"Emperor Zorzal El Caesar and Empress Altoria Sif Famulis met the Ticaret Conglomerate delegation today. They will be discussing increasing economic ties to help boost Falmart’s economy.

The main topic of today's meeting is the. The Ticaret agreed to join forces with the Imperial Army and the Dark Army in the Dumas Mountains front. They also agreed to boost Imperial troops in the western theater.

Emperor Zorzal said he is proud that all the Sons of the Empire have fought bravely up to this point and their sacrifice will guarantee the way of life for all nations of Falmart.

General Woody, the Head of the Imperial Army said all the losses the Army has taken will be replaced by the patriot mothers who are birthing the next generation. That it is each woman’s responsibility to have children to fight tomorrow's wars." – The Ministry of Imperial News

***

--- Earth, Philadelphia Mall ---

March 22nd, 2026

Tuka is standing there next to Yao. In her arms are some gifts for her father and tribe. She wanted to bring some things to show them what Earth is like.

She wasn't the only one. Everyone else has bought gifts for their friends and family.

Rory got gifts for her friends Myuute and Delilah. Lelei for her sister and so on.

"I never saw Sharpe and Lelei get in a fight before," Yao said. "Has this happened before?"

Yesterday, Lelei said she found an Earth mage while getting candy. She was upset that no one told her there are magic users on Earth.

Sharpe responded by stating that she met a Gyspy, which is a group of Romani people, and that their supposed magical power is a fraud. They have a long history of tricking people in making them believe they have special powers of clairvoyance in order to scam money from gullible people who want to know their fortune through the technique of tarot card reading and meditating through crystal balls.

What shocked everyone was that Lelei protested. She claims that she detected mana from the woman which Sharpe assumed that the woman must have used hallucinogenic chemicals on Lelei to trick her.

"They often have many conversations about science and philosophy but it rarely gets heated," she responds.

"They had a heated debate about our world being round," she said. "But not like that. Lelei seems convinced that the Gyspy woman is a mage."

"What do you think?" Yao asked.

"Well," she says. "I am not from Earth, so I don't know. Sharpe wouldn't lie about this but Lelei wouldn't either."

She looks at Yao and smiles. "I am sorry your first experience on Earth is this."

"It is ok," Yao replies. "Those drinks were tasty until I threw up. But I was surprised how worried Sharpe was worried."

She giggles hearing that. "Yeah... As Rory says he is a softy deep down inside. You just have to punch through the exterior."

She then sees two woman and man walk toward them. One woman wearing a gothic long dress and other wearing a traditional Native American and the man wearing black and red clothes with a big top hat and a fur coat.

"Ah! it is nice to see magical creatures like the Elves appears on this world! We hope to see more of you in here!" the woman in black inquires.

"The spirit of yours are powerful!! Strong and wild!" The Native American woman states.

"You two are so beautiful!! Your souls are magnificient." The man compliments

Both Yao and her are then stun at the sights of these three people and experience the same feeling at Lelei the previous night

"Can i help you? and Who are you anyway?" She asks.

"I am Wiccan, this woman is a shaman and this man is a voodoo man! the woman in black answers.

"We like to meet our kinds and We hope that you two and the little blue hair girl can help us being accepted in the future! You three are the sensation of the internet now." The Native American woman states

"We just come to say hi but we will meet again someday! And that day we hope we can live in harmony," the man states.

As they leave the two elven girls. She then starts asking Yao a significant question.

"Did you sense what i sense?" She asks Yao.

"Yep, very clear!" Yao replies.

"I think Lelei was not hallucinated when she met that Gypsy woman like Sharpe said at all!" She strongly affirms.

***

--- Fort Alnus, Apostle Containment Cell ---

March 22nd, 2026

President Emily Potts adjusts her glasses as she looks through the one-way glass window.

Inside the cell is the most valuable prisoner Giselle, the Apostle of Hardy.

"Are you sure she is secured?" she asks.

"I believe it shall hold," Frayen answers.

She looks over at Frayen’s head as it sits on a table. After Krysist’s Army was defeated by the Empire, and Legrath fell to NATO, Frayen’s head was discovered hidden under a vault full of treasure(1).

The Empire did the Ritual of Elbaga in which they cut an Apostle into pieces and spread the bodies all around Falmart to guarantee the Apostle cannot fully regenerate. The idea behind it is that the Apostle will have to wait out thousands of years in that state.

Frayen agreed to help NATO in the war effort, and in return for his help, she agreed to send soldiers to find his body.

She then looks to one of the DARPA representatives who are leading the Anti-Apostle program. He is looking at his tablet. She looks at the name on his uniform, Arron Hào. She recognizes the name on Lieutenant Colonel Sharpe's record. They both served in Delta together until 2023.

"All systems are green, Madam President," Arron said. "This is the next generation of hardened glass. It is polarized to help deflect kinetic energy. Frayen here has been a big help in giving us ideas on containment."

"What about the restraints inside?" she asks. "Will it work? I do not want another Herm situation."

"She is strapped with a shock collar," Arron said. "If she rips the straps or moves in the wrong way she will gets one hell of a shock with 1500 Volt of electricity being injected into her body, she will feel like being impaled by thousands of needles."

"And how do you know this works?" Agent Branson Castillo asked. "I thought Apostles cannot be killed. How can a little shock stop one of a bullet can't?"

"You are thinking about it all wrong," Arron said. "Watch the old Netflix movie 'The Old Guard'. It does a good job of showing what an Apostle is. While they have god-like regeneration, that doesn't mean they are unstoppable. You just have to go around that."

"It is a crude example," Frayen adds. "However, it is indeed a decent example of this context."

She looks, Arron. "Explain."

Arron thinks about how to respond. "We all know a bullet does nothing. We already tried many different types of bullets, only explosives had a tolerable effect on Apostles. The regeneration is just too quick."

"However," Arron continues, getting excited. "Apostles still feel pain. Here is an example, if you rip the arm off of an Apostle they still feel the pain. Our tests with Rory have shown that Apostles can feel pain, they just can withstand far more than a normal humanoid before it bothers them."

"Get to the point," Stanford said.

"My point is they are still alive," Arron said. "They can still feel all the effects of starvation and dehydration. They just won't die from it, as an example. I got this idea when Frayen explained how Apostle biology works(2).

"I read the report," Stanford replied. "It didn't have the best of effect."

"It still hurt," Giselle said.

She looks inside the cell, surprised that Giselle commented.

"I am a Draconian," Giselle said with a smirk. "My hearing is as good as Warrior Bunnies. And that still hurt pricks."

"Exactly," Arron said. "And that was just a standard M-26 taser. She was affected just like any other person who gets tased."

She remembers the report. Sharpe fought Giselle and used a stun gun. It did stop the Apostle and knock her out however it was not sustainable.

"So, you are saying she is still affected by that?" she asked.

"Correct," Arron said. "This has been our most effective weapon so far for the Infantry. We are working on a rifle version but having a power supply."

"Thank god we have Rory on our side," Stanford states. "No offense Frayen."

"None taken, General," Frayen replies. "I am somewhat useless right now until I get my body back. Rory is more of a fighter than me anyway."

She looks directly at Giselle. The report said that she set a trap for US forces at the Mount Tube Skirmish as part of some test. She murdered half a village of Dark Elves. She does not know if she was targeting Sharpe and Rory directly or it was just a coincidence.

"Since you can hear us why did you attack Vanguard-7?" She asks.

Giselle closes her eyes and smirks. "Because you needed to be tested."

"A lot of people died in your test," Stanford said.

"What test," she says in a demanding tone.

"My goddess Hardy wanted to know who you people are behind all your fancy technology," Giselle said in a cocky tone. "Your weapons are strong but is that it?"

"You are talking about a character test?" she asks. "That didn't have to come at the cost of a village."

"It is surprising that you care about this village when you didn't even know they existed," Giselle replies. "Without sacrifice, there can be no growth. If you are not willing to spill blood then you have no place here. You should go back home."

She takes her glasses off and cleans them. She then puts them on, all in a confident manner. She is making a point that Giselle cannot intimidate her.

"While I agree with what you said I do not agree with the manner of what you said," she said. "We will do what needs to be done. However, that doesn't mean we throw lives away just to appease someone's ego."

Giselle laughs after hearing that. "You said that as if you have any idea what is going on. When you first came here didn't you notice that no one was shocked that there were people in other worlds? It was you who were shocked by that idea?"

Stanford leans close to her to whisper. "I can confirm that. We didn't put a lot of thought into it though."

"That is ok General, " she replies.

She remembers when 9/11 happened. The nation was put into shock for months as everyone tried to figure out what just happened. Many things that seemed common sense in hindsight because of an afterthought during the event.

The Gate opening was a worse situation. So many questions appeared, the US didn't even know what the enemy name was yet. So many things slipped through the cracks that she can see was so obvious now.

Now that Giselle pointed that out she realizes that point. When the Empire invaded they knew they were attacking another world.

"What is your point Giselle," she asks.

"My point is this," Giselle said. "Have you considered why the Gate opened?"

"Of course," she responds.

While she is being truthful, she is trying not to say too much. Under her order, a secret project at Area 51 called Project Bridge is trying to figure out how to create an artificial gate so the US can use it at will.

However, no one yet knows or understands why it appeared in the first place. The current theory is that it is some kind of natural event.

Her eyes suddenly open wide as she realizes where Giselle is going with this. "You opened the Gate?"

Giselle laughs. "No silly. But my goddess Hardy did. She wanted me to tell you that she opened the Gate. She told me to tell you if you were worthy of that knowledge."

She looks at Frayen. "You are the Apostle of Knowledge. Could Hardy open the Gate to Earth?"

Frayen was hesitant to respond. "I do not know. It is possible however I only know legends relating to the Gate. It is possible that Hardy did open the Gate but I have no idea how she did it and why. There has been no history that I know of a god operating the Gate before."

"Vanguard-7 was able to overcome my dragon with little support from you," Giselle states.

"So you were targeting Vanguard-7?" Stanford asks.

"My goddess wants Rory for her own," Giselle said. "She can track Rory. It was just waiting until the time was right. By the way, where is Rory, Sharpe, and Pina? I was expecting them to be here."

"And that is why they are not," Stanford said.

"Now why did your goddess open the Gate?" Castillo asked.

"For that, you must go see and ask her yourself," Giselle said with a smirk

Hearing that angers her. She is getting tired of this world game. "I want you to tell me now."

"I cannot," Giselle responds. "Only Mistress Hardy knows. I was just here to give you a message. She wants to meet Major Sharpe with Rory to meet her at her temple at Bellnahgo."

"You or Hardy don't make personnel decisions here," Stanford said.

"Say what you want General but that is what Hardy commanded," Giselle said. "If you send a different unit Hardy will not be pleased, especially if Rory is not there."

She can see the threat. It is a subtle threat but a threat, nonetheless. So far in the war, NATO has yet to encounter an actual god. Based on Rory, Lelei, Tuka, and the other locals she is convinced they are real in this world. How they talk about them makes it sounds like they interact with these gods.

She then realizes that Giselle intently wanted to get captured so she could give this message. "Ok, you gave us your message. Now what?"

"Until you go to Bellnahgo I have no role," Giselle said with a smile. "I wish to see Alnus for myself. Experience your culture and ways. I hear you have tons of delicious foods and drinks."

She cannot believe what she just heard. "You have got to be fucking kidding me Giselle."

Giselle looks at her strangely. "What?"

"You got half of a village killed for some game," she said in a pissed tone. "You tried to kill one of my elite units. And now you are saying you want to casually walk around one of my cities!"

"I am an Apostle-," Giselle said before being interrupted.

She opens the door and storms into the cell. She walks right up to Giselle, staring her into the eye. "And I am the President of the United States of America, leader of the free world, leader of over fifty nations. The Commander and Chief of the mightiest military that two worlds have ever seen." She then leans right into Giselle's face. "With one order I can summon the power of god and lay waste to anything I desire. Don't ever cross me again."

Giselle's eyes widened, actually fearing this woman. "Yes, ma’am."

She stands fully up and straightens her dress suit. "You can stay."

She knows Stanford will hate it however she understands the value of having another Apostle within the ranks. While Rory is very loyal to the US, her interests are only to be around Sharpe. Her love for him has limited her use on other fronts.

"There are rules though," she continues. "You will have to pay for your misdeeds. Your punishment will be providing community service around Alnus."

"What does that mean?" Giselle asked, confused by that statement.

"You will clean the streets. Clean the laundry areas. You will go out and help farmers fix their property. You will do whatever the public needs." She explains.

While the punishment seems like a slap on the wrist for the crimes, she committed she sees no other form of punishment for an Apostle. English Common Law is worthless to someone like Rory and Giselle. Luckily Alnus is a US territory so she has some leeway on what she can do with the law.

The one thing she knows she can use against them, is their pride. To make Giselle do something she finds degrading.

"And if you try anything stupid then you will have to deal with Rory, and Karlin, Karlin will supervise you from now on while you do times" she states.

"Wait? Karlin Daolo is here?" Giselle asks. "She disappeared like three hundred years ago or something. Is she really back?"

She turns around and walks out of the cell.

"That was highly unwise Madam President," Frayen said. "You must take Apostles more seriously. Walking in there like that could have resulted in your death."

"He is right," Stanford said.

"Can I trust what she said too, Frayen?" she asked. "Is it weird that Hardy didn't give her more orders after this meeting?"

"I can explain why she did not," Frayen replies. "It isn't as common as you may think for an Apostle and their god to communicate. If they have a task, then they will command their Apostle, however, this is rare. When a god gives a command and when it is complete it is common that there are no follow up instructions, like in this case. The Gods of this world have a strict nondirected interference policy."

"I see," she said. "Thank you for all you have done."

"Wait!" Giselle yells. "General I have a request."

"What is it?" Stanford asks.

"I have a message from Pina's father, Emperor Molt," Giselle said. "I promised him to bring his last dying word to her. Since I am being held prisoner right now and I don't feel like ruining all this goodwill we established by busting out of this cell do you mind telling her?"

Hearing that she wonders if Giselle can break the cell and she is just being diplomatic right now. Her goal was to deliver a message and bust out to hinder that goal.

"I will do that," Stanford said.

***

--- Fort Minick ---

March 24th, 2026

Sharpe is standing in front of everyone at the mission briefing room.

The leadership of everyone under his command is in the room. Vanguard-7, Vanguard-5, Vanguard-2, and the Rose-Order of Knights. Recently, Tyuule and all combat-capable Warrior Bunnies; High Elves under Hodor’s command and Dark Elves led by Geua are added to the group due to their unique experience and knowledge in regard to fighting imperial force and other demi-human races with them.

The other two units, the Alnus Militia and the Legrath Knights are also here even though they are just attached to his command until their training is done.

Today's agenda is to give a quick briefing of the status of the war and to upcoming missions.

"Good day everyone," he said. "There is a lot going on right now so let's get at it. Operation Phoenix is about to begin. Captain."

He looms to his right and sees Captain Sarah and Second Lieutenant Keira Hill next to her.

Behind them, all is a large projection of the Dumas Mountains regional map.

Sarah walks up and points to the base of the mountain. "NATO is currently mobilizing twenty-five thousand troops along with these three FOB(3). The primary objective is to punch through these three paths. As you all know about what happened on Balkin Hill?(4) The Empire dug in and ambushed a 1st Cav battalion."

He thinks back on that report. It is every I infantryman officer nightmare, having the Imperial swordsman on top of them. His friend Major Bronston died in that battle. He has been fighting since the opening invasion of Alnus Hill.

Bozes raises her hand. "Captain Rose. What I don't understand is how that happened? I thought you had all this technology that can see everything?"

Lieutenant Hill takes a step forward. "That is a perfect example of don't rely too much on technology. Here are images from five months ago."

As Hill explains he looks up at the five-month-old pictures of the mountain range. The drone scans showed only a natural cave network, nothing to be alarmed about.

Then Hill switches to a satellite scan from Uros-2. It shows complex underground networks throughout the mountain range.

Pina explained that there is a dwarf kingdom on the east side of the mountain range. It did not take a rocket scientist to figure out that the Empire ordered their dwarf allies to create a fortified underground network against NATO.

When Alnus Command leaders that the enemy suddenly is right next to them and dogged in, taking Alnus has become a top priority.

"As you can see our lack of experience with the Dwarves has allowed them to sneak up on us," Sarah says.

"Thanks, you two," he said and took center stage. "This is the plan."

He points to the map. "Air Assault forces will be attacking and establishing a company to battalion size firebases along key hills. Their job is to either lure the enemy out of their holes, search and destroy, mark key locations for air bombardment or drive the enemy out of their locations."

He moves his hand down to the three main staging areas. "Then ground units will push up the mountain range and clean them out."

He thinks the plan is bold. Colonel Robert Barnes from 1st Cav, Colonel Thomas Anderson from the 101st, Tyler Cooper from 10th Mountain, Colonel Brad Wing from the English 4th Infantry Brigade, and Colonel Diogo Cruz Henriques from Brazil 2nd Jungle Brigade. They came up with the 3AGCS strategy. Air Assault Ground Advanced Clear Secure.

After the Battle of Balkin Hill, they got together and hammed out a new military strategy. He finds it quite clever. It reminds him of the Air Mobile strategy in Vietnam but with a major difference. A major problem with Vietnam was that the US won the battles but then pulled out, conceding the territory. This time both the ground and airborne forces will be aggressively going after the enemy from all sides.

"So, you are planning to squeeze the enemy from both ends," Beefeater asked. "Your Airborne troops cut off the retreat and push them to the main force. Then the main force clears out the enemy."

"To do that you will have to go underground," Shandy points out. "That is Dwarven territory. If you don't know where you are going you could easily get lost in their main chambers."

"We figured this," Sarah responded. "That is why the President authorized the use of the GBU-46/A MOAB-MKII(5) and MOPs(6) to be used as needed."

"Why are you bothering with all this?" Bozes asks. "Why don't you just do what you did last time and fly to Sadera?"

Beluutie raises her hand, showing confusion. "I have always been confused about why you haven't done that yet. I saw how you took Legrath in a day so I know you can take Sadera."

"I do not believe they can take Sadera in a day," Pina states quickly.

"Someone sounds protective," Bailey states with a chuckle.

Pina looks at Bailey, annoyed. "Sadera has two million people. On a normal day, it would have a full Legion guarding the city. With my brother during the war, time expects four to six Legions. This is the capital, expect everyone, including the population to fight to the death."

"Knock it off you two," he orders. "And Pina is correct. The brass came to the same conclusion."

"The reason we have yet to attack Sadera is that they are just out of our reach right now," Sarah said and then points to the map. "When we attacked Sadera the first time we had to refuel our V-22s while they were on the way back, making a direct air assault impossible. This includes most of our air support. A direct path between Alnus and Sadera close to a thousand kilometers. To get our Apaches helicopters within the range we had to drive them close to the center of this valley here."

Sarah then points to the south of the Dumas Mountains, where the mountain range ends, by the town of Marias. "As you can see the Empire still controls everything north of Marais and Beutem. We did a study and found our heavy and medium vehicles will not be able to get through here without significant delays. The road to Sadera just cannot support the hundreds of vehicles we will need. Plus, there are fortresses and towns we will have to take."

"Point is, it is just not worth it," Bailey finishes.

"Correct," he said. "The war front requires our focus on other theaters. While most of Elies is ours in our control we are still establishing ourselves. Elies being engaged on three sides and now the Ticaret Conglomerate joining in Command doesn't want to remove forces."

Panache chuckles a little. "So, you people do have limitations."

"Of course," he responds, looking directly at Panache. "We could easily take Sadera but that isn't the problem. Its logistics. It will take twenty thousand soldiers to occupy the city."

"So, what is the plan?" Johnson asks. "I cannot believe the brass is going to ignore Sadera."

"Correct Lieutenant," He said. He then points to the map. "Because the Empire closed off the Dumas Pass by Lorsiss and by a sizable force so we cannot clear it out we are going to punch through here."

He then points to a thinking part of the mountain range, next to the Dwarf Kingdom Golrash. "The two main forces will be pushing through the north and the south of this kingdom. Whoever breaks first wins."

"On top of this King Duran agreed to deploy his army," Sarah adds. "We will be conducting a joint attack against Marais. After that, they will keep pushing north. This is meant to distract the Imperial Army."

"About damn time Elbe gets in the war," Bailey said.

"They would have gotten in sooner if you didn't kill them all(7)," Panache points out. "It takes a long time to rebuild an army."

"Panache is correct," he said. He can see his agreeing with her shocked her. "Their attack against Alnus in the opening stage of the war and the war against Alguna has made it more complicated for the Elbe Army."

"They're also some reports with instability in the Toumaren which means the Elbe Army has to keep a garrison on their southern border," Hill added.

After the Second Battle of Alnus, the Kingdoms of Toumaren, Mudwan, and the League Principality have remained neutral or leaning loyal to the Empire. As long as they stayed within their borders and no build-up of Imperial troops Alnus Command ignored them for more important theaters. But recent intelligence says something is happening in Toumaren.

He looks around and sees Pina and Shandy taking notes. Bozes is paying attention but does not seem to be recording anything. Beefeater has been laying back however he can see in her eyes that she is memorizing everything. Panache on the other hand is paying attention.

"There is also Operation Tombstone," he said.

He sees Hill move to the next map. It is what the brass calls the Arm of Falmart. The long but thin piece of land south of Legrath and the Ligas Mountains. To him, it looks like the boot of Italy but larger.

"To put pressure off of Elies the brass decided to invade the city of Uorgo," he said as he pointed to it on the map. "It is a port city that leans inroads. Based on the Batgirl Mentiv’s description of her country, many Darklings are not hostile. The goal is to make inroads with the Darklings and put down the orcs and goblins."

"The 82nd Airborne and other NATO paratroopers will be dropping here at an unknown time," Sarah states.

“Since technology cannot always guarantee winning, which is the fact we learn it many times after many encounters with the Imperial force and the fact that the Imperial force is using the very nature of this world against us. Therefore, based on Bailey and my experience, we have managed to convince the Alnus militia to be more involved in combat from now on since they live here in Falmart much longer than us to know what we still do not even know yet. In both Operation Phoenix and Tombstone, I have special assignments for you and your bunnies, Tyuule as well as your people too Hodo and Gelua.”

“What are these special assignments?” Tyuule asks.

“These assignments require your people expertise as assassinations and scouting, beside your superhuman prowess, we know that the bunnies had waged war with the Imperial Force for a long time to know much of their tricks and weaknesses, so I want you and your bunnies to support our advancing troops in all our campaigns to detect Imperial guerrilla attacks to increase reaction time to deal with them effectively as well as scouting enemy movements during combats. To use your stealth and speed to conduct sabotage missions.” He explains.

“However, the most important task is still assassination, i want you and your people to infiltrate enemy position, thin them out and raise hell before we can attack and finish them off, targeting mages and other any types of enemies that can greatly hinder our advances” he said as he details the plan.

“That doesn‘t sound so difficult,” Delilah smirkes

“For your people Hodor and Geleau, your people's archery and spirit magic will be useful for our troops to hinder the enemy advance in our position. However, because you are all elves, so you know how your kind fight and operate since the Imperial force also has High Elves and Dark Elves in their force which their magic and archery have give us a lot of trouble lately so i trust you people with this,” he point out

“About that, I have to warn you Lieutenant Colonel! Not all High Elves and Dark Elves tribes or kingdoms fight the same ways wholly, some tribes and kingdoms specialized in strictly sword-fighting while other archery or guerilla attack. Some groups of High and Dark Elves even use spirit magic differently than us. However, we will try our best,” Hodor states.

"So where do we Rose Knights fall in this?" Beefeater asks. "All this sounds great and mighty but are we just going to sit back enjoying ourselves?"

Bozes leans back and smirks, glancing towards Johnson. "Nothing wrong with that."

He hears some chuckles, but he ignores it. "You knights are not out of this fight. Vanguard-5, 7, and Rose Knights have a mission coming up. We will be engaging a mage cultish group. Intel believes they have one of Frayen body parts there."

He sees this shocked look on everyone's faces. They are all shocked to hear that he is still around. He only just found out three weeks ago and what happened to him. "While we are engaging in that mission Vanguard-2 will be deployed to another possible target. Johnson, your mission is to get back Frayen body parts. We will be going into more details later."

"Roger that sir," Johnson said. "I am honored."

"Alright," he replies and then looks at everyone. "You all can study this information however none of it shall leave this room. You all need to continue your training because when we get back into the fight and we will, I need you all at your best. Dismissed.”

“Oh, I almost forgot, the Rose Knights and all native militia will receive new weapons to enhance your combat capability so check the armory,” he said.

“Finally, we can use guns!!” Hamilton said with excitement.

“Negative,” Sharpe responds. “You still use your traditional weapons but in a more advanced version and some additional weapons. Once we're about to be deployed you will see. No firearms but you will like what is coming.”