OR1-EP3: The Bloody Coat of Arms (18)

Michael McNeil, who hadn't slept a wink all night, heard the sound of artillery fire coming from the distance like most of the others, the sound ranging from small to large, from far away to near, with the sound of dense gunfire in between. After their return from the warehouse on the outskirts of the city, McNeil dared not go near the embassy for fear of attracting unwanted attention, and only continued to hide in the house the Zevon family had arranged for him to wait for news of the others. However, as the first gunfire shattered the peace of the city, McNeil realized that he probably wouldn't get any new information.

He can't be stuck here doing nothing. This turmoil had something to do with him, and there was no reason for him to stay out of it. The nobles who are trying to turn the Britannian Empire back to feudal times are on the march, hoping to weaken the imperial power once again and truly become supreme masters of their own territorial boundaries. McNeil has never liked any emperor, but he is aware of another fact: the more power the nobles have, the more the commoners under their control become worse off. Standing in the perspective of the EU, he hoped that the more chaos in the Britannian Empire, the better; as a commoner, he couldn't let things go towards the worst situation.

Two rifle-wielding soldiers were advancing along a building on one side of the street, while on another street in the immediate vicinity, there were likewise several soldiers advancing in the same direction. Fighting broke out the moment the two sides encountered each other, each using nearby obstacles for cover and firing at the enemy. However, they didn't always aim accurately at their targets, and some of the bullets just randomly hit the buildings across the street. McNeil could clearly see that the glass of the buildings across the street had been broken in several places, and wondered if there were any casualties. Self-preservation was already the biggest problem, so how could they be asked to care about the deaths of others. One soldier was shot in the neck by the enemy, and his companions were not in a hurry, just letting him wait for death in place, while the others slowly retreated backward, waiting for the enemy to reveal a break after pursuing them before counterattacking.

Two attendants in suits came to the door and motioned McNeil downstairs to leave in a car.

"What the hell is happening now?" McNeil wasn't sure how the battle was going so far, "How many forces are fighting? Which side is in control of this neighborhood now? What's the situation near the embassy?"

The visitors knew nothing of these questions; their whole job was to take McNeil away. The car had just closed the door when the driver slammed his foot on the gas and took off down the road. Halfway down the road a couple of soldiers tried to stop the breakaway sedan, and they fired a couple of shots from far behind at it, all of which missed their targets. The car arrived at a nearby school without any danger, the school has long been half a student, the entire campus is under heavily armed soldiers' control, the open space piled up all kinds of fortifications, the parking lot is parked in two large trucks do not know what goods loaded.

The leading officer saw McNeil arrive and immediately saluted him.

"I am the Duke's subordinate, and have been defending this place since last night." The Britannian officer said, "The embassy district is currently under the control of the rebels and news cannot be transmitted. His Imperial Majesty has authorized us to free the trapped foreigners, and we are perfectly capable of launching an attack on the rebels around the embassy now."

Michael McNeil boarded a large truck, seated himself in the driver's seat, and drove the vehicle off campus. It was soon followed by three armored trucks, who moved in a flurry of motion in the direction where the embassy was located. The truck was loaded with what looked like a cockpit, and it was unclear to onlookers what it was for.

"Who's in command of the rebels?" McNeil asked the officer sitting in the co-pilot's seat, "A quick rebellion after failing to assassinate the emperor, if you can't find a proper reason for it, then it'll look like nothing more than a child who didn't ask for candy smashing toys to an outsider."

"The leader of the rebels is His Imperial Majesty's uncle, Grand Duke Louis, and the rebels claim that a series of decrees issued by His Imperial Majesty are destroying the Britannian nobility ..." The officer was supposed to be chauffeuring McNeil, but with McNeil himself behind the wheel, he became a bit clueless. The truck barreled through the barrier set up by the rebels in front of it, and a dozen or so soldiers who couldn't dodge were crushed to pulp on the spot. McNeil inadvertently glanced at the rebel flag, the only difference between it and the Britannian Imperial flag was the replacement of the downward facing blade with a crossed double sword.

A tank suddenly leapt out of the street directly in front of McNeil, which scared McNeil and the officer beside him out of their wits, and McNeil immediately turned the wheel sharply to make a U-turn into another street. The tank opened fire on the truck, the shell missed the truck, but hit the rear of the armored car, the armored car immediately exploded violently, burning in the fire, the soldiers inside the end of what will happen is not an outsider can guess. Above them, two helicopters flew in a northwesterly direction, where the Imperial Palace was located. McNeil guessed that the rebels were amassing heavy forces to attack the palace, and that Emperor Charles III himself was in danger. Preserving the emperor's life seemed to be the primary goal; once the emperor was dead, the Grand Duke Louis, whom the rebels had installed, would become the new emperor, and then the resistance of these loyalists would become meaningless, and they would become rebels by definition of the new emperor. History in the broadest sense is not to be falsified, yet for a time it is of course left to the victors.

A group of heavily armed rebels appeared directly in front of the truck, firing indiscriminately at the truck, shattered glass narrowly missing McNeil's face. McNeil crouched down and pressed a button, ejecting the rear cockpit. The rocket-powered cockpit quickly flew into the rebels, and a violent explosion ensued, a pinkish-red blaze mixed with rolling smoke engulfing the neighborhood, and the buildings immediately on either side of the street instantly collapsed in the blast, shattering all glass for miles around. The truck itself was toppled by the explosion, and a dazed McNeil struggled to climb out of the truck before rescuing the officer trapped inside, and the two were able to escape the scene just in time to meet the next batch of soldiers coming from the rear to meet them.

"What is this?" The soldiers were amazed as they looked at the messy explosion scene.

"Somehow Emergency Escape Cockpit, I had someone with access to the device transform it into a large Sakuradite Bomb." McNeil wiped the dust from his face, "I can't believe it worked quite well, the rebels here have been completely wiped out. You guys were complaining about not being able to break through the blockade here before, well now our paths to both the embassy district and the palace are open."

"This will cause mistaken injuries, won't it." A Britannian officer looked at the rubble on either side, "If they didn't manage to flee the scene ..."

"That doesn't sound like something you would say." McNeil gave him a slanted glare, "You don't care when you really should care about the deaths of your citizens, and you're indecisive when you really need to be ruthless?"

"That's different-" the officer explained in a panic, "This is war, that's-"

"Come on, you're full of crap." McNeil jumped into another truck that was approaching, "You guys get on with rescuing the Emperor you serve, I've got an old friend to see at the embassy."

Due to the fear of blowing himself up the next time the trick was repeated, McNeil didn't dare to head directly to the embassy area, he looked at the map of the city of Pendragon and marked the neighborhoods controlled by their respective forces according to the soldiers around them before deciding to make a detour to attack from the neighborhoods belonging to the royalists. Not only could this Emergency Escape Cockpit be rocket-powered and quickly disengage from the battlefield, but it was also fitted with legs for walking, meaning that McNeil could have this time bomb detonate later after it had stormed the enemy blockade. As expected, when he sent the cockpit across two streets into the rebel-controlled area, the panicked rebels didn't even realize that it was a super bomb, and as a result, they were blown away by McNeil, and the defense zone with the bank they controlled as the core fortress building completely collapsed.

After the rebels besieging the embassy area were eliminated, McNeil was finally able to return to greet his companions. The first thing he saw was Wang Shuang standing on the street, with a bullet belt wrapped around his waist and a light machine gun in his hand, planning to rush out into the street.

"What are you doing?" McNeil was alarmed, "The street is full of soldiers in a melee, they don't care who you are."

"This group of assholes are just sons of bitch, it's not even enough to surround a foreign mission, they are actually burning and looting right under our noses." Wang Shuang became furious, "I just don't want my titles anymore, and have to knock these scums to death one by one. McNeil, you're just in time, let's clean up the rebels together, these brutes are no match for that emperor!"

The EU embassy next door was taking in refugees, most of these people were ordinary people who had come to the Britannian Empire to do business or work, and they would never have dreamed that they could be involved in a real civil war. Some swore to the heavens that they would never come to this hellhole again to make a living.

Two fighter jets streaked through the air, their piercing whistles causing the people who were still in fear to panic and hide inside the building.

"Didn't these people's operation to pull the air base together fail?" McNeil looked at the two white trails in the air.

"I guess some lucrative guys decided to join the war." Wang Shuang sighed, "In the early hours of the morning the rebels ordered a bombardment of the Imperial Army that was entrenched in a nearby plaza, killing several hundred soldiers and thousands of civilians at that time, and now that place is still burning." Speaking here, Wang Shuang sighed heavily, "I do sincerely hope that these executioners blow up their own parents in the process, or else there will be no one to punish them for their crimes after the war is over."

A few minutes later, the crowd saw the Emperor's latest statement from the television set. Claiming that he would never abdicate, commit suicide or go into exile, the Emperor called on everyone loyal to the Britannian Empire to take up arms and fight the rebels.

"Send weapons to the citizens."

"It's useless." Wang Shuang stood on the corner of the street on guard, "Most of the people have no training whatsoever, and after picking up a gun they won't be able to threaten the rebels except to scare people."

"Trust me for once." McNeil insisted, "The Emperor's chances of winning aren't that great, he needs real help. The nobles are just investing, the commoners have no choice."

"Then contact that Duke and have him give orders to the army."

"He doesn't have a military position; we need to find an officer."

Fortunately, Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of Five, who was commanding an alley battle nearby, received the message they passed on and endorsed the plan, deciding to distribute weapons to the citizens. Soon, a makeshift group of citizens and nobles' house slaves stalemated with the rebels on the outskirts of the embassy district and held off the rebel attack for the time being. In addition, Bismarck made a bold move: he decided to release prisoners from nearby jails, who could have their sentences reduced or even acquitted if they could kill enough rebels.

"His Imperial Majesty the Emperor welcomes strongest men to serve the Empire, and as long as they can contribute accordingly, they will not be blamed." Bismarck said as such.

With the news from the other nobles, McNeil rushed to the temporary command headquarters to meet with Bismarck. Bismarck said in a heavy tone that the Knights of the Rounds had almost collectively defected, and the only one he knew of who remained loyal to the Emperor at the moment was Marianne.

"I do not know what terms Grand Duke Louis has given them." Bismarck was struck down by great frustration, "They abandoned their oaths to serve the False Emperor."

"It's a noble privilege, isn't it." McNeil looked at the map, "The authority of the Knights of the Rounds comes only from the Emperor, and if Grand Duke Louis had promised the Knights of the Rounds additional privileges - such as the ability to designate territories, like the Knight of One- they would surely have fall in line. More than that, what makes me curious is that Grand Duke didn't send anyone to pull you in."

"The offer is indeed heartwarming." Bismarck nodded, "However, His Imperial Majesty promised me a roughly similar reward for my allegiance to him ... Perhaps the False Emperor already knew what His Imperial Majesty was offering me in return, and dismissed the idea of pulling the strings."

The battle had reached a stalemate, and how to break it became crucial. Currently, Bismarck had a limited number of troops in his hands, and he could only hold on to the nearby neighborhoods, and later get in touch with the imperial troops in other neighborhoods before jointly organizing a counterattack. However, just as he was about to give this order, McNeil and Wang Shuang's proposal moved him - he decided to try a riskier tactic.

"Attacking these nobles' base in Pendragon will not help." Wang Shuang said aloud, "Let's see clearly, gentlemen, these nobles who are pressing on now are exactly what you call loyalists. On the contrary, almost all of the nobles from the rebel faction are participating in the war. Only the nobles who are loyal to the Emperor need to consider their gains and losses in this battle, because even if they fail, they won't be wiped out by the rebels who are also magnate nobles; however, if the rebels fail, the family will be completely eradicated by the Emperor. Therefore, their entire hope is to kill the emperor and install a new emperor, which means that the biggest task for you royalists at the moment is to protect the palace."

"If we rush out, this place will be overrun by the rebels." Bismarck clenched his chin, "We'll be on the back foot at that time."

"There is no need to worry." McNeil smiled, "Your Grace, my suggestion is that you and the troops at your command continue to defend here while we go and attack the rebels near the palace. However, even if you do not intend to attack, you should send detachments to the outlying palaces near the palace to rescue the Crown Prince, His Imperial Highness Odysseus, so that even if something happens to the Emperor, the new Emperor by law is still in your hands."

Bismarck agreed to this program. According to their plan, McNeil and Wang Shuang commanded the paramilitary forces to storm the palace, while Bismarck was responsible for the personal defense of the Crown Prince.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

The practical impact of the almost total defection of the Knights of the Rounds was psychological in the sense that if Emperor Charles's army had been superior, these defecting Knights of the Rounds would not have been effective among the rebels.

In fact, Emperor Charles' main supporters were the minor nobility and the middle class.