A faint light had already begun to appear at the far edge of the sea. Soon, the Sun would rise above the horizon.
At the headquarters of Japan's Combined Fleet, the reveille bugle had already sounded.
Faced with this once-in-a-millennium opportunity, all of Japan had now fallen into a kind of frenzy.
From commoners and ronin at the bottom to aristocrats and powerful families at the top, everyone had been swept into a fervently militaristic atmosphere.
It was precisely through this unity of purpose, together with wholesale westernization and the West's need for a stable foothold in the Far East, that they had advanced.
Japan had rapidly taken delivery of numerous machines and equipment relocated from the West, and had even built a powerful navy.
On top of that, they had three Sword Saints alive at once, something unseen in a thousand years, the strongest Shōnichi Divine Emperor in history, and two High Priests who had incorporated the strengths of Western supernatural entities.
Japan had now reached the strongest point in its history.
As a result, even though their naval training was arduous, the sailors rose without complaint to begin their daily drills.
The flags of their naval headquarters began rising over one warship after another.
However, Suzuki Hegu, who had also risen and was already sitting in his office with a coat draped over him, reviewing the latest intelligence on the Beihai Navy, kept feeling a sense of unease.
"What on earth is going on? What is this pervasive unease with no apparent cause? It isn't an enemy, nor is it killing intent. Is some natural disaster about to strike...?"
Suzuki Hegu began to frown. With his Martial Saint-level senses, he also vaguely perceived what seemed to be an abnormal rhythm in the waves out at sea...
Elsewhere, a