As the invasion fleet to Spain stalled in the waters around Carthage Nova, waiting for another round of peace talks to either succeed or fail, the second legion began advancing towards Jerusalem. The capture of Bostra might have downgraded the opinion the Scipii held of the Egyptians but the absent military power finally struck a surprise blow on the second legion, before the epic walls of Jerusalem.

It seemed the Pharaoh had decided that the invasion of his lands had gone on for far too long and far too successfully to be ignored, and so sent a sizeable force under two trusted captains to aid the defenders. The Battle for Jerusalem, as it became infamous for, enshrined how the rest of the war would play out for both sides.

Jerusalem herself was a great and powerful city already, by far the largest city in the East and the jewel in the crown of the Egyptian Empire. Its walls were as numerous and as thick as the Scipii citadel cities of Scilly, making undermining and assault impossible. The legion therefore built giant towers to put alongside the walls, a plan that was put on hold as the Egyptian reinforcements came to attack.

Leaving the walls, the Romans took refuge on a high hill, drawing both the city defenders and the relief force towards their ranks. Seeing the entire opposition below them, they opened fire with everything they had. The cavalry section left the hill and flanked the enemy ranks, waiting for an opening. They immediately found one in the onagers that were poised to bombard the hillside. Left at the back and undefended, the men were on them like wolves to sheep.

The largely skirmish-made city force was next, being shot at by both arrows from the front and cavalry spears from the rear. The first 'army' fell even before the reinforcements arrived.

A second pair of Onagars fell before the mighty cavalry charge, with the Egyptians recognising the threat the horses were and targeting them personally. By now it was clear that Egypt's reliance on skirmishes and ranged units were a critical weakness in their army design when fighting the Romans, but also that a Scipii army without horses (something of a common occurrence within normal Roman conventions) was slow and vulnerable.

The eradication of the few spear troops attempting to climb the hill followed, leaving almost the entirety of Egypt's army dead and fewer than 10% of the Romans. Jerusalem fell with no fight in her streets and the city was taken undamaged and with little civil unrest. The aftermath showed just how complete the dominance of the Scipii was over the Egyptian military and Egypt was shamed by another humiliation.

Unfortunately, this relief force was actually merely the scouting party a large two army complex returning along the coast. When the Scipii scouts took control of the watchtower, they saw with shock in their faces how a mighty horde of gold and silver armoured men were descending on their conquered lands.

The second war for Egypt had only just begun.