Otherworldly Liberty

Chapter 5: The Drums of War

Kingdom of Krosnia
New World Year, 1556 (2026EY)
March 1st
Border City of Drackow

The 111th Royal Ground Regiment of the Krosnian Armed Forces, one of the most elite units in their military, stands as a formidable force that boasts arch-artillery units, cavalry, knight infantry, and several arch-gun squadrons.

However, the prestige and honor they so proudly once claimed from the battlefield were now being stripped away in a symphony of humiliating defeats.

The Soumian Army had completely overrun them, with a surprise lightning attack by using a large-scale invisibility spell that should have otherwise been impossible by known standards of warfare, yet it was a very much real feat.

The enemy decisively defeated all friendly positions at the border and pushed past the towns of Swarme, Czek, and Vivl, completely annihilating everybody who dared to raise their swords against their mighty army. Pillaging, kidnappings, sexual assault... Nothing was out of boundary for the barbaric march that had crossed Krosnian sovereign territory. Of course, the key difference between these battles and the one waged at Drackow was that those positions were not guarded by the legendary 111th.

A young arch-gunner observed the battlefield from a watchtower, the structure was attached to a greater stone wall that allowed the man to have both a good shooting position and plenty of cover within the area should he need to move.

While Close Quarters Combat units, such as the knight infantry and cavalry remained inside the medium-sized town, building defensive positions and preparing for the assault, the arch-gunner squadrons' job was to scout — using their deficient, but functional by Cybelian standards scopes — to watch farther away, create chaos in the enemy ranks with the goal of buying time for the infantry to set up everything properly, and give information to the arch-artillery units they had set up on the walls when it came to enemy positions and general directions.

The arch-gun was a fascinating thing on its own, resembling an early bolt-action rifle — similar in physical appearance to a Kar-98 — it demonstrated that technology truly develops out of necessity and with the right conditions. While the people of Krosnia and many countries native to Cybelia had yet to discover Earth's revolutionary gunpowder, they had instead adapted to develop a system that fit their capabilities and necessities.

The weapon glowed with intricate blue patterns and outlines as the young man's eyes brightened in a kaleidoscope of greens and yellows, oozing with magic power, he put a round inside the rifle's chamber — which lacked a casing due to the fact that the propulsion didn't come from anything else than pure mana — and took a deep breath.

"The power of my faith is ever greater, for it's thee that we puny humans ought to serve with the dignity of a hundred stars, thou power shall flow within this soul, Mana Shell!" He screamed with vigorous emotion, as a shockwave that rattled even the imposing stone walls of the twin reverberated throughout the air with the potency of a cannon shot, the superheated steel alloy projectile traveling to the air with a trail of plasma and magic particles that would look mesmerizing for anybody with the perception necessary to properly react.

The Soumians saw the brilliant flash of light with only a fraction of a second to spare, the event was able to be barely registered in their brains, and after that, nothingness. A massive explosion rocked the formation of what looked like to be a cannon fodder unit.

The men screamed in agony, many of them losing multiple limbs or receiving the excruciating impacts of shrapnel inside of their bodies, while others were just instantly killed by the hand-held mobile artillery that had just hit them. The carnage was nauseating, but the men defending the Kingdom of Krosnia had no sympathy towards these invaders, who came here looking for honor, glory, and war.