GATE: the clash of the titans V2

by Qun Nguyn1

Mostly AUs. A Gate has opened in Tokyo by a Roman-esque Empire, familiar scenario with familiar faces but the people marched through the Gate is from a vastly more powerful magic world. The stage is set. Earth Alliance vs The Holy Empire. Science vs Magic. The power of the thousand sun vs The Beast of the Apocalypse. Let the clash of Titans begin. Let the worlds have War.

6. Chapter 6 : Air War & Rocket Blitz

Chapter 6: Air War & Rocket Blitz

Object Conjuration/Materialization: This is one of the most interesting powers of the Falmartian. On the surface it seems they can create object out of thin air, but the true is they are not. Objects are created and sent from the Path dimension to the realspace.

While this ability seem overpowered, it has limit because the true nature of the Path and the "Unknown Land".

Although paths are invisible in the physical world, they can be seen by entering an "Unknown Land". There, light-colored soil covers the ground and paths manifest as trails of light in the sky, similar in appearance to an aurora. Time is irrelevant and conflicted there.

The soul of a Homo Titanien can access this "Unknown Land". From here they are capable of creating anything out of the sand.

This is the cause of Titan Transformation, Regeneration and Materialization, as from here they can molds their titan bodies or other objects and send them to the realspace.

But because they have to use their bare hands to mold the desired objects, they can't create complex moving parts machine, like a car or computer. It like building a sand castle, you need to understand the object structure to create it. In this regard it bear many similar to Shirou Emiya "Trace On" ability in the famous series Fate/stay night.

Fun note: Because planet Falmart is 2,3 times as big as Earth and it have a much thicker atmosphere, the distance to horizon on Falmart is about 1,5 time futher away than horizon on Earth.

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Ula Pianca (Imperial Subterranean Castle ), Near Sadera

"Your Majesty, the so called United Earth Alliance Defense Force has suffered a major blow in the Battle of Alnus Hill. The dead and missing have reached over on-hundred thousand. If we include the ones who were wounded, but are still able to resume their duties, it is around six hundred thousand. The survivors of the UEADF are focusing on consolidation their holding in Alnus numbers had not included the lost of tanks, SP artillery, armored personnel carriers and half tracks: 10,000 plus nearly 5,500 damaged or disabled vehicles in various stages of repair/recovery. Not just that, Your Majesty, according to our spies on Earth: in planning for counter Operation Downfall, the Imperial High Command had overestimated the strength of the invading forces, while the initial plan called for as many as 60 Army Groups, the High Command expected up to 90 Army Groups."

Hearing Deputy Secretary of the Army, Grand Duke Marcus's report, the Emperor nodded his head smugly and lit up his golden pipe.

"Just as I expected from those great heroes. Epistrategos Luflus, Epistrategos Mokzas, Grand Duke Shalenko and their men's sacrifices will not go to waste. They are the True Hero of the Empire. The cowardly senators in the Peasant's Party who were scared to death after witnessing the power of nuclear weapons have nothing to worry about anymore. Inform the Imperial Senate, The Representatives of The People, the Holy Order and tell Prime Minister Diabo to immediately broadcast this news throughout the Holy Empire." Said the Emperor, calmly took a puff of opium of his long dragon-shaped pipe.

"But, the speed of which the enemy are building up their supporting infrastructure is quite a concern, Your Majesty."

"Hmm, are you getting paranoids?" Raised an eyebrows the Emperor blowing smoke rings.

"I was born with this paranoia of mine. I will never attain such magnanimity as Your Majesty."

"So be it. In that case, I shall act as to relieve the worries of my trusted retainer. This is not such a difficult problem. The distance from Alnus Hill to here is far. We will use the Empire's extensive territory as a rampart ."

The Emperor continued.

If the enemies started moving their pieces, we would proceed with Operation Vegetarian; all the cities and villages in Lemuria Peninsula shall be infected with red anthrax, the wells poisoned and the food destroyed till the last grain of wheat.

Most of the people in those areas have been evacuated so the impact on the local population be minimal. And for the those that stay behind; Well, it wasn't like they needed any food or water to survive or get sick from red anthrax; unlike those puny humans.

Therefore, amidst the scorched earth tactics, no army of the humans could obtain supplies and thus stop their advancement. With this, no matter how strong their army and their machines might be, a chance for them to show their weakness would arise.

If there was no way to forage supplies locally, supplies would have to be sent from their own country. It would be a heavy burden on their logistical system. This way, the enemy's fighting potential would be lower the further away they were from the Gate, giving the Imperial Army the advantage of having shorter supply chain.

By building many strongholds at various locations and forced the enemies to bleed, the enemies would crumble under the increasing pressure. Such was the basis of this world's military science.

XXXXXXX

Operation Vegetarian was an Imperial military plan conceived in 52028 to disseminate linseed cakes infected with Red Anthrax spores onto the fields of Lemuria.

These cakes would have been eaten by the cattle, which would then be consumed by the enemy military force, causing the deaths of tens of thousands of UEADF soldiers.

Furthermore, if they were lucky a careless soldier carry red anthrax back to Earth it would have wiped out the majority of Earth's cattle, creating a massive food shortage for the rest of the population that remained uninfected.

Not just Red Anthrax, the Empire' biological warfare research laboratories had also developed:

Cereals Blight; a genetic engineered super disease to attack Earth varieties of cereals, the principal food supply of the humans, causing a massive crop failure around the world thus weakening them.

Over 200 kinds of tough, hardy, 'War Weeds', genetically modified to infest farmland and be nearly impossible to remove surface from time to time. These are based on the difficulties caused by genetic-engineered super weeds in Ornithia. These biological are generally considered almost as dangerous as 'conventional' weapons.

Fungal and parasitic weapons. Some were believed to simply eat their victim from the inside out. Others were more sinister and were allegedly intended to or control the mind of their victim, for example by making them suicidally fearless [like an enhanced version of the toxoplasmosis parasite].

Another feared bioweapon that was rumoured to exist were pathogenic viral strains that cause cancer in their victims, engineered from existing cancer-causing viruses. Some were rumoured to be airborne, while others were believed to be engineered to produce very fast-acting cancers a tool of assassination and terror.

There was also a rumor that The Holy Darwinian Empire began developing a number of different types of synthetic [plastic] -eating bacteria, with the intention of using them to attack the equipment of their enemies.

At the same time they work on making their own equipment immune to such bacteria (though in any case it is less of a problem for them due to the low level of technology of most of their populace).

The Synthetic Plague. Engineered from existing polymer-eating microbe, this super bacteria could eat through NBC (nuclear, biological, chemical) suit easily make the troops wearing them vulnerable to nerve gases.

There was even a rumor about a type of magic Zombie virus. Engineered from existing Crety Epidemic, this super bacteria unlike the original could affect both genders and had 100% mortality rate.

The disease is airborne. Initial symptoms include high fever and inflammation of the throat and lungs. The disease is known to be treatable with an anti-inflammatory magic potion known as the Rokude Pear, provided the treatment is administered before death and subsequent reanimation. The infection is known to affect both immanity and other species.

After death, the body will not decay but rather reanimated into an at least outwardly life-like state, referred to in the local language as "Death's Makeup". Those in this state of being can be identified by their glazed-over, "dead-looking" eyes, as well as their darker colored blood. The infected possess greatly reduced intellectual capacities, single-minded pursuit of uninfected humans with the intent to infect or kill them.

Once reanimated, there is no known way to return the infected to their pre-mortem state- the only means of neutralization is to kill them. Infected individuals are highly resistant to damage and can only be killed by decapitation or destruction of the brain or by extreme trauma to the entire body, such as a grenade blast. The effects can differ, depending on who was infected.

XXXXXXXX

"How is Yves doing? Is she giving you a hard time, Marcus?"

"The Princess is a quick learner; despite her young age she's used to the many rigors of the job." Grand Duke Marcus bows his head respectfully.

Suddenly, a voice that was clear as a bell cut through the quiet air in the palace.

"Your Majesty!"

The disrespectful person appearing before the Emperor was the princess. In other words, one of the Emperor's daughters.

She had flame-like vermillion hair and white porcelain skin that was accentuated by her crimson silk garment. Kneeling on one knee, she displayed flawless court etiquette.

"What's the matter?"

"The Holy Empire is now having an emergency. The enemy had set foot on our land. What has Your Majesty did to curb this problem? Is Your Majesty getting senile?"

Such sharp words emerged from her beautiful face.

Realising that there was another one who mistook privilege for authority, Emperor Molt smiled bitterly.

The princess's tongue was sharp as usual.

"Your Highness, what urgent matters do you have to barge into the chambers of His Majesty?"

If the Emperor's fifth daughter, Piña Co Lada just sat still with a smile on her face, she would look just like a peerless work of art. However, her sharp tongue has been said to have made weak men faint, which was quite infamous in the capital.

"Obviously, it's about the funding for the Wunderwaffe Project. My wonder weapons are the Empire's best chance to victory, but why my funding is getting delayed again ?" Slamming the table. "Lord Marcus, have you reported this absolute absurdity to His Majesty?" The Princess was furious.

"Calm down, Princess! Your money has temporarily allocated to the Army's A-6 procurement program. We need more rockets for the MRLS."

"The Aggregat-6 rocket!?" Piña put a hand over her mouth expressing great shock and insulted. "You withhold my funding to buy more primitive A-6 rockets !? How shortsighted the High Command is! If you want a true weapon of extensive range," Taking a 3-D projector out of her pocket, "Let me introduce you to the next generation Aggregat-9 magic ballistic missile."

Eighteen meters long with the diameter of 1.65 m; Aggregat-9 was the final expression of Princess Pina's fascination with artillery rockets. It was more of an IRBM than an artillery rocket. With the knowledge about high pressure materials from Earth and the ancient Gra Valkas Federation's runes technology, Princess Pina was able to pour more resources into creating such a wonder weapons from the summer creating of 52027.

A video played.

Mounted on a launch platform, the Aggregat-9 magic missile looked very similar to the Soviet R-2 missile. Yet, hidden within its silvery shell, a whole slew of internal mechanisms begged to differ.

Unlike the Soviet R-2 missile, the Aggregat-9 has 'fire protection runes' allowed the engine to withstand the extreme temperatures produced by fuel saturated with metallic hydrogen dust. 'Power increase runes' complemented the warhead's explosive potential, while 'aerodynamic runes' helped the missile in flight.

Much like the Aggregat-6 rocket, the Aggregat-9 missile consists of runes enchantments and magic gem residue in combination with 'conventional' explosives. However, unlike the Aggregat-6, this missile has a much higher thrust-to-weight ratio, hypersonic fly capability and a range of nearly 3300 km with a 10-ton warhead.

As Princess Pina discovered, the combination of metallic hydrogen and Gra Valkas' runes enchantment technology represented the best performance enhancers the Holy Empire has ever seen.

Metallic hydrogen has the advantages of large energy storage and no pollution to the environment, it is the highest chemical energy explosive known to date. Its energy density is up to 216kJ/g, above 40 times than that of TNT, 20 times than hydrogen-oxygen engine used for space shuttle and theoretical specific impulse Isp can reach 1700s. The volatile nature of metallic hydrogen allowed for more power, whether it be explosions for bombs or combustion processes used for propulsion.

On the other hand, the versatile of Gra Valkas' runes enchantment technology allowed her researchers to hone in on specific attributes, such as speed, cooling, or — once again — power.

The new Aggregat-9 made the most of these additions, enhancing the weapon with minimal investment and few extraneouss to the manufacturing process.

As the countdown reached its climax, 10 missile screamed into the sky, crying like an otherworldly banshee. Outfitted with the latest and greatest in the Empire arsenal, these experimental Aggregat-9 broke the sound barrier a mile up from the launch facility.

They climbed slowly before eventually leveling off at the altitude 173 km, racing towards a small island two thousand miles from the initial launch point.

Image from the nearby Void Lantern was streamed live to the control room. Haunebu Void Lanterns kept track of these missiles, trailing its movements as it raced towards the designated target.

Soon, a 1000 m long Mega Tardigrade came into view, its mouth bloodied from ravenously tearing into a dead hydra.

Sensing danger, the great beast looked up into the sky. Upon seeing 10 faint light traveling through the clouds, it preemptively activated a magic shield.

A translucent blue dome flared up around the Mega Tardigrade while streams of energy poured in from the surrounding mana-dense environment. It held position, unwavering in the face of these incoming threats.

In a split second, 9 of those missiles missed their target, but one hypersonic missile slammed into the magical shield at mach 9, shattering it with a bright flicker of light as it exploded. A luminous, turquoise-tinged explosion soon followed as the missile's magic runes strengthen the metallic hydrogen warhead making it as powerful as a two kiloton bomb.

The missile's blast radius extended to over the great beast's entire length and generated a crater a hundred of meters wide. A mushroom cloud formed in the aftermath, the grayish dust within sparkling and crackling with traces of blue lightning.

Back in the chamber, the spectating duke gasp in shock, mouths agape as he witnessed the destruction that the new device was capable of.

"With proper budget, I can assemble 500,000 of these magnificent Aggregat-9s per month. And if the Army still wants to use the old Aggregat-6 as a cheaper alternative then I can offer you the Aggregat-6b medium-range boost-glide missile; winged version of the A-6 missile with over double the range. By adding wings to the Aggregat-6, the 1200 m/s of kinetic energy that the rocket had at cut-off could be exploited in a glide attack, extending the range of the missile from 1000 km to 2050 km. So like I said; my project holds the key to the future of this Empire." Turned her grandiloquent gaze at the old Emperor, Pina asked. "Am I wrong, Father?"

"No, Pina! You did a great job! I'll approve the Aggregat missile budget for you."

Sighed. His 5th daughter might be an insufferable smug with weid fascination with homoerotic 'art', but she was a competent schmuck. And to win this war they would need every competent smug they had.

"Do you have any more wonder weapons to show me, Pina ?"

"Indeed, I have," Waving her hand melodramatically, the princess continued with a smile on her lip. "This is the Vergeltung-3 super cannon." A 3-D model of the gun appeared in the air and just with a simple wave of the Princess, the model zoomed in.

The Vergeltung-3 operated on the multi-explosive charge principle.

The basic idea of the multi-explosive charge concept is that in a traditional single-charge gun the pressure in the barrel is at its peak when the charge is fired, and then continually dwindles to some much lower value as the shell travels down the barrel and the combustion gasses expand.

This requires a traditional gun to be much heavier at the breech end in order to successfully contain this pressure, and as the gun grows in power, the weight becomes untenable. The multi-charge concept uses a low-power initial explosive charge and continues adding more explosive charges as the shell moves along the barrel, resulting in a much more constant pressure as the shell moves.

This reduces peak pressure and the need to have a heavy breech, as well as providing smoother acceleration.

The weapon itself, consisting of a 130 m long barrel with 24 side-chambers. It fired a 300-mm caliber runes enchanted finned projectile with a discarding sabot, over a distance of up to 3000 kilometres, with a theoretical maximum rate of 300 per hour, and a muzzle velocity of 5 km/s. Each shell weighed 1400 kg, with the discarding steel sabot weighing 95 kilograms and carrying a 90 kg explosive charge, the propellant comprised a 50 kg main explosive charge and 24 subsidiary charges for a total of 730 kg of explosive, allowing for a maximum of 420 tonnes of high-explosive shells hitting a city-size target on an hourly basis.

A video was show.

A standard Vergeltung-3 Complex, like this one in Mimoyecques, would comprise two parallel facilities approximately 1,000 metres apart, each with five drifts which were to hold a stacked cluster of five Vergeltung-3 gun tubes, for a total of 50 super guns. Both facilities would be served by an underground railway tunnel and underground ammunition storage galleries. The drifts were angled at 50 degrees, reaching a depth of 105 m underground. The five drifts exited the top through a steel slab 30 metres wide and 5.5 metres thick in which there were narrow openings to allow the projectiles to pass through. The openings in the slab were protected by large titan crystal plates, and the railway tunnel entrances were further protected by special armoured adamatine doors. Although the elevation and direction of the guns could not be changed, it would have been possible to alter the range by varying the amount of propellant used in each shot.

Inside control room. Mimoyecques Complex.

"Vergeltung-3 guns energy charge at 100%… Arming of implosion circuitry complete."

"Subsidiary explosive charges loading complete! Target coordinate input processes complete! Distance to taget - 2978km."

The Mimoyecques Complex's state-of-the-art Synthesising Fountain computed whether it was possible to accurately hit their target based on the power of the guns, their distance from the target, windspeed, and atmospheric pressure.

"Target: Test Area London. Locked."

Their preparations are now complete.

"You don't mind annihilating the entire London Test Area, right commander?"

"Of course I don't. Leave nothing standing."

"Yes, sir!"

"All guns, FIRE!"

Inside Mimoyecques Gun Complex, gunners pumped magical energy into the guns, causing them to glow a bright blue. Magical particles nearby that are reacting started to become visible in the form of shining blue dots that coalesced into the muzzles of the fifty 300mm guns. The following moment, the Vergeltung-3 guns erupted in a flash of blue, sending out ear-shredding, high-pitched noise all throughout the vicinity. A total of 50 shots were fired from ten cluster of five Vergeltung-3 gun tubes. The shots, drawing trails of glowing blue light in their wake, could be clearly seen even against the azure sky. Other Vergeltung-3 Complexs followed soon and opened fire with their guns, sending countless streaks of light flying high into the sky.

13 minutes later.

Kaboom!

Smoke engulfed the London Test Area as huge explosions were kicked up by the relentless and merciless bombardment. The huge expanse of land that the London Test Area covered was set ablaze. The thunder-like bass of the explosions could be felt even by the body. Massive conflagrations reached high into the sky, dying it in bright oranges and reds; the heat radiating from them could be felt from far, far away.

"S-Spectacular! Such power!"

The sounds of explosions echoed in the distance. Intense flashes of light from explosions engulfed the test area, with the sheer amount of smoke from the fires managing to even wrap the nearby town in darkness. Once again, the immense amount of firepower packed in the Vergeltung-3 Complex was nothing less than awesome.

"Amazing… So this is the overwhelming firepower of a Vergeltung-3 Complex…"

"Those things look quite expensive!" Said Grand Duke Marcus. He knew they were rich but why all the royals spent money like there was no tomorrow.

"Yes, the Complex will cost about 50 million Suwani each, but it will make the Indyjski Wall a lot stronger." Pina dismissed the Duke's concerns about the cost of her Vergeltung-3 Complex.

"That sound quite expensive!" Said Marcus. He knew they were rich but why all the royals spent money like there was no tomorrow.

"Yes, the Complex will cost about 50 million Suwani each, but it will make the Indyjski Wall a lot stronger." Pina dismissed the Duke's concerns about the cost of her Vergeltung-3 Complex.

If His Majesty want weapons with more subtle I give you the next generation nerves gas: Nightmare, Quiet Night and Red Dawn. The new gases penetrate skin, making gas masks useless. Quiet Night and Nightmare are very volatile and will quickly spread over a large area, driven by the wind. Red Dawn is less volatile and will contaminate an area for a long time.

Quiet Night is an extremely toxic nerve agent; 1000 times more deadly than VX, make it the most poisonous substance known, equal to Botulinum toxin. The potentially fatal dose is only slightly higher than the dose having any effect at all, and the effects of a fatal dose are so rapid that there is little time for treatment. The median lethal dose (LD50)—the exposure required to kill half of a tested population—as estimated for 70 kg human males via exposure to the skin is reported to be 5 - 10 µg, and the lethal concentration time (LCt50), measuring the concentration of the vapor or aerosol per length of time exposed, is estimated for Quiet Night to be 10 - 15 µg·min/m3 for exposure time of two minutes at a minute volume of 15 l (minute volume of 15 l corresponds to slight physical activity like slow walking). 544 g of Quiet Night (under ideal conditions) would be sufficient to seriously contaminate an area 530 m wide and 3500 m long (1.5 km2).

Red Dawn affects the brain and drives the victim insane, sending them on a murderous rampage. The median lethal dose (LD50) is reported to be 15 - 100 µg. It was designed to destabilize the population by amping up the targeted population into homicidal rage and madness, which is where people transforms into mindless killers to eliminate target areas. The victim were driven by insanity until instant death after peaking up to the incubation period of 48 hours, meaning the infected 'crazies' only have three days left to live and kill remaining uninfected victims until they reached to the exact point of dying. Five kilogram of Red Dawn (under ideal conditions) would be sufficient to seriously contaminate an area 800 m wide and 1250 m long (1 km2).

Nightmare is technically a non-lethal weapon but it is actually the most terrifying nerves gas as it trap the victim in an endless nightmare in which there is no escape. People said time in dreams could seem longer than it really is, but with Nightmare, time would truly move faster, about 10,000 times faster. As a person's sense of time is subjective — for example, in a moment of emergency the body produces adrenaline that makes the time flow seem slower for the person, while time seems to fly fast when engaged in a relaxing talk — research was made into how the person's sense of time is controlled by the soul. It was thus discovered that flowing at the core of the soul is a pulse that acts as a «Thought Clock Control Signal». As the brain rarely makes full use of its capacity at processing information during non-critical moments, it is possible to accelerate the thought control signal to handle calculations faster, thus making the flow of time seem slower to the person. During a dream the soul is sped up to deal with the large amount of memories accumulated over the day, thus making a dream of several minutes feel like it has lasted for several hours. This principle is applied by Nightmare's creators, as it is capable of trigger neurons in a way that results in various biological phenomenon that accelerate the soul's thought control rate, thus accelerating the victim's sense of time.

Nodding in satisfaction, "Very good, Pina. Of course, we will need to work with the Plague Police to devise a plan to safely deploy these powerful weapons but I believe that won't be a problem for you." The Emperor changed the subject. "What's about the Gra Valkas' rune technologies ?"

Frowning, the Princess replied. "The rune technologies of ancient Gra Valkas are difficult to decipher but with help from the Apostle of Learning and the Apostle of Knowledge, my team was able to recreate many of the legendary weapons.

For example the Haunebu Void Lantern series. Haunebu I is just a Proof of Concept. My team already in the process of mass producing the next generation of Void Lantern - the Haunebu II. With a diameter of 13 meters, using the Vril -200 magic engine, the Haunebu II can reach the top speed of 1,160 km/h at an altitude of 155 km. Unlike the defenseless Haunebu I, the new Haunebu II will be equipped with 20 x S-2 Dvina magic guided javelin or 50 x S-1 Ajax magic guided javelin. This is all well and good, but compared to the original Haunebu, 120 meters in diameter, able to fly at incredible speed of mach 2 along with a large amount of maneuverability while carrying 65 tons of bombs; it's nothing more than a failed imitation. We have successfully recreated the original Haunebu based on the ancient text of the Holy Order. However, the problem is that it is impossible to mass produce the more advanced version.

This is a common problem with many of ancient Gra Valkas' superweapons.

But a good news is that I finally cracked the code of the famous Gra Valkas' ' Θ space' technology. Using non-euclidean space magic, I was able to increase the storage capacity and lifting capability of the experimental Skyship, with the limitations being the size of the additional non-euclidean space could be no more than 5 times larger than the original space, with space any larger resulting in dimensional breakdown.

The Emperor's face look delighted, his heart was filled with immense pride but he couldn't show it out because that would spoiled Princess Pina. He finally said.

"Excellent work, Pina. You have bring honor to the Imperial family and a great service to the Empire. Do you want any reward?"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Pina said with a loud voice, placed her hand at her heart. "I want to command my Order of Knights to support the defense of Italica Fortress. Project Wunderwaffe is my brain child. I want to see it in action. Furthermore, prisoners and captured armored vehicles from Battle of Alnus are currently being held there. I want to inspect them myself."

"You wish to go near the frontline?" Molt felt surprised by the boldness of his young daughter.

Well, I guessed that was my Pina, she was always unusually brave for a girl, like her mother.

"Yes your Majesty" Pina answered confidently.

"Good" the Emperor said proudly. "You have live up to the ideal of Royalty. The Imperial Family are the symbol of strengh and divinity, an example for billions to follows. As the living embodiment of sovereign; it's our inherent right and divine duty to lead our people in these dark times. You will officially hold the rank of Lord Protector of the Realm and you will command all the armed force in Lemuria Peninsula."

The Emperor continued. "Do you, Pina Co Lala, accept this responsibility?"

"Yes, Your Majesty", Pina answered with absolute confidence. "It would be my honor to serve the Holy Empire and bring honor to the Imperial family."

After she said those proud words Emperor Molt responded ceremoniously.

"I shall look forward towards your achievements. May the Gods be with you, my daughter. "

"Well then, Father. I shall be on my way."

With that, Piña Co Lada turned her back to the throne as she left the hall.

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Late October, 2029

All over The Holy Darwinian Empire, in theatres, barracks, trenches, schools, churches, factories, and marketplaces, the same Imperial speech by the Holy Emperor was played for the people eager to listen to news on progress of war.

My Brethren Sons and Daughters!

Men of our Army, Navy and Air Forces!

My words are addressed to you, my loyal subjects of the Empire!

The perfidious military attack by the Terran Alliance on our motherland, begun on Del 31st, is continuing. In spite of the heroic resistance of the Imperial Army, and although the enemy's finest divisions have already been shattered and have met their doom on the battlefield, the enemy continues to push forward, hurling fresh forces into the fray.

The heathens have succeeded in capturing Alnus, most of Begilmu, a considerable part of Poldan, the north-eastern part of Talifa.

Our victories on the fields of Alnus have bough us only temporary respite.

Should their grand offensive in Lemuria was successful, Terran armies are sure to turn to the mainland. Joined by backstabbing heathen janissaries, they'll sent wave after wave of pillaging hordes into our Mother Land.

Could Terran troops be really invincible as their braggart propagandists are ceaselessly trumpeting?

Of course not! History shows that there are no invincible armies and that there never have been.

Abaddon army was considered invincible, but hundreds millions of his finest chaos demons found their final damnation in the plains of our Holy Land.

In consequence of this war which has been forced upon us, our empire has come to death grips with its bitterest and most cunning enemy.

Our troops are fighting heroically against an enemy heavily armed with finest machine guns and artillery. Overcoming numerous difficulties, the men of Imperial Army are displaying unexampled valour.

Our resistance to the enemy is growing in strength and power. Side by side with the Imperial Army, all of Imperial citizens are rising in defence of our native land.

What is required to put an end to the danger which overhangs our country, and what measures must be taken to crush the enemy?

Above all it is essential that our people, the Imperial citizens, should appreciate the full immensity of the danger that threatens our country and cast off complacency, carelessness and the mentality of peaceful constructive work that was so natural before the war, but which is fatal today, when war has radically changed the situation. The enemy is cruel and implacable. He is out to seize our lands which have been watered by the sweat of our brow, to seize our grain and gold and steel which have been obtained by the labour of our hands.

He is out to destroy the national culture and the national existence of our people, to seize our most prosperous lands, to take their inhabitants into servitude, to enslave our great country with criminal reparations, and humiliate with disarmament.

Thus, the issue is one of life and death for the Imperial State, of life and death for the citizens of The Holy Empire, of whether the citizens of The Holy Empire shall be free or fall into slavery. The Imperial citizens must realize this and cease to be careless, they must mobilize themselves and reorganize all their work on a new, war footing, where there can be no mercy for the enemy.

Further, there must be no room in our ranks for whimperers and cowards, for panic-mongers and deserters, our people must know no fear in the fight and must selflessly join our Sacred Patriotic War against the Terranic invaders.

The chief virtues of Imperial men and women must be courage, valour, fearlessness in struggle, readiness to fight together with the people against the enemies of our empire. These splendid virtues must be acquired by the millions and millions of men of the Imperial Army and Navy, and by all the citizens of the Holy Darwinian Empire.

All our work must be immediately reorganized on a war footing, everything must be subordinated to the interests of the front and the task of organizing the rout of the enemy. The citizens of the Holy Darwinian Empire now see that Terran imperialism is untameable in its savage fury and hatred of our country, which has ensured for all its hard-working people safety and prosperity. The citizens of the Holy Darwinian Empire must rise to defend their rights and their land against the enemy.

The Imperial Army and Navy and all citizens of the Holy Darwinian Empire must defend every inch of Imperial soil, must fight to the last drop of blood for our towns and villages, must display the daring, initiative and mental alertness that are characteristic of our people.

We must organize all-round assistance to the Army, ensure powerful reinforcements for its ranks, ensure the supply of everything it requires, organize the rapid transport of troops and military freight and extensive aid to the wounded.

We must strengthen the Imperial Army's rear, subordinating all our work to this end. All our factories must work with greater intensity, produce more rifles, machine guns, guns, cartridges, shells and aircraft. We must organize the guarding of factories, power stations, telephone and telegraph communications, and organize effective protection in all localities.

We must wage a ruthless fight against all disorganizers of the rear, deserters, panic-mongers and rumour-mongers, we must exterminate spies and sabotage agents.

We must bear in mind that the enemy is crafty, cunning, experienced in deception and in the dissemination of false rumours. We must reckon with all this and not allow ourselves to be deceived by provocateurs. All who by their panic-mongering and cowardice hinder the work of defence, no matter who they are, must be immediately hauled before a Military Tribunal.

In case of a forced retreat of Imperial Army units, all rolling stock must be evacuated, not a single engine, a single railway car, a single pound of grain or even a single slave must be left for the enemy. The peasants must drive off all their cattle and turn over their grain to the safekeeping of the state authorities for transportation to the rear. All valuable property, including non-ferrous metals, grain and slaves that cannot be withdrawn, must be destroyed without fail.

In areas occupied by the enemy, partisan units, mounted and foot, must be formed, sabotage groups must be organized to combat enemy units, to foment partisan warfare everywhere, to blow up bridges and roads, damage telephone and telegraph lines and set fire to forests, stores and transports. In occupied regions conditions must be made unbearable for the enemy and all his accomplices. They must be hounded and annihilated at every step, and all their measures frustrated.

The war with Terran cannot be considered an ordinary war. It is not only a war between two armies, it is also a great war of the entire Imperial citizens against a Terran army. The aim of this Holy Patriotic War against the Terranic invader is not only to avert the danger that is hanging over our country, but also to aid all the occupied Falmart citizens who are groaning under the Terran yoke.

In this war of liberation we shall not be alone. Our war for the survival of our motherland will merge with the struggle of the citizens of Falmart.

My Brethren Sons and Daughters! Our forces are countless.

The overweening enemy will soon be convinced of this.

Side by side with the Imperial Army many thousands of civilians are rising to fight the enemy aggressor. The masses of our people will rise up in their millions. All the people people must be roused to defend with their lives: their livehood, their honour, their country in our Holy Patriotic War against Terran Empire.

All forces for the support of our heroic Army, our glorious Navy and our divine Air Forces!

All forces of the people for routing the enemy!

Arise, Imperial citizens, arise for fight to the death!

Forward to Victory!

And as speech ended, the same music began to play:

Arise, our vast empire,

Arise for a fight to the death

Against the dark heathen forces,

Against the cursed hordes.

Chorus: (2x)

Let our noble wrath

Boil over like a wave!

This is the national war,

the most sacred struggle!

We shall repulse the oppressors

Of all ardent ideas.

The rapists and the plunderers,

The torturers of people.

Chorus: (2x)

Let our noble wrath

Boil over like a wave!

This is the national war,

the most sacred struggle!

The filthy wings shall not dare

Fly over the Motherland,

On her spacious fields

The enemy shall not dare tread!

Chorus: (2x)

Let our noble wrath

Boil over like a wave!

This is the national war,

the most sacred struggle!

We shall drive a bullet into the forehead

Of the rotten Terran filth,

For the scum of humanity

We shall build a solid coffin!

Chorus (2x)

Let our noble wrath

Boil over like a wave!

This is the national war,

the most sacred struggle!

---

Earth responds

The UEADF response to the 1st Battle of Alnus, best known by their then code names of Operation Aries and Operation Roundhand, and the subsequent Imperial air-denial plan, code name Operation Darkstorm, remain some of the better known tales of the First Phase of the Great War with virtual libraries of excellent books that examine them in minute detail; however, in interest of completeness we will look at them here. Before we do so, it is worthwhile to recount the human reaction to the Empire attacks that started the Air War, mostly because it helps to destroy, in significant ways, the myth that bombing, even atomic bombing, can break a very determined enemy's morale.

It is critical that my human reader recalls that in Falmart precision guided weapons were barely leaving the cradle in 52029, with the ability to literally destroy a single structure in a city block, something that is taken for granted by the UEADF at the time, being beyond ever the dreams of the brightest engineers and designers in the Empire at the time. The reaction of the Empire population was in line with those earlier in previous wars of survival. This fact is important to all that followed the Air Wars in late 52029 early 52030.

The Allied response to the Alnus Hill attacks, in the purely tactical sense, an interesting study in preparation and military philosophy.

During the bombing of 52029, as we have seen, the UEADF had spent considerable time and effort in creating an improved version of the American Convair NB-36H nuclear-powered bomber and even a much larger version of the russian Tupolev Tu-95LAL. This decision was, perhaps subconsciously, an admission by human designers and planners that a land war in Falmart was utterly insane, suicidal even; that the only way to win this war is through the air with a true heavy bomber. We can't be sure what people on Earth thought at the time but there were signs that professionals on the UEADF planning staff, perhaps even all the way to the Security Council, knew that the war cannot be won on land.

As for the Empire.

It is known that the Imperial Air Force was both surprised and seriously concerned by the reports about the commissioning of the Tu-688 Rainmaker superheavy bomber into the bomber force due to the unprecedented damage could be caused by this new aircraft's huge bomb load and its nearly invulnerable 55,000 meter operating ceiling.

Much of the Empire's air defense design was, from 52027 onward, built around defeating aircraft that fit into the Tu-688 mold, very large, 55,000+ meter combat ceiling, with 700 mph top speeds, and very heavy defensive armaments. This was almost exactly the design criteria that the Empire's first super heavy bomber Vimanas-225 filled, and it seems that the Empire believed that the human would continue with what had been a very economical design.

And they were proven right.

The UEADF, less from operational security than from tactical and economic utility, had shown no significant change to the Tu-688 design, and even continue to use them in the Third Air War in 52034-36, with even the deep military target strikes against the heavily defended submarine bunbers and other heavily fortified positions being made by Rainmaker super heavy bombers or Peacemaker and Stratofortress heavy bombers using specialty bombs like the 14,000 kg GBU-57A/B, 28,000 kg GBU-88 or the Rainmaker only 53,000 kg T-15 Cloudmaker bomb. These missions had the unintended effect of confirming that Empire's prior preconception of what challenges the Air War would present was true.

In 52029, the UEAADF was fairly well prepared for the Air War, despite being the poorer cousin to the UEAGDF at budget time (ironically, even within the UEAADF, a disproportionate amount of spending went to the hugely expensive Boeing C-177 ULTRA (Ultra Large TRansport Aircraft) and the Air-landing Forces. The UEAADF had a series of very fast, albeit short ranged, point interceptor aircraft, and several powerful SAM systems that had been built with the expected enemy attackers in mind. What the UEAADF lacked at the time were super high altitude fighters and, somewhat understandable, having enough missile for their anti-ballistic missile defense system.

Most, if not all, of the UEAADF's shortcoming can be laid directly on humanity subconscious racism (the enemies are mud-eating savages) and their crony capitalist economic system where products were choosen not by their quality but by how much money you can shoveled into the pocket of a politician, as well as the American public personal love of gimmicks. This was partly due to the partial collapsed of civil goverments around the world after the Rumbling (free press is effectively dead) and the remarkable disinformation campaign waged by Count Colt Formal and his men. When these all factors were combined with the UEAADF's leadership's general distrust of Artificial Intelligence and humanocentrism mentality, it is perhaps not surprising that cutting edge but practical weapons research suffered, especially given the human instinct to re-fight the last war as flashy as possible.

The Empire also benefited greatly from US President Trump's devotion to the superheavy gunship concept. The man had a weird, ultimately failed, fascination with the "Heavy Assault Ship" concept. The quad-rotor VTOL heavy transport and assault aircraft was a seductive design since it, in theory, offered so many advantages over conventional assault helicopter designs which included a vertical stabilizer. The design concept was eventually found to have so many serious stability issues that it was found to be unusable in combat, something that was determined by the Chinese at a cost of nearly $90 billion dollars and two air crews, but was not accepted by the USAF for nearly six years and close to $478 billion dollars of investment.

The money and manpower used on the Heavy Assault Ship designs set back several far more promising, albeit conventional aircraft designs (the AH-64X Apache delayed for nearly four years). Had any of these design received the support provided to the C-21 Dragon Assault Ship or C-23 Sea Dragon Long Range Assault Ship between 2019 and 2024, the Empire would have faced a far more capable UEAADF. This was, to be sure, not the last time that the populist political class tendency to meddle and their plebeian voters almost child-like interest in what can only be described as fantasy/movie-like projects would greatly aid the Holy Empire.

In nearly perfect counter-point to the human's efforts, the Empire spent far more of their defense money on both their ground forces and artillery systems, with the Imperial Navy and Air Forces being left, if not behind, then surely, last among equals.

Just as the human's wartime experiences led to a particularly strong belief that aircraft and naval power, were the primary key to victory, the Empire experience led them to the not unreasonable conclusion that ground forces, especially rocket artillery formations were critical to success.

Fortunately for the Empire, sufficient common sense remained in the Imperial War Planning Staff that naval and air forces were recognized as being irreplaceable in the protection of the Motherland.

Had that common sense been lost, the results of the Empire's war effort could easily have been tragically different.

The Empire, thanks to their generally more defensive stance during the Air War (I.e. hiding really deep underground where no spy plane can take photos), as well as a surprising amount of intelligence smuggled from within the Occupied Zones, learned far more about the human capabilities than the humans had learned about the Empire. This provided the Empire with some strategic advantage.

This was not to say, the human didn't have great advantage of their own.

The initial Allied reaction to the Alnus attacks was two-fold and the result of the heated debate that immediately followed the Battle of Alnus.

The Human High Command soon recognized that it would take some time to build sufficient anti-ballistic missiles to protect the forward deployed ground units that would assault Fortress Falmart.

The plan to conduct the invasion had, in some form, been in place for close to a decade, although the expected casualty numbers had caused considerable concern in every Allied capital where they were known. The specifics of the plan had altered over the years, but the total number of troops, ships and planes had long been known, to the point that specific reserve battalions had been assigned shipping berths on shipping. Still, as well-prepared as these plans were, the unexpected power of the Empire has wrecked it all. They aren't fighting against bow and arrows but artillery and rockets. It would take time to retrain and re-equip forces gathered from as far away as South Africa and the Brazil if they want to play any role in the assault on Falmart.

It was also recognized that the Allies, for many internal reasons, had to strike back against the Empire long before the invasion force could even be considered ready. Once the Brazilian government had been dissuaded from its initial nuclear demands, Operation Aries was rapidly accepted by the UEA civilian leadership, over the objections of senior UEAADF planners who felt the losses would be excessive. Operation Roundhand, which had been the UEAADF proposal, was also adopted, but in combination with, not in place of, Aries.

Operation Aries, by far the larger of the Allied operation in terns of aircraft deployed, was itself a combination of different existing attack plans from the FROCAF, EUAF, VVS, and USAAF. Rapidly, some say too rapidly, combined into a massive and sustained aerial bombardment campaign against the Empire and its allies.

Launched from air bases ranging from Russian Far East to Northern China to US carriers in the Sea of Japan, it involved more than 37,000 aircraft and close to a million men including ground crews. Simply put, it was designed to saturate the Empire air defenses and substantially degrade the Imperial Air Forces and its companion air forces while doing material damage to the Imperial Army war fighting potential and Empire "leadership elements".

—Excerpts from "The Great War" by Maester Lelei La Lalena

---

October 29 - 2029, Alnus Hill, Falmart

Tens of thousands white lines appeared like waves in the alien sky. These white lines were from the condensed air unleashed by the jet engines of each of the aircraft traveling at speeds faster than most things in this world. Flying at a height of 50,000m above sea level, they were nearly untouchable. Three quarter of these fast, high flying aircraft carried eight AIM-125 AMRAAM air-to-air guided missiles on hardpoints on their fuselage and wings. These were the escort jet fighters of the United Earth Alliance Air Defense Force. They flew westwards to launch an attack against the air patrol near their targets.

Whether they knew it or not, there were people paying very close attention to these aircrafts - the Imperial Warg recon units.

"M'Lord, we have detected a massive air fleet coming out from the GATE in 10 seperate formations. They're heading...west!"

"West!? Alert the Imperial Air Command."

"Yes, Sir!"

The Empire had long prepare for an attack like this, however, the initial attacks struck far from where the Empire had expected, in the Ornithia continent. The massive air attacks against over 30 Imperial Navy bases across Ornithia, conducted by the four different Combined Air Forces, were an unpleasant surprise to the Imperial Air Force, as was the presence of high performance jet escort fighter nearly 22,000 km from the nearest Allied air base.

The aircraft attacking Imperial oversea territories in Ornithia left the ground just before sunset on October 29 - 2029. Of the 37106 aircraft assigned to the mission 37078 actually were able to take off and proceed to Ornithia. Eleven of the assigned aircraft suffered mechanical failures on the ground, while seven suffered engine failure while still close enough to their launching points to successfully abort. Declassified UEAADF records also indicate that at least 300 aircrafts fell out of formations during the long ocean crossing, never to be heard from again. The remaining aircrafts continued toward the Ornithia.

Flight One — Kamana Union, Ornithia Raj.

The Imperial Air Force defenders in Kamana Union were mostly equipped with Divine Wind Dragons point interceptors, a special breed of dragons had been magically enhanced to reach maximum speed: 3,550 km/h and Service ceiling of 53,000 meter. The dragon main anti-air weapon were 8 S-2 Dvina magic guided javelins with a range of nearly 75 miles (121 km) with a top speed of Mach 4 ( 4,900 km/h).

-x-

200 Divine Wind Dragons of the 18th Dragon Knights' 2nd Squadron of the Kamana Union Defense Force were conducting a routine patrol south of the port of Sevilla. They flew in a rhombus formation with each point on the rhombus consisting of fifty dragons flying in V-formation. Flying at the forefront was squadron commander Delius, who was talking to veteran Pecalete, one of his flight commanders who was traveling on his left.

"No sign of the enemy yet. Let's check the area further to the west."

"Roger."

Following the two, the Divine Wind Dragons kept their formation perfectly–a testament to their elite training and skill.

"About the enemy, sir…"

"What is it?"

"If going by the report from several days ago, we have dealt them a heavy blow in Alnus. From Alnus to Sevilla is more than 22,000 km, then why is our entire squadron out in force when this is just a routine patrol? When I tried asking our superiors about it, they wouldn't give me a straight answer. I would like to hear your thoughts on this, sir."

"Maybe it's because the superiors are just being cautious? Or maybe they expect a retaliation strike..."

"What the hell are those things?!"

A shout from one of their comrades interrupted their chatter. Everyone then looked at the one who shouted, who then pointed towards a seemingly empty patch of sky. There, just in front of the rapidly brightening eastern sky, were several dark flecks that seemed like dirt in front of a gorgeous painting. However, these specks slowly grew bigger and bigger, up until everyone recognized that they were flying objects.

"Th-They're fast…! Everyone, spread out!"

The flying objects approached their formation at a terrifying speed. Delius, taking one glance at these things, felt alarm bells all over his mind ring out. In spite of their best attempts to spread out, the flying objects clearly followed them.

"W-What the–?!"

Clad in shock waves emanating from their pointed tips, the missiles chased after the Divine Wind Dragons.

Bam! Babababam! Babam!

The 18th Dragon Knights' 2nd Squadron, supposedly the strongest in the Kamana Union Defense Force, were all sent from this life and onto the next without even managing to produce their last words. The 250 Vympel R-37 hypersonic air-to-air missiles fired by ten J-100 fighter-bombers of the Russian Air Force all found their marks without fail, but not before one of the knight launched his S-2 Dvina magic guided javelin.

-x-

This combination would have been lethal against unescorted B-52 bombers, and would have even been deadly against the Rockwell B-1 Lancer supersonic deep strike heavy bomber. But against the much faster ( mach 6 ) J-88/101 hypersonic jet fighters, and the far more maneuverable J-86 and J-8 air superiority fighter escorts, the Imperial Divine Wind Dragons were virtually helpless as their primary anti-air weapons proved to be unable to maintain track on the J-8 and J-86 fighters, while the J88/101s were actually faster than the missiles themselves. While the Dragon Knights tried their best, they only managed to take down 12 of the J88 / 101 escort fighters, 100 J-8s and 88 J-86s at a cost of 2926 Divine Wind Dragons.

What happened next was even more of a surprise. The older B-36Z, B-52M heavy bombers and slightly newer Tu-688 ultra heavy bomber did not proceed to conduct the expected bomb runs.

Instead the 200 bombers attacking the port of Sevilla, 60 bombers attacking the port of Velez and 140 bombers attacking the port of Neo Artigas launched ASM-3 Kai missiles (20 from each B-36Z , B-52M and 100 from each Tu-688 ultra heavy bomber) from 1200 km away. The 3,707 km/h supersonic anti-ship missile proved to be impossible for the Imperial anti-aircraft archer units to engage, especially over Sevilla naval base as the departing B-36 launching aircraft, each disgorged 6 tons of aluminum foil (chaff countermeasure) that reduced conductive magnetic radar performance to near zero. The manned portion of the raid worked to perfection, with far lower losses than expected (1 Tu-688, 7 B-36 and 3 B-52 was lost due to an engine fire).

The 400 bombers of Flight 1 launched nearly 24,000 air-to-ship missiles against the three Imperial Naval bases. Even if half of the ASM-3 missiles fail to function as designed, the entire Imperial Navy and National Navy fleets in the Kamana Union would have been annihilated if not for Prime Minister Diabo El Caesar ingenious ideal.

"Sink all ships now!" Diabo order through the magicom.

"What!?" Admiral Yamato was shocked. "Your Highness, you want us to sink our own warships?"

"Yes, we can easily salvage and repair sunken warships in the ports, but if they are blown to pieces by enemy missiles, it will be too late." The Prime Minister explained.

Thanks to the Prime Minister's ingenious ideals, only 90 of the 6,000 ships were destroyed, with 60 more ships were severely damaged, along with some substantial, although unintended, damage to various shore facilities. Tragically, without targets in sight, nearly a third of the total missiles fired missed the harbors completely and instead struck the surrounding civilian areas with predictable results.

The missile attacks made by Flight Two to Nine on 27 other naval bases in the Kingdom of New Oranji, Knightland of Valladares, Dukedome of Edwardia, the Union of New Swabi, Grand Duchy of Adelieland, Grand Duchy of Maudland, Principality of Kisamiland, Gawitanga Theocracy and Vovonana Federation had similar results with most of the Empire's fleets 'surviving' to fight another day; nevertheless, these attacks marked the beginning of a very long week for the Empire and its allies.

Allied second wave of attacks against targets in Europania were launched within moments of the time that the first bombers left the ground in Northern China. Due to differences in the distances involved, the Europania attacks arrived first and were made against far more robust defenses than those in the Ornithia. As would be expected, these raids met with varying degrees of success.

Attacks by UEAMDF carrier aircrafts against Balcanica Peninsula, Italiya Peninsula and Iberische Isles did considerable damage to port facilities and shipping found in the ports, mostly freighters, but at relatively high cost, with total U.S. and China losses of 1600 aircraft and EUAF losses of over 2000. The losses suffered by the EUAF were so serious that they effectively put the entire European Fleet Air Arm out of action for five weeks while replacements were integrated into her attack squadrons.

Attacks by ground based J-100 bombers against rail yards in southern Gallia were more successful, as both Imperial and vassal defenses proved to be unable to deal with the remarkably fast aircraft attacking from low altitude, especially when supported by jamming aircraft.

Similar success resulted from high altitude RAF Tu-688 strikes against the Franciae Union defensive positions on Sicilia and Norvegiae League troops based in Sardiniae thanks to heavy radar jamming, the liberal use of countermeasures and the presence of RAF J88/101 escort fighters that proved to be a serious overmatch for the Black Lightning Dragons being ridden by the Franciae and Norvegiae dragon knight defenders.

The third wave of attacks against targets in Southern Afrykania were also successful, although less so than those conducted against Balcanica Peninsula and on other target in the Inland Sea and Iberische regions.

While the stronger Imperial Air Force responses in the attacks against Southern Afrykania caused senior RAF Bomber Command commanders to urge caution, especially after the first appearance of heretofore unknown new dragon breed- Night Fury against a B-36 formation attacking the port of Metz, the Indian pressed forward with plans to strike against military targets well into Afrykania.

American officers suggested fighter sweeps and focused attacks against Imperial and other "National force" airbases that would reduce the Empire's fighter and interceptor strength before moving against Darwinian proper; Chinese public outrage over the Rumbling caused these suggestions to be ignored by the FROCAF and Chinese civilian leadership.

This was to prove a notable error.

On November 18th, 2029, the Allies launched a three pronged attack against Azjania, as well as numerous fighter bomber strikes against defensive fortifications along the Indiya coast. Two of the attacks, one American and the other Indian, were specifically designed to act as decoys to draw off Imperial assets from interfering with the main Chinese strike against the Empire docks and rail yards in Neihai Sea. The two diversionary strikes, both directed into Heavenly Kingdom of Xizang and the Dominion of Nyepal were bomber light and fighter heavy with almost 87% of the aircraft being fighters.

The American attack, against railway yards just to the west of the Ghiaccioeneve-Hindukuszu Absolute Defensive Line, was made by 520 B-52 bombers escorted by 1630 J-88/101 fighters (nearly every J-88/101 in Japan at the time) and 1350 J-11 carrier-based fighter aircraft with the Indian raid on munitions works in Xizang consisted of 460 B-36 bombers with 3150 J-86 air superiority fighter as escorts. Even with the extremely impressive escort both raids suffered extremely losses of over 50% of the bomber sent out.

Losses to the Imperial Air Force, and especially to National Air Force, dragons were also heavy, with the Imperial Air Force losing nearly 8000 dragons and the National Air Force, mostly flying the old Cerulean and Cerise dragons against the Indian jets losing 17,400 dragons (nearly 2 of 3 dragon sent into battle that morning). The two diversionary strikes succeeded beyond expectations, drawing nearly 160,000 enemy dragons to them. It was not enough, and, as events demonstrated, the fighter escorts would have been quite useful elsewhere.

The FROCAF strike, almost 1000 Tu-688 with 20 DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicles each, with 2000 Dragon Hunter fighters as escorts, along with several squadron of J-100 fighter-bombers ran into trouble well before making landfall, with Imperial dragons hitting the formation while still over the South Sea from bases in Grand Cathay. While these early attacks were mainly by White Wind and Blue Flame dragons, neither of which were a match for the Dragon Hunter escorts they did have the effect of reducing the fighter escort as the fighters that drove these attackers off were forced to drop their external fuel tanks prior to engagement.

Without the external fuel drop tanks, the fighters, especially the shorter ranged Dragon Hunters, lacked the range to escort all the way to Neihai and back. The attacks continued as the formation continued east, with the result that the bomber formation had only the J-100s left as escort when they reached Neihai Sea.

The 240 J-100 aircraft were simply swamped by the 300,000+ Imperial dragons that assailed the formation. Had the Empire been ready for a long range hypersonic missile attack from this direction, the raid would have been an utter disaster. As was, the FROCAF formation escaped with relatively light losses numbering 'only' 307 bombers (all from the "low" squadron) and all 240 J-100. Damage to the Neihai docks was light, while the raid against the marshalling yards did only moderate damage while causing considerable damage to civilian residential areas.

---

Declassified Document - Operation Roundhand

The following is a document that has been approved for declassification on October 30, 2069 and has been approved for retelling by the Department of Defense. The document in question is a battle log concerning Operation Roundhand acted out by the United Earth Alliance Air Defense Force on October 30, 2029.

Name: Operation Roundhand.

Belligerents: United Earth Alliance Air Defense Force and the Air Force of the Holy Darwinian Empire (officially "Order of Dragon Knights").

Mission: To destroy A-6 MLRS facilities.

Human Arsenal:

200 x Tu-688 nuclear-powered ultra heavy bomber

100 x B-36Z nuclear-powered heavy bombers

100 x B-52M nuclear-powered heavy bombers

400 x J-8 carrier-based air superiority jet aircraft

500 x J-11 carrier-based fighter aircraft

700 x J-100 fighter/fighter-bomber

100 x J-88/101 hypersonic jet fighter

1100 x J-86 air superiority fighter

200 x Dragon Hunter fighter-bomber/ground attack aircraft

300 x KC-185 Stratotanker nuclear-powered aerial refueling aircraft

Mission Log:

0:00 - Joint force bomber and fighter aircraft take over from Air Force Bases across the Pacific, mostly from the China, Korea, and US aircraft carriers in Japan Sea.

0:30 - All aircraft are in the air. All are now moving towards Japan.

1:05 - All aircraft squadrons link up.

1:40 - Force begins to cross the GATE.

2:05 - All aircraft cross the GATE.

2:12 - The Empire radar operators pick up readings of enemy aircraft numbering in at least three thousand. Upon seeing the formation, the operators pass the news down to their superiors, who in turn order dragon riders in the area to hunt down and destroy the formation.

2:45 - Bomber force reaches the Fort of St. Paul. The bombers unleash their payload and destroy the underground complex.

3:00 - Bomber force reaches the Fort of Minnesota-Ayova and destroy the launch facility.

3:20 - 800 dragons intercept once the combined force reaches the Rio Ebro Fortress. They are shot down at the cost of 32 Human fighter aircraft.

3:30 - 400 more dragons intercept the force once they come close to the underground complex outside of Madrad Fortress. The dragons are shot down at the cost of 24 fighters. Once the dragons are dealt with, 20 of the bombers drop their payloads on the complex just outside the city. The resulting blast kills a majority of the troops.

・・・

At the Imperial Army Base, soldiers, engineers, and mages were frantically engrossed in work trying to restore the base's destroyed facilities to get it back into a combat capable state. With the runway still littered with craters, the dragon sat on the ground unable to fly. They don't have the weapons capable of reaching the altitudes the enemy's aircraft fly in so at this point in time, the only thing they could do is try and rebuild their defenses. If they don't get their dragon up in the air, they would be defenseless against an enemy coming from the north.

"Incoming! More enemy aircraft incoming!"

A soldier that noticed the Tu-688 bomber formation shouted.

"Now they're sending their bigger aircraft! Fuck! There's so many of them!"

"What are they gonna do?!"

Almost everyone in the base was looking up.

"Wha–?!"

"Are those…?!"

"They're dropping something!"

Fweeeeee…

The sound of the bombs they dropped were unlike those produced by the ones that destroyed the runway and their number almost blanketed the sky.

The noise this time was much louder than the attacking waves from before and the aircraft were much slower. Unlike those facets, however, the bombs that they were dropping were unfathomably numerous. In mere moments, there were many more of these bombs in the sky than the aircraft that were dropping them.

"The powerful bombs from before!"

"It's raining bombs! Take cover! TAKE COVER!"

"But there's so many of them! Where do we even take cover?!"

The base, which had already descended into a state of panic, was thrown into an even worse state of disarray as the personnel ran towards the buildings, their shadows, outside the base, and wherever they could run off to. Unfortunately for them, the bombs did not wait for them to get clear. Another storm of explosive gales rocked the base as clouds of dust and flames rose high into the air, dwarfing the buildings all around them by dozens of meters. Smoke engulfed the vicinity; yet the explosions continued to mercilessly and indiscriminately tear through everything. Having finished their bombing run, the Tu-688 bomber formation turned around and returned to the south.

・・・

3:40 - The combined force makes their way to Granada, a large supply base. 800 more dragons encountered en route to the city are shot down at the cost of 30 fighter aircraft. Once the combined air force reaches their target, they raze the supply base to the ground.

3:50 - Force crosses the Vermilion Sea.

4:30 - A 500 dragon riders patrol forces in Aegyptus spots the force 100 miles outside Granite City, which has the Bauvorhaben underground complex. Human fighter aircraft cleared to engage.

4:31 - Despite the dragon knights finds themselves severely outnumbered by the more powerful Human aircraft, they are able to decimate entire squadrons using magic guided javelins. Reinforcements requested from "Flightleader" Teerts.

4:33 - Dragon knights from nearby Granite City and Belleville are ordered to assist their comrades fighting the human air forces.

4:38 - Flightleader Teerts' dragon is shot down after he try to ambush a B-52 bomber (four of his wingmen are also shot down). Teerts is able to bail out.

4:55 - Initial Dragon knights force is decimated at the cost of 20 human fighter aircraft, holding a 25:1 ratio The force continues towards the underground complex outside of Granite City.

5:07 - Dragon knights reinforcements arrive consisting of 800 more dragons. The force is now five miles away from the Bauvorhaben underground complex.

5:20 - 500 dragon are shot down at the cost of 25 Human fighters (not counting previous casualties).

5:27 - Remaining 300 dragon are shot down. 45 Human jet fighters and two of the bombers were lost.

5:32 - Imperial forces at the entrance of Granite City are ordered to fall back and take cover from the incoming bombing run.

5:37 - American and Canadian bombers release their payload onto Imperial forces outside the fortress city. The attack kills 7,000 troops and destroys the underground complex. The remaining Imperial forces fall back until reinforcements can arrive.

5:40 - The force make their way to their next target the fortress city of Carbondale.

5:44 - Joint force is ten miles away from Carbondale. The force encounters 2500 more dragons sent to intercept.

5:58 - 400 dragons shot down at the cost of seventeen Human casualties. Remaining dragons now begin to actively fire at bombers.

6:04 - 500 more dragons are shot down at the cost of twenty two fighters. Four bombers are caught in the dragons' line of line.

6:15 - Final 400 dragons are shot down. Forty four fighter aircraft and six bombers were lost.

6:18 - Bomber force reaches Carbondale. The bombers unleash their payload and kills a fraction of the defending force and badly damages the Jevon underground complex, one of the biggest in the area.

6:20 - Bomber force concludes that they have enough fuel and munitions for two more cities, which are Paducah and Girardeau.

6:24 - Another force of 2000 dragon fights the joint force. The Human Air Force also began encountering the heavy Artemis Magic Ballista mounted on the Titan Wyvern Lord's back.

6:25 - Two Tu-688, Three B-36s, and a B-52 has been shot down by Artemis Magic Ballista fire.

6:30 - Five B-36 bombers, three B-52, and six Tu-688 bombers are shot down by Artemis Magic Ballista fire

6:37 - 400 dragons are shot down at the cost of thirty nine Human fighters and two more bombers.

6:44 - 400 more dragons are shot down at the cost of eight Human fighters and three more bombers.

6:57 - 600 dragons are shot down at the cost of fifteen fighters.

7:00 - Seven fighters and three bombers are shot down by another Artemis Magic Ballista battery.

7:05 - The final 600 dragons are shot down at the cost of twenty six bombers.

7:08 - Bomber force arrives over Paducah. The raid destroys a dozen underground complex.

7:17 - The force make their way towards their final target Girardeau.

7:25 - The force crosses the Inland Sea.

7:36 - The force reaches Gurardeau. The resulting bombing kills a quarter of the troops in the city.

7:44 - The force now low on fuel and bombs returns to Alnus. Their mission is complete.

Final casualties: 7800 Dragons. 327 Human fighter aircraft and 67 bomber aircraft.

---

The Imperial response to these air strikes were a shock to the Allies.

The Allies had, of course, encountered the A-6 rocket before the start of the bombing holiday (as noted earlier, the UEAADF strike against the A-6 facilities near Lemuria was one of the few true bright spots for the Allies in the Bomber Offensive), and had been prepared to react to attacks by the short range bombardment rocket in retaliation for Operation Aries and Operation Roundhand. What they had not expected was strikes by the Aggregat-6b medium-range boost-glide missile and especially the Aggregat-9 intermediate-range ballistic missile.

The first A-6b was subsequently launched on October 31st, Halloween for maximum psychological effect and the blast cost the lives of sixteen troops. After that, multiple A-6b launches took place on a daily basis and in the early days they inflicted many casualties, but countermeasures like THAAD, CIWS missile system, C-RAM and intercepting aircraft quickly reduced their effectiveness. By December 2029 only 0.2% of A-6b were getting through, which still amounted to ~ 26,000 hitting target areas in Lemuria Peninsula.

On 24th of December 2029, Christmas Eve, The Rose-Order of Knights Rocket Command began to launch A-9s against the UEADF held territory before the bomber formation returned to it airbase on Earth. The A-9 performance was comparable to the North Korea's Hwasong-10 missile; it had a range of 3,300 kilometers with a 10,000 kilogram warhead.

Canadian Marine Corps Forward Operating Base Phnol

"Incoming attack from the enemy missile! Distance 200 km."

Given that Falmart is a far bigger planet than Earth, when the skies are clear one can see up to dozens of kilometers away. Still, anything more than 100km away would still be hidden by the curvature. And yet they could clearly see hundreds of distinct objects clad in an aura of glowing blue drawing lines in the air that also shined blue. Judging that what he was seeing was an enemy attack, one of the lookouts reported in.

"Missile flying at that altitude, no way! Could they be using IRBM?! Prepare for anti-missile combat!"

"Prepare for anti-missile combat!"

Soldiers hurriedly ran to their anti-missile gun emplacements to ready them for combat.

"It's coming right at us!"

The base anti-missile defenses kicked in. Tracer round after tracer round was fired into the sky. The enemy missile gradually became more and more visible as it dived directly towards the direction of the Parking Area 14 that was in front of the base Phnol.

"No! It's going to hit!"

Colonel Akhail shouted.

The enemy missile appeared to have a body right deep within the center of the glowing aura. It made an extremely high pitched shrieking noise as it dived straight into the Parking Area 14. Moments after the blue light disappeared as the munition landed a direct hit, a blinding light was cast in all directions as the 20 thousand square meters Parking Area was engulfed in an intense explosive fireball.

"Ack!"

The metallic hydrogen core, which had turned into a super liquid state due to the supersonic speeds in which it traveled, easily absorbed multiple 30mm rounds fired at it. An implosion at the back of the core caused by explosion magic caused a fusion reaction, unleashing great amounts of heat - over 6000K. The energy released was so immense that it vaporized any and all armored vehicles around as if they were nothing. The result was an explosion that was many times bigger than even the Parking Area itself. The blast was so powerful that it physically shook the base and sent a red-orange cloud into the air, which was briefly surrounded by a white condensation cloud.

"Woah–!"

Colonel Akhail reflexively stooped onto his knees at the intensity of the explosion. Rocks and steel parts alike were thrown high into the air. By the time the explosion had settled, a blast crater roughly 240 m in diameter and 43 m in depth was revealed..

"Fuck! Fuck!"

At his wits' end, Colonel Akhail bawled. The attacks continued to come as the small lake to their right was hit.

"What explosive power! It like a small nuke!"

Witnessing that one attack was enough to eviscerate even big town, Colonel Akhail couldn't help but feel overwhelmed. Not even the Russian FOAB or the American T-15 Cloudmaker could compare to what he was witnessing. It was almost as if he were witnessing the gods' wrath in action.

That first day nearly 100,000 of the missiles launched from La Coupole complex and other underground rocket bases rained down on Lemuria Peninsula. Luckily A-9 have CEP (circular error probable - the radius within which 50% of the shots impact) of 3 km so most of them were missed. It was the beginning of the Rocket Blitz.

The air battles of November 18th established the pattern of the following six months of the war. Allied airstrikes, met by interceptor dragons, with A-9 attacks as retaliation. Haunebu II Void Lantern attacks against Alnus more or less ended after January of 2030 due to the ghastly losses inflicted by Allied air defenses, but their was no defense against the massive number of A-9 launched at once, except striking at its launch sites, a difficult target to pinpoint and an even more difficult one to successfully destroy.

Allied Heaquater New York, Supreme Allied Commander Liam Nuttall

Nuttall was in his office in his seat with a report provided by the CIA after questioning the high ranks captured in the Battle of Alnus Hill on his desk.

The file contained all information collected on the Holly Darwinian Empire and its Capital city Sadera available so far.

Let see what did we have here. Nuttall looked through the file.

Imperial Capital Sadera:

Sadera is the nerve center of the most illustrious and powerful country in Falmart history. Founded on the first year in Imperial Calendar on the banks of the Tiber, it has a birth surrounded in legend. History's favored child, Sadera has witnessed the rise and fall of countless empires from Afrykania Union to Gra Valkas Federation. Other cities may be greater in age but none has flourished as long as the Eternal Capital.

The economic and military authorities of Holy Sadera were shared with the Eternal City of the Holy Court and the Imperial subterranean capital of New Sadera in the 8th millennium for logistic reasons but there are no one doubts that Sadera is the nation's prime city. Behind its walls live over 203 million Darwinian citizens, not one of foreign blood. The constitution itself permits "only people of Darwinian citizenship to set foot in Sadera except under express permission from the Senate." This law applies equally to men, women and children.

Earning its title of Caput Mundi, Sadera has nurtured a global influence in politics, literature, high culture, magicraft, fine arts, music, religion, education, fashion, cuisine and sports, putting it at the forefront of the world media. Elsewhere, Sadera is called Urbs Caesares or the Eternal Capital, or simply the Capitol.

Revered for its beauty as a city, Sadera has many of the most noteworthy examples of ancient architecture. Its skyline includes such wonders as the Senate, Trajan's Column, Arch of Victory and the original Grand Colosseum and St. Darwin's Cathedral.

An global war in 28th millennium forced the reconstruction of many of these monuments. Sadera's most intricate modern buildings were constructed in the architectural heyday of Great Sage Aulus Nickolus Tesla. Wherever one goes, Sadera's legacy is ever immanent when walking its streets.

After the "War of Unification" (26997-27029 I.C), the "Comprehensive Construction Plan for the Empire Eternal Capital" by the 55th Emperor Charles zi Augustus now started in earnest, after some preparatory work had been done during the war. The plan was motivated by the feeling that Sadera's architecture was too provincial, and that there was a driving need to put Sadera on a par with, and exceed the quality of, other world capitals such as Afrykania Union capital : Parisian and especially Gra Valkas Federation capital Grant Valkas City.

The circular shape of Sadera, with a radius of 160 km, is the result of a design by Tesla in the 28th millennium. This figure is physically delineated by the 108 meter tall Vallum Caesarium (Caesarian Wall) around its circumference. Seventeen grand city gates (porta), including the Porta Marina near Ostia an Porta Capena near the Via Appia, grant passage into the Eternal Capital. An individual gate is 120 meters high, built from gold, silver and marbles, and adorned with a golden aquila which is clutching a medallion within which is inscribed Eternal Capital Holy Sadera.

Spreading into the countryside like arteries are the 24 aqueducts (aquae) which feed water into the Eternal Capitol. Their physical appearance hasn't changed in millennials but this underlies the internal mechanisms that make them marvels of modern magic. Powerful magic engine drive water into Sadera at a combined rate of 6,600 million liters per hour, the Aqua Marcia alone supplying 1250 million liters to the imperial district. In some places, aqueducts are physical dividers between municipal districts (praefecturae) while elsewhere they travel below ground.

Attached to the Caesarian Wall, at each cardinal direction, are cenotaphs dedicated to Sadera's legendary patrons: Emperor Ricardo von Darwinian, its founder, is in the North; Augustus, the first Caesar, is in the East; Charles, the emperor who rebuilt Sadera after the Great Unification War, is in the South; and Sage Tesla, the architect of its modern renovations, is in the West. Locals continue to protest conferring this honor upon Tesla when he was not a ruler of Sadera. Nevertheless, emperors have always defended recognizing him for his essential role in building the city seen today.

Tesla's greatest contribution to the design of Sadera was outlining how to transform the Latium countryside from an expanse of hills into a flat plain, and how to extend the Ostian coast several kilometers into the Blue Sea. Once these tasks had been outlined, he included designs for a wall exactly 320 km in diameter with the Forum south of its geometric center. At the time, only 8% of the land within the new wall was inhabited, leaving room for the future expansion that continues today. Only 12% of modern Sadera is covered by open gardens, fields or parks even though its urban sprawl had long ago reached the city wall.

Ecologically, Sadera is rife with plant life in its gardens and streets, the emperor's private gardens worthy of mention for its exotic flora. The only wild animals anywhere in the city are small insects - mosquitoes, black flies and fruit flies having been exterminated - and genetically modified dragon that kill off wild birds. Rats are long absent from Sadera due to a combination of minimalizing possible habitats in buildings, screening shipments entering Ostia's ports and safely exterminating vermin; these protocols have been in place for over 20 thousand years. Today, biological detectors make the screening of land, sea and air shipments for vermin cheap and effective.

One of the pieces of Charles's architecture already in place was the Imperial Chancellery, which included a enormous hall ( twenty times as long as the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles). The series of rooms comprising the approach to Charles's reception gallery were decorated with a rich variety of materials and colours and totalled 2200 metres in length. The gallery itself was 1450 metres long. Charles's own office was 40,000 square meters in size and was almost 100 meters high.

Noble materials were used: dark red Saalburg marble, rosewood and rosewood for the walls, rosewood for the coffered ceiling and Ruhpolding stone slabs for the floor. The generously dimensioned desk was decorated with inlays and the top was covered with red leather. The card table had a one-piece marble slab 50 meters long and 16 meters wide. On the walls were valuable paintings in splendid frames according to Charles's taste in art. Charles used this office mainly for representation purposes. From the outside, the chancellery had a stern, authoritarian appearance. Much more colossal constructions followed.

The Imperial Palace was planned as a gigantic three-wing complex. Tesla's architectural concept was based on baroque palace buildings. In the north wing - analogous to the baroque theater wings - there was a theater with 40,000 seats. For the southern wing of the palace, Tesla devised a 5040-meter-long suite from the entrance to the Imperial Chancellery to Charles's study. Here Tesla oriented himself on the baroque concept of the enfilade, the path to absolute ruler through representative, preciously furnished rooms.

The building was planned as a solid construction. The finest materials should be used: various types of marble , granite and precious woods. The "Emperor's apartment" would have been 1.9 billion m³, the work wing 1.2 billion m³. A dining room should have the area of 294,000 m² and would have offered space for 120,000 guests. The U-shaped garden facade should have a total length of 6,700 meters. With the accompanying gardens, the palace should take up an area of two hundred square kilometers.

Tesla and Charles primarily wanted to showcase the power and glory of the Emperor and Empire and to formulate an architectural expression of the claim to world domination.

Emperor's study in the Imperial Palace was designed in a similar way to that in the New Imperial Chancellery, with a pillar portico in front of a large terrace facing the garden of the building. This work room should have 90,000 m² of floor space and be equipped with the most splendid materials. Emperor's work room was not intended for work, but for representation.

This is made clear by a statement made by Charles : "Whoever enters the Imperial Chancellery must have the feeling of stepping before the Lord of the World."

An Avenue of Splendours was the North-South Axis, running south from the crossing with the East-West Axis close to the Magnus Gate, following the course of the old Siegesallee avenue through the Tiergarten park before continuing down to an area just west of Aegranus Skyport (renamed Sextius Severus Skyport). This new North-South Axis served as a parade ground, and was closed off to traffic. Vehicles were instead diverted into an underground highway running directly underneath the parade route.

The plan also called for the building of two new large railway stations as the planned North-South Axis would have severed the tracks leading to the old Anhalter and Potsdamer stations, forcing their closure. These new stations would be built on the city's main Hundekopf (dog's head) geography S-Bahn ring with the Nordbahnhof railway station in Vespasianus District and the larger Südbahnhof railway station in Marcus-Salvius District at the southern end of the avenue. The Marius Junius Silanus station, no longer used as a railway station, was turned into a swimming pool.

At the northern end of the avenue on the site of the King's Square construction began on a large open forum known as Grosser Platz (Grand Square) with an area of around 35 square kilometres. This square would be surrounded by the grandest buildings of all, with the Imperial Palace on the west side on the site of the former Nero Claudius Opera House, the old Imperial Senate Hall on the east side and the third Imperial Chancellery and high command of the Darwinian Army on the south side (on either side of the square's entrance from the Avenue of Splendours).

On the north side of the plaza, straddling the Tiber River (Fluvis Tiberis), construction began on the planned centrepiece of the new Sadera, a marble and granite domed colossus, the Sanctus Globus (Holy Sphere), designed by Emperor Charles himself. It remains the largest enclosed space in the world.

The building is almost 3000 metres high and the dome by itself is 2500 metres in diameter, 160 times larger than the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, rising from a massive granite podium of 3150 by 3150 metres. Many of the Sanctus Globus's interior features are reminiscent of the Roman Pantheon such as the coffered dome, though the seating arrangements followed those of the Colosseum. At the northern end of the building, a large 500 metre by 280 metre niche is surfaced with gold mosaic and encloses an dragon 240 metres high, beneath which was situated the Emperor's tribunal.

From here they would address 18 million listeners, some standing in the central round arena, others seated in three concentric tiers of seats crowned by one hundred marble pillars, 240 metres high, which rose to meet the base of the ceiling suspended from mithril girders sheathed on the exterior with gold. On top of the dome's lantern was the Darwinian heraldic dragon clutching the globe of the planet Falmart to emphasize Darwinian's domination. The globe on the dome's lantern was enhanced and emphasized by two monumental sculptures by Breker, God of Blacksmithing Duncan's Apostle, each 150 metres high, which flanked the north façade of the building: at its west end Atlas supporting the heavens, at its east end Tellus supporting the Earth.

When in use, the building has its own "weather" caused by the breathing and perspiration of 18 million occupants precipitating in the high dome. Massive dehumidification and ventilation systems were latter installed to deal with that.

Another building that dominates Sadera's skyline is the Arch of Triumph towards the southern end of the avenue ( this triumphal arch had similar design to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris), but again, much larger; it's 1170 meters high and 1700 meters wide and the Arc de Triomphe (the largest triumphal arch on Earth) fits inside one of its decorated sculpture. Inside this generously proportioned monument, the 180 million names of all of Imperial war dead of the "Great War of Unification" (26997-27029 I.C) were carved.

Sadera also became the nexus of Charles's dreamed "Breitspurbahnen" or broad-gauge railways with a width of 6 metres (20 feets) on which double-deck coaches transported travellers in comfort akin to a hotel with ornate wooden panelling, classy bars and high end restaurants. Besides that, these super trains could also haul vast amounts of cargo, which was useful as the Europania, Afrykania, and the Gringolia basin were now the Empire's granaries.

The reason for this was mainly prestige and gigantomania. It is easy to calculate that a four-track, standard-gauge line, although comparable in width to a double-track 6000 mm line, is already able to meet all conceivable transport requirements. (With a 90-second train sequence, around 400,000 people in 40 double-decker trains of 10,00 passengers each or 1,600,000 tons of goods in 40 40,000-ton trains per hour can be transported on a single track.)

Another major construction project was The Grand Imperial Museum featuring a 1500-metre (4900 ft) long colonnade, contained the largest and most comprehensive painting collection in Falmart, built around the art the Holy Empire had looted from Afrykania Union and stolen from rich nobles in Gra Valkas Federation after the War of Unification. The Grand Imperial Museum was 4.5 km² in footprint area (50 km² in floor area) and possessed many works of art dating back almost 60,000 years into Falmart history. One exhibit features the panting of Emperor Ricardo Von Darwinian, the city's founder, with a few pieces dated to the 8th millennium BIC. The Grand Imperial Museum retained the title of largest museum of art on the planet and, by the agreement of most art critics, also the greatest one. The museum was the heart of Sadera's Falmart Cultural Centre, displaying an estimated 36 million works but its most famous exhibit is the Aula Historiae (Hall of History), a thousand meter hallway featuring a history of the Holy Darwinian Empire from the Raising of The First Emperor to the Unification Day. Its latest tableau is the Massacre at Alnus, which depicts the first battle of Alnus Hill between UEADF and the Incomparable Imperial Army. Every year, the Grand Imperial Museum gets over 44 million visitors, no doubt looking for the finest exhibit of fine art.

Sadera's source of life is the Tiber River (Fluvis Tiberis). Of the 400 km that runs through Sadera, 84.7% passes over a marble channel built into the earth. This channel's depth and width are a constant eight and 40 m respectively. Near the Sanctus Globus, the channel is sheathed in gold which sparkles in sunlight. Before entering Sadera from the north, the Tiber's waters are cleansed of salt, fish, nutrients and bacteria through passive filtration. Where the Tiber does not flow over a rigid channel one of Sadera's three docks can be found, including the famous Argosy Docks near the Forum.

Disposing of food, garbage, liquid waste or bodies in the Tiber is punishable by ten years of exile from the city. The punishment does not expel one from the Imperium nor revoke one's citizenship but it is a tremendous dishonor and inconvenience for the exile. Although small boats traverse the length of the Tiber at a rate of hundreds daily to carry goods straight from the Blue Sea and ports of Ostia, river traffic is only permitted during the day.

The one spot along the Tiber in which residents can swim is the beach around the Insula Tiberina (Tiber Island). Surrounding almost the whole island, its beaches offer a cheap destination for the citizens who cannot afford frequent trips to Tainuria or Terra Australis, making it extremely popular among local citizen. Entry was around 4 Suwani and often must be booked months in advance, but, once inside, residents have access to the beach and luxurious thermae (bath houses) for a full six hour period.

Aside from going to the beach, people can enter the Tiber by accepting a job as a river cleaner. While homunculus slave labour perform the less intricate cleaning jobs like sucking out what little debris falls in, sometimes in person touch is necessary. The job pays surprisingly well and can be a great way to make a little extra money on the weekend (while sneaking a dip for the purpose of getting a "closer inspection").

Meanwhile, doubts persisted at the time as to whether the marshy Sadera ground could have taken the load of the proposed projects, leading to the construction of an exploration building heavy load-bearing bodies, which existed near the site of the Arch of Triumph. Such a body was basically an extremely heavy block of concrete used by the architects to test how much weight the ground was able to carry.

Instruments monitored how far the block sank into the ground. The heavy load-bearing body sank 18 centimetres in the three years it was to be used for testing, compared to a maximum allowable settlement of 6 cm. Using the evidence gathered by these gargantuan devices, it was unlikely the marshy soil could have supported such structures without further preparation.

The solution was simple: the Mindless Titan forced labourers building Charles's dream capital had to drive pilings all the way down to the bedrock. Nothing would stand in the way of completing World Capital Sadera and any lives of Mindless Titan or homunculus slave labourers lost were irrelevant to the Empire. Construction commenced in full in the autumn of 27030 and downtown Sadera would be a construction site for centuries to come.

There were about 200 millions people used to live in the city of Sadera but reconnaissance images from High-Altitude Pseudo-Satellite (HAPS) showed that most of Sadera's population has been evacuated underground.

These megastructures were quite impressive, Nuttall admitted, although with the power of Titan and Magic this was possible. The numbers were also high, at least in term of the population.

Maybe we should Tsar Bomba-ed the city to send them a strong message. A 100 megaton of sun is a bright message after all. Nuttall showed a sadistic smile as he imagined the second sun rose on the Imperial capital.

While Nuttall was still reading the file, someone knocked on his office door.

"Come in" he said.

His secretary Sarah entered the room and greeted General Nuttall. "Commander, the reconnaissance task forces are almost ready to make the first contact with the natives of Falmart."

"Okay, make sure they follow the planned route and bring with them all the available information. There's a lot of stuff that has to be confirmed before starting any kind of operations."

"Yes sir," replied Sarah.

"Very well you can go."

"Yes, commander." Sarah said as she left the room.

"This war looks more complicated than I thought." Nuttall said softly as he sighed and reread the rest of the information in the file again.