Lola was continuously planning the withdrawal; she and Alexandra knew an encirclement was going to be disastrous and they needed to fall back. Megumi had tuned in on this and she had prepared the evacuation of all the troops they had from the salient. She had planned throughout the night what they were going to do and by the time the next morning had come, she was exhausted after a long, restless night. She handed Alexandra and Megumi the plan that they were going to mass around Warsaw and evacuate as many students and supplies as they could before it could fall into enemy hands.

"So tired but the planning is done." Lola began. She yawned as she was ready to fall asleep.

"Don't sleep for too long as the armored cars are withdrawing to Lutsk first while the supply trains are leaving Warsaw for Minsk, Riga and Lutsk." Megumi told Lola that she shouldn't sleep for too long as she needed to be awake to help fend off Kuromorimine. "The Dual Alliance is still caught up with Anzio as another battle rages there. We're just facing Kuromorimine and its ally for now."

"Megumi, Kay says she's watching the front outside of the city, the first train is leaving Warsaw for Riga and the next train will leave in three minutes." Alexandra told Megumi that the first train was pulling away, two more trains remain in Warsaw.

"We got less than ten minutes; Kay better hold them off before we leave. Once we're on the road, we should be able to head our positions and dig in." Megumi told Alexandra. Alexandra nodded as she began to speak again.

"Nathalia has headed off for the Riga front fifteen minutes ago. Kay has the situation under control and I'm heading for Minsk to help the second supply train out. I'm going to need Konstantina for this." Alexandra instructed that she was getting ready to leave. Lola was still sleeping however so she didn't hear about it.

"Okay Alexandra." Megumi told her. The cavalry began to gallop away as they were much fleeter footed than the armored cars and they could get from place to place a lot faster. She was worried for Minsk and decided to go ahead first. As the horses galloped away, the train bound for Minsk began to leave as Megumi knew that her train was the last to leave.

Kay meanwhile was bracing for the attack as she had Himari with her. She was getting ready to fight to hold Kuromorimine off for as long as she could. She didn't bring the tanks as she hadn't had the time to repair them, so it was pure infantry. The plan was to hold them off until they got to the station, boarded the trains and departed. Kuromorimine knew they were still doing this alone as Gisela had said Riccioli was launching another attack and they needed to hold them off. For the time being. Runa was busy leading the group as Kay's students were dug in just outside of Warsaw itself.

"Okay we should begin softening up the group with artillery. Once done we should move into the town itself and try to take the station." Runa told her group what the plan was. The students began to nod while Kay's students were waiting around. They looked like they weren't going to hold them back for very long as some of the students looked like they were going to desert their positions.

"Do you think this war is winnable?" Himari asked. She sounded bitter as she wanted to see what Kay had to offer plus her friend Yuri was still locked up and this was something she wasn't happy about.

"Come on Himari, remember what Saunders had told you to fight for." Kay told Himari. Himari began to think of what Kay had done, her students undersupplied, the constant parties she hosted, the mismanagement of the school's funds. She shook her head before she spoke to Kay.

"Yeah no. Fuck you Kay, me and my friends of color, we're out of here." Himari told Kay as she and the other students dropped their rifles and deserted, Kay had realized half of the group that was going to hold Runa off were now gone. Klara looked ahead to see that Runa and her group were preparing the artillery before they looked ahead to see what just happened.

"Half of her group has just disappeared, their rifles are still there but now they are gone." Runa told them as there now had to come a change of plan. "Fix your bayonets, I'm going to be charging this line." The students grabbed their rifle bayonets before fixing them to the rifles. Kay knew she needed to hold Kuromorimine off with whatever strength she had left.

"Okay students, remember what we are here for." Kay told the remaining students of her group to prepare to hold. The remaining students under her command however felt pessimistic that they weren't going to hold out for very long and they knew they needed to save themselves rather than get shot at.

"Yeah, no. We're out." The students told Kay before ditching their rifles and abandoning their posts. Now there was no one defending the front other than Kay at this point. Runa blew the whistle as the students leaped out from their positions and rushed to the trench. When they got there, there was only Kay with a bunch of rifles in the trench.

"They all ran off on you?" Runa asked if all the students under her command had deserted their posts.

"Yep. looks like you won't be having the fight for the station." Kay sighed before raising her hands in a sign of surrender. A couple of students decided to take her off as Runa knew she needed to continue pressing the attack to the train station. She ran to the objective as this mission was going by easier than expected.

Megumi's last train was getting ready to depart, the whistle blew as the train began to pull away from the platform. Lola and Megumi were in the machine gun part of their armored train which was stationed at the rear. Lola had woken up from her nap while Megumi was keeping a look out.

"We're heading off, Lutsk here we come." Lola told Megumi as their train was pulling from the station, the wheels slipped as the engine tried to get traction. Megumi looked around from the top as the train began to pull away. She spotted Kuromorimine students showing up, way earlier than she had anticipated.

"Did Kay's defenses quickly fall apart?" Megumi asked as she was worried about this. She ducked down as the Kuromorimine students were rushing in and trying to board the train and prevent it from reaching Lutsk. The locomotive's wheels slipped again but they had managed to get going swiftly as Kuromorimine was starting to get left in the dust.

"Possibly but we need to hold Kuromorimine off for the time being if we are to escape." Lola explained, the Kuromorimine students began firing at the armored train in their attempt to slow it down.

"Use the machine gun, that's what you have Lola." Megumi told Lola to use the Machine gun to cut down the Kuromorimine students that were advancing. Lola got on her Maxim and began firing away as the train continued to pull away. Runa and the others were running onto the platform to see if they could catch the train, but a couple students had been cut down with plastic pellets. Runa hid behind a couple of boxes while observing the train pulling away, the students that had been shot were getting dragged away to be treated for the swelling they might have had. Runa knew that she missed the opportunity to catch the train as it pulled away from the station.

"We didn't catch the train, it's pulled out and on its way to Lutsk, we need to stop the train before it reaches there." Runa told her commander that the plan to catch the said train had ended in failure and now there needed to be a plan to try to cause chaos at the fronts.

"Even though all three trains have left the station, this battle is far from over. We're planning on using the disorganization from Saunders while they retreated from Warsaw to see if we can capture more territory. Minsk is the new objective though we don't know how long that should take." Manami told Runa that Warsaw had been taken and what remained next to advance as fast as they could before Saunders could reorganize themselves and be able to fight them off.

"Send Kirishima with the cavalry to see if she could intercept the train heading for Lutsk so they don't unpack and fight their way out." Runa told Manami that the cavalry should try finding the last train that pulled out and take it out.

"Okay, Azusa has also told us she's beginning the offensive into Courland." Manami also added. Runa nodded as the Middle Schoolers were now carrying out the plan she had instructed.

"Good." Runa told her. The pursuit had to continue.

Runa was being dispatched to the center to help consolidate the positions of Manami and help with a strike to Minsk. Kirishima meanwhile was going to see if she could prevent the supply train from reaching Lutsk. The supply train with the armored carriages at the front and rear continued to chuff along as all of the supplies were being redeployed. Megumi was keeping a look out as the train meandered its way along the tracks. Kirishima had signaled to the group that the train was in their sight and now they needed to go out of their way to attack. The cavalry began to head down the hill, spotting the armored train and they began their attempt at surrounding it.

"Cavalry attack!" The driver of the locomotive called out; he had signaled them to prepare the defense of the entire train as it meant trying to save themselves. Lola grabbed the machine gun and spotted the cavalry galloping to them by the back of the train.

"Now?" Lola asked. Her thumbs were on the trigger and ready to be pressed onto it. Megumi continued to look on, waiting for the precise moment to fire.

"Now." Megumi instructed. Lola began firing away at the cavalry charging forward with the maxim gun she had. Kirishima and the cavalry were being cut down while trying to gallop forward and intercept the train. Kirishima looked around to see some of her friends getting shot off of their horses. Lola was trying her best to make her ammo count by firing in small, accurate bursts. Within the span of a few minutes, the cavalry was down a quarter of its strength and Kirishima decided to peel away. Megumi knew she needed to tell Lola as she had more news for her. "We're going to be unloading the train a quarter mile to the east of Lutsk as the train is going to go to the rear with the supplies. Once we get those supplies unloaded, we'll pull back to the defensive line." Megumi instructed Lola on what exactly they were planning to do.

"Okay." Lola told Megumi.

Runa had arrived at her section of the front where the Kuromorimine artillery guns had been located. She and Manami were planning to break through and head for Minsk.

"Okay, artillery guns have been set up and we should be ready." Manami told Runa.

"Good I just got the news that Kirishima's forces have been cut down and she doesn't know if she is going to have enough strength to hold the line with just the cavalry alone." Runa gave Manami the news that Kirishima needed reinforcements if she was going to hold onto her position.

"I'll send Maho down to help reinforce her section of the front but let's try to threaten Minsk for the time being." Manami gave Runa the instructions of the plan. Erwin and Olivia had come to reinforce the front after they learned from Azusa that the front wasn't going to keep moving as Nathalia had held the perimeter. With five groups of students at her disposal, Manami felt confident about the breakthrough and her plan overall. The students in Maho's group began to open up with the artillery along with the middle schoolers as they had brought artillery of their own. They began to shell the positions for a good, few minutes while they were figuring out what the plan was. Manami wanted Runa to threaten Minsk and Manami assigned Erwin to capture Vilnius so that Manami and Runa could have somewhere to fall back on in case Saunders had the forces to threaten their advance. After bombarding the forward positions. Manami looked as she noticed something strange. The Saunders students were deserting their positions like before when they were in Warsaw. This meant Saunders morale was low and this was going to be a piece of cake.

"Okay then deserting is going to be much easier for us." Runa began. She pulled out her saber before she and her students began to leave their positions. Runa and Manami's groups began to dash out across the land to seize the forward positions. Those Saunders students that decided to stay began to fire away in an attempt to hold the line. Runa looked around as a couple of her students began to fall as one of the Maxim guns was firing away at them. Runa got to a crouch before pulling out a firecracker grenade. She unscrewed the bottom, pulled the pin and tossed it at the machine gun crew. The grenade exploded, silencing the machine gun as students chucked more grenades into the positions and took them out as the Saunders students didn't have much time to react. Manami and Runa had broken through the perimeter and began to make their mad dash to Minsk. Erwin and Olivia meanwhile went to secure Vilnius as part of the plan.

Runa and Manami had advanced about two miles before splitting off. Manami was going to threaten Minsk herself. Runa was held up as Saunders had more students than she could account for. This was the trains that had arrived and the students that had retreated from Warsaw had taken up defensive positions.

"I'm held up by Saunders students from the train that had left Warsaw. It's up to you Manami." Runa told Manami that her progress had stalled, and everything was now down to her and Manami knew that she needed to continue to push.

Manami's advance had threatened Minsk from the north but due to the long march, her students were exhausted, and they didn't have much energy to fight. Alexandra and Konstantina were waiting in the bushes with the cavalry, ready to strike.

"Yep, they're coming all right." Konstantina told Alexandra; she was giving coordinates of Manami's position. Alexandra was waiting from the other side of the road further up. She was going to attack Manami in case Konstantina's attack had failed.

"Wait for my signal and be prepared to attack." Alexandra instructed Konstantina that she needed to wait before they could ambush Manami and her forces. "Now." Konstantina and the cavalry rode out from their hiding positions with their sabers and rifles out, the rifle students fired away as Manami's group was beginning to get cut down, they weren't expecting this attack. Konstantina's black charger-like horse galloped into the fray before swinging the saber up, one of the Kuromorimine students had been taken out while Manami was beginning to panic, the cavalry had ambushed them. Konstantina whipped out her Nagant revolver and began firing away, taking out a couple more students while Alexandra watched from afar. Konstantina was doing the work she expected her to do. Manami looked left and right, her students were getting cut down, she thought that she needed to save what was left of the group while trying to figure out what to do next.

"Retreat!" Manami shouted, she and the remaining students turned their tails and began to flee. They were going to give the order to begin retreating. Alexandra looked on while Manami and her remind students fled the scene. This was good as she thought now there needed to be one more swift strike on Runa and this would cause the front to collapse as their foes had overextended themselves and their logistics were going to take a while to catch up. Now came the next phase, driving Runa back.

Megumi and Lola meanwhile had unpacked everything and as they were getting ready to attack, the train had pulled away with their middle school friends as they were going to prepare defenses for them to hide in. Lola was still somewhat tired but now she needed to stay awake. Megumi thought that Kirishima's partially weakened cavalry group was still after them, and she didn't know if they were going to continue to press the attack. They had armored cars and Kirishima didn't.

"Okay we're going to make the push to Lutsk, we think that Alexandra and Konstantina are in trouble and our job is to provide a distraction to draw some attention away from them." Megumi outlined her mission. She was praying this would get Kuromorimine's attention. Some of the students were armed with single shot Berdan rifles, taken from the armory as they didn't have enough of their modern rifles to use on the enemy, these students were grouped up to act as an emergency force even though the ammunition they used was different from the others.

"Ready to do it?" Lola asked, she tried to get the students fired up that they were going to be attacking a partially weakened enemy.

"Yeah!" The students shouted; Lola boarded the armored car with herself putting the flag up to signal her leadership in the attack. The armored cars went first as Megumi followed up behind with the others in their attack. Heading up behind the armored cars, the counterattack had begun. Kirishima and the cavalry had arrived at Lutsk, they had been partially weakened thanks to the armored train's machine guns, cutting down a good chunk of them. They had paused to get a moment to catch their breath and to take a break, but they heard the growl of something coming. Kirishima looked ahead to see ten armored cars approaching them.

"Oh no not again!" Kirishima told the group. She didn't like the fact that Saunders still had some strength to attack her. The students got up from their resting positions to either gather their horses or to begin firing while their friends went to get their mobile beasts. One student raised her Gewehr 98 rifle and fired at the armored car. The plastic pellet harmlessly bounced off of the armored car. Lola looked around to see the students were disorderly trying to fight back. She grabbed the grips and began firing the machine gun at the students. The Kuromorimine students that were struggling to reorganize found themselves the target as the armored cars drove into Lutsk, firing and taking those down, the students behind the armored cars dispersed as they had begun firing at those that managed to slip past the armored cars. Megumi got her nagant out and fired at any Kuromorimine student she could find. Within ten minutes, Kirishima's group had lost half of its strength and was down to just a quarter, much of the horses had to be abandoned as they had fled in panic. However, this was going to be the beginning of the end for Lola. The troops had pushed past Lutsk in their attack in an attempt to save Alexandra's front. What they didn't realize was the fact that Maho and the artillery group were on their way to help strengthen the front Kirishima was supposed to hold and they had just pulled themselves in.

"Fire!" Maho shouted, the two tanks and the artillery pieces began firing away at the advancing armored cars. One of the armored cars was struck head on before the white flag popped out, the others tried to fire away with their machine guns to keep the advance up. Megumi however knew that the artillery was going to take them out. Lola fired the machine gun again at one of the artillery crews, one student had been taken out with machine gun fire while the others fired at the armored car that was shooting them. Lola's armored car had been struck before the white flag popped out. Lola and the other student got out of the armored car as more armored cars were being taken out. Lola began to dash back to Megumi.

"We're going to get wiped out, we need to begin retreating." Lola told Megumi that the attack was no longer sustainable, and they needed to fall back.

"I might as well throw the Denikin Iron Division in to help cover the retreat." Megumi told Lola that the right thing to do was to begin falling back. The students turned and began to retreat with some firing back. Maho and the artillery group had finished off what remained of the armored cars as they saw that Lola and the group were now running in the opposite direction.

"They know they can't keep the advance up without armored cars. It's now time for us to go on the attack." Maho announced. Kirishima, who didn't have many students left, knew that the forward attack was going to be necessary.

"Yes. Lead us." Kirishima told Maho. Maho gave a nod before the two tanks began to roll forward to Lutsk. The others followed behind the tanks as they were now beginning the advance. Maho had saved Kirishima and was now turning the tables against Lola. The two groups enter Lutsk with the artillery firing down on the city. The Iron Division was waiting for them as they had been thrown in as an emergency unit while Megumi took what she wanted from Lutsk. Iron Division fired their Berdan II's at the advancing Kuromorimine students, but they too also began to retreat, the machine guns from the tanks began firing as the Iron Division was forced to give up Lutsk. Kuromorimine had the town back in their hands.

With Megumi and Lola retreating to their defensive lines and having lost a few students along the way while Maho chased them down, Alexandra and Konstantina were preparing to drive Runa back to straighten out the front line. They were preparing to make their move.

"With Megumi's front straightening out, we should say that now is right to drive Runa's group out, Manami's group had retreated and now that remained was Runa's group which had been slightly weakened due to the train platform earlier in the match. Runa's group had barely dug themselves in when they heard the news of Manami's group getting attacked.

"Manami's group has been attacked, we should begin heading back to fortified positions to hold the line." Runa told her students that her friend was in trouble.

"Should we try helping them out?" One of her students asked. Runa decided to give it some thought before she heard a whistle, one that she didn't want to hear. She turned her head to see a group of Saunders students charging in with their Berdan II rifles with the bayonets fixed to the rifles. Runa didn't have the chance to construct a defensive line and now she was getting attacked. "Try shooting them down!" Runa told her group. She raised her Mauser pistol and began firing away. The other students tried to fire at the group with their rifles but without machine guns at their disposal, their front couldn't hold. To make up the fact that they were using single shot rifles, the students decided to get out their firecracker grenades before pulling the pins, they chucked them over at Runa's defenses and the students firing away decided to try to scatter, the grenades exploded, taking out a couple students while the rest scattered. Alexandra who was watching this as Runa and her forces were scattering. She drew her saber and knew now was the chance to attack. Flicking the saber, she ordered the attack.

Alexandra's cavalry charged out of the forest as they were now heading straight for Runa's retreating soldiers. Runa and the others tried to fire away but Alexandra and the cavalry were much faster than her. Alexandra swung her saber low and struck one of the Kuromorimine students that were retreating. This was followed by another swing as another one was taken out. Alexandra got out the Nagant revolver she had and began firing at the crowd. Another three students had been taken out as she had run out of pellets to the revolver. But still the attack worked, Alexandra and Konstantina had advanced up to Lake Naroch before stopping the offensive and Megumi retreated to her fortified line. The front line had straightened out and the retreat was completed. However, this left Saunders with many new problems, their soldiers were deserting en masse, their economy was now beginning to implode and protests over bread rationing were becoming a daily occurrence. Even panic took hold in Kiev and Odessa, two cities far from the frontlines as they thought the retreat had no end in sight.

Back with the middle-school students, some of the men were talking to Nicholas about the whole retreat Saunders had pulled off. It was clear things weren't going too well.

"Lubin, Warsaw, Grodno, Brest-Litovsk, Vilnius, Slavli, Osowiec, Augustow and Lutsk, those are all the cities Saunders abandoned in their retreat." One of the men read to Nicholas of what cities were left behind in the disorganization of the retreat. Nicholas thought the situation wasn't going to get better.

"Dimitri, we need to win this war. I need someone with a great military mind to step in and take control." Nicholas began as he wanted someone to help him run the war and turn Saunders' situation around.

"You're right. How about General Hickelooper?" He suggested but Nicholas had a better candidate to send to the frontlines of the war.

"How about me?" Nicholas asked. His guard was somewhat mad at his decision as he was abandoning his duties.

"You can't run the war. Who'll be in charge of the country while you're gone?" He asked Nicholas who would be running the school while was gone fighting as a soldier for Saunders. Nicholas knew he had to put this man straight while he dressed in his military uniform.

"Obviously, my German wife and a homeless wizard. Duh!" Nicholas told the man that his wife and their advisor were going to run the school. Nicholas decided to take Alexei and his sisters with him to see if they could improve the morale of Saunders and try turning things around.

[A/N]: So, to raise Saunders morale after the Great Retreat had taken place, Principal Nicholas II against the advice of LITERALLY EVERYONE has abandoned his duty as Principal and is heading for the frontlines with his children leaving his wife Alix in charge along with her advisor.

Next chapter will be Saunders trying to solve their supply problems and to get more rifles and to begin training up the thousands of new students that are going to be joining Saunders and remember Nelly, yeah, she's going to be getting her own legion made up of just Gregor students who decided to join Saunders to try to get Gregor out of the Dual Alliance.

I'll see you next chapter when Saunders tries to sort everything out regarding the situation they have at hand.