Eastern Czechia – Outside Brno
Night fell heavy over the hills of Moravia, lit only by the flicker of explosions. Columns of smoke spiraled from burning convoys and shattered checkpoints. Brno's defenses had collapsed within hours. Militia units who swore loyalty to the Old Guard—or were coerced—had opened the gates to the mystery forces wearing old-style black-and-gold uniforms, modeled after the early Iron Crown monarchy.
Yet these were no normal troops.
They moved unnaturally fast, as if their bodies were reinforced. Some were said to carry rifles charged with energy rather than powder. Others flew banners bearing Karling's phoenix crest — long thought destroyed.
This was no rebellion.
This was a shadow army.
Imperial Forward Base – Outside Brno
Hans Ehrenfeld Adler stood before a war table deep inside a mobile operations tent. His black officer's cloak fluttered in the wind. Engelhardt was beside him, along with Eliska and General Lüger. A company of awakened soldiers and Officer-class skill holders waited behind them.
Hans's fingers tapped the map. His voice was low but sharp:
"They're not here to conquer. They're here to send a message: that even after our Constitution, they can still shake the earth."
Engelhardt growled.
"We shake it back."
He lifted his hand—and summoned his Class Power: Titanic Anchor. Behind him, his armored projection appeared—a glowing ghost of steel and fury, twice the size of a tank, wrapped in red light. It mirrored his movements.
Hans turned to Eliska, locking eyes with her just a moment.
Then he stepped forward and spoke to the assembled troops:
"You are soldiers of the Empire. Today, we do not fight rebels—we fight monsters dressed in memory. Burn their banners. Take back Brno."
He then extended his right hand—and whispered:
"Awaken: Oberfeld Division."
From a ripple in the air behind him, three full battalions of summoned soldiers materialized. Cavalry. Artillery. Shock troops with glowing symbols on their arms, their helmets bearing Hans's crest.
They didn't blink.
They saluted.
They marched.
The Battlefield
The sky exploded in arcs of red and white fire. Engelhardt charged forward, his Anchor leading the way like a battering ram. Every punch it threw shattered lines of enemy troops. Those soldiers—inhumanly fast, eyes like glass—collapsed in twisted silence.
Hans led the right flank with his officer corps: summoned riflemen, gunpowder grenadiers, and the Ehrenfeld Phantom Corps, a specialized awakened unit trained for night operations. They struck like thunder.
Hans himself moved through the chaos with blade and command, calling new regiments into existence every few minutes.
"Platoon 44! Suppress that ridge! Phantom Team, through the cellar breach—cut their retreat!"
Bullets hissed through the air.
Enemy field officers drew from unknown cores—illicit awakenings, twisted by stolen relics. One of them unleashed a swarm of black ash, turning stone to glass in an instant.
Hans responded with cold fury.
"Formation Vox-6!"
A line of ten awakened soldiers raised barricade glyphs, shielding their comrades. Hans then summoned a spectral artillery unit from the Battle of Vienna memory core.
"FIRE!"
Brno shook. The ghost-cannons roared. Enemy fortifications dissolved in smoke.
Duel on the Cathedral Steps
Hans reached the city square. There stood the commander of the Old Guard forces—a red-eyed man in a half-wrecked uniform. His chest bore Karling's mark. He smiled.
"So the puppet emperor comes himself. Will you bleed with the rest?"
Hans said nothing.
He drew his saber. It gleamed blue, charged by his Ancestral Sigil—the same one he inherited in the awakening storms over Austria.
Their duel lasted two minutes.
Every swing cracked pavement. Magic flared. The rebel screamed and unleashed a dark tether of anti-matter—but Hans countered it with a Shield of Nations, formed from a temporary merging of all his summoned regiments' energies.
Final blow: Hans disarmed him with a psychic pulse, then impaled the rebel commander through the shoulder.
"You don't even believe in Karling," Hans whispered. "You just wanted to watch something die."
He dropped the man to the ground.