The Anemone Domain and the Snake Kingdom were eternal rivals.

  For a long time ago, the Snake Kingdom was widely recognized as the only overlord of this expanse of water, but this changed following the rapid rise of the Anemone Domain which was helmed by clownfish.

  Considering the different physique and combat ability of both species, at a glance, the clownfish seemed to have no chance against their snake opponents, but they turned the tide of the war with technology.

  A war of attrition between both races started and lasted for decades with the clownfish constantly on the losing side, this was until the clown god appeared who singlehandedly turned the situation around.

  This exceptional clown god was a genius in a lot of ways. Not only did she have fierce combat strength herself, but her outstanding knowledge was also what really turned the situation in favor of the clownfish.

  The tenacious snakes did not succumb though. Supported by their century-old elders who were awoken from their hibernation when the survival of the rural settlement was threatened, the Snake Kingdom held on.

  In the end, the leadership of this expanse of water could only settle for the dual leadership setting with the 2 high-grade settlements as the overlords.

  By the time this status quo became normal, numerous clownfish and snakes were already lost to the massive struggle that lasted decades.

  To reduce their losses, both sides tacitly decided to stop the mindless killing.

  Silently, throughout the years that followed, though the rivalry between the Snake Kingdom and the Anemone Domain remained, it was more subtle as both sides were content with licking their wounds in the dark and recovering.

  The clashes between these 2 dominant rural settlements during this time were reduced to nothing more than small skirmishes between patrol teams.

  And this only happened mostly if both patrol teams met abruptly and had to fight each other for benefits. Then, none of them would like to give in first which was proof of weakness before the other.

  They were content with slowly recovering and accumulating power in the dark, and to do this, laying low was the best strategy.

  This status quo already continued like this for such a long time that perhaps, the clownfish army grew complacent. Things that they never overlooked during the thick of war years ago were now easily overlooked.

  An example of this fact was Lieutenant Clown D.D. Years ago, this veteran clownfish soldier would have never fallen so deep before discovering the ambush.

  This complacency never proved to be a problem though, this was because the status quo was already ingrained in them. Every soldier thought that this status quo would not change soon, or were they wrong?

  This was a question that no one had an answer to at the moment.

  Unfortunately, this time though, despite the clownfish lieutenant's countermeasures, he was caught deep inside the heart of the ambush. 

  By the time he discovered the conspiracy, the danger already erupted in the most violent manner possible.

  "The Snake Kingdom!"

  This was the last thing that the Lieutenant was able to say with an angry hiss before his warship and his military-grade shuttles came under enemy fire.

  The warships' sensors detected activity from below the ground, but this lasted only an instant as the energetic discharge coming from underground scrambled all their sensory fields, rendering them useless.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Gunshot sounds erupted following the sounds of the exploding bombs.

  As the sensors of the warship were rendered useless, Lieutenant Clown D.D could see nothing but white and blank as the warship rocked under the terrifying kinetic impacts of the enemy bombardment.

  All he could hear around him was static and shaking as the powerful warship tried to re-orient itself and engage in this battle to no avail.

  It took a few seconds before the warship forcefully shrugged off the effects of the massive kinetic shells impacting its frame. When the sensor screen came back online, the clownfish lieutenant's heart chilled.

  An army of snakes of different species came from directly below the rock where the fire ants originated from and now faced the clownfish army.

  During these few seconds of blindness from the warship, every single fire ant remaining was annihilated, including the last military-grade shuttle of the clownfish patrol team, and 2 military-grade shuttles of the reinforcement force were already in a critical state from the massive bombardment.

  Fire ants were terrifying rare beasts, but they had one major weakness, cold and ice. The fact that the snakes came prepared, using the right methods to rapidly wipe out the ants revealed that they had this planned extensively.

  Lieutenant Clown D.D felt his small heart pounding rapidly.

  After annihilating the first 2 obstacles, all these snakes were now upon them.

  Unlike the Anemone Domain that took in visitors, even incorporating them in their military, the Snake Kingdom took no visitors, everything about them, their culture, and their modus operandi screamed snake.

  Their advantage was that snakes in Oceania were of so many species that writing them in a Dictionary could virtually fill it up.

  From Pythons as huge as shuttles to Constrictor Boas with hand adaptations to wield different weapons such as the ice generators through which the fire ants were just annihilated to Cobras that had the deadliest venom in the whole region, the Snake Kingdom had them all.

  At this moment, of course, it was unrealistic for this high-grade rural settlement to deploy their whole army, but the number of snakes that were allocated for this mission was more than enough to steamroll the clownfish.

  The clownfish reinforcement army was blasted, they were absolutely dead from the number disparity alone. The snakes planned this, staged it, and executed it in such an impeccable manner that the clownfish were left like clowns.

  Despite all the stakes that were stacked against them, seeing the movement of the snakes that were filled with extreme bravado and pride, Lieutenant Clown D.D felt like a stake was being driven through his heart.

  "Hahahahahaha!" The clownfish Lieutenant suddenly laughed aloud.

  "We may all die today, but let's die with pride!"

  "Let's show these cursed species what it means to go up against a clownfish!"

  "ATTACK!"

  The only warship of the clownfish army personally led the charge.

  They were fed up with the shameless ambush of their opponents and the bravado that they showed for it. 

  The fact that the snakes did not decide to end the status quo openly but did it this shamelessly in such a hideous manner revealed the low standards and morals of the snakes, the clownfish would not stoop so low.

  The snakes ambushed them, but they would retaliate with all their might openly and show these hideous fellows who were the real kings of this region.

  All the shuttles were under a lot of fire, and the melee battle-oriented snakes were already rapidly closing the distance but the clownfish did not cower.

  Whoosh!

  All the escape ports of the shuttles opened up as a wave of clownfish mechs poured out of them like hundreds of versions of the iconic marvel iron man.

  "Blast the snakes to oblivion!"

  Boom! Boom! Boom!