Chapter Seven.

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~~~June 1942~~~

~~~Skies of Qarth, Xandar~~~

Perlax, Nadio's wyvern, one of the horsemen on duty at the Qarth military base, flew his wyvern right into the right side of the American reconnaissance plane, which, although flying at a speed of 140 K/h, had failed to leave the wyvern behind.

The wyverns, despite being a bit large, managed to reach a high-flying speed, since to keep their bodies in the air they had to fly at a high speed, with records reaching up to 150 K/h, and now, with Perlax under the effects of potions that greatly enhanced her strength and speed, being next to the plane presented no challenge for her.

So both Rick and William could appreciate the beauty of such a mystical creature as Perlax was.

"This is Blue Eagle to leader, we have been intercepted," Rick reported their situation to the fleet the moment he saw Perlax fly alongside them, trying and failing to be shocked at what his eyes were seeing.

"Acknowledged, are you in imminent danger? Are you able to return to the fleet? Can you identify the aircraft's nationality?" the communications man on the USS Enterprise shared several questions in rapid succession as he signaled his officer to come over to where he was.

"No, we have not been attacked, we are unsure if we can safely return to the fleet," the man at the front of the communicator documented Rick's words, as the senior officer arrived and stood beside him, "Officer Smith, Blue Eagle has been intercepted by unknown forces ten miles from our position, as well as reporting finding land, along with an unknown nation."

Officer Smith listened to the report with a keen ear, recognizing that the report was of utmost importance, especially if it was due to enemy aircraft, which could mean that some fleet was nearby.

"We don't know the nation of the... dragon," Rick's report caused the intercom to go deadpan in confusion, unsure if he had heard correctly, "Dragon? I think I heard wrong, can you repeat please?"

"Yes, dragon, a damn dragon is flying next to us, it has some kind of armor, and a man is flying on its back," Rick repeated, this time a little more elated, unable not to show his mood to the recon officer.

The man looked at the officer dubiously, thinking whether to say the report and look crazy or to say nothing. In the end, the young man shared Rick's message, "they claim to have encountered a dragon."

The officer instantly looked at Esteban with a serious and somewhat angry countenance, "We're in a damn war, soldier, we're not free to make bad-grade jokes," Officer Smith's scolding came as soon as he processed what Esteban said.

"That's what Blue Eagle says, officer, mention being followed by a dragon," Esteban shielded himself from the officer's scolding, redirecting his anger towards the reconnaissance plane crewmen instead of him.

"Here Officer Smith, be honest and speak plainly, how the fuck are you going to find a dragon?" At this point, Officer Smith was very angry, the war was in full swing, they were still finding bodies of the Pearl Harbor casualties, the battle at Midway was still at its climax and they were losing, and now privates were feeling free enough to tell false reports in the middle of such a critical situation as they were going through.

"That's right... He's telling us to land, we can't put up any resistance, we've sighted three more dragoons on their way to our position," Rick's voice was heard through the helmets the officer put on once he scolded Rick as he did William.

For four seconds, neither Officer Smith nor Esteban knew how to proceed, until Smith raised his voice, "Get me the General!"

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~~~Tharlan, Xandar~~~

In the northernmost city of Xandar, the situation was at its peak, on the shore were still metal and human parts in equal measure floating in the crystal clear waters.

Many ships were in charge of collecting all that residual pollution, being helped by the sea animals who were in charge of feasting on the bodies of the Japanese soldiers, as for the four destroyers that had survived the battle, they were still anchored on the shore, with smoke and fire still coming out of them.

All the captured Japanese soldiers, which had given a figure of about 527, had been taken to the city prison, in a difficult job for the unsullied who guarded them to the spot, as the inhabitants of the city were very angry with those foreigners who deigned to come to their city to cause trouble.

As for the Japanese, they were awaiting interrogation. While Azrael was in the palace in an emergency meeting with Lord Henry, the lord who controlled the city.

"We don't know the exact place where they came from, we only knew of their presence thanks to the guards, who warned the moment they detected the foreign ships," Lord Henry was explaining, sitting at a wide table in the state council room.

Besides him, there were also other people, commanders of the city guard, deputy city ministers, as well as Valka and Minister Lucios, who had just arrived after his trip from Xandar to Tharlan by train.

Azrael, sitting in the chair where Lord Henry sat daily, listened to everything attentively, while feeling confused, surprised, and even anxious.

He had already seen the flag carried by the ships anchored off the coast, The Flag of the Rising Sun, a flag that had become an icon, but what had Azrael on the defensive was that the flag was used by the then Imperial Japanese Army. An army that gained a lot of power during World War II in the old world where Azrael belonged long before appearing on the steppes of Lhazar in Essos.

"The foreigners bear a very high resemblance to the Jhogos Nhai warriors, but we all know that we are no longer in contact with Yi Ti, let alone their home Plains," Lucios spoke, a very serious countenance on his face, which meant that all his thoughts were on the Japanese, with no room for distractions.

Getting up and going to an alternate table, Lucius took several machine guns and firearms. "Among the seized weapons, we recovered these," he said, placing the weapons on top of the main table, where the assembled members took one each and began studying them.

"We don't know the exact method of how they work, but it is a powerful and dangerous weapon, we tested them and they have a very strong attack, and while they can't go through such materials, as gold armor, emeralds or netherite are, along with some types of rock, such as obsidian or bedrock, they are still lethal if an unprotected person falls victim to these things," as he explained, he showed the aforementioned materials, which only showed small scratches on their surfaces, showing that they had not been harmed by bullets.

"Are those the bolts?" Valka asked, assuming that the bullets Lucios had placed on the table were the equivalent of the bolts on the scorpions or the arrows on the bows and crossbows.

"Yes, Your Grace," Lucios confirmed, "these are what we know as the bolts or arrows, and although they look small, they have a Redstone-like powder inside them that is also very volatile." Valka nodded, looking at the bullet as if trying to decipher its secrets, at which point Azrael decided to speak for the first time.

"I want you to interrogate the captives, use whatever methods you see fit to get as much information out of them as possible, where they came from, who sent them, how they are ordered, everything, I even want to know what they had for breakfast."

"Also, have the patrols of wyvern riders increased along the coasts, we can't expect an act like this to happen again, let alone so close to a city." Azrael finished speaking, earning nods from all, just in time for the doors to the hall to open, ushering in two witches.

"Your Majesty, urgent news from the military base in Qarth," Valery, one of the two witches who entered the room, explained the reason for their intrusion to the meeting, handing documents to Azrael, Valka, and Lucius. Who began to read them.

"This... Is this confirmed?" Lucius asked, with a surprised face, "Totally," Valery's companion replied. "Two men were intercepted flying on what looked like a metal wyvern."