Finally, the day of Michael's first offense against Thusia had arrived. Yagnar, General Bryce, and Davarius were armed to the teeth. They waited for Gaya's plan of attack around the oka table. Gaya herself was not in her armor because she didn't need any armor. She put her finger on the Golden Port.

"We will attack the Golden Port at dawn," said Gaya.

"After what Ghost did to their ships, the thusians are being careful. So only a large-scale attack here would bring their ships out. But don't worry, we have two thousand warships with us,"

Yagnar's brows arched up in surprise. Two thousand warships was a vast number. With that amount of ships, they could conquer any kingdom by the sea. He wondered where they managed to get these ships. Yagnar's reaction was no different than the others. They all stared at Gaya curiously.

"Our vanguard ships have a long-range weapon attached. So we will lay waste on thusians from a safe distance. This will reduce the number of casualties on our side,"

"Who's going to deal with that dragon?" asked General Bryce. The images of that dragon flashed across his mind. It haunted his dreams.

"Ghost will take care of that,"

They sighed in relief. Although the dragon was gigantic, terrifying, and at the Fusion stage level 8, Ghost was Half Immortal. Of course, their battle would be frightening, but the odds were definitely against the dragon.

"While Ghost deals with the dragon, our ships will move forward. Since Golden Port doesn't have any space large enough to hold the Thusian army, and they would rely on naval power, it's safe to say we won't have much of a ground battle. But,"

Gaya raised her finger. She glanced at them for a moment before continuing.

"We received numerous reports saying two Fusion Stage generals are stationed at the Golden Port,"

"Where do they get all these Fusion Stage cultivators? They used to be so rare, and now, they are popping out from everywhere," Davarius expressed annoyance over the amount of Fusion stage cultivators Thusia had. One couldn't blame him. While many other kingdoms barely had one Fusion Stage cultivator, Thusia had several.

Only a handful of people knew how Thusia managed to produce several Fusion Stage cultivators in a short amount of time, and Gaya was one of them. Still, she did not indulge these three with anything about the Cosmic Stream. Anyone who learns about the Cosmic stream would try to covert it. It belonged to Michael and the Order of Death.

"While our ships are destroying the thusians, I will deal with the two Fusion stage generals,"

"You need any backup General?" asked Yagnar. Since Gaya was leading the army, everyone began to address her as General.

"No. I want the three of you to take a few men and destroy their warehouses," Yagnar creased his brows. Gaya ignored their shocked gazes,

"This is where the Thusians stores their precious things before importing them to other kingdoms or distributing them to their own cities and villages,"

"What's the point of attacking this warehouse?" asked General Bryce.

"To steal whatever they have stored inside," Gaya wryly smiled.

"From the outside, they will see we have destroyed their warehouse, which will send them a message to fear us. But in reality, we will rob them blind,"

"But Generalis it really necessary? Pillaging their warehouse is not an honorable thing to do," Yagnar scratched his head as Gaya slammed her fist on the table.

"Are you kidding me? They have pillaged your cities, your women, and everything you had. Honor doesn't get you shit. If we don't change the way how we fight, we will never defeat King Maxim who by the way did all the despicable thing there is to take over your kingdoms,"

General Bryce and Davarius felt the same way as Yagnar, but they didn't dare to express their thoughts on the matter.

"Also, don't mistake this for a discussion. This is me giving you orders. So take your opinions and shove them up where the sun doesn't shine. Got it?"

After Gaya's outburst, they shut their mouths and just nodded to her plan.

"Whatever is inside, we will share it fifty-fifty. If any of you feel like this is not an honorable thing," Gaya air quoted the word honorable.

"You can let go of your share,"

"Do you have any idea what's inside? A rough idea, perhaps?" asked Devarius, quickly trying to change her mind.

"I would have if you guys had better spies," Gaya rolled her eyes. After Michael's attack on the Golden Port, Victoria herself visited the place and rounded up all the spies. With Edith's lie detector array, the spies stood no chance.

"Let's just say we got to the warehouse successfully. What then? How do we take their things?" asked General Bryce. As though Gaya was expecting this question, she grinned. Then, with a flick of her wrist, she took out a dark gray scroll. She opened it up to reveal various intricate runes engraved on it. None of them had an idea what this would do, but they could tell it was somehow to help them steal everything inside the warehouse.

"It's a teleportation scroll, except it would only teleport things," said Gaya. Elidyr personally designed the scroll. The downside of this teleporter scroll was it could only teleport things with minimum energy radiation. For instance, if there were sacks of grain or gold, it could teleport them. However, the teleporter would fail if there were a potion, dragon bones, or anything with high energy radiation.

Gaya lied when asked if she had any idea what was inside. The truth was she knew exactly what was inside. The thusians were storing grains, food, gold ore, metal ores, and crates of potions. Due to Michael's sudden attack, they were able to properly distribute the things to the cities. Since Michaell was leaving for the Southern continent after this war, he planned to take them with him.

It was a simple enough task. So she believed the trio could complete the task without any problems.

"Since this will be a naval battle, we don't have much need for your armies. Take this as a gift from Ghost,"

"General," Davarius called out for Gaya.

"What about Northguard? When are we planning to retake my kingdom?"

"Good question. After we take over the Golden Port, the thusians will be forced to take a huge chunk of their troops from the Northguard and station them in their own cities. That's when we make our move. The only reason why we didn't do it until now is the collateral damage. I won't be surprised if the thusians used your people as hostages to escape our wrath," said Gaya. Although Michael could destroy thusian armies in a few hours, he chose not to because he wanted to learn the art of war through this war. After all, Michael would lead his army against powerful people in the future. He couldn't rely on his power alone. Instead, he needed his wits and experience in wars. Hence, Michael treated this as a war simulator.

Davarius pondered what Gaya had said and agreed with her.

"After taking over the Golden Port, I will personally come to Northguard and help you chase off the thusians,"

"Thank you, general," Satisfied with Gaya's answer, Davarius bowed. Granted Aelia was a foul mouthed quick to anger girl but she was a damn good leader. Furthermore, her ways might be ruthless and unheard of yet they worked. Without her, they wouldn't have taken back the cities without breaking a sweat.

"Now you may go to your armies, motivate them or whatnot and come meet me here in fifteen minutes," Gaya dismissed them.

**********************************************

As the light drained away, there was barely enough even for shadows. Whether one liked it or not, the darkness arrived, and everything lost its color under it. Even the stars and moon cowered behind a dense layer of cloud, giving the air a tincture associated with the world before a storm. The ocean before the Golden Port was calm. Hundreds of ships guarded the city behind them. Their silhouettes against a newly silver sky, its blue hue had almost gone until dawn. Their sails swayed in the wind, creaking into the gusting air. The usually buzzing Golden Port was empty and void of any life. Thanks to Xanali's quick and coordinated effort, they managed to transport the people to Idrisal. At that moment, only the naval army and soldiers remained in the Golden Port. Victoria issued a kill order. The soldiers had the right to kill anyone they thought suspicious after nightfall.

From a bird's view, the thusians formed a trident formation on the sea. The leading ship at the top of the center end was a man o war ship captained by one of General Booth's men, Hubert Mertz. General Booth had given him the command of the entire Thusian fleet.

The best minds from Thusia came up with the trident formation. Furthermore, they had a kill squad waiting for Ghost if he decided to show up. This kill squad contained seventy men, all personally picked by General Booth himself. They were the best of the best, armed with an Immortal killing spear.

General Hubert Mertz was an old man with long white hair and a beard. He was armed to the teeth with crimson-red armor. Every inch of his armor had a rune engraved in it. They radiated a dim glow under the dark sky. His calm eyes swept across the ocean. He let the soothing sound of the waves calm his mind and soul.

The soldiers behind him weren't nervous as they were all war veterans. Yet, even the threat of a Half Immortal couldn't shake their resolve. They all waited for the enemy ships to appear. The last time, the enemies caught them off guard by suddenly appearing out of nowhere. This time, they were prepared. The moment the space distorts, the arrays in the sky would alert all the ships of the enemy's presence. Edith herself designed all these arrays to give them an edge against Ghost and his army.

"General Hubert," General Hubert looked over his shoulder and saw his second in command, Albert Mertz, his grandson, walking toward him.