[ARGEN'S POV]
"What is the fleet's status? How far are we?" Argen said, standing on the control room's deck.
"Sir, we are 10 kilometres away from Targalia. But…" The lieutenant replied and was shocked.
"What? Is something wrong?" Argen asked the lieutenant.
"Sir, the city is not bearing our flag. No…there isn't any flag." He responded.
Argen was shocked; he could sense that something was wrong.
"Send a message to Rokhnir," Argen ordered.
"Sir, we tried that ten minutes ago. But we couldn't catch any signals."
"What!? Why didn't you tell me then!?" Argen was furious.
"Sir, we thought it must be a regional anomaly." The lieutenant replied.
Argen slammed his hand on the deck's rail after hearing the lieutenant's response. He understood that they had fallen into their trap. His crew had failed his surprise.
"It's either Yarna or Yornus leading. Only they can think like this." He thought.
"What about now? Can you contact them?" Argen asked.
"Sir, we are facing the same problem. We have no signals."
Argen was now sure that it was either Yornus or Yarna.
"They have jammed the communications. We have fallen into their trap." Argen said this lightly. "Order all ships to point their main cannons at the city. Open fire at 7 kilometres distance." Argen ordered the admiral.
"Yes, sir," The admiral responded and sent the order.
"Sir, isn't it odd. We haven't encountered any Dormisian or Barkilisian ships yet. We are 7 kilometres from the city." The admiral asked Argen.
"Yes, I know," Argen responded.
Argen had understood it way before. For 150 ships to disappear without a trace or notice. He knows that it is a trap. He has understood that Dormis and Barkil have been defeated.
Soon, the fleet eight was near the city. They weren't in the 7-kilometre radius, but their radars were detecting a train 7 kilometres away. There was a railway track near the coast's edge.
"Sir, we are detecting something emerging behind the ridge, on the railway track." Another lieutenant reported.
"Be on high alert," Argen replied.
The fog was dissipating slowly as the sun was rising. They waited and waited for the thing. After a while, a train appeared. Its engine appeared, and then what followed was a nightmare for them.
Behind the train's engine were tanks, and as they appeared, they took aim and began to fire. The fleet was taken by surprise. But the tanks didn't inflict any damage. They were like birds throwing stones at them.
"Take out the train," Argen ordered.
The lieutenant conveyed his orders to a destroyer, and the train was taken down. The tanks began to fall from the rail and then from the coastal ridge. Many were reduced to ashes by the other destroyers.
They kept moving, and they were within a 7-kilometre radius. The fog began to clear as the sun rose. And finally, the city appeared. Argen was about to order to initiate fire, but he noticed something on the roof of the gatehouse. On his orders, the crew zoomed in, and what he saw shocked him.
On the roof was standing his old enemy, Martin Arkila. General Yarna was there as well.
"What's he doing there? And what is that badge?" Argen asked.
The crew zoomed in further, and the badge of the second-in-command of Arkania became visible. Argen was shocked. How did he become the second in command? And what is he doing here? These were the questions Argen was asking himself. While looking at Martin, he saw something on his feet. On further zooming, they saw what was there.
It was the head of Rokhnir. The very sight of the head gave Argen all the answers to his questions. He was scared, and he stepped back. He understood that the train was a bait to make them reveal their position, and he knew they were in grave danger.
"ALL SHIPS, RETREAT!!!" Argen's voice screamed through the hard-wired internal comms.
[MARTIN'S POV]
It was time; Argen had fallen into the trap. I raised my arm and pointed at the fleet.
"Soldiers, initiate FIRE!!!!" I shouted with all my might.
The orders were heard, and the attack was launched. The 700 artillery cannons and 659 tanks opened fire on the fleet. Everyone had the fleet in their range. I have caught him in my trap. I have caught Argen. The shells flew from behind me and landed in the sea or on the fleet. They were taking damage. The artillery and tank crews reloaded as fast as they could and kept firing. The legendary fleet was now totally vulnerable to our cannons.
[ARGEN'S POV]
"Sir, we are taking heavy damage!!" The lieutenant said as the Water Devil shook with the shell's impact.
"This is too much, we can't hold any more. The ship…AHHHHH," The voice of the captain screamed through the radio.
"Sir, we have lost a destroyer. We are taking heavy damage; we have to do something." The lieutenant reported. He was panicking.
The whole crew, no… the whole fleet was panicking. They were totally taken by surprise. Even the most powerful fleet was powerless in the face of thousands of Arkanian shells.
"Another frigate lost. Destroyer Refler is taking heavy damage as well." The lieutenant reported again. But there was no response from Argen. He was shocked himself. He had in his experience of 20 years never seen or heard of an attack of this magnitude. He now knew how much of a devil Martin is himself.
"Refler is down." Another lieutenant reported. "We have to do something."
Argen looked down and took a deep breath. "Lower the shields. Take out the Erkilna."
On this order, the whole crew went still. Erkilna was the special and the most powerful cannon a battleship can bear. A cannon using a 220 mm shell. Its single bullet can take down any wall. Whether concrete or not. The only problem was that it couldn't move. To change targets, the whole ship had to change direction.
"What are you waiting for? TAKE DOWN THE WALL, USE THE ERKILNA!!" Argen was furious and was panicking. The crew had never seen him react like this.
The orders were executed immediately. The Erkilna began to emerge in front of the main cannon. The iron shields were brought down.
"Let's see how you handle this, Martin," Argen said to himself.
[MARTIN'S POV]
I watched the fleet panicking and taking heavy damage. For the first time in history, they have lost a ship and taken such heavy damage. But we were here to completely demolish them. We will let none live. As I watched them, I saw the shield of the Water Devil lower. Something was emerging, and I could sense it would bring disaster. I began to step back slowly and slowly. And finally, when the thing became visible, I understood that my instincts were correct. It was a single-barreled cannon, and it was big.
"General…we need to get down, now!" I ordered and rushed towards the stairs.
The general looked through his binoculars and understood. He signalled the soldiers and joined me. The general, three soldiers and I began to rush down. We moved as fast as we could. We were halfway through when the cannon fired. It was loud, very loud. The shell pierced through the southern gatehouse and hit one of the cannons in its straight path.
I opened my eyes. My sight was blurred and I couldn't hear a single thing. I had fallen from the gatehouse. My vision and hearing slowly and slowly became clear. The five of us were alive, but injured, except for me. A soldier rushed towards me, grabbed me by the arm and made me stand.
"Sir, are you alright?" He asked and rushed me to a safe spot.
"Yes…" I coughed. "Yes, I am fine," I responded.
Another soldier brought the general here as well. The general's head was bleeding. A soldier came forward and covered his wound with bandages.
"Soldier, don't worry about us. Go back to your duty." I stood straight. "All soldiers, keep firing. No matter what, don't stop!!!" I screamed with all the power I had.
"You heard the commander. KEEP FIRING!!!" All the squad leaders spread my words.
The soldiers fired, reloaded and fired again. They were firing two shells in a minute. This was the fastest I had seen anyone fire. Then that cannon fired again. This time, it again pierced through the southern wall and took down two cannons. But this didn't stop our soldiers. They weren't scared any more. They had nothing to be scared of.
"The fleet is taking heavy damage. But this cannon is causing a problem. It is giving other ships openings. At this rate, we may fall in approximately six hours." Captain Oliver, who was in the command centre of Targalia city, reported through the comms.
"Martin…we have to get the Arkinson." Alfred rushed towards me and said.
"We can't contact them. All communications outside the walls are jammed." I answered.
Then Alfred contacted Felker. After a minute, he came in his Irgis-12.
"Need a ride?" Felker asked.
I laughed, and then Alfred and I rode the tank. We got inside, and Felker kept standing. Then the driver gave full throttle, and the tank headed to the western gate. Felker warned the nearby soldiers to move away. As they did, the tank fired at the debris, creating a gap. Then we left the walls and headed to the warehouse. It was 4 kilometres from the city.
We didn't want to use it, but Argen left me with no choice.