Even in the midst of the ferocious bombardments, the human soldiers continued to pour out. And they continued to die.

Zealous and utterly devoted to Kobayashi's cause, the humans screamed furiously and charged out of the rubble fearlessly, attempting to cross the miles and miles of distance between their fortified city and the coast. It was incomprehensible and absolutely stupid. For one thing, it would take hours for them to cross the distance on foot.

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For another, they would be wiped out long before they could reach the forest, never mind the beach. There was at least twenty miles between the ships and Havia City, including the three miles of open terrain between their ruined walls and the forest. Even assuming they could reach the forest, it would still take far too long for them to trek through the space between us and reach the naval armada floating along their coast.

Then the tanks came. Released from some armory or garage deep within the city, the armored vehicles roared out, their treads squealing as they rolled over the rubble and ground out toward the battleships. Evidently Kobayshi was no longer holding anything back. He had realized to his dismay that I wasn't bluffing and was throwing everything, even the kitchen sink, at us so as to save his stronghold and his main seat of power.

It didn't matter. The tanks were obliterated instantly, their armored chasis turned into smoking wrecks as gauss projectiles pierced through their hulls and ripped them apart from the inside. Or disintegrated under the superheated blasts of plasma. Or blown off their tracks and flipped sideways, broken, when missiles detonated against their turrets. Or exploded from sheer kinetic force when railgun rounds penetrated their inches-thick armor.

It was still a massacre.

Kobayashi obviously doesn't play strategy games. He's just panicking and sending his most powerful forces in hopes that they will survive.

I understood that rookie mistake. I had seen it a million times when playing real-time strategy games. When the opponent rolled up and began sieging your base from range, most newbies tended to throw their entire army away in a panic by sending waves after waves of units right into the artillery, which was well-protected by a durable army that contained high hit points and immense firepower. The artillery would either blow the rookie's army into pieces or the defending army would grind themselves into bloody paste against the meatgrinder that was the attacking army. Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander 2, Starcraft 2, Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War, I had seen such mistakes committed over and over again.

After shelling for half an hour, the trickle of tanks and soldiers flowing from behind the wrecked walls stopped. Kobayashi must have realized how futile it was to needlessly waste his soldiers' lives. From what I could see on the auspex, he must be pulling his forces back to behind the ruined walls to seek shelter inside whatever civilians' buildings that were still standing. Since I had ordered my men to minimize casualties to the civilians, there were a lot of city structures that remained untouched and unmolested by fire.

Now the hard part begins.

I took a deep breath and turned to my vox officer.

"Mr. Bombshell, inform Admiral Spire that we're ready for disembarking. The command of the naval fleet will be handed to him."

"Right away, sir."

"Comand of the deck handed right back to you, Vice-Admiral Steele."

"Aye, aye, Lord General."

The captain of the flagship, Vice-Admiral Stanley Steele, saluted before settling back into his control throne.

"Good hunting, Lord General. Kick those traitor scum's asses for me and free the human kingdoms from the so-called Emperor of Humanity's reign of terror."

I smiled at the Marrina Admiral's candor. "Will do, Admiral. Leave it to me."

Then I whirled around and strode out of the bridge, with Sergeant Marko following me closely, hot on my heels.

*

The armada sailed toward the shore, turning slowly before slamming down their hatches on the sand. Even before the metallic structures barely touched the sand, armored tanks and APC transports ferrying troops rolled out. The beach was immediately covered by teeming metal as countless vehicles drove over the damp sand and proceeded straight toward the forest.

From my control screen aboard the super-heavy Hellblade tank, Savior of Moria, I could fully appreciate the breathtaking sight of hundreds of Malthas tanks and innumerable Cerberus APCs trampling over the wilderness, ferrying thousands of infantry. Columns of Elemental Combat Suits marched alongside the squadrons of Malthas tanks, which escorted a dozen Hellblade super-heavy tanks that included the Savior of Moria. Even the ancient, revered Golems had been revived and coaxed back into battle. Including Lieutenant Char Aznable's Golem, there were at least twenty of the towering titans rapidly striding alongside us into war.

Even as the land vehicles and ground forces left the armada behind, the ships were already slowly spinning back so as to aim their broadside cannons and missile launchers at Havia City. They were on standby, ready to deliver a devastating payload and offer fire support should the army within Havia City reveal themselves to be too much for the ground troops to combat. Furthermore, they would also deal with any reinforcements from other cities and kingdoms that came within their weapons' range, or any naval threats that approached from the sea.

Furthermore, if it came down to the worst-possible scenario, I was ready to order Exterminatus and level the entire capital with a nuke. Unfortunately, I hadn't bothered to summon a nuke, so that plan was not an option. I couldn't let it fall into the hands of the wrong people.

It was an intimidating invasion force, one enough to conquer continents, never mind a single city. That said, I still couldn't let my guard down.

"All forces, remember not to disturb the wildlife. We're here to fight humans, not monsters and treefolks. Take the route that Intelligence has mapped out."

With nothing to do, I decided to remind my army. There were acknowledgements from multiple channels and I leaned back in satisfaction.

"Honestly, sir, do you think they still have any fight left in them?"

Lieutenant Jason Jurgen glanced at me wryly.

"We took out their walls and pounded their army into smithereens. There won't be anyone left inside the city to fight us."

"Don't underestimate the humans," I warned him. "We're fighting on their homeground. And while we will most certainly win a battle on open ground with our tanks, things will get a lot more complicated in urban warfare. We won't be able to maximize the use of our tanks, and there's plenty of hiding places for their troops to hole up in. Make no mistake, this will be brutal. They'll have heavy weapons teams set up in the most unexpected places to take out our tanks, and we'll suffer massive casualties trying to clear each room of enemy soldiers."

Urban warfare was still something new and foreign to this newly modernized world that had only just recently emerged from a fantasy medieval age. This would be my soldiers' first taste of urban fighting and an unprecedented experience. I could only hope it was the same for the defending army – with Kobayashi's lack of military and strategic knowledge, and the human soldiers' inexperience in fighting inside cities, they might not be able to make full use of their homeground and urban advantage. But as any good commander knew, you could never count on your enemy to feth up.

Always assume and prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

"Not to mention..there's no sign of Evelyn's Chosen. If I'm not mistaken, Kobayashi is surely going to round all of the remaining Evelyn's Chosen up in Havia and make a last stand. They are the equivalent of an army in their own right, even if their numbers have somewhat been decimated. You've seen how they can effortlessly destroy our tanks, haven't you?"

"That I have, sir," Jurgen muttered bitterly. "Those Evelyn's Chosen defy common sense. I would never have believed it if I didn't see it without my own eyes."

We reached the fortifications in two hours, and already the ground was peppered by arrows and crude missiles that struck the Malthas tanks and detonated harmlessly. Unlike Moria, who had developed dedicated anti-tank weaponry, the missiles and rockets of the humans were still simplistic and weak. The Malthas tanks, charging at the front of their less armored Cerberus brethren, bore the full brunt of the attacks, shrugging off the explosions and projectiles that the panicked defenders were hurling at them. More than one stalled, their engines smoking, or their treads blown off by a lucky shot.

But the majority of them continued to roll forward unimpeded, hundreds of massive war machines with enough firepower to level the city.

"Fire!" I shouted. "Fire at will!"

The turrets on the Malthas tanks traversed and rumbled, azure eldritch energy glowing eerily before erupting into streams of plasma energy that melted both humans and structure alike. Metal or ferrocrete, it didn't matter. No material could withstand the superheated blobs of plasma that rained down on them.

"Fall back! Take cover!"

A commander was shouting to his forces, who fearlessly and zealously faced down the approaching tanks. Whatever few tanks that remained after the massacre held their ground to provide covering fire for the retreating infantry, but they were disintegrated by concentrated volleys of plasma from the Malthas Executioner tanks.

"After them!"

"Take them out!"

"Don't let them escape!"

All over the vox channels, tank commanders barked out orders and directions to their companies and squadrons, their tanks shifting to indicate their orders. Behind, the Cerberus APCs rolled over the rubble that used to be the great Havia Wall, before they slammed their hatches down and allowed the embarked infantry to pour out in waves.

Thousands of soldiers, demons and humans, flowed out of the parked Cerberus APCs and began moving quickly into cover, taking up firing positions and retaliating against fanatical human soldiers that fired their muskets and arrows at them. A courageous but reckless squad of Kobayashi devotees raced out of cover, screaming their Emperor's name as they brandished blades, bayonets and other melee weapons, but they were quickly gunned down in concerted fire from the emerging Alliance infantry. A grenade was hurled from one of the windows and into a massed group of soldiers, taking them out with shrapnel.

In response, the triple-barreled laser turret on the Cerberus APC swiveled around and blasted the room into smithereens. A corpse was flung out of the falling debris, his grenades detonating from the impact.

Despite their numbers, my infantry were being driven into killing zones as they tried to push deeper into the city and toward Kobayashi's castle. Still, through sheer weight of numbers and the immense casualties that the defending army had sustained during their ill-advised push against my naval armada's bombardment earlier, their advance was inexorable and rapid. Any lingering remnants of resistance were brutally and swiftly gunned down.

At least that was what I hoped, but suddenly my vox crackled to life.

"Sir, I know you ordered us to minimize civilian casualties, but they're using civilians as hostages and shooting my men!"

"Do your best in whatever circumstances you find yourself in. I'll let the commanders on the ground make the call. I'll take responsibility, but if you're unable to find a solution, then..you know what to do." I closed my eyes briefly and took a deep breath. "Prioritize our men's lives over the enemy civilians. That's what I told you earlier. Of course, if I find out there are soldiers shooting civilians needlessly or out of sheer cruelty, they'll be punished. But if whatever circumstances force your hand, then you'll have to make the..hard choice. It's not ideal, but I would rather be a demon than lose good, loyal men."

"Uh..sir, you are a demon, aren't you?"

"You know what I mean."

The officer's voice turned grim. "I understand, sir. I'll do whatever is necessary."

"I know you will. Good luck, Lieutenant. And again, I'll take responsibility. The deaths of civilians will be a burden I bear, not you, and not the men."

As the vox clicked off, I sighed. I didn't like this, but war forced us to make hard, cruel choices. The universe was a grim, dark place and often didn't allow us to follow our ideals through. To achieve victory, I had to be merciless and sometimes merciless. I couldn't let civilian hostages stand in the way of defeating Kobayashi.

It wasn't just because I wanted revenge. It was also because if I didn't stop Kobayashi, he would unleash a horror upon Restia that no god or mortal would ever be able to stop. I would be dooming this world and its inhabitants to a fate worse than death.

"Let's go, Jason."

"Yes, sir."

The super-heavy Hellblade tanks were trampling over debris and shouldering past burning wrecks of vehicles and tanks, firing and laying waste to any enemy armor that crawled out to meet us. Enemy heavy weapons teams fired from buildings, and the sponson guns replied with a thunderous barrage that smashed rooms and tore huge chunks out of buildings, silencing the missile launchers and infantry bearing them.

Golems loped over the packed roads, their weapons firing. Gleaming shields crackled and shifted as the pilots rotated them to meet crude, explosive projectiles, rendering them invulnerable. Though they did not possess as much firepower as the Hellblades, the Golems still delivered devastating payloads with their arcane weaponry, frying humans and decimating tanks alike.

The Elementals were in their element. Unlike the vulnerable infantry struggling to capture buildings, they shrugged off all but the most brutal firepower, impervious to arrow or musket rounds. Their jet thrusters burning, they leaped up into buildings and flooded them with blazing promethium, flushing the infantry out of their cover and turning supposedly safe strongholds into burning hells. Dozens of screaming human soldiers flung themselves out of inferno-infested rooms, their bodies immolated into charred skeletons.

Slowly but surely, we were advancing toward the castle. For a moment I thought we might just be able to pull it off, but a Malthas tank nearby exploded.

"Sir!" Geoffrey Gunnery shouted, his voice tense. "They..the Evelyn's Chosen have finally shown up!"

"Great." I pushed my glasses up my nose and stood up to haul myself up into the cupola. "I'll go deal with them."

"The Iron Knights voxed in as well," Jurgen informed me. "They've met the enemy on the other side of Havia City..the one facing away from the coast. They've encountered resistance there, and one other Evelyn's Chosen, but they should reach the castle faster than us."

"That's one less Evelyn's Chosen we have to worry about then," I remarked and ran through the numbers in my head. Who was left? Yamada Yuji, Ishida Ryuuji, Yoshida Yume, Midorikawa Midori and Igarashi Hana. Then Kobayashi Kenji himself. Six heroes. On my side, I had an overwhelming army, Lilith and even nine members of the Iron Knights. On paper, it should be an easy victory.

So why was I getting this uneasy feeling?

"Tanaka! So you've come!"

The moment I emerged into the cupola, I caught sight of the hero who had decimated a trio of Malthas tanks that had forged forward to challenge him. Yamada Yuuji was grinning as he waved his sword about, and he pointed his blade at me.

"Get off that tank and let me kill you."

A vein twitched in my temple. "Geoffrey, blow that arrogant bastard to bits."

"My pleasure."

Gunnery pulled the trigger and a crimson lance of energy streaked out to slam into Yamada. Despite him using his sword to slice the lance in half, he was blown back and sent hurtling several meters away, slamming into a building and causing the pillar to cave in.

Despite the immense firepower, he was miraculously still alive. Coughing, he hefted debris off him and staggered to his feet.

"You coward!"

"Sir, recharging incapacitators. We'll be vulnerable while the plasma annihilator reloads."

"There's no need to worry, that's why I'm here." after assuring Gunnery, I turned to Jurgen. "Jason, you have command of the Savior of Moria now. You know the plan. Continue forging ahead toward the castle and encircle it. I'll deal with this Evelyn's Chosen."

While I issued my order, Yamada conjured a spell and blasted the Savior of Moria. I vaulted out of my cupola and kicked the fireball away, causing it to swerve harmlessly into the ground. The barriers that my Redwood jacket generated bristled and burned, but the first layer regenerated instantly.

"Go!" I shouted. Behind, the Savior of Moria threw its gear into reverse and rumbled away loudly. Yamada sneered.

"You sure you don't need that big tank to support you?"

"What about you?" I retorted. "Are you sure you can take me on by yourself? I'm pretty sure even five of you wouldn't be enough."

Yamada's sneer curled into a scowl.

"You'll regret that," he swore. "Kobayashi is right. You were always a cowardly weakling who's too stupid to understand that you're completely outmatched. You're nothing but trash! I can't believe how idiotic you are to even conceive of the notion that you have a slight possibility of winning against us. You should just die!"

"That's what Kijima, Tsukishima and all the others said before I killed them," I replied with a cocksure grin. "If you really can kill me, you're welcome to try. Otherwise you're just a bag of hot air like the rest of them."

"Fucker!" Yamada roared before he launched himself at me. I parried his strike with my Blood Dragon Sword, the tremendous impact from the collision of our blades causing a huge explosion that rippled throughout the district and shattered glass.

"Shadow Lunar Fang."

"?!"

Blasting Yamada at pointblank range, I sent the hero flying into yet another building, reducing much of the structure into rubble that buried him. Still, Yamada was tenacious if nothing else. With sheer determination, he clawed his way out of the debris before blasting the concrete apart to free himself. A violent tornado of mana swirled around him.

"Miracle Warrior," he snarled. The vortex of mana was sucked into his body and he began to grow into a gargantuan giant. Towering over me by a good ten meters, he leered. "This is my special ability, bestowed upon me by the goddess Evelyn herself. I'll crush you like an ant."

"Giant monsters?"

As if in response to his gigantification, I called upon a summon of my own. Ryuu loomed over us both, several times bigger than the enormous Yamada. Magic circles materialized as he unleashed his Draconic Meteor.

"You're a thousand years too early to be challenging me on that aspect."

"I..impossible!!!!!"

Yamada's scream was cut off as the blazing meteors buried him within a series of massive explosions that left craters in the city.