Sobek's announcement was broadcast around the world within minutes. The whole of humanity was waiting to know the results of the war campaign, and as soon as the video was put online it went viral. The media did not hesitate to broadcast it on all their platforms and within half a day there was not a single human being on the planet who had not seen it.

The first reaction was panic. When people saw the first few minutes of the video showing the destroyed fleet, they were terrified. Many had not even finished watching the video and had fled to the shelters expecting an attack by the dinosaurs at any moment.

But the moment of panic did not last long, and was immediately followed by the most total despair. There were many families who had lost at least one family member in the war. Inside the fleet there were parents, uncles, grandparents, brothers and children, and now they were all dead and did not even have a grave. The families did not even have the opportunity to retrieve the bodies to mourn them. Despair made its way like an extremely contagious virus and for the next few days an untold number of people would be absent from work, school or in general from the usual activities, too sad and busy crying to go about their business. Worldwide, the number of widowers and orphans rose to unprecedented levels.

For the first time in a hundred years, humans were once again experiencing first-hand what it really meant to go to war. When it had come down to it, when despair and loss had entered, finally everyone was able to understand why the Beleriard had refused to participate in the war and had done everything to stop it. Many parents now cursed the day they greeted their children on their way to board, the same day that previously seemed a happy memory. Some of those parents, unable to bear the pain, even took their own lives.

Such was the nature of warfare. The pain and fear did not cease when the soldiers left the battlefield: the worst part always happened when they returned home… or rather, when they returned home which would never happen.

National leaders were caught off guard. All government bodies were unable to think what to do. In one blow, the fleet formed by all the nations of humanity had been annihilated. They had taken a year to make it, they had mobilized all their troops, prepared new and destructive weapons capable of destroying entire areas ... and it had not helped. The dinosaurs had once again won with minimal losses. Now their military strength was destroyed and the dinosaurs had declared an embargo.

Given the desperate situation, they acted in the only way they could think: they immediately ordered all ships to return to their ports, and for those too distant to return within twenty-four hours they had mobilized all the remaining helicopters to go and retrieve the ship. crew. Then they blocked all planes and ordered those already in flight to return to their departure airport, or if it was too far to the nearest one.

Being able to do everything with only twenty-four hours of time was not at all easy. Airport control towers had to work overtime to allow all aircraft to land safely despite short notice; the ports were suddenly clogged with ships, so many that many of them had to be abandoned offshore and it was necessary to recover the crew with motorboats. In addition, many merchant ships and container ships were several kilometers from the coast, and it was impossible for them to return in twenty-four hours; and those who succeeded had to dock in places not intended for the unloading of their goods. The result was a huge loss of cargoes, resulting in a financial meltdown. Thousands of tons of food, metals, raw materials, objects, were all abandoned. The global economy collapsed like a house of cards.

Then, after twenty-four hours, the embargo began.

*********

"Keep the sea under fire! If something tries to get out of the water, shoot it! "

The port of Westphalia had been completely cleared. Civilians had been evacuated and those who lived too close to the water had been temporarily transferred elsewhere. Now only the police, the carabinieri and what little remained of the army were present.

The port of Westphalia had always been very rich in ships, being an important commercial location, but that night it was literally packed. Thousands of ships were packed like sardines near the gangways and many more were anchored nearby.

The police had brought all the weapons and men at their disposal to avert a possible attack, but they all knew that they could not do anything if the dinosaurs wanted to go to the mainland. What hopes could a few hundred men have against beings who had brought down the largest army ever seen?

Then, under the silver moonlight, the sea rippled. Several figures appeared under the surface of the sea. The men shivered as they recognized hundreds of marine reptiles of all sizes coming towards them.

"Stay calm! We must not let them reach the mainland!"

But the marine reptiles had no intention of attacking them. Like a swarm they attacked the ships.

Boats, fishing boats, merchant ships, container ships; within minutes, all of these boats were torn from the harbor and torn to pieces. Under the terrified gaze of men, large marine reptiles such as mosasaurs or liopleurodons grabbed ships and dragged them underwater, where other smaller reptiles such as ichthyosaurs attacked them and tore them to pieces thanks to [Powerful bite]. As for the larger ships, not only did marine reptiles drag them down and destroy them, but some notosaurs clambered onto them and contributed to the dismemberment with [Deadly claws].

Within five minutes, not a single ship remained intact; only thousands and thousands of wrecks and pieces of ships that floated on the water or lay on the bottom. And while the men were intent on observing that spectacle, a small ichthyosaur jumped out of the water like a dolphin and used [Devastating roar] to be heard by everyone: "Remember these words of mine, humans! Don't you dare go back to the sea. Even if you don't see us, we will constantly monitor your coasts. If even a single ship dares to touch the water, we will destroy it in an instant!"

Then, as fast as it had come, the horde of marine reptiles disappeared.

That scene and that warning were repeated all over the world. All ports were attacked and ships torn to pieces. Those that were still in the open sea were dragged into the sea depths; in the following decades they would be covered with algae and corals and would become food for marine life. Humans could not help but watch helplessly as they were cut off from the ocean. In practice, in a single moment, humans had been banished from more than three-quarters of the planet's surface; if the three continents owned by the dinosaurs were added to it, even with its two continents the human race remained a decidedly small space.

********

There were only a few places that had been spared and in total they could be counted on the fingers of one hand. They were the ports of Beleriard. The marine reptiles did not even attempt to approach the ships. The fishing boats continued to fish and the surfers continued to enjoy themselves in the waves. Marine life had not turned against them as it had with the rest of the world.

Obviously that didn't change much, at least from the current point of view. Now the Beleriard was officially an enemy of the NMWA and therefore even having their own ships they could not trade with anyone. Not that this was a problem: Jocelyne had been struggling for a long time to achieve total economic independence, and all those plans, plans and sleepless nights had paid off. While in the rest of the world the economy was in collapse, living conditions in Beleriard had not changed in the slightest and indeed were continuously improving.

When Sobek's announcement was broadcast around the world, all Jocelyne did was smile. "All as expected" she said she just she.

Jackson, Abe, Dreyfus, and Malcolm were in the presidential room with her. All four had an expression of slight terror painted on their faces. They did not know, however, if they were more afraid of the destruction displayed by Lord Sobek or the total calm with which Miss Jocelyne showed herself. "How was this possible?" Abe exclaimed. "The fleet was impregnable! How could the dinosaurs have achieved such a landslide victory?"

"Ask them. I don't care" Jocelyne replied. "I knew lord Sobek would win. Any other information was superfluous to me"

Abe took a deep breath. He doubted that the dinosaurs would reveal their war tactics so easily, but he urgently needed to discover them. Defeating such a fleet with so few casualties was simply absurd, beyond all logic; whatever weapon or strategy the dinosaurs possessed had to be far more advanced than normal human tactics.

Abe didn't know what to think. He was pleased with the victory of their allies, but such power frightened him. How much were dinosaurs really superior to humans?

Fortunately, Malcolm broke the tension: "President, what are we going to do now?" The announcement of the world embargo did not go unnoticed. As interior minister, Malcolm was expected to know about future plans.

"Yeah, I'd like to know too" Jackson added, who being the foreign minister was just as interested as Malcolm.

Jocelyne smiled. "Now?" she asked. "Now the real change begins"

The four men looked at each other. "What... what do you mean, president?"

Jocelyne opened a drawer in her desk and took out some papers. "These are our plans for the future, appropriately designed by me and ambassador Al in great secrecy"

Malcolm took one of the papers and read it, then blanched. "But... But this is..."

"… a plan to turn Beleriard into the first nation where humans and dinosaurs live together. Yes" Jocelyne replied.

"A nation where humans and dinosaurs live together?" The people in the room were amazed. "Madam President, are you sure?"

"I see no reason not to be" Jocelyne replied. "In the days leading up to ambassador Al and I have worked hard to calculate every single unexpected event to bring about the great change in our nation. Now the NMWA can no longer bother us and we are technically declared enemies of humanity, so we are in the same boat as the dinosaurs. The time has come to finally tear down the walls between us. We will become the first nation where humans and dinosaurs will live together. We will show the whole world how profitable our alliance is"

"Where is ambassador Al now?" Jackson asked.

"He's resting and he doesn't want to be disturbed..."

"I'd like to talk to him anyway..."

"… for no reason"

Jackson fell silent. Jocelyne's sharp tone was enough to make even the most reluctant of men shut her mouth.

"But…" Abe swallowed. "... how will the rest of the world react?"

"The rest of the world does not concern me"

"Bullshits! I know you very well, president. I know you have a plan in mind. What are you going to do to defend us if the rest of the world reacts badly?"

Jocelyne narrowed her eyes slightly. "Before we can become targets, humanity will have to overcome the naval blockade imposed by the dinosaurs, and I don't think they will easily succeed" she replied. "But… yes, I have a plan in mind. Or rather, lord Sobek has it. We have big plans for the future"

"Are we allowed to know them?"

"Of course not" Jocelyne went back to watching Sobek's footage. "It's suffice to say that for a while this will be a cold war. Whoever holds out the most will be the winner... and I seriously doubt it won't be us"