GATE and thus the imperium fought there

Fortress/ New faces/ Princess

When Rory arrived at the so called 'fortress-monastery' she was expecting some of the soldiers to demand payment. To force some of the women to wore themselves for the men. But she got none of that, and to her surprise the men took off their helmets and well half of them were women! While she was no stranger to warrior women, she was one after all she was just shocked at how many women there were in this army. And when she saw a different type of soldiers she was confused, were these auxiliary troops? They had shields and strange crossbow like weapons, one held a weapon that glowed a pale blue light(Plasma gun) while another carried no shield but instead held a big weapon with a knife at the end(think of it as a laser gatling gun) and the last one in the group had a strange face plate, it had no eye holes but instead was a plate of something akin to glass from one side of his/her head to the other, the figure also had a strange metal box on his/her back. Rory assumed it held supplies (it's a vox) one of them walked up to the one called Ra.

???: Ra, imperium centrum in recta Ahriman indiget vos auferat.

Ra: quorum princeps fuit intellexerunt.

Ra left to head somewhere. Rory decided to head to her friends Lelei and Tuka, both of which the soldiers saved a while ago.

Tuka: Lelei, how much longer do you think their charity will last? I doubt that they will just let us stay here for free.

Lelei: Agreed, we have to find some way to support ourselves. Hopefully in a way that doesn't require our bodies...

Tuka and Lelei shared a grim face, they might have to whore themselves to the soldiers to try and keep themselves in their good graces lest they force themselves on them. It was all to common for the imperial army to do so once they took a town or city, they would force themselves on the local women married, virgin, wore, or child it didn't matter to them what mattered was that they got pleasure from the actions. They then noticed Rory walking up to them.

Tuka: Hi Rory!

Rory: Hi Tuka, what were you two talking about?

Lelei explained what they were talking about.

Rory: That is a bit troubling to think about. Wait, there is one there! Maybe we can ask him or her to see if there is any jobs for us.

Lelei: It is worth a shot.

As they approached the soldier they noticed he was different than the others, for one his mask was in the shape of a skull, and secondly his weapon was like that of a hammer but it looked like a bird stretching its wings and at the end of the wings there were spikes. When he/she turned to look at them their blood ran cold. It was as if they were looking into the hateful glare of a god.

Tuka: E-excuse me, i-is there any type of work to be done.

???: Yes, the scales of the 'dragons' need to be picked up from the battles of this hill.

The warrior/soldier took them to a pile of dragon corpses, all of them with their scales attacked like he/she had said.

Rory: Do they not realize what kind of money they are letting rot here?

Lelei: They either don't know, or do know but have no need for the Empire's money.

Tuka: Let's start!

While that happened Ra found himself in Ahriman's room, with an Alpha Legionnaire and Night lord.

Ra: Let me guess, the XX and VIII were the closest to us?

Night lord: Is that a problem?

Ra: No, just wasn't expecting you or them.

Alpha Legionnaire: No one expects the 20th!

The Warlock that Ra worked with also came into the room.

Warlock: We have found a major settlement nearby. It holds valuable economic support for this entire region as a major trading settlement. It can also be a linchpin as you Mon'Keigh put it into taking this continent for it provides a fresh amount of recruits and provides a way to the capital of the strongest empire on this continent.

Ahriman: I see, any other strategic data?

Warlock: Yes, the 'princess' of whom we are at war is coming over to the settlement known as italica to try and defend it from bandits. We can use this to our advantage, one if we get rid of the bandits the populus would love us for it, secondly we can capture the princess and hand her over to the 'interrogator-chaplains' of the first legion.

Ahriman: Maybe not them, but no doubt we will interrogate her, and any honor guard she has with her.

The people in the room nodded and left.

With Princess Piña

Piña was in a tavern in Italica and was seeking to get a drink after her long journey from the capital to here. As she and her rose knights were drinking they heard one of the waitresses talking.

Waitress: I swear that's what happened! Strange knights came and rescued my friends and family from the great fire dragon! Their leader ripped open it's insides and took out it's heart!

Norma: Ha! Princess can you believe that wretch? Killing the great dragon is impossible! The greatest armies have tried and failed.

Grey: Be quiet. I have heard rumors of a strange band of knights all clad in crimson red armor wandering along the countryside, it could be them who the waitress is talking about.

Norma: Bah! She's probably trying to bring attention to herself.

Piña wasn't so sure of that, on one hand her friend Norma might be right. But Piña learned not to completely dismiss tales or rumors, for even the most outlandish tale had a bit of truth in it.

Piña: Waitress!

The lady came up to them.

Piña: What did these 'Knights' look like exactly?

Waitress: They wore crimson red armor. They had red eyes, and their armor had gold engraved in it. In the shape of a sun or some beetles, one had it in the shape of a skull on his left shoulder. They were giant as well, bigger than any man I have ever seen! If not for them talking i would have confused them with Golems. And they had weird crossbows and swords, crossbows were black and the swords were covered in fangs or lightning.

Piña hummed, she had heard of similar figures from the survivors, but they had shields and were not giants. The giants that were reported from the gate were most likely Golems due to their alleged automaton like movements in the battle.

Piña: Grey, Norma enough. We need to go see Countess Myui to prepare defenses.

Norma: Fine.

He downed the glass and got up. Piña and the rest of the group followed suit and left to the castle to prepare for the grueling battle ahead of them, not noticing a figure in the shadows watching them.