AU: I want to restate that this is a hobby and I do not make these chapters as if I was a regular writer. That being said I have a lot of chapters to post which are in draft form. Sorry for the late post, my summer schedule is kinda fucked already. I will be spending more time trying to improve the quality of my works which will be posted from time to time. Its hard to get motivated to work, I understand why animators on YouTube post so slowly now. I am drowning myself in Two-Steps-From-Hell cinematic WWII videos to get motivated again.
Around the entire Kingdom messengers on horseback and in the air on flying beasts flew around to deliver dire news; the Kingdom was invaded by traitors.
The messengers distributed pamphlets which detailed stories of survivors of the invasion and the horror they experienced. It also claimed that the runaway 4th prince and 2nd princess were allowing a foreign army to rule over them in exchange for their support.
(AU: well they aren't wrong).
At the end of the pamphlet was a call to arms, every man, every fighter, every hunter. Everyone no matter their age, gender nor social status was called to arms.
For those who read the pamphlet, many had not fought in the previous conflict, the civil war. Many saw it as a dynastic conflict which always occurs. However this new conflict stirred the loyalty they had to their homeland and created a strong desire to do their part and defend it.
Even if the horror stories recalled from the initial fighting were exaggerated, it reminded those readers what could happen to their homes. Many had not felt this emotion before.
Nationalism.
A very strong emotion which compels a person into a fight. This is what causes a soldier to throw himself into a machine nest, a civilian to pick up arms, a boy to buy war bonds, a woman to join the medics.
A willingness to die for the country. With this hundreds of thousands of people flocked to army bases around the Kingdom and were organized into reserves.
It took a while, too long to gather the new force. By the time all of the new forces assembled in the capital, the invaders had already seized control of half of the middle lands and all of the lower lands.
More than half the country lay in the hands of the invaders.
From his palace King Joseph Wallace stood on a balcony overlooking the massive army which gathered in the capital.
600000 soldiers total have gathered. The vast majority of them were civilians. A third were female.
The industries around the remaining parts of the Kingdom under Epruilan control worked around the clock to produce equipment.
Their new allies in the Central Alliance (AU: simplified name so I can remember it) began providing foodstuffs, equipment and volunteers in the form of mercenaries.
The twelve heroes were also gathered to lead this massive army. The 600000 man army was split into armies of 50000 to be under command of one hero each.
King Joseph was reluctant to send his groomed heroes to fight this conflict since there was a good chance that most would die. It takes a vast amount of resources to summon hero class summons.
However the loss of more than half his realm in under a month was incredibly worrying. The enemy was simply too fast.
He heard rumors about the invaders. They fly flags of unknown origin, steel armored cannons several times larger and more powerful than theirs. Iron dragons which fly faster than a bird, even with a large frame. Huge iron armored ships which defy the laws of the water and float while weighing more than castles.
These sorts of tales were varied but the main thing they shared in common is that they used gunpowder weapons as freely as one would breathe.
Gunpowder was a rare commodity in the Kingdom of Epruilon as they did not have the local resources to make it. Most of their gunpowder was imported from the Alliance. This made magic powered cannons more useful than gunpowder cannons even though they tended to be less reliable. This was a driving reason behind Joseph's urging to enter the Alliance.
But their enemy used gunpowder cannons to such a degree that a hour's barrage fired from enemy guns would be the same as the paycheck for an entire corps for a week.
Just by having more gunpowder than the Kingdom was an advantage the unknown enemy possessed.
These thoughts raced around Joseph's mind as he prepared to make a speech in front of his new army.
The intricately designed double door open to allow Joseph to walk past, his red and purple King's robe flowed. His golden hair shone under his gold crown.
He stood on the balcony and looked down. The huge mass of people filling the main street and around the palace's main entrance which was opened to allow the citizens to listen to the speech.
Several rods were placed next to Joseph which would project his words further using magic. Essentially a crude microphone.
"My people, we have been attacked without provocation. The traitors, the 4th prince and 2nd princess have brought a foreign army to our homeland. They plan to take control of the Kingdom and hand over lands to the foreigners as payment. We cannot allow this to happen! Already half of our country has fallen. The fortress of Wallaceburg has collapsed. It's walls shattered, the population dead, and my own brother, Charles Wallace missing in the fighting. I have called for volunteers to join our army, a new army which will defeat the invaders! Already more volunteers than we an equip have joined our ranks! This new unstoppable force will reclaim our homeland!"
Joseph unsheathe his sword and pointed it to the sky. The watching crowd and soldiers cheered and raised their weapons. Their cries with the sound of horns echoed all throughout the city.
But oh it could be further from the truth.
The vast majority of soldiers were volunteers. That part is true. However the rest were filled with mercenaries which came from various nations in the Alliance. Unlike the volunteers the mercenaries had combat experience and were personally funded for equipment. The volunteers were untrained and underequipped conscripts at most.
Several Alliance nations sent expeditionary forces which filled some of the ranks of the armies of the heroes. These forces were relatively low in number but were easily useful as elite forces.
After the speech the massive force was split into the twelve armies. A hero led each army.
All of the armies split into corps of three, a grand total of 4 corps assembled.
However because these were new forces which have never worked together before, Joseph could not be more wrong in how he called them 'unstoppable'.
The first and fourth corps started to march south to guard the road which led straight to the capital, Minas. The third corps marched east to protect the flank and the second west to do the same.
Their main goal was to reach the city of Gill which sat on the geographical center of the Kingdom. However due to a lack of rivers the city never developed significantly but as far as Joseph knew their garrison had not fallen yet.
Six heroes with their armies marched south, all of them were boosting morale during the march with their presence and occasional demonstrations of skill. Acting as vanguard for the 1st corps, the 6th army under Hero Jake Harrison proceeded with caution. His five divisions of 10000 each moved in a pentagon shape. His division was towards the rear of the vanguard while the other four divisions created the points for a pentagon shape.
They kept advancing while resting periodically. Because they were the vanguard they were 5km in front of the main force.
"Keep in touch with the forward scouts. We cannot risk an ambush."
Jake was speaking to a man with a lieutenant rank. His helmet was very similar to a WWI British helmet but with metal ear guards and cheek guards. They all wore blue uniforms under their plate armor.
Jake's magical sword hung at his waist. It swayed with his movements.
Jake was currently on horseback so as to not tire himself out by walking. The majority of his force was made of light infantry. His personal unit of 300 heavy cavalry were the main force of his division.
Donned in heavy plate armor and wielding heavy shields and lances they were mobile and fast. Armored cannons were much slower compared to them. It is also to be noted that all 300 cavalrymen were at least intermediate level in magic.
Jake was a flame swordsman so being horseback wasn't in skill set. He was the lightest armored man in his heavy cavalry unit. His sword was as deadly as a lance in piercing ability but he could dismount to fight on foot. The heavy cavalry could not.
Jake was watching the road in front of him. They were entering a heavily wooded area. Cavalry would be hard to use here.
"Stop. Signal the army to stop."
The lieutenant pulled a horn out and blew through it. The echo reverberated through the air and the entire army stopped in front of the forest.
"Have the first division scout for us. We will wait for them outside the forest."
"Yes sir."
The lieutenant whipped his horse to move. They raced towards the forest to notify the first division.
After 20 minutes the lieutenant returned to Jake.
"Hero sir, the first division will advance into the forest. The second division will follow. After the first division passes through they will send us a magical flare as a signal."
"Got that."
Jake turned around to glance at his army. Never had he ever thought he would be riding a horse, especially as a commander of an entire army. Jake's original world was one plagued with war. His original home of the country, the Empire of Gold, was a nation of combat. Their economy was geared for war and have been fighting a never ending war for half a century already. Jake was a low ranking officer before his summon. His regiment that he led was ambushed by local militias during a fight with neighboring nations. 400 men fell including himself but he was summoned before his death. His summoning gave him new powers over fire and he was acclaimed to be a hero.
Obviously this all went to his head. He was a low ranking officer who jumped to the status of a hero. Now he had his own army, a literal Napoleon ego minus everything which made Napoleon great. Eager to win glory which was denied to him in his old world he volunteered his army to serve as vanguard to their dismay.
After waiting for 10 minutes a loud boom echoed from deep inside the forest.
All heads turned to the explosion which gave off black clouds of smoke which rose above the forest.
Jake was quick to react and rallied his cavalry. Without consulting his fellow officers who commanded the other three infantry divisions, his unit of 300 heavy cavalry stormed into the forest to investigate.
They rode fast weaving through the many trees which populated the forest. Small shrubbery which impeded the horses were quickly cut with small jets of magic.
Within minutes the entire cavalry force entered an open area in the middle of the forest.
All around them telltale signs of combat littered the trees and ground. Bodies riddled with holes and a huge blackened crater which appeared to have created the opening in the forest in the first place.
"What the hell?"
Jake dismounted and picked up a helmet which belonged to the first division. A thumb sized hole was created in the temple.
Jake threw aside the helmet and drew his sword. Several heavy cavalrymen were trotting around and examining the corpses.
In front of the cavalry unit a faint click sounded.
Jake quickly jerked to the sound.
"Identify yourself!"
The cavalrymen all gathered around Jake as he mounted his horse. They all faced the source of the sound.
Then suddenly from the left side a loud mechanical chatter began. From the brush bullets burst from the cover.
An ambush.
The sounds of bullets hitting armor and ricocheting mixed with the screams of the men as the bullets penetrated their armor.
In the first 10 seconds 40 cavalrymen fell from their horses.
The heavy cavalry were simply too heavy for their own good. Their armor was great for creating a organic tank which went in one direction. However since their armor was concentrated in their fronts, their sides were exposed.
The guns of the ambushers quickly exploited this.
Caught in the open and without space to run the entire unit was quickly under intense fire.
Several cavalrymen tried to break the ambush by rushing the source of the gun chatter. The guns swiveled onto them and dispatched them with ease.
Jake himself wore custom ordered armor which was enchanted with defensive magic. It was due to this armor which allowed him to not be immediately killed in the gunfire.
He swung his sword wildly in a futile attempt to block all of the bullets. As he swung his sword, his men kept falling one by one until he was the sole soldier left.
His armor was becoming dangerously hot from the friction the bullets created when they struck his armor. Cracks and flakes were beginning to appear.
A fateful shot rang out. A sniper who was looking for gaps in Jake's armor found his target and put a bullet through the openings of his helm. The bullet smashed through his left eye and traveled straight into his brain.
The bullet did not stop there as it exited through the rear of his skull, penetrating the back of the helm. Bits of brain matter, bone and tissue exited alongside the bullet.
After fighting a losing battle, the hero finally fell to the blood-soaked earth.
The loss of the hero was detrimental to the morale of the vanguard. Two whole divisions were unable to be contacted as well as their commanding hero had rushed ahead of the army leaving the chain of command paralyzed.
The second in command was captain John Sale. He was in charge of the 3rd division which was supposed to enter the forest after the signal was sent.
He had two choices; go after the hero and willingly walk into a trap or return to the main force, preserving strength and risking execution for insubordination.
"Shit! That idiot of a hero!"
He spat into the ground and turned his horse around.
"Retreat!"
The 6th army, now depleted in strength, returned to the main force. John was spared from a court martial because his orders were strictly for reconnaissance and not combat. The hero Jake Harrison had disobeyed these orders.
He chose to abandon any chances at recovering survivors and ordered a retreat from the forest. The surviving three divisions all turned and left hastily.
When the reached the main force, they found them camped alongside the road
With the 6th army now severely reduced in strength they were evacuated back to Minas. The 1st and 4th corps were now given a choice; continue the order or fall back.
Upon linking up with the main force, John immediately found himself apprehended by elite guards which compromised the personal guard unit for the heroes themselves.
Dragging him by the arms, two guards pushed him onto his knees in front of a semicircle of armor-clad individuals.
"How dare you return!"
From the semicircle a helmed figure stepped forward. Her red hair flared down from the sides and back of her helm. Two piercing green eyes stared at the kneeled John who couldn't meet her eye.
He knew who this was. Lorelei Hapsburg, the most powerful of all heroes summoned by the Kingdom. Her last name was one allegedly from a very powerful nation in the other world. It was not only her noble status which made her infamous amongst the army but her sadistic attitude.
She put her left foot on the back of John's head and began to put pressure onto his skull. He resisted with all of his strength but the power of a hero was far greater than his own strength.
Berating him while torturing him, Lorelei began to yell at him. With every yell she lifted and stomped down on his head.
"Did you check for the ambush!"
Stomp
"Did you even search for the hero!"
Stomp
"Tell me!"
This time she lifted her foot and did not press down. John relaxed and tried to look up to the hero from his kneeling position. When he locked eyes with the war maiden she had a sadistic smile spread across her face. Horrified John's expression contorted into disgust.
A bad move.
Lorelei saw this and changed her expression to one of hate. She then slammed her heel into his face, with her metal boots on, and the sickening crunch of bone breaking caused all the other heroes in the room to flinch. They did not move fearing Lorelei's wrath being placed onto them.
John cried out in pain and fell face down into the luxurious red and yellow carpet which lined the floor of the tent. His face was buried into his hands, clutching his damaged parts which included his nose, right eye, jaw and other muscles and bones.
Blood leaked from his hands as he tried to cradle whatever pieces of his face he could hold onto but some were lost and spilled onto the floor.
He felt faint as blood was draining from his head, he could feel light as his brain suffered from a lack of blood.
The commander of the 1st corps, Duke Mark Allais, sat on a plain wooden chair which was next to a small table located to the right of John who was dying on the carpet facing the direct rear of the tent.
He watched with amusement as the war maiden spat at the suffering colonel and turned to walk away.
"I am bored, if you need me Duke Allais I am in my quarters."
She was followed by Ryan Cohen, a fellow hero who had the occupation of a brawler with a chaos affinity. He was basically a pet of Lorelei.
The only two heroes left in the room was Andrew Zhou, a Taiwanese Canadian and Celia Moreau an Algerian French national who used to live in Nice. Andrew was a legionnaire while Celia was a healer.
The Duke turned to these two and addressed them.
"Hero Celia, please heal the colonel, his bodily fluids are ruining my carpet."
"Yes Duke."
The Duke then got up from his chair and left the tent though its doorway.
Celia knelt down to a dying John who had given up trying to hold his crushed bones in place. Andrew grimaced at the scene and cursed silently.
Celia placed her white wooden staff over John's crushed body and whispered softly. Andrew recognized the familiar sound of Arabic words as she healed the broken body.
The white light linked with various pieces of John on the carpet and lifted them. The parts then were reattached to his face. The light also closed several wounds around his eye socket and nasal cavity.
In all Celia managed to put his face back together more of less. However she could not heal everything. The eye was a complex organ which was above her ability to reconstruct as it was damaged so badly from the strike. Scars crisscrossed John's new face in areas where the damage was most severe such as his right corner of his mouth and right nostril.
The healed John was still not moving but Celia could hear his pulse when she put her right ear to his chest.
"He's alive, its a miracle that he didn't outright die from that strike."
Celia got off the blood-stained carpet and brushed her pants of residue.
Andrew was dressed in armor which looked like Roman era heavy legionnaire armor, vastly different to the Victorian style of the Kingdom. Like Celia his outfit was a glaring misfit.
He couldn't help to notice her green headscarf which clashed with her blue army uniform. She also had small patches of light armor on her chest, arms and legs.
Andrew shook the thought from his mind and cleared his throat.
"How despicable. First slavery now its power trips from elitists. How bad can this get?"
Celia looked at Andrew. Even though she was a full 30 cm shorter than he was her aura was far greater.
She got within five cm with Andrew and looked him in the eyes.
"Look Andrew. I don't know what time period you are from but I can assure you that I have been through worse."
Celia looked at him. Andrew could not read her emotions. He was impartial between anger and frustration. He chose frustration.
"I'm sorry Celia. I don't know how you have lived with until we met all those months ago. I lived during times of conflict too."
Celia softened a bit and walked a short distance from Andrew. She looked at the unconscious body of John.
"Andrew, hear me out."
Andrew perked up.
"I am all ears."
"Run away with me."
"Of cour... wait what?"
"You heard me."
Celia got even closer to Andrew and gripped his collar from under his armor. Her face was millimeters from his.
"I don't want to fight for corrupt nation against my will. I think I can trust you."
Andrew opened his mouth to respond but two soldiers walked right into the tent.
"Heroes! Sorry to disturb your personal time but the orders to march have been given."
Andrew could not give his response in fear of the soldiers discovering Celia's plot to go AWOL.
"Celia, we will talk about this later."
She looked troubled but agreed to talk at a later time.
Celia walked out the tent with one soldier in tow. Andrew watched her leave.
"Sir, can we go back to the army?"
"Ah, yes. Lets go."
Despite the brutal beating of colonel John, his words did not go unheard.
The two corps were informed of the location of the ambush and prepared to clear it before moving on to the designated point.
The forest in which the 6th army was ambushed was now faced with 250000 soldiers of the advancing two corps minus the depleted 6th army.
The forest was still smothering with black smoke from the previous battle. The smoke can be seen from above the forest.
The vanguard division of the 1st corps was the 2nd army. It's 50000 troops led by hero Andrew Zhou.
Andrew was different from the other heroes. He did not share their sentiments about the Kingdom of Epruilon.
He had voiced his opinion about the treatment of summons inside the Kingdom. The vast majority of the other heroes were adverse to his opinion and largely ignored him. Several did support him and helped him to officially protest against the Junta. Before they could mount a serious protest they were summoned to lead the armies.
Andrew wondered about their enemies. He had studied maps in the capital of Minas. Even if there were few maps about the lower lands there should be at least an indication about another country. Yet there was none.
He seriously doubted that his peasant army could fight a threat which wiped out the entire southern region.
Andrew was an elemental hero. His ability was part of the four core elements; water, fire, earth and wind. His was earth. More specifically he was a legionnaire with an affinity to the earth element. This meant that his occupation was essentially that of a heavy infantryman.
His plate and chainmail armor clinked together as he marched with his soldiers. A large shield in his left hand and a spear in his right. A short sword jingled at his left waist.
His army marched forward towards the forest and began to spread out. All five divisions stood in a large line which stretched for many kilometers.
Andrew glanced around to his soldiers. Many were untrained volunteers and conscripts. He knew that they had a very low combat effectiveness.
"Advance!"
The entire line started marching. A drummer in front of each regiment started beating a rhythmic beat.
They shuffled into the forest and started to march through. The entire 1st corps followed behind them while the 4th corp acted as reserves and support.
They kept marching forward deeper into the forest. In the frontline Andrew started sweating under his armor. The dense forest made it great for ambushes and he fully expected for a horde of enemies to burst from the tree line and attack their lines.
However as they kept advancing Andrew began to settle down. The ambush never came.
His army came across the corpses of the 6th army and the smoldering crater which annihilated two divisions.
He held back the urge to throw up when looking at the charred bodies and chewed up armor.
Several of his men couldn't help themselves and leaned over to throw up.
With this appalling image burned into their consciousness they continued to march until they exited the forest.
Because they had successfully passed through the forest Andrew ordered that his mages send the signals.
The mage raised his hand to the sky and chanted. A single green colored magical bolt arced into the sky and exploded signaling the rest of the corps to enter.
Just then a flurry of black objects raced past at very high speeds and dove on the forest. Small black cylinders flew off the objects and entered the forest canopy.
Andrew instinctively knew what they were.
"Planes! Everyone find cover!"
His army caught off guard by their commander's outburst and the sudden appearance of the planes, they were late in reacting. The forest burst into flames as the bombs dropped from the planes exploded.
Andrew was thrown onto the ground from the shockwave. His army too was blown away. The soldiers stumbled onto their stomachs from the explosion. Several were injured during their fall.
From his prime position Andrew lifted his helm to the hills beyond the forest. He could see tanks, hundreds of tanks, moving down the hill and racing towards them.
It dawned on Andrew how bad their situation was. Caught between the burning forest and the approaching enemy, Andrew saw no way out of this situation which did not warrant his death and the deaths of his men.
"Everyone throw down your weapons!"
Andrew dropped his shield and spear and raised his hands in a pose of surrender.
His men which were shaken from the aerial bombardment and the thunder of the approaching enemy. Remembering the horrible state of the corpses of the 6th army was enough to make the entire 2nd army surrender with Andrew.
The tanks and armored vehicles accompanied with infantry weaved around them. The enemy infantry started to bark orders at the surrendered 2nd army. Using their guns they disarmed the entire army and began to force them to raise their arms. Several enemy soldiers had a handbook written by the Kaiser about basic Imperial language.
A soldier carrying a wooden rifle stopped in front of Andrew.
"You… leader…?"
"Yes."
"Come."
Andrew was escorted by the soldier to a tank which stopped next to the surrendered 2nd army. At the commander's port a man dressed in black with headphones was speaking to an infantryman next to the tank.
When the commander saw Andrew he dismissed the soldier he was talking to.
"Hello… you… leader?"
"Yes."
Andrew saw the insignia in the tanks and looked at the uniforms of the soldiers. He recognized the tank from a documentary he watched in social studies years back.
"Germans?"
The commander and his escort soldier perked up at this word. Andrew knew he was correct, but how? The Germany he knew no longer used these uniforms and tanks. They were vintage to him, relics of a bloody past.
Andrew switched to English.
"Can you understand English?"
"Yes, small bit."
The commander was now leaning towards Andrew from his port.
"You Japanese?"
"No Chinese."
"Oh, why do you speak English?"
"I am a Canadian."
"Oh I see."
He glanced at Andrew's strange metal armor. He didn't know that Canadian fashion included heavy armored plates.
The commander was writing on a notepad things that Andrew said.
"How did a Canadian get into the Kingdom's army?"
"I don't really know. I was summoned as a hero."
The commander was puzzled by this but still wrote it down.
The commander switched to German and spoke to the guard.
"Give our Canadian prisoner the best care. He is the commander nevertheless."
"Jawohl."
"Also lead the POWs to our camp. Let the KST deal with them later."
Andrew was brought to a truck and loaded into the back. Several more Germans were with him.
The truck turned to leave, giving Andrew a view of the burning forest. The tanks plunged into the forest and the cries and clashes of metal faintly echoed.
Andrew grimaced when the district buzzing of machine guns echoed after.
Two more dive bombers dropped their ordnance into their forest sending off more billowing clouds of smoke.
His 2nd army was marching at gunpoint by the Germans.
Andrew watched as three soldiers refused to march and wrestled with a German soldier. A punch was thrown and the sound of submachine gun fire jolted him.
He looked back to three bodies and more Germans started shouting at the mob of disarmed Epruilans.
They were struggling to get the captured soldiers to move. However a spray of a MG34 in the air got them to cooperate.
The truck tumbled towards the camp. The soldiers inside the truck didn't talk to Andrew the entire trip.
Once they reached the camp they ushered Andrew out.
Andrew was greeted by a huge complex ringed with trenches and metal fences.
Large barracks were constructed from concrete and wood. Tent lots of mesh were thrown together to form the walls of barracks.
Andre could see howitzers and heavy artillery inside dugout pits. He saw cannons in the Kingdom, those cannot compare to these high caliber guns.
Andrew was led to a large tent in which a man was sitting in a chair. He was drinking a cup of what smelled like coffee. Oh how Andrew missed coffee. That didn't exist in the Kingdom.
The man noticed Andrew and waved him to sit.
Once Andrew got closer he could see who the man was. To his amazement he recognized the man.
"Hello Epruilan commander, I am Major General Erwin Rommel."