Leading the Rebel army was General Ibelin; he was a middle-aged man who had seen his fair share of battles. He was known for his skills in commanding an army during the time of the previous Emperor.

However, with the assassination and the second son rising to the throne, he decided to leave and retire. But after the Blood Moon apocalypse, he was recruited to help lead the rebel army, who were unhappy with the current Emperor's decisions.

In the main camp of the rebel army, the commanders were gathered to discuss strategies to use against the Empire. They also talked about the reports that Arisu had sent them several times. She was warning them of the "Dragons".

Most of them were laughing at the report. However, Ibelin had a bad feeling about this.

"Pffft, dragons, can you believe it! That Arisu has finally gone crazy!"

"I know, right! She says that they were reinforcements from Houdart and Bartrem!"

"Woah, Houdart, and Bartrem, I'm surprised they managed to survive the apocalypse!"

"Yeah, and the rumours of how they survive were just as absurd as this report!"

"Apparently, Houdart and Bartrem tried to negotiate for several of the Empires magic weapons after we win."

"No way! Why would they do that when they have dragons!"

"Haha, dude. Stop, look, the final deal was they get to keep the loot they got themselves."

"I doubt they get anything, though; we're going to be the ones that take down the Empire's army."

The men chuckled throughout the night until it was the day of the battle. The thirty thousand soldiers lined up in order, but there was a problem.

The intel suggesting forty thousand troops was wrong. In front of them were sixty thousand Empire soldiers, double their numbers. Unrest ran through the rebel soldiers.

A horn sounded at the beginning of the battle, and each army began to clash.

♦ ♦ ♦

We sent the gunships, bombers, and attack aircraft to reinforce the rebels. We scouted the position of the magic cannons and had units ready to attack them during the battle.

We could, of course, blow them up with the bombs or the cannons from the AC-130, but a working sample would be more helpful than a magic cannon puzzle piece.

Ayumi was the one who came up with the plans and the one commanding.

First, the warthogs were sent to out anything that could potentially hit our aircraft; however, there were no trebuchets or catapults as this was an open battle. Arrows from bows, or the bolts from crossbows, could barely hit the planes, but that was if the aircraft were flying low altitude.

Then gunships and bombers began to unleash hell on the Empire's army, creating chaos in their formation. The bombs exploded, blowing soldiers to pieces. I didn't feel anything emotion since they were the enemy, but I did feel like I should avoid any unnecessary bloodshed from now on.

People were screaming, running in random directions; some even dropped onto the ground, pretending to be dead. The horses were going on a rampage, stomping on anyone that got in their way. It was absolute carnage.

During this tiny surprise, units snuck behind the magic cannons that were firing large balls of what I can assume is magic.

The mages were taking turns channelling magic into the cannon, and after all ten of them had a turn, it launched a bright coloured ball.

Its firing rate was not high, but it would seem like the damage it can do is pretty significant, as it blasted thirty or so rebels into pieces. Its range was nothing special, about 4,000 to 5,000 metres.

A few of the cannons were being recalibrated, aiming up, which we can assume is to try and hit our planes in the sky. So we had the units move in.

The unit's objective was to take out the mages and soldiers around the cannon but take a few mages as prisoners. It is so we can get more information about these cannons. Then the Chinooks were deployed to pick up our spoils—a well-executed and straightforward mission.

The person leading the rebels was not incompetent as I thought as they seized the opportunity to strike the Empire's army, which was dwindling in numbers with every explosion. I had all the aircraft retreat for now since we might hit some of our allies if they continued.

In the end, the Empire surrendered, and we did not see their heavy magic cavalry in action since they weren't deployed in the first place. Our intel suggests that they were pulled back last minute, which was suspicious.

We managed to take back four magic cannons, and we had units look after the other six until the chinooks came back to pick them up. We wanted to use the C-130 Hercules, but there was not enough space to land or take off.

Considering this, I made eight more Chinooks and five more B-52 Bombers and AC-130s. They have proven to be efficient, if not slightly overpowered.

In our battles so far, we had air superiority, and the enemy commanders did not have any knowledge of actually commanding an army.

They did not have a direct counter against our aircraft, but it didn't mean we should focus on air to ground weapons. There are going to be some cases where they cannot be deployed.

Our spies have confirmed that both sides are incredibly wary of us. In the territory controlled by the Empire, the people were still suffering. They focused all the resources on the war, and all the lords were hoarding their riches.

Whenever the Rebels captured one of those lords, all their riches were stripped and given to the people. It is safe to say that the support of the people is with the Rebels.

On our side, Roland's territory was improving dramatically. After consulting with Ayumi and Roland's new private army commander, I built a wall for them around the towns. Soon they would not require any of our food support.

Aidan's territory, which was just as big as Rolands, was in a more dire situation. But now, it was recovering just as fast as Rolands. The refineries and drills built in his territory made him decent profits, which were then all put back into improving his territory. Back at our base, we built a school where the kids attended and were taught by more educated people.

We had books imported from the Western Union, which were reprinted using modern paper so that every child could get a copy. Plans for building free schools in our other territories are in development.

The adults had their jobs to do, and then in the evening, when everyone was off work or school, games and competitions began. Every day felt distinctive, but I feared that the people might eventually want to go out to the outside world again. We told them that if they ever wanted to, they could leave.

Plans to build tracks for trains were in development as well. It is to make transport of people and supplies more effortless. I plan for there to be a public track and a military track. The units were surveying the land and also calculating the most efficient range.

That was all the information written in this extremely long report given to me by Ayumi.

"Supreme Commander, we have just received a message from Lord Houdart and Lord Bartrem", reported Ayumi.

"What is it?"

"The message states that the rebel army leaders want to hold a meeting, presumably about the aircraft. They ask, how do you want them to reply?"

"Hmm, tell them to accept; I want the units to be the escorts. Please give them a hidden earpiece and mic, so we can easily hear what they say and keep in contact with them."

"Understood. We have units currently looking into their motive; I will report back as soon as we find anything."

"Good job; we can prevent any surprises if we know what they have planned."

"One more thing, the team currently experimenting with the dragon fang has made their first discovery."

"What did they find?"

"They were able to shave off small amounts of dust, which they then mixed with copper. The result was a metal that was on par with steel."

"That's great; how much are we able to produce?"

"Currently, it requires about three days of continuous shaving to produce 5 milligrams of dust, which was the amount used in the test."

"So it's not very practical, I guess. Have the team produce at least 5 grams of that stuff whilst conducting other experiments."

"Understood. I will pass on the orders and get the preparation done for the meeting."