than hers, but when she entered, she noticed a new addition. A gigantic screen was installed in Heian Ciemnosc’s central living room. It was at least 100 meters long and 30 meters tall. It was stupidly amazing! But what’s more, it was on and showed the inland territory entirely.

“Wow!” With a thought, Heian Ciemnosc focused the TV on each top organization’s sea territory and shores to the ocean. It started from the south and ended in the north. When the camera stopped at the Clashing Dust Cult’s sea territory near the shores, Heian Ciemnosc turned around and looked at a widely astounded young girl with her blood boiling. He grinned strongly from the left corners of his lips again and asked her with a haughty, calm voice, “If we were to start a conflict right now, who do you think would be the most efficient and rapid victory as our target?”

“Hmm, the Blue Emirate Grotto’s bastards!” Blauw Ishikyy cried out, lifting her right fist up into the air for justice. Heian Ciemnosc raised his eyebrows but shook his head afterwards, not minding her use of baddie words. Heian Ciemnosc lazily crossed his arms and half turned towards the TV before answering. “Wrong. Those are not strong enough to be a problem, but that’s if they’re on their own only. Right now, they are armed to the teeth and with few tens of millions of gray clothes inland. There are a few more in the sea, here, and over there.”

“The Blue Emirate Grotto will have their reckoning. That’s the least I can promise. But the other top organizations are just as influential and important in the Region… Except for the Pavilion or Cult,” Heian Ciemnosc said as the TV changed frame. Blauw Ishikyy looked on with shining eyes as they showed the enemy’s navy moving within the Blue Emirate Grotto’s sea territory and the bunch of circles and squares in their inland territory.”

“The True Dragon House!” Blauw Ishikyy shouted just as the TV’s screen was changing again, rapidly moving to a side, and right after she stopped, the True Dragon House’s individual territory showed on the screen. The young girl smiled, exposing her pearly teeth, and looked at her personal Imperial Teacher as he continued with a glance that clearly showed he was satisfied with her. She had improved!

“It is the farthest away from us and had one of the best armies in the sea… But while their Azure Dragon’s Bloodline has been the mightiest in the top 7 organizations since a few hundred thousand years ago, they were always incomparable to the Blauw Empire. Even when the latter only had wooden warships, the top organizations still insisted on fighting altogether against it. The Blue Emirate Grotto, the True Dragon House, and other Draconic Beast Race-led vassal organizations took the vanguard and fought alongside the others.”

“Mhm,” Blauw Ishikyy didn’t miss a beat of her teacher’s repassing of typical history lessons, understanding everything, and continued to listen to him. Heian Ciemnosc calmly spoke haughtily, “Only then were your people massacred time and again, but every time, your Azure Dragon’s Bloodline forced those I mentioned to use everything they had to pressure you and neutralize the Water manipulation million of you worked with at the sea.”

“Now… the Blauw Empire has progressed, improved, changed, and become stronger, not just in the navy’s warships and arsenal, but their soldier units as well. With this, and the yet improved Water element’s knowledge and understanding… what do you think the outcome of a lightning, surprise offensive… will be like?” Heian Ciemnosc slightly paused here and there, making Blauw Ishikyy nervous… the appropriate nerves kind. “What, teacher, what?!”

She already knew the answer but couldn’t put it in her little head or words. She clenched her hands into fists and brought them below her jaw. Eyes trembling, she looked at Heian Ciemnosc’s back with widened eyes. Heian Ciemnosc turned his head, twisted his neck as he faced the gigantic TV screen, and said while his darkest eyes were ultimately cold. “As your mother said, the Empire is first. Thus, family matters must end foremost… We can bother about the rest later.”

“Are we entering war right now? Wait! Are we?! Really?! Right now?!” Blauw Ishikyy couldn’t tell if she was excited, worried, doubtful, or all previous options. She asked her teacher with frowning eyebrows as she was just unaware of the Empire’s battling capabilities. After all, besides watching some training regimens and demonstrations, she hadn’t seen more from them. Only her teacher, mother, and the Empire’s army and navy knew. Although she petitioned to enter of her own volition, surprising her beloved 2, she was still predominantly ignorant.

“Shhh… Oh, shut up, sit down, and watch.” Heian Ciemnosc said. The lights of his residence dimmed until they became totally obscure, and Blauw Ishikyy could only see the TV screen. She walked forward until her slender, delicate right hand found the hem of his dark coat’s left sleeve and pulled him towards her to sit on a sofa together. The screen showed a preferably distant angle in the sea, far from the True Dragon House’s sea territory, where the free ocean began.

Blauw Ishikyy sat on Heian Ciemnosc’s left, sticking her legs to his left leg and her right cheek on his left arm. Then, as a few minutes passed by, she became engrossed in the screen as she meditated. Heian Ciemnosc also meditated, but he was already doing so effortlessly, while Blauw Ishikyy needed a minute to start the process of falling into meditation without losing consciousness and attention from the outside world.

***

10 kilometers from the True Dragon House’s sea territory, in the late afternoon, where barely a few wooden warships patrolled without moving, conserving their Stones.

… Gurgle~~, gurgle~~, gurgle~~, gurgle~~...

The water suddenly bloated and became bigger, impossible to not notice, but the wooden warships didn’t have enough resources to catch this sight from afar. Those sudden sources of bloating resurfaced from underneath the water as if they were made of water itself or submarines crafted with particular Water element affinity materials. Like a limb rising into the sky from underwater, top-notch warships came afloat in the middle of the free ocean.

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At first, it was only a dozen warships, but then, it became dozens and dozens… In the end, nearly 100 warships appeared, rapidly speeding towards the True Dragon House’s sea territory, arriving in less than a minute and making barely some nearby noise, with only the water becoming disrupted. Then, as 2 second-most gigantic warships sailed beside the most oversized top-notch warship, the enemy wooden warships patrolling without moving noticed something finally.

“... What is that?!!” A wooden ship’s leader shouted and asked someone nearby to see if they were going through some deviation in their Soul cultivation. It wasn’t regular to see these many warships… no, top-notch warships! The crew member at his side, grabbed by the shoulders, slowly turned his eyes to the east, and… his eyes dropped. “Th-... that has to be an enemy attack, no… it can’t be, right?! Right?! Leader, what should we…”

“No!! That can’t be!” Their leader shouted, gaining himself some stares from other crew members below and outside the deck. The leader ignored those looks and looked at the east again. His eyes became more terrified as he noticed the difference between now and just a few seconds ago. Those warships had become triple their miniature size… and he could finally see their emblem!

“C- call for reinfo- no… alert the House, alert everyone! Alert the Region!! The Blauw-” BOOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOOOOOOM~!!~!

Before the leader could finish his yell, and as the crew member he held looked up, his words were interrupted by the sound of a top-notch missile landing right on their wooden warship, covering the leader’s body from behind as his mouth became bathed in flames without his body around anymore. In the last moments of his life, the crew member looked at a mouth with lips, teeth, and half a tongue floating in the air as flames consumed that air and then that mouth. Lastly, he felt as if his retinas were invaded by flaming tongues as small as his pupils, breaking into his skull and extinguishing his life.

Swooooosh! Swoooooosh! Swooooooosh! Swoooooosh! Whoooooosh~ vieeeuuumm- vieeeeuuummm- viiiieeeeuuuuuummm!

Above the dozens and dozens of warships, dozens of Fighters flew above their respective Small, Medium, and Large Flotillas. They flied at perfect condition, and after they launched missiles towards every patrolling wooden warship in the enemy’s sea territory, even those nearest to the shore, the fleet moved in tranquility. For 30 minutes, nothing happened, and the boats they saw before entering this sea territory all rushed towards the shore, deeply afraid of the explosion noises they heard.

Some of them were too slow, and the fleet caught up with them, getting their boats or ships violently pushed away by the waves. Those onboard of the slightly inopportune fishing vessels moved up and down and slightly sideways nonstop without noticing, too damn awed at the sight of the Blauw Empire’s emblem on those metallic warships. They were only slightly so because others who didn’t move out of the way were crushed beneath the warships or between the others. The Blauw Empire’s fleet wouldn’t nicely stop and let everyone live while their surprise attack became a laughing stock.

Swoooooshhhhhh~!~!~! The Blauw Empire’s First fleet advanced unobstructed until they were 100 km from the shore, where they finally saw some movement from the top organization. The machine guns installed on top and the artillery guns set in curious formations of lines and cartoonish lightning bolts were already aiming up. Everything was prepared to start the rain of destruction, and the Fighters above slowed down as the fleet lost speed.

Then, as the fleet stopped, their toys prepared, and the babies set in a formation… the Fighters opened fire first with their machine guns and several missiles… directly towards the True Dragon House’s individual territory!!

Pukh- ta. Ta rarararararararararararararararararararararararararararara- ta rararararararara~~!!

The Fighter’s firepower was astounding. Traveling through the air, bullets firing from dozens of them, at the same time, the unforgettable sight of so many impossibly rapid lines of fire falling in a straight, diagonal line towards the House’s individual territory would be imprinted in every living being above and under the water. A minute after they opened fire, and their rain of bullets was already cracking the first layer of protective barrier array formations, the warships opened fire.

At once, like millions of cannons shooting at once, one behind the other, in a widespread line, bullets rain from the sea level and fall at lower positions than the Fighters’ line of fire. The first layer of defensive array formations fell, and the second immediately cracked with the continuous assault. That was when, from within, the House launched dozens of missiles while their shores were rapidly approached by hundreds of thousands of gray clothed followers from the House.

Prrrrrrrrrii- asshhh~...! The anti-missile turrets in every warship activated. The aiming systems were beyond wonderful, and didn’t clash with the machine guns’ firepower. The House’s missiles were forced to detonated more than a hundred kilometers before reaching the Empire’s fleet. So many turrets were placed together that it was a delicacy for one’s eyes to see rapid snakes of bullets dance through the air.

The anti-missile turrets stopped firing for half a second as they aimed past the machine guns’ line of fire before continuing bathing their front sky with ammunition. The enemy missiles exploded like balloons filled with tons of smoke, detonating in the sky so far away that they looked like actual fireworks. In the end, those were only about dozens, not enough to threaten half a fleet, let alone a full-fledged one. This was but a probationary first strike.

The hundreds of thousands of House followers from the True Dragon House popped fragments of sea platform as others started dragging top-notch warships from inland to the water. The fleet suddenly spread open, making a harder time aiming at them with the missiles… however many the House might have stored for defensive measures, like now. The fleet was already spread well enough, and not even 10 missiles would’ve been enough to hit 2 Frigates, let alone the 2 Battleships beside the Carrier.

While the House seemed to prepare their missile attack and their followers sailed towards them from the shore, the 2nd, 3rd, and last, 4th line of passive defense was broken apart. The True Dragon House saw for the first time the demise of all their protective array formations’ barriers one after another. When the last barrier fell, the inhabitants started feeling pandemonium, grabbing their wrists and pulling them into the sky. Just to fall and shatter into a thousand pieces.

Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Pum! Puuuum!... Boom! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…!~!~!~!

They didn’t have to wait for long, though. The fleet wasted not even a second when the last barrier fell. Their artillery guns started firing without any warning or anyone operating on them. This was no wooden, prepared warship.

Piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piuhh, piiuuushhhh~!... Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, baaang~!...

As the True Dragon House’s individual territory started illuminating with hundreds of house-sized explosions landing everywhere a cultivator ever stepped within that territory, the House immediately launched hundreds of missiles, bathing their rear sky with white smoke, following after each missile under an impressive image, startling the crew members of every Empire First fleet’s warship. This would deter almost any mind, even if experienced in battle, but not the Empire’s navy!!

“... Keep firing!!” The First Admiral’s shout was like the icing on the cake, and every warship under his command started moving with their respective Flotillas. The Carrier he was in and the Battleships beside it remained in the same position, 100 km from the shore, and stayed in the middle of the missiles’ target while the others forced less than 40% of such to change their directions towards them.

Frigates were the most nimble as they ventured further into the enemy sea territory at the front. Meanwhile, as the fleet spread, it didn’t seem to lose its strength as the missiles in the sky started going off with strenuous bangs. A few even collided with other missiles, leaving the crew members in the warships feeling lucky for taking 2 or 3 down with 1 shot. But their excitement barely lasted a second before sternness resurfaced in their expressions and actions.

They were sweating. It wasn’t easy to participate in a battle, let alone with the kind of demanding formations and maneuvers they had to elaborate. Especially the Frigates, they had the least amount of crew members, but only the best in maneuverability were in those, ensuring their ‘small’ amount of lives were safe due to a lack of defensive structure and anti-missile turrets like the Battleships and Carriers in the Empire’s navy have from the base.

“Start pushing forwards. Those warships must be done. Get the enemy to give the sea to us before the others even get wind of this! Am I heard?!” The First Admiral took his medallion out and shouted with all his might. The sound echoed to the Battleships in the middle as the nearly a thousand missiles’ volleys descended on them at great speed. Yet, from the medallion, the First Admiral and his expert team piloting the Carrier with their Spirit Sense and Soul energy heard the Flotillas’ response.

“Yes, Admiral!!” - “We’ll return with blood that belongs to us!!” - “Leave it to us, old man! We’ll return with the fished under us, remembering who their ancestors venerated, hahaha!” - “For the Empire!” - “For the Empire!!” - “For the Empire!!!”

Prrrrrrriiiiiiiiiii, prrrrrrrriiiiiiiii, prrrrrrrriiii- piuh, piuh, piuh, piuh, piushh~! BANG BANG BANG BANG– BOOOOOM… The rain of missiles started falling near the Battleships and Carrier. As the Admiral heard the fleet’s responses, he looked up at the sky, where endless fireworks went off and started affecting the water, making the Carrier he was in wobble up and down. Then, the Carrier and Battleships started firing their anti-missile turrets, creating screen after screen of only bullets, and launching… hundreds of missiles altogether in return.

The artillery guns hadn’t stopped firing at the True Dragon House’s territory all along. Even as the Frigates turned and prepared to engage in battle in the sea, their shields activating, the artillery guns continuously fired with extreme precision. Let alone the Destroyers and Cruisers with less maneuverability and having less moving like crazy. So far, only the traitorous True Dragon House was paying the price for its past.

…