May 16, 1940, 05:25
Mhorish Sea, east of NurashimaThe sounds of dive bombers roared overhead, with the morning sun at their back, this victory would be a new dawn for the Ardian Empire, these Himeyan savages will know their place in history. That's what Albus Laurentinus reassured himself as he pulled himself onto the wing of his
fighter. He and the other pilots turned to face the officers on the deck. "Ad imperatorem!" they shouted while saluting. "Ad imperatorem!" the pilots saluted back before climbing into their cockpits. With the flight deck cleared, the Ardian pilots started their engines; setting off to join their brothers in the sky, Nurashima would be theirs today. Albus swooped just over one of the amphibious transports before climbing to group up with one of the dive bomber flights. Maneuvering his head to get a better view of the ocean, he spotted Nurashima in flames, his comrades had already begun their crusade against the Himeyan savages.
Getting distracted by the scene below, he was interrupted by a weak signal coming through his radio. "This is Leo bomber group 3! Unknown hostiles coming in from the northwest, about five thousand meters and diving!" Far up ahead, over Nurashima, Albus could spot the distressed bomber team; the planes were spiraling towards the ocean. The blood in his neck pulsing, he desperately tried to spot the hostile planes. "Leo bomber group 3 was annihilated, hostile planes are converging on Nurashima!" another voice said on the radio. "Roger that, Angelus figher group 1 intercepting!" Albus replied, diving towards the island. He could see the enemy fighters clearly now, there was no mistaking it, these were those
"Songbirds", as the intelligence officers called it, and they were fast.
"Atilius! On me!" he barked, getting his squadmate to form up on him as they went to engage the Songbirds. Albus aligned his plane with the trajectory of one of the Himeyan fighters, hoping to catch it when it disengaged from its dive and pulled up; but instead the Himeyan leveled out and turned, slipping under the pair after disengaging the bomber formation to the front. "Dammit, he's below us!" Albus shouted, rolling to try and spot the Songbird. "I found him, he's not getting away!" Atilius muttered over comms; "Roger that, I'll maintain altitude. Wait, you've got one coming in high, 9 o' clock!" Another Songbird swooped in at high speed, cutting in front of Albus' fighter before going to engage his squadmate. Before the other rookie even had time to react, the Songbird peppered his plane in tracers, setting it ablaze, to crash into Nurashima moments later. Enraged, Albus dived in to get a shot at the Himeyan plane that Atilius was chasing, having burned most of its energy evading the Ardian, it sluggishly attempted to turn around and force Albus to overshoot, but Albus instead managed to score multiple hits on the Himeyan with his 20mm, turning the plane into a fireball that plunged into the ocean.
"All units, enemy forces are retreating, regroup and prepare for subsequent attacks!" the radio buzzed. Albus took a deep breath and climbed back to altitude, most of the AA guns over the burning island had been silenced, but he could still see troops scurrying around. Just under a dozen Himeyan fighters were retreating west, with twice as many Ardians in pursuit. Angelus Fighter Group 1 turned back towards the Ardian fleet, for the rest of the morning they would be providing CAS for the Ardian landings on Nurashima; with nothing left to oppose them, they had taken over the island and got any fires under control before noon. Still, Albus, and many of the Ardian pilots felt uneasy, those Songbirds were more than a match for the Ardian fighters; and managed to kill off multiple Ardian planes before retreating.
Declaring war just hours before attacking, the Ardian Empire had their sights set on the Mhorish Sea for years. The first Battle of Nurashima was a massive tactical and strategic victory for the Ardian Empire, and cost the Himekuno Republic an incredible stockpile of supplies, as well as a vital strategic position in the Mhorish Sea. In Himekuno this battle came to be known as the Disaster of Nurashima, for the overwhelming casualties the Republic suffered while defending and retreating from the island base.