The city of Port-O-Bea was in a roar of excitement due to the news of the successful ambush. With most of the city's militia and Jamal moving onward to continue their push for Saputa, a few dozen or so of the city's army returned back with the captured prisoners. This caused several hundred civilians to come out of their homes or those out and about to witness the large procession come in. It was all in a day's work.
"They're working wonders out there." one could hear among the crowd.
"It's only a matter of time before we finally get Saputa City again!"
"We must thank Jamal for all of this work! It's all because of him!"
"Don't forget our own army!"
"We're coming for you, Youden!"
Even inside their homely complex, Ula couldn't help but watch with joy through the window of all the support their resistance was getting. Laken was as joyful, as he whooped with joy once he saw the soldiers march past their home. He could even see one of the lead commanders with the organized division face towards their window and recognize the pair watching. Giving a quick salute, the commander returned to his post, with Laken sending him one back.
"I'm going to be just like Pa!" Laken was glee with passion, "You hear that, Jackie?"
Turning towards his baby sister, the boy moved towards the crib only to see her still asleep. It kind of sucked that she mostly slept or cried when she needed something, but it was still his sister after all, and he had to be grateful for his family.
"She'll be awake soon, and you can then tell her all about it." Ula assured him, checking the time, "Alice should be here any minute now."
Wondering how that was possible, a loud whoosh was heard outside their door before a knock occurred. Ula moved towards the door and checked, before opening it up completely. Alice was holding several bags worth of food and supplies, as she gave the mother a quick hug.
"Jamal was going insane out there." Alice told Ula once she set the bags in the corner. "Some of them said he made a miniature sun, with how powerful his ball of fire was."
"Really?" Laken was impressed.
"Yeah, he really did." Alice moved towards the window to see the view, "I got to say, I truly think we got a chance to ambush Youden before it's too late."
"Of course, no one here doubts that." Ula nodded in agreement, as she came to the woman's side.
They were both staring towards the dark blue ocean, still a bit too cool to swim in even with the temperature warming up, when something odd was picked between the pair. Unlike usual, several of the docked ships off the coast belonging to Youden were nowhere in sight, leaving only the larger cruisers and destroyers in the distance. But even stranger, was a ship Alice managed to pick up.
"I don't know if you see this, but I think there's a much larger ship coming towards the city. Has no one noticed that?" Alice turned to Ula, before looking out to get a better look.
"I don't know." Ula managed to say, before Alice muttered a phrase and shaped out a set of binoculars and gave it to her. "Oh."
Getting a better sight of the ship now, the most dangerous characteristics of the ship had to be its extremely big cannons and ship size itself, much larger than any naval weapon they'd been shown or seen with their own eyes. That could only be something that Youden created, as its enormous presence was slowly coming into more people's view.
"Something's wrong." Ula started to become a bit more skeptical of the incoming firepower. "Laken, get your sister."
Without question, Laken managed to grab Jackie out of her crib, just as the pair of women saw a plume of smoke come from the large warship. For a brief moment, no one knew what had just happened, until a large explosion rocked the center of the city, causing them to almost drop to the ground in surprise.
"Youden's navy must be trying to attack the city!" Alice deducted, "It has to probably do with the airport. We need everyone to get inside now!"
Letting Ula know she would be right back, Alice wasted no time teleporting out of the complex, as Ula grabbed Laken's hand and dragged them out of the room. Moving down the hallway, another explosion shook the building's foundation, as Ula kept focused on her destination downstairs. She would not let her kids die to that evil man as long as she lived.
.....
Meanwhile, the chaos in the streets grew in size as people began rushing for any type of cover or shelter, as the bombardment continued. With many of the explosions coming near the coast due to the destroyers' limited range, several of them managed to make their way more into the interior, as the powerful cannons of the cruisers and the battleship created a shockwave across the ocean with each shot.
Alice herself had teleported inside the second tallest building in the city, a tower filled mainly with office suites, as desks were cluttered full of papers and progress from working employees. Finding the stairs, she rushed upwards past several stories, until the woman was able to barge through the roof door.
The tall height gave way to much of the city below, except for the towering building adjacent to her, as Alice made her way to the middle of the space. Placing her book down on the floor, she was quick to flip through the pages as the explosions continued to rock the ground around them. What didn't help was the shaking of the building with each attack, as now there was an audible droning mixed into the equation. Looking up, Alice could barely open her mouth with what she was seeing.
"This has to be some type of sick joke." she could only mutter, as five large Ariocasters were moving in the city's direction, although even she knew what they were going to try to do.
Hearing the news of what Youden's bombing campaigns did across the world and from personal experience, a new set of attacks would wipe them out in a smaller space. It only motivated her to finally land on the right page, as she took a deep breath. Lifting her hands slowly, Alice felt all her stored energy being pent up, as she opened her eyes and was in her Awakened state. Not holding back, she started muttering a new incantation, while slowly moving her hands in a semicircle manner.
While no one could see what she was doing, Alice knew that if this truly worked, then much of the city would be spared. It took her about five minutes to finish, just as the droning of the aircraft got louder, almost over the city. The explosions from the ships themselves ended, as everyone was waiting for the final barrage to crash onto the destroyed landscape. Panting and out of energy, Alice finally let go of her hands and collapsed onto the ground. Usually, such a powerful creation would have taken her at least an hour to effectively form that forcefield around the city, but with limited time, she had to make cuts where cuts were due. Staring into the sky, the woman could see the dozens of bombs being dropped from above, as she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.
In mere seconds, the first of the newer explosions rocked from above, as Alice reopened her eyes to see what was going on. The explosions simply occurred off her forcefield, as the large explosions still managed to rock the ground below them, causing any weakened structures to still collapse or become more prone to that scenario. But the woman couldn't help but smile at what she managed to do. Even as her eyes closed again due to exhaustion, did she know that she had done right, just as she collapsed back on the ground unconscious and a protected city with it.