0812 April 11th, 2020 CE

0706 Sun 11th, 196 AE

Afvalin, Elven Nation

Leader’s Mansion

“We can’t hold on much longer. Our ships are being disrupted by American submarines and American ground forces are crossing the Verona with ease using their deployable bridges.”

Tarron rapped his fingers on the desk. His face was unreadable but clearly heavy. Tarron knew that he had to act now.

Former Admiral Edyrm Vaynore was standing in Tarron’s office with surprise clear on his face. He was literally dragged out of his retirement and given a ridiculous task. He was much more talkative now that he was no longer an admiral.

“But My Leader! This is a suicide mission! Besides, I already quit!”

“If this country is gone, then you are dead either way! We can still do some damage and maybe bring them to the negotiating table. I didn’t even give you permission to quit.”

“But I gave you my letter of resignation.”

Tarron shook his head.

“I denied it.”

“You can do that? Then why was I allowed to leave in the first place?”

“I gave you a vacation.”

“I wasn’t informed about this!”

“Doesn’t matter, you are still an admiral of the National Navy, the last time I checked. I can still order you around. You are going to take this fleet and do as much damage as possible. You have a day to prepare. American submarine activities have been increasing. The time frame is narrowing.”

“...why do you think I won’t just defect once my fleet sails?”

“If you do, you will either die by the hands of the naval officers loyal to me or die by the hands of those Americans. I can promise you that those Americans won’t show mercy. We’ve been slaughtering and enslaving their kind.”

0845 April 11th, 2020 CE

0722 Sun 11th, 196 AE

Elven Invasion Army of the Empire HQ

Field Marshal Zaos Qintumal didn’t know what to do at this point. The Americans now controlled the skies. Most of the elve’s aircraft have been destroyed before they could even take off. Those that could were all shot out of the skies like mere flies. American ground forces were also streaming in from everywhere. The Imperials were there too but they were of no concern to him. It has been only retreat upon retreat ever since the defense at the Verona failed. He cursed at the Americans. He understood that everything was going perfectly before they showed up and ruined it all. He paced around his tent. Then everything went black for him.

A glint shone off of the camera on a Predator drone in the sky. It started turning left.

Behind a computer screen, an American drone operator watched the explosion from his Predator’s hellfire missile. Elves below ran around in a panic.

“Target eliminated. That should be a part of their chain of command crippled.”

The Predator drone had been loitering around the elven camp for a while in order to identify the command center. From satellite observations, it had been noted to be a very large camp that had the high probability of being the enemy headquarters for the invasion force. Of course, they couldn’t identify the specific area that was the command center so they needed a drone to check it out.

In many other elven camps on Magusian territory, similar strikes by Predator drones were made.

Afvalin, Elven Nation

Leader’s Mansion

“My Leader, the commander of the invasion force of the Empire has been killed. A small American hexenbesen struck and killed him.”

Tarron stood up and started pacing around. He was expressionless. He walked towards the door where the messenger was standing and grabbed his coat from the coat hanger. He walked out.

The High Command Office was bustling with activity. Staff and officers ran around. To them, everything that could go wrong was going wrong. Orders were not being sent out and reports were not being received. The chain of command for the elven army in the Empire was a complete mess.

“What’s the current situation?”

Field Marshal Aegord Gael hesitated at Tarron’s question for a moment before answering truthfully.

“...disastrous, My Leader. All forces are currently retreating. Our chain of command in the Empire is gone. We don’t have a clear picture of the American’s advance but they have crossed the Verona at terrifying speeds.”

“Take me to the other generals, I’m calling a meeting.”

Tarron looked around.

“What are your suggestions?”

Field Marshal Gael spoke up. It seemed like he already knew before the meeting what he wanted to say.

“We must retreat. I suggest that all forces in the Empire be brought back to our land as soon as possible”

All the other generals around him nodded.

“Almost the entire territory south of the Verona is still in our hands and you are telling me to allow a retreat all the way back home?”

“My Leader. We haven’t won a single battle ever since the Americans came. If we put an ocean between our forces and theirs, it is possible that we can hold them off. If all our forces die in the Empire, then a large portion of our army will be gone. I do not believe the prospects are good for the survival of our nation if our army fights to the last man in enemy territory.”

Tarron’s face darkened. That usually meant that he really wanted to throw something or shoot someone in anger. A heavy silence fell on the room for a minute.

“Tell all units to begin a retreat. We are evacuating from the Empire.”

The generals nodded again with relief on their faces.

Tarron knew that the Empire did not exist anymore and the currency country that they were invading was called the Magus Imperium but most elves still preferred to call it the Empire. All their military plans for attacking the humans in the Imperitoria Continent had been written using the word “Empire” so changing it to the “Magus Imperium” and creating a separate plan for the Mach Imperium was unnecessary hassle. He then remembered something.

“What about the ones in the kingdoms?”

The situation in the Empire had been worsening so much recently that reports from the kingdom were being glanced over or just put aside. Tarron barely knew the exact status of the elven army invading the kingdoms.

“Because of our diversion of forces to support our army in the Empire, the advance in the kingdoms has considerably slowed. We have gained assistance from the human kingdom that we allied with and we are hoping that we can use their numbers to allow us to continue our advance.”

“If the situation worsens over there, immediately inform me.”

“Yes, My Leader!”

1026 April 11th, 2020 CE

0813 Sun 11th, 196 AE

Frontline

Every single operation so far had been a failure. Offensives, counter-offensives, and defenses have all failed no matter what they tried. Now even her superior had gone silent. Every request for orders and questions have been met with nothing. For all Ara knew, they could have abandoned her and her division. She had been retreating with her beleaguered division and the rest of the second wave. They were burning almost every single thing they found in order to slow the Americans down and deny them resources. Every railroad was broken apart. Every house burned. Every road dug up. But it had no effect on the advancing American army. It was as if their supply lines stretched endlessly and the terrible road and rail conditions didn’t matter.

About twenty miles back

“Got another blown up road, Captain”

“Wowie. Those elves really brought a lot of TNT. Well, just drive over them again.”

The M1A2 Abrams rattled over the cratered road.

1205 April 12th, 2020 CE

0603 Sun 12th, 196 AE

In the sea between the UBK and Soane continent mainland

The breeze of the sea made Ron’s fur flutter. He was looking over the side of the ship. Jeb Miller was beside him. Miller looked down at Ron who was gazing at the horizon line.

“First time on the sea?

“Not really. My first time was during the Second Rebellion. I was serving with mother during that time.”

“The Second Rebellion?”

“It was 5 years ago when the Second Rebellion happened. The UBK originally was a bunch of separate kingdoms and quite a lot of beastmen wanted it to be like that again. I was 11 at the time. I had to board the ship with the rest of the division to fight in many of the other kingdoms in the UBK.”

“You were fighting at age 11?”

“Dear gods no, I was an attendant.”

“An attendant?”

“Rank even lower than a squire. Basically menial tasks with no training or fighting whatsoever. I just had to prepare mother for battle.”

Miller nodded.

“Then when was your first one?"

Ron looked up at Miller in confusion.

“What do you mean?

“Your first rebellion?”

“That was 15 years ago. I was dropped off during the First Rebellion.”

“Dropped off?”

“Abandoned.”

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“Meh, I don’t mind.”

Miller remembered something that Ron had said a few days ago.

“But didn’t you say you were abandoned by your parents because of unknown circumstances? Wasn’t it highly probable that you were abandoned because of the war?”

Ron vehemently shook his head.

“Of course not, the First Rebellion didn’t affect the Cat Kingdom that much. There were minor incidents during that time in the Cat Kingdom but nothing big enough to have parents abandoning their kittens.”

“Oh.”

They went back to looking at the scenery.

Commander Wolfred was inside the ship flipping a gold coin. One of the hundreds of coins that he received as payment from the UBK.

Gold was much more valuable in the United States than in the UBK. With the amount of gold they had received, the Diamond Wolves had profited a lot. Even with all the AKs and ammo that they had to buy and provide to the feline beastmen, they had enough left over that they could probably buy an entire US military outpost if one was being sold.

0445 April 12th, 2020 CE

0522 Sun 12th, 196 AE

Afvalin, Elven Nation

Admiral Edyrm Vaynore was in a terrible mood when he stepped onto his flagship, the aircraft carrier NN Conqueror.

Frontline

Captain John Rose had half of his body out of the commander’s hatch of his speeding tank. He looked at the scenery. They have been advancing for hours upon hours after crossing the Verona and it has been mostly uneventful. They had captured a few groups of elves, witnessed the elve’s scorched earth tactics, and experienced minor confrontations that usually ended with the elves running away.