Disclaimer: I don't own Gate or Nihonkoku Shoukan as it belongs to its rightful owners.
Arc 1: Lands of Rodenius
Chapter 2: Early Encounters Part 2
"The concept of being in another world continues to fascinate me to this day. It has advantages and disadvantages. To be honest, the situation is quite complicated right now if you ask me. It's as if you threw those two elements into a blender and watched them blend together beautifully."
-Excerpt from the New World Journal
An Hour Earlier
Keep out! This is a Hazard Zone Beyond this point is Prohibited! - Coalition, Special Region
The Great March was briefly halted as one of General Ruga's higher ranking officials gave the order to the rest of the men to stop their tracks as they came across what appears to be some kind of wooden sign that had a strange design along with a type of coloring pigment. At first, everyone had thought it was a magical trap of some sort since there was a series of unknown incantations scribbled on the base of the colorful board. They've dealt with a similar situation before when they were attacking a certain kingdom that possessed similar objects with incantations, and when neared it or just passed by it, the object would glow and thus releasing a powerful magical explosion that would kill many.
They would soon realize that this object was just a normal sign with glyphs revealed to be written in common language, much to their surprise and relief.
"It's fascinating to think that these beings could understand and write our language." One of the higher officials expressed his opinion as he witnessed the item on display, which drew the attention of the majority of the brethren. "However, it's likely they were the ones who built this thing, given that they may have captured Imperial soldiers in their hands."
"This seems to be a warning of some sort not to venture the hill."
It made sense, given that numerous Imperial Patrol Groups had vanished without a trace at night and even during the day, according to the rumors. Furthermore, some soldiers from those patrol groups abandoned their posts, leaving the Empire entirely out of fear and heading straight for the Volga territories to join the General, knowing that they would suffer the consequences.
These former Imperial Soldiers, who now consider themselves as mercenaries, saw the General as their last hope in fighting against the dominant force that had ruled the continent for hundreds of years. They saw the Volga Territories as their new home.
To begin with, the Volga territories were not even a country. For several years, these lands were home to numerous tribes who managed to elude the Empire's conquest. The territories were only incorporated into the now-unofficial independent state after a certain General from one of the Empire's vassal states successfully led a rebellion and broke away from the Empire.
The Self-proclaimed Warlord General had taken matters into his own hands to build his ambition that eventually grew to a campaign, which attracted a lot of individuals to join his cause, be it their grudge against the Empire or for their own personal gains. From Independent mercenaries, former noble knights, and many more have joined the cause.
As he looked across to his men and then back to the wooden sign, a proud smile crept across General Ruga's face. There was a point when he all considered whether the hill's forces and treasures were worth taking, even though it was obvious that the Empire had failed miserably in achieving the same goal.
"In an attempt to threaten us with these words..." He muttered, gesturing to the others." Men! Take it down."
The small group of soldiers heeded his orders as immediately they headed towards the wooden sign and quickly tore it down.
"Alright, men! Let's move on!" One of the captains addressed the rest of the army as they continued with their march towards the hill.
When the army of mercenaries passed the now-demolished sign on the ground, a young soldier riding his horse took the time to stop and observe the sign. As the rest of the army approached the hill, he sensed something was off. It was strange because a part of him was telling him that he should abandon this quest and leave while he still had the chance. He was hesitant, despite the fact that his pride and trust in the General had won him over.
He could still feel the resistance within him as he caught up with the rest of his group, the comrades he had treated as brothers, but he had no idea that this would be the last time he would see them.
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The Fields of Alnus, Special Region
"Glory is upon us!"
The Plains were overwhelmed by the loud battle cries of the army.
It was a glorious scene to witness for Derwin, as the young soldier's concerns about his comrades had faded over the course of their journey. When the march came to an end, it was replaced with confidence and pride, which resulted in an optimistic grin.
The General's speech though quite short was very inspirational for the young man. In every battle, he had participated in, he often listened to the words of courage and wisdom, never missing any word and taking it into his heart. As much as his fellow comrades and friends with him, Derwin had his ambition and goals. When he was little, he often talked about becoming a famous warrior and making a name for himself, he also wanted to face powerful enemies such as the Demon Lord, even though how ridiculous it was since it was only a myth.
When he was old enough, he left home for an uncertain journey, and luckily found a place when he joined a Guild and began his mercenary career, taking on various missions such as capturing wanted enemies, retrieving valuable artifacts, slaying beasts, and many more. When word got out about the conquered state that had rebelled against the Empire and the General who had orchestrated it, his curiosity got the better of him, and with the help of a friend who had connections, he set out towards the Volga Territories, where the warlord and the rest of his militia lived, and from then on, he had been fighting alongside them and building up the forces to invade the Empire's other conquered states.
And if anyone was wondering how old he is? Well, He's only 17 years old.
"Charge!"
The General exclaimed as he signaled the charge toward the fortress on the hill with a single word.
The rest of the men, ogres, and trolls followed suit, joining their leader in the charge.
Derwin was swept away by the powerful aura and deafening yells of his comrades as they charged towards the hill in what he saw as a historic and glorious charge that he had ever been in.
He pushed his horse even faster and drew his sword like the others.
There was great adrenaline rising up within him as he brought up his eyes towards the huge fortress towering on top of the Alnus hill. His mind made him wonder what these mysterious beings behind those iron walls could look like?
Were they Humans like him?
Perhaps a group of alchemists and powerful mages that banded together and created these intriguing walls?
Or maybe the demons or fallen gods that a lot of were claiming to be?
His eyes then darted towards every surrounding, he could see the wyverns and their knights majestically flying towards the hill preparing their attack from above, he could also feel the ground shaking caused by the ogres as they ran using their gigantic feets, which were the main source of this loud thumps. and towards the front he could see the General, in his signature maroon armor, in the center of it all.
For the rest of the remaining time, everything was going well as they continued to push forward.
He could feel his world slowing down as if he was entering a different zone. Every sound he could hear slowly faded away. Unbeknownst to him, the situation was already changing.
"What is this feeling?"
In a cold sweat, the young man pondered. He had no idea it was the final warning.
At that precise moment, a massive ball of light appeared in the middle of the charging army, followed by a violent explosion.
Derwin was immediately jolted back into reality as from few distances away the ground had erupted and fire emerged from it engulfing a large portion of soldiers in front of him.
"What the...!?'' The young man trailed off, as he didn't get the opportunity to comprehend what was currently transpiring now.
Moments later, another explosion occurred to his right, and this time he saw the bodies of his comrades flying through the air, some of them blasted into different parts. He quickly looked to his left and saw the same scene, but this time a dismembered hand flew toward him and slapped hard into his cheeks as if to jolt him out of his stupor.
He blinked a couple of times as he began to realize what was really happening around him.
His eyes widened in horror as if he was going through some kind of hellish world.
The terrified and dying screams of his comrades echoed through his ears.
This wasn't any dream or illusion. It was a nightmare that had come to life.
His fear soon had caught up to him and all the feelings of pride and excitement had turned into despair and desperation as attempted to turn back and make a full retreat. Though, as he was about to stop and turn back, the horse that he was riding, got suddenly hit by something small and metallic, as the young man found himself crashing to the ground.
Surprisingly, Derwin landed in one piece, despite the fact that his now-dead horse nearly landed on him, almost killing him on the spot.
Around him, the explosions continued as he helplessly watched the rest of the army being mysteriously obliterated by some kind of powerful magic. Moreover, he saw the ground littered with dismembered bodies and body parts everywhere.
He was now terrified and trembling in fear as brought up his eyes towards the fortress.
"This is not a battle."
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Fort Alnus Defense Zone, Tank Section
When the head commander finally gave the order, various units and groups of the Fort Alnus Defense Division wasted no time in unleashing hell on the incoming invaders. The land artillery units were the first to unleash their firepower at the same time, as multiple massive metallic shells collided with the invading army, instantly slaughtering the soldiers of the warlord army.
In the meantime, Small drones, which were patrolling at a nearby area had arrived and secretly capture and film the ensuing battle from above.
On the battlefield itself, Giant craters began to form in multiple spots, dead human bodies began popping up, either burnt or tore into pieces.
Smoke and fire were everywhere, and blood was raining from the sky as a result of some fallen wyverns, which had met their end at hands of the hands of the AA guns, thus slowly forming a disturbing image.
Regardless of what was going on, the majority of the invading force continued to charge, as if they were unafraid of death.
It was something that surprised Dennis, the young tank gunner, who was continuously in the midst of blasting the heck out of the crazy bastards. He began to compare what was happening in front of his eyes to the countless zombie movies he had previously watched. There was no fear in the eyes of these men, no matter the extreme losses they were suffering.
"Man, I tell you they just kept coming and coming!"
The walkies had finally come to life once more as conversations began to form amongst the Tankers.
"Yeah man, they're fucking fearless than those guys from 300!"
"Just how many are these guys?"
"About a hundred thousand I guess amigo."
"Oh give me a break Santos! I'm not gonna fucking spend the rest of my life murdering the shit out of medieval guys. I haven't eaten my lunch yet!"
"Me too!"
"This is One Actual! Quit the chatter and focus on the battle!"
Dennis secretly gave a laugh, it was just amazing his fellow tankers were able to find time to converse and joke around even in these kinds of situations. He did not regret being part of the platoon known for their legendary exploits, especially the four horsemen.
"Private Wilson focus!"
His tank commander called and gave him another reminder.
"Yes sir!" The young man straightened up and concentrated once again at the battlefield.
As time passed, the once strong twenty-thousand invading army had been reduced to thousands in a matter of minutes. Though, when victory was seemed reachable, the invading army had managed to pull up a surprising move in the form of the ogres.
The situation slightly changed when the next line had been breached by a good chunk of the army. This time it was the fast cavalry which consisted of rogue knights, blessed by a magical shield from a certain mage, who was killed earlier that protected them throughout the explosions, and finally the ogres.
These ogres were very much different from the normal ones. Clad in their thick leather armor, and gigantic weapons, in the form of axes, wooden clubs, and maces, The ogres surprised everyone with their incredible speed as a bunch was able to pull through the line and were running fast to the last imaginary defense line. If they were to be described based on popular culture, these giant fast running ogres can be compared to that of the Gladiator version of Incredible Hulk, but in various types of sizes, and skin colors.
The only thing fortunate was that these ogres could be killed.
"Ogres incoming! Fast ones!"
One of the Tank crew members announced.
"Damn! these guys are buffed!"
"This is One Actual! Focus on the new targets!
By this time, the new breed of fast ogres has now been deemed as a major threat, while the other units focused on dealing with the rest of the army. The tank platoon finds themselves in a more worrying situation.
There was one time when one of these ogres threw a giant spear from afar, even reaching the tank platoon's spot and nearly hitting one of the tanks if not for a giant boulder, which happened to be there that blocked the said spear.
The young tank gunner had witnessed that scene, and there was this slight nervousness that began to rise up within him. Never he had seen an ogre that could ran fast.
He cast a quick glance at his fellow tank loader, who was exhausted and drenched in sweat from loading the shells nonstop. He gave a sympathetic look, which made him even more determined.
He concentrated back on his job and aimed at neutralizing the ogres once more.
"Alright! Who's got the red ogres for 50 points?"
"We'll take the green ones, they all looked like the final boss to me."
It was at this time that a small game had been established just amongst the tankers. It's basically an imaginative target practice game of destroying the most valuable and strongest targets. In this scenario, the red ogres where the ones that contained the most points, the green ones, were the toughest bunch, while the blue ones were for the easier level.
The tanks began firing as soon as their little inside game had begun.
One by one, the ogres collapsed to the ground as giant holes began to form in different parts of their bodies. The only thing that proved to be a problem was the green ogres, since they were much more agile, successfully evading a couple of shells as if they were wide receivers from the NFL.
The green ogres were the last of the bunch of ogres, as it took a bit of time neutralizing their numbers to zero.
Everything felt like an actual video game during that time.
Dennis was drenched in his sweat. He could feel the signs of blisters in his fingers and his hands were shaking due to exhaustion.
"Man, these guys are tough." He thought to himself.
When all things seemed much better now, the young man decided to relax a few of his muscles, although, at that very moment, the walkie roared to life again.
"Green Ogre flying in mid-air and head straight towards us! "
Dennis's eyes widened as he immediately looked through his thermals, aiming upwards, he detected the last target, which was a green ogre, which was able to get passed the line and get a good spot by jumping as high as it could and was now on its way to the Tank zone.
The green ogre aimed at a specific tank, where the young tank gunner was, while in mid-air.
Gripping its massive club tightly and raising it as if smashing something to oblivion.
"Shit!" He cursed to himself, before adding." Hal! Load me another one! "He exclaimed, telling his fellow tank loader.
"Coming right up!"
The whole moment was filled with tension and anxiety. It was kind of a race against time in its own way.
Hal, Tank Two's fellow tank loader, was so focused that for a brief moment, he resembled a robot as he ignored all of his emotions from taking over. Picking up the heavy shell as if it were a piece of candy and stuffing it into the hole in a matter of seconds.
"Clear!" He uttered one word, finally finishing his task.
Dennis gave a single nod and immediately adjusted the controls, looking through the scope again and seeing that the green ogre was approaching, narrowing his eyes as he aimed precisely at the target through his gun sights. He pressed the trigger, finally unleashing firepower on the beast when he got the right angle he was looking for. The majority of the kinetic energy was absorbed by the tank's recoil system, resulting in a minor rumble inside.
The young man watched through his thermals as the MPHE round directly hit the ogre in the chest, causing the beast to explode into pieces and parts of his body to be scattered throughout the Defense zone, with green blood splattered on some of the tank's body.
"Phew! that was close!" He thought to himself.
"One heck of a job Wilson!" His tank commander commented, patting his gunner at the back of his shoulder. He always knew that his guy would perform in the clutch just like his brothers.
The young tank gunner did not respond verbally, only with a thumbs-up. He was too tired to speak at the time because the job wasn't finished yet.
"Two, this is One Actual, How you all doing so far?"
The walkies roared to life once more as the head tank commander spoke through.
"One, this is Two Actual, We're good, just a little bit shook because of the last target, though we neutralized it, continuing on with the rest of the targets." The Tank Two commander replied back.
A sigh of relief was heard from the head commander, he was glad that most of his marines were alright.
"Copy that! All Tanks proceed to eliminate the other targets!"
With all of the ogres defeated, the tank platoon was able to advance and concentrate on eliminating the remaining forces. Their first encounter with that type of foe, however, had left them perplexed for the first time. When they first arrived from the Gate, they were skeptics who relied on logic to make sense of what they were seeing. With that kind of encounter, they were gradually becoming believers.
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Everything had started in high morale and hopes for the squadron.
It was a strong windy afternoon as they found themselves in the glory of battle. They were the ones that had the responsibility of setting the tone and reigning terror from above.
There were about fifty-five or more wyvern riders that had came along for the attempt invasion of the hill, just right after the land army had made the charge, the riders took upon the skies to their advantage as they were the first ones to see what was beyond.
These wyvern riders were the fiercest and most skilled amongst the ranks. They were all considered prodigies, that the Empire even refused to recognize them, due to the fact their own wyvern knights were having a tough time battling against them.
The whole squadron was being led by a veteran of the field, a former Wyvern captain who had deserted the Empire, had gone rogue and became a mercenary. His name was Linus, a man that took great pride in his work and a fierce leader that led many victories on the skies.
He was too a skeptic when he heard the news of the Empire losing to the beings of Alnus Hill. The only thing that made him personally interested in the subject was the claims of flying metallic dragons that could spit out gigantic orbs of light and was, even more, faster than the fastest wyverns in the continent. That eventually fueled his motivation and desire to face that kind of dragons for himself.
"All Wyvern riders! proceed to the fortress!"
He gave the order as the rest of the riders began to spread out and head in their respective positions. Furthermore, they already had their plan of attack to which has been successful in numerous invasions.
Having the aerial advantage, He gave a confident smirk as he led the rest of the riders towards the heart of the fortress.
Not too long enough, the riders were able to get a closer look at what was going on behind the iron walls.
The man widened his eyes in surprise as soon as he saw unusual sites.
This was the first time he had seen moving metallic boxes and strange buildings with metallic towers.
"By the gods!" He muttered to himself.
It was like looking through a window into the civilized world. Despite this, he was able to deduce the cheap mere green camps scattered around. The structure appeared to be a massive moving mechanism.
"Captain! What's next order?" One of the wyvern riders asked.
The latter snapped from his thoughts, as he gave the signal.
"Close in!" He exclaimed." Destroy whatever you can find! "
"Yes, sire!"
When he gave the order, the wyvern riders began to dive down as they search for any of the valuable defenses or bases inside the fortress to destroy.
However, as they descended, they were not expecting what would happen next.
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"Looks like we got flying enemy units...I mean dragons heading towards the zone. "
The radio crackled to life as a spotter spoke through.
"Yes, I could visibly them."
A certain middle-aged man replied as he observed the band of Wyverns, as many call them, trying to breach the defense zone.
Major General Johnson was tasked with monitoring and defending the skies. The man stood near the AA emplacements, waiting for the right time to make the call.
This was one of the first times he had seen a Wyvern formation in person. It was similar to one of those flexible military plane parades from home, only this time the pilots were giant flying reptiles piloted by humans from the New World.
It didn't take long enough for him to figure what they were going to do.
He held the AA guns for the final confirmation once those wyverns had reached the target zone.
"Major! They've reached the target zone! I repeat! Dragons have reached the target zone! "
The walkie came to life afterward.
Now that he got another confirmation from the spotters, He finally gave the order.
" Fire all AA batteries and bring down those dragons!"
His radio operator who stood beside him relayed the order to the AA detachment and in a few seconds, all the AA guns open fired at the oncoming dragon knights. As well as the Medium to short-range SAMs fired their missiles against the dragons.
By the relentless fire from the AA batteries the Dragons started falling from the sky like flies, not even one was able to breach further the base.
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"What in the world...?"
The Wyvern squadrons were greeted by an unexpected surprise.
As soon as they descended to begin their attack, a massive short line of thin light suddenly emerged from one certain spot, and directly hit one of the wyverns.
Their eyes widened in shock and horror as they focused all of their attention on that particular wyvern. When they collided with the mysterious light, the wyvern apparently exploded into pieces, and its rider, now severed in half, fell to his death.
"Dammit! What the heck was that!?"
A Wyvern rider yelled out, as the whole squadron was shaken by the instant death of their comrade.
"Don't tell me these people have magical abilities!" Linus exclaimed as he demanded to know what caused the gut-wrenching scene. He was filled with rage as one of his soldiers had been quickly killed by the beings.
They don't know the exact source of these moving lights. They just seemed to appear out of thin air.
"Captain Linus, more are coming!" One of the Wyvern riders yelled out, warning him and the rest of the squadrons.
Right after the wyvern and its rider died, Multiple glowing lights started to emerge from the different areas as they make chase and headed towards each of the riders.
Panic would soon take over most of the wyvern riders if not for their captain's decisiveness to prolonged their lives. Through their manacoms, Linus immediately spoke through and gave his order.
"Spread out and Implement evasive maneuvers!"
"Avoid those magical lights as possible!"
He instructed and informed his men as they began to change their plans and went on the defensive. For the captain himself, Linus quickly adjusted and pushed himself away from another light that almost hit him.
As his doubts began to overwhelm him, he could feel his heartbeat quicken. He, on the other hand, refused to believe that they would fail this.
In the following scenes, the entire wyvern squadron finds itself in the most difficult situation they have ever encountered. They had no idea they'd be attempting to flee their deaths as the attacking lights increased in number. The wyvern riders were ripped to shreds and fell to their deaths one by one as they were caught by the lights. The morale was drastically fading away and the situation had turned into a cat and mouse game.
There was also one wyvern rider that had grown tired of all of this and willingly committed to his death by jumping off his Wyvern.
Another one miraculously survived from getting hit, although due to the confusion and chaos, The wyvern rider accidentally collided with another fellow Wyvern rider and both of the riders lost grip and balance, thus they fell to their deaths.
Screams and desperate pleas echoed through the Manacoms.
Some of the wyvern riders tried to flee the fortress only to fail miserably as they eventually met their violent deaths.
"Captain! We need to get out of he-"
Linus was able to hear the last wyvern rider's voice as he was now officially the sole surviving member of the squadron. The captain was left in shambles as his own men were wiped out in a matter of minutes.
Instead of fear taking over, his rage had fully controlled him as he decided that he wasn't going down without a fight, even though his death was inevitable. At that moment, luck had somehow found its to him as he surprisingly survived the onslaught.
The man's instincts took over this time as he set his sights towards a certain area where he spotted someone standing on top of the iron walls.
Without hesitation, he pushed his wyvern downwards to the said spot.
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All throughout his life, Yuji had made several documentary videos, that only found mediocre success on the web. He wasn't like that of the big times, who had the bigger budget and crew. He only had just himself, who creates, writes, and makes these ideas come to reality, or sometimes a friend would lend a hand on post-production. What he enjoyed the most was the actual filming of the certain event. Not only that he captures the moment, he personally gets to experience it first hand.
Though, He wasn't expecting to be filming an ongoing battle, or should he say a massacre, right now, given the circumstances.
He stood there in awe with his camcorder in hand, he felt as if he was inside a movie. or video game, witnessing some kind of cutscene from afar.
He wondered in regards to the situation down there. It had been a while and the sounds of explosions and firepower had not halted yet.
He could still see the countless enemy soldiers that fearlessly continued to charge and that some were now retreating. He was a bit glad that the retreating soldiers chose the right decision if they wanted to see their families again. It seemed that the whole army was not aware of how dangerous their enemy was going to be, let alone recklessly charged like any army would in some fantasy movie.
Though he had a feeling that there was going to be more of this.
The vibe was pretty much different now.
His vigilance and cautiousness suddenly rose up even though there wasn't any enemy around or near him.
However, He did saw the Wyverns that flew around the base, which made an attempt to burn down several facilities, only to meet the firepower of the AAs stationed in different areas of the base.
It was literally raining dead Wyverns and their wailing riders from the sky. Fortunately, most people had completely evacuated the areas where the slain Wyverns had crashed into.
Given that the cold wind was a sign that there were things to come, He still continued to stay and document the whole thing. It was not too long that the small walkie on his pocket roared to life and voices began to spoke through.
"Most of the Wyverns have been eliminated, Although one got away."
"Copy that! Search for the last target ASAP."
Random conversations began to be carried out over the walkie-talkie, further perplexing Yuji. It was unfortunate that he did not recognize the danger that was approaching him sooner. Fortunately, he felt something from behind him and turned around.
"You've got to be kidding me." He muttered to himself.
A full-speed Wyvern rider was heading straight in his direction. At that moment, the writer's instincts kicked in, and he jumped out of his old spot just in time before the Wyvern collided and landed on the wall.
The man was able to avoid death safely and landed on the ground in one piece.
A small tremor shook the area as the Wyvern died instantly by crashing its headfirst into the thick metal walls, shattering its skull inside. Despite this, the rider survived and landed safely on the passageway.
It was this time that things had become more fast-paced.
By the time the Captain of the Wyvern Squadron landed on the ground, his rage had fully taken control of him as he immediately drew out his sword and set his sights on the man in front of him.
"If I'm fated to lose my life, I'll take one of these beings with me!" He said, charging towards the man.
For Yuji, who had just recovered in time, took notice of his attacker dashing towards him with a sword.
At the same time, the memories of the Ginza incident began to flash before his eyes, in his first encounter with the Saderan soldier that tried to kill him.
His instincts then took over from that and while still on the ground, the Japanese-American quickly made his move as he did a leg sweep, stunning his enemy as the latter fell facing the ground. He then used his hand to chop the back of his enemy's neck. He then recovered and kicked the sword right from the man's hand disarming him.
Much to his surprise, his enemy quickly recovered fast and stood up from the ground, and tackled him.
Yuji felt the pain on his stomach, as he found himself on the ground again, though he kept himself compose awaiting his enemy, who went on a charge towards him again.
This time without the sword, he felt more relief as he went on to engaged the man in brief hand-to-hand combat.
However, the sole survivor of the Wyvern Squadron, gave a smirk as he drew out a second weapon in the form of a small dagger.
A small cringed kept across the Japanese-American's lips.
"Oh, man..." Yuji muttered as he decided to end this once and for all by drawing out a certain gun from his back pocket.
Although, as he was about to reach for his weapon, the man charged yet again delaying his time as he was forced to block the dagger from reaching his gut in time. There was a brief moment of struggle that had transpired before Yuji was able to break free again by giving a quick strong headbutt, immediately stunning the latter once more. Though it caused him a badly bruised forehead.
The man was left shook and a bit disoriented.
Yuji took the opportunity to break away from his enemy's grasp followed by giving a right hook towards the man's face, and then finally disarming him from his last weapon, this time throwing it over the walls.
Though instead of drawing out the gun this time, he decided to finish his attacker by kneeing him on the gut and then knocking him out once and for all through a strong haymaker.
The man collapsed on the ground unconscious as the winner stood over him.
Yuji felt pain and exhaustion at the same time. He was breathing heavily in and out, holding his bruised forehead. Though fortunately, his glasses were able to survive and were left intact.
After winning the fight, the man went to retrieve his camcorder, which was on the ground, and even managed to film the entire thing to his surprise. He then pulled out his walkie-talkie and called the nearest patrolling soldiers in the area.
As he waited for their arrival, the man leaned on the wall, still holding his forehead in pain. Though, a sigh of relief befell him for the first time. Oh, how thankful he was.
"Looks like all that training paid off."
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As the battle raged on, the fields of Alnus remained ablaze and filled with smoke.
The once twenty-five thousand strong armies had now been reduced to just a mere hundred as the last of the calvary and the General were the only ones left making the charge.
Denial was written all over the man's face as he realized that most of his life's work, which he had built over the course of ten years, had been wiped out in an hour. The latter's rage was growing by the second, and he was clearly on a path of vengeance.
"This is not happening!"
General Ruga swore, now even more determined to reach the ends fortress. He and calvary had barely got to the final imaginary defense line and were on the verge of nearing their destination.
He wished his recently fallen mages were here. Those men were killed earlier in the mysterious explosions that shook the entire army.
Don't stop men! Continue on!" He rallied the last of his loyal soldiers, who in turn had stayed with him until the end.
No matter how ridiculous or crazy their decision was, there was no stopping their goals of claiming the hill and Gate as their own.
It was just too valuable and important to ignore.
As the General and Cavalry continued their charge, the explosions became more intense as it sought to end their lives once and for all. Being on the front lines, their luck was eventually running out as they faced another challenge.
From a distance, General Ruga caught sight of the massive metallic entrance of the fortress.
"We're almost there." He muttered as he pushed his horse for one more time.
"Don't falter men!"
It was the last of his commands, as by then, each of the calvary had begun to fall apart when a rapid succession of small lights suddenly emerged from the fortress itself. As the lights made contact with them, the mercenary knights and their horses fell one by one.
A few minutes later, General Ruga was the only one charging towards the fortress, and he did not even realize it.
"No No No!"
"This is impossible! I will not be-"
He didn't get to finish his sentence as his horse suddenly collided with the type of fence wire with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. As a result, the man was sent flying towards a small empty spot where he found himself surrounded by these thin wires.
General Ruga grimaced in pain as he forced himself to recover and saw the last of his calvary brutally being slaughtered by the magical lights.
He could feel his body trembling as realization finally came into his mind.
His death was unavoidable as he watched everything fall apart helplessly. The only thing he could do at this point was direct his rage at the individual who was one of the primary reasons which led him to organized this campaign. The one that had been assisting him throughout this rebellion and the person, who had persuaded him to invade Alnus Hill.
"You will pay for this!"
He cursed and said his last words as single giant light headed towards his direction and fully engulfed him never to return to the land of the living.
"Damn you to hell Adem!"
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Aftermath of the Battle
Hours Later, 5:00 PM
It had to be the biggest massacre in just one day.
The quickest as it was achieved no more than an hour.
It was not too long that the Vultures started appearing, drastically growing in numbers, and hovering in the dull afternoon sky. The hauntingly beautiful sunset was the only consolation prize as it promised peace onwards, a different kind of peace. The silence in the air was unsettling and not one even dared to broke it into a comment, the fact that many had chosen to stay in their thoughts.
The stench of death had filled the whole area, as thousands of bodies littered across the fields and even up to the hill.
Yuji could give a look of sympathy and pity as he observed his surroundings. He had personally seen death many times and as a result, he was numb to these kinds of things already.
After his unexpected brawl against the last surviving Wyvern Rider at one of the pathways of the defense walls, He was immediately brought to one of the small clinics stationed near the entrance in order to treat some minor wounds he had attained, and afterward, he was quickly called in to accompany the division that was tasked to clean-up the bodies that remained. Furthermore, some of the Third Recon members were also a part of this operation, though as observers and surveyors.
As much as he wanted to rest, he had no options as this was a part of his duty.
Holding up his camera once again as he took the time in capturing the current scenery around him. It was a matter of time before the trucks had arrived and that the operation could now fully begin.
It was tactical suicide beyond insanity for these people to attack the hill. Moreover, it gave him the hint that warfare in this world, or at least in this continent was obsolete.
He continued to walk along a certain path trying to avoid stepping any of the lifeless bodies. There was no any way to describe it, with the exception of the word.
"Gruesome."
He stopped his tracks as he noticed some of the clean-up operation members, observing and trying to figure out how they were gonna disassemble a large pile of dead soldiers crumpled together, to form something of a mini-mountain. He gave a slight grimace expression, before taking a photo of the said scene.
By this time, the number of vultures steadily increased as it was beginning to look more like a giant buffet for them.
Had he never seen this many before in his life.
Just then two shrill gunshots rang out across the fields, alerting everybody. It was about several hundred yards away from his spot, and the rest of the crew that proceeded to investigate what had really transpired. He described the two shots as clean and in a fast procession that did not really make him that tense or concern.
"What the heck was that?"
His walkie came to life as one of the crew spoke through.
A few seconds passed and his eyes focused towards a certain distance. He continued on as he followed the source of a small commotion. As he neared the area, he could see the familiar silhouettes of the Third Recon Members. First Lieutenant Youji Itami, the captain of Third Recon, and a friend. Along with him are two complete polar opposites. Sergeant Akira Tomita, the tall and broad JSDF soldier, a handler, and a sky diving instructor as well as for the JSDF. The last one was Seargent Shino Kuribayashi, a hot-tempered tough young woman who looked as if she would take the chance to shoot someone.
It was something that brought worry amongst the other crew, especially Itami, who had reached the scene at first hand.
By the time he got there, the Japanese-American was met by a scene to which he had not expected.
In front of him laid a dead horse, to which had two bullet wounds on its body.
Apparently, it was the one that the young woman had shot.
"What happened here?" Itami straightforwardly asked the question.
Tomita had lowered his voice and spoke: We had a horse here, it was in pain, so we had to euthanize it."
Itami sighed in response."Got it, you made me nervous there for a second."
Yuji gave a small smile." How's everything so far guys?" He asked, bringing the rest of their attention to him.
"It's morbid for me," Tomita replied, not hiding his grimaced look.
"Shino on the other hand gave a slight yawn." I've seen worst." She commented, not affected by the scenery around her, before changing the subject.
"I'm surprised they called you in for this too, Yuji."
The man simply shrugged. "I know, I didn't expect to be dragged out of the infirmary." He went on to explain. "However, I had no idea I'd need this as a first-hand account." He went on to say. "However, I anticipate that there will be more."
"Well, that's tough, I always wanted to be in that kind of situation" Shino responded, wondering if he would also be dropped in the middle of a battle and document the entire thing, that she had no idea that the man has just been into a fight with a Wyvern rider that tried to kill him. She was the kind of person that would look for the thrill of fights, it was in her family's history. She grew up as the toughest kid on the block and was trained in the family dojo. She was a bit disappointed when she learned that she was going to spend a month in the base.
As for Yuji, He scratched the back of his head thereafter, as he pondered on how he was going to summarize all that happened here, at least in his perspective. He recalled that he was given unprecedented access, he could just interview the important persons, who were involved in the whole battle or massacre, though that would take time as he had to deal with this first.
The cold wind continued to blow stronger in the midst of the day coming to an end.
Not long, the transport choppers have finally arrived and landed on the makeshift landing pads near them. As the rest proceeded to board the flying vehicle, Yuji stopped his tracks for a brief moment as his attention went over to the beautiful sunset as its rays shone through the whole land.
At that moment, He took a deep breath and sighed in relief as he was glad that it was finally over for the meantime. He left the area with the knowledge that things were only just the beginning of things to come.
"Live to fight another day."
CHAPTER END
AN: So the first and maybe the only battle of Alnus Hill had just ended and to be honest this was a very tough chapter to write. At some point, I realized that there has to be a battle in the hill, simply because it's a vital point in the Canon series as a whole. The old chapters did not have that kind of scene so, this adjusted chapter is more dedicated to that battle. I tried to keep the scenes enclosed to the perspectives of these certain characters and it with their description of the events happening around them.
I apologized for any grammar and spelling mistakes since English Is not my main mother tongue. Moreover, I am also not a member of any military organizations so if there are any mistakes regarding military-related matters, please pardon me for any mistakes. With that said, Thank you very much for reading the chapter and your support! I really appreciate it!
