News of the battle spread across the world with the speed of a storm.
After the collapse of the magical veil and the release of the Kartnod, the entire planet had become a board of war. Governments, the Atlas Division, and the guardian families were trying to organize a plan to counter the forces newly unleashed along the coasts of China and Japan.
In France, inside the Orleans mansion, the atmosphere was heavy.
Recent revelations had made it clear that time had run out. Noah was beginning to understand the true weight of the Mark, while the members of the guardian families discussed how to face a war that could no longer be avoided.
But while words filled the meeting rooms...
In the Pacific, the war was already happening.
China's forces had managed to withstand the first clash against the Kartnod fleet, but they knew that had only been the beginning. The enemy ships had withdrawn to reorganize.
And when they returned, they would do so with all their power.
Five hours after the first battle, the ocean roared again.
The waters of the Pacific boiled under enemy fire when the second wave struck.
Admiral Li Wei watched from the command bridge of the Liaoning as the Kartnod ships reorganized their lines in the distance. Barely five hours had passed since they had withdrawn the first time. Five hours of frantic work to repair the irreparable: welders fusing metal upon metal, doctors fighting to save lives in overcrowded infirmaries, and strategists redrawing plans over maps stained with blood and sweat.
"They're coming back," Commander Zhang Rui said, her voice tense. "Combat formation. Seventeen ships confirmed."
Li Wei nodded without taking his eyes off the horizon.
"Have everyone take their positions. We will not let them through."
The Chinese fleet deployed into a defensive formation, making use of what they had learned. The most heavily damaged destroyers were placed in the rear, protected by those still capable of fighting.
The fighters launched in waves from the carriers, their engines tracing white streaks across the gray sky.
Captain Chen Guoxiang approached Li Wei, his face marked by exhaustion.
"Sir, our anti-ship missile reserves are below thirty percent. The air wing has lost seventeen fighters. If this continues..."
"It won't continue," Li Wei cut him off. "One of two things happens: either they break our line, or we drive them back for good."
"But this ends here."
The Kartnod ships appeared on the horizon, their angular silhouettes outlined against the setting sun.
They advanced like a perfect machine built for destruction.
The first shot came three minutes later.
Another Chinese destroyer exploded, split in two by a beam of energy that slashed across the sky like a whip of blue light.
Its crew had no time to jump.
"Covering fire!" Li Wei shouted. "Have the fighters saturate their defenses!"
The response was immediate.
Entire squadrons of J-20s and J-15s hurled themselves at the enemy fleet, firing missiles in continuous volleys.
They were trying to destroy the main ships.
Wear down their shields.
Find weak points.
Force them to divert energy from their offensive systems.
And it worked.
For forty minutes, the Chinese fleet held the line.
The destroyers fired nonstop, while submarines launched torpedoes.
Then suddenly, one Kartnod ship began to smoke.
A massive explosion lit up the horizon.
Another slowed down, its shields flickering.
"We're doing it!" someone shouted on the bridge.
But the moment of hope did not last long.
Kael Draxor, from his flagship, watched the battle with cold determination.
He had underestimated them in the first battle.
He would not make the same mistake twice.
"Have the second line advance," he ordered. "Saturation barrier."
Five Kartnod ships moved forward and began firing in continuous bursts.
The sky seemed to catch fire.
The Chinese fighters were forced to withdraw.
Eight were destroyed in less than two minutes.
The Chinese fleet began to lose cohesion.
One destroyer after another, the ships fell.
The Nanchang took a direct hit to its center. The explosion split the ship in two, and it sank in less than three minutes.
The Lhasa, trying to cover the survivors' retreat, was struck by three consecutive beams.
Its hull split open after the third impact.
"Damn it!" Li Wei growled. "Have the destroyers hold the line!"
But the line was breaking.
Three hours after the battle began, the Chinese fleet was on the verge of collapse.
Casualties had risen above two thousand.
Eleven ships had been sunk.
The air wing had lost more than thirty fighters.
And the Kartnod kept advancing.
"Sir," Zhang Rui said, "they're concentrating fire on us."
"If they destroy the Liaoning, the fleet will surrender."
Li Wei nodded slowly.
"Then we will die as we should."
"On our feet."
"Fighting."
The first impact shook the carrier.
The lights flickered.
The alarms went off.
A second impact struck the deck.
Li Wei braced himself against the console.
"Fire all anti-aircraft guns!"
And then it happened.
The sky opened.
A dimensional distortion appeared above the ocean.
From it, enormous warships began to materialize.
The fleet of the Minamoto family.
Their battleships were anything but conventional.
Their hulls were built from advanced alloys and energy systems unknown to any modern navy.
Their reactors began to glow as their systems came online.
Within seconds, the sensors detected energy signatures never recorded before.
Haruki Minamoto appeared on the communications channel.
"This is Haruki Minamoto. Can you hear me?"
"This is Admiral Li Wei. I hear you."
"We are members of the Minamoto family. We have come to fulfill our duty. We will catch up afterward."
"These waters are our responsibility."
Li Wei smiled.
The turrets of the Minamoto battleships turned.
Concentrated beams of energy tore across the sky.
Two Kartnod cruisers were pierced from side to side before their shields could redistribute the energy.
From the decks, hypersonic combat interceptors launched.
Small, fast, and almost invisible to radar.
Within seconds, they scattered through the enemy fleet.
Destroying turrets and disabling shields.
Others fired directly at enemy hulls.
"All ships, sustained fire!" Li Wei shouted.
The Chinese fleet joined the attack.
Missiles.
Torpedoes.
Cannons.
The battle changed immediately.
But then the sky opened again.
Another fleet appeared.
This time from the south.
Silver ships advanced across the ocean.
"Identification," Haruki ordered.
"Sir," an officer replied, "they are from the Torres-Ventura family."
A communication channel opened.
"Admiral Li Wei. Lord Minamoto."
"I am Alexander Torres-Ventura, head of my family."
At his side stood his daughter, Victoria.
"We flew in from Australia as soon as the veil was deactivated."
He looked over the battlefield.
"We arrived just in time."
The hatches of their ships opened.
From within, a swarm of combat drones emerged.
Hundreds of them.
Each equipped with hypersonic attack systems.
They spread across the battlefield like an invisible net.
The drones analyzed the fluctuations in the Kartnod shields in real time.
Whenever they detected a drop in energy, they attacked.
Some released electromagnetic pulses.
Others fired hypersonic projectiles.
Others crashed directly into vulnerable points in the enemy hulls.
Two Kartnod ships exploded.
The joint assault began.
Chinese fleet.
Minamoto fleet.
Torres-Ventura fleet.
Three different forces.
One single attack.
The Night Eternal, Kael Draxor's flagship, endured for what felt like endless minutes.
Its shields flickered, and warning alarms began to sound.
"Retreat!" Draxor shouted.
The Kartnod ships scattered in every direction.
They had lost the battle.
Five hours of combat had come to an end.
On the Liaoning, Li Wei dropped to his knees.
On the Minamoto ship, Haruki closed his eyes.
Alexander stared at the horizon.
"This was only the beginning," he murmured.
Far from there, Kaisel Kartnod received the report.
"Have them regroup."
"And have them join those heading north."
He looked at the map.
"This place is still the key."
The ships continued advancing eastward.
In France, inside the Orleans mansion, Elena Kowalska walked through the corridors carrying the battle reports.
There was much to analyze.
Kenji was still reviewing the recovered record.
And somewhere in the North Atlantic, the green stone medallion shone more intensely than ever.