You know, I have to admit, the lore surrounding Flashia and the original world is quite vague in its current state, especially the WW3 part known as the Capital-Commune War. For the foreseeable future, it will probably stay that way due to various factors of me having a life...

But it doesn't have to be.

I may not be there to throw ideas of such event at a screen as I pull my ideas from outer nowhere, like what I had been doing with my story. But maybe, you can help with bringing the Capital-Commune War into a War that may be Without Reason, but one that actually had an impact on the original world as a whole.

If you got a keyboard, use a keyboard, if you got pen and paper, use them too. Anything will help.

Join our discord, even if you're not interested in the whole 'Sota Ilman Järkea' project, you could still freely chat with others and also directly tell me that my story is shit or smth and tell me to fix it (of course you do have to tell me how exactly): https://discord.gg/UqgavrsYUd

...

"...To the South-West of Beri, lies another island called Saane. As the smallest main islands of the three, this island is split in halves by a mountain range that ranges around 1500 to 2000 meters in height. Saane itself is hilly for the most part, especially in the North-West half although there is still some noticeably flat parts near the coast.

As part of the intervention operation, Flash and Esterrian troops set foot on the island at the coastlines around the center of the North-Western part of the island. Geschnokean troops on the other hand would make their presence on the South-East half..."

...

Another pair of wyverns are taken out off the skies with 2 accompanying pops of explosions. In the midst of the scene, infantry soldiers would walk down the road nestling on a small mountain, going up with the vehicles.

"Be advised, recon drones reported back 2 battalions-sized elements awaiting us. Trench is spotted facing our axis of advance just from the town with pillboxes scattered around, over"

"Any signs of those kinetic laser guys? Over"

"Unclear at the moment, caution is advised, over"

North-Western Saane, Northern Part This small mountain is exactly what's between them and the town ahead, as it is the only path to the settlement that they could see. Not only does it slow them down quite a bit, but the terrain is perfect for any defenders to set up some kind of ambush here.

They didn't want to embark on this path themselves despite the apparently huge disparity in technological advancements between them and the demons, but as said before, this is their only way in for now.

With all of that out of the way, now in the middle of the mountain, the column marched on anxiously-

"INCOMING!"

An oversized boulder would roll down the hillside at breakneck speed before then bouncing off the road and slams into the right side of the leading Pansartransporter. The armor held up, but in return, it was tracked* and the crew possibly concussed.

"CONTACT! DEMONS ON THE HILL! RIGHT SIDE!"

Now finding themselves in a pickle, the soldiers would quickly shave off the shock and took cover behind the IFV's as turrets would turn to the right and up. This faraway, it would have been hard to see where even one is standing at, but with the mountain painted entirely in white, their sihouettes all stuck out like a sore thumb.

It didn't even take a split second for a rifleman to be the first to pull the trigger on the ambushing orcs above, followed by the entire squad and platoon, then a 40mm. For every bullet hit is a small amount of snow shot up, for every autocannon hit is a burst of smoke that obscured whatever was behind it.

"KEEP MOVING! DON'T JUST STAND THERE!"

"More incoming!"

"Whoa, hey! Get outta the way!"

Additional few boulders would be seen rolling down the hill to the convoy. And although they'd eventually miss, quite a few of them actually got dangerously close with the vehicles and the foot soldiers barely managing to get out of the way.

After all that, the battalion would get going slowly, still unleashing as much as they had on the demons on the high ground...

"Hey, mind if I borrow your shoulder?" requested a machine gunner with an MGM60 to a rifleman.

"Sure, no problem" as he'd put his rifle to his side.

"Thanks!"

The MG would place the handguard of his gun onto the guy's shoulder afterward, his mate then holding onto the already deployed bipod legs, silently praying that his hearing protection would do its job a moment prior to the trigger being pulled and held down several times between short bursts.

While their fire is undeniably overwhelming, due to the distance and the position they're engaging the enemy from, it's very unclear how exactly the opposing forces are taking it.

"God damn, it's like Haksistan but freezing cold and fantasy!"

"The hell does that supposed to mean?"

All they knew around this time is to move and fire, or they'd end up even worse than a singular immobilized transporter.

Speaking of which, that vehicle's crew jumped out of their armor in one piece after having went through an entire magazine of the 40mm autocannon, running towards the nearest fellow AFV and taking cover, though still not without some shock in their face.

"You all good?"

"Yes..."

"Great to hear... now listen, just stick with us and move along the vehicle, keep yourself behind here, okay?"

"Okay..."

"Good... 3-4, we need to get the Luftforsvar on those guys soon, and also an evac vehicle here, over"

"Hornets are already airborne, they'd just need your coordinates, over"

...

"Hey, look over there!" an Esterrian in the trench pointed at the sky afar, where 2 white birds soar through while emitting faint roars as they went past.

"Ah, those fighter jets they call..." commented another who was loading up his magazine, then looked up as his attention was directed at the pair "Named after something so small, yet starts something so big..."

"Honestly, that is possibly the best way to describe them" replied another one with his helmet off "Seemingly trivial in speech, yet significant in person, quite poetic when you think about it"

As the flagpole of the Commonwealth is dug into the ground at the center of the trench system, the Esterrian soldiers would have their time off the guns. Some took this to get some shut-eyes, some just sits by the fireplace, getting their rations cooked up.

It's not home, but it is the closest it could be for the soldiers deployed in Beria.

"...Who the hell still has their full gear on...?" mumbled an officer upon spotting somebody sitting by the lowered rear door of one of their APCs as he quickened his pace of approach.

It turns out however that while others would have their break, probably sneezing their nostrils out, some are still in their full combat attire with their rigs and helmet kept on.

"OI, what are you imbeciles doing with ye gear on?!" he scolded "The frontline have already been pushed away from us! And don't give me the on guard or whatever it is excuses, we have sentries for a reason!" he then look up on the Ijzerwagen "No offense to you, by the way..."

The machine gunner of the APC, who is also the commander of the vehicle with a grey balaclava and transparent goggles would tip his unbuckled helmet in acknowledgement.

"...Sir, with due respect, we feel that we aren't doing enough-"

"Doing enough? What in the gods' names do you mean by that?! You mean you still haven't killed enough? Or was it that you didn't even pull the trigger even once back there?"

The infantrymen in gear could only glance at each other, not knowing what to say any further. The CO would turn his head away a bit, quickly tapping his feet and quickly coming up with something.

He sighs.

"If you can't help it, then how about this? You go climb up a mountain to our North and help in clearing it out, how does that sound?"

The grunts' expression quickly switched to that of surprise.

"To our North? Now?"

"Correct" he reconfirms "Though I recommend getting there as fast as you can before the Flashians do it for you..."

While nobody knows if it's just a coincidence or not, just then, the sound of a cluster of explosions would find their way to the Esterrian ears. And it sounded like they came precisely from the North...

"Now come on, you don't want to miss out on all of that do ya?!"

All the while the infantry squad are already scrambling to have them all set up and ready into the transporter.

"Joeri, I apologize for this, but you will help out these guys a bit, is that fine with you?"

The commander of the APC would quietly put up a thumb's up that he's fine with it. Seeing this, the commanding officer would nod as he'd take some steps away from the vehicle as the rear door gradually closed.

...

"A-Am I going to be alright...?" groaned a Flash soldier with a bandage covering his right shoulder.

"You'd be fine, don't worry about it" his comrade reassured him "You're not gonna die, not today..."

"...R-Really?"

"Yeah, you'll be good in no time... right, see you later, okay?"

"Okay..."

The infantryman then shut the rear door of the MEDEVAC trailer, going over and give the tracked vehicle a few knocks afterward to signal the vehicle to be on the move.

As the vehicle sets off, the soldier would turn to his squadmate.

"Well, that's three of our guys gone..."

North-East One of the companies of the battalion has now set their sight on a town walled off from the outside, joined by multiple pillboxes and trenches that stands between them, from the backdrops of treelines and defilade combined with their uniform pattern concealing them from the enemies' visual sight.

"Like what the hell was that man? How the fuck did they get the jump on us back there?"

"I mean it happens sometimes..."

Before they came here, one of the dismounted squad had encountered an ambush. And although they were able to swiftly deal with the threat, the rifles could not prevent a few of their own being sent back to the rear after being on the receiving end of a rain of arrows. So far, no one has... actually, let's not jinx that shall we?

"...At least almost all of us can still fight, you have to admit that"

"Expected, but not really I guess..."

Having pushed this far, the mechanized troops would hold their ground for the others to catch up to them while also taking the time to get some details out as much as they could.

"I feel like we're facing at least a thousand..." reported a soldier with a binocular lying on the snow "...All muckin' about around all those trench and bunkers"

"...Remind me what do we have again?" asked his partner with a rifle kitted with a 1-4x scope and LAM (Laser Aiming Module) lying on the side with his right hand on the grip.

"We got some Mjolnirs set up if that helps" he'd lower the binoculars.

"No one-fifty-five?"

"Dude, what do you think?" he'd pull his eyepro off his vest by the temple, flicking once to get the other one to unfold "They aren't even on this island yet, best we got is either an NSM, Hornets or mortars" he'd put it on, adjusting it a little bit mid-way.

"I see then..." the soldier slowly reached for his radio "...Actual, come in, we need request for fire from the Mjolnirs..."

"Actual copies, send over the coordinates you want them and I'll see what I can do"

"Dude, give me the map"

"Which one?"

"The paper one of this island"

"Can't you get GPS?"

"Signal's non-existent here, you think we got enough satellites?"

"Alright, wait a bit... uh..."

...

On the other side of the mountain range meanwhile, the walls built up to withstand an attack had been brought down by a barrage of large explosions that also left a good portion of the settlement torn down.

In the midst of the chaos of the DLA garrison trying to regain their footing, a bang would resonate on the Southern outside where the way in is wide open.

The soldier of Geschnokea groaned as he crouched down by what remains of the walls, manually chambering another round before he went ahead inside along with a few of his comrades.

South-West Half, Southern part In many places of this half, one would see the Dominion's troops emerging from the boats of steel and blitz through their defensive position like it was nothing to write home about, perhaps as a consequence of their already-existing experience with them.

This contingent landed on the South side basically unopposed, as somehow, the DLA had not covered that small gap. Having the enemy exploited the opening, they're now paying the price dearly as they quickly found themselves struggling for the control of this town.

"Andars! Don't get left behind now!"

"I'm trying!"

"Try harder then!"

The first rifles crossed the street, under the cover of their comrades firing at a group of demons rushing them straight through the road, the first rifles stormed into a building, where at least a wall would be partially painted red with the color given to them by the blood of those unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end of either the supersonic lead or the sharp steel.

"DON'T GIVE THEM MERCY!" screamed an officer "SEND THEM BACK TO HELL!"

The demons expected a fight, but not like this, let alone here, this far from where they initially set foot on. Instead of the clangs of the steel striking some sparks out of each other, they instead met the overwhelming amount of bangs echoing off every surface, the helpless screams of their kin, finding thenselves completely outranged with little to no chance of getting close and making this fair.

Not to mention that they seem to have achieved air superiority over them considering the worrying absence of their wyverns...

"WHOA, SHI-"

A grunt would quickly block his officer's path with his arms as a corpse of a goblin plops down right in front of them alongside shards of glass that followed. The man with a cap took his time processing whatever just happened afterward, staring at the bloodied goblin before looking up at where it came from.

In the second floor of a house to the left, another grunt would peek out the broken window.

"Sorry, that's on us!"

He shook his head in disapproval as the soldier kept his hand up before he went back inside.

"Idiots..." he sighed before moving forward with his men again once the coast was clear until they stopped at the corner of a turn.

Using the houses and anything else in the environment they can use as cover, the turn was held and the street, and the staves trained down the street in front of them. Intending to wait a while before making an advance, they kept their eyes out for anything that moves into their sight.

About half a minute, they would find a movement alright, but the ones that emerged aren't goblins, nor are they lizardmen, or any other demon species.

"HOLD FIRE! THEY'RE BERIANS!"

The grunts would lower their weapon upon identification of the 2 polar bear boys, both seems to be around the age of 13 to 15. Nobody knows how they slipped past the oppressive garrison, but it confirmed that the civilians they're supposed to liberate are present in this town.

Maybe there are more in other places...

"Get these boys to safety!" ordered the officer "And get me the comms! They need to know about this!"

While one ran off to look for the one with a portable magicomm device strapped onto his back, the other would try to gesture to the bears so that they would head towards them. As they now gotten the pair to go towards them, they would soon find out that there was much more to this trouble.

"Damn it! Demons right behind them!"

Rifles were quickly back to pointing straight ahead and stock onto shoulder in realization that they were being chased all along.

"Why does it have to be at this moment?!"

They steadied their sights to a centered point at the pursuing ogres and exhaled all of whatever air they had out of their lung to stabilize the picture even further*. Then, they squeezed on the trigger, firing a round each. 2 were downed immediately, but there's still more that isn't backing down. Well hey, at least the Berians weren't hit in the process...

The riflemen pulled back on their bolt as swiftly as they could with a little bit of fumbling and pushing it back to battery, ejecting the fired round and chambering another.

Again, with the stock on shoulder and barrel pointing directly front, the lungs were made empty as the sights were kept centered and shortly stabilized before firing another shot each at them. This time however, the commanding officer would join in, firing his pistol as the boys got behind them and the risk of accidentally hitting them were now out of the way.

Once more, 2 demons would be stopped permanently in their track and 2 more would be finished off by 4 shots of the officer's handgun with the last one limping down just within bayonet reach. Yes, half of that missed.

6 demons in a group just for 2 frightened kids... that's a bit too much isn't it?

Still, they took all of them down and the Berians were now safe in their hands. A rifleman sighed in relief.

"That's... something..."

Just then, 2 more soldiers showed up from their right, running towards them.

"You called for a magicomm, sir?" asked the one who was led here by the rifleman who previously ran off to get him.

"Indeed I have..." the officer would walk towards the guy while holstering his pistol "Just need to send an important transmission through"

The magicomm operator could only nod in acknowledgement as he idled while the officer would grab the handset from the portable manacomm.

"Command, come in, this is 14th, we have a priority message..."

...

"...Attention all callsigns, we have received a few confirmations of Berian survivors in the occupied territories. From here on out, extra caution is to be exercised in advancing on the demonic forces"

"Uh..."

The town at the North-Western part of Flash-Esterrian area of responsibility welcomed the liberators that mostly do not speak their language. Foreigners, but welcomed one at that judging by the old man's expression.

"...Can someone get an intepreter? I can't understand what he's saying..."

The attack on the town signalled by the ground erupting too much to keep count around the trench had the demons completely shellshocked, overwhelmed and helpless against the attack that came from nowhere.

"Rede! You there?"

"Ja, what's up?"

"Come over here real quick!"

It had lasted a while, and even when it ends, they weren't allowed any breathing room at all as the monsters of steel crawled towards them, spitting fire and explosions out of their singular snout as they casually cross the trench line unopposed, and those who survived the onslaught would later be dealt with by men in black and white.

"What's the problem?" the Ladean soldier would run up to the group.

"Lieutenant is going to want your translation for what he's saying here"

"Ay, no problem, give me a bit..."

Rede would turn towards the Berian man and have a word with him. Taking in a rather long reply, he turned back to the troops.

"So basically, he was thankful that we came here and take the town from the hands of the demons" he intepreted "He himself said that they would not have been here for any longer had we not force our way through"

The LT nodded.

"Anything else?"

"He also said that he was pleasantly surprised by someone who speaks the same language as his, expecting not being able to be understood at all but still giving his appreciation anyways"

"I see then... well tell him it's just our duty to be here, putting the crown back to where it belongs"

Rede would turn and translate that into Ladean, Northern Ladean that is. To which, the man seemed to have received it happily, blurting out a phrase in Northern Ladean, or to them, Berian with a smile.

The translated quickly turned his face to the Lieutenant "He said "Long Live the Berian Kingdom" just in case saying..."

Then the man promptly went about face, a movement too smooth to be of an ordinary person.

"Seems the old chap was a veteran huh?" an infantryman whispered to the officer.

"Perhaps..." he replied "...Too old to fight, but maybe not too late to be of any help..."

The old bear was found along at least a dozen others in an unassuming house, hidden away from the occupiers of demonic species, some barely clinging to life but still made it alive nonetheless.

The condition they were found in was less than desirable, but it was better than being found by them.

"9-8, just a SITREP, we just got some statements from found survivors that several people had been eaten by the goblins and orcs when Duds were still here"

"Not surprised..."

The transmission that just came through gave the Lieutenant a chill. The thought of a man, even those with some animal features being eaten is... unsettling for him. But then again, he cannot expect demons to not do this, though he finds it interesting that lizards is not specifically named. Maybe a better brain comes with a better standard.

"Well, explains the bones we found around here..."

"...Also remind me, where exactly are we again?"

"Didn't you see the sign?"

...

Visions had gotten narrow, blurry, barely able to make out the clouds she was looking up at, barely able to hear anything. This devil had the perfect opportunity to at least take out one or two of the humans that she had came across and snuck up to using her invisibility magic, bracing to strike quickly and decisively.

And yet, she could not account for the "S-kud kom-mer" that got her lying here, her bodies aching of burns inflicted by a sudden jet of fire coming out of what seemed like a wide tube with a funnel that pushed her away like a blow of wind magic if it was also scorching hot.

In all honesty, it was a miracle how she could survive all that force, that pressure from the big fireball.

2 of her supposed targets audibly walked up to the devil, chattering in a language completely unknown to her and the others.

"Oh, Lord..." the devil nervously mumbled as the steps came closer, knowing full well that she is powerless in this situation, unable to cast any magic to possibly defend herself.

The two men in white and black would enter her now clearing up sight, still talking to each other in that constantly rising up and falling down tone of their language now that she paid closer attention.

Even with the masks on, understood to be for protecting themselves from the environment here, they showed a mix of surprise and curiosity, as if they have not seen someone like her before.

After a little bit of chatting, one would go ahead and put their hand onto a black device attached to his vest, now talking to... nobody? While the other would turn her around to lie on her stomach, then quickly restraining the wrists with something that definitely does not feel like ropes or chains, at least as far as she could tell.

...

The commander of one of the Pansartransporter would peek his head slightly out of his vehicle, just high enough for his eyes to be able to see all of what's outside, sans the direct rear, of his work station.

"All vehicles, be advised, troops are now advancing on the town, check your fire lest you hit one of ours and give them all we got"

At this position, the crewman is more exposed to attacks from the enemy with the hatch suspending right above him that he placed his faith on for covering him from arrows coming from above. But as desirable as protection from armor is, he finds it more difficult to keep track of everything in there with the vision blocks alone.

"Gunner, you see that statue over there?"

Knowing that the enemy has basically no chance of getting to him...

"I see it, yeah"

...Having his head out with at least some caution seemed like a better choice at this point...

"Shift your sight to the second house to the left..."

"...Yep"

...With the added benefit of being able to use his Schimanski sniper scope to get a closer look...

"Get to the second floor..."

"Already on there"

...Something that leaves his colleagues questioning why he didn't get a binoc instead to this day...

"You see those pigs and uh... green little craps?"

"Yeah"

"Light them up with MG"

"On the way"

It took a second and a half for the gunner to get the range just right before pulling the trigger at them, unleashing a short burst of lead. It was a tracer that left the barrel of the gun first, giving the commander a good reference of where the bullets are hitting alongside another tracer at the second last.

"Little bit low"

The initially shots evidently spooked the occupants, realizing that they were now being targeted.

They only had about 5 seconds to do what their senses are telling them to do before another burst would come towards them.

"Target, good elevation"

This time, it only took half of that 5 seconds for another one to come, then another one, shredding away the wood, the furniture, and flesh each time.

"5-2 just took in a prisoner, it's an oni that got back blasted by their CG"

"...Is it a girl by any chance?"

"Yeah? Why did you ask?"

"..."

"Actually, don't"

It was perhaps nothing but a ruthless massacre for the other side. The actual perpetrator never known to them.

"Cease fire!" the commander ordered after the IFV finished off one last burst.

Beyond the reticle of his scope, the lead crewman sees nothing but corpses on the ground in that house now with potentially trypophobia-triggering holes. They were all taken out of the picture... or did they?

At the last shot, he could've swore he saw a goblin barely cheating death heading downstairs. Maybe his noggin was buggin' at the time, but he's not too sure about that as well.

"Gunner, can you look down to the first floor?"

"No, don't have visual there, some rubbles are in the way..."

The TC then shifted his own sight down after watching that front entrance...

"Oh..."

...Quickly finding that the gunner wasn't lying as the mound of debris just sits there. Now he wonders how he had missed that earlier.

He sighs, for he knows the only thing he could do at this point is to watch and get a confirmation that his brain isn't messing with him.

2... 4... 6... 8... 10 seconds and no goblin getting out.

14... 16... 18... 20...

"I probably need some rest..."

23... 25... and the green bastard showed his face at last 27 seconds in.

It tried running out the front door he had been keeping an eye out, only to suddenly stop in his track right by the doorway and swiftly went back inside before distant pops erupted there, followed by a familiar helmet in white with black spots entering his sight.

"Ay! Go get them boys!"

What happened to the goblin he doesn't know for sure, it had went out of his line-of-sight by then. But he was sure that the goblin that turned out not to be a product of his conscious is not going to see the end of the day either way.

"Driver, reverse..." he ordered on his headset.

Relieved from what he had done and seen, he decided it was time to get the vehicle to a better spot.

...

Demons had been dealing with some kind of attack from the South-West side of an inland town on the landmass other side of the mountain range. Only described as invisible and light projectiles coming from far away hitting their position, the DLA garrison pulled troops from the other to focus on where the fire has been coming from.

Behind the scenes however, Berians held captive in cages began to disappear by numbers, the goblins that were supposed to guard them dead and no one else knew the wiser to alert the rest of the forces until now.

In response, a group of 3 lizardmen climbed up onto a high rooftop in search of their missing spoils.

"Come on, we don't have every day to find them..." as the second lifted the last one of the group up.

It's not the highest point of this town, but it should be enough to be able to spot some movement somewhat more easily. After all had settled on the position, the trio kept a watch on three different angles around them, also looking out for any sound that could help them out in this case.

One looking West would hear some rustling, rattling and footsteps, origin comes from right below. He looked down on the street, laying sight on the group of Berians running with pure-blooded humans with white attire.

"OI, THEY'RE RIGHT OVER HERE-"

Just then, one of the men in white swiftly pointed at the strangely-designed stave of wood and metal, feeling an insane amount of invisible projectiles barely missing him as he immediately sought cover.

"They spotted us!" yelled one Geschnokean after firing a burst at the lizardman from his hip.

"Damn it!"

For these special operatives, it was now a make or break. With their presence now known, they kept moving with the polar bears to get out as fast as they can. It would be only an amount of time before the DLA would come and completely overwhelm them. By now, much of their hope would be placed on the SMG they were given as a lease for the sake of this whole operation.



"Stay close together! We'll all get out of here soon! Just follow my lead!"

"Oi! Someone go and calm them down somehow!"

Now, in addition to managing the rescuees, the squad hasten their pace, no more was the goal remaining quiet and undetected.

"CONTACT!"

Upon reaching an intersection, several goblins would go to confront the thieves of their spoils head on... an extremely short confrontation at that as before they could do anything with clubs and daggers, Parabellums of their Annmi guns would cut through every single one of them in barely a second.

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!"

While gunshots would also erupt from their rear, the group raced through roads and houses, blasting through flesh, woods and glasses as more demons converged on their position.

"It's fine..." softly told one operative even though he knows they won't understand what he's saying "...It will be over soon..."

"Cover me! I'm reloading!"

The polar bears remained fearful throughout the entire process of the fight that is constantly on the move, holding their ears down to shield the loud hectic fire of the operatives.

"Be careful not to outpace them or else we aren't going to have a good day!"

"What do you mean by that? It already went South!"

"I meant don't make it worse than it already is!"

They were getting tired for every step they make as they could not afford to stop, for they were getting closer to the exit, though also dangerously close to depleting their ammo from full sending so many of the demons.

The run while escorting the civilians and the gunning continued for what felt like a whole eternity for them.

"Don't give up men, we're almost there!"

Things were getting a bit bleak as they started to feel a part of them panicking. Yet, they still pushed forward towards the light. Far ahead, but not entirely out of reach.

"QUICK! GIVE ME A SPARE CLIP**!"

"Stick or drum?!"

"ANYTHING!"

Their legs are starting to hurt worse and worse the more they continued to strain it out even more into getting the hell out of here. The operatives had started to miss more of their shots as they feel more exhausted the more this goes on.

"Just... One more..."

Finally, they'd see the opening of a portion of the wall where they had inserted themselves in earlier. Their bodies are screaming, begging them to stop, but their eyes keep telling them to not do so.

As they continued the rush with the Berians, also tired though as a lesser extent than the Geschnokeans, the operatives continued to lay down fire to their pursuers behind them.

At the verge of falling apart, the first man would eventually past the point of getting out of the town. Then it was the men in the middle alongside all the surviving Berians previously held captive. And finally, the last who shot his last burst at the reptile archers on rooftop whose arrows struck the logs that were what's left of the wall.

It was after this did he completely ran out of ammo. Seeing no other choice, he finickingly detached his drum magazine and proceeds to throw it at a goblin charging at him with all he had remaining.

Just as it becomes disoriented from the metal drum hitting it right on the nose, a machine gun would spit out automatic fire at the demons gathered at the outskirt in serendipity, also unintentionally causing the man to completely fall over as a result of his flinching reflex.

"MARSELL!" his comrade yelled out his name.

As he watched the massacre, he slowly and painfully backs away, using his feet to push his body lying there away. Shortly after, he was grabbed by fellow operative.

"Marsell!"

With hands pushing right under both of his armpits, he was brought up to barely even standing, pulled away at a much faster speed.

"Dear gods, you're heavy!" his helper grunted.

At this point, he could say nothing, could think nothing. He was simply too tired and in shock, breathing heavily as both moved each inch.

Perhaps the only thing he could do is to let himself relax a bit, resting his hands on the gun secured by a sling.

Looking down on it, he noticed that his palms are red hot, a consequence of pushing himself back there with his buddies.

"Tally report..." said an audibly out of breath Geschnokean "All... operatives and h-hostages... All present... alive"

At least everybody made it out still breathing, he thought to himself.

...

"All Berian hostages have been safely evacuated! All forces present are now free to assault the demons out of the town in any way possible!"

"For the Fatherland!"

The soldiers yelled as they emerged from their cover that is a carcass of a wyvern, presumably shot down by one of their biplanes. With the bayonets pointing forward, they charged towards the town, and there was nothing that could stop them.

"GIVE THEM STEEL!"

While they sprinted through the snowfield, machine gun at their flanks would erupt, denying the opposing forces a chance to draw their arrows at the frontline infantry.

Rifle rounds were sent downrange mid-journey, suppressing one there, incapacitating others there. When they closed to bayonet range, stabbing would also be included as some elements are too engaged in combat point blank.

Some good soldiers would have to end their fight right there, unable to continue forward with what the opposing forces caused them. But overall, it's still their Dominion getting the upper hand, alternating between lead and cold hard steel in no particular order nor sequence.

The front vanguard of the DLA garrison overwhelmed, their position captured, and those survived making a run towards the rear of their line, the center of the town, all the while still under fire from the rifles and pistols.

All the while the other party quickly settled in an interim defensive manner, briefly halting their advance to consolidate their forces and get their casualties out.

After that, the Dominion forces pushes out again, deeper into the heart of the town. They began yet another house-to-house clearing, their weapons discharged at the demons inside for each building with some shanking in-between.

Goblins and lizardmen would be forcefully and swiftly replaced by the human soldiers taking their positions, aiding in their force's advance. For them, it's yet another time for a tedious and lengthy process. But for the demons, they're sweeping the floor way too fast for them to fully realize their situation.

In order to delay their advance, the demons resorted to blocking off entry points to their building and their own bodies, mostly orc owing to their natural physical strength though. Which worked as they were able to hold up against the kicks that their enemies in white gave the door.

Several kicks and brief bursting opening each time would go by, then they stopped. As chatters in a completely different language is heard on the other side, one wondered what they are doing while pausing like thi-

KABOOM

Using a satchel of explosive magic, the door bursts open, the force breaking through the door and anything in front of it, limbs flew as others seeing this froze in terror.

The staves then casted projectiles propelled by an explosion leaving out the steel tubular end that would put (the different kind of) end to the occupiers, still standing terribly shocked. And after every single of them had all but killed in that moment, the men in white walked along the wall to the edges of the room.

They took a pause while still aiming their weapons at points of where they know that someone is going to walk in from, just so they can get the entire team settled in. Once that was out of the way, the lead signalled with his hand to advance further into the next room.

Just as they were about to step their foot in, a shot has already been taken at a goblin who took position somewhere right in the corner.

...

On a hill of the mountain range that splits Flash-Esterrian and Geschnokean area of responsibility in Saane, troops of Commonwealth deployed alongside the Paratroops of the Federal Republic engages in a far-ranged fight with the demons on the other hill side around the area to the South.

"Dan!" yelled a voice of the 18th century "Let the Flash pin those sub-humans down! We need to get moving now!"

Taking the opportunity of their counterparts of the 21st century raining bullet hell upon them with their machine gun, the squad of Esterrians takes the initiative to continue on their path, heading for the demons that were forced to stay idle for the time being.

Carefully jogging through the narrow road, they kept their attention to the area along the way, tracers seen bouncing off the rocks that provide cover for the bogged down forces.

"KINETIC INCOMING! GET DOWN-"

BOOM

Fragments of stone rained down on the head of the squad that ducked before the powerful beam of light struck above them. After it had gone past and the dust settling down, the first soldier would regain his posture, lifting his rifle up, stock tucked in shoulder and started firing at the general direction of where it had come from...

"Troops in combat reporting! There is a laser type over at uh... North of our squad!"

...Others would gradually join in.

"Birdie copies, we have taken notice, rest assured we will be dealing with them"

From the Paratroop side came the tracers that would pinpoint at where whoever casted laser upon.

"Squad! Continue maneuver!"

The Esterrians all shortly stood up, using this window of opportunity to continue on their journey.

"Could've sworn we had an avalanche there!"

"That's some luck!"

The squad regained their pace as they went while still be careful in not falling off the cliff as they navigate through the rough road. They tirelessly ran and ran, noticeably getting slower and slower trying to haul their gear around.

The rest of the guns would divert their fire to the kinetic light sources. The demons on the other side, hit hard and now at half the strength of their initial 15 lizards in their ranks would now peek up after having been in cover for so long.

In the distance, in front of them, bright yellow flashes would emit from there, projectiles lit in green comes out every now and then. This must be the source they thought.

One would stand up, his bow already in his hand at low ready. He raised it to point at the source and pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back, then putting the back on the string.

A human shout would be heard from their left just before he drew...

CRACK

"AAAGHHHH!"

...And sudden death would come back for them for a second round.

CRACK CRACK CRACK CRACK

Once again, they quickly find themselves pinned down on the ground, only this time there is fewer cover to work with.

"WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE-"

Voices were silenced one-by-one by the cracking staves that the other side that are definitely not Berian held in their hands. And before anyone knows it, no one would come out alive, not anymore.

The men in white would approach the remains of the group, staves still held at least somewhat forward as they walked. They swept the front end of their weapons around the assortment of corpses, before slightly lowering their weapons seeing that they were all but dead.

Their leader shortly raised his hand high, gesturing his soldiers to hold their ground for the time being while the fire of the other group still erupting on that hillside, though they have shifted as they perhaps also started moving.

...

"Is the laser guy dead?"

"I dunno, can't exactly see anything there"

The machine gunner of the Paratroops would fold the bipod of his gun back into the forend where it usually is tucked into when not deployed.

"Sergeant!" one called out "How exactly is the Shoop Da Whoop*** doing over there?"

"From what I am seeing here..." the squad leader replied as he made observation with his binocular "All that guy left is his hood, no sign of a body somehow..."

The binocular would then be folded back together and put away for the time being.

"Right, time to get moving" he ordered "Can't exactly have the fantasy Snaich**** wait longer"

"What about that laser guy?" inquired the deputy squad leader.

"Let the others deal with it, we ain't wasting time with whoever that demon is, or was"

"Copy that..."

"Alright squad, let's roll!"

After the fight ends there, the whole squad stood up and starts quickly moving to where the Esterrians had done their job before. They carefully navigate their through the narrow passage and the debris from the kinetic strike. After that, they were shortly reunited with the squad that went before them. The squad leader would kneel down next to his Esterrian equivalent.

"Where shall we go next?" the Esterrian leader immediately turned to ask.

In front of all them are 2 separate paths, one just goes straight from the one they're on, and the other branches off to the right.

"Hang on a minute..." the Flash SL pulled out his map and unfolded it. "Umm... We'll go on the left one, we go straight from here so that we'll regroup with more of your boys"

"Why not right?"

"That leads to the Eastern outer edge of the mountain, and as far as I know, vics on the outside are lighting the area up like crazy, best we don't go there than to regret finding out later"

"Ah, that explains the rather immense amount of shots I've been hearing..." he mumbled, then nodding "Very well, that settles it then"

The Flash SL nodded back as he put away the map.

"Mannen! Vooruit!" (Men! Onward!)

The whole group stood back up, then start their march on the path straight ahead.

...

On the right path, just outside of the mountain...

"GIVE ME A BOX, QUICK!"

This side would be subject to having countless of its pieces made of stone chipped away for every projectile hitting it, be it from the heavy machine gun or the grenades.

On one of the few Pasis, the gunner grabs a fresh box, quickly put it up on the box holder of the grenade launcher mount, aligned the grenade belt on the gun, adjusting a bit to make sure it is properly lined up then closed the top cover. After a love tap on said cover, he reached to grab the charging handles on both sides with both of his hands and yanked them back as he could, leaning back on his station before sending the handles back home manually.

"UP!" he called out as his hands would end back up on the trigger handles.

Having gotten the signal, the 6-wheeler slowly accelerated forward while the tracked Ijzerwagen accompanying it to the left would move back, the machine gun of which is still firing on the other side's position.

"Port to Actual, we need SITREP on those demons, are they all routed, over?"

After a short while advancing, the Pasi comes to a halt, leaving the gunner with the sight of the face of the mountain being fired at by machine guns.

"Negative, observation element indicates that hostiles are still in the area and active"

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK

The gunner started to lob 40-mike-mikes out the barrel of his gun, the recoil felt across the entire vehicle as it is for the opposing forces feeling the explosions landing on their rocks, or at least that's what he likes to think of it as.

Who knows, they might be dead already.

"That's it, light 'em up like that!"

The GL is fired in short bursts to give himself and the APC a break once in a while. And then he shortly gets back to...

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK

Again...

THUNK-THUNK-THUNK-THUNK

And again...

"Damn, it looks like Star Wars from here"

"I don't really see it..."

The Ijzerwagen from before would then pull back up next to the GL Pansartransporter, the MG presumably reloaded for yet another round. It didn't take a second for his Esterrian fellow to start sending them out once more.

"Hostile forces are retreating, and by hostile forces, I meant 1 swordsman"

"...We've been shooting for that long?"

"It's been like... 8 minutes I think"

"Holy fuck, this really is just unfair!"

Just then, the AGL clicked, the belt had run dry again.

...

Facing a man in a strange assortment of equipment in black, white and green, the lizardman drawn his bow at him. With the soldier's stave pointing down, now lifted up, the archer released the string, the arrow gunned for his chest.

Much to his horror however, instead of an immediate satisfying impaling into the center mass, the arrow harmlessly broke in two somehow, the sharp point slowly and miserably falling to its fate.

During the shock that the soldier experiences right after, the lizard was stabbed on his side by the blade attached to the other man's stave, forcing him to fall down to the ground with a howl.

Down on the ground, he turned to the man, reaching his hand out as if he was going to beg before being knocked out cold by a powerful sweep with the butt of the longer black projectile-firing wand striking the face.

Another of the longer rifles would walk up to his counterpart that had shrugged off an arrow.

"Hey, are you all good?" he asked.

"Yeah..." the green vest answered "...It caught the plate, I'm alright..."

"Good then..." as he then turned to watch the surrounding.

The Flash and Esterrian squad duo has now regrouped with another of the ERA squad which was dropped off by an APC right outside of the mountain, just like they did before.

"Hey, pull security in here!" shouted one of the Flash personnel "Keep an eye out for any other unholy creatures that might show up!"

"CONTACT!"

A few shots would be fired in the background by an Esterrian rifleman.

"See?"

Now standing on one of the three main road paths leading to the other side of the island, they sort of rest here for now, establishing a security zone.

"This is Waldo-1-4, I need updates on other callsigns"

"Waldo-1-1 holding the Eastern half of the South"

"Waldo-1-3, we are standing on the ground where you left off... You know with corpses of lizards lying around?"

"Waldo-1-2 here, occupying grounds just North of the Southern main road"

With the status update brought to the platoon of 3 squads of 2 armies, the leadership here were able to confirm that so far, they've taken around a third of the range.

"By the gods, what do we do now...?"

What these guys would do per plan... is to sit still and occupy the land for quite a while.

...

While modern warfare certainly did a tremendous number of the backward inhuman army, even they have to admit that they cannot achieve their objective in one day.

As ammunition would deplete over time and their men physically exhausted, the Flash Defense Forces, the Esterrian Royal Army, and the Dominion National Army would be forced to take a pause to properly consolidate their gains and reinforce the troops already on the island.

The rifles have done their job for now, and it is the logisitics that gets their show time, though it does not mean the former could no longer get some action for the time being, it's just scaled back by a significant margin.

As the first sunlight breaks a bit of the dark, the Esterrian squad on the Northern part of the combined Flash-Esterrian area of operations would walk down from the mountains tired. Exhausted by the fighting to clear out the hills, they return to the vehicles they dismounted off, the masked commander of which nonchalantly sitting on his gun.

"I did not know they were spread out so far like that"

"I might have to try and forget about the caves for awhile"

"What a mistake for me to come here..."

"Oh, would you shut up?"

...

*To be tracked is to have one or two of your tracks damage, thus constituting a mobility kill **While magazines do exist here, many denizens of the New World will opt to (incorrectly) call a magazine a clip. ***You guys probably know him as the "I'MA FIRE MAH LAZER!" guy. ****Snaich refers to people from Kampland, the original world's equivalent of the Netherlands.

Also check this animation set I made

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYTc1gNutTk

The video is available on my YT channel known as 'Rifleducc' btw, you should check it out whenever you got the time (not saying it's not optional... or am I?).

Also do let me know if I goofed up somewhere, I recheck several times but there will probably be some that I somehow missed.