Roughly a mile out from the battlements at the city of Saxe-Gotha, at the staging area for the assault, the three hundred and fifty troops of the De Vineuil Battalion were awaiting the horn to signal the beginning of the attack. Today, fifteen days after the landing, the allied army was finally launching their offensive.
Leading the 2nd Company, Guiche was shivering from head to toe, staring intently at the mist-covered city of Saxe-Gotha.
"Company commander, sir!" The sergeant on guard at his side, Nicola, spoke in a soft tone.
"W-w-w-what is it?" Guiche stammered.
"You dropped your wand."
Guiche immediately looked below at his feet and saw his rose-shaped wand lying on the ground. He frantically picked it back up and shoved it into his chest pocket, while trying to maintain the solemn expression on his face.
"Company commander, sir!"
"W-what is it?"
"Although it might not be my concern, I still think it would be better for you to go take a leak first."
Guiche immediately glared at him and exclaimed, "I've already gone!"
"That's good, then," Nicola replied while grinning.
"There's nothing to be nervous about. According to the reports in the past few days, the enemy's cannons have all been destroyed by our fleet's bombardment, and they've only deployed demi-humans to guard the streets."
"Those d-demi-humans are incredibly ferocious, and their bodies are massive." Guiche replied.
"But they are foes that are incredibly easy to lure into traps," Nicola remarked while watching ahead.
Guiche flinched as he recalled how stupid he had been last time. He looked at the small man carrying the musket. This was the first real battle he had participated in, and there was no one else he could rely on. With such thoughts in his mind, the man in front of him appeared to be larger than any lunkhead he knew. Something about his calm demeanor and confident understanding of the nature of battle reminded of him of another young man little older than he. "However… from where could we start our assault? The whole city is surrounded by those huge rock walls…"
Hearing Guiche's concern, Nicola nodded his head. "Someone's going to come to 'open a route' for us soon."
After some time idly passing by, a fleet of battleships appeared in the skies above. The ten battleships, by then all neatly lined up in a row, proceeded to bombarding the wall with cannon fire. In the face of the floating battleships' firepower, the enemy was completely powerless. Accompanied by the thunderous roar of cannon fire and thick clouds of smoke, the walls began to crumble and cheers could be heard erupting from the soldiers assembled at the staging area. Under the barrage of cannon fire, the walls along the battlements collapsed. And then, appearing right in front of their eyes, was a group of huge mud golems.
"They must be golems made by Triangle-class mages." Guiche thought aloud.
Since he himself was a Dot-class mage, he couldn't create such large golems. He looked up at them in admiration – Although they were slightly smaller than the mud golems created by Fouquet of the Crumbling Dirt, whom had once rattled the whole of Tristain, they were still huge. The mud golems, with a height of roughly twenty meters, solidly stumbled along, gradually drawing closer to the collapsed walls.
On the backs of the mud golems were flags bearing the family emblems of their respective creators, and Guiche, upon noticing a familiar emblem amongst them, instinctively yelled out loud, "T-that's my brother's mud golem!"
At that instant, with a whoosh, a large group of fire bolts of some sort flew straight towards the mud golems approaching the wall. The sound of sizzling and ozone filled the air. One of the mud golems had its abdomen shot through, making a gaping hole. The golem immediately lost its balance, and collapsed into a heap onto the ground. The lights shot towards the approaching golems one after another, felling many of them as they were struck by its fire.
"What in the world was that?" Guiche gasped.
"I have no idea, sir," Nicola replied immediately. "If a human were to be struck by it, I doubt very much would be left of them..."
Guiche worriedly watched his brother's golem. A hole in its chest allowed him to see through it quite clearly, but fortunately, the mud golem still remained standing.
"Is the Company Commander... a member of the Gramont family?" Nicola asked, noticing Guiche's excitement.
"I'm the youngest son." Guiche replied proudly.
Hearing Guiche's reply, Nicola's eyes opened wide in astonishment. "That means you are the Marshal's son? What a surprise! What brought you to a lowly musket battalion like ours? With your father's name, whether it be the knights, or an elite regimental headquarters, wouldn't you be able to join any battalion you desire?"
Guiche looked at the battle going on, and thought of a certain familiar... And the lesson that he taught him so long ago at the academy. He spoke somberly after that moment of introspection,"If I have to use my father's name, does it not mean that it is because mine no longer has any merit of its own? I would gladly earn my merit and glory with my own hands..."
Nicola was unable to say anything, but after a while, he grinned and slapped Guiche's shoulder. "I like your kind of attitude, young master. Since that's how it is, we ain't returning back home until we win our merit and glory!"
Soon after, a dragon knight arrived as well, speeding towards the city. Blasts of the same odd fire came from the dragon, slamming into various centers of the city. After a few minutes of the dragon weaving around the returned fire, the blasts from the city stopped, and the white dragon turned around and made its exit, although it looked as if the rider had jumped from the dragon...
"They're certainly making an entrance." Nicola commented in a dead pan, as a few large blasts followed the landing of the figure who had been riding the dragon.
Finally arriving at the foot of the collapsed wall, which had been turned into rubble by the cannon fire earlier, the mud golems began clearing away the rubble.
His men would soon rush into the city through that entry. Guiche's entire body began to tremble uncontrollably.
"You're shaking?"
"…E-even though I would really like to say it's due to the excitement…it's most probably because of fear."
"Heh, being honest is a good thing, you will never succeed on reckless courage alone. But, you can't be too cowardly either. Regardless, just let me take care of it." Nicola raised his hands towards the roughly hundred musketeers behind him. Another fifty or so pikemen acted as their guard. This company consisting of roughly hundred and fifty men, were the soldiers under the command of Guiche.
"Prime and load your cartridge—!" The musketeers then leisurely loaded their barrels with bullets and gunpowder. "Company Commander sir, might I trouble you to light this?" Nicola pulled a length of slow match towards Guiche.
Guiche nodded, and cast an 'Ignite' spell on the cord. Accompanying the sizzling noise of the slow match smouldering, a burning smell hung in the air. Nicola called a soldier over, and handed the ignited cord over to be distributed amongst the other soldiers.
"This is a slow match given by our company commander! Make sure that it is not extinguished!" The response that returned lacked any sense of enthusiasm.
The golems cleared away the wall. At that moment, Nicola poked Guiche in the waist and said, "Company Commander sir, let's go."
Raising his wand while still trembling, Guiche yelled out, "G-G-Gramont Company, forward!"
The veteran musketeers followed behind with staggering footsteps. It was only then that Guiche realized – it was only his own company that was charging forward! The order to charge hadn't been passed down from the top yet!
"Hey, Sergeant—" He was about to voice his complaint, but stopped upon noticing Nicola's calm and confident expression. He understood, and nodded as he brought his eyes forward.
Once a company had begun advancing, it was almost impossible to halt their advance, and thus they could only continue moving forward. A few seconds later, an order to "Charge!" resounded from the ranks behind. Like a surging tidal wave, soldiers, knights, and assorted others all stormed in their direction.
"We're all old veterans after all. If we don't start out a bit earlier, we won't be able to keep up." Nicola said in an all-too reasonable tone.
Probably because they had set out earlier, Guiche's company was the first to reach one of the breaches along the battlements. But a couple of knights swept past them, storming into the city.
"But we were the first to get here!" Guiche shouted as he prepared to storm inside, right before Nicole grabbed him, pulling him back.
Immediately afterwards, the knights which had just charged in were sent flying back out together with their mounts, landing in front of Guiche in a miserable state. It seemed that on the other side of the wall were club-wielding orcs, waiting for simple-minded fools like them to deliver themselves to their doom.
Enormous monsters with a size at least five times that of a human, the group of orcs spotted Guiche's party and immediately stormed towards them. Guiche remembered the time when he had gone treasure-hunting with everyone; how they had been ambushed by orcs like these as well. His bronze golems had been pummeled into oblivion by them back then. A sense of dread welled up within him. Guiche held his calm as he could, drawing on what he remembered from treasure hunting, "Fire! Fire! Aim for the heads! The heads! They're resistant to damage and can shrug off most non fatal attacks!" Guiche began to yell frantically.
"Don't fire just yet! Company Commander sir! Use an incantation to knock over that guy furthest at the back! Quickly!"
Then, acting accordingly to what he had said, Guiche waved his artificial rose. Erupting from the ground below, a hand grabbed a hold of the leg of the orc at the back.
With a crash right in the middle of the narrow breach in the wall, the orc tripped over.
"1st platoon! The leading group is your target! Fire! Aim for the heads, fire in waves!" Without delay, Nicola issued the order to pour volley fire onto the orc at the head of the approaching group.
The thirty or so musketeers fired their guns in concert at the leading orcs, shredding their heads, and killing the first eight with no real issues. The other orcs at the forefront were felled onto the ground as well, blocking the advance of the group behind them. Not the type to let such an opportunity go, Nicola bellowed his next order without hesitation.
"2nd platoon! Fire—!"
Although the orcs were capable of waving their clubs about even after a barrage of bullets, they still couldn't endure the impact of the dozens of bullets fired at such close quarters.
The orcs which were trailing behind decided to retreat, but between the narrow breach of the wall and the orc at the rear that had been knocked to the ground by Guiche's magic, they were unable to move. At the front, they were obstructed by the corpses of their allies. Just as they stumbled and trudged through the corpses to charge through, they were greeted with the volley fire of the remaining musketeers. The last few remaining orcs were then met with the charging pikemen and were quickly eliminated.
Staring at the twenty or so orc corpses on the ground, Guiche exclaimed in admiration,"S-so powerful..."
While he instructed the musketeers to reload their bullets, Nicolas revealed a grin."It's because these guys are very simple-minded- once they spot the enemy, they'll come charging straight at them." The veteran sergeant laughed as he patted Guiche's shoulder. In a more cheerful voice he added,"Company Commander sir, look, now you can earn the highest merit."
And just like that, the ragtag Battalion demonstrated an extraordinary level of solidarity. Meanwhile on another front, was the "trump card" of the allied army. It was Louise and her familiar.
***Break***
Saxe-Gotha was built upon a relatively high mountain. Encircled on all sides by a wall, a main road shaped like a five-pointed star was constructed within. Legend says that this was the first city built by the Founder on the continent of Albion; Whether this was the truth or not was impossible to know.
However, it was only the five roads of that pentagram that displayed that elegant geometric design, within it was a complex of countless side streets and disorderly alleyways. It was no different than the other cities that could be seen all over Halkeginia.
At the moment, Louise was running frantically through a small alleyway. Zero could be seen by her side with Derflinger firmly in his grasp.
Chasing them from their rear were ten or so huge trolls and fang-bearing ogres; both were giants that measured roughly five meters tall.
Fortunately, this being a small alleyway, the beasts seemed to be struggling to squeeze through. Because they were crashing through protruding walls and windows alike as they chased through, it took them quite a while. If it had been a wide open plain instead, they would surely have been caught up to in an instant.
To find out why Louise was running back and forth through the maze of alleyways within Saxe-Gotha, we would have to begin from the mission that they had accepted. To create a diversion to draw some of the enemies away from the main attacking force, be it with illusions or destruction of forces from another area of attack.
"Why did you have to suddenly yell out like that? Hey, do you hear me?" shouted Louise as she ran.
"Because its easier this way. They're just about bunched up." Zero reasoned, drawing his saber.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Denharei" was Zero's only answer, as he turned around releasing a slash of energy from his saber that sped to and then through the chasing demi-humans.
"What was that!" Louise demanded as she stopped to gawk at the carnage he had created.
"Pure awesome is what it was. What, you didn't think I just wanted to play tag with them did you?" Zero replied flippantly. His body went stock still as he heard a familiar sound. A sound of metallic boots and of buster fire.
"Shut up!" Louise replied in frustration. "Why'd you stop?"
"Louise, I need you to hide. I need you to hide right now." Zero said suddenly, causing Louise to look at him nervously.
"What, why?" She demanded.
"Just do it!" Zero yelled as he ran out into the street. As he turned he couldn't help but sigh. At least a hundred of them... Although, they were way too shiny for some reason. "You annoying bastards again... I thought I was done with you all when Weil replaced you with Variants..." He dove into the fray slashing at the closest, and as Derflinger hit it, he saw that it had lost all cohesion and shattered. He was almost hit by a bolt of plasma as he realized that it had been made of ice! "Damn it!" Zero shouted as he jumped at a building that was close and then jumped off the wall slamming his fist into the ground as he landed, destroying all of the pseudo pantheons near him.
"Wow, they're fragile!" Derflinger noted as he was swung through two more. "But why isn't your weapon doing as much damage as me?"
Zero tried not to shrug. "They seem to be made from magic somehow. Since they're magic, you're absorbing what's holding em together. My saber is best for things that are more solid."
"Hah, you hear that? I win you stupid sword of light!" Derflinger yelled at his main competition, even if he knew it wouldn't answer.
As Zero slashed at the next wave of shock troops he was surprised to see a few blasts come from the sky. Looking up momentarily he saw a white dragon circling overhead. "Huh, air support huh? That's good!" Zero continued to move between the pantheons slashing at them, until he noticed an older man with a wand who seemed to be directing them. If they were made from magic... "Hey partner, sorry about this but..." Zero launched the blade at the mage, impaling him. As the man went down, the Pantheons that had been fighting Zero seemed to shimmer and then fall apart. As the pantheons stopped firing he heard something from the sky.
"Death from above!" Axl cried as he fell through the air, firing his busters at the trolls, orcs and ogres he could see on his decent. As he landed he grinned at Zero who was cleaning his sword on the tunic of a fallen mage. "Hey Zero. You havin fun too?"
"Yeah. Real fun killing a bunch of fake pantheons." Zero replied in an annoyed tone. "Not that I haven't dealt with enough of these anyhow..." As he finished complaining, Zero walked up to the downed mage, retrieving Derflinger from the man's chest.
"Kinda dizzy. Little warning next time partner? I feel like I'm going to throw up." Derflinger whined.
"No you don't Derf, you don't have a stomach or anything." Zero replied absently.
"Yeah, well its not very nice to do that, even if I can't throw up." Derflinger continued complaining.
"Hey, you offered to have me throw you at Mott! Remember?" Zero countered as he yelled at hi sword.
"Yeah, well I didn't offer now, did I?"
"Fine, guess I'll just use my saber next time. I can even make it come back when I throw it." Zero replied flippantly.
"Hey, don't be so hasty! Its fine, it's fine! I did the job didn't I?" Derflinger cried out.
"Where's Louise?" Axl asked conversationally, interrupting his old friend's argument with his sword.
"Where is she supposed to be? Hiding. Where is she? looking out of that alley over there." Zero said, pointing directly at the small amount of pink hair that was visible for a moment before she heard him and retreated. "You can come out, the Pantheons are down."
"Yeah, they had busters, sorta...although... Someone else has to be here. No way they could have figured out how to make something like that without one of us... but who?" Axl pondered aloud.
"I don't know. I can't think of any others... The guardians are all dead... They died against Omega... X is dead... Copy X is dead... Twice...The gentle judges are dead... As is pretty much every reploid of any real power I can think of..." Zero said as he counted through all the reploids that he had faced who might have the information needed to create those abominations...
"Wait, you killed the gentle judges? What the hell? Aren't they non combat?" Axl demanded.
"They had combat forms. Weil was using them against us. Remember, he's the one who designed them." Zero answered with a shrug.
Axl tried to run through who else it might be, but apparently Zero had been very busy while he'd been gone. Finally Axl just shook his head as he chuckled, "Jeez. That doesn't really leave any options, does it?"
"Not that I can think of, no." Zero agreed.
"Well, how about we go and assist the people breaching the walls? They should be breaking through about now." Axl asked, grinning.
"Yeah, might as well. we've cleared out a majority of the things over here anyhow."
"I'm not sure I can run anymore..." Louise said as the thought of running across the city again made her realize all to well that her legs felt like a cross between lead and some sort of jelly.
Zero shrugged as he walked over to her, picking her up while saying, "Guess it can't be helped."
"Put me down now!" Louise demanded with a blush on her face, remembering the time that he had offered to carry her to her room.
"Sorry, but you said you can't make it over there so..." Zero trailed off as he ran at an alley and jumped up the walls to get to a roof followed closely by Axl. "I figure this would be the fastest way."
"Let me go!" Louise screamed as Zero took off jumping from roof top to roof top toward the sounds of battle.
"She doesn't seem to like this Zero. I can't see why, its almost like we're flying when we jump like this. Isn't flying fun?" Axl wondered.
"I don't know. She seemed to enjoy flying in the Zero." Zero laughed as he took another jump across two buildings.
"Bunch of those ugly trolls at 2'oclock. Wanna provide cover from up here?" Axl asked as he brought both busters out and aimed.
"Might as well." Zero replied drawing his own buster out and letting Louise down on the roof they had landed on. "Feel free to throw out some small explosions Louise, but don't tire yourself out. we've already accomplished our mission. This is just to provide additional cover for our troops."
"Like I have to be told that!" Louise complained as she drew her own wand.
***Break***
As Guiche led the line that broke through, he saw more of the blasts coming from the rooftops, this time ripping into the trolls. Looking up he saw Zero and another young man firing at the trolls and providing cover. He'd have to thank him when he saw him next. This victory would probably not have been his had it not been for the familiar's assistance now, or his interactions with him in the past.
***Break***
The Germania-Tristain united army took over the city of Saxe-Gotha in about one week from the beginning of the attack.
The damage to the city was negligible. The huge demi-humans were not capable of moving well in the urban area suited for humans, and were defeated in even one-on-one battles. The town was occupied smoothly, due to the residents' cooperation as well. The town residents felt a grudge against Albion's army as it took all their supplies, and one-by-one they cooperated with the allied forces. They informed the allied forces about the buildings where the demi-humans lurked and fought together. All the City Council members of Saxe-Gotha, including the Mayor, the citizens, and the governing staff of the Tristain-Germania united army were gathered.
Going up on the platform constructed at the center of the plaza, General of the united army, Supreme Commander de Poitiers greeted them. "Thus, I declare the city of Saxe-Gotha liberated. I give the limited self-government right to the Saxe-Gotha City Council under the supervision of Tristain and Germania governments, and open our food stores to the people of this country who are so abused by their unholy republican regime!"
A shout of joy bolted up from residents who were nursing a grudge with the present Albion government for taking all of the food in the city.
"Now it is my great joy to introduce these brave men to you all! They fought in your Libration, like legendary heroes they stood their grounds with weapons and wands held fast. Only by their efforts was this marvelous victory achieved. Thus, as a general authority I present them with the Medal of White Hair Soul." Standing before General de Poitiers, not only Guiche, but some other nobles were lined up as well. After confirming that all nobles gathered up in front of him, the general twisted his mustache.
Applause rang out. Next, the officer called the recipient's names in order.
"De Vineuil Independent Musket Infantry Battalion, 2nd Company Commander, Guiche de Gramont!"
"Y-yes!"the young man hurriedly replied and stepped forward.
Louise's mouth dropped. "Guiche?" as in Guiche, their Academy of Magic classmate?
"He and his men, bravely fought in the streets single-handedly. Moreover, they were the first to clean streets of orcs. The mission was a success, and they freed up more than a few dozen of houses. Applaud him and his men!"
Thunderous applause rang. Guiche, with a wide-eyed and somewhat shy attitude, accepted the reward on the neck. A young person, with a similar face to his, came out and clung to Guiche.
"Psst, I heard that's Field Marshal Gramont's youngest child." "There now is the second son…" "No, could it be 'The Lion's' child?" rumors and comments flew.
Louise felt strange. That stupid Guiche was getting rewarded? She wondered what Montmorency would say when she heard of this! She'd probably be totally insufferable. Looking closely at Guiche, it was apparent that it was an elder brother that clung to him. He didn't look comfortable while receiving his older brother's blessings, but still, she somehow envied Guiche. Blessed by a family and acknowledged by them…
Though Louise military achievements were much bigger than Guiche's, things like this could not be done publicly. However, once this war ended… when the peace came… she could tell her family about her large military achievements and loyalty to her country. Then she'd have her mother's approval. Maybe then her sisters would change their opinion on her talents. But for now, she know that she couldn't stumble or take even the slightest credit for her own achievements.
When thinking she remembered Zero's actions. The feint mission succeeded because of Zero. He had also provided cover when they were done with that. Without Zero and Axl, those weird troopers would have killed the attacking forces... Why was he not standing there with the others? She shook her head as she took occasional side glances at him. She couldn't help but wonder what Zero wanted out of everything. He always ran forward with zeal, he'd fight, and protect... But what did he want? The only thing Louise was certain about was that she didn't know if she'd ever have the courage to ask...
***Author's notes***
Holy crap Imperial warlord, The pantheons finally showed up... Long wait for them, I know...But on the upside they're magic and magically controlled by mages. It does appears Leviathan has been busy... And that Zero might have a fairly large problem... Considering all those pantheons were being guided by a single mage.