R stood on the deck of one of the naval ships below. He was surrounded by quad-copter drones, each holding a powerful mana core and designed for ritual magic. He held out his paws and ground his teeth as his robotic eye flickered.

A small Ritual magic formation glowed between him and the drones, maintaining a powerful barrier around the ship that blocked the lightning striking from above.

The task was exceptionally difficult for the rat. He was no expert mage, and the sacred records could not provide any assistance to him.

But that was fine.

His cybernetic components were doing the dragon’s share of the work, applying the Ritual Magic protocols utilized by Lilussees to link him to the drones and casting the spell the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen had left in the database. But the mana did still need to flow through his organic parts, so it took some effort to let it pass. It was surprisingly difficult to fully cede control of his body to the cybernetic components.

But that was simply a sign of his lack of faith! A fire burned within 01R’s chest at the mere thought of being afraid of the armor of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen! He turned all of his will to surrender, letting the sacred protocols guide his body and the cybernetic components take full hold of his mana.

This, too, was another battle in the name of the Wise-Mighty-Gracious Boss-Queen! And he would prove his loyalty in this very instant!

Two soldiers, a human and a Dobhar, watched the rat as he squeaked loudly and the barrier started glowing brighter. The human made a nonplussed expression.

“We’re…being protected from the Sky Legion…by a rat.”

The Dobhar shrugged.

“We’re being led by a human. A human who can destroy armies and reshape mountains. You get used to it.”

“So this is the magic of the Queen of the Dobhar that broke the Spellbreaker and shattered Caelinus?”

High-King Xavlaeron remarked as he stared out at the magic circle covering the sky.

And then he…smirked.

“It’s not as intimidating as it was made out to be, and, most of all, nothing we haven’t prepared for. Deploy the Sky Legion and have them engage the ships below! We’ll deal with the Queen of the Dobhar.”

Large doors opened on the airships in the rear, which had been designated for transport. Wyvern knights and legionnaires wearing specialized armor dropped from the sky, the wind wrapping around them much like the airships. They assembled themselves into formations in the air and then began to fly towards the ships in the water.

Meanwhile, bright green plants began to grow across the surface of the battle-airships as they switched to the Nature Mana barriers prepared specifically for this fight. They turned to face the large magic circle, the Caelum Aurem scanning for its source. The Queen of the Dobhar herself floated in front of the magic circle.

And then the spell triggered.

Beams of light showered the fleet…and were absorbed by the Nature barriers with ease. The beams then started fusing together into large superbeams, but these too were absorbed. High-King Xavlaeron grinned.

The Queen of the Dobhar was not so impressive after all.

High-King Xavlaeron focused his half-elven sight and even caught a glimpse of the Queen of the Dobhar herself, floating in front of her magic circle, yet he was not deceived. The Caelum Aurem hadn’t confirmed her position yet…

“Spell source located!”

High-King Xavlaeron couldn’t help but chuckle. As expected…what he saw was not the Queen of the Dobhar at all. The Caelum Aurem could tell the difference between an illusion and the real deal, given that a mage channeling a spell gives off much stronger interference.

The battle-airships began to channel their lightning…

Up and above the strategic magic circle was a small fleet of aircraft. Assembled in a circular formation were dozens of small drones, featuring little more than a big magic core and enough repulsors to keep up. In the center was a larger jet plane, featuring a two-person cockpit. In a tiny front-seat was a cyber-rat, linked to both the cybernetics and golem-brain of the plane to pilot it like their own body.

In a much larger backseat, designed for maximum comfort, was Lilussees, linked to the battery drones around her in order to power the spell below. She yawned, and then sighed.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Oh, like, that’s annoying. They have, like, elemental barriers, or something.”

She yawned once more, and plopped down on her seat. Given the shape of her body, the traditional chair had been replaced with a flat cushion. Which Lilussees very much preferred in any case.

“Like, I guess I could try a different spell, or something. But, like, those guys are going to reach the others soon, or something. So, like, isn’t that enough playing around, Boss-Lady?”

Lilussees settled back into her seat as a portion of the drones switched to defense, channeling built-in barrier spells to protect the formation from bolts of lightning.

Further back in the air, Seero analyzed the situation as per Lilussees’s query, and found it reasonable. She and Melion had acquired a hefty set of data from real combat situations that could guide their future weapons developments, particularly regarding beyond visual range munitions. And at this point, the hostiles were in range of the friendlies. Flying infantry and cavalry were making their way towards Uscfrea’s fleet and the CELIU units onboard, while the battle-airships were assaulting Lilussees’s spell squadron. She had analyzed the hostiles' capabilities at this point, and any further delays could result in casualties among friendly forces.

“Analysis complete. Statement: Friendly Lilussees’s assessment is accurate. Experimentation protocols deactivated. Termination protocols engaged. This unit will engage enemy airships, friend Lilussees should redirect efforts to assist naval forces below.”

She heard Lilussees’s response over the comms.

“...I don’t like the e-word, but like, fine.”

Seero began to fly forward, employing the same mana-mimicking technique used to hide her drones. She began to stir up her mana, and then sent a command to one of the drones, one shaped like a glider.

She may have deactivated experimentation protocols…but there was one further experiment she wished to run.

The drone activated its repulsors and began to dive towards its target. It angled itself towards the top of a battle-airship, aiming for the main source of Gravity Mana.

And then it shot forward at maximum speed.

High-King Xavlaeron frowned as the strategic magic circle faded and the caster began to retreat. The Queen of the Dobhar was so far blocking their attacks with her barriers, an impressive display in and of itself, but he did not expect her to simply retreat.

He, of course, was very confident in the might of Mirima’s battle-airships, but still he felt that something was off. From every report they had on the Queen of the Dobhar, this should not have been the extent of her strength. A few bolts of lightning should not have forced her to retreat.

He then caught a single projectile moving towards one of the ships in the front. He tilted his head.

Even their oldest ships had withstood a barrage of such projectiles from the Queen of the Dobhar’s entire fleet. Why would she send a single one at this stage?

The ship in question took no defensive measures, as a single attack would not break through its barrier. The projectile struck.

And then a massive wave of glittering rainbow sparks surged out from the point of impact…as well as an explosion from the middle of the airship.

High-King Xavlaeron’s eyes widened.

The battle-airship, one that had been undamaged by the initial strike, broke in two and began to fall from the sky.

But he had no time for shock or horror.

Because immediately afterwards, the entire sky lit up in a magic circle as bright as the sun.

Seero recorded the results of the strike. She had iterated on the improvised anti-mana bombs from before and developed a legitimate anti-mana warhead. She had utilized it in a tandem-warhead setup, featuring a powerful bunker-busting bomb that would continue traveling through the anti-mana explosion to pierce into the undefended target. She and Melion then installed this on a kamikaze drone to ensure a precise strike.

And it had worked per Seero’s most optimistic predictions.

The anti-mana shockwave temporarily disabled both the outer mana barrier protecting the ship, and the interior mana barrier protecting the source of the Gravity enchantment. The bunker busting bomb pierced through the ship before either barrier was restored, and exploded directly on the source of the Gravity enchantment, managing to disable it as well as dealing heavy structural damage to the center of the ship.

The Gravity enchantments not only provided the airship with lift, they also helped to hold its stone hull together. So without that assistance and weakened by an internal explosion, the ship not only fell from the sky but also began breaking apart under its own weight.

Of course, such anti-mana warheads were limited. Seero could not yet produce Iesnuorium, and so she was the only one capable of generating anti-mana at the limited rate the Equalizer could provide. And the anti-mana storage methods were not perfect, slowly leaking the energy once she was no longer providing it. As such, only a limited number of anti-mana warheads could exist at any given time, not enough to simply wipe out the fleet as a whole.

But that was fine. This, again, was a test, an experiment to inform future efforts if and when Seero gained the ability to produce Iesnuorium.

And now that the final experiment was concluded…it was time to terminate the hostiles in earnest.

Seero formed and Supercharged a Prismatic Bombardment magic circle, applying the Piercing modifier to improve its performance.

With her new capabilities, it was completed in an instant, and then she began to open fire.

The circles turned red as she applied the Fire attribute. Burning beams with wisps of fire flickering around them lit up the sky, and set flame to the Nature barriers of the airships. They then switched to a new element, turning purple as they switched to…

…Gravity.

Seero chose Gravity in order to take advantage of the airship’s own designs. Some of the beams amplified the airship’s weight, increasing the force of Gravity upon them. Others reduced the attraction within its parts, creating repelling fields within the hulls of the ships.

These effects did little on their own.

But, unfortunately for the battle-airships, they were not the only Gravity effects present.

The lift-providing enchantments warred with the weight-increasing attacks, trying to push the ship up and pull it down at the same time, while the enchantments holding the hulls together now battled with the repelling fields. All of this created a chaotic mix of shifting forces pushing and pulling in every direction…right within the hulls of the ships.

The affected battle-airships began to disintegrate, pieces of the hull breaking off and falling or sometimes even being flung away as the chaotic and opposing forces ripped them apart.

And, eventually, the Gravity enchantments burned out trying to counteract the sheer amount of mana Seero could dump into her spell. The moment that happened, the affected ship (or what remained of it), plunged towards the water below as Seero’s spell took hold and the force of gravity increased dramatically upon it.

For a brief moment, even the stalwart soldiers of the Sky Legion and Seero’s own allies simply stared as the mighty battle-airships began to fall from the sky.