Chapter 96: Reaction

The ground beneath the grand palace shook with a deep, violent rumble.

Inside the royal chambers, glass chandeliers rattled against the high ceilings. Crystal cups clattered across banquet tables, and several high priests dropped to their knees in sheer panic, clutching their silver holy symbols.

"An earthquake?!" a temple elder shouted, looking around frantically. "Is the earth turning against us?!"

"No," a cold, trembling voice snapped.

Goddess Viona stood up straight from her marble dais. Her starry golden eyes flashed with raw irritation. She did not need an explanation from the priests—she had felt the sudden, massive drain of mana pulling directly from her sacred divine network.

"The holy ward," Viona hissed, lifting her silk skirts and striding toward the grand balcony overlooking the capital. "The Aegis was struck."

Ayanokoji stepped up to the edge of the balcony. He looked at the shape of the smoke clouds, the height of the impact marks, and the distance toward the open sea. His face remained completely blank.

"No ships approached the breakwater," Ayanokoji said, his voice cutting through the panic.

Viona whipped her head around, glaring down at him. "Then what hit my barrier, boy?!"

"Those were missiles," Ayanokoji answered simply. "More specifically, cruise missiles. In my world, they are called Tomahawks."

Belis blinked, thoroughly confused. "Missiles? Like enchanted ballista bolts?"

"Not ballistas," Ayanokoji explained in a calm, level tone. "They are self-propelled flying bombs with jet engines and computer guidance systems. They fly hundreds of miles per hour, skimming just a few feet above the ocean to stay hidden from sight. They can be launched from warships or submarines located hundreds of miles away beyond the horizon."

Miyuki took a sharp breath, her hands clutching her chest. "John really did it..."

Viona scoffed, though her eyes twitched with rising fury. "Launched from hundreds of miles away?! Across the sea?! That is ridiculous! Even the highest-ranking grand sorcerers cannot cast a bombardment spell beyond two leagues! No mortal weapon can fly across an ocean and strike a target!"

"That is where your misunderstanding lies," Ayanokoji said. "Modern military doctrine does not rely on human eyesight or line-of-sight magic. They use satellite systems, high-altitude drones, and digital coordinates. If their machines tag a building, a ship, or a dock, they can launch explosives from completely outside your vision and hit within feet of the target."

Ayanokoji pointed toward the harbor in the distance.

"Look at the impact points," Ayanokoji continued. "Every single smoke plume is clustered directly above the naval docks and the anchored warships. That was not a random barrage. That was a targeted decapitation strike aimed at wiping out the imperial fleet before they could even untie their ropes."

Belis gasped, his jaw dropping as the cold reality sank into his mind. "They attacked from beyond the sea... without showing a single soldier?"

"Yes," Ayanokoji replied. "It is a massive gap in operational capability. In a conventional war, your commanders expect to see an enemy armada, exchange flag signals, and trade catapult stones or magic circles. The United States does not fight like that. They destroy targets from distances where you cannot even hear their engines."

Ayanokoji looked directly at Goddess Viona.

"If your divine barrier had not deployed automatically to intercept them, Port Solis would be gone right now," Ayanokoji stated bluntly. "All eighty galleons, the stone warehouses, and the dragon pens would have been reduced to burning wood and ash in less than thirty seconds. You would have lost your entire naval force without seeing a single enemy face."

The terrace went dead quiet.

The priests and royal guards standing near the doors looked like they were going to faint. The thought of an invisible enemy who could drop apocalyptic thunder from the sky without ever coming close was something their minds could barely handle.

Viona’s divine aura flared uncontrollably.

A wave of suffocating golden light burst from her body, cracking the stone floor beneath her boots. Her regal, beautiful face twisted into an ugly mask of pure, unbridled rage.

"How dare he..." Viona snarled, her voice shaking with hatred. "How dare that worthless, mana-less worm attack my empire! He was discarded! He was an E-rank defective mistake that should have rotted in the dark! And he dares throw iron at my city?!"

She slammed both fists onto the marble railing, shattering a chunk of carved stone into dust.

"He thinks he can hide behind the waves?!" Viona screamed into the sky, her voice echoing across the entire capital. "He thinks his little flying fireworks can scare a god?! I am Viona! I rule this world! I will make that arrogant boy regret the day he ever crawled out of the abyss!"

She turned around sharply, her silk robes swirling around her legs. Her golden eyes burned like twin suns as she looked down at the kneeling Prime Minister.

"Belis!" she bellowed.

"Y-Yes, Your Divinity!" Belis stammered, dropping flat onto his face on the cracked marble.

"Enough of this nonsense!" Viona ordered, her voice booming across the palace grounds. "Mobilize the entire army! Open the royal armories and issue every enchanted weapon we possess! Order the Grand Inquisitors to summon the dragon legions from the northern peaks! Raise the sacred banners in every province!"

She pointed a furious, trembling finger toward the western ocean.

"I want five hundred war galleons loaded with our finest paladins! I want every battle-mage in the empire assigned to fleet shields! We will cross that ocean, we will find his little island, and we will burn every piece of steel and every human under his command until nothing remains but scorched sand!"

Viona’s breath came in ragged, furious gasps. She looked over at Ayanokoji and Miyuki, her eyes full of venom.

"And when I drag John Smith back here in iron chains," Viona hissed, her teeth bared in a cruel smile, "I will rip his soul from his flesh and make him beg for the mercy of the abyss!"

Miyuki stared at her in sheer horror, taking a step back. The goddess was completely blind to reality, driven entirely by bruised pride and blind anger.

Beside her, Ayanokoji watched the screaming deity with cold, detached eyes. In his mind, he made a simple calculation.

The goddess was marching her army directly into the teeth of a modern military meat grinder.