A Debilitated Fleet

"How bad are the damages?" The soldier with the highest rank among the Fire Ravens troops looked at his assistant, asking about the damage the fleet had incurred.

"Numerous injuries; we've lost 40% of the cruisers in that attack, and most of the prisoners of war we saved have died."

Brand, who was in command of the fleet now, felt like all of this was unreal but was happening, so swallowing all that hatred of fleeing from just one man, he said, "How long will it take us to reach the island?"

"No more than ten minutes, sir; we've navigated through the tricky spots, and right now we're in open waters."

"Prioritize the strategic retreat; we mustn't deviate from our course no matter what," Brand said very seriously, but at that moment, something large impacted the cruiser he was traveling on.

Boom!

The entire cabin shook forcefully, and many who weren't prepared fell to the floor. When Brand regained his senses, he asked, "What was that?"

"Sir, we're being attacked by the enemy fleet."

"Didn't they flee with the prisoners of war?"

"It seems they want to eliminate us, but even so, we outnumber them. Should we turn back?"

Brand, analyzing that they were in favorable terrain for the enemy, shook his head and said, "Return to the island; we'll have smaller boats embark the cruisers, and then we'll attack."

This would be the best way to approach things if the colony they were heading to hadn't been attacked in advance; the plans had been polished for many years, and now that everything was going according to plan, nothing the enemy did could give them a chance of victory.

From the Water Nation fleet was Darío, his cold eyes looking at those soldiers in the distance, wanting to end each one of them.

"Sir, they're heading toward the island; should we send the signal?"

"Send the signal, move the fleet in a way that we won't give the enemy a chance to escape, and send the message that they have been exterminated," Darío said, remembering his grandfather at this moment. Who would have thought that only five years later, he would be taking revenge with his own hands?

Just wait—eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth.

...

"Impossible..."

"How did they manage to pass us unnoticed?"

Brand watched as the colony they were heading to had been completely taken over by the enemy; he knew that if they fled now, they could leave this place, but the families of every soldier on these cruisers were in that place, taken by their enemies.

"Damned cowards...."

All the soldiers watched as the civilians were lined up along the walls and had swords pointed at their necks. That made their blood boil, but they knew that any hostile movement would end the lives of those innocent people.

Being weakened in this way, they couldn't attack in this manner and much less offer themselves as prisoners because they knew perfectly well what awaited them.

Brand didn't give the order to slow down the cruisers, and in a few minutes, they were near the shores of the island.

"Where is your leader right now?"

"Right now, he should be celebrating; don't you think this is a good time to celebrate?" Brad took a step forward to look this general, who seemed unwilling to surrender, in the eye.

"What are your terms?" Brand, being on the losing side, asked something of general interest.

Brad smiled chillingly and said, "A battle to the death, each representative, and if you win, we'll let these civilians go, but all of you will be our prisoners. If we win, you will be prisoners, and we'll think about what to do with the civilians later."

"What assures me that you won't kill us all as soon as we surrender?" Brand didn't trust the enemy.

"Do you think we're like all of you? We have our word; we respect the rules of war, and we won't compare ourselves to you, who are demons," Brad shouted, full of fury at receiving that insult.

"Very well, I'll fight for my people."

"Sword!" Brad shouted, taking an ice sword, and at that moment, his feet froze to increase his speed.

At that moment, when both knew they would fight, orange flames burst with power, fueled by the fury that would be Brand, and on the other hand, large spikes of ice protruded from the ground with force.

Brad, who had taken a step forward, froze the entire field.

Being the best warrior after Thorian, he was by no means weak.

Boom!

The temperature suddenly dropped, and it was as if they were at the same South Pole, where the icy winds could kill anyone unprepared.

When the flames clashed against the ice, it generated a powerful explosion that sent many back due to the burns from the steam that could cause anyone harm.

But the control over the ice being in his domain favored Brad, who had trained hard with Thorian for years.

The blood in his surroundings began to move towards his hand, forming a powerful sword that was hidden.

In an instant, creating ice barriers and feint attacks, Brad was beside Brand.

His blood sword reacted to the blood in Brand's body; the glow of the blood sword was overwhelming.

As if Brand's blood reacted to that sword, he wanted to step back, but soon that sword was launched towards him with abnormal speed.

All he could do was respond with fire.

At the moment the fire clashed against the blood sword, the sword disappeared from everyone's sight, but when everyone wanted to know where the sword was, it aggressively attacked Brand's chest, easily piercing through the flames.

To be honest, the warriors who controlled the fire depended a lot on it, and that's something Thorian had taught them very well.

If they were faster and attacked decisively, the flames wouldn't affect them; by controlling the battlefield, they would know when to attack and when to defend.

When Brad knew the moment to attack, he condensed a sword with the blood of the enemies he had killed and focused a lot of his power to not be affected by the flames.

Crack!

Brand looked at Brad suspiciously, and after taking a few steps back, he fell backward to the ground.

"Sir!"

Brad looked at the soldiers on the cruisers and shouted, "If you surrender now, we can let the civilians live; if you don't want to accept defeat, then you will die with them."