It is another calm day for Lieutenant Colonel Leonid Primis. Even before the Machian surrender, the area that the 151st Infantry Regiment, the regiment that he is a part of, is in is quite peaceful. In his officer room, he has the company commanders of the four companies in his battalion, Captain Proclus Vocula, Captain Aulus Sevso, Captain Lars Curio, and Captain Agrippa Minervalis with him. They are drinking a little while playing cards. Aulus and Proclus are conversing. Aulus slaps down a card.

“I wonder if we can go back home earlier.”

Proclus places down half of his cards.

“Ha! As if. We have been stationed here for ages. It’s not like just because the Mach is gone that we don’t have to be here.”

Lars joins in on the conversation after seeing that none of his cards can be used. 

“Well if we have to go home that means we can’t have times like these with each other anymore. It feels relaxing just to sit back and play some cards with you guys.”

Leonid counters both the conversation and the cards.

“It does get boring around here though.”

All the captains throw their cards on the table. Curio thinks a bit about what Leonid said. 

“Hm… then how about we go out to town for some fun during one of our free times. Let’s go to that bar again. My treat!”

Leonid nods.

“Aye! Sounds good. Another round?”

Although Leonid is two ranks higher, he and his company commanders have been great friends for a long time. Even now with one of them having a higher rank, they converse like when they were all second lieutenants. 

0624 March 21st, 2020 CE

0612 Start 51st, 196 AE

Primopolis, Magus Imperium

Emperor Arstant has never felt more relaxed in his life. It is as if all the stress is gone. Constant worry about the Mach Imperium had aged him. Now with two months of no enemies to worry about, he is starting to look more youthful. The even better news is the American activity in his country. American companies are interested in opening stores and factories inside the Magus Imperium and trade deals are being formed. There is also the possibility of American help in improving infrastructure. Originally American officials were also interested in magic but for some reason lost interest after some observation. When they were asked why they just said that the magic seemed interesting but wasn’t of much use to them. To the Emperor, it is a shame because if the Americans had more interest, the Magus Imperium could have exchanged their magic information for American military technology. The Americans are keeping a tight lid on anything that could help them militarily. 

He is currently drinking some tea in his office while looking out the window.

“Your majesty! Your majesty!”

Arstant grumbles at excessive knocking on his door before responding.

“Hm? No need to shout. With the Mach gone, I have never felt better. Come in. What is it?”

One of his servants burst through the door.

“Invasion!”

“Invas… HM!? Invasion?! Have the Americans broken their pact?!”

“No, we are being invaded by an unidentified enemy to the north!”

“To the north? Where exactly?”

“Reports are stating of air attacks on Abellinum. There's also spotty reports of possible enemy landings on the western beaches.”

“What’s the situation? Have our forces engaged? Is the Western Coastal Defense Line holding out?”

“We have been trying to establish contact with the units at the Western Coastal Defense Line but they haven’t responded. Our Air Corps should currently be engaging the enemy aircraft. Results are as of yet unknown.”

“Get Advisor Caius!”

A Few Minutes Later

Emperor Arstant is in a military office with Military Advisor Caius and a few other generals. Military Advisor Caius is explaining the current war plan to the Emperor.

“Your majesty, we are sending the First Army towards the Western Coastal Defense Line. Besides, commands are being sent to any units on the other side of the Verona River to also go there. There they will prepare to push them back to the sea.”

Someone knocks on the door to the military office. Military Advisor Caius looks up from the map and replies to the knock.

“Enter.”

A soldier enters and salutes.

“Report! The wyvern squadrons that we have sent to engage the enemy air units are being considered as lost. Also, we have established contact with some units on the Western Coastal Defense Line. They have reported that other sectors of the defense line had come under heavy naval bombardment and that enemy troops have already landed and established a beachhead. We are also getting reports of possible enemy advance past the defense line.”

“Caius, this plan won’t work. The defense line already fell.”

Caius ponders a bit and starts moving pieces that represent positions of units on the map before responding. 

“Hmmm… then the First Army will be creating a position on the Verona River and are ordered to hold them off until we can fully mobilize and send more. Once the Fourth Army arrives on the river, we can then make plans for a counterattack.”

The Emperor looks onto the map that is placed on the large table in the middle of the military office. The map depicts the entirety of the Magus Imperium and the current positions of armies, divisions, and independent regiments. 

“What about the units stationed and active on the other side of the Verona River and are we just going to abandon Abellinum?”

“The units will be given orders to retreat and set up various positions on the Verona. The surviving civilians of Abellinum will be evacuated. We probably can’t hold the city so we should just give way and let them through.”

0228 March 22nd, 2020 CE

0414 Start 52nd, 196 AE

Northern Part of the Magus Imperium (From the US view, it's the southern parts)

Magianzers and the magitrucks of the 11th Elven Blitzpanzer Division make headway towards their target city of Anbellinum. Resistance has been light because of their successful surprise attack. They blasted through any enemy units in their way and hastily crossed and ignored many towns in order to hold on to the advantage of the surprise attack. Those towns can be dealt with by the Elven Army Corps behind them. 

Less than a few miles in front

Men of the 151st Infantry Regiment march down the road on their way to Anbellinum. For some reason, orders have been given for a hasty retreat behind the Verona and to evacuate any remaining civilians in the town they were in and in the towns they came across. Most civilians and military alike are confused. Who could be the enemy? Did some Machian units flee after their country’s surrender and are coming to attack? 

A few minutes later

The 11th Elven Blitzpanzer Division crests a hill. The commander of the first tank that got on the hill gets on his magiradio.

<<< “Large group of humans spotted. Seems to be in the hundreds” >>>

The commander of the 11th Elven Blitzpanzer Division, Lieutenant General Ara Balra, opens her commander hatch and views the humans with her binoculars after her tank also pulls up to the hill. She had been a major general in command of a magipanzer division but got promoted to lieutenant general. She is still in command of a division but this division was special given that it had more independence. Although a Lieutenant General, she had decided to be at the front of her division’s assault. Despite the protests she got from her subordinates and staff, she got her way. She didn’t even agree to their suggestion of switching to one of the medium tanks. She replies with her magiradio. A magiradio is specifically designed to use mana to send signals across the air to other magiradios.

<<<“Seems to be infantry. There also seems to be civilians among them. All magipanzers on the hill, fire at will!”>>>

Her tank and the ones beside her on the hill, all Stallion light magipanzers (aka blitzpanzers), open up with their 20 mm main guns. The magipanzers are powered by a magiengine that only uses mana as fuel. Unlike the hybrid that the Magus uses, the Elven magipanzers using only mana are more efficient. The main cannons on the magipanzer are magicannons capable of using very dense mana as ammunition. This allows flexibility since mana can be formed into both high explosive and armor-piercing. 

Some have thought of implementing a ground barrier around the magipanzers and other vehicles but that was seen as impossible. It is only possible using the new Great Magus who had five times the mana of a normal elven. The last Great Magus, the one who submerged and raised the continent, had ten times the mana of a normal elven. Elves with the mana like the last Great Magus only come a couple thousand years. Elven scientists experimented with trying to make a large barrier by making many elves with average mana activate their barrier spell at the same time. This resulted in multiple small barriers forming around the elves themselves. Some even tried experimenting with the magibatteries seeing that it's able to use mana given to it by multiple people. The magibatteries were only able to produce power and nothing too complicated. Combining complex magic seems to be a far off prospect. Furthermore, with a ground barrier up, you can’t see nor fire at the enemy. 

Explosions occur on the humans below the hill and the human formation descends into chaos. 

Major General Balra gets onto her radio again

<<<“Magipanzers forward! Charge! Run them over!”>>>

The smoke is clearing from the explosions that just occurred. Body parts are lying everywhere in the area of the explosion. Screams can be heard. Lieutenant Colonel Leonid was flung to the ground from the explosion. He raises his head from the ground and looks towards an area where a group of civilians, mostly families, were. He had just been talking to them and was waving goodbye to them as he walked away so he could go back to his unit. Some he had known personally because they lived near where his regiment was positioned. Looking there, he only finds charred and ripped apart bodies. 

“Tanks! Enemy tanks!”

Hearing that, Leonid shakes his head and gets onto his feet. Spending a few seconds to reorient himself, he starts to shout out commands to the surviving men of his battalion. Although his ears are still ringing a bit and he is feeling a bit uneven, he still has a job to do.

“Get the civilians out! Quickly! GO!”

In the panicked chaos, other officers are issuing orders at random with no coordination.

“The enemy tanks are charging!”

“Stand your ground and return fire!”

“Return fire! Return fire!”

Unlike Leonid’s orders, most of the other orders are telling them to stand firm. It didn’t seem like they understood that they were facing tanks. Sure, there are some in the infantry regiment who are Maguses with probably enough power to destroy a tank but there aren’t enough of them. Civilians and some soldiers are running. The soldiers that are braver stand firm. Leonid gives a hand to a civilian who was flung onto the ground.

“Get out of here!”

Although disorganized, some of the 151st Infantry Regiment return fire with their rifles or magic. They hit but are unable to penetrate the armor of the enemy tanks.

“Keep firing!”

“It’s no use!”

Most of the others in the 151st Infantry Regiment are in chaos and are fleeing. Leonid desperately tries to keep his men together while also directing civilians. 

“Quickly! Second Battalion! Get to the forests! Help any civilians.”

Leonid quickly tries to find his battalion sergeant major and the company commanders in order to quickly reorganize. Under constant explosions, Leonid navigates to where he had left his battalion. He sees a familiar face crouching and delivering orders to a soldier. 

“Aulus! Thank Angels I found you. Order your men to retreat and get to the forest. Help the civilians! They are being caught in the crossfire. Tell this order to the other company commanders!”