High-King Xavlaeron nodded to his staff.

“All ships, begin charging long-range enchantments. I want us ready to attack the moment they come in range. And keep an eye on the sky, I don’t imagine the Queen of the Dobhar is simply waiting on a ship.”

The Sentinels of Liberty were just about to relay the order…

“Incoming!”

“Barriers up!”

The mage analyzing the Caelum Aurem cried out and the Sentinels of Liberty sprang into action. A barrier hummed to life around the ship before High-King Xavlaeron could even comprehend what was happening.

And then the sky was on fire.

An explosion rocked the ship. And outside the dome, High-King Xavlaeron’s eyes widened as explosions struck much of his fleet.

Fortunately, the communication artifact had been active to relay his order and so the fleet had heard the barrier command. Most of the battle-airships had activated their barriers in time, especially those crewed by the forces of Mirima or the Sky Legion. Some had been slower, and struck directly, though they seemed to have survived.

But two were not so lucky.

Two of his ships appeared to have exploded from the inside.

They remained flying, as the Gravity Cores had their own barriers for exactly this situation, but they had been gutted where the attack had struck. Shattered stone and twisted metal fell from massive holes in the center of their hulls.

High-King Xavlaeron simply stared for a moment.

“What on Aelea or beyond just happened?”

Seero’s robotic eye flickered as she analyzed the results of the attack. She was currently floating in the air alongside a fleet of drones, while Uscfrea’s fleet approached from below.

She had made the decision to employ her allies and subordinates’ forces for this battle. There was a need to test both the Earth-based weaponry Uscfrea had purchased from the Aesdes’ system as well as the hybrid magic-technology Melion had been developing in non-dungeon settings, and against a more sophisticated opponent. Likewise, it would be good for her allies and subordinates to gain some experience in combat, and she didn’t know what sort of capabilities the South’s forces might possess.

After encounters with the Herald of Night and the Herald of the New Dawn, she thought it best to proceed cautiously, after all.

So, after detecting and tracking the fleet via radar, the ships and drones got into position, and unleashed a salvo once in range. Uscfrea had the foresight to install some anti-air systems onto the stolen Imperial ships, and so his fleet was able to participate as well.

The results…were about as Seero expected.

Aircraft design philosophy could not be more different between Earth and Aelea. On Earth, aircraft design was heavily restricted by the laws of physics and the need to achieve sufficient lift. There were hard limits on the weight of an aircraft of any given design…which meant there were limits to how much any aircraft could be armored. And given that even ground and sea-based vehicles could not mount enough armor to survive modern munitions, there was little chance of aircraft doing so either…and that was before considering that every ounce of armor would reduce the range, speed, and capabilities of the aircraft. So aircraft of Earth generally relied on stealth, mobility, range, and other countermeasures to survive with armor as an afterthought, while the burden of anti-air weapons was to detect and hit the target.

Not so with the airships of Aelea.

With Gravity Enchantments that could simply nullify weight, and Air Magic based propulsion that wrapped the whole thing in a bubble of magical wind that was then propelled forward as a whole, Aelea’s aircraft were almost completely free from the laws of physics. Weight and aerodynamics were not considerations. The main design restriction, on the other hand, was the availability of rare magical materials and enchanters with high-enough skill levels to actually build the craft.

As a result, Aelean aircraft design focused on stuffing as much capability as possible into each individual craft…and then ensuring that craft would NOT be lost.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Aelean aircraft were literal flying fortresses, with armor of metal and stone more akin to castles than vehicles. Even the largest tanks and battleships of Earth couldn’t match the armor thickness of the Aelean airships designed for combat. And that was before Seero factored in magical barriers and enchantments that provided new types of defenses that had not existed on Earth.

As a result, their initial barrage did very little.

The Sky Legion’s reactions had been very quick, and at this range many had managed to get their barriers up. But even for the ships that hadn’t, the anti-air missiles launched by Uscfrea’s ships didn’t have much effect. They were designed to destroy light-weight jets, not reinforced stone fortifications.

Melion’s drones, on the other hand, were another matter. Seero and Melion, having seen the Imperial family’s airship up close, had been aware of the significantly stronger defenses of the airships. So they had chosen not to target it with traditional anti-aircraft weapons, but with bunker-busting munitions designed to destroy ground-based fortifications.

But those munitions had mostly detonated on the Sky Legion’s defensive barriers. And while the two that had not sustained major damage, they somehow still remained intact and in the air. Seero had identified and targeted the main source of Gravity mana on the craft, but apparently the attack had still failed to critically damage the Gravity enchantments, despite piercing the outer armor.

And likewise, those munitions were originally developed as air-to-ground bombs. Seero and Melion had modified them for air-to-air combat but had not developed surface-to-air variants just yet, and so had not been able to equip Uscfrea’s fleet with them.

All in all, it appeared that one direct hit would not be enough for Earth’s munitions to destroy Aelea’s airships.

“Analysis complete, protocols adapted.”

“Your Majesty, should we sound the retreat or press the attack?”

High-King Xavlaeron was interrupted in his surprise by the captain of his ship. He shook his head.

“We press the attack.”

The captain nodded and took command.

“All ships, full speed ahead, with barriers up! Take up formations, and prepare to respond as soon as we’re in range! Tell the Sky Legion to prepare to deploy!”

High-King Xavlaeron stared out of the window as the Sentinels of Liberty took charge. While it certainly wasn’t his first battle, the Sentinels were very good at their jobs. And he had been informed that there could be no mistakes if he were to confront the Queen of the Dobhar.

He was beginning to see why.

Apparently, the Queen of the Dobhar’s detection methods matched…or possibly even exceeded, the state of the art artifacts Mirima had developed in great secrecy. He did not know how that was possible but it clearly was.

No…if he thought about it some of the explosions were on the top of his ships…implying they came from above. And that would mean…the Queen of the Dobhar indeed had forces in the air that he had not detected yet.

And it got worse.

The Queen of the Dobhar’s forces had not only detected his own from beyond visual range…but had managed to launch an effective attack from that distance as well.

That was something Mirima had not managed to achieve.

There had been no way to circumvent the mana-bleed issue at ranges beyond visual sight. Even spells that managed to reach that distance would have their power severely reduced, and could thus be stopped by a far weaker barrier spell. Some of the top mages could pull it off with the right skill setup, but that was irrelevant for their purposes. An artifact did not have skills, after all, and not every airship weapons expert could be an archmage.

They had even experimented with mundane projectiles, trying to launch the projectiles at high speeds, or even enchanting the projectiles to fly on their own, but they had little success. Projectiles were subject to a bleed-effect of their own as their speed decreased over time, and gravity pulled them towards the ground. As a result they had to be launched at an angle, decreasing accuracy, and they arrived much weaker than when they were launched. They were ultimately subject to the same issues as far-range spellcasting, all for less accuracy and higher material cost.

Enchanted projectiles had more success but were ultimately deemed impractical. Utilizing magical resources and enchanter time on a single use projectile was already a questionable proposition. Even arrows could hypothetically be recovered and reused within visual range, but a projectile launched at the distances in question from an airship was likely not coming back even if it survived. It got worse when one considered that an enchanter could create a barrier artifact with that same time and resources that would stop the projectile…and could be used again. So…it would be an incredibly expensive investment for consumable weapons that would only work against weaker opponents that wouldn’t require such efforts in the first place.

He had not expected the Queen of the Dobhar to have solved the eternal quandary plaguing mages from the dawn of magic.

But…he had been told he could not take anything for granted when going against her. So he gathered himself as his fleet moved forward.

In the grand scheme of things…the attacks hadn’t done much. Even the ships that had been heavily damaged were still operational for the most part. Given the lack of power compared to his defenses…the Queen of the Dobhar may not have solved the bleed issue after all. In which case…she had expended her surprising detection advantage on a mere glancing blow. The biggest damage was to his and Mirima’s pride…but that would not affect the outcome of this battle if they took it in stride and adapted accordingly.

Which the Sentinels of Liberty already had. They had switched from charging the offensive enchantments to diverting full power to barriers and propulsion. They would close the distance as soon as possible, minimizing the time the enemy had to utilize their advantages in range and detection.

High-King Xavlaeron took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes.

He had certainly been humbled, but he had not yet been beaten, not even close. This battle had only just begun.