The green fields of Enmars, La Ferdina has once again rang out the sound of gunshots and explosions. With those sounds, Reslania has expanded its presence in the La Ferdinan region which was once the Western part of former Reslania.

On this day, a certain battle at a certain coastal city will commence very soon with preparations having been made by both sides, the Reslanian People's Front and the La Ferdinan Imperial Army.

The air would faintly whistles as the sun sets on the city. And then...

KABOOM

Explosions would erupt, marking a beginning to what can perhaps be considered a fateful battle.

Saint-Boudet, La Ferdina, 8/9/1702 "ROLAND!" shouted a soldier in distress "ARE YOU GOOD DOWN THERE?!"

The initial bombardment had took a toll on the La Ferdinan forces garrisoned here to defend the city. Shock and horror took over a big portion of the troops here as those explosions that came from above put holes on houses and some having being perished either from that or the falling rubbles.

"SOMEBODY HELP ME HERE!"

A somewhat orderly and calm formations has quickly escalated to that of a chaotic scene, while another barrage would soon land on their position, further worsening the already bad situation they were in.

They were helpless against whatever it was, as they simply couldn't shoot what was there but not there. On the western outskirts of the city, tracers would appear flying in straight line at La Ferdinan forces.

For many, that sight is all too familiar to them, as it was the signature of the Reslanian People's Front, whose troops apparently have shown up to the fight for the regional capital.

...

"CANNON INCOMING!"

The Reslanians immediately ducked down into their defilade before an explosion from the magic cannon would kick up a massive amount of dirt onto them. After that, the fighters would pop back up and start firing in short bursts of rifles and machine gun.

With the battle now underway, the RPF forces would use anything at their disposal just to at least keep the La Ferdinan heads down, particularly ones at defensive positions where cannons have been set up.

The magazines of the riflemen are constantly being changed out for new ones, and those that ran out of full reserve mags would reuse their partially spent ones while the MG just kept firing short bursts during the firefight.

It would not take that long for the machine gun to finally go click though, as soon after, the belt has disintegrated as a whole with pieces of it littered around where the gunner was standing.

The machine gunner would take his weapon's bipod off the defilade, pointing the barrel up and opens up the cover. Swiping the tray off of potential pieces of the belt left behind, he would look to the left, where he would see the new light tank going into position, having its cannon over the tiny hill.

"Hey, stay clear of the tank cannon!" shouted his fellow RPF fighter. The machine gunner would hastily close the cover for now and grab the handle that was intended to accommodate barrel changing before then running off to the back with the others.

It was a short run as they would be directly behind the tank in about 1 second.

BANG

The Letpansar let out a deafening explosion before another would erupt further away from them, directly on one of the houses where the Ferdies had taken cover. It's unclear what exactly happened to them, but it's still clear that whatever was there, isn't there anymore... and also a big hole to the house.

"Imagine how much we are losing for this..."

"What do you mean? We are winning the war without much loss"

"I meant how much RESOURCES and MONEY"

"Ohhh..."

The destructive power of the Letpansar is enough to take down an entire position as far as anyone could see. How they would fix up the damages though, is another question entirely. Oh well, it's probably best to deal with it later, thought by pretty much every RPF here.

For now, they're focusing and ONLY focusing on fighting for control of the city.

"Orders from Kramovskiy just came in" said a radio operator over the radio "Uh... Every frontline ground units are to move into the cities, including Saracens and Letpansars..."

"Hey that's us!" said the leader for this squad "Move in right now!"

Immediately, the squad quickly moved in a spread out formation, heading East, towards the city. Lugging their weapons around, one seemed to have realized what he forgot about...

'Aw fuck, I forgot to reload the machine gun...'

...

With the order to attack with full force received, the Reslanian People's Front began to advance from every side, using infantry, trucks, APCs, and light tanks. This formation on the South side only have trucks for the time being, but it's better than nothing.

The Reslanian trucks would go past a row of destroyed and abandoned self-propelled carriages, specifically the unarmored version intended for logistics. The ones that got hit all have been disintegrated, which should tell the Reslanians that this was Flashia's doing.

"By the gods, I can't imagine being on the other side having to deal with... that"

It is here that they realized La Ferdina was really unlucky that they faced an enemy centuries ahead of them. Reslania was lucky they had a country 'from the future' supporting their efforts.

Even then, the thought of Flashia can literally smite them anywhere, anytime is still something to be scared of to them. But they can't let that take over, and so, they just go on with their mission.

With the initial mortar strikes and harassing attacks concentrated to the West and North side of the city, they expect some resistance, but not by much.

As they went past the last absolutely destroyed carriage ahead of the convoy that used to exist before Flashia did a little trolling as the foreign volunteers like to put it, they would spot exactly 2 active defensive positions that almost instantly came under fire by the machine guns mounted on the beds of the trucks.

The doors would swing open, the fighters hurriedly set their foot to the ground with their guns on their hands and rushed to the sides of the road. They kept watch to the opposing positions while the vehicles just continue laying fire on them.

"Move up while they're down!"

The RPF on foot would advance under the covering fire of the trucks machine guns, as they too move slowly. They would flank around so as to not get into view of the pinned La Ferdinan soldiers but also not to get caught in the crossfire of their own.

They went across an open field into the area near the outskirt, most nearly running out of breath after running with their equipment on. They would try to make their way to where the 2 groups of Ferdies are being held up, with tracers serving as their guide.

Using the streaks of light that popped up every now and then, going directly to where they're supposed to go, they eventually made their way to a house. A peek to the window reveals some dead bodies, presumably a result of the suppressing fire, and more Ferdies that are still capable of fighting.

"Oi trucks, divert your fire from the house to the left!"

They seem to be in a state of shock, but little did they know that it's going to be a lot worse. One RPF fighter pointed his gun at the troops inside, and pulled the trigger. Bursts of full auto pierced through the glass and would take many lives in short seconds.

A few was left alive though, as they would run out of the view of the rifleman who tried to shoot them down to no avail as he missed all of the runners.

"Damn it, I lost 'em!"

"What are we waiting for then?! Just go in already!"

The door was kicked open and this squad would begin the process of cleaning up the house from the La Ferdinan control. A similar thing would happen to the one to the right as gunshots were also heard from there.

With the truck moving in and the squads clearing the house, it's only a matter of time until the RPF would officially hold control of the Southern outskirt alongside their West and North counterpart.

...

A La Ferdinan infantryman looks through the scope of his newly acquired rifle, being among the lucky few to have a repeater rifle on hand. With battle rages to the West of the tower he's standing on, he would put his reticle to an RPF soldier caught in the open.

The soldier would open up the chamber of his lever-action halfway to check if it's loaded, close it up again and then get his sight back on his target. Holding his breath, he puts his finger into the trigger guard of his weapon.

BANG

Went the rifle as it recoiled back into his shoulder and the reticle of the scope shifting upwards. The soldier would lower his rifle down and in turn lower the sight to where that RPF was. He was met with a satisfying sight of another RPF fighter pulling the one he apparently hit back to cover.

The soldier shifted his sight to another Reslanian fighter, cycling the lever to load in another cartridge. Holding his breath, he once again prepares to fire.

BANG

Went another shot, and another taken down.

"I'm loving this rifle!"

The soldier would do the same thing over and over, shooting every Reslanians that pops up in his sight. 3 bullets left in the magazine however, he'd come across a RPF fighter with a wooden gun and something above it while looking through the scope.

Upon closer look, it turns out the guy also had a scope on the weapon and was directly looking at him.

It was far too late however, as after a yellow light went to him, his vision was painted black in an instant. His head would make an impact to the ground, as his ears slowly embraced the sound of silence.

...

A casing was ejected out of a gun in smokes with the bolt being pulled back.

"I'm getting a little tired from this..."

The bolt in turn would be pushed in again, chambering a new cartridge in the process, and then be locked into battery with a swift downward motion of the hand on the bolt handle. This RPF fighter would then move along with the troops with the vehicles also moving in to support.

'Let's see... is there any repeater bastards left?'

Being one of those tasked specifically to hunt down repeater units that were quite a problem for Reslania, while moving, he looks out for anything that could suggest the presence of one. Whether it be the common glint of scopes or the distinct sound of their guns firing, he would raise his rifle up to aim and pull the trigger if given the chance.

Right now however, there isn't much of a chance that he could take to kill another one though, which means he now takes on a secondary role: supporting marksman for the squad.

'Shame... thought all of them were so brave to face us?'

To be fair though, La Ferdina was not prepared for a force whose even the most unskilled infantry can hit really far away, even further than what they can reach out, and most is probably lying dead from their guns.

That thought is lost somewhere in the minds of those in the Reslanian People's Front, as their focus is to take the city for their own newborn nation.

The forces march and march with the iron machines for quite some time until...

KABOOM

...A magic cannon had struck the front of the leading Letpansar, causing the troops to flinch and take on a lower stance. After the smoke clears up a bit, everyone could see the hatch on top pushed outwards and the 2 men on the turret trying to get off the vehicle as fast they could.

The commander jumps off the hull of the tank and the gunner just got his entire body out of the turret when the tank started to emit a big fire as multiple cracks were heard from the vehicle.

"Shit! Where that came from?!"

That had detrimental effect on their morale. With the fact that even their own vehicles are vulnerable to magic cannons, the RPF frantically ran around trying to find the source of that cannon shot.

The sniper would also start to look around, trying to keep calm and not let the destruction of one light tank overwhelm him. His right eye looked through the scope, his left eye out in the open, just like what a certain Flash man in strange equipments, even stranger than what they're wearing now, had taught him.

He scans the general direction of where the cannon could potentially be, the light tank still cracking as it continued to cook off. Eventually, he barely picks up a silhouette of a soldier in a house at the windows from his left eye.

Swiftly getting his scope on the window, the sniper would verify the target, confirming the presence of a magic cannon, and fired.

The La Ferdinan cannon operator is now just a lifeless corpse, his assistants freaking out and began running away.

"FUCK YOU FERD-"

KABOOM

The light tank exploded with the turret popped off, knocking the sniper to his left, forcing him to let go of his sniper rifle as it dropped to the ground.

Breaking his fall, he would then sit up, looking at the light tank with its head lying upside down on the hull.

'...I may have forgot things can happen when you least expect it'

In this case, it's a catastrophic explosion that occured after he had shot the one at the cannon from before.

'Fuck it... let's just get my rifle and move on already'

The RPF sniper would get on his feet and ran over to his rifle lying on the ground. Grabbing it by the handguard with his right hand, the sniper would follow the few RPF riflemen advancing through the destroyed tank while the vehicles take a detour as the road was blocked by its wreck.

...

"Western Front, why are we receiving a crap load of mortar support requests?!"

To be honest here, things didn't go as Reslania expected. They expected heavy urban fighting which means a lot of casualties, but not as much as losing even a few of their armored vehicles: both Letpansars and Saracens.

Both of these vehicle types turned out to be extremely vulnerable to the magic cannons of La Ferdina, something Esterria had already found out about in Havenklein with their own Ijzerwagens, as they now call it.

But for some reason, this information did not manage to get passed down to the Reslanian People's Front. It's either leadership problems or just a lack of knowledge in general, although it's most likely the former since Esterrian troops did get sent into Eastern Reslania after all.

Anyways, back to the situation at hand, the mortars are going to be a lot busier for this battle alone.

"Damn it, we're going to have to burn through the entire stockpile just for this city..."

The men at the mortar also never expected their workload to be cranked up to obscene number just like that, but the first days weren't also in their expectation either, and so they just get back to work.

A box of ammunition just gets thrown out into the field as the mortar shells it came with were all taken out for their fire mission.

"Oi you got that coordinates on?"

"Yeah, I got it"

A singular High-Explosive shell was grabbed and taken to the muzzle of the mortar, where it would be hanged until the order "FIRE!" was given, at which point the shell was let go off and sent to a brief descent to the bottom.

Upon reaching the bottom, the primer was struck, and the shell once again propels itself out of the barrel really damn fast as it would now be in the air. Another shell is then taken and hanged up to the mortar tube, before it too were let go to fall into the barrel.

THUMP

And then, a third one.

THUMP

After that, the RPF mortarmen would rest their hands for a while, not just because to retain their stamina but also safety reason. Apparently, according to Flashia, you do not want to have your mortar explode from firing too many shell.

Three shells may be few, but remember, this is just one mortar, there are also many others that are doing the same thing. As for what will happen next... let's just say it will be a hell of a shellshock.

...

A moment of silence fell upon the city, as the sound of gunshots went to nothing. All that's left is the wreck of the vehicles on the road, and the subtle voices of those in the battle.

Amidst this silence, there were multiple deep thumping sounds popping up in the background. It's not a gunshot by any means as far as they know, which just leaves them confused as to what they could be.

BOOM

Ah, there is their answer.

BOOM

The Reslanian knows what exactly were they, but the Ferdies don't.

BOOM

They just assumed it was some sort of hidden explosion magics, with only the thumping sounds from before probably serving as a warning.

"WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM?!" yelled out a La Ferdinan soldier before he himself would blown into pieces by a shell that just happens to fall directly on his feet, with what seemed like a rain of explosions sent by the gods themselves befalling upon the regional capital of Enmars.

In response, much of the La Ferdinan forces began to take shelter inside houses, which wouldn't be a great idea as according to those that somehow lived to tell the tales, indoors is where the RPF reigns.

It bothered many in their ranks, but what other choices do they have?

And so, the La Ferdinans just sit inside the previously houses after evicting the civilians, if there was any, inside. From there, they just pray that no Reslanian would use this opportunity to storm in and kill them all.

Their prayers... were not acknowledged.

Creak... Clang-THUD-Clang...Clang... BOOM

...

CRACK

BANG-BANG... BANG

"Crap, I can barely see anything here!" said a fighter after firing mostly blindly into the dust from the grenade as the Reslanian People's Front is regaining momentum after forcing the Ferdies to engage in something they were good at, house-to-house combat.

While they indeed had mastered the art of fighting in houses using equipment delivered from Flashia with love, it was getting a little bit too tedious to say the least.

"Move in lads! Go get them!"

But who cares if it's getting tedious when there's a whole battle going on?

"Out the way!"

The entire squad began to rush inside the house while at the same time, exercising caution knowing that their enemies could be in every corner. Along with the occasional firing of their musket, blowing a big hole somewhere, the sound of rapid shots and grenade exploding would dominate the domicile in terms of sound.

Some is possibly going to be deaf after this since gunshots are a lot louder indoors than outdoors. Nonetheless, they continued onto their tasks, throwing grenades into rooms every now and then.

"I need more bullets damn it!"

"WHAT?"

BANG-BANG-BANG

What seemed like a chaotic fight for the Ferdies, were somewhat in order for the Reslanian engaging in such a combat as they were quickly sweeping the house from the enemy. And before anyone knows anything, there was eventually no La Ferdinan soul left in this house.

"Let's just move on already, it's starting to stink here..."

"WHAT?!"

...

"No! No! No! Get away from us- AHHHH"

"They are coming from every direction!"

"We are about to be overwhelmed here, somebody send help, please!"

"Hold your positions soldiers, we're sending in the wyverns"

The wyvern corps had never conducted a combat mission in such a close proximity with their own regional capital before, but alas, it had to be done. The battle for Saint-Boudet is not on their favors right now, and it's about time that the wyvern corps change that.

As far as anyone knows, they have free reign of the skies, with no other wyverns to worry about, meaning they can freely bombard the RPF as much as they want.

"We're about to reach Saint-Boudet, if you see any Reslanian, go for them"

The order was simple but clear, kill any RPF in sight and make sure that their boys down there have an easier time dealing with them.

Which would've been easy enough hadn't been those big tracers introducing themselves 10 seconds later.

"WHAT THE-" was the last manacomm transmission of the captain before his wyvern was blown into smithereens, all of them now know that they've been spotted by something down there that could very well kill them in an instant.

"EVASIVE MANEUVERS! EVASIVE MANEUVERS!"

The wyverns that are still in the air would make as sharp turns as possible in order to evade the incoming fire. Some succeeded in holding out for longer, some weren't fortunate enough to not share the same fate as the late captain.

It was supposed to be a simple, calm ride to their destination before the chaos, but now, chaos decides to arrive early. More wyverns were swatted out of the skies by whatever those guns were employed by the RPF.

...

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK

The armed wing of Reslania as it turned out, now has proper AA guns of their own. These AA trucks were once in Flash service, which is bizarre considering its origin, in the 1960s and never saw actual combat.

Now it fulfills its purpose here. Its targets may not be helicopters or fighter jets, but they still fly, and so they would empty mags after mags just to take down the flying lizards.



"GUNS DRY!" shouted the gunner as he then stood up and start unloading the left mag, the right also being taken off by his other gun operator sitting on the bed "Come on! Give me a mag!"

His assistant grabs a new mag and hands it over to the gunner, before grabbing another one while the main gunner had already put one on the left. He would then load in the mag for the right gun, giving it a love tap before giving a thumbs up.

The bolt would be pulled back (idk how the Praga guns works, there's little info on that so...) and the guns are now ready to blast some more out of the skies.

The gunner aims his cannons, putting his sight at where the reptiles in flight would be judging by their speed and trajectory. It only took a pressing of a foot did the gun went ka-thunk again. Casings fly around each time the barrel was sent back and front and tracers would beeline towards the wyverns.

...

The La Ferdinan soldiers, more specifically the ones having a really hard time dealing with the Reslanian looks in horrors as an extraordinary scene befalls upon them.

The fireworks of terror as they called it, had taken the lives of their wyverns that came just to help them. It had already been apparent that not even their counterpart in the skies are safe from the sheer firepower of the RPF.

With the airpower of La Ferdina put down, the rest of the forces bound to the ground is unfortunately on their own. Morale had hit an extreme low with some formations already having surrendering themselves to the RPF.

Nevertheless, they must fight on. As long as the gunshots echo through the city blocks, as long as the yellow lights keep flashing, the battle is yet to be over.

A soldier grabs his gun lying on the side of the stricken wall by its handguard while walking straight. The man would be heading outside the door, when a familiar voice stopped him before the doorway.

"Albert... where do you think you're going?"

The soldier turned to over his shoulders. Maintaining silence for a few seconds before speaking.

"I'm going outside"

"Are you mad?!" said his friend in a distraught tone "Those damn Reslanians have extremely advanced magic out there, it's better to just stay here!"

"I know, but I must go"

The soldier tried making another step when he was again stopped by his comrade grabbing him by the should.

"Hey! Hey!" he would be turned to face his counterpart "Listen to me, Albert... as much as I didn't want to admit this, even an average Reslanian rebel is vastly superior to even our best troops. If you step outside, you wouldn't be standing even for 10 minutes out there!"

Albert simply slowly put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"I'd be surprised if I did"

The opposing soldier was speechless, his head shaking in disbelief. Eventually he would let go of Albert's shoulders, having no hope of convincing his comrade otherwise. He would back up, looking down to the ground before slowly settling himself to a nearby corner.

"I'll see you on the other side Milo" said Albert.

The other soldier gradually raised his head up, his tired eyes coming in contact with the departing soldier. Milo then gave him a nod.

"See you in heaven..."

Albert would return the nod before he steps outside the house. No longer being muffled by the walls, the terrible orchestra of the battle became as clear as day, while the soldier would start running with his rifle on his arms, starting his fateful solo run in this hell of cinders.

...

"Someone get those bodies out of there... I think I'm feeling a bit sick"

An RPF squad takes position at a large building that gave them a good view over parts of the city and a lot of cover, although it would be more if it wasn't for the damage caused by their own forces while they were in the process of capturing the 5-storey.

The squad navigated through the hallway filled with various kinds of debris and of course, corpses of the fallen La Ferdinan soldiers and took positions at the windows where they would serve as lookout for the rest of their forces.

"Havrylo, hand me the binocular"

"I got it, I got it"

Rifles of two types, that being the assault and sniper rifles and machine guns were also set up by the window sill as the 3 teams would cover 3 sides of the building.

"Yakiv, mind getting your scope at that carriage over there?"

"Where?"

"Over there" as the soldier with the binoc would put at a certain direction "You see anything?"

"Wait... yeah, I got him on his sight"

"Just shoot him"

"Got it"

Click... BANG

Gunshots like that one would happen every now and then, often resulting in at least one Ferdie plopping to the ground as they continued scouting out the area. Suddenly they hear footsteps at the stairways, then some of the guns were at the stairway.

"Oi who's there?!" shouted one of the Reslanians guarding the stairs in Reslanian*.

"Mi vagyunk, ne lőjetek!" [It's us, don't shoot!]

One would then puts his rifle on safe and high-ready stance upon hearing the rather strange language.

"It's our Flash volunteers" said the same fighter.

"How would you know that?"

"I heard some of them speaking this kind of language, said they were from Ki-ral-sha or something"

The state he was referring to was Kiralsia, a state that speaks a rather extremely complicated language, only beaten by Animaatland. Said Kiralsians would emerge from the staircase, donning much of the RPF standard equipment.

"You guys just watch over there" said the RPF fighter in Inter-Civilized/Builtish language while pointing down the hallway in front of him and to the right of the Kiralsians "We already got this side under control"

The team leader of the foreigners nodded, shouting orders to his subordinates in his own language before they start moving out. The Reslanians in the meantime returned to their positions at the windows, continuing to look out for the friendly forces...

BANG

...And shooting anything that moves if deemed necessary.

"Another one!"

BANG

...

"When are the so-called marines going to come in? I haven't heard from since the beginning"

"We're coming in... right now"

Shots of the La Ferdinan magic cannons would create huge splashes on the water. Seemingly also declaring war on fishes, their targets were small boats scattered around directly approaching the beach they were tasked to defend.

On those boats are fighters of the RPF, soaked in water as they too fire back. They only made the retaliatory firing to at least silence their guns for a period of time as the ride is quite bumpy.

"I can't fucking hit anything here!"

"Neither can anyone so stop complaining! Just wait until we hit the shore!"

They are riding in mostly wooden row boats, but some, particularly those of Esterrian and Flash origins decided to bring some dinghies.



Fast and agile, they are a lot harder to hit, but at the same time, one must hold on to the boat more tightly lest they go overboard. Naturally though, they would be the first of the lines of boat, and soon enough, all of them hit the beachhead.

"Get off the boat! Go! Go! Go!"

All of the occupants of the dinghies jumped off into the beach, establishing RPF's foothold over the Eastern side of Saint-Boudet in the process. Amidst incoming fire, they soon opened fire upon the defenders, firing just enough to keep them down for a while so parts of theirs could advance.

Half shoots, half moves, then switch, that's what the foreign volunteers did whilst waiting for the wooden boats to come. Halfway through the beach though, they formed up a line, still spaced far enough, proning while continuing to spew more bullets.

One, two, three boats made it to the shores, and the Reslanian immediately rushed up to support their foreign counterparts that are in small numbers. Four, five so far hit the beach, while the RPF already there intensifying their shooting.

The attackers on the beach would then move under the cover of their own fire while the La Ferdinans still struggle to even hit anything in the first place.

The RPF troops ran across the field sproadically in an effort to minimize chance of getting hit. But they still risk being more likely to get hit for each footsteps they take, not to mention the cannons are still pretty much active out there.

"GET DOWN! CANNON-"

Voices were almost deafened out by the sounds of constant gunshots and explosions landing near them. Some having been injured while closing distance, while some had lost their life. Chaos reign over the beach for both the RPF down there coming under bombardment of the cannons, and the Ferdies being pinned down by massive flows of accurate bullets.

In all of the intensity of the firefight however, there is hope for the Reslanians and despair for the La Ferdinans.

"Hey we're at their lines now, watch your fire!"

That was it for the Ferdies at the beach, the automactic gunfires have reached the Ferdinan lines with their own defense no longer offering any protection at this points. Screams and dead bodies fill up the atmosphere quickly as the RPF starts cleaning up 'trash' at this beach.

...

"Damn it... we're the last line of defense now..."

"What are we supposed to do then?! They have us surrounded on all sides!"

From a top-down perspective, it's going extremely badly for the La Ferdinan forces. Not only did they lost tons of men and equipment, but they also no longer have any way to supplement those losses with increasingly dwindling supplies.

A few unfortunate Saogaulian forces that would otherwise be overshadowed are also with them, sharing a desperate, hopeless situation with everyone here.

"I have not come to La Ferdina to face death on every side of this city!" cried out one of the Saogaulians curled up against a wall.

"Do something about it then!" yelled another of the Saogaulian soldiers while everyone was scrambling for their weapons and get to their fighting positions. They settled themselves in at the windows, the sandbags, the rooftop, basically anywhere with at least a little bit of cover.

From this point on, they waited for the worst, having their guns mounted on the surface of their cover. The only thing that mildly disturbs them at the moment is their thoughts, their prayers, and the faint ambience of war, unsettlingly getting quieter by the seconds.

And then, there was this whistle that came from the skies. For the few Saogaulians and some Ferdies unfamiliar with such a sound, they wondered what it could be. But for the ones that retreated to here, they already knew what it exactly is, and it's never anything good.

"INCOMING! TAKE COVER!" a soldier of La Ferdinan suddenly yelled out while many soldiers began to either duck down or run towards a safer cover, either way it would prompt the others to do the same, still not knowing what's going on.

That is until a few seconds later, when the whistle briefly went loud.

KABOOM-BOOM-BOOM

Barrages of three shells rained upon their positions, sending shrapnel everywhere with big bursts of explosions, taking with them the unfortunates that could not make it to a safe place. Those that made it lied down as low to the floor as they can, continuing to pray in the middle of the creeping barrage.

The bombardment swept through the street they were on, hitting a few roofs of the houses, taking more lives in the process. After more than a minute that felt like an hour instead, the explosions had gone silent again, the troops slowly emerge from their cover from whatever just went by.

They just stared into the street while the smoke clears up, with the sound they hear then after was some sort of rumbling of a machine getting closer and closer. Figures in dark green with green helmet would emerge, with the distinctive red cloth on their arms.

"THEY'RE HERE-"

The soldier who noticed them first was silenced by a swift gunshot and the subsequently dull sound of a thud. The rest of the imperialists stood up only to be also met with a hail of the supersonic bullets coming right at them.

Anyone who didn't react in time were met with holes into their bodies, and if even they did, some hid behind fragile cover, so they too couldn't save themselves anyway. Rapid gunshots would sweep the street as every house and rooftop is no longer safe and there's little they could do against it with their muskets and even repeater rifles.

"C'mon... I need to load faster-" CRACK "AAAAGHHHH!"

...

"Isn't this a little excess-"

"Nah, this good enough"

By good enough, the RPF fighter actually means there is enough vehicles going straight for the La Ferdinan last bastion of defense. And by that, I mean they're going full force on this one.

Saracens flood the roads of Saint-Boudet once again after the Reslanian forces having been able to complete the full encirclement of the city upon their forces at the Eastern beach and their subsequent capture of the coastal area.

While the long convoy moves forward slowly, the infantry moves up to support their mechanized counterparts with impairments in situational awareness. In the process, they barged into houses, shot a few, clearing them out before moving on.

"Oi boys!" shouted one of the leaders of an infantry squad "Get in here, we'll get a good vantage point from here!"

The leader turned to a door behind him, grasping the knob on his hand, turning it to push it open only for the door to suddenly stop at their track. He would then kick the door but it still wouldn't budge as the rest of the squad converged on him.

"Damn it, door stuck... help me here..."

The entire squad takes turn in trying to force the door open, ranging from kicking it multiple time to literally slam their body into it with enough force to knock someone back to a decent distance... and yet the door still wouldn't move at all.

The SL understandably became very frustrated with this whole thing, stomping his feet as he approach the damned door again.

"Please... I beg you... Just FUCKING MOVE ALREADY!"

The leader would strike the butt of his rifle stock at the surface of the persistent, stubborn door. And somehow, that managed to bring the entire door down.

All of them were dumbfounded as to how such a thing could happen. In a short while though, they would snap out of it, the squad leader taking a deep breath, before turning to his squad.

"Strange isn't it?" said one of his riflemen.

"Yep... it is... let's just move in already, we're done with this damn door"

The Reslanian squad all walked into the house, slowly but surely clearing it out first before then getting into positions where viable. Out there, Saracens continued their push with their machine guns being heard firing from a distance.

...

In the Central Authority Building, the condition is simply just unbearable for many in the fight. Corpses would build up in numbers and rot, the smell of blood overwhelms the thought of the soldiers, not to mention what seems like hundreds of bullets coming their way.

They are still holding out, but it's not going for long, and the soldiers themselves are very aware of that fact. Their numbers are getting cut down quickly with not much ammo is left for them. All they could do is hope to hit something as they resorted to simply fired at the general direction of where the shots come from.

"What the hell is even out there anyways?!"

"They are self-propelled carriages!"

"WHAT?!"

"They have self-propelled carriages!"

"Impossible! Why would those carriages have such weapons?!"

"I don't know!"

They would spend most of the time in cover, hoping that none of their bullets could ever hit them... They could it couldn't get worse than this, but oh no, they were wrong as they later found it.

Houses suddenly also opened up at the defenders of the building, having a good angle on them and also being more accurate than those metal boxes down there. Shortly after that, too many were gunned down to the point where they could not hold their ground on the outside for longer, the rest retreating inside the building for one last stand.

...

SCREECH

The rear hatch of one of the Saracens would be kicked open with its occupants jumping out the vehicle as fast as they can. The armored vehicles of the RPF had now set their wheels on the field just in front of the building with its fighters rushed to the front entrance.

"Out the way! Coming through!"

Multiple fighters rushed up to the entrance from both sides of the stairs whilst some others stayed behind and fired bursts of full auto at the windows. Upon getting to the door, one tried to open the door, only to have bullets going through it causing him to flinch away.

"Shit, that was close!"

"I saw that... now what do we do?"

"Just put bullets in there, ask questions later"

Shortly after that, the RPF fighters began to straight up blind fire at the door, making more holes in it. They shot like about 4 mags (120 rounds) into the door before finally, they'd barge into the building. The ones that guarded the door would be found dead with a lot of bullets in them as well as crap load of holes somewhere else.

Call it overkill if you will but it works.

These fighters would then run across the hallway that also leads to a stairway before splitting up into two groups to two different direction. These two would begin kicking into rooms uninvited, firing shots after shots in there, throw a grenade, or screw it, why not an RPG?

BANG-FWOOSH BOOM

Gotta admit it's getting a bit silly here, but again, it works. The run on the first floor wasn't perfect though.

"AGGHHHH FUCK!" yelled one fighter as he recoiled to his left in extreme pain "THEY SHOT MY ARM OFF!"

"Come here, let me see what's up..."

The fighter ran back with the left arm noticeably tucked into his body, not moving an inch with his rifle aiming down on his right.

"Let me see here" as another would grab the left shoulder of the other, pulling him in for a closer look "Oh damn, that's a bad one on your left"

"Yeah, no shit, and it FUCKING HURTS!"

"Calm your horses down, I'll patch you up in a sec"

While the medic began the process of dealing with a hit left arm, the rest of their squad moved onto the other rooms as the gunshots means that the clearing of their axis, in this case the left side, is still ongoing. The squad walked through the hallway with the man leading them about to pass an open doorway when the one behind him saw something.

"WATCH OUT CANNON!"

BOOM

One of their own would have been doomed at that point had it not for a quick and decisive yank from behind. The same guy landed on his bottom, eyes widened and then, he looked at the one who pulled him back and silently gave a thumbs up.

"Just be careful, yeah?"

While the guy slowly bring himself up to his feet, his comrade would fire his weapon blindly from cover, at the direction of where the cannon shot was taken in the room. He did 3 bursts of full auto before putting rifle back to his chest, followed by a peek of confirmation.

In the room, there sits a magic cannon and a dead body, nothing else.

"Now we're good"

The medic and a rifleman whose left arm is tied to a tourniquet and the wound wrapped in bandage would soon rejoin the squad as they would then bunch up on the last door. Silent prayers went through the minds as then the leader gave a nod to signal them to go in.

A forceful opening of the door and a missed musket shot later, these RPF would say goodbye to their hearing once again as they let their rifle loose, only stopping to reload in cover. Even then, there was always at least one still shooting while the others change their mags in the meantime.

30 chaotic seconds later, as the RPF had the upper hand in who can get as much bullets out as much as humanly possible, they won over the room with every La Ferdinan defenders here riddled with bullets. The squad scans the room in its entirety after the fight before a "CLEAR!" was declared. This time without anyone else's arm shot off.

"Get out and regroup with the other guys" said the leader "We're not done here yet"

The squad would pour out of the room to the hallway where the other squad is already there, waiting for them to move on. Upon seeing the first man out, they too would walk back to where they had come from.

"So we got the first floor done... Now onto the second and then third floor-"

"There's no such thing as third floor"

"What?"

"Haven't you seen it from outside? The third floor was utterly destroyed"

"Ooh"

The third floor of the Central Authority Building had collapsed as a result of prolonged bombardment of the Reslanian mortars. In other words, that's one less floor to deal with and even less Ferdies to shoot if most didn't make it.

Two of these squads would make it back to the hallway leading up to the front entrance and the stairway to their left. The right side group (again 2 squads) would link up back to the other. With the entirety of their men here, they're all ready to take to the next and final floor, just... you know, just checking their stuff before moving.

"Anyone's got a spare mag?"

"I only got a pistol"

"Damn... hey what about you?"

"I'm on my last mag what do you think?"

"Crap..."

Some of these Reslanians are starting to regret basically dumping some of their mags, but they knew what was done could now not be taken back. They have no choice but to cope with the few rounds left until they can clear just this one floor.

Nods of affirmation were exchanged between the 4 squad leaders as then, their feet would take their steps up the stair. Slowly and carefully, the leading fighters trained their weapons at every direction where the opposing force could be using as fighting points.

In the midst of this, a relatively quiet chatter is heard.

"I noticed that I'm feeling lighter..."

"Of course you are, you spent your entirety of your rifle mags"

"Dumbass"

The RPF groups would make it safely to the second floor without firing a single shot. Upon reaching it, the 2 groups immediately split up again, with a few fighters initially messing up in terms of who they're supposed to go with before turning to where they are actually needed.

From there, it only takes a few doors kicked open...

BANG-BANG-BANG

...For gunshots to ring out for Ferdies to lie flat on the floor, as the Reslanian continue on sweeping the entirety of this building.

"We got a runner!"

BANG

The La Ferdinan tried everything on their behalf to resist such a force...

"GRENADE OUT!"

BOOM

With muskets and cannons...

BANG

"Crap, they almost got me!"

To repeater rifles...

"They're on the right side!"

"Right?"

"Yes! Right side!"

"Got it"

TATATATATAT

But with no avail, it's simply just too much for them.

"Last room on me!"

They eventually did something that would benefit their surviving comrades, by bringing them down to mere pistols, but only for a little bit. One of the RPF squads would then kick the door open and began clearing the entirety of this final room with their pistols.

They no longer have the full auto capability and capacity of their rifle, but to compesate for that, the handgun is small as a result, allowing these fighters to maneuver easily in tight spaces.



A forgotten Kawagrzmotian classic, now in Reslanian hands would begin to make work of the remaining Ferdies here.

BANG-BANG-BANG

In each relatively heavy trigger pull, comes out a small bullet that would accurately and consistently land itself into the bodies of any armed defenders, either killing them, or simply just take away their ability to fight, not to mention it happened even before they could raise their weapons against the RPF.

Who would've known that such a small weapon could be better than the bulky muskets?

"They're all dead now!"

"No, not yet..."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think I saw one behind that table over there"

With almost every Ferdies dead or unable to effectively fight, the Reslanians walked slowly but surely to a flipped table while still training their firearms at it. They paced and paced with nervousness only increasing, closing distance to the table before stopping short of a few 5 steps.

"Come on don't do this, man" said one of their squad members to the left "Come out with your hands out, don't try anything stupid or you'd end up like your friends"

They then waited for a response, still prepared for the worse. After a while, two hands were brought up from the table, one grabbing the bend of a musket, and the soldier would gradually stand up. During this process, he threw away his weapon, and a sigh of relief was heard.

"Anton?" said the SL.

"Yeah?"

"I suppose you got the flag?"

"Right here in my bag comrade"

"Good... everyone else gather all the prisoners outside, we'll raise our flag here"

"What about the ones on the first floor?" said another of his subordinates.

"Our guys from below had already taken care of them" as the SL would then holster his pistol.

All of the fighters here, sans the 2 aforementioned would begin taking the injured and the surrendered outside while the SL and Anton takes out a flag of red and white, with a cross and 4 surrounding yellow stars occupying the upper portion of the red.

A wooden pole would be taken out as well, with the SL holding onto it and Anton just has to set the flag up to the pole. After that was done, the leader would stick the flag pole out the window of the second floor, as the gunshots went quiet on other side, signifying nothing else... but victory.

...

*Reslanian: Ukrainian of this world.

also I'm le back again