Jean stood quietly as all hell broke loose around her.

The U.S.N.A. Army was completely crushed. The survivors have retreated all the way out of the 10 kilometer radius, where they regrouped with further reinforcement and set up another line of defense. But the Roman legionnaires didn't push forward. They simply held their ground, as if waiting for reinforcements of their own.

It was an unsurprising decision. There were multiple fresh regiments converging at the portal. The rag-tagged survivors of the previous encounter weren’t in a position to push the attack.

The battle at the portal was a slaughter, but the defenders did accomplish something. Half of the legionnaires were killed in action or too maimed to fight. Jean watched as both the bodies and the wounded were sent back through the portal.

“The portal goes both ways.” She whispered into her recorder. Good to know. If these romans could go back through the portals, then that means...

Suddenly, she heard someone approaching from behind. She turned around and found it to be another soldier.

Another survivor of the previous onslaught. She could sense them if she wanted, but they were irrelevant to her.

The man placed his index finger before his lips, signaling Jean to be quiet. Jean knew precisely why. A distance away, legionnaires were walking across the battlefield, checking for survivors. Already, over two dozen men were picked out and taken captives. No one knew what would happen to them, but suffice to say it wouldn’t be anything good.

The man’s rifle was nowhere to be seen. If thousands of men couldn’t do anything, then a single automatic rifle wouldn’t help.

In front of the portal, some of the roman legionnaires suddenly grabbed onto the prisoners and pushed them through the portal. As far as Jean could tell, the movement was successful. The prisoners were teleported back to the world where the romans came from.

She didn't exactly know what the romans wanted to do with these prisoners, but she could make a few guesses. It was likely in the realms of torture and interrogation.

Suddenly, footsteps approached. The man quickly lowered his head and buried his face in another bloodied body. Before he went down, he glanced at Jean, and realized the woman in strange armor didn't even try to go for cover.

Has she gone mad?

Jean hasn’t gone mad. Rather, she has collected as much data about these legionnaires as possible by observing. Now, she wanted to be a bit more engaged.

She stood up. Her black halberd solidified in her grip.

Two legionnaires on patrol mission spotted her. They immediately drew their weapons. Instead of moving forward and attacking recklessly like what they did with the other survivors, they held their shields up and moved slowly. Something told them Jean wasn’t just another one of these vulnerable soldiers who were defenseless without the proper weaponry.

These men were battle-hardened and highly experienced, but this time, neither will nor experience would save them.

Jean waved her hand. Immediately, black Power of Death reached into every single legionnaire in the field and started pulling their souls out. She had more efficient ways to kill, but she needed the souls whole to collect more information.

“Uh.”

She suddenly made a grunt. The connection between the soul and the body for these legionnaires were much stronger than most foes she has faced. They weren’t as difficult as the Voyagers, but they were still very resistant. Attacking two hundred or so souls at once also proved to be a burden. To speed things up, she quickly put the Mask of the Ice Wolf on and felt her powers grow. The enhancement was enough for her to remove all two hundred souls at once with ease.

Once they were pulled out of their bodies, the souls were sucked toward Jean’s halberd, where they would remain Jean’s captive.

Two hundred legionnaire corpses hit the ground nearly simultaneously.

Jean tapped her watch. Immediately, Wardens and Purifiers entered this world. Fighters patrolled the skies. Striders and Swordguards started setting up defensive formations. S-1s and S-2s made up the front while S-3s created artillery positions. In the sky, one B-2 and 2 B-1s towered over the tiny portal. The crossbows the B-2 was armed with were ready to show any intruder the might of the runes.

Suddenly, a figure walked up to Jean. It was the survivor, and his voice was filled with fury.

“Who are you? You could’ve done that all this time? Why didn't you do anything?”

Jean glanced at him.

“Captain died! My entire squad got slaughtered! Why didn't you save them? You just stood by and watched! Tell me...”

Jean punched him in the face and knocked him out. She turned to a G-1.

“Return him to his unit in the U.S. Army.”

“As you wish, Creator.“

Jean turned back to Delta, who has just emerged from her watch.

“Analyze the information we have gathered and the corpses of these legionnaires. Find out as much about them as possible and devise a plan to counter them. Meanwhile, I will interrogate the souls I have captured. I will upload the intel to the Purifier and Warden data nets.”

“Yes sir.”

“The invaders are Roman legionnaires. I have interrogated their souls. They came from a world where the Roman Empire ruled the world, destroying every other ancient faction. Nearly twenty years ago, the Roman Empire managed to find a way outside of their own world and into the Infinite Realms. The first world their expedition stumbled upon was one protected by the Protector Corps.”

“The Protectors wiped out the entire expedition, including the Emperor, the Crown Prince, and over one million Roman elites. It set the entire empire back at least ten years and pretty much terminated an entire generation. To prevent further destruction, the new emperor surrendered to the Protector Corps.”

“Those were the common knowledge I extracted from the officer of the vanguards. He didn't know much about the role of the Aggressors in this expedition. All he knew was the Emperor swore to avenge those who have fallen at the hand of the Protector Corps and lead the Roman Empire into a new age of conquest and prosperity. A few days ago, in their dimension at least, the portals were generated, and the officer and his men were sent through.”

“A vanguard of one cohort, about 480 men, broke through the portal on our side. Their CAS is estimated to be around 100. The local forces have been proven to be ineffective against these intruders. Their heavy artillery is insufficient to fully suppress these legionnaires. Their infantry is completely useless. In the latest battle, the single cohort defeated over 10,000 locals with 200 survivors.”

“According to the memories, there are at least millions of combatants on the other side, with millions more ready to be conscripted.”

Jean spoke to her fellow Voyagers that have taken the form of holograms. She has resided into a newly constructed tent a short distance away from the portal.

“That is unfortunate.” One of the Voyagers without support commented quietly. She was in charge of South America, which had two portals. “How did you fare against them?”

“The rest of the cohort were dealt with easily, but they are at a level where if they are in the thousands or the ten thousands, or if they are more elite units, then I can no longer handle them by myself. I think we can’t allow too many of them to pass through the portals, or we will eventually be overwhelmed. We must hold the gates with all we have.”

The other Voyagers nodded. They knew that as a summoner, Jean might not be the best fighter herself, but if she thought she had trouble dealing with these romans by herself, then chances were the other Voyagers wouldn’t have it too easily either. None of them could survive when surrounded by millions of enemies of this power scale.

“Anything else?”

“Not that I can think of.” Jean glanced at the portal again. “My forces are taking control of the portals in North America. Simulations show that they can handle the intruders efficiently if they are all at the level of the vanguards, but that is highly unlikely. Memories show that there are multiple elite units in the Roman Empire. The vanguard was just some cannon fodders.”

“To be safe, if you don’t have a problem with it, I can send a detachment for every portal outside North America. I can’t spare too many units so it will be fewer in numbers than my detachments here, but they will substantially help with the local defenses.”

Obviously, Jean needed to keep all her elitist units in her area. But the other Voyagers were still caught by surprise by the offer. Most Voyagers were selfish. The notion of sending in their own forces to fill the responsibility of others was odd to them.

“That is awfully generous of you.” The Voyager with the constructs, Major, commented with a small smile. He did have an army, but he would never say no to addition forces to minimize his own losses. Clashing his heard gained constructs against elite roman soldiers was just too luxurious for his taste.

The others nodded in satisfaction as well. Given how terribly the locals were doing, more support would always help. Plus, they weren’t sure how many units a detachment was, but it wouldn’t be enough to threaten their rule in their respective territory.

If a group of robots could take down a Voyager, then that Voyager had it coming.

Jean returned with a slight nod. She realized with her forces at all the portals, she would take substantially more casualties to her Wardens and Purifiers, but at the same time, after seeing how challenging these pumped-up Romans were, she would rather take some losses rather than have one of the Voyagers make a slip-up. Before she knew it, there could be armies of enhanced roman legionnaires pouring through the portals. It would take a lot more to stop them then.

Plus, even as she was speaking, multiple Warden battlecruisers and Purifier Capitalguards were sailing to the other planets inside the solar system. Their job was to set up mining facilities all over these planets and duplicate Warden and Purifier units as quickly as possible to replenish Jean’s losses. Her mineral supply was cut short recently as she expanded and modified her forces.

As far as Jean could tell, the other Voyagers haven’t turned their eyes to space. In other words, it was a whole dimension’s resources for her to exploit. Well, technically they did belong to inhabitants of this dimension, but Jean doubted they would object their protectors using some of their future resources.

“My forces will arrive at your territories shortly. If there is nothing else, this call will be ended.”

But before Jean dropped the call, she remembered something.

“And, ladies and gentlemen, as a reminder, our task is to hold this world at all cost. I am going to be very clear. If I see any of you slacking at your job or failing at your position, and I feel the need to intervene, I will go to any measure I see fit.”

As her last word was dropped, Jean’s smile was nowhere to be seen. Fittingly, she unleashed a strand of Power of Death into the environment. Even across the holograms, the other Voyagers were slightly taken back. Most of them had no idea what it was. They had neither the fortune of Jean nor the insight of Allen, but they did know every cell in the body was screaming for them to get as far away from Jean as possible.

She just became the most dangerous individual on the planet.

The best way to manipulate people was by combining reward and punishment. Jean was very generous since entering this world. She offered to take the most portals. She handed out military support and precious information like they were free. If she went on with this, then the other Voyagers might think Jean was too soft. They would slack off and let Jean get the mission done by herself. Right now, Jean was making it clear that she wasn’t someone the other Voyagers wanted to get on the wrong side of. If they made a wrong move, then Jean could and would handle them.

Granted, some Voyagers would feel disgruntled, but generosity wasn’t what keeps people in line. A mix of generosity and fear was.

Meanwhile, outside of Jean’s tent, Wardens and Purifiers alike were setting up a defensive position. Trenches were dug. Landmines were buried. S-3s set up the crucio shock cannons a safe distance away from the portals. S-1s patrolled the surrounding of the portals in packs of twenty.

A short distance away, several modified Purifier units were dissecting the dead roman soldiers. Rune blades chopped open the corpses with minor difficulties. The specific data they collected were immediately uploaded to the Purifier data net, where they were entered into calculations on how to kill these Romans.

The U.S. forces stationed at this location was nowhere to be seen.

Things like this were occurring at every single portal in North America. U.S.N.A. soldiers and commanders alike watched as giant capital ships the size of small towns descended from the sky and unloaded armies of mechanical units, some in grey and some in purple. Before they could see them in action, they were forced to fall back even further away from the portal. Their positions were taken over by these newcomers.