Year 23,434 G.E.

It was a majestic sight.

Hundreds of warships lined the shores with all their cannons aimed at the army facing them on the land. The water behind those hundreds of warships consisted of even more warships filled to the brim with an army. 

On the most eye-catching and grand ship stood a male of good height whistling in appreciation, staring at the shore where hundreds of knights in shining armor, robed mages with large staffs in hand and armored soldiers stood in file with a hint of contempt. 

He was Heero, Chief Commander of the army, and as his name was suggested he was a Japanese who had suddenly found himself in another world. And in this world, with a few years of effort he had raised an army from a society led by archaic means into an efficient and powerful force that could sweep the world.

“Start the attack.” Off by his side his adjutant started to relay his command using a communication device. 

Soon the cannons that had previously only been aiming at the opposing army began to fire with only a short downtime to reload the ammunition, something that no other army was capable of replicating.

Rather than a cannon, the correct term to call them would be artillery cannon. With each explosive round fired the silver army retreated further and further allowing Heero’s ships to sail closer until they were able to lower the gangway to allow their soldiers to dismount.

Heero frowned as his superior eyes caught onto the action of the opposing army. There was now a line of knights in heavy armor with large tower shields, each one of them spaced an equal distance apart. They had raised their tower shield ahead of them and from them a magic barrier was deployed.

The explosive rounds of the artillery battered the barriers, but despite the tremors running through them they held strong against the explosive barrage.

“Alice can you tell what spell they are using?”

Behind stood a young woman who was about early twenties by Earth standards. Her flowing gold locks highlighted her fair skin, and her crystal blue eyes more beautiful than any jewel. She wore a silver tiara and a white dress with a coat over it and in her hand a bone white staff. “It seems to be a barrier spell that redirects any force onto it to another direction, and from the perfect cohesion it seems they are all linked so there are no weak points. Dispersal type barriers are famed for using little mana and long lasting defense.”

Heero frowned as his hand gripped the handle of his katana. “How long would it take for the artillery to break through?”

Alice shook her head. “It doesn’t seem to be the magical abilities of the knight themselves, but from their shields. I’ve heard rumors concerning the abundance of magic items in the Elysius Theocracy, but only by seeing with my own eyes do I comprehend how abundant they truly are. We would sooner run out of ammunition than break through.”

As they were speaking, a large number of magic bombarded the ships. They looked to be harmless magic arrows at first and were easily struck midair but upon contact they exploded like smaller versions of the artillery rounds. 

“We don’t have time for our army to land and pincer them. I’ll have to pierce the barrier allowing our cannons to occupy them once more.” Heero was about to launch off the ship but a hand holding his elbow stopped him, he looked back to see Alice’s worried filled eyes. Heero gave a comforting smile as he grasped Alice’s hand in his own.

“Don’t worry, I’m invincible remember?” Heero gave a mighty knock on his black armor, made from a dragon’s scale in combination with plate armor made of adamantium, the strongest metal available to mortals. “I even slayed a dragon god remember?”

At this Alice could only reluctantly release him from her grasp, but her eyes remained unchanged. Heero smiled wryly as he lowered his head to kiss her, Alice felt her face heat up but did not resist. “Besides I cannot allow our men to needlessly sacrifice their lives when I can easily prevent it.”

With those words Heero jumped off the ship and landed onto the shore, his white and red cape fluttering behind him bearing the gold emblem of a majestic lion over a fallen dragon. With a shiiinnnng Heero unsheathed his katana, a treasured magic sword that was taken from the now fallen Samusa Kingdom.

Launching himself into the air, Heero dived towards the barrier like a falcon and with a strike of his sword cleaved through the barrier and tower shield in two. The knight had a shocked look in his eyes even as his head was sent flying through the air. 

The surrounding knights were stunned and dazed by the sudden development, a fact that Heero judicially took advantage of. Knights after knights fell and the line formation was turned into disarray all because of one person. 

Flocks after flocks of knights fell under Heero’s katana, yet not a speck of blood could be seen on it as it shined gloriously under the sun’s light. 

Heero’s eyes remained clear as he consciously prevented himself from wiping out too many enemies at once, hindering the opposing mage’s opportunity to bombard him with magic. 

Moments passed and Heero observed his surroundings. Knights surrounded him in a large circle, but the tower shield knights were no longer able to sustain the formation allowing the artillery to bombard the silver army once more, neglecting the area where Heero was in of course. 

“Since I’ve accomplished my I should really retreat, but...it would be a waste to not release tension I’ve accumulated sailing through the Blue Abyssal Sea. If Heero could travel back through time, he would have chosen to conquer the Xuan Dynasty instead of directly sailing to the Elysius Theocracy. Because as it turned out his soldiers were heavily disadvantaged against giant sea monsters that seem obsessed with sinking as many ships as possible during his journey. 

With a battle cry, loud shockwaves erupted from Heero and stunned the surrounding knights. Using this chance Heero made a round slash and from his katana erupted a circular sword ring made of mana that lacerated the circle of knights.

With another jump Heero dived towards a group of enemy mages, his swords easily slicing through their robes and body, bisecting them whole and alive. 

The silver army soldiers were like pigs in a slaughterhouse.

Wherever Heero’s katana passed, a red flower bloomed. Chaos erupted as the ground was cleaved in two, the earth shattered and bodies were speared by erupting earth spears. The fives rings on Heero’s left hand flashed as a fireball was launched from his hand, cooking the knight in his armor alive. 

Heero’s fun was stopped as the silver army members started to be pierced by bullets. He looked towards the back to see his “green” army with their flintlock rifles in a firing pose. They were lined in unison with the front on their knees firing while the second row behind them in a standing position. Once the members of the two rows were done firing, third and fourth would come forth and replace the first and second row while the original first and second row would retreat to the back in order to reload their rifles. 

There was a saying on the planet of Gaia that the army with the longest spear would grasp victory and thus Heero’s army with its far reaching “long spear” reigned supreme. 

“Chief! Are you unharmed?” A woman in her mid twenties by Earth years and short brown hair in a bob cut asked with great concern as she saluted with her hands. She wore the same multi green toned uniform of the all members of the army with a badge on her left chest signifying her rank, but even the baggy uniform couldn’t hide her bountiful chest, and a small revolver on her hip.

“I’m completely fine Sarah. With the level of skill the army of Elysius had, it would take a miracle for them to injure even a strand of hair on me.” Heero scratched his cheeks as Sarah, a general of his army, started to inspect him for even the slightest cut on him. She only let him go after she finished giving him a one over.

“Commander!” But she was not done. “I must once again emphasize the foolishness of rushing into the enemy formation alone, especially since you are the Chief Commander. Were you to fall then all our efforts would go down the drain!”

Heero held his hand in a placating manner at Sarah’s rebuke with no bearing of Chief Commander and Sarah’s superior. Sarah’s adjutants just nonchalantly watched, far too used to such a scene.

After reassuring Sarah that he would no longer repeat such an action unless absolutely necessary, Heero made his way back towards the ships where he met Alice who released a smile at Heero’s safe return and a girl with flaming red hair.

Marie was her name and she wore a red gothic dress with a large witch hat on her head and a wooden staff that she was currently using for support. She held a hand over mouth as she struggled to stand on the land, evidently nauseous by the green tone of her face.

“Haha, little Marie is still too sick even on land huh?” Heero cheerfully greeted the little red devil. To which the girl responded by moving her hand away from her mouth and giving Heero a middle finger. But that was too much as she fell onto her knees and released the contents of her stomach. Alice skillfully sidestepped any splash damage from Marie's disgusting action.

Heero good naturedly strokes Marie’s back in a comforting manner. Unfortunately Heero didn’t carry any knowledge to deal with seasickness that hasn’t already been given by the experienced sailors.

Back with his party members, a core group that he had assembled back in his earliest days in this new world, Heero looked back onto the battle. Calling it a one sided affair would be far too kind. 

The infantry despite wearing light armor and chainmail were of no use to the bullets used by Heero’s systemic army. The only surprise were the knights who had army that the bullets couldn’t easily pierce but a hundred bullets flying towards a knight would eventually hit a chink in that armor causing death in the end.

Heero gave no order to let the enemy army go, from his experience allowing too many enemies to flee would lead to the next army being more prepared. A frown marred his face as he recalled the tower shield barrier, something that could deflect his artillery, one his trump cards that no army previously could defend against. 

Although this could be attributed to this army being a coastal defense force against outside invaders and even then they only had less than a hundred of such tower shield knights. But what of the capital, Elysium?

Because Heero had decided to sail across the sail to reach the Heartlands continent, his army was limited by the supply they could carry. There was no hope of a resupply line from half of his forces stationed back in the fallen Samusa Kingdom due to the large number of monsters in the sea. They could have used the sea between the Heartlands continent and the Xuan Dynasty had Heero decided to conquer it first but he decided against in favor of a surgical strike against the longest lasting nation, the Elysius Theocracy, with a capital that existed since the Greatwyrm Era Calendar started.

“Looks like I have to play a more active role in the siege against Elysium, sorry Sarah. Otherwise we may run out of supplies before we can take over the Elysius Theocracy.” Heero smiled wryly as he watched his army wrap up the remaining army of Elysius’ coastal defense force.

---

Within the marble walls of Elysium a gathering of governmental officials all sat in a circular room with curved rows upon rows. Within the Senate Chambers the members of the government sat the highest members of the Elysius Theocracy. The outer edges sat the Senatorial Bishops and Archbishops and in the central table from where they all faced were the four Cardinals. 

And on the central table was a levitating orb that replayed the battle between Heero’s army and the Elysius Theocracy’s coastal defense force. As the last scene was finished the chamber broke in uproar at the state of the army.

“How savage! Not even accepting surrender and invading without declaring war!”

“Savage indeed as expected from heretic!”

“How did a savage manage to replicate our secret weapons?”

“This is a crime against the Holy Sovereign!”

“This defilement cannot stand.”

“We must send a punitive force to show these brutes why we have stood from the first year of the Greatwyrm Era!”

“No! Without the Black God’s permission we are not allowed to bring out the longspears!”

“This is a special case, if we cannot use our longspears then we will be sending our men to their death.”

“I say we send out a special force to kidnap and extract information from one of their commanding officers.”

“If we were not to send out a force, what are we to do about the towns and cities separating us from them!?”

“Silence”

At the sound of the gavel pounding down, all of the clergy within the Senate Chambers quieted down as they all gazed upon the North Cardinal who had pounded the gavel, the leader of the four Cardinals. 

“First I would like to distribute the information of what we know about this invading force.” The wizened Cardinal said, his tone completely calm. At this the scribes passed out pamphlets to the members of the senate.

“I would like to ask, why is it only now we are receiving information about this...” The East Cardinal looked at his pamphlet and squinted his eyes behind his glasses. “Nippon Army?”

The South Cardinal spoke. “To be honest, it would be because it was too sudden. It was around a month ago that I received news that the Samusa Kingdom, a nation of brave warriors and strong standing army, had been felled by this Nippon Army led by Heero.” He sighed in regret. “The information that I’ve gathered so far is that they have sailed from the Fractured Lands to the west of the Greater Horn Continent through an unknown method and quickly destroyed a coastal nation. Then they turned their attention towards the east and conquered every nation in their way towards the Samusa Kingdom.”

“Naturally I sent informats to gather information concerning this unknown army, but at most I expected them to digest their harvest before starting war with the Xuan Dynasty as the area north of the Samusa Kingdom is not worth conquering for an army that conquered Samusa. But never in all my years did I expect they would have such recklessness to cross the forbidden Blue Abyssal Sea ruled by the Blue God. But I have gathered that the Samusa Kingdom fell in less than two months.” At the South Cardinal’s words the whole room erupted in uproar.

“How is that possible!? In only two months, preposterous!”

“Considering that they replicated the divine weapon designed by his holiness, I think not! In fact it should have taken them less time!”

“Less time!?”

Again the gavel sounded. “So as we are now, we have no information concerning this foreign army aside from what we have just witnessed through the Monitor Orb and from what the South Cardinal gathered. Men we are at a crisis, one that will need swift and decisive action in order to divert this crisis. What proposal do we have?”

“The invaders have shown that they care not for the diplomacy of war and have no plan accepting surrenders, so our future action must be taken in account that they aim to exterminate us permanently.”

“Agreed.”

“Our greatest concern is their longspears. Our God, the Holy Sovereign, has forbidden the collection of longspears hundreds of years ago. Aside from supplying our elite sniper units, none of our regular army are equipped with such a weapon.”

“Looking at these reports and the state of battle, I can see why the merciful Holy Sovereign has sealed the longspears in consideration of the balance of war. Such a terrible weapon, with an army equipped with long spears they are practically invincible and inevitable. In the Holy Sovereign’s own words, this is simply breaking the balance of war.”

“But this is a special circumstance, should we not unseal our own longspears to combat the replicas?”

“No! Without the explicit permission of the Holy Sovereign we are not to carelessly bring out unseal the longspears. Although the invading force indeed has longspears, they are but poor imitations of the Holy Sovereign’s true longspears. I say we send the first and second army to crush them with overwhelming force.”

“Preposterous. The Holy Sovereign will have mercy on us if we unseal the longspears, but to send our men against longspears without our own? That would be sending the majority of them to their deaths, the Holy Sovereign will have our souls for such a transgression!”

“We cannot disturb the Holy Sovereign with such a minor problem! The Holy Sovereign has not descended from the Orbital City Elysium for hundreds of years due to major matters. At most, her loyal celestials will summon us into the Orbital City in order to give providence!”

“Minor matter? The army is the representation of the Holy Sovereign’s influence on this land and her will. Allowing unneeded casualties will affect the Holy Sovereign’s prestige!”

“Enough! While we can argue on the bases of the matter, there is a crisis upon us. General what would be our strategies in dealing upon these heretics?”

“Reporting to your eminence, should we not unseal our longspears we have two outlines of action we could take. The first would be as suggested to crush them with overwhelming numbers as soon as possible. We would use Barrier Knights in a formation that would allow them to enclose the army rendering their longspears ineffective. But the problem would be the enemy commander, we have no one in our ranks able to match such a monster.”

“How many men would it take to take down the enemy commander?”

“I have no clear estimate, but I estimate anywhere from a full regiment to a corps. The enemy commander has shown capabilities to decimate several orders of knights easily without seeming to tire. We also have no information on the magic capabilities of the invading army and would need to dispatch several Mage Orders in order to prevent any unforeseen events.”

The senate member began to debate such an action and soon asked for the other strategy.

“Our second course of action would be to have them siege the Outer City of Elysium.” At his words the chamber exploded.

“Are you mad?”

“To have heretic siege the holy city of our great God!?”

“Heresy!”

The sound of the gavel echoed instantly quieting the heated members. “Enough! We are to hear the strategy, any discussions are to be had afterwards. General continue.”

“Thank you, your eminence. We shall evacuate all the towns and cities leading to Elysium in order to force the invading army into a siege. They sailed from the Blue Abyssal Sea and thus there is a high chance they will not be able to resupply except for what they loot. Any supply from the Xuan Dynasty is also equally impossible, our ambassador will make sure of that. Deprived of any resupplies, the enemy will aim straight for us where they are in range of our mjolnir artillery spears”

“General and if they were to make a detour to attack other cities and towns?”

The general smiled. “The enemy from my analysis is highly confident. After recuperation from conquering the Samusa Kingdom, they did not try to attack the neighboring Xuan Dynasty. Instead they barred their fangs at us in a strategy that required a deft army with no hope of supply. I can’t imagine our enemy seeking anything else but a decisive victory.”

“Certainly, it is the strategy with the least sacrifices but...”

“We simply cannot allow such a travesty to occur, the prestige Elysius has amassed would crumble should news of this ever spread?”

“The procedure to accomplish the evacuation of our citizens would ignite panic and the process is highly complicated. Although our army might be unharmed, the economy would take a hit instead.”

“We should send out an army group so that we can crush them and nip the bud.”

Debate rang throughout the chambers as each member put forth their own thoughts, opinion was nearly equally divided, forcing the North Cardinal to put it to a vote.

At this time the Monitor Orb changed and a white throne room was displayed. And sitting upon the grand throne was a figure all the members were familiar with for they have seen her portraits. And then the image focused upon a magnificently dressed mage in white, his silvery white hair shimmered in the light.

The cardinals and bishops clasped their hands and bowed their heads in respect. “We greet the Holy Sovereign, the Black God. We greet the Lord Celestial Merlin.”

The woman on the throne did nothing but tilt her head, her six golden horns shimmered under the light with a dazzling glimmer. The mage in white spoke instead. “At ease, her holiness has heard of the invasion forces and has taken interest.”

The cardinals bowed their heads in shame. “For your holiness to be disrupted by mundane affairs, it is our sin.”

Merlin shook his head. “Her holiness has long taken interest in the invasion force, specifically the enemy commander.”

“Is he blessed one of the other Seven Pillar Gods?” If he was, the implication was world changing.

“No, the enemy commander isn’t related to the other gods. The reason for the interest is because he is an outsider to our world.” At Merlin’s word the room became deathly quiet.

“If I may be rude, are you telling us that the enemy commander is an agent of the abhorrent Outer God?”

“Although he is an outsider like the Outer God, he is not from the same reality. The methods of operation between the two are completely different. But his presence does pose a concern. He has even slayed dragons and bathed in its mana.”

A gasp rang out from the room. “D-dragon slayer!”

“To commit such a sin, this...this...this... must not be forgiven!”

Outrage poured from the members of the senate. Merlin held his chin in helplessness at their reaction. “Members of the senate, her holiness does not concern herself with the business of dragons aside from the other seven pillar gods. Dragon slaying, although abhorrent, is not the main matter at hand.”

Seeing the senate quiet down after the information had dispersed, Merlin smiled even deeper. “Her holiness will take control of the operation to capture the enemy commander alive.”

“Of course, we will obey to the utmost of our capabilities!”

---

Heero woke up to the sounds of movement outside his tent. When he attempted to rise, he found something wrapped around him, or rather someone. Under his sheets was Marie clinging onto his waist, sleeping soundly. 

Heero quietly removed Marie’s arm that was wrapped around him and after getting off the bed he tucked her. Deciding to forgo the armor that was still on the stand, he fastened his katana onto his waist. The young chief commander walked out of his tent to meet the smiling Alice, making Heero return the gesture.

However that smile was soon wiped off as Alice frowned and neared him. She took a few whiffs before she brusquely walked past him and into the tent. Feeling worried, Heero also returned inside his tent that blended into the sea of similar style tents. 

“Stop pretending to be sleeping you little devil!” Alice forcibly pulled off the blanket that Heero had painstakingly tucked Marie into. 

Marie, who had her blanket taken away, opened her eyes and sat up glaring at the blond woman. “What was that for you pampered princess?”

“Stop sneaking into Heero’s bed in the middle of the night!”

Heero took this time to place a comforting hand on Alice. “Come one Alice, she’s still a child. It’s normal for them to sleep with their siblings after all.”

Alice turned her frustration on Heero, while Marie started to sulk. “The reason she keeps sneaking is because you’re enabling her! This is an army she needs to grow up already!”

Heero cracked a smile while placing his hand in a defensive and placating manner as he tried to calm down Alice.

After that eventful morning, Heero held a plain hamburger in his hand while he rode his steed, a horse with dragon bloodline as evident by the scales and horns upon its head named Ryuu.

It had been several days since he discovered while traversing the paved roads of Elysium, something extremely impressive as his nation didn’t have any road system yet, that there was no town or cities in sight except empty patches of dented land where former towns and cities used to gather. The Elysius Theocracy seemed to have used an unknown method to relocate the towns and cities knowing that they were unable to defeat his army.

At least that’s what Heero concluded.

It didn’t worry Heero as his army was invincible anyways. His enemies wouldn’t go as far as to relocate their capital city right? And so with the greatest speed possible Heero and his army had traveled to Elysium, yesterday they had camped nearby with the cover of trees. And today was the fateful day of the battle.

His army was lined up in 7 divisions, all of them equipped with flintlock rifles. Their upright posture gave them a sense of pressure that spoke of thousands of battles and made them seem capable of fighting the entire world itself. 

By his side was his general Sarah, the princess Alice, and the prodigy mage Marie. He had taken out his telescope and was now observing the opposing army. The Elysium army number at least twice his own and this time each one of them were wearing full armor, unlike the coastal army which had a majority of lightly armored infantry. There were also members of the cavalry along with infantry. 

“All of them seem to be knights, our rifles will be hampered. And the number of mages is concerning for our infantry.” Heero looked at Sarah. “Tell our snipers to aim for the mages while our aces aim the commanders. Cutting off the head of the snake is one of the most tried and true strategies after all.”

Sarah nodded as she issued the snipers to prepare to take aim. However Heero did not give the order to start firing yet, the enemy was still out of their rifles’ range but not out of their artillery’s range. But the artillery had been covertly hidden and since they had no battles since the coastal victory none of the Elysiusian commanders should have any information about it.

Yet the army didn’t seem to charge which puzzled the young Japanese. It was as if the Elysiusian army was waiting for something. Heero soon received his answer as the space above the air shattered and from within floated down a large black platform that contrasted against the majestic white walls of Elysium. 

Heero took out his telescope once more to get a better view and upon the black platform stood twelve figures, six on each side of the throne in the center. And upon the throne sat a figure who despite the distance between Heero and her, Heero was still able to perceive her in perfect clarity unlike the other twelve figures. 

If Heero was to describe her beauty in an archetype, it would a Yamato Nadeshiko. The woman on the throne was wearing a dark purple qipao and had what seemed to be a golden crown made of numerous horns.

“What should we do Chief Commander?” Sarah asked, although she was the one asking both Alice and Marie looked towards Heero for instruction. 

“Hold. Until I give the command no one is to start firing.” Heero commanded as he continued to observe the new variable. Moments passed with the tension growing stronger until one of the figures on the black platform jumped down.

None of the knights reacted but the figure had dropped down into the shadow and that very shadow sped towards Heero. Marie raised her staff in preparation to cast a spell. However the shadow stopped at the center of the land between the two armies. And from within the shadow rose a man.

Heero with his eyesight and  telescope easily made out the feature of the man. He was about the same height as Heero and wore an ash green kimono with a katana sheathed at his waist. His features were that of a handsome young man with asian features. 

“Is he suggesting a parley?” Alice said with confusion. 

Heero however was greatly interested, especially by the man’s ability over shadows. “I’ll go meet with him.”

“You can’t!” Sarah interjected. “What if it’s a trap? Let me go instead.”

Heero shook his head. “It doesn’t seem like a trap, and if it was I doubt he will be able to do anything to me. Besides none of you can survive that man if he suddenly decides to sneak attack you, I sense a strong aura of blood around him.” Without waiting for any more possible objection Heero steered Ryuu towards the man.

Once the two were face to face Heero dismounted his steed and face within slashing distance of the man, to which the man gave a bloodthirsty smile.

“So what’s this for? A trap?” Heero asked unconcernedly.

“Of course not,”

“Then what is this parley for?” Heero raised an eyebrow. “You aren’t going to suggest I surrender are you?”

“Surrender?” The man barked a laugh as if it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “Do you think that invading this far into the Heartlands continent, we would let you leave alive?”

 “My army is invincible, no force is able stop it.” 

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” The man unsheathed his sword and pointed it at Heero. “I simply wanted to duel you.”

Heero raised an eyebrow once more as he motioned for his army to not fire. “Why would I want to fight you? My army is more than enough to put you down.”

“Oh come on, I practically begged her holiness for this chance. If you don’t accept this duel your army will just lose faster.”

Heero laughed.”I told you my army is invincible, but let’s pretend that you have a chance. What’s in it for me?”

“If you win, I’ll tell you a secret about how you traveled here from Earth” Heero’s carefree mood disappeared as he stared seriously at the man before him. “Well not me, but the Black God.”

“Fine.” Heero agreed, “But if that fake god of yours dares to lie to me then-”

“Woah, woah, fake god? She’s the real deal you know.”

“Don’t lie to me, I’ve slain a dragon before and they aren’t gods.”

The man didn’t become surprised like all the people Heero told before. “So? That’s a spirit, you know the difference between a spirit creature and god? Even ten of those dragons won’t hold a candle to a god.”

Heero frowned even more as he began to suspect the origin of that supposed god who sat on the throne. He unsheathed his katana and pointed it at the man. “Very well let’s fight.”

“Very well! I am one of the twelve celestials of-”

“Not interested.” With those words Heero struck but to his surprise the man easily dodged it. With a frown he sidestepped the incredibly fast counter of the man. The man didn’t attempt to introduce himself anymore and instead dived into the battle eager for bloodshed.

 Heero continued to find himself at a disadvantage as the battle continued, the man didn’t use anything special but pure skill with his sword as he pressured Heero with his incredibly fast and precise strikes.

“No, his strikes aren’t that fast.” Heero realized as the fight continued, his own pierces and slash were faster and he had greater strength. The reason Heero felt the man was faster was simply because of his techniques, in short he was far more skilled than Heero.

The battle raged on, but Heero found himself increasingly fatigued with each passing minute. Although there hasn’t been a decisive blow between either of them, Heero's armor had already been nicked countless times while the man didn’t even seem to have a scratch on him.

Knowing that the longer the battle dragged on the less advantaged he would have, Heero made a gamble. With a strike that tore asunder the ground, the air was pelted with small rocks which gave Heero an opportunity. With a mighty roar made a foolish wide sweep against the stunned man, if it was anyone with lesser strength that is.

Heero’s katana easily sliced into the man and left a deep gash that to Heero’s surprise didn’t leak any blood.

“Geez, that’s the problem you people with stupidly strong bodies have. You have subpar skills but you can still win against superiorly skilled opponents just because you have higher strength and never master the art.” 

Heero ignored the man and pointed his katana’s tip at the man’s head. “Now tell me what your god knows!”

The man smiled. “Don’t be in such a rush, you’ll know once you are captured.” With those words the man started to disappear into tiny particles. “By the way, her holiness wants to know if you have an orbital city too.” The man’s voice echoed as his body completely disappeared.

Heero’s face was unsightly as he glared hatefully at the black platform feeling cheated. The Elysium army showed no reaction to the loss so Heero mounted Ryuu once more and returned to his command position. 

“Sarah, aim the artillery at the black platform as our main target. Marie prepare an area of attack spell with the same target.” Sarah and Marie complied and along with Alice all three of them felt Heero’s gloomy mood. However none of them realized that within Heero’s gloominess lied wariness.

Having the artillery aimed, Heero ordered Marie to unleash her spell, Flame Asunder.

Blue fire began to gather above the black platform and descended like a sword of judgement. However failing Heero’s expectations, when the flame sword neared the black platform it began to dispersed and disintegrate from the bottom up. “So they have an anti-magic field? Commence the bombardment!”

Sarah obeyed and through her communication device ordered the artillery team to start bombardment.

Heero’s expectations once again as the round exploded upon an invisible force shield that was made visible by the smoke created from impact. “Damn them!” Heero gritted his teeth as he gripped his sword and prepared to break down the source of the barrier himself. This was something entirely out of his expectations with none of the conquered nations having a similar defense. 

His foolish charge was halted as he felt his surroundings become completely silent. He looked around, his companions discovering the same problem and even opening their mouth but no sounds coming out.

Having an unpleasant feeling, Heero frantically observed his surroundings to discover the cause of the field of silence. His answer soon came in the sounds of explosions behind his army that was far greater and louder than anything he created before. Turning completely around Heero came to see the sight of what could only be described as Heaven’s Wrath.

As beams of light descended onto the ground creating turbulent winds and gargantuan explosions. “Chief! I can’t contact our Artillery Division!” Sarah’s voice sounded frantic and distressed, something Heero could sympathize with if he had the time for it.

“Marie, what is that!? Is it a spell!?” Heero turned his attention towards Marie, the foremost expert in magic.

“N-n-no! I don’t know! I can’t detect any magic from the strikes! It doesn’t seem to be caused by magic!” Marie half cried out her answer, feeling to be in danger for the first time since she followed Heero.

“That’s impossible? How can such a thing be possible without magic?” Heero ironically found himself echoing the very same words of those who faced his army.

The source of the descending light soon revealed itself as it too descended. Heero could only stare at what he thought was a moon high up that never moved from its position in the sky. His eyes widened even further as the shape became visible. A hemisphere for a bottom with a city built atop and thousands of cannons poking out. He finally knew what the man meant by his final question.

Forcibly calming himself down he directed a glare at Sarah. “Order our men to charge!”

Sarah was stunned but quickly understood his intention. Like with their own artillery, they wouldn’t fire them if their own army was nearby. With a voice that seemed to bestow hope Sarah gave her orders. And like drowning men who clung onto a lifeboat, they charged forward like mad all semblance of order lost.

Heero himself charged with his three companions following close after. “I’ll repay this humiliation tenfolds, no... a hundred folds!” Heero roared with his katana raised. 

However unlike how it played out in his own mind, Heero began to see his soldiers fall in their charge completely unrelated from the orbital city behind them. But despite this they couldn’t stop as behind them was certain death, if they made it they had a slim chance at survival and perhaps even victory. 

Heero raised his left arm forward, injecting mana into his own barrier spell and shielded his companion who followed him. As Heero neared he soon discovered the reason why his soldiers fell so quickly.

Because lined up in rows were lightly armored knights holding white rifled that seemed more art than weapon. Their repeated shots hammered into Heero’s mind that his flintlock rifles were like a toy gun comparison as bullets after bullets were shot from the barrels. 

Heero slowed down as he observed the carnage that happened before him. His senses heightened as he took in how the bullets pierced through his men and pierced ten more behind that man. “What kind of weapon is that, not even Earth has those guns.”

“They railguns of course. I couldn’t come up with gunpowder so I had to substitute with magic and they came out quite nicely didn’t they?”

Heero’s head snapped at the source of the melodic voice as his eyes widened at the woman who sat on the throne not five meters away from him. He looked around and it seemed that the surrounding became a no firing ground.

“-p this.” It was a murmur at first but then it was a full blown roar. “STOP THIS MASSACRE AT ONCE!!!” Heero brandished his katana at the woman.

The woman blinked at him in surprise before chuckling. 

“How can you watch this happen, you monster!” Rage filled Heero’s head as ire was directed at the root the cause of all this.

“Monster?” The woman laughed even more. “I’m not exactly human anymore so I do have an excuse.” The woman smiled predatoryly at him. “But if you call this a massacre, what about you? You still are human and this is how you mowed down enemy armies.”

“They were necessary sacrifices for our just cause, not this meaningless massacre!” Sarah ahd roared out now with her revolver aimed at the woman. 

“Necessary sacrifice for what? Your creation of a nation? Acknowledgement for your egos?” The woman shook her head in disappointment. “I'd hoped that you would bravely acknowledge your own cruel actions and not have double standards in war. This is simply war where there are no just causes. This war too, I lured you here because I wanted to capture you.” The woman said as she pointed at Heero.

“I will never allow such a thing!” Sarah took aim and...

“I wouldn’t do that if I were-” The woman never finished as the bullet had already left the barrel and hit the woman’s barrier. However the bullet didn’t stop as it was reflected back at Sarah tearing a quarter of her head away and leaving a bloody gap in her head that caused her instant death.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!” 

Marie shrieked as she fell from her horse, her eyes never leaving the bloody hole in Sarah’s head and her crotch wet with fright. Alice’s knuckles had whitened with how much she gripped her reins and her face as white as her white dress.  

Heero cried out in rage as he leapt from his horse at the horned woman. “How could you!”

The woman simply side stepped. “This is war, anyone could die. Or did you think you were the protagonist of some isekai series that would give you plot armor.”

Heero froze at those familiar as he stared at the woman in disbelief. “Y-y-you!”

The woman’s hand morphed into draconic claws as she made a come hither gesture. “That’s right, I’m also someone from Earth. Although the method I came here was quite different.”

“How could you! How could you! Howcouldyou! Howcouldyouhowcouldyouhowcouldyou!!!!” Heero flew into a mad rage as his katana clashed against the woman’s dragon claws.

“Well considering you attack me first, shouldn’t you ask yourself how could you attack me first?” The woman replied, mirth evident in her violet eyes. “But I have a question?”

Heero never got to answer as the woman suddenly disappeared and he found his consciousness disappearing and only hearing the woman’s sweet voice once more. 

“Why is it always the Japanese, Mr. Invader Number Six?” 

---

So I wrote a completely new prologue and made the original prologue the new Chapter 1 and with all other chapters appropriately renamed. As for the reason I wrote a new prologue, it’s because I felt the old prologue was a bit too slow and not eye-catching to suck in new readers as much as this action “packed” or rather more action-y prologue. 

Hopefully this prologue will give you old readers a new experience in my story.

Changed it to sixth invader instead of fourth