"Men," Jake commanded. "Ready the cannons."

"""Aye aye, captain!"""

The crew of The Kraken shouted in unison and they got to work. The captain of the ship retreated from the bowstrip and walk across the deck. He climbed to the back of the ship where the wheel of the ship was. A crewmember manning that wheel let go of it to let the captain take control of the ship's movement.

Jake took hold of the wheel and grabbed the circular shape in the middle of the object. The circle in the middle of the wheel came off to reveal runes embedded in another layer of the wheel's frame. Jake touched the runes and the runes glowed in blue light.

SHIING

SLIPSTREAM ACTIVATED

Jake could see an outline of blue light around the perimeter of the ship.

Yes, The Kraken itself was a Catalyst. It was an upgrade by one Amelia Rickens, the new resident scientist of the Otherworldly Court. That girl had a brilliant mind, she was the one to really push the boundaries of maneg in the 300 years the Otherworldly Court existed, or perhaps the 1400 years since Manegia came to be (supposedly).

Most Court Wizards or what they were used to be called before the Otherworldly Court was formed were not of worlds where the understanding of Scientific Laws was mainstream, modern and post-modern worlds, which was exactly what maneg emulates. Only the lightning Element was truly understood because of its First Guardian, who created the Transporter Room, hails from a post-modern era world, but he did not try to learn other Elements. There were barely any Court Wizards from modern and post-modern worlds and they too did not try to understand maneg. This seriously impeded the advancements of Orders. It was probably in the 1400s in Manegia when the 'Earth's' entered the modern era and gained an understanding of the laws of nature, more modern Court Wizards were recruited and comprehension of the Elements came after. And then comes Amelia Rickens.

Out of all Court Wizards from the modern era recruited she was the one who really got curious about the Elements. She was able to identify how each Element emulates the aspect of nature that each followed and compile them into an easily understandable single sentence explanation. With that discovery, and using English as the basic language for making Orders due to its large vocabulary, Orders became more advanced and efficient.

Also, she had made improvements on Catalysts. Mostly made to kill time, Amelia had created many Catalysts which included a moving-wagon run by fire maneg, a metal box that could cook food with light maneg somehow, and poles with lights on top also with light maneg. Now, the Scientist Girl (the nickname Jake come up with) visited Osianicd Archipelago and on a whim, turned The Kraken into a massive Catalyst. The Order in the runes could make the ship go faster by pushing away water in front of the ship to the side reducing friction or something like that. He doesn't really get what she meant but it just makes his ship go abnormally fast. The Scientist Girl calls it [Slipstream] in which the name gets announced every time the Catalyst was activated. Jake could not remove that feature lest risking the entire rune to malfunction. The Catalyst can also be dialed how fast he wanted it to be.

Anyway, with [Slipstream] activated, The Kraken is now the fastest vessel in this water-ridden world. It was not a boast, it was a fact. But of course [Slipstream] can only be used for Otherworldly Court purposes so it was almost never used. In fact, this is the second time the Order was used, the first time was a test run.

Jake steered his ship to the right. The Laegar mothership which was across to his ship was guarded a few ships in front, rushing straight is too risky. Instead, he went for a nearby Laegar ship to his ship's right.

"Prepare to fire the left cannons by my command, " Jake said to his crewmates. The Kraken zoomed through the battlefield ahead of its comrades. It was about to pass by the right flank of a Laegar ship few meters apart when the captain of the ship gave the order, "fire."

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM

Six cannonballs let loose from The Kraken. The Kraken had 14 cannons, 6 each on the left and right side of the ship and 2 on the bow. It was a small number of cannons compared to other ships, but that was because cannons are useless for a Sea Hunter vessel; these cannons were loaned by the way. Anyway, the cannonballs flew above the azure sea aiming for a Laegar ship that should be unprepared for a sudden attack.

CRASHCRASHCRASH

SPLASH SPLASH SPLASH

Only three balls hit the target, but that should be enough.

KABOOM

As one of the cannonballs must have struck some of the explosives in that ship. Laegar battleships were equipped with explosion rounds inside in order to damage its enemies even further, but that was also a double-edged sword as to what happens if they got struck. That was a major weakness in the Laegar fleet and they did not learn from last time.

One remains of a Laegar ship had sunk into the deep abyss.

1 Laegar ship destroyed by The Kraken.

By this time, both sides are releasing lead balls at each other (so trying to count how many Laegar ships are left in a large battlefield could not be done). The Laegar commander must have ordered his fleet to focus their fire on The Kraken because right now, Jake is incessantly steering his ship in a zig-zag trying to avoid cannon fire from all sides. It's a good thing a Sea Hunter's profession demanded high skill in ship maneuver when hunting bigger sea monsters, which also meant smaller-sized ships for mobility.

BUMP BUMP

A few metallic spheres hit the ship. The Steel Kraken skin reinforcing the hull rendered those attacks as mere scratches to the vessel.

By this time, the Celestian navy had caught up with The Kraken, so at least the enemy fire does not concentrate on the smallest ship in this open-sea skirmish.

Jake spotted another Laegar ship northeast in his direction. "Prepare the right cannons," Jake commanded his crew. While the right side cannons are being loaded, Jake saw a Celeste ship approaching an incapacitated Laegar ship of nobility.

"Fire," he ordered and more cannon fire was let off.

BOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOMBOOM

CRASHCRASHCRASHCRASH

This time, four rounds landed on the hull of the enemy ship. However, that ship was still standing - looks like the cannonballs did not hit any bombs inside.

"Men, take your rest, " Jake said without a tone. "We are leaving this to the Celeste navy."

A part of why Celeste was untouched was because of the Contract. But that will not last indefinitely, so Celeste will have to let go of it eventually. That's why the Contract Jake wrote did not make defending Celeste as a Court Wizard an obligation - he may do it, but he won't need to protect Celeste if she can take care of herself.

As a part of it, the Celeste kingdom needed to show the world that she can fight without relying on some Sea Hunter with 'water sorcery'. But taking on an invading fleet three times their size in an open sea is unreasonable. So Jake had the courtesy to cut down the size of their adversary first, the weaker ships are prioritized. Afterwards, The Kraken will show itself that the Sea Hunter vessel was no such either, then it will leave the battle.

"George, " Jake called for his per bird. George flapped his wings from his opened cage and flew to his master's shoulder. "Take this and start recording." Jake gave his bird an amulet with a clear mirror on it.

AYE AYE CAPTAIN

George cawed, gripping the amulet with his beak, and flew off to the clear skies over the azure sea.

There was a reason Jake only destroyed the weaker ships and leave the bigger ships afloat. The Celestian navy needed to prove its valor after all. That amulet was the recorder for the Orb of Memorization - Celeste had one from the Steel Kraken Edward Rhaims killed.

Why those the Laegar kingdom insist on those explosives? Prince Rath Gareth Laegar thought frustratingly. It was a problem stocking too many explosives inside a ship meant for a naval battle. One strike from cannon fire to it and the entire ship goes down. Despite that, the Laegar kingdom still insists on bringing them onboard, they were a national pride. The Laegar kingdom prides itself on razing their enemies with fire, but that also works against them too. Frequently, Laegar ships were destroyed due to the explosives in the cargo being shot.

He watches as his fleet getting destroyed ship by ship.

After the entire massacre, The Kraken entered naval combat. Rath ordered the fleet to concentrate their fire on that ship as that ship actually went ahead of the Celestian navy. However, a blue light suddenly emanated throughout the hull of that ship. It then sailed faster than any ship he has seen and fired its cannons which hit one of his Laegar ships and the ship's explosives were hit, exploded and sunk.

The Kraken then did an absurd feat of maneuvering as it dodged most of the cannon fire directed at them. A few cannonballs hit the ship, but the Steel Kraken hide reinforcing the hull meant it was only a scratch. To top it all off, the Celestian navy had arrived and fire their cannons, the Laegar fleet was forced to divert their assault to them.

The Kraken then fired another volley to another Laegar ship but the ship still stood, The Kraken promptly left the battle.

The Kraken left the battle!? Rath looked into his telescope to double-check. The Kraken really turned its sail and sailed away from the battle. Rath doesn't know why but he is certainly not going to miss this chance.

"Men!" Rath shouted into his communication artifact. "The Kraken has abandoned his comrades and fled the battlefield. This is our chance to strike back!"

"""Uuoh!"""

Morale was boosted and the war might not be so hopeless after all.

"W-We surrender," prince Rath Gareth Laegar weakly muttered through a voice amplification artifact. A white flag rose above the crow's nest - but it was actually white undergarments hastily torn and sewn into one, he didn't have a proper flag of surrender.

That day, the Celeste kingdom had successfully defended the island kingdom against the invading Laegar kingdom for the third time. Even with the help of Jake Rhaims and his 'water sorcery' destroying two-thirds of the invading force, a recording from the Orb of Memorization had proved that the Celestian navy wasn't useless.

The Celestian navy had shown its prowess against the elite ships of the Laegar fleet. Even with most of the fleet destroyed, the elite ships that defined the Laegar war power were not touched by Jake's 'water sorcery' as only the weaker ships were targeted. Instead, the elites were bested by the 'inferior' Celestian navy.

Prince Rath Gareth Laegar was captured following the surrender along with all of the nobles except one - who had gone too far ahead of the fleet and was later found destroyed with the entire crew dead - that participated in the war.

It was another humiliating defeat for the Laegar kingdom as the prince had to fashion a white flag out of underthings in which one Jake Rhaims found out and made a laughingstock among the Celestians.