0219 April 9th, 2020 CE

0409 Sun 9th, 196 AE

Somewhere in the Magus Imperium

“Ok, move along! Keep walking!” 

Simon was in a line with a few other elves. The humans haven’t been treating him too badly. After being captured, he had been put into some sort of truck along with another group of elven soldiers. The elven soldiers were infantry who got left behind during the retreat to the position that they were supposed to regroup. He could probably be counted among them since he was in a similar situation even though he was a lone sniper. 

They were in a city and there were quite a few human spectators watching them like zoo animals. He didn’t look too much different than them other than the ears. 

The humans seemed to have transported them somewhere deeper in human territory. The place that he was entering seemed to be a large prison for all the elf POWs. 

 

Magusian airfield modernized by the US

Two US Army military intelligence agents watched as soldiers dragged the elves into the plane. One of the agents looked at the other who was his superior. 

“Why are we sending these elves to the US?”

“CIA.”

“What about the CIA?”
“Being the annoying bastards they are. They didn’t want to do interrogations here because of the lack of infrastructure.”

“Lack of infrastructure?”

“They can’t do their quote on quote fancy stuff here.”

“Well, I hope they like the trip.”

His superior started laughing.

The elves were blindfolded and gagged. Their hands were tied tightly with a piece of cloth to prevent them from using any funny magic. Whenever the elves were captured, some of them always tried to use magic to resist. Of course, the end result was them getting shot to pieces. That usually ended almost all forms of resistance but there were rare cases of idiots trying to commit suicide by armed US soldiers since they were too stubborn to surrender. 

 

The elves that were being sent away were the most uncooperative so military intelligence didn’t mind handing them over to the CIA. 

 

0232 April 9th, 2020 CE

0416 Sun 9th, 196 AE

Elven Frontline

The surviving elven infantry and magipanzers started to flee in fear as they saw what happened to their brethren closer to the front. Even more fearsome than the direct explosions of the human artillery were the unexplainable shrapnel explosions. An explosion would occur in the air and the infantry and magipanzers below would all be mercilessly cut down by a rain of metal. 

 

A few minutes later

American Frontline

With his company was in a line formation, Captain John Rose’s Abrams burst out of town, spearheading the entire battalion’s counteroffensive. Behind them, Issac was back in his squad’s Bradley. 

“Oh boy, here we go again.”

Issac was clearly unhappy about the fact that he had to sit in a cramped and dim compartment for another hour or so without AC. 

The enemy resistance seemed to have instantly melted from the concentrated artillery fire. On their way towards the elven concentrated positions or what used to be their concentrated positions, elven tanks filled with holes and flesh littered the field. 

 

When they had arrived, the only things that remained of the elven positions were burning wrecks and dead bodies. Even further forward were the obliterated remains of the elven artillery. 

Issac walked out of his squad’s Bradley. They had been ordered to check for any survivors. 

“Well, the artillery cleared the way. Doubt anybody can even survive this. Guess we don’t have to do anything.”

 

0245 April 9th, 2020 CE

0422 Sun 9th, 196 AE

Elven Command Post

Colonel General Eroan Faexalim contemplated what to do next. The humans had completely destroyed his offensive and battered his defenses. The human artillery was deadly. Not only had they demolished a large portion of his artillery, but the human rocket artillery also saturated his offensive units. According to the reports, it was horrifying. Something that could only be described as a rain of steel that cut down everything and anything. Those that were in its area of effect didn’t even know what had hit them. 

He stared at the map and looked at a small wooden block that was off to the side. He still had an ace up his sleeve.

“Get the special magipanzer battalion. We will attack them before they can move up their artillery.” 

Behind the Elven frontline

Ara looked at the magipanzers that rumbled by. They were much bigger than her Knight.  

“So these are the new magipanzers.”

One of her crew members was leaning against the Knight. 

“Yep, how effective do you think they will be, commander?”

Ara stayed silent.

<<<“Wedge formation. We will blow a hole through their lines.”>>>

After his command, Major Hagluin Norhices’s 45 Fortress IIs spread out across the field in two wedges. Behind them, medium and light magipanzers followed. Further behind were the infantry. 

American/Magus Frontline

Unlike the Americans who had armored vehicles, the Magus lacked the speed or protection. They were extremely exposed in the plains. There was no cover to be seen anywhere. They had just arrived at their designated positions and had barely any time to set up defenses before they were attacked.

“Where are our magitanks?!”

Explosions occurred around the soldier. He ducked onto the ground with his hands on his helmet.

Machine guns from the approaching elven magitanks gunned down a couple of the still-standing Magusians. 

<<<“The 27th Magusian Infantry division is being attacked by elven armored forces, we will need you to redirect your tank company to help them. Get there as fast as possible. It’s questionable if the Magus can hold them off and we have no artillery support to help them.”>>>

John looked at his map. There were markings that indicate where each of the Magusian division was. Quickly finding the 27th, he replied. 

<<<“Understood.”>>>

He got his armored company together. 

<<<“B Company, new orders, the Magusian division that just arrived to the right of us is under attack. We are being sent to help them.”>>>

After a short journey in column formation, they found their target. 

“Elf tanks up ahead, let them rip!”

The elves were assaulting and clearly pushing back the Magusians. John’s Abrams destroyed the Knight closest to their position. Shots from his company followed. They quickly spread out and changed into a line formation in order to maximize firepower. 

The elves’ wedge formation had been flanked. In his Fortress II, Major Norhices noticed this and started to redirect his battalion. He understood that the enemy magipanzers were much more dangerous than the squashable infantry in front of him. 

 

The Fortress IIs started turning to face the Americans. A shot from a turning Fortress II bounced off of John’s Abrams. The shot was returned in kind. The sabot round went straight into the Fortress II from the front and it stopped moving. 

“Underofficer Faran’s magipanzer was taken out. His magipanzer stopped moving after being hit.”

“In the name of the goddess…”

Major Norhice couldn’t believe it. Their new magiapanzers were worthless against the American ones. His superiors had told him that the front armor of this new magipanzer was supposedly impenetrable by almost any gun in the elven arsenal. Yet the Americans destroyed it as if the armor didn’t even exist. 

“Pummel them!”

The Fortress IIs were not fast tanks because of their armor, they were meant to soak in damage while returning deadly fire. They were not suited for any flanking maneuvers on the battlefield when directly facing the enemy. The Fortress IIs were now failing at their jobs. They couldn’t soak in any damage from the Abrams and their fire were turned into ricochets and explosions that seemed to do no damage. 

 

Other than receiving scratch marks and minor damages to a couple of exposed parts on their tanks, John’s company was completely fine. 14 M1A2 Abrams destroyed 45 Fortress IIs. The newest elven magipanzer which was proclaimed to be impenetrable from the front.

 

Elven Command Post

“What!? WHAT! WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY WERE ALL DESTROYED!” 

“Um sir… from the um survivors, the Americans showed up with their magipanzers and completely destroyed the 1st Special Heavy Magipanzer Battalion.” 

“Are you telling me that these Americans were able to destroy a magipanzer that had more than 60 mm of front armor than the Fortress!?”

The messenger cowered at his commander’s shouting and anger. 

“Um… yes sir…”

“Then how about the casualties on the American side? The Fortress IIs were armed with a much better gun than the Fortress. At least tell me that they took out a few of theirs.”

“Ummmm…from the observers of the battle... none sir… we did do damage against the Imperials though.”

“None… none!?” 

He started laughing. He then reached for the pistol in his holster. A few seconds later, a shot rang out of the tent.

 

“Um… sir…”

The messenger stood bewildered at his commander’s dead body. Silence filled the tent.

Suddenly two guards rushed in.

“What happened? We heard a gunshot.”

“The commander’s dead!”

“Uhhh... he shot himself.”

That was as clear as day since the messenger had no weapons on him. 

 

0425 April 9th, 2020 CE

0512 Sun 9th, 196 AE

Afavalin, Elven Nation

“The 1st Special Heavy Magipanzer Battalion was destroyed. Colonel General Faexalim also committed suicide.”

Tarron slammed his fist on the table in anger. He put his palm to his head and looked down. 

“I’m ordering a full retreat to the Verona. Tell them to destroy anything of value during their retreat. All units will set up defensive positions once they arrive on the other side of the Verona. Destroy all bridges and prevent the enemy from getting through.”

After further instructing his generals, he got his coat and left. 

Tarron entered Zeno Naerora’s office in the Advancement Department. He really disliked visiting this place. The curtains were almost always closed unless it was raining. It was as if Zeno was allergic to the sun. He always acted extremely gloomy when he had to go out in the sun.

“How are those Hexenbesens coming along?”

“Very good My Leader! We have started production and they will be capable of being fired upon the Empire very soon.”

“How about the jets? Can we deploy them now?”

“Ah, we are still doing some tests.”

“Are those tests required?”

“Well they are just making sure that…”

“Good, we will be shipping them out to the field. We need them right now.”

“Hm. Well, I suppose I could rush the tests.”

 

0907 April 9th, 2020 CE

0744 Sun 9th, 196 AE

American Frontline

“Seems like the elves are giving ground.”

They had been on the road for a few hours and there had not been a single enemy soldier in sight. Whatever towns they came across were burning. Elf positions seemed to have been abandoned and destroyed in a hurry. 

 

1433 April 9th, 2020 CE

Adelphi Laboratory Center, Aberdeen Proving Ground, United States of America

Scientists studied the destroyed remains of the elven weaponry that had just recently arrived.  

“These magic batteries could be very useful. I’m going to need one that is less damaged to actually see how they work.”

“From the information we received, the elves need to transition energy from themselves into the battery. And from our earlier tests, Americans can’t use said magic because we are not native to this world. We are probably missing something that the humans of this world developed. Well, actually, an interesting thing that I overheard was that it is possible that humans evolved from elves or that elves evolved from humans. According to what was said, the elves' physical appearance to humans are almost exactly the same other than their pointy ears.”

“Hm. We will need to conduct further studies of their DNA about that. However, back to this, it's highly possible that we can improve these batteries so that they can directly siphon mana from the air. This could be a new source of renewable energy!”