In 2 kilometers away from me was a huge ship in metal armor.

We exchanged a lot of shots. Their guns and arrows did nothing to my armor, not to mention the insides. Mine main guns missed every shot and all broke down.

BANG BANG BANG

Despite my continuous fire from the secondaries, they were too weak to deliver a lethal blow to the enemy. They already burnt down everything that is outside of the armored hull, and broke the oars. All of the enemy weaponry was silenced but the ship still was afloat. 102mm high explosive shells cannot penetrate the armor, while armor piercing have too few explosive filler to deal significant damage.

[I guess it’s a good time to use the repair kits lying around.]

All four gun turrets were instantly repaired but the aft turrets, which suffered from fire and were flooded, require additional time to pump the water out.

I did not wait until all of the turrets are ready and began loading for the fore guns. The newly repaired A turret instantly started spewing fire so I spent the final repair kit and a fire extinguisher to bring it back to action.

Meanwhile, B opened fire.

BOOM

Two large holes appeared in the front of the castle-ship. A smoke started coming out of there.

I prepared for the second salvo. Out of the four turrets only one had a malfunction. A jam will be solved quickly.

BOOM BOOM BOOM

The first shot pierced right through the metal plating, the third hit something below the waterline, the fourth crushed one of the gun platforms of the castle-ship, and the fifth made a hole right in the superstructure.

By the time the shots were fired, the last gun turret was back in action.

BOOM BOOM

Two shells hit the middle of the ship.

KABOOM

A huge explosion happened after the smoke settled. The castle-ship started rapidly sinking.

“All stations! Gather at the deck, we need to save the survivors!”

The duke, who previously just stared at the carnage with his mouth open, turned around and shouted.

“What do you mean save them?! They are our enemies!” (D)

“The sea is cruel to everyone. If we won’t save them, then no one will. It’s not like the kingdom just kills all of the prisoners. Right?”

“You are making a huge mistake…” He shook his head and returned to the window while grumbling.

I turned the ship to the wreck and turned off the propulsion.

Despite the waves and the wind, a small crew of ours was dropping life rafts and boats to the survivors caught out of the darkness by the searchlights. Like moths coming to the light, the survivors were trying to reach the illuminated areas. We were picking up whoever we could find. Only 39 people survived and were placed at the bow of the ship, under the watchful gaze of Xera. The highest ranking officer survived was a commander of one of the cannon’s crew, so there was nothing useful we could find.

After the rescue operation was finished I slowly steamed towards the empire’s capital. By the time we arrived, the storm was almost over. There were some waves and wind but not to the level of causing us trouble.

I approached the capital even closer than before. The port was within my line of sight.

The defenders placed there the few cannons that survived the bombardment. A large number of men took positions.

“Steady, men!” The sergeant shouted at the gun crew. After the terror of the previous day the garrison lost too many soldiers and now he had to command militia who not only never fired a gun, they never even saw it from close range.

“FIRE!” He shouted when the huge castle-ship entered the firing range.

BOM BOM BOM BOM

The battery fired but neither of the shots hit.

The ship started turning. Normally, when a ship turns away after being fired at, it means they are scared.

But everyone here knew. This one is not going to fool around with them.

“Lift the carriage! Lift the carriage! Faster, damn you!” The sergeant hurried the men to move the cannon. Every second they stood in a place was approaching them to their death.

When he looked at the ship, his heart sank into the heels. The large houses on top of the ship’s deck were turning their own cannons at them. And everybody knew, what those cannons can do.

One of the ship’s cannon was lifted high, as if it was about to shoot down the sky itself.

BOOM

One shot was enough to destroy everything.

The morale, the army, the city, the hope, and the empire.

All soldiers were shaking like grass stems in a fierce storm. All militiamen scattered and ran for their lives. All resistance that was planned, now became a wild dream of people, who are completely disconnected from the reality.

“Sign here. And here. And here. Also, on this page. Lily, where is the next list?”

“A moment please, I almost finished writing.” (L)

“Fine. Then… Oh, right. Sign here, here, and here.”

The poor emperor’s eyes were filled with small tears as he signed under every term of the unconditional and complete surrender aboard HMS Delight.

All conditions of this surrender were filled in as the time and imagination went on, and caused the emperor to turn grey and old within one day.