18 Battle of the Forian Island

0100, the Arcadian fleet has started moving. The Midnight has proceeded south, into the mouth of the gulf, while the others has sailed to the Forian Island. The island is located in the southernmost region of the Isles that the Sicilians have established a foothold upon. The Arcadians hope that the raiding party lead by Lui-eya just a few hours before would force them to mobilize forces into the mainland.

0130, the fleet mobilized as fast as they possibly could and have reached the island. As for the midnight, it would remain in the mouth of the gulf at patrol. Hoping to deter any backup that might come in a few hours.

0200, the four ships headed for the island has come in range of its bombers. The Vert deployed the first group of 50 men. The bombers swooped in reaching the docks in under a minute as they quickly dropped their bombs. Although they were surprised that in just a few short seconds after dropping the bombs, they notice some of their men being shot down. And that some of the bombs don't even reach the ground before exploding.

As they look down, they notice that the Sicilians have mobilized, with their crossbows, they open fire. And from these arrows, a familiar windy noise whistled from their ears. They've utilized wind magic. They retreated back to the Vert and told their officers about it.

0230, the four ships have come in range of their artillery canons. They went broadside, confident that the winded arrows would only affect the lightly armored bombers. They then open fire as another series of fiery hell erupted from the island. The crossbowmen attempted to open fire, but as they realized, they are barely in range.

0300, the bombings continued, but the remaining garrison refused to surrender. It seems they have an ace up their sleeve. After a few more minutes, the Arcadians ceased the artillery run to preserve on ammunition. Lixus, who is working as the head Admiral of the fleet ordered the fleet to take on a specific formation. One which would help them, should something occur.

0330, something occurred. From both sides of the island, two towering ships come into view. The heavy freighters that the Sicilians used, retrofitted in the last few weeks to be weapons of mass destruction. And that they were. The Arcadian response was simple. 'Throw everything we have to one of those ships and take it down as soon as possible.' And that they did. 400 bombers flew towards the leftmost ship as the other ships maneuvered to the left, careful to not expose their broadside to the enemy ships.

The bombers flew in a sort of coordinated chaos formation as they attempted to not get hit by the winded crossbow arrows all the while attempting to hit the enemy ship. While that is going on the four ships have come in range against the enemy ship. They went broadside and open fired.

The enemy ship opens fire at about the same time. As both ammunition flew through the air, the firebombs fired by the Arcadians all exploded at the hull of the Sicilian warship. Yet the ammunition of the Sicilian warship hit the Audacious square in the hull, a blast so powerful that it managed to pierce the protection magic. Luckily it didn't hit the ammunition, but there was a pervasive problem of water slowly leaking inside the ship.

The crew could repair, but for the time being, the Audacious was out of the game. As for the first Sicilian warship, it went into a fiery hell as the bombers returned to their ship, with the Audacious bombers going back to aid with the repairs.

0430, an hour has passed and The Audacious was still out of service. The Arcadian fleet stayed near the position of their downed ship, hoping to protect it from further damage from the remaining warship.

Speaking of, the last warship had docked in the island. As its crew helped with taking out most of the fire. They would attack, but they don't want to take the risk of suddenly being attacked by more ships from the back. So they maintained their position. Over time, the fires were put out. And the ship started moving again. This time, towards the heart of the fleet. Straight into the Luminous.

The enemy warship opened all of its sails, rushing, rushing, rushing. From the distance, the Arcadians notice that there were more men inside the ship. And that they held crossbows.

With that in mind. Lixus devised a plan, one far too common but what they need right now. They started by abandoning defending the Audacious, leaving it on its own to defend itself should an attack take place from the back. They moved portside with the Luminous leading the fleet.

Their plan is to avoid the enemy ship's dangerous starboard side while maintaining their own showing to its front. While the damage will obviously be lessened on account of only hitting the front, they would be able to fire more compared to the enemy warship who was only limited to firing broadside.

Along with that, they opened their sails as well, attempting to outmaneuver and outspeed the enemy ship. And, they launched the bombers again, totalling to 300 they took the risk of attacking the ship as thinly as possible as they knew that the inclusion of crossbowmen would make the ship tightly packed. And as such, an easy target for the bombers.

Fierce fighting occurred in the air above the enemy warship. The bombers dropped like flies across the sea as most of them slowly get shot down, they fire back by throwing fire directly below them, some hitting the ship, some don't. Fountains of water explode from the ship's side as the firebombs explode beside it, it wasn't long before the ship was on fire.

But just because it's on fire doesn't put it out of service. The Arcadian fleet proceeded to move in, pointing their artillery towards the ship as the Sicilian warship attempted to retreat. As the Arcadian's open fire, they realized that the Sicilian ship was slowly set in sinking. And the artillery further sealed the deal. They witness as the Sicilian ship exploded, smoke rising high. If there were any men there, they would not have survived.

The bombers returned. And the Arcadians hurried in capturing the island. The remaining garrison promptly surrendered, knowing that their last hope for backup was promptly defeated. A quick headcount pointed out that they have lost about 250 men, combined from the losses in the bombers and the Audacious' crew.

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