(September 18, 2025, Special Region, 2302 hrs. SRST)
When the UNF crossed the Gate, they can't hear the sound of the city. All they could hear is their engines roaring in their vehicles. For a while, they drove to a mainly dark tunnel, with the only lights being their tail and headlights illuminating. Up in the distance, lights appeared in front of them. When they exit the tunnel, they not only see their own vehicles and tanks on stand by but also a beautiful night scenery of the mountains.
"Wow!" A soldier said with awe. "This scenery is so beautiful. Kinda reminds me of the Alps back home."
"Sure is." Another said, recalling a military operation back in Operation Eternal Liberation when USEA forces were hiding in a series of mountain strongholds.
"Come on guys, really?" A squad leader joined in while holding a military-issued canteen on one hand.
While they reminisce about the past, a recon soldier spotted something in the distance. In his night vision binoculars, he saw a large army ready to attack the UNF and informed his fellow soldiers of what they are facing.
"Contact! Large battalion ahead! 1600 meters!"
"Any composition of the enemy?" The commander requested. This starts to alert the UNF soldiers who just arrived here.
"Yes, sir!" The recon soldier answered with his findings. "The enemy has a confirmed pikemen, men on horseback and swordsmen force within their ranks. They also have a large amount of dragons in the air, followed by a group of goblins, orcs and pigmen."
"What the…?!" A soldier asked as the others reacted with surprise.
"Get those tanks, AA guns and IFVs ready! And have your rifles and machine guns armed now!" The commander ordered his men. They quickly moved to prepare for a single-sided battle.
"Yes, sir!" A squad leader responded. "Everyone, move to attack position!"
The UNF began to set up their positions in haste as the army in front of them began to do last minute preparations to charge at the enemy. The tanks began to use FLIR and the riflemen also started to use night vision goggles to see in the dark, though they have flares to see at close ranges. As the war horns started playing, the grand army charged towards the Gate. But to their surprise, the UNF started firing shell after shell. As what happened in Ginza, the entire army was gunned down by people with strange magic.
(September 19, 2025, Allied Army Camp, 0701 hrs. SRST)
At the allied army's camp, several lords and generals from different kingdoms are slowly getting worried about the results. With many men lost under the hands of the 'invaders', all they could do was just panic and curse themselves because of it.
"This is getting bad! We are being pushed back!" One general said. "Alnus Hill is impassable!"
"Where is the Imperial Army?!" I thought they would be here to help us!" Another said as he questioned the Empire's promise for support.
"The lords were supposed to come back hours ago! What's going on?!"
However, a few of them, like King Duran of Elbe, seemed optimistic about it.
"Calm down, everyone." He assured. "No one can withstand our fearful might!"
"My lord, we can't attack them." One of his generals warned. "We don't know if these 'monsters' have something magical with them."
"I guess we shall find out. I bet that they will fall before my sword."
"Don't do it, my lord!" The general pleaded.
"Silence!" Duran rebuked. "We'll reclaim Alnus Hill from them and we will restore glory to Elbe and the nations."
King Duran amassed his army near Alnus Hill. On the way there, a sign written in various languages, including the local one, was broken due to the march. On it, a sign has some words:
"WARNING: NO TRESPASSING. VIOLATORS WILL BE APPREHENDED."
They ignored the sign and proceeded to march as usual. When they walk a few dozen steps after, an explosion from behind shook the King and his men. Suddenly, more blasts hit the army hard, killing men in sometimes simultaneous intervals. Duran witnessed light particles touching and piercing their armor of his men. Some fell from their horses as they tried to run away.
"So it is true!" He said in his mind. "We are being attacked by monsters, monsters with magic!"
He then noticed a small fast-moving object coming close to him. It exploded right in front of him, knocking him to the ground and severing one of his arms and legs.
For the next few waves, the attacks continued with overwhelmingly predictable results.
(September 20, 2025, Imperial Capital, 1017 hrs. SRST)
In the capitol, the Senate was frantic after a disastrous campaign to rid of the people from another world took hold of the Empire, including the nearby nations. Discussions took place on what to do with the situation.
"We send a large army and all we got was bloodshed?!" A senator questioned with fear.
"If we keep sending more troops to Alnus Hill, the last thing we can do is send our entire senate to die!" Another shouted.
The Emperor of the Empire, Molt Sol Augustus, disturbed the discussions and requested the Senate to listen.
"His Holy Majesty requests everyone to hear the words of our leader." His advisor said.
"Do you think that sending our entire army will improve our situation?" Molt asked. "We will not lose our hold on our advantage over the entire kingdoms around us while the invaders took control on a holy site."
"Yes Your Majesty, but if the kingdoms and your people find out about what we are doing, they will revolt against us."
"Calm down." Molt assured to his subjects.
"But, Your Majesty." A senator said. "Alnus…"
"We'll figure it out." Molt concluded.
(The Pentagon, Washington D.C., 1918 hrs. ET)
In the Pentagon, the officers of the United States Armed Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency are hard at work gathering intel, but not mainly because of the Special Region. There are reports of possible troop movement near the northeastern part of Mongolia, Eastern Africa and Eastern Europe and some suspect it was done by the remains of the USEA Federation.
"Do we have any intel regarding possible active troop and vehicle movement?" One general requested.
"Yes we have." A colonel replied with due respect. "However, it is likely that they'll invade Japan again because of the appearance of the Gate in Ginza three months ago and they might utilize it to replenish its war machine."
"Give the report to the President. And tell someone to give this to the UN Security Council."
"Yes, sir."
(The White House, 1919 hrs. ET)
In the Oval Office, President Millard Harling was at his desk keeping eyes on the events regarding the Special Region at his laptop computer. Almost a year after his inauguration as president, he created a passive foreign policy based on one of his predecessors. After what happened recently, he decided to leave the Special Region as it is and voiced opposition to send a task force there, fearing that it may hurt his reputation as a peace-loving man and draw the civilians to the crossfire. Instead, he was thinking of establishing trade and foreign relations with the nations at the other side.
"Requesting permission to enter the office, Mr. President." One of his advisors asked Harling outside.
"Permission granted." Harling answered.
"Thank you, sir."
He entered the room and stood in front of the President holding some papers.
"Mr. President, I'm sorry to bother you but we have a situation regarding unknown enemy movement in Eurasia and Africa."
"What is it, Mr. Walter? Go ahead." Mr. Walter presented the CIA's findings.
"We have intel that remnant forces of the USEA Federation are amassing at a few locations in Asia and we still have to check for any other movement in Africa and Eastern Europe. It's likely that the Special Region that was accessible in Japan three months ago was their target. Mr. President, I'm afraid that war would come back to haunt us one again."
"I won't allow them to use that Region for their own gains." Harling continued with his usual calm attitude. "I became president because I want to help people, people who are suffering from various wars and disasters, like Ulysses back in '99."
"I understand your opinions, sir, but we cannot let USEA get a hold of it." Mr. Walter continued. "So I suggest we send a task force there to guard it."
"I can't simply do that, Walter!" Harling shouted with opposition. "We can't allow the people there to be dragged into this!"
"Right. I understand, sir." Walter finished his conversation.
"You are free to go, Mr. Walter." Harling concluded.
"Yes, Mr. President." Moments later, Mr. Walter left the office to do his business somewhere.
(September 25, 2025, Alnus Hill, 1203 hrs. SRST)
In the crew quarters of the newly-established fortress in Alnus, Itami and Takeo are waiting for Reaper, who was inquiring about the new wingman that will be assigned to the squadron today. Itami was playing games on his mobile phone while in wait.
"Come on, I need just a little more to defeat the dungeon monster." He murmured while controlling his avatar to the boss level. "Almost there. Almost there."
"Tell me why he had to do this even in here." Takeo also murmured wondering why he acted childishly in the quarters. Moments later, Itami beat the monster.
"Yahoo, I beaten him! I BEATEN HIM!" Itami announced with excitement.
"So you got him now already? Wow, you just did that without paying."
"I know." Itami responded. "I save money for doujinshi."
"Just doujinshi?" Takeo asked. "Okay then. If that's what you want."
"I'll give you some tips when playing this game. It's fun to use, except for that HATED MICROTRANSACTIONS!"
"Settle down, Itami!" Takeo pleaded "Not this time."
The door opens and what comes out of it is their captain and a female with him.
"Everyone…" Reaper announced. "...we have a new wingman joining the squadron today. Her name is Shino Kuribayashi, callsign 'Dagger'. Take good care of her."
Kuribayashi began to introduce herself to her new wingmen.
"Hello everyone, my name is Shino Kuribayashi. Nice to meet you."
"Well I'll be…" Itami wondered. "Uh...nice to meet you. I'm Youji Itami and that guy beside me is Takeo Kurata."
"Hello too." Takeo answered with respect.
"Hump...I answered you politely and now you responded with doubts?! Shino answered back in response. "Better yet, I heard that you like doujinshi and manga a lot and spent your money out of it!"
"Umm...yes I did." Itami confessed with some shame.
"Calm down, Kuribayashi." Reaper assured her with calm. "I had no problems with him since this would help him get out or any situation alive." The captain then points his eyes at the two other pilots as well.
"Anyway, we'll be meeting in the briefing room in 25 minutes. I expect the three of you to be there by that time."
"Yes captain." Itami answered first.
"Roger." Followed by Takeo.
"Roger captain." Kuribayashi followed suit. The three pilots then salute along with Reaper and then continued their lunch.
(Briefing Room, 1228 hrs. SRST)
At the briefing room, Itami, Takeo and Kuribayashi are sitting down waiting for their assignment to be given. Reaper entered first followed by a fellow ace pilot, Akira Tomita.
"Alright, nuggets." Reaper announced "I would like you to meet a fellow pilot who flew with me during Operation Bird Hunt, Akira Tomita. He will fly with you on certain operations to evaluate your performance, so don't disappoint him."
The old but capable pilot took his time to introduce himself.
"Hello, fellow pilots." Akira introduced himself with respect. "As you already know, we will be evaluating you during your assignment here in the Special Region. Here is the details."
The veterans then gave the three pilots some information.
"To start, we are still unfamiliar with the geography here in the Special Region." Reaper started. "To that end, we will be flying an observation mission to determine the geography, towns and cities, water forms and points of interest. The details will provide us some help should we need our ground forces to go from point A to point B. At that rate, we can create a map to make sure we are not lost."
"One more thing to tell you." Akira continued. "In case some emergency took place near your flight path, try to land your plane and get to the scene immediately or engage them if any hostiles appear. We don't want people dying from any unwanted actions. I'll be flying with you pilots as callsign 'Raven' to see how well you are doing."
"Don't worry about our planes." Reaper assured his pilots. "They have screen meshes installed in the air intake to allow our planes to land anywhere so you can respond to an emergency. Also, the planes will be armed with live weapons for self-defense. Finally, a small ground recon force with aviation mechanics on board will be exploring at the same direction as well, so we may as well give some assistance like they will to us. All right, dismissed."
The pilots stood up and began to leave for their planes. Reaper then went for Itami for a small talk.
"Itami, I forgot something." Reaper talked to him with something important. "I forgot to give you a callsign since three months ago. From now on, we will call you 'Dragon'. Sounds nice, eh?"
"Thanks...captain." Itami responded with embarrassment. They left immediately after.
(Imperial Capital, 1231 hrs. SRST)
In the capital, Emperor Molt was just pondering on what to do next with the 'invaders', hoping that they will be driven off.
"Father!" A voice called out to him. In front of him is a red-haired girl wearing armor entering the room. She was hoping to address her father on her plan to check the invader's fortress.
"Princess Piña, what are you doing here?" Molt asked her daughter. Piña was a bit nervous but otherwise bold enough to discuss her plane.
"I will volunteer myself and my Order of the Rose to investigate Alnus Hill."
"Wait, you and your so-called 'order' will do this?" Molt asked with some doubts. "Don't you realize what we are facing?"
"I know what you meant, but I just wanted to try." Piña insisted with restraint.
"Then prove me that you and your order doesn't fail the Empire." Molt concluded his talk.
"I will, father." Piña left for the outside of the palace, where some of her knights are waiting for her. Outside, another young lady and a middle-aged man with gray hair was waiting with their horses.
"Did the emperor gave us permission to go?" The lady asked.
"Yes, he did, Hamilton." Piña replied. "All we have to do is to head for Italica. Then we can go to Alnus Hill."
"We may have to watch our backs for the duration. I fear we might fall for the same trap." The man said in response.
"Thanks for showing concern for us, Grey." Piña said in gratitude. "You just give us some comfort."
(Alnus Hill, 1301 hrs. SRST)
"Infinite Team, you are cleared for take-off." The control tower granted permission to the squadron on a semi-prepared runway for their first assignment in the Special Region.
"Roger, control." Reaper answered. "Infinite Team, taking off."
The roar of the Pegasus engines surrounded the base as they lift off from the runway and began to fly up. As they climbed to an altitude of 1800 feet, they retracted their landing gears, followed by the flaps to its flight position. When they reached 1800 feet, they were flying to their first waypoint.
"Alright, everyone. Let's go to business." Reaper started the details of the operation. "We will be doing an observation mission based on the waypoints we got. You may fly lower if needed to confirm anything."
"Just try not to get yourself lost." Akira advised to his fellow wingmen. "We can't easily find you without a proper map."
"Roger that." Itami responded. "We'll handle this."
The Infinite Team they spotted a small settlement near the waypoint. They reported their findings to the recon force.
"This is Itami of the Infinite Team, we have spotted a settlement near the waypoint."
"Roger, Infinite Team." Sgt. Snow of the recon team responded. "We'll check it out shortly."
"Don't drag any battles to that area." Akira suggested. "It could just be a small village."
"Thanks for the advice, Raven." Snow finished his reply. "Go ahead and finish the observation."
"Copy." Itami concluded the report. They then head for the second waypoint. A forest area was soon discovered.
"This is Raven, we found a large forest area. Not much here." Akira reported. "Alright, let's go."
"Guess the people here would use it as an advantage should a battle break out." Kuribayashi observed.
"Excellent observation, Dagger." Akira praised her.
"Alright then. A few more waypoints and we should be on our way home." Reaper told his wingmen.
They then head for the next waypoint and after a while, a city was discovered.
"This is Gremlin, we found a city within the flight path." Takeo reported when the team found it.
"Good boy." Reaper thanked Takeo. "I better give you people more dogfighting drills for you to perfect your abilities."
"Thank you very much, captain."
They then flew through more waypoints, discovering other settlements, landforms, water forms and other points of interests.
"Okay, we finished observing for today." Reaper declared. "Alright then, let's go home."
They began to fly for home, hoping to get some rest and refreshments at the quarters. Everyone felt relieved.
"This is Sgt. Snow, we spotted a large forest fire near the waypoint you flew past minutes ago." Snow reported what he and his team saw.
"WHAT!?" Itami said in shock.
"We'll investigate. Provide us some assistance."
"Roger, Sgt. Snow. We'll support you with whatever help we can give." Reaper accepted.
"I guess I'd better check with them on the ground." Itami suggested to his wingmen.
"Me too." Takeo repeated Itami's suggestion.
"So do I." Kuribayashi went with the two's answer.
"I'm going with them to help." Akira declared.
"Let's all check then." Reaper joined the search.
(Unknown forest, 1352 hrs. SRST)
They then head for the forest. When they reached the area, what was supposed to have no unusual features became lost as burnt parts of the forest exposed some man-made structures.
"What is this?" Kuribayashi asked.
"Don't know." Reaper replied. "We better land." They landed at an area where there is no obstacles on the ground. Few minutes later, they reached the point where Snow's recon team was investigating.
"What you got, sergeant?" Reaper asked.
"Found some structures." Snow reported the team's findings. "I don't know, maybe eight stories high."
Akira then explored a few meters when he encountered corpses buried within the rubble.
"Those poor people. I wonder what happened to them." Akira said as he began to pray for the souls.
"Check for survivors!" Reaper told everyone. "They may still be alive!"
The Infinite and recon teams then look for any surviving life forms within the area. At a well, Itami and Takeo were holding a bucket to fetch some water to put out the flames.
"Man, whatever happened, I'm not going to sleep well." Itami said.
"Tell me about it." Takeo continued. "Nightmares for us for the next few days."
As they dropped the bucket, a loud bumping sound was heard. This alerted everyone.
"Did we hit something?" Takeo wondered.
"Give me a flashlight." Itami requested. When he lit up the flashlight and pointed it down below the well, a girl was discovered unconscious. This shocked both pilots.
"Captain, we found a survivor!" Itami reported.
"Get me a medic, ASAP!" Reaper called. Everyone scrambled to rescue her.
"Here is a rope, Itami." Snow told him. "Let's get her out of here."
He climbed down to get her out of the well. When he did, a stretcher was on standby with an attending medic.
"Let's go home." Snow told everyone. "There is not much we can do here."
Author's note: There are some minor issues with the first chapter, but, otherwise, it won't affect the overall quality. This one will address those.
Also, the story will adapt a time difference between worlds. SRST means Special Region Standard Time for events in the Special Region while in events on earth, the established ones such as the Eastern Time Zone will be used.
Edit: Decided to add one more date, due to the impossibility of adding a functioning airbase in one short time.