The biggest defining feature of cities on the Western Continent was that an Aerial Fortress floated above every one of them.
These Aerial Fortresses were even larger than conventional fortresses. Junlin, for example, had already been in service for seventy-one years, and its technology was somewhat behind that of the fortresses currently in active service.
In a sense, the Western Continent handed its soon-to-be-retired Aerial Fortresses over to the Kingdom's organizations, allowing them to make use of discarded assets.
They were like Sky Islands at the heart of each city, their black steel domes intimidating every citizen below.
The dukes spent most of their time living on the Sky Islands. The Aerial Fortresses were like the defensive castles of noble medieval palaces in the Outer World—stern and imposing.
The airships constantly rising and descending through the city supplied them with materials.
Nearly ten airships flew up and down every hour. Any official wishing to meet a duke had to undergo a full body search and identity verification before being allowed to board an airship to the fortress.
Meanwhile, the Western Continent's other Aerial Fortresses floated along the edges of the Forbidden Zone, guarding against invasion by the Giant Dynasty.
Due to the crisis involving intelligent machines and the civil war, the Federation lagged behind the Western Continent in technology and military strength.
Originally, the Western Continent had also been constrained by resources because of the Forbidden Zone's expansion.
But eighteen years ago, the Kingdom of Roosevelt launched a war against the Forbidden Zone and seized two core mineral deposits. That allowed it to build the Aerial Fortresses currently in service, giving the Western Continent the confidence to test the Federation now.
Above Storm City, the Storm Aerial Fortress hovered over the city's sky. A middle-aged man in a black robe