The chaotifighting aboard the stranded ships came to an abrupt halt as Captain or’s voice rang out.

  “Stop fighting among yourselves! look!” he bellowed, pointing past the wreckage of their crippled ships.

  The g swords stilled, and all eyes turoward the horizon. A fresh wave of boats, smaller but numerous, was rapidly approag from beyond the debris-filled waters.

  A anding voice echoed from the reinforts.

  “Captain or! We are here to reinforce you—by the orders of Dame Lana!”

  Relief flooded or’s chest. Dame Lana had sent reinforts. This wasn’t just a glimmer of hope—it was a real ce to escape.

  Their ships were trapped, the masts reduced to splihanks to the enemy’s devastating ballistae. They had no way of setting sail, no way of retreating. But now, with these reinforts arriving on smaller boats, some of his men could jump ship and escape to open waters.

  If they could make it back to the Ronin House, they could warn Lady Jessica, regroup, and decide on to move forward.

  Yes. That was the only path forward. Leaving behind the sves… That was unavoidable. It infuriated him to think that Ravenna would have them, but there was no other choice. The mission had already crumbled. Survival was now the priority.

  or cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted toward the reinforts, his voice urgent.

  “Alright! Just stay there! We will swi—”

  Before he could finish, a thunderous TWANG split the night. A storm of javelins, unched from the ballistae on the port wall, tore through the air like harbingers of death.

  The first volley struck the approag boats with terrifying precision. Wood shattered, splinters and gore exploding in every dire. The cries of dying men filled the night as bodies were flung into the sea, staining the water a deep crimson.

  The sughter didn’t stop there. Another volley followed. Then another.

  One by ohe boats were annihited. Some capsized instantly, their octs sinkih the waves. Others caught fire as the nterns struck their hulls, sending burning men screaming into the o.

  The relentless assault tinued until only a quarter of the boats remained afloat. The once-promising reinforts had been reduced to a pathetic, bloodied remnant.

  Silence fell over the stranded ships. or stood frozen, his breath shallow, his mind struggling to prehend the devastation. The rahe accuracy… the sheer firepower of those ballistas—

  It was beyond anything he had ever seen. Their masts beiroyed was already an incredible dispy of power, but to strike down fast-moving boats from that dista defied reason. It shattered every expectation of siege onry.

  This wasn’t just battlefield domihis was warfare rewritten. Then, Ravenna’s voice came again, cutting through the heavy silence like a bde.

  “Very bad idea, Captain or.” From her point on the port, Ravenna’s tone was amused but ced with quiet menace.

  “Just surrender. Or…” She let the words linger in the air before tinuing, her voice dipping into something colder. “…I might have to start taking drastic measures.”

  Captain or ched his fists. His men—those who hadn’t succumbed to fear—turo him, waiting for orders. But what orders could he give? They were stranded, outgunned, and the only reinforts they had were now dead ier.

  Up on the fortress wall, Hughes exhaled slowly, l his spygss. He had personally given the order for the ballistae to fire, but even he was stunned by the results.

  “This…” He muttered to himself, his mind rag. “This will ge how defetles are fought forever.”

  Eastern Coastline – Iers

  Dame Lana gripped the oars tightly, her knuckles white. The rhythmic sound of water spshing against the wooden hull filled the tense silence as she and her remaining crew rowed away from their broken ships.

  Her mind was already made up—the mission was a failure.

  The sves had to be abahere was no saving them now. Esg with as many men as possible was the only logical choice.

  She gnced over her shoulder at the dark, operetg before them. The pn was simple—regroup in open waters, assess their losses, and decide the course of a. Captain or, whom she had sent half her crew to reinforce, would likely be making the same decision.

  "This is the best option," she muttered under her breath, trying to reassure herself.

  But before she could take another breath—

  A silver streak of light ripped through the darkness. Lana barely had time to process it.

  The moment she caught sight of it, the projectile puraight through her boat, slig through the air with a horrifying whistle.

  Then—pain. Unimaginable pain.

  Her vision blurred as her body was torn apart mid-air, sent flying into the sky in a mess of blood and shattered bone.

  The st thing she saw before everything faded into bck was a sea of destru—every single one of her crew’s boats being obliterated by another relentless volley of ballista javelins.

  Screams echoed across the water. Then—silence.

  Eastern Coastline – Atop the Dunes

  John stood atop the t dunes, watg the massacre unfold.

  From his elevated vantage point, he had a clear view of the ballistae’s devastating precision.

  The rapid-fire meism, powered by spring-meism, unleashed volley after volley, cutting down every st fleeing boat before they could reach open water.

  Within mere mihe sea was no longer a refuge—it was a graveyard.

  One of the knights galloped up beside him, breathing heavily.

  "Vice Captain John!" the knight reported, his voice filled with awe. "The targets have been pletely eliminated! No survivors!"

  John smiled, his grip tightening around the reins of his horse."Good." His voice carried a cold satisfa.

  He turned his gaze toward the wreckage he shore. "Now! We ride toward the ships and bring the sves into the city!"

  A chorus of affirmations followed as his unit turheir steeds toward the coastline, galloping toward their ask.

  Western Beach – The Layered Roation

  The first rays of dawn began to creep over the horizon, casting a soft golden hue over the battlefield. The csh of steel had ended.

  Dame Aisha stood amidst the fallen, bloodied and victorious.

  Keith and his men had been wiped out. Their ambush had failed, and now, their bodies y scattered across the roations, lifeless and still.

  She took a deep breath, wiping the sweat and blood from her brow before turning to her knights.

  "Alright, men!" she called, her voice filled with unwavering authority. "We ride to the coast and escort the sves into the city!"

  There was ation. Her knights mouheir horses, their armlinting in the soft m light, and thundered down the rocky path toward the beach.

  Southern Port – The Last Stand of Captain or

  The silence was deafening. or stood on the deck of his crippled ship, staring at the absolute age around him.

  The bodies of his men floated lifelessly in the bloodied waters. The reinforts he had pinned his hopes on were nothing but wreckage. The enemy had not only outmaneuvered him—they had outgunned him on a scale he hought possible.

  His mind was a storm of flig thoughts. He had spent years building his name, years earning his pce. A, all of it had crumbled in a single night.

  He ched his fists, trembling with frustration, shame, and most of all—defeat.

  His crew was exhausted, broken, and trapped. Their rations wouldn’t st long, and with the Imperial Army undoubtedly on its way, even if they fought back, it would only dey the iable.

  His men were greenhorns, inexperienced and already turning on each other out of fear and desperation. If left unchecked, they’d tear each other apart before the enemy even arrived.

  He took a deep breath, f himself to swallow his pride.

  There was no escape. No hope. or exhaled sharply and finally shouted the words that sealed his fate.

  "W- We surrender!" The words tasted like poison on his tongue.

  But he k was the only choice left.

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