Tyranny of Steel

As Berengar had anticipated, his eldest son Hans was among the first units to respond to his declaration of war. Hans rushed into his flight suit early in the morning and hit the deck, where he was quick to hop into his Ta-152 fighter-interceptor, along with the entire fighter wing of the SMS Osterreich.

They were to be the spearhead of the invasion of Borneo, along with the planes stationed in the Singapore, and Majapahit Air Bases. Their objective was to secure Air Superiority within the region, so that their strategic bombers could get to work against the Imperial Japanese Army on the ground below.

For the sake of this operation, the carrier borne Stukas replaced their torpedos with bombs, before being launched after the fighter-interceptors. Hans felt a deep pit of anxiety in his gut, as he his plane was catapulted off the carrier's deck. As he took to the skies, Hans prayed to whatever god was listening to protect him.

It did not take long for the carrier's air wing to regroup with those planes who had launched from Singapore and Indonesia. Hundreds of German fighters were in the skies, heading towards Borneo where the Japanese pilots and anti-air defenses lie in wait for them.

Eventually the German fighters and dive bombers reached their destination, where Hans heard over the radio a voice which belonged to his wing commander.

"Alright boys, keep your eyes on the prize, and watch each other's backs. I hear the enemy planes are made out of wood, so if any of you fuckers get shot down, I will piss on your graves! Let's do this!"

After hearing such a vulgar comment, Hans could only scoff before pushing his plane higher into the sky. As he gained altitude, he saw the enemy on his radar, who was gathered below. Once he was certain that he had gained enough of an advantage, Hans began to dive towards the nearest enemy fighter.

The Ki-106 was a wooden variant of the infamous Nakajima Ki-84 from Berengar's past life. It was a fast plane, with great combat capabilities, however its largest weakness was the wooden fuselage, which could easily be torn apart by a ta-152's auto cannons.

With the altitude in his favor, Hans dived onto the nearest Ki-106 and aligned his optical sight onto the cockpit of the enemy fighter. Remembering the graduation gift he had received from his father, and the warning behind it, Hans did not hesitate to pull the trigger, and when he did so the explosive projectiles blasted through the cockpit, and tore apart the pilot's, spilling his blood across the shattered glass.

The plane quickly fell out of the sky and towards the ground below, where it exploded on impact. However, Hans did not pay attention to this, and instead quickly aligned his sights with a second enemy fighter, where he once more fired a short burst, which tore off one of the wings, and sent the plane spiraling towards the earth below. This pilot was fortunate enough to eject, where he safely landed on the island. Hans could hear a cheer resound in his ears as a familiar voice congratulated him on achieving first blood.

"Haha, Prince just scored two kills! Leave some for the rest of us, why don't you?"

The voice belonged to Haywire, who had flown beside Hans and gunned down a Ki-106 which was tailing him. Hans, however, did not pay attention to this and continued to swoop through the skies like an eagle, ruthlessly shooting down plane after plane. Every time he did, he could hear haywire's voice congratulate him for another kill.

Within five minutes, Hans had achieved as many kills while remaining completely unscathed, much to the shock of his unit, who, while outperforming the Japanese pilots, had taken a few losses of their own.

As Ghost shot down a Ki-106, Hans saw another Japanese plane sweep across his comrade's topside, and in doing so, damaging Ghost's engine. Immediately the plane ignited and began to lose altitude, as Ghost's voice could be heard on the radio.

"Shit, I've been hit! I've got to eject!"

After saying this, the man ejected from his plane, his parachute immediately deploying as he slowly fell to the island below, which was now fully occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army. Rather than worry about his brother in arms, Hans decided to avenge him, and thus quickly shifted his plane around so that he followed the Ki-106's tail.

Hans fired a single burst. However, the explosive projectiles missed, causing him to fire another spray, and then another before finally hitting his target on the third try. The Ki-106 practically disintegrated midair, and in doing so, killed its pilot. Hans could not help himself from cursing the man he had just killed.

"That's for Ghost you jap fuck!"

After saying this, a burst of fire shot just above Han's cockpit as he noticed a Ki-106 diving upon him. He swiftly maneuvered his plane out of the firing line, which caused the enemy fighter to follow him.

Despite being an exceptionally gifted pilot, Hans had a difficult time dodging this plane. Everywhere he turned and twisted, the enemy would follow him. Just as Hans was about to make an evasive maneuver, a burst of the enemy's auto cannons shot through the rear of his fuselage and into his cockpit. He closed his eyes and braced himself for death, knowing that such a burst was good enough to kill him.

However, death never came for him, and when he opened his eyes, he saw a slight golden shield surrounding his body, which was protruding from the ring his father had made him swore to wear. Hans stared in complete disbelief for several moments before realizing that he was still very much alive and still had an enemy on his tail.

Rather than try to make sense of just how he had survived the attack, Hans immediately began to climb as high as possible into the air, knowing that the enemy pilot would follow him. Which he, of course, did. As he began to twist his planed into a three sixty, narrowly dodging the bullets that followed him, Hans's engine began to stall, as did the Ki-106.

Just like the maneuver he had practiced during flight school, the two planes began to fall out of the sky, nose first towards the dirt below. As Hans fell, he aligned his optical sight on that of the enemy, who should have killed him, and pulled the trigger, blasting the plane into bits as he continued to descend through the air.

Realizing that he was about to crash into the ground below, Hans continued to play with his engine until his propellor began to spin just in time to avoid hitting the dirt. He pulled with all his strength on the joystick and climbed just high enough that the bottom of his fighter hit the tops of Borneo's trees. Where he screamed in joy as he climbed back into the sky so that he could get into the fight once more.

After shooting down a total of twenty-five fighters, Hans' plane was too damaged to continue fighting, and thus he had informed his unit that he would be returning to the carrier to undergo repairs. Hans hit the deck with absolute precision before jumping out of his cockpit, where he was greeted by the cheers of the other pilots who had been forced to land.

Among these pilots, was Haywire, who himself had gained five confirmed kills. However, that was nothing compared to Hans. The man grabbed hold of the teenage boy and hugged him tightly before giving him a nickname that would last until the end of time.

"There he is! Our Crimson Prince!" Twenty-five confirmed kills in one battle, absolutely fucking legendary! You're now not only an Ace, but I'd be willing to bet my left nut that you get an iron cross after what you just did!"

Hans could only smile and take in the cheers that he was receiving from his fellow pilots and several of the deck crew, who overheard just what the boy had accomplished during his first combat operation.

The war between the Germany and Japan had only just begun, and yet in the first stage of aerial combat, the Germans had emerged victorious. A hundred Japanese fighters lie in flaming wreckage on the Island of Borneo, nearly half of their pilots killed in action. Out of these one hundred kills, a quarter of them had been scored by a single German Ace, a young man who would forever be known from this day forth as the Crimson Prince.