Manifest Fantasy

4 miles from Fort Washington

8:41 P.M.

BRRRRRRT!

SHOOO! SHOOO!

Six A-10 Warthogs converged on the Nobian forces, reducing groups of soldiers to red paste. The GAU-8 Avenger cannons of the Warthogs produced a terrifying sound as they fired, leading the Nobians to believe that they were being attacked by a group of powerful monsters. In addition to its main armament, the A-10 Warthog carried multiple AGM-65 Maverick missiles, designed for close air support. These explosives were used on the larger formations, hidden further behind enemy lines.

BRRRRRRT! BRRRRRRT!

"They are more powerful than ancient dragons!"

Due to the sheer power of the GAU-8 Avenger and its corresponding recoil, the A-10's had to angle their attack runs, performing dive maneuvers as they obliterated enemy forces with their staggered bursts of gunfire. This action, combined with the infamous sound of its main armament firing, was enough to completely demoralize the Nobians. To the Nobians, these sounds seemed as if they had come straight from hell. Each time they heard the dreaded noise, tens of their brothers would fall. Every time the metal beasts descended, it was as if an epic dragon was swooping down upon them to claim more victims.

"How can they see us so well in the dark?!"

"True nocturnal predators…"

"What the hell?!"

Adding to the demoralization of the Nobian troops was the circumstances of the attack's timing. The ancient human fear of the dark was present on Gaerra as well, and the nightmarish concept of being attacked by an unseen force became a reality for the three detachments that were marching on the American base. The thermal imaging capabilities of American weapons systems were indiscriminate in revealing the enemy positions, and the pilots of the American aircraft spared their foes no mercy.

"Please! I want to live!!"

Unfortunately for these poor soldiers, the sounds of their pleas and cries were drowned out by continuous gunfire and explosions. Despite deploying only six planes for this skirmish, the American defenders were able to decimate almost half of a detachment, leaving the Nobians with less than 45,000 soldiers. Most of the Nobian cavalry and artillery were wiped out.

After three more grueling minutes, the rain of hellfire ceased. Having expended their munitions, the planes returned to their base, racking up thousands of kills in their terrifying assault. Among these casualties were the commanders of the Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Detachments. Consequently, leadership fell upon Colonel Noor Novask, who was currently attempting to communicate with the Fifth and Sixth Detachments.

"Sir, we've established a line with the Fifth Detachment but we can't get a hold of the Sixth."

"Excellent, let me speak with them…"

"Thank the moons! General Kanin?"

"No, this is Colonel Novask. All the generals are dead, so I'm the acting commanding officer of the main advancement force. How is the situation on your front?"

"We've lost almost seven thousand men! We are currently engaging the enemy force but our projectile weapons cannot pierce their metal hides, or reach their metal dragons! Our infantry is near useless, our mages are low on mana, and our artillery units are almost gone!"

"We still have forty-five thousand with us, hold on a little bit longer for reinforcements."

"Yes sir!"

"And, have you heard anything from the Sixth?"

"They've surrendered. They encountered the enemy first, and met the brunt of the enemy attacks. They lost all their ranged fighters and surrendered to avoid a meaningless charge into death."

"Ah hell… Well, just hold on for about 20 more minutes, we will be there shortly."

"We will do our best, sir."

The somber tone of the Fifth Detachment CO reflected their dire predicament, as the probability of the Fifth Detachment even lasting an additional 5 minutes was akin to the probability of an electron spontaneously becoming a positron. It was ridiculously low, especially given the firepower the Fifth Detachment faced.

—

Dark Shadow

Fort Washington

8:50 P.M.

"Our distractions are doing nothing to protect our allies! We need to begin taking down the defenders!"

"No, we cannot disobey our orders."

"Remember the last time we fought against the Americans? They couldn't see us at all! As long as we use the carnage of the battle as a mask for our movements, we can take down the defenders with our blades, one by one."

The Dark Shadow squad leader considered this, and looked out into the fields of the North Grenden Plains, where massive explosions erupted one after the other.

"Damnit, alright. Just be sure to stay clear of those moving fortresses."

—

501st Infantry Division

"Richards, we're running low on ammo! Get to the second armory!"

"Yes si- aggh!"

"Richards? Richards is down! We have hostiles in the base!"

The warning was broadcast to all defenders within the base, who began to deploy countermeasures in the form of IR sensors and claymores.

"McNeil, watch our flanks! Intel says they are invisible to night vision, but they can be seen bright as day on thermals!"

As the order was given to McNeil, he heard a distinct rustling nearby. Aiming in toward the direction of the revealing noise, he discovered a cloaked hostile.

"AAGGHH!"

A quick burst from McNeil's rifle quickly eliminated the threat.

—

Fifth Invasion Detachment

Amidst the gunfire, the ominous sound of tank treads could be heard.

"The moving fortresses are preparing for another attack!"

"Damn! EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

BOOM!

"Such range!"

The final artillery pieces of the Fifth Detachment were obliterated by HEAT rounds from the enemy's M1A2 Smoothbore Cannons. Not a single projectile was fired from the Fifth Detachment's artillery pieces; they were wiped out too quickly. At this point, the Nobians had no way to fight back. Despite this, and despite being still a mile away from enemy forces, the Nobians decided that they have come too far to give up, and thus charged toward the enemies.

"They killed our brethren!! Vanquish them!"

"They will face the might of the Nobian Empire!!"

"For Nobia!"

The war cries were drowned out by the slicing of air above them. Blinking lights could be seen in the air, attached to oddly shaped machines. These were the same type of beast with the booming voices, but this time, their 30mm autocannons, Hellfire missiles, and Hydra rockets would be booming instead.

Arrows of light filled the night sky, representing the tracer rounds and missiles of the AH-64 Apache attack helicopters' armaments. The unrelenting bombardments of the helicopters, combined with canister rounds from the M1 tanks and various projectiles from Strykers and M2 Bradleys, easily mopped up the Fifth Detachment. The unwavering loyalty and apparent fanaticism of these particular Nobians led them to a gruesome demise, as massive explosions produced enough light to reveal the decimation that had been brought upon the attackers.

—

"Sir, no targets left on the thermals!"

"Launch a flare."

A bright light illuminated the battlefield, revealing the horrors of war. Normally, soldiers would be sent to retrieve any injured enemies, but given that the main Nobian force was still advancing on their position, a rescue operation could not take place. The Americans felt truly sorry for the Nobians they were killing, as the Nobians had not done anything to them aside from charging at them. The scene before the defenders was horrific; dismembered bodies dotted the landscape, and the plains were now disfigured by hundreds of craters. This shocking depiction was interrupted by a single helicopter, flying overhead.

—

2 miles from Fort Washington

9:00 P.M.

"We have lost contact with the Fifth Detachment sir. It seems they were…. wiped out."

"Surely that's impossible! Twenty thousand men gone in an instant? No such thing is capable of doing that, unless it be a powerful natural disaster, divine intervention, or demons! Not even the Divinians have this capability!"

thupthupthupthup!

The metal beast with the booming voice returned, once again imploring the Nobians to cease their assault, or face annihilation.

Some of the grunts amongst the infantry became anxious, and asked, "What should we do?"

Colonel Novask gave an answer that was reflective of his loyalty, yet aware of his soldiers' concerns.

"Many of you have families. Loved ones. Our war against the Sonarans is not as important as the prosperity of our peoples. Therefore, I grant any who wishes to do so permission to retreat back to our encampment, while I lead our forces toward the enemy. If you wish to return, do it now."

A few hundred soldiers began walking back toward the Nobian base, ten miles from Fort Washington. Most of them were worried about providing for their families, who had no members capable of work besides them. The rest were older soldiers near the end of their contracts; they did not want to die right before retirement.

Despite his reasonable concerns regarding the firepower of the Americans, he couldn't surrender. He knew he would be leading over forty thousand men to their graves, but surrender wasn't an option, as his men would view him as a traitor and charge toward the enemy regardless. In order to save as many of his men as he could, he placed the most loyal troops in front, to face the brunt of the enemy assault. The rest of his men, with lower morale, were placed at the back to maximize their survival. Only with the loyal fanatics gone could he surrender and save the lives of his men.

He relayed his troop formation orders to his men, wording it in such a way so as to not arouse the suspicions of his troops. The most loyal soldiers were more than glad to accept these orders, as they believed that this would allow them to experience most of the glory.

"Sacrifice is a part of war… The lives of the few for the lives of the many…" Novask muttered.

As the Nobian soldiers got into their assigned formations, the metal beast above flew away, back toward the enemy base.

—

"Be advised, hostiles are reassembling into a wedge formation. The tip of the formation appears to be the most clustered."

"Alright, then that'll be our target for the artillery units. Such a shame that they haven't surrendered…"

—

Tens of M270 MLRS and M777 Howitzer units began their target acquisition processes, angling their weapons so that the trajectory of their projectiles would hit the center mass of the enemy's formation.

SHOOM! SHOOM! SHOOM!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The scene was terrifyingly beautiful. The howitzers pounded in unison as they fired in sync. Following this opening tune, volleys of missiles began erupting from the MLRS systems, equipped with cluster munitions and high explosive munitions for maximum effect on the lightly armored enemy infantry.

(Search "TOS-1A 220mm MLRS" or "M270 MLRS" on youtube to get a picture of how powerful these weapons are. I recommend the first one because the Russian videos always seem to have a more clear representation of firepower.)

—

A massive thundering could be heard in the distance as the Nobian forces charged at the enemy.

"I beg the moons to forgive me…"

The trails of light above grew closer, following a parabolic arc until suddenly, they winked out of existence, spawning thousands of smaller explosives. The most loyal of soldiers, placed in the tightly packed tip of the formation, suddenly became enveloped in light and smoke. Ten thousand were in this component of the formation, and as the ground blazed with the intensity of the American bombardment, the souls of these ten thousand departed Gaerra.

Novask watched in horror as such a powerful force was instantly annihilated by demonic weapons.

"By Luno!"

The charge immediately stopped, as the remaining troops were shell-shocked by this unholy massacre. Novask, recovering from his own disorientation, gave an order to his magical communications officers.

"Tell our remaining forces to surrender."

—

"Sir, it looks like they're surrendering! They've stopped their charge and are now waving a flag."

"All units! Cease fire! Launch some flares to verify."

—

Upon witnessing the destructive power of the Americans' artillery, no one questioned Novask's orders. Within minutes, American soldiers arrived at the battlefield to process the surrendering Nobian troops and tend to the injured.

Seeing that the force they were supposed to support had all but disintegrated, the remaining Dark Shadow operatives (who had ceased their attacks on the American defenders following their failed attempts) retreated. The Dark Shadow operatives would be the only Nobians to return to their homeland from this one-sided massacre.

Due to the actions of Novask, he would later be remembered as a hero who saved the lives of thirty five thousand men. In months to come, his novel, Choices in War, would become a best-seller amongst Nobians and Sonarans alike.