Near the Hakueri Shrine, Gensokyo-1 Hour Left
Remiu was just finishing up a last minute check before she went to her spot. She carried her M4 carbine and M9 pistol with her. In her pockets, all of her spellcards were ready to be activated with a moment's notice. She even had Yukari's ready just in case. Floating just a few feet off the ground to prevent from being seen, she moves out. Finding her spot, she drops to the prone and crawls behind a bush. She drops one of her rifle magazines by accident and taps it on her rifle to get the dirt out. The she pulls the charging handle back, slides the magazine in, and release the bolt. Checking to make sure it's on safe, she takes a deep breath.
Marisa had already gotten in her spot a few meters to Reimu's left. The pair would be the first line of defense due to their records when it came to fighting. The witch had her Mosin Nagant and both Ruger Blackhawks at the ready. Under her shirt, she could feel the medallion on its chain. Patting her apron pocket, she makes sure that her Mini-Hakkero is still there. The witch rotates the bolt back and puts four rounds into the internal magazine. She hesitates before putting in the fifth round. The realization that she was going to kill another living being hit her, but she pushed it away by remembering that she was defending her home. Once that was done, she puts the final round in the chamber and rotates the bolt forward. She moves back a little to make sure that her bayonet isn't poking out from the bush.
About 300 meters to their left, Momiji and a few other white wolf tengus were at the ready. They were eager to start the battle. She had her regular sword and shield with her but had her H&K MSG90 locked and loaded. The rest of the white wolf tengus had decided to say with M1 Garands and M1911 pistols. She still wore the little red hat that was the tengu traditional ware, even though she should have probably worn a helmet. In her ear, she had an earphone that was connected to the kappa's main communication network. At the moment, Nitori was speaking with someone off channel.
Kappa Communication Relay Post, Youkai Mountain, Gensokyo-1 Hour Left
The kappa's relay system had allowed all of the faction heads to stay at their respective locations and send a projection to the relay post. Every important person in Gensokyo was gathered around the magical map in this fashion. Nitori then began to request a status check from all of them.
"All factions, report in," Nitori was double checking her panel of green lights.
"Scarlet Devil Mansion air defense artillery, standing by." Remilia was holding an officer's saber. She also had a service cap on.
"Hakugyokurou redoubt, ready." Yuyuko was closing her fan. The playfulness had disappeared from her normally bright eyes.
"Human Village, ready." Keine held a book, The Art of War. She seemed to struggle to get the words out and had to hold Mokou's hand.
"Eientei, standing by." Eirin was wearing her old uniform. The doctor had the look of someone that had seen what war was really about.
"Moriya Temple, ready." Kanako and Suwako both looked wary. They both held their traditional weapons but had pistols holstered.
"Celestial field artillery, ready for combat." Tenshi looked eager holding her sword. Her hair waved in the wind, along with her dress.
"Underground, ready." Satori was clenching and releasing a fist. She had to breathe slowly to calm herself down.
"Buddhist medical personnel, ready." Byakuren held her scroll and medical bag. The monk had a sincere look on her face, ready to aid the wounded.
"Taoist warriors, ready for combat." Miko had her fanciest battle rattle on. She seemed eager to relive the rush of combat, just like her earlier days.
"General Staff, standing by." Yukari held the katana from the other day. She wore her combat dress, the white one with ruffles and the purple cover.
"Higan judicial staff, on alert." Eiki looked extremely depressed. She was also carrying a thick book and papers.
"Lunarian 4th Regiment of Royal Foot, standing by for insertion." Toyohime calmly chimed in. The Lunarian was having to hold a numerous assortment of paperwork.
"Tengu air forces still need more time," Nitori checked over her panel of lights. "This is it, everybody. I think Yukari has some things she wants to say."
"In less than an hour, we're going to be holding back the largest attack this planet has ever seen. Every eye on the planet will be on Gensokyo for this entire battle. We're going to war against the most advanced nations that have existed on this Earth. We can win this. We can make them fall back and regret ever discovering our homes and threating us. Then we'll have to continue to fight. We'll have to take some of their land so they can understand that we are not someone that they can mess with without any consequences. That's why we have to work together in this. Should we fall apart, we lose. That barrier will hold out most attacks, but infantry and armor are going to get though." Yukari had to take a breath. "We have to make sure that we keep them as far from the Hakueri Shrine as possible. Reimu and Marisa are already in position in front of the shrine, along with a team of White Wolf Tengus."
Yukari pointed at an area in front of the stairs to the shrine. "This is where most of the attack is going to come from. At least from the ground. We still have to watch out for air assault, airborne, and paratrooper attacks behind our lines. Nitori, how long until the Tengu can be in the sky?"
"About 1 more hour. We just got to arm the planes and do last minute checks." The kappa consulted her clipboard. "Marisa's Apache should be done in about 45 minutes."
"The first part of the fighting is going to be rough, I won't lie about that." Yukari points at the Human Village. "Flandre has predicted that this is their second target. It's the center of Gensokyo, with multiple roads and easily defendable. But that's subject to change. Flandre also believes that should the Scarlet Devil Mansion launch their artillery, they would become the second target. The difference is that they would be more likely to send Special Forces to take the grid out than regular troops."
"Sakuya and Meiling have a surprise for our guests, should they happen to pay a visit." Remilia nodded. "But what about Patchy's Copper Spell?"
"As soon as NATO aircraft breach the barrier, that's when we should activate it. I don't want us to tip our hand before we absolutely have to. The spell only scrambles long range air to air missiles. We only really need it to cover our fighters until they're up in the sky under their own power. The Lunarian version is still under development, so we still have to worry about small arms." Yukari turned to Tenshi. "How accurate are your artillery operators?"
"I would say they can a target at 40 kilometers with only half a meter of deviation." Tenshi shrugged. "A lot of them were bored, so they studied this so hard and long that they're experts. They even have all the cannons sighted to fire at straight lines in front of the Hakueri Shrine, should the need arise."
"Good. Once we can get enough of them stopped inside the barrier, we can hit them hard." Yukari turned to Toyohime. "Where will you be inserting the 4th?"
The Lunarian pointed at a clearing about half a mile from the shrine. "This is the only place near the area of operations that I can transport them there. But I can't transport so many of them with the barrier up, so we'll have to stay on standby until then. Do you know how long it'll take?"
The gap youkai looks at the horizon. "The way it looks, it'll probably last another hour and a half. But I can't be sure until the artillery starts to hit."
"Thirty minutes left until contact," Nitori calls out from behind her screen.
"Time's running out." Yukari could be seen motioning to someone off to the side of her map. "We got most of this figured out, but we can't follow this blindly. I got Flandre to keep an eye on the data so that we're able to counter them as fast as possible." She paused. "It was good to have been able to know all of you and your troops. Not all of us are going to come back after this. It's the nature of war after all. But we can lessen it by trusting each other. Everyone, do your best and live to tell about it."
Near the Hakueri Shrine, Gensokyo-Zero Hour
Remiu was still in the prone hiding behind a bush. Her M4 started to shake and made her jump a little. Then she realized it was her nerves that was making it shake. She takes a deep breath to calm herself and looks straight ahead. The miko rests her head against the stock of her rifle and slides her head forward until her nose touches the charging handle. Laying like this, she had a steady sight picture.
She can hear Marisa moving around next to her, probably nervous like she was. The witch was laying down like the miko was but hadn't put her nose to her bolt. Nitori had warned her that with a weapon that powerful, that was asking for a bloody nose or black eye. Marisa had stuck a few twigs in her hat to break up her profile but couldn't really hide the giant bow on it.
The silence was the worst thing of all. There were no birds chirping and no wind at all. It seemed surreal, even to the pair. Deep down, the two were scared. They remembered something that Erwin Rommel had told them when he had trained them in holding actions. He had told them that it was natural to be scared before combat. That fear would be replaced with anger as soon as the bullets started to fly. And anger was a powerful motivator.
They had been thought by some of the best teachers, Remiu recognized that. And each one of them had said that she was wasting her potential by being lazy. But they hadn't been cross with her. In fact, they had talked with her at length and offered their own advice. They had seen the weight that she was carrying and had told her that they would be happy to talk with her again anytime. Even the rough talking General Patton had offered mentorship to her.
It was strange how the prospect of dying soon would make people think about the weirdest things at the weirdest times. She never would had given that a second thought if it wasn't for the fact that one of the deadliest invasion forces was headed straight for her shrine. And it was starting to sink in. Everyone around was right to say that she should had trained more. The miko promised herself that she would start when this battle was over.
Her eyes begin to strain from looking through the tiny sight so she lifts her head up and closes her eyes. For a few seconds, it seems like a normal day. The sun was shining, she could smell the flowers, and she could fell the grass under her. It almost seemed like she was safe.
Then she hears a loud high pitch whistle. Looking up, she sees fire rain down from the sky towards her.