Special Thanks to Mastermind and alexkehling for their reviews. I'm grateful for it.

Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core or Gate: Thus The JSDF Fought Here except for my own ocs.


*** 3rd Episode: The Battle of Alnus Hill ***

To say that the Allied Armies' second offensive didn't fare out so well would be a massive understatement.

3 days later during their next attempted assault, the Allied Armies brought in at least four times as many troops this time round and even made a plan to separate their forces into two groups in an attempt to flank the enemy army's side and catch them around in a pincer like movement but unfortunately none of their preparations and plans did nothing to change the predestined outcome of that battle.

During the 2nd assault the main group of the Allied Army's forces were once again greeted by a devastating bombardment of grenades, bombs and missiles courtesy of a group of Normal ACs and NEXTs which blasted their formations apart to pieces.

One of the Normal AC pilots who's commandeering a standard issue GA03-SOLARWIND gave out a loud cry as she unleashed all of her ordnance at once at a single large group of targets which easily blasted them all to smithereens.

The female pilot smirked before she noticed half a dozen hostiles approaching her on her radar which made her glance upwards and saw six dragon riders rapidly flying towards their position.

She tried to fire a bunch of missiles at the flying targets but she quickly found out that she has ran out. Cursing, the female pilot decided to switch to her GA03-SOLARWIND's machinegun instead and began mowing down the enemy flyers so fast that they began dropping like flies.

"Hey Kuribayashi! Don't spend all of your missiles in one attack!" One of Kuribayashi's superiors angrily scolded at her through the communications channel. "If it were an enemy AC you would have been dead by now!"

"Apologies sir!" Shino Kuribayashi replied back through the communications channel but at this point, she couldn't care less as she was used to being reprimanded by her superiors due to her reckless behavior in battle and lack of preservation in combat. Besides, she was having too much fun here to even care about getting chewed out.

At the other side of the hill, the second group that split off from the main one were ambushed by a single squad of half a dozen NEXTs who appeared and dropped right out of the sky and landed deliberately on the most tightly packed and concentrated members of the group, squashing the poor soldiers beneath the gigantic feet of their NEXTs.

"Special delivery!" Kagari gleefully announces before she and her squad brought out their flamethrowers and began burning the entire enemy army alive into ashes with Kagari laughing madly as she and her squad does so.

***Allied Kingdom's Second Offensive Result - Approximately 40,000 dead***

"This is a disaster!" One of the Allied generals exclaimed to the remaining generals who are still alive and have gathered at the war table. "We have less than half of the men we set out with!"

"How could this have happened?" Another general spoke out in despair.

"Where is the Imperial army? What are they doing?" Another one asked

One of the generals shook his head "No, not even the Imperial army could stand a chance against them. Should we not retreat?"

"We cannot run off now." General Duran stated as he finally broke out his silence. "Not before I repaid them with an arrow."

The other generals gasped out in shock.

"But Lord Duran, we have hardly enough might! Our forces clearly won't survive in a direct battle with the enemy as it was clearly shown with our recent losses!"

General Duran thought deeply for a brief moment until an idea formed in his head.

"Perhaps a night raid would work?" General Duran suggested

***Next Evening***

Tonight is a new moon and no light was shining upon the world to guide it out of the darkness. This night would make it the perfect time to launch a devastating sneak attack on the enemy as long as they move fast and avoid alerting the enemy to their presence.

"In this darkness, we should be able to make it to the other side of the hill and ambush the enemy." General Duran stated as he and the large number of troops he had under his command moved as lightly as they can when suddenly, General Duran noticed some kind of strange, faint green light glowing at the distance inside a large section of forest that his scouts have reported to house some of the frightening metal giants that the enemy forces have at their disposal.

"Wha-What is that?" General Duran wondered when 5 more glowing green lights appeared at the edge of the forest and sure enough, Duran got his answer as six bright beams of green energy shot forth from the forest and swiftly lanced through Duran's forces, vaporizing those that got caught in their path before a series of massive explosions followed the beam's paths.

"No!" Duran exclaimed in horror before the usual bombardment of missiles and grenades began raining down on his troops again, devastating their ranks and causing them all to fall out of their formations.

"Follow me!" General Duran screamed to his men as he whipped his horse and charged directly into the enemy's direction. "All units attack! Knights, run! Footmen, run! Run!"

It wasn't just a few minutes before the forest in the distance began glowing with those strange green lights again and before Duran could register it in his mind, at least half a dozen devastating beams of green light shot forth once more and cleaved through half of his forces again. One beam narrowly missed Duran by a few inches and the veteran general could feel the intense heat emanating from the strange beam on the skin beneath his heavy armor.

"Follow me! Keep going! Run!" General Duran shouted in encouragement as he bravely charged through enemy fire when disaster suddenly struck as he briefly saw his horse stepped on something small and circular that's only half-buried on the ground with some kind of blinking beacon in its center which quickly blew up and exploded beneath the hoof of Duran's horse, throwing him off into the air before he crash landed back to the ground.

"Lord Duran! We are coming!" Duran's men cried out in assurance as they quickly came to the aid of their fallen leader. Two of the men tried to help Duran, who was covered in the blood and guts of his blown up horse while the rest swiftly surrounded them and held their shields defensively up front in a tortoise like formation in the hopes of protecting their general from the enemy's attacks.

When General Duran was finally standing on his own feet, he saw what his men were up to do and he quickly pushed the two men attending him away and yelled at his men to run as he realizes what they are doing is practically futile against whatever sorcery this invading army has.

Unfortunately, Duran was too late as the strange beams of green light shot forth once again and easily obliterated the two groups of soldiers standing defensively at his sides but what horrified Duran even more was that the beam didn't even leave a single corpse behind on its path and that it even consumed the ground that the soldiers were formerly standing on, creating an almost perfect, surgical like cut on the ground.

During that moment, the green beams continued firing on Duran's remaining forces accompanied by several missile and grenade strikes from the Normal ACs and NEXTs hiding safely in their defensive positions.

With screams of people dying horribly and the sound of explosions filling the air, Duran began to almost mindlessly walk towards the direction of the enemy's position despite the numerous narrow misses of explosions happening all around him.

His face expressionless, Duran bent over and picked up a bow and arrow from the arms of a dead soldier which to mind you, weren't attached anymore to any body in sight.

With an almost quiet grunt, Duran nocked the arrow in his bow and aimed it at the direction of the source of the enemy's fire before he lets go and watched as it disappeared over at the horizon.

***XOXOX***

Plunk!

"Huh? What was that?" Kuribayashi wondered as she thought she heard something bump into the head of her GA03-SOLARWIND and bounced off before she simply shrugged and said "Probably nothing."

***XOXOX***

Duran stared blankly as multiple explosions still blew up all around him, his mind simply never there.

"We didn't stand a chance… No, from the start we never did…" Duran muttered softly before he unexpectantly grinned and began laughing madly as a large grenade fired by a ZENGAME exploded near where he was standing.

***That morning***

The morning sun once again greeted the waking world as well as the ones who will never wake up. On the recent battlefield, a squadron of NEXTs and Normal ACs were inspecting the length of damaged they have caused.

Itami looked grim as he saw the extent of the damage and slaughter they have inflicted upon the enemy through the display screen of his NEXT Kagerou.

"I heard we have killed roughly 60,000 thousand of them." Takeru spoke out as his image popped out on Itami's screen.

"They sent another 60,000 to Surtr Squad as well. So that's a 120,000 in all." Itami replied quietly

"Are you worrying about the enemy?" Takeru asks

"Won't you?" Itami replied back "Think about it. A hundred and twenty thousand. What kind of nation are we fighting?"

"The kind that burns easily." Kagari chuckles as her image entered Itami's screen "Smells beautiful right? The aroma of smoke and human flesh mixes so well together."

Takeru growls "Shouldn't you be bothering someone else with your twisted fantasy Vermillions?"

Kagari feigns an innocent look "Oh but aren't we all in this slaughter together? That means we are all best friends right?"

"You are one sick, twisted bitch." Takeru remarked

Kagari blushed "Oh you are really embarrassing me here."

"That wasn't a compliment." Takeru retorted

Kagari smirked "But for me it is. Anyway, the boss wants to see you two back at the base ASAP. It seems he has an assignment prepared for you two."

Kagari's image zoomed out, leaving the two male NEXT pilots wondering what kind of assignment their superiors are planning for them.

***Imperial Palace, Emperor Molt's throne room***

"Your Majesty, we expect over at least 120,000 casualties in total among the allied nations." Emperor Molt's advisor reported "The defeated armies have been left without leadership and are returning home."

"All according to plan." Emperor Molt smugly stated "Our neighbors can no longer threaten the Empire. Now, burn every village ad town from Alnus to the Imperial City. Poison their wells and take all of their food and livestock. That will stop any army and leave them vulnerable."

"Scorched earth tactics I see.." The advisor commented "I worry about the defectors and loss of tax revenue."

"Defectors you say?" Emperor Molt smirked.

"There are motions to have you recalled within the senate beginning with Duke Casel." The advisor explained.

"This is a good opportunity to take care of the entire senate in one swoop." Emperor Molt said "Let us order the council to investigate."

"Your Majesty." A new voice greeted as the large doors to the throne room of Emperor Molt opened before revealing a young woman with red hair and eyes wearing a feminine style of regal armor with a white cape billowing behind her back.

"My dear daughter. What do you need?" Emperor Molt asked

"It's about Alnus your Majesty." Princess Pina Colada answered "I have learned that an allied army has faced miserable defeat and that the Empire's holy ground, Alnus Hill is being occupied by enemy forces. What are you doing at a time like this?"

"We will use this opportunity to take back the Hill." The advisor stated

"What complacency!" Princess Pina shouted "That will not help us stop the enemy invasion!"

"Pinya, you are correct." Emperor Molt agreed "But we are far too ignorant regarding the enemy that occupies Alnus Hill."

"This is perfect" Emperor Molt mused "Could I ask you and your Order to scout their position?"

"Me?" Pina asked in surprise "With my Order?"

"Indeed." Emperor Molt confirmed "If your Order is more than your plaything, of course."

"I understand, Your Majesty." Pina replied as she bowed on her knee in respect to her father.

***Meanwhile***

The heads of the corporations making up the League watched footage of the Battle of Alnus Hill from inside their headquarters, the video detailing how easily the task force group that they and ORCA have created curbstomped the opposing enemy army. The enemy army didn't even manage to get within a few miles of the base before they were totally annihilated.

Once the footage ended, each of the CEOs began discussing their opinions and voices about the battle.

"It seems the enemy that we are facing are essentially savages wielding sticks and stones." The CEO of Omer Science dryly commented

"It would appear so. That means our invasion will practically go smoothly if things keep on going this way." The head of Algebra replied.

"What are the rest of the coalition currently doing at this time of the round?" Global Armament's CEO asked this time.

The head of the Rosenthal corporation answered his question "Currently, they are setting up their forward operations base at the base of the Gate with fresh supplies coming in through it at every hour and so while at the same time capturing and securing any key locations near the site. Besides that, both us and ORCA have sent our intelligence groups to gather information about the enemy and the surrounding lands."

"Information? What do we need that for?" TORUS corporation's CEO asked "We already have all of the information that we need and we saw that this enemy is practically attacking us with swords and arrows of all things."

"Wars are not just fought at the battlefield my friend." The head of Interior Union pointed out "Information can be more powerful than any weapon that we could have possibly developed."

"Indeed." The head of Bernard and Felix Foundation agreed "In fact, we have found out that the political stability in that world is almost as shaky as our relationship to each other during the LYNX wars. A lot of the people there are quite unsatisfied with the Empire's authoritative rule. Perhaps we can offer them a better future if they are under our guidance."

"That sounds interesting." Omer's CEO admitted "This will indeed further our plans for the future. But first, we need to pacify elements that are hostile to our advances and strike...'alliances' with ones that are friendly to our approach."

"What do you suppose we should do about ORCA?" Interior Union's CEO asks "They might be planning the same objective as us. It is no big secret that they are interested in the other world too."

"Let them be for the while." Rosenthal's head replied "As of now, we should think long term if we want our plans to succeed. The vast amount of untapped natural resources that the other world possess simply can't be ignored."

"Agreed." The rest of the League replied in unison.

***End Of Episode***


***Encyclopedia***

The Battle of Alnus Hill - This battle (if it can hardly be called a battle) was a one sided skirmish between the coalition forces of the League and ORCA against the combined military might of the kingdoms allied with the Empire. Despite being heavily outnumbered 30 to 1, the combined forces of the League and ORCA were more than enough for the armies of the Allied Kingdoms to take and were successfully able to repel them off with little to no casualties to their side. The same cannot be said for the armies of the Allied Kingdoms who lost a huge chunk of their forces along with many of their great commanders and leaders like General Duran and Duke Ligu. With the majority of their leadership lost and morale being very, very low, the remaining soldiers and survivors decided to abandon the fight and return to their respective homes while some even deserted completely and went on to become bandits and marauders in order to take advantage of the chaos created by the sudden arrival of a faction that's tremendously more powerful than the Empire itself.

Kojima OMEGA Particle Cannon - An absolutely devastating weapon designed by Rayleonard, the OMEGA Particle Cannon was created with exactly one goal in idea and that is the complete annihilation and destruction on any enemy it is used against. Almost rivaling the Sol Dios Cannons when it come to sheer destructive power, this weapon can easily punch through the Primal Armor of almost every NEXT in existence and can even take down one of the lower class Arms Forts in one shot. The only drawback of this is the absolutely massive power consumption it possess which is why it is normally equipped to an Arms Fort. However, Rayleonard, with some assistance from Akva Vit and Interior Union, have managed to create a smaller version of the cannon that can be equipped to NEXTs. These smaller versions are only about 65% less destructive than the original. However, their remaining strength is still formidable and just one shot can still reduce a NEXT's Primal Armor to zero if given the chance. The reduction in power also gave the portable version a huge reduction in power consumption, however the NEXT equipped with it cannot fire in succession with the cannon as they have to wait up for it to charge for a brief while before it can even fire and that they will be prevented from even moving from their positions during the charging period until they have fired their load.

During the Battle of Alnus Hill, six NEXTs equipped with the small versions of these cannons were deployed in the fight in order to test the cannons' effectiveness. The cannons proved to exceed expectations as the weapons were practically devastating against the armies of the Allied Kingdoms and have accounted for 78.98% of the casualties inflicted.