--- Duchy of Kitonia, former Kingdom of Kitonia. ---
Duke General Arondir is seated in his chair in his office, signing some documents related to internal administration. "With these high taxes just to fund a long and exhausting military campaign to the north, my duchy will soon run out of money to send to the emperor and his expansionist agenda..." Arondir said, looking at the absurd values in the document.
Three light knocks are heard at the door, "May I come in, my lord?" Arondir didn't even look at the door and responded positively. A short, slim man with dark hair opened the door and entered, holding a letter in his hands.
"My lord, we received this letter a few minutes ago. The messenger claims it came directly from Matique City." Arondir stopped writing immediately and raised his head to look directly at the man. "Thank you very much," said Arondir, placing his pen on the table, "leave the letter here on my desk and please, exit."
The man bowed and left the letter on the table before exiting Arondir's office. Arondir picked up the letter and opened it with his dagger made by forest elves. "Let's see what we have here," Arondir said to himself.
The letter was written by an informant Arondir has in the city of Matique, describing a concerning situation for the imperial army in the region. The empire's soldiers retreated behind the walls, about 400 thousand soldiers. They decided to leave tamed beasts like Minotaurs and goblins outside the city, these beasts had a single objective: to delay the enemy siege while waiting for reinforcements from the empire.
Arondir chuckled, "This must be a joke." The letter also explicitly stated that the soldiers were depleting the city's resources and some were abusing and extorting the local population. Furthermore, the informant suspected that General Thalgrim sent a letter directly to Arondir, requesting a force of 15 thousand mounted soldiers to help break the blockade forming around the city, as it will soon be impossible for messages to leave the city by land and air, and communication will be cut off.
"That bastard Thalgrim... they mock me, but you know what? I'll march with my knights to Matique myself to assess whether it's worth helping those imperial bastards." Arondir stood up and grabbed his sword, staring at it for a moment. "I already have 20 thousand of my men fighting against the northerners, and they still want to weaken my duchy even more. And I'm sure the emperor will approve Thalgrim's order, even if it was issued without his authorization."
He sheathed his sword and left the room, putting on his dark green cape that made a striking contrast with his iron breastplate and chainmail. The crest of his duchy and former kingdom was emblazoned on the cape, a lance and a horse, a representation of his cavalry, the best in the entire empire.
He issued orders for his officers to gather all the cavalry units within 2 days, so they could depart immediately, as it was a 5-day journey by horse to Matique City.
--- Outskirts of Matique, 16/01/2030 ---
A column consisting of 50 heavy combat armored vehicles, including Centauro 2s and MBTs Panther, is heading towards the city. The convoy leader is Commander Antônio, his MBT Panther is leading the convoy. He spots the city walls 2km away, but they are surrounded by thousands of these horrendous creatures, yet no humans. They seem to have been placed there to delay the advance of the Brazilian army troops.
Antônio picks up the radio in his armored vehicle and issues an order, "Attention, multiple hostile targets ahead. Everyone line up, I want each cannon side by side, understood?" The orders were immediately followed, with all 50 combat tanks forming up. To the monsters surrounding the city, it appeared as if those things covered the horizon.
A message from NewLand base came over Antônio's radio, "Hold position, destroy anything attempting to pass through, we're sending 40 Cascavel wheeled reconnaissance armored vehicles for support, and in 5 minutes, 10 Gripens fighters will be at your position to bomb the outskirts of the city, copy?" "Copy, I'll relay the information to the rest of the units," replied Antônio.
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Antônio relayed the information and then ordered to open fire on the enemy positions outside the city walls. The enemies, in turn, adopted a clever tactic; they began to disperse across the field and maintain themselves in small units. Most used this tactic to charge towards the armored vehicles, but they failed and were obliterated by the 120mm cannons of the Centauro 2s and the 130mm cannons of the Panthers.
However, they were numerous, and in a short time, they would reach the armored vehicles. So, Antônio issued new orders, "Attention, all units, reverse, but stay in formation and keep firing. Let's keep our distance from these bastards while keeping them distracted, understood?" Antônio's plan seemed to be working, and the creatures were gradually moving away from the city and following the armored vehicles. They still had plenty of ammunition for another hour or two of combat, but that wouldn't be a problem since those things were falling into the trap.
"All units, stop," said Antônio. "We're at a good distance, and the enemy is now crowded enough." When Antônio turned off the radio, he opened the hatch of his armored vehicle and saw those things running towards their armored vehicles. At that speed, they would reach the formation in a few minutes. However, he heard a familiar sound. He looked up and saw approaching quickly on the horizon a beautiful formation of 10 Gripens fighters. In less than a minute, the fighters made a swift pass over that mass of monsters, releasing dozens of thermobaric bombs (this type of bomb is second only to atomic and nuclear bombs in destructive capacity).
In seconds, thousands were incinerated, and their bodies exploded from the bomb pressure. The fighters made four more passes around the entire city, dropping all the bombs on anything outside the walls. The former wheat fields that were part of the landscape were now filled with fire and impact craters. The monsters that survived ran in all directions to get as far away from the city and all the destruction caused by the flying beasts and the winged monsters breathing fire.
A few minutes later, Cascavel armored reconnaissance vehicles arrived, accompanied by 20 Guarani transport armored vehicles. They formed up behind the Panthers and Centauro 2s. Dozens of soldiers and androids disembarked from the armored vehicles and formed up in combat formation alongside them.
Antônio looked up again and saw the Gripens fighters flying away after this successful mission. He looked at all the destruction around the city walls and could only imagine the terror and chaos happening inside those walls. He looked back and saw even more vehicles and logistics trucks approaching. One of the soldiers approached Antônio's armored vehicle and introduced himself; he was a lieutenant colonel and informed Antônio that the new orders were to maintain a siege on the city and await further orders.
--- City Walls of Matique ---
Colt is walking through the streets of the city, once a beautiful city, but now suffering from overcrowding overnight due to the hundreds of thousands of imperialist troops sheltering within it. He is heading towards the front wall of the city, where General Kaus summoned him when enemy troops were spotted approaching the city walls, general Kaus is the third man on comand after Thalgrim go back to the capital ordened by Colt. Upon reaching the walls, chaos reigns supreme; hundreds of archers, attack mages, and soldiers are trying to get into position. "MAKE WAY FOR THE GRAND MASTER!" shouted one of the guards accompanying Colt. With difficulty, Colt manages to approach Kaus, who is shouting frenetic orders to the men around him.
Upon noticing Colt's presence, he gestures for the mage to come closer. "You took your time, mage," said Kaus.
"It's not my fault; the city is in chaos," replied Colt.
"Changing the subject, look," Kaus hands a sort of binoculars to Colt. He looks through the binoculars and notices a large column of those steel beasts approaching. They suddenly stop and begin to line up horizontally. Side by side, those things seemed even deadlier.
"They're preparing to attack," said Colt.
"That's what I thought," said Kaus, then shouted a couple of orders to the beast tamers.
"What are you planning to do, Kaus?" asked Colt.
"They are not many; they may have that powerful magic, but I believe we can overwhelm them with our numbers, so I ordered a full-on attack with the beasts against those things," Kaus seems confident in his plan.
They begin to hear the explosions launched by those winged beasts; each impact takes the lives of dozens of creatures. But Kaus's plan seemed to be working; gradually, the distance between the creatures and the metal beasts was decreasing. At least that's what it seemed like. Colt looks through the binoculars again and notices that the metal beasts are moving away but still not ceasing their powerful magic. He looks around the wall and sees that now only hundreds of monsters remain behind; the other thousands have started to gather and run frantically towards the metal beasts.
"I knew it; my plan is working," said Kaus, realizing that his creatures were almost approaching the metal beasts.
"They've stopped," said Colt as he looked through the binoculars.
"Give me that!" Kaus takes the binoculars, and indeed, the metal beasts have stopped. Suddenly, one of the mages shouts, "LOOK, UP THERE!" Everyone looks to the sky and sees 10 flying creatures; the sound they emit is deafening.
It is at that moment that Kaus understands what is happening. He tries to shout orders to the tamers on the walls to disperse the monsters, but it is too late. As soon as those flying beasts approach, large explosions, so powerful that no known mage could create, occur. Within seconds, all the thousands of creatures are dead; a few seconds later, all sides of the wall are receiving these powerful attacks from those things. The entire landscape is now craters and flames. It is impossible for anything to survive this.
"They are monsters," said Kaus, with a look of fear.
Colt had never seen this look before in a imperial general, known to be cruel and relentless against his enemies. He takes Kaus's binoculars and looks at the enemy beasts on the ground; he notices more of those things arriving, but this time, they seem to have transported dozens of soldiers from that other world. Colt begins to reconsider surrendering the city; he knows that in the long run, if the emperor's troops do not arrive soon, everyone in this city will possibly be killed. In fact, he no longer knows if anything they do will be enough to stop these humans from another world.