The Occupied Territories, Maramanakama, the forest outside the city.

11:58 Local Planetary time Caliupus 14th,

“d.a.m.n!” Bartolommeo screamed as the jeep he was riding on pa.s.sed what appeared to be a seventh b.u.mp in the road and shook the general from his seat as he looked through his visor at the very tall and very steep base of the mountain. It was at an almost 80 degrees angle, no visible path for heavy troops like chariots, and worst of all it was full of bushes and heavy undergrowth, heck it would be very hard for a soldier to clime the base, outside of a battle.

 In short, they were krifed!

“Mad they may be for attacking a 100.000 strong army, but they know how to pick their ground!”  He thought to himself as he directed the artillery and chariot fire to the areas where it was most likely the terrorists would be positioned.

“The battle’s been going on for more than 15 minutes, what’s our casualty report?” Bartolommeo asked his the comm officer next to him.

“Nothing but zeros for the first five digits sir.” the comm officer replied.

At this Bartolommeo tore his gaze from the mountain slope and looked at his aide in horror.

“Are you saying that we have lost over a ten thousand soldiers in less than half an hour?!” he asked almost voicelessly.

“No sir, we have not been receiving any casualties!” was the reply as a confused Bartolommeo pushed a few icons on the map and an window for available units and casualties appeared.

 He looked at it and discovered that it confirmed what the lieutenant just said.

“All units that have made contact with enemy report in!” the general gave out the order and waited impatiently for a reply.

“First division here; we have no confirmed contact with enemy.”

“Second division here, all’s clear.”

“Third division, no contact so far.”

“Fourth division, clear.”

“Fifth division reports that the rear is quiet.”

“This is the sixth, right flank secure.”

“Seventh, all quiet on the western front.”

“Strange………We can hear the sounds of enemy fire coming from the mountain, are they further up the peak?”  Bartolommeo thought to himself as he gazed at the map, the 100.000 strong second corps had surrounded the whole mountain.

“There is no way for the enemy to escape and the two armies should have clashed by now, unless…….” then suddenly realization struck him, the lack of enemies combined with the topography of the mountain and the forest painted a very clear picture on what was happening.

“All units redeploy, reorganize the defenses for an outer perimeter attack!” he ordered and hoped that they could redeploy before the enemy struck for real.

Camouflaged location ,on a hill overlooking the mountain’s base.

“Everything is set for the operation to commence.” n.o.body said to those behind him, a group consisting of Ahmaianos, Kalynka, Tubarin and the rest of the cell, who where behind the aforementioned three.

 “Then what are we waiting for, let’s get to it!” Kalynka said impatiently.

“You seem quite eager, to do this heinous act.”

“Heinous?! HEINOUS! This is justice, for two decades they stole our wealth and ravaged our lands; the innocent people of this realm have suffered for no reason, other than the greed of the Imperials!”

 “They are nothing but beasts and monsters that deserve to die!” She half-said and half-shouted in rage at n.o.body in particular, before realizing what she had just done and started to regret her anger and subsequent outburst at their potential commander.

But she did not notice the uncomfortable looks Ahmaianos, and everyone else present had on their faces, with the exception of Tubarin, who was indifferent to the whole situation and n.o.body whose face was hidden.

“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to shout at you.” she tried to apologize, but before she could continue n.o.body pulled out from his coat pocket an object that looked like a green colored metallic stick. It was about a palms length, on its side was a switch and on its top was a red b.u.t.ton, he held it out to her and motioned for Kalynka to take it.

 “Flip and press the switch, then while holding the switch press the top b.u.t.ton.”

“Then what happens?”Kalynka asked n.o.body.

“Then all h.e.l.l breaks loose, and every demon and monster will be revealed.” he replied in an eerie, emotionless, almost bored voice.

Kalynka realized what it was and gazed at the device in her hands, contemplating for a moment whether to use it or not, Ahmaianos tentatively took a few steps forward, with the presumed intent to prevent her from pus.h.i.+ng it, as the others watched with bathed breath the scene unfolding before them.

Kalynka sensing his intentions, raised a hand to stall his actions. She turned her head towards him and although no words were spoken, an exchange did happen, for the look in her eyes said it all.

I accept this burden and what it entails too!

 She then turned her head back towards the device and rubbed her thumb against the surface of the b.u.t.ton, after looking at n.o.body with a determined gaze in her eyes and a nod of her head, she did as he instructed, she flipped the switch and pressed the b.u.t.ton, activating the device.

*BOOM* BOOM* BOOM* BOOM* BOOM* BOOM*

15:58 Local Planetary time

Hundreds of explosion went off at once, all across the forest, where the Imperial army was deployed creating an instantaneous ma.s.sive burst of fire and engulfing them in flames, turning the once green and brown field and mountain into a flood of crimson red.

The Occupied Territories, Maramanakama, the forest outside the city.

“All units maintain a wide formation, ignore any noise you hear from the mountain, it’s all a decoy!”

“I want earth warriors to make a trench to stop the flames and remove the trees in front of our perimeter, fire mages keep the flames contained, water mages get as much liquid from the ground and unto those trees, air mages get as much breathable air as you can to the front line troops, also don’t bundle up, who knows what other horrors the terrorists have prepared for us in this forest!” Bartolommeo ordered his infantry, as he then motioned to the lieutenant to contact the orbiting fleet.

“Tell those fly boys, to drop some heavy fire bombs on the blaze around us.” he said as the inferno raged around them.

“F-fire bombs, but sir dropping fire on this incendium-” the lieutenant stuttered out.

“Don’t worry lad, this is how the forest rangers put out a flaming forest, the shockwave will separate the fire from its fuel source, now unless you have some barbeque meat in your trousers contact the flee!”

“I have a big piece of meat sir, but not the barbequing kind!” he joked and transmitted the request to the orbiting fleet.

Bartolommeo chuckled at this, and then looked at the heavens, waiting for the fleet to respond, hoping to escape this crimson nightmare.