--- 1st Wyvern Squadron ---

Captain Juliano led his powerful squadron through the portal. Everything they saw left them impressed; this new world had strange structures. But the mission came first. He saw several people on the ground and some strange carriages moving without horses. He then ordered his squadron to dive and destroy the carriages and attack the people on the ground as a form of intimidation.

In a swift dive, they saw those people start running desperately, but the Wyverns were fast, and curtains and flames of fire were launched against the people running to save themselves. He tried to destroy one of those strange moving carriages. But suddenly it accelerated at an absurd speed. He gave up and decided to focus only on the people who were still running.

One of the Wyverns from a knight in his squadron let out a slight roar of pain after being hit by something coming from the ground. He then looked and saw 2 men dressed in gray clothing carrying a strange black staff each. They were hiding behind a carriage while firing this strange magic. The Wyverns were fast, so they were the main targets of the attacks, and when they hit, they didn't cause significant damage. He ordered one of his companions to dive with him towards the enemy soldier mages. Both dived at an absurd speed. He noticed the 2 men on the ground becoming desperate and starting to run in the opposite direction, but it was already too late; the Wyverns launched fireballs that hit them precisely.

He then looked at his companion and ordered him to inform command that the area beyond the portal had mages. Even though they didn't cause much damage to the Wyverns, they could still cause significant damage to the infantry.

The Wyvern knight moved away, and Juliano returned to formation, separating his squadron into 2 groups of 10 Wyvern riders. One group would carry out ground attacks, clearing the way for the imperial infantry, while the other group would patrol the skies beyond the portal, awaiting more squadrons to cross the portal.

He looked down and liked what he saw: a massive formation of imperial soldiers crossing the portal. Juliano decided he would patrol the skies and destroy any enemy resistance.

--- 20 minutes after the invasion ---

Juliano rushed to assist one of his comrades who was struggling against a group of these strange mages. He ordered him to fall back, noticing that his comrade's Wyvern was heavily injured, flying low and slow. Ordering two Wyvern riders to escort him to the rear to tend to the Wyvern, Juliano then dove with five more Wyvern riders towards the enemy mages clad in gray. This time, he observed that the staves they wielded were longer.

Before he could get too close, he felt bursts passing through his Wyvern at high speed. He couldn't see what was being fired, but he heard the strange buzzing followed by the sound of explosions emanating from the staves. He ordered a second dive, this time at even greater speed. They managed to launch several fireballs towards the enemy, who took cover behind their metal carriages. As he prepared for a second dive, he noticed one of the Wyverns was without a rider. Looking back to find his comrade, he saw him in free fall, apparently lifeless. "They got him as he ascended after the last dive," said one of his companions.

Juliano realized that the only way to defeat this enemy was to divide their attention, or more riders would die. He ordered three of his riders to dive against the enemy while he and another rider would flank them from the rear. Initiating the plan, he moved far enough away so the enemies wouldn't see them coming while they were distracted by the other three Wyverns.

The plan worked flawlessly. The enemy mages were distracted by the other Wyverns, and he seized the opportunity to dive from behind. By the time the enemy realized their mistake, it was too late. Two massive fireballs flew towards the hapless defenders, who writhed in agony as they were burned alive.

--- 2 hours after the invasion ---

Juliano is very pleased with the results he's achieving; almost half of all Wyvern squads have already crossed the gates, totaling 500 Wyverns with only 10 being incapacitated or killed by the enemy. Initially, the plan was to cross with 1000 Wyverns, but with the rapid air dominance, that was no longer necessary. The enemy also seemed to have Wyverns, but they didn't have wings, and their Wyverns were easily brought down by his. They just had to be careful when approaching; these metal Wyverns had strange blades that seemed to spin at high speeds while flying. He saw one of those things trying to take off and destroyed it before it could, but some were already in the air, carrying people who seemed to be fleeing. His Wyvern riders took down most of those things.

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After returning to patrolling the skies, Juliano looks down and sees the imperial troops advancing with the help of ogres who destroy any enemy resistance. One thing he noticed is that this city is extremely large; the ground troops are advancing more slowly because of it. Consequently, the Wyverns have to accompany this slow advance by providing air cover.

While patrolling the skies with 10 Wyvern riders in formation, he sees 5 strange objects approaching at high speed on the horizon. He orders his Wyverns to break formation and keep their distance from each other. He realizes that these things have launched 5 arrows of light at high speed. He orders his riders to evade and advance towards these flying things; however, to his despair, each of the 5 arrows changes direction, following the Wyverns' change of direction. Each arrow hits its target in less than 1 second, and the 5 Wyverns explode into a ball of fire and blood, their remains falling towards the ground. Everyone begins to make evasive maneuvers. In an instant, one of those flying things passed at high speed next to his Wyvern; these things were made of metal and had wings; they were much larger than those metal Wyverns he had brought down. This thing was some kind of combat Wyvern, far superior.

What frightened him the most was that for a moment, he made eye contact with the rider who was mounted on that thing, but he was inside that thing, protected by some kind of transparent dome. Those things started to pursue his remaining Wyvern riders and fire rapid bursts of fire, very different from the fireballs his Wyverns shot. Instantly, his companions were torn apart by these flying monsters. He dove trying to escape, one of his surviving companions did the same, accompanying him.

Those things seem to have retreated; the cover of those strange buildings became very useful for hiding. He orders his companion to return to the rear and report what just happened. Both separate, always maintaining a low flight pattern to avoid this new threat. He keeps thinking about how 5 of those things managed to bring down almost 10 Wyvern riders so easily; he begins to have a bad feeling about what just happened. Something on the ground catches his attention. A formation of imperial soldiers and ogres were advancing, but suddenly the formation is broken by an explosion. He looks to where the attack came from, expecting to find an enemy mage. But what he sees shocks him; an enormous column of steel monsters with a huge cylinder at the front, fires again towards the troops, but this time targeting the ogres. They simply fall dead after taking direct hits. He looks back at those iron monsters, but this time, three of them have formed up, completely blocking the street. Each one of them fired, tearing through the formation of imperial soldiers. Those who survived began to flee in desperation.

He realizes that those things have noticed his presence and begin to fire in his direction. He makes evasive maneuvers, dodging the attacks that hit the buildings around him. He moves away from those things, seeing that from now on, it's impossible to continue the advance, and decides to regroup in the rear.

---

Selena and Thalassa are currently running; they didn't know what that thing was, but it killed almost all their comrades. They are not alone; two royal guards and three adventurers are with them.

"What was that that happened?" said one of the adventurers with a panting tone.

"What the hell, they said the people beyond the portal didn't have magic!" said another adventurer. They then look at the elf; elves have a natural gift for sensing magic.

"Hey, Thalassa," one of them said, she looks. "Did you sense any magical power in this world?" She responds directly, "No!"

Everyone falls silent until one says, "then how do you explain what happened back there?"

"I don't know, but that wasn't magic, I can guarantee that" Everyone falls silent again as they run.

They manage to reach another outpost, with hundreds of soldiers preparing to go to the front lines. Everyone looks at them; an officer sees them arriving and asks, "what are you doing here? You were supposed to be securing the forward positions"

One of the royal guards promptly responds in a serious yet breathless tone, "They're all dead, we barely survived."

The officer looks incredulous, "that's impossible, there were over a thousand men guarding that outpost"

"Sir, I know it's a very hard statement to believe, but as a member of the royal guard, I do not lie"

"do you expect me to believe that? What this looks like to me is desertion, and abandoning post"

The other royal guard becomes irritated and interrupts the officer, "are you suggesting that two members of the royal guard deserted?"

"I'm not 'suggesting', I'm stating, and it seems to me, you're here now, not at your posts" As they argued, Selena sits on the curb.

Thalassa watches her friend apprehensively and walks over to her. After sitting next to Selena, she says, "I'm sorry." Thalassa puts her hand on her head, "I shouldn't have brought you to this nightmare of a place."

Selena looks at her friend, "look, I'm not a child anymore, I know very well what I did, it was my choice."

"But still, we came to this place seeking riches and didn't even think about the consequences," Thalassa said.

"That may be true, but it doesn't matter now; what really matters is that we need to survive at all costs, cross that portal, and go back home." They both look at each other and hug shortly after.

They get up with a more determined air than before; they need and want to survive. Unfortunately, this was not fate's plan. In just a few seconds, loud buzzing came from the skies, then something caused direct impacts on the clustered imperial soldiers who were waiting at this outpost, several very strong explosions left craters in the ground after the impact of whatever it was, all of this lasted exactly 30 seconds, Selena and Thalassa ran into a building and hid.

All they heard was screams and moans of pain from their compatriots. After 2 minutes, they decide to come out, and all they saw was destruction. Where soldiers were fraternizing before, now only impact craters and bodies or what was left of them remain, only a few survived.

"but what happened here?" Selena asked while coughing.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stay here to find out, let's get out of here, Selena," said the elf.

Selena, for the first time, heard fear in her friend's voice; both then continued to retreat even further towards the portal.