Celestina Shoukan

Chapter 26 - The Retaliation Begins

The Kingdom of Selarong, in the ocean about 30km west of Sulbar, 26th January 1524 / 225

The Papaldia Empire's Dragon Carriers belong to the Imperial Army were arranged in a perfect line. To facilitate the arrival and departure of the wyvern lords on dragon carriers that were twice as large as ships-of-the-line. The empire advanced its shipbuilding technology in secret, so it was the only country capable of building dragon carriers. Vice Admiral Armas nodded contentedly to himself when he surveyed the fleet of dragon carriers, their very presence giving off a sense of might.

"Dragon Knight-Captain!" he said to the man standing next to him.

"Yes, sir!"

"The imperial army is strong!!!"

"Yes, I am aware."

"Why do you think we are strong?"

"Because of our comprehensive strength, sir."

"You're exactly right! However, the reason to have pride in our power, even more than our ships-of-the-line, the true core of our strength, is our dragon carriers. Dragon carriers allow us to outrange any opponent far beyond the capability of any cannon. Captain, total control of the air means total control of both sea and land. That is what I believe."

"Indeed, sir! That is a very enlightened perspective!"

"The Papaldia Empire is invincible on the sea because of our dragon carrier fleet! As long as we have them, the imperial army will carve a path for our empire to rule supreme! And look! Leading that fleet is our newest, most advanced flagship, the Miles! How spectacular. It overflows with functional beauty, enough to match its size."

The Miles was built with much more antimagic steel plating than usual, and thus it was the strongest, largest, and most beautiful ship in the fleet.

Bwooooh—!!!

Their chat was interrupted by the alarm sounding from the foremost escort ship. Vice Admiral Armas looked ahead cautiously.

"?! What's that?!?"

It was very hard to see, but one large arrow painted blue flew at the flagship Miles at an astounding speed.

"What... what speed!!!"

Those "things" skated just above the ocean, sharply turned upwards right before it disperses into eight small missiles, and goes to four targets with Miles as one of the targets. Finally, two of the eight smaller missiles plunged right into the ship at a diagonal angle from above. The two missiles that came from the dispersion of SD-8 missile projectiles, traveling at 1200 km/h, scored direct hits on the dragon carrier fleet's flagship, the Miles.

Ksha!!!

There was a violent flash, and the Miles was engulfed in light.

Bom... BAAAAA-BAAAAAAM!!!

The giant flagship becomes wrapped in an even more massive explosion, accompanied by the roaring sound of destruction. Right before Armas's eyes, the submunition dispenser missiles, which the combined power is enough to destroy two modern Aircraft Carrier, erased the flagship Miles from existence, along with its crew and wyvern lords. The leftover noise from the blast echoed across the water. The same explosion also engulfed three other ships.

"Wha... wha... what the hell?! What just happened?!"

Distress ensued.

"Numerous flying objects are incoming!!!"

"We've lost Reni, Plite, and Gatar!!"

The fleet broke formation, each ship starting to move on its own without orders.