Captain Zelgen knew full well that this time was different from before. This was not some chance sudden raid, but a real war—he had seen one before.
Captain Zelgen was right. In fact, Franz had prepared a full five hundred thousand rockets for this war.
What they faced was a net of death woven from tens of thousands of rockets. Before their eyes lay the true sight of hell.
Countless rockets trailed fiery tails, spitting flame. They were not as dazzling as a meteor shower—they blotted out the sky outright. Red flames and black smoke churned ceaselessly overhead, as though the end of the world had arrived.
Even Frederick William's throat bobbed involuntarily.
"Christ, Jesus, God! What is that?!"
Like a river of death hanging upside down, countless rockets poured down.
"Crown Prince, run!"
The officers and guards beside him roared, but their ears had already been filled with shrieking whistles.
Frederick William was dragged along and ran on instinct. This might have been the most undignified moment of his life, but no one would laugh at him, because many others were running too.
Others dropped to their knees, not daring to look straight at the heavens. They merely crossed themselves again and again, muttering incoherently.
"The heavens are overturning, the stars are falling—could this be punishment for us brothers slaughtering one another?"
For the Catholics in the Prussian Army especially, it was a blow that struck straight into their souls. On one hand, the Austrian Empire itself was the protector of the Catholic Church.
On the other, Prussian priests had generally opposed going to war with the Austrian Empire. Prussia's Catholic Church resisted fiercely, not only halting all sacraments, but openly spreading anti-war rhetoric.
This was both support for Austria and a counterattack against the Prussian government's long-term suppression.