Editing Rakuin no Monshou:Volume3 Chapter6 (section)

===Part 2=== 
Ax Bazgan was in this moment aboard Taulia’s only cruiser-class ship taking command. The pair of sails released on the ship’s top and bottom to balance the ship in the air received the night winds and spread plenty. Armaments were equipped on the ship’s bow, port, and starboard one apiece.

Under the ship, Ravan Dol personally took the dragoon unit and advanced east against the Yunos River’s current. Nearby Ravan, a single airship messenger was seen tagging behind.

The enemy would never imagine that they would cross directly against the river. Yunos’ vehement current was nothing to fear for dragons. Only, they risked subjecting themselves to enemy fire because there were no spots to take cover, but it was for this purpose Ravan had split the forces.

“Apta has few soldiers to start with. There is no way they could account us crossing the river, so there is a good chance they haven’t stationed soldiers there. They won’t be able to immediately respond to our attack.”

Ax grinned from the sky. Even better, the cannons they lined across the chasm began full-blown firing. And with the cruiser’s appearance, preventing the dragoons’ advance would becoming more and more difficult.

“Begin cover fire! You don’t have to aim, but do it enough that they can’t ignore us!”
 
Get too close, and they risked entering enemy range. The air carrier acting as a mobile battery from the skies would serve more than enough.

The Apta fortress surroundings lit red and then smoked white as the cannon’s roars sounded. Both side’s bombardments were as Ax instructed, having little effect at all, but that opening allowed the dragoons straddled on their Sozos and Gorus to gradually cross the river.

[[Image:Rakuin no Monshou v03_237.jpg|thumb]]

They used the transport route for goods ferried through the river, climbing the gentled hill and approaching Apta. When just as they prepared to slash their claws and swing their tails to tear down the fortress walls,

“Enemy airships have started their attacks on the dragoons! ” A soldier confirming the battle’s progress with binoculars shouted. Ax curved his lips into a sardonic smile.

“Ha! Too slow, too slow, too slow! Bloody Mephians, the trap you tried to set up for us has backfired now, hasn’t it? Everything’s been forestalled, forestalled, forestalled.”

Gil seemed to be confident in the trap he laid within the fortress, but in trying to draw him in he did absolutely nothing to halt his advance. Gil was too lax in allowing him to place his men however he wished.

“Send the second division to the south gates! Don’t forget to stay alert on the air. The enemy air carrier may show up.”

On Ax’s issued command, the infantry and dragoons riding their small-sized dragons that carefully hid themselves in the southern forest entered the battle. The Mephian soldiers who had begun shifting towards the tide of victory, turned to panic at the sight.

After putting up a pathetic attempt at resistance, they immediately shut themselves behind the closed gates.

All the cannons at Taulia’s disposal had been used up to distract the enemy so there were none remaining; but in its place slowly appeared an enormous shadow. Next to that shadow was Bouwen, entrusted over command of the second division. He raised his sword and shouted.

“All right men! The engineers will support the tanks while advancing forward. Gunners will stay in position and provide cover fire. Soldiers, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for! Draw your swords and wait for my signal!”

While the first division clashed swords with the enemy, the tank they had finished assembling beforehand was sent out. (Alt: they sent out the tank they had finished assembling beforehand) The appearance of the multi-wheeled tank advancing forward, grinding the dirt up as it did, was just like a mechanized dragon furnished with long arms and three heads. The arms were ballistas, and the heads were towers that carried several gunners, designed to be ladders to lean against the fortress walls. In its front was a pointed horn, designed to pierce the bulky gates and walls, it emitted an eerie shine.

Originally, it was supposed to be pulled by dragons, but because this time the majority had been focused onto the force attacking from the west, the engineers walked bent over laying out rails, pushing the tank through them.

''Boom.'' The horn rammed into the gates the first time, sending ripples down Bouwen’s stomache. The defending enemy towers left and right of the gates rained down bullets, and likewise shots fired from above their own towers.  

Roughly the same time the southern gates were being smashed to pieces, the dragons breached the western walls and flooded into Apta’s city districts. Those frightening roars and tremoring footsteps surely struck immense fear into the hearts of the townsmen hiding under their cellars.

“All right!”

Ax shouted joyously.

''With this, our victory’s decided.''

The enemy’s plan was probably to lure the enemy into their bosom, but now that they had allowed Ax and his men to break all the way into their belly, that trap was going to have little effect. Their line of vision had been reduced to only being able to confirm the enemy’s forces with their own eyes. Having broken into the urban districts, they could send detached dragoon units to subdue the batteries, meaning any firepower that threatened the air carrier was no more. This extensive starry sky existed only for Ax.

“Move the ship forward. I’m also going down. I’ll catch Gil Mephius by the neck with my bare hands.”

Ax ordered the ship’s advance as he lovingly caressed the fan on his waist.

And without experiencing any major obstacles, Ax drew closer to Aptan fortress walls, and the multitude of towers as well as the houses’ rooftops came under his view. As the plan was to lure the enemy into Apta alone, the figures of the populace fleeing was nowhere to be seen. They were most likely taking shelter.

“Mmh. This might end without bringing much resentment.”

Ax nodded, satisfied. Apta was practically already his territory. Ending this without having to set homes ablaze and involving the populace into the conflict; it was safe to say there were no results better than this.

For this reason, Ax never ordered his men to set fire.

The dragons heavily plunged forward the stone-paved streets. They closed in on the fortress walls from the other end of the city. Arrows and bullets were fired from the tower battlements, but the three soldiers each on the plain scaffolds tied onto the Sozos’ back also responded in suit. As a single Sozos was pierced in the eye and collapsed, the remaining dragons swarmed the watchtower, smashing it to pieces.

The air carrier came to a stop above a different tower connecting to the castle. A ladder unrolled down the ship with armed soldiers climbing off. Ax Bazgan was within one of the airships in the cruiser.

“Have the cruiser remain on alert in the sky. We still don’t know the whereabouts of the carrier that left Apta. Although I doubt it can do much even if it comes back.”

After giving this order to the ship’s captain, Ax personally descended down to the tower’s roof.

“My lord!” A soldier came running up the stairs and kneeled. “We have sightings of Prince Gil. He’s been reported fleeing the first floor with several men who appear to be his Imperial Guards.”

“Oh ho? That he didn’t run off away from the castle is praiseworthy. Ravan!”

Around one of the corridors overseeing the garden, he spotted the strategist perched on a dragon and called out to him. In high spirits he asked,

“What do you suppose I should do with the prince? Kill him, or maybe capture him alive?”

“If possible, capturing him alive would be ideal,” Ravan answered sternly. “Having an all-out resistance against Mephius would be bothersome. Taking him hostage and agreeing to a temporary ceasefire in exchange for him is best.”

“Hmph. Until then, I’ll shower him in plenty of affection as he serves under me ‘til he can’t go on anymore.”

Ax hummed, as he was led by his soldiers down the stairs.

Ravan Dol surveyed the dusty surroundings reeking on gunpowder with squinty eyes.

''Now, what odds does that prince have to provoke us?''

In the end, not a single one of Gil’s supposedly laid traps had set off. One of their advance routes had been thwarted, but making their way into the fortress so easily had been in a way, unexpected.

''I highly doubt he actually plans to hole himself in the fortress and fight while being sieged.''

And then, feeling the presence of an air carrier taking off above him, he looked up.

A shadow blocking the view of the starlight approached his way. Their Taulian air carrier began to intercept it. This was likely the cruiser that had left Apta in order to let the princess escape. No doubt it was their plan to land behind them while the Taulian soldiers were concentrated on attacking the fortress, and pincer them. However they had already missed their chance. At this stage where the castle had already fallen, there was little they could do, and in fact, it immediately turned tail from where it came. The Taulian carrier begain to pursue the cruiser—

''No, wait.''

His long years of experience and characteristic senses flashed at him jolting those nerves that grew lax with the foretelling of victory into waking.

“The enemy ship’s retreat happened too fast. It seems to be luring our cruiser. Messenger!”

“Yes, sir!”

The answer came by the dragon’s foot. The messenger airship, in order to conserve ether, stayed on the ground when the troops weren’t moving.

“Head for our ship. Tell them not to chase the enemy cruiser too far.”

“Understood!”

The messenger immediately started the engine and flew off to the sky together with his airship, disappearing into the black of the night.

“Sir Ravan. What about us?”

“Stay on the lookout. If that carrier was meant to lure us, another ship might be coming.”

“If more troops come, do you suppose they’ll charge us with dragons?”

“We need not be afraid of Mephian trained dragons. In fact, have you come across even a single dragon while here? They likely ran away in this confusion—“

The instant after he said this, Ravan’s body was rocked vehemently. It wasn’t only Ravan, but the soldiers, the towers, the Sozos—all of Apta was taken by a severe tremor.

“What in blazes?!” Ravan cried.

His sight was directed towards the sky once more. A huge shadow loomed over the night sky, as if engulfing the fortress. Ravan’s predictions were right on its mark. However, the envoy raining down destruction from that huge shadow did so only on a single point that, in a certain sense was the most crucial of all, and went against all his expectations.




The large tremor had, of course, also swept under Ax who had gone down to the first level.

“What on blazes?!”

As he cried the same words as the strategist, a second, then a third tremor came. The ceiling and walls creaked and dust fell on them. His men scattered left and right. In the confusion Ax often found himself nearly crashing shoulders with his men.

“A-An earthquake? At this timing...damn it to hell.“

At that point, a soldier went on his knees in front of the staggering Ax.

“We’re under enemy attack!”

“Enemy? Where is the enemy?”

“T-The sky—A large dragonstone ship’s appeared and is bombarding Apta!”

“''Apta?''”

In spite of their current dilemma, Ax struggled to grasp the meaning of those words for an instant.

“Apta, you say? Absurd! What kind of idiot would attack his own fort—”

A fourth tremor came. He came to a start at the creaking(jarring) sounds of the beams supporting the ceiling. The majority of the soldiers were already scrambling out of the fortress even without Ax having to give the order.

''Don’t run!'' Ax had tried to shout, but along with the fourth tremor a portion of the ceiling behind them collapsed, swallowing several soldiers in it.



“All right—stay in the air until we get the signal. Spread the sails and continue the bombardment.”

Further up on the sky above Apta, 150 metres overhead, the large air carrier Dhum spread its sails. This ship, as per tradition crowned the name of Dragon God Mephius’ subordinate dragon, was Prince Gil’s flagship.

The commanding young captain was one of the men Gil had left in Birac. He was a winged dragon officer and also the youngest born of a noble family.

Inside the bridge, Garbera’s princess Vileena Owell was also present. Her head held high, she leaned proper against a chair prepared for her while surveying Apta’s ongoing bombardment.

The day before, Vileena had been commanded by Prince Gil to depart Apta, but it was not so that she could take shelter. While successfully making it seem that way to their enemies, she embarked for an intermediary airship base and boarded the Dhum which had been moved there.

The one transporting the Dhum all the way there was Birac’s merchant, Zaj Hamann. He camouflaged the ship so that it would not be recognised by the enemy and had it fly together with a group of other merchant ships he had prepared.

“Dhum is our last trump card,” Orba affirmed when explaining the strategy to Vileena. “An ace hidden for a time when the number of moves who can make are limited amongst those already limited moves. We’re talking about a ship this large. When the enemy sees it, they’ll go off thinking the rear guard has come all on their own. The enemy’s greatest strength is in their numbers. It comes to be that the thing they have to fear most will be reinforcements from Mephius.”

It was certainly a valid strategy, she believed. It also seemed capable of driving Ax Bazgan off. However, this would only work once. In the end they still had few soldiers. Knowing this, Taulia was more than likely to come here again with an even more overbearing force
.
''Then again, to think...''

Even as she kept her face expressionless, the surprise did not disappear from her eyes. She would have never imagined he would bomb Apta fortress itself. Of course, he would lead the townsmen into the forest in preparation for this.

The thunderous roars continued beneath in succession and smoke gushed upwards shrouding the flying pieces of stone like a monster made of clouds.

“Even I hadn’t considered destroying the fortress from the very beginning. It was just a card I kept in reserve. But to remove Taulia’s threat as soon as possible, there’s already nothing else but this,” Gil Mephius had frankly told her.

“I saw Ax Bazgan using my own eyes and heard him with my own ears. He will come out to the battlefield. Even if he doesn’t, he’s a man full of pride. He’ll come with a large army to attack my impudent self. ''That'' is our aim. We will be sacrificing the fortress. If the enemy doesn’t come with a large army, then there’s no meaning to it.”

Thinking about it now, that was just about the first time he met her face to face and spoke his real mind.

“Sending you to Birac is also a move to make them think I’m hoping for a decisive showdown. …...Saying it like this, you might get mad at me but even if you choose you stay in Birac...”

“If you already know that I will object, then do not mention it,” Vileena sweetly answered. “I am sure it will only turn out as you imagine it.”

“R-Right.”

Gil scratched the tip of his nose. That sight of the adolescent boy did not seem like it belonged to the same bold commander daring to bomb his own fortress.

Right now, holes were being torn into the upper walls of the fortress and its ruins collapsing into the lower balconies down to the garden. The ramparts blasted to rubble and several towers were hollowed and disfigured with fire spewing from their openings.

The enemy soldiers who infiltrated into the stronghold would unmistakably be thrown into confusion from this bombing. Under this complete reversal in position, it seemed only a matter of time until Ax was drawn outside.



Ravan Dol was taken aback by the unfolding scene and stared up at the sky eyes wide opened, not even noticing his mounted dragon acting out of control or how he was about to be thrown of his scaffolding.

However, that lasted only a moment. The veteran staff officer vanished the surprise from his eyes, replacing them with a composed glare, and he quickly began comprehending the situation.

''So destroying their cannons has backfired on us.''

They possessed no arsenal to fire down that ship. Even he had not supposed the enemy was brave enough to bomb their own fort. The ongoing explosions summoned unrest amongst the soldiers and the dragons. “There boy, there boy,” Ravan raised his voice as loud as he could pulling the reins connected to the scaffold. 

It was for times like these that he made the dragoons carry around a powdered medicine he’d mixed. A sniff in the dragon’s nose and it would repress their excitement. However, it also induced a state of muscle paralysis, thus rendering the dragons unusable.

“Men! Don’t falter!”

The strategist Ravan Dol excellently calmed his mounted dragon. “Look!” he said pointing to the sky.

Just now, the carrier receiving Ravan’s direction was returning back. The enemy ship that first appeared was a decoy as he had expected. The returning Taulian cruiser immediately began fire and quickly approached Dhum. At the same time, the rain of bombardments came to a stop.

“Before the enemy cruiser returns, secure the medium and large dragons’ retreat! The quick-footed dragoons will group with our lord and bring him back even forcefully if you have to!”

“But Sir Ravan. We’ve come this far.”

“We were ''let'' to come this far, you imbecile! Now, do as I say!!”

''The imbecile is me.''
 
As he endured a disgrace enough to make him want to slit his own throat, he saw off the Tengos launching themselves into a dash.

But even then, his observant eye that had accumulated on years of experience grasped the
situation cooly.

There was also the possibility they could be caught in a pincer attack from the returning cruiser, but...

''No airships are coming out from the enemy carriers. They don’t have the forces to spare. On the other hand, our carrier does have airships. If we use those to chase away the enemy flagship, we should still afford plenty of room for retreat.''

To add, the enemy had smashed their own castle. If in exchange they did not also suffer a heavy blow, then the scales would not even out. In other words, if they could keep their damage to a minimum, then it could be called their win.

''We’ll return back to Taulia, immediately reorganize our forces and come back to attack this half-wrecked fortress.''

Ravan Dol began preparing his next move as he looked up at the air battle between the carriers that began to ensue.