0844 April 13th, 2020 CE

0722 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Magus Imperium near the ocean

Even though it was still morning, the sun had been up hours ago. In an open field, six unhooked Patriot Systems sat with their launchers pointed in the air. Behind the systems were an AN/MPQ-65 and the engagement control station. A three-man crew was inside the station.

“We got multiple tracks on the radar.”

“What are they?”

“...three… five… eight missiles heading towards our direction. ”

In the engagement control station, the TCO (Tactical Control Officer) watched as multiple dots appeared on the radar screen. He looked at the radio operator.

“Contact headquarters.”

The TDA (Tactical Director Assistant) looked up from his radio and at his superior.

“Tactical Director, one of our batteries is detecting missiles.”

“Give me the radio.”

<<<“This is the Tactical Director.”

“Sir, these are definitely elven. I recommend that we shoot them down immediately.”

“Ok. Give me a second. Let me check the track and contact the ADAFCO.”

“Understood sir.”>>>

A few minutes later

<<<“ADAFCO has ensured that it isn’t friendly or neutral of any sorts and the RADC has given the go-ahead to engage. You are free to fire at will at all current targets.”

“Understood. We will proceed immediately.”>>>

The TCO put down the radio and turned to the TCA (Tactical Control Assistant).

“Engage the tracks.”

One missile flew out of one of the 16-celled Patriot Systems. A few seconds later, a second missile launched from the same system. A few feet away, another one also fired.

As per protocol, two PAC-3 missiles were fired for each enemy missile.

The first PAC-3 quickly cruised through the sky. The altitude control motors started to adjust the PAC-3’s trajectory. It got closer and closer to one of the elven Hexenbesens. It slammed into the Hexenbesen. In the air, a bright flash of a ball of orange occurred. Within minutes, multiple other bright flashes could be seen in the sky as the PAC-3 missiles struck the stream of Hexenbesens.

The TCA looked at the radar screen.

“All missiles have been eliminated.”

Detections station near the coast, Elven Nation

A few minutes ago

“How are the Hexenbesens?”

“They seem to be doing fine. All on course.”

The elven MUD (Mana Usage Detector) operator watched as the dots that represented the fired Hexenbesens blinked forwards. The MUDs had a much longer range of detection than the MWEs (Mana Wave Emittor) since elves have been using and developing magitech for more than a few thousand years. Their foray into mechtech, their word for any complicated mechanical technology, only started about five hundred years ago. Thus the MWEs, capable of detecting any large physical objects, were much less developed than the MUDs, capable of detecting any sort of magic usage. One of the dots of the Hexenbesens stopped blinking.

The operator looked back at his commander.

“Hm. One of them might have landed too early.”

Then a few more stopped blinking. Concern was obvious on the operator.

“They are all landing too early. Did we give them enough fuel?”

“I’m pretty sure the ground crews gave them more than enough.”

The last of the dots stopped blinking. The commander sighed.

“Get headquarters. There is a high chance that a malfunction occurred on them.”

Afvalin, Elven Nation

Tarron was pacing around the control room as Zeno tried to explain what had happened.

“There might be a malfunction in the Hexenbesens. We will need to look if there were any engineering issues with them. From my knowledge, there shouldn’t have been any. Ugh. We will have to take one apart and look through it piece by piece.”

None of the Hexenbesens had reached their intended targets. All of them dropped into the ocean at nearly the exact same location. Based on that, many thought that there might be a common problem within all of the Hexenbesens. If they could locate the problem, they believed they could fix it.

Tarron continued to pace around in frustration.

1110 April 13th, 2020 CE

0835 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Somewhere in the Elven Nation

In a cave, a few men looked through their backpacks. When they had arrived, they had quickly traveled further inland just in case there were elf patrols on the beaches.

“Everyone has their ears on and secured right?”

“Yep.”

“Of course.”

A few others nodded.

“Pull on them to make sure.”

They tugged at their pointy ears. The ears almost felt life-like when touching.

“Ok, good. Make one last check on your clothing and weapons and put all the backpacks into the back.”

The men meticulously checked their clothing and the guns they had on them.

They set their backpacks down in a corner in the cave. A blanket that was the same color as the walls of the cave covered the backpacks.

“Ok, Robert, you know the drill. Make sure no one discovers what’s in this cave. Keep your radio open.”

Robert, the Warrant Officer, nodded. Leaving half of the team behind, the six men set off.

Less than 30 minutes later

“Hello there, we are travelers from a long way who are a bit lost. Can you direct us to the nearest town?”

An old elven in a horse-drawn cart looked at the six elves standing on the side of the road. He pushed up his straw hat and regarded them carefully. The elves remained calm. The old elven pointed down the road behind him.

“Shouldn’t be that far. Less than an hour of walk and you will get to the town of Caenalin.”

“Alright, thanks!”

The old elven nodded and pulled the reins to get his horses moving again.

“Good to know that these disguises work.”

“We just have to put on some pointy ears and wear clothing suitable to their era. Nothing too big.”

They were walking down a dirt road with no one around. It seems that this area was rural.

1220 April 13th, 2020 CE

0910 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Elven temporary ports in the Magus Imperium

With her magipanzer loaded up in the ship, Ara looked out at the sea. She was happy that she was finally getting out of this hellhole. She has heard from many about the transport ships being attacked by undetectable submarines but felt that she had a better chance of survival on the ocean than on dry land. It was clearly only a matter of time before American land and air forces would arrive and start bombarding their position. Even with hundreds of thousands of elves still fighting, it was clear that it was a losing battle. She could even hear some of the sounds of the battle that was occurring miles away.

Frontline

“We need fire support on our sector! The Americans are breaking through!”

“Negative. We are unable to direct any to your sector as of right now.”

“We can’t hold! We are retreating!”

“Negative! Orders are still in place. Fight to the last elf. Deserters will be shot.”>>>

Explosions, whizzing bullets, and screaming could be heard everywhere. The elven soldier threw the headphones for the magiradio down onto the ground and cursed loudly.

An American aircraft screamed past overhead. Elves hid behind the husks of their destroyed magipanzers. Occasionally popping out and shooting at the advancing Americans.

New Elven HQ

“We need fire support!”>>>

“We are getting overrun! Where’s the rein—zzzzz“>>>

”bzzzzzbzzzz”>>>

The magiradios in the tents were spilling out with the panicked sounds of the soldiers at the front. The magiradio operators struggled to keep up.

With most of the high-ranked officers in command of the invasion forces dead, the elves were forced to form an ad hoc chain of command with a group of Lieutenant Generals and Major Generals on top. The elven headquarters have been placed in an unremarkable area filled with trees after the original headquarter that had been placed in open plains was devastated by American bombing. The generals bickered about the next plan of action.

Frontline

Stiff resistance from the elves ground the American advance to nearly a halt. Arriving at what was another one of the elven's lines of defense, they were bombarded by artillery and rocket artillery. Even more, elven armored vehicles appeared in swarms. At certain points of the front, the elves even outnumbered the Americans by 50 to 1.

Two lines of Magusian soldiers hid behind an Abrams. They slowly advanced as it drove forward.

“Keep your head down and don’t peek out!”

The Magusian that were crouching behind the American magitank was thankful that it had been so far impenetrable. None of the elves’ weapons seemed to have any effect. In comparison, the Magusian’s magitank had been completely worthless in protecting them. It would have been destroyed in a single shot.

An Abrams beside them started to drive backward.

>>

Its machine gun continued to fire at the anti-tank guns lining the small hill. Elves were pushing out the destroyed anti-tank guns and replacing them with new ones. Occasionally an elven armored vehicle will appear only to be taken out a few seconds later.

>>

The American magipanzers started to pull back. They continued firing but it was clear that they were running. Their infantry was turning back too. The elves on the hill, seeing this, started to cheer. Then thousands of small pieces of metal blanketed the area.

A few minutes later

The commanding officer shook his head.

“We need engineers to clear a path. Tell them to get their explosives and bulldozers. Actually, maybe we should just call a bombing run on this. Explosives and bulldozers aren’t gonna be enough.”

A literal wall of corpses and metal blocked the advance.

1235 April 13th, 2020 CE

0917 Sun 13th, 196 AE

Caenalin, Elven Nation

The town was bustling with elves. Elven children ran around seemingly without a care in the world.

Five elves walked on the streets looking around. The buildings beside them were all lined up neatly. A few elves were walking around. The team’s commanding officer, Pablo Carter walked up to one of the elves.

“Excuse me, sir. Do you happen to know where we can find a map? We are travelers who have gotten lost.”

“A block down, there is an inn. You can go in there and ask around. They should have maps for sale.”

“Thanks, sir.”

They handed the two maps to the innkeeper.

“5 Bronze.”

Bronze was not actual bronze but was a type of bill. The elven currency system was a bit complicated. They solely relied on paper money that was printed out as one of three types. Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The value of each was obvious.

They handed the innkeeper 5 Bronze. These were not real. They were counterfeit bills made to look as much like the real thing as possible. It was a good thing that a couple of the captured elven soldiers had been carrying cash on them.

The innkeeper didn’t even look at the bills and quickly placed them in the register.

Near the ocean, Elven Nation

Bulldozers dug into the ground. They made small rectangular pits. A Guard magipanzer drove into it. Its body was inside the pit while the turret was outside with its gun pointing forward. Multiple pits for magipanzers were created. Anti-tank thauguns were dug in. Grass and leaves were thrown on top of them.