The very night that the fleet had left the capital of Piratas was one where people were dancing and singing and making merry. They knew for certain that the thunderous noises from the sea just a few short hours ago were surely the sounds of their prided navy completely dominating the Sub-Human garbage that had dared to enter their waters. Even as a heavy fog that reeked of magic rolled in, the populace partied hard and long, with even the city guard getting in on the action and many of them getting drunk at their post or deserting their posts entirely to join in the festivities.

One of only a handful of sober men that had decided to do their job was looking out to sea and saw something out of place on the beach, despite the thick fog that covered the city and its coast. He tapped the shoulder of the man next to him and realized that the man who was supposed to be on duty with him was nearly piss drunk. Thankfully, an officer was making his way down the line of defenses and the guard stopped him.

“Sir, look over there. Doesn’t something seem… off about that person on the beach?”

Pointing towards a figure obscured by the for that was walking away from the waves as they made their way towards the sea wall, both the guard and the officer noticed that something was indeed wrong about the man. He looked to be wearing some kind of heavy armor, but no one in Piratas wore metal armor, especially not the full plate that the man on the beach looked to be wearing. What made things more bizarre was that he seemed to have walked right out of the water and up onto the beach like he had swam to the coast in his heavy plate armor. The two lit a torch and made their way down to the edge of the sea wall and demanded the man identify himself.

The response was not what could have been expected, as the man lifted up his right arm and a grapple flew from it and yanked the officer carrying the torch from the sea wall.

“GET OVER HERE!!!!” the armored man yelled as the grapple retracted with high speed, before giving the officer a punch to the face that made a sickening crunching sound as his skull was shattered.

The guard who remained on the sea wall decided not to risk dying to this madman and ran to the brazier that was to be lit in the unlikely event of an enemy attack. As he lit the beacon, he noticed something that made his blood freeze.

Every other beacon on the coast was lit up, just like the one he was at. This was no isolated incident, they were being invaded!

…

The party was still going on, but fairly quickly people began to notice something was off. Every guard in the city had dropped what they were doing and had made their way to the coast, and as the party slowly quieted down the populace began to hear the sounds of battle. If they were being invaded, then this was no time for celebration, and every citizen was more than willing to do their duty. Townspeople grabbed the nearest weapon or object they could find and prepared to meet the invading Sub-Humans. Something stopped them in their tracks, however.

As they peered into the fog, a single glowing eye appeared.

Then another.

Then another.

Then tens of them.

Then hundreds.

Then thousands.

Soon enough more glowing circular eyes and glowing oddly shaped eyes became visible in the fog as panic began to set in.

And just like that, the fog broke as if by magic and the sight of countless Zocks, Z’Gok Es, Acguys, Hygoggs, Juaggus. Zogoks and Aqua GMs graced their eyes. With that many beings each possessing the skill Coming from Underwater, the number of times that its demoralizing effect stacked was beyond absurd. The people who had been prepared to face death and fight of the invaders were gone, and in their place were people who had lost all desire to resist. They all almost simultaneously dropped the weapons in their hands and a mass stampede began as every person who gazed upon the Sea Monsters fled like the devil himself was on their heels. The Sea Monsters didn’t need to attack, not that they intended to attack the civilian populace if they didn’t resist, as the stampede claimed countless lives. The old and young were being trampled more frequently than others as every citizen made a mad dash to the bridge that connected the city to the rest of the nation.

“Sea Monsters!”

“Demon-Possessed Golems!”

“Sea Demons!”

“Run for your lives!”

Such cries echoed out into the night.

As they reached the bridge, however, they realized too late that it had been rigged with explosives and over a hundred people were blown to kingdom come as the bridge was demolished. But ultimately, the loss of the bridge wasn’t going to be enough to stop them from fleeing, as every citizen of Piratas knew how to swim. As they rushed towards the water and hoped to swim across the canal that separated the city from the mainland, they were again stopped and sent fleeing back into the city as the dark waters lit up with the glowing eyes of the Sea Monsters waiting just below the surface.

Between the two stampedes, more than 23% of the civilian populace had perished, and not a one was killed by the direct hand or claw of one of the Sea Monsters. This time, the people ran to their homes and barricaded themselves inside, hoping they could buy some time until their victorious navy returned home. As day came and the Alliance Navy docked and disembarked unopposed and began to occupy the city, the people realized that the impossible had happened.

The mighty and indomitable armada that had been viewed as undefeatable had been destroyed, and with it all hope of defeating the Sea Monsters.

A few scattered pockets of resistance did still exist in the city, but by high noon the city had been completely taken and any resistance that still remained was expressed via harsh words and other such things. Despite claiming to never be capable of having their wills crushed by Sub-Humans and Heretics, the city folded quite quickly. This could be viewed as a testament to how little fanaticism was ingrained in the people who lived far away from the Theocracy.

As days turned into months, Piratas began to experience something they could not have imagined that the invaders would bring; Prosperity. With the Sea of Teeth being heavily patrolled by the Gaian Alliance and said nation seemingly willing to let bygones be bygones, The merchants of Piratas now had more freedom in the Sea of Teeth than ever before.

With major monsters being routinely defeated by the ‘Mobile Suit Golems’ merchants no longer had to spend exorbitant amounts of money on hiring heavily armed escorts and fishermen could now go far out to sea with only a 1.0035% chance that a monster would attack them. While some people grumbled and complained about the changes being made to their nation and its government, no one could truly deny that they were quickly becoming far more prosperous than ever before. The ‘Golden Age of Plunder and Slavery’ in Piratas was over, and to take its place had come the’ Golden Age of Trade’.