Rome, Senatorial Palace:
Following the destruction of Zapadia, the Senate decided to start an emergency session and summoned the current Consul Camillus Severus to discuss the recent move made by the Eastern Roman Empire.
"Hello gentleman, We all know what happened in our frontier city, and is such a tragedy that the Emperor of the East decided to destroy and wipe out everything leaving only disabled people and ruins, I believe this war will be far bigger due to how many nations are in it"
Then the consul decided to hold a vote on declaring a state emergency and ending elections until the war was over. Unfortunately, an unwelcome guest decided to pay a visit, it was Alex with his demon armies who infiltrated the city and launched an attack on the Senatorial palace.
The demon soldiers slaughtered everyone including the consul and the entire senate, and then left.
News of this sudden attack started to spread quickly in the static frontlines between the Byzantines and the Republicans.
Illyrian Frontline:
After the destruction of Zapadia, the Byzantine first army under the command of Zagrios and Alex decided to strike Genesis towns, the generals to carpet bomb the city with massive fire spells.
The One Hundred Mage division started its bombardment, and as Alex expected there was a shield blocking these attacks.
"Launch a powerful fire spell and the shield will be broken and you can deal with the rest." Commanded General Gnaeus Belisarius.
The general's command was a success as the shield finally broke, twenty thousand troops jumped to attack in coordination with the mage division and a massive urban warfare started.
Mages kept exchanging spells and fighting was for every inch and every house, the infantry knights were also good at hunting enemy troops and Vice versa.
The battle continued for longer than expected and that made Belisarius nervous because the emperor didn't come back yet.
"Hello generals, I am back now tell me what the fuck is going on and why we aren't advancing beyond frontier regions"
The general was nervous because after the emperor left, the Italian front armies decided to split and target different sections of the front and both were stuck in a costly stalemate but he decided to tell him.
"Our army commanders report that there is a stalemate everywhere, the Republicans are bringing a lot of troops, They used trap magic, and that made General Andronicus decide to stop and consolidate his gains." Then he showed a map of the frontlines with Andronicus troops Advancing toward the city of Skaradius after conquering the entirety of the Zeta region.
The emperor informed everyone of what he did very soon and told them to keep fighting the lack of leadership impacting their war effort, five minutes later he decided to bring the dragons and strike Genesis from the air to make them surrender.
After massive destruction, the city surrendered and the Byzantine army entered it.
The emperor ordered one massive offensive and informed Andronicus to advance non-stop until Illyria was conquered, this order proved devastating as the generals had to resort to using massive bombardment and powerful dragon attacks alongside ordering to massacre anyone who opposed them.
Illyrian cities kept burning with thousands from both sides killed or injured until the conquest ended on January 3rd 415 After Khorran armies conquered the main HQ of the Republican forces in Belgravia.
January 3rd, 415:
The lack of leadership finally began impacting the Republican state with each governor agreeing to form their state finally splitting the Republican lands into several states with Roman Africa choosing to quickly surrender to Eastern Rome to avoid further bloodshed and have the Orcs leave their lands while the Italian lands split into three states; the Alpine kingdom controlling the northern regions of Italy and the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Second Roman kingdom controlling central Italy and the Neapolitan Republic controlling the south of Italy.
Illyrian Frontlines:
Alex decided to stay in Illyria to consolidate his conquest, he thought that ending the Republic was now easy since they were divided so he ordered a naval invasion to capture the island of Sicily while he returned to Byzantium.
Naval Invasion of Sicily:
After the invasion of Africa commanded by Samantha the former emperor's daughter, she immediately ordered the largest Naval invasion, while Alex was busy conquering the Illyrian province.
After receiving the letter, she told Admiral Alexander Severus to take command of the invasion.
Fifty ships and fifty thousand men left for Sicily and the Sicilian Navy decided to encounter their enemy in the Sicilian strait to prevent the Byzantines from conquering Sicily.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
The Byzantine Navy began firing their fire elements while advancing in a straight line toward the Sicilian ships, All the attacks had no effect. The Sicilians made their advance, forcing the Byzantine admiral to order the ships to turn back to their original positions.
Unfortunately, the Sicilians successfully rammed a ship and began boarding it but that was a trap as the Byzantine admiral ordered the Warship Ioanos to fire Greek flamethrowers at the enemy ship sinking it
The soldiers that boarded the Byzantine ship surrendered and became POWs, while all the sailors were killed.
The Sicilian navy rushed because they knew they had no chance but after a fierce battle with the Byzantines losing ten frigates and a lot of mage knights, they were victorious and successfully destroyed the Sicilian Navy.
After this defeat, the governor of Syracuse defected to the Byzantine side and began launching his offensive to capture the island.
Samantha told the governor that he had permission to govern Sicily and the entire southern part of the Italian Peninsula as a feudatory, which motivated him even more.
Summer of 415 in June, Sicily and South Italy:
Knowing full well his inability to advance toward southern Italy, Governor Titus Camilus contacted his clan who were the governors of most of the southern Italian peninsula.
The next month, he received the news that the Consul of Sicily was dead, and the Byzantine flag was raised alongside the Sicilian flag marking the end of an Italian State.
Byzantium the capital:
In the palace, the Emperor received the news that the Elves were attacking both the Balkans with their armies occupying the cities of Aegyssos and reaching up to Callatis but were halted inside Odessos and decided to start a siege.
Alex decided to go and take ten thousand troops with him, he also summoned his one hundred thousand undead soldiers to go with him to push the Elves out of Moesia province.
Byzantine Empire, Moesia province:
After a week, the imperial army was ready with some of the Illyrian front troops returning home.
The Emperor brought with him twenty-thousand soldiers of the Illyrian front armies as reinforcement and went straight to Odessos city to remove the Elven forces.
General Andrea Sala of the Lorian empire decided to retreat to Callatis, hoping to defeat the Byzantine forces coming for him.
He made all the necessary preparations and formed two defensive lines filled with trap magic and destructive holy shields.
The massive Byzantine army arrived in front of Callatis.
Zagrios warned his protege that the elves were using holy shields.
Alex turned toward his teacher: "What the heck is a holy shield?"
"A holy shield is just an enhanced shield, it is difficult to destroy and is only used by Elven mages Moreover you might not know it but the occupied lands revolted against you and invited the Elves while you were away".
The emperor laughed at this news, Zagrios told him that he could take care of the shield but Alex rejected his request and kept hitting the shield with thousands of infernal fireballs non-stop until the shields collapsed.
The private army led by Alex suffered a massive defeat as magical traps slaughtered the undead fighters, resulting in thousands of casualties and forcing Alex to withdraw.
He decided to start a siege of the occupied provinces, he sent orders to the entire empire to stop merchants trading and issue a total blockade of the occupied lands and then assigned Zagrios to take care of the siege and went to Byzantium.
The Imperial Palace in Byzantium, July the 10th:
The moment he entered the palace, he was told of the news of the Western Front and how Samantha helped subdue southern Italy.
Alex was livid because he did not authorize her moves: "How dare she act on her own?" One official came and explained everything and that calmed everything.
"That girl, I like her, now Back to the matter of the western front. She can do whatever she wants since it seems that her action is for the wellbeing of the empire". The emperor started the annual government meetings and received economic reports, he then issued a decree to keep supporting farmers and further Urban development Moreover he started a new project to expand the Port of Alexandria and build more blacksmithing stores and artifacts manufacturing.
A new mage school will be built in the capital and throughout the empire to improve education.
Balkan front:
The blockade worked as Alex predicted as the Elven population of the occupied territories revolted against Loria, The Elves decided to withdraw entirely thus allowing the Byzantine army to enter the occupied territory.
The Gallic wars, January 416:
Unlike Alex, Kahn's tactics were severe and brutal as his armies slaughtered their way into the capital of the Segarius-controlled lands, killing anything that moved until the destruction of the Segarius rebel lands since the Roman Republic collapsed.
In the vampire province, Kahn decided to create an army full of Orcs, Scorpions, and the fire dragon clans and then unleashed it on the Vampire rebels.
"Finally you finished your preparations and destroyed one enemy. Now Emperor Alex wants you to destroy the Vampires and use whatever means necessary to do it." Said a secret envoy of the Eastern Emperor.
Hell was unleashed on the Vampire rebels in Minor Germany and the core lands of the Scarlet Empire but they were repelled, after a bloody battle of the black city and were forced to withdraw back to Gallia.
Aurora Parisium, last day in January 416:
Kahn quickly went to his palace and instructed his scribe to write a letter: "Dear Alex:
Your revenge is now complete, I suggest you start negotiations now and I know that you want to gain control over Rome but your focus on the Elves and the inaction of your generals on the western front made it impossible to achieve. So please I beg you to start negotiating as this war will last longer."
The scribe wrote everything and quickly dispatched a messenger to Byzantium.
Byzantium, February 416:
The atmosphere was intense, the sudden Elven attack on Gallic southern lands flared the static western front, Samantha sent a letter to the emperor reporting that she started an invasion of the Roman kingdom alongside the Feudatory kingdom of Sicily.
Without completely reading the letter, he was proven right when she reported her defeat in the battle of Rome while losing thousands of soldiers due to traps and fierce Roman resistance.
Byzantium, February 416:
The emperor was angry and what made him angry even more was that his generals suggested starting peace negotiations.
"Common we are winning right?" asked Alex with a little bit of surprise after his officials expressed the desire to start peace negotiations.
a messenger from Gaul came and offered Kahn's letter to the Byzantine Emperor.
Alex read it and was convinced that he needed to start peace negotiations, he ordered his forces to stop fighting and declared a ceasefire while sending letters requesting his foes and allies to do the same.
Gallo Iberian border war:
The Elven forces began attacking Gallic border towns but they kept failing every time with heavy casualties, Kahn decided to not advance further and stick to defense.
The Hispanian offensives kept failing every time until they were forced to declare a ceasefire then they were invited into a peace conference in Byzantium.