Resumption
“Dammit… Get it together and move away from here! Hurry, now!” The commander said immediately after the shaking subsided a little. The central command was just waiting for this order, which they immediately followed it. The Carrier turned around, albeit with difficultly. A few Battleships moved over to help it turn around, as it needed to be at the front in a retreating formation. Then, they left the place as their Carrier smoked high into the sky and auxiliary units got to it to minimize damages.
A few seconds later, as the enemy Fleet fled, the Flotilla sent out to pick the Frigate arrived at the place where the Frigate and its crew members remains spread. The ocean was slightly tainted with red blood, among other colors, with tiny metallic fragments as thin as a fly’s wing shone under the sky.
“They did this to everyone, even the Fighters ahead…” As the Flotilla surrounded the place and observed the remains and debris, a voice sounded from one of the Frigates. They began picking them up as the Frigates’ crew members discussed among each other. At one point, in the Cruiser’s commander’s seat, the Lieutenant pressed his face on his right fist before asking.
“Have the Fleets said anything about this yet? Any response?”
“No, sir…” The commanding assistant said, checking the communications channels, while the Lieutenant became more impatient the more time they spent doing nothing. But then, she checked her medallion as the Lieutenant did the same. Then, they looked at each other with widened eyes.
… Back at the Fleets blockading the Stormy Calm Sea’s center. Xue Yoler was on a call through holograms as they received the Chief’s orders. Just then, Xue Yoler’s crossed arms slightly hid her big chest as she wore a seemingly bothered expression with slightly knitting eyebrows. She harrumphed and coldly went, “The Chief has said so. So, are any of you still going to hesitate?”
“You were right, miss… Would you like to lead?” An Admiral said, offering to Xue Yoler as their facial expressions no longer showed any hesitation or restraint. Xue Yoler blinked before slightly releasing her crossed arms. Her eyes showed surprise, and looked cute. After nodding, she declared with a steel-like voice, “Follow me, then. I’ll gladly accept the gesture.”
The other Admirals nodded before disconnecting from the call. Xue Yoler was left alone as she slowly sobered up. Her eyes shone, she looked a little into the sky before staring southeastwards. Then, as her eyes glowed, she disconnected and stood up from her commander’s seat in the Carrier west of the Fleet whose Frigate was assaulted and destroyed.
“Set off. To the Asabas Region,” Xue Yoler’s right forearm flung upwards as an engineer looked at her and meekly replied, “Yes, miss.”
The Fleet then departed from the blockade after notifying the others. Together, with another 6 Fleets, including the afflicted one, they left the blockade following hundreds of kilometers behind Xue Yoler’s Carrier, leading her Fleet. The sight of a ‘walled’ formation in an arrowhead formation dispatching away from the blockade brought attention from even the new news anchors that have arrived to the Lsefattern Kingdom after 5 years since the pause of the war.
The Non-Presentable Calm Region watched dumbfounded as thousands of warships navigated southwards. They released a constrained, tight breath after realizing it was the Asabas Region who had poked the hive. The Asabas Region only had 3 Fleets, of which only 2 were fully operable. While the Non-Presentable Calm Region had 4 fully operable Fleets.
The Asabas Region might be the second richest 2* Region in the Stormy Calm Sea, but they weren’t talented enough, at least not in terms of numbers. No matter the richness and toys available, without the people to utilize them, even organizations were helpless.
While their Fleets were top-notch, they had no balls to face the Crimson Fleets. As these were halfway through their journey, chasing the Fleet that destroyed their Frigate, annihilating their crew members, the Asabas Region sent countless messages. They attempted to establish a communication and ask what was up because the fleeing Fleet didn’t say a thing neither.
They were ignored and left to despair as the Asabas Region watched the incoming Crimson Fleets and could already envision their bleak, destroyed future. Likewise, they didn’t know if this was an invasion or an act, but they prepared for the worst.
At some point, however, the enemy Fleet finally spoke to the Asabas Region, and the confession made the latter feel like every delicate hair was pulled from their most sensitive skin. During the following 2 days, as the enemy Fleet was reached, facing off rockets and missiles non-stop from the 7 Fleets, the Asabas Region did their utmost best to reconcile.
They sent delegations to the Turtle Hiding Region, appealing to talk to anybody, as long as they were giving a chance to clarify the matter and explain themselves. But they weren’t received, simply sent away again, telling them that there was no conflict. If there was anything happening in the Stormy Calm Sea, it was a matter of emotions and not of strategy and conquest.
Desperate, the envoys were back in time to see the Crimson Fleets shout a warning as they stopped 100,000 kilometers from the Asabas Region’s eastern shores. It had a clear meaning, and it made every aircraft, vessel spaceship, and in the water, anxious to return to land.
“You are guilty of chasing our people down and killing them for no reason! 15 of your Frigates were taken down, and one of your Carrier’s severely damaged in self-defense, but you even refuse to acknowledge your miserable wrongdoings! From now on, anyone and anything trying to exit or enter the Asabas Region will be annihilated until we are given a clear answer!” A woman’s voice traveled to the entire Asabas Region, shuddering them powerfully with just its vibrations.
After their announcement, the 7 Fleets spread around the Asabas Region. They didn’t bother contacting the Ephemon Region to its northeast and the Non-Presentable Calm Region to its west. A Fleet even passed by the shortest shore distance between the Asabas Region and the Non-Presentable Calm Region’s land before positioning and aiming at the former.
The Asabas Region was approached first by Heian Ciemnosc after the islands Regions and Fanto Region were conquered, making them sign a treaty of sorts. They felt lightly evaluated by the Chief, but now that this happened, they didn’t want to come out saying they were in the wrong. For people who knew and were wary of the Chief’s forces’ capabilities, it was a strange thing that they didn’t immediately offer apologies.
But that’s just how the world worked. Sometimes, just sometimes, stupidity struck when it was least needed and where it best served its purpose. Thus, after a day, the 7 Fleets ‘jailed’ the Asabas Region, destroying several merchant fleets who didn’t think they’d be touched moving towards the Asabas Region to continue making riches for both sides.
Those weren’t even stolen or used as blackmail. Instead, they were directly destroyed. After that day, during the following morning, the Fleets initiated their bombardment. The Crimsons had given them any time for one sole reason; it wasn’t the Asabas Region’s turn to fall into their hands. As such, once the time was up, the Fleets opened fire.
It commenced with a simple, coordinated artillery bombardment everywhere on the shores. It was 1 shot for each artillery gun in these 7 Fleets. Despite the capability of any warship to accurately bombard a place with hundreds of shells a minute, even for a Frigate using their whole arsenal, they only fired 1 shell once.
The enemy responded by firing everything they had at the Fleets. The shells fell on their targets, with only a few destroyed by other enemy machine guns facing the sky. However, as soon as the shells fell, 3 seconds later, with smoke lifting from the shores, the Fleets furiously sent everything out. Not just their machine guns and artillery guns firing at their maximum firing rate and ammunition. Their missiles and rockets were effectuated immediately, filling the sky as thousands of defensive structures, especially coastal defenses, were obliterated within several seconds.
The battle had started, except, it was no battle. The 7 Fleets immediately followed up their ‘initiation’ with heavy bombardment, letting their rockets conquer the skies as Fighters took off from their Carriers and other warships. They hovered right above their warships, also sending everything they had, not leaving a single piece of land untouched as they destroyed countless ports and further inland.
After every few minutes, the firing line would advance into the land, nearing other settlements and defensive structures. The former were already moved away before the 1-day wait finished. The Asabas Region wouldn’t gain anything with their civilians dying to pull sin into the Crimsons’ hands to no avail.
In the first hour, over 20% of the Asabas Region’s territory was decimated by the 7 Fleets’ firepower. Although they were furious, they didn’t use energy attacks. After all, with such a vulnerable position to avenge their comrades, any other enemy could get ideas and want to ambush them. They didn’t wish to become exhausted when that happened.
One thing was to burst one’s emotions out and let their desires consume their subsequent decision-making capabilities. Another to avenge the death of their comrades who weren’t even in conflict. Although this was a war, and one that would last long, very long. Deaths like these were only seen in citizen or civilian wars, but only humiliation for cultivators.
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After a couple of hours, with things going even worse, a person stepped out of the Asabas Region’s north’s center with a blood essence vow document ready to be signed. The Crimsons didn’t leave their forces any chance to defend themselves. Whichever City or fort attacked the Fleets would be ignored as the Crimsons continued to unholy their Region with blatant destruction.
“… Wait! Please!!” The person was an old man wearing a long, white robe. He signaled to the document, wanting to show its contents but knew it was difficult with all the bombarding happening. He was at quite the low altitude, but he bravely descended a few hundred meters, just a few meters above the Crimsons’ firing line, and continued. “This is our fault! Please, don’t harm my Region any further, we are willing to discuss surr-”
TA- RARARARARAA- BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM- BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG…!!
Nevertheless, all the old man received was the same thing his people gave to the Crimsons’ people. His body was immediately riddled with several hundred machine guns firing at him, and missiles flying towards him like a sharp overextended bullet ready to explode him into pieces missile by missile.
When the old man wanted to flee, with a cultivation base at the Universe realm 6th stage, less talented than a ‘poor’ Region like the Inunda Region, he felt his body locked. He could only protect himself for a few tens of seconds before turning into nothingness under a portion of the Fleets’ firepower focusing on him.
Once he disappeared, the Fleets continued to raze the Asabas Region to utter lifelessness. Although they weren’t destroying every living being there, they were destroying the entire Region’s ecosystem. Besides, their bombardment formed a low encirclement that shrunk throughout the Region. It gave more than enough time to retreat to safety, but there was no escape from this hellish bombardment.
The bombardment continued for 2 days before finally stopping. In the end, only the Medium City and its surroundings were left untouched. The inhabitants and Faunas in the Region were all there, packed up and coexisting to survive the self-brought calamity. After the bombardment stopped, The Admirals went out, with a few second-in-commands following them in a group.
They had destroyed all the Asabas Regions’ Fleets. Once again, they didn’t bother scrapping even a functional smallish engine or arsenal, ensuring their complete destruction. Xue Yoler led a group of her own, not bothering about the cameras and witnesses of her ‘slave work’ here, as she captured the Fleet commander hiding among civilians.
A week later, the entire, responsible, enemy Fleet’s people were captured. Before departing from the Asabas Region, the Fleets left some words for them, and the rest of the world, watching.
“This is the price anyone who insults us pays. It doesn’t matter who it is nor their intentions. We gave you time, and you decided to keep your dignity. Let this be a lesson. The next time, we’ll force a Region to undergo its sleeping state if we must.”
Those words were shocking, and more so, unhinged. Who was so adamantly vicious and cruel to even cripple what was in their sights? Civilians only watched, listened, and read this from petty villain stories. What kind of existence was the Crimsonbreaking Faction? Were these their true colors?
Whatever the case, this showed who was the Stormy Calm Sea’s overlord. The Faunae never showed themselves, silently allowing the Chief’s forces to dominate every piece of the ocean they navigated. With no confidence in their Fleets, even the Non-Presentable Calm Region changed their thinking. Maybe, perhaps… cooperating with the remaining northern Regions is not such a bad idea after all.
However, while they wanted to consider that, was it possible? They couldn’t face the Crimsons in any naval battle. The other Regions barely had the same number of Fleets as the Non-Presentable Calm Region, and the Ephemon Region was definitely not going to leave their territory without their whole forces.
With the Crimsons’ blockade, it was impossible to engage in communication, they literally halved the Stormy Calm Sea, alienating the south from the north. This wasn’t to just deter the south from helping the north, as it was crystal clear that their next target was to conquer the rest of the north. It also served to physically block any attempt of Stormy Calm Sea’s Regions trying to assemble to deal with the Chief’s forces.
On the other hand, the world outside the Stormy Calm Sea watched with interest, observing the Crimsonbreaking Faction territory rule the battles and disciplines in the war against the other Regions.
A few weeks after the Asabas Region’s punishment, the Turtle Hiding Region’s Large City broadcasted the execution of a few hundred million imprisoned crew members. Their deaths weren’t tasty, and they all had their brains crushed. Their hair turned into oil from how hard they were hit by either mechanisms or executors. It was a gruesome depiction, fitting of the Crimsons’ enemies’ well-deserved end.
. . .
5 years later. At the mansion in the Turtle Hiding Fortress’s center. Heian Ciemnosc’s cultivation bedroom.
Heian Ciemnosc sat alone in his cultivation bedroom, finishing devouring the carcasses of nearly a billion living beings. His nostrils expelled out fresh, cold air from within his body before opening his darkest eyes. Then, he stood up smoothly, already clothed in dark.
He stepped out of his cultivation bedroom and headed straight to the main entrance. There, a calm, relaxed, experienced Etherea waited for him with Xue Yoler standing straight with her hands behind her bum in front of the former. Her face directly looked at Heian Ciemnosc when he peeked from the wooden handrail.
Heian Ciemnosc serenely looked at them before heading down through the stairs. When he arrived before them, Etherea had moved a little, still facing Xue Yoler, as the latter continued looking at Heian Ciemnosc as he changed the direction her body faced.
“What? Can’t part your eyes from me now?” Heian Ciemnosc said, taking his dark coat off and transforming it to reveal a different coat. It was slightly dark, and for more delicate arms, albeit for a ‘broader’ chest than a man. Xue Yoler looked at it for several long seconds. Seeing her befuddled, drawn state, Heian Ciemnosc calmly hooked the corners of his mouth slightly and voiced in a hoarse tone. “If you hadn’t made me like your actions and development, I wouldn’t have let you step back into my mansion after the first time.”
“This… do you know what it is?” Heian Ciemnosc asked Xue Yoler as Etherea parted her eyes from her digital clipboard, interested in watching this moment. Xue Yoler’s hands hesitated before letting her left hand fall on her right one, with the slightly dark coat in between. It was made by Heian Ciemnosc, turned into this for…
“My acceptance?” Xue Yoler said, understanding something as she looked up at her ‘owner’, as many had it. Heian Ciemnosc lowered his head and looked at her in silence before slightly nodding. Xue Yoler’s eyes narrowed, forming smiley arcs as she stepped backwards and put the coat on. It made incredible work with her foxy ears and tail, especially since her tail could move through it without a problem.
“You’re now welcome under my rule, but… are you willing?” Heian Ciemnosc asked her a different matter as Xue Yoler looked up at him with a slight, cheeky, childish, thin smile on her lips. Xue Yoler’s face changed with his words, but not by much. It wasn’t just her that she was deciding a different fate than before. She couldn’t just choose depending on her mood at the moment.
Remaining silent for a while, Xue Yoler’s face was cutely serious as she contemplated, but she didn’t make Heian Ciemnosc wait for longer than 10 seconds. She faced upwards, looked into his serene darkest eyes, and confidently expressed herself. “I wish to remain beside you, under your command… my liege.”
“Oh,” Heian Ciemnosc quietly exclaimed as a dark coat appeared from his back to the rest of his body. It was the same as before, but a bit different from the style he used to before leading his first operation on his own. He looked at Xue Yoler and caressed her left cheek with the back of his right-handed fingers. “But this doesn’t mean much. You still have many things to prove yourself from the others. Your cultivation base alone isn’t enough. Your potential is a disadvantage, but only regarding time. You’ve already gone through the Planet Gate realm, and faster than average.”
“…” Xue Yoler softly closed her eyes, letting his soft caress on her face feel as natural as possible, no longer denying it like before. She nodded, aware of her circumstances, but she was glad that her potential wasn’t an obstruction for her future, possible recognition. There was a war to continue, too, right?
“Ah!” Xue Yoler suddenly remembered something. She jolted her expression into a curious and cautious one before asking Heian Ciemnosc with a hushed tone, “But, my liege, who exactly are you?”
“…” Heian Ciemnosc grinned. When Xue Yoler saw this grin, she felt something was wrong… Before she had time to prepare herself, Heian Ciemnosc spoke with his cheeky grin, “If you do well soon, I’ll tell you. But prepare yourself. It might make you a little dizzy to know the truth.”
Xue Yoler pouted, looked at Heian Ciemnosc like he was playing with her, unfair and taking advantage of their new status difference. She exhaled as she thought of the few hundred million she ought to give news of their ‘new allegiance’ changing to the black monster.
After sharing so much time with the Crimsons, she knew the difference between the Crimsonbreaking Faction territory and the black monster. The latter supervised the former, but the black monster did so for the Crimsonbreaking Faction’s sake. He was building his own line of… Generals? Although, after studying the military for 3 years, and belonging to it for 7 years, she knew that such a title wasn’t meaningful anymore.
Instead, it was more meaningful to reach the highest military rank an official could achieve under the black monster. This would leave them even higher than the supreme commanders of the military, who were above the other officials, but below the forces’ biggest big shots.
“Stop overthinking. Come, I’ll have Evans deliver you to your port later. Let’s hear about Little Etherea and her choices,” Heian Ciemnosc said, flicking her forehead twice. The first flick from his index finger was to push her head backwards, the second was to make her frown in slight pain. Then, Heian Ciemnosc grinned and softly tickled her nose with a boop, making her exclaim as Xue Yoler slightly shook her head. “Eeen!”
“My liege, you’re too biased towards her. Anastasia has already been good to her during her training and acclimatization to your forces. She’s as good as I am now. As long as she gets real experience, she’ll surpass me. But… that’s only temporary,” Etherea said as they started walking towards the mansion’s exit.
“I know. Don’t be jealous. You’re my first subordinate, even if I didn’t immediately ask you like I did to the others.” Heian Ciemnosc caressed Xue Yoler’s cheeks as she blushed but let him caress her face. His lips moved as they walked out of the mansion. Etherea professionally nodded, satisfied with the Chief’s confidence in her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t be here. Besides, his other subordinates aren’t that interested in commandeering, unlike her and Xue Yoler.
…