Chapter Two :Bringing True War to Them

Falmart— The Capital— The Senate Building—The Saderan Empire.

Nearly four days had passed since the Fourth legion was established to conquer the unknown land from beyond the gate and bring a glorious new age for the Saderan Empire instead what had happened was foot soldiers came running back from the gate with maddening tales of the enemy having a unknown and deadly type of sorcery that could kill opponents with ease and tore down their armor as if it were glass, other survivors were survey wounded and half babbled of the capabilities of the enemy soldiers. Most were written off as the survivors made their way to the capital and sufficient reinforcements were sent to the gate's location on the sacred Alnus hill. Emperor Molt put sixty percent of the empire's military might to guard against this unknown and clearly dangerous threat, but it was not enough it didn't even slow the enemy at all and the defensive forces were effectively destroyed. Surviving General Silvanus Carbo had currently given his report to the Entire senate building, he along with three others who were present at the battle told the entire chamber of senators and the emperor of the horrific tale of how the enemy had not only counter attacked but also had seized the gate on both sides.

The enemy army had possessed strange sorcery that allowed them to destroy their best armor and calvary, but they also had strange flying creatures that sometimes sounded like screaming lost souls these creatures were able to strike hard and fast from the air and a different weapon which had no sound at all but were ever it was it left holes in the dead bodies of the empire's noble warriors. It was a slaughter like none had seen before, the enemy didn't immediately stop once General Carbo had given the remaining soldiers word to retreat oh no. They continued to chase the soldiers of the empire for at least an hour before finally relenting and began to fortify their gains on the hill this caused a large amount of warriors to be ether casualties, captured or lost in the woods with madness. Finally after listening to the report from General Carbo, a senior member named Marquess Casel took the lead floor. After clearing his throat he began. "Forgive my rudeness but it seems that there has been a gave error with the loss of sixty percent of our empire's total fighting strength, How do you intend to compensate for this unprecedented disaster?! Your Majesty, just how does the emperor intend to lead this empire?!" He was dressed in the white robes that were custom fitted to any senator and was generally known for clashing with the emperor on many occasions during meetings particularly during a bad harvest season. He waited for the emperor to respond and to his credit after a deep sigh the emperor spoke. "Senator I share your concern, for I too spend sleepless nights over the foreign lords rising against us." He began in a sorrow voice. "But, in each time of crisis have we not pulled together and struggled through." He looked at the crowd of senators who had silenced there whispering to listen as he continued. "Such as the arctic war two hundred and fifty years ago?" He asked rhetorically. "It is true that no war is won without some sacrifice and do not accuse me falling to be invincible or you shall be the one that pays at the certain day when the enemy is at our doorstep." As he finished a different senator got up and practically shouted his question.

"But it has been nearly four days since the enemy counter attacked and not only annihilated our expansion force but also taken the control of the gate, and each hour that passes they are fortifying their foothold and of course we have tried to take the hill back but the enemy has some very strong sorcery that creates holes in our armor and shields without making any sound, I've never seen such magic in my life!" The one who spoke was respected General and Senator Godasan, who had been present at the enemy forces slaughtering their own soldiers and had witnessed some attempts to take back the hill. He also had a bandage raped around his head caused by a tiny piece of armor that had flown through the sky and actually hit him across the forehead. He was slightly shaken from his experience with their newest enemy but he knew that they were vastly superior in terms of combat skills and either had to capture their weapons and learn how to copy them or see if they could negotiate terms with them. His thoughts were interpreted by another Senator who wore a black armor with gray stripes stepped up and practically shouted. "Then Fight!" He looked around the chamber then quickly continued. "If our forces are insufficient, we can easily gather more able men from our vassals." It had been Senator Podawan, who spoke he was bald and known for being rather cruel to his soldiers in a battle. With Podawan's moment of having the floor over his statement caused another session of arguments with how to deal with the enemy foothold. Some shouted that they should not just use raw strength or that they who ever commanded the next army would just end up like Senator Godasan it was only when the emperor himself raised his hand to wish for quiet that the they stopped their bickering and wanted to hear their great leader's plan.

"We cannot allow this enemy to gain a foothold on our land, I believe that we must fight them but we must rebuild our army first and then we shall be able to strike back until we are ready, send messengers to our vassals to help us fight back against this foe and take back the hill." He said as the entire senate stood and applauded then began to chant. "Glory the Empire!" Or "Glory to Emperor Molt!" But Senator Marquess Casel stared at the emperor in shock he'd known the emperor was a uncaring man who had never been scared of showing his opponents his more ruthless side but what he was doing now was serial he voiced his concerns in a whisper. "Your majesty, it will be a saluter." He couldn't see Molt small smirk as the messengers were sent to gather the allied forces.


Falmart— Alnus Hill— The Saderan Empire.

Walking through the vast aria of Foot soldiers and Calvary men King Dulan of the Elbe Kingdom joined his fellow leaders of the allied forces in a tent as the night sky slowly fell over their encampment. His greeting was met by all the other leaders of the empire's vassals who were all standing in a circle in front of a table with a map of the known fortifications of the enemy. They'd all been summoned to smite the unknown foe and take back the hill they were currently listening to a representative of the imperial army and told them that they were going to meet with them all once the battle had begun. "What can you tell us about this enemy?" Asked the King of Mudwan. The representative cleared his throat and said. "Well, to begin we do not know much other than their symbol depicts a crimson red bird like a vulture on a black filed and a majority of the enemy has different swords but none seem to be capable of sorcery and they seem to have about one hundred thousand strength and since the only symbol is that bird it leads us to believe that they do not possess any vassals." Each king contemplated that only one hundred thousand against the might of several hundred thousand, it would be simple to remove them. But Dulan wasn't convinced he'd seen not that many on the hill when he was scouting before he came here. As the representative took his leave the rest of the kings were debating on who should get the honor of being in the frontlines as they continued to argue Dulan softly sighed but his attention was brought to a messenger who looked a bit nervous. As he entered the tent all the leaders saw visible sweat from his face. He unfolded a scroll and began to read.

"We request the leaders of these armies to meet with the leaders of the invading forces at mid day tomorrow to discuss terms to end this conflict peacefully, should you all decline this invitation the Hostilities will commence at mid day instead so think carefully." He tore his gaze away from the scroll and looked at the leaders.

Each looked at the other and tried to think of who to send or should they even respond? In the end they decided to accept the invitation but as a precaution of treachery only King Dulan, King of Alguna and the Duke of League Principality would be attending the enemy meeting on the way they all were talking about what kind of terms they were going set and see if they could agreed upon. As they continued on horseback down their respective encampments they saw a bigger tent with what appeared to be enemy soldiers on each side of the entrance to the tent guarding it. They noted that the soldiers wore red armor with a black insignia of the bird that looked like a vulture looking down at its prey. The soldiers also appeared to wear black masks that covered their faces except their eyes and they had elaborate scabbards that must have held their swords. Dulan peered into one of their eyes and saw feral hatred staring back.

"They must be trying to intimidate us." Duke Ligu said as the allied leaders made their way through the line of guards and to the opening of the tent they could see a small table arrived at the base of the tent and three seated enemies, Dulan saw two of them were dressed in a slightly different style of armor than the guards outside as they wore a different shade of red and had dark purple stripes on the edges of the shoulders. But each leader was quickly fascinated on the main enemy seated in the center of the two soldiers. If it wasn't clear from the hair style and the face that it was a female, none of the allied forces nor the empire itself ever used female soldiers after all fighting and battling one another was a man's right. With the exception of the Rose knights but that was seen as nothing more but a ceremonial act. What was even more shocking was that it was clear that this female had some battle scars with one of her arms being made out of metal. She had purple hair and had green eyes that looked into each of the visiting leaders with a predatory smile. The enemy female in the center spoke. "Ah, welcome I am General Starling the commander of the Cyclonian empire's expansion forces and head of the armed forces of Cyclonian Empire." She announced in the language of Falmart which surprised everyone. The enemy general gestured to the two soldiers and proceeded to introduce them. "This is General Dove and General Lynn, they were promoted for their actions against the first enemy attack from this empire." All eyes went from one to another before settling back on the Purple haired general, as each allied leader took a seat Lord Dulan made the introductions but each of them couldn't help feeling uncomfortable another empire from beyond the Gate and one that was extremely powerful? Can the allies be able to defeat them if they had managed to defeat the invading fourth legion witch seemed to be the case how long would they last.

Dulan and the others listened to the enemy leader begin to say why they were here. "As all of you might be wondering why we requested this meeting and the answer is simple, I am asking for your armies to lay down your arms and surrender as this will be your only chance because tomorrow we will begin our battle against all of you." Yet again the leaders were stunned by such blatant admittance that Duke Ligu spoke up and asked. "How do you speak our language so well?" General Starling smiled as she spoke briefly with General Dove and the soldier disappeared behind the chair and quickly returned with a sight that sent chills down every allied leaders soul. It was General Arminius Canina who was wearing his finest polished armor and helmet of the Saderan Empire but he looked simply... Destroyed his eyes were sunken and he appeared to squeak at the sound of Starling's voice. "Arminius Canina, are you alright?" Dulan breathed horrified by this turn of events. Canina's eyes seemed to flick to wear he heard his name being called. "Lord Dulan is that really you? By the gods am I back in the empire?" He asked in a surprised tone and said. "I can't see very well I'm afraid." Dulan couldn't take it anymore and practically shouted at the enemy general. "What did you do to him?!" Starling simply said with a shrug. "We had to make him cooperate with us, to make him see reason and he was the leader of the very attack that caused so much devastation in our lands." The imperial commander began to speak slowly. "I was attempting to resist even after I was captured by Dove when my army was completely overwhelmed by the counter attack and the entrapment that followed. They knocked me unconscious for a while until I was well enough to try to get me to answer questions, and they also used some type of sorcery that caused my men to scream as if they were being cooked by heated irons." General Dove's face became a little more predatory and she had a benevolent smile when she heard her name.

The allied leaders rose to their feet in outrage but Lord Dulan still remained seated and started daggers at the leader of this 'so-called' expansion forces he was just as appalled by this display of horror as his colleagues. The King of Alguna shouted. "You have the sheer arrogance to say that we should simply surrender when we have over seven thousand warriors combined to retake this hill!" The seated enemies just continued to look definitely at the allied leaders as if to say 'yes we do'. General Lynn was the one to speak out of the moment of silence. "You are the arrogant ones who do not understand what you are fighting against, this will be your only chance to properly surrender to us if you do not cooperate with us then this meeting serves no purpose." The allied leaders left the enemy tent in disgust with General Starling finished the meeting with a statement saying. "Very well, but remember that this was your only chance to surrender, the moment any of you cross our banners and you shall all know what a true battle is and what real war means tomorrow at the first light."

Everyone from the meeting were completely outraged at the sheer arrogance of this enemy even if they were an empire they had to be bluffing and just trying to intimidate them. But the fact that they kept the imperial leader alive it must be enemy sorcery that broke him. Lord Dulan was very concerned about the next day's battle against this foe and he had a very bad feeling about it. The rest of allied leaders were just as outraged about how the meeting went and had brushed aside Dulan's concerns by again saying that it must have been to intimidate them. The alliance had finally decided that the King of Alguna would be leading the frontlines. He considered it an honor and a privilege to have a chance to show this barbaric force what they were capable of. Following the leader of Alguna the Duke of League Principality would be the next to assault on the hill.

Everyone was anticipating a great victory against a overconfident and arrogant foreign empire.


The Battles of Alnus Hill.

As the day finally began the order was given and over one hundred thousand soldiers of the Kingdom of Alguna marched across the flatland to one of the main roads leading to the top of Alnus hill just as the king of Alguna was making his way up the slope and passed one of the enemy banners he along with his men could hear something. It was like the sound of screams of dying souls as the king and soldiers around looked up to see were the noise was coming from when suddenly great purple explosions seemed to happen right where the soldiers of Alguna were guarding their king and the explosions themselves seemed to expand their reach as they were moving towards the Duke Ligu and his army who were taking their positions.

The explosions barely stopped right in front of him causing him along with his entire army to freeze from fear and despair at the sight of such sorcery. As everyone was stunned by the horror they failed to realize that the terrible screaming was back and it sounded like there was more than before and they came back quicker than expected as the purple explosions killed the Duke and his entire army.

Lord Dulan had been mounted on his horse with his staff and had been given a report from a soldier that the allied forces were carrying out their assault on the hill but when asked of where the imperial army was the soldier said that no imperial troops had been seen. He was stunned by that revelation when the hill itself suddenly shook violently. "Impossible, is the hill erupting around us?" He asked in a voice that was barely heard as he went over toward the smoke that began to clear he and his staff were shaking with horror and confusion. Dead and grievous injured bodies lay scattered across the landscape along with their weapons and shields ether destroyed or damaged beyond recognition. A staff member actually began to vomit while Lord Dulan looked around the destruction and asked for the location of the other allied leaders that went into the first assault. "Where's the Duke of League Principality? Where's the king of Alguna?" He words were unanswered among the killing grounds.


The Second assault.

As the second assault went in with dragon riders to help them against the enemy sorcery they were meet with enemy beast riders that seemed to be faster than the dragons. The aerial battles were a catastrophic failure for the dragon riders and many troops below as it appeared that the enemy beasts also could ether drop bombs of their own or even some type of different magical spell that blew apart foot soldiers as they were simply made of wood or paper. The valiant soldiers screamed and shouted at the onslaught of pure madness.

"This is No B-b-battle, No Battle at all!!" A warrior screamed at the top of his lungs as yet another bomb exploded extremely close to him. "This is a slaughter!!" His last words before he was also killed by the flames of the explosion. It was horrifying and yet the frustrating part was that they hadn't even seen a single enemy soldier meet them on the battlefield. The enemy magic was too strong for the second wave to overcome and none were able to escape the storm of destruction.


Allied forces Command Tent— Strategy Meeting— Three Hours After The First Two Assaults

The main idea that was going around the table was that this foe relied to heavily on their strange magic abilities that the army was a tactically use of intimidation. The discussion of the remaining allies frequently focused on whether or not they should retreat. One of the remaining kings began with a sorrowful voice that perfectly matched the gloom in the tent. "We brought over one hundred thousand of our own troops but more than half are already dead." He signed. "What is his majesty's army doing and why aren't they here helping!?" He asked angrily.

Another king replied sharply. " No, even the imperial army is a match for this opponent falling back is the only option we have." Lord Dulan exhaled a sharp breath and spoke with furious indignation. "None of you were there at the enemy's meeting and what became of General Arminius Canina when he was brought in like an animal, and for the men lost we must strike back I want to pay them back for the enemy's savage with an arrow." The first king spoke up in protest. "But Lord Dulan we have niter the men nor the materials to strike back!" Lord Dulan peered at the map of the hill and said. "A night raid might give us the advantage and a new moon is tonight. If we take advantage of the dark and come in from the side of the hill blocking out the stars, we just might be able to make our approach."

As the raid in the dead of night began foot soldiers were constantly being quietly berated by Calvary to. "Pick up your feet", "Do not shuffle about!" Or "Quietly you fools!"

Lord Dulan was with his men this time determined to keep his promise to pay the foe back with an arrow. He knew his men were nervous. By the gods he was nervous but he was also determined to strike back or die trying.


The Head Command Tent— Cyclonian empire's expansion forces

Overlooking the Ariel bombardments from the reconnaissance drones the expansion forces brought to scope the surroundings of the hill was a mixture between entertaining and a slightest hint of disappointment at how far technology has evolved since the civil war at least in General Starling's mind. To Lynn and Dove they were both highly inthralled by the sheer amount of newer ways to use air superiority. The Crystal cluster bombs were working well during the First enemy wave of artillery fire and the older rockets were especially useful in the Second wave for launching the new incendiary bombs that could be deployed from their jet switchblades but the rockets were the older style and were nothing more than mere junk that needed to be thrown away and this campaign was seen as a perfect way to not let them go to waste. The rockets themselves were designed to be medium sized then the pilots could use four at a time and then they could still use its machine cannons to pulverize the bunched up enemy into pieces. There had been proposals to use their other more lethal bombs in the bombardment but General Starling wanted to limit their lethality until they could properly solidify their position in this world, both new Generals saw the sense in that but had also requested that they use some of their troops as it would be pointless for them to just stand there like they were statues Starling agreed with them and had agreed with letting both lead an attack with the infantry after one last cannon attack. With the enemy observations showing that they were severely underpowered after their last two pitiful attempts to reach the top of the hill, they had an opportunity to drive the entire force into the ground! They couldn't wait for tonight, it began with some signal flares going off in the darkness, then the cannons went off again and again firing energy pulses that tore through the enemy forces with ease as panic started to spread through the foes the Master's forces began a battle cry and chanted. What followed was a brief battle of properly trained, experienced soldiers who had one goal in their mission.

Drive the enemy away and kill as many of them or capture as many as possible to stop them from gaining experience. As General Starling had ordered to all of them. "The Only experience that our Master and I want them to take away from any battle with us is that we Annihilated them and then choose not to stop until we were satisfied!"

The contrast between the properly trained and battle hardened soldiers of Cyclonis's army and their enemies which were poorly trained, prepared and had no experience with a modern army was extremely evident in opening attack with swift strikes from switchblades calvary that led the charge and then followed them up with a massive assault of their own force on the offensive using melee combat to exploit the stunned strike of the switchblades. The opponents that were still standing were either helplessly attempting to continually change towards their demise, or ones who had had their delusions of victory finally broken fled into the darkness of the night and into the wilderness. It was a very entertaining experience for the newly promoted Generals and it wasn't over just yet as Lynn was taking off in the night sky along with six others and began firing cannons at running formations of defeated enemies just to get some target shots no sense in just letting them get away.

From what transpired in the next few moments were incredible, Lynn was able to get probably more than twenty shots and with so many bunched up she could hardly miss. Oddly she wondered what the enemy was thinking about all this, then she chuckled They probably believe we are demons or nothing but barbaric monsters. She thought as she looked over the one sided battle, when her radio cracked. "General Lynn come in General Lynn, this is General Starling." Ripped from her thoughts she quickly answered her radio from the Switchblade's panel. It was an order that all troops were to pull back to their positions due to one last round of artillery strikes and also to get reports on possible casualties or take inventory of prisoners. Lynn actually signed in a hint of sadness but complied with the orders and issued them along to her fellow pilots. After a few minutes of Cyclonian troops pulling back the artillery strike went off and lit up the night sky with flames. The Battle that firmed their gains on this new world was complete and it was only the beginning.


The Night Attack— The Allied Forces —Thirty Minutes Earlier Before the Enemy's Final Artillery Strike.

As The strange bright lights flashed over the positions of the allied forces Lord Dulan was outraged by the enemy sorcery and wasn't content with letting his men be take off guard like that. He quickly urged his horse to go forward and shouted at his men to. "Take the fight to them!" Or "Forward, Run men." Even as the enemy began to fire cannon strikes at them he continued to charge and chanted. " Keep going!" Just as his horse had hit strange metal wires that had thorns on it. The result catapulted him to a few feet from his horse and he landed in a flat patch of dirt just as the enemy had begun to use their own calvary that sounded like growling beasts that seemed to go faster than any horse he'd encountered. Perhaps the enemy had their own domestic animals capable of great speed on the ground as well as the air, it must be. The enemy cavalry had caused a major blow to the allied forces stunning them from their push and gave the enemy the opportunity to advance their own forces to the battlefield. When they met with the stunned, disorganized allied forces and changed they were extremely effective at killing.

Heads were flying off soldier's shoulders and shields were quickly destroyed by the enemy's powerful weapons and the cavalry didn't stop either continuously causing chaos among the already weakened forces and Lord Dulan was unable to stop it. When an odd thing happened the enemy was pulling back he couldn't understand that at all they were winning easily and they had broken a majority of the allied forces, why would they just give up and choose to pull back? As he looked around at the devastation of men and their weapons he noticed a crossbow in the arms of a disemboweled soldier and immediately took it and loaded it with a single arrow then fired it into the retreating troops shouting at the night sky. "Damn you!" His voice was lost in the devastation, with realization finally hitting him it wouldn't have mattered if they did perused the beaten allied force they were clearly outmatched. "We never stood a chance, no matter what we did." His voice was barely heard by the dead as he began to descend into madness the bombs whistled their targets.


The Head Command Tent —Cyclonian Expansion Forces—Mid Day After the NightAttack.

The smoke still rose from dozens of burning corpses of the Allied forces who were desperately trying to make a hopeless assault on the Gate in the dead of night. The smell of cooked enemies was encouraging to the Three Generals who toured the entire battlefield along with their staffs and guards, though each was fully capable of protecting themselves it was only for precautions. For a few moments Starling, Dove and Lynn all stood together each with their own thoughts on how the battle went and just what to do next. The silence was broken when the three noted that there was an entire group of vultures flying around the charred area it was almost fitting to see that. Starling spoke aloud. "Look around you everyone, and savor this moment of victory for what you witness here is only the beginning of our long blood soaked journey to these barbarians capital and once we reach the very site of it I want it to be trapped and encircled by our vast aerial and ground superiority." The Head of the Army said in a rising voice that carried the weight of the victory here. The entire group around her applauded and cheered. Lynn looked at a report given to her by a assistant and proceeded to read the enemy casualties. "We killed about sixty thousand of those warriors and drove a good percentage of the remaining troops into the forest, I think perhaps we should keep a close eye on those just to be sure they don't become to much of an annoyance." Starling nodded at that she would be sending a report back to the Master in the coming days and request for perhaps more drones to monitor the beaten force and to help them evaluate the closest villages and locations for possible attacks towards establishing footholds that would be a blow to their barbaric enemies. "With our victory over their pitiful invasion of six thousand that brings the total number of casualties on their side of about sixty six million." Lynn said as she read off the latest casualty list. They all thought about the implication of that, this empire had sent an invasion force that was easily destroyed and then they sent their vessels into a hopeless fight against an enemy with vastly superior weapons and tactics.

It was obvious that this Molt was hoping to weaken his opponents as a means to tighten his grip on power but in the end it would only make subjugating this entire continent more simple, and more effective thanks to another key helper who had given the Master every detail of Falmart and its inhabitants. In honesty Cyclonis had no real interest in conquering just vessels but saw the potential of the other creatures being introduced to the Cyclonian army. But that was for the future and they still needed to complete their base of operations on the hill and then start looking into possible recruits for their army and for now their aim was to build and wait to see what the enemy would do next then plan accordingly. "I would like for both of you to accompany me in writing the report on our weapons tests preformed in battle and to provide additional support for what was most effective in braking the enemy morale since you both were on the front lines." Starling said to Which both Generals responded in unison. "Yes, General." They were all surprised by a cry of help from the masses of charred corpses in the rubble.

"Go find out if that unfortunate barbarian is going to be able to recover, I want to send a living message to whoever can come across him." Starling said immediately, with luck the surviving creature would be able to show the enemy what awaited them all and hoped they would continue to their hopeless fight against the Cyclonian Empire. Starling was very interested in what came next.

Because she along with her colleagues knew it was going to get a lot more interesting the more they pushed to the capital. And she wanted to see how desperate they were going to get.


AN: A bit shorter than I was hoping for but I wanted to give this character some flavor with battle perspectives, the next chapter will probably be about the prisoners perspective in the Cyclonian empire. And see how Cyclonis is thinking about how best to use their weapons against their enemies, dose that mean you'll see Roy possibly but don't hold your breath. More likely it'll be Pina and her knights perspective, I'll see where I take it. Until the next chapter I'll see.

I do want to say thank you to everyone who has either Followed or favored this, it's a real motivation and reviews would really be appreciated if I could get proper feedback on how I'm doing. So again thank you everyone so far who has found this story and I hope to continue working on this until it's finished. Stay safe everyone.

I just noticed that gave this the wrong chapter number my bad, it is my first fanfic on this site.