14 How to Start a War: School Example

In the meantime.

The fields near the city of Caliss, Almidhsfead Empire.

"Lucifer, my dear uncle. What brings you here in this time of suffering?" An average man said with a smirk. His posture is average, not too fat, not too thin, not too tall, not too short.

His name, Elisior Victor Hidry. The head of the Hidry branch family, the Victors.

He is standing on a hill overlooking a bloody field of battle. There were hundreds of people rummaging through the dead bodies and destroyed shells of tanks and APCs. There are no survivors on the opposite side. This is surely the greatest loss the Pangrasian army suffered in the last two centuries. And it was at the hands of their greatest enemies.

The Hidras.

"The Exile's son is making trouble in the whole eastern board. He vowed to end our family for what we have done to Oryth and his father. Many people are giving him tasks that are everything but random. Since he acts like a freelance assassin he accepts any mission thrown at him, and many of those missions are 'coincidentally' our outposts and henchmen. I took the freedom of sending a spy to the Gargoyle's lair. All he told me is pointing to the fact that Sebastian is behind this missions." Lucy reported the situation that he himself made possible accidentally. If Shorty continues this way, he'll meet up with them near the border of Almidhsfead-Pangras.

Not a best-case scenario.

"So, you think that that boy is being used by Sebastian to defeat us? I am reluctant to believe that. What about the Imps, did you find out anything about their allegiance?" Elisior sighed.

"There is absolutely no mention of them in the last year. I couldn't get anybody in the Archive of Pangrasian military so I do not know what happened to them." Lucifer said half-heartedly. He then remembered and added:

"Actually there is one Imp I know is doing well. He is a legate inferior in the Imperial Guard legion closest to the Emperor. He was promoted after the Wimros SF base incident. There isn't anything special about him except his position which is perfect for the killing blow to the Gargonov Imperial family."

"And what if he's loyal? What then? If we approach him and he betrays us, we are done for." Elisior asked somewhat angrily. If they don't find a fast way to get rid of the main branch of the Imperial family they're gonna end up waging a long and gruesome war which is not within their current capabilities. They lost many men and machinery in this battle, not to mention the next one.

The force sent by Pangras to stop them from further strengthening was only two legions strong. If Sebastian did his homework for strategy, next force will be twenty or more legions strong. Depending on his readiness for declaring war to the Almidhsfead Empire.

Not a small possibility.

"In that case, we will perish, nefew. What should I do then?" Lucifer asked while scratching his head.

"Eliminate the first variable. Kill Maximilian Victor." Elisior ordered coldly.

"Why don't we just anounce him an Exile of Kin? It would be much more convenient since he's able to end the lives of many without a single drop of sweat. Especially with that bitch accompanying him." Lucy proposed.

"That wouldn't work. As long as he stays near Pangras, nobody will care about him being and Exile of Victor family. That would be a wasted move." Elisior smirked and shook his head.

"I had to ask although I expected that kind of answer. Anyway, I'll be going now. Take care, Elisior, this is a dangerous time. Many wolves are hidden in the high grasses of this world. And some of them are alfas, they have packs." Lucy warned his nefew and turned around to leave.

"Yeah, there are many wolves. But Hidra is more powerful than any wolf. Let them come at us. We will be prepared." Elisior smiled and took out a cigar. While lighting it he thought:

'This will be the most glorious war of families that this universe has ever seen. Let the dance begin.' He exhaled the smoke out and smiled.

In the evening, the whole army of twenty million men moved towards the border.

---------------------------------------------------------------

A month later.

"How long till we get to the Almidhsfead-Pangras border, Harbinger?" Achilles asked while panting.

We have been walking towards the border for more than two days now.

The kid refuses to call me by any of my names except Harbinger. At first it was annoying so I used to beat him up from time to time. Nothing serious, just a few bruises and broken bones.

"Will you stop calling me Harbinger? It gives me the creeps. And we are in the middle of a deserted field there is noone in a two hundred kilometer radius so no need for codenames and nicknames. We are not on a mission. And we have arrived yesterday. Welcome to Almidhsfead Empire, kid." I said in a bored tone. That sentence startled him. On his face there was an expression of confusion. His expression is actually so funny that both Anna and me started laughing.

"What are you two laughing at? I never left Pangras to begin with. And now I'm the Empire that is its second greatest enemy. And with all that said you two still think it's funny." He defended himself from our mocking.

"Look, kid. As long as you stay the weakest in the group, we will mock you and expose you to a great deal of ridiculous frazes. You're gonna get roasted before your draw the first blood from a target or an enemy."

As I said that a loud whistle sounded from the air. A strong explosion threw us all to the ground. Soon another three whistles echoed over the field. Also hitting the ground s few hundred meters behind us. We were covered by dirt and little pebbles lifted from the ground by explosions.

'Who for the fucks sake would use artillery to bring down a couple of people in the middle of no man's land?' I thought as I got up and started running towards a small hill in front of us. I didn't turn around or said anything to the other two simply because Anna is a former Nameless, she knows what I'm gonna do and what I expect her to do. She started running after me, with Achilles close behind. Kid has some serious wits he just doesn't know yet.

While we were all running shells kept falling, none of them hitting too close, so we didn't take any major wounds except a few bruises from shrapnel and dirt flying everywhere.

"Max! They're just behind the hill! If they were further away we would be roasted by now!" Anna yelled.

"I know! That's why I'm going there!" I responded to her warning.

Soon we got to the top of the hill. Anna and I threw ourselves down to the ground while Achilles stupidly watched the massive amount of people behind the hill. I quickly grabbed him and pulled him down. Just as I did that, tens of gunshots could be heard and whistling of bullets resounded around us.

"You wanna die, kid?" I asked.

"N-no. I-I just... So many people are down there." He was in a loss for words.

"Around twenty million." Anna informed us while taking out her sniper. I had also taken out my sniping rifle but in addition, I took out a handful of hand grenades of all kinds.

"T-t-twenty m-million!?" Achilles looked like he is going to faint. I slapped him in the back of his head.

"Calm down, kid. These are all my objectives. The soldiers of the Victor family. Look at their coat of arms." I grinned. I am finally gonna meat my family.

"Why would they muster such a force?" Anna asked curiously.

"The Victors are one of the branch families of Hidry family. And Hidry want the Pangrasian throne. This force is to eradicate the Garghonovs. Nothing special. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if Pangrasian army starts pouring in from the other side." Just as I finished talking a thunderous sound resounded through the planes. Three seconds later, ground in front of us turned into dust.

Hundreds of ear-piercing explosions made the ground shake violently.

'Industrial cannons. Is there a better way to start a battle if you are a Pangrasian general?' I smirked.

"Guys, we're gonna have some fun!" I informed the other two.

From the Victors' side there were dozens of incoming APCs. I pressed the button and my sniper transformed into a grenade launcher. It has some barrels which I filled with gas cannisters. I took aim and fired the cannisters into the army in front of us. I scattered my fire so that I cover as much area as I can. Thousands will die soon.

"Is that Hill gas?" Achilles asked.

"No. It's party smoke." I answered sarcastically. Anna started laughing and said:

"Those APCs are gonna be the end of us if we don't do something about them."

"No they won't." I replied. And by my great luck all of the APCs blew up nearly simultaneously.

'Just as I thought. First Artillery legion to the rescue. Hehe.' I laughed.

"Wow. What was that!?" Achilles was flabbergasted by a series of explosions.

"Kid, you really need to read more reports and battle summaries from ten thousand years ago. The stile of Pangrasian war tactics changed little since then. You could learn couple of things from all those good men that died so we can learn from their mistakes." I told him.

"What cannons are they using, Max? You seem knowledgeable about their army." Anna asked.

"Industrial cannons. And the thing that blew the APCs just now were manually controlled rockets from the secret weapon that the Pangrasians have. It's called the Rocket Silo. It has manually controlled projectiles in it and uses the holo maps tech to operate them in real-time. It can hit you in the eye from thousands of kilometers away. Cool, right?" I explained to them what saved our lives just now.

From the clouds came a rumbling noise. And after it came the metallic-blue flying piece of steel. From it exited dozens of other, smaller zeppelins. Just as they started descending in order to get a lower altitude to drop paratrooper centuries, skies filled up with explosions and AA fire.

The army of the Victors family moved to take higher positions. That means that they started going towards us. Casualties from Hill gas numbered in tens of thousands so we are gonna be their first target.

"Max." Anna called.

"Yeah?"

"Look to the east."

Oh, shit.