Maximilian Scorpia surveyed the projected invasion map with cold, professional detachment. The intelligence was confirmed: half a million Imperial soldiers, the remnants of the Empire's might, were marching in two massive columns. The Hammer Force (200,000 men) led by Byron, aimed for the soft industrial underbelly of Scofield, and The Anvil Force (300,000 men), led by his father, Duke Alexander von Caligula, was lumbering toward the Valum stronghold. Max had been exiled by his father to rot in this insignificant town; he felt no flicker of familial connection, only the keen, analytical pleasure of preparing to neutralize a massive, predictable threat. The fate of his father and half-brother meant nothing; the survival of Valum and the advancement of his technology meant everything.
Max's entire military force consisted of just fifteen thousand soldiers—a small, highly trained, and superbly equipped army of elite agents and dedicated revolutionary guards. Max knew numbers were irrelevant; this was a conflict between the 15th century and the 20th century.
The Hammer's Defeat at Scofield
The Hammer Force, commanded by the ambitious Byron, moved faster than the main Imperial column, driven by the desire to cripple Max's oil production. As they approached the Scofield industrial zone, they met no main army—only a quiet, well-prepared defense manned by just three thousand Scorpia guards and engineers.
The Imperial forces began their charge across a wide, open plain, their feudal cavalry in the vanguard, followed by waves of infantry. They were met not by fireballs or spell shields, but by the devastating sound of modern warfare. Maximilian's defenses were built on interlocking fields of fire, trenches fortified with concrete, and barbed wire—a material the Imperial forces had never encountered.
The first line of defense utilized the terrifying firepower of machine guns. Teams operating the belt-fed Maxim guns and the rapid-firing MG 42 (the 'Hitler's Buzzsaw' of Max's memory) shredded the dense ranks of the Imperial infantry. The sound was not the rattle of musket fire, but a continuous, unrelenting metallic scream. Cavalry charges were utterly vaporized as they hit areas covered by the .50 Caliber heavy machine guns, the massive rounds tearing through armor and horseflesh alike.
Between the machine gun nests, Max's infantry, all trained to use modern tactics, utilized the concentrated firepower of PPS-43 SMGs and their counterparts for close-quarters bursts, and semiautomatic rifles for sustained distance fire, ensuring the Imperial forces couldn't consolidate. Snipers, utilizing the new, specialized .50 Caliber bolt-action rifles, targeted Imperial officers and the few enemy mages attempting to conjure large-scale spells, ending the arcane threat before it could even solidify its mana. The .50 Caliber bolt-action, a powerful anti-material weapon Max developed for long-range precision, proved lethally effective at punching through the thickest steel armor worn by the Imperial generals.
The Hammer Force was routed in less than four hours. Byron, watching his cavalry vanish into a bloody mist, ordered a panicked retreat. The Supply Hauler trucks and APCs then proved their value, rapidly deploying small, highly mobile detachments of Scorpia troops to flank the retreating enemy, turning the retreat into a slaughter. The result: 50,000 Imperial casualties (dead, wounded, and captured). Scorpia's losses: 27 men wounded, 3 dead. The Hammer was pulverized.
The Anvil's Despair at Valum
News of the massacre at Scofield reached Duke Alexander just as his massive Anvil Force began its slow, cumbersome siege of the Valum stronghold. The sight of the towering, unyielding concrete walls was demoralizing enough; the news that Byron's force had been erased by "invisible, continuous fire" turned despair into terror.
Alexander, realizing he was facing an enemy who did not follow the rules of war, ordered a massive, coordinated bombardment. His Earth Mages began assaulting the concrete walls, and his trebuchets launched rocks. The attack was met with immediate, overwhelming counter-fire.
From the high, fortified ramparts of Valum, Max unleashed his heavier artillery. 150mm Howitzers and 105mm Cannons—weapons of immense range and devastating high-explosive power—began raining down shells on the tightly packed Imperial forces. These heavy artillery weapons, guided by precise optical rangefinders, were zeroed in on the densest concentrations of men, shattering supply lines, demoralizing units, and instantly vaporizing the exposed Imperial siege engineers.
The Mages, fearing the anti-magic dead zone and the snipers, were hesitant to commit their full power. When small groups of mages did attempt to assault the walls, they were met by the terrifying, continuous stream of explosive rounds from Max's specialized One-Pound Auto Cannons, mounted high on the walls. The cannons fired explosive shells with frightening rapidity, disrupting any spell formation before it could fully coalesce.
The final blow came from the skies. Max launched his only airships. They carried no MSW-1s, but they carried simple, large containers of liquid napalm, a primitive but terrifying incendiary weapon. The airships flew low and slow over the packed Imperial encampment, raining liquid fire down on tents, supply wagons, and horses. The resulting panic and inferno was uncontrollable, destroying the Duke's supply depots and scattering his command structure.
Duke Alexander watched in horror as his army, three hundred thousand strong, melted away under the combined assault of artillery, fire, and unrelenting machine gun fire. He realized the battle was not winnable by any conventional means. He was not facing a man; he was facing a civilization.
The result of the siege: 80,000 Imperial casualties (a mix of dead, burned, and routing). Scorpia's losses: 11 men killed, 50 wounded (mostly from shrapnel and minor burns).
Duke Alexander von Caligula, recognizing the absolute, brutal defeat, ordered a full, desperate retreat. The mighty half-million-strong army of the Empire was broken, having suffered over 130,000 casualties and losing most of its equipment, all while Max's forces remained virtually unscathed. Max had demonstrated, without resorting to the MSW-1, that he had already won the war.