Well, I suppose it's about time I get back to update this story. After 5 months of running around in circle trying to think out everything in the long term and putting them all together, I'm proud to present the second chapter to this story, enjoy.

150 kilometers Northwest of Sadera, Falmart

The legions of the mighty empire marched once again on another expedition, albeit one completely different to any before it. By order of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, the Imperial Army was to simultaneously march through both the Gate on the sacred hill of Alnus and the Gate on the Profora burying ground, on the western side of the inland sea to conquer "the land beyond the Gates."

Marching in front of his men, Centurion Tiberius Ru Drusilus wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was a seasoned veteran, sacrificing almost a decade of his life to the Legions and the Emperor. Just like his father and grandfather before him, he had fought against all known enemy of the Empire, from mere slave rebels to the mighty high elves of the forest, he had gone and slain them all in the name of the Emperor. He had even slain some warrior rabbits during the subjugation of the Head-Hunting rabbits three years ago and could proudly say that he had been to every corner of Falmart, from the northern mountains to the southern sea, from the eastern plains to the western desert. Yet he could not fully say that he was not worried about going through to the land beyond the Gate. It was something none had ever done before. And this sentiment was shared as, looking back into the rank of his men, he could see many with worried expressions on their faces.

"There it is…" Tiberius muttered under his breath, seeing the Gate standing, defiantly overlooking the sacred burying ground. In front of them, General Quintis, commander of the invasion force, raised his sword up in the air. "FORWARD!" He yelled before he and his bodyguards marched forward into the dark void of the Gate.

Tiberius and his men followed suit at the rigorous march pace of Imperial legions, he and his men only realizing how massive the Gate was when they stood right in front of it, its size dwarfed men and beasts alike. Taking the first step inside, he was greeted by a pitch black darkness. It felt like walking in a tunnel, a small light from the other side being their only guide.

"Ready yourself." He told his men, placing his hand on his gladius as the ranks got closer and closer, the bright light blinding them as they marched straight into it.

And they were there.

The first sight of the other world that greeted Tiberius and other legionaries was a building, a massive and incredibly tall building rising into the clouds. It was even taller than the Imperial Palace or anything he had ever seen in his earthly life. Looking down, he could see the natives, wearing weird, colorful clothes gathering around, fascinated or perhaps shocked by his and his men's abrupt appearance. Some of them started pulling out a small, unknown rectangular device of different size and color and pointing it towards the legions.

"I'm General Quintis Cominius of the Empire! In the name of Emperor Molt Sol Augustus, I declared the conquest and subjugation of this land!" The general yelled at the top of his lungs to the crowd as the soldier that carried the banner planted it in the ground, signifying the conquest of the land. Tiberius watched on proudly as another territory was just added to the mighty Empire, an Empire that will last ten thousand years and stretched further than any man's imagination...

Then it hit him.

White lights, countless amount of them start coming from the crowd. Just the mere sight of them made him feel dizzy. "What in the name of Emroy…" Tiberius muttered, shielding his eyes with his hand. The light's different from anything he had ever seen, many of the men shared his reaction as they covered their eyes with either their shields or their hands.

"We're under magic attack!" His second in command yelled as the formation as a whole raised their shields to protect against the attack.

"Form Testudo!" Tiberius ordered. The men in the ranks raised their shields over their heads, only to be met by intensified flashes as some of the natives got even closer with their weird devices. Archers rushed up through the gaps in the shield wall, drawing their arrows towards the crowd while the legionnaires readied their javelins. Tiberius was as nervous as he could be. He might have been in battle countless times, but at this instant, he felt just like a recruit walking on his first battlefield.

"Then you shall meet the same fate as those who had dared to defied us…" The general said as he raised his hand up into the air.

"This is it..." Unsheathing his gladius, Tiberius knew exactly what that means, the people will learn when they're conquered under the boots of the legions.

"FIRE!" He yelled, lowering his hand. As soon as he as his hand reached down, archers fired their arrows straight into the crowd. The first barrage is brutally effective, completely cut down everyone close to the formation and send the unsuspected crowd fleeing in panic. Legionnaires began throwing their javelins after the fleeing crowds as cavalrymen chased them down.

"Push forward!" The Cohort commander ordered, the distinctive sound from the brass horn told the average foot soldiers what they have to do as they began marching forward, finishing off those natives who're left behind by the crowd. Tiberius too marched along with his men, for he had unsheathed his blade and he won't put it down until he's either in Emroy's embrace or the savages kneel down before the Imperial eagle...

May 6th, 20XX 10:00

Hong Kong, Hong Kong Special Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China

"One done, about a few hundred more to go..." Twenty seven year old First Lieutenant Yang Chenglei let out a massive sigh as he waited for the green light in his car. Another day in the bustling megapolis of Hong Kong, and all the trappings that came with it.

"The Colonel said I'll do great here...but how?" Yang wondered, remembering what colonel Yao said to him years back. He didn't even like the place that much in the first place, much to its bustling nature, to say nothing about how overcrowded it was. He missed the less busy and more peaceful Heilongjiang more and more as he stayed here. He missed fooling around with the North Korean and the colonel. Sure, the threat of war in Korea hanging around his head was worrying, but he still enjoyed every moment of his time back in Dandong, to say nothing of his assignment here…

As he waited for the light, some pedestrians gave him sneers of disgust. Hong Kong citizen had never come to like their mainland cousin, more so with the "repressive, CPC lapdog" that the PLA is to many of them, but Yang had gotten used to it after seeing those faces dozens of time a day.

"I suppose I signed up to be a pencil pusher now…" He mumbled. Even after all these years of working in the PLA, he never had the chance of being assigned to a serious combat formation, the most exciting thing he had done after graduating was greeting some KPA officers on their visit to China and accompany the colonel on some war games in the north.

"Ancestors, if you can hear me, can you please let me do something more exciting for the greater good for once?" He mockingly prayed, knowing full well that he was going to be doing this for the foreseeable future, perhaps even until his retirement.

His thoughts come to an abrupt stop at the sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket.

"Mei…" Reaching for his phone, he saw his sister's name on the screen as he answered the call. "Hello sis, I'm currently at work so whatever you want to say make it quick." He said, uninterested at what his sister has to say.

"Hello brother, I'm sorry I have to say this but would it be possible for you to send more money this month? Dad's condition had worsened and I can't pay for the new medicine he needs." His sister said, more or less pleading with him as Yang screamed inside his head. "Not again…" He thought, but it's not like he could tell that to his beloved sister.

"I understand, I'll see what I can do after this, I'll try to send some this weekend so check your bank account." He said, adding another thing to his list of things to do on the weekend.

"Thank you brother, I can't say enough how grateful I am for this. I'm truly ashamed that I'd be asking for more of your hard earned money like this even when you have helped us so much already." Talking with her sister only reminded Yang how much he used to adore her, she's charming, very polite, wanting to be friends with everyone, and on top of that very smart. A daughter any parents could be proud of, him on the other hand...

"Well, just don't tell the old man that the money's coming from me, I don't want him to choke on his pride knowing that his disgrace of a son is literally half-starving himself to pay for his operation. I've got work coming up soon, take care sis." Yang said, about to hung up when his sister shouted through.

"Wait!" She shouted. "I know you're still angry from all those years back but I still really want you to reconnect with our parents. Dad would be proud if he knows that you're in the arm…" Yang hang up in middle of her sentence. Sliding his phone back into his pocket, he rested his head on the steering wheel.

"They threw me out to rot on the street and I'm saving them?" He muttered, all those memories coming back to him as he recalled his years on the street, how painful and pathetic it was. "This is all for you dad, all for you..." He made up his mind as the lights turned green. Just as he was about to hit the gas, a car drove out of the right side of the road junction and slammed into a truck. The truck's toppled over while the car flew almost a meter into the air before crashing into the ground with a thud.

"What the hell?!" Awestruck, Yang rolled down his window and peek out to get a better look. Shocked pedestrians and other drivers did the same thing as some rushed in to help while others pulled out their cellphones, some to call the emergency service or the police, some just to take a pict-

BANG

Yang and others instinctively ducked down in panic. G-Gunshot! he thought. Judging from the sound, there is no way it was some stupid kid with a firecra-

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

His thoughts however came to an abrupt halt, as more shots were fired in quick succession. Police sirens blared as a large crowd emerged, running out from the other side of the intersection for their very lives! Meanwhile, large plume of black smoke began rising from the city center.

"RUN!" A man shouted, panting as he ran pass Yang's vehicle in a panic. "Run for your life!" He screamed, knocking on the windows of other vehicles as he ran by. Then police officers began rushing in, what caught Yang's attention is the fact that everybody had their weapons out and some of them even have automatic firearms and heavy armor that wouldn't normally be issued. "Something's wrong…" He muttered when his transceiver suddenly sprung to life.

"...is command to all elemen… report an unknown... city center… units, standby for confirmation… not a drill." His radio transceiver said, sentences broken by static. The masses start pushing each other to get out of harm's way as Yang heard more gunshots, some of them even automatic bursts, loud explosions followed as the sky is blackened with smoke and dust.

Raising his transceiver, Yang reported. "Command, this is First Lieutenant Yang Chenglei. I'm near the Central Plaza, moving to investigate now. Standby, over." Yang picked up his sidearm and radio before exiting the vehicle and began making his way towards the source of the gunshots. "What in the name of?" He muttered, seeing people start running for their lives and cars start reversing and turning back. Reaching the junction, he turned right straight into the scene...

"Holy shit..." Yang couldn't believe what he's seeing. Ogres and other fantasy creatures followed by formations of Roman-styled legionaries charged forward, cutting down whoever was in their path. There were even vywerns in the sky picking on the crowd as they fled in panic.

Yang raised his transceiver. "This is Yang to all elements of the garrison, Snapped Neck! I repeat, Snapped Neck! Full scale attack on the city is underway, I'm counting at least a battalion worth of enemy forces, possibly more! I'm pulling back now! Over and out!" Unholstering his standard issue QSZ-92 pistol, he hurriedly rushed toward the police officer on the scene.

"Begin the evacuation! We're under attack!" Yang yelled, firing his sidearm into nearby enemies. A goblin came charging straight at the officer at incredible speed with a sword in its hand, jumping almost a meter into the air before coming down at full speed. The officer raised his baton and to parry off the attack but the momentum of the attack caused him to stumble over. As the beast charged in for the finishing blow, the officer rolled for his life and barely dodging the blade. The creature never got nother chance as Yang punched a hole in its leg and finished it off with a 5.8mm to the head while it's down. Red liquid splattered on the floor as Yang rushed to help the officer. "Get up! We have to keep moving!" He said, helping the officer back on his feet as a squad of police officers rushed to the scene, weapons at the ready.

"This is Hotel-7, we're engaged at the Telecom House. We'll try to hold the line until the civilians evacuated to safety. Request immediate assistance, over!" An officer yelled into his transceiver as he leaped over and fire his revolver into the direction of the enemy.

"Hotel-7, this is Command affirmative, dispatching SDU team to your location now. Hold your position, over." The radio replied. Just moments later, all screens broadcasting system were hijacked by the military and air raid sirens screamed throughout the whole city.

"EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" The broadcast said, followed by a few second of white noise before the screen turned to the emblem of Hong Kong on a black background.

"The following broadcast is the emergency message by the Office of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China." The female announcer announced in a serene voice. "An unknown force had appeared seeking to bring harm to the citizens. The following instructions are to be strictly followed."

"First, evacuate immediately, take only your loved ones and items necessary for your identification with you. The local police force and PLA personnel will be there to guide you to safe locations, please remain calm at all time. Police and PLA will run a constant broadcast to keep you updated with the situation. Your government thanks you for your cooperation." The message kept repeating itself over and over as hordes of civilians continued to flee past the police line.

"You alright?" A policewoman asks Yang as the other officers lay down covering fire with their weapons.

"I'm fine, but can someone explain to me what the hell is going on?!" Yang demanded, all sorts of questions was popping up in his head, who are they? where did they come from? how did they even get here?

The policewoman didn't reply directly. Instead, she turned around "Senior Inspector, we have a garrison officer here." She shouted to her commanding officer as a man in police coat walk up to the PLA Lieutenant. "Senior Inspector Zhen, Hong Kong Police Department, good to have a Garrison officer here with us" The man politely introduced himself.

"1st Lieutenant Yang Chenglei, Hong Kong PLA Garrison. Hope you have an explanation of what the hell's going on." Yang replied while loading a fresh magazine into his sidearm. The enemy keep surging forward but they're shot down one after another by well aimed shots before they even get close.

"About five minutes ago, we received reports of armed assault by group of people wearing 'ancient armors' in Central Plaza, we sent out a patrol to investigate, they reported heavy combat with a group of at least one hundred people or more. Their last message before we lost contact reported a "Roman styled" arch at the base of the Central Plaza building. Whatever these things are they came out from there." The inspector explained, downing a few warriors with his revolver. "Pull back!" He shouted to his men as the officers start reversing, still firing their weapons along the way.

"This is Command to Hotel-7, reinforcements are on their way. As soon as they arrived, you're to pull back to the headquarters to rearm and receive new order. The situation is getting out of hand, the PLA's taking over the situation." The operator announced with an obvious panic in his voice, his breathing nearly

"Affirmative Command, we're running low on ammunition to continue the fight, I can't say that we'd be able to hold onto this same position by the time the SDUs arrive. Over!" The inspector yelled into the radio.

"Affirmative Hotel-7, do what you have to do, Command out."

"Even with that sort of order…" Zhen mumbled under his breath. It's not like he wants to gave up ground, but the fighting keeps going, they're going to get overran before the reinforcements arrive. "Pull back!"

"Man down!" An officer yelled, seeing his fellow officer being shot right in the chest by an arrow, screaming in pain as he dropped to the ground with a thud.

"Jingyi!" The policewoman shrieked in terror as she tended to her comrade's wound. "Come on, don't die on me now…" She pleaded, almost praying as she examined the wound. "There's blood everywhere, somebody help!" She cried, her blood-soaked hands shaking in panic, not knowing what to do.

"Wangling!" Zhen shouted as a young officer rushed to the scene to help. "Stay back!" He yelled at the woman before unbuttoning the wounded officer's vest and then his shirt. Yang picked up the wounded officer's MP5 submachine gun along with a few magazines before resume firing. Downing enemies left and right with accurate bursts of automatic fires before diving back into cover. "How's he doing?" Yang asked, loading a fresh magazine into his weapon.

"Not good at all sir, the arrow hit him almost right in the right lung." Jingyi reported, checking on his comrade's wound. "He won't make it unless he receives immediate medical attention." He added, covering his head as a large boulder landed just meters away.

"Wangling, Hua, you two take him back to the police HQ, we'll quickly follow, Go!" Zhen ordered the two officers as they nodded. The policeman grabbed the wounded officer by the body. "Hua, grab his legs and lead the way!" The man said, the female officer grabbed the wounded by the legs before the two rushed off as quickly and gently as they possibly could.

"Hotel-7, this is Alpha-1. We're on the way, ETA 3 minutes." The much awaited message came, a sound of both relief and despair to the officers on the scene. On one hand, they're coming, on the other hand, they'll have to hold the line for three more long minutes.

"Affirmative Alpha-1, we'll be waiting for your arrival " Zhen replied into the radio as he fire his last shot in his revolver. "I'm out!" he yelled, searching for more in his pocket only to find none left.

"Same here sir!" Another Officer yelled, his shotgun on the ground, completely out of ammunition.

"Anyone who had ran out of ammo, pull back! Those who still have ammo, provide covering fire!" The inspector ordered his men who followed as many began withdrawing while some stay and continued putting shots down the road. The enemy, seeing their opponents routing, doubled their efforts as more men and beasts continued to charge down towards their opponents while hails of arrows and javelins rained down upon them from above.

"Reinforcement!" One of Zhen's men yelled as a mixtures of regular policemen, SDU officers and PLA rush in to assist the exhausted officers. Barrages of smoke grenades and gas canisters were fired upon the advancing enemy formations. The enemy warriors and creatures start coughing and gagging from the launched tear gas and began dispersing in panic.

"Senior Inspector; we'll take over from here. You and your men pull back to the headquarters." An SDU Officer said, unloading a few bursts from his G36, other officers too began laying down a few of fire with their weapons, easily beating back yet another wave through concentrated firepower. On the other side of the road, Yang too was talking to a PLA sergeant regarding the situation.

"Lieutenant Yang, Colonel Zhou sent me to retrieve you, your presence is urgently needed at the HQ." The sergeant said before standing up and fire a 35mm grenade into the enemy ranks now completely covered in white smoke.

Yang nodded. The sergeant then reached out to his men. "Xuefeng, Bao, you two escort the lieutenant back to the headquarters. We'll cover you." He ordered as two private hurriedly rush in from the other barrier. "Please come with me Lieutenant!" One of them said, putting a few shots down range before they all rushed back to the HQ.

"We'll leave it to you here then." Zhen replied to the SDU Officer before waving to his fellow officers. "Pull back!" He yelled as he and his battered men withdrew under covering fire from the reinforcements. Thus began the struggle that would last for days and where tens of thousands would lose their lives before it's over. The word no one ever wanted to utter.

The 2nd Battle of Hong Kong.

Chaozhou, People's Republic of China

The military garrison was thrown into an organized chaos as air raid alarms and siren screamed all over the base. The base, hosting the 163rd Mechanized Infantry Division, designated as a Rapid Response Force, was supposed to be able to be mobilized within 15 minutes. And everybody was working around the clock to make sure it went down that way.

"Attention! All combat personnel are to report to their unit immediately. This is not a drill, I repeat, This is not a drill!" The announcer yelled in a panicked voice as men and machine rushed to their designated position. Amongst them were the 9th Forward Reconnaissance Team, and this was going to be their baptism of fire.

Grabbing his standard-issue QBZ-95-1 assault rifle from the rack, Private Zhu Fen rushed out of the armory to join his comrades assembling on the parading ground. Passing by the television, he could see both soldiers and officers watching what appears to be a live footage from Hong Kong, with smokes rising from inside the city with non-stopping barrages of gunfire and explosions.

"Holy shit..." One of the soldiers muttered as the news show a video footage of police officers unloading their weapons into a large creature with a club in its hands. The creature shrugged off countless direct hits like it was nothing before lifting a car parked nearby and throwing it into the police barricades, forcing them to scatter as the video cut off. Zhu donned his helmet and went on his way. Rushing out of the base, he could see men and machines maneuvering into positions. Three helicopters zoomed over, heading south, as Zhu assembled with his squad.

"Looks like we're going to Hong Kong." His friend, Private First Class Meng Houzi said, performing final checkups on his backpack. "You saw them on the TV too, right Fen? What do you think those things are?"

"I don't know, but I don't recall there ever being anyone on this planet that stand two meters tall with green skin. Whatever they are they creep me out." Zhu replied, more men joined the conversation and soon the whole squad got into it.

"Good point, and the dragon…is this some kind of training scenario?"

"Don't know, sounds like some stupid 3rd rate fantasy movie plot…"

"Would our weapons even work against them?"

"Attention!" Someone yelled, the conversation died down as the squad saw their commanding officer, 1st Lieutenant Liang Gāng and 2nd-in-command, Chief Sergeant 4th Class Zhang Guowei sprinting back, maps and files in hands.

"Gather around." Lieutenant Liang ordered, Zhang hurriedly unfolded his map on the ground as the men quickly surrounded them just to get a glance at it.

The lieutenant took a deep breath before starting the briefing "Alright, here's the situation. Command confirmed a full-scale invasion of Hong Kong is underway. Police and local PLA Garrison are badly outnumbered and requested immediate assistance. We expected at least two enemy regiments, with cavalry and air support have already established a foothold inside the city center, with possibly more enemy reinforcements coming." Liang briefed his men, reaching for pictures in his file. "Here, pass these between you." He ordered, handing pictures of men in ancient armor, all sorts of creatures straight from western fairy tales and even dragons to the men. Many of them gasped in terror at what kind of abomination they're looking at.

"These are known pictures of the enemy we're facing, hard to believe I know but intelligence had confirmed them to be 100% genuine. And this..." Liang paused before throwing a picture of what appeared to be a blurry camera footage of a Roman-styled arch in middle of Hong Kong on top of the map.

"This is our closest clue of where these people came from. As you can see, there are definitely something fishy about this. We don't know the maximum extent of their combat capability yet so exercise caution. Our order is to reinforce what's left of the garrison and hold the line until more reinforcements arrive. Do you understand?" Liang stressed the last sentence as neatly arranged the pictures before putting them in the file.

"Yes sir!" The men shouted in unison as a small convoy of jeeps and Humvees came to a halt just a few meters away. Liang went first to talk with the drivers while the rest of the squad neatly lined up in formation, no one even saying a word but they all felt fear gripping their heart.

"Keep it calm Fen…" Zhu muttered to himself. Under his heavy gears, he could feel his legs shaking like a leaf. Even though he was trained for this, he was still very much terrified of his first time in real combat.

Seeing his men, Zhang gave a pat to the young man in the back. "You scared private?" He asked, grabbing Zhu by his shoulder.

"N-not at all sir!" The Private stuttered, perhaps stunned by Zhang's abrupt appearance.

"You're prepared for this, private." The Sergeant said, saying it out loud for the squad to hear. "Remember what they taught you, that'll keep you in one piece…" He said before turning around to the rest of the team. "And this goes for all of you too!" He shouted, "Remember your training, that'll keep you alive! You all understand?!"

"Yes sir!" The men replied as the vehicles lined up just in front of the men, as they steeled themselves for the upcoming battle.

"Board your vehicle!" Yang yelled as the men quickly moved in and buckled up into their seats, Liang followed suit as the door closed behind him as the convoy immediately move out. Sounds of gunfire and explosions could be heard from afar, fighter jets soaring high in the air firing their missiles at unseen targets. After decades of relatively unaprupted peace, war had come back to China once again…

Thank you for reading, and as always, constructive criticisms are always welcomed.