When I recovered from my sickness, I prepared for the coming showdown with the shadowy figures that had been haunting my dreams.

If I was correct, they lived in an Abbey in Italy.

Aside from all my usual tricks of the trade, I opened up my safe and took the messages from W.G. with me, too.

I don't know why, but something told me that it would be a great idea.

Before going, I also wrote another note:

"To whoever finds this note:

If you are reading this, then I am most likely dead by now. I have brought along a few documents from an individual known only as W.G. Though I do not know who he is or where he comes from, I have discovered what his plans are: He plans to turn certain tank companies against each other until there are few survivors. That way, he can easily take over the world.

Please, I beg you, heed my words! Find out where W.G. is! You hold the fate of the world in your hands!

-Sincerely,

The Unknown Tanker"

I rewrote it as best as I could in English, French and German, just in case the person who found the note couldn't read Russian.

I figured that somebody, somewhere, would understand the message just fine.

I just hoped that the right person would find it in case the unthinkable happened.

With my documents concealed in my armor for protection, I headed to this Abbey.

When I got there, I heard the mysterious figures speak, but without using a radio:

"Our prey has arrived! Seize him, brothers! Make him pay for his transgressions!"

Uh-oh, I'll have to hurry!

After a quick observation of the area, I chose to go west because the apparent cliff on the east side might leave me open to snipers.

Going west, I encountered what I believed to be an AMX-13, but it appeared to be larger than that.

I fired a shell at it, which only destroyed its tracks, so I finished it with an anti-tank grenade.

"Thou hast destroyed some of our brothers! Now we shalt destroy thou!" continued the voices.

Moving on, I covered my path with some anti-tank mines to throw off pursuers.

Going down the western path, I encountered a T-44 medium tank coming for me.

I calmly took aim at it, and…

BOOM!

Strangely enough, I killed this tank in one hit!

But how can this be!?

I recalled the time when I engaged a T-43 near the Mannerheim Line.

In case you've forgotten, that one managed to survive a 152mm high-explosive shell from the front.

So how is it that this more advanced tank couldn't?

Oh wait…that's right! I must've destroyed the ammo rack!

I questioned why this machine would have poor ammo rack protection, but I headed on rather than wasting time asking questions.

Behind the T-44, there was a short uphill path to the left.

Though it slowed down Goliath, I took it anyways because I could probably get the drop on somebody else.

However, I found an AMX M4 1945 waiting to the right of me.

"Get him, brothers! Destroy the non-believer!"

The AMX fired at me before I could get sighted in, damaged Goliath and attempted to back away.

I managed to hit the AMX, but it was still moving.

I backed away, only to discover a T36 up the hill to my left.

"Surrender, thou sinner!" continued the voices, "Do not prolong thy pain!"

The T36 fired and damaged Goliath.

Goliath couldn't be doing so well at this point, so I had to act.

The presence of artillery was also very annoying, but considering how few shots they had fired, they must have slow firing rates.

Anyways, I took out the T36 with an anti-tank grenade, doing the same to the M4 1945 when it foolishly tried to charge me.

"Thy tricks and traps will not work against us forever! Thou must surrender the key eventually!"

Ha! We'll see about that!

I pressed on, undaunted.

However, at the next corner, I spotted an IS-4.

Suddenly, I had a flashback to my first IS-3 encounter.

Again, I realized that I might not get out alive, but I wasn't going to surrender this time!

I pointed the 152mm cannon at the IS-4, and…

BOOM!

I hit the IS-4, but could not kill it.

Rather, it killed Goliath.

Of course, my armored suit protected me, but I think that even this was slightly too much for it.

After Goliath was destroyed, I could hear the voices say: "Well done, brothers! Another sinner has been cleansed! Now, let us continue our search!"

Oh no I'm not!

Having faked my death, I waited as the IS-4 crew started to repair a track that was broken by the 152mm blast.

Then, when the time was right, I jumped out of Goliath and charged at them while firing my PPSh-41.

I must have emptied an entire magazine into them!

With the crew disposed of, I finished their repair job and continued the fight.

I didn't care about using any of my neat little tricks; I just charged at my remaining opponents like a madman and fired wherever I thought I would have a chance of doing damage.

When my first opponent spotted me, I heard some voices say: "WAIT! That is not one of our brothers! We have failed to kill the sinner! ELIMINATE HIM!"

I managed to kill a bunch of tanks in my blood frenzy despite taking major damage.

When I spotted a lone E-75, I charged it on foot and jumped atop it.

Ripping open the hatch, I stabbed a bunch of the crewmen with my knife.

I dragged the commander out and started beating his head against the side of his tank.

"Stay…out…OF…MY…DREAMS!" I roared while beating him.

Once this madman had fallen unconscious, I knelt down in fatigue.

When I regained my composure and calmed down, I decided to check out the ones who had been haunting my nightmares.

None of them had IDs of any sort, but I knew that they were a mixed-nation group.

I had no way of knowing if any of them were in fact "W.G.", but I figured that there was a good chance that I'd knocked him off during my rampage, too.

However, I had finally learned who they really were.

They were the "Federation of the Shadow Key", a secret religious cult that had gotten their hands on tanks.

So now I know what they meant by "the key", but I had no idea what the Shadow Key was for until I read their manifesto:

"FEDERATION OF THE SHADOW KEY:

OFFICIAL CHARTER

INTRODUCTION:

Brothers, the world as we know it is too sick to be worthy of life. The decadence that man's alleged progress bringeth upon us cannot be ignored. However, all hope is not forlorn, for there existeth a mighty artifact created for the purpose of cleansing all sinners from this world, that we may re-create it to suit our God.

HISTORY:

Long ago, in the vastness of time and space, our God sprung forth to create a new world, that an existence might serve to hold off the crushing force of nothingness. However, the creation of this world resulted in an unexpected byproduct: a powerful force that threatened to consume all life on this world. After a brutal conflict, our God had sealed this force in another dimension, but not before that force left behind a key to its dungeon. This key shall forever be referred to as the Shadow Key.

Years later, during the so-called 'Renaissance' period, a few wise brothers foresaw the ill effects that mankind's meddling would lead to. From that moment on, they swore their lives to save mankind from the gaping jaws of these ills. However, these brothers were unsuccessful in their attempts to save mankind peacefully. With little else to turn to, they came to the realization that the only way to save the world was to cleanse it of these sinners and re-shape it in the name of our God. Forevermore, they dedicated themselves to finding the Shadow Key. Unfortunately, they were persecuted by the purportedly well-intentioned authorities and the legend was assumed to be lost forever.

Until now.

Brothers, rejoice, for our noble leader Saxlar hath re-discovered the legend of the Shadow Key, locked away in a long-forgotten corner of a library that had touted itself as being a provider of free knowledge! Now, we may continue our divine quest to locate the Shadow Key, that we may yet save this world before it is too late!

TENETS:

Live for the key!

Die for the key!

Serve in the name of the key!

Let the key always be in thy thoughts!

Think only thoughts that have connections to the key!

Thou shalt have but one marriage: to the key!

Discard all possessions that interfere with our quest to locate the key!

Never let thy mind stray from those believed to have the key!

Never discard the key!

Never misplace the key!

Destroy the non-believers!

Destroy the persecutors!

Destroy the betrayers!

They must all die!

That is the way it should be!"

Wow, I have seen some acts of overzealous devotion, but these guys were taking it to new heights!

And I thought the followers of the Communist Party were excessively devoted!

But the question remains: Why me?

What reason could the Federation possibly have for suspecting that I have this "Shadow Key"?

Was it something I had?

Even I couldn't be totally sure.

Maybe the key didn't even exist!

Given their misguided zealotry, it couldn't possibly exist.

The tanks in their inventory were nothing new, for the most part, but there was a German SPG in their inventory called a "GeschutzWagen Typ E", part of the "Entwicklung" series.

Strangely enough, the SS panzer division "Wunderwaffen" had no info on this.

Another new tank was a new variant of the AMX-50, called the AMX-50/120.

Aside from its 120mm autoloading cannon, its design used elements from the IS-3, rather than the Tiger.

Their third new tank – the one I thought was an AMX-13 – was actually a 25-ton medium tank developed by Batignolles-Chatillon.

With the same speed as the AMX-13 plus the ability to mount a 100mm autoloading cannon, it sure seemed fearsome…aside from the one I blew up so easily.

During this time, I thought I heard the sounds of tanks driving in the distance, but I figured I was hearing things, and the sounds trailed off.

Besides, as far as I'm concerned, the war's over.

I just went to Goliath's remains and worked on bringing it back to life.

However, I must've missed something, because I turned around to find three American tanks facing me.

Their commanders got out, and the middle one, a fairly tall man, spoke to me:

"We've been expecting you."

Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.