No matter how many times Princess Viara had seen it, there still was certain morbid beauty in observing the swan-like elven airships engage with the more numerous minotaur ships that looked like flying coffins. By now, the Empire of the Horn had battered the Peninsular Alliance's forces for months now, all the while taking their fortified cities one by one. Not even demons with their portals and quick raiding attacks had ever posed such an existential threat to the nations Viara lived to protect.
At the start of the current battle, the two fleets had formed neat formations in the air to exchange volleys of magic-tech cannon fire. Neither side had lost that many ships at first as the same engines that kept the large ships in the air provided very robust barriers against magical attacks. But the moment the minotaur ships got to the kinetic projectile range, the fight turned far more brutal for both sides.
Focused cannonball barrages punctured through shields and crashed into the white hulls of the elven swan ships. But the flying pieces of art were able to respond with their stronger magic-tech cannons that made the coffin ships burst into balls of fire the moment their shields failed. So the longer the battle lasted, the heavier the casualties were on both sides.
"Give the final sign to withdraw, we have bought enough time," Viara commanded with a sigh to her ship's captain. They both stood on the quarterdeck of the elf fleet's flagship that was only providing long-range fire support past the frontline formations.
The city under the air battle was little more than a burning ruin waiting to collapse. All the magic barriers were gone and the vital wall sections had crumbled under the assault of the minotaur tanks. Today the fleet had been there only to buy time for the ground army to retreat.
"Angle thirty, enemy ship, breaking formation, ramming speed," came a series of shouts from a spotter on the quarterdeck mast. A minotaur ship was going straight at one of the larger swan ships that the elf fleet was using as cover to take projectile hits. It was one of the newest ships in the fleet and its core had been modified to resist even direct projectile hits. So it should fly even if most of its structure was turned into a holed skeleton.
Since the minotaur ships were usually made of rune engraved wood like the elf ones, ramming attacks usually ended in their ships blowing up on the stronger barriers of the elven counterparts. But this time as their barriers collided the swan ship's shield flashed only once to resist the massive projectile before it collapsed.
Viara's lips gaped as she watched the minotaur coffin crash through the large white ship with shocking ease. Even as she had seen many battles, her blue eyes dilated while her fingers went to grab her silky silver hair that was on a tightly tied ponytail. She pulled from it just to have her focus back.
Before the corpse of the destroyed swan ship began to even fall Viara shouted, "Angle thirty, all guns target that ramming ship, full power."
While the magic-tech cannons on the deck and sides of the princess's flagship aimed, the minotaur ship clearing the white debris was already being fired upon by others. But to an added horror, the magic blasts simply drew lines on the black ship like it did not even have a barrier and its hull alone was able to take the hits. Though it did began glowing red a moment before it crashed into another swan ship.
"That ship is not rune engraved wood... metal?" Viara uttered even as another realization came to her. The seemingly unstoppable ship was changing its course to fly straight at the flagship next. Like it had planned the first two hits just to have a clear path to it. Not to mention it moved with a speed that not even most elven cruise ships were able to achieve. Like gravity was a joke to it.
"Prepare to be rammed, change direction to go straight at that ship, prepare to tilt to avoid direct ram at my command," Viara shouted a series of commands before she had the time to even think, it would take the hostile ship to reach the flagship only around a minute if she calculated its speed right. Not to mention she had no idea how the massive iron coffin was able to fly or what it was able to do. Making metal tanks was one thing but no engine had even been able to keep such a massive pile of metal in flight before. At least not before this day.
"Signal the fleet to disperse if flagship down," Viara added and swallowed hard. She tried to think if there was anything else she should do to minimize the damage this single ship with unknown properties could cause in the worst-case scenario. By now it was being focused so intensely that the rest of the minotaur fleet was able to get even closer with their kinetic weapons. The only bright dot was the fact the enemy seemed to have only one of these borderline unnatural ships in the fleet.
"Prepare to be boarded, drop the shields, full power to stay in flight," Viara commanded as she had seen two ship cores overheat from even attempting to mitigate the ramming of this ship with their shields. It was relayed by one of the lieutenants to the core via a communication crystal.
Suddenly the elf princess felt naked even in her rune engraved steel plate armor that had been shaped to give room for her bust. She was a high-class astral mage knight and still just thinking the horned monsters that manned the enemy ships made her shiver. Not even putting on her helmet helped her to lose the feeling.
"Starboard, half tilt, drop altitude," Viara shouted when the enemy ship just kept accelerating towards them. The agile swan ship followed the command aided by the crew. The deck tilted to a vertical position and only the magic boots of the crew kept them on the deck along with the gravity-defying pull from the ship's core.
For a moment it looked like the cast iron black coffin was going to fly past them but then it cut its power to drop on the swan ship like a rock. The increasingly unsure princess almost commanded to abandon ship as the coffin used gravity to loudly sink into the tilted side of the white hull. But then it ignited its core again and locked in place. A moment later hatches opened on its side and deck.
"Get ready," Viara shouted and manifested several astral blades and shields around her. But then she spotted portals opening on the sky above the crumbling elven city. Demons had come to join in the battle after seeing an opportunity to fight two wounded armies. And all just for some diabolic fun.
Like not even caring about the demons, several minotaurs charged on the tilted ship deck. They were met with loose spear and rifle formations. Viara found a moment to smile before she disengaged the gravity alteration on the main deck with a control crystal. Several of the chain-mail-wearing brutes slid off the deck and to the ground below but some managed to strike their axes at least some of the elves on their way down. Even if they too were affected by the tilted deck, their magic-tech boots still let them stay on the deck in oddly practical low-profile positions to fire their rifles.
