Isolated, Encircled
Ten minutes before the situation developed beyond control. At the center of the blockade, near the Stormy Calm Sea's center.
The Crimsonbreaking Faction territory's Turtle Hiding Region ports' Fleets formed a long blockade that limited the rest of the northwestern and southern Regions' contact with the rest of the Lsefattern Kingdom. Even by air, the navy the Crimsons deployed would shoot them down or into a little firework in the distance. After the first few days, nobody wanted to try out the blockade's extensive reach.
The blockade started even as the war’s 2nd part was still ongoing and the Cas Region hadn’t fallen, but it was only completely spread from there to the Turtle Shell Region after a year. When all Fleets were fully operable again. The 18 Fleets were spread throughout the Cas Region’s southwest, Bel Region’s southeast, between the Bel and Fanto Regions, southeastwards of the Fanto Region, bordering the Stormy Calm Sea center, and finishing between the Turtle Shell and Turtle Hiding Regions.
The Fleets also bordered the Stormy Calm Sea’s center, bypassing the Weeping Viper Region’s southern sea territory. Most of the Fleets were spread throughout these routes, as the sea was quite vast. However, they were also supposed to be the most tranquil and less risky positions compared to those nearer to the rest of the hostile Regions.
Nevertheless, just as the day started, and the early morning became a hot, bright, and sunny day, reflecting on the water seawater and the metallic luster of the warships. A Fleet at the very upper center of the Stormy Calm Sea were relaxed, watching the radars and scanners, detecting nothing as another day passed.
For citizens, they either meditated or chatted if they weren’t enhancing their camaraderie with duels, wrestling, bets, or banging like bunnies in their bedrooms. The cultivators could also join in, but they were also spending more of their time cultivating and Craftsmaking.
Everyone went out in patrolling Frigates at times, even hunting and bringing food so that their cooks could do their bidding and make everyone’s bellies worth the long wait of their resting purpose. It was like a vacation for many, but they didn’t want these vacations to remain. They wanted to battle, to win, to spread their reach… to name themselves in the Lsefattern Kingdom at the very least.
But, just as this day was like any other, a lookout engineer in one of the central commands of a patrolling Frigate reported as he annoyingly rolled his eyes. His tone was bothered, “Sir. It’s another ‘peeking’ flock again. They’re racing towards us again. We’ll reach the same location in a minute if they don’t stop.”
“Well said, we aren’t stopping,” the Frigate’s Ensign responded, moving his chin upwards as his Spirit Sense caught the incoming Fleet. It was from the Asabas Region. Despite the Ephemon Region being closer to the Stormy Calm Sea than the former, not only to the Turtle Hiding Region, the Asabas Region’s Fleet has always come here and observed the Crimsonbreaking Faction territory’s Fleets from afar.
It was impossible to keep the restless people at ease. What’s more, in the last few years, the sudden, higher in quantity, and enhanced citizen recruitment and training, every Region was forming their own military units consisting of citizens. They couldn’t make whole armies out of those like the Crimsons, but even the Crimsons no longer moved citizen-only armies.
Of course, they didn’t know that the initial use of citizen-only armies was to catch the Turtle Hiding Region’s then south off guard, and gain more advantage moving through enemy arsenal and settlements without fear of being targeted. Either way, nobody would use a citizen-only army now, as everyone had citizens in their armies and could negate such a tactic.
Although no one had as many citizens as the Chief’s forces, and their training wasn’t nearly similarly as adequate as Heian Ciemnosc’s training regimen. Nevertheless, they still tried it, and they didn’t completely fail, which meant a harder layer to breakthrough if the Crimsons were to continue in their vehement, warring acts.
“Sir, they aren’t moving away…” Another person walked towards the Ensign in the Frigate and softly said. The Ensign looked at him with slightly widened eyes and frowned. He leaned over the table before him and said, shaking his head lightly, “Warrant Officer, lead us back. We aren’t as stupid as them. Medium speed.”
“Yes, sir,” the Warrant Officer nodded before retreating. The Frigate lowered its current speed a bit as it turned around and faced its bow back to the Fleet. They calmly moved while reporting the situation. The enemy Fleet was passively harassing them again. They never did anything, just observed and even ‘taunted’ the Crimson Fleets, whichever Fleet’s turn it was to anchor there.
However, they never made it to the Crimson blockade’s range of indiscriminately opening fire. That was near the maximum range for machine guns, while missiles and artillery guns would have already locked onto any war instrument or not, and if they came close enough, boom.
“Sir!” Regardless, when the Ensign heard another person call out, this time in slight distress, he sensed a premonition. He turned towards a personnel group focused on detection and decodification whose eyes didn’t leave his monitor. His tone was worried but still light and stable. Just like a leader would be and sound like. “What is it now?”
“They’re chasing us…” The young man said with his headset down. His glasses still showed he was looking through many data. The Ensign felt the hidden, cold-deep fear in the young man’s voice, as he was no citizen but another engineer. The Ensign looked around him in the central command before opening his mouth. His voice turned solemn.
“Detour but advance at high speeds,” the Ensign’s orders were followed, and the Frigate suddenly sped up. The soldier units receiving messages to their medallions and communication devices, while the engineers were approached by the nearest cultivator, who told them their refuge spot in the warship before speeding away.
However, the enemy Fleet behind them didn’t stop, and the Frigates even sent their Fighters out, but they remained above their respective warships. On the other hand, in the Frigate, not even the engineers were afraid, but they were tense when they saw 15 Frigates move in an arrowhead formation towards them at maximum speed.
“Open comms,” the Ensign ordered before he spoke in a loud voice through the holographic projection before him, showcasing a radio wave and a vacant, pale white-blue frame. “You’re nearing the Crimsonbreaking Faction territory and have been chasing us for a while already. Continue, and we’ll open fire, decimate all of you crook bastards behind us.”
“Haha, I’d like to see how many of you are we talking about?!” A voice responded from the other side. It belonged to a man. The central command immediately felt the obnoxiousness behind that person’s voice but didn’t say anything. The Ensign didn’t even react before further leaning on the table before him and said before immediately disconnecting from the channel, “This is your last warning.”
“… Last one? For what? Let me guess, you’ll tell me just before you run back to your Fleet?!”
… A person in the enemy Carrier’s central command said, getting real close to the holographic projection on the table before his commander’s seat. It was a man, looking in his thirties, without an ounce of cultivation base in his body. He had medium-long, black-gray hair for a male, dull white skin, and was Human. He wore a relishing expression from humiliating the Crimsons when he finally noticed the connection was cut off.
“Dammit!” The man said, shooting the hologram off. A few seconds later, a cultivator woman in the detection group turned to him and reported, “Commander, we are 2 minutes away from the Crimsons’ range. Should we begin slowing down to show them we’re not inten-”
“Continue ahead!” The commander barked, stood up, and walked to a panel where he could directly see the Frigate’s stern as it moved in half-circles. Another person in charge of the Carrier’s monitoring state said after the central command became silent. “Commander, if the Frigate accelerates again, they’ll buy enough time to arrive in their territory in a few seconds-”
“We catch up to them and ask them what they meant with that warning, then, we let them go. Nothing will happen by the end of the day. We will just deliver the Crimsons their lost doggy right to their doors, and then we’ll leave. That should be enough, so. Go. Ahead.” The man turned to that person and said, emphasizing his words every now and then in a calm yet restless manner.
“Yes, commander.” The person replied before returning to his job.
In no time, the enemy Fleet approached closer and closer to the Frigate. A minute passed, when the Frigate finally decided to speed up at maximum speed, intending to leave the enemy Fleet behind. That was when the latter became a little anxious, and contrary to previous reports and experiences, they continued chasing after the Frigate. They even employed a battle array formation to speed up.
… In the Frigate’s central command, the Ensign’s face deteriorated as he listened to the reports. After a couple of seconds of silence, he asked, “Are the remaining engineers safe now?”
“Yes, sir,” a person said in a stern voice. The Ensign nodded and walked towards the front, where he could feel the coldness and killing intent increasing in his fearless people. He thought for a few moments before delegating orders again, “Get me connected to the Admiral, we might need land forces. We’re in a situation. Prepare to send the details immediately in case we are attacked. Everyone ready up to your battle positions, and… don’t fear.”
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He finished his words with his right hand landing on one of the youngest gray engineers. The hand sent waves of relaxing ‘air’ into the young man, allowing him to breathe more easily. Then, as the Ensign returned to his commander’s spot and refused to sit down, the surrounding personnel became mentally and physically prepared as if injected with vigor.
The Frigate no longer half-circled in the water and just shot towards the Fleet, which was already visible, but still far from their indiscriminate firing range. However, the Fleet had sent a Small Flotilla to pick them up. They wouldn’t just watch to see whether something would happen.
The Frigate continued forth, and the enemy Fleet behind them became slightly into it. Even the personnel who were dubious of the Carrier’s commander’s actions and orders started to feel the adrenaline of stopping the Crimson warship before it went away to safety.
“Sir, we’ve detected 3 Fleets’ arsenal aiming towards us. We must flee if anyth-” A person reported with excitement, making his voice sound shaky from the middle of his throat. The commander didn’t care and flung his left sleeve, barking in a calmer tone, “Shut it! We’re almost there…”
The 2 parties rapidly approached the Fleets’ firing range. The Carrier’s central command became utterly silent as the commander stood up and leaned over the Carrier’s main arsenal personnel, his eyes glowing evermore. Then, a person reported from the side, her voice a little high-pitched. “Sir, the Frigate will enter the Crimsonbreaking Faction territory in 8 seconds, we’ll only reach them in 11!”
“Don’t stop… don’t stop…” The commander voiced in a calm tone. However, the central command became more nervous and filled with trepidation— but equal excitement, too. Another person shouted from the same group as before, “Sir! 5 seconds until then!”
“Don’t let it go! What are you doing?!” The commander suddenly lashed out. He placed his right hand on a citizen’s left shoulder before gripping tight, shoving the person away. A slight cracking noise sounded, followed by the commander’s left index finger pressing a button before giving the order with his voice, “Launch it!”
“!” With the target locked, a person to the commander’s left looked at her monitory and hesitated for half a second before pulling a lever from her left hand. Immediately, everyone in the Carrier could hear a ‘puh’ sound as a trail of smoke rapidly formed several kilometers before them. Then, it approached the Frigate in a second, with only 3 seconds left before the Frigate entered its territory.
“… Sir!! Dozens of missiles incoming!” In the Frigate, a person anxiously shouted from the detection personnel, before someone from the radar and sensors shouted with a raging, hoarse voice. “Enemy Frigates locked! Maneuver ready!”
“Turn around! We never face an attack with our backs!” The Ensign commanded, and the whole Frigate suddenly drifted in the water, facing the dozens of missiles flying together, as if trying to comprise a huge space rocket. Immediately, its arsenal aimed, and its anti-missile turrets went into action.
PRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR- TA- RARARARARARARARARARARARA… POH POH POH POH- PUH PUH PUH PUH!! Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang- boom booom- booooom…
The Frigate’s motion helped them avoid 6 missiles immediately, and as they fired anti-missile bullets, machine guns, and artillery guns, missiles flew forth towards each enemy Frigate. They were all targeted by the flying hundred missiles from the Frigate, arching into the sky before diving towards them, exploding them into bits after their shields went away with 1 or 2 missiles.
As the Frigate made a killing of 15 enemy Frigates, the enemy Fleet finally opened fire, sending bullets and shells towards the Frigate. The enemy was surprised, then confused, before becoming enraged. They suddenly lost 15 Frigates against a single one?! The commander immediately ordered to rain the enemy with their might! And the Fleet obeyed.
The Frigate finally stopped sliding, and after dodging a dozen missiles more, they detonated the last 3 with their anti-missile turrets. They then proceeded to retreat as the Fighters rushed at maximum speed outside their warship, moving into the sky by 7 different lines. They were fired at by the enemy before they rapidly concentrated their hundreds of warships’ firepower at the Frigate.
“Damn it. Get to their Carrier, burn it down, down, down!” The Warrant Officer shouted with hatred as he saw the Frigate rapidly turn into flames. Its Elemental Wind Eye barrier was immediately downed and maintained from recovering by the plethora of firepower, but they still kept strong under an entire Fleet’s firepower towards them, a single Frigate.
The Fighters did as their leader ordered and rushed into the enemy’s rear. From below, as blood started coloring the ocean. The Ensign looked at the sky and let out a last, thin smile a second and a half before the engineers and citizens saw his body replaced by machine guns’ firing lines and a couple of shelling trajectories.
BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM… TATKAKTAKTKATKAKTAKTKAKTKA…
Immediately after, the Frigate was collectively downed into pure ash and metallic shards among remains as it became practically invisible due to the enemy firepower. Suddenly, the enemy Fleet became cold with fright. They just did that… but before they could process it any further, they hard machine guns and some artillery firing behind most of them.
They looked back, only to see dozens of Fighters fly towards the Carrier. Without their commander’s orders, they immediately opened fire towards them. However, the Crimson Fighters were suddenly wrapped by a windy barrier, enhancing their speed, deflecting bullets and even shells, while allowing them to outspeed the missiles in agility.
TA- RARARARARARARRRRRRRAAAARARARARARARARA… The Fighters flew past enemy Fighters and firepower from their arsenal, as most failed to even get near them. Their excellent expertise at flying those Fighters left even the most experienced mercenaries among the enemy Fleet breathless. What’s more, from the commander who was directly experiencing their approach?
The Fighters seemed untouchable until they neared close enough to the Carrier. It was too late for the enemy to send their Fighters out, as they would only add some more bullets and nothing more. But as the Crimson Fighters neared the Carrier, only a few tens of kilometers left, they were targeted by rockets, scarier and more destructive and lethal than any other in the world.
Immediately, the Fighters fell one after another, from dozens to a few just a couple of kilometers before the enemy Carrier. They could already see the enemy’s commander staring at them, dumbfounded and waiting for them to destroy him. This really came from nowhere… Motherfuckers!
When only a kilometer remained, 3 Fighters were left in the sky. One of them was the Warrant Officer, whose head was half-chunked away by a shell before and eyeless, and his Fighter was opened in half from the middle to up. He was still alive as he wasn’t a citizen, but the other 2 were. With Vigor Energy surging from within his inner universe, the Warrant Officer rapidly became engulfed in pure energy and Earth elemental particles.
“HAAAAAAAAAAAH-” KA- BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMM…
The Warrant Officer suddenly sped up, leaving the other 2 behind as his body turned into the purest of whites and warm, light lime energies. His body and Fighter disappeared, replaced by an explosion more than 400 meters in diameter, and right in front of the remaining 2 Fighters. They went directly through it, fearlessly.
While the enemy was speechless upon seeing the collective suicide last move from the Crimsons, already praising them and giving them a piece of their honor, the citizen Fighters within the self-detonation explosion of white and green tore through it. The overly charged Elemental Wind Eye barrier that the Frigate proportioned to them in its last throes helped them through the Earth elemental explosiveness like a hot knife through butter. As for the pure energy, it seemed to want to avoid them as it rushed to the water and to the sky, not targeting the other warships.
WFHOOOSH! WFHOOOOSH!
“Shit! There!” Suddenly, the enemy noticed 2 Fighters come out of the explosive wave safe and sound as they fired a dozen missiles each. But the enemy responded well, and those missiles were half destroyed by the Carrier’s anti-missile turrets in half a second, while the other half by the other warships. Yet, the Fighters didn’t give up there.
They were only 200 meters away from the Carrier. They rushed at it, wanting to put it down by at least destroying its central command. One of them circled upwards above the other Fighter, sending nearly all its remaining missiles with its belly skywards, before rushing towards a group of rockets targeting them.
The last few missiles were forced to detonate along the Fighter and Supreme Vigor Stones, causing yet another monumental explosion, as now it was a Fighter against a Carrier. The remaining citizen flew the Fighter with half his Team still sober. The others were either fainted or had a concussion amidst flight. Their smallish engine smoked as they neared the enemy Carrier to 100 meters away.
But then… The Fighter prepared its missiles, it still had over 17 left, and the rest of its machine guns bullets. It even had a few artillery shells, previously used as storage in case a Frigate or Destroyer hunted too many food sources. Now, they’d have another use. The Team’s leader looked at his sober Team members one last time before they entered the 80th meter before reaching the enemy Carrier’s central command.
They held each other’s shoulders and hands on the floor but looked at their Team’s leader with determination. That was all he needed.
WHOOOSH…
The Fighter flew through, but a rocket from the explosion the other Crimson Fighter caused just 2 seconds ago toured all around it, reaching the Fighter before it could reach the Carrier’s Central Command. The citizen didn’t budge, and his engineers were only focused on the panels indicating several pieces of data. Then, nearly altogether, they closed their eyes.
BANG! The Fighter exploded, reached by the rocket as it penetrated from behind, and it destroyed it from within, starting from its cabin. The Carrier’s commander let out a soft sigh, about to let his heavy eyes fall. But, suddenly, he looked up as a bright white sheen reflected from his left eye.
‘No!’ The commander thought as he watched lots of bulky, cylindrical cases covered in pure energy move towards the back of the central command, exactly where the main hangar was. Their over 10,000 Fighters were readied up in there, waiting for a signal in case of AN emergency, but now… Now, they were about to collectively become ashes together.
BA- BA- BA- BA- BA- BA…
The Fighter was destroyed, sending everything in its cabin into black and gray, metallic smoke. However, as soon as it exploded, rapidly expanding everywhere in a 10 meter radius extra around the Fighter’s circumference. A few white flashes glinted from below the black and gray smoke before flying towards the Carrier. They sped up after 3 seconds of slowly flying as the Carrier tried to restart its smallish engines. However, they had abruptly stopped so as to not enter the Crimsons territory. Unaware of how unimportant that was now.
And then, just as the commander sat on his commander’s seat, the entire carrier shook left and right like a ginormous earthquake as a pure white cloud expanded on its back.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNGGGGG~~~~!!!!
…