"The victor had been decided." Aboard the Noah Tree Boat, Clan Chief Pang Ting lowered his Observation Mirror.
This had been a one-sided war. From beginning to end, Tsushima's defenders had failed to mount any effective response. When a massive breach was blasted into the western wall, the soldiers' morale collapsed completely. They scattered in all directions, desperate to get as far from the coast as possible. According to the plan, Noah would next dock and send the Jinxia First Division, Mechanical Beasts, and other equipment ashore onto Yama Island.
"It was practically just like when the Natating Empire attacked World Island..." High Priestess Sainiya sighed. "If only we had possessed such strength back then."
"Er... forgive me for saying so, but there was still a difference between the two." Pang Ting coughed twice. "Look, the fleet's shells mostly landed below the wall. That showed Lord Xia had deliberately lowered the firing angle to avoid harming the residents inside the city. The Empire had no such concerns. Before the elders surrendered, even ordinary people would be treated as resisters and slaughtered along with them..."
Sainiya looked at him with amusement. "I never expected that, after a year, you would be speaking well of the Jinxia people too."
"This... wasn't I doing it for our compatriots aboard the Tree Boat?" Pang Ting's old face reddened. "This Jinxia First Division has nearly a thousand Elf warriors. I don't believe they would be as despicable and brutal as the Imperial people."
"Indeed..." Sainiya turned her gaze toward Tsushima Prefecture, where smoke and dust billowed in the distance. "It was time for World Island to take another step forward."
To be honest, Xia Fan was the most tolerant ruler she had ever met.
That princess might merely not have objected to the Elves' arrival,