Jin received the news and was shocked, and sent a report back to the empire since this is the first time the empire's armor showed weakness. While the body arrived back to Andronomos, Jin went to the landing to see the body.
Airfield base outside of Andronomos
Jin and a few officers headed to the landing pad where 2 transport helicopters landed, one carrying the body and the other one carrying the prisoner.
The hatch opened, and the squadmate's of the deceased soldier carried the stretcher with the body bag of the soldier. The maintenance crew and pilots nearby gathered around the landing pad and saw the body bag, whispering about what happened. Jin stepped forward from the crowd, and soldiers saw him and placed the stretcher down.
When Jin opened it, he saw the soldier who was beheaded and saw the marks on the neck.
"The neck armor was able to stop the attack, but the attacker seems to have monstrous strength to be able to cut it," Jin muttered.
"From the reports, sir, it was reported that it was a titan," one of his officer staff spoke.
"I see. For now, consolidate our gains. We have a week. Within that time frame, I might receive word from the emperor," he said and looked at the squadmates and turned to the soldiers.
"For vengeance and the empire! We must avenge our fallen brother!" he shouted, and everyone shouted in vengeance.
Over the past 2 days, fighter planes and bombers that were stored in the Arorio carrier were placed on the airfield, and currently, 4 heavy bombers are active. Along with the other warplanes, they wreaked havoc, and the navy wasn't idle either as the battleship was saturating the port cities and submarines hunting merchant vessels.
Draconian Imperial Palace
Throne room
On a black crimson throne sat the Emperor of the Draconian Empire, Alex Luker Draco. As of now, he was reading a report from the military operation in Esdos, and in front of him was the head of the research and development department, Professor Michael, and Kalvin, the chancellor of the Draconian Empire.
"So the reports state that they encountered a titan and with a Valyrian longsword was able to cut through the neck guard. Now tell me, Michael, how was that titan able to cut the neck guard even though it was tested and it can withstand a normal slash from a titan?" he said.
Michael was holding a clipboard and read and re-read paper clipped into it and looked at the emperor unfazed and spoke.
"Well, your majesty, we were able to recover the body and the weapon, and it seems like the Esdos were able to place the titans in their continent or they call it the giants and are a separate race from the titans because they have normally 6ft tall while the average titan is 9ft tall. So that's their difference. And the weapons, they're made of Valyrian steel. It can challenge the Anti-magic armor, but after rigorous testing, it's reported that the steel can compete with Anti-magic steel. But there's a flaw, and it's the sharpness. With separate tests, they can dent our armor, and that man was lucky to have enough strength to fully cut the armor," said Michael and looked at Alex's face, waiting for a reaction.
"All right, begin experimenting. We want to avoid situations like this, understand?" said Alex.
"Yes, your majesty. It shall be our priority," Michael bowed and left the throne room. Alex turned to Kalvin and spoke.
"Do you know the reason why I called you here, Kalvin?" he asked his chancellor.
"Is it to give me an all-paid vacation or a nice retirement plan?" Kalvin asked excitedly, but sadly those are not coming to reality.
"Sadly, neither of those. The true reason why I called you here is to fill in my position for a while since I'm going to attend a meeting in Olympus and might extort Zeus," he said, and Kalvin went into a depressed state. Alex kept his emotionless face and exited the throne room and then arrived at the helicopter pad where his private helicopter was waiting and 2 imperial guards are going to with him.
A few hours later
Alex passed the Stepstones region and overlooked the construction. As the architect evolved from the empire, it also came from here as small apartments or cities are built around the pillar of the Stepstones. He saw one of the 10 airfields and saw fighter planes conducting mock dogfights, bombing runs, and there's a secret location where new aircraft are tested on 'real' targets, but Alex doesn't plan to show it yet. But he knows one fact.
Once the war starts and he shows the new era weapons, people's greed will shine out of shell. All he can do is share some medical technology but not the weapons.
High Kingdom of Olympus, Capital Olympus
Alex landed on the helipad of the embassy building that he had built and headed to the convoys of vehicles that were prepared hours before his visit.
As he got in, they went directly towards the palace where the meeting is being held. The traffic stopped as they let the vehicles pass, and the people already knew the person that the convoy was escorting, allowing them to pass. In the background, multiple shadowy figures jumped over rooftops.
Alex arrived at the gates of the palace, got off the car, and looked around. He saw guards moving around, loyal to him since he took over Olympus guards a month ago. Now, they only loyal to him and eliminated spies from other factions.
As he turned a corner, he saw an 8ft blue marble door with a pair of guards guarding. When they saw Alex, they allowed him to enter, and his imperial guards followed. Inside, he saw a large round table with the gods he recognized: Ares, commander of the army of Olympus; Poseidon, Admiral of the navy; Aphrodite, Director of Foreign Affairs; Apollo, Director of Trade; Demeter, Director of Agriculture; Nyx, head of the Department of Intelligence; and Zeus, king of Olympus.
Alex sat down in a chair, and Zeus stood up to speak.
"Now that everyone is here, we shall begin our meeting. First to speak is Aphrodite. The room is yours," Zeus said, sitting back down and observing Aphrodite.
"Yes, thank you, Your Majesty Zeus. I would like to begin by speaking of the letters from our neighboring states," she said, opening a letter.
"The High Duchy of Athens and the Kingdom of the Underworld would like to request us to speak to the Draconian Empire to release their sanctions and the blockade in order for their economy to recover and join in the war effort," she said, turning to Alex, and everyone else also turned to him.
"Tell me, Alex, why have you placed sanctions on them? With their strength, it would add up to our military force," someone from the function of Hera spoke, and everyone also began to repeat the question until Alex raised his arm, silencing everyone.
"Well, it's simple. Instead of fighting against Chronos, I conducted a deep investigation. It was stated that they focused on a war against themselves, with multiple border skirmishes between them. They were using my products against themselves and were preparing a war not against Chronos, but their nemesis," Alex said, tapping a gem from the pendant, and multiple holographic projections were shown.
"This on the left is where they tried to attack my merchant vessels carrying weapons to Muscovy, and here is where they tried to scam me with fool's gold. The last straw is showing no interest in joining the war and only sending advisors who were practically useless," he said. Soon, the effects of the sanctions were shown on the holograms, most notably the smuggling operations that were happening.
"After a few weeks of me enacting the sanction, other trade companies followed, even though I never ordered such a thing. Also, one of the reasons was that they solely focus on purchasing luxury products, and the purchase orders came from the Athens palace, directly from the Pope of the Athenian religion. That is somewhat the main cause of the enactment of sanctions," he said, and the imperial guard handed everyone a document where the evidence was written, making everyone raise their eyebrows.
To be continued.