The Battle Of The Soaring Dragon (2)

There were only 2 defensive lines remaining before the Blue Emirate Grotto's territory became mainly part of the Blauw Empire, and they only had their individual territory to defend themselves. By then, the fleets at the sea territory should already be near enough to level down the enemy from the sea. However, the Empire's ground forces weren't going to have it uncomplicated, while the First and Second fleet, no longer guarding the Empire's sea territory down to the south, would also receive a firm response from the enemy's Fleets. They still had 4 left and a couple Supreme Battleships without a Fleet to belong to.

At this moment, the Generals were no longer far away and were with their troops in the same encampment and analyzing the situation before the light started coming out. It was the 25th year, 1st month, 1st week, and 2nd day since the new Change. The west and south of the battlefield were taken by the Imperial Guards and citizen soldier units. The north was already filled with the Empire’s vassals’ troops, with hundreds and hundreds of armored vehicles lying on waiting on each side.

The war had been extra consuming for the Empire. Their soldier units have diminished but were replenished in due time. Every soldier unit knew they were going to their deaths, but the Empire didn’t welcome a decrease in new recruits and kept its steady influx instead. However, for the last 2 weeks, no new soldier unit had arrived at the inland war, while the First and Second fleets were doing with what they could, only replacing fallen comrades to fly the Fighters of their Carriers.

Now, no longer receiving replenishment of troops, the ground forces and navy were fighting bitterly and helping their comrades in battle. If one was injured, they didn’t let them continue fighting until the end but dragged them back and administered medical attention however they could. It was more uncomplicated as a cultivator, but this would render one useless until the next battle or enemy defensive line.

Currently, although the Empire’s core soldier units were on the west and south sides, the Empire sent a few unique forces to the north so they could direct the vassals’ armies. Blauw Ishikyy was sent to the north along with a few others, and whether it was coincidental or not, she found Pou marching behind her and arriving near her encampment a few hours ago. Now, they both walked to each other as the vassals and Empire’s unique forces were meeting.

Step, step, step… step, step, step… thud.

Blauw Ishikyy walked with Fernanda and a few other lower officers behind her to meet with the army she would guide during this fateful day. Pou walked towards them with a little team of experts around her. They were relatively young, much older than her, but with a more youthful appearance than a middle-aged person. When they were near, Blauw Ishikyy finally let go of her practically serious and leading stance and lunged at her dear fellow apprentice. Her arms projected forwards, and Pou immediately stopped to keep herself steady.

With their current cultivation base after years, Pou could be tackled down if she wasn’t prepared. Having avoided embarrassment, she looked down at the pretty, young girl hugging her stomach. Blauw Ishikyy looked up and showed contentedness to see an old, familiar face again. Pou returned the hug and pressed her right cheek atop the young girl’s head for seconds before separating. Holding her shoulders, she praised her royal princess without feeling weak.

“My royal princess, it’s an honor to meet you in battle!” Pou’s words were followed by those behind her nodding. Blauw Ishikyy adopted a haughty expression and lifted her chin before lowering it and grinning from the left corner of her mouth. “Hm… Heh heh, how is it? We are now on the same side. We can fight together from now on! Ah, I present to you my girlfriend, Fernanda. She is a good Craftsmaker. She is a bit good at everything but excels in alchemy.”

“Your… girlfriend?!” Pou said after suddenly growing dazed, looking at the cutesy gurl beside her fellow apprentice. Fernanda was a young woman-looking beauty as well, but she was of a lower cultivation base, although she did give a slightly more potent Soul sensation than even some of the oldest and greatest Craftspeople from her Cult. Blauw Ishikyy grinned laughingly and added, “Yeah, that’s how we are in the Empire when… you know… being silly… Ahem. She has accompanied me since the military college to this battle today. I’m planning on having her as my right hand in the future. What ya think?”

“Ah! I see…” Pou’s lips became a smile, and her eyes squinted 5%. Meanwhile, Fernanda smiled at the tall, heroic-looking, intense blonde beauty and extended her right hand. “Greetings, I have heard lots of things about you from Ishikyy and her personal Imperial Teacher. It’s really a pleasure to finally meet the rumored beauty, hehe! Wah, you’re taller than Ishikyy, but only by a little! The royal princess is too much, don’t you think?”

“Hello, yes, nice to meet you. Haha, I know, right? Ahem, well. Royal princess, should we?” Pou’s smile enlarged, but her training and the severity of the situation reminded her of the battle ahead today. She looked at Fernanda one last time before facing Blauw Ishikyy with a stern face and said. Blauw Ishikyy nodded, and with a few flashes, both sides’ teams flashed out controls and panels, becoming one side rapidly.

… Time passed, and the light started coming out at last. The superficial suns and their glow started showering everywhere, but only the Far East Region knew what would happen today, other than a few experts intently watching on the Blackotia Kingdom’s one and only Warlord organization’s matters. Those weren’t few, especially from other Existences, and even more from the others Universal Land.

“... … …” It was the inland territory, where the Blue Emirate Grotto’s few million troops spread between their last 2 defensive lines and their individual domain where both sides looked at each other from tens of kilometers away. Neither fired artillery or machine guns, even though they could, even though it would be completely normal and acceptable. It was simply not necessary. Everything would come to an end today, one way or another.

“Move,” one word from their General was enough, as thousands of armored vehicles started moving from in front of each encampment at the north, west, and south. The Blauw Empire was on the move. The day, everything… this battle… has started!

Vrooooooooom, vroooooooooooooom, vroooooooooooooooooom~!!

Around the Blue Emirate Grotto’s individual territory, snowy smoke rose into the air, only to be swept away by the hundreds of helicopters flying 1,000 km above the ground level. Their motor was at top work, and their movements weren't smoothed like spaceships, so they created quite a lot of commotion when simply flying so far above and with the instruction of focusing their baby’s monstrous capabilities to force the air below them.

The tanks weren’t going slow, but the armored cars and motorbikes were still faster. Thus, the former advanced first, followed by the latter nearly 10 minutes later. When the armored cars began moving, the tanks were already in a close-by position and firing at the enemy energy wall. The armored wheeled vehicles rapidly arrived near the defensive line, and like robotic, mindless actions, their bodies moved on their own as energy attacks flew from their bodies and weapons as if they couldn’t feel it.

Pum! Pum! Pum! Step- stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Pshiiiiiift~! Pshift!

However, their capabilities weren’t low or affected. It was immensely efficient instead. This was the simple work of the cultivator’s mindset after going through repeated battles time and again. If this wasn’t the case, they wouldn’t have survived, and the Empire would’ve taken more time to figure out better methods and strategies. As the armored cars deployed Imperial Guards from the tanks, citizens exited them and formed near a specific tank.

“Form the fortress!!” The officer citizen shouted while punching the tank with a reverse fist. Immediately after, the cultivators inside the tank flashed out several devices, followed by pre-inscribed array formations. They flew into the sky. With the array formation’s help, they rapidly adhered to the tank as a platform extended underneath it, to the sides. The citizens skillfully hopped onto it with their rifles in hand and immediately took position as the tank, mobile fortress started advancing forward while firing its cannon, machine guns, and artillery.

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…crrraasssshh~! “There’s a breakthrough! You know what to do! Don’t fail us now, boys and girls, FIRE!!” The officer citizen looked at the load of smoke flying outwards from the enemy’s barrier and said, shouting his last word throughout the communication device for leading his troops. The citizen soldier units around him silently aimed and then cried after their officer’s shout, “HUA!” - ”HUAAA!”

Peeeew~! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pew! Pshift! Pshiiiiiiiiift~! Pshifft! Clank, clink…!

The citizens started firing their rifles as soon as they saw their comrade Imperial Guards fight it out against the enemy. They flew up and sideways, revealing more enemy heads and more targets. As they fired those rifles, the enemy sent as many energy attacks towards them as possible, but the citizens remained steady and shouting to kill with extreme precision. One of the enemy attacks landed near a citizen’s right foot as he crouched and fired his rifle, but he remained immobile and calm despite his uniform’s pants nearly getting cut from its lower ends.

Another energy attack landed before another citizen soldier unit but was blocked by a wall from the fortress. Yet, the impact traveled forth and struck the citizen’s body. It had been completely absorbed, leaving only a remnant fragment, but the damage was still too much for a non-cultivator. As the citizen flew backwards, the officer in charge helped him up, but the citizen said before being offered retreat and medical attention. “No, sir, my Soul still needs to be used up! I can’t go like this!”

The officer saw the citizen soldier unit’s eyes and heard those words, finding it impossible to refute. He gazed at the latter a little more before returning to ordering his troops and firing his rifle to kill. They were nearing the broken hole in the barrier, but this was just the beginning. Their mobile fortress passed through the hole in the next few minutes, followed by another 2 fortress tanks, which immediately spread sideways and started shooting the enemy to smithereens, nearly at a point blank with the machine guns and artillery.

Ta rarararara! Pum! Pum! Pshift-! Pshift~! Pshift! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The citizens continued firing as they could now see their comrade Imperial Guards fighting for their lives and helping each other in the battle. The air was polluted with their comrades and enemies, but the former was cut down rapidly while the former moved in better synchronization that only the Feathered Valley Pavilion could overcome with their Fauna. But these people never prepared themselves to deal with the enemy at their north, much less the impressive, deadly Imperial Guards and the citizens’ rifles coming in handy at every crucial moment.

Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and even the rare Lightning, Light, and Darkness elements were all present, but Neutral Energy and Mortal weapons clashing were the absolute mightiest percentage of combat in the battle. The enemy was doing whatever they could to fend off against the Empire, but the Empire’s Imperial Guards acted meanwhile, cooperating with other’s Elemental techniques.

All the citizens could do besides shooting was to witness these marvels and differences and hear the deafening sounds that hurt their ears and dazzled them occasionally. Even with their training, they couldn’t get used to these sounds that could be equal to a 2 or 3-story house exploding with gas filling the air everywhere inside out. They were constant and as if going off right next to their ears. But they persisted and fired until their bodies told them: no more.

Pum! Pum! Pum!- BOOOOM! BANG! BOOOM~!... The mobile fortresses fired their entire arsenal at the enemy tanks, protecting their vanguard to the best of their capabilities. But they weren’t exempt from damage. Enemy energy attacks landed on their walls and toys, destroying their defenses before cutting their machine guns and damaging their artillery guns. The enemy no longer launched missiles after the Blauw Empire broke through the barrier, so the mobile fortresses used their anti-missile turrets to defend themselves and kill the enemy once the nearest enemy tank was obliterated.

But the Empire’s army couldn’t bother about them. They had to let their armored vehicles become targets to ensure their troops’ safety. Everytime an enemy tank had a couple of big explosions, the enemy would have taken 5 armored cars or motorbikes and a few toys from their tanks or mobile fortresses. But this was acceptable, as the Empire could salvage resources from the spoils of each battle and repair their tanks’ artillery guns or hold up together some machine guns.

… In the north, the battle commenced just as quickly, and their troops were smart enough to target the enemy soldier units where they got hurt the most. However, there was this slight discrepancy. As soon as the battle began, Blauw Ishikyy swarmed into the enemy’s side once her Earth trident and the energy polearms did a firework scene before the energy walls. Her force immediately created a domino effect, weakening the other weak spots in the barrier and letting the vassals’ soldier units inside with the highest morale this war had ever seen.

Hundreds of thousands of cultivators mounted in flying Fauna startled the hope out of the enemies’ eyes, not knowing when their heads lost weight and their vision changed every millisecond. Draconic Fauna was from the eastern Regions, but only a few organizations could tame them. The Feathered Valley Pavilion wasn’t a comfortable, peace-seeking organization without history, and they started showing their might in this battle as they flew down and never went back up… because they were too busy eating their long-lasting stressful borders’ enemies.

The Clashing Dust Cult wasn’t peaceful, either. But they at least held more importance to relations with other organizations and Regions. Even though the Pavilion started changing their ways, it would take them decades to adapt to these new methods and modus operandi. However, today, they would cleanse the filth from their past and bathe in the glorious light of the future! Today, they will fight to the death and be reborn for what they were made for!

The Clashing Dust Cult’s soldier units were lesser, but their use of intricate Wind and Light elements became flashy and the most obvious in the battle. Hundreds of energy attacks flew from their bodies to the enemy, slicing, stabbing, impaling, and making beehives out of the enemies while the unique forces swarmed left and right, annihilating any sudden surging enemy outburst before it could harm the vassal armies.

Blauw Ishikyy was especially eye catching. Her trident created monstrous water bodies that exhausted life and structure everywhere it hit, and her tail and aquamarine, bright, azure scales flashed with or consumed light as she moved. Pou followed right after her, but despite her cultivation base being a little higher, she couldn’t keep up to run beside the young royal princess and could only catch up whenever another fight broke out.

Pou watched as Blauw Ishikyy’s force group wasn’t even trying to keep their speed to hers but followed after their leader without feeling distressed or worried. As Pou realized the immense trust the Blauw Empire could beget from their troops and officials, her heart was emboldened, and her hands held her weapons tighter. She, too, took out a Colorful Claw, wrapped it with her Spirit Sense, Neutral Energy, and Water particles, and started growing used to following behind the royal princess. She was rushing around beside Fernanda, anyway.

… The enemy defensive line became a litter of enemy corpses everywhere, mostly with their heads intact, so everyone watched dead, hopeless eyes look at the sky, half-buried in the dirt or staring at the ground sideways. All except for those Blauw Ishikyy and her unique force dealt with. Their arms and legs were cut off, and their heads turned into mush, a painting, on the snowy grass and dirt if possible.

The Imperial Guards and citizen soldier units who felt to the enemy were actively taken away from the battlefield by the auxiliary units, so their corpses weren’t on the battlefield. However, without needing to be informed, the soldier units knew what kind of casualties they had suffered. It wasn’t ‘that’ much, but it was still quite a lot compared to what they were planning today. Believing it or not, their casualties became 10% of their numbers, putting a toll on everyone’s hearts.

However, this defensive line, and the last one to come, had more enemies and was better equipped. It was a significant point that the Empire didn’t lose many and that they could still feel their chests moving. Because if this ensued in the first few defensive lines despite having gone through a lot, it would've been a tremendous hit to their morale.

“Royal princess, what are we to do?” Pou asked a minute after the battle ended and her army’s strength recuperated. Blue Ishikyy kept looking at the southeast, where the last defensive line was located, and could see half the upper section of the barrier. Her eyes were bloodthirsty, but they didn’t lose their brightest aquamarine, azure touch. Her scales were still out, and blood stained her tail, lower back, and arms more than anywhere else. Some of it was hers.

“... Burn it all to the ground. We’re continuing in 2 minutes. Get everything ready!” Blauw Ishikyy commanded. Pou nodded and directly passed those words to her army and the Feathered Valley Pavilion’s commander. Because they were new to the Empire, they didn’t have citizen soldier units, so every trooper in their armies was a cultivator with a functional medallion. While they had fought hard and good enough in the first battle, can they keep it until the end? Blauw Ishikyy silently asked herself what Pou and the Feathered Valley Pavilion were asking themselves.

From the north, west, and south… the Blauw Empire’s ground forces rapidly resumed their advancement. Still, hundreds and hundreds of armored vehicles sped through the land and aimed their toys at the enemy energy wall. They were already more than ready with the previous battle, and although they knew they’d become tired soon, they only felt the power in their bodies… and the might of their Empire!

Yet, just as the ground forces were ten seconds from reaching the range of firing and getting fired at, while some anti-missile turrets started aiming high at the incoming shells, the Generals received an alarming message from the… headquarters back at the Small City island!

…