20,000 soldiers of Louria's eastern vassal advance force marched out of the base in Gim to a point 7 kilometers west of the fortress city of Ejei. They were 3 kilometers from the assigned location but the commander felt a terrible premonition and decided to stop there for the week.
Nou was panicking. 20,000 Lourian soldiers were waiting west of Ejei. Based on the numbers, they were only the advance force, sent to drain Ejei's strength and resources before the main army arrived and overran the city. His soldiers would be forced to stay on guard at all times, wearing down their nerves, and his wyverns couldn't conduct raids effectively on the enemy camp.
"Have the Useans sent anything?"
"Yes, they have just sent a message. There is a Lourian force setting up camp 7 kilometers west of Ejei. We intend to offer rear support by conducting a bombardment, so we would like all friendly soldiers to withdraw behind the walls to prevent possible friendly fire."
"They want to offer support from their base? Interesting. I'm very curious how they are able to do that. Tell them that I am ordering friendly forces to withdraw to the city."
It was a clear day. The temperature was comfortable, a light breeze blowing across the plain, the air dry. The advance force commander, Junfilla, looked down at the vast army camped on the hillside. The army was in high spirits. The Qua Toyne forces that had been running around outside had suddenly pulled inside the city. The cavalry harassed the city while the rest of the army slept soundly. The pillaged food from Gim was delicious.
A low whining sound began in the skies above, but Junfilla couldn't see a thing. Shortly after, shrieking sounds began and falling objects appeared. Unknown to the Lourians, they had been dropped from a Tu-95MSM, 8000 meters above them. The objects burst open above the camp, dropping high-quality paper, which read:
Dismantle your camp and withdraw in two hours. Otherwise we will commence our attack.
Matviy Zyma
Colonel General, 68th Field Army
Eurasian Armed Forces
So, the rumored Eurasians, Useans, whatever, had come. Junfilla trembled in anticipation at the thought of facing these never-before-seen enemies. To warn their enemies of an attack. What a virtuous country. It was a shame that virtue had no place on the battlefield. Junfilla began drawing up troop formations in preparation for battle.
Usea, Russia
Stonehenge Facility
Two hours passed. The enemy forces had not withdrawn; instead, they had assembled into combat formations. And thus the bombardment was given the go-ahead.
"Target acquired. Range: 4523 kilometers." A mechanical voice rang out at Stonehenge as turrets 1 through 8 began rotating and raising their barrels. Usea was going to test the railguns' long-range bombardment capabilities against the Lourian advance force. The targeting computers coordinated with satellites, making precise adjustments to make sure shots were as accurate as possible. A message from Ejei came in. "Enemy forces in position, observers ready to record bombardment results." "Excellent. Fire!"
The intercom crackled. "Stonehenge has fired. Estimated time of impact: 9 minutes."
General Nou spoke to General Zyma. "Have you begun your attack?"
"Oh yes, our weapons have just fired. Expect results in about nine minutes."
"I don't see anything occurring at your base though."
Zyma suppressed a smile. "That's because our first strike is being launched from our homeland."
"What? That far away!?"
"Yes. We are testing the effectiveness of a special multipurpose artillery system."
Meanwhile, in the fields outside Ejei, Junfilla waited for the Usean force.
"What are they doing? Why do they delay-" He was cut off by 8 massive explosions erupting around him, three directly on his troops' formations. As the screams of dying men rang out, the formation began to scatter as soldiers ran from an invisible enemy.
Then, trails of smoke and arrows of light began arcing over the walls of Ejei, flying toward the scattering soldiers of his army.
"The bombardment was a success, three direct hits on target and five near-misses."
"Good. Looks like railgun bombardment is reasonably effective against large stationary targets. Have the army mop up the remaining enemies."
Principality of Qua Toyne, Daidar Plains
"Go-ahead sent for our bombardment! Fire at will!"
TOS-2M flamethrower MLRS systems began continuously firing their rockets at the Lourian positions beyond Ejei's walls. The rockets were thermobaric, containing a highly effective and devastating payload that killed using pressure, after which any survivors would then be burned by the fires from the weapon. Lourian soldiers were dying in droves as rockets sucked up all of the air at the impact point and exploded.
Nou was astonished. He watched giant columns of dirt and flames shoot up in the enemy army, exactly when Zyma said they will. Shortly after, he watched barrages of light arrows arc over the walls of his city, exploding in massive balls of flame as they landed.
"Wha…This power! Such powerful explosions, and they aren't even stopping! General Zyma, how powerful are your mages? Are you allied with the legendary dragon king?"
"None of our soldiers are capable of magic. Instead, we have mechanical weapons that can continuously fire rockets until they have exhausted their ammunition stores."
These gods of destruction wiped the Lourian advance force off the face of the planet.