Japan, Enemy of the New World

Chapter 8 - The End of Leifor

The Imperial Palace is bombed without thinking, but I may revise it in the future.

- Sōsaku-ka ZERO rei

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The attack didn't stop at once. Once again, dozens of Japanese BP-3Cs appeared over the capital city of Leiforia.

"Oh, no!! They're back again!"

"It's those iron flying machines!"

"AAAAAAAAHHHH!!"

The coastal commercial and industrial cities of Leifor's mainland had been under bombardment for the past week. The Japanese bombings were relentless, dropping bombs one after another from overwhelmingly high altitudes, rendering wyvern interceptions impossible. Initially, there were signs of determined resistance from the Leiforian military and the populace, who had been fervently rallying against the savages. However, they were now forced to silently watch as cities across the region were destroyed.

"AGH!?"

"It hurts! It hurts so much!"

A civilian man was blown to pieces by the bombing, while a woman was crushed under falling debris, enduring excruciating torment.

"Mommy! Mommy!"

A daughter tried to move the debris to rescue her mother, but soon the fire ignited by the bomb spread to the rubble.

"F-fire!"

"Help! Somebody help!"

The daughter attempted to rescue her mother amidst the flames, but a sympathetic adult intervened, scooping up the girl and fleeing.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I'm burning! AAAAAH!"

The daughter watched in horror as her mother was consumed by flames while still alive. For Leifor, a nation boasting 300 years of invincibility, never before subjected to attack, the mainland bombings alone were a considerable shock.

"Darn it, it's raining bombs! Run!!"

"Where can we even run to!?"

The residents scrambled in panic, trying to escape, but the rain of bombs seemed to target them with precision. Explosions claimed lives indiscriminately, damaging buildings on both sides of the streets and crushing even those hiding within. The adults with experience of war were all gone, having perished in the military, leaving behind civilians who never anticipated an attack on their homeland. The psychological shift from never-before-experienced "being attacked" to being under assault left the residents in disarray.

However, even for the overwhelmingly advantaged Japanese side, there were problems. This was essentially the crux of the war.

Firstly, Japanese communication devices were entirely incompatible with Leiforian manacomms. Therefore, even if Leiforia attempted to surrender via communication, Japan lacked the means to receive it without magic. There were also non-magical radio devices imported from Mu, but their output was too weak to reach the attacking Japanese forces from distant locations. Furthermore, with the emperor who called for total resistance deceased and the central military command accepting surrender erased from existence, there was nobody to make the declaration, leading to a stalemate where civilians, despite their desire to surrender, couldn't make it official.

For the Japanese, in a situation of overwhelming advantage, this ongoing refusal to surrender was intolerable. With the consumption of a massive quantity of unguided bombs by the BP-3Cs, Japan's stockpile of such munitions was dwindling. The decision was made to preserve bomb reserves, making further bombardment unacceptable. They sought a way to issue surrender ultimatums. Thus, the Japanese began broadcasting surrender ultimatums across all of Leifor using captured manacomms and awaited a response. Despite initial skepticism about using the captured manacomm, whose operation methods were still unknown to them, the complete lack of compatibility between Japanese radio and Leiforian manacomm left them no choice.