Summoning America

Chapter 120: Wavering Pride

Ragna, Gra Valkas Empire

Hues of blue began to overtake the orange sunset above the skyline of Ragna as night fell on the city. Over a week had passed since Emperor Gra Lux's announcement and already the celebratory atmosphere of the government had died out. In contrast to the proud citizens on the streets below, those in the Imperial Palace found themselves sulking over the string of incredible defeats that they had been dealt with.

Carefully suppressing leaks, they maintained their outward appearance of confidence, proclaiming to the city that their unstoppable blitzkrieg had begun to topple enemy bases and cities. However, behind closed doors, they frantically panicked over their current situation. Emperor Gra Lux himself was no exception to the rule, and he joined his advisors in a desperate meeting to resolve the issues that had sprung up.

Although he felt fear, he was careful not to show it as he listened to the various reports summarized by Chief Xand Pastall, the head of the Gra Valkan military.

The chief's bald head lost its shine, as if reflecting his dark emotions. At Gra Lux's signal, he began his presentation. He spoke, using a strategy board and moving pieces around to conceptualize the state of the war, "Despite the presence of jamming across all our major forces, our joint first strike was still carried out on time and simultaneously, as expected. Unfortunately, our successes ended there."

Pastall removed a large amount of blue and red pieces from the coast of Otaheit. "The First Conquest Fleet encountered a joint EDI defense fleet near Otaheit. Having expected jamming to occur, they used manacomms acquired from Leifor and other conquered territories to communicate with each other."

"Are we not going to confront the Americans about this?" one officer asked. "Their interference should be considered an act of war!"

Pastall shrugged. "The Americans continue to maintain that they know nothing of the events, suggesting that they are magnetic anomalies that occur in the Mu continent. Anyway, our forces were attacked by a variety of enemy units, who employed varying tactics and weapons. The enemy used a limited number of missiles, which were used to quickly sink important assets like carriers and battleships. Unfortunately, our forces could not defend against such attacks."

The men in the room looked at each other with expressions ranging from concern to disbelief. Those who were familiar with the Mirishial weapons test during the World Leadership Conference seemed as if their worst nightmares had come true, while those who weren't familiar continued to doubt that these weapons even existed in the first place. Some even called into question the reliability of information.

"It's impossible for these lowly primitives to have weapons like this! We are barely on the verge of modifying Angreifer units for naval use, and they somehow have the ability to not only use ship-launched missiles, but also sink carriers with a single hit?!" Someone from the research and development division yelled out.

There was a time in his past when Pastall would've made such a complaint himself, but dedicated research on the magic of this world and the science of the Americans had turned him into an open-minded leader. "I understand your feelings, Doctor, but there is a mountain of evidence pointing to American aid. Those missiles are either American in origin, or designed by the Americans. In essence, they're already fighting in the war; they just haven't deployed any troops yet."

"Or their lackeys are doing so well that they don't need to deploy troops," Gesta commented.

Everyone reflected on Gesta's words. It was clear they had to revise their thoughts on the conflict; they couldn't just anticipate the enemy to be of equal strength to the Gra Valkas Empire anymore. Fighting against the EDI as if they were fighting the Divine Kingdom of Kane would be a folly.