"When can eat humans?" said a really bored out goblin "Me so hungry already!"

"By the Lord's name..." muttered a lizardman "Could you just keep quiet FOR ONCE?!?"

Further from the main fighting in the outskirts of the town of Pænkária, the Demon Lord's Army had set up a camp to acommodate those who will be fighting for the settlement that seems to refuse to fall into their hand.

"No!" the goblin shouted "Me want humans now!"

"Lord please help me..."

While the others get their good night sleep, a few lizardmen stayed awake along with some goblins to act as guards and sentries for their comrades in arms.

The lizardman then looked out to the really dark scenery. It should be noted that his species naturally has great vision at night, so for this one, it isn't really that dark at all.

As he looked through the snow, a strange sound came to his ears. That sound definitely came from above, as he thought to himself, standing up then looking upward to find the source.

The distinct roaring sound then got louder and louder until then, it finally enters his sight.

"...What in the Lord's name is that?" he ponders to himself.

The thing that comes to his eyes is... nothing like what he had seen nor heard of. It's a white creature with non-flapping wings, and under those wings are what seems to be metal-like eggs along with something that he just can't point his finger at. It also doesn't seem to have legs

"What is you looking-"

"Shut, let me focus"

What he is sure of from this creature is that it must've been the source of such sound, as in every second it gets closer, the roar amplified accordingly. To the lizardman, it's probably one of the strangest dragons he had seen.

And then, when it got to the camp, the white dragon then dropped all the eggs it carried under its wings, leaving behind a very strong roar as it flew past.

'Why would it dropped its children on us?' he thought to himself.

As the eggs spun around, descending on the camp, the lizardman suddenly had a realization.

KABOOM

But it was far too late. As it turned out, they weren't eggs, but pyro weapons. With a couple of explosions, the snow and the camp was set on fire, burning down many who had unfortunately found themselves the target of such a thing, including the lizardman and the goblin that was supposed to guard their sleeps.

As the demons were waken up to a harrowing scene, the fire burned intensely, more intense than what other fire magics were capable of, and it was hot beyond comprehension, not to mention it insistently stuck onto the DLA troops whenever it gets the chance.

...

The Flash Defense Forces, or the Luftforsvar in particular wouldn't have resorted to such weapons, but since they're in a new world completely different from their home, the convention might as well be a suggestion, or even a checklist for some.

"That's some really nice napalm run..."

And it's because of this that napalm, famously used on a certain country with a lot of rainforest, is back on the table.

"Stoner to Command, napalm dropped on enemy camp, got some good barbercue for y'all"

The Gripen then circle around back to where it had come from, having completed its task while at the same time, along with some other, marking the start of a long-awaited Northern Pact and Geschnokean offensive.

...

"What in the Lord's name is happening?!" shouted Verkog the ogre as he made his way up to the wall surrounding the captured town of Gullður.

The commander of this invasion forces sent on behalf of the Demon Lord with his subordinates got their slumber rudely interrupted by something that sounds a lot like explosions. After opening their eyes, the first impression they got was that the skies were far brighter than it should be with a hue of red and yellow.

Verkog would ascend up to the wall step-by-step, the stair luckily enough could withstand his weight. And it wasn't long until he saw something from afar, something that horrified the lizardmen who watched the scenery.

It was a fire, a big fire on what would've been one of their camps situated just rear of the frontlines. Just then, he then hears a faint roaring sound before it faded away.

And this is not just one, there were multiple of them that would burn the similar way as far as the ogre can see, scanning the surrounding.

Then, a series of explosions happened at another place, this time, it's at one of the towns under occupation by the fellowDemon Lord's troops

"...Oh no..." he said with a realization "Oh no! No! No! No! It's happening again!"

A long time ago, the Demon Lord and he along with others had experienced something like this, except this is way worse.

"Did the Warriors of the Cross return?!?"

Warriors of the Cross, as they're often referred as, named after the cross that they beared on their contraptions of irons, had decapitated their forces in the past offensive in Beria with the most destructive magic that they had imagined.

And the sound of the roar earlier just happens to match up with his memory.

Verkog then paced back and forth, clear panic on his face, trying to think through this, trying to come up with the next course of action.

"Should we retreat...?" he mumbled to himself "Or should we fight to the last demon on this island...?"

Facing with a dilemma, he could not make up the choice.

Retreating can get as much demons out of here alive, but that would bring and humiliation, not to mention what the Demon Lord would do to him while this would likely also cause the Berians to rise up, drying up their resources and manpower even further.

On the other hand, while staying in the fight is more honorable, the cost could be enormous and in the end, would be futile to do so.

As the ogre tried to come up with a decision, he then hears another distinctive roaring sound that gets louder and louder by the seconds. From his past experience, this is a pretext for a great explosion magic, the one that killed most of their demons and a few of his fellow ogre.

He looked at the skies in horror, before his expression switched to a calm sadness.

"..So this is it then..." mumbled Verkog "...The end of me, the end of Verkog the commanding ogre..."

A short, loud whistle then reached his ears.

...

"All guns loaded!"

"SALVO FIRE! FIRE!"

A cruiser of the flotilla shot off another barrage of its guns, letting multiple shells fly off to its port side at once while yellow lights momentarily lit up the ship as 2 others followed suit.

This cruiser is a part of the Geschnokean flotilla sent in support of the counteroffensive at Svarher, the offensive with the focus of forcibly evicting demons out of the really freezing island.

"Keep it up, make sure there is nothing left of the wretched demons!"

Geschnokea has yet to sent troops on foot to directly assist them, but this would still do for now.

"Turret 5 ready!"

"Turret 3's up!"

"Turret 2, all loaded"

And something along those lines over the radio as each guns were readied up while one other cruiser would fire off a salvo until the:

"All guns loaded!"

And another:

"SALVO FIRE! FIRE!"

And then another ear-shattering KABOOM with shells leaving the barrel, spinning and arching towards where it would probably hit on the island. Again, the ship was briefly lit up and a few others joined as well.

...

"Get your guns loaded up! Autocannons at the ready! We're going to kill some demons!"

A company worth of BMP-2MDs emerges from the treeline just behind where the Naeslagt infantry had dug in as they too climb up the snowfield and advance on the demon forces.

And this time, it wouldn't be just the Naeslagts that are going on the ground.

"Remember, we have Flashian forces at our left and right!"

Joining them are the armored fighting vehicles of the Flash Land Army themselves. From what they have heard, those are also Pansartransporter, more specifically, the Stridsfordon 9040 as they're also known as.

The Flash vehicles, with the Naeslagts would form a spread out formation with some infantry in front of the vehicle and some behind. And then, what can be described as a 'small sun' would light up the area in front of them.

The 'small sun' was deployed specifically because the Naeslagts do not have the night vision capability of Flashia. And so, the joint assault could begin.

"I still can't see anything..."

"Oh shut it and keep moving!"

As the troops took their steps in front of the BMPs, they then see a glare of light at the opposing position.

"CONTACT!" as the first soldier quickly crouched down, bring his rifle up (with a chicken winf), stock on shoulder and immediately fired off a couple of rounds at the glare. And with that done, it disappeared as quickly as the bullet had came to it.

Did he hit? Most likely not, but it was still effective at stopping it from repeating that.

"Stay awake, there could be more of it!"

While the troops inched closer to the trees they're facing, a THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK fired at a faster rate than their BMP's autocannon would ring out from the left of their formation, shortly resulting in a couple explosive impacts on some poor trees.

"Did I miss something?" said a crew of the Naeslagt (leased) IFV over the radio "I could've swear I cannot see anything on thermals"

"Well you're probably blind then, no offense" said another "If you can't see them but they do, then they're actually there instead"

"Use your brain" a third joined in "They could have the angle you know?"

"Or that..."

Another glare would show up and it was immediately answered by one of the BMPs opening fire with its autocannon at it. By this time, another 'mini-sun' would pop up over the trees as the first one would eventually fade.

The infantry soldiers were also quite close at this point, and before they knew it, they finally arrived at where the demons are

"Time to teach them a lesson!"

They knocked on their door by having a soldier firing off some short bursts of his battle rifle into the trees where the demons are.

"Go! I got you covered!" he yelled out to his fellows, another short burst followed while the others move in.

As soon as the troops had ran into the forest, they were met with the scene of a few dead goblins. They moved trees to trees, covering the rear forces that would soon move forward, until several DLAs consisting of goblins and lizardmen started to blindly charge at them.

BANGBANG BANGBANG

Many would not get even close to the attacking Naeslagt soldiers, for they had met with .308 right into their bodies that would then limp to the ground.

"Shoot them down!" shouted a platoon commander "Clear the area for our armored vehicles- What the-"

"LET ME AT THESE FUCKING DEMON CUNTS!" yelled out a really enraged soldier as he charged forward. It's really hard to make out, but it seems that he had a bayonet on his rifle.

And yes, bayonet lugs were also specifically requested to be fitted to the rifle that normally just do with rifle grenades.

"Look at him go!"

"What is he even doing?! Has he lost his mind?!"

Said soldier would manage to pin a lizard to a tree with the bayonet. As he reeled in pain, unable to move with the 'spear' keeping him in there, he tried to swing his sword at the Naeslagt only to-

BANG-BANG-BANG

...Have him pull the trigger thrice on semi, putting down the anthropomorphic reptile. He then swiftly pulled the rifle out and immediately turned his rifle to the left and fired 2 shots at a goblin and then another one.

"DIE HUMAN!" yelled out a voice behind him, a little shock went by before the soldier then proceeded to duck and then impale another lizardman with his bayonet, dodging a swing of the sword in the process.

Pulling out the blade again, the lizardman then fell lifelessly to the soldier with him getting out of the way, left hand supports the rifle and the right hand on the ground keeps himself from rolling over.

And then, seemingly out of nowhere, a pig-headed orc jumped out and quickly snatched his rifle out of his hands.

"I taken your toy human!" he proudly exclaims "What you do now-"

BONK

A shovel was swung into the orc's face hard, and after a little swinging back and forth from forcibly going to the right, the pig face fell down to the ground unconscious.

The Naeslagt soldier, with the entrenching tool on hand then went over and picked up his gun back up. And as he does this, he then looks at the E-tool.

"...Took as less force than I thought"

Orcs are thought to be physically stronger than a normal human, but apparently they can't take the sheer concussion from a shovel to the damn face.

The soldier then received a knock to his helmet from behind.

"By the gods, Baron" said the fellow infantryman "Don't do that again... could've got you in serious trouble..."

"No promise" he said with a smile while also hyperventilating. It should be noted that doing such a thing with some heavy stuff on self is no easy feat, you would need a good physical strength to do so and probably sprinkle some rage in there.

The fight is still far from over however, with the gunshots still echo over the trees, Baron and the others would continue onward to clear out the forest.

...

The sound of the HMG blasting in the night on the move while illumination rounds burn above them would resonate with the wind of the offensive in the cold land.

The convoy of the Ijzerwagens had 50. CAL out of the right and left side of the convoy as they rushed through the roads out of Pænkária. The effects of which... is questionable whether they would actually kill someone with such at speed.

Not to worry though as they have an attack helicopter, just barely visible that would clean up all the mess that was left behind in the process.

"Just keep moving and be patient lads, we'll be there in no time"

"You say that like we would get there in 5 minutes..."

This Esterrian brigade is bound for Hivaheift, a town held by the DLA since the opening days of the so-called Northern Svarher War as the name started to be thrown around as of recent.

"...Maybe not 5 minutes but still in a relatively short amount of time"

"That's fair"

The mobility of the Esterrian APCs is one that cannot be understated as they have proven themselves back in Havenklein. And although the sound of the tracks is rather unpleasant, they learned to appreciate the surprise factor that the Ijzerwagen helps in one way or another.

"They won't know what hit them"

"Just shut up and keep moving..."

"...You better keep your promise or I will shove my rifle up your butt"

"Don't worry about it"

Really, the only thing that seems to bother the Esterrians, in particular, the infantry a lot is the waiting time to the town.

...

The Viper flying above the Esterrian convoy would strike another defensive position of demons with its guns.

"God damn, that's a lot to deal with!"

"Well that's one trade-off you gotta take to keep the speed am I right?"

This helicopter is one of the many deployed by the Land Army in support of the forces that moved into retake the lost territories. From the transport carrying the Faldskærmtropper (or Paratroops) to the attack helicopters such as this one, they would do their part while at the same time, trying not to get shot down.

"Laser guy over there!"

The autocannon once again blasts the ones that shoot laser into oblivion, pretty much preventing them from downing the chopper.

"Phew, that was close..."

As they continued with the mission, the co-pilot then spotted a rather large formation of DLA troops in defilade that would protect them from the .50 spewed out from the machine gun of the former Flash APCs. And they're in a relatively straight line

"...Say, how about do a little rocket strike?"

"My pleasure"

The pilot then went over and got the helicopter into position, before then he pushed it forward, and after that, he let loose a barrage of rockets on the DLA.

The effect is rather impressive on their own, as most of the demons that were there were blown into smithereens. And those who's still standing found themselves running away in extreme shock.

"Gotta love raining hell on them!"

...

Speaking of the Paratroops...

Konrusj, Svarher The Northern island that was once empty, now occupied by the DLA would wake up to the Flash troops in white and black landing on it via pegasuses with spinning wings.

The paratrooper that mounted up on these helicopters, specifically Venoms would pour out from both sides of the choppers onto the Southern part of the island.

"Remember, we're going to assault their positions, link up with the others and push them back to the Northern shore, a frigate will be there to take care the rest"

After having the entire platoon's boot on the ground, NOD's down and the dust settling from the helicopter exiting the AO, the Flash soldiers moved forward with the plan set in advance.

The 30 troops are without support for now, but they're armed to the teeth with their sub-carbine mounted with CompM5's red dot optic which recently began to roll out for the Land Army along with other weapon system, such as the ARM90A1F (Minimi Para Mk.3) and MGM12F (Maximi with Para stock).

"Spread out, and don't get wiped in one go by these fuckers"

...

The 300 lizardmen rushed in to prepare themselves to stand their ground on this smaller island after having been waken up by the sound of the distant yet close explosions, and the chopping sounds of the white pegasuses dropping off what can be presumed as the warriors that they brought along.

In all honesty, no one here expected to fight for control of the island given the current situation to the South, but alas, they came to the island at such a short time.

"Get me the crossbow!"

"Yep! I got it!"

They hastily grabbed their weapons, a certain species of bird sent flying back to the homeland with a piece of paper, carrying an important message for the forces at the further rear while the sound of familiar, and at the same time, not, sound of the rapid gunshots erupting from the West.

The first shots had been fired, and they left no time for them to prepare.

The similar pattern of rapid gunfire would also emerge from the East. Some panics would enter the minds of these lizard, as it now seems to them that they might be undergunned.

"Oh dear lord..."

Everyone would run to the position they're supposed to be, and once that's done, they waited anxiously.

"...It'll be fine right?" said a lizardman to his fellow on his side.

"Huh?"

"...We just have to hold this... and then we get the timely support right?"

"Oh... uh..." his partner broke a cold sweat "Right... heheh..."

With the crossbows of the first line of defense pointing outward, they anticipated for something to come into visual. They waited... and waited... and waited-

"Something flashed over-"

WHOOSH- KABOOM

CRACK (~x30)

Out of nowhere, one of their positions exploded and lit up by both invisible and light projectiles alongside others that would take down some of them in a shockingly short time and forcing others to get down to cover in safety.

They're alive, but can't do much now lest they risk joining the less fortunate sons.

...

"FORWARD!"

One of the Paratroops squads had started their attack strong with a combination of the AT Tube and machine guns pinning the Demon Lord's soldiers down.

"Hurry up Ben! You're the turtle of the squad!"

"I'm trying okay?!"

With the squad splitting up into two halves, one with the medium machine gun and the launcher at the back supporting the other with rifles and LMG encroaching on the position.

"Thank god for the drone... wouldn't be able to know otherwise"

NVGs can only allow them to see much. It certainly helps in seeing the dark, but discerning something far away is not its field to say the least. Which is why there is a drone overhead.

"Gotta be the best thing that the DF brought in am I right?"

"Oi shut up over there and keep moving!"

The assault element moved along, occasionally firing off some suppressing shots from here and there while it's the MG and also the launcher that's actual doing the heavy lifting here.

And eventually, the Flash got to the DLA.

"Gooooooood morning demons!"

TATATATATATATATAT

The lizards that are still standing are once again lit up by the guns, this time at an extremely close range.

"It's not day yet you know..."

"Let a man have some fun for fuck's sakes!"

Then in the aftermath of the epileptic flashes of yellow, those that held the position were all wiped out, left without a chance to fight back and with a lot of holes on their body from the ARM10.

"Right! Onto the next!"

"Alpine, move up"

...

Surrounded on all sides with the South, West, and East reportedly getting overwhelmed by the unknown foot soldiers, not to mention the wyverns who couldn't even get close without exploding out of the skies and the ships finding their fate at the bottom of the sea by something out there.

This is the situation that the DLA occupation forces in Konrusj was faced with, desperation ran high and morale thrown out the window knowing that reinforcement is simply not possible.

The commander of such forces would have his hand over his heads, elbow resting on the table with the rough map of this island.

"...I guess there is truly no way out of this one huh...?"

The defense was well-prepared, but apparently not enough. As mentioned before many of these positions were getting overwhelmed with the reports from scouts piling up.

The commanding lizard tried to think through the next actions he'd take. He stared intently at the map with some objects on certain locations to represent what roughly looks like. Then the lizardman sat straight up, taking a deep breath afterward.

He stood up from his chair, turning to the subordinate as he walked to the door of the cabin.

"Get all forces we could spare to the North, we're leaving this island soon"

The subordinates nodded while the commander walked past him, and soon after follows him out. The door opens, prompting both to put their hoods of their coats on. At the same time, a faint explosion occured in the skies.

...

"If I'm gonna be honest here..." said an Esterrian soldier "This is just lackluster, I couldn't shoot any of these demons!"

"Speak for yourself" said another as he puts a stripper clip on top of his empty magazine with an adapter "I've shot too many that I lost... Oompf... count..." then pushing the 10 rounds in there.

"Really?"

"Yeah..." the soldier takes out the clip before then reaching for another one "You can ask the demon fellows but they're dead so..."

"My only question is how the fu-"

Hivaheift The Esterrian brigade has at last arrived at the town ... well the outskirt that is. And as they do not have the night-fighting capability just like the Naeslagts, illumination rounds from howitzers of Flashia at the far rear would shed light for their shots

"Magic... still useful for some other stuff... I was the army mage remember?"

"Okay... but didn't you suck at being a rifleman on the first day of conversion?"

"Yeah we don't talk about that..." he then pushes another 10 rounds into the mag.

"Oi! What's all the chatter here?!" yelled a senior personnel walking over to them "Get to fighting maggots!"

"Just a second sarge..." said the former mage "Let me load up my magazines"

"Well hurry up then!" he then leaves alongside the other soldier following behind.

These 2 would then rejoin the others blocking the way out of town from the West. Supported by the platoon's APCs, they would lay fire to the walls of the occupied Hivaheift.

"Sarge!" yelled out an assistant to the squad's machine gunner "When are we going to advance?"

"Any minute now!"

"When exactly?"

"When those Naeslagts finally show their faces according to Command!"

...

At an unbelievable speed even for many of these Naeslagts, the company punched through the enemy lines and head West-ward to the occupied town of Hivaheift with their column of the BMPs. And this time, no vehicle was lost.

"We're almost there, get your guns ready!"

Half of their ammo is already gone, but still with some Flash elements supporting them, they pushed on with the flank.

"30 seconds until dismount!"

Infantry soldiers would sit on top of their IFVs rather than being inside the vehicle. Apart from just being uncomfortable, they also found that it degrades their performance according to how long they spent inside, and nobody wants that.

After awhile riding along, the vehicles slowed down, momentarily bowing down to inertia.

"Dismount! Dismount! Dismount!"

The soldiers with their guns promptly jumped off the BMPs and quickly formed a line to the South, shortly followed by the tracked column with turrets turning to the left for the gun to face the same direction.

With the vehicles moving along from behind, the infantry squads ran towards the walled city currently being shone on by the illumination rounds and the enemies behind it hammered by the Esterrian fire from the East.

"Neigh-Geo, we're assaulting the town now"

Together with the Flash Land Army completing the encirclement to the South and also covering their North, the Esterrians would also go for it.

"Essence-Soot-6 copies, we're moving now"

...

The few DLA troops on the island of Konrusj had barely made it out of their positions and into the Northern shores where they would regrouped whilst also being chased by whoever the invading forces is.

It seems that for now however, that they're in the clear. Despite this, many of them still felt uneasy, as if this was just too easy for them.

"Why haven't they arrived yet?" questioned the Konrusj occupation forces commander "They could catch up to us at any moment!"

The forces, or what remained of them was supposed to evacuate from the island via a ship, and yet there is no sign of it just yet. And with the clock continuing to tick, the lizardmen who remains to be the surviving ones are getting anxious by the seconds, especially with the eerie silence.

They would try to keep themselves awake and aware in the meantime waiting for their ship to come by. Minutes would pass with some occassional rustling of the trees they came out of and also a rather unnatural faint buzz overhead, could be some kind of bug but they're just not sure.

"Wait a minute..." muttered a lizard as he did a gradual 360 around "...This is where they wanted us..."

The commander turned around.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Sire Commander... if the ship isn't coming, then what does that mean?"

The senior lizardman's eyes widened in realization.

"...That means they knew about this... IT'S A TRAP!"

WHOOSH...

...

"Ohh...hohohoho!"

A drone once again takes up to the skies, this time to observe the lizardmen in the position that they forced them to take. The drone operator then gets on his push-to-talk.

"Yo, good effect on target!"

With a thermal camera, it's still quite hard to exactly tell things apart, but judging by the effects from the ship which is yet another frigate of the Flash Navy firing its cannon at the shore, it's just devastating and gnarly on the receiving end.

The beach would end up continuing to get hammered shell by shell and there was nothing that the lizardmen could do about it. Oh and by the way, this is technically danger close as the Tropper was close, keeping them in check.

"Oh man, someone's gonna put 'em back together down there..."

...

A goblin hugs his club, trembling as the sound of too many bangs to count at too fast of a rate to keep up with and a ringing in his ears that barely allows him to process whatever thoughts he's having.

He has seen it all, how the humans in white had easily slaughtered his fellows effortlessly, many without even laying a single hand on them and many did it at a distance.

'Who is they?!' he thought to himself in the corner of a house.

More bangs and more scream continues to be heard in what he considers his only safe haven amidst the chaos. And then all of a sudden, it just went silent.

For this goblin, that just makes it worse as it could mean that he is the only one left on this town. He sat there, trying to be as quiet as he could.

A door creaks open, and a footsteps would go inside the building. He'd tighten the grip on his club, before the standing up and relocate himself to another corner, right beside the door. Scared out of his mind, the goblin would ready himself up to fight to the end.

The door would slightly swing open, something was then thrown in and the door get shut close in such a short time.

The goblin stared at the thing, being a green ball with some kind of device on top-

KABOOM

Soldiers from the Naeslagt company would immediately barge in, aiming their weapons at every corner of the room.

"CLEAR!"

"Clear!"

They found a goblin dead on the ground, mangled by the shrapnel resulted from the grenade.

"Yep... we got them good"

"Fuckin' demons better be deceased-mons..."

...

"GO!"

A Flash soldier let loose his machine gun on his hip while rushing in with his squad now cleaning up a house occupied by demons in Kalkrim.

"On the left!"

BANG BANG

While the machine gunner does what he does best and also possibly give them concussion (owing to how loud a full auto machine gun is indoors), the riflemen would work it out by putting some rounds into the demons that the MG missed until they're either unable to fight no more or just simply dead.

"CLEAR! NEXT!"

Again, the machine gunner would be the first blasts into the next room, tearing up a poor demon that was unlucky enough to enter his sight. And before his comrades could do anything, the rest quickly swooped in for some more kill with their rifles.

"DIE! DIE! DIE!" shouted the machine gunner before another burst "FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!"

...

A lizardman climbs out the window of one of the few intact houses after whatever it was that obliterated much of their occupied positions. As he tried getting both of his legs out, his fellow shouted out something about the enemy coming, a brief glance back with the eyes meeting a white light before he falls to the ground, just barely dodging the projectiles flying way too close for comfort while covering himself with his arms.

He would stay in such position until the bangs and the white light shining out the window subsides. A brief pause to process whatever just happened, before he then sat up, looking into the house again.

The white directed light would still be visible throughout, shining on the ground, presumably checking on his done for mates. One of the light would be turned to him, prompting him to get down again.

He crawls to the side of the wall where he would not be seen out of, then standing up and make a run for it. Around the same time, he's wondering how on the Lord's name is he still alive.

The lizard then makes a turn between two houses, one intact and the other damaged. He would look left and right to keep himself aware of what's going on and where the enemies are at any given time.

He keeps running and running, until he sees an opening with bunch of tree logs that made up the town's wall. The exit was in sight as he hyperventilated, keeping on running until he-

BONK

...Well I guess nevermind then.

"Shouldn't have come here, dipshit" said a soldier in white and green with a small shovel as he would then begin to restrain the lizardman "...Geiri-78, við fengum hlaupara hérna" (Geiri-78, we got one runner here)

As far as he knew, this was the end of his journey as a somewhat free reptile...

...

"You heard from our boys in Hivaheift and Konrusj?" a soldier of the Ageværan 217th questioned.

"No, what is it?"

"They took 'em back... killed a lot of demons there"

"...Not even an hour in" said another one looking at his watches.

"Not even an hour indeed, Aimo..."

The AMV continued to roll its wheels while rumbling and rocking the soldiers inside left and right, back and forth, heading towards the captured town converted as a sort of HQ for the Demonic State's forces in Svarher.

"It's telling me that all of those fuckers are going to not have some fun"

"It wouldn't end well for us though, after the whole thing, it'll be really expensive"

"Touché"

The AMV then gradually comes to a halt, and the radio cracks to life:

"Dismount! Dismount!"

The first guy would swing the rear hatch open and the rest just followed him out of the APC. Upon stepping out and the NODs flipped down, they would run out front of the AMV, got to their positions and got low.

They're now back to the outside of Gullður.

"Observation report:" again, the radio spoke up "Several buildings leveled, no visual on any movement at this time"

And from the looks of it visually, the outside defensive positions became non-existent as soon as the Geschnokean ship shot at it. There was not that much anymore, but nonetheless, the squad would go forward with their platoon to make sure while the others went off to do something else.

They carefully descend off the not so steep hill down, and made their way to the town while also exercising caution as they go in a spread out position.

In the process of doing so, they may or may not have done a lightshow with their lasers wobbling around in IR.

"Looking more like a rave party here"

"Quiet..."

The squad would eventually make it to what remained of the frankly crappy wall by their standard, they'd go in and sweep the area near the entrance hole. The only they'd find there are rubbles, blood, bodies and body parts that made some gagged as they tried not to vomit by the gruesome scene even for the eyes behind the goggles.

Soon afterward, a gesture was made by the lead to move on to the next one, which is a repeat of such a thing with some varying differences. This kind of repetition would continue for a few more locations with the rest of the platoons in until they reached the center of the town.

Like the rest, there was rubbles, body parts and blood splattered around. Unlike others though, this one has a lizardman sitting there, looking defeated as he looked down on the ground.

The infantrymen raised their rifles, buttstock on the shoulders. At the same time they would slowly approach the lizardman. Speaking of the devil, he would gradually look up upon hearing the footsteps walking towards him.

"...I see how it is then..." he audibly muttered, much to the surprise of some as he spoke in a common language that they could understand.

"Listen buddy" the squad leader ordered after getting the confirmation that language barrier isn't a problem "Don't move a muscle or we'll end you here alright?"

"I understand..." he replied with a subtle hint of sadness"Just get it done with..."

The SL signalled one of the soldiers to move up to him, and out of the ones in his squad, it was Aimo who gets to go. As the Annish took his steps towards the lizardman, he puts his rifle away for a while and pulled out a pistol from his holster.

Upon getting close... the lizard didn't even try anything as he continued to have that expression of hopelessness on him. Aimo would then proceed to frisk the lizard with the pistol still in hand.

"So what's your name?" questioned the 217th much to the confusion of the lizardman.

"...Why... does it matter...?"

"I don't know... just nice to know maybe?"

"I... see... my name is Chax... how about yours?"

"You can call me Aimo..." the Annish then got his hand on a dagger on the lizard, turning to his squad "Got a dagger right here!"

The soldier then takes some steps away from him. The lizardman sighs as some others would begin walk up to him, weapons still on him.

"...Life is really unforgiving isn't it?" he commented.

"It is what it is..." he replied "And sometimes... you just have to live through..."

Chax nodded to his words.

"Indeed..."

He was then tackled to the ground with his wrists tied up behind his back with a ziptie.

"We got one in custody now" reported the SL on the radio "Anyone else we should know of, over?"

"...Negative, checked all corners, nothing else's there"

"Copy"

As far as all of them here knows, this lizardman is the last one to still standing alive now. And his placement into custody would mark the end of a large scale, yet extremely short campaign.

...

"Hivaheift's occupiers are no more, we got it"

"Konrusj is Flashia again"

"About the demons at Kalkrim... yeah they're no more"

...

"Has anyone heard from Siersjö? Over"

"...Ankkuri-9 from Siersjö Island here, we forgot but we got it under control now, no DLA's on the island now, over"

"Great to hear but please, next time remember to give us a call when you're done, alright?"

"Our bad, yeah, got it, out"

...

took me longer than I would've liked to admit.