Finally on the train back to the special region and away from politics for the time being, Tanya leafed through a few papers in a folder given to her outlining her power in negotiations, as well as a proposal to give the Japanese that she was sure would win some good will and cooperation from them. Talks in the capital actually took three days (and were exhausting as always), but they seemed fruitful given they had a plan for contact that she was able to almost guarantee the success of. Given, her knowledge of the state of affairs in this version of Japan were largely unknown, but if things had stayed relatively the same since her old life, there was a very fair chance that at least they could get a non-aggression pact. The rest of their world and their UN wouldn't stand for Japan declaring another war unless Germania was the one to start it.

Finished reviewing the papers, Tanya closed the folder and set it inside her briefcase as she sat back and looked out the train car's window. Endless black stared back only interrupted by the occasional light placed along the rails. The soft electric lighting of the cab she was in illuminated the seats in a dull gold glow, only a few other passengers in this particular car as most of this train was a shipment of materials and equipment. High command was taking her advice and was going to build a refugee center for Demi humans and other special region inhabitants. If you had something to offer or skills to provide, they wanted you there. Even something as simple as willingness to learn and work hard would allow you to thrive in the empire, and if these Falmartese valued that belief then they could thrive too.

A slight change in inertia of the train slowing down heralded the arrival to the other side of the gate, light soon spilling in around the tunnel. A whoosh of light and they exited the gate, revealing the base of Lichterfelde around them busy with daily tasks. Military vehicles drove around the freshly made streets ferrying men and equipment while buildings were constructed. The base was going to be pretty big once finished, easily one of the largest ones Tanya had ever seen.

The train turned right along the rails, following a path to the side of the base. A low steam whistle was let out from the engine as the bell began to toll signaling its arrival. Further down on the rails was a passenger station, where a second train sat ready on the second line to return to the other side of the gate for more supplies. Even further down than that was a rail yard for train cars, and a turntable with housing for three steam engines- the two main steam engines and a smaller one to manage the railyard. Due to the nature of its cargo, the train bypassed the station to a different line, one for offloading goods and materials. This was of little bother to Tanya as she was well used to putting aside her wants over efficiency, but some of the other passengers seemed upset, and Tanya mentally scoffed at their looks. Getting upset over a minor inconvenience like this… they must've been in cushy spots during the war.

Once the train had pulled to a stop and they disembarked onto a wooden walkway, Tanya was surprised to see Rerugen waiting for her with a car. Making her way over, she gave him a confused glance, noting his tense posture.

"General Rerugen, I hope nothing too bad has happened in my absence?" She asked, worried about his visible anxiety.

He made a noise. "I can't say for sure, but something certainly happened yesterday involving one of your recon teams. Come, I'll give you the full report at HQ." A ball of worry formed in her stomach.

"I hope there were no casualties at least?" She asked as she got into the car. Rerugen started the engine and pulled away down towards the main streets, formulating his response.

"Thankfully, no, but during one of your squad's recon missions, Ms. Serebryakov acted without orders and may have… complicated matters between us and this new second faction." That got her attention.

Tanya's eyes narrowed as her gaze bore into the poor man driving the car. "Tell me what happened. Leave nothing out." She demanded in a serious tone. Rerugen shivered as he was reminded as to why he was so terrified of the Devil of the Rhine.

"It would be best to have Ms. Serebryakov recount the full story to you, I already have her waiting at HQ to report, but from what I've gathered…

Special Region, 1338 hours, yesterday-

Viktoria flew through the skies of Falmart, leading a team of three other mages as they performed their mission of the day. Ever since the second gate had been found, teams had been tasked to monitor the movements of this second army everywhere it went, making notes of everything they did. Today, Viktoria, Bauer, Hoffman, and Alec were assigned to watch over one of the probable recon teams that had left the unknown's base at the now named Alnus hill. They were to spend the entire day watching and reporting anything of note, but so far things had been rather dull.

Haaah… if only we could have been assigned to one of those peace missions to make contact with another village instead… Viktoria lamented in her head. All this recon team we're following has done is visit a village and rescue someone from a burnt down town. She watched on through binoculars as the group drove back the way they came to the first village. Nothing interesting had happened aside from them finding that elven survivor, and Viktoria was growing a little glum at the assignment. Tanya was still in Berun talking with command and the rest of the 203rd was either engaged in missions or training in their off time. Their commander had mandated some newer training featuring close quarters combat and practice using mage abilities on ground level ever since the new army had been discovered, something about a "high mobility ground combat doctrine".

Viktoria didn't entirely understand why the commander thought of it as so important, but she trusted Tanya so she didn't voice any objections, and neither did the rest of the 203rd- (though that was more out of training and fear to not question her orders). The new exercises were interesting though, and a full training building had been built for them to get good at indoors combat in combination with their mage abilities. Their shields coupled with physical reinforcement/enhancement spells had led to make them particularly deadly in close quarters, especially when they didn't have to carry the bulky gear that enabled them to perform high altitude flying like they were wearing right now.

Viktoria readjusted a strap on her gear before refocusing on the group her team was tailing. They had been making their way back to the last village they visited, presumably to drop off the survivor they found. Viktoria briefly worried that the village would be against Demi humans like most of the country, but then reasoned that if they didn't accept the survivor then the soldiers would take care of her. As the group rolled into the town, the village elder came out to greet them as a few soldiers left their vehicles to speak, led by a black haired man with a tired disposition.

They exchanged words for a few minutes before they said something that seemed to startle the elder. The townsfolk around them listened to their leader for a few seconds before everyone exploded into action and movement, gathering their belongings and starting to load up wagons. Viktoria was confused, did the soldiers threaten them to leave their village? But why would they do that? No, their conversation lacked a hostile atmosphere, it had to be something else that spooked them. The black haired man leading the soldiers said a few things to them before they too moved to assist the villagers around them, helping to carry belongings and supplies.

"Bauer, did the last surveillance team mention anything unusual happening to this unit yesterday?" Viktoria asked her squad mate. Bauer pulled out a report and looked it over.

"Mmm.. No Ma'am, they ceased recon not long after the sun went down, the only thing of note was a forest fire in the distance they seemed to be traveling to investigate." He answered.

That fire must've been that village they rescued the girl from… but what could set an entire village ablaze like that? Viktoria thought. Unfortunately, answers would not come anytime soon, so they stuck to their mission and watched as the villagers and soldiers moved supplies about into one big caravan, with the soldiers providing escort it seems.

"Two magical signatures detected, looks like a mage and their student." Hoffman reported. Viktoria scanned the crowd and picked them out rather easily, the floating wagon and unsuppressed mana signatures evidence enough. An old man and a little girl with a blank stare, dressed in fantasy wizard robes. She couldn't help but smile at the ridiculous scene. This place really is a fantasy land, isn't it? If it wasn't Tanya's second life, I'm sure she would be amazed at this world. Viktoria thought. It certainly explained to her why Tanya never seemed to act her age, it was simply because her mind was far older than her body. Visha felt a little sad that she wouldn't be able to help Tanya enjoy her 'childhood', but that just meant she had to find other ways to bring a smile to her commander's face. Nodding at her own decision, she was pulled from her thoughts as the caravan was finished, the long line of wagons slowly plodding forward as their horses began their trek. The soldiers of the second army placed their vehicles along the convoy to escort it as they kept an eye out, swiveling guns around to protect their charges- all the while unaware of the team that watched them.

Hours later-

Viktoria took a swig from her canteen to wash down the ration bar she just ate, glancing over to Alec as he studied a map of the area. Bauer and Hoffman were taking turns patrolling the skies around them while Visha and Alec monitored the caravan. They had been going at this for most of the day, but their work wasn't going to be done until nightfall, giving them little else to do but watch and report on the movements of the convoy. Little time was spent chatting so most of what was heard was nothing but the wind blowing around them and the occasional sounds of the caravan.

Visha looked back to the convoy with her binoculars, noting another cart had broken down. The wagon's axle had been split in half and a few people looked injured. Some of the soldiers in green made their way over, one checking on a girl while another stood to the side. That one blank looking mage girl made her way over to the medic, probably to ask some questions when a horse near them went mad, ready to stomp down on the duo. Viktoria tensed until the other soldier took notice, quickly shooting the horse. She relaxed her grip as it dropped dead. A few seconds later the sound of the gunshot took its time to reach them. Alec peaked up from the map and she quickly explained what happened. He shrugged and went back to the map. A regular soldier or new recruit might've been startled by a random shot, but they were members of the 203rd, they were veterans of the Great War. Gunfire was commonplace to them, and you only needed to worry when there were multiple shots.

Suddenly, the radio crackled. "Pixie 2-1, this is Pixie 2-3, do you copy?" That was Bauer. Viktoria grabbed her Jewel to answer.

"Pixie 2-1, good copy, send it."

"There is something unusual in the road ahead of the convoy, it looks like a flock of crows circling a young girl dressed in black and red… religious wear? She has a big bladed weapon next to her and she's giving off an anomalous mana signature. Orders?" Viktoria frowned, beginning to sense the strange signature on the fringe of her senses as well.

"Keep an eye on her and hold positions, we'll regroup with you."

"Affirmative, Pixie 2-3 out." Viktoria looked to Alec and made a circling motion with her hand. Quickly and efficiently he put the map back into his bag and the duo set forth to regroup with their other half, their sense of unease only growing the closer they got to the strange girl's position. It didn't even take 5 minutes before they met up with Bauer and Hoffman, joining in to look with binoculars towards the strange girl seemingly meditating in the road. Serebryakov was at a loss when it came to this girl, the strength of this mana signature was unnaturally strong and emanated a sense of darkness and death. The only comparison she could make was a darker version of Tanya but even to this day none of the 203rd had seen the true extent of their commander's mana since she always suppressed it, so even then she couldn't say for sure.

"The convoy will be in range soon. If she proves to be hostile, what should we do?" Hoffman asked. Serebryakov frowned. She didn't like this, that girl set her on edge, but she also knew what Tanya would say.

"We hold position, gather data on her capabilities and powers. If she is a willing threat to even an innocent caravan we will need to better understand her before we can put together a team to take her down." It left a slight bitter taste in her mouth to leave these people to die if it came to that, but she knew Tanya would much sooner leave someone they held no relations with to die than send her own troops into harm's way. After years of working alongside Tanya she had grown to understand her view and trust her decisions. The others nodded at her choice and returned to watching.

Soon enough, the lead vehicle in the convoy noticed the girl, slowing to a stop not far from her. A pair of soldiers stepped out to talk to the girl who had made no move except to stand up, but surprisingly it was the kids in the convoy who were the first to greet her, running ahead to crowd around her in excitement. Viktoria was baffled to see such a dark figure chatting with ease to the kids, an air of maturity evident in her mannerisms that yet again reminded her of Tanya. Perhaps she is older than she looks as well? Either way, she was relieved to see this strange girl held no ill will towards the convoy, and by the recognition and occasional prayers from the villagers she came to the conclusion she was some kind of well known religious figure. Viktoria watched and recorded data as the gothic girl seemed to speak with the soldiers, making them uncomfortable in some way before deciding to ride with the convoy by sitting in the lap of the leader, much to his apparent discomfort.

Soon seating was sorted and the convoy was on the move again. Viktoria took the time to radio back to Lichterfelde to report the development and transmit data while Bauer and Hoffman took to patrol again. Whoever this girl was, she just became a person of interest to the Empire, one that would undoubtedly interest Tanya.

Viktoria had just finished on the radio with base when it came to life again, the patrol had spotted something. "Pixie 2-1! Incoming hostile! It's a giant fucking dragon! Bearing 275 from the sun! It's going straight for the convoy!" Hoffman shouted over the net. Viktoria whirled in a panic only to catch a glimpse of the giant red beast before it dove upon the helpless convoy, lighting a good portion of it into flames.

"No!" She shouted in horror. Brief flashes from her memory reminded her of napalm strikes and burning battlefields and charred corpses before she shoved that aside to focus. The soldiers on the ground took notice and soon sped off from the convoy, opening up with gunfire to attract the giant monster's attention away from the civilians, but soon noticed their weapons were doing nothing to its tough scales. Still, they fought, driving circles around it to keep it occupied while Serebryakov desperately tried to think on what to do. We need to kill that thing, it could be a threat to everything, not just these people, but I don't have orders to interfere! What do I do? ...Wait. Tanya wants to pursue peace talks with this faction, wouldn't it help negotiations if we saved them? She looked again to the convoy, full of civilians that were scared and dying. We have to help.

"Pixie 2-1 to all pixie, form up on me! We're going in! Artillery shots, medium power!"

Itami was not having a good day. In between trudging through the burnt out village, the hot weather, young and seductive jail bait, and now a dragon he was quite ready for the day to be over with. As he drove along with the others, shooting at every possible weak spot the dragon had, the weight of the day weighted heavily upon him, only relieved by the adrenaline pumping through his veins over his possible demise. This thing was massive! Not even the .50 cal was doing much to it thanks to its scales. In the LAV they were setting up an AT missile but Itami had to wonder if even that would do much. In the back of the car, Rory let out a giggle, looking at something in the sky.

"Well, I guess our mysterious observers are deciding to get involved." She said. Mysterious observers? Itami tried to see what she was looking at but gave up in favor of the dragon that was currently chasing after his car.

"Kurata, floor it! It's after us!" He shouted. The car picked up speed as the engine roared against the dragon's own. Despite this, the dragon still seemed to be gaining on them. The vehicle rocked and bounced over the rough terrain as the other two vehicles tried to nab its attention with lead but the dragon was ignoring them, solely focused on his car. Itami was sweating as it came bearing down on them until it was rudely interrupted as four bright purple shots from the sky impacted upon it, creating tremendous explosions as if they were loaded with high explosive. The beast roared in pain, several sections of its scales where it had been hit were now charred or destroyed, some exposing muscle underneath. Cheering at the damage but confused by the source, Itami and the rest of his unit looked to the sky where four specs became more and more visible, once again firing those purple shots, this time aimed at the dragon's back. Membrane was torn and muscle was shredded as the explosions ripped apart most of its wings, keeping it from flying away.

Rory let out a delighted laugh at the level of destruction brought against the beast, and if he wasn't seeing things she seemed to be drooling in lust as she gazed towards the flying figures. "Such power, such lethality! I can sense the bloodshed they have partaken in from here!" She panted, thoroughly disturbing the rest of the vehicle's occupants. The four flying figures were now circling in the air around the beast, letting loose bright blue shots that sounded like glass breaking as they pierced deep into its wounds and limbs, some going all the way through the other side to hit the dirt. Itami and his men watched in wonder as these strange newcomers that looked to be human danced around the beast with ease, dodging its fire and keeping out of range if it's limbs.

In a few short minutes they had managed to reduce the once great fire dragon into a helpless mess as it tripped and fell on its face as a few shots knicked its leg tendons. By now Itami's unit had slowed down and regrouped, no longer needing to run as the once mighty beast was ravaged in a way it had never been before. Kurata had nabbed a pair of binoculars to look at them and started gushing as he realized one of them was a cute girl, while Itami studied them with his own binoculars. They all were human, one girl and three guys wearing a flight suit and some kind of bulky pack on their front that connected to a metal boot on their leg, using older wooden stock assault rifles of some kind that glowed the same color as their shots. It confused him greatly, even more so when he caught a glimpse of an Iron Cross on their gear. Are they fantasy WW1 mages? He idly thought. That would be so cool!Finally the dragon stumbled to the ground, letting out a pained rasp as it couldn't fight back anymore. The four flying soldiers then formed up above it and charged their guns, bright blue hues forming before they unleashed their piercing shots directly into its chest in full auto bursts, puncturing its lungs and organs before a final burst took its heart. The beast lolled its head before falling still, and a tremendous cheer arose from not only the caravan in the distance but from his own men. Itami saw looks of awe, gratitude, slight fear in a few. The elf, Tuka, was staring at the dead dragon with a myriad of emotions while Rory was looking incredibly pleased/aroused at the sight of the soldiers.

The flying woman seemed to shout a few orders to some of the men before they descended, three of them moving to take pieces of the dragon while the woman flew over towards them. Itami mentally braced himself as he stepped from the vehicle to meet them, (and clicking the door lock button to keep Kurata from exiting so he could try and chat her up). The woman flew close before landing on the ground, only being an inch shorter than him. She had big blue eyes and brown hair, holding her rifle to her chest, she looked young, maybe 19 at the most.

"Are you okay?" She asked in falmarteese. Itami fumbled with his language book before flipping a few pages.

"Uhh, yes, we are okay, thank you for helping us. I am Itami, who are you?" He asked. She seemed to get fidgety.

"I'm afraid I cannot say, at least not yet. My nation will probably open talks with yours in the future, however." She responded. Strange, are they secretive? Or inexperienced? He thought.

"Can you at least give us the name of your nation?" He asked. She seemed to think before nodding.

"You will know in the future anyways, so I can tell you that. We are the Empire, but not the Saderan one, we are the Germanian Empire." She stated. Another empire? Itami was going to ask more questions, but was interrupted by Rory trotting over, (didn't he lock the doors on the LRV?)

"I can sense such bloodshed from you and your soldiers, you have seen much death, haven't you? Probably caused a great deal of it too." She began, smiling. The woman was visibly uneasy as she gripped her rifle a little tighter and a jewel on her neck glowed a bit more brightly.

"Who are you?" She asked, tense. Rory giggled.

"I suppose introductions are in order, I am Rory Mercury, the apostle of Emory, the god of Darkness, War, Death, and Insanity." Something seemed to click for the woman and she became even more guarded. "I must say, after all the time you spent watching us from up there, I thought you would just leave poor old me and the men in green to fight the dragon alone!" She said dramatically, putting a hand to her chest. Wait, they were watching us? Itami thought. He looked at the unknown woman, the unsaid question clear in his face.

"We were performing recon in the area when we noticed your convoy." She replied, not taking her eyes off Rory for long.

"What does she mean that you've seen a lot of death?" He asked. Her expression seemed to grow darker.

"We have, our nation just went through the bloodiest war in our world's history." She revealed quietly. She seemed lost in thought for a second before shaking her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't even be talking to you right now. I wish you all well, and don't worry about contacting us, we'll come to you when we're ready to talk." She said before leaping back, taking flight as she returned to her men before they departed, flying away from the group. Secretive, huh. Were they doing something they weren't supposed to by helping us?

Itami turned back to the cars to see that one of the doors was broken, and fingers were quickly pointed at Rory, who only smiled. He sighed, feeling a headache coming on. Yeah, I'm done with today.

Tanya sat back on the couch in the meeting room next to Rerugen, sipping tea as she listened to Visha finish her recount of events from across the table. Once she was finished, she carefully sat the tea and its saucer down before putting a hand to her chin. It was somewhat troublesome for relations to start this way, and she would've much preferred they not reveal themselves or their combat prowess as mages just yet, but this could work. Visha quietly awaited her judgement, standing at attention in the room. Tanya nodded. This would work.

"Miss Serebryakov," she started. Her adjutant stifferned. "While normally I'd admonish you over risking you and your men's lives to save some backwater third world citizens who we owe nothing to, you did good in this case. Not only did you come out unscathed, but saving not only those soldiers but the civilians they were protecting puts us in a very good light. You didn't give any info but our nation's name, and you gained intel on a potential threat to the empire." Viktoria relaxed some at the praise as most of the tension left her body.

"However, we still are left with the matter of contacting them. While I was in the capital it was decided that I would be the one to open talks, but showing up unannounced to their garrison would be unsightly. It would probably work best if we were to make contact with that same group you saved before. Any intel on their whereabouts?" She asked.

"No, commander. Last reported sighting was of them escorting some refugees to their base." Visha reported.

"We can wait a few days then. Viktoria, you are dismissed." Visha bowed before exiting. "Any other news?" She said, looking to Rerugen. He adjusted his glasses and looked over a few papers.

"Bandit activity has increased recently, and several recon groups have reported organized raids being performed around the wilderness, mostly targeting villages." He began. "Our forces have been able to easily repel them but evidence suggests a gathering of a major group of bandits, mostly remnants of the imperial army. It's unclear who might be leading them or if they have a target, but we have teams dispatched to keep watch and track down wherever these criminals may be."

Tanya looked to the map mounted on the wall, red pins of various sights with blue pins as villages and towns. One city in particular caught her attention and she stood up to look at the map. "The bandits want loot, they want riches and women. A gathering of that many could pose a significant threat to even the most fortified cities in this world. If they attack anywhere, it'll be somewhere with plenty of both, like here." She said, grabbing a stick to point at the map. "Italica. The locals claim it to be a major trade hub, rich in goods and at a key strategic position."

"What do you propose we do?" Rerugen asked. Tanya smiled.

"Simple, we take it first! It's perfect weather for an offensive, wouldn't you say? If they let us take over peacefully, that's preferable, but we will take it either way, it would be an ideal location for a forward operating base. All we've been doing these past few weeks is building up Lichterfelde when we're fully capable of mobilizing troops to take more positions. With the state of this world I'm more than confident a standard unit of mages alone could take over this city with little trouble."

"Then you would be fine if we sent the 203rd alone to capture this city, right?" Rerugen asked. A little thrown off, she looked at him questioningly.

"Moving troops takes time and fuel as you well know, so if you can capture it easily without the need for much of either then that significantly eases the burden on relocating armor and equipment once you have it under control. We don't have the supply lines here like we do in the Fatherland, and it will take time to build that up. This way, instead of sending an entire assault force we only need to send an occupational force." He explained. Tanya nodded at the thought. It made a lot of sense, and it was doable.

"I believe you are right, that is a sound plan. I can leave tomorrow with the 203rd, shouldn't even take a full day to capture Italica, but if I pursue a less forceful takeover it might take a few days. When I get there I will talk to the leadership, gather their situation before deciding if I take it by peace or by force." She finalized. Rerugen nodded.

"That should work, I'll start prepping some troops for occupation, they should arrive at Italica by tomorrow night, maybe the next morning by the latest." The decision was made, all that was left would be the fine details. Italica would be theirs.

A/N: Well- This took a long while, and to be honest it's not as long as I'd like, but I wanted to put something out to let you know I was still here.

A lot of overtime at work and some other matters kicked in and I lost my momentum on these chapters, but I'm trying to pick that back up again. Do tell me what you think, and leave a review!