This time around, it was the presence of ships that could change the tide of battle. Fortunately, the increasing demand for supplies between continents and to the archipelago meant that the civilization needed to build additional ships.
That was why the moment the Star Battle commenced, there was a patrol fleet nearby the Rift which discovered it after some time of searching.
The ships in the patrol fleet were designed for fast agility and mobility, with a certain capability for attack, equipped with a 50mm caliber cannon. But it was not enough to repel anything that might come from the Rift.
Worse still, the Rift was situated in the sea area near the archipelago. It made things trickier since it meant that the other side was likely to be a sea area too.
“That Rift really is just sitting there menacingly.” One sailor used binoculars to look at the distant Rift.
“We are just forming a perimeter so that no one can enter this area.” Another replied.
“But it is the Rift! The one that appears when a Star Battle occurs. Does that mean we are officially in the Star Battle?”
“The Cerulean Defense Force is mobilizing every combat-ready ship to this location as we speak. We are trying to get more information from the Rift while waiting for reinforcement.”
Discussion took place not only on one particular ship but also on all the patrol fleet ships.
They all were at least low-level transcendent so they could faintly feel the strangeness of the Rift from their distance.
All they could do for now was to watch out for the imminent threat from the Rift while preventing unauthorized entry into the area and also waiting for reinforcement.
-
“We need to go to the frontline.” Tatsumi said while preparing his weapon. Since the news of the Star Battle had spread to the entire globe, he was preparing to be on the frontline seeing the new enemy he would face.
“Hmm. But we need to inform our children. They will definitely want to go to the frontline too.” Ame said while also preparing her weapon.
“They’d better be in the rear for guarding our bases. The frontline is where the hottest action takes place. There can only be peak transcendents there.” Tatsumi said while finishing the last touch of his weapon by synchronizing with his marked transcendent energy.
The weapon let out a cold gleam before returning to its unassuming appearance. Tatsumi then put it in a sheath specifically made to store the blade. He remembered that Annie volunteered to make it.
He then put the sheathed blade beside his waist as he finished his preparation. He, along with Ame, was considered peak transcendent so they would be sent to the frontline. That was the issue when it came to their family.
“Father, Mother. You are going to the frontline, right?” Tetsuya said the moment the two of them walked into the living room.
Tatsumi and Ame nodded while looking at him with fondness and something akin to worry.
“Everyone will have their own determined position, including you and me. But it does not mean that you should go to the frontline.” Tatsumi kneeled down so that they saw eye to eye.
“Why not? I am clearly a Core Formation Realm transcendent so I should be able to go to the frontline.” Tetsuya said while asking for the reason why he could not.
“Only peak transcendent can go to the frontline. You are clearly not there yet, so what you can do is at least watch the rear.” Tatsumi said with a smile.
“Just because it is a rear position doesn’t mean it is completely safe. Please follow the instructions for your own safety.” Ame added.
Tetsuya was actually as worried as his parents were but he knew that with his current strength, he would only be a burden to them so he bit his lips in reluctance then he nodded his head. His eyes looked carefully at them and realized that they were worried about him.
“You too. You need to ensure your own safety. You know that families are waiting for you here.” Tetsuya said as a counter.
“Hah. As expected of you, to use them as a reason to make us return safely. Of course I am going to do that.” Tatsumi gave a thumbs-up.
When the three of them were done with their small talk, there was additional members of the family who came.
“Brother, don’t forget about me.” Another child of Tatsumi came up. She had long black hair but red eyes like Charlene and had a beautiful face as she pouted.
“No, of course not. You also have a part to play. I think Mother Charlene will also support us from behind so that makes us a complete family who will participate in the Star Battle.” Tetsuya said in a hurry.
“You’d better be saying that for real because you need all of us.” She said while crossing her arms while looking at him with scrutiny.
“Ivana, are you prepared for the duty you will have in the Star Battle?” Tatsumi asked for certainty.
“Of course, Father. The Star Battle is different in size and scale compared to the expedition to the wilderness.” Ivana said while nodding. It meant that her preparation was more thorough.
She was the child he had with Charlene and the two children only had two years difference in their ages.
Charlene also walked in with her white coat, signaling her as a scientist first and foremost. She looked at Ame and nodded in acknowledgement. Ame also did a similar gesture, as this was a plan they had when Ame and Tatsumi went to the wilderness and now a Star Battle.
‘Please take care of him for my sake.’ Charlene thought while giving such a gesture.
‘Of course. Please take care of our back.’ Ame thought that the gesture was enough to convey their thought.
With that, the entire small family went out to participate in the Star Battle.
Not only them but all able-bodied people had to participate, even only as a Reservist or handling logistics. It meant that the civilization mobilized every single able person to be cog in a machine called war.
The first few hours passed but there was only the news of no sighting of otherworlders from the patrol fleet. More ships had gathered near the location but there was no sign of invasion.
“They’re coming!” One saw something stirring inside the Rift and alerted everyone that, finally, something came out of the Rift.
“To battle station!” the loudspeaker rang as it announced out loud to the sailors to prepare for engagement.
The ships moved slightly to be able to get an optimal shooting angle for whatever came from the Rift.
When the shadows finally revealed themselves, more than dozens of cannons shot out their shells toward the shadow and managed to land a hit.
“It’s hit! No, wait, it is also bleeding!” They realized that the thing that passed to their planet was actually a living being, a gigantic size one.
The giant beasts roared in pain and it reverberated through the air and sea, causing the people to hear that.
“Master wants the marine creatures to be here, even ordering the Sea Sovereign to come to this location.” The Planet Spirit was up high in the sky, watching the area around the Rift. She could see dozens of ships as well as the gathering of marine creatures under the sea, ready to intercept whatever came out.
This was the advantage of having Planet Spirit: it could direct the creatures of the planet to assist in Star Battle.
Even the Sea Sovereign felt the call and decided to move there and found the smell of blood. Although, it felt strange that the blood was a bit different from that of other marine creatures, it still swam to get the first bite of its prey.
It then came to the surface near the Rift where a giant beast was heavily bleeding.
It took a bite with its huge and sharp teeth and clamped its jaws tightly, causing more wounds to appear.
“It’s the designated Sea Sovereign!” The sailor who saw the gigantic size of the Kleos could not help but alert the rest of them.
Even the captains of dozens of ships were also surprised. They did not expect that the Sea Sovereign had moved to the Rift area and started fighting against the otherworlders.
“Target the unidentified giant beasts!” since the Sea Sovereign made a move to support them, they had to not hit it and target the alien giant beasts instead.
The sailors also noticed that underwater, there were many predators of the sea swimming toward the Rift to feast on the new prey.
“This is the intervention from the Father God!”
Such an exclamation could be heard among the sailors and even the captains of the ships. There was no way to direct the marine lives like this other than the intervention of the Father God. They did not have the capability of doing this yet. Even if it were possible, it would be in the distant future.
The first salvo of the cannons as well as the marine creatures and Sea Sovereign, happened in a matter of minutes but for those who participated in this event, it looked like things happened in the blink of an eye.
The marine creatures feasted on the flesh of the unidentified giant beasts while the Sea Sovereign took off a chunk of flesh from one giant beast before going to another. It managed to digest the flesh quite quickly due to its own power, empowered by the transcendent energy inside its body.
Whatever could not be managed by the marine creatures, the dozens of ships were helping by firing their cannons toward the unharmed unidentified giant beasts.
Explosions became the thing near the Rift and causing the incoming unidentified giant beasts to stagger and crash against those in front of them.
Temporarily, it became possible to see the bodies of the giant beasts brought down to below sea level, where the marine creatures tore off the flesh of the giant beasts. The injured ones then keep pushing forward and causing them to be hit with the shells from the cannon.
“How many are there?”
“Dozens. And keep increasing.”
The captains figured that out by looking at the shadows that came to being at the Rift. This was a wave of assault that they needed to contain, so they kept shooting their cannons.
But it was not able to stop the unidentified giant beasts from coming. Just as the killzone was about to be breached, a surprise came to them.
From a distance, there was a squadron of aircraft carrying armaments to support the fleets in dealing with the incoming giant beasts.
“Here comes the delivery!” one pilot exclaimed through the radio channel.
Then his aircraft increased its speed as the aircraft dropped something in the middle of the giant beasts trying to come to their side of the Rift.
Then there was a giant explosion followed by the huge flames rising in it, causing burn damage to the giant beasts and even killing some of them.
“Well, here comes the aircraft from the aircraft carriers.” Seeing the form of the aircraft, the men on board knew that it was an attacker designed to battle against the ground or naval units.
The other three aircraft let out something similar to the first and causing a large explosion in front of the Rift, causing additional casualties to the giant beasts.
“It is actually that kind of bomb.”
Seeing the large explosion and the fire that came with it, they knew that the bomb was for a large area and their intel was used at this moment.
“Continue shooting!” the captains of the ships ordered, since they would not be out of shell soon.
After fifteen minutes, there were no more unidentified giant beasts coming from the Rift. All the people involved heaved a sigh of relief before they received a report from the captains.
As for the incoming aircraft, they knew that since the last Star Battle, the manufacture of the aircraft carriers had been underway and since then had increased by eleven.
“This is Aircraft Carrier Carolina, the nearest available carrier sending air support!” A radio transmission came to the fleet and they let out a sigh that they had held.
Carolina was the third-oldest aircraft carrier, while Bruce was the oldest. Their armament was different, however that Carolina could bring twenty aircraft and some anti-air defence capability.
From the opposite direction of the Rift, there was an aircraft carrier being escorted by numerous destroyers and corvettes. Below, there were three submarines to accompany in case the attack came from underwater.
“Thank you for your timely support.” One captain said as a reply.
“We are officially in the Star Battle and we should help each other.” The sound from the Carolina was surprisingly a female and they knew her quite well.
“Surround the Rift. Don’t let anything come to our side.” The order was executed as soon as it reached the other end through the radio channel.
-
On the other hand, there were quite a lot of transcendents at the seaport. It was because the stage of the frontline could only be reached by ship.
That caused traffic that the ship needed to be wary of. But then there was an order to prioritize the transcendent first from the Cerulean Defense Force.
Since this was an extraordinary time, they decided to comply from the start of the Star Battle announcement.
Thus, the wave of transcendents from the two continents went to the Rift near the archipelago. It took some time and then the news of the other side of the Rift was announced since there were no more giant beasts that came from there.
Some patrol fleets entered the Rift to scout things ahead.
“I heard that the reinforcement consisting of transcendents will come here. I wonder how they will change the tide of battle.”
“Well, they can adapt to most situations so probably going underwater just like a submarine. But this is dangerous, entering the Rift to scout.”
Two sailors spoke on their patrol ship. It was not as large as the ships used to repel the first wave of attack but its mobility was the greatest and was suitable to scout ahead.
All they could find was a large sea area, which was slightly azure in color. But beyond that, the sailors were certain that there were monsters beyond their capability to handle roaming somewhere.
“Stay alert! We can’t afford carelessness in this trying time.” The loudspeaker was active and the captain’s voice came so suddenly and jolted the sailors awake and awareness crept in.
They currently become the eyes of the Cerulean Defense Force as they were the first ones to enter the foreign planet.
But there was still nothing even on their radar and sensors so they decided to spread out some more before retreating back to their planet.
So far as the eyes could see and to the end of the horizon, they could not see a sight of land. Either they were too far from land or it could be that the planet was water in almost all parts of its surface.
“Something is in the north direction!” A sensor and radar detected something up north. They could not make out of the thing they detected but it was quite massive.
“Do not engage! I repeat, do not engage. We need to retreat since our armaments are only for small fries.” The captains of the numerous patrol fleets announced quickly, fearing that someone would shoot in the direction where they had detected something.
Then all the patrol ships returned to their side of the Rift while bringing much information.
“So far, there is only a faint sign of our enemy but it is still a speculation. We need to make a base right in front of the Rift. I hope that we have prepared enough engineers for the base construction.”
A discussion took place in the headquarters of the Cerulean Defense Force and it was General Wazowski who reported the intel they had received.
Since the Star Battle turned out to be mostly a naval battle, they needed to adjust their tactics.
“But General, we need the protection of the transcendent group to maintain the security of the base we will build.” A Lieutenant advised.
“That is why we will maintain constant alert in the nearby region as well as the Rift on the other side. We can do this while the transcendents are being transported to the location.” General Wazowski said.
“We need to be fast since the enemy probably realized that their vanguard has been eliminated.”
General Wazowski nodded heavily at the suggestion. Of course, he knew about it already but there was a limit to their naval capability even with the advanced technology provided.
They also rarely had conflicts at sea and their fights were mostly with sea giant beasts and it was a different thing to tackle.
If the enemy were actually something similar to humans, then it could lead to trouble when using conventional tactics. Furthermore, they also needed the assistance of transcendents as they could even fight underwater when they had reached a higher realm.
But even that was still a question since the transcendents did not share their result willingly so the intel on their capability mostly remained superficial.
“We need the cooperation from the transcendents while our naval units will be the lifeline for our assault.”
With that, the general plan was laid out. It was still the early phase of the Star Battle so they could still have room for change.
What they knew for sure was that the enemy would likely have the capability of seafaring equal to or surpassing the current civilization.